Two monks, surprised by their perimenopause symptoms, share their journeys
As more millennial women reach their late 30s and 40s, they're experiencing the first symptoms of perimenopause and turning to social media to share and remind others they aren’t alone.
About 90 minutes from Dallas, in a north Texas farming community home to more cows than people, sits an ashram where two Jain monks and documentary filmmakers, Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, 41, and Sadhvi Anubhuti, 42, are on a spiritual journey of a whole other kind.
A few years ago, at 38, Shree, a former Iraqi War veteran, started feeling “off.” She wasn’t sleeping and had trouble concentrating. After experiencing a moment of rage, she knew something was wrong. Anubhuti wasn’t doing well either, with symptoms that started as fatigue and lack of focus becoming much more pronounced.
The two holy women scoured social media for answers and came across a term both were unfamiliar with — perimenopause. At the advice of their nurse practitioner, they decided to get their hormone levels checked.
An at-home test revealed that Shree had low progesterone levels, an early indication of perimenopause, the transitional period before menopause. “It was a relief to know,” Shree said. “It’s a medical situation. It’s not me feeling like I’m going crazy.”
Sadhvi Siddhali Shree getting the results of a hormone test.NBC NewsAnubhuti’s test revealed that she had practically no estrogen in her system, which left her feeling depleted and sad. “It was disappointing at first, because when you think of being menopausal, you don’t think of it as when you’re 30 or 40, right?”
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