The Double Whammy: Navigating Menopause with Chronic Illness

For many, menopause is a time of major physical and emotional transition. Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, brain fog—it’s a full plate. But for those already living with a chronic illness, that plate can start to overflow. The intersection of menopause and chronic conditions like CFS, fibromyalgia, lupus, MS, Long Covid or autoimmune disorders is complex, overwhelming, and often overlooked. – or in my case diagnosed with MCAS last Summer.

This is the double whammy.

Symptoms That Blur Together

Many symptoms of menopause—fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, sleep disturbances—also show up in chronic illnesses. That makes it hard to tell what’s causing what. Is the exhaustion due to hormonal changes? A flare-up? Both? The lack of clarity can be frustrating, especially when providers dismiss it as “just aging” or “stress.”

Hormonal Shifts and Chronic Illness

Oestrogen plays a protective role in many body systems, including immune and neurological function. As oestrogen declines in perimenopause and menopause, some chronic illnesses may intensify. Autoimmune conditions, for instance, can flare more often. Pain thresholds may change. Even medications might behave differently as hormone levels shift.

The Emotional Weight

Beyond physical symptoms, there’s a real emotional impact. Chronic illness can already be isolating. Add menopause—which society rarely talks about openly, although things are steadily improving —and it’s easy to feel invisible & disconnected, when often chronic illnesses are not obvious to those around us. Women often find themselves advocating for care in a system that isn’t designed to treat both conditions together.

What Can Help?

• Track your symptoms. Patterns & themes can help you and your health care provider identify whether changes are hormonal or illness-related or the potential double whammy!
• Find a collaborative care team. Ideally, this includes a GP, specialist, and hormone-literate practitioner who communicate with each other. It is key to connect the dots and allow the specialists to work together to look at YOU holistically. My natural medicine practitioner works with (not directly – I provide that) my endocrinologist to do the figuring out and dovetail their approaches – medicine meets functional medicine (although my endocrinologist does that too).
• Prioritize rest and gentle movement. Fatigue and pain are real pushing through may backfire. I am gradually realising that regular sustainable movement day to day is far more beneficial in the longer-term than my formative self of the ‘boom & bust’ times.
• Speak up. You deserve to feel heard and taken seriously, even when the answers are not simple. Perseverance with your health care providers is key.
• Brain re-training: Yes, we can re-train our brains to think differently and ‘feel safe’. I would recommend the ‘I am’ app for daily affirmations to sit in a grounded space with menopause & any chronic illness symptoms. Recently, what I took from a group coaching programme (for people with chronic illness – some ladies – including myself were peri-menopausal & post-menopausal) was the term ‘words are our medicine’. It certainly helps our recovery and how we choose to navigate menopause if we speak kindly to ourselves. For our brains to feel safe we need to experience ‘moments of joy’.

How can you factor more of this into your daily life? We know that in peri-menopause connection is important whether that is in nature, socially, supporting a community. Whatever you need to bring a sense of calm to that brain of yours. 😊 Quoting Dr Howard Schubiner we don’t move forward if we approach peri-menopause (alongside an illness) with the 6 F’s (Fear, Fight, Frustration, Focus, Figure it out & Fix)), yet we do if we reassure ourselves, provide ourselves with comfort & care, self-soothe and sit in a space of hope of moving forward with the outlook that ‘This will pass’.

You’re Not Alone

If you are in this season of life—navigating menopause and chronic illness—you are doing something incredibly brave. Your experience matters, even if it does not fit the “standard” menopause narrative. Let us break the silence, share our stories, and create space for better care.

There are many perimenopause communities on-line as well as those for chronic illness. Feel part of a community, share knowledge & your experiences of living through perimenopause with a chronic illness.

I am living with a chronic illness (MCAS). I get this double whammy – I am living the experience too. Contact me and learn how I can best support you.

I work with the EMBERS® model, a Menopause-Informed Psychological Care framework aims to educate, validate, and empower women to implement strategies to regain control over their life, body, and mind during the menopausal transition and beyond. It’s a comprehensive therapeutic approach integrating an understanding of the physiological, emotional & psychological changes us ladies, experience during menopause, while also considering the broader context of your lives. This approach not only addresses symptoms but also considers factors such as physical & mental health status, relationships, work, & life stressors.