“I’ve Tried Everything For My Menopause…” So Why Do I Still Feel So Awful?
- Andrea Marsh
- Aug 5
- 5 min read
This is probably the sentence I hear more than any other:
“I’ve tried everything for my menopause…” So why do I still feel so awful?
By the time many women walk through my door they’ve spent months, sometimes years, searching for answers. They’ve bought supplements recommended by friends, followed advice on social media, tried the latest miracle product and read countless articles online. Some have drawers full of half-finished tubs and bottles; others have simply reached the point where they don’t know what to believe anymore.
They’re exhausted, overwhelmed and quietly beginning to wonder if this is simply how life is going to be. If that’s you, I’d like to reassure you of one thing: You haven’t failed.
You’ve just been trying to solve the puzzle in the same way that almost everyone else does; and that's the problem. Let me show you today how looking at your menopause through my eyes cuts through the noise to help you have a far better menopause transition.
The Problem With Chasing Individual Symptoms
One friend tells you magnesium transformed her sleep. Another swears by collagen.
Someone else insists you need sage, probiotics or ashwagandha. Every week there’s another advert promising to banish hot flushes, boost energy or balance your hormones naturally.
The difficulty is that these recommendations aren’t wrong; they’re simply based on somebody else’s experience. What worked brilliantly for one woman may do very little for another because no two menopausal journeys are exactly the same. Yet most advice encourages us to think about symptoms individually.
Can’t sleep; take this.
Anxious; try that.
Joint pain; here’s another supplement.
Before long you’re treating ten different symptoms with ten different solutions and wondering why nothing seems to make a lasting difference.
I Start With Your Symptoms; Just Not One At A Time
One of the first things women often do when they come to see is to send me their blood test results, hormone levels and medical diagnoses. Those pieces of information certainly have their place, but they aren’t where I begin.
I begin with your symptoms. In fact, the longer your symptom list, the happier I am.
Please don’t ever apologise for bringing pages of notes. Every ache, every hot flush, every restless night, every afternoon energy crash and every moment of brain fog gives me another clue. Most women see a long list of unrelated problems. I don’t.
I see patterns.
Over more than twenty years I’ve studied Chinese medicine and spent thousands of hours working with women. What I’ve learnt is that symptoms rarely happen in isolation; they gather together in recognisable groups that point towards the same underlying imbalances. That’s what I spend my consultations doing.
I decode your symptoms.
Your symptoms don't happen by accident. They travel in groups, they follow patterns and, once you know how to read them, they tell you exactly where your body needs support. But you don’t need to understand ancient Chinese medicine or learn unfamiliar terminology. I’ve already done that work!
My job is to translate what your body is trying to tell us into something that makes sense in today’s world; your job is simply to tell me how you feel.
Your Symptoms Are Not Random
Imagine tipping the pieces of a thousand-piece jigsaw onto a table; at first glance it looks like chaos! Once you know what you’re looking for, a picture begins to emerge and your symptoms work in exactly the same way. Poor sleep alongside anxiety tells me something different to poor sleep with night sweats. Fatigue with sugar cravings paints a different picture to fatigue with dizziness. Aching joints, brain fog and loss of Mojo often belong together.
Each symptom adds another piece to the puzzle until eventually the underlying pattern becomes clear. I might even throw in what seems like a completely random question about your relationship with cheese! It usually raises an eyebrow, but your answer tells me a surprising amount about how your gallbladder is functioning.
Most people see fifty different menopause symptoms.
I see a handful of patterns, and once I understand those patterns everything suddenly becomes much simpler. Instead of chasing dozens of symptoms, we can focus on supporting the underlying causes that connect them together.
What Your Body Is Really Asking For
One of the biggest principles I work with is that many menopause symptoms develop because the body is no longer getting enough of what it needs to function at its best.
Years of stress, busy lives, interrupted sleep, caring for everyone else before yourself plus nutritional depletion and the hormonal changes of perimenopause can gradually leave your body running on empty.
Your symptoms aren’t appearing because your body has suddenly decided to work against you; they’re appearing because it’s asking for support.
This is where Chinese medicine and modern science often meet beautifully. Chinese medicine has always recognised that when the body becomes depleted it begins to communicate through symptoms. Western research increasingly shows us that chronic stress, elevated cortisol, nutritional insufficiencies, inflammation, poor gut health and changing hormones all place greater demands on the body during menopause years.
Chinese medicine and modern nutritional science may speak different languages, but they often tell the same story. Both recognise that when the body has been under prolonged stress or isn't getting the nourishment it needs, symptoms begin to appear as signals that something deeper requires attention. Both encourage me to ask why it appeared in the first place.
You Haven’t Tried 'Your Menopause' My Way Yet
This is usually the moment I smile during a consultation or talk as a woman tells me she’s tried everything:
“Well … You haven’t tried it my way yet!”
I’m not searching for the next fashionable supplement or miracle cure; though I will thoroughly research any that pertain to be. I’m looking for the reasons your body has been asking for help.
Sometimes that means changing the way you eat or improving digestion so you’re actually absorbing the nutrients you’re taking. It can mean calming a nervous system that’s been running on high alert for years. Invariably there will be supporting the body with carefully chosen nutrition and lifestyle changes that match the patterns your symptoms have revealed.
The plan is always individual because you are.
This Is Why Women Begin To Feel Like Themselves Again
It’s great to hear when someone’s hot flushes have improved or they’re sleeping better but the real difference is when they say: “Everything is finally making sense.”
For the first time they understand why all those seemingly unrelated symptoms belonged together and they stop chasing one symptom after another and begin supporting the whole body instead.
That’s when real change begins.
“I’ve Tried Everything For My Menopause…” So Why Do I Still Feel So Awful?
If you’ve reached the point where you genuinely feel you’ve tried everything, perhaps the next question isn’t: “What social media influencer should I follow next?"
Perhaps it’s: “What has my body been trying to tell me all along?”
Because your symptoms aren’t the problem. They’re the message. And this is where I come in...
Once we learn how to decode them, they become the roadmap that guides you back towards balance and a far happier menopause and beyond.
And that’s exactly what I help women do every single day.
About Andrea at Cotswold Menopause
Andrea is a shiatsu and chinese medicine practitioner who uses the principles of chinese medicine in a completely practical way to help you resolve your symptoms naturally and for good. If you live locally you can book in for wonderfully relaxing Shiatsu for Menopause where we start to relieve your symptoms on the same day. Otherwise Andrea does online indepth consultations where you'll leave with an actionable plan to follow. Andrea is also passionate about doing workplace talks and is passionate about getting this message out to as many women as possible: Give your body what it wants to create the hormones that it needs!
