The Maia blog
Perimenopause, no fluff.
The symptoms no one explains, real stories, and why it's so hard to connect the dots — the stuff we wish we'd read ourselves.
NewsCan't find your HRT in Spain? What's going on
Lenzetto, Evopad, Estradot: what's out of stock, since when, when it's expected back and what to do in the meantime. With up-to-date data from the Spanish medicines agency.
Guide · Start herePerimenopause: symptoms, age and what can be done
What it is, when it starts, how long it lasts and what symptoms it brings — with data from the AEEM, NICE and The Menopause Society. And, above all, what can be done to feel well.
Symptom by symptomYour joints ache and you don't know why. Could it be perimenopause?
Stiff hands, sore knees, an aching shoulder. Why joint pain is so common at this stage, which other causes to rule out, and what helps.
Symptom by symptomExhausted at 45: why sleeping doesn't fix it
Waking up wrecked after eight hours isn't "just your age". What hormones have to do with it, how to rule out thyroid problems and anaemia, and what actually helps.
Symptom by symptomYou're losing your words, and no, you're not losing your mind
Brain fog is real and it's measurable — you aren't imagining it. But for the great majority of women it stays mild and, according to the SWAN study, it passes.
In their wordsHalle Berry was told she had herpes — it was perimenopause
A very common symptom of this stage, vaginal dryness, mistaken for an infection. Her story shows exactly why almost no one joins the dots — not even in the doctor's office.
In their wordsPenélope Cruz gets candid about perimenopause with Olivia Wilde
Two women saying it out loud. Cruz reels off symptoms almost no one connects to hormones — frozen shoulder included — and Wilde admits she'd never even heard of them.