Hormonal Dip — Dummy’s Guide

 

HORMONAL DIP — Dummy’s Guide

“The Cake, the Car, and the Clockwork”

Imagine I’m a cake — a classic Mary Berry sponge.

For years, my ingredients mixed perfectly: flour, eggs, sugar, jam.

Then menopause came along and quietly removed half the ingredients.

The cake still looked like a cake, but it didn’t behave like one.

That’s my brain on low oestrogen.

Or imagine I’m a car.

For decades I ran smoothly, even on rough roads.

Then suddenly someone drained the fuel and poured in the wrong type.

The engine sputtered, stalled, restarted, stalled again.

That’s a hormonal dip.

Or picture a clock.

All the cogs used to turn together.

Then one cog slipped.

Then another.

The hands still moved, but not in rhythm.

That’s menopause layered with neurodiversity.

It’s not depression.

It’s not weakness.

It’s not “stress.”

It’s chemistry.

It’s wiring.

It’s the ingredients changing faster than the recipe can keep up.

And some days the ingredients come back — briefly — and I feel like myself again.

Other days, they vanish without warning.

That’s why I can be brilliant on Monday and barely functioning on Tuesday.

This is what a hormonal dip feels like.

This is why I struggle.

This is why I need understanding, not dismissal.