I grew up with childhood trauma. My nervous system was forged in fire.

 

What didn’t kill you made you stronger — but that’s not the whole story

I grew up with childhood trauma. My nervous system was forged in fire. So when society said, “Perimenopause and menopause are much harder for traumatized women,” my reaction was:

Absolutely not. I’ve survived worse. I’m built from knock‑down strength.

And that’s true — but here’s what society didn’t say:

**Trauma doesn’t make menopause easier.

It makes your stress system different. It makes your hormone system different. It makes your brain wiring different.**

You weren’t “stronger instead of affected.” You were stronger and affected in a different way.

My trauma didn’t remove the biological sensitivity — it just shaped how it showed up.

Here’s the part nobody tells traumatized women

Trauma in childhood can change:

• the HPA axis (stress hormones)

• the HPG axis (reproductive hormones)

• the prefrontal cortex (regulation, impulse control, emotional processing)

• glutamate levels (alertness, overwhelm)

• immune function (inflammation, sensitivity)

These changes don’t always show symptoms immediately. Sometimes they stay quiet for decades.

Then menopause arrives — a massive hormonal drop — and suddenly the system that has been compensating for years can’t compensate anymore.

That’s why I felt:

“I was fine for years. Why now?”

Because your strength didn’t erase the biology. It just carried you through until the biology hit a point where it couldn’t stay silent.

Bring in the hormones aka Estrogen/ Oestrogen or more so the lack of? ( it left) Boom — black hole. Coping mechanisms gone, and you’re left unable to physically function.

Footnote - I go between I ,you, your, my because I have dyslexia - I use a spell check, but I do not notice all the corrections are correct. Also a fault of AI to go between 1st and 3rd person descriptions , some times I catch it sometimes I do not.