The Misfiring Thermostat

When oestrogen drops, the hypothalamus — the tiny temperature regulating centre in your brain — becomes jumpy. It starts interpreting the smallest rise in temperature as a crisis. A warm drink. A hot shower. A bowl of soup. A change in the weather. A stressful thought. Anything can set it off.

It’s not weakness. It’s not overreacting. It’s not “being bad with heat”. It’s a literal neurological misfire.

Your brain thinks you’re overheating even when you’re not, so it slams the panic button:

adrenaline
sweating
racing heart
the urge to escape your own body
the feeling of being trapped inside heat you cannot get away from

And in a heatwave, that misfire becomes relentless. There’s no buffer. No margin. No cool air to retreat into. You’re already running hot internally, so the external heat becomes something your body simply cannot negotiate with.

How can I regulate myself in full sensory overload.

Footnote - Add in the menopausal marmite: the waves that wash over you as my hormones do what they do. My hormones dip or surge, spike or leave the building, yoyo, and I am then what is commonly known as = #Fucked.

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