What If It Wasn’t All in Your Head?
For years, I felt like I was quietly falling apart.
I was dizzy all the time, the kind of dizzy that makes you question whether you can safely drive or even stand in the shower without bracing yourself. My head would throb from what I now know were vestibular migraines. And sometimes those migraines come with no pain and only dizziness. It is so scary. I started to believe I had a brain tumor - my head went to the worst places and conclusions. I had deep, aching fatigue that made it feel like I was moving through molasses. And the bloating? It was instant. It didn’t matter what I ate, my stomach would balloon and tighten like I had a brick lodged inside me.
And no one had answers.
The anxiety that came from feeling like my body was constantly betraying me…it took over my life. I became obsessed with Google. Every new symptom sent me spiraling. And there was no ChatGPT to talk me off the ledge. Google was always worst case scenario! I was afraid of passing out. Afraid I had something seriously wrong. I told myself over and over: What if it’s cancer? What if they’re missing something? What if this is how I die and no one’s listening?
The truth is, when you don’t feel safe in your own body, it changes everything. You stop trusting yourself. You stop planning things. You start shrinking your life out of fear.
And the worst part? Most of the time, doctors just told me to “lose weight” or prescribed something for anxiety. No one ever asked what was actually going on underneath. No one said the word inflammation. And no one said perimenopause.
The Missing Piece: Perimenopause and the Stress-Inflammation Cycle
Looking back, a huge piece of my puzzle was perimenopause. I was about 36 when the first subtle signs started creeping in - but I didn’t know that’s what it was. Nobody was talking about it. Nobody said, “Hey, these migraines, this bloating, this sudden onslaught of anxiety could be tied to perimenopause.” It took me until my early 40s to connect the dots.
Perimenopause can kick off a cascade of symptoms, and for me, it turned into a cycle of stress and inflammation. The unknown sent me spiraling, the spiraling caused anxiety and stress, the anxiety and stress caused more inflammation in my body. It was a hamster wheel of crap! My body was reacting to the hormonal shifts with more stress, and that stress just inflamed me further. It’s only now, after seeing so many other women share their stories, that I understand how deeply intertwined these things are. Don’t worry….I’ll dive into perimenopause more in another blog.
The Relief: How GLP-1s Helped Calm the Fire
Eventually, after a lot of research (and a lot of trial and error with insurance), I started a GLP-1. At first, I started it for weight loss. That was the goal because the weight gain that came with the hamster wheel of symptoms couldn’t be stopped no matter what I did or changed. I expected weight loss from a GLP-1. What I didn’t expect were the things that changed that had nothing to do with the scale.
The dizziness faded.
The bloating stopped.
The fatigue lifted.
My migraines became rare instead of weekly.
I could eat without fear. I could move without bracing myself. I could plan things again. It felt like I got my life back and I hadn’t even realized how much of it I’d lost.
And maybe most surprising of all? The anxiety that once gripped me, the obsessive Googling, the fear of dying, the what-ifs that played on a loop all started to quiet down too.
Just look at the difference in inflammation in my face alone!
I didn’t realize how physically inflamed I’d been until I wasn’t anymore. And I didn’t know how much that inflammation, combined with the rollercoaster of perimenopause, had hijacked my nervous system, my confidence, and my everyday joy.
Want to Go Deeper? These Are the Studies Worth Reading
If you’ve never heard that inflammation can cause things like migraines, fatigue, bloating, and even anxiety, you’re not alone. Here are some studies that support what I experienced:
GLP-1 RAs reduce inflammation markers like CRP, IL-6, and TNF‑α — in both animal and human studies.
→ Meta-analysis (2025): GLP-1 reduces inflammation in type 2 diabetes
→ Anti-inflammatory role of GLP-1 receptor agonists (2024)
→ Semaglutide reduces inflammation in obesity and diabetesGLP-1 medications act through the brain–immune connection, calming inflammation systemically.
→ GLP-1s and the brain-immune axisGLP-1s are now being studied for Alzheimer’s, NASH (fatty liver), arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases
→ Nature review on GLP-1s for systemic inflammation
Final Thoughts
If you’re in that place right now - if you’re exhausted, dizzy, scared, and feel like your body is constantly yelling at you while no one’s listening - I just want you to know: it’s not all in your head. And you’re not broken.
Sometimes healing starts with understanding what your body has been trying to tell you all along. And if you’ve never heard that inflammation or perimenopause can look like fear, or fatigue, or dizziness, weight gain or panic after eating... now you have.
I’m not saying GLP-1s are the answer for everyone. But they were a piece of the puzzle for me and not just because of weight loss. They helped put out a fire I didn’t know was burning me from the inside out.
*I get my GLP-1 from Shed and you can start here if it’s something you’ve been thinking about too.
