By Vidya Reddy | Tea & Turmeric Co-Founder | 25+ Years of Experience in Holistic Wellness & Ayurvedic Living
Your body isn't broken.
We hear some version of this almost daily at our Laguna Beach shop. A woman in her twenties who cancels her life for a week every month because of cramps. A woman whose period vanished six months ago and hasn't come back. A woman waking up drenched in sweat at 3 a.m., wondering what's happening to her body.
Three different women, three different decades, the same underlying question: why does it feel like my body is working against me?
PMS, PCOS, and menopause look like three separate problems, and most of the health advice out there treats them that way, as three separate conditions needing three separate fixes. But underneath, they're the same conversation between your hormones, your nervous system, and inflammation.
A rough week before your period, a cycle that's gone unpredictable, a night you wake up drenched in sweat, all of these are your body sending a signal, not malfunctioning. In Ayurveda, a woman's hormonal life is understood as a series of transitions rather than isolated events, each one asking for a different kind of support rather than a single fix applied across the board. Once you see that thread, the approach to all three starts to make a lot more sense, and it's the approach my mother took with me long before I ever opened a tea shop.
This started as a conversation on our podcast, The Tea on Wellness, where I go deeper into each of these than I have room for here, including the full stories behind why we created each of these three teas in the first place. If you'd rather listen than read, you can listen to the full episode here.
PMS: The Luteal Phase Crash
Up to 90% of women experience at least one premenstrual symptom. If you've ever felt like a completely different person the week before your period, you're not imagining it, and you're not overreacting.
As you move toward your period, both estrogen and progesterone drop. Progesterone breaks down into a compound called allopregnanolone, which acts on the brain's GABA-A receptors, the system that tells your nervous system it's safe to relax. When progesterone falls quickly, that calming support drops with it, and mood and sleep often take the hit alongside it. That rapid hormonal shift may help explain why symptoms can feel so sudden and so out of your control.
The cramps come from a separate process, though it's the same underlying inflammation showing up in a different form. Prostaglandins are compounds released as the uterine lining breaks down, and they're what cause the uterus to contract. The higher the level, the more forceful the contraction, which is why some women describe pain that rivals early labor. If you've been told you're exaggerating, you're not. That said, pain severe enough to stop your daily life is worth mentioning to a doctor, since it can sometimes point to something like endometriosis rather than typical PMS.
The goal isn't to shut the body down, it's to reduce the intensity and give the nervous system some of the support it just lost. This is the thinking behind our PMS and Menstrual Support Herbal Tea, built around herbs traditionally used for muscle relaxation and hormone balance, cramp bark, chamomile, vitex, and nettle among them. You'll find the full ingredient list on the product page.
Sarah from Westminster put it simply: she used to dread that week every month. Now the sharp edges are gone, and the cramps are manageable. That's the shift this tea is meant to support, not a cure, just a little less fighting.
Movement helps too, more than most women expect. Research following over 14,000 women found the large majority reported that exercise eased their cramps, likely because it releases endorphins that work against the same pain pathways prostaglandins activate. You don't need an intense workout for this to help. A short walk or gentle yoga during the days when cramps are worst can make a real difference alongside the tea.
Does PMS get worse as you get older?
Yes, especially in your late 30s and 40s as you approach perimenopause. Hormone fluctuations become less predictable during this stage, and the same underlying sensitivity that drives PMS tends to intensify along with it, so symptoms that were manageable in your 20s can feel much stronger later on.
PCOS: The Metabolic Puzzle
PCOS is a different kind of conversation with the same two systems, hormones and inflammation, just showing up differently. It isn't about a rough week, it's when your cycle becomes unpredictable or disappears altogether. About 1 in 10 women of reproductive age have it.
Here's something that surprises a lot of women: you can have PCOS with a regular period. Diagnosis only requires two of three markers, irregular ovulation, elevated androgens, or polycystic-appearing ovaries, so normal cycles don't rule it out. This is a big reason PCOS goes undiagnosed for years. Women wait for the symptom pattern that matches the name, and when it never shows up, they assume it isn't PCOS.
The name itself causes confusion, since "polycystic" points to what shows up on an ultrasound, small immature follicles that never fully release an egg, but that's really the least useful thing to focus on. A woman can have those follicles without any of the other symptoms, or have every other symptom without them. What actually matters for how you feel day to day is the hormonal and metabolic picture underneath.
For many women with PCOS, insulin resistance is an important part of the picture. Cells stop responding properly to insulin, so the body produces more of it, and that excess insulin signals the ovaries to produce more androgens, disrupting ovulation. It's also why weight loss is so much harder with PCOS than "eat less, move more" accounts for. The excess insulin itself promotes fat storage while driving the hormone imbalance further. Even a modest 5% weight loss has been shown to meaningfully improve symptoms, but getting there is a real physiological challenge, not a lack of discipline, and it's worth being honest about that instead of pretending willpower is the missing piece.
Spearmint has some interesting research behind it. A small randomized controlled trial found that drinking spearmint tea twice daily for 30 days reduced free and total testosterone in women with hirsutism. The research is promising, but it is still limited, so we don't treat spearmint as a treatment for PCOS. To be clear, no tea reverses PCOS. What spearmint and the other herbs in our PCOS Support Tea, cinnamon, ashwagandha, and fenugreek among them, are intended to do is provide gentle herbal support alongside strength training, steady blood sugar, and your doctor's care. I'm not going to tell you tea fixes PCOS, because it doesn't.
If you're taking medication, it's also worth understanding that herbs can interact with medications, which is something we cover in our guide to herbal tea and medication interactions
A young woman came in recently to restock her PCOS tea before heading off to college. She told me it's really helped her, but she was nervous about managing everything on her own once she got there. I told her the same thing I'd tell anyone in that spot: focus on what's already working, and handle things as they come rather than anticipating everything that could go wrong. That anticipatory stress adds its own layer of cortisol and anxiety, which only feeds back into the same insulin and hormone picture we're trying to support in the first place.
Is PCOS hereditary?
There's a real genetic component, though it isn't determined by a single gene. Twin studies suggest genetics account for a large share of PCOS risk, and having a mother or sister with the condition increases your odds of having it too. But lifestyle and environmental factors play a role alongside genetics, so family history raises risk without making it certain.
Does PCOS go away after menopause?
No. Menopause changes your hormones, but it doesn't cure PCOS. Many women continue to have some PCOS-related symptoms after menopause, alongside the usual symptoms of menopause itself, since the two conditions affect your hormones in different ways.
Menopause: The Great Transition
By the time you reach perimenopause, the same hormonal and nervous system conversation shows up as fluctuation instead of a monthly cycle. Estrogen and progesterone stop moving in a predictable rhythm and start swinging widely, which is why one month can feel fine and the next can feel like everything is off. Most women reach this stage in their mid-40s, and it typically lasts around 4 years, though the range runs anywhere from 2 to 10 years or more.
Hot flashes are the symptom most people know, and they affect the large majority of women during this transition, up to 80% by some estimates, though how intensely varies quite a bit from person to person. They're more than feeling warm. Research reviewed by the Endocrine Society points to this disruption happening in the hypothalamus, the brain's temperature control center. As estrogen swings, the hypothalamus loses its stability and narrows the body's comfort zone for temperature, so small shifts suddenly trigger a full response, sweating, flushing, waking up drenched in the middle of the night.
Beyond the hot flashes, there's sleep disruption, brain fog, joint pain, and mood shifts, all part of the same hormonal picture, since estrogen and progesterone touch far more than the reproductive cycle. They influence bone density, temperature regulation, and much of the brain's neurotransmitter activity, which is why this transition can feel like it's touching every part of life at once.
One more piece worth knowing: A hot flash that wakes you from sleep can have a much bigger impact than one that passes while you're awake. When it happens at night, the resulting sleep disruption can leave you exhausted the next day. That's part of why the evening cup of tea matters as much as the morning one, it's supporting you through the hours where disruption costs you the most.
Our Ayurvedic Meno-Pause Tea draws on herbs traditionally used in Ayurvedic practice, including shatavari and ashwagandha, along with red clover, a natural source of phytoestrogens
Theresa from Anaheim told me that for months she was waking up drenched at 3 a.m., and the lack of sleep was affecting everything. She started the tea morning and evening and finally slept through the night. She felt like herself again, and that's really the whole point, not perfection, just feeling like yourself.
Can perimenopause cause anxiety that feels like it comes out of nowhere?
Yes, and it catches a lot of women off guard, especially if they've never dealt with anxiety before. Fluctuating estrogen affects the brain's stress response system, which can trigger sudden waves of anxiety or a racing heart with no clear trigger. It's a real physiological shift, not something to dismiss as unrelated to what your body is going through.
Your Body Isn't Working Against You
PMS, PCOS, and menopause are three different chapters of the same story: hormones, nervous system, and inflammation, all talking to each other. When one shifts, the others respond, which is why a woman dealing with any one of these often feels the same underlying loss, that sense of being present and comfortable in her own body, dimming.
There's a simple Ayurvedic ritual I come back to for all three, called abhyanga. Take a small amount of warm oil, sesame for deep grounding or coconut if you naturally run warm, and gently massage the soles of your feet or your lower belly for two minutes before bed. The touch directs scattered, restless energy downward, signaling to your nervous system that the day is done and it's safe to unwind. It's the same practice my Amma used on me as a teenager when my cramps were unbearable, and it works the same way now, whatever stage you're in.
You don't need a special occasion for this. It takes less time than scrolling through your phone before bed, and unlike so much of what we're told to do for our health, it doesn't ask anything of you except two quiet minutes.
Your body isn't broken. It's communicating. The more you understand those signals, the less frightening they become. You deserve to feel at home in your own body.
Whichever of these three stages you're in right now, the full episode goes further into it than this post could, with more of the personal side of why we make these teas the way we do. You can find all three in our Hormonal Balance Tea collection, and listen to the full conversation on The Tea on Wellness.
Sources & Further Reading
ACOG: Information on dysmenorrhea, menstrual pain, and treatment options.
International Evidence-Based Guideline for PCOS: Current guidance on PCOS diagnosis and management.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH): Evidence and safety information on herbs, supplements, and menopause.
About the Author
Vidya is a holistic health practitioner with over 25 years of experience in Ayurveda and wellness, including running a private practice in Canada before co-founding Tea & Turmeric in Laguna Beach, Orange County, California. She is the creator of functional herbal teas and spice blends and writes about stress, sleep, digestion, adaptogens, and nervous system support. Her work blends traditional Ayurvedic knowledge with modern functional wellness, translating herbal wisdom into practical everyday rituals. Tea & Turmeric is located at 1175 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.
