It turns out there is a nervous system protein called a Neurokinin, and when it elevates, it irritates nerve cells. This happens when estrogen is lower than what your body wants. The irritated nerves start firing, and you feel what is called a vasomotor (blood and muscle) change giving off heat dissipation – the sweat.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-026-01247-8
Neurokinin. Receptor antagonists for vasomotor symptoms from KNDy neurons to clinical translation. Published in the journal Nature, Vol 14, April 2026.
Let’s go through this.
The ovaries are beginning a long process of reducing their production of estrogen and progesterone. Certain foods, such as cherries and soybean tofu, along with production from fat cells, keep estrogen levels normal. The adrenals support progesterone production to keep this level healthy.
There are people who do not have or had very minimal reactions to peri-menopause. This means they could balance life stresses, allowing them to balance their hormones.
So why you?
There is a thing called stress. And if we keep our adrenal glands busy managing day-to-day life, progesterone production can drop and not meet demand.
When progesterone drops, the body pulls estrogen out of circulation, meeting a balance between estrogen and progesterone. I call it a ratio. When estrogen levels decrease in the bloodstream by putting it in storage, the nerve cells detect the low estrogen, triggering the release of the neurokinin alarm, causing heat.
Most often, because of low progesterone, some women will experience early cycles – two in a month or they become heavy, and you can lose too much iron. Iron carries oxygen in the bloodstream. When your brain does not have enough oxygen, it gets stressed very fast. A stressed brain will trigger the release of the Neurokinins.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12905-025-03906-w
Beyond anemia: a comprehensive analysis of iron deficiency symptoms in women and their correlation with biomarkers. BMC Women’s Health Published 28 2uly 2025.
Finding the culprits
1. Check the hormones. There are three estrogens. We need to know the levels of all three. Estrone, estradiol, estriol. And we want to match the levels to your age.
2. Check the thyroid. The TSH is the thyroid-stimulating hormone coming from the pituitary to the thyroid. This has to be in an ideal range. Thyroid hormone 3 T3 Free measures the T3 hormone that is available to the cells. Again, we want an optimal, healthy range.
3. Check your iron in storage. Ferritin on a blood test.
4. Stress. Your brain’s pituitary gland can signal your adrenals to produce cortisol at the wrong time, interfering with sleep. This also accompanies unexpected weight gain.
What to do?
Specific herbs can help. Holy basil works well if the cause is stress. We use this herb along with balancing the hormones and adrenal signaling from the brain.
For women who do not want to balance with natural bioidentical hormones, we use a formula from a pharmaceutical company that helps very well. We use them because they test and guarantee every herb in the formula.
The rest is testing. You need to know.
I did a Youtube video on this last week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj4Z85WfiIk&t=14s