Frozen Shoulders, Migraines & 24 Years of Supplement Non-Answers

Key Takeaways

• ✦Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) disproportionately affects women in their 40s and 50s, and researchers believe declining estrogen plays a role in the connective tissue changes that drive it — making it a perimenopause symptom worth raising with your doctor.
• ✦A narrative review in the NAMS journal found that migraine and sleep disturbances during perimenopause are clinically intertwined: poor sleep lowers the migraine threshold, and migraines disrupt sleep architecture, creating a compounding loop that most clinical guidelines don't address together.
• ✦A bibliometric analysis of 24 years of U.S. dietary supplement research for menopause (2000–2024) found the evidence base is fragmented, with a large number of distinct ingredients studied but few replication studies — and perimenopause specifically is notably underrepresented in the research.
• ✦The supplement industry's confidence in menopause products consistently outpaces the actual science behind them — 24 years of research and we still don't have solid, replicated evidence for most of what's on the shelf.
• ✦If you experience migraines during perimenopause, tracking them alongside your sleep may give you — and your doctor — more useful data than tracking either one alone.