00:03:45.740And I work as a psychotherapist and so many of my clients will say things like, why didn't
00:03:51.580anyone warn me about the hormonal effects of breastfeeding or how difficult it is to manage
00:03:59.600the mental load with my partner or how hard it is to be a woman in the workplace, etc. And then I
00:04:06.060started hearing that about menopause. Why didn't anyone warn me? And I thought, I'll warn them.
00:04:12.760I will warn. I will teach my clients, my friends, and my generation.
00:04:17.620done. Yeah. I mean, I think that a really good title of a podcast or a book is actually0.52
00:04:23.220Why Didn't Anyone Warn Me? And then it's just chapters about things that happen to women's
00:04:28.280bodies. Yeah, let's do it. Okay, done. Done. Nick Astor actually told me that I can't do any more
00:04:34.020projects through the end of the year. He says that I'm full up on projects, but maybe this is
00:04:38.800a 2026 situation. I'm in and I am so excited for all of your projects. I love, love, love them.
00:04:45.600No, I am, too. I am, too. It has been crazy this past week because, you know, the Louvre got robbed and I've been working on a novel about an actual museum heist in Paris. So I'm clearly, clearly a psychic witch is what I am.
00:05:01.660I said on your Instagram, we know you're a Sicilian witch and I love that for you.0.93
00:05:06.800I know. And everyone's like, stop rubbing it in, Piazza. Okay, so you started researching this. And talk to me about the things that surprised you most when it comes to perimenopause as a woman who, when you started this, was in your late 30s.1.00
00:05:22.320I would say that I was very surprised by the duration of symptoms, which we now know can start and often do start in one's late 30s.
00:05:35.620And I was also really surprised by how many mental and emotional health symptoms there were.
00:05:43.700And we are also learning now that those are often the first signs that a woman's hormones are fluctuating and that she's entering into perimenopause.
00:05:54.140Yeah, that's that is what surprised me the most, too.
00:05:57.060And I don't think look, I'm just going to say it.
00:05:59.180I don't think any of us talked about perimenopause until about two years ago.
00:06:02.940And then finally we're like, oh, wait, guess what?0.98
00:06:05.120You've got like a decade of shit ahead of you before your period actually starts.0.98
00:06:09.380And all of these things that you were just supposed to shoulder the burden of as a woman, they're actually related to your hormones, but no one has studied them or talked about them because we don't study or talk about women's bodies.0.99
00:06:22.180I mean, that is what has me so freaking enraged here that every time I talk about this, I'm just pissed off.
00:06:28.060I know. A lot of people ask me when they learn about this project, they're like, well, why don't we talk about it? Why don't we know more?
00:06:35.680And I say, honestly, the answer is misogyny. And I mean, I'm laughing because it's just ridiculous that it's half the population. We shouldn't have to convince people to care about women. We shouldn't have to make a business case, although there is one. But here we are. And women really have been suffering because they're not getting the help they need and they're not living their lives optimally.0.93
00:07:00.520But that's why I think knowledge is power on our conversations like this one.0.51
00:07:09.540And I think that Gen X and millennials, of which I just straddle the middle of this precariously, we're going to change a lot of things about the world because we are very vocal and we get shit done is the point of this.0.81
00:07:28.140So let's start at the very beginning of this. You talk about first and foremost,
00:07:34.940normalizing menstruation, normalizing periods. What do you mean by that?
00:07:39.940I mean that a girl who is in fourth grade and gets her period at school should know what it is
00:07:49.740and shouldn't be ashamed to ask for help or shouldn't be ashamed to tell her friends
00:07:57.960including her male friends, that maybe she needs a different pair of clothes or whatever it is
00:08:03.360because she wasn't prepared. And just destigmatizing the fact that like menopause,
00:08:10.060menstruation affects every woman with ovaries. It's so important because this is part of our
00:08:17.680health. You know, the same way we have bones and teeth and hair, it's a part of our bodies
00:08:24.360And we're going to grow and go through it at different rates, but we all go through it.
00:08:29.660And we need to be just open-minded about what impacts it has on our daily lives and not make people feel ashamed.
00:08:39.880Yeah, I think that's a really good place to start because we have a lot of mothers listening to this podcast who are figuring out how to talk about periods with their kids, both boys and girls.
00:08:52.780I say this all the time. There's plenty of period talk in my house, mostly because perimenopause,
00:08:58.840it really shows up in my life, like a murder scene period. So I'm constantly bleeding through
00:09:05.500everything. Like there's just bloody clothes all over my house that I have to explain to my
00:09:09.680children, including my son. And so we have a lot of period talk that I don't think existed
00:09:15.700in a lot of households i was raised on 17 magazine and cosmo where every shame-filled story was like
00:09:23.240a dog pulling a bloody tampon out of a trash bin yeah but it's like i say this too with kids with
00:09:31.500adults like everybody poops and i'm only using that term because for ease but i do believe in
00:09:37.700in medically accurate terminology everyone has bowel movements everyone poops and i wonder like0.91
00:09:42.820if you were sick and you vomited, would you be as ashamed as the bloody tampon? You know,0.83
00:09:48.900probably not because we tend to normalize that kind of bodily fluid. And I think because it's
00:09:55.460a woman's issue, we tend to get very strange and prudish about blood, but it's really not a big0.62
00:10:02.520deal. It's really not a big deal. Or on the flip side, it is a big deal because it's actually an
00:10:09.960amazing part of a woman's bodily functions that we should just de-stigmatize. That is the point1.00
00:10:18.980here. So much of what we go through as women has been stigmatized for so long that all of it is
00:10:25.780cloaked in shame. And then we get to the point where our period is starting to go away and our
00:10:31.140bodies are starting to change. And even our doctors kind of ignore it. I have a GP who ignores this,
00:10:38.240And I'm trying to find a new freaking GP now because she is a woman who went through menopause and is kind of like, well, you just go through it like we all did.0.91
00:11:07.100and I think that that experience is totally the norm. My OBGYN is a goddess. She was running late0.99
00:11:14.240the other day, and then I had to catch a train to New York, and I swear to God, we did a pelvic
00:11:19.440exam in two hot minutes. That woman was in and out of my vagina so quick. We just got it done.1.00
00:11:26.380And she is also going through perimenopause and menopause herself. She just got trained
00:11:32.000to work with her patients on this. She gets it. But I think the majority of doctors simply do not
00:11:37.900get it. And that sucks. It does suck. And I don't want to demonize that. Not that you are, but just0.99
00:11:43.620to be clear. Oh, I am a little bit. Actually, to be honest, I am a little bit because I think that
00:11:48.980the entire medical field has turned a blind eye to women's health and it's time just to call it out.1.00
00:11:54.440Well, you're right. I was going to say it's because they don't have the education. But you1.00
00:11:58.900know what time to get it you know time to get it time to get it it exists do they exist in the same
00:12:04.120world that we exist in right now right like I didn't get any training in my graduate work and
00:12:12.260I sought out training on this and now I train other mental health professionals and I just
00:12:17.540got certified as a menopause society practitioner because I recognized how important and significant
00:12:24.220this is. And yeah, you're right that at the very least, your primary care physician should say,
00:12:31.180I'm not sure. Let me look into it for you or refer you. They should not dismiss you.
00:12:37.820No, exactly. Exactly. So you've just gotten this training. What is this training? What does this
00:12:42.400even mean? So there isn't simply one training, just like there are multiple medical programs,
00:12:50.720and I'm not a doctor or a medical provider or prescriber, but as a licensed healthcare
00:12:55.760professional, which I am as a licensed clinical social worker, I was eligible to sit for a
00:13:02.320competency-based exam offered by the Menopause Society. And I would say that the exam itself
00:13:08.960is certainly a valuable tool, but it doesn't just cover menopause. It covers midlife women's health
00:13:17.280And all of the other trainings that I did with providers who you might be familiar with from social media, including Heather Hirsch and Jackie Biasda, those were really the women and the providers that taught me about how to care for women at this phase of life.
00:13:35.020And it takes a lot of different forms of training and classes and, of course, the actual work with women.
00:13:43.960You know, you can't just read a textbook and be an expert.
00:13:46.920You have to be listening and seeing the trial and error of different hormone therapy regimens or lifestyle changes or both and really be caring for these women and about these women.
00:14:02.560So working with your clients, what are some of the things that you feel more capable talking to them about now?
00:14:10.920So I certainly feel capable talking to them about what they're going through.
00:14:16.360just providing the psychoeducation. And this is similar to that perinatal postpartum phase of
00:14:22.040you're not going crazy. You're not imagining it. Your body is different. Your mood swings are
00:14:27.580different. This is really hard. And let me explain what's going on here. Providing the psychoeducation
00:14:33.640is key. A couple of years ago, I didn't even know what perimenopause was. So when women were
00:14:39.420complaining of certain symptoms, I didn't think that it was connected with their hormones. I
00:14:44.220wasn't, I didn't know. Now I know. Then educating them on the lifestyle modifications that we can
00:14:51.980all use as medicine. Yes, yes. I want to hear about all those. Let's take a quick break. And
00:14:57.880when we get back, I want to talk about those lifestyle changes. Okay, we're back. I want to
00:15:09.820hear about these lifestyle changes. What do you recommend to your patients as they are about to
00:15:13.560go into perimenopause? Sure. So if someone's complaining about mood symptoms related to
00:15:19.960anxiety and depression, one of the first questions that I'll ask is, how's your sleep? And it is a
00:15:26.260bit cyclical because, of course, if you're not getting good sleep, you're in a bad mood and,
00:15:31.000you know, vice versa. But there are things we can do to optimize our sleep hygiene,
00:15:36.460like going to bed at a certain time, waking up at a certain time, a cold room, which I am a huge
00:15:42.880fan of, monitoring that thermostat, and a dark room, no screens, all the things that we kind of
00:15:49.620know. But I can't emphasize enough the importance of it because sleep is medicine. So I work on them
00:15:56.480with sleep. If they're saying I'm having trouble falling asleep because I'm anxious, we explore
00:16:01.280that. And we come up with tools to help them reframe their thoughts and other coping mechanisms.
00:16:08.240Wait, let's do this. I can't fall asleep. I didn't fall asleep until one o'clock last night. And I don't even know. There's a little bit of anxiety. I'm on the Zoloft, so that really mitigates it. But yeah, let's dig into that for a second. What are some mechanisms to help me get to sleep? Because my sleep is so effed right now.
00:16:28.580So I will give you the cognitive behavioral tools, but I do just want to go back to the
00:16:35.540medical for a second. Are you taking progesterone? I just started one of the like one of the birth
00:16:43.500control pills. Yeah. So it's estrogen and progesterone. Okay. So hopefully that will help
00:16:49.040a little. Progesterone helps women fall asleep. Estrogen helps them stay asleep. Now let's go0.85
00:16:55.860back to the CBT of it all. So may I ask? And what is CBT for our people who don't know?
00:17:02.780Cognitive behavioral therapy. Okay. That is a form of psychotherapy that I primarily utilize
00:17:07.860and we work on one's thoughts and behaviors and reactions to stressful situations in a nutshell.
00:17:15.600So what time did you try to go to sleep and what did that look like for you?
00:17:45.740So usually if you're struggling with falling asleep, it's actually a good idea to get out of bed for 15 to 20 minutes, go to a different room, keep the lights low, keep the vibe sleepy, but do something else like maybe listening to a meditation or reading and then return back to your bed.
00:18:09.400And by doing this, and this is a form of CBTI, which is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, that's a little lie there, it is meant to help reduce the anxiety around falling asleep because so many of us do say things like, oh my God, another half an hour has gone by.
00:18:48.460You might think you're not anxious about sleep, but the fact that you even know what time it was shows me, you know, you were checking the clock.
00:18:55.160What does this mean for my morning might have been a thought.
00:18:58.540And I would just be curious about your thoughts going on at that time when you were struggling.
00:19:04.820I would also encourage you to do some breathing exercises.
00:19:08.560There's a good kind of mind-body exercise I do when I'm trying to fall asleep.
00:19:15.300And it's from the bottom of my feet up to my head.
00:19:19.000I sort of like relax each muscle and think about it that way.
00:19:24.260And there's no magic solution or magic potion for any of these issues, but perimenopause and, of course, life involve a lot of trial and error.
00:19:34.600And so you have to try what works for you and keep track.
00:19:38.360I think those are really good rules for them.
00:19:43.740And look, I've been trying all of the different things.
00:19:47.140I'm doing okay with not stressing about what my day is going to look like.
00:19:51.700And that is because I'm married to a very supportive partner who, if I'm not sleeping, I poke him and tell him and he does mornings and then I sleep until 930 instead of 730.
00:20:02.200And then that fixes the two hours that I missed.
00:20:04.260The majority of people do not have this option.
00:20:07.380Well, that's another area that I'm passionate about, as you know.
00:20:11.020But yes, I would say that is a good solve.
00:20:15.260It sounds like a good solution for you.
00:20:16.900I would maybe say, though, that your catching up sort of resets your rhythm and your internal clock.
00:20:26.840And maybe I would consider not sleeping in and then going to bed at the same time that you normally would so that your body knows between 9.30 p.m., 7.30 a.m., that sleep time.
00:20:46.500So, yeah, sleep is sleep is my biggest symptom. And that was the biggest thing I was moaning about to my OBGYN, because also I love sleep. I want to fall asleep. I'm very into sleep. Love, love, love my sheets, love my bed, all of the things. And it's frustrating when when you can't get good sleep. It truly is. I think for for everyone that's going through this. What are some of the other symptoms that your patients bring up to you that they might not know are perimenopausal?
00:21:16.080Right. So in addition to the sleep disruptions, which can come about because of physical symptoms like having to go to the bathroom all the time, you know, the chronic UTIs, the anxiety, the wake ups that seem unexplainable.
00:21:29.960In addition to all of that, what I see often among my patients for women in their 20s, 30s and 40s is that when they're perimenopausal, they're really struggling with irritability and rage and a lack of control.
00:21:45.120and this feeling tends to be different than what I might have been working with them on previously
00:21:51.620so it's not their you know quote-unquote typical anxiety or depression it's something new and
00:21:57.220different and they really can't control their reactions and they're pissed and they don't meet
00:22:03.340they don't intend to react that way to their kids or their husband or their boss whatever it is but0.99
00:22:08.020they just are so reactive and then they of course feel guilty because women are conditioned to be1.00
00:22:14.620nice all the time. And it's this cycle. And I see this a lot with women who have no idea that this0.97
00:22:23.860could be connected to their hormonal fluctuations, but they're really struggling. And the way that0.97
00:22:29.460women tend to describe this is I don't feel like myself and I don't know what's going on with me.0.98
00:22:37.360Yeah, that's fair. I'm enraged all the time and I can't tell if it's perimenopause,0.94
00:22:42.220being a mother of three small children or just living in the dumpster fire of our world right
00:22:46.960now. And I think a lot of women feel this way, too. Is this how I would react if my hormones
00:22:54.480were doing the things they were normally doing? Also, I don't even know because my hormones have
00:22:58.820been crazy for 10 years because I've been breeding for 10 years. So I have for the listeners who
00:23:06.360who don't know and wouldn't know, I tend to email Joe late night musings on our dystopian
00:23:12.000world. True, you do. And I like them. I always I always appreciate them.
00:23:17.620So, you know, we are living in pretty crazy times. And I would say to all women,
00:23:24.500if you're feeling rageful, I get it. I'm with you. We are in this together. And I certainly
00:23:31.940do not want to blame hormones for everything because they're not the culprit here for everything.
00:23:39.300But if they can be, I don't want to say optimized because I don't even think that's a thing. But if
00:23:45.300you can feel better physically, biologically, you know, mentally from the inside out, that can only
00:23:51.980help. Right. And I would say, well, what is it that's bothering you and how can we fix it?
00:23:57.260And it might mean hormone therapy. It might mean changing jobs because your boss is an asshole. It might mean voting. It could mean all of the above. Right. This isn't just a one and done solution.1.00
00:24:10.420yeah no and i did a full inventory recently of things that were making me enraged uh that might
00:24:19.700not have to be with have to do with my hormones and frankly i decided that there were some things
00:24:25.040and people i just had to cut out of my life to get rid of some of that rage and i feel really
00:24:31.240good about that you know it always that's always nervous making but i do think taking an inventory
00:24:37.940like that, it can really help. I love that. I think another word or term for that could be
00:24:45.140setting boundaries or carving out things that actually add value to your life. So many women1.00
00:24:50.580older than I am told me that they do things like that. And they framed it as once they were post1.00
00:24:56.260menopause, they felt more confident and, you know, not like hormones are wild and crazy. And then you
00:25:02.360suddenly feel like the best version of you. I think it's also life experience. But I do think
00:25:08.480there's something about perimenopause and the menopause transition that does give women
00:25:12.720an opportunity to reflect. What is it that makes them happy? What is it that doesn't? What do they
00:25:21.080need help with? What do they need to work on? And that might include cutting out the noise, right?
00:25:26.660Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think that we are raised for so long to be people pleasers that we want to make all of these people and institutions in our life happy all the time. And we simply cannot. We cannot do it.
00:25:43.200And I'm finally coming to the realization that it is indeed impossible.
00:25:48.220But I will say, especially when it comes to work projects that are incredibly toxic, cutting those out of your life can can feel very tricky.
00:25:57.380But I do think that given where I'm at, it's time to to just like kind of do a big cleanse of all of the things.
00:28:08.780Some of the stories that I heard that were really profound for me as a mental health professional
00:28:14.480were related to the mental health struggles that women were experiencing
00:28:18.880and the absolute lack of help that they got.0.94
00:28:23.440I'm talking about women who are well-educated, they're well-resourced,
00:28:28.460they had a lot of great support, and yet they really struggled to find the right providers
00:28:34.720who even said, huh, this could be related to menopause. You're about that age, right?
00:28:41.740Instead, the doctors that they saw were giving all kinds of antidepressants, but nothing was
00:28:48.840working. I've met with women who went into inpatient psychiatric units because they were
00:28:54.820so desperate for help. They were maybe even suicidal and no one mentioned hormones. That's
00:29:02.420a problem. I think that's changing with conversations like these, but the amount of
00:29:07.720women who went through something like that, that I met with was astounding. I also interviewed a
00:29:14.540lot of women who took note of their mother's experiences and they would say things like,
00:29:19.540wow, she must have really been suffering, whether she had heart cardiovascular issues or she was
00:29:26.900really moody, but it didn't seem like her and it impacted the entire family. That was really
00:29:32.800profound for me too. And it just confirmed that these are conversations we need to be having with
00:29:38.780people of all ages and make it better for the generations to come. Yeah, it's so funny. I was
00:29:46.720talking to my mom about this the other day. She was here this weekend watching our kids. And I
00:29:52.980told her that I got back on the pill to try to regulate some of these hormonal changes. And she
00:29:58.740goes, you know, I don't think I had any symptoms from menopause. And I just remember her being
00:30:03.780a raging lunatic for about 10 years. But no one said, oh, hey, maybe you're going through this0.80
00:30:11.420because maybe she didn't have the characteristic hot flashes, which were literally all anyone ever
00:30:16.460talked about. That's it. That's it. I don't think she knew. I don't think she had any idea what she
00:30:22.860was going through. And it was just such an interesting perspective. Yeah. No, I've spoken
00:30:29.660with many women who were born in the 50s, you know, the boomer. I don't know when your mom was0.89
00:30:34.680born, but that era, because they weren't offered hormone therapy following the WHI study. And they
00:30:41.400were essentially told, this is just midlife, suck it up. And you're right about hot lashes. That
00:30:45.960tends to be the hallmark for the irregular periods, but a lot of people don't even get a period. So
00:30:51.820it's complete BS. And if a provider says, well, you're not in menopause because you still got a
00:30:57.500regular period, it's time to find a new provider. Yeah. Yeah. And it is also heartbreaking to me
00:31:04.860that you did talk to so many women who kind of had to hit rock bottom in their lives before
00:31:11.140getting any kind of help, right? Yeah. It's really upsetting. And I'm so grateful to them
00:31:18.480that they are using their experiences to help others. And of course, you know, what about all
00:31:24.140the women who don't have that opportunity? But that's why we share their stories.0.98
00:31:30.980So give me a roadmap. If I were coming into you as a patient, you know, what are you telling
00:31:40.520millennial women about how to prepare for this we we got into sleep and then we got sidetracked
00:31:46.740what are the other lifestyle changes so other lifestyle changes and i'll list them and then0.96
00:31:52.240we can dig in if we want but so sleep good nutrition and they always say get your vitamins
00:31:58.540and nutrients from food versus supplements if you can stress reduction which is where someone like
00:32:06.000me also comes in. Social connectivity is huge. We can't age and have good cognitive functioning
00:32:14.220without social connection. So it's not only good for our mental health, but also our physical and
00:32:20.260all areas of our health. And then, and I know you like this one, strength training is so important
00:32:27.120for our bones, our muscles. We don't want to be frail old ladies who break a hip and then are0.50
00:32:33.580immobile for the rest of our lives. We want to be strong and healthy. And that often comes with
00:32:39.480strength training and other forms of weight resistance exercises. The other tool that I
00:32:46.020utilize, I'm also back on the pill, and that I educate women on is hormone therapy. It's medicine.0.99
00:32:54.640And my generation is absolutely still living in the shadow of the study that was misinterpreted
00:33:02.180to say hormone therapy is dangerous. When in fact, now we know that hormone therapy is safe and
00:33:08.460effective for most women. And just this last week at the Menopause Society's actual annual meeting,
00:33:15.060they found that women who start a form of hormone therapy in their late 30s, early 40s
00:33:20.640in perimenopause actually have significant disease risk reduction. So it's actually
00:33:27.740proactive. And I think women, I mean, we should all be screaming about this. And I suppose we are
00:33:34.080via this podcast. Women need to know because they're afraid of this medicine. And in fact,1.00
00:33:41.980it's protective for us. And so I want my generation to be proactive. And that's why I wrote the book.
00:33:48.920And I think we will be proactive. I'm trying to be as proactive as possible. Which pill are you
00:33:55.780taking? I'd say yes. And that is because it worked well for me before I had babies. And that was the
00:34:03.160first thing we tried. And luckily, it worked well for me again. Great. Yeah. Mine is, I think,
00:34:09.240Loestra is what it is. I think it's the generic version of Loestra. I had to look it up the other
00:34:15.560day for some other reason. And like I said, I don't know yet. We will see. My sleep is still
00:34:20.460a freaking disaster. And that is what I care the most about. But I also don't want to have these
00:34:25.460murder scene periods because all of my genes have blood all over them. Yeah, I know. There's a lot
00:34:32.320of things. And what I like to tell women to reiterate is that we're not going to fix everything.1.00
00:34:37.620We're certainly not going to fix everything all at once, but make a list of what's bothering you0.53
00:34:41.980the most. And let's say the bloody periods are at the top. Okay. The progesterone involved in the
00:34:48.960bill will help with that, right? Or if you're skipping altogether, that can help. And then
00:34:53.220it sounds like sleep is next for you okay i would keep an eye like i said you know what are your
00:34:59.220habits what is on your mind try that getting out of bed thing rule out any other issues try to get
00:35:06.540up at the same time every day to you know approximately the same time and and let's see0.97
00:35:11.580it is a lot of trial and error which of course is a pain in the ass i i get it you know who has time0.99
00:35:17.720That's a pain in the ass. I just I just want an easy fix. And to be honest, if men went through this, there would be an easy fix.0.99
00:35:25.000Well, I don't disagree. And that's why we need to keep talking and funding and voting and normalizing it because we do need better solutions.
00:35:35.440solutions. This past week in particular, actually, there had been some really good news coming out
00:35:43.020in this space. There was another drug that was just FDA approved for women with personal histories
00:35:50.380of breast cancer. And it's a non-hormonal drug that can help significantly with hot lashes. So
00:35:55.960we love that. We love options. And that's really the point. We need more options because it's not
00:36:02.520one size fits all. It's not one size fits all. We do need more options. We have to keep talking
00:36:08.720about it. It is all my friends talk about, by the way. We talk about the Louvre heist and we talk
00:36:15.300about this. I have not gone to a gathering of women in their 40s in the past year where
00:36:22.460perimenopause has not come up. Have you? So it's interesting. I would say with my friends who are
00:36:29.740in their 40s, like you're 45-ish. It's a topic, which I love. For my friends who are in their
00:36:36.560late 30s and 40s, they still get funny about the word menopause. No, really? Yeah. I think some of
00:36:46.320it does have to do with fertility and maybe they're not done having babies. And so they do feel
00:36:53.360nervousness around the end of fertility and their change in identity. And I totally get that.
00:37:01.240But we also know from research that if you have a negative attitude about it, if you're dreading
00:37:06.580the change, you may be at risk of more severe symptoms. So at the very least,
00:37:12.480do yourself a favor and be curious and hopefully optimistic.
00:37:16.340i hadn't thought about it like that in terms of worrying that somehow just talking about menopause
00:37:24.040or preparing for it feels like a heart like something that could be terrible for your
00:37:29.420fertility of course it is but to be honest i didn't start thinking about this until after i
00:37:34.160had my babies i was so focused on fertility and breastfeeding and all of that but i also finished
00:37:40.360having babies at 42. Right. Right. But I have a few friends and clients who are in their mid-30s
00:37:47.780and they don't have children yet. And so they even hear menopause and they're like, that's not for
00:37:52.420me. I don't want to even think about it. And I get that. But again, knowledge is power and you
00:37:57.000should be thinking about it. You should know what it means if your period suddenly changed.
00:38:01.480You should, as a general rule of thumb, speak with a reproductive endocrinologist by age 35
00:38:06.100so that you know your options. And I just don't think that burying our heads in the sand is good
00:38:12.500because menopause is happening. So we might as well go into it prepared. Exactly. But I mean,
00:38:18.340it goes back to what we said before about this stigma, that it has been so stigmatized and made
00:38:22.820to seem like it's also the end of your fertile years or somehow the end of your time as a woman
00:38:29.900in the world and then we become like an old shriveled up crone or something and so I get it
00:38:38.040that you don't want to think about menopause while you're still especially if you're still
00:38:43.000hoping to have babies and I didn't I mean I had babies I'm trying to think I'm like 35 30 or no
00:38:51.00037 39 42 uh and yeah I didn't think about it until 42 but that was three years ago and that
00:38:59.560was also when there was this huge you know the menopause surge where everyone started talking
00:39:03.780about it but i want us to talk about all these life stages for a woman all the time that's what
00:39:09.160feels that's that's what feels good to me agree and in general i think it is valuable of course
00:39:15.780to have the freeze perimenopause or menopause transition yes we need labels but i kind of
00:39:22.980hate labels like i don't care if you're in perimenopause if you're stressed or you feel0.74
00:39:27.480like shit or your sleep is bad, let's work on that. Let's get you the help we need. And we do0.97
00:39:32.700need diagnoses for insurance and also for treatment options, right? Because a postpartum woman might1.00
00:39:40.160not need hormone therapy, but a woman who's both postpartum and perimenopausal, which happens a0.99
00:39:47.000lot, she may need hormone therapy. So yes, it's important to have the labels, but I would say
00:39:53.260focus on your symptoms and I tend to treat the symptoms, not the label. Yeah, I think that's
00:39:58.860right. I think that's right. Tell everyone where they can find more of your work and this wonderful
00:40:04.460book, Millennial Menopause. Thank you. It's available wherever books are sold. If you go
00:40:09.740to millennialmenopause.com, you can see all the links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., as well
00:40:15.440as my book tour coming to the South Jersey area in November and Miami and New York, which is where
00:40:23.660I live. And I am available on Instagram as the counselor. Counselor, but L-E-U-R. Thanks so