Menopodcast Menopodcast - Menopause For The 21st Century

We commiserate about not having high-tech mic stands, but somehow we record anyway. And that segues us somehow into talking about how we both love to make lists. (And then cross things off!) Julia lets Sarah know about Bullet Journaling, and she says she’s not having it, personally. It’s too much work. All leading to how Julia feels Menopause is an amazing opportunity to take stock of your life. Julia brings up the notion of Commitment vs. Interest. Sarah brings up that when you do take stock, sometimes you’re faced with wanting to make a change about some aspect of your life, but because it might be hard to do, you aren’t willing to do the work, so you stay stagnant - and likely unhappy. Sarah feels sometimes like she wasted time not being as purposeful with her life. Like she feels so excited about life right now, but then feels OLD at the same time. Julia says she sometimes felt similarly about having her daughter later in life, but hey - that’s when she did it. There are some things you can’t change. But Julia is just feeling very excited about this place and time in life. Julia mentions something funny that happened when she tried to do her vagina homework. She was lying in bed thinking that she maybe should do her “homework” (masturbating), but then the next thing she knew she woke up the next morning! LOL
Bible Study - Menopause Confidential by Dr. Tara Allmen - Chapter 16 - “Potions, Patches and Pills, Oh My!”
This chapter is packed full of info about Hormone Replacement Therapies - so much to learn! Turns out so many studies about medication for Women’s Health is based on studying the effects on MEN. Ridiculous! But we learn the big difference between Peri-menopuase and Menopause: menopause is the cessation of periods for 1 year. AND - she says that IF you are still menstruating, you are technically not a candidate for hormone replacement therapy - which was big news to us! The Dr. also says that peri-menopausal women can be prescribed a low-dose birth control pill (continuous use) that will even out the estrogen. This will prevent you from knowing when you’ve had your last period, but it will help even you out. This is kind of what happened to Sarah, except with an IUD, and so her dr. recommended she stop using it, but whoops - he was wrong and she still has her period. Dr. Allmen calls women Sarah’s age who still have a period “show-offs”. Dr. Allmen talks about how different therapies and “potions” work differently and of course, every woman is different, so her fantastic tip is to try something for 3 months and see how it goes. If you get to 3 months and it isn’t working - try something else. And don’t quit it before 3 months is up. And we both want to find someone who specializes in menopause. We feel women should share info with each other about the best doctors. Factoid: turns out there are 65 million menopausal women in the US - and most are not on HRT. We discuss all the ways HRT can be delivered. Julia chose the Patch. You can be a candidate for HRT up until 10 years past your last menstrual period. AND the Dr. says she doesn’t usually recommend women stop taking HRT, and Julia has been considering tapering off. It’s making her think about it. But there’s some confusion about when it’s too late to be taking HRT. Factoid - progesterone is for your uterus. So if you’ve had a hysterectomy, no need! There’s some complicated info about bio-identical hormone therapy. We feel you’ll need to speak to your own medical pro to sort it all out. And she says this great thing - trust your symptoms and how you feel! The blood work may not bear out what you are feeling, so stick to your guns!
Chapter 17 - “I Want to Feel Like a Natural Woman”
What we like about Dr. Allmen is she likes facts and studies, and she feels there is not a lot of data proving that “natural” remedies work. But she also says that if something does work for you, no matter what it is, g