The Live Lightly Podcast

Jessica Franklin (00:00)
welcome back to Her Health Code. I'm Jess. And I'm Michelle. And today we're going to talk about all things perimenopause and menopause. We're going to get started with this discussion and the way we're going to do it, we're just going to tell our experiences. So Jess, why don't we get started with you? Jess is a few years younger than me and we're in a little bit of different stage. So we thought we'd give you a couple different perspectives. Jess, go ahead and let's start with you with your story.

I remember when I first had a memorable, my first memorable menopause moment was hot flashes. Yeah. And that was the thing that to me signaled, uh-oh, what's happening? You know, when I started getting online and, you know, looking at why I'm having hot flashes. And then shortly after I had missed a period, which had never happened before at this time, was two and a half years ago. So I'm now 48 just turned.

So I guess I was, you know, 46 and it was just new to me and I didn't know anybody else who had been going through it. So for me, I felt all alone and I felt like, who am I going to talk to? And so of course you and I are very close and I felt comfortable and I knew you were a couple of years older.

well maybe she's had some symptoms too but you're still under 50 so I was not sure very nervous feeling super you know anxious about bringing it up with anyone but I always feel safe with you and we talk about all of our health stuff anyway so I kind of remember like easing into the conversation with you like so yes I remember yeah like have you had any of these symptoms like hot flashes yet and

You know, so that was my first real aha moment coming into this whole phase of life, but it felt very, you know, like the rug had been pulled out from under me because I felt like I'm too young for this. you know, maybe I was 45 and a half. Yeah, that's what it was, 45 and a half.

Yeah, I just felt like, wow, this is coming at me way too soon. I always assumed it was in your early 50s. And so when I talked to you and you confirm yes, it's happening. it definitely helped to have that person to relate to. It was still, a lot to process because I wasn't ready for it.

prepared at all. so there was a lot and for me, I want to know everything about everything that there is to know and how do I get rid of this. So of course, I dove into a book about eating for menopause and you had the same book. Yeah, and I had the same book. And because we're both health coaches, we wanted to kind of be that health detective for each other and for ourselves. And so we kind of did a deep dive and all things perimenopause and menopause.

and really learned a lot from our research and learned a lot from each other and each other's experiences and kind of troubleshooted some different supplements, activities, foods, mean, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, because there's so much available. And so I feel like we both did. We both were going down that rabbit hole and trying all the things and some of it worked. mean, honestly, for me, changing some of the things in my diet.

definitely helped with the symptoms. know, that book kind of laid out how to eat certain foods for certain symptoms that you're experiencing. And I remember getting on the bandwagon with that right away and having my hot flashes improve a lot. And then after a couple of missed periods, I came back and I was feeling like I was back online again, except for my mood.

Well, what would you say that you found that you changed that really had made a difference for you on a natural level, like with your foods? And which foods did you say would you say that really? into my diet. I started eating more tofu because I was, I think just a lot of people had made tofu sort of an enemy. It has too much estrogenic effects. And so I kind of backed away from.

from tofu, not even really with a full understanding of why, but it was just an easy food to kind of say no to and avoid, especially because if you're out and about, most tofu is not organic. And so then you're getting into the whole GMO situation. And it's just easier to avoid. But I learned more about soy and how it actually has benefits and can help you improve your estrogen levels. And I think that that's what helped because that's what's happening.

you know, in our bodies, the estrogen levels are dropping. And so if you can kind of support that with some outside sources. Yeah, absolutely. Such as that. And then cruciferous vegetables, I added more of those to my diet more like more regularly, you know, like eating more broccoli and more Brussels sprouts and cauliflower and just making

Did a weekly coleslaw that I would make and just that was an easy way to get it in. Yeah, that's an easy way Did you ever notice any differences? know you from food playing around with that. Yeah Yeah, so I I definitely indulged in changing my diet and incorporating a lot more food So for me, I've been on the tofu bandwagon for a long time in fact I was vegan for quite a few many years and

I wouldn't consider myself vegan anymore. I consider myself more of a mindful eater where I listen to my body and what it needs. And so I do eat eggs and fish. And occasionally I eat a little beef or chicken and basically just honoring what my gut and my body is calling for. But I do believe that eating a large amount of tofu and I actually drink soy milk sometimes and because it's literally just soybeans and water and

I do think that does make an impact. And the cruciferous vegetables, actually love, and I make broccoli and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts and all those things pretty much on a regular basis anyway, but being mindful of it was really good. And the other thing I've incorporated more for my heart health is I do beets. And so,

I'm usually kind of steamed beets, like once a week in my Instant Pot, takes eight minutes, and then I keep them in my freezer and just kind of use them in my blender. But beets, because our heart health is really important as we get to midlife. And so beets was another food that I've kind of pushed into my midlife nutrition. Yeah, I feel like that's one we haven't talked about yet.

So I'll have to try that as well. What do you put them into? Like after you freeze them, you use them. I put them in a smoothie. So lately what I do is I've been using my juicer and trying to get more nutrients. And so I juice a bunch of carrots for beta carotene and vitamin A for your skin. And I juice a bunch of celery, which is also very good for your gut and your sodium levels.

And so I juice those, put them in like my little silicone trays and I freeze it. And then in the mornings, I just take out one of those, stick it in my blender with a frozen beet and then, you know, a little hot water and blend it together. And that's my smoothie. Yeah. So you're getting like power nutrition without the cleanup every single day. So I've, the reason I in the past kind of, kind of gotten away from juicing is because it's such a pain in the butt to clean up. But

I love the nutritional punch that you get from juicing. And so this is my new way of finding that I can get both. I don't have to do the cleanup every day, but I can still get that nutrition. Right, just doing it once a week. Once a week, sticking in those silicone trays, and then it's a wham-bam, quick smoothie in the morning. That's good. I like that.

We always talk about our nutrition hacks, Yes, and they do always change, which I do think is important because I think we are changing and I do think, you know, it comes back to gut diversity and how much our gut does like a more diverse diet. so

Constantly changing what you're eating is really important and to get all the nutrients getting all the nutrients that our bodies need and so it's good to be changing it up all the time and You know more of listening to your body and not what marketing is telling you that you need and so we have both found that that's the most important because right now we are bombarded by crazy ads and crazy marketing telling us all kinds of loony things like eating a

130 grams of protein in one day. my gosh, I know that sent me over the edge. know. So just about so insane. That stressed me out. Beyond Yeah, because I'm gonna get my body weight in grams of protein when you're not eating, you know, me every day. Yeah. Like you and myself, we both

kind of do a more balanced approach to me eating and yeah, it was just way too stressful. And once you do the research, we'll have an episode just about this because there is a lot going on out there right now about high, high protein diets, especially for women in this time. And I feel like that's something that needs to be addressed. And a lot of other topics that people are talking about. And there's two different polar

you know, somebody saying this about protein and somebody saying the opposite. So there's a lot of topics out there like that. And I feel like I got caught up in many of those things as I'm sure you have over the years, the past few years as well. And one of them being HRT. that's, you know, also a conversation that I think is part of this journey, because you start thinking like, okay, when do I do that? Yeah.

Is it good? Is it bad? Yeah, and you really have to do a deep dive in the research. So let me just go ahead. I'll start since we are diverting because we love talking all things. You know, the one thing I want to say before I tell my story with my perimenopause story is, you know, that's part of the reason Jess and I became health coaches is because we want to help women navigate through all this marketing and clutter and you're you know, for your brains.

and really tune into your bodies and listen to what your body needs when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to self care, when it comes to lifestyle changes. Like it really is possible for you to have the answers from tuning into your own body's needs. So I divert again, but so my story. Because it begins before well before I.

Yes. About the topic. Yeah. So I am 50 years old, I just turned 50. And I started my perimenopause journey, I wouldn't want to say about seven years ago, I definitely was suffering for a long time before I even knew what was happening. For me, it started with I didn't have hot flashes right away, I had night sweats. And so I would wake up

Like I had literally wet myself, like soaking wet, like drenched, like the bed was drenched, I was drenched, it was absolutely disgusting. And I couldn't go back to sleep because then of course my sleep started being disrupted as well. So I'd wake up, have to change out of my pajamas, change my sheets, and then I couldn't go back to sleep. And it was just, I was a hot mess. for me, literally it was a hot mess. So I started with the night sweats.

And occasionally I'd have a hot flash, but for me it was mostly the night sweats that I started. And then I noticed my moods were very irritable. Like I was easily triggered. Whereas before I felt like I was a pretty calm individual and I just found myself very easily affected and very easily to get upset. And I found myself...

you know, kind of in a shame cycle a lot of times when like I would lose my temper with one of my children or my husband. And then I would, you know, and I'd be like, and I'd go back, you know, kind of intro, know, intro into myself and like, why did I do that? And then I'd feel so bad about it. And of course I'd go apologize. But at the same time, I had no idea why I was just so like, it was- long did it take you to-

Make that connection because I know that if it was seven years ago, nobody was talking about nobody was talking about it and I just felt like I The more I would do it the more I felt bad about it and I developed this internal like shame cycle within my own head like my gosh why and that I'd feel terrible and you know, and of course I'd always make a point to apologize whether it was my kid or my husband

but I couldn't stop it, which was the most infuriating thing. And I would do my breath work and I would do my yoga and I would do my walking. And then I tried giving up caffeine because I thought caffeine was the problem. And I gave up alcohol. I tried everything when it came to food and self-care. And I was trying to solve the problem, but it literally didn't solve. I felt like I struggled with that for a long time.

Um, and it wasn't until, so I struggled with that for the first couple of years. And at the time I had no idea. thought it was kind of those first symptoms. Those were the first couple of years. Yeah, those were, they were the night sweats and that was just kind of interlapping. And so I just felt like I was becoming a not very nice person and I was not liking myself very much, which of course then comes into anxiety and depression. And then what really scared me was about, I want to say,

about four years ago, about four or four and a half years ago. And again, at that time, menopause wasn't really being talked about. I started having heart palpitations, multiple heart palpitations to the day. And I was like, oh my gosh, like what is going on? And I'd get my blood pressure checked and everything looked good. And then one day I literally thought I was having a heart attack. I remember myself clear as day, I was in the kitchen.

my heart was racing. I felt like I had a giant like weight on my chest and I was like, my gosh, here it comes. I'm gonna die. And I felt like the thoughts about like, what about my kids? What about my husband? What about my family? Like all these thoughts are racing through my head and I'm bracing myself on the counter and thinking, my gosh, I gotta get to the emergency room. And so it like, it was like kind of ebbing and flowing. And so,

when it started, so I called my doctor, she said, come to the emergency room. And so I got there and I'm sitting in the waiting room and I'm doing my breathing, my breath work and I'm doing waiting, waiting to get in to see the doctor to get the EKG. And I'm like doing my breath work, doing more, but they left me sitting there for like 45 minutes. So I'm literally doing nonstop breath work. And by the time I got in there, it had dissipated. And so they stick the electrodes on me doing the EKG and they're like, this looks fine.

I think you're fine. I think maybe maybe you're having a panic attack and I'm like, my gosh. my gosh. Something else that happens to make you feel less than yeah. And so then I was like, yeah, and then I felt crazy. I was like, Okay, there's nothing wrong with me. What is going on? So then I've carousel I'm looking at my caffeine intake. I'm looking at this I'm looking at my stress level. And then it started happening more regularly, not as severe.

but more regularly. And it wasn't happening just during the day. It would happen when I was laying in bed at night, trying to go to sleep and I'd be laying there and my heart was racing. And talk about fear. Like I was so overwhelmed with fear because not only did I not know what was going on with my body, I thought I could possibly die, but my doctor didn't give me any help at all. And so she referred me to a cardiologist.

And they did their tests and they stuck me, they stuck a heart monitor on me for 30 days and trying to figure out like, okay, we're not catching it on the EKG. Maybe it's off time. Maybe we can catch something in irregularity or something on an off time when we're not having her hooked up. And so I wore this thing for 30 days and still nothing, still nothing. They said, you're fine. It must be in your head. Like, and so then I felt more crazy. Right. And I was like,

talk, I don't know anybody out there if you have gone through this, but it literally makes you feel insane when you feel like there is definitely something going on and nobody and it's real. Nobody can tell you what it is or what's going on. I asked, have you missed any of your periods yet? They were regular, but I've always had irregular periods. So that is something that wasn't a red flag for me. And so, and I think that's

There's nothing to connect the dots. There was no connecting the dots and nobody not one doctor had ever mentioned that I could possibly be perimenopausal. Not one. Not one ever. Not your OB, not your cardiologist, not your primary. Nothing. And so I went through this completely feeling like I just was going insane and the mood at the time the mood swings were getting more and more severe and and it wasn't until

a couple years ago that it started being more known to talk about perimenopause and menopause. And I started being like, my gosh, that makes total sense. I started like connecting the dots and then I started bringing it up to my doctor like I think I need hormones. And she's like, no, no, sorry, you didn't go without a period for 12 months. I'm sorry.

but I'm like, I'm not sleeping at this point. I wasn't sleeping at all. I couldn't go to sleep. Oh, you couldn't even fall asleep. And if I took something to go asleep, like an over the counter sleep medicine, I couldn't stay asleep. I wake up two, three, four times and I couldn't go back to sleep once I woken up. And so with the lack of sleep, hormones going crazy, I was literally a hot mess, I would go to my doctor begging.

Like I'm like I know then I had it in my head. I'm like, I know what's the problem Like I know I need hormones like please and and she's like, I'm sorry. I can't give you anything You have to go. No, have to go 12 months without a period. I'm sorry Wow, and how long ago was that that your OB was telling you that that was three that was three years ago Yeah, three years. They were like no way Jose and it wasn't until about it. You were saying you wanted that

I was saying I wanted them. I'm like, had connected the dots to myself and I was like, now I know what I need. But my doctor still hadn't connected the dots because she was like, nope, you don't need that. You're not ready for that yet. And so I tried everything natural under the sun. And it wasn't until I went in for my physical last year, one year ago, that I went in and I had given up asking because at this point I was like, she's never going to give me them.

you know, I don't I just have to live this way. And I went in to get my physical and she said, and by the way, are you still having problems sleeping? I said, Absolutely, I can't sleep for nothing. I'm like losing my mind. And she's like, I'm gonna put you on hormones. And I was like, what? She's like, it's time for you to go on HRT. And I was like, Am I hearing you correctly? Because I'm still having a period once in a while. And and I haven't gotten 12 months, like you said, and she's like, No, all of a sudden, all of a sudden,

The new research came out ladies that it is actually more beneficial for us to be on HRT before we hit menopause. So I have currently and I celebrate this now every day I have been on HRT for going on seven, seven and a half months now. Yeah, seven and a half months now, because it took me a while to say yes, because I was still like a little bit nervous. So yeah, about seven and a half months.

I've been on it and it wasn't a cakewalk. Like let me just tell you, it's not like one and done. Before you talk about your experience, can you talk a little bit about why you were still on the fence? Because you had already asked for it a couple of times. then here your doctor is saying yes and saying yes, we can do it now. There's some new research that supports we can do this. Why were you still a little hesitant? I was still hesitant because of that all that

you know, that research that came out like 20 years ago with the, you know, the Premarin and, you know, they came out and, you know, were saying, it could cause cancer. And so I, so I had to like literally look at all the research myself again. And, and then the new research that came out, which of course contradicts that. And so that does not cause cancer. It's actually got many benefits. And

But you know, I literally had to play my own detective again and because there was a lot of fear, I'm like, I don't want to feel worse. Like I don't want to do something that's going to make me feel even worse than I'm feeling now. But let me just tell you, within a week of being on it, it was like my brain fog lifted. I could sleep again. Like, I don't think...

I, my brain actually went to sleep for years. Like I don't think I fully had deep sleep for years. I'm, and I don't know if anybody out there has experienced this, but it was such a light. Like if I did get to sleep, it never felt restorative. And so when I got on the estrogen, estrogen and progesterone, like the progesterone,

not only lets you sleep well, it gives you dreams again, like I I'm dreaming again. And it's like very restorative. And it just it's like night and day. Your memories are processing. Yes. sleep. And now you're able to have memories again. Yes. And I feel like a completely different person now than I did before I took HRT. And let me just tell you I and you know,

I've always eaten really well, very, you know, very nutritious. I've always exercised. I've always done yoga. I've always done all the things that they tell you to do, but I was still before the HRT feeling horrific, horrific, and I couldn't sleep. And so for me- And that adds to feeling horrific. It's not just the hormones. Now you're not getting-

all of the detox that happens exactly and in all of your systems and also the emotional processing. Yeah, that happens while we're sleeping, we're constantly processing our emotions. And if there is anything traumatic that happens, you know, it's important for us to be processing as we sleep. And if you're not doing that, that I would say is raising all your cortisol levels and cortisol levels and the mood swings are probably amplified because you haven't

that opportunity to process the emotional things that you're experiencing on a daily basis, whether it's due to crazy hormone plummet situations or other things that are just happening on the normal day to day, know, emotional processing is really important. And if none of that's happening, it's just like this downward spiral. And it's a big, it's like a snowball. It just keeps

keeps going and adding to the already, you know, reason why this is all a problem, which is hormones. So I just, I'm super grateful. Every time I pick up those hormones and then I can be on the hormones it did take, I've had some adjustments, but I will say to anybody out there that is struggling with any symptom that doesn't make sense to you. I encourage you.

to find and continue to reach out and find somebody to listen because you're not crazy. This is one of the hardest times in women's lives and it needs to be talked about not just by celebrities, but by us like real women and telling your story. So other women do not feel like they're alone. So if you're struggling with heart palpitations like I was or the mood swings or you feel like you're going crazy or severely depressed or

know the other small thing that you know didn't talk about that really it did it did play a part in my self-esteem because I think something that happens when you're going through this I don't know why but all of a sudden it takes such effort to put yourself together like I was going out in sweats and and you know

bun on my hair, no make like I just I look like a bum. And for some reason, like you, I felt like that was okay, because it took more effort to put myself together. And I had no desire to put myself together and no energy, no energy. And it was like, why would I waste my time like combing my hair and putting something nice on? Honey, I've been going through that. Yeah, say for the past like, six months. Yeah, I've been going through that cycle of

Because nobody talks about that. It's just- to grab that razor in the shower. Yeah, shave the legs. Yeah, you're like, why? Why should I do that? So I do think, but I will tell you, since I've made it, whether I feel like it or not, a point to I have to put myself together, I do think even when your insides feel yucky, if you put yourself together on the outside, it does help.

make you feel a little bit better inside. really do. But you kind of had to have the support going of these hormones coming in to be able to kind of get to that place where you're like, okay, yeah, this is important. I need to do this. Well, even before the hormones, I was more in the fake it till you make it feeling like I knew I had to do it. And so I it wasn't working that great. But I was doing it because something in my head said I knew that was like one thing like

in addition to like walking and exercise and eating right. That was another thing. Like if you don't put yourself together, somebody said to me once, and this always stuck with me, if you're not putting yourself together to present yourself to the world, you're telling the world you don't respect yourself enough to do that. And I think that makes a lot of sense. And so that really was the thing that got me to like over the hump of like, don't feel like it anymore because

it I really I wanted to show the world like no, I do respect myself even though I don't feel good and in my head and in my body right now. I have to make an effort to put myself together. Because that is important for yourself before you before the HR team. Yeah, before the HR team. It was a struggle. And it is a struggle. And that's something other women don't talk about either is is that like

I don't want to put myself together. And so I started also embracing like color therapy, like different colors of clothes and how they impact your moods and really getting out of that black white situation, know, give yourself something. Yeah. Embracing colors, you know, embracing the colors that compliment and like make you shine.

really do play a role in how we feel and how we present ourselves in the world. So, and I also want to add to this, both of us are stay at home moms. We don't have to put ourselves together to go out and face the business world and our colleagues. So it makes it, I think even that much harder to, you know, you're in this kind of rut emotionally. And I feel like if you, if we, if I had that motivation, like

to put myself together to go face colleagues or clients or whatever, that it probably would still be a struggle, but I would have done it. Whereas like, here we are, it's like, oh, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna be going to the grocery store and putting together a meal and doing some laundry and cleaning some bathrooms today. like going to the grocery store to me was not much different than doing laundry at home. So it's like, oh, sweat, that works.

Yeah, but you don't you put yourself together when you meet with a client and so we're primary like our priority and our primary time period is spent with you know, taking care of our household our husbands our children However, we're both certified health coaches. We meet with clients which we do put ourselves together for our client meetings and for you out here in the audience and I'm also working as a yoga instructor. And so when are we we?

we like to prioritize our family and our household. And I think it's good to put yourself together for your husband too. A lot of times I feel like, and my husband has mentioned it to me before, he's like, you dress up for your girlfriends more than you dress up for me. And it's true, I don't know what it is about us ladies, but I feel like when we go have a ladies night, we wanna put our best outfit on, our makeup's done, but it's just, we lose that.

desire always on the day to day. so I think the day to day, you know, we need to kind of, you know, bring our game up a little bit. Right. Just like we were before this all started happening. You know, you wouldn't have gone without putting on something decent to go to the grocery store, even though you were still, you know, stay at home or go to the school for drop off or, you know, baseball or whatever. Yes.

Yeah, you know, you might not wear the best outfit in the world to go on a walk while your son is at baseball. Yeah, you're still going to wear something and be presentable and like, you know, absolutely. Yeah, I feel like the desire to, to, even, you know, do that lately has been my struggle for sure. And of course, you know, the whole putting myself together for, you know, just my husband and that's definitely, I can relate to that lately. Yeah, it's just been like,

You're like, I've married a long time. And I think it's just because you're feeling so like, err, about, you know, yourself because you feel crazy. You feel like you can't remember anything. You can't focus on things and all these things just start adding up and it takes a toll on your confidence too. definitely. And I've been noticing more and more of the things that you've been speaking about within the past like six months. I had a like, well,

you know, maybe get into some more of my more recent experiences after you finish talking about your experience with because I know you've had some ups and downs while you know, being on HRT. let's just talking about that. Yeah. So let me just briefly tell you about how it's not a one and done situation because I did assume that that was going to be the case like, okay, you give me these things once I finally decided, okay, I'm going to be on them, then it's going to fix me. Right? Well,

That's actually not the truth. Like I am at a point where I'm feeling amazing, but that's only because it's taken time. And you again, you have to really be at a point in your life where you can be really reflective. And I think that's really important that we, we become our own best health detective because even your best doctor is not going to be able to figure out what's going on inside your head and your body. Like you need to be able to convey that.

And so I really paid attention when I first got on my I went on the lowest dose of estradiol. I did a transdermal patch and then the progesterone I did orally and I was feeling fine. But then I started having like stomach issues like where my stomach was cramping and I was having like digestive problems and I was like, what the heck and so

pain. I was having severe pain. I was thinking I had a mass in my stomach. And so back to the whole like imagining bad things and feeling full of fear. I was back there again. And I'd been on this only a month and I was like, my gosh, this is not the answer. What now? did you even relate it to that? I knew because I don't take any other medications that that was the only thing that changed for me. So I was like, my gosh, did this grow something in me? Like

I had such a severe stomach pain. went to the urgent care and they, because of my age, they did a multitude of tests and, is super costly, very costly and checked everything out, did the ultrasound, you know, did it. And I, they couldn't find anything. And he was basically like, maybe you just need to go to the bathroom. But

I knew something wasn't working for me. And so I contacted my doctor and I said something's wrong. Like maybe I'm not at the right dose or something. And she's like, well, you can't go off of progesterone because you you're on estrogen. So you need one because you have a uterus. And I, you know, I totally understood that. I was like, but can I try this a different way? I said, yeah, there's gotta be a different way. And she's like, well, yes, why don't we allow you to do it? You can do it cyclically. So meaning like you can take progesterone.

and the times where your body normally would have an increase in progesterone. So it would be the 12 to 14 days and it would be, you know, instead of every single night I would take it, I would take it 12 to 14 days. And that really helped a lot. After about two months, all my stomach stuff like dissipated, but in the meantime, I also added some digestive help.

I added, I had some extra fiber. I started adding more flax seeds to, know, ground flax seeds to my meal, a little psyllium husk. And I felt like, I think because what a lot of people don't talk about, which I had to learn on my own, my doctor didn't tell me this either, is that- Because they don't know. Because they don't know. They don't know. So just so you know, progesterone, when you take it, actually slows your stomach.

So it slows your motility. And so you're taking it at night. And if you have anything on your stomach at all, you're slowing it down. And that can create issues in your gut. And I didn't know that. And so it wasn't until I started having the extra fiber, I stopped, I tried my window to stop eating, not because I'm trying to intermittent fast.

but because I'm trying not to counteract my podestrin, I have to stop eating by like 530. I no longer, I try to actually have my last meal like at four-ish because I don't want to have any food on my stomach when I'm taking that podestrin because I know it's gonna really slow down my motility. And I had to find that out on my own. Nobody talks about that. Experimental or did you just read?

I started doing a deep dive on both medicines because I wasn't taking any other medicines. So I knew that whatever was causing my problems at that time had to come from them. And so that's how I came to the whole, the stomach, you know, the slowing of the stomach emptying and the slower motility because of the gesturing and kind of put two and two together of changing my eating window.

And now I'm doing fine, but I had to increase my estrogen just a little bit to balance out the progesterone. And so now I'm at the right level. And so I'm telling you this because do not think if you get onto HRT that it's that's your it you're done. You have to constantly be monitoring what's happening in your body, what's happening with your your digestion, what's happening in your moods, your

all your symptoms, they have to constantly be monitoring, you can take notes on it. You can, you know, if you you know, if you remember these things, you can just take mental notes on you know, what's happening, I wouldn't rely on that, though. Yes. But it is important for you out there, if you're thinking about getting on HRT, that you know, that it's going to take time for your levels to get like figured out. And it's still not a I'm still not done because

It is said that your hormones, your HRT needs to be modified, you know, every so often. So something could happen within my body where in like six months, I might need to alter something again. And so it's really important that you know that this is a constant changing method. This is not you take something and then you're done. You have to...

be constantly monitoring yourself and checking in with your healthcare professional at all times. And whether that's an OB or your primary or a hormone specialist, you should always be checking in with somebody to help monitor what's happening with you. Yeah, that's important to know because I think a lot of people think, I'm just going to get on it and then it'll fix all my problems. all my problems. And it'll be

perfectly right. if you're with a good health care provider who's checking on some blood work and looking into those areas before and during, then I think you're on the right track. But sometimes you need to know and you need to ask and advocate for yourself because I don't think that every health care provider understands. Some of them just go with, well, how are you feeling? What are your symptoms?

And they are not quite sure because they're not trained. Yeah, and that's what I don't think a lot of people realize is these doctors have had very, very, very minimal if any experience in learning about menopause, OB is actually only have two weeks that they spend in training as an OB talking about and learning about menopause. And so most healthcare professionals know very little.

And so it is so important that you are doing your own research, that you are listening to your body and what's happening with you because it is, it's a lot of new waters for everybody, everybody, healthcare professionals, us ladies, like everybody, we all have to play a health detective. Yeah. And if you are

asking the right questions, then hopefully your healthcare provider is able to answer them. If they're not, then I would highly suggest finding someone who is dialed in. And that's what I needed to do because my OB, I felt like just kind of very dismissive, like, we'll run your normal yearly annual hormone panels and we'll see where you're at. And basically when my hormone panels came back saying like, yeah,

this is happening. That's what she said. Yeah, you're in perimenopause. That was about it. She had nothing to say about HRT. I didn't ask because I wasn't interested in it. Because I, I kind of have this mindset and I don't know, are you, are you in a place where you feel good? And I can talk a little bit about like where I was when I first got my blood work back and what I've gone through since then.

yeah, definitely. Yeah, no, no, no, I'm so good. The one thing I did want to mention that I didn't mention is that I was offered an antidepressants multiple times, multiple doctors, multiple times kept telling me that I needed to get on medication, that, you know, that was the only way I can control my anxiety and my mood swings and that I would be tolerable to live with anymore. And I will tell you ladies, if this is happening to you.

I think it's ridiculous. And it's actually, think, laughable and gross that these healthcare professionals are pushing this on ladies that do not need it. They are just going through this change of life. They do not need this medication. It's different. It's like you're treating something that's not the cause. Yes. And that's not the case if you are struggling. So if you are struggling, yes, please seek those medications out. Right.

but if it's just this menopause that is just overwhelming you, there are ways to get through it without having to go on these medications that are really hard to get off. And there are some of you out there who may be on those medications because the doctors told you you needed to be on them. And if you are and you're thinking now, it's probably just my hormones, then yeah, that's definitely something.

to talk to your doctor about. Yeah, a path to take right now is to find that healthcare professional who can dial in on your hormones. I started working with someone who this is, she's actually a very close friend of mine and I started a conversation with her about something else. I was a little stressed about some blood work that had come back over the summer when my shoulder, actually my right shoulder.

was in massive pain and I had this a lot of blood work done and I was kind of stressed about some of the results. So of course I reached out to my friend who is a she's a naturopath she's a functional medicine doctor a little bit different than a naturopath and she's traditionally trained in Chinese medicine acupuncture, oriental medicine and all the things and I know she's got so many things going on I know.

I'm not giving her justice and we will have her on, I think as a guest because she's brilliant and she has so much to say. This is her wheelhouse. And I didn't actually know that. I thought she was mostly working with women on fertility, natural fertility. I had worked with her while I was pregnant and I received acupuncture, but I didn't know that she actually was really dialed into this time of life, menopause, perimenopause, and was helping people with that. And so when I was...

telling her how stressed I was about this A1C, which is something that came back a little bit high on some labs. It's like 0.1 over what it should be. So it came in high, which to me is indicating pre-diabetes. To me, that's just really, it was very distrustful to see that. So I immediately reached out to her and was like, my gosh, what's going on? Like.

You know, I can't believe this is, you know, I'm eating right. I'm not overweight. I exercise. I do all the things. And she was like, it could be your hormones. How old are you? You're at that time of life. And I was like, really? That can have an impact on my blood sugar. Isn't that a relief to actually have a doctor not tell you you're crazy and to like dismiss what you're feeling? Yeah, because I'm sure that if I would have gone back to my male doctor, which was my primary, who gave me all these blood panels when I had

this shoulder pain, he would have probably been like, his response was, this is high, let's test it in six months. Yeah. Or three months. I don't know. His response was really just let's look at it again in a few months. It was pretty dismissive. Yeah. And here's me just very beside myself to see this and you know, all the time and energy that I take to be doing all the things for my health and then

to have this come back, it was really nice to talk to someone who I inadvertently, I didn't know that she would, I think I just wanted to like bounce it off of her and have her maybe just calm me down, be like, yeah, just go back in six months, you'll be fine. But actually she was able to relate it to this time in life that I'm in. And I was like, wow, I didn't even understand that that was.

connection at all. Yeah. glucose and our insulin and all the things so I did a lot of research and she really highly suggested that I get on HRT and at the time I was very much and I that's just my nature is to be very holistic and I know you too. Yeah. And I know that before you even ever thought about it and asked your doctor. You probably did so much research. my gosh so much research. Yeah and came to that conclusion but I wasn't there yet.

I was it I think it takes it takes a while to get there. I really do it took me years to get there. Um, and it takes a lot of suffering too. I thought I had more time to get there. But then this thing happened where I woke up one more night in the middle of the night and my shoulder was hurting so bad. I could not go back to sleep and I could not do anything to make it better. I mean, I tried so many different things. And I went through all this and

Thank God it was only two weeks, but it was like the worst two weeks ever with this. Yeah, you were in a lot of pain. I think that that's when I started realizing that, you know, this is a hormonal imbalance thing. And how am I going to address this food, you know, that's always my answer, like supplements, food, exercise.

and lowering my cortisol levels. But when I started talking to my good friend, Dr. Gina, she was saying, you know, all those things are great. All those things are really amazing. And I'm sure it's helping you. But the hormones are the thing that you really need to add in because that's

what's supporting all of these things. Your cortisol levels, your insulin, your glucose, all of the things are supported by these hormones that are in decline. And in addition to so many other things that estrogen is protective of, which we can go into on another episode, but...

It just really kind of brought me to the point where I realized I needed to figure this out. And so I did all the research, just like I'm sure you did. Do I go natural? Do I go, you know, pharmaceutical? Do I do it with, know, do I keep trying to figure this out with supplements? And, you know, she really was able to keep me on that like path. Like, know, you can't supplement your way out of this. can't your way out of this.

You could do natural creams that somebody's making with the same And I did try those. I tried the Sweet Yam Cream. And it did help. I tried that like the first time I had half flashes. a placebo effect or if I just really wanted it to help or if it really helped. Like I still don't know. I and I paid like what $80 a jar for that stuff. you did? yes. It was very expensive. one that was $25. Yeah I used a very expensive one.

Yeah, but the good news is is Jess is just about to start HRT. She has the prescriptions after all this we will give an update and see your progression and how you like progress as you start and she's actually starting and that's the other interesting thing is started yet and I'll tell you why is going to be starting at a higher level than I am based on what her doctors, you know, doctors decided that is best for her.

And so that's an also interesting thing. Like even though like, you you're, you're both just starting out sometimes, you know, if you're working with somebody, especially a functional medicine doctor, um, they have certain tests that they can do to kind of navigate differently. And so it'll be interesting. I will be interested to see how you start off on, you know, this higher dose to see how your body reacts. And we're going to kind of track it and

figure it out and tell all you guys about how she's doing on HRT and what her experience is for sleep, for mood, for anxiety, for joint pain, and all that and how that helps you or how you ended up walking through it. So I think that'll be another episode, which I think we'll try to do in a couple weeks.

once you get on it because I think that'll be a really good one because you're just starting the baby steps of being on it and it'll be good to share with those that are just kind of wanting to dip their toe in it but you know maybe a little scared to try it. Yeah I think I'm still in that little bit of scared to try it. Yeah I'm still there but I have them they're in my drawer they're ready to roll. Yeah they're ready to roll. it's been such this process for me I've been talking to her since

Gosh, I don't know when we reconnected. I feel like it's probably back in late August or maybe early September. So this conversation and my time to get my head around it and process it all and do more research, even after listening to this person that I highly, highly revere and trust, I still have these reservations. Of course, because it's your body. It's my body. You know, it's still a fear. And it's kind of a forever commitment. Yeah.

like once you get on. that it is a fearful thing to just jump on. You shouldn't take it lightly. It definitely should be, in some time to really investigate and research and really figure out if this is the right choice for you. We're going to not only talk about your experience going forward as you start this, but we're going to get in more detail on the different symptoms and how you can help them naturally and how you can.

you know, you know, the day to day lifestyle choices that are also going into helping us and help in that we think would help you. And so in future episodes, we're going to get into that. But today, we really just wanted to talk briefly about our experiences and, you know, start from there. And then we're gonna have many videos talking about menopause because this is hours and hours of topics.

So, so good stuff. So, but yes, I'm definitely excited to get started. We'll be back soon with some updates on that. And yeah, I'm excited to not be biting people's heads off. Right. But in the meantime, if you guys have questions for us regarding menopause or perimenopause, just, you know, shoot us a shoot us a comment in the show notes or you know, just just reach out to us. We'll have our information on how to get in touch with us.

in the show notes for you to take a look at. then until next time, thank you so much for listening. to your hormones. Yes, cheers to your hormones. I hope you feel great and have a blessed day.