The Truth About Menopause

Struggling with hot flashes, sleep issues, or mood swings? You’re not alone—and you deserve real answers.

In The Truth About Menopause, we dive into the real effects of menopause and perimenopause, breaking down what’s happening in your body and why. From hormonal changes and menopause symptoms to the latest menopause treatments, this episode covers everything you need to know to navigate this stage with confidence.

We explore hormone replacement therapy (HRT), natural remedies, and lifestyle strategies designed to help with menopause symptom relief, including sleep support, weight management, and emotional well-being.

Whether you’re in your 40s or 50s, or simply looking for trusted women’s health and menopause advice, this conversation offers practical tools and expert insight to help you feel your best.

🎧 Listen now to learn how to manage menopause and take control of your health.

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Thanks for listening to Bare Speak, a space for women who want to feel stronger, more connected, and more supported in their bodies and lives.

I’m Laura Williamson, a fitness and wellness professional with 20+ years of experience helping women move with more confidence, less pain, and more trust in themselves, especially in seasons of change.

*New episodes every other Friday
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 *Learn more about me https://barefitnesspilates.com/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Hi everyone, this is Laura Williamson. Welcome to Bear Speak. It is wonderful to have you here today. Before we get started, I just want to let you know we have another fabulous show. We have Nancy Burzdack with us today from Balanced Wellness. Welcome, Nancy.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thank you, Laura.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

And before we get all into the throw of everything that we're going to be discussing today, let me tell you who I am. I am a personal trainer, a Pilates instructor, a health coach, and I happen to be a Ricky practitioner. So I train from the inside out, and I am here for you. And today's fabulous topic is about menopause. This has been a topic that many people have been asking me to do. So here I am, per your request. Nancy is here today to answer as many questions as she can about menopause, what it is, why it is, all the things. So, Nancy, now it's all about you. Tell us everything. How'd you get here? Welcome, tell us about the business, all the things. Because we're excited. We've been waiting for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Awesome. Just so you know. So we have a functional medicine practice that it um specializes in hormone health for women, especially menopause, also weight loss, and we also do general functional medicine consults in general.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

All right. Now, how did you get started? So basically about seven years ago, I had a head injury. I've been a traditionally trained nurse practitioner for many years, and I had a head injury that left me with vestibular migraines. So vestibular migraines are basically migraines without the headache. So you get everything else. So you get the dizziness, the nausea, the lightheadedness, the sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, all the stuff without the headache.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Um I was fairly disabled from that. I was out of work for six months, and even when I went back, I could only go back a few hours a day because everything bothered me. I was suddenly a sensitive flower. Okay. So the overhead lights bothered me. The screen bothered me. I would walk down the hallway with the zigzag rug and bounce into the walls. I would look in people's ears with the otoscope and fall into the wall. It was horrible. So I could only work a few hours a day because by the end of that I was toast and my my brain was not working. Okay. And I had severe brain fog and word-finding difficulty, all of this stuff. So I had been seeing many different traditional doctors, saw neurologists, saw ear, nose, and throat doctors, been on many different medicines. With every medicine, I thought this is going to be it. This is going to be the thing that's going to fix me. And it didn't. I had many CAT scans, MRIs, the whole shebang. At the same time, my office mate at the time was going through her her family member had Lyme disease, which is another sort of invisible illness that people really don't know what to do with.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

What was the certification? So we did IFM, so the Institute of Functional Medicine certification course. So yeah, it took a few years, uh, learned a lot, um, but it it's been very rewarding. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

So there are two of you. You have a partner. I have a partner too. Okay, so the two of you together in your own well, what do we call it? Is it considered medicine? Do you take insurance like it's functional medicine? It it's it sounds like it's a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

So it's everything. So functional medicine is very comprehensive. It's looking at the whole body of as a system rather than looking at each system individually. Okay. Um so in my specific scenario, my brain injury triggered some gut imbalances and hormone imbalances that gave me the vestibular migraines. So it makes sense that neurologists never picked up on that. You know, medications never worked because I wasn't going deeper into the root cause. So it's very rewarding when we go deeper and don't just slap a medication on people.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

So you you use the word deeper. You didn't go deep enough. You needed to go deeper. But how would you have known to go to go deeper? You you understand what I mean? Because there are many people, there used to be a a a way of thinking, and I think about my mom when I think about this, is what your doctor says is is is right. What you think no, the doctor's not the doctor's never wrong. Listen to your doctor, leave it alone, and that's it. So there are people out there in my mind who are probably sitting out there right now who will think, well, the doctor said A, B, and C, and I remember this because I had a um an argument with my mom once, and then would have left it at that, and that's it, end of story. But you, you took it a step further. Why do that?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Why did you even do that? Because I was disabled and I knew that was not going to be my end game. I would not let it be my end game. Even though I didn't fully understand what was going on, I became part of Facebook groups that were actually frankly depressing. You know, some people were talking about their emotional support dog that they needed with vestibular migraines, or how do I get my handicapped placard? I thought this is not going to be my future. So I did everything in my power to heal myself, but it took years. It took years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

So what is your approach when you're working with people or someone comes in to see you? How did how does a day start for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, so we do very in-depth, we have patients do very in-depth intake forms and we learn all about everything that's held that that has happened to them leading up to their current health concern. Um we look at all of the symptoms. So even if, for instance, they're coming to me for metapausal symptoms, we'll still talk about their gut health, we'll talk about their skin. They do a whole um symptom review, which is every body system. And then we we do very in-depth blood work. We look at their nutrients, we look at their hormones, uh, we look at inflammatory markers, cortisol, their thyroid, all of these things, because hormones don't actually live in a bubble. They everything affects each other. Your gut affects it, your cortisol affects it, your thyroid affects it. So it's important to look at all of these things. Um, so that's basically what we do, and then we come up with a plan, whether it's um, you know, there's always a component of lifestyle. There's um, we help coach people through supplements. We um and then even when it gets time to if someone is a good candidate for hormones, we'll even prescribe hormones at that time too. So who's your typical client? So we see everything, some metapausal women who would like a more holistic view. Um we see some people uh I have a fair amount of migraine and post-concussive patients now because of my story, and now I actually have tools to help people, which is very powerful. We see some people who just want a wellness and longevity plan. All right, I want to age the best way I can. Help me with my lifestyle. What supplements should I take? Should I be taking hormones? Should I not? What you know, so we kind of help put all those pieces together.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

I I think as I as as I'm listening to you, I think to myself, I say, I think, well, what would be the circumstances for someone to come to you who has or wants a holistic point of view? Am I already living a holistic life? Do I have a holistic point of view before I get to you? Or am I at a point where I've tried everything and now again, this is not my in game. Like, there's no way this is gonna be me. How many of the people that you're seeing, like not how many, but how often, what happens when? How often do you find, well, someone really came in with a holistic point of view versus because where I'm sitting, I always think in terms of inside out, the entire person, that's what holistic means for me, right? So in my mind, I would think, I want to take I don't want to take a whole bunch of medication. I've been down that road myself. I don't want to take all the stuff. If if I can avoid that, I really would like to. I'm gonna uh I'm gonna go here anyway. But you already also have the medical background. So for me, I would think automatically, well, this is a nice combination because I get the best of both worlds. I get someone who comes from this point of view and has experience over here, but they also have experience over here. So they can give me, they can kind of streamline it and bring it all together and say, you know what, I know about this, but we also have that, and here's the effects that could happen if you do this over here, but then there's also that. So for me, that's a win-win.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

So without having to go, does it need to be holistic, right? I I would have both it feels like I would have both your functional medicine, but it feels like I would have both options with you. Am I wrong in thinking that?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

No, you're absolutely right. So we do everything from talking to people about stress management to optimizing sleep to even sending medications to your pharmacy. So and everything in between.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

So it's very interesting and it's very gratifying because I remember being in primary care, I would see so many women, like perimetapausal women, that would come in with brain fog, fatigue, just not feeling themselves, even though nothing has changed. Their diet hasn't changed, their exercise hasn't changed, their stress hasn't changed, although they feel like they're less resilient to stress. And back in that setting, we would do very cursory blood work, and I would say, everything looks normal. You have to eat less and exercise more and do yoga, or you know, and it was so not satisfying because I know the patient didn't feel validated, right? Right. And it they're already working hard at what they're doing, and I felt like I so it wasn't great for them, it wasn't great for me because I felt like I wasn't helping them, you know. But now, transfer, you know, fast forward forward doing functional medicine, we can see that there's um we do the deep dive of the blood work, so we notice yes, your hormones are out of whack. Yes, you have nutrient insufficiencies, yes, your thyroid isn't as active as it should be. Yes, your cortisol is a little wonky. All of these things can contribute to the way you feel. So, which is satisfying because patients get answers. We have tools to help people with all of that. So it's it's just, you know, it's interesting how the same person can have a completely different approaches and it it is a game changer for their care.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

So it's been my experience, you know, because I've been doing this for around 22 years or somewhere in that neighborhood. So I feel like I've kind of grown and aged with a lot of my clients and I've and have and am going through a lot of the s the symptoms that you're speaking of, right? And so the conversations that I have with people, no two women are the same. That's the other thing that I have noticed. But I'm also noticing that, and I don't I shouldn't I d I probably shouldn't use the word textbook, but I feel like no two women have necessarily been textbook when it comes to menopause. Right? And I give you an example. I have a friend, for example, who ended up having severe anxiety out of the blue, and she had no idea where and similar to what you just talked about, she went to go get help, she went to do some things, she went to different people before she finally landed on one person who said to her, Listen, you know, this doesn't get talked about, and it because the number is so small, there's a very strong possibility this has something to do with you going through menopause. Doesn't make sense, but is a very strong possibility. More time went on and things, and she recommended changing some things around long and short of it. It was part of what she was going through, and she's like, I was having all these mental health issues, and I couldn't figure out what was going on, but I was ashamed to talk about it. See now we got shame coming up. So then people will stay quiet and stay in their own corner of the world and don't talk about it because, like you said, she didn't feel validated. She just thought she was making up things.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

And she really was not. And in the list I could I could go through a list of different symptoms with different people and so on and so forth. But again, one of the reasons why I wanted you here was for that very reasons. You know, there's also the weight loss side of things, and going in, I had one person mention to me there was some fat shaming going on, and like I I could keep going. I could keep going. But again, you're here now, and so I'm taking full advantage of the fact that you visited us today, and I am grateful. Uh so what I will ask you next is where did this passion come from? Why is this so important to you?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah. So great question. We um, you know, as I said, functional medicine is looking at the root cause, and what we learned with working with patients is many times around this time in midlife is when things go awry. You know, autoimmune issues come in, people's cholesterol cholesterol goes up, their blood pressure goes up, their blood sugar goes up, they become insulin resistant. So so many things happen around this time, and the root cause of many of those problems is estrogen deprivation, right? So when you balance and you give people estrogen during that time, a lot of times you can prevent issues going forward, you know, cardiovascular disease, all of that. Um bone disease, you know, you start losing bone very quickly. Like even in our 30s, we can lose bone. So it's important to do everything we can to maintain our health. And you know, I think hormones are a big part of that. So what would you say are some of the biggest concerns you've encountered with your clients? I think similar to what we said, a lot of people don't really feel heard. The symptoms are all over the map. Um they can have anything, usually in perimetopause, people feel, like I said, just kind of not themselves, gaining a little weight around the middle, maybe increasing anxiety. And then as things go on, then they get the more traditional things like the hot flashes, the night sweats, the insomnia, all of that kind of stuff comes later. Um so those are a lot of things that we see. But like I said, we also see patients who have seen many providers for different symptoms and aren't really sure where to go. So they want the holistic view.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Okay. Yeah. So let me ask the number one question. What is this, what is menopause?

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah. So menopause is basically you're considered menopausal when you're without a period for one year.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

It's the natural decline in estrogen, progesterone, and sometimes testosterone. Usually the average age is um 51, but it can happen between 45 and 55. I have a slide here we can talk about. So between 35 and 45, if you look at this slide, um you can see red the red line um indicates someone's estrogen level. And at 35, it becomes pretty erratic, right? The it goes up, down, all around. So that estrogen fluctuation is responsible for irregular periods, for night sweats, for hot flashes, for loss of libido, brain fog, all of that. And then you can see after metopause, it kind of levels up, but at a low level. But you can also see during postmenopause, that's when diseases come up, right? Osteoporosis, more urinary tract infections, heart disease, um, depression, breast cancer, all of those things can come later on. So I like this slide because it really depicts, wow, during that perimetapausal time, that is really erratic, right? Um so when we're looking at treating patients uh symptomatically, our lifestyle interventions are sometimes aimed at improving those fluctuations.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

So as in as my mother would say, I'm I'm putting on my business out in the streets. So I would say I was in the early stages of menopause. I was pre-menopause pretty early. And you know, my claim to fame is I was like, but I was so young when I got my period. I do not know that that's even relevant, to be frank with you, because I was also 10 when I got my first when I got my period, right? But then I would say it was around 35, I started noticing changes. It was around, and it was around, I I want to say I haven't seen my last period. I I think I saw the last one around 40, 45, 40, around 46 as the last time. And I'm like, wow, that was really early. On the one hand, I was like, oh great, I don't have to go shopping anymore. I don't have to buy the things. But then, you know, other things showed up, right, in its place. And that's when, and I'm I'm sure anyone will look at me today and say, Shut up, Laura, because what I'm gonna say is gonna be annoying to a lot of people I know. You know, I did notice that I started gaining weight in a different way. And yes, I do gain weight for those of you out there listening and thinking about this. Um, however, again, I know that I'm very fortunate and genetically predisposed to certain things when it comes to my body size and type. So, all that being said, the point is that for someone who had gone through it I consider to be early, you know, to start having conversations with people, I recognized certain things showed up very, very early. And that's gonna actually lead me into some of my other question is when exactly what are some of the symptoms when they start? What are we looking for to know like, oh, is this because it took me a while to realize what was happening. So what are the symptoms? What are some of the symptoms we might encounter?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Yeah, a lot of times it is just a lot of people say I just don't feel myself, you know, and I know it's very nonspecific, but that's how people feel. And that's you know, it's hard to slap a diagnosis on that, right? Right, pretty much. Right. So um, and the weight gain and a loss of resilience to stress, sometimes um their stress in life might not be higher than it ever was, but it feels higher. It's like their perception of it, you know, and their resilience to how they handle it. So um there's a lot of things in the perimetapausal phase that we do to help um with those symptoms, you know, um helping out with the fluctuations in estrogen, which can definitely help. Um so for instance, eating a healthy diet high in fiber can help um level out those swings, making sure that you you're participating in some sort of stress management program, whatever that means to you, whether it's Reiki, whether it's yoga, whether it's walking in nature, anything like that. So that affects your cortisol, which will also affect your estrogen levels. Um, staying well hydrated, making sure you're optimizing sleep, not drinking too much alcohol, all of those things help you know level out those swings. Yeah, no, I'm taking a sip of water. So you can continue.

unknown 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

So those are some of the lifestyle things. There's also some um supplements that we use that help people detoxify their estrogen better or help with the balance of estrogen and progesterone, which Helps them feel better too. And then when the time comes, um, hormone therapy can be beneficial for some people. So what is hormone therapy? So we'll jump right into that. Okay. So yes, hormone therapy, the three hormones that we use during perimetopause during metopause are estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. We use bioidentical hormones. So it means that they're identical to your own natural hormone. So it fits into the um hormone receptor and functions just like your own hormones do. And is it is it safe to get hormone therapy?

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Because there's also some ideas that getting hormone replacement therapy could be detrimental in the end. It might not be good for you. It's okay for a little while, but long term it may not be.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

And so can you give us a little more information on that?

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

So um 20 years ago there was a big study called the Horm the Women's Health Initiative that basically, without getting into too many details, it demonized hormones forever for patients. Now that we look back at it, we think, oh, it wasn't a great study. It was we can glean some information from it because it was a big study. But the population they used was older. So the average age was 63. Some women were 80.

unknown 23:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

And they would just be put put on hormones at 80. So that could be 30 years after metapause.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

So it's not the practical use of when we would use metapausal hormone therapy, right? And they also didn't use bioidentical, they used some synthetic. So that's when the the study was abruptly stopped due to the participants getting breast cancer, heart disease, and blood clots.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

There's been studies since that show if you use it in the right population, so the person around 40s, 50s, you know, during that transition time of menopause, um, and if you're using bioidenticals, there's actually good data that it's safe for most people. So breast cancer itself, um, while estrogen doesn't cause breast cancer, it can make certain types of breast cancer grow. So that is the one contraindication. So if you had an active breast cancer, you cannot be on hormones. So if someone, even if someone has a family history of breast cancer, we would just monitor them closely and make make sure they're handling their estrogen well, but it's not a total contraindication like it used to be.

unknown 24:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Um, because people are recognizing, wow, the benefits of this are so much greater than the risk of this. And a lot of the risk was overembellished one during that study.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

So is there so there's no concern for cancer right now, at least not that's been proven. Bone density improves, stays the same? Yes, usually bone density improves. Okay. And okay, so that's kind of that's that's like nice to hear because I remember training people who asked about that, about they were trying to determine if they should go on hormone replacement therapy or not. Because having the same conversation with them, you know, I heard that it it's not gonna be good for me if I take it, and then in the end, bone density is going to be an issue, and then I have to worry about cancer, and then I have to worry about all the things. Right. But that doesn't appear to be the case now. Is there a time frame? How like if I wait ten years after menopause you is there a time frame as to when you is there a window?

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Yeah, so the um you get the most bang for your buck the earlier you start it. So the closer you are to that one year mark of not having your period. And even in perimetopause, it's okay to to start that as well. Um the longer you wait, um, the more risk you might have for heart disease. So if you have if you wait too long, you can all already develop plaques and things like that. And some people who get estrogen way too late who already have cardiovascular disease, it can make that cardiovascular disease unstable.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

So does it matter that you have a health and fitness routine if you're that person, or does that just mean the possibilities out there regardless of what your lifestyle is?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

So we would do an overall cardiovascular assessment, look at their advanced cholesterol panel, look at what their activities have been like, what their diet's been like. Do they have high blood pressure? Do they have diabetes, other risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease? Um but I've known some people who are, you know, older and want hormones for the benefit of bone health and brain health and all of this. If they're otherwise healthy, a lot of women do fine with it. But you do get the most bang for your buck for bone protection and all of the benefits the closer you do to um the end of your period.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

So this is this has all been pretty exciting. I'm gonna I want to dip into a couple of really personal questions that I feel like I want to ask and I need to ask. Um the first one being with regards to it's one's regarding intimacy, and the other one is regarding odor and dryness. All right. So I've had a couple of people that I've spoken with who've come in and they've talked about um what methods and things that people can use to go in and simulate collagen and and you know work on dryness and the fact that things are are getting smaller for lack of collagen and so on and so forth. So my question to you is would the synthetic hormone would it be able to help with that and help with the dryness, which if I understand it correctly, when that happens, you're more prone to odor because everything, obviously the pH, everything's changing down there anyway in the landscape. But more importantly, you know, if you're getting dry, is there a way to prevent the odor that comes that is a little more than your natural scent? Is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Vaginal estrogen, so bioidentical, it wouldn't be synthetic. Uh can help can help with vaginal dryness and odor. So sometimes that can be with lack of estrogen, there's also a change in your vaginal microbiome. So like the mix of good and bacteria, uh good and bad bacteria. Um, so it can be a perfect storm that can kind of cause those symptoms. So um, but vaginal estrogen can definitely be helpful, okay?

SPEAKER_03 28:46

Yeah. And then intimacy, since we're in the neighborhood there. So as time goes on, it can be more uncomfortable for women as they go. Right? So is there anything that could be done about that and what exactly is happening when, if, and or when it happens? Does it happen to every woman? Let me start with that question. And uh as far as painful intercourse to be exact, yeah, is is that something that comes up quite often and with other women? With all women, excuse me, not other women.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah, it absolutely does. So with lack of estrogen, the the vaginal tissue gets very friable and thin and dry, you know. Um so vaginal estrogen can be a game changer for that. And it's the type of thing that you take it once a day for a week, uh two weeks, and then you take it twice a week as like maintenance just to keep up with your moisture and things like that. And but in when it comes to intimacy, that is definitely a big problem. But also stress can be a huge problem, you know, when if you're not feeling connected to your partner or all of that. So that's why the holistic approach is very it helps so many things because we talk about your relationships. We you know make sure that you're having stress management and you're you know seeking counseling, you know, things change at around this time and we need to make sure that all parties are are in the right brain space.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Okay. So then an we're coming around the corner here. We're almost we're we're starting to wrap things up. So I think my next question is going to be you you do accept insurance? We do not. You do not? Yeah. Okay. So all right, tell me more. You don't accept insurance. So who's your clientele?

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Yeah. So we we um unfortunately a lot of the lab testing we do isn't covered by insurance. So that's why we just bundle it all in into our pricing. Um since our the visits are pretty lengthy and comprehensive, that's why we're able to do it because we don't um accept insurance. We do supply super bills for patients so they can uh if you have out-of-pocket out-of-network benefits with your insurance, you can submit a super bill and potentially get reimbursed for some of that. It's not guaranteed, but it's something that some people do. Um and you can use their health health health savings account as well. Okay. So we have a lot of people tap into that for supplements for our services for all of that.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Okay. And do you have packages or is it just one set fee depending upon what the services that's being provided?

SPEAKER_00 31:40

How exactly does No, great question. So we have multiple packages uh depending on your need, whether it's weight loss, whether it's hormone therapy, whether it's functional medicine. Um and it depends on the level that we think we're gonna need to see you and the level of testing that we do. Um for our general metapausal patients, like I said, we do the in-depth blood work, we also do salivary cortisol testing. But for our functional medicine patients, you know, that are a little bit more complicated, we do gut microbiome testing, we do a lot of different things. We see people with IBS or a lot of gut issues that um are really affecting their life. So that can be one of our an example of one of our functional medicine patients that isn't hormone related.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

And how do you test the cortisol? Um, you said salivary cortisol, did I say it properly? Yes, you did.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

So we do um the patient has to spit into a tube four times in in the day.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Because if you do just a spot check of your cortisol, a lot of times the morning cortisol is what you would normally get done at the lab via your blood.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

A lot of times it's normal. But when you look at the cortisol curve and what it should really look like, and then what yours looks like, it can kind of help explain a lot of things. For instance, the the curve should go down, and then some people who don't sleep or have a lot of stress in the afternoon and evening, they go up at night. So there's different things that we can do and are like validating for patients. Oh, this is why I'm not sleeping. This is why I feel really stressed around this time. So, how can we fine-tune your management to during that time do some sort of activity that nurtures you or do something to take something off of your plate during that time?

SPEAKER_02 33:34

You know, right.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

So it can really help fine-tune the whole picture.

unknown 33:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

So my last question is what's the last bit of advice that that you would give to someone who might be going through these changes and transitions in life and they're looking for answers and just cannot find them.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

I would suggest that people find uh someone who a provider that they trust and that listens to them. Um I uh it's our feeling that all metapausal women should be given the decision of what things are gonna look like if you take hormones, as well as what is are things gonna look like when you if you don't take hormones, and what are the risks of both of those avenues, which is really important. So we've been steering women away for so many years, and now thankfully it's becoming a little bit more mainstream, people are a little bit less fearful, but a lot of people also still aren't trained on how to do it. So that would be the next thing is to make sure that your provider is familiar with hormone therapy and how to manage it.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

Yeah, this is a conversation that I didn't expect to have with you, and I, I'll be honest, recently, maybe in the last year, found out that there were these advancements in in medicine that that that was even an option to me because again, I come from an old school of thought, like, oh, you know, no hormones, you don't don't do the replacement therapy because all these bad things are going to happen to you if you do. But I feel like I'm not the only, probably the only woman. I don't think I'm that old. I know I'm not extremely young, but I don't think I'm that old either. And I'm sure I cannot be, I'm not the only um woman feeling this way or thinking that. But this is information that I I'm grateful for. Um I it sounds beneficial to me. Um so much so I feel like I should look into it myself and and see what that means for me and any type of change it could make for me because um it's it's also what I'm finding is it's something that a lot of women do not talk about, I feel, uh, with each other. I I think it depends on what your relationship is, one person to another, honestly. You know, myself and my friends, we kind of sort of talk about it, but I find that we don't get too deep into the details until something comes up. And it just depends on what it is, what that something could be. Um so I hope this opens up dialogue for more people to discuss amongst themselves and with with their loved ones if possible possible.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

And a few weeks ago they announced that the FDA is taking the black box warning off of hormones. I don't know if you've heard of this. No, but it was so the um there was a black box warning, which basically means that there's risks to this, you know, when you open the package, don't do it, don't do it, you're gonna get breast cancer, you're gonna get a heart attack, stroke, all of the things, right? Yes. So that was based on that study, and now people have realized, oh, maybe we were wrong. Oops. Um, so they're taking away that black box warning, which is great so because providers have been very um fearful, as well as patients, of all of the hubbub with that study and how much it was publicized and really instilled fear in women. So it's great that things are turning in a favorable way for us. Yay.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

Nancy, I think that's it for us. Any any any last thoughts you might have before we uh we take off? Yeah. Nancy, thank you so much. Uh this has been an amazing, amazing time with you today. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, mostly ladies, I'm guessing, I want to thank you for being with us today. And I would love to see you. I don't really see, of course, but I'd love to see you next time. Thank you so much for joining. Um Laura, I'm your host. This is Bear Speak. Take care.