Okay. I'm going to do it.
I'm going to talk about menopau.
Did she just say menopause?
Oh, she wouldn't talk
about that on the news.
That would be embarrassing, rig?
Wrong. Look, here's the deal.
Menopause is natural.
Every woman will go through it,
and we can't be afraid to talk about it,
to help each other out.
But first, a biology lesson.
What even is menopause?
It's that moment in time when yo
a full calendar year without a period.
Period. It
can happen anywhere between
the ages of 45 and 55,
but the average age is 51.
But, and this is a big but,
perimenopause is that period
of time when your hormones,
estrogen and progesterone start to fluctuate.
That can happen up to 10 years
before you go into menopause.
And that, friends,
is when the fun begins, do
you? Either if you go through
mood or irritability issues.
Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah.
You feeling like your your emots
are always on the fringe, right?
Where you're just about to
tip over all the time. Yes.
So definitely mood swings,
mood changes. Extreme moods,
I guess you could say.
Yeah, yeah,
typically on the negative side.
I mean cuz you do sometimes feel like,
Oh my God, I just feel so out of control.
This is an awful feeling.
These two brave and vibrant
beauties are talking to us
about their menopause journeys.
Cristelle has been on this
road for about 14 years.
She exercises now for bone health and
is willing to share her story wh
us because she wants other womeo
figure it out sooner than she d.
I didn't have enough information
to know that I was even going
through menopause and so.
I was having these symptoms,
and as they just gradually
become more and more intense,
that's when I started to ask
some questions. And Shannon
is just starting to connect the
dots that all these symptoms tht
she's been silently struggling
with are related to perimenopau.
I'll be talking to my kids and you know,
they'll be like you already
told me that four times.
I'm like I did. OK, like you kn,
and just are like not finding
the right words and my brain jut
seems like it's in slow motion.
That's the thing
Most people think hot flashes
are the only sign of menopause.
Well, hang on to your fans ladi.
Poor sleep, mood, irritability,
night sweats, periods get irreg.
Those symptoms that used to be
PMS before your period are now
a good portion of the month.
That's why women feel like
they're going crazy, you know?
They just feel like something's wrong.
Diane Feller is a Park Nicollet
menopause specialist certified by the
North American Menopause Societ.
She says 85% of women will experience
symptoms during perimenopause.
And women of color are more liky
to experience worse symptoms
for longer periods of time.
Things like headaches, weight g,
loss of bladder control.
But no one's connecting the dots for us.
We have so much information out
there for like childbirth and bh
control when women are younger.
But at this point, it's just not out there.
You are listening to Hit play, not pause.
It's the reason Celine
Yeager started her podcast.
Only 7% of resident physicians,
including OB, GYN in one Mayo
Clinic study, felt ready.
Or. Prepare to talk to women
about menopause. That's huge.
Jaeger is a health and fitness writer,
athlete, and woman who knows a
whole heck of a lot about menop.
Through her own experience,
she suggests making a list of
your symptoms and seeking help.
Why? Because this isn't the end.
It's just the beginning.
If you started in your early 40,
which some do, impairing menopa,
you can easily spend 40 years of your
life in this transition and bey.
And instead of looking in the
rearview mirror and saying,
oh, I can't, I can't,
it's like look ahead and say,
what can you do?
Because there's a lot you can do
and there's a lot of life to li.
But what does help look like a
study back in 2002, painted hore
replacement therapy in a bad li.
But there have been several stus
since then that say something different.
There's this wonderful window
of opportunity, you know, from.
Within 10 years of when you reah
menopause on either side and bee
60 where it is very largely safd
for many women, highly benefici.
If women can be on estrogen,
it helps our bones,
it helps prevent osteoporosis,
it helps prevent colon
cancer which is long study.
Like the bones a new study
show it helps support our heart
and vessels if it started
around the time of menopause.
That said, hormone replacement
is not safe for everyone.
It is something you will need
to discuss with your doctor.
A diet, exercise, limiting alcohol and
smoking can also help with symp.
Kristel says she finally
feels like herself again,
back to doing the things she lo.
I feel like I'm great with mental clarity.
I'm great with sleep and so just being able,
I want to maintain right now. And so I'm.
I'm in a really happy window and I want to
maintain in a really happy window. Yeah,
and I want to get to that place
because these are our bodies.
We need to know how this all
works and what we can do to
protect ourselves and you know.
Keep longevity and I don't want to be 80
years old and not able to do anything.
There's so much more on this toc
we couldn't get to for on air.
From exercise to predatory
marketing and resource links,
you can find all of it with
this story at Care 11 Calm.
And I think the issue is that or
parents and you're looking at me
like I'm going to ask any quest.
I'm not asking the question no.
But I just don't think our moms
talked about it a lot.
I mean our moms you know and
their moms didn't talk about it.
And so then I'm just saying
for my you know, yeah.
So then you know you in the andf
you know what happened with your
mom and maybe your older sister,
then you'll kind of know how
you are going to react and.
And there's in everyone's diffe.
That's the problem, Randy.
And no, we're not irritable
because of that. Yes case. But I
do have bring something every
time and I will just blame I
don't know who for that, OK?