Wellness Tips and Managing Menopause - podcast episode cover

Wellness Tips and Managing Menopause

Aug 10, 202443 minEp. 251
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Episode description

My guest is Tonya Fines, and we’re going to have a conversation about menopause. Tonya is a holistic health practitioner who has been through menopause herself as well as having extensive experience helping women navigate the complex journey of menopause. Tonya works predominantly with women who are pre, peri, and menopausal, offering guidance and support as they adapt to the physical and emotional changes that come with this new phase of life.

We talk about the importance of self-care during menopause, strategies for managing symptoms like mood swings, weight gain, and sleep disturbances, and the vital role of joy and happiness in maintaining well-being. Tonya shares her insights on developing personalized care plans, the value of open communication with loved ones, and why it's crucial to monitor changes in your body along with professional medical advice.

Together, we break down the misconceptions surrounding menopause, highlight the positive opportunities it presents, and explore practical tips and natural components that can ease the process. Whether you're experiencing menopause yourself or supporting someone who is, this episode offers empowering advice and compassionate understanding. So, stick around and join us for an enlightening and encouraging conversation with Tonya Fines and then share it with the women (and men) in your life!

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Transcript

Record. Okay. Hello, everyone. This is your host, Susan Rosin. My guest today is Tanya Fines. Tanya has a varied background that sounds like she changed back and forth a little bit with what she was doing and where she was going. And so very interesting background, and I'll let Tanya tell us about it and where she is now. Great. Well, hi. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me on the show. So, yeah, I'm actually Canadian, born and raised in Canada. My mother was, too.

Now, she wasn't raised, but born Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So grew up in Canada. And then in 2000, and I think it was 2011, 2012, maybe, took my family and we moved to New Zealand, lived there for about five years before coming to the US, and I'm now currently living in Tampa, Florida, and I absolutely love it. So very lucky. I feel very blessed to be living here. Yeah. And as far as me and what I've done and what I do. I've always pretty much worked in health and wellness, health, fitness, wellness.

My career actually started as a high school teacher working in health sciences and biology and all of that good stuff. So I was always interested in health, fitness, and wellness. Always very active, very involved in sports, very involved in dancing. When I got into adulthood, I actually started doing pro bodybuilding. I have spina bifida, and I wasn't diagnosed till... I was in my 40s. It wasn't something that was outwardly visible. It's a different type of spina bifida that doesn't present.

You can see it. I was It was kickboxing and taekwondo and all of those things because I like really tough, aggressive sports. But I was having so much trouble with my back. And one morning I just woke up and I couldn't even move my head from side to side. I was in pain and I was immobilized. I was just stuck in bed. So eventually, luckily, my neighbor was a nurse. I was able to get out of bed. At the time, I was told it was going to be surgery or nothing, and I had to quit all the things I love.

So taekwondo, kickboxing, going to the gym, and strength I think, all of these things that I've always done. At the time, when that happened, I was in my 30s. When that happened, I thought, I don't think so. I don't really think I need surgery. I know I don't want surgery, and I have young children. I did not like the idea of what that was going to look like afterwards. After several years, just by fluke, had to get an X-ray done.

I was really scaling back on the things I was doing, and I was miserable. But I just did more I love other things, stretching, yoga, things like that that I didn't really enjoy, but they kept me active. To make a really long involved story short, I ended up having to get just a follow-up X-ray done. The X-ray technician said, I just want to do something. He goes, I just have a feeling. I want to do something.

He goes, I'm going to take an X-ray of your neck between the top of your nose to your sternum area. He said, I want you to turn around and just open your mouth, and I'm going to take a couple of pictures from the front. I was like, Okay, sure. Before I got home, the X-rays had gone to my chiropractor. Before he got home, my chiropractor called me and said, I need you to come in right away.

I thought, Okay. I went in and he said, You're not going to believe this, he goes, But you have a form of spina bifidus up in your neck. He goes, See, I can't remember which ones they were, but two of the vertebrae in my neck were open. They weren't close. My spinal, the nerves, the bundle of nerves, He was completely exposed. Oh, my God. So that was a bit of a game changer. But at least then we knew what was going on, and I said to him, Well, what do you think?

He goes, You don't need surgery, he said, But, he I know that you were doing strength training. How about you just become more focused on that? And just if you keep your core really, really strong, he goes, You're going to be good for a long time. He goes, I don't recommend you get into dirt bike, or don't be jumping out of planes stuff like that, because any accident could cause forms of paralysis. When I do something, I have incredible focus, and there has to be an end game and a goal.

So I started lifting Then that led into competing. That led into me working with other athletes, mostly on the nutrition side, because by then I had started a company that finds organic and natural food. I was selling organic and natural foods and supplements developments which turned into people coming into the store and me spending a lot of time with them, getting to know them and finding out what their problems were, what was bothering them.

That turned into nutritional counseling, which just the whole thing. It was It was like an evolution. I stayed in the same industry, but it evolved into becoming more specific and more specific. That's where you are now? Well, now... That turned into me when I got When we moved to New Zealand, I took the company, moved to New Zealand. Then when we came back to Canada, it was shortly after my dad got sick, came back to Canada.

Then coming into the US, I started working for this really great company in Clearwater, Critical Bench. They brought me on board as their in-house holistic practitioner, because by then I'd also completed and got my certificate in holistic health practitioner. I got my license. I became their in-house holistic health doctor and was doing a lot of content, writing a lot of ebooks, PDFs on different and various health topics, not exclusively, but largely for women.

This was a company that had a huge following in the male audience. But what happened was now their female audience was growing, and these were women that were interested in, I want to be strong, I want to be fit, I want to be healthy, my body's changing, how do I do it? I came on board and was working with them. I ended up doing a lot more written content-driven work, which I loved, and a lot of video content for them. Then when I left, I left Critical Bench.

I wanted to go out on my own and do more of that content creation and work on my own, and was doing some contracts with other fitness companies, doing their email campaigns, doing some content for them. I'm still working largely in that realm. It's driven me more to... I do a lot of content work. I still very much love the health and wellness fitness industry. I am a coach with the Educated Dieter. I work primarily with women who are pre, peri, and menopausal.

I'm working with them because it's a game changer when this starts to happen. I have clients in their mid-30s and older. So it's all of a sudden, these women that have been taking care of themselves, wake up and they're like, Why isn't this stuff working anymore? My body's changing, but I'm doing doing the right things, all the things that we've been doing, but something isn't working. And it's a whole new journey in your life. I work with these women, and it's awesome.

It's awesome to work with these women and start to see them open up and embrace what this journey is because it is different and it's not all bad. But once we can relax into and accept that it's going to happen. If you're born a female, it's going to happen. You're going to go through menopause at some point in your life. Well, let's put it this way. It's better that you end up having to go through it than not. Because if you don't, then you're not here anymore. Not here, right.

Usually, when I first start working with a client, it's largely a conversation where she is filling me in and letting me know what's been going on, what has been working, what's no longer working, what are her greatest frustrations, what are her goals. After listening to all of that, I'm pretty transparent and like, Well, it sounds like you're premenopausal or perimenopausal, or it sounds like we're in there. We're in the carnival right now. And there's two ways we can do this.

You can go through it like this, or you can go through it like this. So let's focus and work on getting you set up with a program and a plan that works with your body that has you going through it like this. Yeah, absolutely. I always found it to be an excellent excuse for things. Oh, no, I can't go there tonight. No, I can't do this. No, don't feel like it. Yeah. Well, it can definitely with some, I'm not having this with any clients right now, but with Friends.

I mean, clearly at my age, my female friends were all in that same age bracket, and some are through it, some of us are heading into it. A lot of the conversations and things we talk about end up about that. Why is it I come into the kitchen? I went there for a reason, and now I have no idea, and now I'm just pissed off at everybody. We find moments to laugh because you have to. Oh, you have to. But there's also a conversations about what the gift in it is.

And that can be really hard to embrace when you're going through it and when you're just feeling so frustrated, so hopeless. You just want to give up because you can't sleep, you're gaining weight, you got the mind fog, you're moody all over the place, and you feel out of control with it because despite your best efforts, nothing that you're doing seems to be working. And that can be a really awful place to be sitting in. And it can lead to depression and other things like that.

And pulling back from society, pulling away from friends, pulling away from the things you love to do. So we do have conversations about remembering the things that you love, remembering the things that when you wake up, what are the things that fill you with joy? The things that you do involved in a running club? Do you like to knit? Is gardening your thing? Or just whatever those things are that you did, it's important to keep them going because We can get you through this.

I'm not going to say for everybody it's going to be easy, but we can get you through this and hopefully take the edge off of some of that crap that's happening that's driving you crazy, because in this, there is a gift. We're not meant to be in a reproductive phase our entire lives. I can't imagine having little kids right now. I can't get all of the stuff that that involves. I can't imagine it.

There's this point in time where when When I get with friends or with clients and they're starting to feel a little better, they're starting to feel like, Okay, I think we've got this. I think we've got this. It's still, we all like to look like we did when we were 20. Maybe, maybe not. It's possible, right? It depends on how we looked when we were torn up. It depends on how we looked.

But the thing about the gift is that you're coming into a season of your life where finally, it's probably Probably where I've had the most successful conversations with women about being more selfish, like looking after yourself. Because as women, we tend to be, and this is nothing against men, but I can only speak with a woman because I've never been a man. But women, we are largely the caregivers and the nurtureers of the world.

We take care of our children, we take care of our families, we take care of extended families. We spend a lot of our life putting other people first. First and putting ourselves last. But when you're going through menopause, that's not always what you can do. If you want to get through it with some sanity, you need to step back and start being more focused on yourself and being a little selfish with your time, being much more selfish with your self-care.

And that's a huge gift that I hope more women start to acknowledge and embrace because that makes part of the journey much smoother when you go, Oh, this is time for me. I may not like what's happening, but this time for me to focus on me and actually put the time and energy that I've been putting to everybody else my whole life into myself. Yeah. And it's a hard habit to break. It is. It's a really tough sell at the outset. It can be because we're just so wired and programmed.

It's one of those things that I think a lot of women, they just unconsciously, they could wake up in a complete dream, sleep state of walking and just go about the daily activities of taking care of people because we've done it. It's autopilot. It becomes the autopilot switch. We really have to turn that one-off and focus on ourselves. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Let other people help you. That's the other thing.

At that point, not exclusively, not all women, but for most women, by that point, the kids are older to a point where, yeah, you can go make your own sandwich. Thank you. Take care of yourself or- And make one for me while you're at it. Or they've moved out, and maybe I call it, they're starting their own family. A lot of times, our kids are at a point where they're starting their own lives, and they still need us, but not in the same capacity.

So it's also being willing to let go a little bit and let your children start figuring out the adulting aspect project of their life and what that's going to be. Focus on yourself. Yeah. No, absolutely. And it is hard, even if we've been working ourselves. So we did have other responsibilities, and we did have other things. But it all comes apart when you hit menopause. Yeah. Yeah. And all these memories are coming back. It's like, oh, my God. Yeah. That was not a fun period.

It's like, in the middle of the room and it's spinning and you're just looking for one handle to grab onto. Thank you. Just one handle. And it's possible. And the big thing is what I like to the message I really want to get across to women is when things start to change, because You just know. You know. You've noticed things are... I've had so many women say to me, I just woke up and all of a sudden I had this muffin top. Where did that come from? Things like that. We're aware of that.

We're aware of physical changes. We're aware of emotional changes and all the other things. It's okay. I would say it's necessary to reach out and get help with that because you can easily drive yourself crazy with it, trying to figure it out, because it's a lot of things happening all at the same time. We want to fix everything. We want to make everything okay right away. It's a bit of a process. I mean, hormone levels are all over the place.

You have to look at if you are a woman or a female that has largely, for the most part, taken care of herself. You've had a good lifestyle choices. You've exercised, kept your body moving. You've had a good diet, maybe done some supplementation, but you've taken care of yourself. You're going into it with a better Swiss army knife, as I would say, with more in your favor than if you haven't.

But even if you haven't, if you haven't had the best lifestyle, if you haven't made the best choices, It doesn't mean that it has to be a complete crazy, awful. This doesn't have to be the worst time in your life. No, not at all. But asking for help, reaching for help, finding Which is finding people that understand or that at least have some background, some education in women going through menopause. Those are important people to seek out.

Absolutely. And the other thing I'll throw in there, which is that it's a great excuse, too. If you never had a good excuse for why you're taking care of yourself, for why, Oh, no, I don't feel like doing that tonight. That That thing. All you have to do is throw that out there, and nine out of 10 people will go, Oh, okay, that's fine. Because menopause is such a bad rap. Well, it does.

I think we've come a long way from when our mothers and our grandmothers had to go through it on their own and just lived with it. Probably not very happily. I don't know because I wasn't there. But in just doing the reading, doing the research, talking to women, talking with women that haven't... That are grandmothers, great grandmothers that are living really amazing, fulfilling lives. We've come a long way in terms of the acceptance of it, I think, that's big.

Socially sitting around and talking about it, it's not such a taboo. We don't call it the change of life. It's not like she's just like, put her in the back while she gets over the whole crazy 5, 10 years of her life, and then we'll let her out again. It's not quite that anymore. It's not this really topic we avoid. We're talking about it, and I think it's great. And there's people that are invested in working with and helping women that are going through it.

There's a lot more We know a lot more about the body. We know a lot more about hormone levels. We know a lot more about how supplementation can help. And I'm not talking necessarily lab-manufactured things. No. I'm talking vitamins and minerals and things like that. Absolutely. Yeah. Adaptive We know so much more about how these natural components can be beneficial. Oh, absolutely. Excuse me.

Yeah. And that takes a little bit of experimenting as well because everything affects people differently. Yeah. There's not a one-stop shop. And that's why getting labs is really important, and not just getting them once, getting them, having somebody that understands labs and knows how to read them, I'm sitting down and talking with them and them saying, You are completely void of vitamin D. We need to start with things as simple as that. Where's your vitamin D at?

Are you taking magnesium at night? These are things that, again, they're also not going to immediately fix everything and take it away, but they can actually help. Our bodies are really, really amazing. They really know what to do. And sometimes they need a little help. When a woman finds out she's pregnant, most women want to do all the best things.

So they take the prenatal vitamins, they're eating better, they're following all the direct doing all the right things because they want to have a healthy, happy baby, and they want to go into labor delivery with a strong body. So it's no different than menopause. We need to go into and through menopause with a strong, healthy body the best we can. There's certain things that we really need to be doing to support our body because the body knows what to do, and it's really good at it.

It's not just blindly putting us on this course of life where, Okay, now it's time to be pregnant. Now it's time to be a mom. Now it's time to go through menopause. There is a reason and a very conscious, I think, path, journey that we're on, and menopause is part of it. The same attention attention that we would give to ourselves when we're pregnant and having our children is the same attention we need to give ourselves when we're going through menopause. Labs are huge because you can...

Well, I say actually a couple of things that are very important. Labs are definitely important and having somebody on board who can really read them, not somebody that goes, You're in the right range. Well, am I really? Because-for what? The range according to whom, according to what? Because I can tell you right now, I don't feel I'm in range. I feel like I'm very out of range somehow.

Somebody that's going to listen to you, that's going to talk with you, you have to advocate for your own health. The other thing that I like to tell women is start keeping track. It doesn't have to be homework or in their job, but start keeping track of things. Have a little notebook or something. Just write down insomnia. I'm getting 2 hours of sleep, and then I'm up for 4, or all of a sudden, going to the bathroom is like, I've never had a problem with it.

But now all of a sudden, it's been four days or noticing dark circle. All these things that are new that aren't the result of, Well, I've been sick with the flu for two weeks. Well, of course, you're not going to feel or look your best. But noticing a consistent, things that have changed that are becoming very consistent.

Taking note of those, because those are also really important things when you're talking with a practitioner, whether that's a holistic practitioner, a nutritionist, your doctor, whoever that is, the more of that biofeedback you can give them with blood labs, the better that they're able to look at it and go, Okay, well, here's what your labs are saying, and here's what you've shown me is happening in your life.

Now you can start putting this puzzle together to try to come up with, Where do we start? What do we start with? Are we going to do a 60-day plan and then run labs again? Are we going to do a 90-day plan and run labs again? But how are we going to work through this and keep following up and keep adjusting or making adjustments as we need so that you feel the best you can going through this really big physiological change in your body?

Yeah. It's strange because it can be things that you don't even think about. I ended up developing a whole bunch of allergies that have never gone away to food, primarily, but other things, too. Sometimes I'll put... I can't put lotion on. I can't. It's just... And I know I got it from my mother because she was a walking allergy reaction. Yeah. But it's Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, it is. And it can feel daunting. It can feel scary. It can feel overwhelming.

But I do also think we're really blessed the time that we're in, more like women are willing to sit down and talk about it. And men as well. They need to. If you're married or you live with a woman, the more you know and understand about this, the better your life is going to be, too. Just in terms of an understanding, it's like because you're this person, all of a sudden they've changed and not just how they look has changed, but all of a sudden, little things are setting off.

You come home, you went to get pickup. She's baking, and she's running out of some things. So you offer to go to the grocery store, pick up a few things, you come home, you forgot eggs or you forgot vanilla, and she either loses her mind or she breaks down crying. You're looking at this person going, well, that's- Who is this person? I'm not saying that men need to understand it because they have to. It's just like, you got to suck it up, princess. This is what it is.

But men, if They can understand what's happening and be supportive. They also don't have to walk away feeling like they've completely ruined, like they can't do anything right. Yes. That's the other side of it. The one thing that in If I've been working with somebody for a while and they get very comfortable, it usually ends up being a conversation about how there was some tension in marriage. I'm going through all this stuff. I don't know how to talk about it. I feel like crazy.

He thinks I'm crazy. Now we're fighting all the time. We're not getting along. I have no libido. He doesn't understand it. So I think it's very important for men to have the conversations, to understand it so that they don't feel like they're at fault or that they've done something terrible, that their wife doesn't love them anymore, that they can't get anything right.

It's going to help them, too, because I can't imagine being on the other side of that and going, I don't know what I've done wrong. I don't know why I can't seem to do anything right anymore. And your kids, if you still got kids around, right? And your kids. If your kids are still at home or if they just happen for whatever reason, be at home. Maybe they're going to college, and with the cost of living now, it would make sense for kids to go to college locally and live at home. That'd be great.

But it can put a strain on the entire family. But now that, like I said, more women are more open and willing to talk about it. I find it quite refreshing that you can get out talking with a group of women and someone goes, Oh, yeah, I'm in menopause. Oh, my God. I just finished it. It's not this secretive thing. Women are very open to talking about it, and that opens up a conversation of like, Really? What was that like? Did you notice your hair was falling out?

And then they start having these conversations and women talk about, Well, this is what works for me. But, Oh, also, you know what? There's this really great doctor that absolutely helped me, or there was this really great coach that helped me. And that's how we help one another as we're talking about it. Oh, no, absolutely. And The other thing that comes to mind is that there are some male men gynecologists, and It's like they're always very supportive and they've got lots of information.

But it always seemed counterintuitive, I guess, for them to be giving me advice. As much as a lot of it helped. I mean, it wasn't... But it's just one of those things that you look at. It's like, what's wrong with this picture? Yeah. But then again, they have their own version of menopause. Right, I mean, all of us go through a change of life. We go through the seasons, and we get into a season where our body is, okay, you did the wild and crazy youth things.

You also you've had children, you've raised children, you've worked, you've lived this very busy full life. Building it up that you're supposed to. Now you get to take a step back a little bit. Now you actually get to relax into some of those things that you've built up, enjoy some things, and take a couple of breaths. It's a scene Like I call it, it's a season of self-care. It really is. I think self-care is important throughout your entire life.

Yes. But when we're young and busy and head down and just go, go, go, we often don't always make time for it. But life has funny way of putting this phase in where you have to, because if you don't, you can probably end up feeling very miserable for the later part of your life, which is very sad. That's true. And it's not necessary because getting older doesn't mean you have to get old. Right. I mean, we do get older. I like that.

We eventually get old, but it doesn't mean that at 50 and 60, you have to get old. Yeah, exactly. Because I think previously, people would start to... Trying to think what the right word is. But just Stay at home more and hang around and don't go out and do the things and don't go out and learn new things. When you're not feeling your best, when When you're sitting there and you're like, I just I don't feel well, not that I feel sick, but I just I don't feel right. I don't know what's happening.

I don't have any energy. I'm not sleeping. So I'm bitching. Why would you want to go out at that point? Because there's no motivation. That can be one of the tough things I did when I was living in New Zealand. I had one client, and that was the big, big hurdle was getting her out the door in the morning. It took a lot of conversations. She was really wanting to do it. She just had a difficult time bringing herself because she was feeling depressed. She'd get up every morning.

I look in the mirror and I hate what I see. I'm like, Okay, well, we need to change That conversation. Yeah, right. Let's start there. Yeah. Yeah. But getting out, just getting out in the morning, and it can sound so fluffy, but getting outside and getting that morning sun is huge. I mean, when that sun, Sun rays go through your eyes and brain. All kinds of good things happen.

So something as simple as just making time in the morning, especially if you're not sleeping well and you're up early, get up and go outside for 20, 30 minutes walk in the early morning sun. And I can promise you that after a few days of doing that consistently, you're going to want to get up and do that walk. And you probably won't even realize that until you don't do it one day and you realize that you miss it.

Yeah. It's a big change, but it doesn't have to be a catastrophic change or a completely life-altering change. It's a change in your life, but that doesn't necessarily mean it changes it in a negative way. Absolutely. It's going to change again. Yeah. I mean, it's like everything in life. It's constantly changing. Even so you go to menopause, then you go to postmenopausal, and then you...

It would be great if we could... I mean, I'm sure we could all think about what's the time in life if we could freeze time and just stop there. That'd be great. But I mean, realistically, you'd get tired. Wouldn't you get tired? Very tired of whatever part. And then there's things you'd miss. And then there's things you... Because as much as maybe getting older for some of us is like, well, it's not really necessarily something I'm excited about. It's going to happen.

So my perspective and my mindset about it is going to play a huge part in what that is like for me. Some of the things that come with that are things like grandchildren. Also, some of the other things are not having to work 9:00 to 5:00, five days a week, not having to drive a shower twice a day. There's a lot of other... Being able to take an afternoon nap if you want to.

There's a lot of other little things and some big things that come along with getting older that are really amazing gifts that we don't get in our 20s and 30s, but we do get them older. Yeah, absolutely. It's time, even just finally having time for yourself. Time to read those stack of books that you wanted to read for years. Now you have time to read those books. Now you have time to...

You love the movies, but you always put it off because you get home from work or it was too late or the weekends are with yard work and chores and things like that. Now, Tuesday cheap night, you can go to the movies because you don't have all the other stuff. There's a lot of little gifts that come with it. I think if we can remember that and have a lot of gratitude for that, we won't get as caught up in, Well, this sucks, that frame of mind. Yeah, that's very true. I agree with that.

It is something that you have to keep reminding yourself of. It's funny because you're saying the whole stack of books. I have so many books, and I have so many books I haven't read that I bought because, Oh, yeah, I want to read that. Oh, yeah, here, here, here. And it's like, I don't read anymore. And it's like, Why don't I read anymore? And it's one of those things. It's like, I have to think about it and make time for it, right? Yeah. I'm the same. I have so many books, and it was funny.

This morning, I was doing a little bit of reading, and I looked over and I thought, Oh, man, I can't wait till I have a little bit more time so I can attack these other books. Now, I used to be able to also read a book a week. Oh, wow. But now I find it takes me longer when I have to go back and reread because I just can't remember as well as I used to. So it takes me... That's the other thing. But it's like, you know what? That's not the worst thing. It takes me a little longer.

But then I actually schedule in time during the week. Like, this is my half hour reading on this day, and I make myself do it. Because back when I was younger, I remember standing at the stove, reading a book and stirring the pot, making dinner, and hauling at the kids. Get your homework. Somebody feed the dog. Now I actually get to sit with my book and read it, which is great. Yeah, with nobody bothering you. Yeah. I just get to- Or, Hey, Mom, where's this?

Yeah. Make a cup of tea, sit down, read my book. Now I read with... Because most of the books I read are, whether like self-help, or I'm reading one right now on cortisol and stress response. Very interesting. So I'm always highlighting so I can always flip back and find the important points because I remember being in university, getting ready for exams and stuff and reading, it was there. It was just read it, saw it, it was there. And now it's not quite the same. No, not at all.

It's not the same. Anywhere close. Although, we won't go Okay. But anyways, well, maybe should we wrap up, you think, or have any final pointers that you just want to say, Hey, remember this from this? Yeah, sure. I would say for the women who are listening, when you start to notice that, because you will, you'll notice. You'll notice maybe some very slight changes. They may become a little more pronounced. Keep track of those things. Keep track of those things.

Don't get all fearful about, Oh, this is happening. Yeah, it's probably happening, but it's not the end of all things great in your life. It's a change in season. There's a lot of things you can do to go through it with relative ease in terms of being able to support yourself, surround yourself with really great support, like a team of people. That can be a lot of things.

It can be a counselor, it can be a holistic practitioner, your medical doctor, a whole team of people that are working with you to take you through this transition. There's lots of options. There's lots of options and lots of things that are available now to help you. And labs are very important. It's really important to get labs and to do follow-up labs. And again, that's a conversation depending on where you're at and how you're feeling. That could be 60 days, every 90 days.

But that's very important because the blood shows us what we need to know. That makes sense. Where you're low, where's your testosterone levels at? Where's your estrogen levels at? Because where's progesterone at? Those are really important things, and we only get that through labs. It's important to really step back, be selfish, and focus on some self-care, taking care of yourself, because it doesn't have to be a carnival ride. It doesn't have to be. It can be, but it doesn't have to be.

For the men that are listening, school yourself in it because it's not your fault. It's not your fault. We're going through something that at Sometimes can be... We just don't have the words to describe it or explain it. Women, by nature, tend to be more emotional creatures anyways. Sometimes it's very difficult for us to say what it is we're feeling.

But if you can understand that there's this transition, this phase that we're going through, if you understand that, then at least you'll know that this isn't something you did or didn't do. And understanding that helps us just as much as it's going to help you. Yeah. And I think also to understand that we're not saying, Oh, it's the menopause as an excuse. It's not an excuse. It's a state of being. Yeah. It's happening It's happening in the body, and it's coming.

And it's coming. And it's coming. And it's coming. And it's coming. Yeah. And just wait, guys, because yours is coming. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. Well, thank you. I think you're giving us a lot of good information, a lot of good places to start and to pay attention to. Yeah. Excuse me. I would totally agree that the number one thing is to take care of yourself. Yeah. It's a great investment to make. If you haven't been doing it, it's a great investment. It's never too late, right? No.

Start making that investment because it's going to be off in spades as you get older. I look out and I see grandparents out with their grandkids kicking the ball around and I'm like, I don't want to be inside feeling so awful that I can't move. My hips hurt too much that I can't. That's really nice to see these elderly senior, senior generation, Really living full lives and out there active and doing things. Yeah, absolutely.

And the only thing I'll add is for the other women who, like me, had very tough time whenever I got my period, it's so much nicer when you don't have it anymore. It's something to look forward to. Right. So that is one big positive. Absolutely. Okay. Well, let me say my usual thing at the end, which isn't totally true, but... Sorry. That neither of us are doctors because you actually do have some of those credentials. And that you shouldn't be seeing this as medical advice, specifically.

If you are having any of these issues and you really want to get some help, go talk to your doctor or talk to some friends who have someone who works well with them, and do something about it because there are things you can do. Absolutely. Will say what I always say, which is that I will be talking to everybody else next week.

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