September 9, 2024 • 34 mins
This is part 2 in a series of conversations about perimenopause and menopause. I've heard from so many women who felt like they went through it alone, or didn't have anyone to confide in or help them through it. So let's normalize talking about menopause - what it can look like, what to expect, and ideas for how to best navigate the inevitable changes that come with this phase of life.
What sticks with me about Nancy's story is not just the truly difficult times she has been through, but how taking a broad perspective of life's ups and downs helped her ride out the lows. It is normal to experience lows and rough times! Even so, she was able to take charge of her health and get relief from her symptoms with the help of her doctors. You are an inspiration, Nancy!
Our stories are unique. We are not doctors, nor are we giving medical advice. Please talk to your doctor about your health and follow their professional advice.
At the end of this episode, I mention my naturopath. Here is her information:
Dr. Savannah Bukant
Naturopathic Doctor, Biofeedback Therapist, Mindbody Coach
Seattle, WA | (425) 403-7480 | www.savannahbukant.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hi, I'm Adriana Medina Kagan.
Welcome to Bien Fuerte.
It's time to speak.
This podcast was created toconnect our community to others
who are interested in exercisingnot only their physical bodies,
but their mind, spirit, and soulas well.
Listen to life experiences,themes, and topics that have
(00:23):
taught us how to shed thoselimiting beliefs.
Get advice from fitness experts.
clients, business owners, andother community members that
have inspired us to embraceabundance and freedom in all
departments of our lives.
Be brave enough to borrow otherpeople's courage until we find
(00:43):
our own strength to blaze ourown way in this life and know
that you are not alone.
Hola, hola, mi gente.
Adriana Medina Kagan here withBien Fuerte.
And I am here with my goodfriend Nancy.
(01:04):
You've heard her on thecommunication podcast and as
well as our tribe a couple yearsago.
And I am on the theme right now,Nancy, about menopause,
perimenopause.
And you're 10 years older thanme.
So I'm loving it.
I knew I remember you telling meone time when we were working
(01:25):
out.
And you were really red and yousaid, I hope you win this shit.
We were doing that hot yogaclass and I only did it for you.
And I felt like I was in avolcano.
It was awful.
(01:45):
And that was because I was inthe throes of menopause.
I remember but.
The thing is, I learned so muchfrom you and my clients and
ahead of time because you are ina more advanced stage as far as
like, you're raising your kidswhile I'm trying to have them,
(02:09):
you're losing weight, you'regetting your body back, you're
doing all these things.
That I have yet to experience.
Mm hmm.
And now perimetopause is one ofthose things.
And I was interviewing Lisabecause I told her the same
thing.
I want to normalizeperimetopause and metopause
because until you're goingthrough it, you really don't
(02:32):
understand.
So now I'm going through it andI want to hear your
perimetopause, metopausejourney.
because we hear all the expertstalk, we read the books, we do
the supplements, we go see ourdoctor, but we don't hear
somebody's journey as they startto feel the symptoms, then go to
(02:56):
see whoever they need to see, ahealth professional, and then
get on whatever medication,hormone replacement therapy,
Adaptogens or supplements thatdo help you with all the
symptoms like hot flashes Yeah,I think it's a really it's a
(03:17):
challenging journey.
And I think the thing that is sodifficult for a lot of women is
that we're not really able tocommunicate with our mothers and
the older women in our family ina way that helps us.
Because when I asked my motherabout menopause, she couldn't
remember.
Anything.
(03:38):
Like, nothing.
She didn't remember when her,period stopped.
Nothing.
And I couldn't understand that.
I'm like, how come you don'tremember this?
And then I wasn't, really closeto some other women in my
family.
So there was no one to reach outto.
And I kind of felt like I was init on my own.
And because I'd had this verytroubling pregnancy journey and,
(04:01):
I didn't know where I was on thespectrum of going through those
hormonal changes in my life.
And so, I had my first baby at39, and my second one at 41, and
he was my surprise baby, becauseI didn't think it was going to
happen.
And then I started going throughmenopause at about 47.
(04:21):
Perimenopause.
Perimenopause, but I wasactually in full menopause by
the time I was 48.
So, it was kind of quick andearly for me than other women.
And I remember the first time Ihad a hot flash.
I was in the car with my boysand I was taking them to the
grocery store.
The one grocery store where Icould leave them at the little
daycare place for like 45minutes of freedom! I would go
(04:45):
and like, have my coffee andcall a friend while they were in
there and then I'd buy grocerieswith them.
But, I was sitting in the carand all of a sudden I got this
like, immense heat, like, I wassweating and I was getting like
heart palpitations and my earsstarted to ring.
I didn't know what was going onwith me.
And I looked back at my kids andthey're in their car seats and
(05:06):
I'm trying to get them andFinnegan says, Mom, you look
like a lobster.
And I looked in the mirror, Iwas beat red, like I was
sunburned.
Nancy's a little light incomplexion, but she's half
Latina.
Oh my gosh.
And I just remember looking atmyself and I thought, It's a hot
flash, and I couldn't believeit.
(05:27):
How would you know that that wasit?
Like, when, so my idea, nowwe're normalizing it so that
like Sophia can know about thatas well.
But my period started kind of at12, which is in the middle, like
still one sister started herperiod when she was 14, but one
sister started her period whenshe was 10.
(05:47):
She went into perimetopause alot sooner.
Yeah, so that that's a reallygood indicator.
So I've been plagued withmigraines.
I was plagued with migraines mywhole life.
From the time I started to,probably at about eight years
old, I started getting migrainesand then they got really bad
(06:08):
when I started ovulating and myearly teens and my period was
never normal.
But one time I had this horriblemigraine.
I ended up in the hospital andthe doctor came to me.
He goes, well, I got some goodnews and some bad news.
I was like, all right, give methe good news.
And he's like, well, we're notgoing to amputate your head
today.
I'm like, oh, that's good.
And he says, well, the bad newsis you're probably going to have
(06:29):
migraines.
For another 30 years.
And then he asked me, he's like,when did you start your cycle?
And I said, about 16.
And he says, well, count onabout 30 years and then it's
going to end.
because once you hit menopause,it'll go away.
And Sure enough, during thatyear when I started phasing into
menopause and my cycles were notregular anymore and I was going
(06:50):
like for two, three monthswithout one.
That year between like the agesof 46 and 48, that first year I
had something like 36 migraines.
I stopped counting at 36 becauseit was too many and they were
lasting for days.
That was a, such a debilitatingyear for me and my kids were
little and I'm trying to liketake them to school every day
(07:12):
and then it caused other things,you know, being depressed and
stuff like that.
But I remembered what thatdoctor said but I hadn't like
put it all together yet.
You know, that, that was why Iwas asking because now I knew
when I was having a hot flash.
It was a hot flash.
Because I've seen you all gothrough it and knew the symptoms
(07:33):
and knew kind of what to lookfor age wise, you know 47 46
last year I felt a lot more andbut I couldn't differentiate if
it was like Sadness because mybrother had just passed or was I
depressed?
Or what it was so Yeah.
(07:53):
So the interesting thing aboutmenopause, you don't really
know, but it sneaks up on you.
Right.
And I was an active mom, I wasvolunteering and I'm helping my
kids in school and I ended upgetting depressed.
I had suffered with a postpartumdepression after my first child
was born but I got better, butnow this is like a whole new
(08:14):
ballgame.
And then I found that I justwasn't finding any joy anymore.
And the only thing that got meout of bed in the morning was
knowing that I had to get up andtake my kids to school.
And then one day I was doingsome reading about depression
and I found this chart.
I wish I could remember thedoctor's name, but it was this
Japanese doctor.
She did a study aboutdepression.
(08:37):
And what I thought was sowonderful about this chart was
it showed depression and therewere all these valleys Peaks and
valleys throughout life andthere was a depression.
It peaks in adolescence, aboutthe time that a woman starts her
cycle.
And then it goes down, and thenit peaks again in her twenties,
(08:58):
and then it goes down, and thenit peaks again in her thirties,
and then in the late thirties,when, you know, I'm like, Oh!
And then, all along, there'slike, Oh! these different stages
of life, right?
Childbearing years, and thendepression goes away, and then
there's another time when we'resusceptible for depression, and
that's when we go throughperimenopause and menopause, and
then later in life, when we haveparents who start to get ill and
(09:21):
pass away, and then as we age,and we're in your 60s, and now
your body is changing, andthere's another depression
cycle, and it's just, when I sawthat chart, I thought, oh.
This is normal.
There's nothing abnormal abouthaving these low cycles in your
life.
(09:42):
And when I saw that, I realized,oh, this is because my hormones
are changing, and I need to getit figured out.
Yes.
So that's good, because it'slike, okay.
I see it, but I also see thelight at the end of the tunnel
because of what is goingthrough.
So you went throughperimetopause really quick then.
(10:02):
So 40, yeah, about two years,two years.
And then you were full onmedical period anymore.
Nope.
Before 50.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
What was your process?
So, yeah, I well, I went to mydoctor because I was having
really painful sex.
(10:23):
Dryness! Oh yeah.
Just talk about that.
Yeah, it was terrible.
It was very painful.
And of course, you know, it washard on my relationship because
I I thought, why isn't thisworking?
So, in my intimate relationshipwith my husband, I was like,
hmm, I started to like withdrawbecause I was anticipating and
then I didn't want to, you know,engage because I knew it was
(10:46):
going to hurt.
And even lubricants didn't help.
So I went to my doc, mygynecologist and she checked me
out.
She's like, Oh yeah.
She's like, okay, we're going togive you some stuff.
So You know, back then there wasthis one study that said, Oh,
you're not supposed to usehormone replacement therapy, HRT
for more than five years.
Right.
So she got me started on that.
(11:06):
And did you feel Yeah, I did.
I felt better after about, Inoticed within a month, I was
taking estrogen.
I was using the little patch,the estradiol patch, and then I
was using like the vaginalinserts for the progesterone.
Yeah, the progesterone.
So that at that time I was usingthe patch and the inserts and
that was working pretty well.
(11:27):
And then she also prescribed amild Antidepressant.
Because my sleep cycle was wayoff.
I mean, I wasn't getting anysleep.
I was waking up about 20 times anight.
It was terrible and sweating.
I was still sweating at nightgoing through some of that
because like, did it wake youup?
was that what woke you up?
Or no, it was just the sleepcycle.
(11:48):
I just, I, I was waking up somuch and I wasn't getting any
rest.
And so I was in this cycle ofbasically sleep deprivation.
So after about a month to sixweeks, I started feeling better.
I was getting better sleep, andmy body was starting to adjust,
and then it was like, hmm.
You know, then, you know.
I wasn't like against having sexbecause it took away that dread
(12:12):
and then I didn't feel a pain.
And so that was a lot better.
I was still feeling somediscomfort so I went back and
had to do you know, a littlefine tuning on the medication
and she recommended changing theDose a bit and that helped.
And so, and the other thing was,being mentally, prepared I
really needed to feel that selfassurance of, the intimacy
(12:37):
instead of, like, hey, I reallyneed some, like, no.
That's a whole other thing.
We can talk about that.
It's not that women don't wantto have sex.
It's that women don't want tohave the sex they're going to
have.
Yeah.
And, I kind of was in this statebecause sex was painful.
(12:57):
I just like, let's just get itover with.
Like, I know you have needs andI need it, but.
Let's just get it over with.
And I didn't want it to be thatway.
I need it to be in that mentalhead space of like, I'm calm.
I feel secure and cared for.
Right.
and then, you know, surprisinglywhen I'm in that state, it's not
a problem.
(13:18):
Right.
Yeah.
So you started Yeah, I did.
So I was on HRT up until early2020.
And at that point, I was at thefive year mark.
So what happened was I went on atrip And on the way back,
somehow, all of my medicationsgot lost.
(13:40):
And I was calling my doc to tryto get in and get my stuff taken
care of And I wasn't able to doit because we had moved to a
different city And so at thetime when we were there It was
like there's a doctor shortageand one of the health care
facilities had closed down.
So i'm on the waiting list andthen of course february of 2020
(14:04):
Covid happens and then we're inlockdown So one day I was going
to the mailbox, so I haven'tbeen on HRT for probably two
months, and I'm feeling weird, Ifeel like my ligaments are tight
and brittle.
I reached into the mailbox toget the mail and all of a sudden
(14:25):
I had this excruciating pain.
I didn't know what happened.
And I tore my rotator cuff.
I did not know what happened atthat point.
And I got in the house and then,Because we were in lockdown.
I couldn't go to the doctor.
All of a sudden I couldn't carryany weight in my arm, on my
hands or anything.
And I was constantly dropping mycup of coffee.
I was dropping the gallon ofmilk taking it in and outta the
(14:47):
refrigerator.
I couldn't lay on my left side.
I couldn't do anything.
I was in excruciating pain and Icalled.
I finally found a doctor andthey're like, Oh, it sounds like
you might've torn your rotatorcuff.
And I'm like, how can thathappen?
And so I went for almost 10months with this situation and I
developed a frozen frozenshoulder.
(15:10):
And then I finally got into theorthopedist and He's talking to
me, goes, yeah, this is reallycommon for women when they're in
menopause.
I'm like, what?
I was going to say joint painand frozen shoulder is very
common.
Nobody told me this, but thething that happened to me was
when I lost all thosemedications and I couldn't get
back onto them because my docsaid, Oh, you're at the five
(15:32):
year mark.
You need to stop.
Suddenly I was in menopauseovernight with no help.
No, I wasn't eased in out of itat all.
It was just like, You know.
It was a complete shock.
And I was getting the terribleheadaches and I was getting
sweats and I was going throughthe whole like detox.
It was terrible.
(15:53):
And then we're in lockdown.
I remember one day I was likereally angry.
I was looking at my husband.
He's like, what's wrong withyou?
And I'm like, I'm sorry.
I just want to punch you in theface.
I didn't understand what I wasgoing through.
It was terrible.
We talk about that isperimetopause and metopause is
(16:14):
also the highest divorce rate.
Of relationships.
Oh my gosh, I can't tell you howmany times I was walking around
the house and every thought waslike, F, F, F, F, F, F.
I was in the throes of thisthing, plus I'm around men in my
house, like everyone's a male,even the dog, and I can get not
(16:35):
get any relief.
I don't have anyone to talk toand it was just hard.
And you know, the end reallyhonestly, that thought about
like, wanting to get out andthinking like, my partner
doesn't understand me, you know,like, it is a internal dialogue
But because of the extremesituation that we were in, I
wasn't able to like bounce itoff anyone else.
(16:57):
And you know, I would see youonce in a while and some other,
other girlfriends, but it wasn'tthe same because we were all
under such, you know, yeah,yeah.
That was our social cue.
Like having bought podcasts andhaving conversations was a way
that women could connect.
It's that community and that inSpanish, they call it the Sogar.
(17:20):
Which means to just vent andunload and process, right?
How can you do that when youhave nobody to process it with
you?
Like, that's where it takes aspecial person for them to be
able to listen to you andsupport you.
As long as they're in it withyou, you feel important.
(17:41):
But when they're not present,then you have to Find somebody
that is, because you can'tnecessarily get your needs met
anyway from one person, but atthe same time, if you don't have
anybody around you, it just getsbigger in your head.
Mm hmm.
That voice in your head.
Yeah, and, that's something wehave to watch, and I'm grateful
that I remember seeing thatchart so long ago and knowing
(18:04):
that this is another, you know,part of life.
It's just a cycle.
And once, we can identify that,then we know, Oh yeah, I need to
go get some help.
So how long were you withoutBHRT?
So about four years.
What happened was, afterlockdown, and about a year
later, I decided like, I gottago back to work.
(18:24):
And so I did.
But the thing was, is that itwas a big struggle, wrapping my
brain around a new job, I wentback to journalism, and, I had
to write.
So many stories every week, andit was hard for me.
I realized, oh yeah, verystressful.
I had to meet deadlines, and myfamily's like, where are you?
And I'm like, oh, I've got to gointerview these people and do my
job, you know.
(18:44):
I needed that socialinteraction.
I was meeting people from allwalks of life, and it was
wonderful just to hear otherpeople's stories and, and take
their photos and write aboutthem, and I really enjoyed that.
But last summer I noticed Iwasn't feeling right.
I was getting really tired,fatigued I just felt like I
could sleep all the time.
But I wasn't getting good sleep.
(19:05):
Again, my sleep pattern wasdisrupted.
So I talked to my doctor and soshe's like, well, let's do full
workup.
So she did.
And she's like, Oh, yourhormones are all out of whack.
Everything was out of whack.
And so she got me back on trackwith everything.
So it was almost five yearsactually.
So five years on five years off.
(19:26):
And then I started again and wehad this long conversation about
the study.
And she goes, well, that studywas kind of debunked because
they studied the wrong people.
They studied women who were.
65 and in menopause and put themon HRT and it caused problems
for them.
So now we have new data, we havenew studies, and now we know
(19:47):
that, as long as you monitoryour levels and that it's good
for us.
I mean, can you imagine like, welose our hormones and then they
tell us we can only have'em forfive years.
Like, doesn't make sense,doesn't make sense.
Now, I had my levels checkedafter like a couple months and
then a couple months after that.
And now I'm kind of got abaseline go on my sleep improved
(20:10):
dramatically.
Like I can sleep through thenight now.
It's amazing.
After six weeks, I remember Iwoke up, it was middle of
February.
I'm like, did I just sleepthrough the night?
Wow.
I feel like a whole new person.
Wow.
The sky is really blue today.
There's so many trees are sogreen.
(20:33):
I know.
And then and also I had beenexperiencing a lot of intimacy
issues and within about twomonths, the pain was gone.
And I started feeling sexualagain.
Yeah, the drive was coming back,which was amazing because I was
like, if my, it was walking downthe street, my uterus fell out
on the sidewalk, I'd just walkover and keep on going because I
(20:54):
didn't care.
So back, sleep got better.
Everything's get better.
So you're on the.
HRT, yep.
Are you on the patch?
So I'm doing the estradiol andthe progesterone that I take at
night and then I also do No, isit progesterone insert or is it
(21:15):
tablet?
I'm doing the insert and thetablet.
So both.
Yep.
And then I'm also takingmagnesium at night because that
helps us sleep.
I'm taking a whole multivitaminAnd then other things like don't
drink coffee past, three or fourin the afternoon I don't drink
very much at all because that'lldisrupt my sleep I am doing
(21:38):
different kinds of exercise.
Now I'm back with you onTuesdays and Fridays, which I
love.
I felt really good today afterour workout for a lot of
reasons.
Like one, I got a good workout.
And I was being mindful of whatI could do and you really helped
me modify the exercise.
But the thing that really helpedme was just being there with,
(22:00):
with our ladies, because I'veknown them for so long and
having been separated from them,for these few years, like really
had a big impact on me.
i'm a social butterfly when itcomes going to You are a social
butterfly and you definitelyfeel that expressed with this
(22:22):
community because there's Six ofyou that started and just never
stopped it was 2010.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, it was 2010.
That's when I met you.
Oh my gosh..
So when you have a group ofpeople doing the workout and
having it and it changes, youneed all kinds of training,
(22:43):
mobility, joint stretching,flexibility, you need strength.
heavy, heavier, but smartlifting, you need hit high
intensity training.
Oh, yeah.
And then conditioning like thistotally separate than hit
because it's not so much impact.
It's rowing, it's intervals onthe treadmill.
It's walking at an incline.
It's doing the battle roperunning the Shuttle run?
(23:08):
Oh, the circuit?
No.
The push, the sled.
Oh, yeah, my favorite.
It's all different.
And there's never enough time todo it all, so I leave you guys
with homework, I need you all todo bridges every day.
Do bird dog every day and dodead bug every day just to make
sure that you keep the injury abig Yeah.
(23:28):
And that's really, reallyimportant.
I notice now that I have a lotof hand pain.
in the mornings when I wake up.
And I don't think it'sarthritis, it's just that I
clench my fists at night forwhatever reason.
And so I have to wear littlebraces now to not do that, which
is fun.
And then as you get older, thenthere's the teeth clenching, the
jaw clenching at night, so yougotta wear a little mouth guard.
(23:51):
But the other thing that I'venoticed too is I get these
little, they're called spikeheadaches.
And what it is, is it's a musclespasm and what happens is I'll
get like a little pinched nerveand then the way it presents
itself is like a, it feels likea little icepick's going into
the side of my head every threeto ten seconds and it's awful.
It happened to me yesterday andit was because I was carrying a
(24:13):
lot of heavy stuff around and mymuscles aren't strong enough.
I know because every time I doweight bearing, for whatever
reason, the next day, sureenough, I feel it.
It's like, ugh.
And it takes like 24 to 36 hoursto calm it down.
And that's what happened to melast summer.
I had an injury.
I stumbled.
I was doing, on the job, Itripped on a root and I landed
(24:36):
hard.
I was carrying my backpack withmy camera equipment, which
weighed about 20 to 25 pounds.
And I basically compressed myspine.
And that caused a pinched nerve.
And I had a headache for a week.
And then I had to do physicaltherapy for it.
And then it happened to me againin October.
(24:57):
I slipped on a stair.
on October 31st and I had aheadache for 12 days.
It was so bad.
I was like losing my mind.
And I went to the doctor, I'mlike, you got to do something or
I'm just not going to make it.
And so she gave me some musclerelaxers and it took 12 days for
that thing to resolve.
And after that, I told my boss,that's it.
(25:19):
I'm out.
But you know, it's also likestrengthening and working on
your balance.
Okay.
And working on the supportingsmaller muscles in your feet,
because I thought, so it's thefalls.
You get older are the beginningof the end.
My awesome, kick ass neighborjust fell, and it has been a
(25:40):
challenge for him to get back onit.
And he's 86.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
It's hard.
Like, my great grandmother shewas 101 when she died.
She was something.
but, what really took her downwas she started falling down
when she was in her late 80s.
And then she had a really badfall and she broke her hip and
(26:02):
she died two years later becauseshe just, didn't recover.
You can't recover from it.
It's just a challenge.
So that's why you want to beable to train for those things.
It's training for life andworking on that stability,
creating that strength in youroverall core and the supporting
muscles.
Also, it impacts peopledifferently.
(26:23):
With menopause, you feelsymptoms that I don't feel.
I don't get those headaches.
I'm not in menopause, I'm inperimenopause, and I know that
because I still have my period,that's for me.
I noticed the dryness, I noticedthe brittle nails, I noticed the
stomach right around the roll,the meno roll, love it, you
(26:46):
know, and those are some of thesymptoms.
And I know they'll normalize,and I'm just.
Giving myself a lot of grace andI eat pretty healthy.
I move pretty good.
I feel strong This is what I cando for right now.
And that's good it builds myconfidence to do small workouts
and Vary the workouts based onmy energy level and based on my
(27:08):
sleep and how I recovered sothat has also helped me Help me
just to kind of prep and givemyself grace, but also build my
confidence because when I dosomething that is a hard
exercise, then I'm like, Oh,that feels good.
I did it.
And regardless of where it'scoming from.
That's why it's talking topeople about like, what are you
(27:29):
feeling?
What are you doing?
Yeah.
When did you start?
Well, you know some othersymptoms I was thinking about
like dry eyes.
I was suffering with dry eyes.
That's a symptom itchy skin Ofcourse the sleep You know,
sometimes your gut biomechanges.
You can't tolerate certain foodsanymore.
But you can fix that withprobiotics, changing your diet a
(27:52):
little bit don't drink as muchalcohol.
Ooh, that one's a killer.
Alcohol will disrupt you somuch.
It increases your hot flashes.
Oh yeah, it's so bad.
Spicy food can do that as well.
I know.
So I'm just not as spicy as Iused to be, oh, sometimes
clothing texture can reallybother you because your skin is
(28:12):
sensitive.
But, what I noticed was once Igot back on the medication and
the hormones, wow, oh, the mostamazing thing that happened was
I felt like my Breast tissue wasI noticed like it just felt like
everything kind of flattenedout.
I had like big mama arms and oldlady boobs They flattened out
(28:33):
And then I got back on the edgeturn and I noticed i'm like, oh
I'm starting to get somefullness and i'm like the shape
came back It was amazing and I Iwent and bought a new bra and
i'm like wow I like I I stillgot it, you know, and it was
different.
And we develop a layer aroundour middle but that can be
(28:53):
resolved, by just cutting backon what you eat.
Oh, and the cravings.
So just be more mindful aboutlike how you're eating.
I love the way you said that.
Okay.
I'm going to enjoy my lastwhatever before I get back on
it.
Because there's some times whereyou don't really pay attention
and you know what?
That's okay.
That's what you need.
So that you pay attention lateron.
And then you start like countingthe calories if you really
(29:16):
wanted to change, then you'llpay more attention.
And that's how I knew I wasreally paying a lot of
attention.
But it still wasn't quite movingso I knew something was going on
and that's what made me get mynumbers done and start reading
on it.
Well, I was thinking about youyesterday because I'm like,
okay, I need to slim down andthen I remember you saying, you
know, the body is made in thekitchen.
(29:38):
I'm like, yes.
Okay.
I need to dig out that oldcookbook.
Keep up your food and keep upyour protein.
As women, we tend to crave morecarbohydrates but there is no.
percentage on carbohydrates.
You just have to have enough tomaintain your muscle and take a
cue from your body.
if you're really working outhard and you know, you're
craving carbs, make it a goodchoice.
(29:58):
Don't go for the box of dingdongs.
And I think that's what whenyou're starving yourself.
I remember I tried a little bitof the fasting.
I could not get the amount ofprotein and the calories in
within that certain window.
So it just didn't work for me.
What works for me is eatingwithin the hour of waking up and
then not eating within an hourof going to bed.
(30:20):
And then just making goodchoices and making sure that I
have protein with at least fourof the meals.
And I do supplement, I do have aprotein shake.
That's good.
And I do try and get a protein.
Like some boiled eggs and mmhmm.
It's also like what I can prepfor my daughter.
Oh, yeah, definitely Yeah, andthey're easy snacks.
So just food prepping youmentioned it in class today.
(30:42):
She's like Adriana we need to dosomething with like a class
again, like we used to and dosome Yeah, because I what I want
to do is I want to have all myfood in the fridge and I pull it
out and I eat what I eat andthen I can stick to my routine
because it is so important.
I feel like I've beenrejuvenated and I really want to
(31:06):
take advantage of this, paththat I'm on now.
The other thing I want to remindyou of, and this is very, very
common for a woman is get yourthyroid checked because my
thyroid had conked out and thatwas why I was feeling so
fatigued.
Yep.
And, you know, honestly, I don'tknow how I made it through the
last two years.
It was just like brute force andjust whatever.
(31:28):
But now I feel so much betterand in a much better place.
I, my brain, I swear in Octoberwhen all this was happening, I
felt like my brain was on fire.
I couldn't put two thoughtstogether to like write a
sentence.
I couldn't remember anything.
I could sleep for 12 hours andI'd wake up just exhausted.
Coffee wasn't working, nothingwas working until I got all my
(31:51):
labs done.
you know, in my levels.
Done.
Done.
So blood work done.
Blood work and getting your fullpanel, I think, is that you got
to check all your thyroidhormones, your sex hormones, and
then your iron levels.
And then if you have any,,consistent medical things that
you've been watching over theyears, get all of that checked
(32:13):
because things change.
I have an autoimmune disorderand then I found out that I had
another one that developed overthe last few years and I have
Hashimoto's, which is just a,it's a thyroid thing.
And that was why I was sofatigued.
But now that I'm on track withthe medication, I feel a lot
better.
It's just fine tuning and makingsure that I'm up to date.
(32:33):
Using whatever calendar youhave, I have an app on my phone
called WomenLog, and I just tryto write down the symptoms so
that I know and I can look back.
I can track my period, I cantrack, you know, my hot flashes
and know when I'm asked how itis because I'm more on top of
it.
It's really steadying up on whatyou know, on what you need,
(32:55):
because everybody, every body isdifferent.
And just understanding andhaving the knowledge and then
asking questions.
And then also having thatconversation with other women.
So I hope you enjoyed thisconversation and had some of
your questions answered.
But I feel like after recordingtwo women now and their
(33:16):
journeys, it's just been sofascinating to see how different
we are.
Yeah.
And also, like, what works anddoesn't work.
And I love that Lisa, we hadstopped recording and she said,
do you know how about that creamand all that?
And I was just like, Lisa, let'sstart recording again, Jesus,
share any hacks and just havethis conversation with people go
(33:37):
get your blood work.
If you don't know who tocontact, I have a naturopath
that was on.
Oh yeah.
The naturopath was key for me.
I'll put her in the log as well,but thank you very much.
Oh, you're welcome.
It was fun.
All right.
Tears until next time.
Adios.
Thanks for listening to today'spodcast of being.
(33:59):
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If you would write a review onwhatever podcast platform you
are using so that we can get theword out.
And please, if you find apodcast episode, useful, share
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(34:20):
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(34:40):
Gracias y adios.
Hi, I'm Adriana Medina Kagan.
Welcome to Bien Fuerte.
It's time to speak.
This podcast was created toconnect our community to others
who are interested in exercisingnot only their physical bodies,
but their mind, spirit, and soulas well.
Listen to life experiences,themes, and topics that have
(00:23):
taught us how to shed thoselimiting beliefs.
Get advice from fitness experts.
clients, business owners, andother community members that
have inspired us to embraceabundance and freedom in all
departments of our lives.
Be brave enough to borrow otherpeople's courage until we find
(00:43):
our own strength to blaze ourown way in this life and know
that you are not alone.
Hola, hola, mi gente.
Adriana Medina Kagan here withBien Fuerte.
And I am here with my goodfriend Nancy.
(01:04):
You've heard her on thecommunication podcast and as
well as our tribe a couple yearsago.
And I am on the theme right now,Nancy, about menopause,
perimenopause.
And you're 10 years older thanme.
So I'm loving it.
I knew I remember you telling meone time when we were working
(01:25):
out.
And you were really red and yousaid, I hope you win this shit.
We were doing that hot yogaclass and I only did it for you.
And I felt like I was in avolcano.
It was awful.
(01:45):
And that was because I was inthe throes of menopause.
I remember but.
The thing is, I learned so muchfrom you and my clients and
ahead of time because you are ina more advanced stage as far as
like, you're raising your kidswhile I'm trying to have them,
(02:09):
you're losing weight, you'regetting your body back, you're
doing all these things.
That I have yet to experience.
Mm hmm.
And now perimetopause is one ofthose things.
And I was interviewing Lisabecause I told her the same
thing.
I want to normalizeperimetopause and metopause
because until you're goingthrough it, you really don't
(02:32):
understand.
So now I'm going through it andI want to hear your
perimetopause, metopausejourney.
because we hear all the expertstalk, we read the books, we do
the supplements, we go see ourdoctor, but we don't hear
somebody's journey as they startto feel the symptoms, then go to
(02:56):
see whoever they need to see, ahealth professional, and then
get on whatever medication,hormone replacement therapy,
Adaptogens or supplements thatdo help you with all the
symptoms like hot flashes Yeah,I think it's a really it's a
(03:17):
challenging journey.
And I think the thing that is sodifficult for a lot of women is
that we're not really able tocommunicate with our mothers and
the older women in our family ina way that helps us.
Because when I asked my motherabout menopause, she couldn't
remember.
Anything.
(03:38):
Like, nothing.
She didn't remember when her,period stopped.
Nothing.
And I couldn't understand that.
I'm like, how come you don'tremember this?
And then I wasn't, really closeto some other women in my
family.
So there was no one to reach outto.
And I kind of felt like I was init on my own.
And because I'd had this verytroubling pregnancy journey and,
(04:01):
I didn't know where I was on thespectrum of going through those
hormonal changes in my life.
And so, I had my first baby at39, and my second one at 41, and
he was my surprise baby, becauseI didn't think it was going to
happen.
And then I started going throughmenopause at about 47.
(04:21):
Perimenopause.
Perimenopause, but I wasactually in full menopause by
the time I was 48.
So, it was kind of quick andearly for me than other women.
And I remember the first time Ihad a hot flash.
I was in the car with my boysand I was taking them to the
grocery store.
The one grocery store where Icould leave them at the little
daycare place for like 45minutes of freedom! I would go
(04:45):
and like, have my coffee andcall a friend while they were in
there and then I'd buy grocerieswith them.
But, I was sitting in the carand all of a sudden I got this
like, immense heat, like, I wassweating and I was getting like
heart palpitations and my earsstarted to ring.
I didn't know what was going onwith me.
And I looked back at my kids andthey're in their car seats and
(05:06):
I'm trying to get them andFinnegan says, Mom, you look
like a lobster.
And I looked in the mirror, Iwas beat red, like I was
sunburned.
Nancy's a little light incomplexion, but she's half
Latina.
Oh my gosh.
And I just remember looking atmyself and I thought, It's a hot
flash, and I couldn't believeit.
(05:27):
How would you know that that wasit?
Like, when, so my idea, nowwe're normalizing it so that
like Sophia can know about thatas well.
But my period started kind of at12, which is in the middle, like
still one sister started herperiod when she was 14, but one
sister started her period whenshe was 10.
(05:47):
She went into perimetopause alot sooner.
Yeah, so that that's a reallygood indicator.
So I've been plagued withmigraines.
I was plagued with migraines mywhole life.
From the time I started to,probably at about eight years
old, I started getting migrainesand then they got really bad
(06:08):
when I started ovulating and myearly teens and my period was
never normal.
But one time I had this horriblemigraine.
I ended up in the hospital andthe doctor came to me.
He goes, well, I got some goodnews and some bad news.
I was like, all right, give methe good news.
And he's like, well, we're notgoing to amputate your head
today.
I'm like, oh, that's good.
And he says, well, the bad newsis you're probably going to have
(06:29):
migraines.
For another 30 years.
And then he asked me, he's like,when did you start your cycle?
And I said, about 16.
And he says, well, count onabout 30 years and then it's
going to end.
because once you hit menopause,it'll go away.
And Sure enough, during thatyear when I started phasing into
menopause and my cycles were notregular anymore and I was going
(06:50):
like for two, three monthswithout one.
That year between like the agesof 46 and 48, that first year I
had something like 36 migraines.
I stopped counting at 36 becauseit was too many and they were
lasting for days.
That was a, such a debilitatingyear for me and my kids were
little and I'm trying to liketake them to school every day
(07:12):
and then it caused other things,you know, being depressed and
stuff like that.
But I remembered what thatdoctor said but I hadn't like
put it all together yet.
You know, that, that was why Iwas asking because now I knew
when I was having a hot flash.
It was a hot flash.
Because I've seen you all gothrough it and knew the symptoms
(07:33):
and knew kind of what to lookfor age wise, you know 47 46
last year I felt a lot more andbut I couldn't differentiate if
it was like Sadness because mybrother had just passed or was I
depressed?
Or what it was so Yeah.
(07:53):
So the interesting thing aboutmenopause, you don't really
know, but it sneaks up on you.
Right.
And I was an active mom, I wasvolunteering and I'm helping my
kids in school and I ended upgetting depressed.
I had suffered with a postpartumdepression after my first child
was born but I got better, butnow this is like a whole new
(08:14):
ballgame.
And then I found that I justwasn't finding any joy anymore.
And the only thing that got meout of bed in the morning was
knowing that I had to get up andtake my kids to school.
And then one day I was doingsome reading about depression
and I found this chart.
I wish I could remember thedoctor's name, but it was this
Japanese doctor.
She did a study aboutdepression.
(08:37):
And what I thought was sowonderful about this chart was
it showed depression and therewere all these valleys Peaks and
valleys throughout life andthere was a depression.
It peaks in adolescence, aboutthe time that a woman starts her
cycle.
And then it goes down, and thenit peaks again in her twenties,
(08:58):
and then it goes down, and thenit peaks again in her thirties,
and then in the late thirties,when, you know, I'm like, Oh!
And then, all along, there'slike, Oh! these different stages
of life, right?
Childbearing years, and thendepression goes away, and then
there's another time when we'resusceptible for depression, and
that's when we go throughperimenopause and menopause, and
then later in life, when we haveparents who start to get ill and
(09:21):
pass away, and then as we age,and we're in your 60s, and now
your body is changing, andthere's another depression
cycle, and it's just, when I sawthat chart, I thought, oh.
This is normal.
There's nothing abnormal abouthaving these low cycles in your
life.
(09:42):
And when I saw that, I realized,oh, this is because my hormones
are changing, and I need to getit figured out.
Yes.
So that's good, because it'slike, okay.
I see it, but I also see thelight at the end of the tunnel
because of what is goingthrough.
So you went throughperimetopause really quick then.
(10:02):
So 40, yeah, about two years,two years.
And then you were full onmedical period anymore.
Nope.
Before 50.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
What was your process?
So, yeah, I well, I went to mydoctor because I was having
really painful sex.
(10:23):
Dryness! Oh yeah.
Just talk about that.
Yeah, it was terrible.
It was very painful.
And of course, you know, it washard on my relationship because
I I thought, why isn't thisworking?
So, in my intimate relationshipwith my husband, I was like,
hmm, I started to like withdrawbecause I was anticipating and
then I didn't want to, you know,engage because I knew it was
(10:46):
going to hurt.
And even lubricants didn't help.
So I went to my doc, mygynecologist and she checked me
out.
She's like, Oh yeah.
She's like, okay, we're going togive you some stuff.
So You know, back then there wasthis one study that said, Oh,
you're not supposed to usehormone replacement therapy, HRT
for more than five years.
Right.
So she got me started on that.
(11:06):
And did you feel Yeah, I did.
I felt better after about, Inoticed within a month, I was
taking estrogen.
I was using the little patch,the estradiol patch, and then I
was using like the vaginalinserts for the progesterone.
Yeah, the progesterone.
So that at that time I was usingthe patch and the inserts and
that was working pretty well.
(11:27):
And then she also prescribed amild Antidepressant.
Because my sleep cycle was wayoff.
I mean, I wasn't getting anysleep.
I was waking up about 20 times anight.
It was terrible and sweating.
I was still sweating at nightgoing through some of that
because like, did it wake youup?
was that what woke you up?
Or no, it was just the sleepcycle.
(11:48):
I just, I, I was waking up somuch and I wasn't getting any
rest.
And so I was in this cycle ofbasically sleep deprivation.
So after about a month to sixweeks, I started feeling better.
I was getting better sleep, andmy body was starting to adjust,
and then it was like, hmm.
You know, then, you know.
I wasn't like against having sexbecause it took away that dread
(12:12):
and then I didn't feel a pain.
And so that was a lot better.
I was still feeling somediscomfort so I went back and
had to do you know, a littlefine tuning on the medication
and she recommended changing theDose a bit and that helped.
And so, and the other thing was,being mentally, prepared I
really needed to feel that selfassurance of, the intimacy
(12:37):
instead of, like, hey, I reallyneed some, like, no.
That's a whole other thing.
We can talk about that.
It's not that women don't wantto have sex.
It's that women don't want tohave the sex they're going to
have.
Yeah.
And, I kind of was in this statebecause sex was painful.
(12:57):
I just like, let's just get itover with.
Like, I know you have needs andI need it, but.
Let's just get it over with.
And I didn't want it to be thatway.
I need it to be in that mentalhead space of like, I'm calm.
I feel secure and cared for.
Right.
and then, you know, surprisinglywhen I'm in that state, it's not
a problem.
(13:18):
Right.
Yeah.
So you started Yeah, I did.
So I was on HRT up until early2020.
And at that point, I was at thefive year mark.
So what happened was I went on atrip And on the way back,
somehow, all of my medicationsgot lost.
(13:40):
And I was calling my doc to tryto get in and get my stuff taken
care of And I wasn't able to doit because we had moved to a
different city And so at thetime when we were there It was
like there's a doctor shortageand one of the health care
facilities had closed down.
So i'm on the waiting list andthen of course february of 2020
(14:04):
Covid happens and then we're inlockdown So one day I was going
to the mailbox, so I haven'tbeen on HRT for probably two
months, and I'm feeling weird, Ifeel like my ligaments are tight
and brittle.
I reached into the mailbox toget the mail and all of a sudden
(14:25):
I had this excruciating pain.
I didn't know what happened.
And I tore my rotator cuff.
I did not know what happened atthat point.
And I got in the house and then,Because we were in lockdown.
I couldn't go to the doctor.
All of a sudden I couldn't carryany weight in my arm, on my
hands or anything.
And I was constantly dropping mycup of coffee.
I was dropping the gallon ofmilk taking it in and outta the
(14:47):
refrigerator.
I couldn't lay on my left side.
I couldn't do anything.
I was in excruciating pain and Icalled.
I finally found a doctor andthey're like, Oh, it sounds like
you might've torn your rotatorcuff.
And I'm like, how can thathappen?
And so I went for almost 10months with this situation and I
developed a frozen frozenshoulder.
(15:10):
And then I finally got into theorthopedist and He's talking to
me, goes, yeah, this is reallycommon for women when they're in
menopause.
I'm like, what?
I was going to say joint painand frozen shoulder is very
common.
Nobody told me this, but thething that happened to me was
when I lost all thosemedications and I couldn't get
back onto them because my docsaid, Oh, you're at the five
(15:32):
year mark.
You need to stop.
Suddenly I was in menopauseovernight with no help.
No, I wasn't eased in out of itat all.
It was just like, You know.
It was a complete shock.
And I was getting the terribleheadaches and I was getting
sweats and I was going throughthe whole like detox.
It was terrible.
(15:53):
And then we're in lockdown.
I remember one day I was likereally angry.
I was looking at my husband.
He's like, what's wrong withyou?
And I'm like, I'm sorry.
I just want to punch you in theface.
I didn't understand what I wasgoing through.
It was terrible.
We talk about that isperimetopause and metopause is
(16:14):
also the highest divorce rate.
Of relationships.
Oh my gosh, I can't tell you howmany times I was walking around
the house and every thought waslike, F, F, F, F, F, F.
I was in the throes of thisthing, plus I'm around men in my
house, like everyone's a male,even the dog, and I can get not
(16:35):
get any relief.
I don't have anyone to talk toand it was just hard.
And you know, the end reallyhonestly, that thought about
like, wanting to get out andthinking like, my partner
doesn't understand me, you know,like, it is a internal dialogue
But because of the extremesituation that we were in, I
wasn't able to like bounce itoff anyone else.
(16:57):
And you know, I would see youonce in a while and some other,
other girlfriends, but it wasn'tthe same because we were all
under such, you know, yeah,yeah.
That was our social cue.
Like having bought podcasts andhaving conversations was a way
that women could connect.
It's that community and that inSpanish, they call it the Sogar.
(17:20):
Which means to just vent andunload and process, right?
How can you do that when youhave nobody to process it with
you?
Like, that's where it takes aspecial person for them to be
able to listen to you andsupport you.
As long as they're in it withyou, you feel important.
(17:41):
But when they're not present,then you have to Find somebody
that is, because you can'tnecessarily get your needs met
anyway from one person, but atthe same time, if you don't have
anybody around you, it just getsbigger in your head.
Mm hmm.
That voice in your head.
Yeah, and, that's something wehave to watch, and I'm grateful
that I remember seeing thatchart so long ago and knowing
(18:04):
that this is another, you know,part of life.
It's just a cycle.
And once, we can identify that,then we know, Oh yeah, I need to
go get some help.
So how long were you withoutBHRT?
So about four years.
What happened was, afterlockdown, and about a year
later, I decided like, I gottago back to work.
(18:24):
And so I did.
But the thing was, is that itwas a big struggle, wrapping my
brain around a new job, I wentback to journalism, and, I had
to write.
So many stories every week, andit was hard for me.
I realized, oh yeah, verystressful.
I had to meet deadlines, and myfamily's like, where are you?
And I'm like, oh, I've got to gointerview these people and do my
job, you know.
(18:44):
I needed that socialinteraction.
I was meeting people from allwalks of life, and it was
wonderful just to hear otherpeople's stories and, and take
their photos and write aboutthem, and I really enjoyed that.
But last summer I noticed Iwasn't feeling right.
I was getting really tired,fatigued I just felt like I
could sleep all the time.
But I wasn't getting good sleep.
(19:05):
Again, my sleep pattern wasdisrupted.
So I talked to my doctor and soshe's like, well, let's do full
workup.
So she did.
And she's like, Oh, yourhormones are all out of whack.
Everything was out of whack.
And so she got me back on trackwith everything.
So it was almost five yearsactually.
So five years on five years off.
(19:26):
And then I started again and wehad this long conversation about
the study.
And she goes, well, that studywas kind of debunked because
they studied the wrong people.
They studied women who were.
65 and in menopause and put themon HRT and it caused problems
for them.
So now we have new data, we havenew studies, and now we know
(19:47):
that, as long as you monitoryour levels and that it's good
for us.
I mean, can you imagine like, welose our hormones and then they
tell us we can only have'em forfive years.
Like, doesn't make sense,doesn't make sense.
Now, I had my levels checkedafter like a couple months and
then a couple months after that.
And now I'm kind of got abaseline go on my sleep improved
(20:10):
dramatically.
Like I can sleep through thenight now.
It's amazing.
After six weeks, I remember Iwoke up, it was middle of
February.
I'm like, did I just sleepthrough the night?
Wow.
I feel like a whole new person.
Wow.
The sky is really blue today.
There's so many trees are sogreen.
(20:33):
I know.
And then and also I had beenexperiencing a lot of intimacy
issues and within about twomonths, the pain was gone.
And I started feeling sexualagain.
Yeah, the drive was coming back,which was amazing because I was
like, if my, it was walking downthe street, my uterus fell out
on the sidewalk, I'd just walkover and keep on going because I
(20:54):
didn't care.
So back, sleep got better.
Everything's get better.
So you're on the.
HRT, yep.
Are you on the patch?
So I'm doing the estradiol andthe progesterone that I take at
night and then I also do No, isit progesterone insert or is it
(21:15):
tablet?
I'm doing the insert and thetablet.
So both.
Yep.
And then I'm also takingmagnesium at night because that
helps us sleep.
I'm taking a whole multivitaminAnd then other things like don't
drink coffee past, three or fourin the afternoon I don't drink
very much at all because that'lldisrupt my sleep I am doing
(21:38):
different kinds of exercise.
Now I'm back with you onTuesdays and Fridays, which I
love.
I felt really good today afterour workout for a lot of
reasons.
Like one, I got a good workout.
And I was being mindful of whatI could do and you really helped
me modify the exercise.
But the thing that really helpedme was just being there with,
(22:00):
with our ladies, because I'veknown them for so long and
having been separated from them,for these few years, like really
had a big impact on me.
i'm a social butterfly when itcomes going to You are a social
butterfly and you definitelyfeel that expressed with this
(22:22):
community because there's Six ofyou that started and just never
stopped it was 2010.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, it was 2010.
That's when I met you.
Oh my gosh..
So when you have a group ofpeople doing the workout and
having it and it changes, youneed all kinds of training,
(22:43):
mobility, joint stretching,flexibility, you need strength.
heavy, heavier, but smartlifting, you need hit high
intensity training.
Oh, yeah.
And then conditioning like thistotally separate than hit
because it's not so much impact.
It's rowing, it's intervals onthe treadmill.
It's walking at an incline.
It's doing the battle roperunning the Shuttle run?
(23:08):
Oh, the circuit?
No.
The push, the sled.
Oh, yeah, my favorite.
It's all different.
And there's never enough time todo it all, so I leave you guys
with homework, I need you all todo bridges every day.
Do bird dog every day and dodead bug every day just to make
sure that you keep the injury abig Yeah.
(23:28):
And that's really, reallyimportant.
I notice now that I have a lotof hand pain.
in the mornings when I wake up.
And I don't think it'sarthritis, it's just that I
clench my fists at night forwhatever reason.
And so I have to wear littlebraces now to not do that, which
is fun.
And then as you get older, thenthere's the teeth clenching, the
jaw clenching at night, so yougotta wear a little mouth guard.
(23:51):
But the other thing that I'venoticed too is I get these
little, they're called spikeheadaches.
And what it is, is it's a musclespasm and what happens is I'll
get like a little pinched nerveand then the way it presents
itself is like a, it feels likea little icepick's going into
the side of my head every threeto ten seconds and it's awful.
It happened to me yesterday andit was because I was carrying a
(24:13):
lot of heavy stuff around and mymuscles aren't strong enough.
I know because every time I doweight bearing, for whatever
reason, the next day, sureenough, I feel it.
It's like, ugh.
And it takes like 24 to 36 hoursto calm it down.
And that's what happened to melast summer.
I had an injury.
I stumbled.
I was doing, on the job, Itripped on a root and I landed
(24:36):
hard.
I was carrying my backpack withmy camera equipment, which
weighed about 20 to 25 pounds.
And I basically compressed myspine.
And that caused a pinched nerve.
And I had a headache for a week.
And then I had to do physicaltherapy for it.
And then it happened to me againin October.
(24:57):
I slipped on a stair.
on October 31st and I had aheadache for 12 days.
It was so bad.
I was like losing my mind.
And I went to the doctor, I'mlike, you got to do something or
I'm just not going to make it.
And so she gave me some musclerelaxers and it took 12 days for
that thing to resolve.
And after that, I told my boss,that's it.
(25:19):
I'm out.
But you know, it's also likestrengthening and working on
your balance.
Okay.
And working on the supportingsmaller muscles in your feet,
because I thought, so it's thefalls.
You get older are the beginningof the end.
My awesome, kick ass neighborjust fell, and it has been a
(25:40):
challenge for him to get back onit.
And he's 86.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
It's hard.
Like, my great grandmother shewas 101 when she died.
She was something.
but, what really took her downwas she started falling down
when she was in her late 80s.
And then she had a really badfall and she broke her hip and
(26:02):
she died two years later becauseshe just, didn't recover.
You can't recover from it.
It's just a challenge.
So that's why you want to beable to train for those things.
It's training for life andworking on that stability,
creating that strength in youroverall core and the supporting
muscles.
Also, it impacts peopledifferently.
(26:23):
With menopause, you feelsymptoms that I don't feel.
I don't get those headaches.
I'm not in menopause, I'm inperimenopause, and I know that
because I still have my period,that's for me.
I noticed the dryness, I noticedthe brittle nails, I noticed the
stomach right around the roll,the meno roll, love it, you
(26:46):
know, and those are some of thesymptoms.
And I know they'll normalize,and I'm just.
Giving myself a lot of grace andI eat pretty healthy.
I move pretty good.
I feel strong This is what I cando for right now.
And that's good it builds myconfidence to do small workouts
and Vary the workouts based onmy energy level and based on my
(27:08):
sleep and how I recovered sothat has also helped me Help me
just to kind of prep and givemyself grace, but also build my
confidence because when I dosomething that is a hard
exercise, then I'm like, Oh,that feels good.
I did it.
And regardless of where it'scoming from.
That's why it's talking topeople about like, what are you
(27:29):
feeling?
What are you doing?
Yeah.
When did you start?
Well, you know some othersymptoms I was thinking about
like dry eyes.
I was suffering with dry eyes.
That's a symptom itchy skin Ofcourse the sleep You know,
sometimes your gut biomechanges.
You can't tolerate certain foodsanymore.
But you can fix that withprobiotics, changing your diet a
(27:52):
little bit don't drink as muchalcohol.
Ooh, that one's a killer.
Alcohol will disrupt you somuch.
It increases your hot flashes.
Oh yeah, it's so bad.
Spicy food can do that as well.
I know.
So I'm just not as spicy as Iused to be, oh, sometimes
clothing texture can reallybother you because your skin is
(28:12):
sensitive.
But, what I noticed was once Igot back on the medication and
the hormones, wow, oh, the mostamazing thing that happened was
I felt like my Breast tissue wasI noticed like it just felt like
everything kind of flattenedout.
I had like big mama arms and oldlady boobs They flattened out
(28:33):
And then I got back on the edgeturn and I noticed i'm like, oh
I'm starting to get somefullness and i'm like the shape
came back It was amazing and I Iwent and bought a new bra and
i'm like wow I like I I stillgot it, you know, and it was
different.
And we develop a layer aroundour middle but that can be
(28:53):
resolved, by just cutting backon what you eat.
Oh, and the cravings.
So just be more mindful aboutlike how you're eating.
I love the way you said that.
Okay.
I'm going to enjoy my lastwhatever before I get back on
it.
Because there's some times whereyou don't really pay attention
and you know what?
That's okay.
That's what you need.
So that you pay attention lateron.
And then you start like countingthe calories if you really
(29:16):
wanted to change, then you'llpay more attention.
And that's how I knew I wasreally paying a lot of
attention.
But it still wasn't quite movingso I knew something was going on
and that's what made me get mynumbers done and start reading
on it.
Well, I was thinking about youyesterday because I'm like,
okay, I need to slim down andthen I remember you saying, you
know, the body is made in thekitchen.
(29:38):
I'm like, yes.
Okay.
I need to dig out that oldcookbook.
Keep up your food and keep upyour protein.
As women, we tend to crave morecarbohydrates but there is no.
percentage on carbohydrates.
You just have to have enough tomaintain your muscle and take a
cue from your body.
if you're really working outhard and you know, you're
craving carbs, make it a goodchoice.
(29:58):
Don't go for the box of dingdongs.
And I think that's what whenyou're starving yourself.
I remember I tried a little bitof the fasting.
I could not get the amount ofprotein and the calories in
within that certain window.
So it just didn't work for me.
What works for me is eatingwithin the hour of waking up and
then not eating within an hourof going to bed.
(30:20):
And then just making goodchoices and making sure that I
have protein with at least fourof the meals.
And I do supplement, I do have aprotein shake.
That's good.
And I do try and get a protein.
Like some boiled eggs and mmhmm.
It's also like what I can prepfor my daughter.
Oh, yeah, definitely Yeah, andthey're easy snacks.
So just food prepping youmentioned it in class today.
(30:42):
She's like Adriana we need to dosomething with like a class
again, like we used to and dosome Yeah, because I what I want
to do is I want to have all myfood in the fridge and I pull it
out and I eat what I eat andthen I can stick to my routine
because it is so important.
I feel like I've beenrejuvenated and I really want to
(31:06):
take advantage of this, paththat I'm on now.
The other thing I want to remindyou of, and this is very, very
common for a woman is get yourthyroid checked because my
thyroid had conked out and thatwas why I was feeling so
fatigued.
Yep.
And, you know, honestly, I don'tknow how I made it through the
last two years.
It was just like brute force andjust whatever.
(31:28):
But now I feel so much betterand in a much better place.
I, my brain, I swear in Octoberwhen all this was happening, I
felt like my brain was on fire.
I couldn't put two thoughtstogether to like write a
sentence.
I couldn't remember anything.
I could sleep for 12 hours andI'd wake up just exhausted.
Coffee wasn't working, nothingwas working until I got all my
(31:51):
labs done.
you know, in my levels.
Done.
Done.
So blood work done.
Blood work and getting your fullpanel, I think, is that you got
to check all your thyroidhormones, your sex hormones, and
then your iron levels.
And then if you have any,,consistent medical things that
you've been watching over theyears, get all of that checked
(32:13):
because things change.
I have an autoimmune disorderand then I found out that I had
another one that developed overthe last few years and I have
Hashimoto's, which is just a,it's a thyroid thing.
And that was why I was sofatigued.
But now that I'm on track withthe medication, I feel a lot
better.
It's just fine tuning and makingsure that I'm up to date.
(32:33):
Using whatever calendar youhave, I have an app on my phone
called WomenLog, and I just tryto write down the symptoms so
that I know and I can look back.
I can track my period, I cantrack, you know, my hot flashes
and know when I'm asked how itis because I'm more on top of
it.
It's really steadying up on whatyou know, on what you need,
(32:55):
because everybody, every body isdifferent.
And just understanding andhaving the knowledge and then
asking questions.
And then also having thatconversation with other women.
So I hope you enjoyed thisconversation and had some of
your questions answered.
But I feel like after recordingtwo women now and their
(33:16):
journeys, it's just been sofascinating to see how different
we are.
Yeah.
And also, like, what works anddoesn't work.
And I love that Lisa, we hadstopped recording and she said,
do you know how about that creamand all that?
And I was just like, Lisa, let'sstart recording again, Jesus,
share any hacks and just havethis conversation with people go
(33:37):
get your blood work.
If you don't know who tocontact, I have a naturopath
that was on.
Oh yeah.
The naturopath was key for me.
I'll put her in the log as well,but thank you very much.
Oh, you're welcome.
It was fun.
All right.
Tears until next time.
Adios.
Thanks for listening to today'spodcast of being.
(33:59):
We would so appreciate it.
If you would write a review onwhatever podcast platform you
are using so that we can get theword out.
And please, if you find apodcast episode, useful, share
with a friend.
Be in front.
It's powered by my company.
For the fitness at for thefitness.
com connect with us on all ofour social media at where
(34:20):
fitness, let us know what youwant to hear more in depth
Competition, nutrition,workouts, or how to find a
balance.
We will be interviewing gymowners, trainers, coaches,
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website.
(34:40):
Gracias y adios.
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