S4 E11: Dr. Sophia Yen on birth control, #PeriodsOptional, menopause, emergency contraception, and what your BMI has to do with it.

GUEST BIO

Dr. Sophia Yen is a Co-Founder of Pandia Health, expert online women’s hormonal healthcare: from birth control to menopause and more. She graduated MIT, UCSF Medical School, and UC Berkeley with an MPH. With 20+ years in medicine, she’s also a Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford Medical School in Adolescent Medicine. Her passion is making women’s lives better She’s also the Mother of 2 future sheheroes and wife of a feminist. Taiwanese-American married to a Korean-American (feel free to cut the last 2 lines or edit as you will).

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MENTIONED

• Plan C Pills - Abortion Access
• Inequality in Maternal Outcomes
• Maternity leave in Mexico
• Maternity leave in Canada
• Maternity leave in the U.S.
• Dr. Rebecca Gomperts from the Netherlands
• Calculate your BMI

TAKEAWAYS

1. Sex Ed is more than just "how to not get pregnant". And. Ladies, you deserve satisfaction too.
2. Emergency contraception: Plan B only works well if your BMI is <=25. Ella works for BMI <= 35. Copper IUD works for all BMIs
3. Hormonal birth control doesn't hurt your fertility. In fact it's often used before fertility treatments to stabilize hormone levels.
4. Best to worst: the implant, vasectomy, hormonal IUD, tubal ligation, copper IUD, the shot, the ring, the patch, then the pills.
5. If you're getting an IUD, you should be given pain management. DEMAND IT. (*paracervical block)
6. There are treatments to help you transition in perimenopause and menopause. You don't have to suffer through hot flashes. Estrogen replacement also helps you avoid a lot of health complications from menopause.
7. Women used to have 100 periods in their lifetime (8 kids), now they have 350-400 and each time we risk developing ovarian, endometrial or colon cancer. But periods are optional!!!
8. The pill that works best for white women often doesn't for Black/Asian women. Find the right one for you.
9. Disaggregating "Asian American" in medical research can help better identify genetic differences in our bodies' response to treatments.

CONTACT

Instagram | TikTok | Web | LinkedIn Host: Lazou

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