November 16, 2023 • 58 mins
Imagine entering a new phase of life, one marked by hormonal change, transition, and growth, yet feeling completely unprepared to navigate the journey. This was the reality for Dana Lawson, a certified health coach, who faced her menopausal transition head-on. Dana joined us to share her personal experiences and insights, shedding light on the often misunderstood subject of menopause and its effects on women's bodies, with special emphasis on women of color.
Navigating menopause need not feel like wading through a dense fog. With the right knowledge, support, and resources, it can be a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. For the men in our audience, this episode provides invaluable insights on how you can support your female family members through this significant life transition.
Diving deeper into the episode, Dana emphasizes the significance of holistic care, touching on essential aspects such as nutrition, stress management, exercise, and quality sleep. This episode is not just about managing menopause - it's about thriving through it. Listen in to access Dana's wealth of knowledge and resources, empowering yourself or the women in your life to navigate this major life stage with grace and confidence.
About Dana Lawson:
Dana Lawson is a Certified Health Coach and Menopause Expert. She spent 15 years in the health and wellness industry and understood the importance of maintaining optimal health. However, when she reached menopause at age 51, she was faced with crushing fatigue, debilitating hot flashes, lack of sleep, weight gain, and depression. She tried everything she knew and activities that had worked for her in the past. This time, however, nothing seemed to work. Dana used the feelings of confusion and frustration to inspire her to seek answers for herself. But she didn't stop there. Dana sought mentorship from a Menopause Expert and Certified Hormone Specialist in Canada. Dana's mission is to help all women especially women of color, to understand what's happening to their hormones during the menopause transition and why. She then teaches them how to get rid of symptoms and improve overall health with high-quality nutrition, prioritizing sleep, stress management, and intentional exercise. Dana also helps these women create mindset shifts in order to develop a positive relationship with their bodies so that they can confidently embrace midlife and be the happiest, healthiest version of themselves during the menopausal transition and beyond.
Her Training and Certifications:
Certified Health Coach
Mentorship with a Certified Hormone Specialist
Dietary Supplement Specialist
Advanced Nutrition for Health Coaches
In Training for Menopause Doula Certification
You can find her here:
Website: www.alignandshinenow.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alignandshinenow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alignandshinenow
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/alignandshinenowhttps://linktr.ee/alignandshinenow
Free Resource:
Certified Health Coach
Mentorship with a Certified Hormone Specialist
Dietary Supplement Specialist
Advanced Nutrition for Health Coaches
In Training for Menopause Doula Certification
You can find her here:
Website: www.alignandshinenow.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alignandshinenow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alignandshinenow
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/alignandshinenowhttps://linktr.ee/alignandshinenow
Free Resource:
Show Credits:
Richard Dodds (Host/Producer): @Doddsism
Show Music: @IAmTheDjBlue
Podcast Website: StillTalkingBlack.com
Still
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Richard Dodds (00:00):
This is Still Talking Black, a show where we
discuss issues that affectblackness from a black point of
view.
I'm your host, richard Dyes.
On today's show, I'm joined byDana Lawson.
Dana Lawson is a health coachand she specializes in helping
women in menopause.
I really didn't know that muchabout menopause until I sat down
with Dana, and she gives awealth of information that helps
(00:22):
you be able to identify, whenyou're going through menopause,
what menopause really is and allof the things that go along
with it, and why, and also whyit affects minorities, sometimes
more than other ethnic groups.
So I hope you enjoy and,without any further ado, here's
(00:43):
Dana.
Dana Lawson (00:44):
Hi, my name is Dana Lawson, I'm a certified health
coach and I focus on women inthe menopausal transition.
So from parry to post, and Ihelp them using the four pillars
of health sleep, gettingadequate sleep, nutrition,
exercise and managing stress.
(01:04):
And I help them to align theirvalues along with this new way
of living according to thosefour pillars, so that their
transformation is complete andthey'll have the best success
throughout the menopausetransition.
Richard Dodds (01:23):
There you go.
It's great to finally get toconnect back with you.
Dana Lawson (01:27):
I agree.
Thank you so much for having me.
Richard Dodds (01:30):
I'm so glad that you came on.
I know when we talked before,you had this phrase that you
said and it was like such agreat thing.
And you said you had a time inyour life where you had a
mid-life awakening and thatjourney led you to what you're
currently doing now.
Can you tell everybody aboutyour mid-life awakening?
Dana Lawson (01:50):
Yeah, sure, I had been at a corporate job for
about 16 years and I became verydissatisfied During that
process.
I was going through parrymenopause and didn't realize it,
and so I had poor sleep, I hadhot flashes, night sweats,
(02:12):
depression, a lot of sadness,and I just felt like I was a
person that I couldn't evenrecognize myself.
So after 16 years, I just gotout one day and I started
getting ready for work and Isaid, nope, I don't want to do
(02:32):
this anymore.
And so mentally, emotionally, Ikind of checked out and I
started looking for somethingthat really appealed to me in
this time of my life.
And I was always interested inhealth.
And before my accounting careerI was in health care, had a
(02:52):
variety of different roles frontoffice, back office, management
.
I gave injections and tookvitals, called patients after
surgery to make sure that theywere doing well, and so my heart
was always there.
I even went back to school tobecome a childbirth educator.
(03:14):
So I was a certified childbirtheducator.
I did early childhoodbreastfeeding, you know,
instructing moms that way.
So I went back to my roots.
I've always loved health careand understanding how health
impacts women and just people ingeneral.
So I just started Googling whatare, what are careers for women
(03:39):
over 50?
And I kept seeing health coach,health coach, health coach come
up and I was like what is thishealth coach thing?
So I started to do some diggingand that's where I landed.
I landed back in school tobecome a certified health coach.
Richard Dodds (03:56):
Yeah, I never even heard of a health coach
before.
I'm pretty sure, like you'rethe first person like a health
coach.
Like, how would you describe ahealth coach to somebody who
doesn't really know what they do?
Dana Lawson (04:07):
Yeah.
So a health coach is a personwho works with the actual
patient or client and they don'treplace the doctor because,
obviously, since they don't havea license, we can't prescribe
or, you know, tell people whatthey should do.
Rather, we help a person workalong in conjunction with their
(04:30):
doctor and to work on theirhealth goals or their health
challenges.
So, for example, if a womancomes out of the doctor's office
and the doctor says you know,your blood pressure is
borderline high, so I need youto lose weight, exercise, I want
you to come back in 60 to 90days and we're going to check
(04:53):
your blood pressure again to seeyou know how you're doing.
If you're not doing better,we're going to put you on
medication.
So what are the women here outof the doctor's office?
Oh, my God, I'm going to be onmedication and she's.
Then the next thought is well,how am I going to do this?
He wants me to lose weight, hewants me to exercise.
(05:13):
How do I do that and make itsustainable for me?
And so a health coach canactually work in conjunction
with the patient and the doctorto help them implement practical
lifestyle changes, to supportthem in whatever the goal is.
So, if it's exercise, if it'snutrition, then the health coach
(05:39):
works with them in that way,and it's a little different for
people who don't reallyunderstand health coaching,
because it's a cheerleader role,but not really so.
While you're encouraging theclient, you're cheering them on,
so to speak.
(05:59):
You're also overcoming mindsetblocks that keeps them from
actually working on whatever itis they need to change.
Richard Dodds (06:09):
Kind of like a little bit of therapy in there
too.
Dana Lawson (06:13):
A little bit.
We don't call ourselvestherapists, though, but there
are stories that we've been toldabout ourselves, about life,
about food, and so we createthese beliefs based on these
stories.
For example, don't eat, thatYou'll get fat, or this food is
(06:35):
bad, or this food is good, andlabeling those things.
For growing up in that kind ofenvironment, you develop these
thoughts, these beliefs thatfood is good or food is bad, or
these thoughts that you have.
That may not even be true, butif you believe it, then that
(07:00):
shapes your actions, and so it'simportant to kind of uncover
and people are really not awareof these beliefs that they have
and so a health coach works onthe back end to uncover what
those beliefs are, how they cameabout, and then help the person
(07:24):
to discover the truth forthemselves Like what is really
true about that, how is thattrue for you?
And help them to develop better, different beliefs, a new
understanding of themselves andtheir place in the world and how
(07:44):
it relates to their health now.
And so it's mindset, it'slifestyle, and it's the support
that they need, in addition tojust saying, hey, you got to do
this and you know, have fun withthat.
Richard Dodds (08:00):
It's hard.
It's hard changing lifestylesand especially like a lot of
times that physical stuff is alot mental.
So it's great that you saidthat because you know, like my
dad always said, he says when Iwas young they told me to clear
my plate, don't leave anythingon the plate.
So it's like now it's like yourmom, make a big plate of food
(08:24):
for me, I'm gonna eat it all,like regardless, because that's
where my tendencies are.
That's how so that stuff likefor him.
It's like for him to be able,either he needs somebody else to
make his plate or he need tomake a smaller plate, or he has
to break that mental thing towhere I have to clear my plate
for anything to actually startto change in that manner.
(08:45):
So I mean like so it soundslike a health coach really is
like like that third pillar,because when I think about like
holistic health care, I thinkabout mental health, physical
health, and then that like ahealth coach seems like it's a
supplement.
Dana Lawson (09:00):
Yes, and you hit the nail on the head when you
mentioned the idea about momsays clean your plate or there's
starving children in Africa.
Richard Dodds (09:09):
Right, you hit us stuff.
Is it so with the healthcoaching?
Is it any advocacy?
So, like if someone like I know, like I was just reading a
report my wife was telling meabout it too when, a lot of
times, when women go withconcerns to the doctor, a lot of
times doctors don't always taketheir concern concerns as
(09:31):
serious as they should.
And I've even been at a doctorwith my wife and seeing how like
she has to press them sometimesto actually they were like,
well, we'll just put you on thisand it's like, but why are you
putting me on this?
Because before I was good andyou're saying that everything is
the same, but now you want toput me on medication.
So I see her advocate forherself.
Do health coaches do anyapplication for people?
Dana Lawson (09:53):
Yes, so part of my program is I have a whole
section dedicated to selfadvocacy.
I'm not sure what other healthcoaches do.
I know a few of them who alsoinclude that in their process.
But I especially include itbecause you know the area of
what that I focus on in midlife,metapause and and and you know
(10:17):
that midlife change Women areoften told that they're
exaggerating that it's not asbad as they think.
Are you sure this is what'shappening?
You're too young and all ofthose things to discredit a
woman and her feelings and whatshe's experiencing.
(10:38):
And then you know, women ofcolor are, have always been, the
pillars of society and theycarry a lot of responsibility,
whether it be to the man intheir life, the children you
know, grandchildren, thecommunity, and so for her to
(11:00):
experience discomfort andmetapause and then verbalize it
or show it on her face or yousee her sweat dripping down, or
she's got to sit down becauseshe's tired it creates a stigma.
Women themselves feel bad aboutit, but then society also makes
(11:21):
them feel bad about it, andit's easy for them to get gaslit
, and especially if they'refeeling unsure.
So one of the one of theprocesses that I use in my
coaching is to, after we learnabout the whole process, help
(11:42):
them, to give them options onhow they can manage it
holistically, and then they cango to the doctor with the
decision that they've made andlearn how to partner with their
doctor instead of.
This is what I have.
This is how I feel.
I don't like this.
(12:02):
What do you think I should do?
Because, then you are givingyour power away.
You're actually giving someoneoutside of your body a way to
tell you what you should do,when actually your body is
telling you what it needs.
And once you know the rightthings to do to take care of
(12:23):
your whole person, then it's notjust a pill, it's not just a
diet, it's not just you knowsomething like that.
It's now you have the controlof what you want.
You already have decided, andthen you present that to your
doctor in a very in a way thatwhere you want them to be on
(12:45):
your side, you're trying to gainthem on your side and it's not
a competition of who knows moreyou know or anything like that,
but it's more of let's partnertogether on my health and
teaching them how to createtheir health care team, because
it takes more than a physician.
It's a physician who'sexperienced and is knowledgeable
(13:10):
on the hormonal changes, butalso someone like a health coach
that can help them to implementthe other lifestyle and
behavior changes that will givethem the greatest success.
Richard Dodds (13:22):
I think that's so important because I think about
intersectionality, especiallywhen we talk about women.
You talk about a woman that's aminority and I think about my
sister, my sister.
She passed away last year andwhen she was going through her
(13:43):
health stuff, she was going tothe doctor and they were telling
her like it's this, is this, isthis.
And she's like it's not that.
And then they were runningtests and is like, oh, it's not
that.
And I feel like if she had hadan advocate, like someone who
could help her advocate better,that maybe she could, maybe she
will still be here Just becauseit's like so much, so much
(14:06):
against you.
They're telling you how youfeel and they were.
It's just, they just didn't,they weren't solving the problem
, you know, and they don'tlisten.
They don't always listen.
So it's very important to knowhave that ammo when you go in to
be able to say like it's notthis, like let's look at some
alternatives, and keep thatpower, because I don't think my
(14:28):
sister was taken seriously.
You think about she's a blackwoman, she's overweight, she's,
she has a wife, where most womenhave a husband, and you think
all those, all those things arestrikes against her and it
should still just be a personwho's coming to you for a
service that you were supposedto provide and you supposed to
(14:49):
listen.
But it doesn't always happen.
They saw her, she wasoverweight and they was like, oh
, it's your heart and high bloodpressure.
And then they take a look ather heart and their blood
pressure and I know yours goodand your blood pressure is good,
it's not that.
And then they then she comesback again and they start it's
your heart and your bloodpressure again.
So you know, it's so like forme, like hearing stuff like that
(15:12):
.
Advocacy is very important,especially for minority women,
because it's like a wholeanother level.
It's like you're black and thenyou're female and then you're.
This is, it's a stacks up.
So I think I definitely commendyou on that, on giving people
(15:32):
the strength that they need inorder to advocate for themselves
, because that's not somethingthat we're always taught right
away.
Dana Lawson (15:40):
No, we're not.
And, as you know, people comeinto situations with their own
bias that they might not even beaware of, and so, like you said
, you see someone overweightimmediately.
Like the problem is, you needto wait.
Yeah well, that's helpful, butthat's not.
That doesn't solve every singleproblem that a woman may face
(16:04):
and it could.
It's likely a combination ofthings that put her in this, in
the situation where she iscarrying more weight than she
needs to or even wants to.
So, yeah, the, the biases, womenoverweight, you know, if, if
there's other other things thatpeople can use, other things
(16:26):
that doctors use to to buy, tocreate bias or have bias against
, it just makes it all the moredifficult, and women have a
tendency to not speak up anyway.
So that makes them, that makesthem shrink, that makes them,
you know, really retreat whenthis is the time that they need
(16:47):
to really assert themselves in away that they can be heard and
again, to really partner withtheir physician.
And, of course, if you've triedthe you know self advocating
and trying to partner with themand they're really just not
listening to you, fire them.
You can get another doctor.
Richard Dodds (17:06):
Yep, yeah, I think that's important.
So switching gears just alittle bit, because it's two
parts of the health coach andthe other part is menopause.
Specifically, that's like yourarea of is it what I say?
Area of expertise?
That's that's your focus areaand, honestly, before talking to
you, I really did not know muchabout menopause and I don't.
(17:30):
It's like it's like some wordsyou hear and you have an idea of
what it is right and so likewhat is it like?
Not like the idea of what it is, but like actually what is it?
Dana Lawson (17:45):
It's like oh, I know what, it is kind of you
know what I mean.
Richard Dodds (17:48):
Like.
So, what, what?
What is menopause, and whateffects does it have on a
woman's body?
Dana Lawson (17:53):
Yes.
Well, richard, you're not alone, because most women don't even
know themselves.
So here's the quick and dirty.
So, first of all, menopauseitself is really only one day in
a woman's life.
It marks when a woman reaches12 consecutive months without a
(18:15):
menstrual period.
That next month or that 13thmonth, the first day of that
13th month, she is considered inmenopause.
And it's only one day, becauseevery day of her life after that
she is post menopausal.
And I think some of theconfusion comes because the way
(18:38):
that we use the word menopause,we use it as a blanket time to
just bring attention to thispart of the midlife space where
a woman is, is experiencinghormonal changes, but there are
stages to that before sheactually reaches the point where
she's no longer able to theirchildren and her years of
(19:00):
fertility are over.
So there's perimenopause, andperi means around menopause, and
peri is the time period beforemenopause actually happens.
So she can experience symptomssuch as the classic ones like
half-lashes, night sweats,irregular periods, headache,
(19:23):
moodiness, weight gain, thingslike that, emotional
disturbances, things like that.
And so these start to happen inperimenopause or that time
period before the end ofmenstrual cycles starts anywhere
in the mid 40s.
But for black and brown women,it starts earlier.
(19:45):
So a woman, a woman, can startin her late 30s, early 40s.
That's when I started andthat's the perimenopausal space.
So that can last anywhere fromfive to seven years on average,
but it can go up to 10 years,especially for women of color.
(20:08):
So, if you think about it, awoman who may a black or brown
woman, who may startexperiencing the symptoms of low
mood, irregular menstrualcycles, you know, night sweats
perhaps is 39 or 40.
She may not have her lastperiod until she's 50, 51.
(20:30):
In fact, the average age in theUnited States was moved up just
a bit A year or so ago.
It was 51.
Now it's 52.
So imagine you're 38 or 39,maybe 40, and you don't stop
menstruating until you're 52.
That's a long time toexperience the discomforts that
(20:56):
that we experience in menopause.
Richard Dodds (20:58):
Is there.
Have they done any studies?
Is there any like scientificreason why it affects women of
color in such a different way?
Dana Lawson (21:07):
That's.
That's a really interestingquestion.
There is a study it's calledthe swan study, a study of women
across the nation, where theyhad thousands of women and they
they followed them throughoutperimenopause through
postmenopause, and the AfricanAmerican women and the Latino
women displayed symptoms earlier.
(21:29):
Like I mentioned, they weremore severe in in the intensity
of those hot flashes and nightsweats, mood changes and they
lasted longer.
And so some of the reasons thatwere mentioned in the study
were disparity, access to healthcare, prejudice.
(21:54):
Women of color seem to toleratetheir symptoms longer than other
people, so by the time thatthey do go get to you know, get
treated or go to get seen aboutit, it's already like they're in
the heat of these symptoms andso it takes longer to kind of
(22:16):
calm them down.
So the study was reallyinteresting, and some women
don't even associate thosechanges to perimenopause and
menopause, which is also aproblem, because if you're,
you're thinking that it'ssomething else, which is very
easy to do, by the way, it'svery, you know, hormonal changes
(22:37):
can mimic other problems, andso it's very easy for women to
brush it off and say, oh, I justdidn't get a good night's sleep
.
Or oh, I'm not eating well.
Or, yeah, I knew I do need tolose weight.
I'm carrying all this weightand that's why I'm so hot.
And so they start blamingthemselves for a process that
(22:58):
happens to the body naturally aswe get older, as we start to
end our fertile, fertile years.
So all of those things combinedmake it so that women of color
experience menopause differently.
We do not experience it the wayour counterparts do.
Richard Dodds (23:19):
I wonder if in that study, that if it had any
like economic markers in it.
Just because you know like it'sno, it's no secret, like a lot
of times minorities are lessaffluent.
You know what I mean.
Like just during the pandemic,you know like a lot of us
minorities had to work and youknow these, what did they call
(23:44):
them?
Dana Lawson (23:45):
Like, whatever, was based or service based it was.
Richard Dodds (23:48):
It was like something like where it was like
important you had to go.
So they're doing a servicebased and they're, they're on
the ground.
They have to be out there.
They can't work essentiallythat's it Like.
So black people tend to bethose essential workers and they
tend to be on the front line,so that put us more at risk,
because it was like a lot of usdidn't have the opportunity,
(24:08):
like I'm gonna work from home orwhatever, so I want, I'm just
curious, like I don't know.
You might not know, but it'slike I'm curious if they had any
of those economic markers inthat study.
Dana Lawson (24:18):
Yeah, they did.
I failed to mention that butsince you, since you brought it
up, there were socio economicfactors that that did play into.
You know when a woman seekshelp, or if she seeks it at all,
or you know, and those socioeconomic factors will determine
her level of stress around.
(24:39):
You know if she's a singleparent, or you know she's got
multiple children.
You know she's sole provider.
All of those factors play intohow a woman of color experiences
menopause.
Richard Dodds (24:55):
Yeah, so much to think about and it's it's crazy
because we know that the thingsthat are happening in the world
to minorities and specificallythe United States, the things
that happen to us, we know thatit affects our health and a lot
of times when we think about ourhealth, we think about our
mental health.
But what a lot of people failto realize is that your mental
health affects your healthoverall in your body.
(25:19):
So it's like it's repercussionsfor dealing with the mental
strain and the soul, like justthe way the system has been set
up and crafted is just is justharder overall.
So, like I was just curious, Iwas like I like I wonder if it,
if it, plays a role.
Dana Lawson (25:36):
Yes, definitely.
Richard Dodds (25:38):
So, going back to your midlife awakening, I love,
I love.
Like when you wrote, when yousaid it, I wrote it down.
I was like that's such a greatit sounds like a title of a book
, right Midlife Awakening.
So you, you decided to go intoto be a health coach and then
you specifically just wanted tobecome a menopause coach or add
that specification on there.
(25:59):
What was really that?
That pushing?
Was that more education thatyou have to go back to school to
do that Like is that anotherlike kind of certification or
what?
Dana Lawson (26:08):
Yeah, no, all those questions are good because, by
the way, midlife awakening I'veborrowed that.
That is a term that'sfrequently used to women in the
midlife space on social media.
It's so good though it is agood way to powering.
Yes, it's like the lightsfinally came on or something.
(26:30):
But yeah, so my, the reason whyI chose the midlife Awakening
was because I chose themenopausal transition from Perry
through to post was a bit selfserving, just a bit.
I had the worst transition everIn my opinion.
(26:56):
I had all of the symptoms,every single last one of them,
and it was really.
I didn't have anybody that Icould really talk to about it.
I didn't know anybody whoexperienced it.
I went to my mom and I said,mom, did you have the hot
(27:17):
flashes?
And couldn't sleep.
And she's like, oh, I don'tremember.
And I remember taking a little,you know some herb, and you
know I felt better so I stoppedtaking it.
But I don't really remember mytransition and I was like Mommy,
that's not helping me and thenmy grandmother's deceased so I
couldn't ask her and so I reallyfelt alone, I felt unseen.
(27:45):
I really felt like if I couldjust sink into the ground right
now and like have the dirt coverme.
I don't mean in the grave, Ijust mean.
Richard Dodds (27:56):
I just mean I just want to disappear.
Dana Lawson (27:58):
I felt like I wanted to disappear and I
couldn't understand why.
To me it seemed like it was avery quick trend, it like it
happened overnight.
But, as I learned, this was agradual process that was
happening at least five yearsprior to to, you know, me
experiencing the symptoms.
(28:19):
So what I did was, since I'm ahealth coach and I went to
school with other health coaches, we stayed in touch.
I know how important healthcoaching is in a person's health
journey.
So I thought, well, maybe Ijust need somebody to coach me
(28:39):
and I can get this together.
Because what I did everythingthat I knew to do as a health
coach and none of it worked andI was.
I was devastated.
I was like this can't behappening to me.
What is going on?
I just didn't understand it.
So I went to a cohort and Isaid, hey, listen, I think I
(29:00):
just need a little coaching, youknow, just to kind of get me
through this rough patch.
And she said, sure, sure, I'llhelp you.
So I worked with her for abouttwo months and in the process
she really helped me to changemy opinion, my view of myself,
how I saw myself because, inaddition to all of the other
(29:21):
changes, I had gained about 30pounds and I really felt bad
about that and wanted to hide,and so she helped me to
transform my thoughts about myown body, and so that was really
powerful.
So then she looks at my labsand she says you know, I think
you're in menopause.
And I said, okay, what doesthat mean?
(29:47):
So she said, well, I'm not theexpert, but I'm gonna share a
podcast with you of someone whois.
I listen to her podcast.
And I said she's talkingdirectly to me.
I contacted her, startedworking with her and I saw
changes within the first monthand it just got better after
(30:09):
that.
I started sleeping better, mynutrition was different, I
thought I was doing all theright things and here it was
nope, midlife is a big changeand if you don't change the way
you eat, it's, it's not gonnawork and nothing you're doing is
gonna work.
So she helped me dial in mynutrition, my sleep, my exercise
(30:29):
, and so things were reallylooking up.
I was getting excited, but partof me was angry because I said
why, why, why didn't anybodytell me about this?
Why don't women know what toexpect?
I mean, mothers prepare theirchildren most to the best of
(30:50):
their ability.
You know when a girl isapproaching her menstrual cycle.
You know they tell them how to,what's gonna happen, how to
take care of themselves, etc.
Nobody prepares a woman forperimenopause.
And we also get education onwhen you're pregnant, how to eat
(31:13):
, what to expect when you'reexpecting.
You remember that book?
Richard Dodds (31:16):
definitely heard of that book yeah.
Dana Lawson (31:19):
So so we get prepared for these major life
events in a woman's life, exceptfor midlife and perimenopause.
So I went to my, my coach, mychoose to transformational
nutrition coach and a certifiedhormone specialist.
(31:39):
And I went to her and I said,listen, I know you're probably
gonna kick me out of the group,but I'm a health coach but I
really needed this help and I'mgetting such great results.
When I was telling her and shelaughed at me and she said I'm
not gonna kick you out of thegroup, I'm honored that a health
(32:01):
coach would seek, you know,help from another health coach.
So I told her, I admitted toher that my met, my, my 101 call
with her was two-fold I wantedto let her know about all the
great things that were happening.
But I also had a propositionfor her, because no one we're
not prepared and no one talksabout menopause and I thought,
(32:25):
especially our community.
You see women suffering, but youdon't make the, you don't
connect the dots and you don'tknow what to do.
And I said I would love tobring this back to my community.
I want women to understandwhat's happening and what they
can do, that that it's more thanjust the, the symptoms that
(32:49):
it's actually has a huge impacton your brain health, your
cardiovascular health, yourbones, your muscles, like
everything is affected.
And I want to help these women,and so I begged her literally
to mentor me, and she did.
(33:09):
I was under her mentorship forabout two and a half years, so I
did have to start learning allover again.
You know the, the female bodyin a different way and and the
hormones that that make us upand, and really they're not just
for fertility, which mostpeople believe, but the delicate
(33:33):
hormonal balance throughout awoman's life controls her health
and controls every importantmetabolic function for her.
So naturally, when things startto take that downward slide in
perimenopause, it's no wonderthat she feels so terrible and
that her, their, her health isaffected.
(33:54):
So I bought all these books andI did papers and blogs and and
all kinds of things, but shereally showed me the ropes and
and and really showed me how toto help and bring this
information back to to thecommunity now see, I love, I
love hearing that story.
Richard Dodds (34:14):
It's a great story and I'm hearing you say
you want to take it back to thecommunity.
What was the makeup of theclass of your coat?
Like the coach's coach, you'rethe coach, your coach.
What was the makeup of yourcoach's class for you to want to
bring it back to our community?
Dana Lawson (34:30):
yeah, well, I was the only black person in over a
hundred women wow and it was.
It was shocking to me and I waslike, wow, and.
And one of her goals was I wantother women to know.
I want to shout it from therooftops.
You know, this is why this ishappening and this is these are
(34:52):
the things that you need to do.
You don't have to suffer, youdon't have to be on medication
for high blood pressure and andhigh blood sugar and and and all
that.
You can really take your wholebody and and do this gradual
shift and change and really bethe person that you need to be
(35:12):
at this time of life.
You can have your energy andand your sleep and you can enjoy
being around friends again andtravel and and really just enjoy
this part of life and not be soscary and dreaded and oh, I
hate this life, you know.
And so I said, well, I'll getup on the rooftops with you if
you show me.
Yeah, teach me though.
Richard Dodds (35:34):
I love it.
You like went out and got theinformation and he's like I'm
gonna bring this informationback to the tribe.
Like this is great.
Like I wish we I wish we as acommunity did more of that,
because we've done a lot of ways.
I mean, our sense of communityhas been kind of ripped away
from us through American historyand whatnot not gonna get too
much into that, but this isgreat to like to.
(35:54):
Like I got.
When you first told me yourstory, it's like I loved it.
I thought, oh, this is great.
Like you went and you found theinformation you needed and you
didn't keep it to yourself.
You was like, alright, I'mgonna bring it back to my
community so my community knowswhat's going on.
So I think you're more aboutlike the process that a woman's
body's goat goes through.
Another thing that's kind ofrelated to that like I wonder
(36:18):
how it affects the transition islike I know that for various
different reasons, some women,when they start menopause, they
have to get a hysterectomy.
How does that play intoperimenopause?
Dana Lawson (36:35):
yeah.
So let's talk abouthysterectomy for a minute,
because I remember when mydoctor offered me one, like she
was doing me a service.
Now, granted, I have fibroidsand they were very irritable
during perimenopause and and Ithink that is the case with many
(36:58):
women in addition to fibroids,another complication is
endometriosis.
Pcos is Polycystic OvarianSyndrome.
So these types of problems,which is due to, you know,
hormonal imbalance during, youknow, your fertile years, and
then it gets worse as yourhormones decline, and so, for
(37:21):
those reasons, some doctorsoffer a woman to get her out of
her misery and her suffering,the heavy bleeding, the flooding
, you know, carrying personalproducts in your car and in your
purse and your desk at work,and it just really becomes a
nuisance.
In addition to the pain and theunexpected nature of these
(37:46):
bleeding episodes, you know itcatches you off guard, and so
you have to carry clothing andunderwear.
I mean, it's a whole, it's awhole big deal.
So the the option that doctorsmany times offer is a
hysterectomy, which is theremoval of the uterus.
So a woman, the uterus and theovaries work together.
(38:10):
The ovaries are the factorieswhere our sex hormones are
produced estrogen andtestosterone and so they work in
harmony.
They almost it's almost likethey talk to each other because
in response to the message orthe signals that the harmels
(38:33):
from the ovaries produce, itcreates a response from the
uterus.
The uterine lining thickens asa response to estrogen and so
these responses, they coincide.
You know, throughout the monththe lining thickens Once
(38:55):
progesterone enters the picture,about midway through the cycle.
Then, you know, later on in thecycle it creates the menstrual
bleed.
So women, in this space wherethey're suffering and they're in
pain, first thing, women suffera long time and many times,
(39:16):
instead of going, taking actionas soon as they see these
fluctuations, that the periodsare getting heavier, they're
more painful, they're morefrequent, they last longer, they
kind of brush it aside and theydon't address it.
And so by the time they go tothe doctor and say, okay, I'm
(39:36):
done, the doctor's like okay,great, we'll just take the,
we'll just take your uterus outand then you won't have to worry
about the bleeding.
So I think there's it's atwo-fold issue.
One women wait too long.
They need to address it sooner.
They need to understand it andaddress it sooner.
Secondly, hysterectomy is, maynot always have to be the only
(40:01):
thing that's done.
There are other options,especially for fibroids.
There are other options otherthan just removing the whole
uterus.
That's almost like you have acut on your finger or you have
an infection in your cuticle andyour doctor wants to cut off
(40:22):
your whole hand or your arm.
I mean it's just, it's verydrastic.
Now I'm not saying that it'snot necessary in some cases
because it is, especially ifthere's uterine cancer or some
other disease that requires that.
But for some women it's notnecessary and so it is very
(40:48):
drastic.
So a hysterectomy is just theremoval of the uterus.
But because the uterus andovaries work together, what
happens is the uterus is gone,so the ovaries are still making
those hormones and the hormonesare sending messages, but
there's no uterus to respond tothose hormonal messages.
(41:14):
So it actually makes the ovariesage faster, so it actually
accelerates perimenopause and soit actually can move a woman in
that direction earlier thanmaybe she should.
So the total hysterectomy iswhen the uterus and the ovaries
(41:39):
are removed.
That happens in cases of cancer, obviously, but also
endometriosis, because it'sscarring in the uterus that
sometimes grows outside of theuterus into the ovaries, and so
surgeries to remove theendometriosis scarring is done,
but sometimes it gets to a pointwhere there is no more surgery
(42:03):
to do.
It has to be removed.
And so when the ovaries areremoved it immediately puts a
woman in menopause, because nowshe no longer has the factory to
reduce estrogen and so nowshe's estrogen, she's lacking
estrogen.
So as soon as she comes out ofthe anesthesia she can have hot
(42:24):
flashes and all of the othersymptoms that are going to take
her down that spiral inperimenopause and menopause.
Richard Dodds (42:34):
You're so knowledgeable and I really hope
that my male listeners likereally like tap into just
because you know, like I'm a man, it's important for me to know
this so that I know how to treatmy wife and future daughter.
And you know, like in familymembers, like just being able to
know like you have a different.
(42:54):
When you have a differentunderstanding, you treat people
more appropriately, and I don'talways feel like we have the
proper understanding of whatother people are going through.
So it's like for me as a asespecially as a black man with a
black wife, like I really wantto understand whatever she has
to go through.
(43:14):
So the more information I knowabout this stuff, the more I can
be understanding, and not onlyunderstanding but helpful in the
ways that I might need to behelpful when that time comes,
you know.
So I like, so like for me, likeI really like appreciative of
the information.
So what are some of the warningsigns?
(43:36):
When do women need to startlike looking out, like what are
the shifts, the subtle signsthat they can start to go and do
their check-ins sooner asopposed to waiting?
Dana Lawson (43:47):
Yeah, and I love how you said you know, as a male
husband, you know whether youruncle or father or whoever
whatever male in your life, ifyou're familiar with you, know
these changes.
Then you can kind of keep aneye on her.
You know, especially she's, youknow, shrinking back and not
really wanting to talk about it.
(44:08):
So some of the signs andsymptoms are irregular periods.
So a normal menstrual cycle isanywhere from 28 to 31 days and
if a woman has more cycles thanthat then there's a hormonal
imbalance.
And so if she has a cyclebefore that 28 day period, that
(44:35):
31 day period, then her cyclesare shortening for some reason
and especially once they getheavier, they last longer.
There's a lot of pain involved.
So maybe she's missing a dayfrom work or your daughter's
missing a day from school.
You know those are keyindications that this is not a
normal menstrual cycle.
(44:55):
If they're feeling nauseous,headache, vomiting.
Now some people may hear thisand say well, I do that,
everyone I know I did when I wasa teenager, but we didn't think
anything was wrong.
There should be some uterinecramping because again, the
(45:18):
uterine lining is shedding.
There has to be the contractionto initiate that shedding, but
it shouldn't be debilitating.
And with that heavy bleedingcomes anemia.
So now she's low energy, she'snot able to keep up with her
life.
So these are not just passingdays of feeling tired.
(45:40):
We're talking about periods oftime where she just cannot
function, whether it's due topain or low energy, anemia.
And so those are mood changes,are time to kind of look after
(46:00):
her, slow her down a little bit.
Slow her down.
She woman needs to understand.
It's time for me to step back,just slow things down a little
bit, get my rest, propernutrition, things like that.
So some of those warning signsthat maybe this is stepping into
(46:22):
a zone where she needs to getmedical attention are those
things.
And it is very, very, verycommon for women in
perimenopause to have irregularcycles, heavy bleeding and lots
of pain.
Richard Dodds (46:38):
So for women that may be going through that or
like have an including that,they may be starting that or
maybe they're in the middle ofit what are some things that
they can start to do to start tolessen the impact of it overall
so that they're not they don'thave to go through it for as
long of a time as possible?
You know, yes.
Dana Lawson (46:59):
So one of the first things that they could do is
start to look for a qualifiedpractitioner.
And so where?
Obgyn does not necessarily meanthat they are well-versed in
hormones.
I personally know of OBGYNs andthey have told me that if they
(47:25):
don't get special training as acertified menopause practitioner
, they have hours of training onmenopause hours as opposed to a
more lengthy study of it and solooking for a certified
menopause practitioner is agreat start.
(47:45):
Also, women, when they start tosee the changes in their energy
and notice some of the othersymptoms of hot flashes, night
sweats and things, it's time tostart caring for yourself.
I always say that perimenopauseis an opportunity.
It's an opportunity to stepback, look at some of the things
(48:07):
that you're doing and takebetter care of yourself.
So instead of thinking that, oh, this is awful, I'm gonna hate
the next decade of my life, no,you can actually improve it by
caring for yourself more.
And think about it.
Richard, if you're in your late30s, early 40s, women are
(48:30):
receiving promotions at work.
They're at the peak of theircareers, generally speaking,
they finished college and so nowthey're really well-established
.
They're in leadership andmanagement roles.
Maybe they decided to hold offon having children.
So now they're having babiesand in that whole process, their
(48:53):
parents are getting older,they're getting sicker, and so
now it's like this perfect stormfor all of these things to
start happening, and thehormonal changes as they enter
perimenopause.
So, with all of those thingsgoing on, their stress is
(49:13):
heightened.
They have a racing brain.
It's hard for women to fallasleep because they're thinking
about all the things that theydidn't do that day, the things
that they need to do tomorrow,and feeling guilty.
Women have anxiety, moreanxiety, more worry.
Those are very, very common.
(49:34):
Especially at night, it seemsto take over and they feel
heaviness in their chest.
Some women have palpitations,heart palpitations, and so it's
like all of these thingscombined and mixed up at a time
in a woman's life that coincidewith her declining hormones.
(49:55):
So it's really time to focus onwhat can I stop doing so that I
can take care of myself?
Richard Dodds (50:08):
I think that's a start before menopause starts.
Dana Lawson (50:11):
I agree, I agree, but tell me which woman's gonna
do that.
Richard Dodds (50:15):
I don't know a lot of people in my life who
would do that all, includingmyself.
I don't even stop.
I don't have to worry aboutthat, but I don't stop either.
Dana Lawson (50:23):
So Right, right, and as a woman, you, just you,
just.
That's part of who we are.
We're the nurturers, thecaregivers, the on the go, the
soccer mom, the support person.
You're there for your friends,you're making meals, you're
volunteering at church.
(50:44):
I mean, you're doing a wholebunch of things and so these.
This is the time where a womancan really take a, take her
opportunity to kind of step back.
What can I delegate?
If you have small children, Iunderstand you probably can't do
much delegating to them.
But if you have, if you haveteenagers, then maybe they can
(51:08):
run some of those errands.
They can help in meal prep.
Your, your spouse, can helpclean the kitchen and do laundry
.
And where can you?
How?
How many things can you takeoff of your plate so that you
can focus inward?
Because that's the key toreally navigating through
(51:29):
understanding what's happeningto your body and dialing in what
do I need right now?
And then you can also help yourfamily to appreciate this time
with you, and so, instead ofmaking it a chore for them, you
can, you can.
It's an opportunity for them tosupport you.
Richard Dodds (51:51):
I think that's I think that's all I will say Like
just thinking about, likewomen's health from you know,
from from the females in my lifespecifically, I think that like
women's health, it just seemslike it needs to be a lot more
evolution and a lot moreeducation, and I think that not
just for women, but for men aswell, like we really need to be
(52:15):
more educated about our healthand the food that we're eating
and mentally, so like holistichas been like a really big word,
not only holistic and like food, but I mean like holistic.
Like in looking at the wholepicture and looking, and it
sounds like like a lot of whatyou do is like looking at the
whole picture of everything puttogether.
(52:35):
And I think that's like soimportant when it comes to
caring for yourself.
Because, like, as I start toget older, I remember I could go
off for two hours of sleep andbe good, and now like it's
consequences for me If I onlyget two hours of sleep, if I
only get six hours of sleep orfive hours of sleep.
It's consequences, and it's notjust a day worth of
consequences, sometimes it's awhole week worth of consequences
(52:57):
.
So it's getting different.
So, like even thinking aboutall of that, like for people
that want to know more aboutlike perimenopause, like just
women's health in general, oreven menopause coaching, like
where can they go to get thatinformation, to learn more?
Dana Lawson (53:19):
Well.
So as you know my story, I wentand sought it out.
I sought it out from the personthat helped me.
There are courses that womencan take to work with women in
perimenopause and menopause.
(53:39):
I'm currently enrolled in amenopause doula program and that
I'm super excited about,because then I'm that woman's
companion for the entire journeyand really be by her side as
things change, because you canhelp a woman at the beginning or
(54:02):
maybe at the end and she'dstill get great results.
But having them through theentire journey is really
transformational and reallysupportive, and that's the
reason why it's so important forwomen to seek assistance,
because it's.
You can Google a lot ofinformation on perimenopause and
(54:24):
menopause and when people aretalking about it a lot more now.
But how are you going to applythat information?
How do you know what's rightfor you?
That's where a coach comes in.
That's where a doula can bepart of your life, in this stage
of your life, and really createthat accountability, help you
(54:45):
to really dial in.
Look at the whole.
Like we said earlier, look atthe whole person.
You can't just isolate symptomsand not look at the
contributing factors to thosesymptoms and there's always
contributing factors, and sowhen you approach it with
nutrition, with stressmanagement, exercise and quality
(55:07):
sleep, then there's a lot thatcan happen on the positive for a
woman in perimenopause.
So it's a broader picture.
There is training out there andso it's a lot of work.
It's available for women whoare interested in being a
(55:32):
support practitioner or asupport person for women on the
journey.
Richard Dodds (55:40):
So you do coaching classes and courses,
right?
I do so.
If somebody was interested infinding you, where would they go
to find that information?
Dana Lawson (55:48):
Well, my primary outlet is Instagram, so my
Instagram handle is Adeline andShine, now it's the same for my
Facebook and my website isalignandshinenowcom.
And so those are the mainoutlets that I work from and
people can find me and reach methere.
(56:08):
I have group coaching, which isvery effective because women
feed off of each other's energyand so they also find
camaraderie, they find support,they find common interests with
each other and they encourageeach other.
(56:30):
So I really enjoy the groupsetting, and so I have a 10-week
course that is in a groupsetting, and I also offer
one-on-one for those who havespecific goals and desires,
one-on-one pampering and care.
And you know, no, I don't wanta group, I want it to be all
(56:53):
about me, and I'm for that.
So I do offer one-on-one aswell.
Richard Dodds (56:59):
That's awesome.
I'll make sure that anybodywho's interested will put all
that information in the shownotes so you can go and follow
her and make sure that you getall the information that you
need and that you want, becauseyou're such a resource of
information, you have such goodknowledge and like bringing it
back to the community is soimportant.
So I really want to thank youfor coming on the show.
(57:19):
I really appreciate theknowledge that you dropped.
I feel so much moreknowledgeable about this
information.
I feel like whenever that timecomes, I'll be ready to handle
it better than I would be if Iwas unprepared.
Dana Lawson (57:31):
Oh, you definitely will handle it better.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been wonderful.
Richard Dodds (57:37):
Again, I'd like to thank Dana for coming on the
show.
If you'd like to learn moreabout her, I'll leave all of her
information in the show notes.
Still Talking Black is a CrownCulture Media LLC production.
You can find out more about theshow by going to
stilltalkingblackcom.
You can find new episodes onYouTube and anywhere else that
you get your podcasts, whetherthat's Apple Podcast or Spotify.
(57:59):
But until next time, keeptalking.
This is Still Talking Black, a show where we
discuss issues that affectblackness from a black point of
view.
I'm your host, richard Dyes.
On today's show, I'm joined byDana Lawson.
Dana Lawson is a health coachand she specializes in helping
women in menopause.
I really didn't know that muchabout menopause until I sat down
with Dana, and she gives awealth of information that helps
(00:22):
you be able to identify, whenyou're going through menopause,
what menopause really is and allof the things that go along
with it, and why, and also whyit affects minorities, sometimes
more than other ethnic groups.
So I hope you enjoy and,without any further ado, here's
(00:43):
Dana.
Dana Lawson (00:44):
Hi, my name is Dana Lawson, I'm a certified health
coach and I focus on women inthe menopausal transition.
So from parry to post, and Ihelp them using the four pillars
of health sleep, gettingadequate sleep, nutrition,
exercise and managing stress.
(01:04):
And I help them to align theirvalues along with this new way
of living according to thosefour pillars, so that their
transformation is complete andthey'll have the best success
throughout the menopausetransition.
Richard Dodds (01:23):
There you go.
It's great to finally get toconnect back with you.
Dana Lawson (01:27):
I agree.
Thank you so much for having me.
Richard Dodds (01:30):
I'm so glad that you came on.
I know when we talked before,you had this phrase that you
said and it was like such agreat thing.
And you said you had a time inyour life where you had a
mid-life awakening and thatjourney led you to what you're
currently doing now.
Can you tell everybody aboutyour mid-life awakening?
Dana Lawson (01:50):
Yeah, sure, I had been at a corporate job for
about 16 years and I became verydissatisfied During that
process.
I was going through parrymenopause and didn't realize it,
and so I had poor sleep, I hadhot flashes, night sweats,
(02:12):
depression, a lot of sadness,and I just felt like I was a
person that I couldn't evenrecognize myself.
So after 16 years, I just gotout one day and I started
getting ready for work and Isaid, nope, I don't want to do
(02:32):
this anymore.
And so mentally, emotionally, Ikind of checked out and I
started looking for somethingthat really appealed to me in
this time of my life.
And I was always interested inhealth.
And before my accounting careerI was in health care, had a
(02:52):
variety of different roles frontoffice, back office, management
.
I gave injections and tookvitals, called patients after
surgery to make sure that theywere doing well, and so my heart
was always there.
I even went back to school tobecome a childbirth educator.
(03:14):
So I was a certified childbirtheducator.
I did early childhoodbreastfeeding, you know,
instructing moms that way.
So I went back to my roots.
I've always loved health careand understanding how health
impacts women and just people ingeneral.
So I just started Googling whatare, what are careers for women
(03:39):
over 50?
And I kept seeing health coach,health coach, health coach come
up and I was like what is thishealth coach thing?
So I started to do some diggingand that's where I landed.
I landed back in school tobecome a certified health coach.
Richard Dodds (03:56):
Yeah, I never even heard of a health coach
before.
I'm pretty sure, like you'rethe first person like a health
coach.
Like, how would you describe ahealth coach to somebody who
doesn't really know what they do?
Dana Lawson (04:07):
Yeah.
So a health coach is a personwho works with the actual
patient or client and they don'treplace the doctor because,
obviously, since they don't havea license, we can't prescribe
or, you know, tell people whatthey should do.
Rather, we help a person workalong in conjunction with their
(04:30):
doctor and to work on theirhealth goals or their health
challenges.
So, for example, if a womancomes out of the doctor's office
and the doctor says you know,your blood pressure is
borderline high, so I need youto lose weight, exercise, I want
you to come back in 60 to 90days and we're going to check
(04:53):
your blood pressure again to seeyou know how you're doing.
If you're not doing better,we're going to put you on
medication.
So what are the women here outof the doctor's office?
Oh, my God, I'm going to be onmedication and she's.
Then the next thought is well,how am I going to do this?
He wants me to lose weight, hewants me to exercise.
(05:13):
How do I do that and make itsustainable for me?
And so a health coach canactually work in conjunction
with the patient and the doctorto help them implement practical
lifestyle changes, to supportthem in whatever the goal is.
So, if it's exercise, if it'snutrition, then the health coach
(05:39):
works with them in that way,and it's a little different for
people who don't reallyunderstand health coaching,
because it's a cheerleader role,but not really so.
While you're encouraging theclient, you're cheering them on,
so to speak.
(05:59):
You're also overcoming mindsetblocks that keeps them from
actually working on whatever itis they need to change.
Richard Dodds (06:09):
Kind of like a little bit of therapy in there
too.
Dana Lawson (06:13):
A little bit.
We don't call ourselvestherapists, though, but there
are stories that we've been toldabout ourselves, about life,
about food, and so we createthese beliefs based on these
stories.
For example, don't eat, thatYou'll get fat, or this food is
(06:35):
bad, or this food is good, andlabeling those things.
For growing up in that kind ofenvironment, you develop these
thoughts, these beliefs thatfood is good or food is bad, or
these thoughts that you have.
That may not even be true, butif you believe it, then that
(07:00):
shapes your actions, and so it'simportant to kind of uncover
and people are really not awareof these beliefs that they have
and so a health coach works onthe back end to uncover what
those beliefs are, how they cameabout, and then help the person
(07:24):
to discover the truth forthemselves Like what is really
true about that, how is thattrue for you?
And help them to develop better, different beliefs, a new
understanding of themselves andtheir place in the world and how
(07:44):
it relates to their health now.
And so it's mindset, it'slifestyle, and it's the support
that they need, in addition tojust saying, hey, you got to do
this and you know, have fun withthat.
Richard Dodds (08:00):
It's hard.
It's hard changing lifestylesand especially like a lot of
times that physical stuff is alot mental.
So it's great that you saidthat because you know, like my
dad always said, he says when Iwas young they told me to clear
my plate, don't leave anythingon the plate.
So it's like now it's like yourmom, make a big plate of food
(08:24):
for me, I'm gonna eat it all,like regardless, because that's
where my tendencies are.
That's how so that stuff likefor him.
It's like for him to be able,either he needs somebody else to
make his plate or he need tomake a smaller plate, or he has
to break that mental thing towhere I have to clear my plate
for anything to actually startto change in that manner.
(08:45):
So I mean like so it soundslike a health coach really is
like like that third pillar,because when I think about like
holistic health care, I thinkabout mental health, physical
health, and then that like ahealth coach seems like it's a
supplement.
Dana Lawson (09:00):
Yes, and you hit the nail on the head when you
mentioned the idea about momsays clean your plate or there's
starving children in Africa.
Richard Dodds (09:09):
Right, you hit us stuff.
Is it so with the healthcoaching?
Is it any advocacy?
So, like if someone like I know, like I was just reading a
report my wife was telling meabout it too when, a lot of
times, when women go withconcerns to the doctor, a lot of
times doctors don't always taketheir concern concerns as
(09:31):
serious as they should.
And I've even been at a doctorwith my wife and seeing how like
she has to press them sometimesto actually they were like,
well, we'll just put you on thisand it's like, but why are you
putting me on this?
Because before I was good andyou're saying that everything is
the same, but now you want toput me on medication.
So I see her advocate forherself.
Do health coaches do anyapplication for people?
Dana Lawson (09:53):
Yes, so part of my program is I have a whole
section dedicated to selfadvocacy.
I'm not sure what other healthcoaches do.
I know a few of them who alsoinclude that in their process.
But I especially include itbecause you know the area of
what that I focus on in midlife,metapause and and and you know
(10:17):
that midlife change Women areoften told that they're
exaggerating that it's not asbad as they think.
Are you sure this is what'shappening?
You're too young and all ofthose things to discredit a
woman and her feelings and whatshe's experiencing.
(10:38):
And then you know, women ofcolor are, have always been, the
pillars of society and theycarry a lot of responsibility,
whether it be to the man intheir life, the children you
know, grandchildren, thecommunity, and so for her to
(11:00):
experience discomfort andmetapause and then verbalize it
or show it on her face or yousee her sweat dripping down, or
she's got to sit down becauseshe's tired it creates a stigma.
Women themselves feel bad aboutit, but then society also makes
(11:21):
them feel bad about it, andit's easy for them to get gaslit
, and especially if they'refeeling unsure.
So one of the one of theprocesses that I use in my
coaching is to, after we learnabout the whole process, help
(11:42):
them, to give them options onhow they can manage it
holistically, and then they cango to the doctor with the
decision that they've made andlearn how to partner with their
doctor instead of.
This is what I have.
This is how I feel.
I don't like this.
(12:02):
What do you think I should do?
Because, then you are givingyour power away.
You're actually giving someoneoutside of your body a way to
tell you what you should do,when actually your body is
telling you what it needs.
And once you know the rightthings to do to take care of
(12:23):
your whole person, then it's notjust a pill, it's not just a
diet, it's not just you knowsomething like that.
It's now you have the controlof what you want.
You already have decided, andthen you present that to your
doctor in a very in a way thatwhere you want them to be on
(12:45):
your side, you're trying to gainthem on your side and it's not
a competition of who knows moreyou know or anything like that,
but it's more of let's partnertogether on my health and
teaching them how to createtheir health care team, because
it takes more than a physician.
It's a physician who'sexperienced and is knowledgeable
(13:10):
on the hormonal changes, butalso someone like a health coach
that can help them to implementthe other lifestyle and
behavior changes that will givethem the greatest success.
Richard Dodds (13:22):
I think that's so important because I think about
intersectionality, especiallywhen we talk about women.
You talk about a woman that's aminority and I think about my
sister, my sister.
She passed away last year andwhen she was going through her
(13:43):
health stuff, she was going tothe doctor and they were telling
her like it's this, is this, isthis.
And she's like it's not that.
And then they were runningtests and is like, oh, it's not
that.
And I feel like if she had hadan advocate, like someone who
could help her advocate better,that maybe she could, maybe she
will still be here Just becauseit's like so much, so much
(14:06):
against you.
They're telling you how youfeel and they were.
It's just, they just didn't,they weren't solving the problem
, you know, and they don'tlisten.
They don't always listen.
So it's very important to knowhave that ammo when you go in to
be able to say like it's notthis, like let's look at some
alternatives, and keep thatpower, because I don't think my
(14:28):
sister was taken seriously.
You think about she's a blackwoman, she's overweight, she's,
she has a wife, where most womenhave a husband, and you think
all those, all those things arestrikes against her and it
should still just be a personwho's coming to you for a
service that you were supposedto provide and you supposed to
(14:49):
listen.
But it doesn't always happen.
They saw her, she wasoverweight and they was like, oh
, it's your heart and high bloodpressure.
And then they take a look ather heart and their blood
pressure and I know yours goodand your blood pressure is good,
it's not that.
And then they then she comesback again and they start it's
your heart and your bloodpressure again.
So you know, it's so like forme, like hearing stuff like that
(15:12):
.
Advocacy is very important,especially for minority women,
because it's like a wholeanother level.
It's like you're black and thenyou're female and then you're.
This is, it's a stacks up.
So I think I definitely commendyou on that, on giving people
(15:32):
the strength that they need inorder to advocate for themselves
, because that's not somethingthat we're always taught right
away.
Dana Lawson (15:40):
No, we're not.
And, as you know, people comeinto situations with their own
bias that they might not even beaware of, and so, like you said
, you see someone overweightimmediately.
Like the problem is, you needto wait.
Yeah well, that's helpful, butthat's not.
That doesn't solve every singleproblem that a woman may face
(16:04):
and it could.
It's likely a combination ofthings that put her in this, in
the situation where she iscarrying more weight than she
needs to or even wants to.
So, yeah, the, the biases, womenoverweight, you know, if, if
there's other other things thatpeople can use, other things
(16:26):
that doctors use to to buy, tocreate bias or have bias against
, it just makes it all the moredifficult, and women have a
tendency to not speak up anyway.
So that makes them, that makesthem shrink, that makes them,
you know, really retreat whenthis is the time that they need
(16:47):
to really assert themselves in away that they can be heard and
again, to really partner withtheir physician.
And, of course, if you've triedthe you know self advocating
and trying to partner with themand they're really just not
listening to you, fire them.
You can get another doctor.
Richard Dodds (17:06):
Yep, yeah, I think that's important.
So switching gears just alittle bit, because it's two
parts of the health coach andthe other part is menopause.
Specifically, that's like yourarea of is it what I say?
Area of expertise?
That's that's your focus areaand, honestly, before talking to
you, I really did not know muchabout menopause and I don't.
(17:30):
It's like it's like some wordsyou hear and you have an idea of
what it is right and so likewhat is it like?
Not like the idea of what it is, but like actually what is it?
Dana Lawson (17:45):
It's like oh, I know what, it is kind of you
know what I mean.
Richard Dodds (17:48):
Like.
So, what, what?
What is menopause, and whateffects does it have on a
woman's body?
Dana Lawson (17:53):
Yes.
Well, richard, you're not alone, because most women don't even
know themselves.
So here's the quick and dirty.
So, first of all, menopauseitself is really only one day in
a woman's life.
It marks when a woman reaches12 consecutive months without a
(18:15):
menstrual period.
That next month or that 13thmonth, the first day of that
13th month, she is considered inmenopause.
And it's only one day, becauseevery day of her life after that
she is post menopausal.
And I think some of theconfusion comes because the way
(18:38):
that we use the word menopause,we use it as a blanket time to
just bring attention to thispart of the midlife space where
a woman is, is experiencinghormonal changes, but there are
stages to that before sheactually reaches the point where
she's no longer able to theirchildren and her years of
(19:00):
fertility are over.
So there's perimenopause, andperi means around menopause, and
peri is the time period beforemenopause actually happens.
So she can experience symptomssuch as the classic ones like
half-lashes, night sweats,irregular periods, headache,
(19:23):
moodiness, weight gain, thingslike that, emotional
disturbances, things like that.
And so these start to happen inperimenopause or that time
period before the end ofmenstrual cycles starts anywhere
in the mid 40s.
But for black and brown women,it starts earlier.
(19:45):
So a woman, a woman, can startin her late 30s, early 40s.
That's when I started andthat's the perimenopausal space.
So that can last anywhere fromfive to seven years on average,
but it can go up to 10 years,especially for women of color.
(20:08):
So, if you think about it, awoman who may a black or brown
woman, who may startexperiencing the symptoms of low
mood, irregular menstrualcycles, you know, night sweats
perhaps is 39 or 40.
She may not have her lastperiod until she's 50, 51.
(20:30):
In fact, the average age in theUnited States was moved up just
a bit A year or so ago.
It was 51.
Now it's 52.
So imagine you're 38 or 39,maybe 40, and you don't stop
menstruating until you're 52.
That's a long time toexperience the discomforts that
(20:56):
that we experience in menopause.
Richard Dodds (20:58):
Is there.
Have they done any studies?
Is there any like scientificreason why it affects women of
color in such a different way?
Dana Lawson (21:07):
That's.
That's a really interestingquestion.
There is a study it's calledthe swan study, a study of women
across the nation, where theyhad thousands of women and they
they followed them throughoutperimenopause through
postmenopause, and the AfricanAmerican women and the Latino
women displayed symptoms earlier.
(21:29):
Like I mentioned, they weremore severe in in the intensity
of those hot flashes and nightsweats, mood changes and they
lasted longer.
And so some of the reasons thatwere mentioned in the study
were disparity, access to healthcare, prejudice.
(21:54):
Women of color seem to toleratetheir symptoms longer than other
people, so by the time thatthey do go get to you know, get
treated or go to get seen aboutit, it's already like they're in
the heat of these symptoms andso it takes longer to kind of
(22:16):
calm them down.
So the study was reallyinteresting, and some women
don't even associate thosechanges to perimenopause and
menopause, which is also aproblem, because if you're,
you're thinking that it'ssomething else, which is very
easy to do, by the way, it'svery, you know, hormonal changes
(22:37):
can mimic other problems, andso it's very easy for women to
brush it off and say, oh, I justdidn't get a good night's sleep
.
Or oh, I'm not eating well.
Or, yeah, I knew I do need tolose weight.
I'm carrying all this weightand that's why I'm so hot.
And so they start blamingthemselves for a process that
(22:58):
happens to the body naturally aswe get older, as we start to
end our fertile, fertile years.
So all of those things combinedmake it so that women of color
experience menopause differently.
We do not experience it the wayour counterparts do.
Richard Dodds (23:19):
I wonder if in that study, that if it had any
like economic markers in it.
Just because you know like it'sno, it's no secret, like a lot
of times minorities are lessaffluent.
You know what I mean.
Like just during the pandemic,you know like a lot of us
minorities had to work and youknow these, what did they call
(23:44):
them?
Dana Lawson (23:45):
Like, whatever, was based or service based it was.
Richard Dodds (23:48):
It was like something like where it was like
important you had to go.
So they're doing a servicebased and they're, they're on
the ground.
They have to be out there.
They can't work essentiallythat's it Like.
So black people tend to bethose essential workers and they
tend to be on the front line,so that put us more at risk,
because it was like a lot of usdidn't have the opportunity,
(24:08):
like I'm gonna work from home orwhatever, so I want, I'm just
curious, like I don't know.
You might not know, but it'slike I'm curious if they had any
of those economic markers inthat study.
Dana Lawson (24:18):
Yeah, they did.
I failed to mention that butsince you, since you brought it
up, there were socio economicfactors that that did play into.
You know when a woman seekshelp, or if she seeks it at all,
or you know, and those socioeconomic factors will determine
her level of stress around.
(24:39):
You know if she's a singleparent, or you know she's got
multiple children.
You know she's sole provider.
All of those factors play intohow a woman of color experiences
menopause.
Richard Dodds (24:55):
Yeah, so much to think about and it's it's crazy
because we know that the thingsthat are happening in the world
to minorities and specificallythe United States, the things
that happen to us, we know thatit affects our health and a lot
of times when we think about ourhealth, we think about our
mental health.
But what a lot of people failto realize is that your mental
health affects your healthoverall in your body.
(25:19):
So it's like it's repercussionsfor dealing with the mental
strain and the soul, like justthe way the system has been set
up and crafted is just is justharder overall.
So, like I was just curious, Iwas like I like I wonder if it,
if it, plays a role.
Dana Lawson (25:36):
Yes, definitely.
Richard Dodds (25:38):
So, going back to your midlife awakening, I love,
I love.
Like when you wrote, when yousaid it, I wrote it down.
I was like that's such a greatit sounds like a title of a book
, right Midlife Awakening.
So you, you decided to go intoto be a health coach and then
you specifically just wanted tobecome a menopause coach or add
that specification on there.
(25:59):
What was really that?
That pushing?
Was that more education thatyou have to go back to school to
do that Like is that anotherlike kind of certification or
what?
Dana Lawson (26:08):
Yeah, no, all those questions are good because, by
the way, midlife awakening I'veborrowed that.
That is a term that'sfrequently used to women in the
midlife space on social media.
It's so good though it is agood way to powering.
Yes, it's like the lightsfinally came on or something.
(26:30):
But yeah, so my, the reason whyI chose the midlife Awakening
was because I chose themenopausal transition from Perry
through to post was a bit selfserving, just a bit.
I had the worst transition everIn my opinion.
(26:56):
I had all of the symptoms,every single last one of them,
and it was really.
I didn't have anybody that Icould really talk to about it.
I didn't know anybody whoexperienced it.
I went to my mom and I said,mom, did you have the hot
(27:17):
flashes?
And couldn't sleep.
And she's like, oh, I don'tremember.
And I remember taking a little,you know some herb, and you
know I felt better so I stoppedtaking it.
But I don't really remember mytransition and I was like Mommy,
that's not helping me and thenmy grandmother's deceased so I
couldn't ask her and so I reallyfelt alone, I felt unseen.
(27:45):
I really felt like if I couldjust sink into the ground right
now and like have the dirt coverme.
I don't mean in the grave, Ijust mean.
Richard Dodds (27:56):
I just mean I just want to disappear.
Dana Lawson (27:58):
I felt like I wanted to disappear and I
couldn't understand why.
To me it seemed like it was avery quick trend, it like it
happened overnight.
But, as I learned, this was agradual process that was
happening at least five yearsprior to to, you know, me
experiencing the symptoms.
(28:19):
So what I did was, since I'm ahealth coach and I went to
school with other health coaches, we stayed in touch.
I know how important healthcoaching is in a person's health
journey.
So I thought, well, maybe Ijust need somebody to coach me
(28:39):
and I can get this together.
Because what I did everythingthat I knew to do as a health
coach and none of it worked andI was.
I was devastated.
I was like this can't behappening to me.
What is going on?
I just didn't understand it.
So I went to a cohort and Isaid, hey, listen, I think I
(29:00):
just need a little coaching, youknow, just to kind of get me
through this rough patch.
And she said, sure, sure, I'llhelp you.
So I worked with her for abouttwo months and in the process
she really helped me to changemy opinion, my view of myself,
how I saw myself because, inaddition to all of the other
(29:21):
changes, I had gained about 30pounds and I really felt bad
about that and wanted to hide,and so she helped me to
transform my thoughts about myown body, and so that was really
powerful.
So then she looks at my labsand she says you know, I think
you're in menopause.
And I said, okay, what doesthat mean?
(29:47):
So she said, well, I'm not theexpert, but I'm gonna share a
podcast with you of someone whois.
I listen to her podcast.
And I said she's talkingdirectly to me.
I contacted her, startedworking with her and I saw
changes within the first monthand it just got better after
(30:09):
that.
I started sleeping better, mynutrition was different, I
thought I was doing all theright things and here it was
nope, midlife is a big changeand if you don't change the way
you eat, it's, it's not gonnawork and nothing you're doing is
gonna work.
So she helped me dial in mynutrition, my sleep, my exercise
(30:29):
, and so things were reallylooking up.
I was getting excited, but partof me was angry because I said
why, why, why didn't anybodytell me about this?
Why don't women know what toexpect?
I mean, mothers prepare theirchildren most to the best of
(30:50):
their ability.
You know when a girl isapproaching her menstrual cycle.
You know they tell them how to,what's gonna happen, how to
take care of themselves, etc.
Nobody prepares a woman forperimenopause.
And we also get education onwhen you're pregnant, how to eat
(31:13):
, what to expect when you'reexpecting.
You remember that book?
Richard Dodds (31:16):
definitely heard of that book yeah.
Dana Lawson (31:19):
So so we get prepared for these major life
events in a woman's life, exceptfor midlife and perimenopause.
So I went to my, my coach, mychoose to transformational
nutrition coach and a certifiedhormone specialist.
(31:39):
And I went to her and I said,listen, I know you're probably
gonna kick me out of the group,but I'm a health coach but I
really needed this help and I'mgetting such great results.
When I was telling her and shelaughed at me and she said I'm
not gonna kick you out of thegroup, I'm honored that a health
(32:01):
coach would seek, you know,help from another health coach.
So I told her, I admitted toher that my met, my, my 101 call
with her was two-fold I wantedto let her know about all the
great things that were happening.
But I also had a propositionfor her, because no one we're
not prepared and no one talksabout menopause and I thought,
(32:25):
especially our community.
You see women suffering, but youdon't make the, you don't
connect the dots and you don'tknow what to do.
And I said I would love tobring this back to my community.
I want women to understandwhat's happening and what they
can do, that that it's more thanjust the, the symptoms that
(32:49):
it's actually has a huge impacton your brain health, your
cardiovascular health, yourbones, your muscles, like
everything is affected.
And I want to help these women,and so I begged her literally
to mentor me, and she did.
(33:09):
I was under her mentorship forabout two and a half years, so I
did have to start learning allover again.
You know the, the female bodyin a different way and and the
hormones that that make us upand, and really they're not just
for fertility, which mostpeople believe, but the delicate
(33:33):
hormonal balance throughout awoman's life controls her health
and controls every importantmetabolic function for her.
So naturally, when things startto take that downward slide in
perimenopause, it's no wonderthat she feels so terrible and
that her, their, her health isaffected.
(33:54):
So I bought all these books andI did papers and blogs and and
all kinds of things, but shereally showed me the ropes and
and and really showed me how toto help and bring this
information back to to thecommunity now see, I love, I
love hearing that story.
Richard Dodds (34:14):
It's a great story and I'm hearing you say
you want to take it back to thecommunity.
What was the makeup of theclass of your coat?
Like the coach's coach, you'rethe coach, your coach.
What was the makeup of yourcoach's class for you to want to
bring it back to our community?
Dana Lawson (34:30):
yeah, well, I was the only black person in over a
hundred women wow and it was.
It was shocking to me and I waslike, wow, and.
And one of her goals was I wantother women to know.
I want to shout it from therooftops.
You know, this is why this ishappening and this is these are
(34:52):
the things that you need to do.
You don't have to suffer, youdon't have to be on medication
for high blood pressure and andhigh blood sugar and and and all
that.
You can really take your wholebody and and do this gradual
shift and change and really bethe person that you need to be
(35:12):
at this time of life.
You can have your energy andand your sleep and you can enjoy
being around friends again andtravel and and really just enjoy
this part of life and not be soscary and dreaded and oh, I
hate this life, you know.
And so I said, well, I'll getup on the rooftops with you if
you show me.
Yeah, teach me though.
Richard Dodds (35:34):
I love it.
You like went out and got theinformation and he's like I'm
gonna bring this informationback to the tribe.
Like this is great.
Like I wish we I wish we as acommunity did more of that,
because we've done a lot of ways.
I mean, our sense of communityhas been kind of ripped away
from us through American historyand whatnot not gonna get too
much into that, but this isgreat to like to.
(35:54):
Like I got.
When you first told me yourstory, it's like I loved it.
I thought, oh, this is great.
Like you went and you found theinformation you needed and you
didn't keep it to yourself.
You was like, alright, I'mgonna bring it back to my
community so my community knowswhat's going on.
So I think you're more aboutlike the process that a woman's
body's goat goes through.
Another thing that's kind ofrelated to that like I wonder
(36:18):
how it affects the transition islike I know that for various
different reasons, some women,when they start menopause, they
have to get a hysterectomy.
How does that play intoperimenopause?
Dana Lawson (36:35):
yeah.
So let's talk abouthysterectomy for a minute,
because I remember when mydoctor offered me one, like she
was doing me a service.
Now, granted, I have fibroidsand they were very irritable
during perimenopause and and Ithink that is the case with many
(36:58):
women in addition to fibroids,another complication is
endometriosis.
Pcos is Polycystic OvarianSyndrome.
So these types of problems,which is due to, you know,
hormonal imbalance during, youknow, your fertile years, and
then it gets worse as yourhormones decline, and so, for
(37:21):
those reasons, some doctorsoffer a woman to get her out of
her misery and her suffering,the heavy bleeding, the flooding
, you know, carrying personalproducts in your car and in your
purse and your desk at work,and it just really becomes a
nuisance.
In addition to the pain and theunexpected nature of these
(37:46):
bleeding episodes, you know itcatches you off guard, and so
you have to carry clothing andunderwear.
I mean, it's a whole, it's awhole big deal.
So the the option that doctorsmany times offer is a
hysterectomy, which is theremoval of the uterus.
So a woman, the uterus and theovaries work together.
(38:10):
The ovaries are the factorieswhere our sex hormones are
produced estrogen andtestosterone and so they work in
harmony.
They almost it's almost likethey talk to each other because
in response to the message orthe signals that the harmels
(38:33):
from the ovaries produce, itcreates a response from the
uterus.
The uterine lining thickens asa response to estrogen and so
these responses, they coincide.
You know, throughout the monththe lining thickens Once
(38:55):
progesterone enters the picture,about midway through the cycle.
Then, you know, later on in thecycle it creates the menstrual
bleed.
So women, in this space wherethey're suffering and they're in
pain, first thing, women suffera long time and many times,
(39:16):
instead of going, taking actionas soon as they see these
fluctuations, that the periodsare getting heavier, they're
more painful, they're morefrequent, they last longer, they
kind of brush it aside and theydon't address it.
And so by the time they go tothe doctor and say, okay, I'm
(39:36):
done, the doctor's like okay,great, we'll just take the,
we'll just take your uterus outand then you won't have to worry
about the bleeding.
So I think there's it's atwo-fold issue.
One women wait too long.
They need to address it sooner.
They need to understand it andaddress it sooner.
Secondly, hysterectomy is, maynot always have to be the only
(40:01):
thing that's done.
There are other options,especially for fibroids.
There are other options otherthan just removing the whole
uterus.
That's almost like you have acut on your finger or you have
an infection in your cuticle andyour doctor wants to cut off
(40:22):
your whole hand or your arm.
I mean it's just, it's verydrastic.
Now I'm not saying that it'snot necessary in some cases
because it is, especially ifthere's uterine cancer or some
other disease that requires that.
But for some women it's notnecessary and so it is very
(40:48):
drastic.
So a hysterectomy is just theremoval of the uterus.
But because the uterus andovaries work together, what
happens is the uterus is gone,so the ovaries are still making
those hormones and the hormonesare sending messages, but
there's no uterus to respond tothose hormonal messages.
(41:14):
So it actually makes the ovariesage faster, so it actually
accelerates perimenopause and soit actually can move a woman in
that direction earlier thanmaybe she should.
So the total hysterectomy iswhen the uterus and the ovaries
(41:39):
are removed.
That happens in cases of cancer, obviously, but also
endometriosis, because it'sscarring in the uterus that
sometimes grows outside of theuterus into the ovaries, and so
surgeries to remove theendometriosis scarring is done,
but sometimes it gets to a pointwhere there is no more surgery
(42:03):
to do.
It has to be removed.
And so when the ovaries areremoved it immediately puts a
woman in menopause, because nowshe no longer has the factory to
reduce estrogen and so nowshe's estrogen, she's lacking
estrogen.
So as soon as she comes out ofthe anesthesia she can have hot
(42:24):
flashes and all of the othersymptoms that are going to take
her down that spiral inperimenopause and menopause.
Richard Dodds (42:34):
You're so knowledgeable and I really hope
that my male listeners likereally like tap into just
because you know, like I'm a man, it's important for me to know
this so that I know how to treatmy wife and future daughter.
And you know, like in familymembers, like just being able to
know like you have a different.
(42:54):
When you have a differentunderstanding, you treat people
more appropriately, and I don'talways feel like we have the
proper understanding of whatother people are going through.
So it's like for me as a asespecially as a black man with a
black wife, like I really wantto understand whatever she has
to go through.
(43:14):
So the more information I knowabout this stuff, the more I can
be understanding, and not onlyunderstanding but helpful in the
ways that I might need to behelpful when that time comes,
you know.
So I like, so like for me, likeI really like appreciative of
the information.
So what are some of the warningsigns?
(43:36):
When do women need to startlike looking out, like what are
the shifts, the subtle signsthat they can start to go and do
their check-ins sooner asopposed to waiting?
Dana Lawson (43:47):
Yeah, and I love how you said you know, as a male
husband, you know whether youruncle or father or whoever
whatever male in your life, ifyou're familiar with you, know
these changes.
Then you can kind of keep aneye on her.
You know, especially she's, youknow, shrinking back and not
really wanting to talk about it.
(44:08):
So some of the signs andsymptoms are irregular periods.
So a normal menstrual cycle isanywhere from 28 to 31 days and
if a woman has more cycles thanthat then there's a hormonal
imbalance.
And so if she has a cyclebefore that 28 day period, that
(44:35):
31 day period, then her cyclesare shortening for some reason
and especially once they getheavier, they last longer.
There's a lot of pain involved.
So maybe she's missing a dayfrom work or your daughter's
missing a day from school.
You know those are keyindications that this is not a
normal menstrual cycle.
(44:55):
If they're feeling nauseous,headache, vomiting.
Now some people may hear thisand say well, I do that,
everyone I know I did when I wasa teenager, but we didn't think
anything was wrong.
There should be some uterinecramping because again, the
(45:18):
uterine lining is shedding.
There has to be the contractionto initiate that shedding, but
it shouldn't be debilitating.
And with that heavy bleedingcomes anemia.
So now she's low energy, she'snot able to keep up with her
life.
So these are not just passingdays of feeling tired.
(45:40):
We're talking about periods oftime where she just cannot
function, whether it's due topain or low energy, anemia.
And so those are mood changes,are time to kind of look after
(46:00):
her, slow her down a little bit.
Slow her down.
She woman needs to understand.
It's time for me to step back,just slow things down a little
bit, get my rest, propernutrition, things like that.
So some of those warning signsthat maybe this is stepping into
(46:22):
a zone where she needs to getmedical attention are those
things.
And it is very, very, verycommon for women in
perimenopause to have irregularcycles, heavy bleeding and lots
of pain.
Richard Dodds (46:38):
So for women that may be going through that or
like have an including that,they may be starting that or
maybe they're in the middle ofit what are some things that
they can start to do to start tolessen the impact of it overall
so that they're not they don'thave to go through it for as
long of a time as possible?
You know, yes.
Dana Lawson (46:59):
So one of the first things that they could do is
start to look for a qualifiedpractitioner.
And so where?
Obgyn does not necessarily meanthat they are well-versed in
hormones.
I personally know of OBGYNs andthey have told me that if they
(47:25):
don't get special training as acertified menopause practitioner
, they have hours of training onmenopause hours as opposed to a
more lengthy study of it and solooking for a certified
menopause practitioner is agreat start.
(47:45):
Also, women, when they start tosee the changes in their energy
and notice some of the othersymptoms of hot flashes, night
sweats and things, it's time tostart caring for yourself.
I always say that perimenopauseis an opportunity.
It's an opportunity to stepback, look at some of the things
(48:07):
that you're doing and takebetter care of yourself.
So instead of thinking that, oh, this is awful, I'm gonna hate
the next decade of my life, no,you can actually improve it by
caring for yourself more.
And think about it.
Richard, if you're in your late30s, early 40s, women are
(48:30):
receiving promotions at work.
They're at the peak of theircareers, generally speaking,
they finished college and so nowthey're really well-established
.
They're in leadership andmanagement roles.
Maybe they decided to hold offon having children.
So now they're having babiesand in that whole process, their
(48:53):
parents are getting older,they're getting sicker, and so
now it's like this perfect stormfor all of these things to
start happening, and thehormonal changes as they enter
perimenopause.
So, with all of those thingsgoing on, their stress is
(49:13):
heightened.
They have a racing brain.
It's hard for women to fallasleep because they're thinking
about all the things that theydidn't do that day, the things
that they need to do tomorrow,and feeling guilty.
Women have anxiety, moreanxiety, more worry.
Those are very, very common.
(49:34):
Especially at night, it seemsto take over and they feel
heaviness in their chest.
Some women have palpitations,heart palpitations, and so it's
like all of these thingscombined and mixed up at a time
in a woman's life that coincidewith her declining hormones.
(49:55):
So it's really time to focus onwhat can I stop doing so that I
can take care of myself?
Richard Dodds (50:08):
I think that's a start before menopause starts.
Dana Lawson (50:11):
I agree, I agree, but tell me which woman's gonna
do that.
Richard Dodds (50:15):
I don't know a lot of people in my life who
would do that all, includingmyself.
I don't even stop.
I don't have to worry aboutthat, but I don't stop either.
Dana Lawson (50:23):
So Right, right, and as a woman, you, just you,
just.
That's part of who we are.
We're the nurturers, thecaregivers, the on the go, the
soccer mom, the support person.
You're there for your friends,you're making meals, you're
volunteering at church.
(50:44):
I mean, you're doing a wholebunch of things and so these.
This is the time where a womancan really take a, take her
opportunity to kind of step back.
What can I delegate?
If you have small children, Iunderstand you probably can't do
much delegating to them.
But if you have, if you haveteenagers, then maybe they can
(51:08):
run some of those errands.
They can help in meal prep.
Your, your spouse, can helpclean the kitchen and do laundry
.
And where can you?
How?
How many things can you takeoff of your plate so that you
can focus inward?
Because that's the key toreally navigating through
(51:29):
understanding what's happeningto your body and dialing in what
do I need right now?
And then you can also help yourfamily to appreciate this time
with you, and so, instead ofmaking it a chore for them, you
can, you can.
It's an opportunity for them tosupport you.
Richard Dodds (51:51):
I think that's I think that's all I will say Like
just thinking about, likewomen's health from you know,
from from the females in my lifespecifically, I think that like
women's health, it just seemslike it needs to be a lot more
evolution and a lot moreeducation, and I think that not
just for women, but for men aswell, like we really need to be
(52:15):
more educated about our healthand the food that we're eating
and mentally, so like holistichas been like a really big word,
not only holistic and like food, but I mean like holistic.
Like in looking at the wholepicture and looking, and it
sounds like like a lot of whatyou do is like looking at the
whole picture of everything puttogether.
(52:35):
And I think that's like soimportant when it comes to
caring for yourself.
Because, like, as I start toget older, I remember I could go
off for two hours of sleep andbe good, and now like it's
consequences for me If I onlyget two hours of sleep, if I
only get six hours of sleep orfive hours of sleep.
It's consequences, and it's notjust a day worth of
consequences, sometimes it's awhole week worth of consequences
(52:57):
.
So it's getting different.
So, like even thinking aboutall of that, like for people
that want to know more aboutlike perimenopause, like just
women's health in general, oreven menopause coaching, like
where can they go to get thatinformation, to learn more?
Dana Lawson (53:19):
Well.
So as you know my story, I wentand sought it out.
I sought it out from the personthat helped me.
There are courses that womencan take to work with women in
perimenopause and menopause.
(53:39):
I'm currently enrolled in amenopause doula program and that
I'm super excited about,because then I'm that woman's
companion for the entire journeyand really be by her side as
things change, because you canhelp a woman at the beginning or
(54:02):
maybe at the end and she'dstill get great results.
But having them through theentire journey is really
transformational and reallysupportive, and that's the
reason why it's so important forwomen to seek assistance,
because it's.
You can Google a lot ofinformation on perimenopause and
(54:24):
menopause and when people aretalking about it a lot more now.
But how are you going to applythat information?
How do you know what's rightfor you?
That's where a coach comes in.
That's where a doula can bepart of your life, in this stage
of your life, and really createthat accountability, help you
(54:45):
to really dial in.
Look at the whole.
Like we said earlier, look atthe whole person.
You can't just isolate symptomsand not look at the
contributing factors to thosesymptoms and there's always
contributing factors, and sowhen you approach it with
nutrition, with stressmanagement, exercise and quality
(55:07):
sleep, then there's a lot thatcan happen on the positive for a
woman in perimenopause.
So it's a broader picture.
There is training out there andso it's a lot of work.
It's available for women whoare interested in being a
(55:32):
support practitioner or asupport person for women on the
journey.
Richard Dodds (55:40):
So you do coaching classes and courses,
right?
I do so.
If somebody was interested infinding you, where would they go
to find that information?
Dana Lawson (55:48):
Well, my primary outlet is Instagram, so my
Instagram handle is Adeline andShine, now it's the same for my
Facebook and my website isalignandshinenowcom.
And so those are the mainoutlets that I work from and
people can find me and reach methere.
(56:08):
I have group coaching, which isvery effective because women
feed off of each other's energyand so they also find
camaraderie, they find support,they find common interests with
each other and they encourageeach other.
(56:30):
So I really enjoy the groupsetting, and so I have a 10-week
course that is in a groupsetting, and I also offer
one-on-one for those who havespecific goals and desires,
one-on-one pampering and care.
And you know, no, I don't wanta group, I want it to be all
(56:53):
about me, and I'm for that.
So I do offer one-on-one aswell.
Richard Dodds (56:59):
That's awesome.
I'll make sure that anybodywho's interested will put all
that information in the shownotes so you can go and follow
her and make sure that you getall the information that you
need and that you want, becauseyou're such a resource of
information, you have such goodknowledge and like bringing it
back to the community is soimportant.
So I really want to thank youfor coming on the show.
(57:19):
I really appreciate theknowledge that you dropped.
I feel so much moreknowledgeable about this
information.
I feel like whenever that timecomes, I'll be ready to handle
it better than I would be if Iwas unprepared.
Dana Lawson (57:31):
Oh, you definitely will handle it better.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been wonderful.
Richard Dodds (57:37):
Again, I'd like to thank Dana for coming on the
show.
If you'd like to learn moreabout her, I'll leave all of her
information in the show notes.
Still Talking Black is a CrownCulture Media LLC production.
You can find out more about theshow by going to
stilltalkingblackcom.
You can find new episodes onYouTube and anywhere else that
you get your podcasts, whetherthat's Apple Podcast or Spotify.
(57:59):
But until next time, keeptalking.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.