.png)
The 'Pause
The menopause podcast with unfiltered conversations about the symptoms you hate, the changes you didn’t see coming, and the hilarious moments midlife can bring. You've got questions and we've got the experts to answer them.
The 'Pause
Finding Menopause Support: Coaches vs. Certified Providers
Feeling overwhelmed by menopause symptoms and unsure where to turn? You're not alone. As social media fills with advertisements for menopause coaching programs (even from celebrities like Halle Berry), many women wonder: what's the difference between a menopause coach and a certified provider, and which do I need?
This eye-opening conversation clarifies the crucial distinctions between these two types of support. Menopause coaches serve as advocates and cheerleaders, helping you navigate this life transition with confidence. They can suggest questions for your doctor, share information about treatments, and offer validation that you're not "crazy" – your symptoms are real. However, they can't prescribe medications or treatments.
Certified menopause providers are healthcare professionals (physicians, nurse practitioners, or PAs) who've completed additional specialized training in menopause medicine. The shocking reality? The average OB-GYN resident receives only eight hours of menopause training during their entire residency – despite women spending nearly half their lives in this stage! No wonder so many women bounce between specialists for seemingly unrelated symptoms like heart palpitations, joint pain, and cognitive changes, only to be told nothing's wrong.
The good news: resources exist to find qualified help. Visit menopause.org to locate certified providers in your area, and explore telehealth options that make specialized care more accessible than ever. Remember, every woman deserves expert support through this universal experience. Ready to transform your menopause journey? Join our Facebook group, The Pause Diaries, for resources, connections, and ongoing conversations about navigating this powerful transition with knowledge and confidence.
Welcome to the Pause the menopause podcast. That's anything but boring. Get ready for unfiltered conversations about the symptoms you hate, the changes you didn't see coming and the hilarious moments only midlife can bring, from the best remedies for hot flashes to tips on beating the menopause belly and answers to your weird symptoms like why do my ears itch, my hips ache, my feet are cramping up and why do I wake up at 3 am every night? I'm your host, val Ago. I'm a health reporter with 25 years experience and I know you are Googling the answers to these symptoms. Why? Because that's exactly what I did. That's why I'm bringing in the experts for the answers. This is your space to laugh, learn and connect with other women who totally get it. I'll be joined by my friend, women's health advocate and clinician, nisha McKenzie, and a lineup of hormone experts from across the country. We'll tackle the good, the bad and the downright awkward sides of perimenopause and menopause. There is no topic that is off limits and there is no symptom that is too small to find the answer to, because, let's face it, menopause is tough, but it is a whole lot easier with friends, laughter and the right advice Together. My hope is that we can rewrite the narrative of menopause, because every woman deserves to feel empowered and informed in this stage of life.
Speaker 1:When I'm scrolling through my Instagram feed, I'm beginning to see a lot of advertisements for menopause coaching courses or people who are menopause coaches and how they can help coach you through menopause.
Speaker 1:And I love this because I know that we are talking about it. I know that women are interested clearly in wanting to learn more about menopause and be coached through menopause, and I love all of that and I think that's great. But I also want to know, like, how do you find one, and do you want to do it virtually or do you want to do it, you know, face to face? So I want to talk a little bit more about finding a menopause coach and what that kind of looks like for you, and so I really want to dive into this conversation today with my friend, nisha McKenzie. She is a certified menopause provider and she's a women's health advocate. So I noticed that even a lot of high profile women are coming out with, like their menopause coaching courses. Halle Berry has one where she, you know, join our menopause team, so they're coming out there. This is a new thing and I know that this is sort of your area of expertise, because you saw back in the day when there were so few, and now you're seeing this space grow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think there's so much power in validation. So I'm not familiar with all the new courses, like the coaching courses, that are coming out. I know that there are plenty. I think they're fine, I think they're wonderful, because if you can hear someone else's story, hear it in numbers. No, you're not the only person and no, you're not crazy. You're going through perimenopause, but you're not crazy, and it's not all in your head, it's actually in your ovaries. That's really powerful, right, if you can have we're all strong women, right. But the ability to get permission from someone to say a thing or to feel a thing, or to say I might have this going on, is that okay, right? We wouldn't necessarily ask for that out loud, but to get permission from Halle Berry's course, for example, that can be really powerful for people.
Speaker 1:And have somebody walk you through it. You know, yep, I would have to say here, talk to me about your symptoms. Well, you're probably most likely in perimenopause. Where you're at here, I'm going to help you, guide your way through the end. I'll be with you to guide you through the end. So if there are women out there who are saying I would like to have a menopause coach, how do I find a certified menopause provider? How do I do that with someone that I can walk through these three stages of life with? How does that happen?
Speaker 2:So I think that we have to draw the distinction between a certified or a menopause coach I don't know if they certify, sorry. So a menopause coach and then a certified menopause provider. So a certified menopause provider is going to be a physician, a nurse practitioner, a PA who has gone through some sort of medical training and then done additional training in the medicine and the data and the research on menopause. A menopause coach is going to be a lay person who has a special interest in menopause, who's done some of their own research and who can help you advocate. So they'll have different roles. They won't be able to prescribe. A menopause coach won't be able to prescribe.
Speaker 1:I like the fact that they can advocate. You know that they're going to give you the confidence to say when you go to your provider, these are the things that you should ask about. These are the new things that are out there that you might want to explore. Here are some natural remedies. If you don't want to be on hormone replacement therapy, so that's kind of like your coach is sort of like your cheering squad of like, yeah, you're in it, we gotcha. Now here's what you need to go to your provider and ask for Right.
Speaker 2:So, honestly, if I was going to find a menopause coach, I'd be Googling that. I don't know. I don't know how to find a menopause coach exactly, finding a menopause practitioner, someone who can prescribe you medications for the things that you're going through, who is an expert in menopause. For that you're going to go to a website called menopauseorg. It used to be called the North American Menopause Society. They just changed their names to the Menopause Society, so there you're going to find people who have gone through extra training and certification to prescribe the medications that you need.
Speaker 1:Most people would assume that if you're going to your doctor, your doctor should just know. They should just know about menopause. I'm going through, I think I'm going through peri or I'm going through some changes. What's happening? You think that they should immediately be like okay, you're at this stage in your life, tell me your situation and so forth. It's not that clear cut and that training wasn't out there 20 years ago. So if your provider is of a certain age, they didn't get the training and most likely did not seek out the new training that there is yeah, and there's very little availability for new training.
Speaker 2:Even still, a study came out just the end of last year that showed that the average OBGYN resident gets about eight hours of menopause training in their OBGYN residency.
Speaker 2:So eight hours of training for a portion of our lives that we live nearly half of our lives in and that's 100% of their patient population right. So it's not enough. They're still not getting the training. We have to go and this isn't a complaint, but we do have to go. If we want to learn more, we have to pay extra money, we have to get the data that's behind a paywall, so we have to pay extra money for the research and we have to pay extra money for the training and the time right, so not everybody's going to do it. So that's why you'll go to a place like menopauseorg to find a provider and find someone who's at least working on the training. There are some people on there who are new in it, right, and maybe don't have as much experience, but at least you know that they've got a resource they can refer to. They've got listservs, they've got people that they can tap into if they don't know the answers.
Speaker 1:Basically, that's, your advice is to go to that website. When you go there, what should you be looking for specifically? I mean, I've looked at it briefly and I feel like it's basically a region, and then it pops somebody up and then you kind of read about them and decide if you think this is a match for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty simple. It's just like find a provider. You type in your zip code and then it'll tell you. It'll list out people who have attended their conferences or who are members, and then it'll also list out people who are menopause society certified providers. It's MSCP. So if it says MSCP or I think it says certified provider or something on their badge, then you know that there's someone that's done the extra training and just hasn't just attended one conference or something like that. So it's good. I mean, like there's.
Speaker 2:Without those experts, women are going into multiple different specialties with their itchy ears and their frozen shoulder and their palpitations and their ADD and their joint pains and and their vaginal dryness and they're being told oh well, you don't have anything wrong with you, right? So they're paying eight different specialty co-pays and then they're coming back and they're going. Well, I guess I must just be crazy. And really what's happening is, if you can get a menopause coach or a menopause certified provider, they can look at the whole picture and they can say, okay, yes, you should have had that workup. We want to make sure there isn't anything wrong with your heart if you're having palpitations, but now that we know, great, I'm glad there's nothing wrong with your heart. This is perimenopause or menopause. Let's treat it.
Speaker 1:I will admit there aren't many out there. So if you want to go in search of this, you might be a little dismayed that you'll have to travel. You know quite a distance to go and find that person who has studied this, is passionate about. It is up on everything, but we're hoping that that's going to change with the fact that the conversation is really moving the needle.
Speaker 2:It really is, and I think one good thing that came out of the pandemic is we got telehealth, yes, so there's increased access. You can, as long as you're in the state that that practitioner is licensed in. Then you can I mean, we can see people from the UP if we're in the Lower Peninsula in Michigan, right, so you don't have to necessarily always travel into their clinic as long as you're in the state they're licensed. And there are a lot of practitioners who are going to concierge or cash pay clinics. They know they can spend more time with you that way. They know that they can give you the care that they were trained to give you and they don't have to jump through those insurance hoops, and so sometimes that's a barrier for people. But there are also still plenty of people that work within the regular insurance system and meet people where they are in the insurance system, so you can usually find someone. It'll usually say on that website too whether they're taking new patients, what insurances they take.
Speaker 1:So I know this was a quick one, but we wanted to let you know about this website that is out there for you to be able to find someone who is a certified menopause provider that could help guide you through these stages of your life and really give you the relief and the confidence that you're looking for going forward, because you don't have to live with the symptoms, you don't have to feel like my life is ending. It's a wonderful way to be able to have some support as you navigate through this, because every single woman is going to go through menopause. There's no turning a blind eye to it. It's going to happen, and it's great to know now that there are more and more providers specializing in this to help guide you through this. Thanks for joining us on the Pause.
Speaker 1:Until next time, join our Facebook group, the Pause Diaries. You're going to get links, you're going to get extra content and you're going to be able to share your journey with us and with the other women who are part of that group. So remember this is not the end of anything. It is the beginning of the rest of your life. No-transcript.
