The Year Menopause Went Mainstream

We look back at how menopause went mainstream in 2025 and map what’s ahead for 2026, from the end of the estrogen black box warning to new nonhormonal options. We share practical steps to find better care, unpack testosterone access, and invite you into our community.

• why menopause conversations exploded across work and daily life
• lifting the estrogen black box warning and what changed
• vaginal estrogen for GSM, UTIs and sepsis risk reduction
• separating systemic vs local hormones and real risks
• new nonhormonal hot flash medications and who benefits
• how to avoid medical gaslighting and find trained providers
• testosterone therapy for women, access barriers and dosing tips
• earlier awareness in late thirties to prevent misery
• building community and agency through evidence-based care

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Transcript

Welcome Back & Why Menopause Exploded

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to 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. I'm your host, Val Lego, and I've been a dedicated health reporter for 25 years, and I wanted to normalize something that every woman goes through: menopause. Hey friends, welcome back to The Pause. I'm Val Lego, and we are kicking off season two with one of my favorite kinds of episodes, looking back at everything that we learned together in 2025, and then looking ahead at what's coming in 2026. Because let's be honest, this past year was a moment in menopause. Actually, I think it was it was way bigger than that. It exploded. We saw headlines, we saw policies, research, and we saw what I really loved most was these real conversations that broke into spaces that used to be completely silent. I mean, women at work are talking about it all the time. Women are talking about it in the grocery store, in bars, or admitting it. They talk about their brain fog when they're mid-settins with you. It's really a wonderful moment in time to see this breakthrough happening. And, you know, here on the podcast, we covered so much from the weird menopause symptoms that you get, like your itchy ears, to debunking the myths of hormone therapy to how our workplaces show up for women in menopause. And, you know, it's not really great, but we're getting there. At least we're talking about it. And some companies are starting to move forward and think about women in menopause and all of the support they can get. So that's an awesome part of it. And you know what else? You showed up. You downloaded our podcast. You shared the episodes with girlfriends. You sent me messages that meant so much, like I finally feel like I'm not crazy, or I had no idea this was perimenopause. And that's why we do this. So joining me once again for season two is certified menopause provider and women's health advocate Nisha McKenzie. Woo! Welcome back, Nisha. Thank you, Val.

Speaker 2 2:07

I'm so excited to be here. I know. I'm excited for season two. We've got a refreshed energy.

Speaker 1 2:12

Almost exactly a year ago where you pushed me out of the nest and you said we are doing this. Was it? Yes. All right. No more anniversary. I know. I know. I'm excited. Like you really said, we're doing it. We're not talking about it anymore. It's time to get out there. And I I couldn't be happier that we did it. So I'm really excited to have you back chatting more about this, getting your expertise and your really into it. Health women, gotta go. Power. Right. I love it. Woman up. Woman up. I love all of it. Um, so I really do want to take a look back at 2025 because there were a couple of significant things that happened. Um, one, just talking about menopause. I mean, do you notice it yourself that more women are talking about?

Speaker 2 2:53

Oh, I feel like it's my whole life, and I feel like I'm a uh I have a a different baseline, right, than than most sewing. It's probably not a good representation of everybody else's regular lives. But my regular life is all menopause all the time. It doesn't matter if I'm in my practice, if I'm at a work event, or if I'm just at a personal event. My everybody knows that this is what I do. And they're always like, I'm so sorry. Do you want to talk about this? I'm so sorry to make you talk about work. I'm like, no, this is life. Bring it. Yes, I love talking about it. You do. You're like a you're everybody's sponge where you're like, yes, let me soak it in and tell you all of my wisdom. Um, because it's wonderful to find someone that listens to you and advocates for you. And that's been one of the big things, you know, common theme in a lot of our podcasts is women just like, how do I find that person? Yeah. I feel like we're making inroads. Yeah. I mean, how do I not get gaslit? Right. Is like that should just be a book. Uh some, maybe it is a book. How do I not get gaslit at the doctor's office? It's it's that's the whole thing. And I think people are starting to recognize that they can advocate for themselves. And then not only that, but how to, which is so important.

Speaker 1 4:00

And we're seeing more and more certified menopause providers become of exponentially more, which is amazing. I mean, still not enough for every single woman, but we're getting there.

Estrogen Black Box Warning Lifted

Speaker 2 4:10

Well, it's exponentially more than zero. I don't know. Is it zero times anything, just still zero? Instead of one for every 200,000, we now have two. Right, exactly. We've doubled. No, we are getting there, and people are showing interest. And and you know, even people who don't specialize in menopause when I go do talks to general practitioners, family doctors, internal medicine, pediatricians, GI specialists, like at medical conference, anybody who sees someone who was born with ovaries is going to experience this in their patient population. You do not have to be an OBGYN to see this in your patient population. So, I mean, there's there's we're everywhere. You can't give me everywhere. Right.

Speaker 1 4:51

So I do think one of the most significant things though, um, and we did a whole podcast on the black box warning that was on estrogen. Oh yeah. Um, and so exciting.

Speaker 2 5:00

It got lifted. Finally, 20, what, 23 years later, that I mean, the fact that it was on there in the first place was all just based in fear. There was no science, no data to say that, well, and let me clarify, there was no science or data to say that it needed to be on the vaginal estrogen specifically. So the fact that that got removed is because what would happen is we would prescribe it to someone, they would get home, their partner might see it, that black boxed warning, and they go, Oh, honey, it's not that important that we have intercourse. So this says you might get a heart attack or a dementia. It says probable dementia, right? Like you might have a stroke, you might get breast cancer. I don't want to have intercourse that badly. So let's just forget about it. And then a whole year goes by before I see them again. And it's not just about your ability to have intercourse. It's your ability to also hold your bladder in its in its proper place. It's your ability to not have recurrent yeast infections, recurrent bacterial infections of your vagina. There, there's so many things about the vaginal health that are improved with using estrogen down there that are shown not to cause the things that the black box warning said it caused. Yeah.

Speaker 1 6:15

So Hallelujah, that's all. Hallelujah. Let's just to recap, though, like what was like what was the black box warning?

Speaker 2 6:23

Like specifically, it was to say it said basically it said estrogen causes or estrogen can cause, and it would say probable dementia, stroke, heart attack, breast cancer. I can't remember exactly all how the wording went, but those things. The the problem was the FDA never took the fact that there's so many different types of estrogens and so many different methods of delivery. And they all host their own subset of risks and benefits. I mean, the thing that we also don't talk about enough is what is the risk if we do not treat? Yes, I think that is a huge thing that we don't talk enough about. Right. We constantly talk about the risk of treating because there's a tangible thing. I mean, it's litigation, right? Like there's a tangible thing that I gave to you, I provided for you. Now, if something happens, you could sue me for that, right? That's the that's the fear at the heart of it.

Speaker 1 7:15

I think when we talked about this um in our um uh season one, when we talked about the black box morning, and this was prior to that being lifted and just talking about in um, you know, assisted living homes with with women and the rate of yeast infections and largely being linked to the fact that they never used, didn't have, and aren't currently using vaginal um estrogen and what that was doing for them and how they these these recurrent yeast infections. I mean, you had a very poignant um factoid about it in the podcast, you know, and just how you could be eliminating so many health issues that these women have. I mean, ultimately, like sometimes women die from them because they become septic.

Vaginal Estrogen, UTIs, And Sepsis Risk

Speaker 2 7:59

Right. So that'd be the recurrent urinary tract infections, but people do get recurrent yeast infections and recurrent bacterial infections because of a lack of estrogen as well. But yeah, those recurrent urinary tract bladder infections, those can cause an infection in the bloodstream, uh, especially we see it more frequently in our elderly population. And that people can, there is a higher morbidity mortality rate with sepsis, that infection in the bloodstream. And there's uh there was a paper that came out, I believe it was in 2025. It's boy, time is pops and buzzes, but could have been 2024. But I think it was 2025 that said that 72% of the cases of sepsis, that we could decrease um 72% of those or avoid that. 72% by using vaginal estrogen. Yeah. I mean, that's just that that fact just like I cling to it. You know, I had a mother who, you know, died of dementia and um was in assisted living in um memory care then. And and you know, I think about all the times that she had a bladder infection and and everything. And it just um, yeah. So I'm hoping that this helps to push more women to use it, um, understand all of the benefits, the health benefits that they are getting from using it that go well beyond, you know, just still having great sex. Yeah, yeah. And I think that the idea that they don't have to be scared is so powerful. And but I think it's also important to recognize that there are potential risks to systemic estrogens, and that is different than vaginal estrogens. And there are definitely benefits, right? There's risks to not treating, risks to treating. But I I think the some of the problematic part about removing this black box warning is that people are still putting all estrogens in one bucket. Yes. Right? The black box warning was removed off all estrogens. And as that I think that what that message, what the message is that that sends is, oh, all estrogens aren't completely safe, right? But it depends. It all depends. I think you've heard me say it before, it depends on the environment we're putting it into. It's not that estrogen itself is safe or unsafe, depends on the environment we're putting it into.

Speaker 1 10:18

Yeah. And the individual as well. I think one of the things that we talked about was, you know, the hormone therapy. That became big. A lot more women embracing it largely because of um the reversal of the study that was so huge.

Hormone Therapy Myths And Nuance

Speaker 2 10:34

Well, and I would say for for the people who have been working in menopause for 20 plus years, the the study wasn't so much reversed. It's public opinion. Public opinion changed, which is I know what you were saying, but like the there was not a new study that say it said we need to reverse the findings of the WHI. It's it was social media, it was influencers, it was people having access now, not being in their own silo and alone and only having an interaction with their medical provider that was telling them it was dangerous, but hearing all these other stories of women who who were starting to quote, feel like themselves again, right? This, this, this somewhat intangible, I can't use it as a primary endpoint in a study to feel like myself again. But this is what people say, I feel like myself again. So much of that is driving women in to say, hey, hey, doc, look at the actual data. It's there, it's open access, it's free to anybody to read if you want to read medical data, but like I do. But um, but go look at that data and then tell me, please, can I safely take this?

Speaker 1 11:42

Yes, because it uh it is an individual. But what I love about it is it's it's creating that conversation. Absolutely. And women are trying it, and then they're telling their friends. I'm like, I don't know if it's for myself, but I at least want to be able to have a conversation about it. Um, and just opening up that door of like experimenting with, you know, hormone therapy and what that can mean for you. Um, you know, for some it's getting rid of brain fog and sleeping better, and for others, it it does, you know, other things as well. And and it's really wonderful that we can get back to that type of therapy that for 20 years was really kind of denied women.

Speaker 2 12:19

Yeah. Yeah. I think someone was asking me this the other day, and I said, Yeah, my cop my menopause mm visits, these conversations have like done a complete 180. Isn't that great to hear? I love it. Two or three years even for 20 years, it was a 40-ish minute visit, at least 40 to 60 minute visit of me just trying to show them data, show them graphs, convince them of the concrete hardcore data that we had that showed that estrogen, for example, wasn't going to create a breast cancer. And it was like bowling teeth, like it's just woven into the fabric that we all believe this. Now it's like people will come in and I'm almost going, I don't know if you need estrogen quite yet. I mean, you're 20. Maybe we don't need estrogen quite yet. You know, like people are like, hey, this is what's happening. I think I need this, and or I've got brain fog and I think I need this. And well, you know, you're sleeping three in or unin or three interrupted hours a night, too. Let's figure out what that is. And, you know, so not always is it estrogen that is like the savior of all things? It's always in a in a context, right? Like again, the environment. Are we adding it to an environment that's overall healthy? Are you getting good sleep? Could progesterone potentially help that? Can you tolerate progesterone? Are you moving your body in a way that you should be? Are you fueling your body? Are you getting the right amount of nutrients and proteins and all of that? Are you stimulating your mind? And are these things still happening? Then if it's the right environment, estrogen could be a great option. Yeah. I just look back at like the 20 years of those women that were really pretty much told they couldn't have it, and it might have helped them. And uh, so we we have moved on beyond that. And I no more black box. No more black box and more conversations around that, and no more scaring women that it's gonna cause breast cancer. We're still fighting that context and those, you know, that message, but it's getting it is it's getting out there.

New Nonhormonal Options For Hot Flashes

Speaker 1 14:18

People are people are like, no, I'll I'll used to even ask them three to six months ago, what's your biggest fear about starting estrogen? And they just are getting these blank looks, like, I don't have fear. Like, okay, well, what is your qu what are your questions, right? So I have to have l listen to them and have them guide me in the appointments now because the appointments don't go how they used to go. It's a learning curve for you and lovely because yes, you know, that was somewhat maddening. I felt like I was beating my head against the wall for 20 years. You know, the other really cool thing that happened in 2025 was that the American Urologic Society, um, about mid-year of May-ish, I think, came out with AUA guidelines on treating um vulvo vaginal, used to be called vulvo vaginal atrophy. Now it's called genital urinary syndrome of menopause. There's a lot of can you come up with a bigger name? I know, right? Could we make it more more difficult to understand? GSM. But but ultimately it's a lack of estrogen in the vaginal tissue. There are multiple things over life that can cause this, but menopause, perimetopause is one of them. So they came up with with guidelines. We haven't had guidelines on how to use vaginal estrogen in folks say if they've had uterine cancer, if they've had breast cancer, if they are on other medications. We now have guidelines from the American Neurologic Society, which is huge. So I can, and that's free, open access to you. Type in AUA um uh type in AUA GSM guidelines. I was how can I make this so people can actually remember? AUA GSM guidelines, and you'll find those, and you can pull right up. There's a specific section on breast cancer survivorship and all of the data within that, each of the research studies that that show the safety. So there's more um, I guess, believability among people to say, okay, I can switch. I see that there's guidelines here now for that. We've we've definitely entered a time, not just with menopause, but in other areas where people want to find their own for information and do their own fact checking. And I think that's really one of the things that's opened up the conversation for women to feel confident and like I've looked at this, I've read this, I want to try this, I'm interested in knowing more about what's happening. So Yeah.

The Testosterone Gap And Access Hurdles

Speaker 2 16:32

One of the other fun things that's happened in 2020, we're just gonna keep going on and then is uh there was a new medication released that's non-hormonal to help with hot flashes and night sweats, which there was one that was released a couple of years back, and now we have one more. They're slightly different but similar. And they're another non-hormonal option for treating hot flashes and night sweats, which just shows that someone cares. Yes. Someone's listening that it's a, I would say in my patient population anyway, and people that I'm working with, it's a smaller subset of people who can't or don't can't have or don't want hormones than the people who do. But if you are in that subset, it's 100% of you. Great. It doesn't matter that it's a smaller subset of the whole. Like there are people that this is important to. And I just I'm just really glad that some of the organizations, some of the companies, some of the pharmaceutical companies are are taking the time to do the research and the money, like the amount of the vast amount of money it takes to bring a product to market and to have something else for non uh for a non-hormonal option is is huge.

Speaker 1 17:41

Giving women choices, finally, I mean, you know, we are getting there. There's still a lot more work to do, but I feel like finally having those choices is a huge step forward. And we saw big moves in that in 2025.

Speaker 2 17:56

I really did. Medicine has spent a lot of decades, centuries, maybe making choices for women.

Speaker 1 18:03

I do think one of the one areas though that we are not even inching towards, we're not even really getting over the over the the hump, the little tiny line on the ruler that's like, what is that, an eighteenth of an inch? Oh, is isn't testosterone and the importance that it plays. And I'll tell you what. So I went on testosterone therapy in October. Okay. And went out and had my holiday brunch with my girlfriends. And of course, they're always asking me because they want to do the hormones, but they're scared. And so we still keep having the conversations. How is this? You're their case study. I'm their yes, I'm their case study. And I do remind them, like, you know, so it's been over a year now that I've been on it, but I've had to make adjustments. Like it's not, it's not like, oh, here's your hormones, have a nice life. Like you are constantly, like, now I've been on them for a year, and I'm having this issue or that issue. You need to go up or down or sideways. I'm dying. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, you can still dial it in, and that's what's that's what's nice about them. But um, then I edit in the testosterone, and they were like, Did you grow hair on your nipples? I'm like, no, I can't. That was the first question. Oh, yeah. They wanted to know about nipple hair, huh? Is your voice lower? I'm like, I don't think so. Unless I'm dehydrated. Yes. What's it look like down there now? Like, oh my gosh. I'm like, you do realize that you have naturally occurring testosterone in your body, uh, and at higher levels when you're younger.

Speaker 2 19:25

I mean, I would bet most many women don't realize that, right? That that testosterone is a natural occurring hormone in women. We have one-tenth of what men have um throughout our reproductive years, but we have testosterone and there's a fair amount of it in our system, and it's important.

Speaker 1 19:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:41

It makes certain things work.

Speaker 1 19:43

But yet, not approved for women by the FDA.

Speaker 2 19:46

No. Not yet.

Speaker 1 19:47

Because I mean, there's a there's a big push for it. There's there are advocates that are making noise and pounding their fists on the table, but they're I'm so glad there are people doing that.

Speaker 2 20:00

There's two things that need to happen. We need an FDA-approved women's version. We also need it to be uh decontrolled. Like it we need to give it off the controlled substance list. It's it should not be a controlled substance. Like this is back from you know Olympics in the 80s and doping and and the 90s. And the amount that we give women, I do tell women like sorry, if you were hoping to be a pole vaulter, like an Olympic world-class Olympic pole vault after this. This amount is not gonna help you. Or if you thought you were gonna w win that riverbank run finally. Right. You're also not gonna grow hair on your nipples. Sorry. Like none of that's gonna happen with with the doses we're giving people. It's it's crazy. Like we need to remove roadblocks. Right now, we're we're not even neutral on this. We've just got roadblock after roadblock. And it's it was hard to get. And then my fear is once that it, you know, once we do get an FDA approved version of testosterone for women, that it's going to be exponentially too expensive for people.

Speaker 1 20:58

I think so.

Speaker 2 20:59

And then we'll still we'll still be using, and it's clunky when people have to use the either a compounded version or the commercially available male version in one tenth of the dose. And how do you get one-tenth of a foil packet out? Or, you know, one-tenth of a tube or a vial. Like it's tough. It's clunky. It's so, you know, I've got a system and I write it out or I tell people about it, you know, put it in a syringe and give yourself half a milliliter, all this kind of stuff. But that's clunky. And so people end up just putting a glob. They're like, you know, I just kind of just use a little, a little, a little drop, a little dollop, you know, which is probably fine-ish. I tell people like every couple of months, maybe recalibrate. Get out your your syringe again, and not needle, just syringe, and just remeasure and just make sure that your glob didn't grow little by little, like how children grow when we're not looking, right? And then grandma comes uh six months later and they're like, oh my gosh, you're huge. Right. So make sure that your testosterone dallop didn't grow. Grow like that and or shrink and you know. And you follow levels with testosterone a little bit

Dosing, Safety, And Practical How‑Tos

Speaker 1 22:06

more closely, like than what we need to with estrogen.

Speaker 2 22:08

And I I think our um maybe some of our listeners are wondering, like, okay, if it's not FDA approved, how are you getting it? Now I get mine through a compounding pharmacy. It's clunk, it's like you said, it's clunky. Um, and it's not covered by insurance. Um, but uh it's been worth it for me. It has been that kind of missing link that I felt like, you know, and and it's not that way for every woman. That's the other problem, is that like you go through the process. I mean, it took me, I'm gonna say, probably three months to get on it from like, because I had to work with my provider to put in blood work that then had to go to the compounding pharmacy, who then had to like read it. Oh, then send it back to the provider to say, I need a prescription for this. So then they write the prescription, then they send it back to the pharmacy, and then the pharmacy compounds it, and then they call you when it's ready. Okay.

Speaker 1 23:04

And that can be a process. It is a process. I know that the compounding pharmacies around here do that. I've I'd forgotten, honestly. So thank you for reminding me of that. That's one way to do it. Another way is to just see someone who knows how to prescribe it without the compounding pharmacy telling them how. See somebody on the corner. Hey, see some corner of like you got some tea in there. It doesn't really have a street value, folks. Sorry, can't sell it. I mean, it's to yeah, to see a certified provider. That the tough part is not all menopause certified providers are comfortable with dosing testosterone. Typically, if you find someone who's both menopause certified and iswish, which is, I think we've talked about before, but it's the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health. If they're also like an ISwish fellow or ISwish trained, then they're more likely to have a little bit more of that testosterone knowledge. Um, but but that's not, you know, always true. There's some menopause providers who just do that naturally. But the testosterone, you can get it compounded if your prescriber just knows how to prescribe. They don't we we need a level initially because it's not FDA approved, and we want to make sure that the rare person, the rare woman who's already got a high, naturally a high testosterone, that we're not making it too high. That's pretty darn rare. So by the time we're perimenopausal or menopausal or testosterone, it's supposed to be low. Like the fact that you get your blood work done and it shows that it's low, that's just what we expect. That's the expected result. We don't give you a certain amount based on your level. We give you what the accepted uh recommendation for women is, which is one tenth of the dose of what it is for men. And then we recheck your levels because all of us absorb it differently and we metabolize it differently, we and we respond to it differently. So the level is one part of how we use that treatment or how we give that treatment, but then it's also based on your symptoms and your side effects and how you're feeling. So the level is kind of like the least important part of that. So so you can get a commercially available, and it's cheaper, honestly, to do it that way than to do it compounded. You get the the male version, it comes in a box of 30, either packets or um like foil packets, one a day they would do, or like a tube or a vial, and you give yourself one tenth of that packet or tube every day. And so uh and the amount that would last a man 30 days would last a woman 10 months, in theory. Now, again, it's kind of clunky, and so you lose a little bit here and there. It might mass last like eight or nine months. It might be that you go, whoa, I am growing some like facial hair because I feel like this is too much, and then you back off, so then it would last you more than 10 months. But that box is at most pharmacies around here in in West Michigan anyway, that box is gonna cost you about a hundred bucks. So you think that lasts you 10 months, you got 10 bucks a month. I don't know if you feel comfortable sharing how much your compound it is, but compounds are usually like somewhere between 50 and 70. Yeah, 50 for about three months. So it's 650 for a three month.

Will The Momentum Last?

Speaker 2 26:07

Oh, that's good. That's not terrible. Yeah. Yeah. And um and it's a little bit um for me, it's a little bit more of a um sure thing because you do you just do two clicks or something like that, right? There's a little bit measures it out. You can do a click and you push down on the top and it squirts out and you yep, rub it in places and then rub it in places.

Speaker 1 26:28

If you want to, if you're listening and you want to know what places you rub it in, I just would generally recommend not like the side of your cheek or your forehead, right? Because you might grow a little patch of hair.

Speaker 2 26:38

Unless you are like, hmm, I need some help in the eyebrow area.

Speaker 26:42

Right. Eyelash like the new latisse. You just put it on your eyelashes.

Speaker 1 26:46

No, this is not what we're recommending recommending. I do like underarms, I do like inner thigh. So I usually tell people it on your inner thigh, uh, the back of your calf, somewhere that you don't care if you grow hair or that you're already shaving. Yeah. That's generally where people will put it. So yeah, the compounded version is a little bit more expensive and easier. The commercially available male version is just cheaper.

Speaker 27:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1 27:12

So um, but they're both, they're all, you know, it's all available. It's just again, we don't have a one that's indicated for women. Women are still not seen in this sphere. Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:23

So I don't know that that's going to be something that happens for 2026. I feel like that's a really big leap of faith. That's but we're not gonna hold our breath. So I'm hopeful that with all the fa changes and all the conversations that we've been having, and that there are groups up there that are really rallying for this that maybe in the next five years. Yeah, that'd be lovely. That'd be great. That's my that's my wish.

Speaker 1 27:42

Five years is like a blip in medicine, right? I mean, by the time we have the data, it might take another 10 years to get a medication for it.

Early Symptoms And Preventing Misery

Speaker 2 27:49

So I just so I I want to wrap this up by just talking a little bit about I really do feel like uh 2025 exploded with menopause. Like you saw it everywhere. If you started, if you clicked on one thing on your Instagram that was all your feed was all the people that were doing anything with menopause or wanted to talk about it or what have you, had a lot of stuff out there, a lot of information coming at you. Where do you think this is, you know, what's you can you if you looked into a crystal ball, like what do you think this is going to be? My big problem, I'm gonna give you a minute to think about that because I just threw that on you. Um I just worry that I don't want this to go the way of the Me Too movement. You know, Me Too, that was a movement for like a good strong two years, and you don't ever hear about it anymore. You don't really have the compassionate people who are talking about it. Um that's my big fear for this. I don't necessarily know that that's gonna happen, but it's a concern. I think about like, man, I came on fast and hard and heavy, and are we just gonna forget about it?

Speaker 1 28:54

I don't think the fizzle can happen with this because the the come on heavy is uh practitioners are learning. That's a good point, right? So as more practitioners get certified and learn, even if this fizzles on say social media, I would say social media is like one of the biggest drivers, right? So even if this fizzles on social media, people now know, right? And and it I would say even for the Me Too movement, that's that's somewhat the case, right? People are aware now and in different ways than what they used to be before the Me Too movement. So there's not a whole lot of people out there going MeToo, hashtag MeToo, but people have a new awareness of uh the fact that that was an issue. And maybe, I mean, the great thing is it becomes uh normalized.

Speaker 2 29:41

Yeah, that's it. And so therefore you don't have to shout about it anyway.

Speaker 1 29:45

Right, right. The people that are doing the work right now and have the megaphones, God bless all of them, and you'll be able to rest soon, right? Because we're all just hoping. Because because people are picking it up. I don't think we're gonna have to constantly, we shouldn't have to constantly shout for megaphones. They should be picked up. Even people, patients who come in and say, you know, this this changed my friend's life and I want to feel like myself again. That's fabulous. I would love to help you feel more like yourself again, but why do we have to get you to the point that you feel miserable? Right. Before can't we just start earlier? And if we start whatever form of intervention we use, whether it's hormonal, non-hormonal, can we just get to the point where you're not miserable or not get to the point where you're miserable so that we have to come back and feel like yourself again? Can we just stay feeling? You know what I've been wanting to make for the longest time is my t-shirt.

Speaker 30:34

37 is a new 50.

Speaker 1 30:37

You know, I will sport that t-shirt for you. I think there, you know, we'll have to get our megaphones out and people might get it.

Takeaways, Community Invite, And Closing

Speaker 2 30:43

They might get down. I'll wear it. Again, for those of you who didn't hear the episode in season one, what we're talking about is just that, you know, symptoms of menopause can start as early as 37. I've read research earlier that they're seeing it now in girls' early 30s, because the earlier you start your period, which our girls are starting at 10 and 11, if you're starting that early or you have daughters that start at early, your menopause years are going to be earlier as well. And so there's there the study that I read was astounding. I'm sorry I don't have it on hand to be able to give it to you. I'll I'll put it in the notes for this podcast. But um, it was like, wow, we really need to start talking about women. Now I'm not a 20, but we do need to start talking about it with women earlier, getting them more aware of it so they can track symptoms so that maybe they're like, okay, I'm I'm on the verge, I'm not there yet. But now when they get worse, I know that maybe I need to start talking about estrogen. And maybe I'm only 39 and I'm talking about estrogen.

Speaker 1 31:43

What can I do to prevent misery? That's what you can go in and ask your practitioner. How can I prevent misery? I've seen my Gen X aunt go through this. I'm not, I'm not about to do that. So how do I not have to fight that hard? Yeah. Any last takeaways, 2026 predictions, anything? Keep up the keep up the shouting from rooftops. Keep learning, keep advocating. And menopause is going places and and it won't go back. Once we get to that place, it can't go back because we've all learned. So we're all we're on a different neurohormonal platform that we know different things. It's great. I love it.

Speaker 2 32:19

Setting a new baseline. We sure are. And we're gonna continue our conversation for season two. I can't wait to all the topics we're gonna be delving in. But the takeaway for today is this the science of menopause is evolving. And if you didn't think that before this conversation we had today, you probably do now. I mean, there's new treatments, more coming, and you know, you are allowed to be expected and informed and have evidence-based care, and you are allowed to ask for that and feel seen. Um and I want you to be part of the community that supports you. You know, you should join this conversation in the pause diaries. It's our Facebook group. It's a place where like 700 women are sharing and supporting each other and asking for advice, and uh some of the conversations are comical, and uh, I just love these women. It's a great place to uh pop in and get some extra information and support. So thank you for being here. Thank you for walking this big life road with us, and remember you're not alone. We are in this together. I'm Val Lego, and this is The Pause. I'll see you in the next episode. The Pause Podcast is for informational purposes only and not intended as medical advice. Always talk to your healthcare provider about any questions or concerns. Views shared by hosts and guests are their own and don't replace personalized care from a qualified professional.