Intro to menopause - Part 1: Demystifying menopause with special guest Diana Alvarado

Join us for Part 1 of our Intro to Menopause series with Diana Alvarado, certified menopause coach and menopause yoga instructor. In this session, Demystifying Menopause, we’ll break down what’s really happening in your body during this important life stage. Together, we’ll explore the three phases: perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause, along with the hormonal shifts that drive them, common symptoms and guidance on when to seek medical support. Gain clarity, confidence and knowledge in this engaging and empowering conversation.

Transcript

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Subtitles have been AI generated

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Hello, and welcome to Invested in Wellness.

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I'm Jessi Serafian, and I'm super excited for today's show.

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It is part one of our Intro to Menopause series.

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And today we're joined by special guest, Diana Alvarado, certified menopause

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coach and menopausal yoga instructor.

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And we'll be breaking down menopose, what's really happening in your body, the

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three phases, common symptoms, and much more.

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So Diana, thank you so much for joining us today.

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Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to dive into our conversation

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today.

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Yes, so looking forward to your conversation.

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So for those of you on the line, if you have any questions for Diana throughout

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the show, please type it in the Q&A box at the bottom of your screen.

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We really want this to be as interactive as possible.

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So Diana, for those meeting you for the first time, can you tell us a little

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bit about yourself and your experience in this space?

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Absolutely. My path into the space actually started

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personally. When I hit perimenopause transition and

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I realised that I had no idea what was happening to me and honestly,

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I hadn't even heard the term perimenopsis, so I didn't realise that that's the

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stage that I was in. All I ever heard about menopause was hot flashes

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and I wasn't having those.

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So even when I went to my doctor complaining of migraines,

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she said, you know, when you start hitting menopausal, we can talk about HRT.

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But meanwhile, I was in the thick of it, and...

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So I just continue to start diving into my research, listening to every

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podcast, reading everything I could just so that I can start to feel

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better. How do I get rid of this blow?

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You know, why can't I sleep anymore?

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I was just diving into all of it.

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And then I decided to become certified in menopause coaching

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so that I could help other women who feel just as confused as I did

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and really begin to add some clarity around this transition in a way

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that wasn't overwhelming or confusing because it really can be.

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And especially when you just want to feel like yourself again.

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So I decided to get certified so that I can offer that clarity for other

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women.

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That's great. And we're so grateful for you.

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And I'm really looking forward to the conversation.

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So before we dive in, we want to get a sense of our audience who's watching

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today. So very shortly, you're going to see a poll question pop up, just

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take a few seconds jot your first answer down.

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The poll question is, do you know if you are experiencing any paramenopause

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symptoms? Yes, no, or I'm not sure.

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So just take a few moments, select your answer, I guess I'll go first,

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and I'll share my answer.

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And it's, I'm not sure. And as you mentioned, when I think of paramenopause,

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it's hot flashes, but I'm not experiencing any of that.

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I just turned 41, not getting hot flashes.

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Maybe the mood changes, mood changes.

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But obviously that affects what's going on in my personal life.

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But is this common for most women? They don't really know.

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Oh, absolutely. Like I said, I didn't know that that was

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what I was in because you do experience changes.

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And some of us may not even recognise that we're experiencing changes too.

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So there's that piece. And even when you are, you can easily just

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chop it up to other things. And sometimes it really could be something else.

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Right? So yeah, there's no clear cut to say, Yep,

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you're in perimenopause, I or 40.

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Whatever. And yeah, you're definitely in it.

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So everyone's experience is so different.

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Right. And that makes sense.

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So 50% said yes, they are experiencing symptoms.

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Okay, so we're going to dive in.

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So to start us off, can you define menopause and

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why it's such an important life stage to understand.

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Okay, well we use that term menopause very loosely and we

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use it to describe like an entire transition when it's actually just one day.

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So it's when you've gone 12 months without a period.

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Everything before that is the perimenopause and that could last four

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to ten years.

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And everything after that one day of you know you've 12 months

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without a period. Everything after that is postmenopause.

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So, when we're talking about going through menopause, we're almost

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always talking about that longer perimenopause window because that's where the

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real transition happens.

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Okay, very interesting and why do you think there's so much

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confusion or stigma around menopause today?

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It wasn't ever really taught in medical school.

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All they ever really received was like one course and so

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much has changed since then and continues to change all the time.

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So it was never really talked about at home either.

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So as much as, you know, the medical profession wasn't receiving the training,

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we also weren't talking about it at home.

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So growing up, I remember the only thing I ever heard associated with

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menopause was the hot flashes and nothing else.

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So a lot of women today will say, You know, I'm not really struggling.

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I don't get hot flashes without realising that there are over 30

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symptoms that could be happening at this time.

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And then there's also that fear of looking less capable at work or

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at home, especially for the ones who are constantly keeping it all together.

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So if we start to admit that we're going through something, it makes us look

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like we're no longer capable and that there's something wrong with us.

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So it really is a mix between the lack of education and also old biases

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that we just haven't shaken up yet.

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Yeah, no, I completely agree.

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So I understand that there's three phases, perimenopause,

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menopause and post menopaus.

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Can you walk us through these three phases?

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Sure.

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With perimenopause, it typically starts in your mid to

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late 40s, some people start in the early 40s with menopause

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itself landing around age 51 on average,

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though again every woman is different.

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So some start experiencing symptoms in their late 30s which would be considered

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early onset. So if that is you, I would suggest to

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see a menopausal certified doctor to rule out any

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other causes for the symptoms that you might be experiencing.

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And if it is, in fact, perimenopause, to start keeping an

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eye on your bone, your heart, and your brain health going

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forward, as it really does put you at a higher risk.

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So this is where you'll notice the changes, right?

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And the symptoms. And they can differ really from day to day.

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I know for me, every day was something new.

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I didn't know what was happening. And now that I look back, it all makes sense.

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And post menopause doesn't mean that you're suddenly you know, you'll

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feel better because you've reached the other side of things.

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Some women do, but most need a couple of years for things to kind of stabilise.

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Okay. Yeah. So those are the three different stages.

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Okay, that's good to know. So I know we chatted about symptoms.

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So what are the most common symptoms women experience across each stage?

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Okay, so. You'll notice there, so there's so many, so many

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of us know about, you know, the sleep issues, yeah, the mood swings and you

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know the joint pain, the brain fog, but there's so many other lesser

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known ones as well.

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So things like heart palpitations, I don't know if you remember Oprah had

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talked about her experience with menopause and nobody understood

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it and she thought she was having heart issues, it was heart palpitations.

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Some women will have vaginal dryness.

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So even things like itchy ears or just itchy in general.

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I remember I couldn't do meditation because every two seconds I had to

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like scratch an arm, scratch a leg.

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Like it was just... Very odd, right?

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Some people get dry eyes or like

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little electric shock sensations or ringing in the ears.

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So yes, right. Yes, I had that.

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Yeah, it woke me up. It woke me up.

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I wouldn't go away for four hours.

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Right. And you don't know, right?

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Like, what does this mean exactly?

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So, I mean, there was a study done by Morphis where they interviewed over

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5,000 women and they found 103 different

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reported symptoms. Wow.

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So, you know, if something is feeling off and you can't explain it menopause

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might be a part of the picture, but not always, right.

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So again, if something is not right, then it's best to speak with your medical

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practitioner.

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Okay, no, that's good. We had a question from the audience regarding the hot

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flashes and you know, what are what were the lesser known symptoms, but you

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pretty much answered that, you know the scratching heart palpitations or

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anything else that yeah.

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You know, mouth sores could be one.

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Phantom smells is another one.

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I remember a friend telling me just like I would smell things that weren't even

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in the room. Wow.

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Yeah. So there there really is a whole gamut.

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Yeah.

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From head down to your toes.

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Oh my goodness. Okay.

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So how can menopause affect mental health or moods

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or cognitive function?

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This is a huge topic and it's one of the most

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common concerns that I receive from women and because it

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can feel really scary and it really can affect your quality of life

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and your relationships.

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So In a nutshell, we have oestrogen receptors that are all through the

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brain, including areas that regulate our mood.

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So when we're having those hormone swings and those drop in oestrogen

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during perimenopause, it really can affect how you feel.

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So when you start adding in things like sleep disruption, which could

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be from night sweats, plus normal life stressors of midlife like

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kids might be getting older, ageing parents, work responsibility,

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it all starts to compound. So it's rarely just one thing.

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It's hormones and life circumstances kind of colliding all at the same time.

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So you might find that it's harder to manage stressful situations.

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Things that, you know, you're able to juggle 20 balls in the air

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before can seem really difficult now.

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You might find out you're missing words or thoughts during conversations.

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Your mood might become more flat.

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You might feel more anxious and I hear that a lot from in, you know,

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I was never this anxious before, and now suddenly I'm worried about everything.

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One important point though that I do want to mention is if

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some women do suffer from depression during this time.

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So if you find that you're feeling really anxious and that

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you've lost your motivation, your zest for life, you're just really tired all

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the time consistently most days of the week for at least two weeks,

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that's when I would suggest to speak with your health care provider.

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Because you might be in the early stages of depression.

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So there is a lot going on and there definitely is a physiological

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reason for it. So it's just a matter of being really gentle

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with yourself and getting the support that you need during that time if you're

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experiencing any of those, the mental health side of things.

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Totally, and that's great that you called that out.

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We have two audience questions.

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So one is, in postmenopause, do I really need to go off HRT

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if I have no symptoms?

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Because as you mentioned, it helps with Alzheimer's, heart health, and bone

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health. What are the risks of HRT medication?

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And for my own knowledge, what is HRT?

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So it's hormone therapy.

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Okay. And it's, it's something that comes in many different forms.

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So it could be in a gel, it can be in patch, it could in a pill format.

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And it's just to kind of help stabilise those hormone fluctuations that you

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are experiencing.

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If you wanted to get off of it, you absolutely could.

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They do suggest not to just stop cold turkey.

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So this is something that you would speak to your doctor about if you wanted to

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slowly get off it and see, you know, I'm feeling okay, let's see how this

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goes and they'll start to kind of lessen the dose and see how it goes

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from there. So I would definitely speak to you doctor about that and not just

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suddenly stop taking it. You could Take it, you know up until

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you're 60 really so and there's always

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a lot of research around this and there are always a lot of new guidelines that

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are coming out. One place I would suggest to go to for

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information is menopause.org.

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They are on top of all of the research and yeah

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I would definitely speak to your doctor about that and you can you can be on it

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till up to your 60 and as long as it's helping you.

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But if you wanted to get off, yeah, speak to them about that for sure.

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Okay, great. Another question regarding hormone therapy.

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How would you approach that conversation with the family doctor that isn't

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in agreement?

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What I would do is I would start tracking my

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symptoms and really going in with something concrete

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to the doctor, really specifics.

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So it's, you know, how often am I experiencing these symptoms?

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How intense are they? When am I experience them?

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How often? Like all of those things and how much is it affecting

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your quality of life?

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So I would kind of go in with a clear picture, because often when we

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go to the doctor, we'll say, you know, I'm just really, really tired.

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And it's so easy for them to just wave that off

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and be like, oh, you're fine.

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You're just going through menopause. It's all normal.

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Yeah, it's normal, but it doesn't mean that you need to live that way either,

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right? Because we do have options.

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So I would go in with something concrete because that way they can see, and

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you can also see as well. And if they're still...

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Not you know not able to lead you in the direction or able to talk about

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hormone therapy again because not all Medical doctors are trained in this

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either. I would go on to the menopause org site.

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They have a list of all

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menopause certified practitioners that have received that extra training

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through menopaus.org and they're

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throughout whole Canada. So you kind of put in where you're you know what city

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you live in what province and a whole listing of professionals whether it's a

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nurse practitioner, an atropath, a family doctor, gynaecologist and

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at least that way you know they're up to date with the

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guidelines in terms of hormone therapy.

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I think that's so great. And it's really important for women to advocate

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for their own health and to track, like you said, to track all their substance,

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their symptoms, so they go in with, you know, some concrete, for sure, evidence

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to back it up. So what are some ways to for women to

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communicate needs with their partners with their family and colleagues during

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this transition?

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My suggestion would be to be really specific about

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what it is that you need.

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So, so many of us are raised to push through

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instead of asking for help.

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And now that our bodies are asking for something different, we don't really

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have the words for it yet, or we fear that we're being misunderstood or

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that we are being judged. So, what I would suggest is getting specific,

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if it's at work, instead of saying, you know I'm struggling, you might

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try say something like, you know, I do my best thinking in the morning.

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Can we shift our planning meetings earlier?

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Or can I get... A copy of the agenda ahead of time so that I could prepare.

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You don't need to disclose that you're impairing menopause, but if you frame it

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as a productivity request and not a health one, that goes a

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long way. And the same thing at home.

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It's the same idea. So instead of just saying, you know, I'm so tired.

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I just need your help. You can try saying, I need 30 minutes to

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decompress before I'm ready to be present or I'm to start dinner

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or I am ready to talk to you.

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I need those 30 minutes. So being specific do-able

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asks are much easier for people to act on than just relaying

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your frustrations, right, and expecting those around us to know what it is that

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we need. The goal is clarity, but not justification.

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We don't want to have to justify it, it's just being clear.

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Yeah, I completely agree. And on the flip side, how do workplaces

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better support women going through this transition?

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Or how can workplaces support women?

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There was a big study on workplace and menopause

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in Canada and there's a lot of companies that have started changing

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their philosophy and their policies around

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that so they can best support women.

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So whether it's being able to work some days from

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home and providing that option or scheduling their

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day when they're most um they feel on right they're

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more effective and they're more efficient um changing their daily routine

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being able to take extra breaks um maybe you're you know

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you're positioned if you have the option of being near a window if you're

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really warm you can open the window or just making your

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environment comfortable is one way of doing that and being

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understanding that maybe i might need these extra little things to kind of make

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me still be productive in the day.

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Yeah, there are there are several companies now that are starting to really

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take it and really go with it and see, you know, how can they

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best support their, their women employees for sure.

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That's great and so important. Another audience question.

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Do you have any advice regarding how to distinguish between paramount,

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paramenopause and chronic stress?

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Because you know, sometimes you know, they understand the symptoms are very

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similar.

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And they are right like some women will just be really really tired and

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they might have you know unexplained weight gain and that could be a thyroid

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issue entirely.

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So again the tracking is super important and

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blood work is really important too.

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So if you want to go in and you're saying this is what I'm experiencing this is

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how often can we do some blood work to follow up on

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what you know else it could be if it's not this.

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And if it is this, and you know, everything is coming back normal.

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Then you know that maybe there are some lifestyle adjustments that can

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help you along the way or finding that support to help you deal with your

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stress a little bit better.

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Whether that's you know seeing a psychologist or whether that's just changing

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different lifestyle habits of yours or maybe you're looking into

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hormone therapy if that's something that you know you and your doctor decide

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that you would benefit from.

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So yeah definitely go in ask for the blood work, track your

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symptoms.

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Okay, great. Speaking of lifestyle changes and lifestyle practises,

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are there any daily practises that can help women feel more grounded and in

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control during this transition?

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What I would say is whatever practise that you can do consistently.

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So consistency is much more important than intensity and

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something that helps you feel grounded, right?

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So I can say, Oh, meditation really works for me.

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Um, if it doesn't work for you, then that's not what you're going to use to

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help you feel ground. It's so it's something that works well for you.

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And what I like to do is recommend Women

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to really protect that one non-negotiable for their in their

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morning. So for me it's movement for you It might be something different, you

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know even if it's ten minutes before the day kind of pulls you in 20 different

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directions it signals to your nervous system that you're not in

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crisis mode and beyond that I do suggest

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including small daily breaks because they really do matter

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more than we think. And I feel that most of us will say, I need

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to book a massage or I need a day at the spa or some form of

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self-care activity, but it doesn't have to be those things

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because those are not going to be consistent and a lot harder

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to fit into your routine. And usually the first thing to get off of your list

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of things to do because something else takes priority.

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So. What it could be instead is, you know, stepping outside

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for five minutes and getting fresh air, a few minutes of quiet before

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checking your phone when you wake up in the morning, or maybe you're taking

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five minutes to breathe before you're entering your house.

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After work, because you know, as soon as you enter that door, you need to be

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on, right? So you don't need to change your whole routine to

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feel more grounded, you just need those one or two anchors that can

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actually help make you feel steadier and just more grounded.

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Whatever it is that works best for you.

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I love that and what I encourage like some of my clients

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and you know some of my students is you know top of the you know we sit for the

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most part of our working day right so it's like top of the hour you can put

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little reminders to step away from the computer do a little

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chair yoga do a little bit of breathing exercises or movement whatever

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works for you but taking those few minutes to recharge

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and then go back and then you're focused again to whatever tasks you're

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at, you're working on. And a lot of us have like the iWatch.

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And I know when it beeps to me, oh, it's time to get up.

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I'm like, okay, it is time to get up and you know, whether I,

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I've been known to drop into 20 squats, like, you

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don't have to. I mean, I know, but then you feel great after whatever, right?

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Whatever it is. It's also good just for your mental clarity and taking

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that break every hour.

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Um, especially during menopause, because that energy can go really,

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really quick. And there are times of the day where we have more energy than

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others. So you really want to bank on those times when you feel like you have

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that more energy and then movement really does help with that.

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For sure, I completely agree.

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We're almost at time, but I wanted to ask one more question.

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So if there's one key takeaway that you'd like everyone to leave with today,

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what would it be?

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I would say there may be days when you feel that

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you're completely falling apart and you're not imagining it.

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It is a real physiological transition that you are going through and you

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deserve real support through it.

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So I would get curious about your own body and

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track what you're noticing.

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And don't be afraid to ask for exactly what it is that you need,

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whether that's from a doctor, a partner, or a boss.

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And honestly, midlife can really be an empowering time, I believe.

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And it's a time in our life where we can start putting ourselves first,

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because now we need to for our own health and our own longevity.

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They really do depend on it.

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So that's what I want women to realise.

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It can be a time when you feel like you're falling apart, but it really can

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be that time where, you know what, now it's time to start putting myself first.

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I love that. And is there, for our viewers, if they want

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to reach you, if there's more information, how can they reach you?

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I have an Instagram account and it's called at be

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empowered with Diana be empowered underscore with Diana

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and I also have a website dianainpowered.ca

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Love that. Well, thank you so much for the conversation.

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I'm looking forward for part two.

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So in part two, we're going to discuss more about managing our symptoms and

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building your wellness toolkit.

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00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,328

So thank you. So much for joining us.

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00:23:50,328 --> 00:23:51,329

Thank you.

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Intro to menopause - Part 1: Demystifying menopause with special guest Diana Alvarado

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