Hello Menopause! – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello Menopause is back for another season! We're so excited to bring you more information, conversation, and guidance on midlife, perimenopause, menopause, and women's health. As always, everything is on the table, and with every episode, you'll get clear takeaways to help you navigate the menopause experience. This season, we welcome guests like Tamsen Fadal and Denise Pines, producers of the incredible documentary, The M Factor, Doctors Carol Tavris and Avrum Bluming, co-authors of the book Estrogen Matters, Author and advocate Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, Women's sexual health thought leader, Dr. Somi Javaid, and so many more incredible guests.  This season, we're so thankful to our sponsor, Versalie. The options for menopause care can be overwhelming, which is why they've done the research to help you navigate all of them. Versalie is a one-stop shop for expert advice, curated products, and access to virtual care. It's where menopause makes sense. Visit Versalie.com to learn more. The new season launches on April 9 with your favorite host, Stacy London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’ve got a bonus episode for you - an episode from Dr. Kelly Casperson's podcast You Are Not Broken: Episode 259: Lancet Menopause Article Rebuttal - the Menoposse.  Dr. Casperson and a panel of menopause expert physicians and nurse practitioners discuss the recent four-part article series on menopause published in The Lancet. In the episode, Dr. Casperson and her guests address the agenda behind these articles and the implications for menopause care. The panel strongly disagrees with the claim that menopause is being over-medicalized and emphasizes the importance of hormone therapy in managing menopausal symptoms and preventing long-term health issues. They also criticize the suggestion that cognitive behavioral therapy should be the first-line treatment for menopause symptoms, highlighting the barriers to access and the lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. The panel advocates for a comprehensive and individualized approach to menopause care. The conversation methodically identifies the principal themes discussed in the Lancet article on menopause. Follow Kelly Casperson MD and subscribe to her podcast, You Are Not Broken Follow Stacy London @stacylondonreal Hello Menopause is a podcast from the national nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause. Produced in partnership with Studio Kairos. Supervising Producer: Kirsten Cluthe. Edited and mixed by Justin Thomas. Artwork by Stacey Geller. Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet, because we deserve better. Available at Target. Please rate and review the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Menopause. It’s big, it’s life-changing and it’s… hardly talked about. Well, we’re gonna do just that. Talk about it! This season, host Stacy London is joined by women who are leading the charge on understanding and managing the most mysterious non-mystery on Earth - menopause. Stacy welcomes guests like Dr. Mary Claire Haver, Carla Hall, Dr. Judith Joseph, Dr. Kelly Casperson, Naomi Watts, Dr. Sharon Malone and more to dig into the latest research and treatments, discuss the wide spectrum of menopause symptoms, and explore the benefits of aging. Each episode is full of information, guidance, and real world solutions to help women thrive in midlife. Hello Menopause! is a podcast from the national nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause. Season two is produced in partnership with Studio Kairos. Edited by Revoice Media. Visit www.letstalkmenopause.org for a wealth of information about the 101’s of the menopause transition, a symptoms checklist, helpful resources, and more. Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this season of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Available at Target. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet entrepreneur and advocate Monica Molenaar. She’s the co-founder of Alloy, a telehealth platform that helps provide medical expertise and treatment to people experiencing menopause. At 40, Monica elected to remove her ovaries to reduce her risk of breast and ovarian cancers after testing positive for the BRCA gene. The effects of this procedure sent her into surgical menopause overnight.  Tune in to hear about Monica’s family history with breast cancer, the weight gain and lost sleep she experienced when she hit menopause and her struggle to get sound medical advice about hormone therapy. She talks with Christina and Robin about the various menopause treatments she tried and how she started Alloy in order to educate women and empower them to make informed choices about their treatment options. Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Samantha Frankel, the Chief Strategy Officer at Bloom UK, a professional network of women whose mission is to promote equal opportunity within the communications industry. In this episode, Samantha details her push for a menopausal policy in the workplace. She also speaks with Robin & Christine about her unexpected intro to perimenopause, how menorrhagia (heavy bleeding) sent her to the ER, and how discussing menopause made her feel like she was in the Illuminati. Tune in to hear how listening to other people's menopause experiences validated her own and why she believes stories are more important than facts and figures. Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Emily McDowell: writer, illustrator, speaker, entrepreneur and host of the podcast “Quitted.” Emily left working in advertising to launch her own greeting card business called Emily McDowell Studio (now Em & Friends). She wrote and illustrated cards that speak to the genuine, sometimes difficult, relationships we really have. The brand is best known for its Empathy Cards designed to help people connect more authentically and honestly with loved ones experiencing major illness, loss, and yes, even menopause! In this episode, Emily details her unique journey with medical menopause and tells Christine and Robin about her heavy and long periods, joint pains, brain fog, migraines, exhaustion, irritability, night sweats, and mood swings after starting perimenopause at just 39. Emily also talks about the power of quitting things that don't serve us, her vulnerability to admit she was struggling during a time of intense achievement, and her new commitment to focus on personal contentment. Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content Warning: Suicidal ideation is discussed in this episode of Hello Menopause.  Meet Gabrielle Calvocoressi: award-winning poet, UNC Chapel Hill Associate Professor, Editor at Large of the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Poetry Editor at Southern Cultures. Gabby, who identifies as nonbinary, speaks with compassion and gratitude about coming to terms with a body that never fully felt like their own. They talk about how their gender identity played a role in obtaining the medical care they needed. They also share the compassion they have for post-menopausal cis women and nonbinary/trans people who know what it’s like to feel invisible. After experiencing heavy bleeding, depression, and suicidal ideation leading up to their period, Gabby was inspired to write the poem, “My Perimenopausal Body Cistern Disappointing How Surprising," which they recite in this episode. Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet professional speaker, paralegal, former Miss USA pageant contestant, and mother of conjoined twins, Emily Stark. Emily started experiencing signs of menopause in the midst of grieving the loss of her mother to pancreatic cancer.  Join Emily, Christine, and Robin as they talk about hot flashes, mood swings, thinning hair, and the similarities between grief and menopause.  Plus, hear how Emily adjusted her idea of what midlife would be like and how menopause taught her to learn new things like how to build a yurt! Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet All-American Ironman triathlete, professional health and fitness writer, and host of the “Hit Play, Not Pause” podcast, Selene Yeager. As an athlete, Selene is no stranger to building a relationship with pain, yet menopause made her reassess her connection with her body. In this episode, she talks with Robin and Christine about finding out she was in perimenopause after experiencing hot flashes, night sweats, reduced muscle composition, and anxiety while in the midst of a semi-pro bike racing career. Selene says these symptoms made her want to disappear and almost give up racing. Selene also shares how educating herself about her body’s changes, slowing down, and “living forward” helped her get excited about the future and encourage other post-menopausal women to do the same.  Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí). Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Nina Lorez Collins, entrepreneur and author of What Would Virginia Woolf Do? And Other Questions I Ask Myself as I Attempt to Age Without Apology. Nina is also Chief Creative Officer of Revel, an online community for women at midlife and beyond. In this episode, Nina talks with Robin and Christine about how she first started waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. After doing some research, she learned this was a symptom of being in perimenopause. Nina goes on to share her experience of visiting doctors and trying various medications to address her host of symptoms including weight gain, hot flashes, vertigo, skin discoloration, joint pain, vaginal dryness and muscle spasms. Nina also shares wisdom from her career working in narrative medicine and how the Facebook group she started in 2015 grew organically to over 32,000 women worldwide. This community became a platform called The Wolfer and was the catalyst for her book, "What Would Virginia Woolf Do?" It's filled with a wealth of information and research that has helped many women on their own menopause journeys. Learn more about the nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause: www.letstalkmenopause.org. Download a symptoms checklist here (lista de síntomas aquí).   Check out Robin’s Comedy & Funny True Stories at www.robingelfenbien.com Follow Robin on Social: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter & Facebook   Thank you to Always Discreet for sponsoring this episode of Hello Menopause. Always Discreet because we deserve better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices