Let's Talk Midlife Crisis Podcast
Hosts Ashley & Traci are creating a community and empowering women going thru midlife and aging, exploring the topic of midlife crisis an all its complexities. This is a space where we can come together to share our stories, our experiences, and our perspectives on this pivotal moment in our lives.
Whether you're going through a midlife crisis yourself, going through menopause, dating in midlife or just interested in learning more about this fascinating topic, we invite you to join us for insightful conversations with experts, personal stories from real people, and practical advice on how to navigate this challenging time.
Our goal is to create a community where we can support each other through the ups and downs of midlife, and help each other find meaning, purpose and fulfillment in the second half of our lives.
So buckle up and get ready for an engaging and thought-provoking journey into the world of midlife crisis. We can't wait to share this adventure with you!
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Let's Talk Midlife Crisis Podcast
Menopause Relief and Cannabis: Special Guest Emily with Still Menopause Relief
Have you ever felt dismissed by healthcare professionals when seeking help for menopausal symptoms? Emily Black from Still Menopause Relief joins us to share her raw and personal journey with Sjögren's Syndrome, highlighting the severe vaginal atrophy she endured and the challenges of navigating the healthcare system. Emily's candid discussion about finding solace in localized estrogen treatment and medical marijuana offers hope and practical advice for managing pain and maintaining quality of life during menopause. She also addresses the often-overlooked issues of anxiety, sleeplessness, and hot flashes, providing a relatable and empowering perspective for women facing similar struggles.
We also take a closer look at the evolving landscape of cannabis legalization in Florida, discussing the hesitancy among certain demographics, particularly educated women in their 40s and 50s, to embrace cannabis products. Learn about the new line of uniform gummies designed for precise dosages and an upcoming THC-free product tailored for those who are sober or subject to drug testing. This episode emphasizes the necessity of building a supportive community for aging women, addressing the feelings of isolation that can accompany midlife changes, and the urgent need for increased awareness and research on menopausal symptoms. Join us in celebrating our growing reach and commitment to fostering an informed and connected community for women navigating these life changes.
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Hello and welcome to let's Talk Midlife Crisis with your hosts, ashley and Tracy. Pull up a chair for your seat at the table as we talk about and we're here today with Emily at Still Menopause Relief. Welcome, emily. How are you? I'm great. How are you today? We're doing good, thank you. I'm happy to have you here. I'm you, I'm great. How are you today? We're doing good.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm happy to have you here.
Speaker 3:I'm thrilled. I'm a little nervous. This is my first podcast interview for this business.
Speaker 1:I'm actually a photographer and had been on a friend's podcast before, but this is a whole different thing yeah Well you don't have to be nervous don't be nervous, sit back, relax, take a breath and um, yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself and what are you doing now?
Speaker 3:okay, um, I am emily black. I live in orlando, the orlando area, and I started a company back in the spring called Still Menopause Relief and the way it started was I in 2021 was? Diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and the name of it is Sj. Body attacks your moisture producing glands. Oh my gosh. So it's your tear ducts, your saliva glands, your urinary genital system, all of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And it's not horrible. It's not life-threatening or anything, but it's really super frustrating.
Speaker 2:Right and.
Speaker 3:I was 45 at the time and trying to figure out the answer. Luckily, a friend of mine's a doctor and she said oh, that looks autoimmune to me, luckily, and so I got diagnosed really quickly but I was having all of these um sort of sexual health problems, pain and dryness and like what they call vaginal atrophy and I give it that right, very common, yeah, yeah and I was 45 and no one was able to help me sort of decipher the difference between the autoimmune stuff and the aging menopause stuff.
Speaker 3:And all my friends are around the same age and they're having you know their, their menopause issues and I don are around the same age and they're having you know their their menopause issues and I don't know where I am in the whole thing yeah and so the worst of it, even after that, after the diagnosis, the worst of it was the vaginal atrophy it was terrible and I don't know if you know how much you know about it.
Speaker 3:It's like dental pain, it is like exposed nerve just awful and. I'm in a long-term relationship and I had lots. Of you know I was married for a long time and I'm happy in that area and I was not going back to not being able to have that part of my life and I went to several gynecologists and they kind of blew me off. One of them, a man. When I said you know, sex has gotten really painful, he said just have a glass of wine before you do it.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was 45, oh my gosh. Oh yeah, I don't know. Maybe men shouldn't be gynecologists. Honestly, I'm. I'm just saying I wouldn't feel comfortable with a man. He was my OB when I had all my children, but since then it's only been females. Okay, sorry.
Speaker 3:I've had men that were really kind and women that were really terrible. You never really know True true.
Speaker 3:But this guy was terrible, true, true, but this guy was terrible. And I just think, like, have you ever told someone to have a glass of wine before their root canal? Like does that make it super pleasant and fun for them? Right, like this is terrible. Oh, and so I, through several different channels, found a pelvic floor physical therapist and found a new gynecologist, and she immediately knew what the problem was. She's like people that have this showroom syndrome. Um, and same thing happens with menopause the layers of dermis or you know whatever's in there and the vagina starts thin as you get older, okay, becomes brittle.
Speaker 3:To me it felt like a like a dead dry rubber band like a pull rubber band that's been in the drawer too long. It would just crack and crumble right, it felt like oh my yeah, she knew. She knew what it was and it needed localized estrogen. Oh so not systemic, not HRC and insert every night, which I've been doing for years and it worked beautifully.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:I have to say that's how we got here.
Speaker 2:But while I was working on that diagnosis.
Speaker 3:I was trying to figure out what can I do to just endure the pain of this, to have some sort of you know sex life, and I talked to my rheumatologist about medical marijuana. Now you have to. You have to look back 30 years.
Speaker 3:My high school reunion is coming up and I don't even know what I'm going to say to the people at my reunion In high school. I was that just say no students against drug driving, cheerleader type. I wasn't cool enough to be an actual cheerleader, but like the one that went to. You know all of those.
Speaker 1:Preppy, very yeah, preppy yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely, and that's who I was, and I did not touch any sort of cannabis until I was 45, wow, and so I started doing that, came around to get the proper um diagnosis and treatment. For the chagrins sort of weeded all out from the menopause stuff, got the right, the right um diagnosis and treatment. But the medical marijuana in that era really saved me really. You know, made, made all of the rest of my life, sort of come together until I had the right treatment.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And then some of my girlfriends were having just standard menopausal stuff.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Anxiety, pain, nausea, sleeplessness.
Speaker 1:Hot flashes.
Speaker 3:What Say that again?
Speaker 1:Hot flashes.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Hot flashes? Oh yes, absolutely Hot flashes.
Speaker 3:yeah, having all those things, speaking of which one of the medications I take for Sjoerd syndrome gives me hot flashes.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:Luckily, though, I realize, because I don't have them, naturally at this point at least I can schedule, you know I can have them at a convenient time for me oh goodness, yeah, so yeah, so we have all of. I have all of these things and I started telling my girlfriends this really, this really helped me. You know, what do you, what do you think?
Speaker 1:And they were in the same boat.
Speaker 3:I was sort of you know late 40s, educated very sheltered kind of good girls like I was scared to death of canvas yeah and so I sort of set out on a mission to make it more socially acceptable, to let people of our sort of generation, who grew up with the you know dare and the just say no, yes, all that stuff, who grew up scared to death of it, to realize how helpful it is and how not scary it's right, we're, we're about the same age and I think, um, you know, growing up during that time it was just known as a recreational drug, you know, and it wasn't.
Speaker 2:There was never really discussion around the fact that it actually is medicinal, that it actually is something that can treat a lot of different things.
Speaker 1:Except cancer. It was legal back then for cancer Right, cancer patients were, I think, the entry, the opening door to it being medical Pain and nausea and things like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah absolutely, and so I got through the medical marijuana portion in Florida. It's not that difficult to get the card Right. You have to be a doctor. Both my rheumatologist and my psychiatrist were perfectly fine with me doing this. I went to the medical marijuana doc and it's expensive. You have to re-up your license every like 210 days or something crazy like that.
Speaker 3:And the dispensary is expensive and I eventually realized that you can order. There was a farm bill in 2018 that allowed um thc products under a certain weight to be sold anywhere in the us federally legal right and I realized that that was really all I needed I really didn't need the heavy duty. It's not federally legal at all, so I let my medical card go and started ordering gummies online.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And that was really all I needed to have, but there were some elements missing, and there was certainly the education element of this can help for your menopause symptoms. This can help for your menopause symptoms. So I added to the THC tiny bit of THC, some CBD, some ashwagandha, some melatonin, and started marketing that first product that went out in early July. So you can now order gummies and they have five milligrams of THC, which, for a 150-pound person, for me helps me sleep beautifully.
Speaker 3:It doesn't make me feel knocked out the next day and um, I've heard, helps with hot flashes, helps with lots of other different things yes, and you were generous enough to supply us with samples and um and we've already talked about this but I loved them.
Speaker 1:um, I I also really appreciate the fact that you provide daytime and nighttime gummies because, you know, being a professional, I work all day. I'm not going to feel comfortable taking, you know, the THC, you know when I have to function professionally and perhaps it would be fine because, as you said, it's just a low dose, but I really could feel the difference. Um, I don't generally have problems sleeping once I get to sleep, but it's getting to sleep and like kind of calming and shutting my mind down. So I could definitely feel the difference in that. And then I'm not sure if it's just happens, chance or coincidental that when I start taking, when I ran out of the nighttime gummies I have, which has been like the last couple of weeks, I have been experiencing these hot flashes like I've never experienced before.
Speaker 1:I'm a little bit older probably than you both are and I've been postmenopausal now since what? 2017, I think, and you know it was very light and very, you know, in the interim. But, like I said, the last couple of weeks I don't know what is happening, but I just feel gross. I probably take three cold showers a day and sometimes usually it just would affect my head, but now it's like full-on body hot flashes and, honestly, at first I thought I was coming down with something you know, like a virus or a bug or something, and it just never you know took.
Speaker 1:And so now I'm thinking, and I also think it's difficult when you're at this age in life, it's hard to decipher what is what is due to aging and what's due to menopause and what's just, you know, maybe a virus going around. I just I didn't know. But I really did like the gummies that you provide and I just can't say enough good things about them. So thank you for bringing it to all of us interesting. Is Florida still only a medical state or is it recreational as well?
Speaker 3:It is in flux right now, and it is the same way it is politically when it comes to being a swing state. There's that much sort of back and forth when it comes to the medical versus all the other possibilities. Hopefully it will all be fully legal soon.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask if it's going to be on the ballot. This is an election year in the United States, because we have global listeners, but in the US it is an election year. Is it going to be on the ballot this year? Do you know? I don't know.
Speaker 3:I need to find out the answer to that. I still feel like the demographic that we're talking about sort of educated 40s and 50s. Uh, woman, even if it's fully legal, is going to be really hesitant to go into a shop and buy because they don't know what they're looking 100, 100 agree.
Speaker 1:In arizona it's been recreational for years now it feels like yeah, 2020 or 2019 somewhere around there.
Speaker 1:But I to your point absolutely. I can't imagine a lot of people, um and when I think in my mind who these people are would be like co-workers and things you know feeling comfortable going to a dispensary um to purchase them, so and perhaps not even being educated about the fact that they are available to you and the benefits of taking them. So thank you so much for having the insights to know what you would need and what your friends you know, resonated with your friends and now are all the way, stretching across the US. Right, how has it been going since you've launched the product, or products?
Speaker 3:Well, I will say I think the chorus of people that were really excited and ready to go and rooting for me. I was listening to those people and they seemed to be ones that were already comfortable with cannabis. I feel like I haven't brought new people around yet and that might take some time. When I had the medical marijuana card, I would buy this concentrate it was like epoxy and bake it into cookies and muffins and things like that, and it was hit or miss as to the exact dose you would get the protein.
Speaker 3:Yeah, or you know whatever it was, and so sometimes I wouldn't feel it much at all and then some days it would just knock me out because you know it's cooking. It's not super measurable in that way. Yes, and one thing I wanted to do with the gummies was to have them be absolutely uniform. So everything you get you know exactly what's going to happen and there's no variation from one to the other. Get you know exactly what's going to happen and there's no variation from one to the other. So that's a selling point I'm trying to get across to people that if you're new to this, you're not going to get some weird strain. You're not going to have to just take. You know what they have at the, at at the place, as far as a smoke or a, you know something like that. You'll know down to the milligram what what it's going to be what you're ingesting.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, so I've had a little bit of trouble getting people to come around to it, but I understand. It took me a minute. I had to be really in a lot of pain before. I was willing to go in that direction. But, that being said, we haven't touched on this yet. I am going to be coming out with a second product in early October. It's in production now. That is a very similar sleep and relaxation product, with no THC in it.
Speaker 3:Oh nice, with no THC and the reason is I know that there are people that are sober that maybe don't want the THC people. They get drug tested for work even though it's probably not gonna affect you the next day. They don't want to take a chance on being drug tested very good point yeah, and so I've got another coming out and I would love to have them side by side.
Speaker 3:Take this you know, on the days that you feel comfortable and then maybe you know you start with the no THC and then, when you realize how that makes you feel, ask yourself if you want to move on to the THC, and maybe that's how you get your feet wet slowly. Yeah, so we can ask how it's been going. It's it's going all right, but I would love to broaden the circle and help as many people as possible with this new no THC.
Speaker 1:that's amazing and we're happy to help you spread the word. And most recently, I'm not sure if we even touched on it if you're aware, but, um, earlier this month we're now syndicated and we're airing on uh wdjy fm radio in talk radio in atlanta. So every monday morning from 9 am to 10 am. So we'll help you expand the reach of you know, your message and your audience. And, yeah, we're continuing to grow. So I'm happy to help you spread the message because I think one of the reasons why we started this podcast was to create a community and it's amazing that we live in a time where you know women are who we are today, that we are not other women, where you know our previous generations, our moms did not have that there was the awareness that we have today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly, definitely so this other product you're launching you said october is does it? It doesn't have THC. Does it still have CBD in it? No, no CBD, no THC. What are the key ingredients?
Speaker 3:Amazon prohibits THC and CBD. Facebook says you're not allowed to advertise those things, which seems crazy to me because I get ads constantly for them.
Speaker 1:Right, Right and other things that you know. I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 3:That would comply with both Amazon and Facebook, like I said, to bring people into the community and educate them about both options and give people a chance. And another thing I'm working on as well is the original. You can't see me if you're a podcast people, but you guys can see. This is the bottle, okay.
Speaker 1:I've seen that on your website.
Speaker 3:Yes, this comes with 30 in the bottle and people who are not comfortable with THC maybe want to start with a smaller number before they invest in a larger bottle, so I'm starting a trial size as well. That's just got 10 in it.
Speaker 1:Oh amazing.
Speaker 3:So both of those products will have both the 30 and the 10 for people to try them out and see if they like them before they make a bigger investment.
Speaker 1:And where would someone go to find those products and order the samples or any of your products and find out more about what you're offering, your research and the products you're offering?
Speaker 3:Well, the actual store is wwwstillforhershop. We've also got a 10,000-person Facebook group.
Speaker 1:Which is how we found each other. I found you there, yes.
Speaker 3:You guys have been amazingly supportive and I so appreciate that Big Facebook group where people ask questions and I respond as well as I can. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty bossy, so I'll tell you what's going on, with the caveat that I'm not a doctor and we've got Instagram, which is still dot for her. Facebook is also stillforher.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And I also for your listeners got a new coupon code at stillforhershop and the code is MIDLIFE for you guys Okay. And that is 20% off your first order.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing, that's amazing. Midlife M-I-D-L-I-F-E Perfect. Yes, absolutely. Oh, that's amazing, that's amazing. Midlife m-i-d-l-i-f-e perfect?
Speaker 3:yes, absolutely so. That that's for your people and I hope they will all come and give it a try yeah, definitely, thank you yes, thank you.
Speaker 1:So if someone was to order it wouldn't, would they expect to receive it as shipping standard, maybe within five to seven days? It comes through usps, the general post office, is that correct?
Speaker 3:yes, shipping post office, like I said, completely legal. For some reason Idaho, new Hampshire and South Dakota don't, don't like THC, even at that very low level okay, but everybody else, I'll send it to you okay.
Speaker 1:And then for, of course, your new product in October that doesn't't have thc, those um, those markets will be able to, um, try it as well.
Speaker 3:So yes, I'm hoping, and I'm hoping the no thc product will be on amazon pretty soon after that okay.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll keep an eye out for the launch and then we'll give you a little boost on social media when it's available.
Speaker 3:I would love that absolutely thank you for all of the the education and work you're doing. It's amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, again, we're trying.
Speaker 1:We're trying to, you know, create a community of, you know, women that are aging and supporting each other and, you know, having a place for not only education but for people just to, you know, be heard.
Speaker 1:People just to, you know, be heard. So, and oftentimes, I think, you know, for many different reasons, you might fall out of your community you know, your women, friends that you have if you're in a committed relationship, you may, you know, end up not having the that circle of community that you can, you know, reach out to and that relates to you. And that's the whole purpose of us creating this um, you know, podcast, in this awareness, and trying to just create a community of like-minded, strong, successful, professional women that, um, are gonna, you know, just rock aging, right, it's something that I used to be afraid of when I was young, but now I'm just really trying to embrace it, and we always say that we're trying to turn our, you know, midlife crisis into an oasis, or an awakening, or, you know, a rebirth, if you will, because there's just so much that happens to women in our age, even even outside of menopause, right, with your becoming an empty nester, midlife and aging it's, you know your skin is changing. It's just maybe your hair is, you know, thinning out.
Speaker 2:Well, and there's a lot of. You know, we've talked a lot about how there's no cookie-cutter way that you go through menopause. Everybody has different symptoms and, just like you said, you had something that was pretty unique to the situation and it just happened to be about the time you were going through menopause, so it's really hard to decipher what's actually causing it or what it is.
Speaker 2:And I think that happens a lot with women and it's just not really talked about, especially if people can't relate to it because they're not having the same symptoms. So thank you for sharing your experience and your story. I'm sure there's other women that have been through similar things, if not the same thing, and it probably feels really good to know you're not the only one, and thank you for bringing a remedy to it oh sure, yeah, I the the fulfilling part to me that I was not expecting was that I?
Speaker 3:was going to make this facebook group and people were going to come on there and complain and say you know, oh, I've gained weight, I've had this, I've had this, and you know there's plenty of that of course, because we need people to commiserate with.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:But the number of them that say, oh my God, I thought I was the only one.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 3:You know, yes, when I put something on there, I had a friend text me personally the other day. Now, every time something happens with my body, I have to question whether it's menopause related yes she said I've gotten motion sick in the car my whole life. It's got much, much worse lately. And she's like is that menopausal like now?
Speaker 3:possibly yes, and you know, like that doctor that brush me off and told me to have a glass of wine, people don't want to talk about it, they don't want to address the you know the problems of older women, right?
Speaker 1:Right, and it's sad because, yeah, and it's sad that you would go to your doctor for help and guidance when you're going through that and not to have them reciprocate anything that is, you know, realistic or meaningful or pretty much even acknowledging.
Speaker 2:you know what you're going through so well and I think too, there's been such a lack of education, not just for, you know, normal civilians, but also for doctors and educators, and there there hasn't been a lot of research, and because the symptoms are so different for different people, I think it's you know, I think they're finally coming around and starting to compile a lot of that, and now doing research, yeah, but there's still doctors that just don't know, and whether it's they don't want to or they don't have the time to look into it more and try to help you.
Speaker 2:Um, that's just kind of what's happening and it's really sad.
Speaker 1:So but I think it's good for the next generation, like our children. Yes, there'll be data by then and hopefully you know things that we're doing now is going to help that generation in their aging.
Speaker 3:Well, one thing that I think you guys are doing a great job with and that I sort of hammer on a lot is job with, and that I sort of hammer on a lot, is the decade in a woman's life, when she is most likely to attempt suicide is 45 to 55. It's such a lonely time.
Speaker 3:Your children I don't have children myself, but your children are moving out of the house, your relationship might be ending, and then you have all these physical symptoms that make you feel like you're going crazy 100%, and so the thing that you guys are doing that I hope I'm doing is telling people. You're not alone. This happens. The other thing is that I want people to understand is that you're not doing anything wrong.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly.
Speaker 3:If you have a really bad menopause it doesn't mean it's because you're overweight. It doesn't mean you're not taking care of yourself. It doesn't mean you're not eating clean enough or doing all of the things that the world tells you you're supposed to do right it's kind of luck of the draw, unfortunately right, and there are things you can do to feel better.
Speaker 3:There are things you can do to maintain your bone health and your brain health and all of those things. But if you're struggling, it is not your fault. Your body is rebelling against you and there are ways to fix it Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:This is like the most crucial time in your life to really, truly take care of yourself.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. And if you think about the hell of puberty and how difficult that was, and your body at this point is going through those exact same sorts of things, but you've got to raise children and go to a job and pay the mortgage and have all of this weight on your shoulders that you didn't back then, and, and it's puberty times 100 exactly exactly well, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, emily, for being with us today, really appreciate it, and we would love to have you back on our show again, um, as a guest. Perhaps towards the latter part of the year when you launch your new product, we'll be doing some sampling again for you, and we are just a big supporter of what you're doing and the products that you are providing for women that are aging. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Thank you, I love what you're doing and good luck with your syndication. I need to start listening to you on the radio soon.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you, thank you, and that just about wraps it up for today. Thank you for joining us on let's talk midlife crisis.
Speaker 2:Embrace the change join the conversation on our website at letstalkmidlifecrisiscom, or our Facebook or Instagram and YouTube channels. We'd love to hear from you guys.
