Episode 057: What Women Deserve In Medicine And Work

What if the missing piece in your health story isn’t willpower, it’s evidence and language? We welcome award-winning journalist Meghan Rabbitt, author of The New Rules of Women’s Health, for a candid, practical, and uplifting tour of the health span—from puberty and pelvic pain to perimenopause, hormone therapy, and post-menopause strength. Together, we unpack why “women aren’t small men” is more than a slogan; it’s a research mandate that changes diagnostics, dosing, and daily care.

Meghan shares how a lifetime of “tough it out” messaging trains many of us to rationalize symptoms and aim for an A+ at the doctor’s office, even when we’re suffering. Her own turning point—dismissing heavy bleeding until an ultrasound revealed fibroids—leads to a clear playbook for self-advocacy: track symptoms, ask direct questions, understand options, and choose clinicians who speak fluent menopause and practice shared decision-making. We get specific about hormone therapy and why timing, route, and personal risk matter more than recycled fear, plus how to navigate the social-media swirl without falling for bad advice.

The conversation also moves beyond the clinic to culture and work. We talk openly about clitoral anatomy, vaginal estrogen, dense breasts, and the joy of breaking taboos in public spaces, because daylight accelerates change. Then we take on the workplace, where menopause support still lags in policies and empathy. Simple steps—manager training, cool quiet spaces, flexible scheduling, and benefits that cover evidence-based care—can keep experienced talent thriving.

Meghan’s book functions like a narrative reference you can return to for credible, actionable guidance. Share chapters with partners and teens to build a common language around tests, choices, and emotions. If you’re ready to replace confusion with clarity and judgment with wonder, this conversation offers tools you can use today. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help more women find evidence-based support. Your story deserves respect—and great care.

Meghan Rabbitt is an award-winning journalist and author of The New Rules of Women’s Health: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age. She specializes in writing about women’s health and wellness, and her work has appeared in many national publications, including Women’s Health, Oprah Daily, Prevention, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, and more. She’s known for translating complex medical and scientific topics into clear, actionable information—and for telling stories that help readers better understand their bodies, their health, and themselves. 

Website:  https://newrulesofwomenshealth.com/

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MiDOViA is dedicated to changing the narrative about menopause by educating, raising awareness & supporting women in this stage of life, both at home and in the workplace. Visit midovia.com to learn more.

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images & other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your trusted source for information about menopause and midlife. Join us each episode as we have great conversations with great people. Tune in and enjoy the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hey, welcome to 2026, everybody, to the Medovia Menopause Podcast. It's Kim and April again, and today's episode is one we've been looking forward to. We're joined by Megan Rabbit. She's an award-winning journalist and the author of the newly published book, The New Rules of Women's Health. Megan is an award-winning journalist covering health, nutrition, and psychology, and she's currently an editor at Maria Schriver's The Sunday Paper and has written for prevention, health, women's health, and more. She previously worked at parenting, alternative medicine, natural health, and yoga journal magazines. Her new book is a roadmap for every stage of a woman's life. It fills the gaps so many of us have felt when the symptoms were brushed aside, when providers didn't have the answers, when we sensed something wasn't right, but we didn't have the language to advocate for ourselves. So from puberty to perimenopause, pelvic health to brain health, fertility to chronic conditions, Megan lays out what has been missing and what needs to change. And she names the truth that we talk about here all the time that women are not small men. Our bodies, our hormones, our experience, and our health trajectories deserve their own research, their own care pathways, and their own respect. So today we're driving into diving into stories, the science, and the surprising insights behind the book, and what Megan hopes women will finally claim in their health journey. And our hope is that you walk away from this conversation feeling more confident, more informed, and more connected to your own voice. So let's get into it. Megan, welcome to the Medovia Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

I am so excited to be here. And what an intro. That was awesome.

Why Write New Rules Of Women’s Health

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yay, good. Okay, so right out of the shoot, you write that every woman you talk to says the same thing. I can't get the healthcare answers I need. What finally pushed you to say I'm going to write the book that fills this gap?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah. So I have dedicated my career as a health journalist to writing about health and in a way that women mostly I've focused on women's health, where women can take the information and apply it to their lives. Because I think every woman has felt dismissed by their healthcare providers. They've felt like their whole story hasn't been fully listened to. And my belief and what I aim to do in this book is when women have knowledge, we feel more confident in saying, actually, you're not fully hearing me. Here's what I'm saying. Let's go over this again, you know? And not only that, but we feel confident to say, huh, I don't feel fully seen or heard here. I'm gonna look for another doctor or healthcare provider. Um, and so yeah, isn't it a sad state that still in 2026 most women will say, I wish I had the most amazing posse of healthcare providers, you know?

From Body Wonder To Self-Dismissal

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah, yeah. Um, and there's plenty of healthcare providers. So just note that, but we're still we're still hearing the same thing from women. You know, I I want to ask this question because for several reasons, but because my word for the year is wonder. So I have to I have to ask you this question. You describe that feeling of wonder about your body as a girl, right? Um, before the whole world told you what it should look like, what you should, who you should be, right? I'm wondering how that early loss of body trust helps shape healthcare experience for women later in life. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

What a cool question. Yeah, you know, I don't have kids, but I have nieces and little nieces who you can almost see the moment when the world gets to them, you know, when they go from just not knowing or noticing or giving a you know what about what anyone else thinks. And then suddenly there's this recognition of like, uh-oh, other people are looking, other people are judging. And I think it does impact how we feel about ourselves. It certainly impacts our mental health, right? But I think it impacts our physical health as well because as women, we get told a lot of stories, um, a range of stories, right? One that I identify with is buck up, buttercup. You're strong. Yeah, yeah. You can do it, you can chug your way through. And not that that was an explicit, like you must do this from my parents or or other figures in my life, but that was what I picked up as a little one, you know, and that had very real health implications for me. And and I'd say still does, you know, writing this book really helped unwind some of that. But for years, even as a health journalist, I ignored a lot of my own health symptoms that I should have seen as red flags. And and I do attribute that to this, you know, you know, buck up. You got this, just keep chugging ahead. It's no big deal. You know, you're tough.

The Research Gap And What’s Changing

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Yeah. I when you, as you were talking, Megan, it reminded me of almost the moment that I saw that with my own daughter on the playground, right? I remember her playing, watching soccer games, my son's soccer games, and she was in her beautiful little princess dresses, you know, flipping around on the playground and just didn't even care. She just felt free and pretty. Um, and it changed almost overnight. Where she wasn't wearing the dresses, she didn't want to do certain things because she was afraid that people were watching. Um, and I think we do do the same thing as it carries into our adult life. Um, and I also think that, you know, that word freeing is important too. It is freeing when you don't give a you know what um about what people think and when you do uh enter situations with wonder. So just to be curious, like what can my body do now? Right? Not what should I look like now, but what can I do now in this changing body? Um, how powerful, how strong can I be? So I love that you included that in your book.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Well, and I feel called to talk a little more about wonder right now because as I was working on the menopause chapter, one trend that I heard from a lot of the experts was look, in all of our talk about symptoms and how challenging this transition can be. And to be clear, it can be very challenging. So I don't want to minimize that. If we can come at it with a sense of wonder and a sense of curiosity about our changing bodies, hold some space for the positives that can happen during this transition, as well as really feeling the feels of all the negatives that can be present as well. I think that's when we can move into that second phase of our lives, the post-menopausal years, with a sense of empowerment, continued sense of wonder, and really this like strength that we didn't even realize we had.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah, not to minimize the symptoms, because I think we probably each one of us have a story here that could be told, um, our own unique story of struggles. I know, I know we do. Um I'm sure you do too, Megan. So not to minimize that, but absolutely in order to move into that second chapter of our lives, I think we have to um change our perspective and and change the lens. And it's really important to enter that phase of life of wonder and curiosity. You um you say that women are left with more questions than answers across almost every chapter of their lives, from puberty to menopause and beyond, right? Forever. What do you see as the root cause of that generational knowledge gap?

Hormone Therapy: Fear, Facts, Decisions

SPEAKER_00 8:09

I think we have underfunded and therefore under-researched women. You know, that is a clear fact. Research was done in men, you know, the the thinking was the male body is the default, and we can extrapolate information based on research in men and apply it to women. We know better now, you know, thankfully, but we're really behind, right? And so even the most well-meaning doctors oftentimes will say to you, I wish I had an answer, but we just don't have the research. And so I think that is is changing more slowly than we'd all like to see, but it is changing. That's the good news. But I do think it's gonna mean all of us still need to speak up about the the you know, terrible fact that for many, many years women were left out of research and and be vocal about the need for that to continue to change. Um, I think also another big takeaway as I talked to experts for this book was that, you know, women weren't at the table deciding what was even gonna get researched, right? For two, for so long, it was male researchers and male doctors who weren't dealing with crippling pelvic pain. So how were they to know to study it, you know, or and maybe not listening to their female patients who were talking to them about trends. And and so, yeah, I feel like thankfully now we have so many brilliant female researchers, doctors who are driving this sex-specific research that we've so desperately needed. But I really think that is the root cause of why so many of us, again, even from doctors we love and trust and think are brilliant, when they say, I don't know, it's not because they haven't done their homework.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Good point.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Well, I mean, lots have changed since you know the when when women went off of hormone therapy and the 1993 NIH inclusion rule and the 2024 White House initiative that we were all so excited about, the investment in women's health. You know, what's different now? And if you were setting the health research agenda for the next 10 years, what would you fund immediately?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Oh gosh. I mean, well, I'll the first part of that question. I think the good news is that we are understanding menopause hormone therapy so much more now, and so many of us are not afraid of it like we used to be. Like my mom is 72, she just turned 73 today, actually.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

And oh, happy birthday.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, happy birthday, Mama Rabbit. Um, she was denied uh hormone therapy. Like her doctors didn't even bring it up because it was the wake of the WHI. And what a shame. Because now, you know, uh, yeah, thankfully she's healthy, but I wonder how much healthier she could be if she was not denied that really great therapy that she was a candidate for. And so I think, you know, luckily we're talking about it at 46 now. I can't go anywhere with girlfriends my age or around my age and not have a conversation about hormone therapy. Yeah. And that's amazing. Amazing, you know, absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

The statistics are still pretty low of the number of people who are on it. We're talking about it, maybe, but people are still afraid. We get, you know, messages from some of our closest friends. We're like, my doctor said this. Is this okay? Like, yeah, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

I I think the fear is still there, but I uh I do think that the conversation is happening more. I do think that we're talking about it and women are asking questions and they're curious. You know, we keep coming back back to that word, but they are they're very curious, um, and they care about their long-term health. So I think it's good, even if women are still a little bit cautious, it takes time to change. Right. It takes time to feel safe. And I think, you know, as our healthcare providers are educated and more and more of them um begin to understand menopause specifically, I think that will change as well, because those conversations will be more understood in the doctor's office as well as outside.

unknown 12:10

Right.

Advocacy, Heavy Bleeding, And Fibroids

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Bingo. And I think women, you know, still have a lot of questions. Like there's there's often a lot of misinformation that gets tossed around when I'm in these conversations, you know, at dinner or out for a hike with a girlfriend. And I'm like, wait a second, like, you know, a girlfriend and I were just hiking recently, and I said, you can't just willy-nilly like cut your patch in into fours and use that. Like you have to call your doctor.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

I don't mean to laugh at your friend, but it this is this is the truth.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

It's common, right? And it's and it is sort of like, you know, it's still a medication where you wouldn't just change your dose on your own of something else. But again, it speaks to this misinformation, I think, because we haven't really been educated about our options and and what it means. Um, yeah. And so I think as, you know, exactly right, we're we're talking more about it, which is a great thing. And I think it's more reason for us as women to feel really empowered to be proactive um participants in our care. You know, right now at 46, I want doctors, particularly my gynecologist and my primary care physician, who can speak to hormone therapy. I outright ask, what's your take? You know, here's here's what I'm experiencing. Like, when do you think it's wise to start? And if someone doesn't know the research, if they can't talk about menopause hormone therapy, I'm out. You know, like it's not gonna work for me.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, in the um spirit of speaking up and advocating for ourselves, let's let's talk about that. Let's talk about advocacy, empowerment. Um, you talk openly about dismissing your own heavy bleeding as hemorrhaging. I feel you. I had heavy, heavy flooding bleeding, but blaming it on peri-menopause until you had an ultrasound that changed everything for you. Why do you think self-dismissal is so common for women? And then the second piece of that, what do you want women who are listening to know about the moment that it's time for them to speak up in a medical appointment?

Breaking The Silence: Menopause In Public

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah. So I, as you, as you say, I for for a lot of years just thought it was my normal to spend the first two to three days of my period, as I joked, hemorrhaging. Uh someone recently said it was like crime scene periods for her, and that that tracked for me too. Um, and I would just put on an overnight pad and change it every hour and and just think, I guess this is me. Now, meanwhile, I was anemic and not if I rolled over too quickly in bed, I was getting dizzy. Like these are some pretty significant symptoms. I lost days of vacation fun because I just had to be sitting, you know, just I think a lot of women can relate to this. And I think I just really, you know, I I will admit I'm like the straight A student, go-getter, high achiever, put me in overdrive and I'm I'll sail through, like I'll chug my way through. And I think I did that with my own symptoms. And I think a lot of women can relate to that. It's just like, well, one of the downsides of being a girl, you know, but I can deal with it, I can manage. And so that's what happened for years. And then I I get I it's interesting because in our, you know, increasing talk about perimenopause, and you hear like, oh, your cycle can get pretty heavy in perimenopause. I was just like, well, that explains it. Meanwhile, I am not a doctor. I did not go to medical school. I'm not a nurse, you know, I don't have the training to make that call for myself, but I did anyway, confidently, and then never really brought it up at my healthcare appointments. And I go regularly to the doctor. Like I'm a Well Woman visit, plus a primary care visit every year. And still it went unchecked. And it because of me, because I didn't, you know, I wasn't forthcoming with the severity of the symptoms. When did it change for you? What what happened? Finally, I did see a new nurse practitioner for my Well Woman visit. And I was talking to her about like day one, day two, my period is like pretty bad. And I mentioned, um, and I've been experiencing some clots. And I just explained it away to her. I was like, but of course it's perimenopause, right? You know, and she's like, Well, let's take a little closer look. And she ordered the vaginal ultrasound. So it was a combination of me being forthcoming and not trying to, it was almost when I look back, and I'm almost ashamed to say this, but we're gonna drop the shame here. So I'm I'm gonna say get rid of it. Yep. I wanted the the to be an A plus student, even in my doctor's office. Like, how messed up is that? Doctors have seen everything, they they want to know all the gory details, and here I was holding back, yeah, because I wanted to be the like good student, you know. It's a little bit like oey, I wish I could go back to younger Megan and just be like, No, you don't have to do that. Um but again, I I I hope that sharing this might make other women say, like, uh-oh, like that's me too, you know. And wait a second, what am I missing? Because I'm just trying to like get a gold star.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Yeah. Yeah, get the pin, get the pin for the day. Um, I'm glad that you did. Yeah. And I I do hope that sharing the story will help um other women have the courage to do the same. I do think um feeling safe with your provider uh is is really, really important. Uh, we can't open up to our providers if we don't feel safe and we don't feel heard. You you mentioned that too.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

So And I would add, you know, to you know, so after I realized I had a uterus full of fibroids after that vaginal ultrasound, um, it was another couple years because I was like, well, maybe I can make it to menopause with the uterus full of fibroids and deal with the symptoms. And then I I actually interviewed doctors. I I made appointments with different surgeons to talk through my options. And I think that's another big takeaway. It's like we can ask questions, we can make sure that the physicians we see and the ones we decide to, in my case, operate on us. I did having a hysterectomy, um, which was the right decision for me and my specific case of fibroids. You know, it's pretty clear there are other ways to treat fibroids. Um yeah, it was so empowering being able to like. I remember walking out of one gynecologist's office being like, Nope, that is not my doctor. And I'm proud of myself for listening to that, for being like, it was it was part like I didn't like some of the answers, I didn't like, but also just intuition. And I think when we have, you know, this baseline knowledge about our bodies, we're we're better able to clue in to what our gut is trying to tell us all along, too. I agree.

Workplaces And Menopause Support

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah, I remember um when I was pregnant, and the doctor's like, how's it going? I'm like, ah, you know, it's fine, pregnant, blah, blah, blah, heartburn. And she's like, Wait, what? And I'm like, Yeah, really, really bad heartburn, but it's fine. She's like, No, it's not fine, and gave me something for it, and I was fine. But you don't think to talk about those things that you feel like you're just supposed to be like, Yeah, suck it up and have suffer how much suffering do you need?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Oh, I love, I love that totally. And actually, it reminds me when I interviewed Dr. Vonda Wright for the book, she said, Megan, I can't tell you how many women, she's an orthopedic surgeon. She's an I can't tell you how many women, not men, wear their pain like a badge of honor. No. And the sad thing is like the more pain goes untreated, the more pain we feel, right? Yeah, so it really, but but another trend of of what I heard from the the clinicians and researchers I interviewed for this book is that women feel a lot of shame around our bodies. Like we should we shouldn't be experiencing heartbreak. Burner. It must be something I ate, and that's why it couldn't be right. You know, I interviewed Dr. Elizabeth Coleman, a breast cancer specialist, oncologist who said she's treating women, she's standing at the bedside of women who are dying of breast cancer and they're apologizing to her for not wearing deodorant. Wow. Like I mean, and it's so sad, but like I think I might be one of those women. And I'm a confident, intelligent, like go-getter woman. And I could see myself doing that. And so my hope, too, is that in in conversations like these, we're having them with our girlfriends, in addition to our doctors, the people who take care of us, we can start to drop some of that shame, you know, and just say, this is what's real. And I am worthy of treatment.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Quick pause here because this matters. Medovia is proud to be the first and only organization in the U.S. offering a menopause-friendly membership and accreditation for workplaces. We're not a trend. We are not check the box benefit. We're a movement for lasting change. We're helping organizations of all sizes shift culture, support their people, and retain experienced talent. Whether you're looking just to get started or ready to lead the way, we've built a roadmap rooted in best practices from hundreds of employers across the globe. If you want to learn more, head to menopausefriendlyus.com and find out how to become a workplace that doesn't just talk the talk, but walks it. Because menopause is a workplace issue and the best organizations know it.

Track Symptoms And Prepare For Care

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Well, it's interesting because you we're talking about the silence that women keep around periods, around pain, around sex, around menopause. What why do you see that the silence is breaking more powerfully today? What's happening today where women are just saying, you know, no way, I'm not going to do this anymore?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Yeah, I've thought a lot about that because uh, you know, my mother's generation would not be all sitting around talking about menopause together. And if they did, it was very much in hushed tones. And we're talking loudly about it these days, you know, like in front of husbands and and guy friends, and and it's so fantastic. I think I see a lot on social media now. I think a lot of it's on social media. We've got uh doctors who are really taking on the role as health educators, and and they've hit menopause and have are in their post-menopause years now, and they're like, Okay, we gotta talk about this. Like, I'm gonna use my platform to do good here. And so I think that's one aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

I think I'm also really hopeful when I talk to young people, young women have this totally new um way of speaking it like it is. Like they come with truth, they're more comfortable in their bodies, they are um more forthcoming with information that I think would have made me blush when I was their age. And I think those of us in midlife are learning from that. And we're like, oh, if she's strutting her stuff, I'm gonna do the same, you know, and strutting stuff meaning a host of things.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

So yeah, yeah. But we always say, uh, what are your ideas on that? Well, we always say that, you know, we do the work that we do um every single day for our daughters because we don't want them to have the same experience that we had. Um, and they don't have to, but you know, even today, I walked downstairs, took a break from my home office here, and my daughter was talking to a couple of her friends downstairs, and they were having an in-depth conversation about sex and just perception, and why is it this way? And can you believe this book, this book was written and listened to this, and it shouldn't be that case? And um, they were just very comfortable with that. At that age, um, when I was their age, there's no way that I would have had that conversation with my friends, and certainly as my mom was walking through the kitchen, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, your mom didn't focus on uh puberty and women's health and menopause.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

No, no, my daughter has grown up with it. Uh, and so is my son. But it but it's great, right? I mean, that's normalizing the conversation. Um, and and I think it's wonderful and empowering that we are having those conversations. So, yes, I think social media, I agree with you, Megan, I think it has played a huge role. Are medical professionals that are speaking loudly on social media, thank goodness for them, because that's hard work. It's a lot of work and people don't realize that. Um, but just normalizing the conversation, you know, is is really, really important for sure. I'm wondering um, do you have any stories of women that or everyday people that struck you as the turning point of that cultural shift? Is there anybody that comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Of personal stories when it comes to being more open about yeah, that have changed the cultural shift.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

You know, we're talking about this, and I'm like, I I can visualize a couple of people, but I can too.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Who do you oh my gosh, totally? I mean, the one that comes to mind is a newer friend, actually. I know through pickleball, which is my new midlife, like, oh, I can't get enough of it, so much joy. But I've made so many friends. I think that's part of it. It's so social. Um, and so a newer friend, and she found out I was working on this book, The New Rules of Women's Health, and she was like, Can I talk to you about vaginal estrogen? And I I don't know her, I don't know her well. We were sitting among a bunch of other pickleball friends, like, and I was just like, How cool is this? You know, how cool is it that I then pointed her to the Instagram of Dr. Krin Men, who is an amazing OBGYN, who did this real, I'll never forget it, where she was just like, ladies, you get your vaginal estrogen, throw out the applicator, you put it on your finger, you put your vagina, you rub it on the anterior wall. And I was like, every woman needs this, right? Because it turned out that this woman I was talking to, she wasn't using the vaginal estrogen that was prescribed to her because she was like, ugh, applicator messy, and then it falls all out. And I was like, oh my gosh, watch this, you know. Yeah. And so how cool that I'm talking to a 50-something year old woman, you know, telling her essentially to go on TikTok and watch a meal. Yes. So I think that's one story where I was just like, oh, this is so great.

Evidence, Misinformation, And Resources

SPEAKER_02 26:39

You know, it is, it's fantastic. Yes, so good. Okay, so I'm gonna share one story and then we'll dive into another question for you. But same thing happened to me at the nail salon right before Christmas. A woman, two ladies, I told you this, Kim, didn't I? Yeah, two ladies um had brought their mom to get their nails done. They're all three sitting there. Daughters are my age, you know, mom's probably in her 70s, I'm gonna guess. But they're having a little conversation, and I'm overhearing the conversation because you're sitting side by side. Come to find that she's really uncomfortable sitting. Um, some of the things that she noted made me wonder if she was having UTIs. And so I just kind of stuck my nose in and said, Hey, couldn't help but overhearing. Um, you know, first of all, here are a couple of people that you should talk to. Go look at this new white paper that was just written about vaginal estrogen and UTIs. She said, Oh my goodness, my GP told me that I should be taking vaginal estrogen for this. And she didn't listen. She was listening to her urologist, and I was like, Oh my goodness. So the conversations are happening, right? They're happening at pickleball, they're happening while you get your nails done. Totally. Um, and it's just, it's just amazing. So the stories.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Yeah, it really is. It's funny. I I joked with um, I just had a like a one-year follow-up after I had a hysterectomy, and I joked with my surgeon. I said, I really want a sweatshirt that says ask me about my hysterectomy. Because it's like, and I would be proud to wear it, you know. It's like, yeah, bring bring it on, bring on these conversations that that used to make us blush or you know, say, Oh my gosh, I can't talk about that in polite company. It's like, no, we can talk about everything now, ladies.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Yeah, well, we forget because we'll talk about it like normally with people that are not comfortable because we forget. We talk about it all day long. And then you go to a training session and we say words that people like don't hear in the world. Don't say vagina. Yeah.

Where To Find Megan And Final Advice

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Well, and on that note, it's so funny. I was on a hike with my husband uh just this past weekend and ran into somebody and they were like, Tell me, your book's about to come out. What was the coolest thing you learned? And I was like, honestly, some of the information I learned about the clitoris just blew my mind. And my husband, after we walked away, he's like, Man, he's like, I think you should your the name of your blog should be From Zero to Clitoris. But I do feel like we should be saying these words. We should say clitoris, fulva, you know, we should all these words where you're vagina, like where you're like, no, let's say it. Like, let's just take away those layers that have been there for years so that it's just another word, like knee, you know, exactly. Totally. Exactly. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

And we get, we get, I'm sure, like you're just describing, we get everybody telling us our their story because we're a safe place, right? Because we'll talk about it. But um, I want to switch gears and talk a little bit about culture change in the workplace. And from your reporting and the research on this book, how is the workplace shaping women's health outcomes? For better, for worse. What you know, how is the workplace affecting women and and their longevity?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Yeah, I mean, I think that's an area where we have so much ground to cover still, right? Is really making actionable changes in the workplace, systemic changes, actually, to really tee up women to um to go through this transition in a way where they feel more supported if they're working full-time or part-time, you know. Um yeah, I I mean, would you agree? Like, I feel like we're failing women when it comes to the workplace. And and it's it's so I had this thought the other day where I'm like, gosh, like we, you know, you you can take leave of absence for you, you do take a maternity leave usually if you're, you know, a mom, but like we there's no potential for taking time off if you're having a really rough go during the menopause transition, you know. And there's something, you know, maybe you maybe you take paid family and medical leave if you know that's available to you, but like that, there's a problem with that, yeah. Because this transition is major, and so many women, but I think also it's like so many women struggle so deeply, and then other women don't. And you know, so like there is so much variety in what we experience. And I wonder if that plays into it as well. Um, but I think we're failing women, you know. I think in Europe they're doing a way better job, and we've got a lot to learn um from some of the changes that they they're making.

Closing And Listener Callouts

SPEAKER_02 31:12

We completely agree. Uh the UK is about 10 years ahead of us uh with menopause in the workplace support. And I I do think that um it's misunderstood that menopause is just misunderstood. Um, and it's where periods where administration was 10 years ago, where it was, oh, she's just you know, she's just on her on her period. She's just having a few cramps. Um, and we dismiss it as a general public because we don't understand what women can be going through. And I think it's the same thing with menopause. It there needs to be a lot more training and education across all levels of the organization, male, female, all genders, so that um there's a little more empathy, right? And understanding, and to have those workplace accommodations and guidance and policies in place so that we can get the help that we need to just come back to work. That's all we want to do. Right. And stay at work and stay at work and perform like we always have, right? Yeah, yeah, totally. We always say it's it's not we don't have a disease over here, it's just part of life, and we just need a little bit of help to get over the hump, right? Yeah, yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, it's it's sad. That's what I have found is that we are not doing what we should be doing for women um in the workplace. You know, it is it is one of the bleaker uh there's no way to sugarcoat it.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Yeah, I think it's menopause, but it's also, you know, every hormonal stage we tend to avoid it and ignore it. And there's your as your beautiful big fancy book says, like, there's a lot of things to consider that women haven't even thought about or understood.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

And employers are not even close to understanding it at that level.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Totally. And even, you know, women, I think, you know, I I tend to focus, I'm a service journalist. So I interview experts about okay, so what can we do in the face of the lack of research, in the face of the lack of really great systemic change that can help support us in the workplace? Like, what do we do? And one of my big takeaways, and something I will be doing through my menopause transition, is really being a good reporter of my symptoms to myself, first and foremost. A reporter, but also a recorder, like take notes, right? It's like there are so many symptoms of menopause. Um, and some of them can feel really subtle. And again, they're ones that we can very talk away very easily, like it's just stress. I'm just, you know, busy. Um, but I feel like I have a notebook and I'm trying now at 46 to really say, okay, like how do I feel? What are the trends? It might not be every day, but even if I can do a weekly check-in in my journal, you know, of like, yeah, oh yeah, this there was some mood stuff this week. There, I was feeling a little ragey, which is a little disorienting because it's a new, pretty new emotion for me. Yeah. Um, and yeah, and I think the more we can stay clued into that, the more we can just sort of, yeah, you know, even if we don't get external support, we can support ourselves. Yeah. And and recognize, like, okay, I I'm not dreaming this up. I'm feeling crazy. Let me be a little more gentle with myself today.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Yeah. And that helps with your um care with your physician too. The more we understand our bodies and the more that we can track it and bring that information in, right? So it comes back to the advocating advocacy piece and advocating for ourselves. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Yeah, absolutely. You know, that's what most menopause specialists too are like, look, if you can come to me with that journal and that's right, it'll help me help you. You know, and I think that's the thing where a lot of women have felt dismissed, um, not seen fully by their physicians. There are many of us, and there are so many doctors who really do want to care for us. You know, like that's not all bad news. I think if anything, like we're on the upturn of doctors who are really engaged and want, want to be um, you know, make shared decisions. Shared decision making is is is what they're going for as well. But in order to make that shared decision making about our menopause hormone therapy choices and other treatments available to us, we need to be active participants in our care.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Completely goes back to speaking up for yourself, like you had to learn how to do, and that's so hard because as you rightly stated, you we learn as grow as we're growing up to just like shut our mouth and deal with it. And and this is the time where you need to and I think beyond you know, not just menopause, but I think I hope that our daughters and their friends learn to speak up for what it is that they want too, because otherwise you're not gonna get what you want or what you need in order to help you.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Um so what motivated this book for you, and what do you hope people take away when they're done with it? It's a great resource, like it's something that you're gonna want to have on your shelf to look things up and you know, tear down the pages of bookmark here and there. Like, what were you hoping to accomplish and what do you want people to walk away with?

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Yeah, that that was my goal was to write a narrative reference. You know, what I so the book's origin story is a fun one. Uh, I have the privilege of working for Maria Sharver. And I was out in LA and we were talking about the Sunday paper and editorial coverage. And Maria, knowing my long history of being a health journalist, said, I was mid-salad bite. And she said, Megan, I want you to write a woman's health book. I want it to be a manifesto. We don't have one and we need one. You know, we've got our bodies ourselves, which is an incredible resource. But when you think about it, it really focuses on what we now call bikini medicine. It's breast health, sexual health, gynecologic health, really important aspects of our health. But we know more about women's brains now, our hearts, our immune systems. Um, and so she really wanted me to do a lifespan book, you know? And so I interviewed over a hundred leading experts. I fact-checked, I, you know, reported deeply, fact-checked, wrote, rewrote, all in an effort to help women to have this book be a resource that you can keep on your shelf and say, huh, like I just had my mammogram. I found out I had extremely dense breasts, and now my doctor is recommending a breast MRI. What's involved? You know, what do I need to know? Or a biopsy. You know, there's there's a section on what all the different lumps in your breasts could be, maybe not cancer. You know, there's there are chapters that my hope is you can dive into when something is up for you, symptoms-wise, or a health diagnosis that can um, again, help you feel this sense of empowerment, a baseline knowledge that gives you confidence when you go to your doctor and say, okay, here's what I know. How does that sound? Where do I fall into this? And and and have better interactions. You know, I I was finished reporting this book and I had a new visit, a new primary care um physician. I needed to find one. And we sat down and I really liked her. She was young, kind of fresh out of medical school, but she was listening to me and I was going through my symptoms or my health and family health history. And I I promise you, her eyes were like sparkling. She was so excited. And I was like, this was fun. And she was like, I can't tell you how great this was. And I feel like we covered more ground because we're coming with so much information. And that's really my hope for women is that they tuck in and out of this book and really feel like they have that interaction with their doctor. You know, their doctor or their healthcare provider is like, oh, cool. Like, yeah, look how much you're coming to me with. Like, let's go to town, you know? Yeah. Let's cover more ground.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Yeah. I love, I love how you break things down. Like, I was I was talking to my mom today about all that you all that you did around um Graves disease and um all of those diseases that you what do they call autoimmune disease. Yeah, autoimmune. You break them all down and you like you make it, you make a have a lot of sense with it. My mom got graves and she got psoriasis. And you're likely to get more when you another autoimmune when you get one. And so it was just it was I I know about those things, but it was so great to see them just right there. If I had had it to be able to come, I had graves to be able to compare it against the other things that were going on. Yeah, if I had a book that I could just open up and be able to be like, okay, that makes sense. That's what I feel like this this book is. It's not a like you're not gonna lay down in bed at night and read it when you Go to sleep. But it is right. But it is something it is really great to be able to look up things. And I I, you know, and looking at it, I'm like, you didn't miss anything.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

From what I it's the entire health span. I mean, it really is.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

And you know, there are so many amazing women's health books right now. Like there just are. And and so as as a former boss once always said, and I loved it, you can't boil the ocean, right? And so I didn't what I tried to do with this was give us enough baseline knowledge so that then if if you've got Graves' disease, you're probably gonna okay, get some information from my immune health chapter, but then go to one of the many books that are do a deeper dive into that topic, right? Yeah, but with this reference, and a friend recently said, I, you know, I love that you you say you can keep it on your bookshelf to reference. I think we should keep it on our coffee tables. It's like a coffee table book. The cover is really pretty, but also how great would it be if not only the other women in your life, but the men in our life have a better understanding. Like to be honest with you, I have given this book chapters of it as I was working on it to my husband. And I said, Read this. I have a breast MRI and I'm gonna need some support as I go through this testing. And I want you to know the lay of the land. And he was like, Wow, I had no idea. And he he was a better support system for me then, you know? And so let's bring in the husbands and the sons and the best guy friends to this conversation as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Agree, agree. People ask all the time, Megan, what do I do? How do I start the conversation with my husband or my kids or right, my teenage kids to help them to understand what I'm going through? There's the answer, right? And we often say, Well, there are a number of books, right? Um, dog ear, give it to them. Um, it's exactly what you're talking about right now, so that they can understand what you're really going through. So it's you're right, it's it's an amazing, um, like golden egg reference book for women and men um of all ages. And we're so thrilled that you took the three years that you did research and write it, uh, because that's not an easy feat. But I think you're gonna bless so many, so many people with your book. So thank you for writing it.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

I so appreciate that. And yeah, and I think you know, the other real driving force for me was this book needs to be filled with evidence-based information because we are living in an era where we are bombarded with information, yeah, misinformation, information that comes from sources where we're like, can I trust this person? No, and there's actually a whole section, a chapter of the book on navigating health in this digital age we're living in, you know. So there's sections on how do I sus fact from medical fiction, you know? And to really, again, like make sure that women uh uh like have the evidence-based knowledge, like we are worth having facts, not all of the hoopla around, you know, that gets created around a lot of these topics.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Yeah. So and that we're safe, and that we aren't spending unnecessary money. So, you know, we could go on with that list, but uh, we have pom-poms over here just shaking for you when we hear evidence-based, because um, all that we deliver is evidence-based, science-backed. It's really important. Yeah, yeah. So thank you for that because that takes a lot of time as well. You kind of go down rabbit holes with that. We know the feeling.

unknown 43:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Um go ahead, Kim. Well, yeah, I think you're gonna say the same thing. Um, Megan, where can people find you when they're looking for your information?

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Yeah, so you can go to New Rulesofwomen's Health.com. That is my book website where you find more about me. You can follow me on socials there, find out about some events I do. Um, and yeah, that that's the website.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

And one more question before we let you go that we ask all of our guests. What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Gosh, I feel like I have received been blessed really with getting so much great advice throughout my life. But the the one I feel called to share after this conversation is climb into your body and really feel what you're feeling. You know, I think I I have a tendency to be in my head, as evidenced by what I shared with you before about talking away symptoms and being the straight A student. And what I'm really trying to do now, after getting great advice a few years ago, is like, can I take a deep breath and climb into my body and actually feel what I'm feeling, whether it's a physical sensation or an emotion? And I I notice that the more I do that, it doesn't always feel comfortable. Sometimes actually sitting with the discomfort of what I'm experiencing when I climb in is not fun. But it's like the closer I get to the feeling, whatever I'm feeling, the the faster it actually dissipates or I find right. And so I think as women, and especially as women in midlife with so much going on, um, the more we can say, you know, let me just take a breath and like climb into this miraculous body of mine and just feel what's up.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

It's good and hard.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

Yeah, but it is you're right, you're a visual, great visual to climb into your body. Miraculous body. We have to include that.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

This miraculous body. So great advice. Well, this has been a lovely conversation. Um, I know that your book goes live next week. Most likely our podcast will air when your book is published. And so, congratulations. Congratulations, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

Thank you so much. I have absolutely loved this conversation. I feel like we could talk for another few hours. Agree.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Probably could. We'll probably have to have you back here at some point to talk about post-book launch. But until we meet again, listeners, go find joy in the journey. Thanks, everyone. Take care. Thank you for listening to the Medovia Menopause podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe for future episodes, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend. Medovia is out to change the narrative. Learn more at Medovia.com. That's M I D O V I A.com.