Episode 45 Menopause around the World

This conversation explores menopause from a global perspective, highlighting cultural differences in how menopause is perceived and discussed. The host Mare and co host Melissa, delve into the experiences of women in Japan, the UK, and Australia, discussing the stigma, support systems, and societal norms surrounding menopause. They emphasize the importance of education, community support, and changing the narrative around menopause to foster a more open dialogue. The episode concludes with key takeaways on the need for awareness and resources to support women during this life stage.

Disclaimer: This is general information and education. This is not therapeutic or medical advice. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome to Take a Pause with Meni Pals where we will talk about the pause and all of her glory and not so glory. Um today I'm happy to have my co-host Melissa with me again. Hi Melissa. Hello. And we we're gonna go global, girls. We are going global and we are talking about menopause around the world or global pause. We can make it like that, you know, just a little funny thing. We'll go from Japan to the UK and a couple of things in between.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Yeah, menopause is happening everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

It is. Well, because there's women everywhere. People don't like to admit that, but we're there. So um, yeah. So I I think it's perfect that and I'm so excited for this conversation because I it's not just us here in the US, but let's see how other women view it. I think that's the the key takeaway here. So without further ado, Melissa, what you got?

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Well, menopause is happening everywhere, like we just said, but the way that we talk about it and the way that women feel supported depends a lot on where you live. So today we're taking menopause around the world, Japan, the UK, Australia, and beyond. What's normalized, what's stigmatized, what's supported, and what we can learn. And if you ever thought, why does this feel so lonely? This episode is gonna make you feel seen. You know, nearly three in four women worldwide don't feel well informed about menopause, and they never seek help. So that's a global silence. That's not just in our country, that's everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

I agree. And I would just like to do a quick disclaimer that this is education and lived experience conversation. I mean, we're living it, girls. We're telling you from our experience, it's not medical advice. So if you are struggling, please feel free to contact your provider, find a clinician, um, you know, just get the help that you need. We're just here to bring it to you and maybe make you laugh a little bit, but that's it. A little bit. A little bit. So um, before we do go country to country, Melissa, why do you think menopause feels like a secret? Like, shh, don't say anything. And why do you think that maybe we'll see if it's normalized in other countries?

SPEAKER_03 2:45

Yeah, but I'm sure culture plays a lot of uh plays a big role in why people keep it a secret. I think in this country it is like that. Um I think your workplace norms have something to do with it because that's where most people spend most of their time in their workplace, you know. Um I think gender expectations have something to do with it. Um how much you can access your health care. Because if you don't have access to health care, then you're really what are you gonna do? Um and then I think like how people view the symptoms, like, and is that is it making you old? Are you now old that you are going through menopause? Or I know different cultures view it differently, but I think a culture I think is one big part of it, I think.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, I I would agree because I think you know, it's what like about 20% of women globally feel you know well informed about menopause. Like twenty percent. It's crazy. Yeah. That they only feel like, hey, I know what's going on, I know what's happening. So hopefully by the end of this episode, we'll be able to get it to a higher percentage, just a hundred percent with just you and I understand it better. Right. Right. So let's start with Japan, right? The one thing that comes up a lot is like how symptoms are described and how much it's expected to be endured quietly. So, I mean, I'm curious to see how the Japanese women consider menopause.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

I think um so in Japan they view it as a natural stage of life. They um have less language about being broken and more acceptance. They have less uh symptoms because of their diets, because hey, soy, right? That's like great for you. Um and they leave they ha are more active, I think, um, overall than people in the United States. Um there's less talk about it in public, but it's also less shameful. Um it's not considered um taboo, it's just you know, something private that you're going through. Um many Japanese women describe it as a calmer, more self-directed phase. So it's more internal authority.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Um I like that term.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Internal authority.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

So they still have hot flashes, like that's like the iconic um vasor vasomotor symptom that most people have. So, but in Japan it's only around like 16% of women that report having hot flashes. Um whereas in the United States it's around 40, and then in Europe it's like 74%. So um, and a broad analysis of metapausal symptoms globally shows that overall symptoms like uh joint pain, sleep issues, depression, hot flashes, they affect women everywhere, but the prevalent the prevalence rates differ by region and personal factors like BMI and menopausal stage.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

You know, like if you're parry or pre, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Yeah. So the biology is universal. So if you're someone with uterus and ovaries, you're gonna be going through this. But the symptom expression isn't universal. So a Japanese woman is like much less likely to report her hot flashes than someone in Europe. So I mean, I guess you if you look at it that way, it could skew the statistics a bit if you know that they're not gonna report it.

unknown 6:40

Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

But that's just like again, a cultural thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, so essentially, like you said, 16%. We should applaud those 16% of women that are actually going out and saying, Hey, I am having hot flashes. But for the most part, I think they if they don't get hot flashes as much due to their diet, that they have other complaints like the shoulder stiffness, neck stiffness, like joint stiffness, um, chills, I think they like outnumber their hot flashes, which is interesting to me. And um, yeah, right, because that's like a big contrast to the Western numbers because it suggests that not only biology but also how women talk about the symptoms shapes what we measure. Yeah, yeah. So they may have them as bad as we do, but they're not going to say anything because their major complaint is like the stiffness and the joint stiffness. Yeah. I can I can relate because I had um palpitations, that was my main thing. Like I had hot flashes, to me, they weren't as bad compared to my palpitations. So if you compare it to that, um, because like sometimes the hardest part isn't the symptom, it's the story that we're told about how we're supposed to just tolerate it. Like, yeah. So I I think it's yeah, not necessarily the symptoms per se, but how like um you're fine.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

Deal with it, yeah.

unknown 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

You know, a fun fact, um, the Japanese word for menopause translates to the season of renewal. So it's not like you're an old woman who's no use to anyone anymore. You are renewed, and hooray for you. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I love that though. I mean, it's so nice. I mean, season of renewal. Yeah. I mean, it's sort of like what you know, social media like tries to say now with you know, menopause or whatever, like, hey girl, you're learning to say no, or you know, just like the the funny little things that you see on there, and it's like, yeah, you know, the renewal is like I'm not gonna do the same thing I've done before or accept everything. I'm a new meme, but it's a season. I like it. So are Japanese women, yes, they do, they do, and um all right. Well, as we all know, I do not know my geography, so I don't know if we're making a left turn or a right turn from Japan to the UK. Uh Jersey public schools, I will stand by that. We we didn't have geography. I mean it's okay. We had social studies, and that's all I really remember.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

So I think I'm gonna get you a globe for your birthday.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

My family has. Mark has before. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Okay. Well we'll talk about that later.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Um, we're either gonna go left or right to the UK.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

True. Okay. Either way. Well, on a globe, you could go either way and get there, honestly, because you're going around a globe. Um, but in the UK they have um, I know you talked about there was an episode previously about the meno divorce. So the UK has a family law metapause project that was founded by a family lawyer um to address a significant blind spot in the legal proceedings. So it it is to educate lawyers on how um the perimetapause or metopause symptoms can impact a woman financially and emotionally during a separation. So uh, like you were talking about the meta divorce previously in a previous episode, um, it gives them a little more information on like menopause isn't just a health issue, it's also kind of like a societal issue because the way it changes women is gonna uh ultimately affect her family. I mean, generally speaking, I would say. Um, but in a 2022 survey, um 73% of divorcing women blamed menopause for the breakdown of their marriage, which is a big number. I think we talked about that previously also, but um, so the UK seems kind of progressive in in how they are viewing menopause.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, just as they're training their lawyers who are like to identify it to be like, hey, you want to take like a minute, like here's here's what I maybe is happening, and then that woman would stop and think, like, okay, and they go into like you know, um, couples therapy as opposed to a divorce.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Right, yeah, or maybe they'd look at it differently, like maybe he's not that annoying, maybe it's me, maybe it's me just like being agitated.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Maybe the chewing isn't that loud, you know. Yes. We've all been there, girl.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

But menopause is actually a workplace issue in the unit in the UK. Um they spoke, they speak about menopause in the parliament. They do policy um reviews and changes um based on menopause. The National Health Service gives a national menopause guideline out, which I I'd like to read that. Um they have specialized menopause clinics. Um, they have clear standards for uh medical education, so their doctors actually uh ha have some kind of training in school. I don't know if the United States does that now.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

I know that they did not, but they now do it.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Right? Employers are encouraged to implement reasonable adjustments at work, like flexible schedules, um temperatures, uniform adjustments, access to rest areas, um, manager check-ins, and um uh woman in the UK does not have to convince her doctor or her employer that menopause is real, like they just take their word for it. So the UK seems a little progressive as far as policies and employment, the the employment arena.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's amazing because like they say like in the UK there's tens of millions of women in the menopause age bracket, right? It's very similar to here, but over 4.4 million women as of 2024. Like 4.4 million. It's staggering because uh we read a statistic before that it's like one million of women go into menopause yearly.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

So, you know, um, that they're in in either stage, like pre-peri, you know, um, post, and uh, you know, ninety percent of women reported physical symptoms of menopause in the UK. So that's amazing. That's a lot of the psychological symptoms though, it's about 55% in Europe and 63% in Australia. Still high. Still very high, but it seems like sometimes you you just get the physical ones are sometimes right there for you to know. Like I knew that I was feeling, you know, tired or my, you know, joints were sore like that, but I never realized how psychologically I was becoming more anxious and just feel you know, because like the physical ones are right there. So I feel like they're pretty similar that 95, you know, 90% of the women are definitely reporting the physical ones. And that um, you know, in the UK, the workplace, that it does also uh impact it economically, like it does here. There's millions of work days that are lost annually, and it says nine about around 900,000 women have left jobs because of menopause difficulties. That's crazy. It it is I mean, nine that's uh it's just staggering, which is you know, like with us at menopause, that is what we are working on. We're working on supporting menopause readiness in the workforce. It ha because if you don't get the support that you need at home, at least you know I'm gonna go to work and get support by peers, managers, employers, just that whole, you know, feeling of not being isolated. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

That makes a lot of difference.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Australia is interesting because um it often blends medical support with wellness culture, movement, nutrition, like mental health stuff. So Australian research shows that among women who are menopausal, 97% approximately, report physical symptoms. And like you just said, 63 have psychological symptoms. Um, and that's even higher than in Europe. So almost all of Australian women in menopausal age ranges report physical symptoms, suggesting that the Western stereotype is not alone. They will also report, like uh I think Americans will not suffer in silence, apparently, neither will the Australians. They will tell you. Which is great. Be honest about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

It is great because that I think, you know, it's a staggering number in the sense, you know, 97%, so it's up from the the UK, but it explains why women in Australia often talk about it as a life stage that affects the quality of daily life and well-being. So here we have, you know, Japanese women saying that it's a season of renewal. We have Australian women saying that it is a life stage, which it is. You know, so it's like that, you know, I don't know if terms work, but whatever it is, like let's find a nicer term for it in the US as opposed to uh you know getting old or barren you know barren, yeah. Let's think of that because it it's very true. I mean, and yeah, so kudos to the women in Australia.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Let's look at some other um areas globally. So, like Nordic countries, um they have more normalized healthcare conversations, and they also have social support systems that reduce the stigma. So good for them. Yeah. And I think you can speak for uh some Mediterranean cultures, right? When the symptoms could be just minimized with your Greek heritage.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yes, I mean, being a half Greek, as I was always uh believed to be until uh 23 and me, and I found out that really it's actually only like a quarter percent. But I'm gonna round up, you know, girl math and round that up. But it's very true. I mean, we didn't talk about it at all. Like my grandmother, my aunts, or nothing. It just was called the change. Oh, so-and-so is going through the change, never explained what it was, and that is how my aunt, my godmother, actually uh had a change of life baby, which I did I didn't know what meant. All I know is he was two years older than me, and she was um probably almost like late forties at that time, you know, and back then, I mean, that's that was a big thing. It was due to a change, change of life, so it was not spoken about. So, yes, Mediterranean cultures, no bueno.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Yeah. Um, and then some parts of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, privacy and modesty norms can be increased can increase the silence because women may rely on close circles more than clinicians. So they're not gonna go to the doctor and be yapping about it, apparently. They just talk to their friends.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Because if they want to be modest. Well, that makes sense in the Middle East, I guess. I didn't know Latin America was like that, but also I'm not a world traveler, so what do I know?

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Well, I know when I did go to um we were in Puerto Rico and there were like books on it, it's like a very like you have to dress well all the time and just always look put together and you know wear the you know the heels and just it's like um it's it's just how they, you know, dress and how they hold themselves. Like it's a it's a very um interesting dynamic. But it's you know, the point here is like it's not who's best or you know what country, it's the fact of like what can we borrow from other countries and other cultures globally that will help women here feel less alone, or if you're listening in other countries, help you feel less alone, like you know, so that's the thing there, and you know, this is why we keep coming back to, you know, some places menopause is framed as a decline, like you said, you know, like getting old, I said barren, you know, but in others it's formed as a transition. So I would love if here we could turn it from just such a decline into a transition. And I think just having that word change, just a word, you know, would be able to have the normalcy of talking about menopause and break the silence.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

That reminds me of your instructions on your pill bottle for something. Remember the word the language that was used on your pill bottle? That's what it reminds me of. Just change, just change the wording.

unknown 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

It was like if you were working for the change of life, and I'm like, what is happening? What is this was this something, a paragraph from 1956? Like, seriously. It was just crazy. Yeah. Who doesn't remember about that? I forgot about that. Well, I I think I just put it back in the so far back. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

So yeah, there's things we would want for women everywhere. Um the Language, change the language, like yeah. Season of renewal is beautiful. Great. Um, and permission to ask for support. Like, if you're at work, you got a headache, you're gonna ask somebody for Tylenol, right? There's no shame in that. So, why would there be shame in I think uh one of the examples you had given was you know, you're sweating, you need to go to your locker and put an ordeodorant on. Yeah, why is there shame in that? You've got a hot flash, it's a symptom, like yeah, and then um also having some medical options that you don't have to feel shameful about, or tools or resources, really that you don't have to feel shame about asking about.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Yeah, I think that's true. It like even when you said about like the theater, like you would openly ask for a tampon. Like a tampon. I've I've been at like Christmas parties or whatever, you're like, hey, you got a tampon? Anybody have a tampon? Yeah, it never was taboo, you know. But yet here's like uh you know, a poor woman, me being one of them at sometimes, like you are just sweating. Like, could I just can you just you know come in here for just a minute? Let me just go to my locker. You don't even have to say what you have to do, you just have to run to your locker, and you could take Tylenol also if you needed to, but at least it would it would help. And you know, for the practical tools, like you were saying, I think workplaces that stop treating menopause like a personal problem and start treating it like a workforce reality, I think really is is key, right? Because if you can have more manager understanding and manager education, right, then when leadership has a language change, women don't feel like they're asking for special treatment, right? Like I'm not asking, can I go to my locker for special treatment? It's just felt like a normal support, like you you're not afraid to ask, you're not afraid to go for that Tylenol or whatever. So I I think that is it just needs to be a workforce reality, yeah. Basically.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Yeah, we can borrow that from the UK.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

We can. Gotta love the pond. So our key takeaways, what would you think the key takeaways are from today? Also, before I forget, before you say the key takeaways, we have statistics that we did check from other countries. Oh, yeah. And I have them written down because I could and like I said, could not remember, and I don't know where we are globally. So I'll just start with um we looked up what um the rate of the usage of HRT was in other countries. So in the US, it's according to you know 2020, and this is according to the um JAMA or JAMA, however you say it, it's the Journal of American Medical Association. Here in the US, it's 4.7%. Crazy. I hope that now with the black label going away that it would increase, but you know, um Thailand is at 8%, Mexico is at 20%. I thought that was great, Spain 15%, the UK is also 15%, India was about 10.5%, uh, France was less than 20%, but Germany, they were the most, they were the highest, and they were then other uh countries, and they were about 25% of women that actually use all the HRT.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

I wonder what um explains that. Yeah, you know, like their advertising or their access to it, or it would be interesting, that'd be an interesting rabbit hole. Um would be. There must be a reason. Right?

SPEAKER_01 26:17

My conspiracy theory. Yes. Well, there are always conspiracy theories, right? You know, like for you could say that for the US, we did have the black box warning, so that would explain why the number is so low.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

But for other like Thailand, like I read somewhere that they do get um their HRT is free.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Which is very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Then you would think.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

But maybe that's a cultural thing where they're not so worried about it, they just suffer in silence.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

You know what I mean? Right. Because it it's free and you're still not using it here. It would be, you know, if you're struggling and trying to make, you know, end meet type of thing, you're gonna get food or utility bill. You're not gonna give yourself the you know permission to take the HRT. But or is it that in Europe they don't have such a severe decline in their estrogen like we do because stuff that we use here is you know not allowed. It's like forbidden, or it's you know, I know going to Europe just recently, like some the foods, the dyes, they're not allowed. Yeah, pesticides. Yeah, pesticides. So are we having our you know, are we ruining with what we put on our skin and the sunscreen and the pesticides and the shampoos and the body washes and the creams, are we causing more of a severe decrease than other countries and they don't need it as soon or as I don't know, it's a rabbit.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah. If any of the listeners know what it could be, feel free. Send a comment. Do tell. Do tell. If you are in any of these countries or have family or friends in there, I really would be curious to know.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Yes, for sure. But the takeaways for today, I think, uh include Okay. So menopause is global. I think we already said that, like, if you got a uterus and ovaries, you're gonna be like having this issue, right? But the silence and how it's looked upon is cultural.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

So I think that's an interesting one interesting point. Um and also I we had an episode before, right? Navigating menopause without a map. Like and and so it seems that generally most people aren't being educated too well about this time of your life. And so then they feel like they're weak because they don't they don't know about it, they don't know how to do it. But it's not that because you're blindly just going through life like this. So it's not that you're weak, it's just that you don't know. So I think the support and the community um is one important part to learn from other people and hear other people's experiences and know that you're not weak, you're not just going through this by yourself, you know. Right. Um and that would be leading to the support would be like a mix of education, healthcare, options, tools, um resources like MetaPals, obviously. And then also your language can reduce the shame also. So the more you s you're talking about it with people, the less um it's gonna be just shame. It's it's gonna be taboo because everyone's talking about it. It's like it could be all the buzz, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

It could. I mean, and the thing is you just have to, but I it is it's interesting because when I am at work and I forget something, I do bring everybody into the that I'm working with in the room, and I was like, hey, welcome to brain fog. Does anybody know what the word I'm trying to think of? It's this thing, you know, and you give like the you know, clues, basically, like Marcus said, verbal charades, and then we all come up with the word, and I'm like, Yes, thank you. I was like, thanks for playing along with brain fog. I can guarantee, can't guarantee it's not gonna happen again, but we now know what to do. So it's it's funny, and it but me doing that was able to take and decrease my anxiety because I didn't do that in the beginning, and I would be struggling with trying to remember someone's name or trying to remember what that thing was that they need it, because I'm like, yes, I know. So you pull it in and it sort of I don't know, makes everybody know and everybody have more grace towards you, like it's not something that is long term, it's just a very short fog that will clear. So that's what just I tried to do, and I try to encourage other, you know, my coworkers should do it too, and you you get reluctant, like you'll have somebody look at you and they're like, Oh, and I walk away and I'm like, you're not gonna do it exactly. Exactly. But I'm trying to because you know, you work with younger women, I'm trying to get them like, hey, if you can see it's not not bad to say, then they can continue. So yeah, we all just have to do it a little bit at a time. Like you said, language helps the shame go away.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Yeah. Putting it out in the open, yeah. Mm-hmm. But if this episode has helped you feel seen, you should share with one friend or like at work, share with your manager, um, who people that need the conversation, and that just brings awareness to it and uh reduces the shame and encourages them to find out maybe more information about it, also.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Yeah, I agree. And you know, if if you want a workplace ready resource or toolkits or education, you can please feel free to visit uh menopause.com because this is how we break through the silence, and by getting it into workplaces through HR, it supports a menopause readiness in the workplace. So, you know, it becomes completely normal to talk about it, whatever department you're in and whatever type of business you're in. So that is truly a a great takeaway and a great thing to just follow through on. Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

Yeah. Yeah, Metapause is universal, but how you frame it and experience it, that's all that's that makes the difference of your your trip, your journey, whatever you want to call it.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Journey. Yeah. I would like the um a season of renewal. That is gonna be my journey. There you go. You could cricket that. I could cricket it.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

I think it's great. Have a couple of trees on there, like have it look good. Yes. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

So for our conclusion, we have a couple of questions that we just wanted to ask. Like, Melissa, what surprised you most when you started learning about the menopause globally and internationally? Because we have had this idea for this episode for a while and have worked on getting the information because we I don't even know. I think it started when we did the um meno divorced one, and we talked about that and saw that the law firm in the UK was you know being proactive, and we were like, well, what of other so for me it's been I've wanting to do this episode for the longest time. So what do you think? Like what was the most surprised you?

SPEAKER_03 34:48

I think the lack of training and education that doctors get regarding menopause was one of the things, like in especially in our own country, yeah, they don't have a specific um course or class about menopause, like, and it's not even they don't even discuss it as part of the like the OBG UN rotation or anything like that, or they do a very select small training on it. I that surprised me the most. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Um for me, I I would think it's what we were just talking about, the statistics that it's we we can say, okay, it's proven we're lower in the you know usage of HRG because of the black box, but other countries didn't have that black box warning, and it's not up to I think the percentage that it should be. So kudos to all the women in Australia, UK, Japan, Thailand, globally, kudos to all the women that are out there trying to figure it out. Um, but um that to me was the most like I would have thought for sure, like they would have been in like definite double digits, high double digits, 60, 70 percent, you know, but so we gotta get it out there, girls. That's all I say.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Where do you think um most women seem where where are they most supported? Like, what's the one thing you think that drives the support for women?

SPEAKER_01 36:23

For me, I'm gonna say I think women uh across the pond, I just love saying that. I mean, I really don't know what pond it is or where the hell the pond is, but um in the UK because they have it in their workplace, like so they have parliament talking about it, you know. So I I think the more you can get it out, the better it is. So I'm just making a judgment though, maybe they don't feel that supported, but I think that they I would hope that they would feel more supported with the fact that it's out there more with everybody talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

Yeah. Yeah, they seem like they got it together a little more over there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

How about you though? What where do you think things seem most supported? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Nowhere. I would like to think the one thing that drives uh support is your family though. Yeah. Like I would like I would like to think that people get supported by their family uh or their friends, you know, people around them, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Yeah, I would agree. I do, I know I feel very so I'm I'm very fortunate and lucky that yeah, I I do have um a spouse that is very supportive. You know, when I make comments of the chewing, I it's a joke. Or is it we don't know. But whatever. I mean he has seen me like turn and but it's out of love, like I just said. Yes. Out of love and concern. Like, did you always shoot that loud? But um I I do think you're absolutely right. It the support does come from you your home environment, and you you build on that.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

Yeah. I think that's what what do you tell women who are embarrassed to bringing this up at work? Just do it, girl.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

I mean, like I just said, I bring my brain fog into it all the time, but um, you know, you you didn't have any problem asking for a tampon. So put this in the same the same category that you sort of like, hey, I I need to go to my locker, I am just drenched. Just make it that that simple. That's yeah, that's what I would say. What would you say?

SPEAKER_03 38:51

I would say you're too old. Like, you've come to the time in your life, you know, menopause is terrible or whatever because of the symptoms, blah blah blah. But you've also come to the time in your life where for me personally it's like more about yourself, like you can pay more attention to yourself. So there's no time to be embarrassed, like your life is passing you by here. So, like, let's talk about it and get it out there and let everybody know that they're not alone and that I don't know. It just seems that's maybe the tough love approach. Just get over it and talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

And talk about it. I love that approach because I think that that's truly. I mean, you said that you know, we're at an age, like we're old enough to know better, right? Like, we're old enough to know, like, I'm not gonna get embarrassed. I mean, believe me, my twenties those were embarrassing years, right? Like, you do stuff that you're like, God, I can't even believe I did that. Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing them, but you're still like, but you're now at this point that it's like, what is so embarrassing about just saying, I need a little help, I need a fan, I need to go get some cold water, I need to go step into the cooler of the convenience store. The beer, the beer guy, the beer guy, the beer distributor. It's it's one of my favorite hot spots, no pun intended, but like what is so wrong in that? It's just being real, you know. So I I think I think you hit it on the nail, like, yes, we are at an age that don't be embarrassed.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Yeah. Again, it's a season of renewal. Yes, seasons will change.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yeah, yeah. I I think that's great. So, yeah, I think Melissa, I think we I enjoyed, I can say, talking about the global um just differences and similarities, but um I enjoyed doing it mostly just with you. I had a great time because it's just so fun. Like we wanted to do, like I said, we wanted to do this for a while. So yeah, if anybody has, like we said, any comments. I mean, we could always go down different rabbit holes too.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

We like rabbit holes, that's true. And fact checking.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

I mean oh you do, you do. So uh yes, so I just want to say I thank you for um being the perfect co-host. And thank you. Thank you for all of our listeners listening, and like I said, you can always continue to follow us on uh Spotify and YouTube and Apple Podcasts, and we want to say thank you to our affiliates of A Good Day Chocolate, Isogenics, um, and um just want to thank everybody, and as we like to say, Melissa, we will see you.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

See you next Tuesday.

unknown 42:09

Thanks.