LAF Life (Living Alcohol Free)

Alcohol + Menopause: A Dangerous Cocktail! Season 3 Ep. 27

• LAF Life Podcast • Season 3 • Episode 27

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Ladies, did you know that alcohol can wreak havoc on your hormones during menopause and perimenopause? From night sweats to mood swings, that glass of wine might be making things worse!  Hormone health is crucial during this stage of life. In this episode we dive into the surprising ways alcohol impacts menopause and why going alcohol-free could be a game-changer for your well-being.

Recommended Resources for this Episode:

Dr Mary Claire Haver MD, author The New Menopause
https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire/
Articles
Gill J. The effects of moderate alcohol consumption on female hormone levels and reproductive function. Alcohol Alcohol. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11022013/
Grodstein, F., Goldman, M. B. and Cramer, D. W. (1994) Infertility in women and moderate alcohol use. American Journal of Public Health https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8092366/
Girls Gone Strong Coaching
Girls Gone Strong Menopause Coaching
https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/academy/
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=reels&v=1356618611691295
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegirlsgonestrong/reel/CiaQOpoOBhK/
YouTube Videos
https://youtu.be/9cueLwtVQS0?si=69x14XB-Rob25f6C
https://youtu.be/ReFZ__ZeSEQ?si=nFPZgzacaQbFl9Vt
https://youtu.be/6tXoJN8-H6k?si=OnO2Hz35YvPArVqB
https://youtu.be/P3Bzp2BeXR4?si=Ey6Tp-qafgSG0_zU
https://youtu.be/MeD-XThlpXU?si=dPAvkTDt6gFv1oZm

DNA Testing in Canada
The Benefit Code https://core-health.ca/collections/all

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Tracey: https://www.instagram.com/tnd1274/
Kelly: https://www.instagram.com/pamperedkel/
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**Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this episode are not professional or medical opinions. If you are struggling with an addiction please contact a medical professional for help.

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Wellness Togethe...

Kelly:

Welcome to the LAF life podcast, a lifestyle podcast based on living alcohol free and a booze soaked world. My name is Kelly Evans and together with my friends, Tracey Djordjevic, and Lindsey Harik. We share uncensored. Unscripted real conversations about what our lives have been like since we ditched alcohol and how we got here by sharing our individual stories. We'll show you that there isn't just one way to do this, no matter where you are on your journey from sober, curious to years in recovery and everyone in between, you are welcome here, no judgment and a ton of support.

Tracey:

Hello, everyone welcome back to the LAF life podcast. This is season three and episode 27. We're getting Yeah, we're getting to the end of the season here. We have a really exciting and interesting topic tonight. We're going to stick with alcohol, but veer, of course, and hopefully talk about something that I think is really relatable to definitely the three of us in this season. And I think to a lot of our female listeners if you're one of our male listeners, you might want to tune out, but you might want to tune in there and care about some lovely lady in your life and want to have a better understanding of, what we have to go through. We are actually going to talk about menopause and alcohol the effects alcohol can have on a woman when she is going through perimenopause, menopause, and post menopausal stage of life. To start off, I think we need to talk a little bit about what is menopause for anybody out there.

Lindsey:

I was like, what the hell happens to us during menopause? I'm like, what happens with our hormones? They go up and they go down, which hormones are involved? I had to Google it just now before we hit record because I didn't even know.

Tracey:

I want to start off too by saying we are by no means doctors or experts here, people. Okay. We are only going to speak based on things we've learned or researched or our personal experiences and just things we've heard by doing our own research or listening to other experts in the field about the subject. It's more like a hot topic right now that we wanted to explore. I'm glad that it's such a hot topic. I'm really glad that people are talking about it in our age group. There's such an awareness of what is going on? And Trace, you're taking a course. Tell us about that.

Speaker:

Yeah. So I am taking a menopause coaching course, which I'm very excited about I'm taking it at my own pace, but it was something that I decided a couple months back. I wanted to start because I'm actually post menopausal at a very young age younger than the average anyways, I've been in menopause for two years now, actually. I wanted to learn about this phase of life so I can go through it as healthily as possible and really understand what my body's going through. I know my mom, and I think genetics is a big factor really struggled with a lot of things. And unfortunately, when she went through it, not all this knowledge was out there. So I agree, Kel, I think it's amazing that we're getting this awareness and we're getting all this information and it's being highlighted because it's such a huge Part of a woman's life, and it's a good portion of our lives, something that we don't realize that this is something that we're going to be going through for most the later half of our life. To go back to what menopause is, there's really three phases, perimenopause, which can start as early as in your thirties, but is typically in the forties for women. And that's when, like you were saying, Linz, hormones basically start to decrease your sex hormones. So estrogen and progesterone, Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Progesterone? Progesterone. Progesterone.

Tracey:

I know. That one's a tough one, isn't it? I've had a hard time with that one.

Lindsey:

I love it.

Speaker:

So yes, the production of your sex hormones starts to decrease.

Speaker 2:

Those hormones. Yeah.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Tracey:

I believe testosterone is included in that too.

Lindsey:

I think you're right. affected as well. The interesting thing though in perimenopause, they can also spike, like estrogen can spike. So there's a lot of fluctuation basically during perimenopause. And that's basically your body preparing itself for menopause. What menopause is actually when you have gone a complete year without your period. Oh,

Speaker:

during that time is menopause. And you have to have a complete year without your period. Then once you have completed that year, your body's pretty much depleted of those hormones. And then you're post metaposal.

Lindsey:

Oh,

Tracey:

That's what I am now. Because two years ago, I finished my period and I haven't had one for two years. Oh, I've been post metaposal now for two years. And I'm not even 50

Kelly:

age range for those last two years trace. The average age for menopause for most women is 51. Oh, really? But it can range between 48 and 52. is the median. Interesting. So

Lindsey:

look forward to, right? Yeah. Going to relate this all to alcohol. So don't think oh my God, what are these girls doing? What are they talking about? But yeah, this is going to be interesting.

Tracey:

So I just want to show you girls something and I can maybe put this up as part of our, marketing for this episode, but see this diagram here.

Lindsey:

Yeah.

Speaker:

This is all the areas of the woman's body that is affected by the decrease in those hormones. Estrogen, especially.

Lindsey:

Oh my gosh, it's like the whole, basically you just took your whole body, the whole body basically, just highlight the whole thing.

Tracey:

So when my child and my partner are harassing me about certain things, just show them that picture, I just throw this picture in their face and say, see this is what's happening to me, leave me alone. Yes, that's why I'm peeing all the time.

Kelly:

But there's such a there's such a, I would say fear around it and like that sense of dread there's a negative feeling around it. But I feel like with all of this talk and educating ourselves and the fact that it is so much more awareness around it that hopefully it's going to take away all of that and be like, okay, yeah, this is what's happening with my body. I understand, we can all educate ourselves.

Tracey:

It's like alcohol, right? There's a lot of stigmas around it. Right.

Speaker:

But basically during this whole phase of our life, because of the decrease in estrogen, estrogen is very dominant in us as women. Yeah. And it contributes to the functioning of so many things in our bodies. So because it's decreasing and we're losing that over time, that's what causes all these symptoms that we start to have during perimetopause and then into metapause. And this is a long stage of life. Post menopause is for the rest of your life. That doesn't mean you're going to have symptoms for the rest of your life. They say symptoms usually last. About 10 years. So 10 years, 10 years after, No, if you include perimenopause Okay kay, so 10 years total, usually about 10 years that you can have symptoms is the average. And certain things will stop after. A certain amount of time, into post menopause, hot flashes and stuff can stop those don't tend to continue. But there's other things that continue to deteriorate more rapidly because you're in menopause and because you've lost estrogen, like your bone density. That's why we're more susceptible to ortho arthritis and stuff like that. If you can imagine all those symptoms that we're having. Alcohol, if you're drinking during perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause, and you're having symptoms, alcohol is going to exasperate all those symptoms, because a lot of those symptoms that we have are You already have when you're drinking alcohol as well. So you're going to have them.

Lindsey:

Alcohol affects hormones. There's a lot of research online, PubMed articles and studies that show that there's a direct link to the consumption of alcohol and hormone levels in the female body. This is crazy, but I read today. One study actually suggested, and this is a 2022 study the author is Gil Jay, and it's called The Effects of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Female Hormone Levels and Reproductive Function. It suggests that moderate drinking could lead to early menopause. What the hell?

Tracey:

Again, I think alcohol is creating some of those symptoms as it is. So I think as our hormones change, definitely we probably start feeling those feelings more intensely and we don't even know what's happening. Like I didn't know I was in perimetopause. When I was going through it but looking back now and I was saying to you girls before we press play here that looking back now I was at the peak of my drinking during perimenopause, right before I started menopause.

Lindsey:

Yeah,

Tracey:

so I quit drinking at 46 and I stopped getting my period at 47.

Lindsey:

Oh, okay. That time period completely and I would say definitely I could see how the effects of alcohol were increasing my symptoms. That's what it does. Yeah. Some of the things they say that happen with alcohol, like tolerance. Definitely. My tolerance was changing and just similar to what you guys have experienced too. And maybe now you would think the same. It might have been more hormone related, just having less tolerance. Also. For a long time, I was a red wine drinker and then I couldn't drink red wine anymore because it was disrupting my sleep. It was giving me like dull headaches and stuff like that. And it seemed like it came out of nowhere, but it was probably hormone related because it was right along that same time period in my life. But yeah, basically alcohol. Is going to disrupt your sleep. It does anyways, and as we go through menopause, that is one of the biggest issues that women have and complain about is having trouble with sleep. Right?

Tracey:

And we all know how important sleep is to our health.

Lindsey:

So important

Tracey:

and the recovery of our body, right? Your challenge with sleeping and that becomes an issue during perimenopause. And then you're drinking on top of that? Yeah. It's like double whammy.

Lindsey:

Well, a lot of women say they need to have a drink in order to fall asleep. Yeah. Wine.

Kelly:

For relief, from all these symptoms, the symptoms are draining on them that they're turning to alcohol for some relief without knowing all of what you just mentioned, what it does to us. And our hormones.

Tracey:

What were you reading about there, Linz, about women and utilizing it for relief? Okay.

Lindsey:

Yeah, I was looking online today. So there was a survey done and mind you, this was in the UK, but it was quite recent. 1200 perimenopausal and menopausal women participated in it, and it was conducted by Newsome Health Group. It indicates. That 1 in 3 women, so that's 33 percent drink more since becoming perimenopausal or menopausal. And on top of that, 1 in 8 are consuming more alcohol than is recommended. And the intake is increasing. To alleviate the symptoms of menopause. So what respondents told surveyors for example, this one woman was saying she used alcohol to cheer herself up during this time. But then she found out that the wine was keeping her awake and she was getting palpitations and night sweats and she goes, I don't get these if I don't have the wine. So it's like you think it's the menopause or the perimenopause, you feel like you're starting it and now you're adding wine into that. Another woman was saying, I self medicated to the point of addiction. I've suffered many symptoms at 43 years old, night sweats, anxiety, and depression. I couldn't cope. So I drank. I drank. And then

Kelly:

heartbreaking,

Lindsey:

it's heartbreaking and several women are describing alcohol as an escape. It's a way to manage the symptoms of menopause because of the lack of access to menopause treatments. And Just feeling like they needed relief. Menopause and perimenopause is driving women to drink, which is really scary.

Kelly:

Because I'm going to go back to what we always talk about on here is I feel like it's such a societal norm that anything difficult that you're coming across in your life, you turn to wine. Or you turn to alcohol. Sorry, why that was the old me, but you turn to alcohol for relief. I really think it's important that we talk about these things and learn as women, what do we do for relief? What's a healthy way. And I know we're going to talk about that in a couple episodes from now, but it's just such a normal thing to reach for the alcohol and we're struggling.

Tracey:

You know what I think is the most interesting thing about you saying that Linds is that now looking back or if I look at my friends in this age group,

Lindsey:

right?

Speaker:

all of them. Their drinking started to increase in their late thirties, early forties. Yeah, I can So did mine.

Kelly:

Can think some people, yeah, I can think of a handful of people.

Lindsey:

Not crazy. And I think if anybody had a question, does alcohol affect hormones, the absolute factual answer supported by research is yes, it does. And we have to really be mindful of this. Studies are showing and these are from articles that you can find online or in PubMed. There's a direct relationship. It's not may cause direct relationship between alcohol and an increase in testosterone levels in women. And that like the testosterone level increase that leads to changes in mood and libido. So irritability lack of a sex drive you're just not interested in it anymore. We know it affects cortisol. That's a fact. It's the stress hormone. So people who drink regularly have higher cortisol levels,

Kelly:

which does what does cortisol do for us?

Lindsey:

That's the stress hormone. So it makes you feel overwhelmed, stressed, anxiety anxious. It's that very overwhelmed, irritable. I just can't deal.

Kelly:

Yeah. Yep. Alcohol gives you that.

Lindsey:

Exactly. And on top of that, alcohol consumption is also directly linked to lower estrogen levels. So the decrease in estrogen is associated with Depression and anxiety, and it also causes an increased risk for osteoporosis. So if anybody's Oh, I don't really buy this. No, this is backed by research. I was looking at an article that was from 1994. 94 you guys. Wow. And this article, get this is stating women who moderately drink, and I'd have to go back to that article and see what their definition of moderate drinking was. It is associated with a significant increase in the risk of ovulatory infertility. And an increased risk of endometriosis. Oh, and I did go back. They defined moderate drinking as six glasses of wine a week. I would have six glasses of wine on a weekend. What? So hormone health, if anybody's listening, women, our female listeners men, girlfriends, wives, your sisters, your moms, anybody's listening, reducing alcohol should be a part of your hormone health. Yeah. During this time.

Tracey:

Going back to the hormones Linz, and the sleeping. Something I was reading about was that the sleeping gets affected because alcohol lowers our serotonin, which then in turn lowers melatonin. And if anybody I'm sure knows melatonin is the sleep hormone, right? That's why our sleep gets more disrupted as well. Again, hormone related and I've listened to experts in this category of medicine, experts in menopause on podcasts. I've heard doctors that are experts in this area say that when they went through menopause, it was basically, I'm choosing wine tonight or sleeping. Like I'm either going to have a glass of wine or I'm going to sleep. That's what it came down to. I think that it is actually causing women to pause and consider drinking less or giving up alcohol because of the way it is affecting them or how they're feeling drinking it during menopause. I think that is really good news. But if you think about everything that it affects, even so we talk about sleeping and we already knew alcohol disrupts our sleep without even being in menopause or exactly.

Speaker:

But it's same with alcohol affecting our eating. So a big complaint during menopause and these hormone changes is that women gain weight all the time, right? All the time without changing anything. It's just that they start gaining weight and they can't lose it. Do you think drinking is helping? No, because when we drink, then our inhibitions go down and we make poor choices with our nutrition and it also affects our activity levels and our exercise. That's one thing in the course I'm taking that they talk about, that it affects your performance, right? If you're trying to exercise then obviously if you've had a poor night's sleep and your nutrition has been crap and then you're trying to go to the gym the next day and you're trying to battle this hormonal weight, all those things are going to work against you.

Lindsey:

Yeah,

Speaker 2:

scary.

Tracey:

And the other thing is, too, if you're someone who's going through menopause, like myself, I'm post menopausal now if you're considering doing HRT, hormone replacement.

Lindsey:

Right.

Tracey:

Hormone replacement does have a risk of breast cancer. Now, not to the point that some studies have shown and they've actually come back and done a lot of research to re neg on those studies. But if you're someone who is high risk, then you have to take that into consideration. But we also know that alcohol causes breast cancer.

Speaker 2:

It's a direct cause. Yeah. So if

Tracey:

you're drinking and taking HRT, you could be putting yourself at higher risk.

Speaker 2:

That's the thing.

Speaker:

So that's something to consider as well.

Lindsey:

I wonder too how many women are drinking regularly during this stage of life. And instead of evaluating the possibility that it could be the effects of alcohol are just blaming all their symptoms on menopause.

Kelly:

That's what I'm feeling. Yeah. That's what I'm feeling. If alcohol was already part of their life,

Lindsey:

right.

Kelly:

I feel like it could go unnoticed if they didn't know all of this stuff. It could go unnoticed and it could be, Blaming it on perimenopause or the menopause.

Lindsey:

Exactly.

Kelly:

Where it's like they could get so much relief from the menopause symptoms if they didn't have alcohol in their life.

Tracey:

Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsey:

I need to have an expert on it. Anybody's listening. Yeah. For it to come on that we could. Interview or ask questions. Geez. I feel like I'm going to be, Oh my God. It's such a big topic. Yeah. 42 this year. And it's Oh my God. I really know nothing about this. topic and it's super trendy right now. Like I'm seeing it. I don't know if it's because, which is great. I've been paying more attention to these topics and like interacting with things on social media, then it's just feeding it to me, but I'm seeing it. A lot of them says the topic of menopause

Speaker:

no, it is good that we're getting so much information. It would be amazing to have an expert on. Like I said, I took this course in the hopes of just educating myself so I can go through this stage of life as healthily as possible. But I also took it in the hopes that I can help other people and not necessarily, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, if I'm going to make some sort of business or something out of it. But Just in general conversation with my friends that are going through it with you, ladies, with my sister in laws who are a little bit younger than me and are starting to go through it, that I can at least give them some insight or some direction and, know something about it. Because I look at my mom and my mom is an incredible inspiration for me. And she's very good at sharing knowledge with me now at this phase in her life, but she didn't have The information going through that phase of her life to share with me. So it's like now I'm sharing things with her and she's damn it. I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I was going through menopause.

Kelly:

Back to you saying that you don't know what you're going to do with this. I think you should have a spinoff podcast and have friends on talking about their experience and asking questions.

Lindsey:

Oh, I love that.

Kelly:

Since you're so good at podcasting and editing and all that, Trace, it'd just be so easy this time.

Speaker:

I have thought about definitely doing one, geared around that. I just don't, have the concept in my mind yet and I have to finish my course first. Yeah. Feel like I can add more value as far as the topic goes. I am definitely learning a lot and, making different choices for myself, really paying attention to my body. And I have to say, I just recently had a conversation with some friends saying, I am so thankful. I'm not drinking going through that. Exactly.

Lindsey:

Exactly. And I think to talk about maybe some ways that if someone's going to say, okay, if I'm not going to drink alcohol then, and I'm feeling all these crazy symptoms and I'm really struggling what do I do then to help myself? I don't even know the answer to that. I think working out and especially strength training. Healthy life.

Kelly:

Yeah. Healthy lifestyle. Yeah, because Trace mentioned the bone density or did you somebody mentioned the bone density and that yeah, the strength training and moving your body and being strong.

Tracey:

Yeah so I want to read something interesting on that as well that I read that. As we age, as you guys know, and most people know, we start to lose muscle mass. And apparently, alcohol too is better absorbed through our muscles than it is absorbed through fat. So if we have more fat and less muscle, then our bodies are not

Lindsey:

probably not eliminating that they're not absorbing alcohol. Alcohol in the same way. Oh.

Tracey:

And that's part of the effects of us having a different tolerance for alcohol as well. Also, we don't have as much water in our body as we age, so the alcohol isn't being diluted. As well as it would be when we have more water in our body. So it puts a strain also on our liver. Our liver is going to process alcohol first because it's a toxin. And then that affects in turn our digestion because our digestion is getting processed secondary.

Lindsey:

And fat loss also, because the liver has a lot to do with that as well but you're right the body's number one priority when poison enters, and that includes alcohol, is elimination. That is a direct threat. Like your body is going to stop all processes cleansing, digestion, everything and be like intruder, we need to get the alcohol out.

Tracey:

And it says here, alcohol interferes with the ability to build muscle. And it's very important as we age to keep our muscle mass going back to exactly what Kelly said, the bone density. Women are at high risk for osteoarthritis going through menopause because of the lack of estrogen in our body. So for me, I just want to speak to this for one second again, not that I'm an expert. I can only speak from my experience, but for me, I just recently made the decision myself to go on HRT and I made that decision. I don't have any breast cancer in my family, so I'm not high risk. A key to that is being on estrogen as well as progesterone. I'm on both. And I made the decision to do that for preventative reasons.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Tracey:

Because osteoarthritis runs in my family. Joints and bones are not good in my family genetically. I just had a bunch of genetic testing done as well. DNA testing.

Lindsey:

How did you get that done? Through your family doctor or was it something special?

Tracey:

No, I got it done through an organization that my company backs with our health benefits. I can give you the name of it. Linds. Yes. But yeah, so I got that done and that confirmed for me what I already knew, that I don't have good joints and bones. Oh. So for me, I did it preventatively for long-term care of my body so that I don't have accelerated deterioration of those things because I have no estrogen left in my body. I know that based on my blood work. I just would recommend that people be open to it or visit that subject with their doctor. For me, it did make a big difference in my symptoms. It has really helped with a lot of the symptomatic stuff I was having. I'm not having hot flashes or night sweats. It's helped with some other areas. My sleep has been good. From my experience, I would recommend it, but you need to talk to your doctor and figure out what's best for you or naturopath or whoever yeah. Yeah. And you know what? Speaking to that and what you mentioned earlier, though, Linds, there are a lot of healthcare providers in Ontario. I'm not sure what it's like in Winnipeg, or Manitoba, but in Ontario, there's not a lot of health practitioners that do HRT. There's people going to special clinics that specialize in hormones and having to pay for it. Paying thousands of dollars to get it because they can't get it through their family doctor.

Lindsey:

Wow.

Tracey:

So I was very fortunate that my family doctor has a nurse practitioner that actually worked with a hormone doctor.

Lindsey:

Wow.

Tracey:

Before she started working with my doctor. She was well versed in it. So I got a lot of good guidance there. But what I know from my own research and what I learned from her. Was that the benefits far away. the risks, the risks,

Lindsey:

the risks. I've heard that a lot too. I think there's a lot of debunking happening right now around HRT, at the end of the day, yeah, you got to make that appointment with your doctor and you've got to do what's right for you and your body. You have to weigh the risk and benefits

Kelly:

and use your intuition. And if you don't like what your doctor says, go and see another doctor.

Lindsey:

That's a really good point.

Kelly:

Yeah,

Speaker:

I wanted to bring that up too, because we're speaking of relief. That can be a relief of a lot of the symptoms without utilizing something like alcohol. And I am not an advocate for prescription medication, okay? I would not go on it if I didn't have to. That's just my personal preference. The only reason why I'm on HRT is because it is something naturally that our body produces. That we are lacking that we need to put back into our body if possible, because it is something that naturally our body needs and should have. And that is one of the reasons why I'm doing it.

Kelly:

Just going back to the intuition, we know our bodies, even though it's all a mystery, we're not really sure what's going on. And if something doesn't feel right, I know somebody that is taking HRT right now. It's not a woman. So it's somebody taking testosterone and their doctor would not listen to them. I don't feel right. And the range, like if you look into the blood work of how they test these things, the ranges are huge.

Lindsey:

Of course. Yeah.

Kelly:

So we have to be advocates for ourselves. Talk to our friends, read the studies that you looked up, Linz, and things like that. We really have to be our own advocates and not just walk into a doctor's office blindly and say help me I don't feel good, we got to really advocate for ourselves too, I feel like when we started talking about this and some of the symptoms, I feel like I went through a stage and it wasn't hormonal. But I knew there was something wrong with me and I was experiencing anxiety because I had a autoimmune disease and I can't tell you how many doctors just wanted to write me a prescription for antidepressant.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Kelly:

Yeah, they didn't want to look into it. So just be careful and advocate for yourself. Yeah,

Tracey:

absolutely. Yeah.

Kelly:

There's doctors that don't even breed up on this stuff and don't know what's new.

Lindsey:

That's the thing,

Kelly:

right? And then there's some like your nurse practitioner, Trace that's wonderful that you found her, that she's up on everything and knows what's going on.

Tracey:

But she's also, and so is my doctor. They work very well in conjunction with each other because they're both aligned in how they see things, but they're both very open to natural products. They're both very open to, absolutely do more research on it. If they recommend something, they'll say. Do your own research on it.

Kelly:

That's good. Yeah.

Tracey:

You know so they're not saying they're the experts and the buck stops with them type of thing. Which I think is important as well. Exactly what you're saying, Kel, cause you can get misguided if somebody really is stuck in the idea of that. They're the expert and you need to listen to them. Yeah. You need to do what's right for you. You're right, Kel. Exactly. And to me, this was a decision that felt right for me, like I said, more so preventatively for future. That's really good that you're able to do that testing. For sure. That's amazing. Yeah. And that's something I would recommend too. If you have the ability, you're going to have to pay for it in most cases, but if you have the means, it's definitely worthwhile because it gives you an opportunity to look at things. From the perspective of you can be preventative with your health. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. Very empowering. Self empowering. As far as relief goes, going back to that and not utilizing alcohol, again, you have to make those adjustments. Just like we say with anything, when you're giving up alcohol, you have to make those lifestyle adjustments, right? You need to look at, start paying attention to your body. For me, I didn't just stop drinking alcohol. I've really adjusted my diet, especially in the last, since I had the DNA testing for sure. But especially in the last, say six months, because I realized and I noticed things aren't agreeing with my body. Because the other thing is that you're going to have an increase of inflammation based on what's happening with your hormones. If you're drinking, the inflammation is going to be worse. Way worse. Yes. Inflammation. So inflammation. Let's talk about that. One thing I want to mention that people may not realize because I didn't realize it. Okay. But one of the biggest symptoms I had was joints. Yeah.

Speaker:

So I literally was feeling great turned 47 and all of a sudden, like my body just felt like my joints were achy all the time out of nowhere. It's like my body just turned a page, right? So for me, and I'm someone who's really active, that feels really challenging That could be depressing in itself. Exactly. Exactly. If you are feeling like you're having joint issues, or if you don't have good joints to begin with, then that may be affected. There's something called frozen shoulder.

Kelly:

Yes.

Tracey:

That I didn't know about. Okay. I 100 percent had that. Something was happening with my shoulder. I was going to The chiropractor getting all this work done on my shoulder had no idea about this whole frozen shoulder thing. It's an actual thing and a symptom of perimenopause or menopause. Wait, okay, what, okay, tell me about it. Maybe I have to Basically you're Your joint like locks up almost on you. You lose movement. in your shoulder, basically. That's crazy. That's interesting though. I didn't know that the frozen shoulder is part of this menopause. Sheesh. Yeah, you can look it up, but somebody I follow and who is an amazing expert on menopause, and I highly recommend check her out. Her name's Dr. Mary Claire Haver. you can follow her anywhere, Instagram, TikTok she has her own website. She created the Galveston Diet. She has a book too. Mary, what? Mary Claire vaber. She was a OBGYN. It's just Dr. Mary Claire on Instagram, but her profile says, yeah, she's cute. She's got like a. A sweatshirt and glasses. 1. 5 million followers.

Speaker:

Yeah, I'll put all her info in our show notes, but she just came out with a new book called The New Menopause.

Kelly:

That's what I feel like I need. It's just like a book, like a good book, that's gonna

Speaker:

Yeah, and she created the Galveston diet, which is a nutritional program you can follow during menopause. So it's just really dialing in your nutrition. There's certain supplements that are really key to us when we're going through menopause that she recommends. She's got her own line of supplements, but fiber is very important. So again, if you want to treat symptoms and not use alcohol. Make sure you're taking supplements that are going to be key to making your body feel good and that you're making sure that you're recouping what we're getting depleted of. Omega 3, that's very important as well. Vitamin D3.

Speaker 2:

Yes. Vitamin B12. That's very good for mood, right, Linz? Magnesium. Apparently I take the liquid ionic magnesium and take it before bedtime. That's supposed to actually help you with sleep as well. Yeah. Magnesium. I think women tend to be deficient.

Kelly:

Yes, I think everybody is actually because of the soil that our food is grown in. I believe that's one of the minerals that we're. Yeah.

Tracey:

There's other supplements. Definitely. You can look into that support hormones, I hear a lot about a product called DIM. That's what I take. I take that too. Yeah. Dim 200. That's supposed to help. I don't know. I have never taken it. The other thing my doctor recommended was a supplement called adrenal chill. Okay. Yes. because of cortisol our adrenals can get really fatigued. That's another one. But yeah

Kelly:

I look at all the supplements I take and I'm like, okay, why am I taking this one again? I have to do like a rehaul.

Lindsey:

I have so many supplements that I take every day. Richard's I don't think you even need to eat today, babe. You got all the nutrients. I'm like,

Kelly:

the amount of supplements and then the amount of stuff that I put in our smoothie in the morning, all these like wheatgrass and like dandelion,

Lindsey:

all the things like, I don't know,

Kelly:

but I still want to learn more. Yeah, I'm always interested because it always changes, right? Like always find out something new, something that could help us with this or that, or, but specifically for menopause, that can be really helpful.

Tracey:

I think you have to change your supplements and gear your supplements to whatever you're challenged with and what phase you are in life, right?

Lindsey:

That's really true about supplements. It's not just a one and done for everybody. You have to really pay attention to how you're feeling.

Speaker:

And of course there's some staples like, Omega 3, Vitamin D. Everybody should be taking that. That's a given. The other thing to remember about supplements is they take a bit to get in your system, right? So give them a chance.

Lindsey:

Yeah.

Tracey:

Another one that's good for anxiety and sleeping if you take it before bed is GABA. Okay. Ooh. I'm telling you, I don't know if I've told you guys this before, but my magic thing that I love, and I tell anybody who will listen, is my 20 milligrams of CBD that I take every day.

Lindsey:

Wow.

Kelly:

It is, I'm telling you, I take it in the morning and I do have the achiness. Sometimes I think it's more my age and what I do with my body. But yes, I get the muscle aches and things like that. A little bit of joint pain. Mood. I do still get my period so like cramps and stuff like that. And 20 milligrams is not a lot at all. So some people might need to take a little bit more. If I've got like crampy period stuff, I'll take another 20 milligrams before I go to bed. But. I'm telling you, it's good stuff. I don't know about in the US. I don't know if it's easy to buy in Canada here. We can buy it on any corner, but I'm really grateful that I found that. If anybody's looking for something like that, if like he's a little bit of anxiety, things like that,

Lindsey:

it's worth a try for sure. It's worth it.

Kelly:

Yeah, it's natural. And we have a system in our body that works with it.

Tracey:

And you said, Kel, that you hadn't experienced a lot of symptoms, so maybe that's why. Maybe, based on some of your choices already,

Kelly:

like I'm not going to change anything.

Lindsey:

No, don't.

Tracey:

Yeah.

Lindsey:

Don't change it.

Kelly:

Okay, my question, I have a question. Can anybody get through this unscathed?

Lindsey:

I'm scared. I'm shit scared. I'm not going to lie.

Kelly:

But I'm good. I'm saying so Trace, you said. Menopause from 48 to 52. I'm almost 50. I'm almost 50. I did, I had some pretty nasty hot flashes in my early forties and I do believe, I was trying to remember, I believe it was after I quit drinking at 43. Oh. But anyway, I went for acupuncture for that, and that was really helpful for me. I had terible Night Sweats and I went for regular acupuncture in that.

Lindsey:

I get night sweats and I'm like, just try acupuncture or as it, I'm like every four months weird fucking little symptoms. I'm like.

Kelly:

But anyway, so yeah, my question is is it possible that I could get through that other than my forgetfulness, which I can't remember. Oh, that's a brain fog. It's a, I don't feel like I brain fog cause I've gone through that before, but yeah, but I don't remember.

Lindsey:

I'm going to watch whatever you do and I'm just like, you're taking this and

Kelly:

we both take the dim.

Lindsey:

Yeah, DIM is amazing.

Kelly:

I'm just gonna keep taking that.

Lindsey:

It works with hormones. Yes. I think specifically estrogen and it's a supplement that you can buy over the counter if our listeners are like, what's dim?

Kelly:

Yeah. Mine's dim 200. I get it on Amazon.

Tracey:

Do your research. Do your research. We are not experts. Not experts. Do your research on CBD. I'm not prescribing you all CBD.

Lindsey:

No, yeah. Definitely make sure if you're taking any medications that there's no contractions. Talk to your doctor. We're not doctors.

Kelly:

This is all our disclaimer.

Lindsey:

As we were chatting here, I got really quiet because I was looking at Dr. Marie Claire's Instagram, but okay, listen to this post. Can I read this? This freaks me out. Okay. There are estrogen receptors throughout almost every organ system in your body. And as your levels drop, these cells begin to lose their ability to assist in maintaining your health in other areas, including your heart, cognitive function, bone integrity, and blood sugar balance. Ugh.

Speaker:

Yeah sorry, that was something I wanted to say that I had as a point here too when Kelly was talking about brain fog, ladies. Decline in cognitive function as our brains are more vulnerable with less estrogen in our bodies.

Lindsey:

I feel like that is happening to me as we speak. I always joke that I have Alzheimer's and I'm like, this isn't funny anymore. Oh my god.

Tracey:

And you know what We already know that alcohol also affects the brain, so again, double whammy if you're, feeling like you're forgetful and your brain's being affected by you're lowering estrogen and then you're drinking alcohol on top of that, not good. What I find is that energetically, I find I'm challenged. My energy levels aren't the same as what they used to be. I can get tired out. Like I have a hard time physically pushing myself in exercise. Mind you, they say that you should also change your exercise, right? Because we don't want to push ourselves at this stage of life with exercise because that can increase our cortisol. You want to do your research and look into, if you are constantly pushing yourself at the gym, if you're a gym goer, an exerciser, and you're not feeling good, all of a sudden, that might be a sign that you need to adjust your workout because you might be actually affecting other things in your body that you don't realize that are more sensitive as you go through perimetopause and menopause.

Kelly:

Yeah, intuitively, I've been really trying to tune into my body, rather than every single day, go and do the hot flow yoga, like some days I'll go to a hot flow class, but I'll just roll around on my mat and stretch out my hips and my shoulders. Yeah, like I'm really trying to tune into that. I'm feeling a real call to slow down.

Speaker:

That's like me too, Kel, and I would say that's probably one of the best pieces of advice I could give anybody is start really listening to your body when you're eating stuff, pay attention to how you feel after you eat, like that was a big thing for me with adjusting my diet. I'm gluten sensitive. I knew that basically just based on how I feel when I eat gluten, but I was confirmed that again through my DNA testing.

Kelly:

You're like damn it Yeah, I'm like, okay. Yeah. That's why I want to take a nap if I friggin eat pasta bread in the afternoon like that's why I feel tired and lethargic or bloated or whatever, right? You bake trace I'm not much of a baker. Okay. I was going to say try spelt, try spelt flour. I was always scared. I've been gluten free. I'm allergic to wheat. So I've been gluten free for 17 years. And, I've heard that in the past, like you could maybe tolerate spelt, but I was just too scared because I know how it used to be. But I just recently tried spelt flour and I'm okay with it. So it makes me very happy.

Tracey:

Yeah. I've had store bought spelt before. In the past, when I've been doing a cleanse or something, yeah, where you couldn't have gluten, I've had it, but I've never tried to make it myself. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's good. That's good to know. Yeah, so I'd say just really listen to your body, but I think all in all. You are not doing yourself any favors if you're going through this stage of life and you're suffering with symptoms if you're continuing to consume alcohol. Yeah.

Speaker:

I think there's a lot of evidence to that. And again, that's a pay attention to your body. Have a drink and see how you feel opposed to how you feel when you're not drinking.

Kelly:

Yeah. Take a couple of weeks off and just those symptoms are like, we write it down have a little diary for two weeks before you get up and two weeks after and see what it says. Yeah, I'm sure it will be very telling.

Tracey:

And I think like, all other things. There can be a lot of relief and power and, doing some breathing techniques getting out in the fresh air, go for a walk, if you are feeling fatigued or not very energized, like I do some days, just go for a walk. If you don't muster the energy to go for a workout or go to the gym just go for a walk in the fresh air being out in nature and then at least you feel like you're moving your body and I do feel like it re energizes me.

Kelly:

Yeah, I feel like, yeah, tuning into our bodies and educating ourselves on all of this and learning more about it. I think we'll take away that sense of dread because it sounds like to me, when some people talk about it, it's like a victim mentality.

Lindsey:

Yes.

Kelly:

Oh my God, this is happening to me. You have no control over it. I know. And I don't think it has to be like, I

Lindsey:

don't buy it. I think

Kelly:

we can do things.

Lindsey:

I feel like that for a lot of things in life. There's a lot of victim mentality.

Kelly:

What are you putting in your body? What are you putting in your body?

Lindsey:

What are you putting in garbage out? I really just think we can do better and we're going to get through this. I feel the best I've ever felt in my entire life in my early 40s. I think it has a lot to do with not drinking alcohol. This December is going to be 5 years for me. And I'm like, what the hell? Like, How can that even be? I think it has a lot to do with not drinking alcohol, that was just the springboard for a lot of these habits that I've developed and things that I've ditched and just feeling good and I honestly just can't imagine going back and especially going into menopause, like that's the next big thing in life for me, right? And I'm just like, I don't know. Oh really scared of it. And I don't really know what to expect.

Kelly:

I don't think you need to be Linds.

Lindsey:

I don't know. I don't think you need to be

Kelly:

scared. I

Lindsey:

think for me, hormone stuff has always triggered major anxiety, not depression, just anxiety, like crazy and not drinking. I've noticed a huge change. In that feeling. Yeah, just knowing that, during menopause, sometimes anxiety and depression can be a result of changing hormone levels, decreasing I'm definitely not going to drink through it and I feel sad that women Feel the need to reach for alcohol to try to get relief from the symptoms that we have. There's a better way, Yeah. we have to all rally around each other and we're gonna get through this together.

Kelly:

Yes. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be like this terrible, dreadful, awful thing. Let's let it be a reason why we all bond together even more. Yeah. And have these conversations and empower ourselves with all this.

Tracey:

I did want to state one other stat that I was reading, that in 2023, it was reported 85 percent of women were complaining about perimenopause and menopause symptoms.

Kelly:

Complaining. Okay, so there's a culture. 85%. Yeah, you can understand why there's been so much awareness and traction gained on this subject because pretty much the bulk of our population is at the age that they're going through this phase of life and experiencing these things. But do we need to go through it complaining, or do we need to support each other and yeah.

Speaker:

As a woman, empower yourself. By learning, by doing your research, understanding the phase of life that your body is going through, and you're going to go through it so much better.

Kelly:

Alcohol free.

Tracey:

Yes. Start with that. Start with that. Anyways, I think that was a pretty good conversation.

Kelly:

It helped me a lot. I hope it helped some listeners. I feel better. I feel empowered. I feel less nervous about the whole thing. Yeah.

Tracey:

As I learn more, I'll share more. We'll have to do another episode as I. Yes. And then we will tune into more information. I love it. Thanks girls.

Kelly:

You're welcome. Thank you guys.

Lindsey:

Thank you so much everybody, for listening today. Don't forget to check us out on Instagram at LAF Life Podcast and also on our website, laflifepodcast.com. PS if you are. Are a menopause expert. We would love to have you on our show. So fill out our guest form. You can head on over to our website laflifepodcast.com we'd love to hear from you. If you think this would help somebody do us a favor, share it, you never know whose life you might be changing. We're going to see you back here next Tuesday with a brand new episode. So until then. You guys know what to do. Keep laughing.

Kelly:

Thank you for listening. Please give us a five star rating like and subscribe, share on social media and tell your friends. We love getting your feedback and ideas of what you'd like to hear on upcoming episodes of the LAF life podcast. If you yourself are living alcohol free and want to share your story here, please reach out.

People on this episode

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Kelly Evans

Host
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Lindsey Harik

Host
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Mike Sutton

Host
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Tracey Djordjevic

Host