WEBVTT - So this is Perimenopause With Michelle Bridges - PART 2 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.760 Lifeln Cut acknowledges the traditional custodians of country whose lands 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.520 were never seated. We pay our respects to their elders 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:07.560 past and present. 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:11.280 Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land. This episode was 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:23.680 recorded on Cameragle Land. Hi guys, and welcome back to 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:25.000 another episode of Life on Cut. 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.920 I'm Laura, I'm Brittany, and today we have a very 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:29.400 exciting episode. 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:31.720 You probably all have heard of. 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.519 Michelle Bridges or seen her in some capacity. She is 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.080 a TV queen, a fitness icon, a best selling author 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:39.640 of seventeen books. 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:41.840 Now I don't even inteen. Who has the time? 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.720 Oh, I don't know who has the time. But she's 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.520 the creator of the twelve week body Transformation. She's helped 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.479 literally thousands of women regain their health, confidence and fitness. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.440 But you might have seen her recently on a TV 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.080 show with me. I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.680 This is where it was really hard. I had like 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.560 a highlight peak at that point where bread. Yeah. 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.319 But yeah, recently Michelle and I got dumped together and 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.640 we I say, we got stuck together. There were two 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:08.160 bunk beds. You know, I'm a celebrity. To get me 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:09.920 out of here that were literally off to the side, 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.880 away from everyone. Anybody wanted nobody wanted them in the bush, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:15.720 and that's where Michelle and I were, and I think 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.720 that's where we bonded so much because no one else 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:19.160 talked to us. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.480 So Michelle, welcome, Welcome to the podcast. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.960 Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.679 It's a real pleasure to be here and to you know, 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.480 I see you again and to meet you for the 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:31.040 first time. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:31.679 Michelle. 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:33.760 It's this is such an interesting one because there's so 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.520 much about your career, your history within media in general 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:39.760 that I want to talk to you about. But that's 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:41.680 not the purpose of why we have you here. We're 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:43.520 doing a two part This is if you guys missed 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.840 the first part. We interviewed an expert around metopause and 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.920 we also wanted to interview someone who is living it 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.760 and has personal experienced. Has you know, skin in the game, 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.480 one might say, And you've spoken a little bit yourself 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.800 around your experience reaching that point in your life as 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:03.280 a woman, and also how hugely under researched it feels, 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.000 not just for yourself but the medical professionals that you've 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:09.200 experienced feeling as though they don't know enough about something 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.000 that every single woman is going to go through at 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.400 some point in time. Now, before we get into your 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.079 experiences around this, I would love to know what is 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.919 your accidentally unfiltered story, your most embarrassing story, the thing 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.320 that keeps you up at night on those dark groom days. 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:25.560 Well, you're like, throw you in. 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.600 How long did you show stacks? I could just keep 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.480 them coming. But one that happened recently. I was at 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.280 a launch for a product with Sonya Krueger and a 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.600 couple of other lovely ladies in media, and I left 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.120 and went back to walked across the road to my 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.679 car with my little goodie bag, got in my car 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.920 and drove down the street and I thought. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:48.880 Why is there so much noise? In the car? 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.200 Was so loud, And I realized that the boot of 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.400 my four wheel drive was open. 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:55.480 And I'm driving down. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.639 The street right I'm like, ah, so I pulled into 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.400 a side street and there's traffic and I'm like, oh 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.679 my god, and I've just had to pull off onto 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:06.280 the side of the road and get out of the 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.359 car and there's people waiting behind me, and I'm like. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.320 Sorry, sorry, just closing my pood just closed, you know. 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.959 Get back in the car and off I drive. Now 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.160 it was pretty embarrassing. But then as I was driving away, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.720 I realized the whole thing was being filmed by paparazzi 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:23.040 for Daily Mail, and it ended up on their Daily Mail, 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:23.400 and I. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:23.680 Thought, you. 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:27.200 It was very funny. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.320 It had Michelle walking out, has it walking out looking 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.480 like fierce and hot, and then it just has to 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:34.120 the car. 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:35.120 The booty is open. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:36.920 It just has to get into the car, fierce and hot, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.480 closing intoor, fierce and hot, it driving down the road. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.000 And seriously, when I saw it on Daily Mail, I 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.119 was like, ah, and I thought, you know what, lean 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.320 into this. So I grabbed the footage and put it 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.680 on my Instagram and I even put some background like 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:54.600 stupid music and put it and just leaned right into it. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.920 And the women loved it. They were like, yo, how 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:58.000 many times has this happened? 0:03:58.120 --> 0:03:59.760 It's kind of the only way that you can win 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.680 though circumstances. Though that's the problem now, like every time 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.160 that's not accumuliating that happens and it's on Daily Mail, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.680 or I've seen like a hideous headline about myself. The 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.600 only thing that makes me feel like I've regained a 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.680 little bit of power in that situation is to like 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.360 repost the awful heabline that's being written and be like, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:16.320 oh yeah, I can. 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:18.440 I can make a joke too. I find it funny 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:19.960 because dying and die. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.880 If you bully yourself first, no one else can bully 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:28.080 you as brutally. Well, Michelle, you did create your own 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:32.080 program recently surrounding menopause and perimenopause, so you can help 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.279 so many women because you are going through it. Can 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.560 talk to us a little bit about where you're at 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.120 now in your life because I know you have an 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.480 interesting story that actually surrounds I'm a celebrity and menopause. 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.640 Yes, I do have a story about that. I thought 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.279 that I was about to be menopausal. For your listeners 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.840 that may or may not know, menopause is classified as 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:55.880 being between forty five and fifty five. Perimenopause can start 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.440 anywhere between seven to ten years prior to that age category, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.760 so it's not unheard of for a woman thirty five. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.919 If you do the math, could start feeling something's not 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:07.920 right here. There's some symptoms. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.200 Having perimenopausal, Yeah, symptoms, Yeah, it can happen. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.640 That's also really scary because thirty five is this is 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:15.760 coming from someone me that's thirty seven, but thirty five 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.360 is so young. And now as women are pushing back 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.160 their child bearing years for their careers, there are plenty 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.040 of women that are still in their mid to late 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.560 thirties that haven't had children yet that might start perimenopause. 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:27.960 Yeah, that's scary. 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.080 Yeah, it's definitely possible, and it certainly has happened, and 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.040 I've met many women who it has happened with. You 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.120 could have menopause brought on early at a young age 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.760 too if there's cancer. So it's a very big group 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.039 of demographic when you look at it. If we're talking 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.840 late thirties, early forties and we're talking late fifties, it's 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:49.960 a pretty big chunk of your. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.000 Lifetime twenty five thirty ye yeah, absolutely, So what are 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.640 some of the symptoms when you say in terms of perimenopause, Like, 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.160 what does that look like for most people? 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.200 Everyone always thinks jumped straight to hot flashes, and it's like, eugh, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.320 that's so cliche, and it can be not denying anyone 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.000 that has them because apparently I haven't had them before. 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.640 That's not one of my symptoms, but they can really 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.320 throw you off kilter. And you can be in board meeting, 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:15.120 or you can be teaching children, or you can be 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.120 you know, doing something being. 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:18.640 On TV and have one. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:23.680 You've got estrogen receptors throughout your entire body, like they're everywhere, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.200 So when you get a loss of estrogen, your symptoms 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.560 can be wide and varied. And in fact, one of 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.479 the number one symptoms that I'm reading is not the 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.600 hot flashes. It's about five on the list. It's more 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:41.479 sleep deprivation or sleep changes. That was me waking up 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.159 in the middle of the night because I I don't 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.120 think I was having hot flashes, but I was sweating 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.440 nights weeat comfortable, and then that has a knock on 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:48.920 effect to the rest of your day because then you 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.760 just feel like yuck for the rest of the day. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.720 And so that was definitely one of my symptoms. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.240 So there can be symptoms of brain fog, which sits 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.320 right up there as well, and people start. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.200 Thinking, am I having early dementia or what's going on? 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:01.880 You know, what's wrong with me? 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.880 Because they have been not given any kind of information 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.840 around what menopausal symptoms can be. I wake up in 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.520 the middle of the night too. You remember the old 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:14.840 internet dial up sound dude here, I wake up to that. 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:16.520 That's my tenaitis it's. 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:17.840 So bad, and it is. 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:18.240 Yeah. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.160 An artists is a symptom as well. Burning mouth is 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:26.119 a symptom. Skin crawling is a symptom. Anxiety sits upright 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.640 at the top as well. And I definitely felt that. 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.480 Which is probably why it's so hard for people to diagnose, 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.480 because the symptoms are so broad that it could be 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.280 so many things. And I feel like the number one 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.200 thing is like stress and depression. When you go to 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.520 a doctor, someone's like, oh, you depressed her some anti 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:42.560 anxiety or antidepressants. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.120 It's so interesting that you just mentioned burning mouth syndrome. 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.720 I don't think anyone would know what that is unless 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.480 they have experienced it or they know someone who experiences it. 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.080 My sister has burning mouth syndrome and it's so debilitating. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.480 It's like a chronic pain disorder where you feel as 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:01.080 though your mouth is constantly on fire or burning, or 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:03.000 you know that sensation that you have when you drink 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:04.440 a cup of tea and it's too hot and the 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.040 all your taste butter is highly activated because they're burnt. 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.200 It is that sensation twenty four hours a day. So 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.120 does she have that all the time constantly when her 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.400 anxiety is really bad and her stress is really bad, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.680 it's twice as bad. Or if she has any sort 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.000 of spicy food or anything that might aggravate it, it 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.680 is worse. But it's a hormonal condition that's far more 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:25.640 prevalent in women than what it is in men. But 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.800 I didn't realize it was also a symptom that can 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:28.640 be of menopause. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.400 Yeah, musculus gletal issues. One of the big ones is 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.200 frozen shoulder, and that's really debilitating and can take up 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.120 woods of a year to sort of get that sorted 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:39.720 through physiotherapy and so on. 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.520 So with your own experiences, so when you started to 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.240 have this, like sleep disturbances and changes, were you conscious that, okay, 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.280 this might be a symptom of did you think that 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.440 maybe your body was at that stage or were you 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.520 kind of just like and how did you tell me? 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.480 In the fitness and health industry, you would think I 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.679 would know this stuff. I now realize how clueless on 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.760 this topic, really important topic because for such a big 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:09.480 chunk of women that I was, and Unfortunately our medical society. 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.920 Now there's lots of research coming in, but there's many 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.400 very busy doctors that have got so much going on 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.800 that haven't maybe potentially got the time to start delving 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.400 into all of this new modern medicine research that's coming out, 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.559 you know. And I've spoken to several doctors that said 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.960 that their clinical studies, you know, spent no time on 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.480 it or very minimal time on it, which I think 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.240 it's going to probably take about a generation before we 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.560 start sort of seeing menopause and perimenopause being more prevalent 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.400 in our medical society, if you like. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.320 I mean, it's not something that comes as a surprise. 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:48.199 We've highly spoken about in depth how misogynistic the healthcare 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.079 system is, and it does seem like something that comes 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.800 up in conversation, this idea of like as we get older, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.520 as women, often women feel more invisible. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.280 But that also is within the medical world. 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.280 It also is like having visibility around the conditions and 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.000 the symptoms because a lot of things has just passed 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:07.880 off with like, oh, that's just being a woman, deal 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.240 with it. But then it's the lack of understanding around 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.320 why or where those symptoms come from. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.160 But So when you went to the doctor, Michelle, when 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.480 you were like, Okay, something's not right, but no idea, 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.400 what yeah, what was the experience? 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:22.520 Like, Look, I had had some disturbances in my menstrual cycle. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.320 Like I, I've always been a light flow. Suddenly I 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.360 was really heavy, and I sort of thought, Okay, this 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.000 could be the start of something, and then I just 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:37.520 brushed it aside. So for the sleep disturbances and ringing 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.480 in my ear and my hip, and I put it 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.240 down to all the training that I've done over the years. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.240 My hip would ache and keep me awake at night 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.920 as well, which is a muscular skeletal issue that happened 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.280 for me. A little bit of arthritis in there. And look, 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.800 I'm not going to deny we are all aging, but 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.240 we age slowly. It's not like sudden drop off the cliff. 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.960 When these symptoms kick in, it's a drop off the cliff. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.840 So it's not just yes, I'm getting older. There's something 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.760 else going on. But for me, I felt flat and 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.199 I felt I had a level of anxiety that I'd 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.520 never experienced before, which. 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:12.640 Was really unusual for me. 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:16.200 So I went to the doctor and I spoke about that, 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.080 and we did some blood tests, and as I was 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.640 saying earlier before this interview, even if you get your 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.560 hormones tested, it's not going to give you a pinpointed 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:29.360 answer because when you're in perimenopausal there's a chaos of 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.200 hormonal changes that's going on in your body. So I 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:34.160 could get my hormones tested in the morning and they 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.319 could look completely different that afternoon. Unless you're sort of 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.760 about the doctors every single day getting your hormones tested 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.680 and you can do like a full diagnosis, you can't 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.520 even potentially pick it up in hormone treatment. And you know, again, 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.520 there's just so much new information that's coming out that 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.000 whether or not my GP was across all of that. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.160 But I basically was told, why don't you try any depressants? 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:02.280 And I was like, look, I am flat. You know, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:02.920 I'm a bit off. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.600 I suppose maybe even a bit low, but geez, am 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.559 I depressed. It seems like drastic, yeah, And it was 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:14.800 a lot for me to take that on because I felt, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.880 chit is that really where I'm this, And to be 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:24.679 fair in my perimenopausal obviously stages, I went and did 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.400 something that my GP now said, geez, I would never. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:30.320 Have thought that would be a good idea what you did. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.880 And that was I went to the country, lived on 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:36.800 a property, isolated myself from a lot of you know, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.640 family and friends, because it was what I wanted to 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.040 do at the time. But she said, as a perimenopausal 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:43.960 woman going off and living on a farm in an 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.880 isolated country town, that would probably be the last thing 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:48.959 I would suggest. 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:49.800 It's a good idea. 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:51.480 What made you want to go and do that? 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.959 It was time for me to reassess my life. COVID 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.080 came and I just thought, you know what, I just 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.880 want to get away. And I had a down south 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:02.280 and I just said, right, we're going. 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.280 It's interesting this concept and conversation around anxiety. One of 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.880 my really good friends, she's been through perimenopause, and I 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.760 think now she's going through menopause, but she was talking 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.000 about how she had been taken off medication that she'd 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.880 been using for it, and her anxiety was back and 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.240 through the roof, and it was very much interrelated to 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.600 the menopause, and she said that it got to a 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:23.600 point where she's like, this is. 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:24.640 A medical emergency. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.320 The anxiety that I feel is so unreasonable, and I 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.560 know that it is related to my hormones. But try 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.080 telling your brain that this is not your brain, that 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:34.040 it's your hormones. 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.040 So when you decided that you didn't want to take. 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.040 The antidepressants, I didn't and you did discover that maybe 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:41.880 this was interrelated to menopause. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.240 What was the next steps and how did you process? Okay? 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.000 It took me a while to kind of put it 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.080 all together. And strangely enough, I'd had so many of 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.199 my clients through twelve WBT who've kind of grown up 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.679 with me. You know, they came to me when they 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.120 were in their thirties and they're now with me in 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.080 their forties and fifties. They'd all been asking me to 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.400 do a program on me, and I was like, I really, yeah, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:03.120 I know, I know. 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:03.560 I know. 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:08.080 It's funny because I was of the similar mind that 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.959 I think society is still in and we're changing it, 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.840 but it's still there, very much there that I don't 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.440 know if I want to put my hand up and 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.400 be that menopause girl, because that's admitting that I'm not 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:21.000 at aging. 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.440 Yeah, and I'm a scary thing for society now because 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.120 we are ageists. We put all this pressure on people, 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.880 especially women, to maintain their youth. And if you, you know, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.160 if you can't stop the aging process, at least look 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.200 like you're stopping it, go and get talking, you know, 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.880 like that's what that's what we're told that when you're 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.040 an aging woman, you're not valuable anymore. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:41.760 I think that. 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.760 We're the least version of that that we've ever been, though. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.560 I think we are fighting full forced against it, and 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.920 that didn't exist twenty years ago. But now I think 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.040 that there is, like there is a ferocious community of 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.280 women who are forging into their forties, their fifties and 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.800 beyond who are like, absolutely not, I will not subscribe 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.800 to this idea that my expiration date has passed. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.440 I gave myself a good uppercut and said to myself, 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.560 hang on a minute. You've built your career or on 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.720 empowering women, and you're buying into society in the way 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.640 that we think about women's and women's aging. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.920 Michelle, what the hell? And I thought, well, it's authentic, 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:18.520 it's real. 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.240 Lean into it, bloody, get out there and start talking 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.800 about it, and yes, you'll do that freaking menopause program. 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:28.400 So I just dived into research and what I found 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.360 was like, oh my God, when I got my blood 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.440 test with the doctor, Yes, my good cholesterol was really high, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.920 which was great, but my bad cholesterol was high. And 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.480 I hadn't changed anything in my diet, and oh my god, 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.520 I am vitamin D deficient, not low, not really low 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.040 freaking deficient. And they're two harmkers that I've now learned 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.920 that are part of perimenopause. So I was like, okay, okay, 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.680 things started falling into place for me, and so as 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.560 I kept researching and kept researching for the program, then 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.080 got my specialists in for the program, and the GP 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.720 doctor Kelly tiegor I said can. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:07.400 You be my GP? 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.920 After I'd spoken with her and she helped me kind 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.200 of figure it out and get through and look, I'm 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.680 not through it. I'm still, you know, moving along. I 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.080 feel very blessed that I think I haven't really had 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.600 massive symptoms, thankfully. I think some of that is due 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:30.240 to my lifestyle has supported that quite successfully. 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.560 And that's research, that's not opinion. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.840 We know for a fact that women who exercise between 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.440 moderate to high exercise and do it consistently potentially can 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.680 have lower symptoms than those that might do no or 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.160 minimal exercise. That again, that's not an opinion, that's a fact. 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.560 What were some of the differences and the changes that 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.800 you noticed in your relationships before you realize what it 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:56.640 was and you just were like, Okay, I'm flat, I'm 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.680 depressed and whatever. Because I know you have a son, Axel, 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.000 who you know, he's quite young, he's still at school. 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.560 Did you find that that relationship at home changed in 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:07.360 terms of your level of patience? 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.720 Oh? Yeah, I mean it's hard to determine because having children, 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.240 I think even when you're an absolute maximum one hundred 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.320 best of health, they still get they can stay you that. Certainly, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:26.080 I found myself probably pulling away from people, and I 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.639 think being in the country helped. But I found that 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.680 I wasn't as social as I used to be, and 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:37.520 that was certainly amplifying my feeling flat. But I just 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.840 couldn't kind of get my head around it. And hence 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.520 that's why I moved back. Moved back to Sydney nearly 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.320 two years ago, and it was the best move I 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:49.159 could have made because it's brought me back into society 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.080 again and into my friends. 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.719 We recently did an interview with a woman named Eleanor Mills, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.920 and we touched on menopause in that conversation, and it's 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.639 interesting how on what it's like this fine dance that 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.679 as women we need to do leaning into like the 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.480 authentically the things that are happening to us, but also 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.600 then being like typecast, like Okay, now you're in menopause, 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.600 and that's the label that you need to carry around 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.359 and you should talk about it. She was sort of 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.760 saying that she felt as though being someone who is 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.479 in she herself was in menopause, and she was like, 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:22.960 I don't want to talk about it. 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:24.680 And it's for the reason that I don't want. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.160 People to label me as though I have to speak 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.000 about it, as though that's the only thing that now 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.040 I have to offer. She's like, it becomes such an 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.160 identifying identity for women. Do you feel that it has 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.359 been of value to you to lean into it or 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.000 do you feel as though that there is this kind 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.840 of like fine dance between becoming labeled to someone who 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:45.640 is Okay, well you are menopausal. 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:46.760