Menopause -

Mess or Miracle

Menopause gets a lot of bad press.

Sure, there’s a funny musical in Las Vegas about “The Change”, but mostly women are scared of the changes that, if we’re lucky, we will live long enough to experience.

When I went into menopause at age 43, I was lucky in a few ways:

• I already had an “Anti-suffering” mindset

• I already knew about bioidentical hormones and their safety

• My mom and grandmother were amazing examples of how women improve with age

I was still doing gynecology at the time, so I had samples in a cupboard in my office. When I had my first hot flash, I reached right in that sample cupboard, got an estrogen patch, put it on, and never looked back.

You see, I knew there was no need to suffer, ever since medical school on my GYN rotation. 

One day I followed the chief resident into an exam room to see a woman who was having menopausal symptoms. When we came out of that room, the woman felt so much better just from talking with the doctor and feeling validated. We knew how much better she was going to feel when the hormone therapy kicked in.

The big study that scared generations of women came out a few years before I went into menopause. I already knew, though, that not all hormones were created equal. Some were already known to cause breast cancer in animal experimental models; one of these was used in the women in that scary study!

So there I was in my 40’s going into menopause, 2 small kids at home and a failing marriage. What a mess, right?

Lucky for me, I had friends who encouraged me to celebrate (rather than dread) turning 40. 

As menopause approached, my mindset - which had always been pretty positive - was turning to one of even more personal growth and celebrating the gift of life and getting older. 

In my 40’s, I spent a lot of time and effort sorting out messes: ending a messy marriage, raising beautiful (and messy) boys on my own, and taking my career in the direction of teaching and empowering others - the direction I had always craved.

In my 50’s, I met and married the love of my life. Any relationship has its messes, and while wonderful in every way, this one was no different. I look forward to sharing of that journey with you. What I do know is that handling the physical changes of menopause, including using bioidentical hormone replenishment from the get-go, has only empowered me in all other areas of my life. That’s what I want for all women.

My mom and her mom, both born and raised in Argentina, had already instilled in me that menopause does not have to be a mess - it can even be a miracle. 

Menopause: a time of growth and transformation, a time to express myself, to dream big, and to bring as many others as possible along in that dream.

Life is messy. Menopause can be messy. Even so, I invite you to share in the possibility that life before, during and after menopause can be for you one of the biggest miracles you’ve ever known.