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SaCola Lehr 00:00:00 Welcome to Work it, Live it, Own it! the place to be if you're a business owner who is looking to take charge of their personal and professional lives. I'm your host. Is SaCola Lehr bringing you real talk, practical strategies and inspiring stories to create life business harmony. Today is a very special episode, and it touches on so many lives of women, entrepreneurs and women in general today. But guys hang in there because I know I have some male listeners out there. Stay with me here, because if you have special women in your life like your mothers, your sisters, your daughters. This episode is going to be helpful for you as well, so you will know how to support the women you love in your life. And the topic that we're addressing today is something that we have heard, especially for me in the South, has been referred to as the curse or the black hole. And if you are a woman and you're feeling overwhelmed by the changes in your body that are impacting how you show up at work, at home.

SaCola Lehr 00:01:05 We're going to be diving into a topic about perimenopause or menopause, and it is affecting millions of women and but is often left out of the conversation. Up until recently and today I have a very special guest, Dana LaVoie. She is a licensed acupuncturist, herbologist, and a women expert who has been helping women with this experienced life experience for over 20 years now. She has helped hundreds of women not only survive, but thrive through menopause and beyond. And in today's episode, Dana is going to share with us how to keep perimenopause from interfering with our work life performance and using safe and effective natural remedies. So whether you're a woman navigating these changes. And again, guys, if you're out there and you want to learn how to support the women you love in your life, this conversation is for you. And you don't want to miss this empowering insights that Dana's going to share and help us all live healthier and more vibrant lives. Welcome to Work it, Live it, Own it!. Dana, I am so happy to have you here today.

Dana LaVoie 00:02:21 thank you. I am absolutely thrilled to be here. I love the podcast. So happy to be a part of it. Thank you.

SaCola Lehr 00:02:27 And just give you guys a little backstory about Dana and I. We actually kind of crossed paths on social media about ten years ago, and Dana has been proactively supporting women and giving insights about menopause for a very long time. And I know we've been hearing a lot of things, and a lot of conversations are coming up now about menopause, which I'm very happy for, I'm excited about. But there's also a lot of misconceptions out there. And so we're going to address some of those things today. And so Dana to dive in, what are some of the most common symptoms of perimenopause. And how can they specifically impact a woman's performance at work or in her personal life? Yeah.

Dana LaVoie 00:03:13 So some of the most common symptoms that you might start to feel and often not know that they're associated with perimenopause would be, first of all, any changes in your cycle or your PMS.

Dana LaVoie 00:03:29 You know, your cycle might if it's been 28 days, it might be 26 days or 25 days or PMS symptoms. Any PMS symptoms could be more intense or could last for longer, or the bleeding could change. It could be heavier. The bleeding days could last for longer. It could be lighter. So that's kind of a nice obvious one because it's related to your cycle. So you're thinking, what's going on with my female stuff, you know? But there are a lot of other signs and symptoms that you might not think would be associated with perimenopause. And it can be anything from brain fog, finding that you're more easily irritated that stress and anxiety seem harder to control. It could be fatigue, even extreme fatigue. Like exhaustion. It's hard to even function. and it could be pain. Some women get a lot of body pain during early perimenopause. Some will have trouble with sleep, and you can even get heart palpitations. So that is, you know, you could get frozen shoulder, you could get, you know, any different kind of body pain.

Dana LaVoie 00:04:34 So those are those are just a few of the common ones, weight gain. That could be one to like. I'm not eating any differently. What happened?

SaCola Lehr 00:04:43 Yes. I'm there. I kept saying to myself, and this is going to be one of those real, relevant and raw episodes, guys, because I never had to worry about my waistline. And all of a sudden when I got into my 40s, it was like, where did this come from? But now that we're on the subject of symptoms, you mentioned one that I was going to ask you about, but apparently on one social media platform, it kind of feels like Jeff Foxworthy. You might be a redneck type of episodes or reels where it says, if you have this symptom, you might have might be going through menopause. So you mentioned frozen shoulder, but another friend of mine mentioned inner itching, you know, inner ear itching, that that could be a symptom of menopause. Is that the case?

Dana LaVoie 00:05:36 Yeah. Itching anywhere.

Dana LaVoie 00:05:38 Skin changes. tinnitus, lightheadedness, dizziness, vertigo, migraines, those types of things can appear as well. You could have in addition to, like, inner ear itchiness, you could start to notice changes in your vaginal ecosystem as well in the pH. UTIs, Candida pain, dryness, anything like that could happen as well.

SaCola Lehr 00:06:00 Okay. All right. So now that we've talked about some of the symptoms, what is the case. Because I'm a little bit different. And there are some women out there who don't have the regular menstrual cycle of bleeding because they may have had a hysterectomy where the uterus has been removed and they may have the ovaries. What should we look out for? What what should we be aware of? Because we can't go by necessarily a monthly menstrual cycle where the bleeding cycle takes place. What advice do you have for women in that in that situation?

Dana LaVoie 00:06:38 Yeah, that's such a great question. So if you had a complete hysterectomy where they remove the ovaries as well, then you actually would have gone into surgical menopause at the time of the surgery and would be dealing with post-menopausal issues after it, no matter what your age is.

Dana LaVoie 00:06:56 But if they left your ovaries, you're going to go through the natural menopausal changes just without your cycle as an indicator of what's going on. And so you, you know, if there was a moral to the story that I'm going to tell today, I can just tell you that it's get on a plan to manage your hormones now and for the rest of your life so that anything about how you're feeling, if you're getting hotter, like that's another one night sweats during PMS, right? That's a common early perimenopausal sign if you're getting hotter, if you're getting colder, if you're feeling irritable, if you're feeling brain fog, you know, any of the things that we mentioned, if those are happening during the second half of your 30s or any time in your 40s, or you're in your early 50s, and you start to notice any of those signs that could be perimenopause. One of the easiest things to do is try a hormonal solution, and if the symptom is gone in a few weeks, then likely it was a sign of early perimenopause.

SaCola Lehr 00:07:58 Okay, great. Thank you for answering and sharing that. So you were saying women should start early when it's time. Taking care of hormonal balance. How early should they be planning? Should they wait till their 30s mid 30s? When should they actually start taking care of that?

Dana LaVoie 00:08:21 So it always depends on the woman. And I just want to add one super quick comment to what I just said. Of course, if you're having a symptom that severe that you're worried about, you know, get it checked out by the doctor, right. Make sure it's not something other than hormones. But if it responds to a hormonal remedy real quick, disappears, never comes back. And that can be nice to know as well. So I'll just put that in perspective. So yeah. I would say that some women go into perimenopause earlier than you would think. Very early 30s. They're already there. And so for them, ideally, you know, you don't want an early menopause, right? If you have an early menopause, menopause is a sign of aging.

Dana LaVoie 00:09:07 It's sort of a signpost that you've come to a certain point on the progression of aging. So if you have an early menopause, a lot of other signs of aging, diseases of aging are likely to visit you at a younger age as well. So if we can top off help the body top off those hormone levels, keep them circulating in the body at a higher level for longer. Look younger you feel younger. Menopause happens a little bit later. So for anyone having those signs that the cycle is starting to change, that things are starting to change when they're 28 or 31, I would I would want to start supporting them then. for women who have really difficult cycles for any reason, it's great to start supporting early as well, because it means your body has a little bit of trouble harmonizing and doing exactly what it wants to do with hormones, so you're a little more likely to have a hard time during menopause. Like if we can get everything running really smoothly ahead of time, likely to have an easier transition for everyone else who has a easy cycle, and they're in great shape and they're not burned out, then, you know, I think that mid 30s, like I say, 38 by 38, definitely.

Dana LaVoie 00:10:20 But if you, you know, from mid 30s on 38, that's a good time to start topping off those hormones. Yes.

SaCola Lehr 00:10:27 Thank you for sharing that because there are a lot of women that I've been part of conversations or I've even said things and it's quickly dismissed because they say, oh, you're too young, you too young to experience that. And that's not always the case, especially how our diet has changed and the food that we take in our bodies have changed over decades. So to dismiss someone's symptoms, to say, or you're too young to be in this phase, everyone is different. So thank you for share. Shedding light on that subject. Now that we've covered some of the symptoms, a lot of people are now seeking relief and remedies to get hormonal balance. Some we are seeing more doctors talk about the problem or getting herbal supplements. And I've even looked at them and we'll be honest. But there's one thing that kind of keeps me or holds me back from it. Despite the countless testimonials that are that is out there is I don't feel like everyone is a one size, fit, all type thing.

SaCola Lehr 00:11:35 So how would I know that these particular products are going to work for me. And even when I've gone to a medical doctor and said, hey, I have these symptoms, my doctor looks at me and goes, okay, yes, more than likely you probably are in perimenopause because of the symptoms that you've stated. And even if they test your hormones, they're only testing your hormone level for that particular stage in. Our hormones fluctuate right throughout the day. This is what I'm learning. I'm trying to get books I'm reading, trying to educate myself because a lot of us are women. We just don't know what we don't know. And so we can't help our future generations or our daughters to to understand what is going to be like going through womanhood. So since there are a lot of natural remedies out there, and I know you work in that realm, how do natural remedies help alleviate perimenopause symptoms and what role do herbal treatments play in balancing hormones?

Dana LaVoie 00:12:43 Okay, that's a great question. It's a big one.

Dana LaVoie 00:12:47 I feel that the body was designed to go through perimenopause and menopause and postmenopausal years. Looking and feeling really great, really was designed to go through without any symptoms, very, very minor symptoms. And your body is trying to follow that plan. So if you start having symptoms, the natural remedies can help the body get back on that plan that it already has. And there are a few pieces of the puzzle that can be missing in terms of the body being able to follow that plan. Is that makes sense so far? Yeah, yes it does. So one piece of the puzzle, and this is the piece that most women are most familiar with and that most menopause remedies are aimed at. Is this one piece of the puzzle is making sure that hormone levels do not drop too low. Right. Like hormone replacement is, you know, to make the levels higher. And that is an important piece of the puzzle. I find that natural remedies, like you said, not the one size fits all ones, but if they're quite customized to your body and what it needs at the time, they can help the body keep the hormone levels high enough.

Dana LaVoie 00:14:18 And that does eliminate a certain amount of problems as symptoms. And in early perimenopause, often that means helping the body top off progesterone. That's often the first hormone that falls. And a lot of those early perimenopausal symptoms can be due to low progesterone or progesterone falling in estrogen staying high. So the ratios are for you know there's but and then in little farther in we're supporting progesterone levels and estrogen levels. And then you want to start supporting testosterone as well. So that's one big piece of the puzzle. Natural remedies can help the body keep those levels high enough like high normal high postmenopausal normal just with the body was designed to do that. Thank you. There are also there are a few things that can prevent that from working though, I guess, which is the other piece of the puzzle. So I don't know if that's if you want to talk more about this.

SaCola Lehr 00:15:16 Let's talk about.

Dana LaVoie 00:15:17 Symptoms of low hormones because yeah, the symptoms of low hormones are enormous. like the symptoms of low hormones in early perimenopause with progesterone that's directly related to, you know, Heavy bleeding that can become dangerously heavy.

Dana LaVoie 00:15:35 Bleeding, spotting, anxiety, fatigue, trouble sleeping, severe PMS. Some of the things we talked about fatigue, anxiety, depression, breast tenderness, bloating, decreased sex drive, weight gain, thinning hair, you know, and then as you move into menopause, more, if those hormone levels drop too low, you are more can be more at risk for dementia. For Alzheimer's, which is associated with like low estrogen, is associated with its shrinking of the brain inside your skull after menopause. If estrogen falls too low, heart and kidney disease risk goes very much higher, like 2 to 3 times higher. inflammation tends to increase risk of things like cancer, diabetes, even wrinkles, sagging skin, gum disease, dry mouth, you know, weight gain, insulin resistance, any kind of blood sugar issues. and then with testosterone, you're getting into muscle mass and bone density. libido, thyroid metabolism. So really a lot of reasons to want to keep your hormone levels high enough, right?

SaCola Lehr 00:16:39 Right.

Dana LaVoie 00:16:40 I think I think a lot of women don't know that list. That's not just aging, that's aging with your hormones too low.

SaCola Lehr 00:16:46 Right. And I've heard about that, that you could. And I think that's why some doctors want to put people on HRT early on, because they want to stave off the effects of early dementia, early signs of dementia, heart disease, things of that nature. But I've even found for myself and like I said, we're just going to be real about this. I've had doctors to where I've had I have an existing condition. I've had it for over 20 years. There's no cure for it. And I was on a medication that they would prescribe for about two years. And then it stops because it could risk, you know, you, your bone density and your bones becoming weak. And while I was on this prescription, I had an emergency situation. I had to meet with another doctor and their answer was, okay, well, let's just put you on estrogen.

SaCola Lehr 00:17:37 And I said, but why would you do that when the medicine I'm on is reducing the levels of estrogen to help me with this condition? That doesn't make sense. You know, the math is not math in here. And they said, what's the low dose? Just take it. I took it took one. I said, I'll take one. You know, just to to say I took it. And I got so sick from it and I decided, no, I cannot, I can't, I can't do it and it's not working. And then another doctor, a specialist I had to go to was like, here, we're just going to give you this pill. So I see why it's important to not just take the first thing, but to also be an advocate for yourself and to ask questions like, why do I need to take this medicine? What is it going to do? well, have we even looked at my levels? Where are they? So how can you get tested and find out what exactly your body needs? Does your body need estrogen? Does it need progesterone? How? What advice do you have to give to women to find out what exactly the bodies need?

Dana LaVoie 00:18:47 What they need? Yeah, it's a really good question.

Dana LaVoie 00:18:49 And there's a lot of different answers depending on who you ask about testing in early or in most of perimenopause, hormone testing is relatively inaccurate, like a lot of even OB GYNs will say, you know, if you're 42 and you're having these symptoms or assuming it's perimenopause, I don't even test because it varies so much from day to day. if you are 10 or 15 years post menopause, you can check and see how low the hormones have dropped. Right? That's that's more of a viable reason. The other thing you can do in early any time is you can do a more detailed hormone test, something like a Dutch test that will tell you not just how much estrogen you have, but which of the different types of estrogen you have. Because if you have a very high amount of the more dangerous types of estrogen at any age, then that's a sign that your body needs support, detoxifying those types of estrogen. So that would be something that to test for, you know, for some women, is that any I don't know if you've heard that I have.

SaCola Lehr 00:20:05 I watched a video where two doctors were talking about Dutch testing and how important it is because you could be producing, or it was something about the cycle of the estrogen coming right back into your body, instead of some of it filtering out like it's supposed to. And that can cause issues as well. So not every doctor does such testing. So again those are questions that you would need to ask as as a woman we need to ask those questions. Do you provide Dutch testing or even start researching finding out what Dutch testing is and if that's a path that you want to go down. So thank you for delving deep into that, I appreciate it. Now.

Dana LaVoie 00:20:50 There's one thing I wanted to mention on that vein, if that's okay. Yeah. Because I do think that the Dutch test, Dutch test is one way you can look to see if that certain type of estrogen is accumulating in the body. But because my background is in Chinese medicine, you know, that was developed before there was any lab testing.

Dana LaVoie 00:21:09 So I actually work with women a lot of times. And while I do testing for certain things, it's not primarily for hormone levels. For hormone levels, there's a lot that you can know just by how you're feeling and the beauty of Chinese medicine. If you're using herbal remedies to help keep the hormone levels high enough. It's the difference between macro managing your health and micromanaging your health. When you go in with hormone remedies, you're kind of forcing these little changes based on what you saw in the testing. You know, with the herbal remedies, you're just saying to your body, here's everything to make more hormones if you want to. And here's everything to detox hormones if you want to, because the body actually has this built in system to micromanage the hormone levels. Like I said, it has a plan. And if you have symptoms, that just means it's gotten off the plan. And I feel like your body's own system of checking all this hormones a little too high, this one's a little too low.

Dana LaVoie 00:22:12 Let's fix it. Let's fix it. Making these micro adjustments. Your body's better designed to do that than we are. So that's kind of the beauty of the, the, the natural remedies is it lets your body do the micromanaging more successfully.

SaCola Lehr 00:22:28 Right. And that's more than what our body wants. Our body just wants to function well and properly. Yeah. Now what what do you have to say to people? Because I've. I've even heard this. I've done Chinese medicine. I've done the eastern medicine. I've done the Western medicine. I had a doctor at one point who did both. So it didn't matter what I went to her for. She did both. Some of her, some doctors say, well, I don't use Chinese medicine because it's not as stable or as effective. It doesn't have as much efficacy as Western or traditional medicine. What would you say to to someone who comes to you and has questions about Chinese medicine and its efficacy?

Dana LaVoie 00:23:18 So they did the first actual clinical trial on acupuncture quite a number of years ago.

Dana LaVoie 00:23:28 It was done by the NIH and it was does acupuncture work for osteoarthritis of the knee? That was the first clinical trial they ever did that was really, you know, well-established for acupuncture. And every acupuncturist knew what the results were going to be. They chose osteoarthritis of the knee because we knew how well acupuncture worked for that. And sure enough, the results showed that on average, people had 50% decrease in pain, 50% increase in function. It's pretty darn good, right? So when it comes to women's health and menopausal symptoms, I think that any herbalist Chinese herbalist, you ask would tell you it works like gangbusters. And the studies that I have seen when it's used, you know, in a customized fashion, like in the right way are things like, I have a slide somewhere, you know, 89 to 96% relief from every menopause symptom that they measured. It works extremely well. And so I think it's great.

SaCola Lehr 00:24:35 Yes, I've done acupuncture before. And believe it or not, that's how one of the that doctor that I mentioned ask me about fibromyalgia.

SaCola Lehr 00:24:48 She said, had anyone ever told you that you had fibromyalgia? And I said no. And she said, because there's sometimes I would visit her and I would do acupuncture and I'm fine. Then there were other moments where I would do acupuncture, and I was like, don't touch, don't, don't know. It hurts bad.

Dana LaVoie 00:25:06 It's everywhere.

SaCola Lehr 00:25:07 It was everywhere. And she said, it's damp outside. And so she said, you have flareups. And I said, yeah, I get brain fog. I'll get. And so I've seen on both sides how that can work. So thank you for sharing that insight. And actually a clinical trial that backs that up. Now workplace challenges. Let's talk about that. Because I know sometimes it can be very frustrating when we know, especially if you've been in a field and realm and you've been working in something for a while. And you as women, you typically were go, go, go. We think fast because we are whether we're mothers, were wives, were nurturers by nature, sisters, daughters.

SaCola Lehr 00:25:50 We've always on the go, right? Our brains are like cross wires. You know, things are connected to emotions. And so if we're going through this phase of life where we're starting on the menopausal journey for women who are facing perimenopause, which is that initial phase while working in high stress environments, What are some practical steps that they can take to maintain focus, energy and confidence?

Dana LaVoie 00:26:22 Yeah, I love that question. you know, they did a study over the past couple of years where they measured wages lost by women due to menopausal symptoms in America. Did you see that? No. Yeah, it was in the New York Times. It was in the Washington Post. It was a big national study. It was very big. They estimated that over the course of one year, women in America, only the amount of wages they lost due to menopausal symptoms was $1.8 billion, something like that. It was enormous. So I do want women to know that perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, even if you don't think it's going to happen to you, it can affect your performance at work in a significant way.

Dana LaVoie 00:27:11 and so being able to manage your hormones is really important during these years. If you want to continue to be high performing on that, you know, if you're running your own business or on that track for promotion, it's important. Yeah, important.

SaCola Lehr 00:27:24 So any any tips or things that you've worked through with your clients on how they can maintain that focus, energy and confidence?

Dana LaVoie 00:27:35 Yeah, absolutely. So I sometimes think of it like your body has a bucket for each hormone and you want to keep the buckets full enough. Right. So we talked a little bit about natural remedies or hormone replacement. They help the fill up those buckets right. That's one piece of the puzzle. But there's just one thing I want to talk about that is going to help every other suggestion I'm going to give you that you can do to feel better work so much better. Okay. So this is like a leverage point. There's a story that you can read online. It's a widely publicized, that was shared by Oprah. I don't know if you've seen it.

Dana LaVoie 00:28:15 When she hit perimenopause. She had really bad heart palpitations for two years. They kept her up at night, all night, every night. She thought she was going to die, right? Nobody could do anything about it. The cardiologist couldn't do anything about it till she realized it was a hormonal symptom. She got some hormone therapy, and in a couple of weeks, they were gone and she was sleeping better and everything was perfect. I spoke to a woman two days ago who is super healthy. Diet and lifestyle. She's in perimenopause. She's been on hormone replacement therapy for two years, and her hot flashes got better, but she still has absolutely horrific heart palpitations that keep her up all night. Okay, so sometimes it just doesn't work. Or you took one dose of estrogen and felt really terrible, right? So there's this thing that can happen. There's two things that can happen in the body be happening in the body. One is a hormone traffic jam, I call it, and that is when your body it can't process and get rid of types of estrogen it doesn't need it has it trouble processing and detoxifying hormones.

Dana LaVoie 00:29:20 It's like your body has a filter like your liver and your kidneys. It's like a filter. If the filter is clogged, hormones get stuck in that filter. Right. So it means two things. One, if you need a hormonal remedy and you take it, you're going to feel worse and you're going to stop, so you're not going to get what you need. And number two, hormones stuck in the filter. They can't go where they need to go. So it's almost as if you don't have them. So you actually have more symptoms of low hormones. So like I'll say if you're an early perimenopause, even something like two tablespoons of freshly ground flax seeds per day can give progesterone a nice boost, like help your body kind of alleviate some of those early symptoms. Probably not going to be enough all the way through all of menopause, but at the beginning it can give that little help. If you know you don't have that traffic jam. And then the other thing is there's something that I call hormone leaks where imagine there's big holes in the bottom of those buckets you're trying to fill out.

Dana LaVoie 00:30:24 And, you know, you had some great episodes lately on burnout and, you know, that kind of thing. So if we become depleted right, then nothing works, right? Hormones are so much harder to balance. And it's when we have these internal energy leaks, that's when the outside world becomes too much. That's when the pressure at work while we're going through menopause becomes too much. Right? We're actually designed to handle a lot and really be active and thriving and high performing during these years. So if we clear the traffic jams, seal up the leaks, then flax seeds and natural remedies or whatever type of hormone remedies you choose Chishti is are probably going to work so much better. So we can talk about that more if you want. I have some YouTube videos on it and things like that, but assuming there's not a huge leak or a huge traffic jam going on in your body, then the things like a superfoods that are hormonal building blocks like flax seeds, healthy fats, getting enough fiber, minerals, you know, magnesium.

Dana LaVoie 00:31:30 But I really think a wide variety of minerals is helpful, things like that. getting enough percentage of plant based and vegetables in your diet each day, right. And then all the things you talk about, like self-care, not burning the candle at both ends, prioritizing sleep, learning a few stress management techniques so you can manage your own, you know, nervous system. Put it back into that relaxed state. all those, you know, eating right, exercising right, managing stress including hormonal superfoods, and we can talk about any one of those. We can give some tips to your readers, if you like, on any one of those. Those are going to help keep the hormones balance, to keep the energy replenished, and help you keep performing better at work.

SaCola Lehr 00:32:16 yeah, I like that. and I'm remember reading something about one of the clients you worked with, how it it affected her everyday performance. I think you mentioned one of your clients had a huge. I mean, it was a really bad hot flash that she had her kids in the car, and she ended up going through the garage door because the hot flash had affected her so bad that she couldn't even function getting into her driveway.

SaCola Lehr 00:32:49 So it can. And it's not just in high stress environments, but if those symptoms, like you said, if you have one of your estrogen levels too high or is it not functioning properly, It really can make you feel off kilter in a way. So thank you for sharing about that. And yes, if I would love for you to share about some natural remedies. Flax seeds, I do. I love making a great flax seed granola in the morning, but I think for ground flax seeds would be great to add to a smoothie to thicken it up or something like that I guess. the find ways to what what what other ways would you put ground flaxseeds in? Because I'm automatically thinking smoothies, but how else would you put ground flax seeds or take it because that's what you just mix it in water. What would you do?

Dana LaVoie 00:33:40 So the reason that I say ground flax seeds is whole flax seeds are perfectly good for you, but the body has a little trouble fully breaking them down. So they're like more like, I think of them a little bit more like roughage, sort of.

Dana LaVoie 00:33:54 Whereas if you grind them, then the lignans and little phytonutrients inside that are hormonally friendly are a little bit easier for the body to absorb a little. And I, I feel like there's so many people out there saying, take magnesium and eat flax seeds and do this and do that. And it's it's not that all of those aren't great, but you just also sometimes need someone to look at the big picture and say, the reason that's not working for you is this right? It's it's none of them is like on its own, the whole solution. But the thing about flax seeds is they really are a great phytonutrient for hormonal support. And if you grind them, it's easier to absorb those lignans. But I will say, once you grind flax seeds, the powder tends to go rancid very easily. So I don't necessarily recommend buying the powder like the already ground flax seeds. If you buy the whole ones, you can grind them at home in a coffee grinder, a spice mill, or high powered blender.

Dana LaVoie 00:34:53 And if you want to grind enough for the week and store them in the fridge until you use them, that's fine. Or grind them fresh like coffee beans, you know, or throw them in a smoothie in a high powered blender. They're great in smoothies. They don't thicken it up as much as chia seeds. You'll hardly know that they're in there. And the powder is. It's almost got a little bit of a nutty taste. You can almost use it like that. Finally, finely ground parmesan cheese or ground up almonds. You can sprinkle it into soups, or onto savory food or granola or yogurt or anything like that. But the easiest way is probably just to have it in a smoothie. I find smoothies are an easy way to get like five hormone friendly things you want to get every day. All it was.

SaCola Lehr 00:35:41 Thank you for sharing that, because I just actually went shopping for flax seeds yesterday, and I saw this huge bag and I had ground flax seeds in my pantry, and I was like, I didn't know that, that it could go rancid.

SaCola Lehr 00:35:53 So thank you for sharing that tip. So guys, if you are a coffee drinker out there and I do have a spice grinder or a coffee grinder, so I'm gonna get to work on that and store it in the refrigerator or just make enough for the week like Dana says. So that way it doesn't go rent. So it's like your nuts. You open up a bag of nuts or walnuts. You you stick them in the fridge so they don't go rancid. So thank you for sharing that tip. And the difference between the whole flax seeds and why you should have ground flax seeds. Thank you. Now brain fog mood swings are typically frequently reported during menopause. So what are your top strategies for managing these symptoms without sacrificing productivity? Yeah. So brain fog. Like first I.

Dana LaVoie 00:36:40 Just want to acknowledge when you're younger and you've never experienced it, you can't even imagine how severe it can be. You know, I had a woman who she was. She went back to school in her mid 40s.

Dana LaVoie 00:36:53 And the first two years she just she was straight a student graduate school, acing everything. And then halfway through that next year, she had to drop out. She said, you know, I would just sit there reading the same page over and over ten times. I couldn't understand what it was saying. She had to drop out of school till she got her hormones balanced so she could change from straight-A student to not being able to make sense of one page like it can be that severe. So I just want to acknowledge.

SaCola Lehr 00:37:17 That no no no no no no, I understand I truly do because I honestly thought I have the same thing. Like I find myself, I have to if I want to read a book, I have to download the audio version of it if I can, especially if it's just a very popular fiction or non-fiction, and listen to it and hold the book in my hands and turn the pages. Because if I'm just left to just read it, my mind will start to wonder, or I have to go back, reread, reread.

SaCola Lehr 00:37:44 And I honestly thought it was because I've had two traumatic brain injuries within a year and since then, and that was in my 30s. And so since then my cognitive levels haven't been the same. But I've noticed that it's gotten progressively worse or is increased even more so. So thank you for sharing that, because that is something that a symptom that you can look for just the basic things of reading a book or reading an article, and you still don't get the sense of it. So what strategy do you have for women like us that are men are dealing with these types of symptoms?

Dana LaVoie 00:38:29 I think that there's two types of solutions, right? One might be a morning routine and deep breathing and resetting your nervous system and creating a distraction free environment. These things can all help with focus and help to increase your level of productivity. But I find if your hormones are not supporting you, if the chemicals inside your body because hormones include neurotransmitters and stress hormones and blood sugar hormones, if they're not supporting you, those things, you're going to have to work really hard to get a little bit of improvement.

Dana LaVoie 00:39:10 Whereas if the brain fog is coming from hormones being out of balance, it's amazing how rebalancing those hormones can be like, okay, you take two deep breaths and say, I'm going to focus now and you're fine. So I think that that's really important. And the thing is, when it comes to brain fog, while there are certain symptoms, like certain types of dementia and brain deterioration, that can happen from really low hormone levels, I think a lot of brain fog that women experience during perimenopause is actually just from hormones not being too low, but just changing to suddenly and getting out of balance with each other. You know, I think of your hormones like these three friends, and they're going from the top of a mountain to this field at the bottom of the mountain. And if they just walk down the path together, holding hands nice and gently all together, you don't really have any symptoms. But if they start walking down and one of them falls off a cliff, you know, and progesterone goes down really fast way before the other ones.

Dana LaVoie 00:40:19 Now there's this discrepancy in the ratio between your hormones. So really fast changes and these ratios getting off. I think that's what causes a lot of the brain fog during perimenopause. So it's more about harmonizing the hormones, topping off the ones that are falling too fast, detoxing the ones that might be a little too high. You know, it's like this real balancing act that we just support the body and being able to do, your brain actually rewires itself during menopause in a significant way, and so it can feel a little strange. But I find if we go gradually and in harmony with the hormonal changes, it's a very minor and there can actually be benefits to that rewiring. Thank you.

SaCola Lehr 00:41:11 So, guys, I think the biggest takeaway from me is, is if you think and you treat your body like you said, these buckets, you have different buckets of hormones that you deal with. And then if one is low your body's not going to function properly. If there's holes in the bottom of the bucket and you're losing those estrogen, progesterone, even testosterone, things could be off kilter just a little bit.

SaCola Lehr 00:41:37 So finding that right balance, finding someone who can help you kind of Balance out your hormone levels because it could just be a small tweak and we don't even know it. And if we're just taking something, say, oh, I'm getting more estrogen because at the time you took a hormone test, your estrogen levels might have been a little bit low. We got to dig a little bit more. We got to ask the right questions. Which leads me because we've talked about planning ahead. We talked about some holistic approaches. Are there any questions that you would advise women, even their husbands or fathers or whomever the men in their lives are to to ask, what are some of the right type of questions that we need to ask practitioners, medical advisors so we can find out what's going to work for us individually? Do you have like, certain questions that you typically would recommend women to ask to get good support?

Speaker 4 00:42:43 There are different.

Dana LaVoie 00:42:45 Levels of answer to that question. Right. Like you said, there's some really great conversations going on in the media now about menopause, which I love empowering women.

Dana LaVoie 00:42:56 One thing I would say is I don't like the wait it out approach. You know, it's natural. Suffer through it, deal with it. It'll probably get better on its own in a few years. If someone tells you that, probably not talking to the right person. Okay, so a lot of medical practitioners don't really know very much about treating perimenopause. And so you can ask them for support, but they might not have that much to offer. Some are using hormone replacement therapy which can be a valuable tool. And I certainly think it should be available to women. But like I said, to me, it's one piece of the puzzle. The other big piece of the puzzle is going to be what I call foundational health. You know, something more like that a functional medicine doctor would be able to help you with is your digestion and your gut healthy? Are your liver and kidneys working well? Do your cells have enough energy in them? Right. Like all these different sort of is what's the inflammation like in your body.

Dana LaVoie 00:44:10 What's your blood sugar doing. You know, like looking at the these foundational health things, if you can put those in place right, then your hormones are going to be able to balance more easily. So it's it's really a holistic approach. unfortunately it's not a super quick answer, but yeah, but certainly good self-care like this is the time, right? Don't burn the candle at both ends. Take good care of yourself. Get your sleep, do your stress management, get all that locked in before the changes really start to happen, and then just keep asking that question how can I feel better? I do not feel okay. Right? until you find someone who can actually has an answer that will help to change the way you feel, because you shouldn't just suffer through it. So. Right. I'm sharing it.

Speaker 4 00:45:07 That's important.

SaCola Lehr 00:45:08 So why are we on that subject? How can people or listeners today reach out to you? How do you work with clients? You work with them just in person because you're on the West Coast in the US.

SaCola Lehr 00:45:22 How can people work with you? Do you work with them virtually? What does that look like for you?

Dana LaVoie 00:45:29 So I have an online coaching program for women from early perimenopause through all the years post menopause. and it's online. So it's for anyone in the United States. And we use a combination of herbal remedies from the Chinese medicine tradition to support hormonal health and other things, combined with looking at lab test bloodwork results, to look at those foundations of health, to make sure that those are in place, and they use natural supplements to repair those leaks and clear those traffic jams. And I find that that combination is really magical. And then we have an online curriculum for all the it's like, like, has anyone ever noticed that that, you know, if they wanted to lose £5 when they were in their 20s, they would do this diet for a couple of weeks and boom. And that that doesn't work anymore. Right? Right. So we also go through all the I call them the new equations.

Dana LaVoie 00:46:26 It's not just like a healthy diet or a healthy lifestyle. It's what's hormone friendly. Now that your hormones have started to change so that you can fill up that toolbox with the things that actually work, the type of exercise and all that. So it's a it's wonderful coaching program. I absolutely love it. We have an amazing community. And, you know, I work with for a few months in there and it's just I love it. It's really, really fun. During Covid, I went from more in-person to virtual and I'm I'm sold. It's just incredible.

SaCola Lehr 00:46:56 Great, great. So I think what I really want to know is so for those who do are interested in your coaching program, where they go locally to get lab work done, or do you set in order, do they have to get the lab work done from their regular doctor, and then you discuss that with them? How does that what does that look like?

Dana LaVoie 00:47:19 Yeah. So anyone who's interested I have a free masterclass kind of lays out, you know, how the whole thing works.

Dana LaVoie 00:47:26 And there's a link at the end to my schedule so we can talk and see if it's a good match. Once you're in the, working together with me, you either will have the lab work we need already. But your doctor already did. And you'll send it to me, for I can send in an order for it that you can go to have drawn at a local lab. So it's really easy. Just find the nearest location. It's usually within, you know, they're everywhere. And then they send the results to me and then we go over them together.

SaCola Lehr 00:47:57 Okay. And where can they go to get that, free masterclass?

Dana LaVoie 00:48:03 Yeah. It's making menopause easy.com. That's where the masterclass is. I also have like my main website which has, you know, blog articles for ten years and stuff about me and client stories. And I also have a YouTube channel with some really fun stuff on it about hormone leaks and hormone traffic jams and everything you could imagine. So those are both that Dana Lovejoy, Lac Dana Lavoie, Lac com or YouTube forward slash Dana Lavoie.

Dana LaVoie 00:48:34 Like so yeah. Right.

SaCola Lehr 00:48:36 So check Dana out at Making Menopause easy.com or on her YouTube channel. If you want to get a little more taste and insights of what Dana is talking about and how she is helping countless of women through their menopause journey at Dana Lavoie Laci on YouTube as well. Now, Dana, before I let you go, I have a rapid fire question. And one of them I've got to ask this one because this one is from a working owned private Facebook member. So what is the biggest myth about menopause that you would like to bust?

Dana LaVoie 00:49:14 That it's supposed to have a lot of symptoms, that it's going to be miserable, that it's going to be hard, that you're going to feel worse, that you're going to be weaker and older feeling and looking like, you know, that it's not going to be the prime of your life.

Speaker 4 00:49:32 Okay. Thank you.

SaCola Lehr 00:49:33 And what piece of advice do you wish every woman in perimenopause would hear?

Dana LaVoie 00:49:43 There are so many health benefits, both controlling menopause symptoms and your health after menopause, that you can affect by supporting your hormones from early perimenopause on.

Dana LaVoie 00:50:00 In Chinese medicine, we always say to women who come for menopause treatment. I wish I could put you in a time machine, take you back ten years and start supporting your hormones then, because then everything else is like smooth sailing. So, like I said, the moral of my story is, even if it's simple, right? Get on a plan for managing your hormones now. Plan to give hormonal support for the rest of your life. To help with everything on that list we talked about of diseases Is related to aging with low hormones, aging with high inflammation, severe symptoms during menopause, right? None of them has to be on your path. You can prevent so much of it just by starting to support your hormones. Also, if you're supporting your hormones, they're there in this good place. And if you're going along like what happened to me right when I hit early perimenopause supporting my hormones, I'm going along. I'm a healthy person, and I got these mood swings during PMS that were so severe.

Dana LaVoie 00:50:59 The first time it happened, I was at a concert in a park with my husband and my dogs, and my family came and were sitting on it. They were sitting on a blanket. We're having a picnic. It's a beautiful day. I had nothing was going on in my life that was difficult. And, you know, so my mother says hello and I start crying and I couldn't stop. Right. And I spent the whole day behind the cement like outhouse building, you know, like being, you know, get it together, like, go, go talk to your family. And I couldn't, I couldn't.

Speaker 4 00:51:28 Control.

Dana LaVoie 00:51:28 It. And I had to cancel all my appointments at work the next week. I thought, how can I live like this? What is going on? Am I going crazy? Just like so many women think you know, two days later I get my period. I feel totally normal. And I thought, that was perimenopausal PMS. I knew what it meant, I knew what to do about it.

Dana LaVoie 00:51:48 I just tweaked my herbs a little bit the next month. It was half as intense. The month after that it was 75% gone. I haven't had it since. That was many years ago. So if you have these tools, if you if you are managing your hormones, if you know how to understand what they're saying and adjust them when needed and you're supporting them so none of them are bottomed out. If something comes up, you can course correct so quickly and so easily that no symptoms take you off track for more than, you know, a very short period of time. And you're preventing so much like now is the time. What if it was Mark Hyman say that, you know, the heart attack you had in your 70s started in your 50s, starts even sooner than that, you know, and hormonal the hormonal piece is tied to so many symptoms and diseases. So don't wait to start supporting your hormones. That would be my, my advice.

SaCola Lehr 00:52:43 Thank you. It's never too early to start.

SaCola Lehr 00:52:46 Most people say it's never too late to start, but it's never too early.

Speaker 4 00:52:49 To start taking care of your health.

SaCola Lehr 00:52:51 And your hormones. So as we've learned today. But thank you, Dana. First of all, thank you so much. If you want to follow Dana, be sure to check her out on her YouTube channel, Daniel Lacy, her website. Don't forget to sign up for that masterclass because it's free, guys. Free at making https://danalavoielac.com/ . And guys, I mean, perimenopause doesn't have to disrupt your work or your personal life. And with the right natural remedies and something that's tailor fit and custom to you. With proactive steps, you can maintain your energy, your mental clarity and overall well-being. And again, huge thank you to you, Dana, sharing your experience and offering practical strategies to help women and their loved ones to help them navigate this transitional phase with confidence and letting them know that it is not the end all be all. You don't have to suffer through this for the long term.

SaCola Lehr 00:53:52 There are safe ways to take care of your health. That's the bottom line. Remember to take care of your hormones. This is an act of self-care that benefits every area of your life. And if you want to dive deeper into Dana's world and use of natural remedies and vibrant aging, be sure to check out her resources. And until next time, continue to work it, live it, own it in your everyday lives, guys. Take care.

women's health

63: Manage Perimenopause Naturally: Boost Your Work-Life Performance with Dana LaVoie