Ep. 94 Understanding Menopause with Patrice Lockhart

[00:00:06] I'm Michele Simms and this is The Beauty in the Mess, a community where people who crave a shift in mindset, personal growth, and connection to like-minded people come together to start rewriting their stories. Through engaging, honest, and insightful conversations, the show will help you embrace the mess to recognize the meanings and the lessons it holds and discover its hidden treasures to help you start making a mindset shift. Let's listen, learn, and reclaim who we were meant to be.

[00:00:34] Hi friend, welcome to The Beauty in the Mess. I had the opportunity recently to learn from Patrice Lockhart, a menopause coach who shares her personal journey and experiences with menopause. Patrice details her early struggles with sleep, weight gain, and anxiety, eventually leading her to become a menopause health practitioner. She discusses the physiological and psychological impacts of menopause, the role of estradiol, and the importance of menopause education.

[00:01:02] She also emphasizes natural remedies, diets, and lifestyle adjustments to manage symptoms effectively. Patrice is an esteemed figure in the field of menopause education and is certified with menopause movement in the UK. She is the visionary behind the acclaimed What Every Woman Should Know About Menopause Masterclass, an online sanctuary of knowledge that serves as a personalized guide for women seeking clarity, control, and joy throughout their menopausal journey.

[00:01:31] At the core of her mission lies a profound desire to leave every woman she encounters better than she found her. With this ethos guiding her every action, Patrice strives to empower women to embrace change, reclaim control, and find fulfillment in the journey beyond menopause. Hi, I'm Michelle Sims, your host. I'm just a regular person who, along with my family, have had our share of messes that we too have had to overcome.

[00:01:56] Along the way, I got curious as to how others get through their messes and even triumph over them. Maybe there's a better way, a faster way. Maybe we can accelerate our journeys by learning from someone else. That started my pursuit. I think we can all learn from each other through the sharing of our experiences, lessons, and knowledge. So join me for episode 94 of The Beauty and the Mess called Understanding Menopause with Patrice Lockhart.

[00:02:23] So without further ado, let's dive right into today's conversation. Hi, Patrice. Welcome to The Beauty and the Mess. I'm so happy to have you with me today. Hi, it is so awesome. Thank you, Michelle, for having me here. Oh, absolutely. Now, I know you're a menopause coach. Before we dig into that a little bit, I was wondering if you would mind telling us some of your personal journey, like what led you down the path that made you want to decide to become a menopause coach?

[00:02:52] Well, my journey actually began with me going into menopause and not knowing what was going on with me. When I went into menopause, I was in my early 40s, about 40, 41. I was working in the corporate world. I began to put on weight for about a year. Let me just say, for about a year, I was having sleep issues. And I began to put on weight, didn't understand. I'd always been small all my life.

[00:03:21] All of a sudden, I'm having issues with weight. Then I was dealing with anxiety. And I had no clue as to what was going on. And that year of not sleeping well went into six weeks of sleeping for under an hour, to an hour. And at this point, by the time when I would close my eyes, the old black and white TV back in the day,

[00:03:50] that's what I would see when I close my eyes. There would be like bits and pieces of a movie and black and white scenes. And I didn't know what was going on. And that happened for six weeks. And I was barely sleeping. Then that turned into day, night, another day, another night, another day, and another night of not a wing of sleep. I was wired.

[00:04:18] I didn't know what was going on. And there came a point. And honestly, during this time, I was dealing with marital issues. And I was dealing with rejection. And it got to a point where I had to ask for help. A family member literally had to come and take me out of my home and take care of me for two weeks. It got that bad.

[00:04:44] When I stopped sleeping, I didn't know what was going on. And I initially thought it had all to do with the situation I was dealing with. And I remember when I got to the point of that third night, I cannot describe what it was like. The family member who had taken me in was my sister-in-law.

[00:05:13] She worked at a hospital in the lab. And when I stopped sleeping, I remember she looked at me. She looked at me in the eye. And she said, Patrice, do you understand what happens when you stop sleeping like this? And she was looking me dead in the eye. And she said, your organs are going to start shutting down. And at that point, my body was just doing crazy things I couldn't explain.

[00:05:39] And by the third night, because I kept on saying, I just need to sleep. I just need to sleep. By that third night, it felt like I was just losing it. And I went on and I said, I'm ready to go to the doctor. That night, they took me. Well, she did. And I went into the hospital. The doctor examined me. And I kept on saying, give me something.

[00:06:09] I was begging at this point. Just give me something to make me sleep. They examined me. He saw and said that nothing was wrong with me physically. And he spoke to her. And he had suggested, he had said I needed to take me to the psychiatrist. After they had their conversation, I wasn't there when they had it. He dealt with her privately. Then she came back to me and said, listen, I can get you help. We can get you help.

[00:06:38] But it's a psychiatrist. They want to admit you to help you. I looked at her and I said, can the doctor help me to sleep? She said, yes. I said, yes. At that point, I would have done anything to sleep. I bet. They admitted me. It wasn't a happy point for me. Then they released me because they brought me before these doctors. They examined me, spoke with me.

[00:07:07] And they released me, said nothing's wrong with me psychologically. The doctors had said there was nothing wrong with me physically. Nothing was wrong with me psychologically, mentally. I was fine. Yet I was dealing with anxiety. I was putting on weight. And I wasn't sleeping. It ended up in eight years of dealing with perimenopausal symptoms. One part of that journey, the doctors thought I'd had a heart attack. They came to my house, et cetera.

[00:07:37] No doctor. Eight doctors. No one was able to tell me I was perimenopausal. Wow. And it was one morning around two in the morning. I called my girlfriend. I thought I was dying. I really thought that was it. And I called her and I told her what was going on. And ever so gently, she said to me, Patrice, I don't know why you don't accept the fact that you're perimenopausal.

[00:08:05] So when she said that to me, I stopped because I had just done research because no doctor was able to tell me what was going on. And it was, everything was pointing that to the, my symptoms, but in my mind, I was too young. I thought that was for old women. And it wasn't until I accepted that fact that I was perimenopausal, that I began a journey

[00:08:35] to get answers. I was already in the natural health field. And so that was my default to go to. And at that point, the worst thing I was dealing with at that point in my life was the heart palpitations. I used to be weak. They used to make me feel like I'm, I can't breathe. And that was the first thing I had to learn to help myself with.

[00:09:01] And then it made me curious because I wanted to know this was something that was normal. Why haven't I heard about it? And I ended up doing research. I went to a school group of women my age going through the same thing. And I was shocked to find out that it was a normal thing. But 50 something women, I exposed myself in a chat with women.

[00:09:27] I just needed to know if there's anybody else who had these experiences. And that day, about 50 something, 50 women talked about the experiences. And it confused. First of all, I was relieved that I wasn't going crazy and I wasn't alone. But I was confused that if it's normal, how come I hadn't heard about it?

[00:09:51] And that began my journey of me diving into menopause, then studying to be a menopause health practitioner. And here I am today. I saw from my research that there is a huge need for this. And there's not a lot of, it looks like not a lot of research, not a lot of discussion, not a lot of anything going on with menopause, which is shocking because every female that

[00:10:19] lives long enough is going to go through it, right? Yes. And that is what I couldn't understand. My thing was, okay, so if, and it made, I then had to go to my mom when I learned this was normal because in my culture, what is said is called a change of life. So that's what I always heard about, a change of life. I didn't know anything about menopause.

[00:10:46] I knew when I worked in an organization, there were two women in that age group. And there was one lady who was always hot and the air condition in the office was freezing. And she was asking us to turn up and we're all looking at her and like, don't you feel how freezing in here is? And we would tease her about a personal summer. Well, I've come to learn to regret that because now I understand.

[00:11:16] But yes, there is a lack of education. And that's why I'm so passionate about teaching women about menopause. What is the typical range for perimenopause and for menopause? When does this normally occur? Okay. Women go into menopause in their forties, their early forties, whether you recognize it or not, you go into menopause in your forties. In fact, I describe it like this.

[00:11:42] Every female, we come to this earth with what I call a basket of eggs. We come with about 33 years worth of eggs. And when we go into puberty, puberty is the beginning of the reproductive phase. Menopause is the ending of our reproductive phase. And we have a hormone, an estrogen hormone called estradiol. And she introduces herself to you.

[00:12:08] In fact, she said to you, Michelle, when you were about 12, 13, whenever you went into puberty, she said, hi, Michelle. I cannot let you go back to God with all of these eggs in your basket. You obviously need my help. And so she came into your life and you started having breasts. You had hair under your arm. And then you begin to have a monthly period. And this hormone, I call her a female.

[00:12:34] She's called estradiol because I tell the women she's dramatic, just like women, full of drama. And she stays with us for until our eggs are finished. Now, the thing about her is that she begins this journey with us. And she said to you, Michelle, you weren't listening. Now, Michelle, I'm not going to be with you forever. When you get about 40 and I look into your basket and you have eight to 10 years worth of eggs left,

[00:13:04] I am going to begin packing my bags. And when she does that, that period in a woman's life is called perimenopause. And most of us don't know when our bodies shift into that last eight to 10 years of eggs left in our basket. Most women don't even recognize it until we get into that late 40s when the estradiol, and I say I use it like a tank of gas.

[00:13:32] Our estradiol tank of gas really begins to get really low. And the thing is she has a lot to do with the functions in your body. So around your 40s is when women begin. But perimenopause is actually eight to 10 years before a woman stops bleeding. Oh, wow. Then she goes into menopause. Menopause itself is actually a day.

[00:13:58] A woman does not go into menopause until she's had 12 full months of not bleeding. Okay. That day you have stopped. That makes you 12 months. You are in menopause. Then, which usually happens between 51 and 58 years old. Now, this, depending on your culture, it ranges.

[00:14:23] Because in the U.S., Blacks and Latino women are found to end around average age 49. Caucasian women, both in the U.S. and in the U.K., end between about 51. Here in the Bahamas, we have not had any data. But what I have been with my clients over the years, I have been collecting data. And the women end, we do have a group that ends around 49.

[00:14:53] But most end goes into menopause between 51 and 54 years old. So, again, research has been showing that culturally it can vary. But globally, women between 51 and 58 is when we go into menopause. And then women go into what's called post-menopause. Post-menopause is when our bodies have gotten now used to no hormone.

[00:15:23] By this time, estradiol has left. When you're in perimenopause, she had begun to diminish. And that's why you would begin to have symptoms sometimes. Today, you're up. Tomorrow, you're halfway here. Later on today, you're really down. Next minute, she's up. She does the seesaw. But by the time you get into post-menopause, she is gone.

[00:15:45] So, your body now has to adjust to not having the support that estradiol has been giving your body all of these years. Wow. I think the most surprising thing is how long that perimenopause phase lasts. Because I don't think that's talked about much at all. Actually, average age globally is 65 when women's symptoms diminish.

[00:16:12] And there are over 60-something symptoms. And one of the things that I talk a lot about is that menopause affects women on three levels. Physically, emotionally, and psychologically. And unfortunately, because we weren't taught so many things previously,

[00:16:35] previously, menopause, and it was in 1970, around that time, menopause became medicalized, where synthetic hormone was first introduced. But prior to that, they were giving women crushed ovaries. It's so interesting when you do the research on it. Many women were put in mental institutions.

[00:16:58] And it was because menopause has not been respected as a women's health issue. Wow. And menopause affects a woman's brain. Estradiol, that hormone that she has so much to do with the functioning of so much of our bodies. And that's why we have so many issues. For example, the brain. There are women.

[00:17:27] Women have the hot flashes, the night sweats, the headaches, the dizziness, the nausea. Because of their vasomotor system is affected. And there's a part of their brain where she has this area that's affected is called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the area that's responsible for temperature control in a woman's brain.

[00:17:59] Okay. And I always tell women, hormones are big wigs in your body. They have a lot of say in your body. And when you, a woman has a hot flash, her brain, what happens is her brain gets a signal that she is in a crisis mode. And the brain says, okay, we need to calm her down.

[00:18:24] And the brain, once the brain sends this message, the blood vessels open and blood rushes through a woman's vessels. And that's what we call a hot flash. And some women, they drench in sweat. And it's the body's way of trying to help a woman to calm down. That's a part of her brain that hypothalamus is affected. There's another part of a woman's brain that we weren't taught, told about, is affected. It's called the amygdala.

[00:18:51] The amygdala is our emotional center. Women become irritable. Women become depressed. Women get moody. Women get aggressive. I mean, a wide range. They have low moods. And it's not because they're trying to be difficult. That area, the amygdala, has been supported by the estradiol all of these years, from puberty to now.

[00:19:19] And the fact that her gas tank is getting lower and lower, that part of the brain is not getting the support it needs to get. So I tell husbands, many husbands, listen, she's not trying to be difficult. Something's going on with that part of her brain. I have women tell me, I don't cry. I'm crying. What am I crying for? Then there's another part of the brain that's affected called the hypocapers. That's our memory part of the brain.

[00:19:47] Many women find themselves, they go in one room, and then they're standing there. Okay, so what am I here for? What did I walk in this room for? We complain of the memory fog, lack of focus and concentration. Again, that part of the brain, the hypocapers, is not getting the support. And then we have women who can't sleep, who deal with insomnia. The brain, the brain stem is not getting the support.

[00:20:16] And so these are all because we are women and because we, this part in our life, the estradiol that has been functioning to help us all of these years. She has decided to pack up and leave. And when she leaves, these are many of the effects that women feel during this phase from perimenopause to postmenopause.

[00:20:41] It's interesting because my first introduction to anything about menopause was my mom went through this period where all of a sudden I would call her up to see how she is and she would just start sobbing. And I would say, mom, what's wrong? And she's like, I don't even know. And I mean, she's just sobbing. And it would make me so sad.

[00:21:03] And I'd gone to work one day and I was just thinking back as I'm working about whatever this is going on for months with my mom. And I got teary eyed and a man working beside me. He's like, what's the matter? And I said, oh, I'm thinking about my mom. And she just every time I call her, she tells me she doesn't even know what's wrong, but she's sobbing her eyes out. I'm thinking she's not telling me what's really wrong. And he goes, how old is she?

[00:21:32] And I think she was like 54 at the time. Oh, menopause. Yeah. He goes, oh, it's menopause. Get her to the doctor. She'll be fine. I talked her into going to the doctor and that's what it was. Yeah. But before that, neither one of us had a clue. And interestingly enough, that's a global thing. And that was one of the reasons that made me decide to become a menopause health practitioner because I couldn't for the life of me.

[00:21:59] If this is so normal, why aren't women talking about it? Why is there only about two and a half hours of study time the doctors have? Why don't our doctors, why haven't they been educated to help us when we get to this phase? There are so many stories culturally. There's so many taboos that has been related to it. And it's unfortunate. And it's unfortunate.

[00:22:29] So many women, and we have women who have had psychological issues in their lives before. And most of these women, when they go into menopause, it reoccurs. And because we're not taught, unfortunately, a lot of women are put on antidepressants, which is not necessary. Some are put in institutionalized.

[00:22:57] And it's because for whatever reason, it's been a lack of education. And that's why I'm so passionate about talking to women about menopause. Because I know my personal story. And I have thousands of stories, I can tell you, of women all over in my country, in the Caribbean. I have women in the U.S. who have been my clients.

[00:23:25] And the story is general. The story is global. We have not been taught. So we go into this phase of our lives. We're thinking we're going to die. We think the worst. We don't understand what's going on. Normal is taken away from us, for many women. And the dots are not connected that it's menopause. It's unfortunate. Yeah.

[00:23:52] A lot of those symptoms, especially, I think, the memory, like you said, walking into a room and forgetting why you went in there. If you tell your doctor that, they're like, oh, you're just getting older. I mean, they don't mention that it can be a menopausal symptom. They just say, oh, you're getting older. Don't worry about it. You're distracted. And the sleep, the same thing. I hear a lot of us have sleep issues. And they just tell you that you're getting older or you're overstressed or you're this or that. You never hear menopause.

[00:24:22] Yeah. It's unfortunate. But it is true. I remember one of the doctors I had gone to, and let me just be transparent. I ended up hooked on sleeping pills for a while. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep. So I needed sleeping pills. And I remember I had gone to a physician and I had said, I need something to help me sleep.

[00:24:48] And when he checked my file, he saw that I was being given sleeping pills. And so he didn't, he was very reluctant. And I'm like, I need the sleeping pills. Give me my sleeping, I need to sleep. Yeah. And then he wanted to, he had suggested about antidepressants. And I was so irritated with him when he suggested antidepressants because I just, it was crazy.

[00:25:14] I just said to a friend of mine, this is the most happy I've been. I feel so good, so free because I was dealing with the separation now of my, my former husband and myself. And I found myself, I was able, I used to go sit on the beach, take my food, enjoy. I was enjoying life. And I was talking about how much I was enjoying it. And then to go to the doctor, the only thing issue I was dealing with right then was the sleep.

[00:25:43] And you want to put me on antidepressant. And I, in my head, I looked at him, do I look depressed to you? And you know what he said to me? Okay, I'll give you some, I'll give you some pills, but afterwards you may have to go on antidepressant. Then he said, this happens to women. I don't know why it happens to my mother. My mother's like that too. Oh, wow. And I looked at him. Wow. This is what I'm paying you for. I need solutions. I don't need it.

[00:26:11] And all of this pushed me in the direction of studying menopause. And then I'm a woman of faith. I believe strongly in God. And I, all of a sudden when these issues were happening, and then I started, this is before I decided to pursue menopause as a career. Women started coming to me for help. And at this time, I'm trying to help myself.

[00:26:40] And it's like, so why, Lord, why are these women coming to me? I have my own issues I'm trying to work out. Now, all of a sudden, women are coming to me for help. And all of that helped to push me. There was a client of mine who stopped speaking for one whole entire month. Not a word. Wow. Not a word. There's so many stories of menopausal women and their journey.

[00:27:08] And I just knew I had to be a solution to what was going on around me and in the world. So did I hear you say earlier that our doctors only get like two and a half hours of menopause training during all the years that they're? Yes. Yeah. That's insane. That's why so many of us, like I went eight doctors. When you listen to Oprah Winfrey, she had five doctors. You listen to Halle Berry.

[00:27:36] Now more and now more and more women. And I'm so happy to hear that because there's now more and more women like myself deciding we've got to do something. Like in my country, in the Bahamas, I am the first in the Bahamas and in the Caribbean. I'm the first one, menopause health practitioner. And literally, you have to like, it's quite interesting. You have the women.

[00:28:06] There are so many women who hear and they come because it's like, oh, God, somebody understands. Somebody knows what I'm going through. I paid monies. I've been all over the place. I've been not been able to get help. I would put these same women on protocol and their hormones would be balanced again. And they would be like, oh, you are a godsend.

[00:28:27] And right now, one of the things that I'm very interested in doing in my country and in the Caribbean is making sure that menopause education is available to women. Because we weren't taught it in schools. In our school systems, we're taught about puberty. We're taught about sex education.

[00:28:48] But interestingly enough, we are taught that at the end of this puberty we're talking about, there's going to be a time for what's called menopause for women. And even for men, there's andropause. They have their time that they go through as well. Not like ours as erotic. Theirs is a gradual decline of hormone from about 30, but very, very, very slow, very gradual. Us, us is an erratic hue.

[00:29:17] And that's why it affects us so much. But menopause education is so important. And even recognizing menopause in the workplace. I worked in the corporate world. And I worked at one point with all men. There was about two more females in the area I worked in. And when I wasn't sleeping, I had a very embarrassing incident that happened to me.

[00:29:45] Working with all men in this area. And my boss was a male. Having a meeting. I'm the only female in the meeting. And these men are from all over the world. Every nationality. And I'm deliberately at the back because I know I'm not sleeping. I'm having days. I mean, no sleep. And I was fighting sleep. And obviously, I fell asleep.

[00:30:15] And my boss at the head of the room said, Patrice, stop sleeping. The entire room of males turned and looked at me. It was one of the most humiliating experiences ever. I couldn't talk to him because he didn't know what he wouldn't understand. I didn't even understand what was going on.

[00:30:38] But at that juncture, because my job was now at risk, I had to go in and speak with him to let him know. He didn't even know I was in the hospital. And that was the kind of environment. And that was the kind of environment I worked in. I was in the middle of the day.

[00:31:06] And that's the only thing that was able to give a thread of hope that something was really wrong with me and to get a male to understand. And we have women having to show up in corporate organizations and businesses. They haven't slept. They're not sleeping. Yet they have to perform. And in that environment, being a female, in the corporate world, you have to leave your troubles at the door. Right.

[00:31:34] And you have to perform no matter what. Whatever is going on, you leave that there. You have to perform. And it was tough. It was really, really hard. There was no way I could give my all. I wasn't sleeping. Right. I was on sleeping pills. And at that point, and that was before I went on to the sleeping pills, because like I said, I stopped sleeping. I literally stopped sleeping.

[00:32:04] And eventually I learned that it was my, the cortisol in my body was like, it was turned on and it wouldn't turn off. And so that's why I was putting on the weight around here. And I needed to sleep for that hormone to stop the adrenaline, to stop producing the cortisol. But in order for that to happen, I needed to sleep. And in order for me to sleep, I needed the cortisol to stop. And the cortisol and the adrenaline, that's your fight or flight hormone.

[00:32:32] So my body was stuck in that kind of fight or flight day and night, day and night. And again, I needed help. And when you're looking for help, you're going everywhere you think you're supposed to go and can't get help. You get desperate. I prayed. I prayed. I prayed. Oh, I prayed for help.

[00:32:57] And again, it wasn't until my sister-in-law in the middle of the night helped me to recognize that I was perimenopausal. And the first thing I did to help myself, because I was having severe heart palpitations, I had learned that potassium regulates the heartbeat. And listen, at that point, I loved bananas. Two, three o'clock in the morning, my heart starts racing.

[00:33:27] I'm weak and I have a hard time breathing. I'll have four or five, six bananas. And I would be eating. Listen here. And I promise you, as sure as the sun rises and sets, the heart rate would regulate. That blew me. And I just kept on going because I needed to keep finding answers to what was going on with me.

[00:33:53] And again, I had to, with the help of God, be my own rescue. Yeah, I can. I totally relate to that. I work in a male-dominated field and facility. And once in a while, there's another woman in the room, very rarely. And I've seen one that is definitely, in my opinion, she seems to be going through menopause because she's having the hot. All of a sudden, she's picking up something going, oh, she's just. Yeah.

[00:34:20] And you feel such compassion and empathy, but the men are clueless, right? I mean, they know what's happening. I think they have a broad understanding that this is menopause, but they don't get it on how this probably makes her feel, right? To be sweating profusely all of a sudden in a room full of men that, like you said, you're presenting something or talking about something and you can't control any of this. Yeah. And the sleep is a huge issue, I think. Yes.

[00:34:50] Yeah, it is. And there is help. And that's one of the things I blow the trumpet about to women. There is help. Now, I deal with women naturally. I teach women that menopause is a natural transition in a woman's life. You came into this world just how you came into this world as a baby. Then you moved on to being a toddler. Then you moved on to being a little girl, et cetera. And all of these stages. Then you moved on to being a reproductive adult.

[00:35:19] You are going, a part of your destiny, if you are blessed to live, move into your 40s and 50s, is that you're going to end that time of reproduction. We have not been taught how to deal with it. We've not been taught. And then our lifestyles is another thing that makes the transition so much more difficult. We're eating foods that are genetically modified. We're eating foods with a lot of hormones in it.

[00:35:48] We go into the menopausal transition. Our liver and our adrenal glands are overworked and strained. And so going to this part where there's going to be a greater demand for these organs. And we're eating things that just make it worse. We're very stressed out. We deal with so much stress.

[00:36:16] And I often tell women, stress and menopause is not a good marriage. It is not a good marriage. We normally put on weight in the thigh area and body area. During menopause, it comes around the gut area or the middle area. And all of that is because of the decline of that same hormone called estradiol.

[00:36:39] And after she leaves, our adrenal glands take over to release a weaker form of estrogen as well as there's some fat that is trying to release a weaker form of estrogen to help us. And so we're putting all this weight around here. It's the body trying to help itself. But we have not been taught that, you know what, there are ways you can help yourself. There are ways you can help balance your hormones naturally.

[00:37:09] Nature has its own hormone replacement therapy in phytoestrogen. It's also a time women need to understand that brain health is so very important. So taking care of the brain with the omega-3s, keeping the brain sharp, et cetera.

[00:37:27] There are so many things that directly because we go into menopause that that happens to us that for years has been associate or thought was age related. But really, no, it's menopause. Yeah, and I was going to ask you, so I'm glad you brought that up, about what your thoughts were on the types of foods we eat today. Because there are hormones in everything if you're not careful.

[00:37:56] And so do you recommend, like, people start trying to rid their diet of these types of foods and be more aware of what they're putting into their mouth? Yes. One of the things I help my clients with, and they are always astounded when they get results. I teach women that our bodies have the ability to heal, rebuild, restore, and maintain itself.

[00:38:21] Our bodies have a natural internal intelligence system that works. That's why when you cut yourself, there's a healing process that will take place. You don't have to do anything. The body will naturally heal. You broke a bone, there is an internal intelligence system designed for repair. And it's the same even with going through menopause.

[00:38:47] There are foods that, there's something called phytoestrogen. This is plant estrogen that we can put, we can eat, we can load up with our bodies that will help to offset that minus for the estradiol that we no longer have. And I teach my clients, I teach my clients how to put meals together that are menopause friendly.

[00:39:15] When you put your meal together, you want to make sure your meal has phytoestrogen, plant estrogen. So you're pulling back into your body the assistance it needs. You want to make sure on your plate there's omega, omega-3. We need to be helping our brain. Also our bones. Our digestive system. Also many women, the digestive system is affected because of the off balance of the hormones.

[00:39:43] So even taking care, even eating the soluble fiber and high fiber foods to make sure that we help the gut heal. Eating foods that have a lot of fermented foods is also good. And I teach women how to heal the body naturally. And not just heal the body, but help the body to maintain itself.

[00:40:10] You create the environment, I promise you the body will naturally respond because you're giving it what it needs. So yes, food is a must as far as the menopausal journey is concerned. Staying away from genetically modified foods, foods filled with hormones. These foods that have these hormones, they are endocrine disruptors in our bodies.

[00:40:39] And hormones, remember what I said, they send signals. They're big, I tell them, they're big wigs in our bodies. And so they have a lot to say. And a hormone is a hormone is a hormone. Whether that hormone is from a pig that's in your body that you ate, a pregnant cow that you bought the beef from the store. And if she was pregnant, then I think that's a thousand times more hormones that will be entering your body.

[00:41:09] Wow. And that chicken, et cetera. A hormone is a hormone. And hormones, they have signaling power. So when you put these other hormones in your body, they, again, they cause what's called endocrine disruptors. And they disrupt this hormone signaling in our own bodies. And our bodies are ready as women during this time going through a tough time.

[00:41:35] Because estradiol has been helping the brain to function, helping our muscles, our joints, our bones, our digestive system. And to add insult to injury when we're not taking good care physically as far as what to put in it to nourish the body, to fuel the body. It makes it much harder. Yes, it does.

[00:42:00] Now, I had read that estradiol is one of the most anti-inflammatory hormones in the body. And so when she leaves, as you put it, that's when we get a lot of inflammatory conditions, right? Yes. In fact, estradiol acts like a painkiller in our body. That's why we're able to have these babies and go through so much. And then we look at the man and say, oh, they can't take much at all.

[00:42:29] Estradiol literally is a painkiller in our bodies. And that's why we become so achy afterwards. And we have the joint pains and this pain and that pain. Wow. Our friend has left us. And so because she has had so much to do with so much of the functions in our body, we are affected. Yes. Do you believe in hormone therapy outside of getting it from your food sources?

[00:42:55] Do you think that sometimes that's necessary or do you think you can do it all with food? And I mean like bioidentical, not the synthetic. Okay. Right. Now, yeah, I teach women. Now, I go straight for the natural me. But I understand not every woman's pain threshold is the same. I say to women, if you have to, there are three choices. There's the natural, there's bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

[00:43:25] And that's where they use from soy. The hormones is from the soy that they make. And then the synthetic, that is the last to me because of what I've seen with my clients. I don't even use that as a choice. But I've seen women who have and I've had to deal with them in the after effects of it. I understand every woman's pain threshold isn't the same. And so I say go the natural route.

[00:43:53] And then if you find that you need more help, then go the next step up. Go bioidentical hormone replacement therapy before you go and you consider doing hormone replacement. Because there are you, I always tell women, understand what you are getting into. Go do your research. Don't just listen. And I respect doctors highly.

[00:44:19] I send women, I said, if that's your choice, then I would advise you go on Facebook. There are a lot of support groups. Whatever you have been told to go on, find a support group of women who are taking that. You want to hear from them, see where they're at. Who's been taking for about a year or two years or however long. And you want to see what their life looks like one year afterwards, five years afterwards, ten years afterwards. Because, and you've got to connect the dots.

[00:44:48] And then you have to see, you need to have a clear picture for yourself, what you're getting into. And you make a better informed decision. Because too many come to me afterwards and say, if only I'd known, I didn't know, I was desperate. I hear that. Oh yeah, I'm sure. I was just wondering, when the estradiol levels go down, why do we see an increase in heart disease for women?

[00:45:16] Is that because of the anti-inflammatory aspects of estradiol? Yeah. It's because of the actual, because of what estradiol does. Now, when a woman goes into her late 40s and into her early 50s, we are naturally at risk for heart disease. And it's because of the function that estradiol once had.

[00:45:40] Estradiol, when it comes to our cholesterol, literally estradiol supported the good cholesterol to do what it had to do and kept the bad cholesterol at bay. Now, when, and it becomes a matter of when the cat's away, because when estradiol goes, now remember she was keeping the bad cholesterol away. Right. And now that the cat's away, the rat is going to play.

[00:46:06] And so when that happens, a lot of women, we become, we find that we're dealing with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol issues. And it's because of the direct effect that estradiol had on keeping the cholesterol, the good cholesterol, assisting good cholesterol and keeping the bad cholesterol away. Okay. And so that's why we have to amp it up.

[00:46:32] We find that you could have eaten carbs and carbs had very little effect. Now you're having carbs and you didn't insulin resist. And you hear me, I do like this weight, this weight, this weight. I am always having to keep my weight down because of menopause. And my issue is because of, I'm, I'm, like I said, I'm the first here in my country and in the Caribbean.

[00:47:01] And so my workload is heavy. And I'm one of those, I will admit, I can, I take on a lot. And I will go and I will go and I will go and I will go and I will go. And I'm helping everybody and talking to everybody. But at the same time, sometimes I'm not doing what I should be doing.

[00:47:23] Sometimes I'm causing myself so much pressure and also much stress that the cortisol I'm putting on, but I see myself putting on the weight. And it's like, wow. It's one thing to have all the information. I've studied it. But when you see your body doing it, that's another level. I too, again, like I said, I have to make sure I am in line, but it does affect us in that way.

[00:47:49] And that's why so many women are at risk for heart disease in their 50s. That's why it's one of the, I think it is, I know in my country, it's the number one, it's the one cause mortality for women from 50 and over. Yeah. I think it is in the United States as well. But we weren't taught that.

[00:48:10] Oh, I know for women listening that think now they didn't dawn on it before, but they're like, oh, wow, I might be in perimenopause or maybe I'm in menopause or what's the number one thing they, if they're going to focus on one thing first, is it diet? Is it exercise? Is it trying to get to sleep? Is it actually all of the above? What should they do first? Because it seems kind of overwhelming. Yeah. Menopause education. Okay.

[00:48:37] And what I did was I have a masterclass that I put together and I put it together because I recognize the first thing that we should be is knowledgeable and we're not knowledgeable. And many times women are trying to grasp at straws to try and fix it.

[00:48:56] But if you don't have the full picture where it's simple, not full of a bunch of scientific words, just a simple picture so that women can understand. I have a masterclass and it's on my website. It's www.menopausesurvivalcare.com.

[00:49:19] And I put that together specifically so that women can have a first step into understanding menopause. It explains menopause. It talks about the various aspects of menopause and it actually gives women a lot of answers as to what you can do for various things, the various symptoms of menopause.

[00:49:41] So it's very simple, uncomplicated for women to be able to connect the dots and with guidance. That sounds awesome, really. And like I said, from what I saw, it's very, very needed because there's just not a lot of resources out there. Yeah. One other question, because I want to be respectful of your time, but what about spouses or significant others of women that are going through menopause? What's the best advice you can give them?

[00:50:11] Oh, I get this all the time. Yeah. I met, in fact, a lot of men call me on the down low to help them because they don't understand what's going on with this woman. What I tell men, the first thing is education. Some of the men have come into my sessions with their wives. And I remember the first male that did that. And at the end of it, he said, now I understand how to help my wife.

[00:50:39] Because men, a lot of women are clueless. So how can they explain to them their counterpart? Right. That's what's going on. And so education, that session that I have also, males can also go into it, access it. Because, again, education, knowledge is power. When you have that, you are equipped. You know what to do. You're not shooting blanks.

[00:51:07] You're not trying to figure out. But knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. Because when they understand, even with the woman, when I explain about what's going on in the brain, and I help men to understand what needs to happen, how you can help her. And when you see certain signals happening, okay, some things, she's about to go there. Then you need to go to the store. And there's a green smoothie I have that they do.

[00:51:32] And there's a number of things that they know, okay, she needs to go back on a protocol, et cetera, because she's low, et cetera. And education, first and foremost. Okay. That equips me. That's awesome. So is there anything I didn't ask today that you want to make sure that the listeners hear? Or do you think we've pretty much covered the gap? We've covered a lot. We've covered a lot.

[00:51:56] The biggest thing is I want to say to women, again, menopause is a natural transition in your life. It is not a disease. It is not a medical condition. We just have not been taught. It's a natural transition in your life and in your body. And the more educated you are about it, the more you learn how to help yourself. And I have helped so many women.

[00:52:26] And they have been shocked that it's been this easy. Now, I'm not saying you snap a finger and everything goes away because it is a transition. But the transition can be a whole lot smoother and easier with education as to what you need to be doing, how to recognize certain things, and how you can recognize even when your body is saying, I say, when your body is talking to you.

[00:52:55] It's still about education. And again, I have put together that masterclass just for that, for women and even their spouses to become knowledgeable. I think that's wonderful. Wonderful. So is there, I know you said you mentioned your website, and I'll make sure that that's in the show notes. Is there any social media that you're also on that people can connect or follow you on? Yes, I'm on Facebook, menopause survival care dot com.

[00:53:24] I even have a Facebook private Facebook community, also menopause survival care. And I can be on any of those. And also what I have the website as well. Now, I'm developing one or two things that I'm tweaking. But those are the main ways that women can access me. Again, my website, my contact is there via email, phone contact. All of that is there.

[00:53:54] I've got a lot of resources out there that women can access. Okay, awesome. I want to thank you for your wisdom and for sharing it with us today and your experiences. And I think you are very needed in this world. So I value your mission and your passion to bring awareness and education to everyone because we absolutely need it. Thank you. And it's all destiny. I feel as though it's what I was born to do. God had purpose.

[00:54:24] I didn't ask for this, but he let me know this is his will. And I'm like, yes, I will because it's needed. Yes. You know what your destiny is, what your gift is. I think that's one of the best gifts God gives people. So I think that's awesome. Yes. Yeah. Know what you're here to do. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. It is fulfilling. Very fulfilling. Yeah.

[00:54:53] I would think it would be. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. I've enjoyed it. There's a thousand questions we could ask, obviously. But I enjoy learning and I appreciate all your wisdom, like I said. So thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Have a great day. You too. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. As we wrap up today's episode, I hope Patrice sharing her knowledge, experience, and wisdom has helped you in some way.

[00:55:19] I think noting the lack of awareness and education surrounding menopause is extremely important. I think a lot of women probably feel lost and maybe a little alone as they go through this, which is very sad and unnecessary. Menopause can definitely affect a woman mentally and physically. And being prepared for those changes can help drastically. And that's where someone like Patrice comes in, a menopause coach who can help you get through these hurdles and these changes.

[00:55:49] And I love how Patrice emphasizes more natural paths to dealing with all of these changes. I hope you enjoyed today's show. I would love to hear from you. As always, I hope this episode helps at least one person. And with that, I hope you have a blessed week, my friend. Thank you for listening to The Beauty and the Mess. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share it with a friend.

[00:56:14] And if you haven't already, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite pod player. If you have any questions or comments, any topic ideas you would like to hear about, or you think you would be a great guest on the show, you can reach me directly at thebeautyandthemess.com. Thanks for listening.