954: LEADERSHIP STORIES: A New Me: My Personal Menopause & HRT Follow Up

A few months ago, I shared some of my personal experiences in perimenopause.  Today I am back with a big update. Since the last episode on this topic, I had a severe shift in my mental health, including a raging comeback of my lifelong anxiety and panic.  On top of this, I started having emotional responses to situations that I could tell were very much disproportionate to the situation, yet I couldn’t seem to talk myself out of severe and dark emotional states. Initially, I thought this was all due to general life stress and the relentless state of the world. After a few months of waking up in sheer panic night after night, I asked my doctor if we could recheck my hormones. WOW, did those lab results paint a picture! 

I received my lab results via email on a Friday afternoon. Since my follow-up with my doctor wasn’t until the next week, I did what any anxiety-ridden perimenopausal 49-year-old woman would do. I went straight to my pal, Chatty (ie: ChatGPT). Chatty broke everything down for me and told me that, based on my lab work, I was very likely in the final stages of perimenopause or early stages of menopause. Chatty also noted that my lack of estrogen (which was so low it literally did not register on the lab work) may have me experiencing the following:

• Tearfulness or crying more easily

• Feeling raw, edgy, or like your “emotional skin is thinner”

• Mood crashes that feel out of proportion to the trigger

• Moments of despair or hopelessness that feel unfamiliar

• Feeling more reactive or “on edge” without clear cause

• Loss of resilience in situations you used to handle with ease

CHECK. CHECK. CHECK. CHECK. I didn’t even realize how incredibly awful I had been feeling until I saw this list and realized that every single item was ME! I took the list to my husband, who lovingly verified that he had seen this all in me in recent months and shared, “You really haven’t been yourself for a while.”

The next week, I had my lab review appointment with my doctor, who told me, “We are going to fast-track HRT for you. You need estrogen asap!” She called in my prescription and warned me that it would take a few weeks, maybe longer, before I noticed any significant changes in how I felt.  

I put on my first hormone patch at 4 pm on a Tuesday. By Wednesday at 8 am, I felt like a new woman! I felt energetic, optimistic, motivated, and at ease. No panic, no anxiety. The sun shone brighter, the chirping birds made me smile (instead of annoying me), I didn’t want to scream at my family for no reason, and I couldn’t wait to tackle my To Do List for the day. I immediately realized how horrible my quality of life had become over the last few months. In short, HRT brought me back to myself in 16 hours.  

In this episode, I share more of my story and provide a few recommendations for you to get the proper support during your own perimenopause/menopause journey. I’m so lucky to have a fantastic doctor, which I know is not the case for so many women. I hope my story will help you find the support you need during this season. If you are a woman between the ages of 35 and 55, this episode is for you! 

Links Mentioned:

• Join my Influence & Ignite Retreat for Women Business Owners: saradean.com/retreat

• Shameless Leadership Ep 924: More Talking About Menopause Please

• Dr. Mary Claire Haver on IG: https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire

• Hire me to speak: saradean.com/speaking

• Coach with me: https://saradean.com/executive-coaching-services

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradeanspeaks

Watch Shameless Leadership episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saradeanspeaks

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