Episode 194: Facing Menopause: A Candid Conversation with a Doctor and a Therapist
This Menopause Awareness Month, we bring together two experts who are specialists in their fields and personally navigating their own menopause journeys. Dr. Janet Choi, an OBGYN, reproductive endocrinologist, and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, and Dr. Juliana Hauser, a therapist with a focus on sexuality and menopause, share their personal experiences with menopause. Alongside their professional expertise, they offer a rare dual perspective on the physical and emotional changes that come with this life stage.
Through this candid conversation, they discuss the often-overlooked aspects of menopause, from hair loss to mental health, shedding light on the profound impact it has on a woman’s identity and quality of life. Together, they emphasize the importance of normalizing these conversations and encouraging women to seek support and treatment during this pivotal time.
Guest: Dr. Juliana Hauser, Therapist and Menopause Expert
Host: Dr. Janet Choi, Chief Medical Officer at Progyny
For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and Progyny’s Education page for more resources. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com.
This episode is also a video! Watch it here:
Going from Expertise to Experience
03:51 – 12:48
Dr. Juliana Hauser: In the medical community, as well as in the mental health community, we aren’t given a lot of education about what the needs are. And I’ve been in my profession for over 20 years now. So over 20 years ago, it was certainly not anything that was ever mentioned.
Dr. Janet Choi: I definitely want to delve into that more deeply, because I can just tell you, as an OBGYN, who’s been taking care of women for decades now, sexual health, which is a very vital part of anyone’s identity and quality of life is sort of swept to the side in both medical school and OBGYN training.
Dr. Juliana Hauser: I’m 53, and two months ago, I had hysterectomy. So, I was in perimenopause for several years. As we know, it’s usually about 10 years. I’m not sure exactly when it began for me, but I discovered that I had a fibroid, and a fibroid was wreaking havoc with my life. With all my education and with all of my personal work in this, it still was a very interesting process to put it into my own life and to realize what my symptoms were and putting all those pieces together.
Dr. Janet Choi: I kind of understood, having gotten a little bit of menopause training in residency, not a whole lot, but some and understanding how hormones worked that in my early 40s, the brain fog, the forgetfulness, the sort of slightly heightened mood swings, even though I was still experiencing menstrual cycles, was an early sign of potentially perimenopause. So, I came up with my own treatment plan.
Menopause Symptoms: Hair Loss
13:13 – 17:50
Dr. Janet Choi: For me, what was particularly distressing which I don’t think people talk about. I think part of the reason why people don’t talk about it is because there’s, again, some shame and embarrassment, and this feeling of like, well, I feel kind of superficial bringing it up, but I was noticing some hair thinning and hair loss. And I’m sure, especially as a therapist, you probably talk to women about how distressing it is when you know, part of your physical identity, you feel like you don’t have much control over as you’re going through this sort of emotional roller coaster, physiologic roller coaster, that it’s associated with a hormonal swing.Dr. Juliana Hauser: I’m actually stunned that you brought this up, because you are the first expert that I’ve spoken to that has mentioned it on a personal scale. And it is my story, too. I would say I probably lost a third of my hair.
I know that this is such a common symptom, and we are all feeling shame. I had the same thought in my head, which is, there are bigger problems in the world. There are bigger health problems to be having. This sounds so vain, and yet it’s the one symptom that made me cry.
Menopause and Mental Health
25:15 – 29:32
Dr. Juliana Hauser: Getting back to your question about mental health, it’s a very sobering statistic to know that this time frame in our life is the highest rate of suicide thoughts and suicide completions and that is not stated enough. That should be a symptom of perimenopause and menopause that is known just as much as of the other ones that we’ve been mentioning today. And we need to look out for ourselves, and look out for each other, and if you love a woman who is in perimenopause and menopause, you need to be paying attention to her mental health as much as you’re paying attention to everything else, because she’s at risk. There’s a variety of reasons as to why we think that the numbers are so high. We do know there is a link between the feelings of anxiety and depression and hormonal changes.I think there is a mourning that happens alongside of the perimenopause, menopause journey that doesn’t get acknowledged. We’re having losses and we’re having changes, and we need to acknowledge what that feels like, alongside not giving up hope that we can have relief from these symptoms.
Host
Dr. Janet M. Choi is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist and serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Progyny where she brings her expertise to ensure Progyny provides the highest quality fertility and family building services to our members and continues to raise the bar as the industry leader.
Dr. Choi has written, published, and lectured extensively on infertility, onco-fertility, and fertility preservation. She is an active member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as well as the New York Obstetrical Society. She has been selected as one of New York Magazine’s Top Doctors as well as a New York Super Doctor annually since 2018; a Castle Connolly Exceptional Woman in Medicine every year since 2019; and has been annually listed with Castle Connolly’s “Top Doctors” since 2015.
Prior to Progyny, Dr. Choi was the medical director of CCRM New York for the last 7 years. Before CCRM, she was an assistant clinical professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center and served as the Director of Onco-fertility and Co-Director of the Fertility Preservation Program.
Dr. Choi graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in English literature, and earned her medical degree and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University. She completed her sub-specialty fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.
Guest
After receiving her Ph.D in Counseling Education from The College of William & Mary, Dr. Juliana carved out a professional niche in the world of areas of relationships, sex and sexuality.
Dr. Juliana worked as a Gender Studies and Counseling Education professor, a clinical director of a university’s counseling center, and ran a halfway house for women in addiction recovery. Dr. Juliana has worked with male college athletes and fraternities around the topics of consent, sexual agency and sexual violence prevention.
Today, Dr. Juliana runs a thriving private practice where she counsels and coaches couples and individuals in topics not limited to: infertility, divorce, incarceration, spousal death, body image, gender and sexual identity, narcissism abuse, domestic violence, as well as advanced sex ed for adults. Her virtual coaching practice allows her to treat clients around the world, experiencing a variety of cultures, time zones, and unique needs.
A nationally-known expert, thought leader, speaker and writer, on agency, relationships, sex, and sexuality, Dr. Juliana was a regular contributor to O Magazine and has been featured and quoted in top publications such as Women’s Health, Self, Real Simple, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart, and Cosmopolitan. Dr. Juliana has been featured on the Discovery Channel and is a highly sought-after leader at self-help, self-development and spiritual retreats where she runs workshops on agency, body image, desire, evolved sex education for adults, redefining sexy, and tantra 101.