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.