← The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
626. Mindblowing Facts about Menopause and How to Fix Your Symptoms
00:49:52
Loading summary
Transcript75 lines
- [00:01]
Andrea Donsky
50 to 90% of the top 10 most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are brain health, mental health, cognitive related. So that's huge. So it's not just a physical thing that we're going through, it's a mental, it's a spiritual thing that we're going through. So how could I not talk about mindset?
- [00:19]
Dr. Amy
Welcome to the Thyroid and Hormone Fixer podcast. If you've been told everything is fine, but you're gaining weight despite doing all the right things, struggling with brain fog, mood swings, low libido, or feeling like a stranger in your own body, you're in the right place. I'm Dr. Amy, the thyroid Fixer. And I want you to know right now, I see you, I believe you, and you don't have to figure this out alone anymore. We're going to do this together.
- [00:46]
Podcast Host
But I'm also not here to play
- [00:48]
Dr. Amy
nice with bad medicine or empty promises. This show is meant to disrupt the entire health space. We're going to challenge the status quo, connect all the dots other providers miss and give you real, practical, science backed tools you can use. Today, you're not going to get any more recycled biohacking advice, just truth, strategy and hope. Let's get you back to feeling like the badass human you're meant to be. Do you want to burn fat while just sitting around? Do you have extra weight to lose? Do you want less inflammation? Do you want to reduce your oxidative stress? Do you want to improve your lipid panel? Maybe become more insulin sensitive? And once again burn fat while you're sitting there at rest at your desk or on your couch watching Netflix. Well, now you can, with the power of Tea two that is in Thyroid Fixer. Now, Thyroid Fixer is not just for those with a thyroid problem. It's for anyone looking to lose body fat to improve their metabolism to have better energy. Thyroid Fixer actually works at your mitochondrial level, so it is stimulating your metabolism. It's also activating ATP, which gives you more energy, nice and steady through the day. Here's the other really cool thing that Thyroid Fixer does. It turns on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating all over your body. So that means, yeah, if you slip up and you have the Oreo cookie or the sweet potato fries, which are my two favorite, they're my downfalls.
- [02:29]
Podcast Host
That is not going to put extra
- [02:32]
Dr. Amy
fat on your butt, your hips, your thighs and your abs. Oh, and your arms. You don't want those jiggly arms. So why don't you just improve your fat burning potential and actually turn on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating on your body with the power of Thyroid Fixer. So as a listener of the Thyroid Fixer podcast, your first time purchase, you can use the code LISTEN20L I S T E N2 0 we'll put that down in the show notes and if you've already purchased it but you just want to save a little something something extra then use the code listen 10L I s t e n 10 and grab some thyroid fixer Stock up today because it will help you burn extra body fat and who doesn't want that? I need to talk to every woman who's been told that your labs are normal while your body is screaming at you and rebelling against you. Fatigue, brain fog, the weight that will not come off, mood swings, hair loss, feeling dismissed, frustrated and confused. I get it. And that is exactly why I wrote my new book the Thyroid Fix. The no nonsense Guide to Fix Fatigue, Fogginess and fat that won't budge. That just says it all. And it is now available for pre sale. So I need your help to spread the message. I am giving you an ask as my listener and a promise at the same time. If you pre order the thyroid fix, my promise to you is to continue delivering all kinds of free advice, information, content, education, empowerment. Because that's what I love to do. Whether it's here in the just fix your thyroid Facebook group or I'm on live. I will give you everything I possibly can if you do me one favor which will be a favor for yourself as well and pre order the thyroid fix.
- [04:35]
Podcast Host
Now.
- [04:35]
Dr. Amy
This book is not another list of supplements, vague advice.
- [04:41]
Podcast Host
It's not a diet plan. It's not filled with recipes.
- [04:44]
Dr. Amy
It is a clear, honest guide. It is the thyroid Bible.
- [04:49]
Podcast Host
It is the last thyroid book that
- [04:51]
Dr. Amy
you want will ever need because it teaches you how to read your own labs. No other book has done that. It teaches you what medication and dose you need. No other book has ever done that.
- [05:05]
Podcast Host
It will help you to understand why
- [05:07]
Dr. Amy
you are being misdiagnosed, why you're being
- [05:10]
Podcast Host
under treated and why you can't talk about hormones, weight loss or menopause without
- [05:15]
Dr. Amy
talking about the thyroid. I called it Thyroid Bible because like I said, this is going to be the thyroid book of the next few decades. When you pre order, you're not just supporting me, you're telling the publisher. This message matters and it needs to get out to the world and it needs to get into the hands of women who have been ignored for far too long. So will you go to thyroid fixbook.com and pre order a copy of yours today? It'll be shipped to you on May 12th and you will get free entry to our all day live event where I will be there answering your questions live, teaching live, and bringing in amazing guests for you to also connect with and ask your questions too. So thyroid fixbook.com pre order yours today.
- [06:08]
Podcast Host
You know, I love when I can bring a guest on to talk about a topic. So it's not just all me talking about something like menopause and how what a pain in the butt it can be. I mean, let's just put it out there, ladies, right, that hormonal transition is hard. But I will say if you have the right tools in your tool belt, it doesn't have to be that hard. So that's why I brought on my dear friend and colleague Andrea Donsky, because she's wrote a new book and you're going to need it because it's going to make this whole transition so much easier. And we're going to dive into all things menopause today. So, Andrea, thank you so much for coming on the show.
- [06:53]
Andrea Donsky
Thank you for having me, Amy. It's awesome to be here.
- [06:56]
Podcast Host
So nourishing menopause, that is your new book. We both basically birthed a brand new book at the same time. And I love how much they go together because menopause is, you know, I'm in menopause. It's a tough transition time in a woman's life. So can you first start off by telling us, like, what inspired you to write this book?
- [07:18]
Andrea Donsky
Oh my gosh. Okay. So I would say definitely personal experience. And because when I went through perimenopause and then into menopause, I actually had no idea what. I just knew nothing about this phase of life. And I was in perimenopause for a total of 14 years, 11 of which I had no idea. So I really made a promise to myself, like as I dove into over the last almost 10 years, understanding perimenopause and menopause, understanding symptoms, I made myself a promise that to do as much as I could to help educate others so that they didn't go through what I went through. And that includes, you know, the women in our community, the women who are listening to this podcast, but also my daughters. I have two daughters and I have a son. And I didn't want them to kind of be surprised by when, you know, when they reach their mid-30s for early 40s and all of a sudden their body was changing. I didn't want them to be surprised the way I was surprised. And so many other Gen X women are kind of thrown into it, and we're like, what? What is going on? So I would say that was the biggest reason is because I wanted to leave a legacy for women so that they could really understand what's happening to their body. And then the other reason was because I had have all this information accumulated in my head, and women are always asking me, you know, questions and what they can do. I'm like, all right, I'm just going to put it in one place. Put everything from the last 26 years, because I come from health and wellness, so I have so much experience under my belt. And I'm like, all right, let me put it into one place where you can now. It's kind of like what led me to start my other companies is my third. Morphos is my third company. But I'm like, let me put it in one place so everyone can kind of find what they need in one area and not have to go to, like, so many different places. So that those were two big reasons, and I just wanted to be able to help women.
- [08:59]
Podcast Host
Yeah, that's huge. I mean, that's what. That's why we do what we do. That's why we're in this space right now. And, you know, the nice thing is, I do believe we're getting a much bigger spotlight shine down on us as women. And really, overall, women's health, perimenopause, menopause, and we have Halle Berry now coming out and talking about how she's going through menopause and how she was basically misdiagnosed and misled by her doctor, too. So this book is just so timely because now women are opening their eyes. Instead of accepting menopause as this tumultuous, horrific time where basically we just have to throw in the towel and get old and suffer, the message is shifting to, no, you can understand your body, you can nourish your body, you can transition in a much more graceful, easy way, and it really doesn't have to be so treacherous. So let's talk about the symptoms. Because sometimes I think women dismiss their symptoms and they chalk it up to, well, I'm just getting older. So if they're not hearing from their doctor, you're just getting older, and that's why you feel xyz. They're telling it to themselves. So can you talk about, you know, the. The top symptoms and really the why behind it? Because that's what I love about this book is you actually get the why behind the symptoms.
- [10:20]
Andrea Donsky
Yeah, so what, what our research shows is that there's 103 different symptoms plus different symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. So there are a lot of different symptoms. And what actually sparked me to even do the research on that, so that was published in December of 2024. So we know that there's 103. So I'm going to actually pull up the list because I want to be able to share a little bit of them, especially like the top 10. I was at a party and with my husband and I ran into an old friend and she was saying how she was creating an app for menopause symptoms. And I was like, oh, an ad for menopause symptoms? Don't you need like a lot? She's like, yeah, yeah, there's a lot. There's 34 to 40. And I was like, wow, that is a lot. And kind of the way my brain works is I, I'm a very data driven. So I went back, I started creating a document and I'm tracking it and then soon enough I was like, wait, there's like more than 85 different symptoms, way more than 35 to 40. So I thought, well, why don't I go to our community and ask the women what they're going through and what they're experiencing. And we launched our first survey in 2022 and we actually now have over 5200 women that have filled out our signs and symptoms survey. And we know that there are 103 plus symptoms. And get this, Amy, take a guess. On average, how many symptoms do you think women experience on average?
- [11:29]
Podcast Host
Okay, so I would say maybe 15 to 20, 31.
- [11:35]
Andrea Donsky
31 different symptoms on average women are experiencing. So like, if you think about it, I mean it's, it's tough, definitely. But what I say is that you don't have to suffer. Like there are so many options nowadays that you do not have to suffer when it comes to your symptoms. Right. So my lane is nutrition, lifestyle supplements research. And there's also the hormone lane. Right. And, and also we can do all of it together. So with, to me it's not like it used to be where it's like, oh, or like I hear from so many women, like myths of like, oh, it's natural, just chalk it up. Or there's nothing you can do to help yourself or you're too young to be in perimenopause. And menopause in your 40s, like, or even in your 50s, like, this is old information. So. So we know now there's a lot we could be doing to help ourselves as our hormones are changing and our estrogen and progesterone are lowering as we go into menopause.
- [12:27]
Podcast Host
Yeah, and I love the fact that you do blend both. So even though your focus is, you know, really on the nutrition and lifestyle piece, nourishing menopause, you're not anti hormone replacement. You know, beautiful job at blending it. Really. I love that. Okay, let's go back to the symptoms because I'm so curious. I think we know some of the top ones. You know, the hot flashes, vaginal dryness. But throw me out some of the symptoms that people would never have paired up with menopause.
- [12:58]
Andrea Donsky
Absolutely. Okay, so let's start with the common. So the top 10 most common symptoms. So number one is fatigue. Fatigue and exhaustion. Exhaustion, number one across the board, 72% of women are experiencing this. Number two is brain fog. Number three, sleep issues. Number four, memory problems. Five is anxiety, which is huge. Number six is lower loss of libido, lack of concentration, joint pain, lack of focus, and hot flashes. Now, how many of those actually overlap with thyroid issues?
- [13:29]
Podcast Host
Right, right, right, right.
- [13:32]
Andrea Donsky
So, like, so many things are happening at the same time that, you know, when we look at these. So we. I always say to women, I'm like, so these are the top symptoms that you're experiencing, but go get certain tests done to see, like, maybe there's things that we can rule out. Low hanging fruit, like your thyroid. Is that, is that hypo? How are you feeling? Is your vitamin D optimal? What about your ferritin, your B12? So go get things checked out because that can actually possibly help with a lot of those symptoms, as with, you know, the other things that we mentioned. So to me, some of the most surprising symptoms, I would say lesser known but surprising symptoms were itchy ears. That's a big one that a lot of women are experiencing. So itchy ears. And this is like inside your ears. It's because the mucous membranes, our bodies, everything's drying out, including the mucous membranes in our ear. So it leads to itchy ears. So, like, it's like you try to like dig in there and they're super itchy. Number two would be phantom smells. That's another one that really surprised me. It was one of my first symptoms. Had no idea it was a perimenopause symptom. But it's when you smell Things that other people don't. You. So I have a survey on phantom smells. It's not published yet, but we asked women, what is the number one smell you're smelling that doesn't actually exist in your environment? And it's burning smells. So anything cigarettes, cigars, campfires, burning plastic, burning rubber, anything that is burning, the number one phantom smell. And I'm sure a lot of your listeners right now are going, oh my gosh, I literally just smelled cigarette smoke. But everyone around me told me that there was no cigarette smoke. Right, right. Would be a very big one. Body odor in one or both armpits is another one. Vertigo, tinnitus, bad breath, digestive issues. I mean, the list goes on and on. But I would say, like, those are probably the most, like, oh my gosh, I had no idea.
- [15:17]
Podcast Host
Wow. Okay. I had no idea. Right. So even when you listed the most common ones, hot flashes were at what number 10?
- [15:27]
Andrea Donsky
Flashes are number 10. Isn't that like the most. That is like the most surprising thing to me.
- [15:33]
Podcast Host
That is. And that fatigue is number one. And, and that is crazy. And how many women chalk up fatigue to, you know, they're, they're just running around too much, they do too much, whatever, maybe they didn't, maybe they didn't sleep well because of perimenopause, but they just again, brush off the fatigue to, oh, I got a bad night's sleep last night. And they're, they're blowing off their own symptoms. So I, I love this list. I love the shining a spotlight down on it so people can think through it well.
- [16:03]
Andrea Donsky
And I think it's an important thing to understand. Right. Because so many women. So we have another survey where I was published in December of 2024 on as well. It's called Doctor Visit Survey. It's our, it was our first Doctor Visits Insight Survey. We have another one. Hopefully we're going to get published this year. But what we found out is that most women, 92% of women are sharing their symptoms with their doctor or healthcare provider, but 40% are being dismissed. So they're being told that possibly it's not a perimenopause and menopause symptom or like they're too young, like I mentioned before. So that's a huge number. 40% of women are being dismissed from their symptoms. And we also found that women have to go visit their doctor anywhere from like two to five plus times. And they are not getting, in some cases, they're not even getting the answers they're looking for. So These are, like, really important statistics that we have to understand because women are. We're looking for answers, we're looking for solutions, we're looking for treatment options, and we need to find them. And then when we go in and we understand what those symptoms are, it's not as easy to be blown off because, well, this is published research. We know that these symptoms, of course, always get it checked out, rule everything out. But if it comes back saying, which it did for me and so many other women, is, we don't know what's wrong with you. We can't find out any answers. Well, now we know we can look to it possibly being a perimenopause and menopause symptoms.
- [17:20]
Podcast Host
Yes, absolutely. Okay. I love this. I love this. I'm going to anchor down on one of those symptoms that you had mentioned, and that is sleep, because you have a whole chapter on sleep, and we know that sleep really is key to so many different things. You know, I see a, like, strings being tied. Okay, sleep and weight gain, sleep and diabetes, sleep and anxiety and depression. So let's talk about sleep, because that alone is disrupted as a woman moves into menopause.
- [17:51]
Andrea Donsky
Yeah. I love that you're asking me this. So when I saw that, when we looked at the list of the 103 symptoms and I saw that sleep is number three on the list, I'm like, I need to understand it better. I need to understand sleep and. But why in particular are women in perimenopause and menopause not sleeping? Yeah. So we launched a second survey. It was my second survey that we launched, and it was published again. The data was published in December of 2024 in the Journal Menopause. And what we found is that women are not sleeping. The top reasons that we're not sleeping in perimenopause and menopause is, number one, that we're waking up between 2 and 4am and when I first saw that, my initial thought was, as a nutritionist, I'm like, or coming from that functional world, I'm like, oh, it must be cortisol rising at the wrong time. But I didn't ask the right question in the survey, so I couldn't validate my hypothesis because I was like, I need to ask the right question. So I'll talk about that in a minute. Number two is bathroom visits. I've had women tell me they go to the bathroom two, three, four, five times a night. Number three is night sweats. And number four was anxiety. So going back to what I thought, you know, Cortisol rising at the wrong time. At that 2 to 4am Wake up time, we launched another study called our stress and anxiety study. And in that study I asked the question, are you waking up between 2 and 4am? They were, why are you waking up? And that's where we proved that the number one reason we're waking up is because of stress. Our minds are racing, we can't turn off our mind. So we know that stress and anxiety is the number one reason we are not sleeping through the night. So maybe you're having a hard time falling asleep, maybe you're falling asleep and then waking up generally between 2 and 4am and you can't fall back asleep. So it's really important and like you said, it's tied into so many different things, including by the way, high levels of insulin. Just one night of missing sleep actually increases our insulin. So. And it also causes us to crave things we want. We're craving more sugar, more caffeine throughout the next day because we want to wake up. So it's tied into so many different things that I always say as we're going into perimenopause and menopause, ladies, we want to focus on two main things, digestion and sleep. Because everything from, everything trickles down from there. So making sleep a priority is really important.
- [20:01]
Podcast Host
Yeah. And you know, again, you're blowing my mind on this interview and I know you're going to blow the mind of so many of my listeners because I would immediately go to, well, sleep is
- [20:11]
Dr. Amy
bad because of low progesterone period.
- [20:13]
Podcast Host
And I love your mind, your research mind. You dug into the data to literally figure out what is going on during a night. So it's not just the onset of sleep. Are you finding more women have issues falling asleep or. It sounds like staying asleep is a big problem.
- [20:31]
Andrea Donsky
Staying asleep is the, is a massive problem, but it's definitely both. It's turning off our minds at the end of the night. But that 2 to 4am Wake up call, I mean thousands and Thousands of women DM me tell me comment on my TikTok videos like it is a mass. And by the way, that was my issue, which is why I do what I do and why I wanted to try and find solutions because I was one of those women who would literally lie awake at night staring at the ceiling and I could not fall back asleep. So I had to figure out, because I know we all, theoretically, we know sleep is so important, especially now, it's important, important, but also once you, your brain starts Going, it's really hard to turn off our brain. So in the book, I provide so many strategies as to how we can do that, because I've literally trained my brain to turn it off and to not even start. That's the key. Don't even let your brain start going, because once it does, good luck turning it off. So what can we do to stop and prevent that so that we can fall back asleep? Because getting our sleep is so crucial, and we want, if we can, seven hours of sleep. That's like a nice optimal amount, right? Seven to eight hours. And most women are not even getting close to that.
- [21:40]
Podcast Host
No, exactly, exactly. So with this anxiety piece, it's kind of tied into the nervous system. And I've been doing a lot more work now after turning 52. I've been doing a lot more work recently on my nervous system because, you know, as entrepreneurs or. And as a menopausal woman, we have so many different hats that we. We. That we wear. I know that nervous system regulation is key. And also, even for, you know, cancer prevention and, and all the things, everything. How do you tie in the nervous system into the. The book. I know you talk about it. How do you tie in the nervous system? What's going on in the menopausal woman, where we are more prone to anxiety on one hand, and then it's almost like we don't give a. On the other hand, like our.
- [22:29]
Andrea Donsky
Our.
- [22:29]
Podcast Host
Our cares just go away, but yet we're anxious.
- [22:32]
Andrea Donsky
Yeah, that's a good question. So the way we tie. So I have a whole chapter on the nervous system, the menopause nervous system, and perimenopause nervous system, because it plays a massive role. So like I said, I have research on this, published research. So we know that 66% of women are more stressed now than they were before, and we're less able to cope with it. We know that as women, we are more stressed. Like you said, we have more responsibilities. You may be working in and outside the home. You're taking care of kids, you're taking care of parents like you. There's. There's a lot going on for us. Right. So we have that piece. We also feel stress more strongly, and we feel it quicker than men do. So adding all of that together makes it really difficult in many cases to manage our stress. And I see this even with myself, I have to be so, like, focused on managing my stress. And it's not easy. Like, it's not as easy as me saying, amy, manage your stress. Yeah, stress management. You Know, like just do it like, yeah, okay, okay. You know, like so it could be difficult to manage our stress. So again, I give tons of tips in the book as to what we can do. And again, all based on research and science and personal experience. So it's really important that we do manage our stress because again, it's tied very much into blood sugar. It's tied into triggering or even exacerbating some of our symptoms. It's tied into functioning quality of life day to day. Right. And that's the big thing too. Like as somebody like myself, I, unfortunately I, I'm not new to stress. I'm not new to, to you know, nervous system dysregulation. I've had it since my late teens. And it gets worse for many of us as we see number five on the list, anxiety is number five. So managing our stress, doing what you can to minimize it, it's not you can't cut it out completely, but how do you minimize it and how do you manage it on a day to day basis? So go back to your question about, you know, like we're giving zero fox here but yet we're more anxious here. I mean, I think those are two because the giving zero fucks, I love that because I feel like it's for many of us, we're coming into our own. We are realizing now that we are kick ass women. And by the way, I love that I could use like, you know, some, like, some words that I would love to hear. It was like, you swear more than me. So I'm like, I love it. I'm like, yay. Feel so at home here. You know, we're kick ass women. Like we have literally, we've had so much life experience behind us that we could bring to this, this part of our life. And also we've been caregivers for so long. We've been taking care of others that now it's like for many of us it's like, okay, either we're done or we just want to do less of it or hey, what about me? What about me? I want to have self care, self love. How about people taking care of me as well? So I feel like it's kind of like this thing of like we're coming into our own, into our power. We're more like we're setting boundaries. No is a full sentence. Like we're able to find this incredible part of ourselves as we go into menopause. And that's one of the things I say. They're so much positive, like we hear so much negative about perimenopause and menopause. Right. Because unfortunately, the symptoms, as we talked about 31 different symptoms on average that women are experiencing, it takes a very big toll on ourselves. Including me, by the way. I was in it for so many years. I had the worst hot flashes. I mean, I probably had so many of those 103 symptoms. So I get it when you're in it and feeling it. But at the end of the day, once we start to feel better and you are doing what you can to manage those symptoms, and in many cases they go away, we can have this like, new incredible life of like, just like we were. Like, I look at it as like we're blooming. Like, we're this flower that kind of comes into our own and we're just like, we have this incredible exuberance of like. Like, it's just confidence and like, we're just so awesome. Like, I love the fact of the women that we, when we come into this next phase of our life, that we own it, you know?
- [26:25]
Dr. Amy
Do you want to burn fat while just sitting around? Do you have extra weight to lose? Do you want less inflammation? Do you want to reduce your oxidative stress? Do you want to improve your lipid panel, maybe become more insulin sensitive? And once again burn fat while you're sitting there at rest at your desk or on your couch watching Netflix? Well, now you can with the power of T2 that is in Thyroid Fixer. Now, Thyroid Fixer is not just for those with a thyroid problem. It's for anyone looking to lose body fat to improve their metabolism, to have better energy. Thyroid Fixer actually works at your mitochondrial level, so it is stimulating your metabolism. It's also activating ATP, which gives you more energy. Nice and steady through the day. Here's the other really cool thing that Thyroid Fixer does. It turns on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating all over your body. So that means, yeah, if you slip up and you have the Oreo cookie or the sweet potato fries, which are my two favorite, they're my downfalls.
- [27:36]
Podcast Host
That is not going to put extra
- [27:38]
Dr. Amy
fat on your butt, your hips, your thighs and your abs. Oh, and your arms, you don't want those jiggly arms. So why don't you just improve your fat burning potential and actually turn on a gene that prevents fat from accumulating on your body with the power of Thyroid Fixer. So as a listener of the Thyroid Fixer podcast, your first time purchase, you can use the code listen 20 L I, S, T, E, N2,0. We'll put that down in the show notes. And if you've already purchased it, but you just want to save a little something, something extra, then use the code, listen, 10, L, I, S T, N 1, 0. And grab some thyroid fixer. Stock up today because it will help
- [28:21]
Podcast Host
you burn extra body fat.
- [28:23]
Dr. Amy
And who doesn't want that?
- [28:24]
Podcast Host
Oh, I love that. I love that message. Because just like I said earlier, I think so many women and. And this has been kind of exacerbated by the medical community message in that once you hit menopause, okay, you're no longer fertile. Time to just dry up. Literally and figuratively, just go ahead and dry up and wither away. And it's like, no, instead of withering, we're blooming. We are coming into this next phase of life that, yes, okay, there are those symptoms that we have to deal with. But. But there are tools that you give in the book that can minimize or mitigate the symptoms. But at the same time, we do have to look at the fact that we just, like you said, we are more powerful. Those little things that used to bother you really don't anymore. Like, you're no longer. You don't care about Susie Q. Your neighbor down the street who thinks badly of your new hairdo. Like, you're just. You literally don't care anymore.
- [29:24]
Andrea Donsky
Are.
- [29:24]
Podcast Host
But yet you are experiencing, like Andrea said, the anxiety. But there are, There are ways to deal with that. Now, Andrew, do you find, like, going back to the symptoms, I was just thinking this when you were talking, that women kind of move through all of them, but at a different time. So, like in that first perimenopause state, you might have these 10, and then they overlap with these five, and then these go away, and then 10 more appear. And it's kind of like over the course of years, all of those symptoms will play out, which is why it makes it so hard for the woman and her doctor to recognize those set of symptoms as perimenopause and menopause.
- [30:03]
Andrea Donsky
Yeah. And for. We do know, according to our research, that there are certain symptoms that are more pronounced in perimenopause and others that are more pronounced in menopause. So, for example, women in perimenopause may be more fatigued and have lack of focus and concentration or social anxiety, and women in menopause will gain weight easier. They. Their sleep is more disrupted. So we do know that there are certain stages that affect women more so than others. But some women, you know, it's interesting. The research shows that it's about 13% of women don't have any symptoms at all. And I call BS on that because I'm like 13% of women. I think maybe that's based on the 34 to 40 symptoms initially that everybody thought. We're the second ever research that has been published on the number of symptoms since the 70s. So the first one was in the 1970s, it was in the 20s. So we are now the only other research that has been published on the number of symptoms. So if we're basing that statistic on 20 something or 30, 40 symptoms, we now know there's so many more. So I do believe that there are a lot more women who, you know, a lot less women who don't have any symptoms. At least you know when you look at the list that they don't realize is connected to perimenopause and menopause. So if you're dealing with something out there, there is hope, there's something you can do about it. My book talks again a lot about nutrition, lifestyle and supplements. But again you can look at hormones, you can look at everything together. But being a nutritionist for me for over 20 years, I feel like a non negotiable is our nutrition and our lifestyle like it is a non negotiable because you can't out supplement or outtake hormones for poor nutrition. Right. So if you want to thrive, you want to be able to feel your best in this phase of life, really focusing on nutrition and lifestyle, certain supplements, you know, all of that can help make a difference. Exercise, how are you managing your stress will all help you. And if you're adding in hormones to that, all of it makes this like really beautiful toolbox that you can pull from. And even if you don't want hormones like a lot of women don't want or can't, then you still have these other tools in your toolbox that you can look to to help you feel amazing.
- [32:09]
Podcast Host
That's what I love about this book is you literally are addressing those, you're addressing both sets of women. The women who listen, I, I, I see them all the time. They're just not quite there yet with the hormone replacement and that is okay. Or maybe they, they, you know, they have a history that they just don't want to roll the dice despite the latest research that's coming out and that is okay. And then you have the women that are like, you know, no, no, that's fine, I'm open to hormones. But you and I know that you can't put hormones on a dumpster fire. Unless they have that foundation of good nutritional support and a halfway decent lifestyle, all the hormones in the world aren't going to work. So I love that you address both subsets of women, no matter where they are at in their journey with hormones. Now you talk about the balance blueprint, and this kind of ties in nutrition. So can you expand on that? What is the balance blueprint?
- [33:00]
Andrea Donsky
Yeah, so like women are always asking me, like, how should I eat? What should we be doing? And so we came up with this blueprint. So it's called the balance blueprint and which stands for balancing blood sugar. And by the way, the entire book really talks a lot about blood sugar regulation, insulin resistance, managing stress. Like everything kind of comes together in chapter 11, which is where we talk about the balance blueprint. So it's balancing blood sugar. So B stands for balancing blood sugar. A stands for adding more fiber. L stands for loading up on protein. A stands for adding good quality fats. N stands for nurturing digestion. C is for choosing more plants. And E is ensuring you're hydrated. And all of those kind of help to set the blueprint to how we should be eating and looking at things in this phase of life. And we break it down and we provide again, so many actionable tips. That's the other thing I love about the book, Amy, is that I don't just say it, I don't just educate you. I actually provide you with a ton of tips that you could start right away. Like, you don't have to spend any money to do it. You don't have to like literally that you're reading the book, your next meal, you can already implement so many of the tips that we provide.
- [34:11]
Podcast Host
Oh, I love that. I absolutely love that. And where, where do supplements come in? Because I know we talked about this on your show and you know, I made the comment you own a supplement company. I own a supplement company, but both of us are on the mindset that supplements do not do everything. You're not going to heal your menopause with supplements. You're not going to heal your thyroid with supplements. But they do come in and they support. So how do those kind of work into the balance blueprint?
- [34:37]
Andrea Donsky
I love that question. So 100%. Like I said, you can't out supplement poor nutrition. However, I do believe that there are certain supplements that are non negotiable in perimenopause and menopause. So I have my top supplements that I believe. So number one Magnesium. I truly believe that we need more magnesium than many of us are getting from our food. Not even the fact that our food doesn't contain as much magnesium, as many nutrients and minerals as it used to, we're not absorbing it the way we used to as well. So magnesium, absolutely. I believe I love magnesium. Bisglycinate. Supplementing our diet with that. Omega 3s, another crucial nutrient that we need in this phase of life. It's important for our heart, for brain, for hair, for skin, for nails. So it's also important for sleep, by the way, because omega 3s, fish oil. What it does is our omega threes help our glymphatic system, which is the system in our brain. Think of like our lymph system, but it is in our brain and it's most active during deep sleep and restorative sleep. So omega 3s help the glymphatic system work better. And what it's doing is it's clearing out waste from the day. So it helps our cognitive health. Like so, like that's to me, Omega 3s, magnesium, non negotiable, and then a good quality fiber. And then to me, like we have like our soluble fiber and I want you to be going to the bathroom every single day. Fiber helps to move things along the colon. It helps to satiate you. It also helps to remove metabolize hormones out of the body, things your body no longer needs, broken down food. So these are the three top non negotiables. And then also a vitamin D with a good K2 MK7. Those would be my top four of like, we need to be supplementing because also for vitamin D, we don't sell a vitamin D. But I want you to be taking vitamin D because vitamin D, not only is it crucial for immunity, for mood, for fatigue, it can help with, you know, giving you more energy. Bone health, it's really important for. So vitamin D is crucial for all of those. But also taking with a K2 MK7, there's some really good research, emerging research to take it with that with vitamin K2, because it can help calcium get into the bones. It's good for heart health. Now again emerging, you don't absolutely have to. Vitamin D will work amazing for bone health on its own. But that's the thing. I really dive into the research a lot in this book. That's why it took me two years to write. Like, everyone's like, it took you so long to write the book. I'm like, I know because I literally would read the research and some Research is, sometimes it's conflicting, sometimes there's so much, sometimes there is no research. So I really tried to do my best to bring so much data to back up what I said in this book because at the end of the day, I want to know what's out there, how are we helping us? And we need so much more research, which is why I love what I do and focus on research for women, specifically in this phase of life.
- [37:28]
Podcast Host
I love that and I love how you go through the research and you pull out the most important. Because as we know, anyone can go on Google or PubMed and look up a study, but it takes a trained eye to go through that study and go, okay, are there biases? Was this funded by like a drug company trying to push their menopause drug or whatever? So you really have to comb through the research and, and suss out fact from fiction or fact from, you know, paid fiction, that kind of thing. You know, you had mentioned insulin resistance. What is the stat now? Isn't it something like this 90%? I mean, it's up there. It's like a, like 95% of all Americans are insulin resistant. Why is the insulin resistance hitting the menopausal community so hard?
- [38:17]
Andrea Donsky
Well, because, because things are shifting and changing as we go into this phase of life. One of the biggest reasons is that we're prone to something called sarcopenia. And sarcopenia is when muscles start to break down and muscles are the biggest way. It's called the glucose sink, right? It's biggest way that we can bring insulin, glucose into the muscle cells. So when our muscles start to break down, we're not able to do it as effectively. But also our digestive system changes, right? So we might be more prone now to blood sugar dysregulation or it could be related to food that if we're eating, if what we were able to eat before we went into perimenopause and menopause, many of us, I'd say probably even go out on the limb and say most of us may not be able to eat the way you were able to, able to eat before. So before you can maybe have a glass of wine before bed and sleep through the night like a baby. Now you might be waking up between 2 and 4am or another time of the night, because once alcohol metabolizes, you're going to wake up, it's going to affect you differently. The same way that maybe you were able to have a piece, you know, many, many pieces of, or whatever, cookies, cake, whatever you could Eat a certain way. But now even if you, you know, you have a small amount, it changes the way it affects you and your body. Maybe it's triggering Hoffman flashes. Like for me, ultra processed sugar, especially when I have it before bed, I'm having night sweats. Like it's literally affecting me in such a different way. So it's a matter of like taking a look at what we're eating. How is it affecting our blood sugar? Because blood sugar is such a key. It's so important that we understand what we're putting in our body. How does it affect our blood sugar? How is our insulin affected as well? And how well is our muscles pulling that glucose into the cells? And with hormones changing in hormones, it completely throws it off and changes things.
- [40:02]
Podcast Host
So wait, you just said that a hot flash could be from insulin resistance or blood sugar crashing or something going on? Not necessarily from low estrogen and low progesterone. The reason I'm asking this is I literally just got a text from patient the other day. She's like, I, I think I need a higher dose of estrogen or maybe progesterone. Having hot flashes. And I was like, well wait, you know, are they, is it just one time? Is it twice in a week? Is it every single night? So you just gave me another layer to kind of to, to, to unpack with her, to really dive into the diet and the insulin resistant piece. But I think that's an important message for women to know that it, it's not that you might just need more estrogen. Like it might be something else.
- [40:47]
Andrea Donsky
Absolutely. So like, for me, and I could speak personally, I know that if I'm stressed, it's going to affect my blood sugar, it's going to affect like everything, like my whole metabolic system. It's affected by stress levels, but also what I'm eating. It's a massive like eating even something like chocolate before bed will give me hot flashes and night sweats. Like I'm literally so absolutely I would have. Or it could be alcohol, even a sip of alcohol. For me, that's it. I'm having hot flashes. I can't do it anymore. So I think absolutely. I mean, hormones play a massive part of that obviously, but could be exacerbating it or triggering it could be something that she's eating. So I would say for sure have her look at what she's ingesting prior to getting them and just maybe, you know, looking at changing that up or maybe even at a different time of day, I also find that, well, first of all, we're more insulin resistant at night. So eating certain things or drinking certain things earlier in the day may have a different effect on her than before she goes to bed. So there's so much at play now, which is so interesting. And that's why it's like. And it's constantly evolving. Right. And we're learning new information all the time. But someone like me who has pcos, so I have polycystic ovarian syndrome. I had it since I was in my teens. Someone like me who has metabolic dysfunction, I was coming into perimenopause and menopause metabolically, like, having a dysregulation from, like, with blood sugar with insulin, but I didn't know it at the time. So this is another thing. So, like, it can be compounded things. Right. Like you said, even thyroid can affect insulin resistance. Right. So the more we know and the more we can focus on. Which is why balancing blood sugar is the number one point in our blueprints, in our balance blueprint. Because if we can balance our blood sugar better and we understand what getting things like our thyroid in check, going and doing strength training, looking at what we're putting in our body, what are we eating, what are we drinking, it can have a profound effect on how we experience certain symptoms.
- [42:48]
Podcast Host
That's amazing. Yeah. No, you give me so much to think about there. Okay. The other thing I want to touch on, and I love that you bring this into the book, because I don't talk about it enough, but it's key. Is mindset, girl. You know, I really think that what goes on up here has so much more of an effect on our health, on our symptoms, on our outcomes, whether or not we suffer or thrive. Talk to me about why you put that mindset piece in the book.
- [43:21]
Andrea Donsky
Because it's a super important part of our journey. And yes, we absolutely want to focus on nutrition. We want to focus on supplements and lifestyle and exercise and all of that. But like you said, our mindset affects so much of it. So we know there's research that shows that women who believe they're going to have a lot of symptoms have a lot of symptoms. So we know now that our mind affects so much. Like, I don't know how much you're into, like, manifestation or believing. Yeah, Like, I'm like, a total. Like, I love all of that. So we know that our mindset plays a big role in so many different things. So I wanted to include it because my mother, her name is Myra, she is a clinical therapist. She's been practicing for 35 years and she is a brilliant therapist when it comes to relationships, when it comes to self help, self love, self care and trauma. So I wanted to have this in the book because I feel and I've done so many tiktoks with my mom, like social media posts with my mom and every time we post something about mindset, oh my gosh, people love her. Like they love what she says. She talks about self confidence, she talks about like everything that that has to do with like boundaries and relationships and toxic people. And so I was like, you know what? I think it plays such a big role in how we experience and especially how we're going to live one third to half of our life in menopause. Right? So having that mindset that how are we looking at it, how are we perceiving the world around us and how are we doing our own work? Are you doing the work for yourself? Because for a lot of us it's now we're empty nesters, kids are leaving the house or for some of us, like for me, I have a young one at home, I had a baby at 41. So my daughter and I were, she's going through puberty, I'm in menopause. Like, you know, we have a lot going on in this house. So it's really important. How are we showing up for ourselves? How are we showing up for people around us? Are we doing the work on ourselves to help us thrive in the next phase? And it's such a big component of everything that I wanted to make sure it's. But I come from the whole functional world of mind, body, spirit, right? So it's not just physical symptoms. We also know, Amy, here's the other interesting stat. Out of the top 10 most common symptoms that I shared earlier, our research shows that anywhere from 50 to 90% are cognitive and mental health related. And I'm going to repeat that. 50 to 90% of the top 10 most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are brain health, mental health, cognitive related. So that's huge. So it's not just a physical thing that we're going through. It's a mental, it's a spiritual thing that we're going through. So how could I not talk about mindset?
- [45:59]
Podcast Host
Oh my gosh, it's key. It really is key. And I don't know if you find this in the menopause space. I definitely see it in the thyroid space that when a woman has been suffering for so long, it's almost like that becomes her identity. And it's hard to even. She might not even know she's in this victim mindset. But it's hard to pull her out of and, you know, almost through no fault of her own. But yet there are things like what you mentioned in the book that she can do to pull out of that. It's this whole like, well, every doctor has told me that I'm fine, I'm normal. It's all in my head. Everyone has told me that it's my fault. Why don't I just eat less and exercise more? So they start taking it on themselves. And it's like, nobody gets me. No one's going to help me. I'm a tough case. And that gets repeated over and over. And I can see how that would overlay into menopause, too, because it's like you suffer for so long that you can't see a way out. No one's giving you a way out. So you just wallow in your pain 100%.
- [47:03]
Andrea Donsky
And this book gives you hope that there's a lot you can do and it's not your fault. And it doesn't matter what anybody else tells you. I talk about this a lot because people could tell you that you are a certain way or that there's no hope or there's no help or whatever. But at the end of the day, what do you believe? Because that's the only thing that matters. Like, I could tell you to take, eat this or eat that. And it's like, does it make you feel good? Well, if it makes you feel good, great experiment. But there's nobody out there that knows your body or you better than you. So I want you to know that you are the captain of your own ship. Please do not let anyone else tell you anything that you are. You are the person that decides who you are. And that's why, for me, like, you know, there's a chapter in the book, chapter five, which is all the different reasons we gain weight in perimenopause and menopause. And it's called why We Gain Weight in Perimenopause and Menopause. That's the name of the title of the chapter, and I included it because so many women will come to me and tell me that, you know, weight gain. 50% of women in perimenopause and menopause, according to our research, are gaining weight. Weight. It's a massive thing. However, a lot of that is out of our control. There are some things that are in our control, but a Lot of it is out. So I want women to know that even though. That there are things that are so hard to control or to. To do or to whatever it is around you, there are things that you can control. And mindset is one of those, you know, when it comes to weight, certain things are within your control. So that's the positive part of the book, is that there are so many things you can do that can make a difference so that you don't have to suffer needlessly.
- [48:36]
Podcast Host
I love that. I love that you included that in there. That really makes it a total comprehensive book for the menopausal lady. Now talk to me about what makes this book different from other menopause books on the market. Because the listener might be sitting there going, I got 1, 2, 3 over there. I can tell you it's very understandable. And that is. I mean, that's how I wrote Thyroid Fix too. It's. I wanted it to be understandable for the reader, but yet you also make it very understandable and applicable for practitioners. So talk to me about what makes this book different.
- [49:13]
Andrea Donsky
So it's my experience, having been in for 26 years. So I come in from a very different approach, from my own experience of being in health and wellness for 26 years for studying menopause and for 10 years almost. And it's my own experiences. So I approach it from a different. So it's not a book about how to take hormone therapy. Like, it's not at all. We talk about it and like you said, there's never any judgment for me. I provide options. I say, speak to your doctor about this if hormones are the route you want to take. But it's what I'm an expert in. I'm an expert in nutrition, I'm an expert in lifestyle, and I'm an expert in, like, you know, research and mindset, like with my mom. So, like, that's what we focused on in this book. And it's unique because there's nothing else like it on the market, because this is my research, it's my data. Chapter two is all my own research. 20,000 women have responded to our surveys. Like, 20,000 women. We're not talking about 100 women. 20,000 women. So it is our own data. It's our own experiences. Lisa Takos, who is my co author, wrote the book with me. She's practiced. She's been practicing nutrition for over 25 years. We both come from the holistic world. We're registered holistic nutritionists. We come from that world, but we are very science and data driven. So not only do we bring that whole holistic world into it and in a very science driven way, like, and I'll be very clear in the book too. So I'll say, like, if something has the research to back it up, I'll say it has the research. And if it doesn't, I'll say it doesn't have the research. However, from, you know, hearing from many women or from my own personal experience, you could try it. If it works, phenomenal. If it doesn't, okay, so I'm very honest about where the data exists and where it doesn't. And then what you could do to help. And because I have that, those 26 years of experience behind me and behind Lisa, we bring it to this book. Like, I always, I joke around, I'm like, I had so much information in my brain, information up here. I'm like, now it's on paper. Now we're able to share it with so many different women to help them feel better.
- [51:09]
Podcast Host
I get it, I get it. And I love the fact that so many of the top women in this space, many of friends and colleagues of ours, Dr. Anna Kabeca, Dr. Tara Scott, I mean, they have given their stamp of approval, their endorsement of this book. And these are women that wrote menopause books and hormone books. And they're saying nourishing menopause is, is key. I mean, you are blending the, like your data driven research with your real world experience with applicable tools for the women. I mean, I just love it. I love that you're getting endorsed by all of these topics doctors, functional doctors in the space.
- [51:48]
Andrea Donsky
Thank you. And even conventional doctors like Dr. James Simon. He wrote my forward. He was the president of the Menopause society in the U.S. he's been a gynecologist for more than 40 years. He's an MD. He wrote my forward. Dr. Carrie Jones wrote my forward. She's an ND, a naturopath. Like, so, yes, Dr. Lakeisha McMillan and OB GYN like you said, Tara, Tara Scott, Dr. Anna Kabeca. Like, it has been, I would say, the most gratifying and validating. Like when they read my book and they came back to me, I literally have been in tears for like the last month as I'm collecting the endorsements because I'm just like, the book is fantastic. It really is fantastic. And having their endorsement for this and saying how it's going to help their patients, but also them and their colleagues because it's not something that they're taught in School. Right. Like, they don't learn about nutrition. They don't look right. So, like, there's so much. My research is my research. So having all this information and also me having gone through it. I'm in menopause. I went through perimenopause. I had my experience of the 14 years of 11 not knowing anything. I'm now in menopause for 5 years. So I have lived through this. It's not just me talking about it as if I have no idea what's happening to women. These are things that I implemented myself, which is also what makes the book unique because it's me, it's my experience, you know, so it's exciting to see and thank you for that, you know, like, it means a lot to me.
- [53:09]
Podcast Host
That's so amazing. It's so amazing. So can you share with people where they can find your book? This is being released pretty much on the day of, of the release of Nourishing Menopause. So tell people where they can find it and buy it.
- [53:22]
Andrea Donsky
So you can buy it anywhere you shop for books. So Barnes and Noble, anywhere. Indigo, if you're in Canada, like, anywhere you shop for books. Amazon, like, so they're. It's available everywhere. Simon Schuster is the publisher. They were absolutely incredible to work with. I am so blessed that they are my publisher and believed in this book. So, so much like. So I have so much gratitude for them as a publisher. And it's really anywhere that you shop for books.
- [53:46]
Podcast Host
Amazing. So we'll put all the links below in the show notes, but go out, buy this book. It will absolutely help you. Andrea, thank you so much for writing it and thank you for sharing it with the world. I love you to death. This is fantastic.
- [54:00]
Andrea Donsky
Oh, thank you, baby. And also, just one more thing, you can go to Nourishing Menopause book dot com. That's it. Thank you so much.
- [54:07]
Podcast Host
Absolutely right back.
- [54:08]
Dr. Amy
All right, everyone.
- [54:09]
Podcast Host
Share this episode with your friend that's going through menopause, with your mom, with your sister, with your best friend, with your co worker. Share this episode because this will help them as well. And once again, thank you for listening to the Thyroid Fixer Podcast.
- [54:26]
Dr. Amy
The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer Podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient, or client provider provide a relationship between you and the host, or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statements regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer podcast may include include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the host or guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any healthcare professional featured on this podcast.