Aug. 27, 2026
Perimenopause Is Not a Career Decline: What to Know and What to Do
You are exhausted. You cannot sleep. Your anxiety feels higher. Your focus is off. And suddenly you are wondering why things that used to feel manageable now seem so much harder.
It might be stress.
But what if it is not just stress?
In this Quick Lift, Betsy shares the key takeaways from her conversation with Dr. Caissa Troutman about perimenopause, leadership and why women can mistakenly interpret very real symptoms as a loss of capability.
This is not a medical deep dive. It is the girlfriend version of what women need to know: what to pay attention to, why brain fog and poor sleep can affect confidence at work, when to seek support and why powering through is not always the answer.
You’ll learn:
- Why perimenopause symptoms are so easily mistaken for stress or burnout
- How poor sleep, anxiety and brain fog can affect confidence and credibility at work
- Why perimenopause often collides with some of women’s biggest career years
- Why “normal” does not mean you have to suffer
- What to pay attention to when something suddenly feels different
- How to find a provider who understands perimenopause
- Why you should get curious before deciding you are losing your edge
- How to think about support at work without feeling like you need to disclose everything
Perimenopause is common. It can affect your career. And it does not mean you are becoming less capable.
Links
Listen to the full episode
Connect with Dr. Troutman
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940
Let's talk about perimenopause. I know what you
00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.700
may be thinking on the surface, this seems like
00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:07.219
a strange topic for Women in Leadership podcast.
00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.179
But after my conversation with Dr. Case Troutman,
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:13.199
I actually think the connection is pretty obvious.
00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.199
If you're over 40, you probably cannot go very
00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.600
long without hearing someone talk about it. It
00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.780
comes up with friends, it shows up in your social
00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:23.339
media feed. And eventually you start hearing
00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:25.440
enough of the symptoms that you think, okay,
00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:28.760
wait a second, this sounds very familiar. That
00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.219
was definitely my experience. For a long time,
00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.420
I thought I was just stressed. And to be fair,
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.939
I had plenty of reason to be. Work had been intense.
00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:39.679
Life had been insane. There was a lot going on.
00:00:39.979 --> 00:00:42.579
So when I started waking up at 3 AM and couldn't
00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:45.539
go back to sleep consistently, I just blamed
00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:49.079
stress. When I felt like I was constantly carrying
00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:53.200
this high anxiety, like my body was always slightly
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.679
on edge, I blamed that on stress too. And because
00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.939
I wasn't having hot flashes, perimenopause was
00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:01.280
really not even on my radar. That was basically
00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.240
my understanding of menopause for most of my
00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:05.620
life. Hot flashes, moodiness, eventually your
00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:08.040
period stops. That's pretty much the curriculum
00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:10.900
that I knew. What Dr. Troutman helped explain
00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:12.840
is that for a lot of women, it does not look
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.099
like that at all. It can look like fatigue, anxiety,
00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:18.900
disrupted sleep, difficulty concentrating, brain
00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.040
fog, feeling overwhelmed, or just that vague
00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:25.659
feeling of not quite feeling like yourself. And
00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:27.659
that matters because none of those things stay
00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:30.400
neatly contained in your personal life. If you're
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:32.939
not sleeping, that follows you to work. If you
00:01:32.939 --> 00:01:35.480
can't focus the way you normally do, that follows
00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.620
you into a meeting. If your anxiety is suddenly
00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.519
much higher than usual, that can absolutely affect
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.620
how you communicate, make decisions, or show
00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.719
up in a high -stakes situation. So one of the
00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:50.239
biggest takeaways for me was to stop assuming
00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.200
everything is just stress. That does not mean
00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.560
your stress is not real. Most women in this stage
00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.480
of life have plenty of it. You may be leading
00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.239
a team, raising kids, helping aging parents,
00:02:01.579 --> 00:02:03.659
managing a household, running a business, and
00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:05.719
doing some combination yes of all that. You're
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:08.280
under a lot of pressure. But what Dr. Chapman
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:10.960
kept coming back to was the idea of asking, what
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.840
if it's not just stress? That's such a simple
00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.379
question because I think it's also so important.
00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.680
It gives you another explanation besides, am
00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.000
I just not handling things as well as I used
00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.979
to? And that is where women can get really hard
00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:28.520
on themselves. We start thinking maybe we need
00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.759
a better routine to get more organized. Maybe
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:34.900
we need to exercise more and sleep better, manage
00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:37.400
our time better, or somehow become more disciplined
00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.770
than we already are. Meanwhile, there may be
00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:44.169
a biological reason why everything feels harder.
00:02:44.669 --> 00:02:46.650
Dr. Trotman called this the silent tax, and I
00:02:46.650 --> 00:02:48.349
thought that was such a good way to describe
00:02:48.349 --> 00:02:50.830
it. We keep compensating for what is happening
00:02:50.830 --> 00:02:54.009
without really understanding it. We make more
00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:56.610
list. We over -prepare. We put reminders everywhere.
00:02:56.650 --> 00:02:59.110
We work longer because it takes more effort to
00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:02.590
focus. And then when something slips, we take
00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:05.750
it personally. This is where it becomes a career
00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:08.400
issue. Brain fog is one thing when you're standing
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.479
in your kitchen trying to remember why you walked
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.340
into the room. It feels very different when you're
00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:15.740
presenting to a client, leading a meeting, or
00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:18.000
sitting in a room where your credibility matters.
00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:20.599
You know the information, you've said the word
00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:22.979
a hundred times, and then suddenly it's just
00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:26.639
gone. The problem is that in that moment you
00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:28.900
were not only trying to remember the word, you're
00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:30.919
also thinking about what everyone else in the
00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:34.189
room now thinks about you. Do they think I'm
00:03:34.189 --> 00:03:36.830
unprepared, that I can't handle this? Do they
00:03:36.830 --> 00:03:39.729
think I'm losing my edge? And then, because we're
00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:42.710
human, we start asking ourselves the same questions.
00:03:43.569 --> 00:03:45.590
That's the part I really want women to hear.
00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.810
Struggling with sleep, anxiety, focus, or brain
00:03:48.810 --> 00:03:51.889
fog does not automatically mean your capability
00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:55.560
has changed. And the timing of all this is especially
00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:57.879
frustrating because perimenopause often shows
00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.219
up during some of our biggest career years. We
00:04:01.219 --> 00:04:04.120
have finally built the experience, the confidence,
00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:06.199
the credibility. We're leading bigger teams,
00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:09.419
taking on bigger roles, running companies. And
00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:12.800
at the exact same time, our bodies may be making
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.139
some of those things feel much harder than they
00:04:15.139 --> 00:04:18.560
used to. This does not mean we're past our peak.
00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.040
It means we may need to understand what is actually
00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.480
happening before we start making big assumptions
00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:25.800
about ourselves. The other big takeaway from
00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.480
Dr. Troutman was that normal does not mean you
00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.680
have to suffer. She said there is no metal for
00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:33.860
suffering and that line stuck with me because
00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:36.259
women are very good at powering through and calling
00:04:36.259 --> 00:04:39.600
it strength. We take care of everybody else first.
00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:42.160
We handle the appointments, the schedules, the
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.050
work, the family stuff, all of it. And meanwhile,
00:04:45.350 --> 00:04:48.370
we may not have been sleeping for six months
00:04:48.370 --> 00:04:51.189
and thinking, I'll deal with it eventually. I
00:04:51.189 --> 00:04:53.730
did that too. I also brought up some of these
00:04:53.730 --> 00:04:55.949
symptoms with another doctor before I met Dr.
00:04:56.110 --> 00:04:58.310
Troutman and basically got, yeah, that's normal
00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:02.329
for your age. And I walked away thinking, OK,
00:05:02.529 --> 00:05:05.569
so I guess that means I just deal with it. But
00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:08.790
normal and untreatable are not the same thing.
00:05:09.129 --> 00:05:11.709
That's an important distinction. Dr. Troutman
00:05:11.709 --> 00:05:14.410
was also very clear that every symptom is not
00:05:14.410 --> 00:05:17.189
automatically perimenopause. A good provider
00:05:17.189 --> 00:05:19.170
should look at the full picture and rule out
00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:21.589
other things that can cause fatigue, anxiety,
00:05:21.829 --> 00:05:24.850
brain fog, or sleep issues. But if you're in
00:05:24.850 --> 00:05:27.189
this stage of life and something feels noticeably
00:05:27.189 --> 00:05:29.209
different, it's worth having a conversation with
00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.370
someone who actually understands menopause care
00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:35.350
and gives a shit. There are options. For some
00:05:35.350 --> 00:05:38.209
women, hormone therapy can be incredibly helpful.
00:05:38.459 --> 00:05:41.459
For others, it may not be appropriate or may
00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:43.720
not be what they want. Dr. Troutman talks about
00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.759
looking at the full picture through meals, movement,
00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:49.899
mind, and meds, which can include things like
00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:52.160
nutrition, exercise, strength training, sleep,
00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.920
support, stress management, therapy, coaching,
00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:58.240
hormone therapy, and other medications just depending
00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.040
on the person. And I think one of the most useful
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.360
things that she said was that sometimes telling
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:06.300
an exhausted woman to just eat better and exercise
00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:09.319
more is not especially helpful. It's not bad
00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.079
advice, of course. It's just hard to execute
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.180
when you are completely depleted. Sometimes you
00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:17.819
need help feeling better before you can consistently
00:06:17.819 --> 00:06:20.199
do all those other things to help support your
00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:22.800
health. So if you're listening to this and thinking,
00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.860
okay, this sounds very familiar. Here's where
00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:28.439
I would start. Pay attention to what's changed,
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.319
not just hot flashes. Look at your sleep, anxiety,
00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:34.620
your energy, your concentration, patience, and
00:06:34.620 --> 00:06:38.680
even whether you just feel like yourself. You
00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:40.459
don't need to track every emotion and turn this
00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:42.639
into a giant project, but it's worth noticing
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:44.600
patterns because those patterns help you have
00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:46.699
a much better conversation with the provider.
00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:49.819
And then find someone who knows what they're
00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:52.699
talking about. Ask whether they regularly work
00:06:52.699 --> 00:06:55.240
with women in perimenopause. Ask how they evaluate
00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.139
symptoms. Ask what treatment options they discuss
00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:00.860
and what else they want to rule out. If you feel
00:07:00.860 --> 00:07:04.339
dismissed, keep going. You are not being dramatic
00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:06.040
because you want to sleep through the night.
00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.100
And remember basic nouns. I mean, these are very
00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:12.540
reasonable goals. And finally, be careful about
00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:14.639
turning any of this into a statement about your
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.240
competence. If you're struggling with focus or
00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.259
sleep or anxiety, get curious before you get
00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:23.089
critical. Do not immediately decide that you
00:07:23.089 --> 00:07:25.910
are not as sharp anymore or maybe that you can't
00:07:25.910 --> 00:07:27.850
handle the role or maybe you should go after
00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:31.430
a less opportunity. There may be something biological
00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:33.850
happening that deserves attention before you
00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:36.670
make it mean something bigger about who you are.
00:07:36.889 --> 00:07:39.350
And if you need some support at work, you get
00:07:39.350 --> 00:07:41.410
to decide what that looks like. You do not need
00:07:41.410 --> 00:07:43.509
to announce your medical history in a conference
00:07:43.509 --> 00:07:46.209
room. You may simply need to talk about the impact,
00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:48.970
whether that's sleep disruption, a health issue,
00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:51.350
or needing a little more structure around something
00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:54.089
just for a period of time. Every workplace is
00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:56.449
different and disclosure is personal, but quietly
00:07:56.449 --> 00:07:59.750
struggling is not your only option. So if there's
00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:01.850
one thing I want you to take away from this is
00:08:01.850 --> 00:08:05.060
that. Perimenopause is normal. It's common. Yes,
00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:07.459
it's going to happen. And it can absolutely affect
00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:09.579
how you show up in your career. But that does
00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:11.839
not mean that you're declining. It does not mean
00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:13.980
that you are suddenly less capable. And it definitely
00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:16.180
does not mean that you need to spend the next
00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:19.759
several, and I mean several years, white -knuckling
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.500
your way through it. Pay attention to what's
00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:25.019
changed. Ask questions. Find someone who listens
00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:27.959
and explore the options that make sense for you.
00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:30.839
Because taking care of yourself is not separate.
00:08:30.990 --> 00:08:33.289
from being a strong leader. It's part of how
00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:36.129
you stay one. And there's absolutely no metal
00:08:36.129 --> 00:08:38.570
for suffering through this alone. If you have
00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.529
not listened to my full conversation with Dr.
00:08:40.610 --> 00:08:42.950
Case Troutman, go back and listen. There's so
00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:45.570
much information about what perimenopause actually
00:08:45.570 --> 00:08:48.429
is, treatment options, and why this matters so
00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:52.529
much for women at work. Until next time, stay
00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:54.929
loud, stay lifted, and know that you are not
00:08:54.929 --> 00:08:55.889
in this alone.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940
Let's talk about perimenopause. I know what you
00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.700
may be thinking on the surface, this seems like
00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:07.219
a strange topic for Women in Leadership podcast.
00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:10.179
But after my conversation with Dr. Case Troutman,
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:13.199
I actually think the connection is pretty obvious.
00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.199
If you're over 40, you probably cannot go very
00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.600
long without hearing someone talk about it. It
00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.780
comes up with friends, it shows up in your social
00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:23.339
media feed. And eventually you start hearing
00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:25.440
enough of the symptoms that you think, okay,
00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:28.760
wait a second, this sounds very familiar. That
00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.219
was definitely my experience. For a long time,
00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.420
I thought I was just stressed. And to be fair,
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.939
I had plenty of reason to be. Work had been intense.
00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:39.679
Life had been insane. There was a lot going on.
00:00:39.979 --> 00:00:42.579
So when I started waking up at 3 AM and couldn't
00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:45.539
go back to sleep consistently, I just blamed
00:00:45.539 --> 00:00:49.079
stress. When I felt like I was constantly carrying
00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:53.200
this high anxiety, like my body was always slightly
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.679
on edge, I blamed that on stress too. And because
00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.939
I wasn't having hot flashes, perimenopause was
00:00:58.939 --> 00:01:01.280
really not even on my radar. That was basically
00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:03.240
my understanding of menopause for most of my
00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:05.620
life. Hot flashes, moodiness, eventually your
00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:08.040
period stops. That's pretty much the curriculum
00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:10.900
that I knew. What Dr. Troutman helped explain
00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:12.840
is that for a lot of women, it does not look
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.099
like that at all. It can look like fatigue, anxiety,
00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:18.900
disrupted sleep, difficulty concentrating, brain
00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.040
fog, feeling overwhelmed, or just that vague
00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:25.659
feeling of not quite feeling like yourself. And
00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:27.659
that matters because none of those things stay
00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:30.400
neatly contained in your personal life. If you're
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:32.939
not sleeping, that follows you to work. If you
00:01:32.939 --> 00:01:35.480
can't focus the way you normally do, that follows
00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.620
you into a meeting. If your anxiety is suddenly
00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:41.519
much higher than usual, that can absolutely affect
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.620
how you communicate, make decisions, or show
00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.719
up in a high -stakes situation. So one of the
00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:50.239
biggest takeaways for me was to stop assuming
00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.200
everything is just stress. That does not mean
00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.560
your stress is not real. Most women in this stage
00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.480
of life have plenty of it. You may be leading
00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.239
a team, raising kids, helping aging parents,
00:02:01.579 --> 00:02:03.659
managing a household, running a business, and
00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:05.719
doing some combination yes of all that. You're
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:08.280
under a lot of pressure. But what Dr. Chapman
00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:10.960
kept coming back to was the idea of asking, what
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.840
if it's not just stress? That's such a simple
00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.379
question because I think it's also so important.
00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:20.680
It gives you another explanation besides, am
00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:23.000
I just not handling things as well as I used
00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.979
to? And that is where women can get really hard
00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:28.520
on themselves. We start thinking maybe we need
00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.759
a better routine to get more organized. Maybe
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:34.900
we need to exercise more and sleep better, manage
00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:37.400
our time better, or somehow become more disciplined
00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.770
than we already are. Meanwhile, there may be
00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:44.169
a biological reason why everything feels harder.
00:02:44.669 --> 00:02:46.650
Dr. Trotman called this the silent tax, and I
00:02:46.650 --> 00:02:48.349
thought that was such a good way to describe
00:02:48.349 --> 00:02:50.830
it. We keep compensating for what is happening
00:02:50.830 --> 00:02:54.009
without really understanding it. We make more
00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:56.610
list. We over -prepare. We put reminders everywhere.
00:02:56.650 --> 00:02:59.110
We work longer because it takes more effort to
00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:02.590
focus. And then when something slips, we take
00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:05.750
it personally. This is where it becomes a career
00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:08.400
issue. Brain fog is one thing when you're standing
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.479
in your kitchen trying to remember why you walked
00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.340
into the room. It feels very different when you're
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presenting to a client, leading a meeting, or
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sitting in a room where your credibility matters.
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You know the information, you've said the word
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a hundred times, and then suddenly it's just
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gone. The problem is that in that moment you
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were not only trying to remember the word, you're
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also thinking about what everyone else in the
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room now thinks about you. Do they think I'm
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unprepared, that I can't handle this? Do they
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think I'm losing my edge? And then, because we're
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human, we start asking ourselves the same questions.
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That's the part I really want women to hear.
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Struggling with sleep, anxiety, focus, or brain
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fog does not automatically mean your capability
00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:55.560
has changed. And the timing of all this is especially
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frustrating because perimenopause often shows
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up during some of our biggest career years. We
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have finally built the experience, the confidence,
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the credibility. We're leading bigger teams,
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taking on bigger roles, running companies. And
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at the exact same time, our bodies may be making
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some of those things feel much harder than they
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used to. This does not mean we're past our peak.
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It means we may need to understand what is actually
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happening before we start making big assumptions
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about ourselves. The other big takeaway from
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Dr. Troutman was that normal does not mean you
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have to suffer. She said there is no metal for
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suffering and that line stuck with me because
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women are very good at powering through and calling
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it strength. We take care of everybody else first.
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We handle the appointments, the schedules, the
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work, the family stuff, all of it. And meanwhile,
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we may not have been sleeping for six months
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and thinking, I'll deal with it eventually. I
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did that too. I also brought up some of these
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symptoms with another doctor before I met Dr.
00:04:56.110 --> 00:04:58.310
Troutman and basically got, yeah, that's normal
00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:02.329
for your age. And I walked away thinking, OK,
00:05:02.529 --> 00:05:05.569
so I guess that means I just deal with it. But
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normal and untreatable are not the same thing.
00:05:09.129 --> 00:05:11.709
That's an important distinction. Dr. Troutman
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was also very clear that every symptom is not
00:05:14.410 --> 00:05:17.189
automatically perimenopause. A good provider
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should look at the full picture and rule out
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other things that can cause fatigue, anxiety,
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brain fog, or sleep issues. But if you're in
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this stage of life and something feels noticeably
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different, it's worth having a conversation with
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someone who actually understands menopause care
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and gives a shit. There are options. For some
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women, hormone therapy can be incredibly helpful.
00:05:38.459 --> 00:05:41.459
For others, it may not be appropriate or may
00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:43.720
not be what they want. Dr. Troutman talks about
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looking at the full picture through meals, movement,
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mind, and meds, which can include things like
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nutrition, exercise, strength training, sleep,
00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.920
support, stress management, therapy, coaching,
00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:58.240
hormone therapy, and other medications just depending
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on the person. And I think one of the most useful
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.360
things that she said was that sometimes telling
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an exhausted woman to just eat better and exercise
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more is not especially helpful. It's not bad
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advice, of course. It's just hard to execute
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.180
when you are completely depleted. Sometimes you
00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:17.819
need help feeling better before you can consistently
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do all those other things to help support your
00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:22.800
health. So if you're listening to this and thinking,
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okay, this sounds very familiar. Here's where
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I would start. Pay attention to what's changed,
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.319
not just hot flashes. Look at your sleep, anxiety,
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your energy, your concentration, patience, and
00:06:34.620 --> 00:06:38.680
even whether you just feel like yourself. You
00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:40.459
don't need to track every emotion and turn this
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into a giant project, but it's worth noticing
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:44.600
patterns because those patterns help you have
00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:46.699
a much better conversation with the provider.
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And then find someone who knows what they're
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talking about. Ask whether they regularly work
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with women in perimenopause. Ask how they evaluate
00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.139
symptoms. Ask what treatment options they discuss
00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:00.860
and what else they want to rule out. If you feel
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dismissed, keep going. You are not being dramatic
00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:06.040
because you want to sleep through the night.
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And remember basic nouns. I mean, these are very
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reasonable goals. And finally, be careful about
00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:14.639
turning any of this into a statement about your
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.240
competence. If you're struggling with focus or
00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.259
sleep or anxiety, get curious before you get
00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:23.089
critical. Do not immediately decide that you
00:07:23.089 --> 00:07:25.910
are not as sharp anymore or maybe that you can't
00:07:25.910 --> 00:07:27.850
handle the role or maybe you should go after
00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:31.430
a less opportunity. There may be something biological
00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:33.850
happening that deserves attention before you
00:07:33.850 --> 00:07:36.670
make it mean something bigger about who you are.
00:07:36.889 --> 00:07:39.350
And if you need some support at work, you get
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to decide what that looks like. You do not need
00:07:41.410 --> 00:07:43.509
to announce your medical history in a conference
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room. You may simply need to talk about the impact,
00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:48.970
whether that's sleep disruption, a health issue,
00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:51.350
or needing a little more structure around something
00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:54.089
just for a period of time. Every workplace is
00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:56.449
different and disclosure is personal, but quietly
00:07:56.449 --> 00:07:59.750
struggling is not your only option. So if there's
00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:01.850
one thing I want you to take away from this is
00:08:01.850 --> 00:08:05.060
that. Perimenopause is normal. It's common. Yes,
00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:07.459
it's going to happen. And it can absolutely affect
00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:09.579
how you show up in your career. But that does
00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:11.839
not mean that you're declining. It does not mean
00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:13.980
that you are suddenly less capable. And it definitely
00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:16.180
does not mean that you need to spend the next
00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:19.759
several, and I mean several years, white -knuckling
00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.500
your way through it. Pay attention to what's
00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:25.019
changed. Ask questions. Find someone who listens
00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:27.959
and explore the options that make sense for you.
00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:30.839
Because taking care of yourself is not separate.
00:08:30.990 --> 00:08:33.289
from being a strong leader. It's part of how
00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:36.129
you stay one. And there's absolutely no metal
00:08:36.129 --> 00:08:38.570
for suffering through this alone. If you have
00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.529
not listened to my full conversation with Dr.
00:08:40.610 --> 00:08:42.950
Case Troutman, go back and listen. There's so
00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:45.570
much information about what perimenopause actually
00:08:45.570 --> 00:08:48.429
is, treatment options, and why this matters so
00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:52.529
much for women at work. Until next time, stay
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loud, stay lifted, and know that you are not
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in this alone.