EPISODE #988

Menopause Bootcamp: Ditch the BS and Get to Solutions

Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz

Reframing the stigma of menopause with frank talk, useful information and real strategies to help you manage changing hormones, body and brain.

Affiliate Disclosure & Health Claims

In this Episode of The Human Upgrade™...

…menopause and the perimenopausal years leading up to it take the spotlight as a topic frequently requested by listeners. Great timing! It’s World Menopause Awareness Day Oct. 18 and World Menopause Awareness Month in October.

More than 1 million women in the United States experience menopause each year. Still, little is known, researched or taught in medical schools about the health effects of this natural biological occurrence.

Guys who love the women in their lives and younger women will get a lot of benefit out of the show, too, and come away armed with information. Note that some women go through menopause at ages earlier than 40 for various medical reasons and will want to keep listening.

“I want people to stop being afraid to say menopause,” says Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz. “I think there’s a lot to be said for just saying the word out loud. And I understand right now that people may feel that that would be offensive or something. If we can deweaponize the term and just be talking about it like we would any other life phase, then we can be there for each other and we can also learn from each other.”

Dr. Suzanne, an OBGYN board certified in integrative and holistic medicine, brings her expertise to the show to tackle this complex topic.

Her “endless curiosity about the human experience” propelled her to uncover ways to ease women through menopause stages with effective tools. She looks at the science and also brings in holistic elements, including Ayurveda. For more than two decades, she’s led women through life transitions.

Her new book “Menopause Bootcamp: Optimize Your Health, Empower Your Self and Flourish as You Age” offers practical steps and solutions that can help women navigate the many menopausal changes they may experience.

“Misogyny and ageism had a baby and called it menopause. This shit is fraught.”

Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz

“Talking about menopause is like letting our gray grow in, she says in her book. “For many of us it’s scary; an admission that we’re not young anymore. That’s one of the major reasons, I believe, that we don’t talk about it. But that silence comes at a huge cost to both our health and our ability to live fully in our bodies.”

Some of what you’ll learn in this extensive conversation:

Ways to de-pathologize menopause—which contributes to healing ageism.
What’s actually going on with your hormones during the transition to menopause and beyond.
Why hormone testing isn’t all that useful.
Why Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT and what used to be called hormone replacement therapy, or HRT)—continues to be misunderstood and controversial.
How to craft specific questions to better advocate for yourself with doctors.
How to recognize symptoms that can range from moderate to severe to even debilitating.
How to manage symptoms that disrupt the activities of daily living and long-term health.
How physical changes can drive mental health issues during this time of your life.
How to take control of your symptoms and find real solutions.

Dr. Suzanne’s “Menopause Bootcamp” touches on prejudice in medicine and how to break free from the societal bullshit surrounding menopause so you can get appropriate help and treatments. “The thing that we can do for ourselves is value ourselves and prioritize ourselves enough to avail ourself of the information that’s out there,” she says.” She also lays out how to rethink stigmas about menopause and look at it as a time of more joy and growth.

More about Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz: She earned a medical degree from the USC School of Medicine and completed an OBGYN residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center She completed a clinical Ayurvedic Specialist degree at California College of Ayurveda and is a Diplomat of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She cofounded the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Green Committee to promote healing that involves individuals, families, communities, and the planet. She’s also involved in women’s empowerment and public education. She frequently serves as an expert in women’s health and integrative medicine in major media and online outlets.