Come on in, the community is fine
Watch a replay of More Than Hot Flashes + what women in their 50s suggest for women in their 40s
Hey GAL hey!
Here at The Midst, we’re building a space for women in their 30s to 50s to connect with us and each other. Women looking for information, support, friendship, and to know that no, you aren’t crazy because so damn many of us are experiencing similar symptoms and life changes.
No matter where you are on the roller coaster that is the midst of life, we can guarantee plenty of others in our community are right there with you.
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To that end, we’re working on bringing you virtual and live events that speak to life’s experiences at this age, big sisterly advice, real product reviews, and more. Here are a few recent happenings from our community of badass, trail-blazing women.
xo,
Tiffany Nieslanik
Head of Community @ The Midst
Did you miss More Than Hot Flashes? No probs.
On August 16, we hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) virtual event called “More Than Hot Flashes: Demystifying Menopause.” I moderated an expert panel of doctors and community members who shared their insights and knowledge on perimenopause and menopause.
10 takeaways from the session
Perimenopause is a very muddled and fuzzy concept. But it begins with an imbalance between estrogen — which surges — and progesterone — which naturally declines as we age.
Perimenopause generally shows up as symptoms that are cyclic.
In addition to the most-known symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, other common perimenopause symptoms include:
- heart palpitations
- joint pain
- mood swings
- increased anxiety
- depression
- inability to deal with stress
- headachesPerimenopause can start in your early 30s and last for more than a decade in some women. But for most women, symptoms often begin 2-4 years before menopause. If you are experiencing symptoms of perimenopause, it’s important to get a clinical evaluation that includes iron, thyroid, CRP (C-reactive protein), vitamin D, and cortisol level checks for a nuanced understanding of what your body is going through.
Hormonal birth control is made to suppress your natural cycle, to override it, and to prevent ovulation in most cases. Hormone therapy was designed to augment, bolster, and support your natural hormones.
Things that work for menopause symptoms don’t always work for perimenopause and vice versa. You have to be aware of your body and what it feels like regularly to be able to help direct your care provider in helping you figure out what treatment options are working best for your symptoms.
We know the impact of lowered estrogen but not of oscillating estrogen. This is something that needs to be studied more fully.
Once you hit menopause, defined as one full year without any period at all (not even spotting), then your estrogen begins to drop. It generally takes about two years to stabilize, which is your estrogen level for the rest of your life, usually.
Three months is long enough to try any kind of treatment, supplement, habit, whatever. If it's been three months and things aren't shifting, then it’s likely that the thing you are trying isn't right for you. Being in perimenopause, going through menopause, being postmenopausal, it's all going to be highly individualized, so you have to do a bit of trial and error to find what works for your body.
One of the most important things you can do in perimenopause, menopause, and life in general is get a handle on your nutrition, exercise, and stress management.
LET’S CHAT
Show us your tips
Over on Instagram threads, we recently asked our community members two important questions and received some excellent answers.
We also asked: “What can workplaces do to support women in perimenopause and menopause?” Here are some thoughts:
@wetorchid.vaginal.moisturizers: “Provide more fans and AC🥵 🌬💨
Plus a couple of extra mental health days off would be a bonus!”
@juliettavalletta: “I need an environment where I can say, ‘I'm in perimenopause, my mood will fluctuate, I will struggle to concentrate, please can we acknowledge that, make allowances and move on because I'm doing my freaking best.’”
@drsarahbonza: “It would be helpful for women going through perimenopause and menopause to have sponsored health checks and paid health breaks.”
This was an excellent conversation. If you are interested in seeing more answers, check out the rest of the responses on threads!
Y’all are so inspiring!
Some new hobbies you all have picked up in midlife: dancing, kayaking, oil painting, SUP, mountain biking, boxing, and weaving. Color us impressed.
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We always love to meet more of our community members, so if you haven’t introduced yourself yet, please say hi here in our chat, join one of our ongoing conversations, or come to an upcoming event, including F#ck Middle Age on October 19!
And, if you’re feeling extra extroverted, become a Founding MidstHer and share your story in a feature profile.
Your support means the world to us
Thank you so much for being part of The Midst. We couldn’t do this important work without you.
If you’re a newbie in the Substack world
We created a guide on how to get the most out of the platform and how to help more women access the information and community The Midst offers. For the TL:DR folks out there, here are the top three tips from that resource:
👉🏼 Give the stories and notes that resonate with you a heart or comment on them. This helps new readers see the stories and also tells us what content we should create more of.
👉🏼 Recommend The Midst Substack. To do this, head to Substack's settings page and click “Details” in the left navigation bar. Next to "Recommend other Substacks," select "Start recommending." Then, pick The Midst from your list of reads. (More details can be found here.)
Bonus points if you write a blurb explaining why you recommend our Substack.
👉🏼 Become a paid subscriber. Building The Midst takes time and energy. If you like what we are doing, you can support our work for the cost of a monthly latte. Every subscription makes a ripple that’s felt for a long time.
Thanks for reading the August community round-up! We’d love it if you share our Substack with your friends who are going through it with you.
The Midst is a woman-owned business on a mission to empower women in the prime of their lives.