Perimenopause. We really need to talk about it.

Talking all about perimenopause today. This has been a huge topic of conversation in my home and with friends as I am fully into my own menopause journey. 

I share with you what my experience has been so far as well as sharing symptoms, how it's been for my husband, to what it's been like dealing with doctors trying to find relief. I share my frustrations and more. 

It's my hope that this episode helps more women realize they aren't going crazy or dying of some weird disease... that it's most likely PERIMENOPAUSE.

Disclaimer: Just a quick heads up! I'm not a medical doctor, and the stories and information I share in this podcast are for entertainment and informational purposes only. It's crucial to remember that what works for one person might not work for another. So, if you're dealing with health issues or need medical advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional. Your well-being is important, and they're the experts who can provide the right guidance.

Transcript

Shana: 0:00

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to how it's really going machine of record today. I want to chat about. Perimenopause menopause. And this has been a podcast that I've been wanting to record for a while. I have have been talking a little bit about my own journey with perimenopause in my Instagram. And I have been sharing funny memes about menopause and stuff, because I am in a space where I am absolutely going through it. And I am relating to a lot of the menopause content and I have been following a lot of the menopause content on social media. Every single time I share something in my stories about menopause or perimenopause. I get. More reactions and more messages from people than anything else that I post. There's a huge portion of the population going through this right now. And it's becoming a very. I would say it's becoming a very important, but also a much bigger conversation right now, because I think in years past it hasn't been a conversation at all. Like I'm talking my mom's generation and generations previous to that. I feel like so sad for those generations that didn't have the same kind of information that we have today. To help them deal with what was, what they were going through in these times. And so that's why I want to have this conversation today because I do feel like we need to be having more of these conversations because it is something that needs to be discussed because there's not a lot of research and development in the medical field on what is happening to a woman's body when they're going through menopause. I, in my opinion, and I will just start this whole podcast by saying I'm not a doctor. This is not medical advice. This is my own story about going through this. Definitely talk to your doctor if you resonate with things that I'm saying in this podcast. And if you feel like you might be going through this and you're looking for help and support, absolutely go to your doctor or find a specialist, if you can and get the support you need. This is more just to create awareness. If you are struggling and feeling certain ways. Then maybe it's this, and this might be a starting point for you. We need to be having this conversation. We need to be talking about this because people are in the dark women are in the dark and actually, you know what, I am going to include men also because. This is also a conversation to be had with your spouse. If you're a partner. He is a man. And you feel like things just don't feel right in the relationship even, and you don't feel right. This is just as much of something that your male partner will go through as much as you. And I'm very fortunate that I have a spouse who has taken the time to do his own research and to understand. And he is very understanding, even though some days he has no idea what the hell is going on with me. But he has taken the time and invested into this whole process as well as me. So this isn't something that is just for women. I do believe that this is information that men also need to have access to you. So absolutely they can listen to this podcast as well, if they want to gain some understanding of what it's like to go through this. And some of the things that we suffer with during this time. So that's why I wanted to record this is to create an awareness and start more conversations. But again, it's not medical advice. I am not a doctor. Don't come after me for anything that I might say that might not be right or wrong. This is just my own thoughts and opinions and the research that I've done personally that I'm going to be sharing in this podcast. It means I might not be a hundred percent correct, but I'm just going to tell you what I know. Okay. So let's just start with talking about what is perimenopause menopause. And this is my understanding. So perimenopause is the stage. That women go through before, just before their periods are about to end. So how I understand it is that women are born with all of the eggs that they are ever going to have from the minute that they are created. And we don't get more eggs. We only have what we've been given. And when we get to the end of our supply of eggs is kind of is when we will start into perimenopause somewhere around that time when things. The stockpile is depleting. And our body's about to go through some changes. For me that started around, I'm going to say, I think I was probably around 43, 44. So once your body is out of eggs, you stop having cycles. And menopause is actually just from how I understand it. One day, it's the day. Where you have missed 12 periods in a row. So if you've missed 12 cycles in a row, that one day where you're like doing the math and you're like, okay, I've missed 12 periods. That day is menopause. And then you become post-menopausal. So that's where your time after, like you're not getting cycles anymore. You're now post-menopausal. So Perry is leading up to it. And Perry, I think can last anywhere from I can last for a couple of years up to 15 years. So it can happen fairly early in your life. And but it also can go very quickly for some people. So there's no one size fits all for this, which is why I believe it makes it so difficult for health professionals to support women in this because It's not the same for everybody. It's the symptoms and everything can be different for everyone. So I do see how it is a moving target, and that can be very difficult for people. And, and that's why we have to have more of these conversations because it isn't just a one size fits all things. So what you might be going through, you might feel alone in that and feel like nobody else is going through it, but there is somebody who's probably got similar symptoms as you, right? Like we're not all the same, but there is somebody who's dealing with similar things. And. It just helps to, for you to know that you're not alone. That's kind of what it is. If you go online and Google, what is perimenopause? What is menopause? What is post-menopause you will get the detailed information about that, but in general, that's how I understand it. Now. How it started for me. And this is where I'm going to share a little bit of my story and some of the symptoms that I have experienced. And if you can find yourself in my story, then, this is the starting point probably for you to say, Hey, maybe this is perimenopause. And for me, it's funny because I actually didn't know this was the start of perimenopause when I was dealing with this. First symptom, but looking back now, I realize it was a symptom. I just didn't know it at the time. Cause my, my youngest child was probably about four or five., and so I was still am I. Early forties feeling like there's no way I'm in menopause. And was, it didn't even cross my mind, but the first symptom that I ever had was Thai Anitas. Which is, it's like a ringing or like a, it's like a sound in your ears that you get. I struggled with that for what felt like about a year where I would., anytime, like when I get into bed or at night, it would actually wake me up at night sometimes also. Where. I would have this, like this wave sound in my ear, this like rushing sound in my ear and, I couldn't get rid of it. I went to the doctor for it. I was like, I keep getting this ringing in my ear. I'm like, do I have ear infection? Do I have brain cancer? Like what is happening? And there was nothing. He was just was like, oh, you know, it could be tineatis yet, but I, I'm not sure. I don't see anything., just kinda monitor it,. And knowing now the symptoms of menopause or perimenopause tinnitus is absolutely one of them. I realized now looking back. That's the starting point for me, that was like one of my very first symptoms. And so I struggled with that for about a year, but it was kind of on and off. It wasn't like every single night, it was just sort of something that was there sometimes. And I actually don't have that at all anymore. So it did go away for me, which was great. But the next sort of thing that started happening in this would have been a few years later. So this would have been probably around 46, 47. I started noticing a drastic. In increase in anxiety and irritability, like to the point where everything that was going on in my house was annoying me. My husband. Was the most annoying person out of everyone in my household. And I feel bad for saying that. He understands. If he's listening to this, he gets it. And I think it's because we're there, the people who are closest to us, someone said that to me once before, I'm like, why is it him? And they're like, well, you spend so much time with them. They're the person that's closest to you. Of course, they're going to be the most annoying. And it's true. Like Jason, I spent a lot of time together. We both work from home. We do ever art studio, which sometimes he goes to, which is,, we have a little bit of separation time there, but. We are together a lot. So it makes sense that he was the most annoying person to me as I'm going through this. But it was like, I remember being at the hair salon, getting my hair done by my friend. Lisa. And I remember complaining about like, I'm like, I don't know why, but the way he sips his coffee in the morning, It makes me so angry. I'm like just every little thing. Was just so annoying and it, that was new. Like it was new and I didn't understand why I felt that way. I thought are we at that point in our relationship now where it's like, we become the old bickering couple, what is it? And so I struggled with that for a little while, until it got to the point where I was feeling like I was actually full on depressed. Like something was really wrong with me. I was waking up feeling. Sad. I was waking up feeling. So annoyed in an anxious and angry. And sad is really how I to describe it. And I would come into my office cause I work from home and I have my home office here. And I just wanted to close the door and if anybody ever came into my office, It, I almost could burst into tears because it was so irritating to me that I, I didn't want to talk to anybody, especially Jason. And it was so irritating to me. Like he even said, he goes, I could feel. The tension and the irritation, like in the energy of the room, it's so bad. And I was like, something is not right. This isn't normal for me to feel this way as much as I was. And that's when I made the first appointment to go see my doctor about that. And I will say at the same time, and this is a sidebar. I was also figuring out that I had ADHD. So the ADHD thing was happening around the same time where I was, you know, my husband was the one who was actually noticing my tendencies and suggested that potentially I might have ADHD and to go talk to the doctor about it. And I, figured. Yeah. Maybe I have ADHD. Like it makes sense. I've always been somebody who's a little bit all over the place. And I am like, when you look at the symptoms of ADHD, there's a lot of them that fit the bill for me. And so I was being diagnosed for ADHD. I did get the diagnosis. I was testing out medications and things at this time. And here's the thing with ADHD and menopause or perimenopause. And again, this is my point of view of what I've learned about this. So I'm, there may be some incorrect facts here, but this is how I understood it is when you're going through perimenopause, your estrogen levels are dropping. Like your hormone levels are going actually all over the place. They're there. It's not consistent. Like that's why some days you feel great. Some days you don't like you're all over the place because your hormone levels are all over the place. And what happens with women is that their estrogen levels. Are dropping. And estrogen plays a huge role in your cognitive function and the way your brain actually functions. And so ADHD is very much heightened during perimenopause because astrogen plays a role. In your executive function. And so when your estrogen levels drop your ADHD symptoms, get super heightened. And so I had been masking ADHD my whole life. I'd never been diagnosed. My mom, once I was diagnosed, connected, a lot of dots to back to my childhood, which made so much sense. But back in those days, girls were not diagnosed with ADHD. It was a boys thing. So because my estrogen levels were dropping and fluctuating, it was heightening my ADHD symptoms, We follow Shaylene Johnson on Instagram and she has ADHD and for a while, there talked a lot about her ADHD symptoms and the things that she does. And he was noticing a similarity between myself and her. And that's when it was like, maybe you have this. So, anyways, I just, as a side note, I did get diagnosed ADHD around this time. I did try medications. I didn't love them. I just deal with it. It's just something I know. And I create systems and things for it, but I really don't do anything for it. But it's what came out. You know, during this whole going through perimenopause. So. Just side note for that. But at the time I was dealing with this massive anxiety, depression, feeling sadness. Very much anger. And I just was like, so I went to the doctor for that. I felt like in one year I was at my doctor's office. Every month I feel like he was like, oh, you again, But, you know what, here's the thing. I felt that way. And I was like, oh God, do I make an appointment again? Like I just saw him. I was just like, now I've got this new thing. Like, he's going to think I'm crazy. I'm going to be that crazy person that's in the doctor's office all the time. And I had to actually have like a little sit down with myself and say, listen, I'm live. I live in Canada. We are fortunate to have our healthcare covered. I have that for a reason. I pay my taxes. I do my things. If I need to go and see my doctor every fucking day of the week for whatever I'm going and whether he thinks I'm crazy or not is beside the point. And I had to have a little sit down with myself and tell myself, stop that. If you need to go and have a conversation with your doctor, that's why you have healthcare. Go to your doctor. don't not go because you think you're worried about what he's thinking about you or she's thinking about you. And that's what I was doing. It was stupid. And. So I would go and see him again about something else, and I'm going to generalize doctors which I know is maybe good or bad. I don't know. But. I feel like they don't have the right education. Deal with women in menopause. And I pretty sure that it's a known fact that it's not something that is. A huge portion of med school. And it really should be, especially because so many women struggle with this and are not getting answers and aren't getting the support that they need. And it's not necessarily my doctor's fault or your doctor's fault it's they just don't have this, the education and the studies. And I don't think women have been like women in menopause and perimenopause have been studied that much. I think it's happening more now, but they just didn't, they don't have the resources or the tools. And so when I would go and see my doctor, the first thing he prescribed to me, which definitely was helpful for me was the birth control pill. But again, it has its drawbacks, right? So he put me on the birth control pill. It was a low dose pill to help even out and bump up my estrogen levels. And it definitely worked. My mood swings definitely, came. Down like I wasn't as mood swingy. I wasn't as anxious. I wasn't as angry. But it like dampened everything. So I, wasn't also super joyous. I wasn't also super like anything. I was just kind of. Ma. And so it was helpful, but it was also not helpful. You know what I mean? So I stayed on that for about a year, maybe a little bit longer. And till I started going, okay, I'm missing out. Sure. I'm not so angry anymore, but I'm also missing out on feeling. Joy and feeling excitement and it also, I'm not going to lie. It dampens your libido. And so, there wasn't really any desire for that to happen in my life. And so I was like there's gotta be maybe something else. Like the sure. This is working for my moods and my depression and my my angriness and my anxiety. It's helping that for sure. But it's also taking away a lot of the joys of,, my life. So that's when I. Started to go back to the doctor again to say, Hey, is there maybe something else we could try? Now, there were also other symptoms that were cropping up that I went to him for. So while I was going to him for these other things that were popping up and I'll share what those are in a minute. We were talking about also other options. And, and to keep in mind, I was also following all these doctors in the states on Instagram and stuff who were talking about different forms of hormones and hormone replacement therapy. And I would bring those up with my doctor, but, Canada's rules are different than the us rules that are different than Australia's rules that are different than whatever. So there are things that you can get in the states that you can't get in Canada. Even though I'm following these doctors and saying, Hey, they're saying that this is something that I could take. That'd be really good. My doctor be like, well, I can't do that here in Canada, or that's not FDA approved. I'm not willing to prescribe that kind of thing. So there's all those challenges as well. So I was starting to notice other symptoms. So one of the symptoms that I also had was rashes. I was starting to get rashes all over my body. I, they started on my neck. I got them on my wrist. They were showing up on my fingers. And they were super itchy and I got a low dose cortisone cream. And that was helping to take the itch away. But the rashes weren't going away there would be a new one cropping up. So I was going to see him for that. Again, didn't know it was a perimenopause symptom. I just thought, oh, I touched something or I'm sensitive. Or now all of a sudden I can't wear necklaces and rings because they don't give me rashes. Which was new. So I didn't connect the dots, that being perimenopause. But now that if you do any kind of research on symptoms, you'll notice rashes, exzema all that kind of stuff are symptoms of menopause. It's itchy skin in general. That's something I deal with. Being annoyed with the way that things feel on your skin. I'm very sensitive to. Even my hair being on my neck, Stupid crazy symptoms like that, that you just are like, why. Like, why does this need to be a symptom sleeping? I was not sleeping. Well, I was waking up. I still wake up every, I feels like 2, 3, 4 times a night. Like, I can't even tell you the last time I slept through the night. You taking melatonin doesn't really help. Like I've tried these things. I definitely. I will say, talk to your doctor and even a natural path. So I did work with a natural path for a bit. And she was great. She helped me get on some supplements to help calm my mood. So Al fining was one. Ashwagandha is another one that you can take. Again, talk to a professional, don't just go run out and take these things. But those are things that were definitely helpful for me. I was also taking an omega. I was taking magnesium. I try and find a magnesium that has multiple of the different kinds of magnesium in it. So I like a magnesium complex that is helpful for sleeping. It also helps calm, moods and stuff. So I take a magnesium, I take it in the morning and I take it at night. I have been taking a B complex as well. That I do believe those supplements have helped me for sure. And I'm somebody who hated taking pills like vitamins and stuff. I would buy them and then I would, take them for a week and then I would never take them again. Cause I hated swallowing pills. Now because I've noticed such a difference in an improvement in my mood. I'm like a pro taking them. I take them every single day. I rarely miss days. And I just Chuck them back and I'm a pro at it now because I don't like the way I feel when I don't take them. And so now I make it my job to take my supplements. I am constantly looking at different things to take, to help. With those things. And sometimes, you have to take them for a while, like supplements. Isn't something you can take a day one, and it's going to, you're going to notice a difference. You have to take these things for a few months to start to really notice a difference. So those are things that I've also taken to help with the symptoms to help combat the symptoms that I've had. So speaking of symptoms, these are some of the symptoms that you can have. Not everybody's going to have the same symptoms, and there's so many of them. So I'm not even going to be able to touch on all of them in this podcast. These are some of the ones that I've experienced and some of the ones that. I know of other people who have experienced or I've heard of, so obviously the first ones you would probably have already heard of like hot flashes, the night sweats, the mood changes. So for me, I didn't really have too many hot flashes. I had one night sweat. I remember it very specifically where I woke up and I was like super duper sweaty. Those are some of the common ones, irritability, mood changes, like breast soreness bloating, thinning, hair, itchy, skin, itchy ear. That's another one. A couple of my friends have itchy inner ears. You can have rashes, you can have like, so there's loss of libido is another one. There are so many different symptoms. It's hard to say. Them all in one podcast, but there are tons of headaches. That was something else that I had was I had massive headaches all the time. I even went to the doctor and was like, I'm getting these headaches. Like, am I okay? I also would have like vertigo or dizzy spells when I was walking at night. Some of these things have come and gone. Some of them are still here. Dry mouth is another one. I like, I have to have dry mouth spray on my nightstand because I will wake up. Literally not even being able to swallow my mouth is so dry. You can have fatigue, acne, digestive symptoms, joint pain. So this is another thing that I've noticed is getting up out of bed or getting up off the couch. I'm like, oh, I kind of feel like I'm a hundred years old right now. This is weird. And it's like, I ran a marathon yesterday, but I didn't ran a marathon., it's like, my body feels tired. So muscle aches, muscle tension, itchiness sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, brittle nails. That's another one that I've noticed my nails. I cannot get them to get back to their normal thickness. I feel like they're breaking all the time. Weight gain, which is something else I'm noticing I'm working out the same that I always do actually have increased my weight workouts because working out with weights. And increasing your muscle mass is really good for menopause and treating perimenopause symptoms is, absolutely been a game changer for me, but I'm doing all the right things. I'm not eating any differently. And I'm noticing that I am putting on weight in areas that I didn't ever used to struggle with. And it's really upsetting because you're doing all the right things. And you're body composition just starts to change. Like I mentioned, the dizzy spells. Sometimes you get new allergies, sometimes you'll get symptoms of ADHD. Irregular heartbeat. That was also something that I've struggled with, where I feel like my heart palpitations. They're pounding out of my chest and I'm like, what's going on? And I didn't even do anything. I would just be sitting there and it would happen. The tie tonight is irritability, depression, anxiety. Panic disorder. There's also decreased tolerance for alcohol. Alcohol just doesn't do the same thing for me that it used to. In fact, it makes me feel really tired and I want to go to bed and my hangovers are way worse than they ever used to be. And I just, I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I do still love to have a glass of wine here and there. But I know that the consequences of having alcohol are just so much worse now than they ever used to be, that I really have to weigh out. Is this, do I really want to do this? And so it's a constant battle of do I drink or don't I drink. And then it's also the social piece of it. Like if you don't drink. Because it makes you feel like shit, you've got that whole social side of everybody being like, well, why aren't you having a drink? There's a lot of like, back and forth in your own head about. Stuff like that. It's definitely something that I have. Struggled with in the sense that I, to have a glass of wine. But I don't love how it makes me feel anymore. And then you struggle with the social aspect of that. I don't know if that makes any sense, but. It is a hundred percent. Something that I deal with right now. Like there are so many different things that you can experience in peri-menopause and you start to feel like you are crazy. Like something is really wrong with you and it's, I'm not going to lie. It's scary. Like there were times where I thought. Do I have brain cancer? Do I have something going, like what is going on? And that's why you have to have these conversations with your spouse. You have to have these conversations with your doctor, with your other girlfriends who are., at that same stage with you, because it helps to normalize some of this stuff and take out some of the fear. And that's what I've found. I'm so grateful for the women in my life that I can have these conversations with because you honestly think that there is something majorly wrong with just you. And that it's just you and nobody else in that. Like you just start to have that bit of a panic around what's wrong with you. But it's actually not just, you. And when you normalize it, it's not to say that that you have to live with it, but when you normalize it, you realize that you're not going to die. That it's just this perimenopause stuff and that you need to work with your doctor or health professional to help manage the symptoms. And you can, there are definitely things, like I said, the birth control pill that definitely helped me at a time when I needed it. Did I want to stay on it forever? No. Did I want to experiment and try other things? Yes. I am I finding it difficult to experiment with other things because the doctors. That I work with. Don't want to try different things or can't try different things. That's happening and it's frustrating. I'm right now. I would love to get on a low dose of testosterone. Well, that doesn't happen in Canada. There isn't anything that's FDA approved for women. And this is a little fact about testosterone that I didn't know. That women actually have more testosterone in their body than estrogen. We just happened to have less than men. So testosterone, isn't something that just men need. Women need it too. And for more things than just things like libido, it's supposed to be good for bone density and muscle mass and all these things, but we can't get it. We can't, get it from our doctors cause it's not studied enough. There's not enough. You know, information around it. And so it's, it can be really frustrating to try and find the solution that's going to work for you. I'm still trying to figure it out and I'm still trying to find. Health professionals that are willing to experiment a little bit with hormones to help me figure out what's the best combination for me. Cause what's going to work for me. Might not work for you. And the good news is, is there are more studies happening. There are more doctors and more people talking about this. If you look on Instagram and type in menopause, you will find tons of menopause specialists, doctors. Most of them are in the U S but there are some in Canada as well, who are starting to do the research to have the conversations, to figure out how we can be better at supporting women through this. And for the men out there. They also need to do their research. They also need their own support groups. They don't know what the hell is happening to their wife or their spouse. They don't know how to help them support them. If they say something they're going to get their head ripped off because we are super angry. I just don't know what to do. And so for them, they have to do their own research. They have to have their own conversations and talk about these things as well, because. I can see why the divorce rate would be high for women in their mid to late forties, because they're not having conversations. They don't understand what's going on. And neither does their partner. And so it just ends up becoming just an angry mass. And I feel bad for our parents. Like my mom who went through this, who didn't have social media, who probably didn't go to her doctor about it, who probably just suffered through it. And it makes so much sense to me now, why there was that sort of part in our lives where she was miserable. I get it now,, and I didn't get it back then because I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know about any of this stuff. And so, it's, it is really unfortunate that. There hasn't been more testing and more research and more understanding around what's happening to women during this time. I also believe during this time you find a lot of women who go through big life changes, they change careers. They, they shut everything down and do something completely different, which is what I did last year. And now it makes so much sense that, there was probably a hormonal, hormonal connection. To why I quit my business and started changing the way I wanted to do things in life and how I felt about things. They do call menopause for women. Quote, unquote, the change. Even when you think about your kids, my kids are 21, 19 and 13. I don't have little kids who need me anymore. I all of a sudden have time back in my life. My own time. I'm not having to take care of all of these kids anymore. That is also something that we have to emotionally deal with. Like, I don't see my 21 of my 19 year old everyday. Like I used to, I see them maybe once or twice a week, which is. From an emotional standpoint is also something that we have to go through. And, it's like a grieving process when your kids become adults and they leave the nest. And that's also something that was happening during this whole time. And so. There's a lot of emotion. Hormone. Changes that are happening during this time. And it feels like your world just gets turned upside down. The more we can have these conversations and talk about this stuff and understand it and have more people who are providing proper information for us. I feel like the better I'm able to maneuver through it. And that's why I wanted to record this. And may have been all over the place, but there's so much to cover. There's so many things to talk about. I'm probably just scratch the surface with this particular podcast. I'm not going to be an expert on this. I'm not somebody who's going to start talking about this all the time, but I definitely wanted to record this episode so that if you are struggling or you notch, and you're not sure why that maybe this is your sign that you need to go and see your doctor and talk about potential. Ways to support you during this. Talk about your hormones. Talk about supplements, talk about these things so that you can. At least get some relief because this isn't something that we have to just struggle through. There are options out there for us. To help alleviate the symptoms and help to maneuver through this. So if this podcast helps at least one person, then it's worth. Me rambling through this. So anyways, I wanted to just leave you with a couple of people to follow. If you are somebody who feels like this might be you. Dr. Mary Claire Haber is she's becoming very well known in the menopause industry. For her research and her information on how to maneuver through this, she is the voice I would say, of, the change in the medical system to help support women through menopause. So she's somebody who I follow on Instagram and love her content. I also love Dr. Kelly Casperson. I think she's CA Kelly Casperson, M D on Instagram. She also has some really great information. There's also an Instagram account called what the menopause. There's a book by Dr. Jen Gunter, who also has she's Canadian and she's written a book on menopause. That's really good. There's lots of resources out there to start this for you. If this is all new to you. And we need to be talking about this now, and we need to be talking about it and educating our daughters. My daughter's only 19. She doesn't need to really know about menopause right now, but there will be a time in the future where she will need to unknown and understand. And instead of being blindsided by it, like most of us have been, I can now educate her and help her and have resources and say, Hey, listen, this is going to be happening at some point in your life. And here's some of. The things that you can do to help mitigate the symptoms just know that you're not crazy and that you're not alone and that you will get to the other side. And I think that's why this conversation is so important because so many generations before us did not have that information even. I mean, I'm a gen X. I felt a little blindsided by it, myself because my mom didn't talk to me about it. I didn't know it was a thing until it was a thing. And that's why we need to better prepare our upcoming generations for this. And hopefully by the time that they get here, they will have all the options and FDA approved options and all the things that they need. In order to move through this without feeling like they are crazy That's what we need to do is we need to educate and make this. Easier for them is what I believe. So with that being said, I'm going to end it here, but if you are going through it, you're not alone. If you need to reach out to somebody, if you even need Rito, reach out to me to say, Hey, I heard your podcast. It was helpful. I would love to hear that from you. If you have any questions, I'm not a professional in this, so you can definitely ask me, I'll give you my opinions and thoughts, but speak to how professional and get the help that you need in order to move through this. Alrighty everyone. That's it for me? I'll be back again with something else next time. I'm not sure what it will be, but it'll be something. And I'm enjoying getting back to this podcast and I hope you are too. All right, everyone. That's it for me. Bye. For now.