Episode 172: Your Bloodwork Is Normal... So Why Do You Feel So Off?

Normal bloodwork doesn't always mean everything is fine. Learn why so many women are told they're "healthy" despite feeling completely different, how perimenopause is actually identified, and what you can do to support your body through the transition.

Check out my (free) workshop, How to Fire Up Your Metabolism in Menopause and Beyond right here: www.MindStrongFitness.com

Transcript

Becoming MindStrong Episode 172: Your Bloodwork Is Normal... So Why Do You Feel So Off?

Speaker 1  0:00  
Welcome back to the Becoming Mindstrong podcast. My name is Rachel, and I'm the founder and CEO of Mindstrong, where I want to shout from the rooftops: You are not broken over 40. Yes, it is true that the tool bag of our 20s, 30s, early 40s, it doesn't work anymore. That doesn't mean all hope is lost. It means we need a new tool bag for this new body that we're living in, and that's exactly what we're here to do. We are talking about what to do if you feel like your body is changing, but then you go to the doctor and you get blood work done, and they tell you you're fine. Before we dive in, I want to start with a quick overview of these menopausal terms because I think there's a lot of confusion out there. And even though we're the ones going through it, a lot of us don't know what these terms mean in menopause because nobody's teaching it. Doctors are not learning this in med school. Menopause itself is one day. It's the day you go 12 months without a cycle. I feel like there should be cake and confetti. The reality is most of us don't know when that day happens because it's it's literally one day. So menopause is the one day that you have gone 12 months without a cycle. Everything after that, the rest of our gorgeous, beautiful life. You are in postmenopause. You are never out of postmenopause until you leave this earth. Okay, so menopause one day. Everything else for the rest of your life is postmenopause. When your body starts changing, and we're going to talk more about that very specific sentence in a second, leading up to your one day of menopause, we call that perimenopause. There's a lot of misconception about perimenopause. Perimenopause can start as young as your early to mid 30s. I've seen women as young as 34 going through perimenopause, and that's going to lead us into today's discussion. So to recap, before we get into the the thick of it, 34 ish onward. It's different for every woman. By the way, the number one indicator of menopause for you is when your mom went through menopause. So if you have the opportunity, if your mom is still here, if you have a relationship with her, you could ask her how old was she when she went through menopause. That'll give you a good idea. Not the only indicator, but the strongest one. So it could be as young as 30-four. Different for every person. That is perimenopause. Your one day that you've gone 12 months without a cycle. That is your one menopause day. The rest of your life, you are in postmenopause. For the purposes of today, we are talking about that that time period leading up to our one day of menopause. Perimenopause is where I see so many women feeling gaslit, feeling crazy, feeling like they're screaming into the abyss. Because we go to our doctor, we say something doesn't feel right. I know my body and it feels off. They do some blood work. They come back. They say good news. Everything looks great. You are totally fine, and we feel like we are bonkers. Like something's wrong with us. Here is the most important thing I can tell you: if you are a woman who still has her cycle and your body feels off, real quickly before we keep going in this episode, we are talking a lot about metabolisms in menopause in today's episode, so I want to offer you a chance to deepen your knowledge. If you haven't yet checked out my free workshop, how to fire up your metabolism in menopause and beyond, it is one of my go-to favorite pieces of content that I have out here in the interwebs. You can use the link in the show notes below, or go to mindstrongfitness.com and you'll get a cute little pop-up that'll get you straight into the workshop. Now, let's get back to the show. If you are a woman who still has your cycle and you feel like your body is changing, that could mean rapid weight gain. That could mean drop in energy. That could mean that your sleeps is suddenly terrible. It could mean that things that used to be a three on a stress scale are now a 10. There are a plethora of symptoms.

Speaker 1  4:03  
If you hang out here, you'll learn all of them. If you feel like your body is changing, if you feel like you are not yourself, it is a safe bet that you are in perimenopause because it is a symptom diagnosis. It is not a blood work diagnosis. I have a lot of episodes that speak to the stages of menopause. It's something we're going to talk more about on this podcast because if you are 20 years postmenopausal, we can absolutely heal your metabolism. Absolutely, we do it all the time. We we work with the most mature woman we've ever worked with to date. As of the time I'm recording this as 78 years young. It works at any age, and when someone comes to us and they are are in this perimenopausal stage of life, they're saying, "Rachel, my doctor told me I'm fine. I don't feel fine. I am like, let's freaking go because the sooner we can nip this in the bud, number one, the fact." Your results are going to be, and number two, the more you're going to set yourself up for-I don't want to say this-to sail through menopause because I don't know that anyone sails through. A lot of that is genetics, but holy cow! If we're going to call menopause an eight in terms of how rough it can be, we can get that down to like a three or four. The sooner we can nip this up in the bud, the better. I love working with perimenopausal women because of that, and because you get results faster. For the purposes of today's episode, I promised you quick and punchy, and here it is: perimenopause, the stage leading up to your one day of menopause. You can start as early as 30-four-ish. It is not a blood work diagnosis; it is a symptom diagnosis. If you suspect you are in perimenopause, my love, welcome to perimenopause. It is a safe bet that you are. The sooner we can get your nutrition in check, the more effective your results are going to be, and the more we can set you up for success for this beautiful thing called menopause and postmenopause that's coming up. For more information on Mind Strong Fitness or to apply for a free one-to-one strategy session with my incredible all-female team, visit www.mindstrongfitness.com.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai