Welcome to the show, Tamsen Fadal. Crazy it had to take this long to actually meet you, although I think we’ve met somewhere along the line. I think we’ve met

too. I think we’ve met

too. Yes, yes. Well, this is, you’re in like just this crazy spot, and I’m really excited to dig into everything you’re doing from having a book coming out, how to menopause, and a documentary coming out.

But I think what’s most interesting is you, with 30 years in news anchoring, got to go through your menopause journey on air, didn’t you?

I

did. I didn’t know that was going to be the story, but yeah, it, uh, in broadcast news where he was sweating, was that, was that you with the female version? That was me.

That was me in the

dress with a little, you know, you know, it’s just, it’s interesting, it’s funny, you know, TV news or, and I think just in our generation, it was always about like. Staying young, not sharing your age, not talking about it, not aging in front of the camera. So for that to happen was kind of ironic to say the very least that for somebody who was trying to be so buttoned up all the time, you know, I didn’t have much of a choice at some point.

Yeah. So walk me through us through your menopause journey. And like, when did it start? Because you’ve made a massive shift and really taken on menopause being a major out there advocate, which is incredible. So how did, walk me through your career and how this happened.

Yeah. Um, it’s funny. It was. I wasn’t paying attention to any of those things, you know, I’d had all these symptoms now that now as I look back understand what it was, you know, the can’t sleep, body’s different, eating less, gaining more, working out the same, exhausted, uh, you know, gaining weight around the middle, and um, feeling a lot of brain fog.

Didn’t even have a word for it at that point. And when was that? You know, it was in my, um, mid forties. I’d gone through a divorce in my, you know, in my early forties. And I always attributed everything to that. It was years of it. It was a lot of stress. It was a lot of fighting. It was a lot of all those things.

Right. And so I, uh, anytime I would have a problem, I’d go, Oh, I’m just so stressed out, so stressed out. I can’t sleep. I’m so stressed out. I can’t think. And, um, and that was kind of where I left it. And, um, I. At 49, it was November of 49, it was one night, I was on the air and I’d been having some, um, I’d been having a lot of anxiety of like being on the air, which I’d not had in, I mean, when you’ve been out there for 30

years, why would you have anxiety?

Yeah, you don’t have anxiety anymore. And people would say like, do you get nervous? And I’d go, no. Um, but I was having that, you know, a little lack of confidence. I, I’d look at a word. I couldn’t remember it, but I knew I knew the word. Um, and so those things were happening, but they weren’t happening consistent enough where I’d say like, I need to go see a, you know, brain specialist.

Um, yeah. And then this particular night we were in a commercial break and I worked in a studio of all men, you know, men, camera operators, men, anchors, sports anchor, all men. And, uh, and I was feeling like off. I knew we were coming back from a commercial break. I was on fire, like everything was sweating. Um, and I felt my heart just beating.

Banging out of control. And I thought I’m going to throw up, pass out. I don’t know what’s going on. And I said, jokingly, cause I didn’t know if I was going to make it through this next segment, which was a segment I always did, which was the business report. So I knew it was like just on me. Uh, if I fall over, somebody catch me.

And the sports guy who was across the studio said, Wait, are you joking? And I said, I don’t know. And he goes, I think you should get off the set. And so he walked me to the bathroom and I laid on the floor. Uh, not something I would do in my right mind buttoned up in my sheath news dress. Uh, And then I, you know, it passed.

He’s like, are you okay? Is it your heart? Is it your, I was like, I don’t, I don’t know what it is. Um, I left, I didn’t finish the newscast that night. They finished it out for me. In the following week I made an appointment with my gynecologist and then I, Talked to my therapist and then I went to an endocrinologist to do blood work as a result of the gynecologist.

And then, uh, not too long after that, I got a note in my patient portal that said in menopause, any questions? You know how they like write little doctor notes? In menopause,

any questions? And I was, I was actually in Tampa at the time. And did you have any sense? And the reason I love this is one of my closest friends.

Literally, I hadn’t seen her for months and we got together before an event and we were going to spend a couple days at this spa together and she walks in and she’s, I, I, she, She’s put on like 10 pounds. She doesn’t look like herself. She’s completely stressed out. She thinks it’s because she’s been moving.

She’s stressed. Same story. And I’m like, no, you’re not. You’re in menopause. I love that you, she had

a friend to say that though. That’s amazing. That’s crazy. She’s in the health space. I’m like, come on. Well, but sometimes, right. What’s in front of us. Well, you know, it’s interesting. So, I mean,  this is a little TMI, but I had endometrium polyps.

So, you know, you go 12 months without your period. So I would get like, Bleeding constantly. And I’d had all the big like, a month of bleeding, no bleeding for six months. But, and so that must’ve been my perimenopause part that I thought was more stress, but because of endometrium polyps, you bleed, I still bleed.

So I, uh, didn’t realize it. I wasn’t like I went a year, never saw anything, never had, you know. never had had that mark, one of the markers, right? So for me that wasn’t my sign and, but all those other symptoms should have been. Um, anyway, so I got that in my patient portal and I, I, my then husband now, I mean, Then boyfriend now husband, I said, like, I’m in, I’m in menopause.

Like I can’t, I’m only 49 and you know, average age. And, uh, and I said, I can’t, and I can’t have kids. And he goes, you’re, you made that, didn’t we make that decision? And I was like, I know, but like, Now it’s official. And he goes, okay, yeah, let’s talk about it when we land. Cause we were getting on a plane.

Anyway, that’s where it started. But I think what, you know, what morphed into this next, this next place was just really kind of like looking at a lot of the research and the numbers and trying to understand how it happened. And then I wanted to like figure out how to take care of myself. I lost my mother to breast cancer.

I didn’t know hormone therapy was an option. I’d always thought that it wasn’t. And so the more I went down this, Um, down into like looking at research and cause that’s what I know how to do. I just not ask a lot of questions. I realized that a lot of women have the same questions that I did. And I think that that’s, that’s really where it started.

I don’t know if it was one particular aha, you know, this is what I’m going to do because it never was. It just continued to be something that I couldn’t stop talking about.

You’re a journalist and you just put your focus on menopause and we’re very happy you did because it’s still amazing to me. And in fact, just having a girlfriend going through this, I’m like, how is this?

Why is this not out here? I know, I know. And it was interesting when I started going through it, I’ve been teaching a course for years to healthcare practitioners about weight loss resistance and all of the different things that could get in the way of you losing weight or cause you to gain weight. One of course is menopause, right?

Despite the fact that you’ll hear from people going, Oh, your metabolism doesn’t change. I’m like, You must be a man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mine’s changed. You know, cause my mother called it shifting sands where your butt now looks like your gut. And I’m like, I’m not having that. I will not be having that. I had, um, bleeding gums.

Oh, wow. Yeah. It’s some of the things are crazy symptoms, right? Right. And what it was that was a lack of estrogen, low estrogen.

My dentist was like, Oh, low estrogen. And I’m like, then, you know, I think back I owned a gym and wellness center at the time. And I had, you know, all my clients basically from the time I’ve been 20 have been women, 45 plus.

And I remember getting women coming in and now I understand from Dr. Vonda to write what this is, but frozen shoulder. Who would have ever thought?

Brutal. I had no idea what that was. I had no idea. So did you have women that were dealing with it? Cause I realized when I couldn’t, I couldn’t put my arm around somebody to take a picture and I went, oh my gosh, did I catch frozen shoulder from someone in this room?

We were at a conference and I was like, now I have it. Um, and you know what, I will say, um, what, what is interesting going back to Bleeding Gums in the documentary, uh, that, that we did, Dental. I didn’t know dental was ever a part of this. Like I learned a lot through this process, which is always kind of, you know, why I love to do these kinds of things and, and, and research things, especially this, cause I haven’t done very many stories that really affected me.

I did news stories, you know, Afghanistan or whatever city I was in or the crime. I never did something that I was. Really dealing with, but I didn’t realize that women lose teeth in menopause. I didn’t realize bleeding gut. I didn’t understand all of those things. From a dental perspective too, it just like no area is untouched in a lot of

ways.

Right. So let’s start with that because I love the fact that you did this documentary, you’ve written this book, so you’ve got a lot of wisdom and pearls here. What were the top questions that you were asking, you said out that you were getting asked by other people, what, what were some of these questions?

Yeah. I mean, I think the big one was when I had myself like, you know, what are some of my options out there, hormonal and non hormonal? Uh, I lost my mom to breast cancer. She was diagnosed at 44. So that was always kind of something that sat over me. You know, that was kind of my cloud of, um, of, of fear. And, um, and so when I realized what I was dealing with, and then I went back to see what my options were, cause that wasn’t part of the patient portal.

It was like, Hey, you got this. And then it wasn’t, Hey, here are some, Things you might want to keep in mind, options. Um, so I went back to find my options, which is why I went from doctor to doctor. And, um, I didn’t think hormone therapy was one of them. So, um, that was one question that I get a lot, like, isn’t it dangerous?

And so what I didn’t understand was there was a study that was done in 2002 that had a lot of misinformation. A lot of women were very confused. The next big question is what else can I do if I don’t want to do hormone therapy? What if the lifestyle changes? You know, what, you know. Is it true that my workout has to change?

Is it true that I’m still gaining weight when I’m not changing how I’m eating or working out? That was another really big one. And then, um, you know, I think the third one, which is something that we’re still trying to wrap our heads around, is why doctors haven’t been educated on it. And, um, one doctor after another is more than happy to admit that they got very little training in medical school.

And I think that that part is the part that maybe shocked me more. I didn’t know to ask that question. I just, you know, Realize it after talking to enough doctors that they were saying the same thing. But doctors sometimes get one hour, sometimes get one week, get very little training on menopause. And so when a woman finishes her, you know her, you know, having children and she’s in her, you know, whatever, 45 years old.

She kind of, healthcare goes off of a cliff for her. She just sort of doesn’t exist anymore.

Yeah. And she goes off a cliff if, if not taken care of. Exactly. It was interesting to me early on, I was, um, doing seminars with this doctor out of Santa Barbara, who is a brilliant endocrinologist and Suzanne Summers doctor, and started to go into all of this.

And at first she was told she couldn’t do menopause treatment as an endocrinologist. And she’s like, I’m a hormone specialist, if I can’t do it. And then you look at it and go, well, the OBGYNs aren’t trained in it. Right. And the endocrinologist, suppose we, who, who’s. Yeah,

I know. Well, that’s the, and that’s a frustrating thing for me.

And when I hear myself, uh, give women the answer, trust your gut and you know your body best. And while I do believe that a thousand percent, I think it sucks to put the onus on the woman to try to make these decisions themselves with very little information.

Right. Well, and the information out there being like that women’s health initiative that is just ridiculous.

We actually broke it down on this show with, did you have Dr. Fleece Gersh? Did you happen to? Yeah. No. Oh no I didn’t. Oh my gosh. She’s one. You’ll definitely want to, okay, I’ll, I’ll link to the interview. ’cause she broke down the Women’s Health Initiative and she actually now focuses on what she calls the forgotten women.

And when you think about it, it’s that woman 65 plus I know who, you know, got screwed by the Women’s Health Initiative. They’re very angry too,

rightfully

right, and, and they think they can’t go on hormones and she’s actually going and putting them on hormones. So I think that’s one of those myths out there.

Yeah, let’s bust through some of these myths and some of the stuff that you learned if you did the documentary. And then I’d also love to voyeur into what you, what you do too. But, um,  as far as the whole HRT question, having been able now to interview a lot of different doctors, um, you know, what did you unpack about that?

Yeah, I think what, you know, what I unpacked for myself personally and then shared continually was, um, you know, the contraindications of what you, who cannot do it or should not do it, or it’s not recommended Um, and I always thought because I was a daughter of a mother that had breast cancer, that was off the table for me.

And that’s not the case. I myself didn’t have breast cancer. And so I am eligible for it and it is one of the things that, I do do and it has made a big difference, you know? And I was one of the people that was like, never, I’m going to handle it all myself because I can suck it up and get through it.

Um, but. I think that’s like

women that say they’re going to have natural childbirth and then all of a sudden they’re like, um.

I was, you know, I was, I was natural hormone. Um, but yeah, so anyway, so that’s, that was one of the big ones that I think that was, um, very enlightening to me to be able to understand and to share for people to understand that and, and what they can do and, um, who is, Who is able to do hormone therapy?

You know, I think the other thing is understanding that the age group that they were looking at with that 2002 study was not even the age group we’re talking about. It’s now the age group you were talking about with the, the forgotten women age group. Yeah. And three, what they were actually looking at there, this was studying something completely different.

And so I, I do feel a huge responsibility as a member of the media to know that those headlines went out there. That was a, there was a lot of misinformation and that’s never really been. Corrected or rectified and the fact that we really haven’t done another study like that to help The next generation of women that, that are, that are looking at going into, you know, this transition,

which is bizarre.

Why do you think that is?

Oh, I mean, come on, give me the

part. That’s the first answer. Women. Uh, second part is we’re still fighting for dollars. The third part is we weren’t even part of health studies until what, the nineties. It’s just, it’s, The, the, the things that I learn, I constantly don’t want to be shocked and I am, and I, I thought we got past all this and we haven’t.

And so I think that’s why I, uh, couldn’t stop talking about it. I think, I think that’s why I’m, look, I’ve done millions of stories. I, thousands, tens of thousands of stories and I, I I never found one that was so, that hooked, that took me here and I couldn’t, you know, stop following it.

So what did you find as, for those who don’t, although I will, I’ll share a story.

I had a woman come up to me and after I’d done a talk, you know, about, about diet and all the lifestyle stuff. And she goes, I’m doing all of that.

Mm hmm.

She goes, I cannot lose the weight. I cannot, you know, she goes, I’m, and she goes, but I want to do this naturally. I’m like, okay. Your body produces hormones naturally, you’re going to help it go back to, you know, give it back what it had.

So where would that be unnatural? So, you know, I always want to say that because I think we have this idea and I’m like,

yeah,

but what what were some of those recommendations? I will say full disclosure and I just don’t see them compared to Taking the hormones like it’s not even close. Oh, doing those things for, yeah.

I think you do those things to support so you can use the least amount of hormones, but.

Yeah, I think, um, You know, look, I did all those things. A lot of those things. I continue to do those things. I didn’t stop doing them because what are

those things for you?

Oh, for the workouts. Yeah. Well, so for hormone therapy, real fast, I do estradiol.

I did your progesterone make huge difference in my sleep. And, um, I am now doing a topical testosterone, a 10th of a man’s, you know, uh, amount of testosterone. Um, so that’s what I do. With hormone therapy and I’m pretty, I’m open about it and I’ll be honest. I was one of the ones that initially was like, I don’t want to talk about it.

But now I’m like, yes, here’s my patch. Um, dirty glue on my waist.

I

know someone

needs to figure that out. So it doesn’t look like you’ve got nothing. Like,

I think that is, I just look, I’m like, do I not bathe properly? Like, why is it always looks so dirty at the end of the three and a half days? But anyway, um, so yeah, that is something.

I don’t know, to be continued, maybe we have a product in the works that will, you and I will brainstorm on. Um, so with regard to a food, I mean, I, I think intermittent fasting worked for me because I worked nights. I worked until midnight every night. And so I didn’t, you know, I ate my dinner at like eight o’clock at my very latest and I didn’t get up until a little bit later.

So that, that kind of framework worked for me. So I’ve kept that going. Um, I’ve upped my protein. It’s been very hard. I’ll be honest, like it’s not so easy for me to do. And why is that? Uh, well, I came from the eighties and in the eighties you restricted your calories and protein and fats were bad and you know, and Susan powder range, right?

So, so insanity. Yeah, of course I did.

Of course

I’ve got all those, um, protein. Uh, I started with the fit for life diet if you remember that one. So, you know, until noon, you know, I’ve done them all. So, um, you know, But that was hard for me because protein really wasn’t a focus of mine. So it’s had to have, it’s had to bend.

So that’s a big one. So I break my fast with what I call like my hot girl menopause smoothie. I just like dump everything in it I can think of that I need, uh, for this fiber, greens, you know, protein. So that’s what I try to do to get that down every day and make sure. And how much are

you getting protein wise in your hot girl smoothie?

I try to do 25

grams per meal and it’s really hard. It’s really hard, but I try and that’s, you know, I know that, I should even be doing more than that, but that’s where I am right now. Can I, I’ll give you a little hack. Give me a hack, I’ll take one.

Now, I

don’t

normally like hacks, but in this situation, this is very important because getting in those, you know, we’re eating the protein for the essential amino acids.

Yeah.

And I know that some people find it hard. Personally, I could just, if there was one diet I had to follow for the rest of my life, I would be like, I’d be hand in hand with Sean Baker, eating a big. Revive. It’s, I’ve always been that way. I’ve always been like that. That’s, that’s, you know what, at least you know the protein game.

It’s always been. And even in the eighties, you know, hey, I was eighties, I was in LA. So what I have to do, I had to be a vegan and I had to eat. Gosh, LA, yeah. Yeah. I was in LA during the, hating, I was one of the first personal trainers in LA. I had to be a vegan. I had to eat like 10 grams of fat because I was working out of the Pritikin center.

So I couldn’t, I had to take everything to extremes. It was ridiculous. And I was, Cystic acne felt like crap, got endometrial. I mean everything just tanked and then I was like, okay, forget that. However, you know, we’re eating that protein for those amino acids. One thing you can do is kind of a little cheat, a little hack, is you get essential amino acids.

And I’ll, even if you give me your address, not on here. I will send you mine. And it is what I literally go to the gym every day with my creatine, my essential amino acids and my electrolytes, but it is how you know that you get them. So you’re not. Grabbing them from your muscles.

Okay. I love that.

There you go.

That’s a little hack. Okay.  So you’re eating your protein. How has your workout shifted over the years?

Uh, yeah, well, you know, I, again, I was on the treadmill every day for hours, like, okay, I had a stick of gum for five calories. You know, it was ridiculous. And, um, and, and it makes me sad because a lot of wasted time, a lot of wasted mental energy.

And, um, you know, and I tackled an eating disorder in my early twenties. I was. And, you know, you know, you know, um, so that has changed quite a bit. And, um, I do a lot of yoga, a lot of Pilates, and I love strength training. And I’ve always loved strength training, which is good, but I always thought that that was an afterthought versus more important.

So now I’ve switched how I do those two things, which is really nice. I enjoy that love walking and I walk with weight. So that’s fun. Um, let’s see. Sleep has gotten much better. I was one of the people that used to brag about, I could, I got four hours on this and I’m doing great. And, um, I’ve learned to not think of that as a luxury.

And I try, you know, meditation, I try, but that’s, you know, I’m, I’m at a hundred miles an hour all the time. So I do try to just take those moments and walk outside when I need to breathe.

Yeah. One of the things that I did with, uh, our mutual friend, Teresa, is I’ve been to a bunch of Dr. Joe Dispenza retreats.

It happened during the pandemic. I was like, what else am I going to do? And so that’s what I had to do is like, literally like stick myself somewhere for seven days.

Immerse yourself somewhere, right?  I think that’s what, I think that’s what it takes for sure. Though I did, um, I did go to, uh, IIN, which is an integrative nutrition school in New York.

And it’s funny, um, I did this in Bryant Park just last week. This big outdoor yoga class in the middle of the day. Of New York City and there’s probably like 500 plus people. And Deepak did the meditation for the beginning of it, and I was like, it was 20 minutes. And I went, I’m never gonna be able to sit still.

I’m going to be jumping outta my skin. And it wound up, I sat there and I was like, oh my gosh, did I meditate for 20 minutes today? So that was kind of cool. In the middle of New York, while traffic’s going everywhere and just kind of shut, it’s the Deepak effect. I mean, Deepak is, if I can’t go with him, who can I, I, I have no hope.

So anything, like what else major have you either let go of? Um, you know, since kind of getting into all of this stuff, changing your schedule, like what have you just gone, this was ridiculous thinking, just like the cardio, the cardio to eat behavior that we all used to have. Yeah,

I think that, um, it’s a couple of things.

It’s funny, um, There’s two things in particular. One’s probably like a longer story, but I spent a lot, a long time in my life. This has nothing to do with really leaving work, but just maybe growing up a little bit of like, what did I do wrong? Why is that person, is that person mad at me? Is it my fault? Is it my fault?

So I’ve really tried to let that go. I, I, uh, I did it for a long time and then I was like, someday I won’t be that way because I’ll be a grown up and older and I won’t be, take things so personally. So that’s one of those things. And I think the other one is that spending that time with family, you know, I was always working my butt off, missed a lot of holidays.

You know, went through a nasty divorce, spent a lot of time single. I got remarried at 50 years old. That was like a whole new, you know, stage of life. But I think I realized like, this is the someday that I’m living right now. And I’m not going to get another one. And like, days are going by and it’s not forever.

So I’ve spent a lot of time with my, my 84 year old dad this year. I took him to Spain, brought him to California. Like I’ve really tried to, Um, work hard when I’m working hard, but be in those moments when I’m in those moments. ’cause I feel like they’re very fleeting right now and I’m a little afraid of that.

So I’m really trying to, my quote is like, this is, you know, like you’re living your someday today. Yeah. So I keep trying to think about that. Today is my, someday.

Yeah. Well, so now you’re living your, someday you’ve made a massive shift in your career. Yeah. You gave up what, like you gave up 30 years, you’ve shifted off it out.

What made you decide to, to stop that?

Yeah, that was a, it was a long decision. It wasn’t like an overnight, um, like whimsical Tamsen decision, which sometimes I make those, this, this one took, took a lot of, um, soul searching, it was a couple of things. I, uh, I really got immersed in this space of understanding women and longevity and this story and understanding the, uh, the need for sharing this message, that was one.

Um, And then two, I think it was a little bit of all that we’re talking about, is this like living your someday today, you know, I was working on four newscasts a day, five days a week, from one o’clock until 11 o’clock, 11 30 every night. By the time I got home, um, I’d recently gotten married, I was, I was able to take, you know, a certain amount of weeks off every year, and I wasn’t able to do some of the things I really wanted to do day to day, which was this, have these conversations and these conversations I feel like really feed me.

And so I figured that if there, there was no other time to do it than now. And so I, I spent some time preparing and then finally took the leap and it’s, it was scary as hell. You know, it really was. I, I know what I knew how to do for a very long time, going to work, tell my stories, You know, anchor the news, go out and report on things, but I did know how to do what I’m doing now, which is every day is very different.

And sometimes I have to learn more about what I’m talking about and I’m learning new things every day. So it’s scary and exciting all at the same time.

And there’s another piece to it. It’s personal.

It’s really personal. It’s, those other stories, as big as some of them were, and some of them were, would include the city of New York or the city of Tampa or wherever, you know, where I was, I was living at the time, but this one’s really personal.

And it’s not just personal to me, but personal to the women that are coming up behind us. And my friends and family and women that are going through divorce right now as a result of like feeling out of sorts or just, you know, learning who they are now versus who they were 20 years ago. So I, I see a lot of myself in each one of these stories, you know, and I, I think that that’s what drove me, drove me to do a, The, the film, which took like a two and a half to three years to do.

And, you know, in news, you know, you find a story in the morning and it’s on the air by the evening. So for me to have that amount of patience was unbelievable, but it’s really, um, incredible to hear the stories. I’m sure you are approached. 10 times more by women that have been helped by this or at least see themselves in some of the work.

And so that makes a big, huge difference to

me. And I tell us about this, the document, I didn’t realize you spent two and a half, three years on the documentary. You take a long, I did one and I was like, Oh my gosh, a year later. I had no idea. Yeah. You’ve no idea. It’s good. You don’t. It’s good. Yeah. Yeah. I had no idea.

I

was like, we’re going to do a film. This will be great. It’ll be fun. It’ll be fun. And it’s funny. One of the first, I, I, um, my partner is a woman who was an executive producer at the Today Show, uh, Joanne LaMarca and she and I got together because another friend of ours said, you two just keep talking about menopause all the time and I’m so tired of hearing about it.

Why don’t you guys talk to each other? And that’s literally how we met. And we really, that’s hilarious. That is the first, that’s how we met. Um, and we were on the phone the first time, like an hour and a half. And by the end of the call, I’m like, and here’s my patch and here’s my vaginal estrogen, you know, it was unbelievable.

So anyway, that’s how we started. And we started. Toward the end of the pandemic, when we went out to Times Square and we got masks that said like, something like, I’m in menopause, like in this pink mask. And we were asking people questions. We’re like, can we talk to you about, do you know what menopause, you know, we were so like, we had no idea.

But anyway, so we went out there, but what we realized in doing that was like, a lot of people were very confused and had a lot of the same questions and didn’t know They just didn’t know what they didn’t know. So, fast forward, we started to talk to some, some, uh, doctors in the space, like Dr. Sharon Malone, Dr.

Lisa Musconi, a neuroscientist. You know, we, we started saying like, hey, would you talk to us about, you know, what we don’t know? And then we wound up partnering with two, um, very experienced filmmakers and, uh, documentarians over on the, on the West Coast, um, Denise Pines and Kobe Atlas. And it turns out Kobe and, And Joanne had worked together years ago.

And so, uh, and then we got word that it was going to be on PBS. And so, um, October 17th, it finally comes out. We wound up talking to a lot of real women, um, other doctors. We talked about workplace, you know, we really expanded a lot of the conversation because we didn’t know what we were going to be talking about.

You know, two and a half to three years ago and a lot’s changed and we had to update some different things too. But yeah, it’s been really incredible and the response we’ve had has just been, I’m just

kind of blown away by it. We’ll put in the notes how people can watch it. So what are like three big highlights from the documentary?

Yeah, I think, um, the first one would be understanding sex and testosterone. That’s one of the big ones that we talked about.

What is up with the fact, like, it is just unbelievable to me that the top hormone, of sex hormone we have, Is it not covered by insurance?

Not covered by insurance and not made for us.

Ironic. It’s just crazy. It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable. Um, and one of the people that really is at the forefront of that campaign is Dr. Kelly Casperson. So, um, we did talk to her and we go into, you know, real detail about it to understand it. Um, we did talk about WHI and the Women’s Health Study and those are, of course, you know, where, where that was, where we are today, what, you know, That resulted in, uh, and then the other big one, I think the takeaway for me was brain with, um, Dr.

Lisa Mosconi. She’s fantastic. She’s just incredible and done so much research on it and, um, and really gives you hope that on the other side of things that you really do rebound, you know, in this post menopausal, you know, after you’ve gone through some of these really difficult years. So what we wanted in the end was to really, you know, Feel hopeful to not like, these are all the things that are going to be awful.

And then we don’t have any other answers. You know, we wanted to make sure that it felt, it felt hopeful. And I think that that was, um, one of the big things that came out of it for me anyway. And, um, yeah, so it’s, you know, we, we talked to a lot of real women going through real issues, whether it’s, uh, sex, whether it’s, you know, we talked to, Audra McDonald, uh, one of the big Broadway, uh, celebrity, uh, because she had shared a real raw post on Instagram a few years ago, uh, talking about how it just kind of hit her and she had no idea where it came from.

So there were, there were some surprises though to me. And I, I learned along the way and dental was one of the big, uh, surprises. I had no idea. And, um, I’d been having teeth problems, you know, like a cracked tooth. I had to have a root canal. I’m like, I used to have great teeth. What happened? So I realized menopause happened.

Oh, and you’re in LA. You’re around the best functional dentist on the planet near you. Well,

well, who do I have here? Cause I need a whole list. Dr. Sanda

Moldovan’s near you and she is.

Okay.

Amazing. Um, I have something important. I

have some

teeth

for her in need.

The interesting thing here, and what I’m really hoping this documentary gets out, because we talked a little bit about people not even recognizing the symptoms.

I think we’re so easy, easily saying, Oh, it’s stress.

You know,

Oh, it’s, you know, right. And not recognizing it for what it is. And I was just, I was so fortunate. That all my friends were hormone docs. So the minute things started to go sideways with me, I was, I was on hormones. From the beginning. That’s great.

And starting

in perimenopause?

Yes. Oh, yes. Yes. The minute things dropped, I was on hormones. I never wasn’t. And I can tell anyone listening, like, you actually don’t have to suffer. Yeah.

Yeah. That’s, that’s it. And I, I think that that’s the misconception. And that’s really why we, we wanted to do this because everybody should be able to have this information.

You know, and I, and I think that, that, you know, and that’s also why we’re, um, sharing, we want the documentary to be shared in, in communities, you know, so if somebody said, I didn’t catch it, or I want to go sit and watch it with 10 of my girlfriends, or I want to, you know, you know, show it to somebody. And I, it was, it’s really important for us to people to have that.

And we want it to educate too. You know, we want them to understand that it’s not them. And I think that that’s part of the problem. We have that blame of like, you know, is it just me? Am I not? Am I not just toughing it out enough? You know, maybe I just get through this. It’ll be okay. And even, you know, I have a lot of friends that still are like, Oh no, I breezed through it and now on the other side of it, they’re having some problems, you know, and so didn’t breeze through it.

You know, you just, you, you dealt with a lot of it and maybe you had a, a higher tolerance for a lot of different things. But, um, so it’s important to really share that. I agree with you. Well, and

even if they did breeze through that part of it, the other side of it with issues with bone mineral density and cognition and cardiovascular, I have to, people have, you have to make informed decisions.

Yeah. Right. So that’s a big one. Now you are double crazy because not only did you do a documentary, you also wrote a book.

Double crazy. Yes, I did. Uh, I didn’t think it was all going to happen at the same time, but it wound up. Um, but yes, these are like years in the making. I mean, you know how this is.

They’re like years in the making. Um, but the book is, It’s out for pre order now called How to Menopause and it’s funny, I struggle with that title for a long time. I love the title. It’s so perfect. I’m so happy to hear that. You have no idea. You know, you know what it’s like. Oh yes I do. You’re in your own world and you’re like completely insecure about what you’ve done and you’re now going to release it to the world and you’re like hoping it’s accepted.

Um, so I didn’t know what to call this book. I was like coming in hot. What is it like? When life gives you hot flashes, but I didn’t know what it was. I was trying to be, you know, but I didn’t want it to be a ha ha. You know, that was the, that was what was really important to me. I wanted it to bridge the gap between, you know, conversations and some are funny and some are humorous, but serious, because there’s a lot of serious topics we’re covering.

And I don’t think that menopause ends in the doctor’s office. And that was, what was really important for me. So, um, I was like, well. I wanted it to be kind of like the what to expect of now. And I said, well, now women, you know, we just want to know what to do, like how to do this. What’s the how to, and I went, Oh, how to menopause.

And somebody said, you’re using it as a verb. And I go, yeah, I know it’s okay. And so I was like, I’m going to get a license. So, um, So anyway, I, yeah, I’m excited about it. We have a lot of different experts in the book hitting on these topics, but also going into things like mindset and going into relationships and divorce during this time and workplace career.

And it was really dating during menopause and perimenopause. All those things are really important for me to, to really hit on. So. For me, it was important to have a kind of a expert driven girlfriend, girlfriend vetted guy to it. So, um, so we could have conversations and have it spark conversations.

So what do you think?

About this time of life for a woman post menopausal, like is this, cause you, you see the memes out there. Um, you know, then I look at Dolly Parton personally. Yeah, me too. Dolly’s my North star.

All of us, all of us lucky enough to have to grown up watching her.

I’m like Dolly in a dress. Dallas cheerleaders outfit at 70, what, 75.

She’s my North Star. That’s it. I know, I know. So, you know, what would you say to someone at this point? What is your thought process for a woman in their 60s, 70s, 80s?

Yeah. I, you know, I, uh, always kind of look at commercials sometimes and I look and I’m like, if I see a woman that I know is probably 55 sitting on a bench, slowly petting a cat or, you know, sitting there in the park, walking through there, looking at leaves, I’m going to go crazy because that’s not who these women are nowadays.

You know what I mean? They’re just pretty fabulous. And so I would say that any narrative that we were all, you know, Given and grew up with, I think, you know, we are quickly dispelling those and to not take yourself out of the running for anything that you might want to try. Look, there’s certain things that I know I’m not going to do, you know, I, I, but there’s also so many more things that I know I am going to do.

And so I, I feel excited about that. And I don’t, I think in my mind, I always thought like, Oh, 65 is kind of the limit where it starts to slow down and end. And now I’m like, I’m looking at my father, he’s 85. He’s cooking in the kitchen every day. He’s got a social group of people. He doesn’t even know he’s 85.

And so that’s, I think what I, um, try to do for myself and try to, to say to other people, like, stop with the number and moving forward, but you got to take care of yourself because without that, that wasn’t what we focused on for a very long time. And I think you’ve got to put that first. I can’t be a luxury anymore.

It can’t be a luxury that you’re going to take care of yourself. It has to be mandatory.

Absolutely. Yeah. Self care is not a little, little thing. It’s not a side project. It’s not Friday going to the, going to the manicurist.

I got my 20 minutes. No, it’s not. It’s not. It’s, it’s not, it’s not just a, you know, you have got to figure out a way to do that no matter what that is.

Even if it’s five minutes, close the door in a room. Like I just think it’s so important. And I, I, you know, I always think back to my mom because my mom got sick at a very, very young age and I. I know now if it were, you know, she were here today, I think her outcome would have been very, very different. Um, and so I do think that I’ve thought about it probably more than the most people have watching, you know, watching your mother be sick at such a young age.

But, um, I’m hopeful that, you know, another young girl that was like me that, you know, has a mom can, you know, see her, you know, become healthy on the other side of things or get through something better. But it has to, it has to start with like taking care of yourself. It really does. And being aware of. You know, the misinformation out there because that worries me as a journalist and just as a woman.

Well, you’re definitely doing your part making the dent and literally starting it. I mean, this is basically, even though it’s using all your skills, it’s a new career.

It is. It’s like, I don’t know, even know what to call it. Thank you. I don’t even know what to call it. It is. It’s, it’s very different. Every day is different, but I know I pop out of bed every day and I wasn’t doing that for a while.

You know, I always loved my job, but I wasn’t popping out of bed every day. And I, I am now. And that kind of tells me, you know, that’s tells me I’m in the right direction. You’re, you’re on the right path, I’m on the right path, and I would be meeting amazing people like you if I weren’t on this path. So I always, I’m very grateful for that, even though we

probably met somewhere along the line, but we were both, I’m sure we did, stressed out and busy, very busy that we couldn’t do anything about

it.

We’re so busy trying to get to the treadmill. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I, uh, I, I am sure we have at some point. And, and if not, I’m grateful we have now.

Yes, yes. Well, I’m definitely going to get into the show notes. We’ll put everything at jjvirgin. com forward slash Tamsen. Where did that name come from? By the way?

It’s not funny. Um, my mom found that name in a book and I never found the name of the book out because nobody had ever asked me that when I was young. I was like, I don’t know. I know it probably does. It says it’s the, it says it’s the, the, the feminine version of Thompson, which means twin, but I’m not a twin.

So I think my mom just liked different names. She was a she was an avid reader. She loved to read fiction. And um, and so I’m assuming that’s what you know, that’s what it’s from. But yeah, Thampson is first name and Fadal last name. So I had no very much

fits you too. Oh, thank you. So it’s jjvirgin. com forward slash Thompson T A M S E N.

You have super fun Instagram. So we’ll definitely link to that. It’s very fun. Well, we’re going to have to have you on it. Let’s just Your antics are great. I would love to do that. Let’s do that. Yeah, that would be

really fun. Are you in LA now? Where are you? Right now I’m in LA. I’ll be back in New York next week, but I go back and forth.

Ah, okay.

Okay, easy enough. So, you’ve got great Instagram, we’ll, links so that people can pre order the book, links so that people can get with their friends and watch the documentary, and then see what else you come up with in your new career path. Isn’t it fun that, You can be more excited about your career and everything you’re doing now in your 50s.

Like, come on, right?

Unbelievable. I, yeah, I, I never thought that. I, I, I’ll tell you, I always hoped in my 30s. I’m like, I hope they’re going to still want me. That was what I thought all the time. I hope they’re still going to want me. And so when I left, I was like, wow, I can’t believe I did that. You know, I saw every once in a while, I, I pinched myself.

Like, did I, did you really do that? Um, because I was always so fearful, you know, of getting older. Getting older. I

think of, I was, I used to do, um, the Hallmark channel had a show at the home and family, and, uh, I loved Christina Ferrari, Ferraro, anyway, one day she was just gone. Yeah,

yeah, well, you know what I’m talking about.

I watched one after another.

Whoa, and then you start to watch people age out and they’re just gone, by the way. You, you know, in your industry, it’s like you’re just gone. They move to

another show, then they move to another show, and then they move to another, you know, or then they’re not there. And I, and I watched it for a long time and it was always my fear.

And it’s, it’s interesting. Uh, somebody said to me when I was, uh, probably early 30s. She was just being nice. She wasn’t, you know, Being mean in any way. She said, you know, um, you’ll, you need to have a backup plan at some point. She was, she was older than me, like 12 years older than me. You need to have a backup plan at some point because, you know, you’re eventually going to age out of this job and you’re going to need something else to do.

And she said, you never see a older woman sitting next to a younger man, but you always see an older man sitting next to a younger woman. And I was like, she’s right. When I left, I was sitting next to a younger man. And so I was always really, I was always really happy about that. And I shared that with her.

I was like, I just want you to know, it took 20 years, but you know, but we can change these things. Yeah. Isn’t that amazing.

And you’re definitely changing those things. Getting this information out is so darn important. I just don’t want to see people suffer. Yeah. I don’t want to see people suffer. And I really do believe that in our 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, I’ve got friends in their seventies who are killing it in their careers.

Killing it. Yeah. Better work than ever. Mm-Hmm. . And, you know, so that’s, that’s really the message out there. So thank you for giving and relaxed

doing it. Don’t you feel like that? Don’t you feel like they feel like they’re just kind of doing it? They’re not like panicked about things. Right. They’re just kind of doing it, which is kind of so different.

Full

calm to it. I always say, if I could have whatever, that little flip that switched to 50 could have flipped at 30, it would’ve been so fabulous. You know? I

was like, why did this come sooner? Like, why was I in such a panic all the time about everything? But you know, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Well, we know it now. And if you’re

better late than ever, I know the well beyond 40 people that are in their forties, I, this, this, the switch will flip. It’s going to be fabulous. And you don’t have to snuff her whatsoever. You can start these things right as things start to go sideways. You’ll hear all the symptoms.

You’ll know, you’re not going crazy. Trust yourself. Yes, and if you go to a doctor and they think you’re crazy, wrong doctor. Fired. Yes, we have lots of great resources. So again, jjvirgin. com forward slash TAMSEN, T A M S E N. And thank you so much. I look forward to meeting you in person somewhere along the line.

Thank you. I really look forward to that.
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