10 things I’ve learned from 100 episodes

of the Hotflash inc podcast

Hi there! Back from a crazy viral respiratory infection. This is long. AMx

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

In my late 40s, when I started to wake up to the way the world is, I began saying There is no Board of Directors of the Way Things Should Be. (I checked). One thing menopause has given me is the ability to see with my own two eyes, as Kirsten Miller wrote in the marvelous 2022 menopause mystery The Change. 

If I’ve learned anything after 100 episodes of mostly interviews  – and 3.5 years running this platform – it’s that we are far behind on what we should know, and there is a vast discrepancy between experts on what is considered best practice, right, good and and all the other absolutes. One practitioner’s no-go is very often another’s go-to. I am often amazed by the variation.

Things are going to change dramatically as research in this area catches up, and in the meantime, we have our own experience and innate wisdom, evidence-based medicine, guiding bodies and some great, forward-thinking experts to rely on. 

A phantom list of “rules” has developed now in the menopause space, and you might call it Things We Are Not Allowed to Talk About Unless We Are Talking About How Dangerous They Are.

Those are the things I find most interesting, because sometimes or often, women are getting great relief from these things, and when you do a little asking, you will find they are under the care of smart, savvy, credentialed practitioners, who seem to understand more about the menoverse than all the fearmongers put together. And that’s why here at Hotflash inc, the acknowledgement is that science changes rapidly but it also takes a long time to catch up. And it takes people across the scientific, medical and media fields an even longer time to adjust their views to the new information. (Time-travel back to 2010, for example, and try and talk about the gut microbiome or all but reversing Type 2 diabetes. It won’t be fun.)

That’s why from the beginning, I decided to base this platform on evidence and experts and experience. 

Below: Read all about what I’ve learned and get a sneak listen to the entire episode, complete with a snappy new intro featuring a spot-the-celebrity voice. It drops for everyone else on Saturday. 

A quick note: I mention Arizona-based ob-gyn Dr Burt Webb a lot here; we found out a few days ago that he recently passed away. This is the saddest news, which I’ll write more fully about it shortly. He was one of the good ones.