Circling the Drain

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It's the very first episode of our brand new podcast, Open Up and Say HA!: Stories from Underneath the Paper Gown.

Have you ever had a bizarre encounter with a medical practitioner? An ER visit gone awry? A weird thing you found on your foot that turned out to be a rare species of parasitic insect? Welcome to Open Up and Say Ha! - Stories from Underneath the Paper Gown. Medical mishaps, misunderstandings, weird bodily functions... our guests are sharing it all. So get ready to laugh so hard you snort your coffee out of your nose, and if you happen to singe your nostrils, head to the doctor and tell us what went down. If laughter is your medicine, open up and say HA!

In this episode, co-hosts Ellie and Julia decide to save the guests' experiences for future episodes and instead, share their own bizarre medical encounters with each other. Even though they have been friends for 30 years, they each manage to tell a story that the other has never heard! If you've ever had inexplicable back pain or eaten mysteriously spicy tuna, this one is for you.

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Monique Cupid and Dixie Lincoln-Nichols are menopausal women who met up during the pandemic to talk about work for a project. Without fail, at every weekly meeting, the conversation drifted to menopause, the symptoms each of them was experiencing, and the frustrations they felt about the lack of support, resources, equity, and community. Together, they formed Life in the Pause, with the mission of transforming the menopause journey into an empowered and celebrated experience through accessible education, resources, and community support. We talk about everything from toxicants in beauty products to doctors leaving 30-something women in the dark to the importance of dance breaks. You know how it is when we get together with two brilliant and fascinating humans... nothing is off limits. We won't apologize for talking about our farts and our pubes. We simply won't.

Topics and timestamps
10:50 - How Life in the Pause was born
16:45 - What is a Self-Care Sabbatical?
21:48 - Increasing 30-somethings' awareness of perimenopause
28:15 - The importance of clean ingredients in beauty products
40:40 - Menopause. Needs. More. Attention.

Handles and sites
Life in the Pause   
Life in the Pause Insta
Brown Skin Green Beauty Insta   
Dixie Lincoln-Nichols  
Dixie Lincoln Nichols Insta
The Pause Pod
The Midlife Glowchaser
Dance Break Song: Ready Fi Di Road

OUR NEW PODCAST: OPEN UP AND SAY HA!
Follow us on Insta @openupandsayha
or Facebook
and YouTube Channel
Podcast site

Other Podcasts on the Topic of Peri/Menopause
The Pause Pod
Hello Menopause
A Certain Age Pod
Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

Other Links

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Lately, as we have gotten older and our preferences have changed, we have been wondering, "What is fun?" Robin Gelfenbien, the self-proclaimed Ambassador of Fun, is the perfect person to answer that question. Right out of college, Robin was chosen out of thousands of people to drive the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, and her experience provided excellent fodder for her acclaimed solo show "My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey”. She has had several other fun jobs from creator and producer of the storytelling series and podcast "Yum's the Word" to co-hosting the podcast "Hello Menopause" to producing Isaac Mizrahi's podcast "Hello Isaac". Robin inspires us with her stories of involving strangers in all kinds of fun, but we also talk about things like thinning hair and anxiety, two very common and un-fun symptoms of perimenopause. If you are like us and are re-defining your definition of fun (there is nothing wrong with skipping that party!), this episode is for you.

Topics and timestamps
12:35 - Thinning hair is not fun
23:18 - Anxiety is also not fun
31:12 - Driving the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile is the most fun
40:44 - Hosting and producing podcasts is also fun
42:52 - In midlife, what is the definition of fun?


Handles and sites
Robin's website
Robin's Insta
Yum's the Word Youtube
Yum's the Word Podcast
Robin's Facebook
Robin's Tik Tok

List of Resources Mentioned
Midlife Doesn't Have to Be a Crisis by Jancee Dunn
Robin telling her airplane story on YouTube
No, YOU Tell It! "Fly By" featuring Ellie as host and Robin as a writer/storyteller
An Old Medicine Grows New Hair for Pennies a Day, Doctors Say
Oscar Meyer Wienermobile and Hot Dogger Community
Hello Menopause Podcast
Hello Isaac Podcast

Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness
https://circlingthedrainpodcast.buzzsprout.com/

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Katie Fogarty will make you feel like turning 50 is the best thing that could ever happen to you. She is the host of A Certain Age, an age-positive podcast that helps you live your best evolving midlife—loud and proud. She is also the creator of the Age Out Loud movement, a platform which aims to spotlight as many stories of midlife awesomeness as possible. On top of all that, she is the founder and CEO of The Reboot Group, helping professionals build great careers, which includes encouraging reinvention in midlife. We talked about the stupidity of lying about your age, the importance of finding doctors who get it, and Julia's definition of "trash panda rage". We also talk about how Ellie may not be able to hit the high notes anymore, but she can still do the high jumps in ballet class. If you need a boost of inspiration, look no further than this episode.

Topics and timestamps
9:40 - Not realizing you are in perimenopause until you are on the other side
13:00 - Launching A Certain Age podcast right before turning 51
21:10 - The art of career reinvention
26:11 Working as a board member of Let's Talk Menopause
29:45 - Children's awareness of menopause
33:35 - The Age Out Loud movement

Handles and sites
A Certain Age Podcast
A Certain Age Insta
A Certain Age facebook
Age Out Loud Insta
The Reboot Group

List of Resources Mentioned
School Spirits
Why Ballet Might be the Best Exercise for Midlife
Let's Talk Menopause
Support the Menopause Research and Equity Act of 2023
Dr. Helen Fisher

Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness

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How does a child of deaf adults who grew up in a tin shed with no running water or electricity witness her father commit a violent crime and then grow up to be the joyful owner of a comedy venue? Kambri Crews will tell you how! Author of the acclaimed New York Times best selling book Burn Down the Ground and sole owner and operator of Q.E.D. which was voted #1 comedy club in NYC by Time Out NY, Kambri is a damn delight. Her message, "Life's Tough. Laugh More." is evident as she chuckles about light things such as restaurant staff seeing her use sign language and then ignorantly handing her a menu in Braille, and heavy things such as her father attempting murder not once but twice. As Julia says, "If at first you don't succeed...". We also discuss gross habits like picking at your skin and chewing the inside of your own mouth, having to read the instructions for how to boil rice at least fifteen times, and how ice skating in midlife can result in the ass of your dreams. Thanks to all our listeners for your generous donations - we're thrilled to be back and we can't wait to tell you what's next.

Topics and timestamps
12:29 - Menopause and then breast cancer
14:35 - Kambri's autobiographical book, Burn Down the Ground, in which a child of impoverished deaf parents witnesses her father trying to kill her mother
23:48 - Processing trauma without traditional therapy
26:00 - How to laugh yourself back from rock bottom
30:20 - How an imaginitive child grows up to run her own events space
36:15 - Ice skating in midlife to optimize joy (and a tight butt)


Handles and sites
Q.E.D. Astoria
Buy books through Q.E.D. instead of other places
Kambri's website
Kambri's Insta
QED Insta
QED Facebook
Kambri facebook

List of Resources Mentioned
Cheek biting: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment
Something Was Wrong podcast
Flaco the Owl’s Year of Freedom From the Central Park Zoo

Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness

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We chose this episode with Dr. Rachel Rubin as our final encore of the year because she is the person who has given us the most practical, valuable, and easily shareable information to help women with their genitourinary functions as they age. Dr. Rubin is a board-certified urologist and sexual medicine specialist who dropped so much knowledge and helpful information into one conversation that our puny little brain-sponges got super-soaked. Listen to learn about the two little-known FDA-approved drugs that actually help women's libidos with no negative side effects, why you should be using local vaginal estrogen twice a week for the rest of your life, and how even a doctor can agree with us that the field of medicine is a disgusting dumpster fire of brokenness. As if that weren't enough, we also talk about the Grow Your Clit Movement, Covid Hemorrhoids, and what the hosts never thought they'd do in their 20's that they have done now. Admit it: you're intrigued.

DR. RUBIN'S LINKS
Dr. Rubin's Website
Dr. Rubin's twitter
Dr. Rubin's facebook
Dr. Rubin's Insta
Dr. Rubin's LinkedIn

ARTICLES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE
The Magic of Hormones
International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health - ISSWSH
Addyi
Vyleesi
The Grow Your Clit Movement

LINKS TO DREAMY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Purely Elizabeth Affiliate Link
Julia's Wellness Coaching Website

Circling the Drain Podcast Website

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Support the show

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Send us a text

For our first encore episode, we chose the inspiring pair of Michelle and Joan MacDonald. Not only are they glorious examples of what a healthy body can achieve after midlife, they seem to have an enviable mother-daughter bond that is beautiful to witness. These women broke the internet after Michelle, a body builder and transformation coach, guided her then 70-year-old mother through a process that resulted in life-changing weight loss and the subsequent elimination of a slew of health problems. Joan's before and after photos can be found at Train with Joan, and you should take a peek before listening to understand the full impact of what these women achieved together. This was our only chat with a mother-daughter duo, and we couldn't have found more mind-blowing specimens.

Michelle MacDonald - Your Healthy Hedonista
Michelle's Insta
Michelle's Facebook
Michelle's e-Book The Best of the Basics
Joan MacDonald - Train with Joan
Joan's Insta
Joan's Facebook
The Wonder Women
My Macros
Science, Bitch!

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Meghann Koppele Duffy is a cofounder of the Neuro Studio, a premier education and movement company helping people living with neurological conditions move better, and teaching movement professionals the best cutting edge techniques to work with people living with Neurological Conditions. Meghann is a fast-talking, zero BS practitioner who has been called the Larry David of Pilates because she is skilled at "observing weird things". She claims to not be everyone's cup of tea, but who is? It's clear to us that Meghann is passionate about her work and is making an epic difference in the lives of people who want access to movement and freedom from pain. We talk about changes in proprioception throughout our life cycle, adapting to movement as we age, and using humor and honesty in work that can be emotionally difficult. We also teach you what a "cloner" is. Bonus points if you email us your best guess BEFORE listening to the episode!

Topics and timestamps
15:40 Meghann's origin story and how she co-founded The Neuro Studio
23:40 Using humor and honesty to diffuse heaviness with clients
30:20 How women's bodies change proprioceptively throughout their life cycle
39:40 How to keep it together when physical work gets emotional
45:35 Meghann's Idea of the Zone of Genius
49:33 Adapting to movement as we age

Handles and sites
The Neuro Studio Website
The Nuero Studio Insta
Meghann's Insta
Sessions or movement classes with Meghann

List of Resources Mentioned
What is MS (Multiple Sclerosis)?

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Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness

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Germany-based comedian Abigail Paul says that co-host Ellie is her oldest friend. Not her most elderly friend, but the friend she has known the longest. She met co-host Julia a few years later, making all three of them VERY ELDERLY/OLD FRIENDS. That should entice you to listen to this episode, because richness of history makes for juicy conversation. Abigail moved to Germany as a young adult because she was "on the lam", trying to escape her abusive and narcissist mother, whose life and death inspired Abigail's award-winning solo show Involuntary Momslaughter. There are many wonderful stories in this episode, including the one about Abigail ignoring her fibroid tumors until she collapsed in a pharmacy and ended up in emergency surgery, the one where her gynecologist proclaimed her vagina her weakest organ, and the one where 18-year-old Abigail and Ellie sat together to take a pregnancy test after a condom broke. Also, all three people in this episode had birthdays in the last week, so listen and laugh and feel seen and celebrate with us!

Topics and timestamps
11:45 The story of 18-year-old Abigail and Ellie and a pregnancy test
13:30 The story of Abigail's gynecological adventures in Germany
22:20 The story of Dr. Dr. Mueller
31:05 The story of how health insurance is better in Europe
36:00 The story of Abigail's horrible relationship with her mother
39:30 The story of how a mother with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is great fodder for a solo show

Handles and sites
Abigail's website
Abigail's Insta
Abigail's facebook

List of Resources Mentioned
Rosacea and Menopause
Exposed Podcast
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness

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Blaire Postman is a comedian who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and then embraced it as a super-power. She created a solo show called Lady ADHD: Hilariously Mind Blowing Observations from a Hyper-Insightful Brain. Due to a current medication shortage, we got to interview Blaire ten days into "going commando", and we talked about emotional dysregulation, song-stimming, and how a performance piece about a topic like ADHD can make audiences feel seen and not alone. We can relate to that for sure. We hope that you will relate to Ellie cursing at her son in a fit of perimenopausal aggression, and Julia's incredulousness at the fact that they only just invented a crash test dummy that mimics the female form.

Topics and timestamps
12:50 Being diagnosed with ADHD as a 30-year-old female
16:30 The ADHD medicine shortage
18:23 Emotional dysregulation related to Adult ADHD
22:35 A job interview and mismatched shoes
29:00 Audience members' reactions to Lady ADHD

Handles and sites
Blaire's website
Blaire's Insta
Blaire's YouTube

List of Resources Mentioned
This is the first crash test dummy modelled on the female body. Will it make cars safer for women?
Adult ADHD
Clip of Blaire and a guest "song-stimming"

Other Links
Erin's Faces Affiliate Link
Julia G Wellness

Support the show

Be one of the helpers! SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on APPLE PODCASTS or SPOTIFY and leave us a review on APPLE PODCASTS.