MenopauseIt

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"Am I in perimenopause?" If you've asked Dr. Google that question and gotten nowhere, you're not alone. In this episode, Rachel talks with Dr. Amy Divaraniya, a geneticist and data scientist who built an at-home hormone testing company called Oova after her own frustrating, years-long journey with infertility and being misdiagnosed.

Amy explains why doctors have so little to go on when it comes to perimenopause, why your period showing up doesn't mean you're still ovulating, and how daily hormone testing at home can finally give you real answers instead of guesses.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Amy's story of being misdiagnosed with PCOS for years, and what was actually going on with her body
• Why there's so little research on women's hormones (women weren't required to be included in clinical trials until 1993)
• Why doctors often don't have the training to properly diagnose perimenopause, even when they want to help
• What perimenopause actually is, and how it's different from menopause
• Why a single blood test at the doctor's office often isn't enough to understand your hormones
• How an at-home test can track your hormone patterns day by day instead of just one snapshot
• Why still getting your period doesn't always mean you're still ovulating
• How tracking your hormones can help explain symptoms like brain fog, anxiety, and sleep problems
• A new tool that can predict exactly where you are in perimenopause based on your hormone patterns
• Amy's advice for women who haven't hit perimenopause yet

Plus, a fun rapid-fire round covering dream vacations, a clothing item Amy never wants to see again, and a charity close to her heart.

About our guest: Dr. Amy Divaraniya is the founder and CEO of Oova, a woman's health company using at-home hormone testing and data science to change how we understand women's hormones. She's a geneticist and data scientist with more than a decade of experience in biomarker discovery and personal genomics.

Resources mentioned:

• Oova: oova.life
• Discount code: MENOPAUSEIT
• Charity shoutout: Help Cure HD

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I’m officially in menopause. 🎉 (Cue confetti… or a sad trombone.)

In this episode of MenopauseIt, I sit down with Katie Krimitsos — founder of the Women’s Meditation Network (with over 200 million downloads!) — to talk about what happens when your body changes… and your mind tries to keep up.

We dive into:
1. Perimenopause confusion & brain fog
2. That “who even am I?” feeling
3. Why there is NO one-size-fits-all menopause formula
4. How meditation helps you reconnect with your intuition
5. Becoming the captain of your own ship instead of drifting

Katie shares why menopause isn’t something to “fix” — it’s something to navigate consciously. And that starts by coming home to yourself.

If you’re awake at 3AM, questioning your hormones, your sanity, or your entire identity… this one’s for you.

Resources Mentioned
Women’s Meditation Network: https://womensmeditationnetwork.com
Meditation for Menopause & Perimenopause Podcast
(Search on your favorite podcast app)

📤 Share this with the woman in your life who needs to hear it
We are not drifting anymore. We are steering.

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Let's be honest, nobody warns you that menopause can wreck your sex life. The dryness. The pain. The "meh, I'm just not that into it anymore" feeling. If you've felt this and thought something was wrong with you, this episode is for you. 

Rachel sits down with Eve Hall, a licensed physical therapist who specializes in sexual health, a certified health coach, and host of the podcast Please Me, for a refreshingly honest talk about what's really happening to our bodies during perimenopause and menopause, and what we can actually do about it.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why menopause can feel completely different from woman to woman (spoiler: there's no "normal," there's over 20 possible symptoms)
• Why sex starts to hurt during menopause, and what's actually happening to your body's tissue when that happens
• Why vaginal dryness happens and why it's not just "in your head"
• Why your lab results can say "normal" while you still feel awful, and what to ask for instead
• Where to get hormone support if you can't access hormone replacement therapy through your doctor
• Why daily masturbation is one of the simplest things you can do for your sexual health (and why "if you don't use it, you lose it" applies here too)
• What the "orgasm gap" is, why it's so common, and how to start closing it for yourself
• Why pelvic floor tension (not just weakness) can be the hidden cause of painful sex
• Eve's own story of being misdiagnosed during perimenopause
• A rundown of Eve's free and paid resources, including her 30-Day Self-Pleasure & Body Reconnection Practice

Plus, a fun rapid-fire round covering dream vacations, the worst fashion trend ever invented (shapewear, we're looking at you), and the cause Eve is passionate about supporting.

About our guest: Eve Hall is a licensed physical therapist and certified health coach who treats sexual health conditions in women, including painful sex, incontinence, and pelvic floor issues. She's the host of the podcast Please Me and creator of the Growing Orgasm Revolution, where she works to close the orgasm gap through education, awareness, and communication.

 Connect with Eve:

• Website: https://pleaseme.online/
• 30 Days to Pleasure: https://pleaseme.online/the-30-day-self-pleasure-body-reconnection-practices/
• Eve Hall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eve-hall-827992171/
• Please Me! Podcast: https://pleaseme.online/please-me-podcast/
  
  
  
  Chapters 

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

02:11 Eve Hall Background

03:59 Menopause Stages and Complexity

08:13 Sex Changes in Menopause

10:27 Why Sex Gets Painful

15:23 Sexual Longevity Protocol

19:53 Pelvic Floor and Kegels

21:40 Closing the Orgasm Gap

26:40 Prep for Perimenopause

28:41 Resources and Lady Pump

31:48 Fun Rapid Fire Questions

34:43 Charity and Wrap Up

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Imagine waking up and realizing your body’s running on a whole new operating system... and forgot to send you the manual. Welcome to menopause, baby.

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​[00:00:00]

Rachel: Welcome back to another episode of Menopause. I have another guest.

Rachel: I am really happy to introduce all of you two. I'm meeting her for the first time today, but I've heard a lot. Here's what I've heard. Let me tell you all before you even get a chance to hear from her directly, but. She was born in Brazil and raised across three continents, which instantly makes her way interesting to me.

Rachel: I'm like, oh gosh. So much there. But Natalie Lund is an artist turned hypnotherapist whose eclectic path from performing arts to tech, yoga instruction to film led her to rapid transformational therapy in 2021. After nine years in Berlin and recent relocation to Portugal, she now helps clients worldwide navigate trauma.

Rachel: Perimenopause, A DHD and so forth struggles through her intuitive, deeply human approach. We like human here. This is the way we roll as both a [00:01:00] certified RTT practitioner and someone who's walked through many of the same challenges that her clients face. She brings not just professional tools, but genuine empathy and lived experience to every session, and she's bringing it to this session too.

Rachel: I can already tell her philosophy is beautifully simple. She doesn't believe in fixing people. But rather in helping them remember who they were before the world told them otherwise. This is the song we are singing with this channel, and with this podcast. Natalie, I am so excited to welcome you to Menopause.

Rachel: Thanks for joining us.

Natalie: Hi, Rachel. Thank you so much for having me.

Rachel: Oh my gosh. I'm thrilled.

Rachel: I know we were just talking about, we met on Pod Match and so, as you can probably tell on anyone watching this, I'm looking for a very specific type of guest and I'm so pleased we found you and, I just compressed your lengthy experience and history and life experience and expertise into just a few sentences.

Rachel: But I wanna give you an opportunity too. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself? You know, if you can include stuff like [00:02:00] family, job interests, obviously you've got geographic location down, but yet tell us more about yourself. we'd love to hear about you.

Natalie: Oh, okay. Family. I have none. I used to be married but divorced 12 years ago. And have been living basically with my dogs since then.

Rachel: Nice.

Natalie: Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.

Rachel: Well, do they really give you freedom? I'm sure. now, are they demanding dogs? Are they pretty chill dogs?

Rachel: They're, they're demanding.

Natalie: I have one dog, actually. I have one dog. And she is absolutely chill. She just needs her walks and affection and I love walking, especially in nature. So that's all good. And she's small enough so I can fly with her in my bag. Yeah.

Rachel: Oh, that's so cute. So she's like a little pip squeak dog. She's so cute.

Natalie: she is. She weighs six and a half kilos, so.

Natalie: Up to eight kilos, they can fly with me in the cabin. So yeah, she's absolutely chill. My dog before wasn't that chill, but also [00:03:00] small and, you know, it's easy to take them everywhere. So that's why I say freedom. I, I literally, I left Berlin going, what do I do with my life now? Because I just couldn't take it anymore.

Natalie: Couldn't take anything anymore. Couldn't take the shit of people, couldn't take jobs I couldn't take, the noise. So I just packed everything with my dog into my little vintage car and off we went and came to Portugal. So the trip here was amazing. It was beautiful through France and Spain and you know, yeah, so nice and freedom.

Natalie: I felt so free. I've never felt that free in my life. So, yeah, found a little house here in, in a tiny town with 280 people. And um,

Rachel: Oh,

Natalie: yeah,

Rachel: that sounds glorious. That sounds, I mean, seriously, we're all like listening going, that sounds really awesome.

Natalie: it is for a while. For a while it is. I needed it. I come from Sao Paulo, right? We've got over 20 million people and then lived in Hong Kong and [00:04:00] in Berlin. Always big cities, so I'm a city girl, so I was like, no, I need, change. So I came here and I'm here and it's

Rachel: Well, I'm,it sounds amazing. I

Rachel: mean, and well, I think change is gonna be like a theme of this discussion because of the topic, but let's dig into it. so I always like to ask our guests, this can be a little bit difficult maybe. It depends. I mean, it depends what everyone's experience is.

Rachel: You know, respectively, like everyone's got their own experience with menopause. But if our guests haven't guessed it, haven't guessed it from the actual sign over my head that's hanging over my head, it's very it's very pictures. It's very symbolic that it's hanging over my head. We're here to talk about menopause and we're also here to talk about all the things that you address with menopause and you know, some of the things that, the ways you've approached it.

Rachel: But first things first. What is one word that you would use to describe menopause and your experience with it so far?

Natalie: Wild.

Rachel: Oof.

Natalie: It's been wild.

Rachel: Yeah. It has, and everybody's got their [00:05:00] own, you know, what's my wild barometer? But it certainly is that. How has it been wild for you? Tell me a little bit more about that.

Natalie: So, first of all, I did not know that I was in perimenopause. I had no idea. I had not heard about it much or at all actually. But everything was weird. Like everything was hurting. My, my shoulders were hurting, and that started when I was like 38 or something. So I didn't even go that far thinking, oh, it could be something like that, you know, decreasing estrogen or anything like that.

Natalie: So I just, I was like, okay this is painful. And then I started, I've got ADHD and I had no coping mechanisms anymore. My coping mechanisms went to shit. And I was like, who the fuck am I, I am enraged. I am in pain. I don't understand what's happening. and everything was hurting. I gained weight.

Natalie: And I'm like, but I'm so young. 'cause everyone says, oh, but you're so young. And then,[00:06:00]

Rachel: that's right.

Natalie: and I'm like trying to figure out what's, what was happening to me. Obviously I was also, I studied rapid transformational therapy and started learning. So much about myself

Natalie: And about the family I come from and all the trauma and everything, and I'm like, thought that had something to do with that until I heard a podcast with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Natalie: And she was just. Saying, oh, and you know, shoulder pain and, you know, gain weight brain fog. I'm like, what is brain fog? And I was like, oh, forgetting words. And I'm like, I forget the words in every language. I used to forget the word of the language I was speaking in, but then I blanked out every other language as well.

Natalie: And I'm like, what is happening to my brain? And then as I was listening to that, I'm like, okay, I need hormone replacement therapy.

Natalie: Because I didn't feel like myself. I was angry all the time. I, you know, was in pain and I was like, I need [00:07:00] HRT. Yeah try and get some HRT, try and get a doctor who prescribes HRT, and I was living in Berlin.

Natalie: I went to my gynecologist, said, look, I want hormones. And she's like, oh, you're too young. I don't care. I have all these symptoms.

Rachel: Yeah.

Natalie: And she's like, oh, you know what? Ah, depression. Well get an antidepressant. Go to your psychiatrist. He's like, I don't have a psychiatrist. I know this is a symptom. Oh, you gain weight.

Natalie: Oh, well eat less. So that was, that was the response I got and I was like you, no, I want hormones. She didn't give them to me.

Rachel: Oh.

Natalie: So I tried a different way. There is an app, I think you can use it in Germany and Austria, maybe Switzerland.

Rachel: Yeah,

Natalie: And I put in, I have all these symptoms. I'm in perimenopause, I think.

Natalie: I'm sure. I want to talk to somebody who actually is pro HRT,

Rachel: Yeah.

Natalie: and then this Polish doctor from [00:08:00] a tiny island in the north of Germany contacted me. I got together

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Show Notes: 183 Days – Ep 002: “Reacting to the Article That Changed Menopause Conversations”

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In this episode of the MenopauseIt podcast, Rachel Moore discusses the often-taboo subject of menopause, sharing her personal experiences and the symptoms she has faced. She emphasizes the need for open conversations about women's health, particularly as it relates to aging and menopause. Rachel highlights the lack of support and understanding for women going through this natural phase of life and advocates for better awareness and resources. The episode serves as an introduction to her journey and the topics she plans to cover in future episodes.

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Join Rachel and Jeremiah, plus some input from their daughter Georgia, as they react to A Quiet Place Day One. 

For more podcasts by the But Wait, There's Moore podcast network, or to learn more about the podcast and Rachel Moore, visit us online at ButWaitTheresMoore.com.

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Join Rachel & Jeremiah on The Car Ride Home from seeing Furiosa. It's pronounced Fury-OH-sa, not Fury-oh-SAH. 

For more podcasts by the But Wait, There's Moore podcast network, or to learn more about the podcast and Rachel Moore, visit us online at ButWaitTheresMoore.com.

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Join Rachel and Jeremiah on The Car Ride Home from a Mother's Day weekend spent in Glenwood Springs and Idaho Springs, Colorado. 

Show links:

• Ami's Acres Campgrounds
• Iron Mountain Hot Springs
• Tommyknocker Brewery

For more podcasts by the But Wait, There's Moore podcast network, or to learn more about the podcast and Rachel Moore, visit us online at ButWaitTheresMoore.com.