Labs Don't Lie

In this episode we talk with a woman named Carrie and she shares how looking for answers to one problem led to an unexpected discovery in her bloodwork and a surprising path to HRT. It’s a real‑life reminder that sometimes the answers you find aren’t the ones you were looking for, but exactly the ones you need.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hot Flash and Sassy, a podcast with hot takes, hotter flashes, and a whole lot of sass.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Welcome back to Hot Flash and Sassy, where we keep it real about perimenopause, menopause, hormones, hot flashes, and all the things nobody warned us about. We're so glad you're here with us. You know, Holly, we get a lot of questions and comments from our listeners. I love to hear the feedback on our tip drop Tuesdays. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, a lot of people love our recommendations. And I just want to point out how brave it is to ask questions. We realize we are really open about our journeys. A little too open. We understand. Maybe. TMI. Um, but we have not always been. Talking about how you have a temper suddenly, or why you are breaking out like a teenager, or your body has a strange odor that you have never smelled before. These are not topics you just throw in while you're having lunch with a friend. We get it. No, you've got to have drinks with a friend to get to them. And you can throw it in. But we get it, and we're here for you. If you have a question, you're not sure how to bring it up to a friend, just ask. Email, message us on socials. If you're wondering, there's probably a number of other women wondering the same thing. That's right, Holly. And today we're bringing you a guest who will bravely share her real experience navigating this wild hormonal roller coaster. Because let's be honest, sometimes the best advice comes from hearing someone say, Yep, same girl, same. We say that all the time, don't we? We do. In today's conversation, we'll get to know our guest Carrie a little bit better, hear where she is in her journey, whether it's perimonopause or menopause, and talk openly about her experience with hormones. Whew. We'll dive into what changes she's noticed throughout her journey, and most importantly, what wisdom she wants to share with other women who may be wondering if they're on a similar path. So grab your coffee or electrolytes or wine or margarita. Margaritas! Uh, we don't judge, we'll get sassy, and we're gonna welcome the wonderful Carrie. Yay! Hi. Thank you for being here. Thank you. We're very excited to have you. Um, to start with, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself? Not necessarily hormoned journey, just a little bit about who you are.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Sure. So I'm Carrie, I'm 45 years old, mom to two boys who are 19 and 14, and a fur mom to my favorite child who is a three-year-old Australian labberdoodle. Sorry, Tyler and Chase, if you listen to this. Oh, I probably would love to listen to this. They would say the same thing. Right, probably. Uh I work in HR leadership. Um, outside of work, I'm a quote unquote retired dancer and dance teacher, and trying to figure out what this next chapter looks like with pig big kids. Uh I don't have to chase them around anymore. So they're independent. They're independent, they don't need me as much for the time. Now you get fantastic, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all my time. Hence the dog. So he takes up. He does take up some of my time. Do you ever think about going back to dancing? Yeah, I've thought about taking classes. I don't know.

unknown 3:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

You could be an instructor. You do those Zumba classes. Zumba's sound. Zumba is so fun. I still have you could teach Zumba. I could create that.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

I could. Could do it here.

unknown 3:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Oh no. There's no way I'm going to work in Zumba team. Let's try it. You might. You might enjoy it. Can I have some of those margaritas cards? Margaritas and then we'll zoom back and zoomba. That might be the next thing, right? That might work. Somebody might really be excited about that. They might be. Me. You want me to work out more? You'll have Renee there. Okay, so would you say that you're currently in perimenopause or menopause?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So definitely perimenopause. I still have monthly cycle, um, unfortunately. Fortunately, I don't know. I guess depends which way you look at it, but definitely perimenopause. Is your monthly cycle erratic? It's not. Um, although funny thing, when I just started, which I guess we'll talk about later, when I started my pellets, I had a nice early surprise that I wasn't used to. So um no warning there. No, it was crazy, but yeah. No, still pretty normal, unfortunately. It's a lot shorter than it used to be. It's like three days instead of like your five to seven, which I won't complain about. Right. Thank you. Right. Um, but it's still still pretty regular.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

So that's so that's the exciting thing about having Carrie here is that she's the first person that we've had on that hasn't had a hysterectomy.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yep, nope, I still have everything. All my organs are still intact.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

And spoiler alert, she has HRT. Yeah, which pellets the way that we go. Yep, right. She does now using hormone replacement.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I am, yes. So I wasn't originally. Um, so I was doing the shots um originally starting about four or five years ago, and I would give myself a shot in the ass once a week, and it was fine until I fell off the wagon because I'd forget to go pick them up, or then I'd forget to give them, and then I'd have like all these shots, and I'm like, when was the last time I did it? And can I give myself two? And then I just stopped and I should never have stopped because then you start feeling awful.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

What were these shots of?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Testosterone. So yeah, I'm just on the testosterone. My estrogen is still fine, but my testosterone is undetectable according to the blood work. So I guess non-existent. I guess that means non-existent or zeroed.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

It was undetectable. But you know what? Though you bring up a really great point with the shots. That's a hundred percent the reason that we do what we do, is because I would forget. Yep. No, I need a reminder in my phone, on my computer, on like sticky notes on the walls. Like I would forget when I was supposed to do it again. That would be such a challenge for me. I didn't know you could get them to do them yourself at home. Yeah, yeah, you can't boosters. We could booster each other. Yeah. My kids lie. We're in front of HR right now. Yes, work. We're good. It's all good. It's all good. Could you even imagine today? If we don't already laugh enough at ourselves, that would be tragic. Could you imagine the nurses out there and they'd be like, no, that's not what you're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Again, you're gonna get your first hate mail. What are y'all doing?

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Uh yeah, yeah. We we won't do that. We won't do that. Um officially we're what seven minutes in and cry. It's a good start. It's a good start. Oh okay. Hang on, everybody. Yeah, it's gonna get a little wilder from here. Well, I think that so Carrie has a pretty interesting, unique story of what got you into placement therapy.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

So I started it because of hair loss, but hair loss on my legs. So five years ago, I noticed I was losing the hair on my legs, and I was losing the hair on my arms, and a chunk of my eyebrow fell out, and I was like, what the hell? Why is my hair falling out? Like I'm not old.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Like what so at the leg point, you had me. I'm like, okay, that'd be cool. Right? Well, that's why I was like shape, shave my legs, and I was like, Alright, like I don't really need to shave.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Then I was like, Did I just shave? Like the first few times, like, did I just shave? Whatever, and I just kept, whatever, you know, not I kept thinking that too. Not a big deal, you know, it's just my leg. Well, then I noticed like my arm hair, and I was like, well, that's kind of weird, but okay, whatever. It's not when the chunk of eyebrow fell out in my boyfriend's bathroom, and I was joking. I'm like, what if everything falls out? And he's like, that won't happen. It's like we were foreseeing the future there. Um what? So what do you mean a chunk of your eyebrow? A chunk of my eyebrow. I was in his bathroom and I was like, not like you lost one hair. No, it was like a chunk of eyebrow. I think I have a picture of it somewhere. Yeah, it was like I looked and I'm like, I'm like, come here and look at this. And chunk of my eyebrow was just gone. Like it started on my left eyebrow, and I was like, Well, that looks weird. Like it was bizarre. So I was like, well, maybe I should figure out like why my hair is falling out. Did he see a doctor? Right? You know, up until this point. So at this point, I'm just like, all right.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

No need for a doctor.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

You know, I mean, I'm getting older, maybe that's what happened. So I went to my primary last time I saw that primary. He was like, Well, here, let me give you a prenatal. And that that that might help hair growth. I looked at him and I was like, I don't think we're want a prenatal when I was had to take a prenatal. I sure as hell don't want a prenatal now. Now, right? I was like, is there any blood work we can run? No, there's really nothing we he was helpful. I was just that was the last time I saw that primary doctor because I was.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Like, aside from like it could be anything. We should run blood work. Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

No, bro. He did not want to run blood. I'm like, okay, well, we're forget it, we're done. So like your regular PC. Yeah, my regular omulate. Yeah, regular, regular, no, it would be regular PCP. Yeah. I mean, he was, I got transferred to him because mine retired. And I mean, it was, I don't go often, so it really didn't matter. Although after that, I was like, we're done no more. This should also be pointed out that you're relatively healthy human up until this point. Like, yeah, I was 41, I was healthy, yeah, nothing wrong. Totally fine. So I've had the same gynecologist OB since I was 18. He delivered both my babies, like, good. So I messaged through that portal and I was like, hey, like, I know this isn't your area, but this is what's happening. Will you run some blood tests? And God love him. He came back and he was like, Yeah, he's like, There's only he's like, I can't, I can only do what I can do for insurance through me. He's like, but I'm happy to run some things if you want. So we ran. I don't remember what he ran, but really everything was normal because you know everything's normal. And I was like, well, that's not helpful. So I went to a place called Summit Rejuvenation. They've got locations around St. Louis area. And I went to them and then they ran hormone panels specifically, is what they were. And I was like, Well, I said this.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Did your LB recommend them to you? No, I haven't. I found them on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I have no idea. Really? Yeah, I was just found, you know, when you talk to your phone and your phone listens. And summit rejuvenation started popping up, and there was one like right by my house. So I was like, Well, I'll go try that. So I walked in and I was like, This is the problem. And they're like, Well, let's start with hormones. I was like, Well, you're doing more than anybody has done so far. So they ran a hormone panel. None of it answered the hair loss question, but they came back and they were like, Do you feel okay? And I was like, Well, yeah, like what do you mean? I feel like you're that way. Like, your testosterone is undetectable. Like, oh, so they were the first one. They were the first one. Yeah, they're like, your testosterone like is undetectable. Like, there's none of my DHEA was extremely low.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

And I was like, Yeah, that's what mine was too when I started.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Yeah, and I was like, Oh, I'm like, what is I had no no idea. Like, I thought guys only had testosterone. I didn't know I had testosterone, like, no idea. And they're like going through, like, are you tired? I'm like, Well, yeah, but I work full-time and I have two kids who are in competitive sports, and I was at that time, I was I just I was living with my parents because I had sold my house on an eight-day close and stopped living with them and trying to find a house and move, like yeah, I was tired. I was doing everything. Yeah, there's a lot going on. And um they were like, Yours you need testosterone in your body. So they went through all the things testosterone could do, and I was like, All right, well, set me up. So I started doing that's how I got the injections, were through them. So they would give you a bag and you'd get a month's worth at a time, and you'd go each month and they'd refill and you'd go home and give yourself shots.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

How often do you have to do the shots?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I was only doing it once a week. Um you could do it twice the week if you wanted to split up your pairing ourselves. If you want to need them. I mean, it was easy to do. You could do like I think I did 15 mils. I don't know what the appropriate I don't know. I don't know what the appropriate measurement measurement is, yeah. Um, so you could do it once a week or do like seven and a half twice a week. I just did like Fridays. I would just no, it's my shot day and stick myself in the butt and we would move on. And I noticed over time, like I was going, like I was laying down to go to bed at like 7 30, and I was like, this is not normal. Like I knew it wasn't normal, but I was like, Well, I do a lot, I guess I'm getting old. I don't know, maybe I'm just tired, I don't sleep good. So I stopped.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Isn't that what we both said? Yeah, I think so. Going to pick up exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Chase having practices after eight o'clock. I would like rock, paper, scissor, his dad, my ex-husband, like, can you just please do the night pickups? I will go do anything early. Like, I've got to go. Like, I was exhausted and needed to go to bed. I was so tired all the time. And I needed naps, like weekends, like I needed naps, not like a 20-minute nap, like I needed a nap. Like a nap, yeah. I was exhausted all the time. And I think that was my biggest symptom then was just being so tired. And all of a sudden I wasn't taking naps. Or if I did, it was like a 30-minute nap or something, and then all of a sudden I was staying up till like nine o'clock. Like, look at me. Who is this? I was staying up till nine. Like, you party, and look at me, I'm not laying in bed. It's 7 30 or 8 o'clock. So I did notice it got better over time. Um, but then I eventually fell off the wheel, and I was like, Well, I'm better now. I I probably don't need it anymore. Dumbass. Um, yeah, if you stop taking it, it just goes right back down.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

It's not there, you don't have it, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Goes right back down. Um so then you guys started talking about your pellet journey, and I was like, all right, I need to go figure out what these pellets are. So I made an appointment with Judy, and Judy was like, Um, you have no testosterone. It is undeductible, you need it. And that day she put the pellet in and gave me a booster shot as well.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

And it's night and how many weeks ago was that?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Probably at seven weeks now. I just did my six-week blood work last week. So I think we're at seven weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

It's literal night and day difference. It's insane. Like, so now by this point, now like the night sweats were awful. Like waking up like trash. Like it's awful. It's disgusting. And then I'd be so mad because I'd take a shower at night because I'm like, I'll take a shower tonight, so I don't have to do it in the morning. Well, and then I'd wake up and like, well, now I gotta take one anyway. Like sweating was awful. I feel like I'd go. I felt like after you had a baby, like after you have the baby and you're going through all those sweats and you go through so many clothes. That's what I felt like I was doing. And I was like, this is ridiculous. I felt like I needed all extra sheets for my bed because it was constantly it was just gross. My dog didn't even want to sleep in the bed with me. He would leave me. The favorite, the favorite leave me. I know, right? It was awful. So that helps. So, like, still like the eight o'clock mark, like I definitely get warm. Like, you can feel the, you know, you feel the heat radiate off your body. That still happens like clockwork at night at like eight o'clock, but it's not nearly like you're not sweating through anything. I'm not sweating through anything.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

It's so you had you still have your periods.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

But you had some obviously hot flashes and sweating and tiredness.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Tiredness brain frog was awful. I thought I had Alzheimer's. I was like, am I getting on early? I feel like that's what Alzheimer's.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I feel like that's what everyone thinks. I'm telling you, I think every woman ends up thinking that. I think I do too. We say we thought it. Like, it's crazy. You are you're like, I have early onset. Like, I cannot believe how forgetful I am.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

My memory was always good. I can remember, I never had to write things down or like I just remembered things and I was forgetting things, and I was like, and then I like words, mid-sentences, I couldn't think of what things were called, and I'm like, oh my god, I probably need to go to the doctor and get a neurological exam.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I think I something's not gonna act.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, it was it was scary because I was like, what is happening? But then I noticed that got better. I mean, I still forget things, but it's not nearly like what it was. Yeah, I'm not as tired. I mean, I still like a good nap just because I'm a napper, but I don't need it. We do not judge. I I'm a napper, but I don't need it now. Like before, like I needed to go to bed at 7:30, and I'd still wake up exhausted or I needed a nap.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Were you not getting a good quality either?

SPEAKER_00 16:06

No, I wasn't. I was waking up a lot because I was like, sweating through the night.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Maybe she likes to sleep like that, right? Yeah, her dog wasn't cuddling with it.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

My dog's not even in the bed with me. Hello, yeah. So he stopped leaving the bed as much. You could tell, like, right around that time, he'd be like, Okay, you're hot. You're too hot. I gotta go. I gotta go out. I'm sorry. Like he'd leave. Um, so even Ben, like when we would eat laying in bed, he'd just like, you can feel the heat radiat off your body. And I'm like, I'm sorry, like, can't do anything about it. Give me a fan.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Turn your hair on. Well, that's the worst part, though. It's coming from the inside out, right? So the fan doesn't work, the AC doesn't work, it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

No, it's crazy. So, yeah, so those have completely gone now. The night sweats are gone. I've not had those at all since probably week two.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

How about does the testosterone help with your hair? Or no?

SPEAKER_00 16:56

I don't know. I feel like we've already kind of skipped over that part. We probably need to rewind a little bit. Yeah, we kind of written rewind. So wound up I had alopecia. Um, so like you guys know, I lost all my hair from my legs all the way up to my head.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

But where in your testosterone shot journey did they discover the alopecia? Because that wasn't the reason that they gave you the testosterone.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

No, no, no, that was just because I was deficient. Um, I find let's see. They told me to see a dermatologist, which I did not know at the time that dermatologists treat hair loss. I assume dermatologists with skin. I never put dermatologists with hair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

So that's a good takeaway for people. Yeah, that is.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Dermatologists treat hair loss. I had zero, I didn't know who treated hair loss. I never in my life thought it was a dermatologist. We say our hairstylists treat our hair loss. So um my younger son, we took him, I had taken him before because he had to get something removed or something. So I just I didn't really do any research. So everybody's like, who'd you use? Like, who'd you see? And I I mean, she was great. Her name is Dr. Gruber in St. Louis. But it's not like I researched and, you know, I didn't do much research. I was just like, Well, he went there, she was nice. Well, just go back. So I made an appointment and she did a biopsy of my head, a scalp biopsy. They do a punch biopsy. Um it sounds worse than it is. I mean it wasn't comfortable it wasn't bad. Like it's it's it's very small. Um, and they could just do a punch in your head. Yeah, kind of like yeah, like a little circle. Yeah, I know. It sounds worse than it is. It really means it really wasn't. I mean, you had they did have to put a couple stitches in. Oh, um gosh. So I had that done. I mean, luckily this I still had hair at that time, so this the threads just kind of went with my curls, it was fine. Um, and so they came back and what they found, um, what they're called exclamation point hairs, which I guess is the way the hair follicle looks from your scalp. So they said it was alopecia, and there's so many different kinds of alopecia.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

You know, there's so from that biopsy, from the biopsy. That's how they diagnosed you at your dermatologist.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

At my dermatologist, not a specialist, nope crazy had no idea it existed. At the dermatologist. Wow. Um, but at that point, my hair was thinning, but I still had hair. I mean, it didn't look great, but I still had hair, so we just kind of went with it.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Um you didn't do anything for it.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

No, I didn't do anything for it at the time. They offered me Minoxidil, um, which is either a shampoo or orally, um, and that really didn't do anything. Um, I just kept losing and shedding and shedding and shedding. Um, and then it kind of picked up, it got faster. And I think by Christmas is when I could, if you'd pull your hair up, like if you're gonna do a ponytail, like I had hair here to pull up, but then if you looked under, I had nothing like on the underside of my head. So then it was like I was sporting like the terrible comb over, like you know, the old man that's like trying to hang on to what they had. So I was finally like, no hair has got to look better than what I'm dealing with. So before Christmas, I was like, I'm done. So I shaved it all off. Um got real into wigs for a while. Um wigs are great, but wigs are itchy. Um so as much as I loved them, they're irritating too, but they were fun. So and I did want to keep it a secret because if I was gonna wear wigs, I wanted to wear all the wigs that I wanted to wear. You know, some people, and it's very I've learned through this process that hair loss for some people is a very sensitive thing. I was in a lot of Facebook groups that I had to eventually get out of because I was like, okay, girls, like I get it, you're losing your hair, but you're not dying. Like there were some people that were like, I would give an organ to have hair. Oh my god. Yeah, I mean, there are some people like yeah, there and I get it. I mean, like, yeah, I hated it, like it was awful. I didn't love losing my hair. I looked awful, like it was not great, but I was like, you could have cancer, like you could have to be on key. Like, there's so there were so many things that could be worse, right? And these people were just not there. So a lot of the groups I just got out of because I was like, you are not helping. Too much drama.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah, like I have to say, as people that knew you through this too, I was always just in awe of how well you handled it. I agree. Thank you. I mean, always very forthcoming with what's going on, right? But also just calm about it and just like embracing what's happening. This is what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

And I mean meds help that too, but yeah, well, you always did.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

I was always like, I mean, I don't know how she's handled it so well, but you did.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

I mean, there were plenty of times at home where I was like, oh, we we had some moments, but I just kept thinking it could be worse. Like, I'm not losing it because I'm on chemo or have cancer or I mean it just it took us have been worse. And at that point, I was just I just operated that it wasn't coming back. Um, at that point, I had what's called alopecia universalis, which is whole body. Like, you don't really, like I had no eyelashes, I had no nose hair, and like. Don't realize nose hair, like things fly up your nose all the time. You don't realize how big of a part nose hair plays in your body until you don't have it. Right. Um or your eyelashes. Like you don't realize how much eyelashes bat things out. So I was wearing my glasses more because I just had crap flying in my eyes. You just don't realize the purple things. There is a purpose. Yeah, you just don't the little the the little things that you aren't a big like you can't like seeing my nose hair. Nobody sees your nose hair, but it plays it's their full reason, and you could tell when it wasn't there. Wow. Um, so I started doing steroid shots in my head, which is about as fun as it sounds. I was on oral steroids, but you can only take so many aeros oral steroids for your body. I mean, they were needle, now the whole needle wasn't going in your head. Yeah, I've got a video. But you had to kind of like get it in there. I mean, and when I started, I was getting 60 to 70 shots at a time. Um just poking all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Oh my god. How often?

SPEAKER_00 23:06

I would start it every once, every four weeks. Okay. Um, and then eventually we got longer and longer. Um, and I started responding. Because what it is with alopecia, your hair follicle's not dead. It's inflammation that's causing that doesn't allow your hair follicle to grow.

unknown 23:22

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

So Well, look at that. There's that inflammation word again.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

It takes some omega-3. You take omega-3?

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yes, I do. Okay. Yeah, I do now. Um, I didn't then, but I do now. Um, so yeah, so it's really your follicle's not dead, it's just inflamed and it can't grow. So the steroids was to help take that inflammation down to allow your hair to grow, which it worked. I mean, it's I started growing slowly but surely I'd go, and I was getting less and less shots as time went on. I think I went for about a year and was finally where I didn't have any active patches. So that's considered quote unquote remission. I hate using that word because it makes it, I mean, it sounds pretty serious. Like, yeah, like I'm not sick, like it's but it's called remission when you don't have any active patches and I didn't have any active patches left.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

So um so it all stemmed from your hair on your head.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

And that's even though you lost your leg hair first.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

That's crazy too.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yep, it started bottom up. Yep, and I was like, well, I kept saying, Oh, it's just leg hair, oh, it's just arm hair. As long as I don't lose my head hair, who cares? Like, cool, I don't have to shave my legs. Like, I will say, not shaving my legs for three years was amazing. Oh, I bet.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Oh, yeah, now you have to shave. I do have to shave.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Of course, that was the hair that grew back the fastest first. It's like my leg hair. I was like, of course you are. Like, and I always said I won't complain about shaving my legs. I'm complaining again about shaving my legs. I'm sorry, I am.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Um, but yeah, it um I think the eyelashes would be the hardest for me. You don't realize how much they're recognizable, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

That's one thing you look in people's eyes when you talk about. Ben would say that's what threw him the most, really. Like he was like, because your face just didn't look the same once you because I got my eyebrows microbladed. Um, I tried doing the false eyelashes, the extensions, but you have to have to do extensions, you have to have eyelashes for the extensions to adhere on. So she was nice enough. My sister-in-law's mom went to a girl and she was like, I will give up my spot if you can do her. She was so sweet. Um, and I did them for a while, but they would come off so fast. And I was like, This is too expensive to keep doing. So and I tried the strip eyelashes, but let's be realistic. Strip eyelashes suck. Um you know, they're just not great. Um but yeah, the eyelashes are and eyebrows were the big ones, like that's what really makes your face, and you don't realize until you don't have them, right? How goofy you kind of look with them.

unknown 25:40

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

That's a long way to go around to get to some hormone replacement. Right, right, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

So yeah, I had no, I know I did not go for hormones, but hair loss started it, and that's how I found out I was deficient. So that's kind of what started it. Um, and then when Judy ran my tests six weeks ago, my estrogen was still fine, um, but my testosterone again was But you so you start doing the testosterone, you got the pellet, you got the booster, and then you started your menstrual strike. Right, two weeks it was yeah, I wasn't supposed to start like I had just had. I'm supposed to be in like four more weeks, and it was like the next week, and I was like, What is what is happening? Why so I had texted Judy and I was like, is this normal? She's like, Well, you didn't get estrogen. She's like, so it shouldn't have. She's like, but your system's stuff you're shocking your system. She's like, so and it was a pretty aggressive period. Um, and I was like, Well, what is happening? Um, then it was a little longer, so then I got nervous and I was like, Well, great, I hope this isn't a new thing we're gonna have. But I mean, I had that one, and then luckily it was you've been fine since I've been fine since, yeah. It was, you know, my normal four weeks and it came again. So unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

I think anytime you start messing with all that like chemistry of stuff, like you're gonna have listen. Mine, I my Hashimoto sends my body for a freak out every time I get my pellets. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

So I think my body was more like, what are you doing? What's happening? What's in here? Um, but that's that week too. I was like, whoa, like I felt that jolt of energy, and I was like, What's happening? Like, now granted, I think like that was also when time changed and all of that helped too, and it wasn't doom and gloom at 5 30, like staying down longer, right? Sunlight helps. But so hair loss started the hair, the hormone journey, but now I'm hooked, so I will always get my pellets more to cut it. Religiously, I always will. I will not. Yeah, I won't let it, I won't go back where I skip. I will continue because you don't realize curious to see how long she can go.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

I know, I am curious. Yeah. We'll see. Um I was hoping I'd have my results. Yeah, when you get your blood work just where those are, and then just how long now it takes you. Because it's just different for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Because you guys are every three months, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Yeah, we go every 12 weeks all the time.

unknown 27:54

Really?

SPEAKER_02 27:55

You can ask our significant others, they'll tell you. They have a circle on the calendar, like, ooh, this it's coming up. I didn't. Jay goes, When's your appointment? I'm like, I will throat punch you. Yeah, don't ask that question. Especially when you get close to that time. Yeah. Probably not the best question to ask. Yeah. I once accidentally went 15 weeks, but that was not on purpose. It was I miscalculated, and I was like, I am struggling. Um, and I was like, oh, that's why. And then I had another time where I made it like I scheduled the appointment and I'm glad I did, but really I had made it to like two days before before I had anything, like symptom-wise. So it's still, I mean, your body still is just metabolizing it differently and processing it. I would love to be able to make it past 12, but so far I pretty much need to go. Maybe we'll get there. Yeah, according to your mom, we'll get there. No, she gets every 12 weeks. I know. No, it's the best money, best money you could spend. Um, your mom, we might not need the booster. That's what she's doing. She doesn't do the booster. No booster, maybe we'll be able to do that. I tell myself every time I'm not gonna get a booster. Why would you tell yourself that? That's hard. Because I'm like, I don't need it, I don't need it, and then I do it.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Because I went through a little bout where I was getting too much testosterone and I was losing my hair. That wasn't that long ago. And Judy did blood work, and she was like, Oh, your testosterone's too high. So they adjust it, that's a lot better now. But but the greatest part is you said that you just got your six-week blood work done, and that's one of our huge shout-outs is that make sure you find a place that does the checkups and make sure they're checking your blood work on a regular basis because the last thing you want to do is get too much of that stuff going around your body, too. Right. Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna give you all the side effects too, if you have too much of it. Right exactly. Yeah, you definitely don't want that.

unknown 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Well, this has been fun. I feel like we learned a lot about you, and I thought we already knew a lot about you.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

It's been five years. Like it's been crazy that it's been five years since we still started almost five years. August will be five years. Wow, that is crazy. Isn't that crazy? Time flies when you're having fun. Something like that, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Yeah, yeah, something like that. Fun. These quotations are fun. Fun. All right. Well, this has been a great conversation. Has been a great conversation. Um, and a huge thanks to you, Carrie, for showing up with honesty and real life insight into your perimenopause journey and your experience with HRT. These conversations matter because every woman's path looks different, and hearing authentic stories helps remind us that there's no one size fits all approach. So if today's episode gave you answers, validation, new questions, or simply comfort and knowing someone else gets it, we hope you walk away feeling a little more informed and a lot less alone. A lot less alone. A lot less. Like that's the biggest thing is just making sure that people know that there's other people going through this. Our moms didn't talk about this. No, and you know, your symptoms with alopecia is the first time I've ever really even learned anything about it. I mean, I've heard of it before, but I've never known anybody to have it. So I think that was really enlightening is that whatever gets you to getting your hormones checked, it's valid, and that's another level of validation for you. That there's something going on in your body, and your body's reacting to that. Right. So I think advocate for yourself. Yeah, I think it's just important. We have we have a lot of people that come to us and they're like, Oh, you guys are open, and you guys I couldn't say that to anybody, but that's how I felt. And I I think that that's typical, like, right? Especially like we're working, you know, moms were doing this stuff. I'm not gonna like it's hard, you're not gonna be like, Well, I'm tired, but it's probably because my hormones are, I don't feel this way, or I'm crazy. I'm getting so mad. I'm getting so mad. The brain fog definitely feel crazy. All of these things, and I think that so many of us don't talk about it because we weren't really raised in that way. You learn about period and sex ed, and that's it. No one's like all this other shit. Right. So I think it's very common to not voice it, but that you're not alone, and when you do, it does actually make you feel that better. Oh god, it does. It does get it off your chest, or at least laugh with us. I mean, that's the best part, is we laugh through it now instead of getting depressed and sad and feeling like we have to hide in our rooms and cover up under the blanket and not even see the poor moms, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Our poor moms probably did all of that, which is sad, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:23

It is so sad to think about. Yeah. But we're all in this together. We are. So if something in today's episode resonated with you, we'd love to hear from you. Are you in perimenopause or menopause? Have you considered HRT? Are you currently navigating that decision? Let's keep the conversation going. Don't forget to follow us and share on Hot Flash and Sassy with your fellow sassy sisters. Because nobody should have to figure this out alone. Until next time, stay fabulous, stay fierce, and stay sassy.