Pregnenolone: HRT for Midlife Women, Pt 5

Anything But Mid is hosted by Amy Edwards and Whitney Stropp. Neither host is a doctor and nothing here is medical advice. Lightly cleaned for readability.

Amy: I'm Amy.

Whitney: And I'm Whitney, and this is midlife.

Amy: But you're anything but mid. Pew pew.

Whitney: Pew, pew, pew.

Whitney: I do a lot of guns like I do that a lot with like the kids or like Ryan, just cuz it's funny to me, and they all are horrified. They're like, never do that again, which of course

Amy: That makes it funnier.

Whitney: exact, which makes me want to do it more. Yeah. But I think it's funny.

Whitney: I love it.

Amy: I do, too. I like it, too. I like finger guns.

Whitney: I love finger guns.

Amy: I like a click and a wink with a finger gun. And, yeah, finger guns.

Whitney: I like a wink. Yeah, I I don't remember who I was with. Oh, I guess it was Ryan. I can wink in both eyes.

Amy: Me too.

Whitney: He cannot. He can only wink in one.

Amy: Oh, he just hasn't worked on it.

Whitney: I don't know. It might just be a God-given talent.

Amy: I don't think so. I've had to train myself and I remember training myself to raise one eyebrow and so like Like, I just haven't worked on the other one.

Whitney: Yeah, I can't.

Amy: You can train yourself. It's just muscles.

Whitney: All right. Well, I can't whistle, and I've been trying to train myself for 50 years.

Amy: Well, if you're getting a lip flip, now, just hang on cuz that's not happening.

Whitney: Oh, I'm not. No, I don't do the lip flip.

Amy: Okay. Oh, well It's not It happened before the lip flip, but

Whitney: But at age 10, I did not get lip flips. I mean

Amy: You can I haven't had a lip flip in a while.

Whitney: This is mine. Yeah, I end up going But all my kids can whistle, and it's so cute. I love it

Amy: That is cute.

Whitney: cuz I'll hear them just like randomly around the house whistling, and it makes me happy because I feel like you can't whistle if you're in a bad mood.

Amy: No, whistling is a happy activity. My mother used to whistle. I can remember her whistling, and like makes me happy to even think about, remember, or whatever, and, yeah. I'm having microphone problems today, so I keep raising it. It's won't stay. So, anyway, whatever. Whatever. If you hear that, that's what that is. Uh hey, I read a new study.

Whitney: Yay!

Amy: Yeah. It was a study on women

Whitney: Tell me about it.

Amy: who were depressed, and basically creatine helps. I know. Basically So, it was on South Korean women, a study, ages 19 to 65. What a quite wide

Whitney: That is a large range.

Amy: range. Right? But they were all ha- having a major depressive disorder. They all took Lexapro, so that was interesting, too, and half added creatine, 3 g a day for week one, then up to 5 g a day for weeks two through eight. 27 got a placebo. 8 weeks double-blind, and 39 women completed, or whatever. But, anyway, all in all, the effect was that they it helped them with their depressive disorder.

Whitney: That's really interesting.

Amy: I know, right?

Whitney: I like it.

Amy: I do, too.

Whitney: It's funny because I was just thinking about this morning, while I was having my coffee, I was thinking about how you're having your coffee and just having a fabulous time with yourself. Yes.

Amy: fabulous time with myself. Mhm.

Whitney: And I started thinking, I used to love my coffee time, and this is when the kids were young, so it's not like I had a lot of time to sit and and enjoy it necessarily, but I really looked forward to the coffee. And I I it dawned on me, my coffee is now medicine.

Amy: Oh. Oh.

Whitney: Because I'm putting all this shit in there. Now I'm only putting collagen in there.

Amy: You've taken out the joy.

Whitney: But I It yeah. And you know, you're

Amy: And created a utilitarian

Whitney: Yes, and I think it doesn't taste good because I'm trying to do like the organic um brain power one with the and the lion's mane and the ashwagandha and

Amy: I hate that for you. Yeah, those taste like shit. I don't like them.

Whitney: Yeah, and

Amy: I want regular old coffee.

Whitney: Yeah, I think that's what it was. And you know you hear a lot about food being like I remember hearing part of our issue in our society is that we don't treat food like medicine. Food is a pleasure and a like a like that's why you can get glutinous with it, or you eat things that aren't good for you. Food is medicine and energy for your body, and that's how you should think about it, right?

Amy: Right. Yeah.

Whitney: But on the other hand, when all I think of is food as medicine, it takes away the enjoyment.

Amy: Yeah, takes the freakin joy. I want to just enjoy my food.

Whitney: Yeah, I want to enjoy my water, I want to enjoy my coffee. I don't want to make it my medicine.

Amy: No. And, and when you do that too much, then it's going to cause like a backlash. It's going to cause you to binge. It's going to cause you to do the unhealthy thing that

Whitney: So, it's a balance. Yeah. Yeah, you need to have some enjoyment. So, tomorrow, I'm not going to put anything in my coffee and I'm going to buy my flavored hazelnut, which is what I used

Amy: Oh. Hell to the yeah. That's what I used to.

Whitney: I used to drink that, and so

Amy: That's what I used. I really should cut it out. Mine's

Whitney: See, now you're just doing what I just said I've been doing and had no pleasure.

Amy: I know, and it's so pleasureful that I just haven't cut it out and I feel a little guilty. I need to just let go of the guilt.

Whitney: Yeah, 100% because if life is not worth living at any age if it's miserable. And so if hazelnut coffee in the morning brings me some joy,

Amy: Agreed. Agreed. I can love me some hazelnut.

Whitney: So, I'll

Amy: What do you use in it?

Whitney: I just do hazelnut coffee.

Amy: You buy the hazelnut coffee.

Amy: coffee.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll buy like the hazel hazelnut coffee

Whitney: Yeah. um from H-E-B, you know, and then

Amy: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I've done it. Yeah.

Whitney: And then I put some creamer in it, but no sugar or anything.

Amy: It's so good. Mhm.

Whitney: And I'll do organic creamer.

Amy: I just buy the unhealthy creamer.

Whitney: Yeah, you said you like vanilla. Anyway,

Amy: No, I like the hazelnut.

Whitney: I had a little aha moment about why I might not be enjoying my coffee.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. Give yourself that. See what happens. Do it a an experiment. See what happens and then like get back to us.

Whitney: I will. Yeah, I'll be my own study. Study of one.

Amy: I can't wait. I wonder if you'll like start fantasizing about it the night before like I do, so. Yeah.

Whitney: Maybe.

Amy: Yeah. Oh, well back to my study really quick. I wanted to share uh what actually happened.

Whitney: Oh, okay.

Amy: They had They were scoring their depression. So, the depression score dropped from 26.9 to 5. Look at my mic.

Whitney: That's really dropped.

Amy: To 5.4. I know, so annoying. To 5.4 in the creatine group.

Whitney: Say that again.

Amy: It dropped I don't know how they measure this, but the depression score dropped from 26.9 to 5.4 in the creatine group.

Whitney: Wow, to 5.

Whitney: And how long did they take the creatine? Before they started seeing results?

Amy: Uh

Whitney: You said

Amy: 9 weeks. 8 weeks. 8 weeks.

Whitney: Okay. And it was three scoops or three

Amy: No, it was 5 g, so just like a regular serving.

Whitney: 5 g. Yeah, but they started at three, I think you said, and then eased up to five.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah, they started with three.

Whitney: But I always just do five.

Amy: Because you can kind of ease into it cuz it can make your tummy hurt, so you always do five. I've been doing 10, and I think it's helping. But I do have to say, I'm feeling so much sharper when I since I let go of my DHEA.

Whitney: Oh. That's great.

Amy: Isn't that insane?

Whitney: What are you How are you taking your creatine? What are you putting it in?

Amy: I put it in a smoothie.

Whitney: Okay, and do you make that smoothie your medicinal smoothie and you put a lot of things in it?

Amy: No. Not really, no. Just protein and creatine.

Whitney: Just creatine? So, as far as supplements go, the things that you The only thing that you put into a drink is the smoothie creatine.

Amy: That's right. Yeah.

Whitney: Okay. Uh-huh.

Amy: I do, I know. Occasionally, I'll throw some collagen in there, but, overall, I like just I don't like a whole bunch of shit. I don't like how it tastes, and all that, and, so, I just the fact that I'm getting 54 g of protein, I consider a huge win.

Whitney: I know. That 54? Cuz you're getting a smoothie that already has protein and then you're adding more protein?

Amy: No, I use Vega Sport um and one scoop of that is 30 grams. And then I use a certain scoop size that's like however much of peanut butter powder, and that has another 24.

Whitney: And how long does it take you to get that down? Cuz I'm telling you when I do a smoothie and I put stuff in it like that, it's so thick and to make it not thick, you've got to put more like liquid in there, which just means there's more volume.

Amy: Yeah. I know. I know.

Whitney: I can't finish it.

Amy: I try not to put too much. You put a little bit of um berries and a 1/2 of frozen banana, a little bit of ice, and mostly water, and then I throw in ginger. I have to have ginger. Ginger's my key.

Whitney: Oh. So, no yogurt?

Amy: Maybe that's my Yeah, that's thickening it all. Just put water. Just use water.

Whitney: my flaw. Yeah. Yeah, I'm getting protein from the yogurt, but um

Amy: Yeah, you don't need it. Just use water.

Whitney: And so that's peanut butter flavored and chocolate or just peanut?

Amy: I can only handle peanut butter flavor. Peanut butter, protein, peanut butter uh powder. I hate the taste of protein powder. It's a real problem.

Whitney: Yeah. Oh. Good to know.

Amy: Is that good?

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: Okay. Good.

Whitney: I mean, it's working.

Amy: Yeah! Yeah, and I didn't today, but I did have protein, so I'm feeling pretty good. Feeling pretty good. And plus I'm I swerving off that DHEA, my brain's so much better. I've been testing myself, like thinking of things, and I'm like like the other day, I was like, "Oh, that reminds me of that guy I used to live next to in college," and then I was like, "Tarek." And I remembered his name, and I was like, "Oh, I wouldn't have been able to think about that of that 6 months ago."

Whitney: All right. Really? Oh, yeah.

Amy: So, like I think my brain is doing better off of DHEA, which is weird, don't know why. And my DHEA is combined with pregnenolone, which is our topic today.

Whitney: Yeah. Yay. Oh, I love that segue. Yay.

Amy: You like it, we like it. Okay,

Whitney: I don't even know what that is.

Amy: I know. I was like, why am I taking it? We're taking these things without knowing what they are. That's a problem. We should know. Is it a problem? I think it's a problem.

Whitney: I think it is a problem, but, again, we get so overwhelmed and we just go, "Okay. Well, the doctor knows, so I'm just going to trust the doctor."

Amy: Right. Right.

Whitney: But the truth is

Amy: And we just do it.

Whitney: and the doctor's doing the best that they can, but every person is different.

Amy: Are they?

Whitney: Well, not all of them. Not all of them, but, you know, they're they do take a creed that says, "Do no harm."

Amy: Yeah. Yeah, they do.

Whitney: So, they're doing their best.

Amy: I'm just kidding. Of course, of course they are.

Whitney: But I think you know yourself, and, yeah, you why wouldn't we want to know what we're putting in our bodies?

Amy: I know, but sometimes it's some long-ass word, and then you're like, "I don't have the time or inclination to figure out what this is."

Whitney: Yeah. Well, even the DHEA, I'm just like, "Okay. I'll throw that in the mix." Like,

Amy: Yeah. But now I'm off it, though. my face is clearing up finally. My face is clearing up, and I think it's the DHEA.

Whitney: Yay. All right. So, say the name of it again.

Amy: So, pregne It sounds like pregnant. Pregnenolone.

Whitney: Okay, pregnenolone.

Amy: Pregnenolone. And it is a precursor to other hormones, which we've talked a lot about, like DHEA. That's why they combine them together because they're together, they're precursors to other hormones, meaning you're going to make more

Whitney: Okay. testosterone, or estrogen, or whatever it is.

Amy: Right, or estrogen, or whatever it is, so.

Whitney: Right, right. It's a building block.

Amy: It's a building Uh

Whitney: Kind of. Yeah.

Amy: Sort of, yeah. Sort of. Most people use combination therapies like DHEA and pregnenolone to comprehensively support their endocrine systems, and pregnenolone provides the raw material. So, yeah, I guess it is a building block. For brain clarity and stress adaptation, although I've cut it out, and I feel like more clear,

Whitney: Yeah, and you're like Yeah.

Amy: while DHEA drives physical vitality and hormone balance, and together they're sometimes used in antiaging and functional medicine to reverse hormone deficiencies that occur with age. We like that. That sounds great.

Whitney: Yeah. That's part of HRT.

Amy: Yeah. It serves as a Oops. Yeah. The here it is. Foundational building block.

Whitney: I was right!

Amy: I haven't even read this already. Uh for all major steroid hormones, including something like cortisol, including estrogen, androgens, androgens means testosterone, so. Beyond its role in systemic endocrine glands, pregnenolone is synthesized within the nervous system. And inside the brain, it acts like a neurosteroid, which is a brain hormone that modulates neural communication and brain architecture, which is good. That sounds like it's really supporting a lot.

Whitney: Yeah. Yes.

Amy: So, it can be a very positive thing, right? Okay. So, they actually In my research, in some places, they called DHEA its sibling hormone.

Whitney: Oh, okay. Sisters.

Amy: So, these two are very intertwined. Yeah, twined. Intertwined, if you will. Um it is synthesized from cholesterol, which sounds familiar, right?

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: Cholesterol is like really important.

Whitney: I I am still very confused about LDLs and Yeah, good cholesterol, bad cholesterol.

Amy: Maybe we should do an episode on cholesterol. Yeah, let's write that down. Okay. Uh write that down.

Whitney: Maybe we should. Okay.

Amy: So, um okay. So, yeah, synthesized from cholesterol, primarily produced in the adrenal glands, but you can also find it in the liver, skin, brain, testicles, ovaries, and even in the retinas of your eyes.

Whitney: Oh, wow.

Amy: I know, weird, right? So, steroid, of course, which we talked about with DHEA, is a large family of biochemicals that plays vital roles in determining sex, managing inflammation, and regulating growth. And in this family of hormones, pregnenolone is the grand precursor from which most other steroids are derived, including DHEA, which is interesting, right?

Whitney: Okay.

Amy: Progesterone, testosterone, estrogens, and cortisol. That's why this is relevant, I think, to this hormone discussion. Which I this is the end, by the way. This This is it, unless you have another one you need me to do.

Whitney: This is your last episode on hormones? Aw. No, I didn't even know about this one.

Amy: Surprise! Okay. Pregnenolone comes with little to no significant side effects, too, so it is supposed to be a safe thing to take. I guess your body just will just dispel it if it

Whitney: Okay. Right. It's not harmful.

Amy: Yeah. So, it dates back to the 1930s with research and usage becoming more prevalent over the years. In the '40s, they were having human studies conducted on factory workers testing the effects of pregnenolone on anti-fatigue and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis with remarkable improvements observed. So, and then they were like, this is safe. But then a pharmaceutical agent had to get all involved, right, and

Whitney: Big Pharma.

Amy: Merck, you know, touted it as a cure-all for rheumatoid arthritis, and it was making synthetic steroids and prednisone, and so it was kind of like uh the beginning of all these other steroids that were synthetic made by these big drug companies, and so it overshadowed pregnenolone and what all it can do.

Whitney: steroids

Amy: So, despite its initial success, they stopped researching it essentially in the '50s,

Whitney: Oh, interesting.

Amy: and and they were all about all these synthetic alternatives. And these steroids, while fast acting, brought about serious downsides, if anyone's ever taken pro uh

Whitney: Progesterone?

Amy: progesterone and all that, yeah, which my mom prednisone.

Whitney: Oh, prednisone.

Amy: Prednisone, sorry. Prednisone, yeah.

Whitney: What'd I say?

Amy: Progesterone.

Whitney: Oh, yeah. No.

Amy: Which we meant Prednisone. We meant prednisone, yeah.

Whitney: Oh, man.

Amy: So, we we we like our progesterone, don't we?

Whitney: We do.

Amy: Isn't that the one we're taking?

Whitney: Yeah, we do like progesterone. It helps with the sleep.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. Which I bumped my 200 mg, so that could also be affecting my brain too.

Whitney: Oh, yeah.

Amy: You know? Okay, which you're taking 300 still?

Whitney: Mhm.

Amy: Yeah. I'm up to 200. Anyway, prednisone and all those other things can compromise your immune system and cause and also cause osteoporosis. How annoying is that?

Whitney: Yeah, that's not good.

Amy: So, preg- pregnenolone is much more abundant in nervous tissue than in the bloodstream, which is super fascinating. In animal studies, it was found in the brain in concentrations 10 times larger than other stress-related hormones including DHEA. So, we got a lot of it floating around. Yeah. So, here's the things that it helps with: brain function, learning, and cognition. Here I've cut it out.

Whitney: I know. I'm like Well, what's crazy is I was never on it. That's what's crazy to me. I was never on it. I was just taking the DHEA.

Amy: I only get upset if Have you taken the DHEA?

Whitney: Yeah, yeah.

Amy: But it didn't have pregnenolone?

Whitney: No.

Amy: Well, you're all about dosing yourself with stuff. Do you want mine? I'll just give you mine.

Whitney: I do like to dose myself. Maybe. Let me hear the rest of your research. And also it's like when is Nothing has helped my mental clarity, I don't think, except for when I was o- o- OD-ing on OCD OCD-ing OCD-ing and OD-ing on NAD+. All right.

Amy: Well, maybe you should go back to that or something. I don't know.

Whitney: Maybe.

Amy: All right. So, anyway, well, speaking of your brain, it is um supposed to help brain function, learning, and cognition. It's supposed to enhance your brain plasticity. Pregnenolone's derivative, pregnenolone sulfate I didn't say that right. Its derivative, pregnenolone sulfate, modulates these brain receptors. I'm not going to get into the big words, right?

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: But to increase neurotransmissions. We want that. So, that means that this boosts synaptic plasticity in long-term potentiation, which are the core cellular processes necessary for learning and long-term memory formation.

Whitney: I want that.

Amy: It also supports mental health, and it can cuz deficiencies in neurosteroids, like this one we're talking about, which is essentially what pregnenolone is, are linked to cognitive decline, mood disorders, and schizophrenia. So, there's been clinical and pilot studies showing that supplementing with pregnenolone helps reduce negative symptoms in working memory.

Whitney: Hm.

Amy: So, it can improve your working memory. Which that's that's your problem.

Whitney: Yeah, I need that. Yeah, it is my problem.

Amy: Yeah. Maybe you should take mine and and see what happens just for a little while.

Whitney: Maybe I will. But can you take it without taking DHEA? Can you take it on your own?

Amy: That's a good question. Uh yes. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. You can. Yeah. But um, but they're used together a lot. So, it also helps with sleep regulation and stress control.

Whitney: We'll find out. You can? Okay. Mm.

Amy: Very fucking cool. I love that.

Whitney: Why aren't you taking it? You just You just Because it's mixed with the DHEA.

Amy: Cuz it's mixed with It's in the DHEA.

Whitney: Oh, well, I don't want yours, then, cuz I don't want the DHEA.

Amy: Well, you might.

Whitney: No, I don't. I already took it once and nothing happened.

Amy: Oh. Okay. Okay.

Whitney: Besides after your research in the Mayo Clinic,

Amy: I know. I I didn't like that. I didn't like that, so.

Whitney: No, there's no point. All right, keep going.

Amy: Um yeah. So, it can modulate your cortisol levels, which is, you know, important about stress response, body clock alignment, and helping your sleep balance. It can improve your sleep efficiency. So, experimental models show that restoring pregnenolone levels helped your reduce nighttime wakefulness, im- improve sleep efficiency, and restore circadian rhythm. I am so wakeful at night. I am toss, turn.

Whitney: I want that. Yeah. I've been staying up Yeah, I've been waking up, and my my problem is just then the brain starts

Amy: Oh, really?

Whitney: Yeah, working overtime.

Amy: I don't know what mine is. I just wake up a lot.

Whitney: But then is your brain going and you have thoughts that you're like, "Shut up, brain"?

Amy: Sometimes. Yeah. And I just I put myself on autopilot. I say, "I love myself. Life loves me." And I just repeat that over and over into my head. "I love myself. Life loves me. I love myself." And then I go back to sleep.

Whitney: Yeah. I'm like, "Dear Lord, help me." Help me, Jesus.

Amy: Help me. Okay. It also helps with your motor skills and it can help with movement planning, whatever that means, motor planning, physical coordination, all that kind of stuff. So

Whitney: I need all of that.

Amy: I mean, it's pretty good, right? So, it promotes um Well, hold on. Let's see here. It suppresses inflammation, that's what I want to say. So, it is what while we know that it's this starting block for making other steroid hormones, it has other powerful jobs, especially in the brain, like calming inflammation, protecting brain cells, and acting as a natural buffer against THC, which I found super interesting, which

Whitney: A natural buffer against THC?

Amy: Yeah.

Whitney: But are you accidentally getting THC from things?

Amy: I don't know. Or if you're smoking weed.

Whitney: That's interesting. Or maybe they're just letting you know, "Hey, this is a natural buffer to THC. So, if you're taking that and you're taking this,"

Amy: Yeah. It kind of made me wonder about like when we were talking about THC boosting estrogen. It made me wonder like is this related to that, and it's boosting it. So, if you build up a tolerance to THC, maybe you're boosting your pregnenolone and then it's making more hormones.

Whitney: But that's good boosting that. What it's saying is it's it's keeping the THC from impacting you.

Amy: I guess. It's weird.

Whitney: Which is good unless you're trying to get high.

Amy: Right? So, we turn it on.

Whitney: But if you're in the car while others are getting high and you don't want to get high.

Amy: Cut down Cut down your preg.

Whitney: Yeah. I don't know.

Amy: Yeah. So, um okay. So, let's see. We I think back then, the studies seem to show that it was thought like to be a middleman molecule with no real function of its own, right? But now they have overturned that. It is considered anti-inflammatory and has well-being effects that have worked before people even knew why. So, they thought it was just like a middleman like helping other things along.

Whitney: Right, you can combine it with this and then they work together.

Amy: But it has properties of its own. So, like I said, in the brain, it helps shield brain cells from from damage. It supports nerve fibers. It helps your memory. It's got a mood-boosting effect, apparently, which is antidepressant-like, which is nice. We like that. And it dials down I already said dials down brain in- inflammation. Yeah.

Whitney: Yeah. And no real side effects. No harmful side effects.

Amy: No. No. Um, low pregnenolone levels have been observed in neuroinflammatory conditions like Alzheimer's and multiple multiple sclerosis. Suggesting that it is protective. And losing it may leave your brain more vulnerable. So, I don't know how we can measure our pregnenolone level.

Whitney: Yeah. I was about to say I wonder if I mean, there's got to be a test for it.

Amy: I want it. I want

Whitney: Well, I I I was just thinking cuz you know I do that Function Health app and um I'm wondering if that's something that's tested on there.

Amy: Right! I want to know, too. Like, I I don't recall look- like mine, but I'm going to look it up. I'm going to see. I'll get back to you on that.

Whitney: Yeah. Get back to us.

Amy: Uh, so, there's a lot of sciencey stuff on here, and I I'm not going to read that, okay? So, it just It doesn't just block the inflammation signal. It goes upstream and breaks down the actual sensors that start inflammation. We love that. Okay. So, it acts as the brakes. And, yeah Oh, here's more about THC. Okay. Well, I don't want that. So, all in all, it does a lot of awesome things which I listed off and sounds worth it. Doesn't have a lot of side effects or or negative uh implications. It doesn't seem to be uh have contraindications as as well. And, so, that's the net net. The net net is I want to measure mine. I want to know how much I have, and then um I I might like to take it without the DHEA. So, there we go.

Whitney: And so There are so many things, though. I mean, like as I'm sitting here listening to all the benefits, I'm like, but so methylene blue had those benefits, and they're I mean, like at some point, I just want to know which one is best for me. Like, what should I can't take it all.

Amy: We can't take it all. So, what do you do?

Whitney: So, what should I take? Yeah, what do you do?

Amy: I know.

Whitney: Um, and I don't know the answer to that.

Amy: You have to just experiment and play with your

Whitney: Well, in that Play with yourself. We are encouraging that for sure.

Amy: It's healthy!

Whitney: It is healthy.

Amy: So, yeah. I mean, I think you do just have to treat yourself like really tune in to how you feel, but it's like just like we're talking about with my skin breaking out or DHEA. Like there's other things that I've done, too, so it's so hard to pinpoint.

Whitney: Yeah. Be aware. I know. It really is. And I and that's why I'm like, you know, not doing all of the things anymore cuz I've got to back up and really start paying attention to and, you know, to my body and how I'm reacting to the to just the one thing.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: But I just I feel like I'm just not feeling any different on any of the things that I'm doing,

Amy: Really?

Whitney: which is disheartening.

Amy: Really?

Whitney: Well, my HRT stuff, 100% feeling benefits from that. 100%. I'm not sweating and flushing and

Amy: Yes, yes. I've stopped sweating, thank God.

Whitney: hot flashes. Oh, good! Congratulations.

Amy: Thank you! And I'm pretty sure I'm in menopause. It's been My Oura Ring says it's been like 80 days since a period or 90 days or something. So, I'm I'm moving right along.

Whitney: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're right on time. I mean,

Amy: Yeah, I am. I'm going to be 54 in a month.

Whitney: 50 Yeah. In your 50s. Mhm. You're actually late to the game, I feel like.

Amy: You do?

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: Oh, good for me.

Whitney: Cuz I I started in at 50.

Amy: When did When did you start your period? How old were you?

Whitney: Um, I was in eighth grade. How old are you in eighth grade?

Amy: 13.

Whitney: Cuz I Remember that book, Are You Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?

Amy: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Yes.

Whitney: Such a dork. So, I read that in like sixth grade or seventh grade. And so then I started wr- writing in my diary like she would write in her diary, and I have a whole page of like, "I got it! I finally got it! My period." It's all like exclamation points and

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: So stupid.

Amy: I had one other friend that also hadn't gotten hers till eighth grade, and everyone else had, and we just felt so behind. And and then I started before her, and she was so mad at me. She was so pissed. Our birthdays were like like a day apart. I know. We're still friends. She's hilarious.

Whitney: She was mad at you? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy: And uh yeah, she was pissed. She was like, "I can't believe you did it without me." I was like, "I did

Whitney: I had no choice.

Amy: I didn't mean to." But secretly I was also like, "Whew! I wasn't the last."

Whitney: I know. Little did we know it was going to be a thorn in our side for many, many years.

Amy: I know. And that's what everyone would say that go like, "You don't want it. You know, you don't." And I would be like, "Yes, I do." Well, I read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Whitney: Yeah. "I finally got it." Um And you just are ready to develop like everybody else. You want to get some boobs and even, you know, hair. Like, you just you want to be like everybody else.

Amy: Yeah. You do. I know. You feel behind.

Whitney: Yeah, you don't want to be little.

Amy: Why was her friend such a bitch?

Whitney: I don't know.

Amy: in Are You There God?

Whitney: Well, that's that's life.

Amy: Yeah. Her friend was such a bitch.

Whitney: I mean, I think as a middle school girl, I like to know that, okay, everything that's happening in my middle school is was happening with her.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: With Margaret.

Amy: Anyway. All right. Well, um that's our book club review.

Whitney: I love it. Did you have a mid moment at all this week?

Amy: Um probably, but I can't I think my mid moment, I just am thrilled that I'm testing myself and I'm actually I feel like my brain is functioning better.

Whitney: Yes, I'm so jealous.

Amy: I God dang, I'm sorry.

Whitney: I do think that sleep has a a part in it, obviously.

Amy: It does. It does. Oh, my god, my sleep score the other day, I actually screenshotted it, it was so

Whitney: Oh, my gosh, I Don't even want to see it.

Amy: fucking good. It was so bad. I mean, like it was so This was yesterday. Well, it was shit today, so cuz I tossed and turned cuz there's a nerve in my knee that was hurting. But here it is. It was like, "We had to double take," they said. Like

Whitney: Don't even want to see it. Oh, hilarious.

Amy: 97 readiness, 92 sleep. I know.

Whitney: 97? Did you feel different?

Amy: I felt really good. But you know what? I stayed in bed all morning. I didn't get up till like 8:30 or 9:00. I just was like leisurely, and then it was like, "Yay! Way to go!" And I was like, "Oh, shit."

Whitney: Yeah. Well, did I I may have already shared this on the podcast, but the the placebo effect with the sleep, like they told people, "You had a great night's sleep,"

Amy: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: and so they actually Yeah, that they their cognitive skills went up.

Amy: Oh, I know. I like, "Well, I feel great." Mhm.

Whitney: So, I'm just going to tell myself, I am mentally clear. Words come to me easily.

Amy: I love this.

Whitney: I don't say the wrong word, I say the right word at the right time. And have no issues whatsoever. That's what I need to start doing.

Amy: Yes! My synapses are flowing.

Whitney: Yeah, my synapses are firing.

Amy: They're getting faster. My brain plasticity is alive and well.

Whitney: Yes! Yes. I'm going to Yes.

Amy: I'm getting sharper and faster every day and funnier.

Whitney: And funnier.

Amy: Yes! This is good.

Whitney: Yeah, I need to start doing that. Stop talking about how I'm not mentally clear and focused and start saying I am.

Amy: That's right. That's right. You do. Absolutely.

Whitney: Yeah. I say it way too much. All right. New me.

Amy: Every cell in here is getting better and better all the time.

Whitney: That's right. Turning over. Um well, my mid moment

Amy: I love it. Okay.

Whitney: was a moment where positive thinking was not going to help me. I went out on the boat with Ryan and um one of my sons and several of his friends. And we took the wakeboard out. I've never wakeboarded. It's basically, you know, skiing on a snowboard in the water is basically what it is.

Amy: Uh yeah. Yeah, surf It's kind of like surfing. Yes.

Whitney: Yes, but the board is like a snowboard type board.

Amy: The board is like a snowboard, yeah.

Whitney: Anyway, and I'm like, I snowboarded, like I can do this. And I let everybody else go first

Amy: So, you watched.

Whitney: because I wanted to watch, and I was hoping somebody couldn't get up, but of course all those little teenagers were just popping up.

Amy: Oh, damn.

Whitney: Even though they'd never Like the boys were great, but the the the girls that were on the boat, they'd never done it before, and they got up.

Amy: Yeah. Oh, shit.

Whitney: And so I was like, "All right. Okay. I really wanted to do it, but now I was afraid because I was like, "Well, what if I don't get up?" But who cares? Like, I go, "I'm I'm going to get out there. I'm going to give it a go." I tried four times,

Amy: Fuck.

Whitney: and I could not get up, and I was so mad. I could not turn cuz the way you have to do it is the board is um uh

Amy: Damn it.

Whitney: horizontal facing the boat. And then when they pull you up, you have to flip it or while they're pulling you up, you have to flip it to vertical so that then your

Amy: Oh. Oh.

Whitney: Anyway, I thought, "I can do this. I can do this." Couldn't do it. Got back on the boat. The next day, which was yesterday, I couldn't These muscles right here on my on the inner part of my lower arm

Amy: are sore. Oh, man.

Whitney: from my elbow to my wrist so sore that I could barely I couldn't it took me forever to open up a bottle of water. Like I would and even today it's still so sore, and I was like

Amy: Ugh, sucks.

Whitney: If I If I work those muscles out, could I get up? Like, Ryan wants me to get go out a couple times and he'll help me. But I'm almost like, why do I have to prove anything?

Amy: You don't.

Whitney: I mean

Amy: You don't. I literally stay on the boat and I watch everybody. That's more fun to me.

Whitney: Is it really that fun? Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: I don't want to get all First of all, I don't really like being wet. So

Whitney: I don't like to get my hair wet.

Amy: I don't like to get my hair wet. So, I stay on the boat. I give myself permission to watch and people are like, "Do you want to try?" and like, "I have fucking I know someone who snapped her femur wakeboarding and many years ago. Just She just said it just, poop, and um and she was like in her 20s. Anyway, I My knee is too Like whatever.

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah. Well, my son did do something to his foot,

Amy: God.

Whitney: and so he's hobbling around. It's swollen, you know. Might have to take him to the doctor if it doesn't heal up. Could be fractured.

Amy: Anything involving like torque and you know?

Whitney: Torquing, different than twerking.

Amy: Twerking. Very different. Anything involving that, I'm just like,

Whitney: Well, and why do I feel that it went back to that first curve or second curve, I felt like I had to prove that I was still young enough, and spry enough, and cool enough to get out there and like I had visions of me like just popping up and they'll be like, "Whoa, your mom's so cool."

Amy: like pliable. Yep. Yeah.

Whitney: Look how strong she is. And instead, I was like dying out there. Dying.

Amy: You're all raggedy. Get back Get back on the boat.

Whitney: Like barely get back to the boat. Yeah, I'm like try Literally, I usually can pull myself up onto the boat without using the ladder. I had to get the fucking ladder down.

Amy: Oh, no.

Whitney: It was a total fail. And I was like, "Why did I feel the need to prove it? Like, who cares?"

Amy: No. I mean, 20 years ago, we could have fucking done it, and now it's just

Whitney: I feel like 10 years ago, I could have done it. 5 years ago.

Amy: I feel like 10, I probably could have, but you know what? Now, I just have to accept that, like, it is totally okay.

Whitney: And I don't want to hurt myself. Like, I don't want to Literally, I have a disability for the last few days because I can't You It's pretty shocking how much you need these muscles right here. I couldn't open up a jar of pickles like, and you know that's

Amy: No. You really do. I knew you were going to say pickles.

Whitney: Yeah. Well, I love my pickles.

Amy: No. Screw that.

Whitney: So, I'm still hurting from my sad four attempts at getting up on the wakeboard.

Amy: That sucks.

Whitney: And yet, I'm still like, "Well, maybe I'll get a les- maybe I'll call up JB's daughter

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: and have her give me a lesson." And then I'm like, "Why? I don't need it."

Amy: No! Don't do it. I don't even want to be out on the boat.

Whitney: Who cares? You don't

Amy: We don't need boats so much.

Whitney: Oh, I do love to be on a boat. I'm on a boat. It's beautiful. The water's very healing.

Amy: Eh, usually, it's lasts too long, and then the the the wind, and I'm just like let's wrap this up.

Whitney: It was beautiful.

Amy: I want off. I want to be dry and not in the wind.

Whitney: Yeah. Well, and I wear contacts.

Amy: A very short boat ride, fine.

Whitney: Yeah. There is a lot in getting in the water, and splashing around, and my hair's wet, my eyelashes, my contacts, all that.

Amy: There's a lot, period, and I'm just not I mean, as soon as the story starts with uh we all we're on a boat, and I was like, "Uh-oh.

Whitney: Oh, we were on a boat.

Amy: Like, no, thanks. I went to get waxed the other day, and she was like, "Well, first, we went on the boat." And I was like, "Oh, girl, you're pregnant and you have a kid, and you I don't like where the story's going already."

Whitney: You're like, "I can't."

Amy: Oh, yeah. And the boat like had a mechanical issue, and she was stuck there, and the light I mean, like it just went on and on, and I was like, "This is a case for no more no boats."

Whitney: Oh, my gosh. No boats. You're not into it. All right. I won't I won't invite you and Justin out on the boat, then.

Amy: No.

Whitney: Well, we only Well, is 3 hours too long?

Amy: Oh, you can invite us. I'll come for a little while. I can do 3 hours. That's fine. That's fine. I don't want to do five.

Whitney: Okay. No, we don't go all day. I look at my skin. I would be

Amy: All day is too much. Oh, fuck no.

Whitney: roasted. Anyway. All right. Well, there was my mid moment, and I'm still I'm still struggling.

Amy: No. Okay. That's a good one. Do you hate boats? Let us know. We want to know.

Whitney: How do you feel about boats? And why?

Amy: Cuz we want to hear your mid moment on a boat or

Whitney: That's right.

Amy: any other mid moment that you have. anythingbutmidpodcast@gmail.com, and we love you so much. You are a badass, and

Whitney: We do what we want.

Amy: Yay!