It was beautiful sunny day, and my daughter wanted me to go with her to a Pride Festival that was being held at Hart Plaza. I went to support her. I felt good. I paid my fee, saw a handsome police officer, smiling at him flirting. The sun was beaming, and I began to feel like I was being pulled on, so I sat on the grass. When I got up 5 minutes later and walked down a few steps, holding on to the wall, I called my daughters name in a panic, and automatically squatted with my head between my legs. Still holding on to the edge of the wall by the grass. My daughter was frantic. I have my eyes closed taking in deep breathes. A man walked by and nonchalantly asks, " Is She ok?" My daughter is just frantic. He tells her that I need to sit down or some water. Instinct said don't move keep your head down and keep breathing. I did. A few seconds later a woman walks by and tells my daughter. " I'll stay with her so you can ho get her some water." My daughter does. I look up, and the woman asks if I'm okay enough to go sit down on the grass. She had a small umbrella that she covered me with. I slowly walk back up the few stairs and sit on the grass under a tree. The lady still covering me with her umbrella. I'm looking for my daughter still deep breathing. The woman asked if I was okay. I told her, "All the stress I've been under finally caught up to me."
My daughter comes back with the bottled water and I chug it. I was so grateful to that woman for what she did. To this day I see her as an angel. That moment scared me. It scared my daughter and she voiced it sitting in that grass. This was June 2025.
Forward to June 2026, and I'm online, scrolling TikTok, and I stop on a Live because I see a medium sized whiteboard behind a woman speaking with the words:
"Menopause 123"
Peri-Menopause 40+
Menopause -12 months no period
After/Post- Critical
Critical was circled in red marker.
She just finished talking about the history of what she wrote on that board. After seeing that, I entered the Live. I was now a student ready to hear what she needed to say.
She reinterrated what was on the board.
"Peri-Menopuse starts at 40, then you move to Menopuse when you go 12 straight months with no cycle. That means you can't have no more babies. Your wombs been through alot taking stuff in. Taking stuff out. Having babies. It's tired. Then when you get here to After/Post that's the most critical. You lose your estrogen and you can't get that back, so you have to help the body out by replacing it how ever you going to do that. Low estrogen is linked to all types of symptoms. I'm going to give them to you, which is linked to cardiovascular disease."
In that moment my mind ran to my mom. She ended up with a pacemaker before she transitioned. That line. That word shook me. Cardiovascular disease.
She spoke about advocating for yourself when you go to the doctor, because they don't even link low estrogen and progesterone, or having the lack of, with cardiovascular disease. She then began to list the symptoms.
[ ] High Blood Pressure
[ ] Dental Problems
[ ] Eczema
[ ] Dry/Itchy eyes
[ ] Fatigue
[ ] Dry Mouth
[ ] Verbal fluences ( stuttering)
[ ] Night Sweats
[ ] Breast Pain
[ ] Burning feet
[ ] Phantom smells
[ ] Weight gain
[ ] Mood Swings
[ ] Easy Bruising ( when you know you didn't bump into anything)
[ ] Dry Relations (i.e. vaginally dryness which leads to uncomfortable sexual relations)
[ ] Hip/ Back Pain
[ ] Ringing of the Ear
[ ] UTI
[ ] Change in Appetite/ Cravings
[ ] Digestive Issues
[ ] Pelvic floor changes
[ ] Brain Fog
[ ] GERD's (Acid Reflux)
[ ] Forgetfulness, Confusion
[ ] Sudden Anxiety, Depression
[ ] Heart Palpations
The things Carmen stated that speeds these symptoms up are:
[ ] Alcohol
[ ] Smoking
[ ] Sugar
[ ] Stress
[ ] Spicy Foods
[ ] Tight Clothes
[ ] Caffeine
I looked at this list shocked. It explained so many things that I have been experiencing. My mind quickly wondered and I had to tap back in.
As women, we know Menopause to be linked with hot flashes and mood swings. Carmen just showed it was deeper.
She then informed us that estrogen hits the top of the head to the bottom of the feet, and there's nothing in the middle which can cause that apron belly in women. As estrogen depletes it can effect cognitive thinking. It can bring on symptoms of dizziness/ vertigo. The loss of teeth. You can be anywhere in this journey. It'll hit some earlier than others.
I stated earlier that loss of estrogen/ progesterone is linked to Cardiovascular disease. My mom had a triple bypass when i was in my twenties, then years later ended up with a pacemaker. She's no longer here. It had me thinking if her cardiovascular issues were linked to low estrogen. The doctors don't know, so it's up to us as women to do our due diligence and study this as Carmen has. There's no research being done. Doctors aren't trained this deep in women's health.
Carmen stated a woman can be anywhere in her journey with this. Some women may not hit the critical point until later in life. There are those who will hit it quicker, and that's women who have had a hysterectomy. You no longer have a womb or ovaries, so as soon as they remove it, your estrogen levels drop immediately. You need to replenish your estrogen and progesterone quickly with some sort of hormone replacement therapy.
Our moms knew nothing of this, but what they were told. They had no clue. They suffered quietly. How could they possible pass down information that would empower their daughters when there were so many other things attached to this.
We need the estrogen because it protects bone density, hair, skin. Without it, it can have you looking youthful this year and next year having you look like you aged five years.
It's not all downhill. She gave the audience remedies.
Remedies
HRT(Hormone Replacement Therapy)
"In 2003 HRT was said to cause cancer, which had some people pull away from it. If you are prone to blood clots, had a cycle 10 years ago they won't give you HRT."
According to the NIH in their National Library of Medicine,
"The history of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) started in the 1960s, with very high popularity in the 1990s. The first clinical trials on HRT and chronic postmenopausal conditions were started in the USA in the late 1990s. After the announcement of the first results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002, which showed that HRT had more detrimental than beneficial effects, HRT use dropped. The negative results of the study received wide publicity, creating panic among some users and new guidance for doctors on prescribing HRT. The clear message from the media was that HRT had more risks than benefits for all women. In the following years, a reanalysis of the WHI trial was performed, and new studies showed that the use of HRT in younger women or in early postmenopausal women had a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, reducing coronary disease and all-cause mortality. Notwithstanding this, the public opinion on HRT has not changed yet, leading to important negative consequences for women’s health and quality of life." (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6780820/)
She then told the audience that Biden was the first President to approve funding for research into Women's health, and that the sitting President retracted that funding.
"December 12, 2024
Today, the President and First Lady hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Women's Health Research. The Conference, organized in collaboration with the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research and the Milken Institute, brought together business and philanthropic leaders, academic researchers, women's health advocates, investors, and federal agency representatives to showcase the President and First Lady's historic leadership to advance women's health research and discuss how to continue making progress on improving women's health.
Launched by President Biden and Dr. Biden in November 2023, the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research has worked to fundamentally change how our country approaches and funds research on women's health. Since its launch, the Initiative has galvanized nearly $1 billion in funding to close gaps in research on women's health. These investments will advance research to improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, and differently—from menopause to brain disorders to cardiovascular disease." (ICYMI: The White House Hosts First-Ever Women's Health Research Conference, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/icymi-the-white-house-hosts-first-ever-womens-health-research-conference)
The current sitting President did retract it on January 24, 2025, but turned right back around , and kept the funding for research.
"The Department of Health and Humans Services changed course and will continue funding for the Women's Health Initiative.
Updated April 25, 2025 at 17:30 PM ET
The Trump administration is restoring financial support for a landmark study of women's health, an official said Thursday, reversing a defunding decision that shocked medical researchers.
"These studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women's health," said a statement from Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The decision was made because the National Institutes of Health, which funds the Women's Health Initiative, or WHI, has "initially exceeded its internal targets for contract reductions," Nixon said. "We are now working to fully restore funding to these essential research efforts."
The Trump administration has demanded that all federal health agencies cut their spending on contracts by at least 35%, undergo massive layoffs and terminate hundreds of research grants.
"NIH remains deeply committed to advancing public health through rigorous gold standard research and we are taking immediate steps to ensure the continuity of these studies," Nixon added.
The news came a day after NPR reported on the plan to cut the project's funding." (In a reversal, the Trump administration restores funding for women's health Study, https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2025-04-24/in-a-reversal-the-trump-administration-restores-funding-for-womens-health-study)
Other remedies that were given are as follows:
These are all by the company Micro Ingredients Organics
[ ] Lions Mane for brain fog
[ ] Aswaghanda to help calm cortisol that causes panic attacks, frazzleness.
[ ] Collagen Peptides to keep skin tight. Take with vitamin c.
[ ] K2&D3 to protect estrogen. K2 helps to put D3 where it needs to go. Bones, teeth.
[ ] Magnesium Glycate to help with heart and helps you to sleep
[ ] Pumpkin Seed Oil for hair
You don't have to get the Micro Ingredients brand. This is just the brand she gave.
Herbs for Hot Flashes/ Night Sweats
[ ] Black Cohash
[ ] Red Clover
[ ] Phytoestrogen foods (Increase this in your diet)
[ ] Sweet potatoes
[ ] Soy
[ ] Green Vegetables
[ ] Beans
[ ] Whole Grains
Carmin states that exercise helps to minimize the symptoms even if it's just walking around your neighborhood. If you are a woman 40+ whether your having symptoms or not, " you need to be on some form of estrogen therapy."
There's books she recommended such as:
[ ] Fifty Shades of Menopause
[ ] The New Menopause
[ ] Let Them Menopause is Hot
If you want to see more of Carmin you can find her on TikTok under TEAisme.
Research.
Advocate for yourself if no one else will.
Men, have grace. Be patient, and advocate with her.
