Truly Balanced: The Midlife Insider

A woman tracked me down on Facebook. I was scared to open the message. My mind went straight to the worst-case scenario. I opened it anyway. It was a thank you. She came into the ER late at night. Ruptured breast implants. She did not know if they were silicone or saline. She did not know what came next. She remembered one thing. I treated her like a human. I explained. I listened. I helped her breathe. She wrote, Your kindness really put me at ease. That line stays with me.

When she first reached out in January, she was at her breaking point. She had done everything she thought she was supposed to do. She cut back on food. She fasted for days at a time. She pushed through the fatigue and the hunger. But the scale would not move. She told me: “Even when I fasted for 3 to 5 days, nothing changed. I was truly frustrated.” It wasn’t just the number on the scale. Her energy was gone. She was dragging herself through the day. Her clothes no longer fit

Doctors miss menopause all the time. Not because they don’t care. But because the system isn’t built for you. Here’s why: No standard test. Hormones that fluctuate daily. Symptoms that mimic depression, thyroid problems, or “just aging.” Fatigue? You’re told it’s stress. Mood changes? You’re offered antidepressants. Joint pain? You’re told it’s just “getting older.” Meanwhile, you’re stuck in the middle of perimenopause. Foggy. Exhausted. Gaining weight. Feeling like your bod

One of my clients told me, “I thought this was just part of getting older.” She had started gaining weight during perimenopause. Her knees and hips hurt every day. She was always hungry or craving something. She tried to eat right.  She worked out. She drank the smoothies and followed the advice. But nothing worked. She was exhausted. She didn’t feel like herself anymore. That was her life for years. She kept pushing through, thinking it would get better. That was her normal.

I didn’t plan to talk about hormones this weekend. But by the end of the conference, five women had pulled me aside. But somehow. Every conversation led there. Friday night, I was eating a salad and chatting with a woman I’d just met. She was in her mid-50s.  Retired and now an entrepreneur And tired. We started talking about menopause. She leaned in and said. “Sister, this stuff is real.” She wasn’t talking about a few hot flashes. How quickly her body had changed on her. Th