Dr. Mary Claire Haver

And it should be, you should feel the same.

And in perimenopause, it's time to take stock.

It's time to see what do I need to do so that I am going to be okay.

Not to put everyone else's oxygen mask on first, but to put yours on first and intervene early, test early, act early, make these changes as soon as possible so that it's not as difficult and you can be in my shoes.

You should be able to be in my shoes.

This isn't about how I look.

Or, you know, I like to wear pretty clothes and do my hair for these podcasts.

But this is about, can I take care of myself?

Am I going to be independent in my last 10 years?

And these were gifts my mother and my maternal grandmother were not given.

They did everything they were told by the system in place.

And both of them have ended up with long-term dementia, loss of independence, and frailty to the point my mother is almost completely bed-bound now.

She hasn't walked other than to transfer to her wheelchair.

My mother has not walked with a walker in almost a year.

So I don't want that to be my future.

And in order to make sure that doesn't happen to me, I need to do things very differently than she did.

And she was on hormone therapy for a long time.

So this has nothing to do with hormone therapy.

This was everything to do with her dieting,

destroying her bone and muscle strength.