Dr Natalie Crawford

Because women disease differently than men.

And men with sleep apnea, it's a very common presentation of snoring.

They're waking up their partner, you know, all these things.

Women are much quieter about it.

They still have the palate that falls back and the relaxation.

And that's hormonally driven for a lot of women.

And so they're becoming hypoxic.

in the middle of the night from, you know, that's one of those side effects of having sleep apnea is you stop breathing and your oxygen levels decline, you become hypoxic, but we are not recognizing it.

And women, more than 50% of women are going undiagnosed and are living shorter lives, having more Alzheimer's because of this.

So if I have a patient coming in and we've done everything and she is still consistently getting up, I'm sending her for a sleep apnea evaluation.

you really do need to be the CEO of your own health care.

We have a medical system that was not built to serve the aging woman.

After reproduction ends, it's just we become small men with breast and uteruses, to quote Dr. Sims.

And

You – it's okay to educate yourself.

It's okay to read the books.

It's okay to go in educated with checklists.

And you're going to probably have to do that and to go find someone who's educated in the health of women after reproduction ends.

And that could be your internist.

It could be family medicine.