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The Mouth - Hormone Connection Doctors Are Missing with Christine Horton · The Menopause Disruptor Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: I want women to know that there should be no embarrassment about anything oral health related, because it's not necessarily you.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: It can just be a change in your hormones.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: But don't not go to your dentist or your dental hygienist and have it looked at because there are things we can do.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes with the change in these hormones, our body is more sensitive.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so we might have to make some changes in what your home care is, even though what you've done for the last 15 years had worked fine.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: The same thing can be said at other hormonal shifts in our life, like perimenopause or menopause.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: We can have the same thing happen because we have that hormonal shift again.
• 0:46
  Mary Lee: Welcome back, my friends.
• 0:48
  Mary Lee: So happy to have you here in the Menopause Disruptor podcast.
• 0:51
  Mary Lee: And if you're new here, welcome.
• 0:53
  Mary Lee: So glad you found me and you're enjoying the conversation that is disrupting the narrative around menopause.
• 1:00
  Mary Lee: And today, my next guest, well, she brings a really interesting perspective to the show because her work sits at the intersection of PCOS, which is now known as PMOS, hormones, inflammation, metabolic health, and most intriguingly, oral health and systemic health.
• 1:19
  Mary Lee: Today I'm joined by Christine Horton, the certified health coach, a registered dental hygienist, and a PCOS advocate known as the PCOS Glohygienist.
• 1:32
  Mary Lee: Now, why the name changed from PCOS, which was formerly known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, to PMOS, polyandrocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome?
• 1:44
  Mary Lee: Well, I hope to get into that more in this episode.
• 1:48
  Mary Lee: Christine understands it well.
• 1:50
  Mary Lee: She has lived with PMOS since her teens, experiencing many of the symptoms women are often told to simply put up with, such as irregular cycles, fatigue, point struggles, and infertility.
• 2:05
  Mary Lee: But her journey eventually uncovered something fascinating: the connection between oral health, inflammation, and hormone function.
• 2:13
  Mary Lee: Now, oral health, very interesting, was a topic of conversation that sparked a flurry of comments in my Instagram post when I shared a little teaser from my previous guest, Sandra Bargeron.
• 2:28
  Mary Lee: There is a surprising connection between the health of our mouth and the rest of the body, and we will get into that.
• 2:35
  Mary Lee: Beyond coaching and dental hygiene, Christine is passionate about supporting the PMOS PCOS community.
• 2:43
  Mary Lee: She is the programs and advocacy co-chair of the PMOS PCOSAA, which is a polycystic ovarian syndrome awareness association.
• 2:53
  Mary Lee: And in that role, she helps lead national efforts to raise awareness and improve support for all women living with this condition.
• 3:02
  Mary Lee: And with more than 20 years in dental hygiene, Christine brings a unique perspective to woman's health, one that looks beyond a single symptom or a number on a scale, and instead asks how all the pieces of a body are connected.
• 3:16
  Mary Lee: Please join me in welcoming Christine Horton to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast.
• 3:23
  Mary Lee: Welcome, Christine Horton to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast.
• 3:26
  Mary Lee: I'm delighted to have you here to dive into PCOS, PMOS, oral health.
• 3:33
  Mary Lee: And so let's unpack it.
• 3:35
  Mary Lee: Welcome to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast.
• 3:38
  Mary Lee: Thank you.
• 3:39
  Mary Lee: I'm excited to be here.
• 3:40
  Mary Lee: So let's start off with your backstory.
• 3:42
  Mary Lee: This is where everything begins for all of us.
• 3:45
  Mary Lee: For you, you were diagnosed with PCOS or PMOS, and we're going to get into that name change, and began experiencing symptoms in your teen years.
• 3:55
  Mary Lee: So what did PCOS mean to you back then?
• 4:00
  Mary Lee: And what do you understand about it now that you wish someone had told you as a teenager?
• 4:06
  Mary Lee: Right.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't know what it was.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'd never heard of it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: All I knew is I was 16 and I had never had a period yet.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we had a lot of medical people in our family.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was super athletic.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: So at first it was passed off like, oh, you know, you have low body fat, you're super athletic.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's just kind of a little bit delayed.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: But as I got older, they were like, eh, maybe we better take a closer look, have someone take a look at this.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so they ran tests and they came back and said, You have this.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't even know what it was, to be perfectly honest.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the only thing they really said, because this is what they knew at the time, was you probably won't be able to have kids.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And if and when you want to come back and we'll see what we can do.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I was 17 when I was diagnosed.
• 4:59
  Mary Lee: Such devastating news the possibility of never being able to have children, infertility.
• 5:04
  Mary Lee: That is a very emotional story, very relevant to so many women who are listening to this, perhaps even women and their daughters or even granddaughters, who are still being told the same thing.
• 5:17
  Mary Lee: Before we get a little bit more into the biology of what's happening with our hormones, explain to us why PCOS changed its name as of May this year to PMOS.
• 5:28
  Mary Lee: And what does that mean in the medical community in terms of women getting more attention, perhaps?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it very much points to the ovaries and infertility, and that is a part of the syndrome.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: But with the rename, what they were trying to do, and they took a lot of time, it was 14 years in the making talking to everybody to come up with the right name, what they felt would explain the condition.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And what they came up with was PMOS.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: The P stands for polyendocrine.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So talking about multiple hormones.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: The M is metabolic.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's talking about our metabolic system, how our body uses energy and all of that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then the O for ovarian still and S for syndrome.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it took it from being about our ovaries and fertility to this is a lifelong whole body system affecting potentially your hormones, your metabolic, the way your body processes food, and of course, that ovarian piece or infertility piece.
• 6:42
  Mary Lee: Does this bring more hope for women now to get a proper diagnosis and then find viable treatment that can help her with her condition early enough so that it's not going to be so debilitating, such as leading to infertility?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that is the hope in the rename.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a couple of reasons that it was just so important for so many people.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And one of them being is women's health in general is significantly underfunded.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: But when we have or we're talking about a condition that is specifically for one period of our life, it only gets certain sets of eyes, certain amounts of money towards it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: When we start talking about disease that is lifelong affecting millions of women, because one of the barriers, and one of the reasons why I do what I do, is one in eight women have it, but 70% are undiagnosed.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a huge gap that we need to change.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't know what you have, how do you get it treated?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what really lights my fire is I want other women to have a different story than I had.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have more information now.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: We want more research with this name change.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you do have the condition when you see your providers, it's not just about your fertility.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: We need to screen for so many things because it affects all these systems.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is known that we're at higher risk for so many things, such as cardiac events, so heart attack and stroke, higher risk of sleep apnea, higher risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, higher risk of periodontal disease, higher risk, you know, we could just go on and on.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Those can be throughout their life.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, the older we get, we already have an increased risk for some of these.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when you throw in a chronic condition, you know, we really want the protocol set up.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when you see your medical provider, there's screening for all of those things, and you know all of those things as well, not just ovaries and fertility.
• 9:13
  Mary Lee: Yeah, and being able to be diagnosed and get the proper screening and lab work is one thing.
• 9:18
  Mary Lee: But for a young woman or woman of any age, and certainly a challenge for menopause women, to speak to her doctor, go to the GP and advocate and insist that she be given the proper screening to render a diagnosis of her condition.
• 9:37
  Mary Lee: So, what are some of the conditions that a woman experiencing PMOS should be looking for as red flags to go to her doctor and say, this is happening, this is happening, and this is happening.
• 9:51
  Mary Lee: Therefore, I insist that I get properly screened.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Period irregularities.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: So really long periods, missing periods, sometimes even really crazy heavy periods because you've missed or because it's been really a long period of time.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: It can be excess hair growth in places where you normally don't get hair.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it could be your face, your stomach, your back, but you'll see excess hair growth.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: On the flip side, on the top of your head, you could be losing a lot of hair after you bath or shower and you brush it out.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: It just feels like clumps are coming out.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: That would be another sign that there could be something underlying, such as PMOS, skin issues, weight gain that you can't really explain.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like you haven't changed what you're eating or your normal movement patterns, but you just keep gaining unexplained weight would be another symptom, cystic acne, especially along the jawline, that that's symbolic of hormonal acne, would be another sign.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I could just go on and on.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many, but yeah, those would be some big ones.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then obviously, some women are diagnosed kind of almost in hindsight.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe they're trying to get pregnant and that hasn't happened.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: So they start doing some testing and then they find out, oh, you're not ovulating.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, why aren't you ovulating?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you have PMOS.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you're not ovulating.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I hear a lot of women who are like, I didn't even know.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: But the important thing always for women with their health is you need to pay attention to yourself and to your symptoms.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And when you know something isn't right, you need to advocate for yourself because we get really, really busy taking care of everybody else and being busy.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: We have kids and we have significant others, and we have canine or cat kids, you know, that we spend all this time doing and running, and we have aging parents and we have big careers, and sometimes we're just not paying attention to what our body's doing or trying to tell us.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I just would challenge every woman, if you have any of those signs, to go in and advocate for yourself.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another one that's kind of vague but is really important is fatigue, just as like even though you got a good night's sleep, they're just really bone tired very often.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 12:25
  Mary Lee: Now, how do we distinguish this from the menopausal, the perimenopause symptoms, in which fatigue, brain fog, irregular periods is very those are the hallmarks of perimenopause.
• 12:39
  Mary Lee: But how would one distinguish between could this just be moving through perimenopause or is there something more serious happening?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a great question.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think you could answer it without seeing your doctor and having screening done.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some things that, you know, when they're diagnosing PMOS, they have a criteria, Rotterdam's criteria, and you need to meet two out of the three criteria.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very laid out what you would need to meet, and it would answer that question.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think there's any way a woman who doesn't have a medical background and doesn't have results of certain tests that would be able to answer that or figure that out on their own.
• 13:23
  Mary Lee: The Rotterdam criteria you said explain what that is.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's kind of the three options that there are, and you need to have two out of the three to be diagnosed with PMOS.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the first one is that irregular period or cycle.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So longer than 35 days, less than eight periods per year would be one of them.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So period irregularity.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: The second one is high androgens or testosterone.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: So they can measure that with a blood test, or they can also see that.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have that abnormal hair growth in places where hair normally doesn't grow, that would be one of many potential signs.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if a physician saw that, they don't necessarily even have to do the blood test, although they can to kind of mark that criteria that yes, they do see that.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then the third one is by ultrasound, and they are looking at the ovaries.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And what you see in women who have PMOS is they call it a string of pearls.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not actually ovarian cysts, it's eggs that have gotten stuck, so to speak.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: They haven't been released.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so the ovaries have tried to release them and they weren't able to, and so they're kind of just stuck there.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so it kind of makes these like little string of pearls, they call it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that would be the third criteria.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And they've added just recently that it could be that ultrasound or high AMH levels.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason they did that is because if they're diagnosing, let's say a teenager, for example, the ultrasound is not like the on the belly ultrasound, it's a transvaginal ultrasound.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're diagnosing, you know, a 15-year-old, you're not going to use that method.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is just another way for them to do that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So out of those described three, you need to have two out of three, which again can make it challenging to know we could have different women with different stories.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: We all have PMOS, but we have different symptoms, right?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the criteria that we that was used to diagnose us could also be different.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So these are some of the challenges with PMOS.
• 15:48
  Mary Lee: Yeah, very complicated.
• 15:49
  Mary Lee: I mean, if it's not challenging enough just with perimenopause symptoms.
• 15:54
  Mary Lee: And here's an interesting question: Can a woman go her whole life with PCOS?
• 15:59
  Mary Lee: Not even, as you said, 70% go undiagnosed, and then she enters the perimenopause years to the point where she's finally stopped cycling and she's now on menopause.
• 16:10
  Mary Lee: Can a diagnose actually occur post menopause?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think it could, but it'd be more challenging because obviously you don't have the period part unless you have a history, but you could test the androgens, right?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: You could see if the testosterone, if the free testosterone, and you know, all of those, what those levels would be, and they might still be high, even though, you know, other things have changed.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you could still see the ultrasound string of pearl kind of appearance potentially.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's possible.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think it probably isn't the first thing they're gonna look at once you get to that age, but it's possible.
• 16:51
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 16:52
  Mary Lee: And most more significantly then is looking at the overall metabolic health and understanding that the menopausal body enters a new metabolic health arena, if you will, whereby heart, brain, and bone become the central focus.
• 17:09
  Mary Lee: We've passed reproductive years, so we're not necessarily concerned with being able to have children and fertility.
• 17:16
  Mary Lee: But what becomes center stage is the heart, brain, and bone.
• 17:20
  Mary Lee: And that ties closely to our obviously their cardiometabolic health.
• 17:24
  Mary Lee: But where do insulin, you spoke of androgens, but where do insulin and inflammation fit into the picture with PMOS?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: So 70 to 80 percent of women that have PMOS that have been diagnosed with PMOS have insulin resistance.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the majority do.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that needs to be known if you do, because how you choose to eat, how you move your body, all of those things are affected with what you would be choosing to do for that.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because for those that might not know what insulin resistance is, essentially it is there's food for the cell, the glucose.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: The cell needs the food.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So it sends a signal to the body that I'm hungry, I need to eat, I need the food.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the body has it there, but the cell isn't able to get it.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so it sends out another signal saying, no, like I really, really need this.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And this is sometimes where women get those cravings, like they'll say, like, I just need carbohydrates or I just need sugar.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like a deep, deep down craving.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this cycle of dysfunction just keeps happening.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's at the simplest form, insulin resistance.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, what you need to do is you need to look at how we can get it so the cell can get the food that it so desperately wants and needs.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that speaks to our lifestyle choices.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, it absolutely does.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that part of it.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: The systemic inflammation for women with PMOS, they have a higher baseline of systemic inflammation in general.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: When we talk about systemic inflammation, in general, all disease stems from systemic inflammation.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: If we just want to cut to the chase, it's just how that's gonna present in your body, depending on how your different systems are working.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: But for women with our brain health as well, dimensionally.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yep.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a core feature of PMOS is that you already have this higher systemic inflammation.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so it becomes key to managing that, decreasing that best you can, because the way that I like to describe systemic inflammation is it's kind of like a sliver in your finger.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you get the sliver and you know you have it and you take care of it, it's kind of a done deal.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a it's not a big deal.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: But if it just stays there for a decade, it becomes a big deal.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't just stay how it was the day it went in there.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: It just in the background slowly festers and oozes and you know, bleeds and can do all sorts of things.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how systemic inflammation is in the body.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of women don't even know that they have high systemic inflammation, and so they don't know these things, but they they start finding out because they have these symptoms, and then their physicians start looking and start doing some testing, and that's when they can can clinically see that that there's that.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Although there is that time where like you're feeling it, but it's not showing up yet on tests.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: But that that's a whole other thing that we could talk about for hours.
• 20:56
  Mary Lee: Yes, and that's where some of the healthcare system uh it becomes a battle.
• 21:01
  Mary Lee: The healthcare system might be there for your best interest, but they just don't have the empirical data that shows up in your body.
• 21:08
  Mary Lee: Yes.
• 21:09
  Mary Lee: And so this might be important where benchmark testing could help, where you go in with the benchmark levels, and then a few months later symptoms haven't haven't solved, and suddenly you're experiencing more intensity with the inflammation.
• 21:30
  Mary Lee: Test again, and then you can see it's still maybe not serious, but the marker has moved in the direction where it could be pointing towards systemic inflammation.
• 21:42
  Mary Lee: Yes.
• 21:42
  Mary Lee: Okay, yeah.
• 21:44
  Mary Lee: Now, this is I find where your background gets quite fascinating, Christine, as a dental hygienist and a hormone health coach.
• 21:54
  Mary Lee: When did you first realize that there was a connection between the mouth and the rest of the body?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the first time was when I was in school, and then when I was very early.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: In practicing in clinic.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And the best example I can give of it, and what I saw, was a woman who comes regularly, hasn't really had any history of any disease in their mouth, very healthy.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we do the periodontal charting.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: We have all the numbers from all the years, nothing to speak of.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they're expecting their first baby.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they come in and they're like, my gums are on fire.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like it hurts to brush, it hurts to eat.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know what's happened.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't changed anything, like as far as how often they brush or floss or you know, whatever they're doing.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: They hadn't changed their home care.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the one thing that changed was their hormone levels.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a name for that.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's called pregnancy gingivitis.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it is very common.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: It happens to a lot of women, actually.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: But that is the first time that I saw that everything was the same.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: They just had an increase in a bunch of hormones because they were pregnant.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it really affected their mouth and their oral tissues.
• 23:20
  Mary Lee: I've heard it said too that some women will get bleeding gums when they are pregnant.
• 23:24
  Mary Lee: And I guess what we're talking about.
• 23:27
  Mary Lee: And you don't give it much thought.
• 23:31
  Mary Lee: But mind you, this is an interesting sign.
• 23:35
  Mary Lee: Okay, continue.
• 23:36
  Mary Lee: Fascinating.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: So there's things we can do for it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: I want women to know that there should be no embarrassment about anything oral health related because it's not necessarily you, it can just be a change in your hormones.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: But don't not go to your dental dentist or your dental hygienist and have it looked at because there are things we can do.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes with the change in these hormones, our body is just more sensitive.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so we might have to make some changes in what your home care is, even though what you've done for the last 15 years had worked just fine.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: The same thing can be said at other big hormonal shifts in our life, like perimenopause or menopause.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: We can have the same thing happen because we have that big hormonal shift again.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: And again, a lot of women will come in and say, I've been doing this for 30 years.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going on.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: But all of a sudden, you know, this, this, and this with my gums that I notice.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I encourage you, if that is happening to you, go talk to your dental professional about what you're seeing.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like I said, there are things that they can do.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: There are things that you can change up with what you've been doing at home.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: The bottom line is if and when we see inflammation or disease in the mouth, we need to treat it as soon as possible because it can affect our whole body health.
• 25:10
  Mary Lee: So essentially the mouth can be a window into what's happening in the rest of the body.
• 25:16
  Mary Lee: Absolutely.
• 25:17
  Mary Lee: A hundred percent.
• 25:19
  Mary Lee: So if you're experiencing some paridental concerns and report that to your dentist, but then there's the flip side too, where your dentist notices something.
• 25:33
  Mary Lee: And is it unusual then for a dentist to ask about hormone health or metabolic health, such that have you been diagnosed with some heart issues, or where are you at what in your stage of menopause?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, it depends on the dentist.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's the hygienist, right?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because we often spend a lot of our appointment with the hygienist and the dentist just comes in at the end.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: It depends how the practice is set up.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody's different.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: But some of the things that we love to see, and that I think we see more often now, is a lot more screening, taking the blood pressure when you come in right away.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: We want to see what that look at look like.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: I hear people talk about like, oh my gosh, I went to a new dentist or they upgraded their system and I had to fill out a health history.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like they wanted to know everything about me.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like it took me forever.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: But we're seeing more of those connections.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we do want to know those things.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on what you're having done, like they're injecting drugs, so they need to know what medications you're on on a daily basis, because some of them are vasodilators or vasoconstructors.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, those things make a big difference what kind of anesthetic they're going to use and how much is safe.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, all these things that I don't think people realize when they think of their mouth how connected it really is to the body.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: If we look at the research, everything is connected.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: But the longest, strongest, if you want to get into the weeds of research, is cardiovascular heart health, heart and stroke with oral health connection.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that insulin resistance or diabetes, uh, preterm labor and periodontal disease.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're even getting into Alzheimer's and arthritis and you know, all kinds.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: So essentially, the important thing to know is your whole body is connected to your oral health, and it is a huge of systemic inflammation.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Most people have some level of inflammation in their mouth.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: The way we have been taking care of our mouth has not been as effective as we would like it to be for our long-term whole body health.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like the brushing and the flossing is not standing up to it's not even that it's not standing up, it's how we're doing it, how long we're doing it for.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Those types of things that the principles are there, but we're not doing it right.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're not doing it for long enough, we're not doing it often enough.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we're only brushing.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at the stats, there's not very many flossers out there, but we need more because it's not just about your teeth, it's about your cardiac health and everything else, right?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And if you start looking at some of these, it's now coming into general um health conversations where they'll talk about what's something I could do to prevent heart disease.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll say floss every day.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you start looking, you'll start seeing all those connections in direct ways and indirect ways.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: But again, I want women to know that there is no shame.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is really hard to know uh what your oral health status is without seeing a dental professional.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we do have things happen, right?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we do have a bleeding gum, or maybe our gums are sensitive, or you know, that type of stuff.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: But often, especially in the early stages, which is when we want to see people, we might not have any symptoms.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: We just go in and they're like, oh, we noticed this, this, and this when we were doing your periodontal test.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: And fortunately, you have the beginning of this disease.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be alarmed.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: They know how to take care of this.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: We just want to get to it early and take care of that source of systemic inflammation.
• 29:54
  Mary Lee: So when you discover the systemic inflammation associated with our oral hygiene and the quality of taking care of our mouth and the many patients that you've seen over the years, at what point did you say, you know what, I want to go deeper?
• 30:10
  Mary Lee: I want to become a hormone health coach.
• 30:12
  Mary Lee: I think that there's something that I can be doing or advocating for women, not just with your background with PMOS, but understanding of how our oral health plays into the whole system from systemic inflammation to our overall overall cardiometabolic health.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a fantastic question.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, what happened was I was managing my PMOS quite well through all the different things.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: I had an infertility journey, I've kind of seen and done it all with it until I hit perimenopause, and then everything was absolutely crazy because at the best of times, it can be crazy.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have a hormone/slash metabolic condition, and then you throw in a big change in hormones, it changes everything.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I was already very interested in this oral systemic health and this connection, and I was already reading up.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: But when that happened to me, I just went full in.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And everything that I found, I was just like, nobody knows about this, nobody's talking about this.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what excites me about it is that it's something you can do.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's like lifestyle modifications, it gives you power again because I think knowledge is power.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you know you have something or you're dealing with something, that it is helpful to have a name for that, and then to know what you can do to change the outcome, to manage it, all of these sorts of things.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was my journey with it.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: That was the catalyst was me hitting perimenopause, everything going crazy, me having to go back to the drawing board and going, okay, let's look at everything I could possibly do to manage this.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where it came from.
• 32:16
  Mary Lee: And then I wanted to share it.
• 32:18
  Mary Lee: And you dove into becoming a certified health coach, combining it with your background as a dental hygienist.
• 32:24
  Mary Lee: Yes.
• 32:25
  Mary Lee: And now known as the PMO, PMOS, PCOS, glow hygienist.
• 32:32
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 32:32
  Mary Lee: Give us a little story behind that.
• 32:34
  Mary Lee: That title hygiene.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, I very much associate with being a hygienist for essentially most of my adult life.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: And what I would hear over and over from women dealing with all sorts of things is including PMOS, but also those who don't have it, is I just don't feel like myself.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just don't have that glow.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have that, I'm just doing life.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't find joy in things.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just kind of there, blood, doing it day in, day out.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I was building my company, I wanted that goal, that you would have that spark back, that glow back, right?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you have PMOS or you don't, that's what I want for women.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to have whatever condition, whatever's happening in your life, that it becomes a part that you can just manage and it's a side thing, but you have the energy and the want, and you're able to do all the things that you love to do that like spark your glow.
• 34:32
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 34:33
  Mary Lee: So when you're working with your clients, well, walk us through when someone wants to come to see you to come get their glow back.
• 34:40
  Mary Lee: Where do they start?
• 34:41
  Mary Lee: Do they start with your quiz and assessment to see if they have PMOS, PCOS?
• 34:47
  Mary Lee: What should we call it?
• 34:48
  Mary Lee: PMOS.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: PCOS.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: Going forward, it's going to be PMOS.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of switch back and forth because some still are doing their yeah.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: So either or.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I have a couple of things.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: On my website, I do have a couple of quizzes for some that have been diagnosed.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, only a medical compared provider can give a diagnosis, but there might be some signs that, you know, is red flags.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: You'd be like, yeah, you probably want to go see your medical provider.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or you can just book a strategy session.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: I always offer a free strategy session just to have a conversation because I think that's where everything begins for women, regardless.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, I am always open for a conversation to see what you're dealing with, what you'd like help with.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we can just kind of feed off each other and see if I could be of some assistance.
• 35:40
  Mary Lee: I love that.
• 35:40
  Mary Lee: And I'm just looking at your website, Christine, and you offer is that we talk, I listen, and you lead with clarity.
• 35:50
  Mary Lee: And that's such an empowering place to be, an impactful place to be for a woman, because when she's left confused and not sure, it's so nice to have that coach, that cheerleader in the corner that has already done all the work behind the scenes where it's looking at the research or in infusing our expertise and our training and education with the menopause experience, with the hormone shift experience, and helping a woman understand you're not alone, breaking the stigma, first of all, and saying you're not alone, and reminding her that she has absolute right to advocate for her health and ask those tough questions and expect that her healthcare provider will be there to help her, be it through diagnosis screening.
• 36:43
  Mary Lee: And so I'm really admire that on your on your coaching program.
• 36:48
  Mary Lee: It's very similar to what a menopause doula does as well.
• 36:52
  Mary Lee: And so, Christine, tell our listeners a little bit about where they can find you, what your offerings are, and in particular, this quiz.
• 37:01
  Mary Lee: I find it's quite fascinating that you have that on your website because a lot of women, like you said, 70% undiagnosed and will go for years and years thinking that this is just my normal.
• 37:12
  Mary Lee: Yes.
• 37:13
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I do have a quiz because there are things that are noted in women who have PMOS that maybe the average person doesn't.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: But like myself, if it's been a certain way since you're 17, you might not realize that that's not how everybody else is.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so by asking these questions, you can kind of go out of these 10 things, eight out of the 10 might be a red flag.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, definitely go see your medical provider and have that investigated because knowledge is power and we can work from that.
• 37:49
  Mary Lee: Right.
• 37:51
  Mary Lee: So, what would be the difference, or is there a difference approach between someone who comes to you age 16 versus a woman who comes to you, say 45?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's all in what they're looking to do and how they want to take control of things, right?
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: So someone who's younger, it might be they're just overwhelmed.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: It just happened.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know what to do.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's all kinds of information out there.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is it right?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is it accurate?
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is it realistic?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is it sustainable?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots of things, you know, maybe we tried when we were young that, like, if we would have known better, we wouldn't have tried those because it actually made things more difficult.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, for example, if you have PMOS and you think I'm just gonna eat less because I'm gaining weight, or I'm just gonna exercise more, that's actually could be reverse of what you actually need to do because if you have that high systemic inflammation, um, and your body and the cells aren't already getting food because you have that insulin resistance happening, and none of this has been treated, your body just goes into starvation and it just holds on to everything.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can actually have the reverse happening of what you would like to happen.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just really, really important to know that who you're talking to, what you have, and how it might relate to you.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know often there's a thing out there for the next pill or patch or supplement or whatever, and there's a time and place for all sorts of things.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have a very complex medical condition or a longstanding, and it doesn't have to just be PMOS, it could be endometriosis, it could be, I mean, we could lift so many of them, right?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um realistically, there's not one thing that is gonna fix everything.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because as we have discussed, there's just so many different facets to it.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's just not one thing that fixes all of it.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: Having said that, lifestyle management helps everything.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: So if you do need to take medications, if you are on supplements, by making some changes in your lifestyle, it can help all of those work more effectively.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you don't need them long term, but it's just very individualized.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: But I do want women to know that there's power in that.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: But again, these have to be sustainable changes that are overlooked and endorsed by your medical professional because there's a lot of women who deal with distorted eating, body dysmorphia, eating disorders.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so it can get really complex really quick when you try using those quick fix kind of things that we see on social media.
• 40:59
  Mary Lee: Which hence speaks to the reason why having a coach there to help you dissect what's happening and give you that clarity and confidence so that you're not using these quick gimmicks, these fixes to manage a deeper, more serious metabolic health problem.
• 41:17
  Mary Lee: And yeah, the the binge eating, the GLP1 peptide rave that's happening just to get the skinny is again a quick fix.
• 41:27
  Mary Lee: Not saying that it's not for the right people, but they're certainly being touted as a quick fix, get skinny fast, and you're all your problems will go away.
• 41:36
  Mary Lee: When in fact, as you said, you're putting your body into an even deeper stress load, raising cortisol, it thinks it's starving, it's going to hang on to fat, inflammation rises, and you're in this vicious cycle.
• 41:48
  Mary Lee: So if there is one lifestyle choice to begin with, because it is a multi-pronged approach, of course, being nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress management.
• 41:57
  Mary Lee: We didn't get into the nervous system, but we could go at great length on that.
• 42:01
  Mary Lee: But if there is one thing to start just to get moving in the right direction and moving the yardstick in the right direction, where could a woman start?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's different for every woman.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that every woman has the same one.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: When you're talking about those pillars of health, that's what I like to call them.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have some efficiency in all of them.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: For example, you can't be an eight out of 10 on some of them and a zero out of 10 on another.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: For example, you mentioned sleep.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can't sleep one hour a night but be exercising six days a week and eating as you should and whatever.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're still gonna have all these issues and problems.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if I was going to pick one, because we need to, we can't just throw that off.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: I would say look at what your rest and your sleep looks like because it often is a snapshot of a lot of the other things.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: And there's no such thing as perfect health, but there's so many things you can do to take baby sustainable, that's the key part.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be sustainable steps to improve your overall health.
• 43:29
  Mary Lee: Yeah, yeah, I agree.
• 43:31
  Mary Lee: You're speaking my language.
• 43:33
  Mary Lee: I often say that when I do little workshops.
• 43:36
  Mary Lee: If there was anything, sleep would be the panacea, if you will.
• 43:41
  Mary Lee: Start with observing what kind of a sleep hygiene you have and what's your sleep architect, and then start almost reverse engineering back to why is there problems with the sleep.
• 43:53
  Mary Lee: And it normally uncovers, oh, well, late night eating, perhaps, or overtraining or not moving the body enough, or the nervous system is completely 100% dysregulated and needs a little bit of TLC.
• 44:07
  Mary Lee: Oh my goodness.
• 44:08
  Mary Lee: Yeah, yes.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: I will add to that on our phones, which light up our whole body.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so then we're awake for an hour or two or three in the middle of the night, or that's how we wake up for our day and sets up our day.
• 44:24
  Mary Lee: Yes.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not how we would choose if we knew all the things that's really doing.
• 44:28
  Mary Lee: My goodness, we could speak at great length of just how the digital era has disrupted our sleep patterns to increased deeper health concerns.
• 44:38
  Mary Lee: And new research and literature is now coming out on that too.
• 44:42
  Mary Lee: Absolutely.
• 44:43
  Mary Lee: Obesity in children.
• 44:45
  Mary Lee: And a direct link to their use of devices and exposure to digital.
• 44:50
  Mary Lee: Oh, wow.
• 44:51
  Mary Lee: Christine, I always like to end off each of my.
• 44:55
  Mary Lee: Interviews of late with a little rapid fire.
• 44:58
  Mary Lee: And I I love how because Brene Brown was one of my favorite podcasts to listen to, was one of my first podcasts I ever began began listening to.
• 45:06
  Mary Lee: Love the rapid fire.
• 45:08
  Mary Lee: Gives a little bit more insight into this.
• 45:10
  Mary Lee: You're speaking to, there's a humor, there's a fun side, but there's more science you can pull out of it too, right?
• 45:17
  Mary Lee: Absolutely.
• 45:19
  Mary Lee: All right.
• 45:20
  Mary Lee: So first one, because you're a dental hygienist, fluoride or not fluoride.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter to me either way.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many other things that is not worth having an argument over anymore.
• 45:33
  Mary Lee: Ah, I love that.
• 45:35
  Mary Lee: Good.
• 45:35
  Mary Lee: Thank you for that clarity.
• 45:36
  Mary Lee: If you could sum up PMOS in one word madness.
• 45:42
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 45:44
  Mary Lee: What would the biggest myth of PMOS you'd like to see completely destroyed?
• 45:51
  Mary Lee: Just lose the weight and it'll go away.
• 45:54
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 45:56
  Mary Lee: One thing that a woman should know about her gums.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: That they tell a story and you want to know what it's telling.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: So see your dentist, dental hygienist, and know your periodontal status.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 46:16
  Mary Lee: This is going to be a no-brainer, but perfection versus consistency.
• 46:21
  Mary Lee: Consistency every time.
• 46:24
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 46:25
  Mary Lee: That's like we said, if you could just move those sustainable baby steps, make it sustainable.
• 46:30
  Mary Lee: Yeah.
• 46:31
  Mary Lee: One thing that you wish doctors understand about women with PCOS and don't be shy to talk about your co-chair position.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: I wish they understood that there's not a woman sitting across for them that has PMOS that isn't trying.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know the labs, I know the weight, I know the whatever might tell you that they're doing nothing.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: From the women I've worked with, everybody is trying to the best of their ability.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they don't feel seen or heard or understood.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's not helping them.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: And they're not happy with their care.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to change that because for any of us to make positive changes, we need to know somebody's listening.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I do what I do, both through my business.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: And as you were saying, with the PCOS Awareness Association, I serve as co-director for advocacy and programs.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: And we have so much wonderful stuff.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: One being a support group that meets once a month.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I encourage anybody who has been diagnosed to sign up on their website, PCOSAA.org, and join us because you're in a room of women who get it.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to explain.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: They just get it.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that feels really good.
• 47:56
  unknown: Thank you.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I run it with faith.
• 47:59
  Mary Lee: Good.
• 47:59
  Mary Lee: We're holding out on us, but I knew that you had, you're not just a health coach who in a dental hygienist.
• 48:05
  Mary Lee: You actually back what you say with some power of your convictions and a place of advocacy.
• 48:11
  Mary Lee: So absolutely.
• 48:13
  Mary Lee: We'll get that show that link in the show notes, the description below.
• 48:17
  Mary Lee: Let's leave us with this, Christine, to those women who are listening to this episode today.
• 48:23
  Mary Lee: And she might be feeling exhausted, frustrated, and has been told, for example, just lose weight or just deal with it, suspects she has PMOS or has had a PMS diagnosis in the past, but still doesn't understand her body.
• 48:39
  Mary Lee: What is the first conversation that you want her to have with herself?
• 48:44
  Mary Lee: And what conversation would you want her to have with her healthcare team?
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: With herself, I want her to know that she's not alone.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: Over and over, I talk to women and they feel like they're the only one.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: One in eight women have this.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: That is millions and millions and millions of women in this world that have it.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you are not alone.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: And what you're fighting with yourself is what many, many other millions of women are fighting with themselves as well.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: So know that you're not alone.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: The conversation I want you to have with your provider is this is what I need.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is what I need to find out.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can't have those conversations, if you're not getting what you need, find someone who listens to you.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: Find somebody who will work with you.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is a long-term chronic condition that is not going to be fixed in a 15-minute appointment.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: You need somebody that is going to support you that you can have a long-term relationship with to get it to a point where it's just managed and to the side, and you have everything laid out and done so it's not affecting your everyday life until you have the energy and um you can do all the things that you love to do.
• 50:08
  Mary Lee: Yeah, have a quality of life, exactly.
• 50:10
  Mary Lee: Absolutely.
• 50:12
  Mary Lee: Christine, this conversation has been so enlightening, eye-opening in so many ways.
• 50:18
  Mary Lee: I'm so glad that I found you.
• 50:21
  Mary Lee: I'm featuring your expertise, sharing your story, your knowledge, and your passion.
• 50:26
  Mary Lee: This is a story not just for menopausal women, but there's a story, an episode, a conversation for young women too.
• 50:33
  Mary Lee: PCOS doesn't discriminate.
• 50:35
  Mary Lee: It can, well, obviously happens in our young years too.
• 50:40
  Mary Lee: So we want to continue to have that quality of life and not be dismissed or gaslit by our medical system that is supposed to be there to help.
• 50:47
  Mary Lee: I'm hoping that this new nomenclature, PMOS, will open up more doors for women to get the help that they need and the confidence and the empowerment to move forward with their health.
• 51:00
  Mary Lee: So thank you, Christine, for your time, your energy, and sharing your story.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, thanks for having me.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want women to know that my DMs and my emails and my website are always open and you can find me there.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get all those links in the show notes below.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 51:22
  Mary Lee: Have a great day.