Menopause UnMuted

In this episode of Menopause Unmuted, my guest Linda Loveless, an executive national vice president with the Arbonne community for 28 years, Mrs. Kansas America titleholder and author of Remembering Her Again, shares how she pushed through perimenopause without realizing she was in the transition. Linda and I talk about losing the desire for intimacy and why it is so hard to bring up, even with th...

In this episode of Menopause Unmuted, my guest Ann Marie, a college professor of 25 years who teaches community engagement, started writing on Substack a few months ago and is building Midlife U, a community for women in midlife to help support them through this transition. Ann Marie shares her perimenopause journey and how it differs from the typical one. She had a hysterectomy in her 30s and has...

Kristen Rocco spent more than 15 years using storytelling to build connection for brands and now hosts the Bold Moves podcast and community. In this episode she joins Dr. Erika Pimentel to share her own bold move, which came out of a layoff and a decision to author her career instead of letting it steer her. She also shares where she is now at the start of her perimenopause transition, including t...

Have you ever decided that waking up at three in the morning is just part of getting older? In this solo episode, I cover why sleep is a foundation for your health in midlife and not only a quality of life issue. You will hear what your circadian rhythm controls beyond when you feel sleepy, what happens in each stage of sleep, how estrogen, progesterone and testosterone each influence your sleep,...

Have you ever wondered what your husband understands about the changes you're going through in perimenopause? In this episode of Menopause Unmuted, I sit down with Brad Walsh, founder of Empowerography and the first male guest ever on this podcast, to talk about what it's like to support a wife through perimenopause from the other side. We get into the intimacy conversation most couples av...

Kelly Croft spent years as a distance runner, counting calories and tracking macros. When the weight kept coming anyway, including 12 more pounds after she went back to working out five days a week, she found herself asking how she had let this happen. In this episode of Menopause Unmuted, Kelly shares what she noticed in her body as her weight changed, why so many women carry shame when their bod...

Almost every new client asks me some version of the same question before we even get into her program: "Will lifting weights make me bulky?" In this episode, I'm taking that fear seriously instead of brushing past it with reassurance. We'll get into the physiology first — why men naturally carry more baseline muscle than women, what a 2025 meta-analysis out of Deakin University f...

In this episode, I sit down with Erica Voell, decision mentor and inner trust guide, to talk about her own perimenopause journey. It started with a hysterectomy at 38 and years of diagnoses that nobody ever connected to each other. We talk about what it's like to quietly build a story about your body being broken, one appointment at a time, the link between hormone fluctuation and sudden food...

On this episode of Menopause Unmuted, my sister-in-law Jihan is back for part two of our conversation. This time we start with something most women never think to connect to their hormones at all: dry eye. Jihan had to stop wearing contact lenses altogether after a diagnosis associated with declining testosterone and estrogen and we talk about how those hormones affect the eyes and why so few doct...

On this episode of Menopause Unmuted, I'm joined by my sister-in-law Jihan for an honest conversation about a part of perimenopause most women never see coming: pelvic floor changes. Jihan shares her bladder prolapse diagnosis, what her doctor explained and what he left out and what it's like navigating perimenopause in Honduras, where hormone therapy and reliable information are hard to f...

She was disciplined. She tracked her food. She trained almost every day. And none of it moved the scale. In this episode I break down why that happens to so many women in midlife. It's not about effort. I walk through what chronic under eating does to your body when you're also training hard, why muscle is often the first thing your body sacrifices when it isn't getting enough fuel, an...

On this episode of Menopause Unmuted, I'm talking with Shamika Brown-Upshaw, founder of Spark Life Coaching and former Emmy Award winning Senior Director of Business Operations and Program Management for major sports and entertainment brands. Shamika got her period at 10 years old and is now 50 with none of the symptoms most of us associate with perimenopause. No hot flashes. No night sweats....

On this episode of Menopause Unmuted, I sit down with Judy Jung, owner of Jung Family Painting and Decorating, a 22 year family business built on excellence and community in Naperville, Illinois. Judy entered menopause the day she turned 50, and the weight came fast, 20 pounds in three months, despite training five days a week and eating well. For years, she avoided hormone therapy because she had...

On this episode of Menopause Unmuted, I sit down with Prajwal to talk about what happened after her hysterectomy, and what nobody told her beforehand. Prajwal had a fibroid that led to a hysterectomy. Her ovaries stayed intact, so her doctor told her not to expect much change. She is experiencing night sweats and disrupted sleep and no one ever explained that removing the uterus can reduce blood f...

In this episode I'm sharing something I've never talked about publicly before — my full two-decade journey through perimenopause that nobody named. For over two decades, my body gave every signal. A medically induced menopause at 29. Unexplained muscle fatigue after my first pregnancy. Two episodes of brain fog so severe a neurologist thought I might have had a stroke. A chronic eye condit...

A conversation with Karina on rewriting her identity, the truth behind the HRT fear, and building the next chapter instead of chasing the last one. At 52, Karina had crossed the bridge she calls perimenopause, but getting there meant unlearning almost everything she'd been told. In this conversation, we talk about the intrusive, looping thoughts she couldn't explain (and the estrogen scien...

Today's guest is Kimberly, owner of Crystal Clear Cleaning. Nobody warns you that menopause can change the way your body smells, and Kimberly never expected this, especially in moments of stress or right before she has to speak in front of people, to the point where she carries wipes just in case. For a business owner who's constantly in the public eye, that's not a small thing. It&#39...

Many women expect perimenopause to change their metabolism or their weight. What they don't expect is joint pain, stiffness, slower recovery, or a body that suddenly feels older than it should. In this episode I sit down with my chiropractor and longtime friend Dr. Lacey t o talk about what's actually happening to your joints and connective tissue during this transition, and why frozen shoulder, h...

Gina has spent decades knowing exactly who she was in her body. This year, she stopped recognizing herself. My cousin Gina and I talk about what happens when a woman's body quietly stops confirming the person she's always understood herself to be. She walks me through her transition from perimenopause into what she now realizes is postmenopause — bloodwork that didn't match what she wa...

For two decades, women were handed one headline about hormone replacement therapy: it causes breast cancer. That headline was incomplete. This episode was born from a 15-minute conversation with a mammogram technician — a woman who was scared, confused, and had no idea what her next steps should be. She is not alone. In this episode, I break down what the Women's Health Initiative study actual...

Brain fog. Joint pain. Sleepless nights. Poor recovery after workouts. These are some of the most common complaints I hear from women in perimenopause — and most of them are told there's nothing they can do, or handed a solution that doesn't address the root. In this episode, I sit down with my friend Theresa, who works with InLight Therapy — a company with over 40 years in the light therapy space...

Welcome back to Menopause Unmuted, the podcast where we have honest conversations about perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. This is a space where science, personal stories, and practical solutions come together so women can feel informed, supported, and never alone in this transition. I'm your host, Dr. Erika Pimentel, menopause coaching specialist, personal trainer, nutrition educator — and...

In this episode of Menopause UnMuted , I’m joined by my 23-year-old daughter for a deeply personal conversation about women’s health across generations. We talk about her experience navigating a POTS diagnosis, the challenges many young women face trying to feel heard within the healthcare system, and the role hormones can play in symptoms that are often misunderstood or overlooked. One of the mos...

If you feel like your body stopped responding in perimenopause — despite eating well, exercising, and doing everything that used to work — this episode is for you. In this conversation, I bread down some of the biggest myths around midlife weight gain, metabolism, cardio, protein, sleep, and hormone therapy — and explains what’s actually happening in the body during perimenopause. This is not abou...

In this episode of Menopause UnMuted , I’m joined by my friend Niki , who shares her experience navigating early perimenopause in her 30s and reaching menopause in her early 40s — a journey that is far less common, yet incredibly important to understand. We talk openly about what it felt like to experience hormonal changes much earlier than expected, how confusing and isolating it can be, and what...