Leanne Morgan on Menopause, Success at 60, and Why She's Just Getting Started

23:05Dr. Mary Claire Haver:And, you know, can I just ask you one question real quick? You end up doctoring. You know, so I'm so glad that somebody else, you know, realizes because I feel like, well, it's just me. They're only going to talk about it because I'm here and they feel comfortable. But I'm so glad I'm not the only one. Everybody wants to know. That's why this podcast is going to blow up. Everybody wants to know and nobody knows. And everybody's trying to figure it out. And you're the male, the goat. You're like Mike Tyson of menopause. Well, I think we have this in common. My superpower is talking about things women weren't allowed to talk about or were scared to talk about and just being open and honest about it.

23:42I came at it from a medical standpoint, but you come at it from a real life because so much of what we go through is funny.

23:48Dr. Mary Claire Haver:You know, you have to laugh at it. And I feel like you validate women's experiences by sharing your own. Oh, well, thank you, my darling. I just talked to little Kelly Ripa and she said, Lynn, I felt seen when I hear you. I feel seen when you talk about all these things that everybody wants to talk about and they feel like they can or whatever, which she's very open. She talks about it, but she said, you make me feel seen. And I thought that was so sweet. And I'm just over here talking out of my head, but I mean it though, you know, but I do, I'm very interested in that. And when we met at G9 and I saw you on that panel and everything you said, I started telling everybody, you need to be listening to her.

24:30You need to get this book. Because, you know, really, nobody knows what in the world to do.

24:35Dr. Mary Claire Haver:And you do. I didn't learn about it in school. In medical school, where we get just your general MD training, you know, here you're a new doctor. Now go figure, now go specialize. I had one one hour lecture. And that's pretty standard across the U.S. My daughter's in med school right now. So she said they get a touch more, a little whisper of it here and there. So it's not as bad. But then I went into women's health, OBGYN. Like, I am in charge of breasts, pelvis, all the things. And we got about six hours in a four-year curriculum. And I thought I was fine. Like, I graduated. I've got everything I need to know.

25:12Dr. Mary Claire Haver:I have my little toolkit. Off we go. And let me tell you, I walked into that office to sit down with real patients, you know, very different than the patients we practice on in the hospital setting. I mean, surgery's different, but like in the clinic. So I go in with these fancy Houston mamas. Pregnancy, I got. I can deliver a baby upside down, backwards, inside out, C-section, blindfolded, one hand tied. No big deal. But the minute those women came in and started talking about their sex lives, I was a deer in the headlights. We had never covered libido, loss of libido. And so I'd run out in the hall and my two bosses were two older gentlemen.

25:49Dr. Mary Claire Haver:And I'd say, oh, I have Miss Smith. She doesn't want to have sex. and she's really worried and her husband's threatening to leave her or it hurts or whatever. And he's like, tell her to have some wine. That was it. And so I start, but this is before Google, you know, I start looking for resources and I find Venus and Mars in the bedroom. I read it. I'm like, okay. So I start copying sheets, you can write notes out of it and I would Xerox them. That's how old I am. We Xerox and make little pamphlets for my patients because I didn't know what to do. No one had taught me anything about that. And then as the patients for aging menopause is coming and again after that damn women's health initiative and we were all terrified of hormone therapy myself included i'm a really good doctor like we have really let down a whole generation our generation of women and it really took me going through it to realize we got to do better we got to do better and honey i've been out here telling it but nobody listens to a comedian because my tomorrow nurse practitioner said you're giving women permission to go and talk, to share their stories, to laugh about it.

26:53Dr. Mary Claire Haver:You know, as those videos are getting shared by the millions, even though you're telling jokes and it's funny, you're giving women permission to say, hey, wait a minute. This is funny, but it's okay. And we can talk about it and we can go talk to our doctors about it. Did your mama ever talk about this? She was on estrogen for a while. Mine too. And they took her off of it because they were worried about that breast cancer study and I remember my little precious mama Lucille who's 81 who is the light if you want to talk to and be with somebody fun it's her but she came home from working in that meat house and would be in that cold weather and did manual labor and did the counting and all that she's brilliant she would come home me and my sister be sitting up with a towel on her head deep conditioning it maybe dusting because she didn't like a dirty house My mama, I would be just sitting there, didn't help do a thing.

27:48And I remember mama taking out the garbage and saying, this smells like S-H-I-T. There was never language in our house. And we all got scared to death and ran in our own rooms and slammed the door. And my daddy got that garbage and took it out. She was in menopause. She had never said anything. God love her. I remember her being moody. I remember her crying. She had lost her daddy around that time. But they took her off of that estrogen. And, you know, now she's had a stroke. And I know that HRT helps with cardiovascular risk as well as bone health, dementia.

28:25Dr. Mary Claire Haver:And cardiovascular, yeah. We wonder had our mothers had different options counseling. You know, did your mother ever lift weights? Did she think about her bone health? Did she, you know, think about all the cardiovascular risk reduction things she could have done outside of, you know, hormone therapy? They just weren't, you know Little old ladies just got old Now my mama was lifting big baskets of meat And they told her when she had her stroke The physical therapist, they said Because you did manual labor, that will help you And she almost recovered Was walking on a walker, almost running After she had her stroke And then there was another complication They had to operate her on again And that affected her balance and her eyesight So now she can't walk but she was recovering and they said it's from a life of manual labor lifting squatting doing and she always had a garden she worked like a mule and then she loved yoga and zumba honey up at the civic center and she would dance and everybody loved her and wanted to be with her she'd be dancing with all these young girls and love to exercise i've told everybody in the united states of america they have ruined that study and when i went on hormone therapy everybody called me and said you're going to get cancer and you can't take this and I go but no there's that study was but nobody listens to me I don't have credibility so your nurse practitioner was an early adopter she was she was and I was in my mid-40s I had done CrossFit and gotten real competitive and was doing jerking cleans and crazy mass I think it my cortisol levels went up it was in the middle of the economic downturn so things affected chuck's job with because he's in the housing market or housing company we had a tragic death in our family i had one of my very best friends that's in the book dumped me and i had never had that kind of heartbreak before and i hear that women in perimenopause and menopause will go through breakups yeah and it's so painful it's like being middle school girls and somebody's got to be a butthole and so i was going through all that and I used to walk every day with her I was going to fitness classes at my gym I love fitness and I just quit going and I was so tired I know there must have been stress I would fall asleep in the pickup line at school around three o 'clock somebody'd have to honk a horn scare the living daylights out of me to move I would be awake all night and I just couldn't put one foot in front of the other and I really started thinking do I have cancer is something bad wrong with me And I was so fatigued.

31:06I had heart palpitations. I kept saying to my precious doctor who I loved, and he was good for sinus fiction, but I said, I don't feel right. And he had a poster that had thyroid symptoms of hypothyroid or Hashimoto's or whatever. And it was hair loss, constipated, all this. And I go, I'm constipated. I've lost my hair. I don't feel good. And he goes, I've done your panel you're fine I think it ended up being an antiquated panel he goes you're depressed I'm gonna put you on antidepressant and he did it did not change anything and then I had a child go off to college I mean all these life things happen in the same time and then we were all had braces I had braces in my 40s with my kids in middle school and high school I could barely even keep awake and I told them I don't feel good and the girl that worked front desk she said there is a nurse practitioner that is saving people's lives.

32:00I mean, these 40-something-year-old mamas are in there getting their kids braces. Turns out the doctor that she worked under was my next-door neighbor. His wife, who I love, my neighbor, I said, I would love to get into her. And she goes, well, let me see what I can do, because she had 4 ,000 patients. Nobody wanted to see the doctors. Everybody wanted to see her. And she could not take any patients. my neighbor got me in and she said i'm going to do some stuff out of the box it's probably going to come out of your own pocket and i'll probably get fined for it but she said let's do it and she you know did a gluten intolerant test she checked my adrenal fatigue i was in adrenal fatigue my thyroid had bottomed down she said you're in perimenopause your estrogen is up and down yeah and she started getting me on everything took her a while to get me situated but i felt like a different person.

32:52I say she saved me.

32:54Dr. Mary Claire Haver:I hear that all the time from patients that, you know, their stresses don't go away. You still have the sick mamas and the, you know, marital whatever and, you know, carpool and drop off and work and, but you've, you got it again. Like you get your life back. My patients don't come in asking, rock a bikini at 45 or to, you know, they're like, I just, I built this life and I had it managed. You know, we had normal stresses, kids I had it all covered I could do it and now I can't do it when we address all those issues and get them taken care of suddenly they can they can manage their life again yeah because you're up all night you can't sleep you're broken out in a sweat yeah I was having heart palpitations when we did the Oprah thing and she said she had to wear a heart monitor I wore a heart monitor one time I thought I've got a heart problem something is bad wrong with me and they put me on a heart monitor and I was okay.

33:44It was just heart palpitations from, I guess, perimenopause. Yeah.

33:48Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So there's estrogen receptors on the, there's a little node in our heart muscle that controls our heart rate. And just like the hot flash center goes catawampus, the same thing can happen about, it's really shocking because it's like 45 % of women will have palpitations in perimenopause and menopause. And it's usually almost always managed. Doesn't mean you don't need to go see cardiology and get the appropriate workup because it's not always menopause, but we're not training the clinicians to say, this might be menopause. Let's get you worked up, but, you know, let's try some hormones and see if it gets better.

34:17And I think, I look back on it now, and when I quit exercising, that was the worst thing I could have done. You know, we had had that blow up, and I didn't have anybody to walk with, and I should have walked on my own, but I tell young girls all the time, keep exercising. All that wine and all that rigmarole, I started craving wine. I'd never been a drinker, never been in my house. And I just like started thinking, oh, red wine at night. And then I'd be up all night from that. It would disrupt my sleep and I would eat white flour, you know, and that just makes it all worse. Sugar and all that.

34:51And I wish that I could have, you know, I would have known better and I would have taken better care of myself. So I try to tell these young girls that. That's almost universal with my

35:00Dr. Mary Claire Haver:patience. All right. You're you're literally everywhere right now. You're all over my social media. I turn on the TV. There you are at the Emmys looking absolutely fabulous. Thank you. I mean, I was sitting on the couch with my popcorn and my husband and I was like, oh, my God, I didn't know you were presenting. And I was like, oh, oh, Leanne, Leanne, Leanne. And you looked so beautiful and you were so funny. Did you get to smell Pedro Pascal? I did not get to smell little Pedro. I didn't really even get to meet him. I don't know where they whisked that little thing out somewhere and I went to all these parties and I didn't get to see him and I bet he was there Lauren Michaels Saturday Night Live and he said my wife is your biggest fan and took me to meet her and she was precious I've been raised on Saturday Night Live and that is my thing and I've heard from more people right now I am like Leanne Morgan on Saturday Night Live just saying I would love to host Lauren and I have had you know I work with Will Ferrell Fred Armisen reached out to me I I was on John Mulaney's show, Amy Poehler's podcast.

35:58And then I heard from Molly Shannon the other day. So when these SNL people reach out to me, that means the world to me. And they all say, Lynn, you write like us. Like, all the writers send your stuff around. And I'm like, what? But I have loved it all of my life. And it never dawned on me to get in the car at 18 and drive to Chicago for Second City or Groundlings in L.A. I was just from the country. I didn't know. But that thrills me. And then we went to a Warner Brothers party and I met all of Abbott Elementary, that little Quinta Brunson, that little doll that's as big as this cup. I could have held her like a baby.

36:31Brilliant. It's got one of the top shows on. I met Brett Goldstein and Ted Lasso. Oh, my God. And darling, he's another stand up. I met Drew Tarver, who was on the other two. But every party, I mean, there were people that I saw that I was like, oh, my Lord, look, Chuck Morgan. He was with me, and we just, and I lost five pounds that weekend because he'd say, do you want a slider? And I was like, no, I don't want a slider. I'm trying to meet people, and I don't want to smell bad. So he ate, and I just would be weak and think, oh, I haven't eaten because I'm at these Hollywood parties, but everybody's tiny.

37:08Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Here's what I see. Like, I looked at Catherine Lanasa's win, you know, from the pit. that women of a certain age now are winning things, being recognized or playing like real tangible people. And I can remember Goldie Hawn said a line, and I think it was the First Wives Club. There's three ages for women in Hollywood. Babe, district attorney, and driving Miss Daisy. I'll never forget that line for as long as I live. And I'm like, where are we? There are only three ages for women in Hollywood. Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy. What do you think about that right now? Do you feel like we're developing a new age for Hollywood?

37:51Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Oh, yeah. Jean Smart won. Yes. Jean Smart for Hacks. So good. Catherine O 'Hara is doing more. Well, I mean, she's always been fabulous. Yeah, I mean, I think. Kathy Bates. I mean. Kathy Bates. That doll. Yeah, I mean, I just, but I didn't come up in Hollywood, And I know they must feel that ageism, but I don't see it. But I think everybody's thriving at that age and up. I love it. I love seeing it. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling? Smart move. Another smart move? Getting help from one of State Farm's 19 ,000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto.

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39:30Dr. Mary Claire Haver:American Express Business Platinum. There's nothing like it. Based on total potential value of statement credits on select purchases and other benefits, enrollments required, monthly, and other limits and terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash platinum. So your next Netflix special, Unspeakable Things. Unspeakable Things. What are we going to be speaking about? Honey, it's more stories about all these kids and Chuck Morgan. And the unspeakable parts is I, you know, do unspeakable things with Chuck Morgan. and he still has a lot of testosterone. And I remember my nurse practitioner saying, I'm going to give you some testosterone.

40:07I said, thank you. And she goes, the more Tennessee plays. She said, I'll just tell you, it's going to up his. You got to keep up with that. And I was like.

40:16Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So I started testosterone for muscle mass. Like in our house, nobody was complaining. Like it happened when it happened. Everybody's happy. Like I wasn't feeling like pressure of, you know, having to perform more. and then because I'm thinner and I was worried about my mom fell and broke her hip and bone density and I'm skinny I don't have a lot of muscle like you know maybe I'll add in this testosterone off-label to see if it'll help me in this all this weight lifting I'm trying to do eating all this protein besides the new couple of chin hairs which are manageable it makes you want to do it I wouldn't say hanging from a chandelier but I would say he's very much happy.

40:59Oh, that's nice. Because that's how men show up. That's the way God made them. And there's nothing wrong with that.

41:07Dr. Mary Claire Haver:He's definitely happier. And there's just more of an uptick in my end of the area. Actually, maybe even suggesting on my part, which hadn't happened in a long time. Oh, and don't you know that makes him feel good? Outside of vacation. Yeah. Outside of vacation in a hotel room. Because in that special I talk about, Chuck Morgan loves a hotel room and gets a glazed look over his eyes, and I feel like I'm doing this. Okay, I saw you post the kind that you use, and I asked somebody, can you give me what Dr. Mary Claire's got? Because I take a little, it's just a little like in a syringe kind of thing.

41:42It's compounded, and I just take,

41:45Dr. Mary Claire Haver:it's just like this much of, and I don't know what all my... So I did compounding for our patients for a long time because that was the thing I had the best access to. Because we don't, and we can debate that on another podcast, but we don't have an FDA approved version for women, though we have tons of studies showing it's safe and effective. And I'm fighting that battle with the FDA right now. OK, so we borrow the mints. All right. So you either have to compound it or go get androgel or T-STEM or get an injectable. Androgel. Is that what you were showing? Yeah. Where can you get it? From a pharmacy.

42:16Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So I we found a reliable supplier and it's very, very inexpensive. So that bottle, because it's made for men, will last a woman like four to five months. The way we micro, you have to microdose it, basically. Is it a prescription? It is a prescription. Yeah, you have to have a prescription for it. But it works great. It's easy to use. The bottle lasts forever. It's very affordable. And so we've really switched to that away from compounding because compounding can be variable. My patients travel far distances to come and see me. And so I don't know these compounding people where they're trying to get their meds.

42:49Dr. Mary Claire Haver:and shipping can be a little squirrely with creams and stuff. So this seemed to be like a good solution that worked for it. And a lot of my menopause friends, the other docs that I hang out with, they do a lot of T-Stim gel too, which is prescription in the little packets. Because let's face it, and I know Dr. Laura that had the radio show still has it. Oh, Dr. Laura? I remember her saying, what do men need? A casserole. And you know what? I mean, and it really, not that men are simple, it's just. Uncomplicated. It's very uncomplicated. And if I make a Duncan Hines yellow cake mix with a bought frosting, as my mama calls it, chocolate, put that in the oven, that's cooking.

43:35I pour a little bleach in a toilet so Chuck thinks I've cleaned. Then he comes home, and you know what? He's almost in tears. it does not take a lot for a man it really doesn't but it's terrible when when you're going through menopause and it does hurt and you and then you say my body my stomach doesn't look like a stomach what has happened to me and then you're sweaty I've tried to tell Chuck Morgan I am feel this you know put his hand on my chest it'll be you know I just feel I need to plan it

44:08Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So I tell patients that the male libido and libido is like a Freudian term. You know, I don't love the term libido, but, you know, your desire. Everybody understands what that is. Men's tends to be very simple. Just a little off on switch. Usually on. OK, easy. A female's is the flight deck of a 747. There are more buttons and bells and whistles and clicks. And over here and you turn on this one and this one goes over there. It's a lot more complicated. And so just throwing testosterone at someone doesn't help everyone. We probably have a good 30 to 40 percent response rate for desire. Relationships are part of it.

44:45Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Body image is part of it. You know, so much is changing on how we feel about ourselves and how we're socialized to be performers and givers. And sometimes you're just tired. Yeah, you're tired. You know, I buy little gowns now and they're not that cute. and they've got like a cool technology in them so that I, you know, and I look like a Memo. And then there's all kinds of things. Also, it is, I think, relationship in the morning. Women need to be told, you look beautiful today. I do. What can I do for you? Yeah. Can I unload the dishwasher? It's like warming up a car. And I believe that. You know, I had all those classes in child and family studies.

45:27So I get all that. And it does. You have to really communicate and all of that. So I do think so much of it is relationship. And then, you know, women do feel like your body has changed and it's changing again. Right. But I have patients who are still having incredible sex lives.

45:48Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Like, it's possible. It's possible. And testosterone, let me just throw this out there and they don't pay me to say this. There are two FDA approved products for women that work at the level of the brain because libido is a mood. It's up here, right? Men's is more just there. Addy, which we were talking about last night. And Vileci, there's an injectable that you can give yourself 30 to 45 minutes before the onset. That will help release some hormones that'll make you more receptive. But I just, most of my patients, myself included, when I really think about it, my husband would be like, is it working?

46:24Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Is it working? It's been 30 minutes. You feel anything yet? I think so. Yeah. It's a little, you know, so Addy is a pill you take every day. And let me say this about precious men, because I've got two grandsons, a son and a husband, and I love men. Men don't even care if you, your stomach. Men don't even care. We get that in our head. They don't care. God love them. Just had a baby and Chuck Morgan would be flaring his nostrils at me. He does not care what I look like. He loves me for who I am. He has never said a word about my body. It's in my head. In my head. That's the way we're socialized.

47:02Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So, big marquee birthday. Congratulations. Thank you, my darling. It's good to be alive at 60. Landed hard. I'm 57. I'm right behind you. So, 30-year-old Leanne, thinking about 60-year-old Leanne, what did you think you'd be doing at 60? At 30. I would have thought probably I would be a grandmama. and I would think I would have a career, but I didn't know it was going to be this wonderful. That 30-year-old didn't know all this. It's pretty special. It's bigger and sweeter and more wonderful than anything I ever dreamed of. And I tell you why. I thought I was going to be 40. I thought I was going to be younger and thinner when this happened.

47:43Okay, whatever. But now that I'm at my age and when this happened to me in my 50s and I'm in a lane by myself, My team, everybody in Hollywood says this to me in the comedy industry, too. I'm in a lane by myself and I'm speaking to and I found them. They found me. And every time I walk out in the big panty tour, the first tour, and I was scared to death because I never been a big did a big tour like that in theaters. And every time I walked out, they would stand up before I ever said a word and blow kisses at me. And they had presents for me. You know, I don't want to be sappy, but it was so precious how they loved on me.

48:21and wanted to see me do well. Everybody wants to see me win. And it's girls my age that are like, oh, if she can do that, I can do this. She's in her 50s. I can start a business. I can go back and be a yoga teacher. I can go back to school or whatever. In my first tour, I partnered with Vanity Fair because they had a real comfortable big panty. And they gave five women seed money to start their own thing during the big panty tour. And they had people fly. and they picked five women and gave them seed money to start businesses or go back to school or whatever they were going to do. And it was precious.

48:58Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So for the women listening right now who are in their 50s, I mean, they come to my office and they are a lot of times devastated by life. Menopause is like taking a hit from untreated menopause. I can get them that back. But then they're at this life transition, you know, divorce sometimes, kids leaving the house, parents getting sick and old. And what would you say to a woman who's like, there's nothing left for me? I can't do that. You know, where am I going to go? What am I going to do? I would say whatever their desire had been. I've always heard this, like what your desire was as a child.

49:35Like, what did you dream of being? I think we all have these dreams in life and the world stamps it out. But I had that dream. But, you know, I've heard more people say, like, I wanted to be a so-and-so and everybody said oh no you can't do that but what is it that you desired in your heart you've wanted to do because you can do it now because think about it we're smarter than we've ever been we're wiser than we've ever been this is the time to do it I mean it's just never too late and I know that sounds sappy and but it's not it's never too late and you see all these people doing wonderful yeah I tell you what I love on Instagram and it got my algorithm for a while need to get it back.

50:13It'll be like an 80-year-old woman that's gone back to nursing school and finish her degree.

50:17Dr. Mary Claire Haver:I mean, it's just doable. Or to me, what I love seeing is the elderly women, 70s, 80s, going to the gym. And they walk in with a walker, and then they're walking out on their own two feet. Yes. Joan. Little Joan. Little Joan taking a big log and flipping it in Tulum. She's living her best life. on Instagram. Train with Joan. If you need inspiration, look at little Joan in a bikini. Got her biceps going. I know. It isn't though, really. I mean, there are people that go back to school that start a business, but if you can get help and people behind you and people want to see people do well, I want to help people.

50:58This is the time to do it. And people say to me all the time, I look at your scheduling and how in the world are you doing it? Because everybody's so tired. And I go, I bet I'd be tired if I didn't have this adrenaline going because this is so exciting for me. But I do, I really try to prioritize my sleep now. I have all these sleep hacks I do.

51:16Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Tell me about some of them because I'm still struggling. I've got to have it at 66 to 67 degrees. I would even go colder. When I was in LA and it was just me and my baby and Chuck Morgan wasn't there worried about, you know, the thermostat. Yeah. And him covered up in a fleece because he's cold and I'm not. I got to sleep in like, like you could hang meat. And I think that that makes you sleep better. I have a sleep mask. Now I bought this little contraption that's a red light. I turn that on. It's like 26 minutes and I have on that sleep mask. I don't know if that does anything, but I think it does.

51:51And I have a sound machine and I get all that out and hope that nobody comes in on me. I don't eat late. I used to eat after I get off stage, but I have found out eat before you don't want to burp in the microphone. So get something where you won't have reflux or burping the microphone but then don't eat a big gob like in all these towns it's so sweet we'll go we try to do well and we'll go can we get a chicken breast with no oil and a baked potato with nothing else on it maybe some a1 and a vegetable like a broccoli and these precious people in this town want us to have their best food so then here's this fried chicken breast with the over a corn sauce with the broccoli and cheese casserole you know everybody will see us get their best food from their town.

52:36So then we end up eating that. And I found out, I thought during the Big Panty Tour, you can go back and look at those pictures. I was inflamed. I don't even know what you call my breast. I don't know what that was. They look like feed sacks. I wear this aura ring and this aura ring will say.

52:50Dr. Mary Claire Haver:They'll tell you, you can't lie. Yeah. Yeah. And during the series when little Tim Daly was playing my boyfriend, he wore an aura ring and he goes, do you think they're telling us the truth about the sleep? He said, when I get up and it says 98 you scored a 98 he goes I don't feel like I really did but anyway the aura it's weird because it'll say did you have a late meal did you drink alcohol yeah and see on the big panty tour I was freaked out of getting in front of those big crowds and they would have a little wine for me and I wouldn't drink a lot but I and I I have stopped that I don't care about alcohol I'll drink it a little bit every once in a while a margarita I have a little bit of red wine because I think that messes me up terrible.

53:32Dr. Mary Claire Haver:There's great studies coming out now looking at sleep disruption and alcohol's effects, especially after menopause. Like the girls aren't sleeping, by the way. Nobody in perimenopause and menopause is sleeping like they used to. And we're learning more. Of course, hot flashes have a lot to do with it. But like when I tell my patients, a certain percentage of you and me included, if I choose to drink more than one glass, you know, I am choosing not to sleep. That is my choice. Yeah, just stay up all night and start knitting something. Also, I take magnesium so that I can poop and sleep. That's two for one.

54:09Two for one. I hate for these boys to hear this. And then I take, I like a magnesium threonate. I think that helps relax my body. And I do try to take something over the counter, like a GABA-L-thenanine, like a mixture. Valerian root. Valerian root. Yeah, Valerian. So I'm always looking for... I'm the girl on Instagram that gets influenced with supplements. I'm watching little old women finish their degree and buying supplements in shows that don't overstimulate toddlers. That comes through mine too because I got two toddlers, two babies. But yeah, I try to really prioritize my sleep so that I can do this to her.

54:51And that's what people ask me all the time. I don't know how you're doing it, Lynn. And I'm so thankful that I have the strength to do this. My thyroid medicine, I keep that where it's supposed to be. That's energy. I take my B12 methylated because I have that MTHFR gene. And I make sure I get my vitamin D. Yeah.

55:08Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Who's doing your blood work? Who's, you know, is your nurse practitioner still managing? She retired and we all resented her. She, you know, had to go live her life and made us mad. God forbid. Yeah. But I have now an endocrinologist that helped take care of my girls because they both had thyroid cancer. And I have nodules, bad nodules. So she watches that. She does a lot of that. I have, I've had wonderful people like my regular provider, those NPs and PAs there that would just make sure my vitamin D levels were where they were supposed to be and all that. But the nurse practitioner found out the MTHFR thing.

55:45And I would think I'm so tired compared to my friends. And she said, you're not absorbing your bees, Leanne, like you're supposed to. So that is really and truly helped me. And if I forget, like I get off and it's in another suitcase or something and I've forgotten it, then I think, why am I so tired? I'm like, it's that my B12s.

56:04Dr. Mary Claire Haver:So your girls, what's the best advice you think you've given them? They probably would say something different. But like, what do you feel as the mother has been the best gift you've given your girls? I try to tell them now. Well, I've sat and kissed them in the mouth and we're close. We're very close. We've had a good time, honey. I've been fun. I'll just say it. I didn't push in school. If Chuck Morgan had been at home and pushed them, they'd be in Harvard with a nervous tick. But we went to the zoo a lot. I'll just tell you, Dollywood. Dollywood's near here. We had them all. I saw the billboard.

56:38Oh, it's a wonderful park. Yeah, we're in Knoxville right now. Yeah. If there was like a parent-teacher conference, I'd go to their parent-teacher conference and I'd go, we're going to Dollywood afterwards. So we have a very close relationship. But now as they're grown women, I tell them, I want you to be happy. This world goes by, this time goes by so fast. As it says in the Bible, it's like dew on a leaf, it's gone. And I just look back now and here I am 60 and I've had a wonderful life. But I try to tell them, take care of your body, eat good foods, get this foundation going for when you have your babies, when you go through your, you know, always take care of yourself.

57:16I wish I'd take better care of myself. I've had good I mean I've had times when I have and then times when I haven't and you know I feel stressed out I'm on tour and I could take those bands little Tony Horton said just take a band land do some squats dance dance to a few songs you know I know you want to get in that bed because it's so easy you get off a flight you're lugging all that you go to a hotel room you need to go to that hotel gym it's depressing but you know I go well I just need a comedy nap lay in the band stare at the wall. I need to stay active. I tell them, I want you, don't do as I did.

57:50Yeah. Do as I say, take care of your body. I want that. They want babies. I want to help them with their babies. I want to be up in the bed and teach them how to breastfeed. And then I want them when they go through their forties, get that foundation, eat those blueberries. Darn it. Not goldfish with that Diet Coke and a big SUV driving mad at people you don't know you're mad at.

58:13Dr. Mary Claire Haver:Don't be handing your kids a handful and then you eat a handful handful honey I love a goldfish but I'm trying not to do it extra cheddar that extra cheddar and I just tell them do what makes you happy because you know everybody gets in some bad job that they're not happy and before you know you turn around and you're 60 you know live life to the fullest every day I tell them I want y 'all to be happy and I want y 'all to find your passion because I believe in that like Chuck Morgan's a lot more practical than me and he's the one that's had the health insurance so I've you know I've relied on Chuck Morgan I've been the dreamer but I do believe in in dreaming and dreaming big and keeping that dream alive and never letting those dreams die I really do because I think that pushes you and keeps you going I don't even know if people should retire I know they want to but I'm with you I mean maybe you're corporate nine to five but there's a new book coming out called Joy Span and it's a woman who's a gerontologist, which is fancy for she takes care of old people.

59:12Dr. Mary Claire Haver:And she's phenomenal. And so I'm going to interview her, too. And she says the number one predictor of health span, which is women live longer than men. I see all the bro science guys out there talking about I'm going to live to 120. I don't have a single female patient who wants to be 120. Not if everybody around her is dead. She's like, I just don't want to be in a nursing home. I just don't want to have dementia. I just don't want to have this 10 years of somebody having to take care of me. And what this doctor says is that relationships using your brain stimulating your mind besides the healthy habits if you make it to 80 you know and cancer doesn't get you or something else if you want that last decade to be healthful relationships relationships relationships and using your brain so even though you don't nine to five it you have to be doing something with your talent yes okay and i was just at mississippi college asked me to come and do a q a and i did pictures with all these people that had bought tables it's a fundraiser for athletic and academic scholarships there and a little woman they were you know helping her and she was walking but they they said this is our grandmother 92 works at chick-fil-a oh my god three days a week for three hours and makes the cookies you know chick-fil-a has the cookies and the dessert she i guess they may be pre-made i don't know chick-fil-a but she's doing that job and she goes girl i love it and her daughter said she's like a destination people go to see her at this chick-fil-a and make over her and everybody loves her she's so popular and i said i hope i'm doing that i've always wanted to work in food i used to when i was in college i could see myself making the desserts three days a week and getting to be with people and i think that's important to stay connected yeah and my little mama wanted to work and kept working after they shut down their business and then she got sick but she's at the senior citizens playing cards and beating the fire out of everybody in canasta using her brain uh-huh and playing bingo and doing all that i like that you use your brain and it's a way to socialize with your friends all my friends are doing like a zumba class in galveston yes i love zumba and i have a little gym we built at our house like over 30 years you know here's christmas we get a new weight bench or you know whatever but i miss like being with my girlfriends and we used to play games and do stuff and the kids grow up and whatever i'm like I may have to go to that damn exercise class just to go hang out with my girl.

1:01:35Dr. Mary Claire Haver:You would dance around with some weights in my hand. I love that. And I love jazzercise. But when I go here in Knoxville, because I'm kind of a big deal here. Yeah. Then people have to see me in my yoga pants. And I just feel weird about people going, look at Leanne's Feeney and those. She's eating a lot of goldfish. Tell me about what's coming up. What do you have? What do we need to let everybody know about? I just had, I was just on Family Feud Celebrity with Lainey Wilson. Did you win? We won. Chuck Morgan goes, I knew we were going to win. Who did you bring from the family? Oh, my babies.

1:02:07Dr. Mary Claire Haver:I saw like a trailer for it. Yeah, it was my children. All three of my kids, because you have five. I wish I could do it again, because I was so nervous that I was like freaked out over Britney Spears' questions. And now I think, oh, I would have had a ball. But I did have a good time. And Steve Harvey was precious. He is my idol. When I first got started with Outback Concerts, they go, what do you want to do, Lynn? I go, I said, I want to be the female Steve Harvey. He's done stand-up movies, television. I mean, he's done everything. And I just think he's so funny. I'm finishing out my tour, just getting started tour.

1:02:39And then I will be shooting back in production for season two of Leigh Ann on Netflix. And I'm so thankful they gave me a season two. Praise God. Season one was fantastic. Thank you. Yeah, for 28 days.

1:02:51Dr. Mary Claire Haver:When you were having the hot flash after the date. They sprayed me with something weird. But yeah, those kind of scenes, you know, I really have never been an actress. I mean, I've only done one movie, but I thought, okay, that feels real to me. I think I can pull that out of my butt because I've had many hot flash. I haven't had to make out with somebody during one. And then I thought if Chuck Morgan, God forbid, left me, because let me tell everybody, I'm still with Chuck Morgan. Some people think that I've really been left and know Chuck Morgan is out of my butt. Yeah, I'm still married. Okay, but in this series, Tim Daly is my, Agent Andrew is my boyfriend.

1:03:26and when I had to go away for the weekend and I had to go to a hotel room with Agent Andrew, that came easy to me because I thought if I had to go now on a date and start dating, period, start dating and then go somewhere and share a bathroom with somebody and wear a bathing suit and a hamburger in the pool. I mean, it would kill me. So that was easy, that episode. but yeah so I start filming that and then I'll go on tour again this 200 city tour and I hope I get to do movies I hope I get to do a movie again I had a ball there's maybe some opportunity with that for parts so I hope I get to do that but touring and television series awesome well it was wonderful

1:04:09Dr. Mary Claire Haver:having you on today I love you I tell everybody I know Mary Claire I've got her phone number but I try not to worry you because you're doing all this people are going to kill you I still sit on the couch and watch Netflix. So, you know, you can always text me when I'm doing that because I'm usually watching you. Oh, you angel from heaven. Thank you, you doll. You give, give, give, you angel. This is going to be wonderful. You're going to help so many people, you doll. As a reminder to our audience, you can find Leanne at Leanne Morgan Comedy on Instagram and go read her book, What in the World?

1:04:45Dr. Mary Claire Haver:You can also stream the first season of Leanne right now on Netflix and catch her hilarious new Netflix special, Unspeakable Things, streaming November 4th. I'd love to hear from you about this topic and anything else that's on your mind. You can find me on Instagram at Dr. Mary Claire and get honest and accurate information on health, fitness, and navigating midlife at thepawslife.com. If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. While you're there, leave us a review and be sure to share the show with the women you love. We would be so grateful.

1:05:20Dr. Mary Claire Haver:You can also find full episodes on YouTube at Dr. Mary Claire. Unpaused is presented by Odyssey in conjunction with Pod People. I'm your host, Dr. Mary Claire Haver. The views and opinions expressed on Unpaused are those of the talent and the guests alone and are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. No part of this podcast or any related materials are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining al fresco or relaxing poolside?

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