Changemaker Dr. Jayne Morgan, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Hello Heart

Menopause gets reduced to hot flashes, whispered about like it’s a personal flaw, then brushed off in the exam room when symptoms don’t fit a neat box. That silence has a cost. Cardiologist Dr. Jayne Morgan joins us to explain why menopause is a cardiovascular turning point, and why so many women feel dismissed with “normal labs” while their bodies are waving real warning flags.

In this episode, we talk about an uncomfortable truth: many clinicians receive little to no menopause training, and it still isn’t meaningfully reflected in many clinical guidelines. Dr. Morgan breaks down how that gap leads to fragmented care, in which palpitations, dizziness, bloating, joint pain, or even itchy ears are treated as separate mysteries rather than a connected syndrome. We also unpack how language like “atypical” chest pain can quietly lower urgency for women, even though heart disease remains the number one killer of women, and risk can rise sharply during perimenopause as estrogen declines.

Connect with Dr. Morgan at

·       Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/FortyMIlionBeats/

·       Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/drjaynemorgan/

·       TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@DrJayneMorgan

Transcript

Dr. Jayne Morgan 0:01

Consistency beats intensity every single time.

Announcer 0:08

Welcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlov that brings you the stories of change makers who are actively working to improve our communities. In every episode, we'll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call home.

Lyn Wineman 0:32

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Agency for Change podcast. This is Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist at KidGlov. So a few weeks ago, we released an episode on women's health advocacy. And in that conversation, the guests touched on an issue that impacts every woman, and yet it is rarely talked about as openly as it should be. And that conversation actually led me to today's guest, Dr. Jayne Morgan. She is a leading cardiologist and a powerful advocate for women navigating. Yes, I'm going to use the M-word, menopause. And she is especially focused on when it comes to understanding that very real connection between menopause and heart health. So instead of our normal setup here, Dr. Morgan has so much to share. We're just gonna step right into the heart of our conversation. Enjoy. So, Dr. Morgan, you know how this came about?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 1:42

No, I don't.

Lyn Wineman 1:43

Oh, well, I was doing a podcast on women's health advocacy. And in the podcast, Liz and Nada, who are my guests, they they brought up menopause. And I think I blushed first. I am a woman of a certain age. I think I blushed. And then I said, I think I've never said menopause in public. And much less on a podcast that 500 to a thousand people are gonna listen to.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 2:14

Isn't that amazing?

Lyn Wineman 2:15

Right. And then they said, Lyn, you should be talking about this all the time. You need to talk to our friend Dr. Morgan. And here we are.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 2:27

Now is the time. So let's just get it out in public. Menopause, menopause, menopause, menopause, menopause. Now we have said it.

Lyn Wineman 2:36

All right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 2:36

It's out in public.

Lyn Wineman 2:37

And you know what? I am still blushing. And I know that's ridiculous, right?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 2:42

That's okay.

Lyn Wineman 2:43

I'm 59 years old. I don't blush that often anymore. But yes, it's a topic that's a little bit taboo. So as we dive in—

Dr. Jayne Morgan 2:53

That's exactly what we're working against. This, you know, the veil of secrecy, the veil of science, silence, the veil of shame. The veil, no, let's not talk about it, the veil of suffering.

Lyn Wineman 3:06

Right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 3:06

Enough. So that's okay if you're blushing. I'm not. Okay. So I can speak on your behalf.

Lyn Wineman 3:12

Thank you. Thank you. I'm not speechless. I'm just, you know, a little bit hot in the cheeks, right? But it is ridiculous because most, if not all, women are going to go through it.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 3:24

Right.

Lyn Wineman 3:25

And why do we pretend like we're not? Right? Why do we why do we suffer in silence?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 3:32

Right. We suffer in silence. It's in whispers and—

Lyn Wineman 3:37

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 3:37

And it's all reduced to hot flashes and night sweats. We have no other information. And here's the interesting part.

Lyn Wineman 3:45

Right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 3:46

Doctors don't either. That's why I'm on this crusade. Doctors also have no information on it. We have no training on it. In my entire medical training, that's over 10 years, medical school, residency, a cardiology fellowship.

Lyn Wineman 4:06

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 4:07

The word menopause was never used in a lecture, in a textbook, on an exam. I completed 10 years of training.

Lyn Wineman 4:17

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 4:18

I'm a cardiologist, and never once did I hear the word menopause.

Lyn Wineman 4:23

Wow.

The Blind Spot In Medical Training

Dr. Jayne Morgan 4:23

Not even once.

Lyn Wineman 4:24

Okay. Now, while I, because you've already just in a short minute, you've made me blush. And now I'm going to pick my chin up off the floor, right? And I think this is a good time to have you tell us about your background, right? Before we go deeper into the topic, tell us a little bit about what you do.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 4:44

Sure. So I am a cardiologist, and I am the vice president of medical affairs for Hello Heart. It's the digital heart health company, as we work on empowering people to actually have some agency over their own lives and their own health. Imagine that.

Lyn Wineman 4:59

Yes.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 4:59

And especially for women, it's especially important for menopause. And we focus on that in my company at Hello Heart as well. I am a cardiologist. So did all of medical school, all of my internal medicine residency, all of my cardiology fellowship. So I am supposedly adequately prepared to take care of the population. And yet I have learned in my experience that really had very little to do with my training, that I am inadequately prepared to take care of 51.2% of the population, which are the women. Wow. And I learned that later in my career, as my career wound through research and when I say research, I mean real hard R and D, research and development. I worked in Pharma. I worked at Solvay Pharmaceuticals. I worked at AbbVie. I developed protocols. I enrolled people into clinical trials. I traveled all over the globe, giving lectures and speaking with our principal investigators. I was hardcore R and D. So I understand how clinical trials work. And all of these little bubbles occurred in my life where I lived in different bubbles. I was in my training, that was my little bubble. Then I went out to practice, right? That's my little bubble as a new physician. I went into research. I'm in another bubble that seemingly is, you know, unrelated.

Lyn Wineman 6:29

Yeah.

How “Atypical” Harms Women’s Care

Dr. Jayne Morgan 6:30

And but it turns out that all these bubbles eventually, this is how the brain works, you start to intersect them.

Lyn Wineman 6:37

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 6:38

This is what life experience is. And when I intersected all the bubbles, right in the middle was a big hole on women. And I realized that in my practice because in my training, because when we admitted women, we often describe their chest pain as atypical. And I noted, I don't ever admit men, and I'm describing their chest pain as atypical.

Lyn Wineman 6:58

Interesting.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 6:58

Why am I describing women's chest pain as atypical? And when you think about that word, that word drives action or inaction, right? Basically, atypical triages you to a lower level of care and concern. You will not be moving forward with more aggressive therapy as your male counterpart will with classic. We call the man symptoms, classic.

Lyn Wineman 7:18

Classic, oh my goodness.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 7:20

Shortness of breath. You know, so there is that bubble where I'm having a question in my head, what? Am I imagining this? Or only—

Lyn Wineman 7:27

Yeah

Dr. Jayne Morgan 7:27

But nobody else was talking about, of course, I'm in a training program of all men. So it's like, a "huh?" Is this me or what is happening here?

Lyn Wineman 7:37

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 7:38

Going to research, I'm enrolling people in trials. I realize I don't really see a lot of women in trials. I don't really see a lot of minorities, but I bring it up. It's not really that important. The same as in my training. So I'm just working, and yet I've got this "huh?" in my head, right?

Lyn Wineman 7:53

Yeah

Dr. Jayne Morgan 7:53

And so you go and you're living in all these little bubbles, and here I am at this part of my life. And I started to intersect those bubbles because I've been in all these different places and I've seen these "huh?" moments everywhere I've been that were blind spots to the people around me. And now I have the ability to bring that together to say, you know what? At the center of all these "huh?" bubbles that I've been in are women and menopause. And so atypical was not my imagination. The research was not my imagination. It was me bringing a different lens and a different perspective to the table that the men there were unable to see and unable to accept. And I was unable to move forward with it because I was not in a position of power.

Lyn Wineman 8:42

Right, right. Wow. So I'm picturing, I love, I love the dynamic of how you're explaining this. I'm picturing all of these little bubbles floating around.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 8:52

Giving work in, right.

Lyn Wineman 8:53

Yep. And I'm wondering how do the bubbles then of cardiac instances or cardiac disease and menopause come together. How do they intersect?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 9:06

Yeah, and so yet another bubble.

Lyn Wineman 9:09

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 9:09

So COVID hits, and I begin. Here's my next bubble.

Lyn Wineman 9:14

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 9:15

Do more public relations, community service, social media. I start publishing data on COVID patients, especially with regard to minorities and minority enrollments into trials. I start speaking out about it. I create a social media series called the Stairwell Chronicles, where I sit on my stairs and for 60 seconds, I explain something about medicine. It started with COVID and the vaccine and then transitioned over into cardiology, which is what I am, and research and women. And people started to listen and started to enjoy it. It was just one-minute little snippets of information. And in doing so on social media, I started to be connected with a lot of OBGYNs. The number one person was Dr. Sharon Malone, who's a very good friend of mine. And so I was already following her on social media. So it wasn't following any particular doctors, I was just connected with my friends.

Lyn Wineman 10:11

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 10:11

And many of my friends were doctors. And so Dr. Sharon Malone was talking about menopause. And I would listen because I'm connected with her on social media. And I was doing my Stairwell Chronicles over here separately. I'm in my other bubble. And I think I started to realize, and maybe she and I both started to realize at the same time wait a second, there's some interconnectivity here because I was also talking about how estrogen impacts the heart. She's talking about menopause. So we came together on my stairs. We did a Stairwell Chronicles.

Lyn Wineman 10:43

I love it.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 10:44

And talked about what we began to first explore, what that intersection was. I think Sharon and I were the first ones to really explore there is a connection between estrogen and menopause, and it is not small. There is a huge connection here.

Lyn Wineman 11:02

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 11:02

So here was yet another bubble that I was in in media, social media, public advocacy, speaking about COVID, trying to educate people. So I went into this other bubble and social media.

Lyn Wineman 11:19

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 11:19

And began to find other interconnections. And so all of the areas that I've been in in life that you think are not connected—

Lyn Wineman 11:28

Right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 11:28

Are all adding up to an experience that's unique to you.

Lyn Wineman 11:32

Right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 11:33

That then set me up to have a lens and a perspective that was so unique and sitting at the cusp of something that you don't even know how you're being set up over life, right? And this is— was not short. I'm talking about over two or three decades. You know, I spent 10 years in training, eight years in pharma, but you know, I'm literally deep in and learning everywhere I'm going, but I'm having questions everywhere I go. I'm having a question, I'm having a question.

Lyn Wineman 12:04

Right.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 12:05

At the end of it, here social media, I was able to start putting it together. So Sharon was talking about it. So through Sharon, I started meeting all of these other OBGYNs who were talking about it. I'm the only cardiologist there. I'm bringing this other lens and I'm going, hey guys, this is actually a cardiology problem.

Lyn Wineman 12:26

Uh-huh.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 12:27

Think about this. That's because I had been in all these separate and seemingly distinct and unconnected bubbles. And now all the bubbles were now intersecting.

Lyn Wineman 12:37

Yeah.

The “There, There” Dismissal Problem

Dr. Jayne Morgan 12:38

Menopause. Yes.

Lyn Wineman 12:39

So let's add another bubble because one of the things that I hear from family members, from friends, from people I work with is there's this thing that happens. Women doubt themselves before they go into the doctor. They're like, is this real? Is it not real? They go to the doctor, they've taken time off work, they've found time in their busy schedules. They go, they sit in the waiting room, they sit in the room, their doctor comes in and kind of, you know, pats them on the head and says, just settle down.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:16

Call it the there, there.

Lyn Wineman 13:18

Oh, the there, there.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:20

Yes.

Lyn Wineman 13:21

Like I've never actually been patted on the head, but it feels like it's—

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:25

Patting on the back. It's the "I know best, you hysterical woman."

Lyn Wineman 13:31

Right?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:32

You in anxiety medication.

Lyn Wineman 13:34

Yes. Maybe drink less coffee. Yes.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:38

Yeah. Why don't you rest more? Maybe you should go part-time at work. Here's an antidepressant. We don't— We can't find anything wrong with you. All of your labs are normal.

Lyn Wineman 13:50

Yes.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:50

The labs are normal.

Lyn Wineman 13:52

Were you at my last appointment? This is making my eye twitch. Just having this conversation.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:58

That's right.

Lyn Wineman 13:58

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 13:59

That's right.

Lyn Wineman 13:59

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:00

The proverbial there, there.

Lyn Wineman 14:02

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:03

That's right. I call that that.

Lyn Wineman 14:05

So what's the— What's— A, what's happening? B, what's the down— Like, what's the downside? Should we all just go home and drink less coffee and meditate more?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:17

Yeah. Well, you know, there is some data that coffee is actually good for your heart.

Lyn Wineman 14:20

Alright. I'm going to have another sip while we're talking.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:23

We'll have another conversation. That is why we're having this conversation.

Lyn Wineman 14:29

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:29

Because for your listeners out there who are listening today to me talk, at the end of this podcast, your reality may be that you now know more than your physicians do.

Lyn Wineman 14:41

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 14:41

About menopause. That's where we are in this journey. So if you are listening, you are really out there on the leading edge. And you have to recognize that doctors, just like myself, have never had a single minute of training in menopause, have never had a single minute of a lecture in menopause, have never had the word uttered during their entire training period, like myself.

Lyn Wineman 15:11

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 15:11

Now, the OBGYNs and primary care physicians, maybe they intersected with the word menopause, but I talk with them often, and many did not. And those who did, it was very minimal. Maybe an hour or two hours or four hours. We're talking about four hours total of— I just told you, it took me 10 years of training.

Lyn Wineman 15:29

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 15:29

So their training is probably less, maybe seven years or eight, but it's still that's not nothing. So seven or eight years of training boiled down to one to four hours of menopause. Think about years—

Lyn Wineman 15:47

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 15:48

Of what they focused on. So was there an emphasis on that? No. Was there any deep dive on that? No. Did they pick up that this was something important? No.

Lyn Wineman 15:59

Yeah, 51% of the population will experience this and their lives will be disrupted.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 16:05

Will be disrupted and changed. So what I want your listeners to know is it's not your doctor's fault. So do not get angry. We have learned everything that was put before us that was required in our medical training and are doing our best to take care of you. They literally have never heard the word menopause.

Lyn Wineman 16:25

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 16:25

As part of medical training. So you may have to do some doctor shopping, not in an angry way, like, oh my God, you're so stupid. You just have to say, you know what? I you have done great for me the last 20 years. You have taken me through some tough times, and you have really kept me healthy, but I need something else now at this stage of my life. So I'm going to move to another doctor. It doesn't mean that I don't love you, it just means I'm at a different stage and I now need something differently that you're not able to provide. It's been good. I love you. I'll see you at your kids' birthday party. Whatever. Because they don't know. And then find physicians, we are increasingly getting people on board. It's not fast. It's not fast, but we are getting people on board. I write about it all the time. I'll have an edition coming out in May with Atlanta Medicine Magazine.

Lyn Wineman 17:24

Okay.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 17:24

So in doctor's offices across, you know, the city of Atlanta. So we publish, we do social media, and so you know, we're just doing our— we're doing our best, and people are listening. We're starting to get legislation passed. I got a resolution passed in the state of Georgia in October of this year.

Lyn Wineman 17:47

Amazing.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 17:49

So people are starting to take notice. They don't exactly, when I say people, I mean physicians, they don't exactly know what's going on. But hey, am I supposed to know something about menopause? I'm hearing a lot about it because it's still not in our guidelines. If it's not in our guidelines, it doesn't exist, right? So hearing some chatter outside the guidelines. What's going on? And their patients are asking them, they're unprepared. It's not in our guidelines, it's never been in any of our training. Their patients, some of them, are asking about it. They're hearing doctors like me, their friends, chatter, and they're going, What is happening? What does this mean? I don't know anything about it. And does it relate to me in my practice? I don't know. I'm a rheumatologist. Why would I be concerned about menopause? Because menopause affects the bones and most arthritis. So rheumatologists have to be involved. So there are many doctors and many tranches of specialties that absolutely have no idea how menopause intersects with them and so are not listening because that doesn't have anything to do with me. In fact, most of us, when we hear the word menopause, that's our OBGYN.

Menopause As A Heart Risk Shift

Lyn Wineman 19:04

Yeah, right. That is an OBGYN thing.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 19:07

The OBGYNs take care of that. Let me— have you talked to your OBGYN? You know, that sort of thing. That's what needs to stop because menopause is not, it's less of a gynecologic footnote and more of a cardiovascular inflection point. Your risk of heart disease will double during perimenopause, and that's because of loss of estrogen. The first heart attack in a woman is more often fatal than the first heart attack of a man. For all of these things that we are discussing, it is ignored.

Lyn Wineman 19:42

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 19:43

Recognize it. We are poo-pooed. We are there, thered many and meanwhile, we're actually having a heart attack.

Lyn Wineman 19:50

Wow. All right. So this is a good time for me to ask. So now you've scared me. You've made me blush, you've made me pick my chin off the desk.

Symptoms People Don’t Expect

Dr. Jayne Morgan 19:58

Not to scare anyone. This is to empower you with knowledge and information. I don't want anyone to be scared.

Lyn Wineman 20:04

Fair, fair. That is fair. But what are some of the symptoms we should look for, right? Like, what are some of the things that—

Dr. Jayne Morgan 20:11

There are so many symptoms, anywhere from 50 to 60, and that number is probably increasing. Listen, have you ever heard about itchy ears?

Lyn Wineman 20:19

No.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 20:20

That was a proper symptom. Yeah, your ears start to itch. And the reason your ears start to itch is that estrogen loss thins the skin. Some of the skin that we have is in our inner ear. So the medication we may have is our ears start to itch. Ever thought, have you ever connected the dots to itching ears to heart disease?

Lyn Wineman 20:45

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 20:45

Those are literally your ears telling you, hey, your risk of heart disease is starting to increase.

Lyn Wineman 20:53

Well, and I imagine if you even went into— if your ears start to itch, your probably first instinct, my first instinct would be I'm gonna go try to find some eardrops at my local pharmacy.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 21:06

Or an antihistamine, or maybe like, I live in Georgia, we have all this pollen in it.

Lyn Wineman 21:11

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 21:11

Is what I thought. Because I live— my ears were itching. Literally, remember, I'm telling you something based on my experience. I had never heard of it. I was a full-blown cardiologist in life. I'd been practicing for years, my ears were itching, nothing. Then I had vertigo where you start to get dizzy. I went to a neurologist.

Lyn Wineman 21:37

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 21:38

Big workup. Neurologist could find nothing. Nobody asked me about menopause. I had palpitations. I went to a cardiologist. I am a cardiologist.

Lyn Wineman 21:50

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 21:50

Between the two of us, menopause did not come up. I didn't know about it, and they didn't know anything about it. So I had a big cardiology workup. I was having all times— all types of abdominal bloating. That's also because of your loss of estrogen and progesterone. And I was just living with it like, oh, I'm always bloated. My primary care physician suggested I was lactose intolerant. So I'm taking lactate pills and trying to avoid dairy products because now I've developed lactose intolerance. So I've got itching ears, palpitations, lactose intolerance. Nobody's telling me, hey, this is just menopause. And here's the thing that we learn as physicians, if a patient comes to you with a multitude of seemingly unrelated complaints, 10 different complaints, do not work them up for 10 different things. Patient does not have 10 different things. Your job is to find the one syndrome that they have that incorporates all of these symptoms. And so here I was with all of these symptoms, and nobody was putting it together. Again, in their defense, nobody have ever heard of menopause.

Lyn Wineman 23:08

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 23:09

So there was no correlation. Nobody had anything to put that together. Even if you, you know, put it into your differential list, it doesn't come up with menopause because menopause doesn't exist as a diagnosis. There's no existence. It doesn't exist in the medical world. So yeah, even myself, a cardiologist, I went from doctor to doctor to doctor. I was having hip pain, joint pain. I was at the rheumatologist, I was the neurologist for vertigo, the cardiologist for palpitations, I having itchy ears, I saw an allergies. I mean, the whole thing.

Lyn Wineman 23:41

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 23:43

The whole thing. And in the end, there was no conclusion. I still didn't know anything about menopause. I just like lived with it. After a while, the vertigo got better. They told me to, I was a— I'm a Pilates instructor, to do more downward dogs where your head is trying to reset your eighth cranial nerve and your vestibular system. You know, it was just all this kind of stuff.

Lyn Wineman 24:06

Oh my goodness.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 24:07

And I was just living with it and weight gains. Like, and you know, I wasn't so much gaining weight initially as it was taking me longer to take the weight off.

Lyn Wineman 24:20

Right, right, right. Through our lives, we've all kind of got, we all kind of know.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 24:24

Yeah, we kind of know, like, oh, I put on 50 pounds now, this is what I have to do to take it off.

Lyn Wineman 24:28

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 24:28

Suddenly my tricks weren't working anymore. They were taking longer. It wasn't so I was, you know, so I was maintaining my weight, but I was starting to struggle a bit. You know, but these are the kinds of things that you incorporate into your lifestyle, and you're not, you're aware of them, but it's not really impacting you. I can still fit into all of my clothes, but I'm struggling a little bit more to maintain this weight. So that's really how it first started. That it was harder for me. It was all the same things, and it was taking longer. Yeah, and then got to the point where not only was it taking it longer, I had to add more things, like an extra 30 minutes of exercise, or restricted my calories even a bit more. So now it was not only taking longer, I had to even be more extreme. So it started, it started to be this heel that was harder and higher and hard to decline.

Lyn Wineman 25:19

And you didn't feel well. Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 25:28

I tried to like, even maintain my weight started to be like a thing. I'm like, oh my god, this is like a whole thing now.

Lyn Wineman 25:33

Dr. Morgan, I love this because it's been so enlightening and even has given me empathy for the medical professionals, right? Because if you weren't trained in this space, I know, I know every doctor I've ever visited truly wants to give me the answer I need, but sometimes it's not apparent. And if it wasn't part of the training,

Dr. Jayne Morgan 25:56

And not a part of our guidelines.

Lyn Wineman 25:59

And not a part of the guidelines.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 26:01

There you go.

Lyn Wineman 26:01

You know, it helps me understand. So, for all the women who are listening to this episode, if there was one thing they could do this week to advocate for or help themselves through menopause and just their general health, what would you recommend?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 26:21

So I would say first, make sure you tell yourself that you are not crazy. You are not a main thing. Secondly, I would tell yourself you deserve to feel well. So oftentimes, women, you know, we kind of soldier through.

Lyn Wineman 26:37

Oh, we do, we do.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 26:39

And just like me, I was living with abdominal bloating, taking lactate pills, struggling with my weight, it was just kind of like my new reality. You do not have to live that way. And I want you to know that even for myself, I was telling myself that my symptoms were tolerable and that I could live. You should take a hard look at what you're living with. And if you can't figure it out, think about how you're living now in comparison to how you were living 10 years ago. Like for example, I'm popping lactate pills now, I'm exercising 30 minutes more, I'm doing downward dogs for my vestibular. You know, think about things like that. Do not incorporate it into your life. You're like, no, I'm fine. Think about what are you doing now? Yeah. That's different from 10 years because it creeps up on you. It just is like, oh, these are just little things that I'm doing. And ask yourself is that the quality of life that you would like to have? And then ask yourself this next question: what kind of life do I want 10 years from now?

Lyn Wineman 27:45

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 27:45

And if I continue in this vein of accepting my fate and adjusting my life to all of these new symptoms, then 10 years from now, I would be at even further risk of heart disease. Why? I didn't address it because I didn't think it was important, and the health system didn't think it was important because it's a blind spot. So have the conversation about hormone replacement therapy. It's not for everybody, but I want you to have that conversation. And that may mean you have to doctor shop because remember, most doctors have not been trained on it yet. But you need to talk about what it looks like with estrogen replacement, progesterone, testosterone. You need to have those conversations. Secondly, if they if that's not right for you or you don't want to even discuss it, which is fine, there are also vasomotor drugs, meaning drugs, also prescription medications that can control hot flashes, night sweats, if that's your predominant symptom, if those are the symptoms that are predominant for you. So, what I'm saying, if there's one thing that you can do, I want you to be empowered to know that you're not crazy.

Lyn Wineman 28:55

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 28:56

You deserve to feel as good as you felt 10 years ago. You don't have to live with doing downward dogs and taking lactate pills, exercising even more than I was already exercising as a Pilates instructor.

Lyn Wineman 29:12

Oh my goodness.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 29:13

At some point, you like can't do anymore.

Lyn Wineman 29:18

Right. You have to sleep a little bit, right? Like you have to sleep, you have to have some fun. Yeah, I love all of this. You know, I could listen to you for hours and hours, but I know we're kind of closing in here.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 29:32

Yeah.

Lyn Wineman 29:32

Are there any great resources for women? Like if they wanted to follow you, what would you recommend?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 29:40

Well, here are people to follow. Follow me, for sure, Dr. Jayne Morgan.

Lyn Wineman 29:40

Okay.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 29:44

I am a cardiologist, and I have been really the first voice in this space to—

Lyn Wineman 29:49

I love it.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 29:50

About cardiology is connected to menopause. Your menopausal symptoms are telling you that your risk of heart disease is increasing. That's what you need to think about when you're doing those downward dogs to reset your middle ear. What was missed is actually, this is a risk factor for heart disease.

Lyn Wineman 30:11

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 30:12

You need to have all those preventive measures done at your physician's office. That means checking your cholesterol, getting your blood pressure under control, working on what needs to happen with your weight, having your LP little A, a specific type of cholesterol check. These are all things you can do for prevention. If you're smoking, quit.

Lyn Wineman 30:33

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 30:33

If you're drinking alcohol, cut back on it. So these are things where you need to aggressively begin to address what's happening with you. So you can follow me, Dr. Jayne, D-R. J -A -Y. There's a Y in my first name. Thank you, mom and dad. Dr. Jayne, J- A- Y- N- E -M -O -R -G -A -N. I'm on Instagram, LinkedIn, Jayne Morgan, M .D., but I'm on a lot of other platforms as well. Threads and X, and on Facebook, you can actually find me at Forty Million Beats. F-O-R-T-Y. It's spelled out.

Lyn Wineman 31:09

Okay.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 31:09

Forty Million Beats. That's actually the name of my menopause company.

Lyn Wineman 31:13

I love it.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 31:14

Clinical research terms. So you can find me there. But, Instagram is where I do a lot. And then other people to follow, Dr. Sharon Malone, who, you know, as I said, she and I got together to actually first connect these dots. And she really has been out there leading it. And her Instagram is smalone md And then, you know, great people like Mary Claire Haver. If you see her on Instagram, Mary Claire Haver and a urologist, Kelly Kesler. And an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Vonda Wright.

Lyn Wineman 31:47

Wow.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 31:47

So people are because we are beginning to connect the dots, that these specialties are important. So you have an orthopedic surgeon, you've got a urologist, you have OBGYN. Now you have a cardiologist who entered the space to say, no, this is all cardiovascular.

Lyn Wineman 32:04

Wow. Wow. We are going to get all of those links in the show notes to this episode, too. So if you are listening and you want to follow all of these great experts.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 32:16

And they're all different, right? These are all different people.

Lyn Wineman 32:19

Yeah.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 32:19

So if you follow me, I'm talking about the heart and women and your heart health. Heart disease is a number one killer of women. And your risk of heart disease doubles during menopause. That's what I talk about.

Lyn Wineman 32:32

Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. I can't wait. I can't wait to follow all of you. Once again, I'm seeing all of these bubbles that you referenced at the beginning coming together.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 32:43

Coming together.

Lyn Wineman 32:44

Yeah. Dr. Morgan—

Quotes And Closing Messages

Dr. Jayne Morgan 32:45

In unassociated bubbles, but here we are.

Lyn Wineman 32:48

Here we are. I love it. I want to ask you one question that I've asked on every episode of the Agency for Change podcast. And you are so inspiring. You have so much to say. I've asked all of my guests for an original quote to inspire our listeners. Can you give us a Dr. Jayne Morgan original quote?

Dr. Jayne Morgan 33:10

You know, I would say, and I don't know if this is original, but I— There are two things that I often say. Consistency beats intensity every single time. So be consistent with your preventive heart health practices. It is over time that you get those results. You don't just jump in one day and it's like, you know what, I'm going to be a triathlete today. Consistency in really all areas of your life beats intensity. And then something else I say, I'm in the M pause, the M Factor: Before the Pause movie. It's coming out tomorrow on PBS. Really? March 15th. It's coming out tomorrow on PBS.

Lyn Wineman 33:53

We're going to watch for that and get that link in the show notes as well.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 33:57

I am in the movie. And here's what I say at the end. So now I'll give you the last comment of the movie, is my comment. Okay. There are seven days of the week, and someday isn't one of them. So I want you to take care of your health today. But what do women always say? We'll do it someday. No, no, no, no, no. There are seven days of the week, and someday is not one of them.

Lyn Wineman 34:25

I love that so much. Dr. Morgan, this has been such an inspiring and informational conversation.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 34:36

Yeah, I'm glad we got it going, we were–

Lyn Wineman 34:36

I know.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 34:36

Struggling with our calendars.

Lyn Wineman 34:38

You're a hard person to schedule, and I completely understand why. I feel so lucky to have this time with you. I want to say I believe the world needs more people like you, more doctors that are doing this good work. And I just so appreciate you taking the time today.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 34:58

Thank you so much. I appreciate the invitation. And people, please follow me and you can send me questions right there. You can DM me right there, and I'm happy to answer your questions. And oftentimes on Wednesdays, especially, not sure what I'll be doing this week, but I post Stairwell Chronicles. So you will see me literally sitting on my stairs talking to you, giving you a little snippet of information that you can just file away and continue to grow.

Lyn Wineman 35:25

That sounds fantastic. We can all find one minute a week to take care of ourselves better. Dr. Morgan, thank you so much.

Dr. Jayne Morgan 35:34

Thanks, bye.

Announcer 35:37

We hope you enjoyed today's Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities, or to nominate a change maker you'd love to hear from, visit KidGlov.com at K-I-D-G-L-O-V dot com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you've heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.