Hold on to your hot flashes, folks! We've got the amazing Dr. Kelly Culwell in the MomCave, where the coffee is strong, and our sanity is on a coffee break. Dr. Kelly, not just your typical doctor—she's the OBGYN rockstar with a prescription for laughter and a cure for the chaos that is perimenopause. Buckle up for a rollercoaster of hormones, hilarious anecdotes, and maybe a few tips on how to survive your next family argument. Let the perimenopausal party begin!
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Transcipt:
Jen: Hi, welcome to MomCave LIVE where we may have lost our minds, but we haven't lost our sense of humor. And as usual, Instagram is lagging behind and I'm trying to get there we go now we're live on the places. Okay. I have a really, really fun guest for you guys tonight. But not only is she fun, she's really knowledgeable. And here she is. Welcome Dr. Lady Doctor, Kelly Culwell.
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Hello. I love the intro, by the way.
Jen: Oh, thank you. Oh, my real family members really being loud and annoying as they do.
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Wow. Puts you in the mood. Definitely.
Jen: I know! Hide in your MomCave you may hear them at any moment. They were all arguing upstairs just before we went live. So, Kelly, there's so much to say about you. Kelly is a doctor a real doctor, obviously an OBGYN. But you work. You're the head of research and development and developing new birth control methods. She teaches, she made a web series. There's so many things, but we've brought her here today because you're going to help us out with the whole birth control situation. Yes,
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Yes. Happy to do it.
Jen: Um, so a lot of people of different ages watch MomCave...
Read More Here: https://www.momcavetv.com/perimenopause-panic-drkellyculwell-momcave-live
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-----------------------------
Transcipt:
Jen: Hi, welcome to MomCave LIVE where we may have lost our minds, but we haven't lost our sense of humor. And as usual, Instagram is lagging behind and I'm trying to get there we go now we're live on the places. Okay. I have a really, really fun guest for you guys tonight. But not only is she fun, she's really knowledgeable. And here she is. Welcome Dr. Lady Doctor, Kelly Culwell.
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Hello. I love the intro, by the way.
Jen: Oh, thank you. Oh, my real family members really being loud and annoying as they do.
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Wow. Puts you in the mood. Definitely.
Jen: I know! Hide in your MomCave you may hear them at any moment. They were all arguing upstairs just before we went live. So, Kelly, there's so much to say about you. Kelly is a doctor a real doctor, obviously an OBGYN. But you work. You're the head of research and development and developing new birth control methods. She teaches, she made a web series. There's so many things, but we've brought her here today because you're going to help us out with the whole birth control situation. Yes,
Dr. Kelly Culwell: Yes. Happy to do it.
Jen: Um, so a lot of people of different ages watch MomCave...
Read More Here: https://www.momcavetv.com/perimenopause-panic-drkellyculwell-momcave-live
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (phone ringing)
00:00 (dog barking)
00:01 - Annie, hurry!
00:02 (children yelling)
00:04 (upbeat music)
00:07 - Hi, welcome to MomCave Live,
00:15 where we may have lost our minds,
00:17 but we haven't lost our sense of humor.
00:19 And as usual, Instagram is lagging behind
00:22 and I'm trying to get it.
00:23 There we go.
00:24 Now we're live in all the places.
00:25 Okay.
00:26 I have a really, really fun guest for you guys tonight,
00:28 but not only is she fun, she's really knowledgeable.
00:31 And here she is.
00:32 Welcome Dr. Lady, Dr. Kelly Colwell.
00:35 Hi.
00:36 - Hello.
00:37 Hi, I love the intro by the way.
00:39 - Oh, thank you.
00:40 Those are my real family members
00:42 really being loud and annoying as they do.
00:44 - Wow.
00:45 (laughing)
00:46 Puts you in the mood.
00:47 Definitely puts you in the mood.
00:49 - Hide in your MomCave.
00:49 You may hear them at any moment.
00:51 They were all arguing upstairs
00:52 just before we went live.
00:54 (laughing)
00:56 Anyhow.
00:57 So Kelly, there's so much to say about you.
01:00 Kelly is a doctor, a real doctor, obviously an OBGYN,
01:05 but you're the head of research and development
01:09 at developing new birth control methods.
01:12 She teaches, she made a web series.
01:15 There's so many things, but we've brought her here today
01:18 because you're gonna help us out
01:19 with the whole birth control situation.
01:21 Yes?
01:23 - Yes.
01:23 Happy to do it.
01:24 - So.
01:26 So a lot of people of different ages watch MomCave.
01:31 Like when I started doing MomCave a long time ago,
01:34 my kid was a newborn.
01:36 So we were talking about postpartum
01:38 and when can you have sex again?
01:40 And when you do, what kind of birth control can you use?
01:43 Well, it's been a few years
01:44 and now a lot of people that follow here
01:48 are going into perimenopause.
01:51 I just got really sad when I said that.
01:54 (laughing)
01:57 I like went off in another land.
01:59 So we've got the new moms that find us still,
02:01 but we've also got a lot of us not so new moms
02:05 who are going through this other stage of life.
02:06 So first of all, what is perimenopause?
02:11 What is it?
02:12 - That's a good question.
02:13 Yeah, and there's a lot of attention on menopause right now.
02:17 And so the question is,
02:18 what's the difference between perimenopause and menopause?
02:21 And when does all this start and what does it mean?
02:24 So menopause, it's pretty simple.
02:26 I mean, it literally means stopping the period,
02:29 like menopause.
02:30 And basically, menopause is defined
02:34 by not having had a period for one year
02:37 in the absence of any other medical problems
02:39 that might be causing you not to have a period.
02:40 So that's what menopause.
02:43 So technically, it's kind of a moment in time
02:45 when you go through menopause.
02:48 And then before then, you're perimenopausal
02:50 and after that, you're postmenopausal.
02:53 And so perimenopause just really means the period
02:56 around the time that you're gonna stop
02:58 having your menstrual periods.
03:00 So that time period, and it can be up to 10 years.
03:02 So if you say the average age of menopause
03:07 is in the early 50s, say 51,
03:10 then women as early as their early 40s
03:14 can start experiencing,
03:16 and sometimes even earlier than that,
03:17 can start experiencing symptoms
03:19 that people usually associate with menopause.
03:22 So those that do things like hot flashes,
03:24 night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness,
03:27 those kinds of things,
03:29 which are the sort of standard menopause symptoms
03:32 really start happening in that perimenopausal period
03:35 or that period leading up
03:36 to when you stop having menstrual periods.
03:39 And the other fun little party gift
03:41 that happens during that time is--
03:42 - Oh, there's more?
03:43 - Yeah, well, while most women,
03:46 people associate menopause with stop bleeding, right?
03:50 In the perimenopausal period,
03:52 you might have heavier bleeding,
03:53 you might have more frequent bleeding,
03:55 you might have irregular bleeding.
03:57 And so that also can be going on,
04:01 which is very surprising to people
04:02 because they expect as they get older,
04:05 their periods will get lighter or less frequent.
04:08 - They'll taper off or something.
04:09 - Yeah, but sometimes it's the opposite of that.
04:11 It's sort of like it goes out with a big bang,
04:14 a big hurrah.
04:15 - And it's over.
04:18 Anyone who's watching, if you have a specific question,
04:21 feel free to put it in the comments
04:23 and Kelly will answer it.
04:24 Of course, I have many questions.
04:28 I know some people who have started perimenopause
04:30 even in their mid thirties and that stinks.
04:34 But I don't know, when I was growing up
04:39 until I got to be a certain age,
04:40 I always thought there was like, it just stopped.
04:44 Like, okay, I'm fertile, I'm fertile, I'm fertile.
04:46 It stops.
04:47 - Right.
04:49 - And so as you just explained,
04:51 that doesn't happen with a period.
04:53 Does it happen with your fertility or are you slightly,
04:57 is it fluctuating during this time, the fertility?
05:00 - It absolutely is, yes.
05:02 So part of the reason why some people in the perimenopause
05:05 will have irregular bleeding
05:07 is because they're not ovulating regularly.
05:09 So one of the most common reasons
05:12 for having irregular periods at any point
05:14 in your reproductive life is to not ovulate.
05:19 So the ovulation is what really triggers
05:22 the hormonal cascade that makes those periods
05:25 kind of come and go in a regular fashion.
05:27 So you ovulate in the middle of your menstrual cycle
05:29 and then approximately two weeks later,
05:31 that's when you have your period.
05:32 And it's because of the hormones that get kicked into effect
05:36 once that egg pops out.
05:37 In the perimenopausal period,
05:39 you're not having an egg pop out every month.
05:43 And in fact, you could go several months with no ovulation.
05:48 Also, the eggs that are being produced
05:51 are not necessarily as easily fertilized.
05:55 And everything about the sort of reproductive system
05:59 gets a little bit slower.
06:00 So your fertility does kind of wax and wane.
06:03 But the important thing is that someone might have,
06:06 say, no period for three or four months,
06:08 think, "Ah, I must be good, stop using birth control."
06:12 And then that next month, they can put an egg out
06:14 and all of a sudden you have an unexpected pregnancy
06:18 in your late 40s.
06:18 And in fact, the two most common times
06:21 for unexpected pregnancy are teenage years
06:24 and mid to late 40s.
06:26 - Wow.
06:26 - Because people are not expecting that they have much,
06:30 that they have fertility left.
06:33 And in fact, it is this sort of like up and down cycle,
06:36 which is also why it's very hard
06:38 to check hormones during this time.
06:41 So a lot of people say, "Well, how do you diagnose this?"
06:43 Right? - Right.
06:44 - Like, "Why don't you do a blood test?"
06:45 - Yeah. - The problem is,
06:46 is they're going like this.
06:48 You know, you're having these hormones.
06:49 So if you catch them on a day,
06:51 it could look like you're menopausal.
06:53 But if you catch them on another day, it might not.
06:56 And so that's why it's a little bit difficult to say,
07:00 tell someone, "Okay, you don't need birth control anymore."
07:02 - Right. - Because next month,
07:04 you might. (laughs)
07:06 So it's definitely a challenge in that sort of,
07:09 yeah, late 30s to early 50s time period.
07:13 - Yeah.
07:14 Would you say that there is an age
07:17 where it's just too risky to risk getting pregnant?
07:20 - No, I don't think so.
07:23 I think, you know,
07:23 obviously the risks of pregnancy go up with age.
07:27 But more importantly, they are related to your health.
07:31 Right?
07:31 And so, you know, I have seen many very healthy pregnancies
07:36 in women in their 40s.
07:38 And even in early 50s, I've seen healthy pregnancies.
07:42 I think all of us who have been through a pregnancy
07:46 and are now in our 40s and 50s,
07:48 recognize that we might not have the stamina
07:51 that we had when we were pregnant.
07:55 So you have to think about that.
07:56 I mean, you know, it is a-
07:57 - Y'all are just so tired and gross and bad
08:00 when you're pregnant, so.
08:01 - Yeah, it is a huge burden.
08:03 Pregnancy is a huge burden on the body.
08:05 You know, there's no question about that.
08:07 And so that's why, I mean, it definitely puts people at,
08:10 pregnancy is a health, it's risky.
08:12 You take, you know, you are risking your life
08:16 when you get pregnant, actually.
08:18 And that does increase with age.
08:21 But I would not say there's an absolute cutoff
08:23 where you absolutely should not get pregnant
08:25 because it really depends on your health.
08:28 And yeah, and then each person's
08:30 sort of individual situation.
08:32 - Stephanie on Instagram says,
08:36 yeah, that's why I have an IUD at 39
08:38 'cause I don't want any surprise pregnancies.
08:41 - Yes.
08:42 - Yes, she has that.
08:44 So now that we've,
08:45 we're gonna talk about some specific methods.
08:48 What do you think is the best method in perimenopause?
08:53 - Well, what we always say is the best method
08:57 is actually the best method for you.
08:58 So most of- - The one that you stick with.
09:00 - Exactly, the most effective method
09:02 for any individual person is the one
09:04 that they can use consistently and correctly.
09:07 And so IUDs can be a great option at any age
09:11 because they're sort of a set it
09:13 and forget it type method, right?
09:15 So there's two different kinds of IUDs
09:17 on the market right now.
09:18 There's the non-hormonal, which is a copper IUD.
09:21 There's only a single copper IUD right now.
09:23 And then there's the hormonal,
09:25 which is kind of a group of IUDs
09:27 that have the same hormone,
09:28 just a variety of different doses.
09:30 And so they're good for different periods of time.
09:33 The both of them have some advantages
09:36 in the perimenopausal period.
09:37 So the non-hormonal one, obviously no hormones,
09:40 you'll continue to have your menstrual cycle.
09:42 So that will, you can sort of monitor your own kind of cycle
09:46 and see how things change.
09:48 And so you'll have a sense of if you stop having periods,
09:51 that's more likely to be related to menopause
09:54 rather than any birth control that you're taking.
09:56 So you can kind of continue to monitor that.
09:58 The downside with the copper IUD is that sometimes,
10:01 especially the one that's currently available now,
10:03 it can cause heavier menstrual bleeding
10:06 and more painful menstrual bleeding.
10:08 And in the perimenopause,
10:09 when you're already kind of maybe having some of those months
10:12 that are a little heavy, that can be a challenge.
10:15 The hormonal IUDs, there's some real advantages to those
10:20 in the perimenopause because,
10:23 so one thing that people will sometimes talk about
10:25 is hormone therapy in menopause.
10:28 So when you're having those hot flashes,
10:29 night sweats, mood swings,
10:31 one of the best ways to treat those,
10:33 especially in the short term, is hormone therapy.
10:37 And for women who have uteruses,
10:40 we need to use both estrogen and progestin.
10:44 So estrogen is really is what's helping your symptoms.
10:47 So it's a low estrogen situation
10:50 that's causing your hot flashes, your vaginal dryness,
10:53 some of your mood swings, even muscle aches,
10:56 difficulty sleeping.
10:58 But you can't just take estrogen if you have a uterus
11:02 because estrogen actually causes growth
11:04 of the lining of the uterus.
11:06 And so you need to take a progestin,
11:09 which counters that estrogen to keep that lining
11:11 from overgrowing and becoming precancerous.
11:14 - Wow.
11:15 - So the nice thing about the hormonal IUDs
11:18 is they are progestin based.
11:20 So you can actually have that hormonal IUD
11:23 and take your estrogen either orally or by a patch
11:26 or even a ring, vaginal ring.
11:29 So you can take your estrogen
11:31 and not have to take a separate progestin
11:33 'cause you already have it in your IUD.
11:35 So your IUD is protecting your uterine lining.
11:38 So that's a nice benefit.
11:39 It also, the hormonal IUDs also decrease menstrual flow.
11:44 So again, in this perimenopausal period where,
11:48 you know, sometimes you're having very heavy bleeding
11:51 from month to month,
11:52 these hormonal IUDs can help decrease that.
11:54 So those can, and plus,
11:56 both types of IUDs are highly effective
11:59 and they're sort of set it and forget it.
12:01 If your life is crazy in this period of our lives,
12:03 most of our lives are crazy
12:04 between work and parents and kids.
12:07 - Right.
12:07 - An IUD is a thing you don't have to remember
12:09 to do something every single day.
12:11 So.
12:11 - Yeah, that's great.
12:12 Not having to worry about it.
12:14 What if you don't wanna put an IUD inside your body?
12:16 What are some other options?
12:18 - Yeah, absolutely.
12:19 And that's the thing is it's not one size fits all.
12:20 There are some people that an IUD
12:22 is never gonna be appealing.
12:24 And some people who just can't tolerate it.
12:25 You know, they just,
12:26 they can't tolerate either the insertion
12:28 or having it in or anything like that.
12:29 So there are basically any options that are available
12:33 are totally appropriate for perimenopausal women.
12:36 The only exception is if you are a smoker
12:42 or you have some health conditions
12:43 like high blood pressure or heart conditions.
12:47 But if you don't have those conditions,
12:49 or I'm sorry, migraines are another one.
12:51 If you don't have those conditions
12:53 or any other sort of health risk factors,
12:55 you're pretty much open to take any method.
12:58 One method that can be good in the perimenopausal period,
13:01 'cause it can help ease the transition
13:03 is birth control pills.
13:05 Either the pills, the patch or the ring actually,
13:07 because all three of those methods
13:09 have both estrogen and progestin in them.
13:13 And so what they do is they actually regulate your cycles.
13:16 So when you're having all these crazy up and down cycles,
13:19 they help to keep cycle regular, not too heavy.
13:23 They also provide, they're about three times as strong
13:27 as menopausal hormone therapy.
13:29 So if you're having hot flashes, night sweats, et cetera,
13:32 they're gonna treat those.
13:34 And also provide you with contraception.
13:36 So if you're someone who can tolerate hormonal birth control
13:40 and you don't have any health risks
13:41 that make it not safe for you,
13:44 that can be a very good option
13:45 in the perimenopause as well.
13:47 - I did not know that, so that's very good.
13:50 So then why, I'm getting very basic here.
13:53 People are gonna think I'm dumb,
13:54 but I'm trying to be very basic about everything.
13:58 - That's good.
13:59 - Why don't we just take birth control forever then?
14:00 Why don't we just take it into our old age?
14:03 - Yeah, well, it is a very high dose
14:06 and it's more than you need.
14:08 So when you talk about sort of,
14:11 if you were gonna take menopausal hormone therapy
14:13 just to sort of replace what is falling during menopause,
14:18 like I said, the dose would be about a third
14:22 of what it is in a birth control pill.
14:24 So you would be overdosing yourself
14:26 if you continue to take birth control.
14:28 And birth control is not without its risks.
14:30 So hormonal birth control, there are risks
14:33 even for women of any age.
14:35 So it does increase your risk for blood clots.
14:38 It can increase your risk for heart conditions as well.
14:43 In some women, it might increase risk for breast cancer,
14:47 although that risk is extremely low compared
14:51 to its benefits.
14:52 So it actually decreases your risk of uterine cancer,
14:56 decreases your risk of ovarian cancer,
14:58 decreases your risk of colon cancer.
15:00 So it definitely has a lot of positives,
15:03 but it is a medication that does have side effects,
15:06 does have some risks.
15:07 So we wouldn't keep someone on it forever
15:12 because as you get older,
15:13 those risks are only gonna increase.
15:16 And so if you still need it, yeah, go ahead.
15:19 - Does there come a time when your body figures this out
15:21 and it's like, okay, I'm done.
15:24 I'm old now.
15:25 I'm gonna be healthy and stop doing this whole hormone thing
15:28 and torturing the woman.
15:30 Is there a time, does it ever like level off?
15:33 - It does, it does, yeah.
15:34 So when you get through the menopausal transition,
15:37 those big symptoms like the hot flashes,
15:41 the night sweats, the mood swings,
15:43 those things start to ease off
15:46 once you get past that sort of roller coaster of hormones.
15:49 However, once you get into the true menopausal,
15:52 post-menopausal period,
15:54 you still don't really have much circulating estrogen,
15:57 if any.
15:58 So you're gonna, things that will continue
16:00 will be like vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse.
16:03 Those kinds of things will definitely continue.
16:07 And so that's why in the post-menopausal period,
16:10 even if you're not taking oral or transdermal
16:14 or the patch for menopausal hormone therapy,
16:16 sometimes you can just take vaginal estrogen,
16:20 which actually doesn't have any of the risks
16:22 that the oral estrogen or transdermal estrogen
16:26 or birth control have.
16:27 It really is just a local effect.
16:30 So for post-menopausal women who are still having problems
16:33 with vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse,
16:35 frequent urinary tract infections,
16:37 which sometimes comes from a lack of estrogen,
16:41 just using vaginal estrogen is something that,
16:42 and that's something you can use forever.
16:44 You can use vaginal estrogen
16:46 for the rest of your life if you need to.
16:48 - Great, good to know.
16:50 Okay, I have a very,
16:53 this is obviously a personal issue I'm having,
16:55 so let's just put it on the internet.
16:58 What about these mood swings and like rage?
17:02 Is that part of peri-menopause?
17:05 - It absolutely is.
17:06 Irritability, rage, yes.
17:09 Mood swings, absolutely.
17:11 It's the hormonal fluctuations that are going on.
17:13 Now, in addition to that, obviously,
17:16 we are also in a period of our life
17:18 where there's a lot of stressors on us.
17:18 - Mm-hmm, so much going on.
17:20 - Yeah, there's a lot going on.
17:21 So it's sort of like, someone described it as,
17:24 I don't know about you, but my kids,
17:26 my one child is in adolescence.
17:29 And then I've got my elderly parents.
17:31 So I've got, I'm hitting peri-menopause,
17:33 my son's hitting adolescence,
17:36 and it's also usually the peak of our careers
17:38 and our earning potential.
17:39 So we're busy at work, we've got crazy pubertal kids,
17:44 our parents need a lot of assistance,
17:47 and then our hormones are going all over the place.
17:49 So yes, irritability is very, very common
17:52 during this time period, and it is related to hormones.
17:55 It can be helped with hormone therapy,
17:59 but there are also other options that you can look into
18:04 that are not hormone-based.
18:05 - So you're not moving out and ignoring your family?
18:07 - Yes, actually, moving to Bali,
18:10 I think is one thing that's recommended.
18:12 I can write a prescription for that.
18:15 Yes, no, but things that,
18:18 a lot of times people don't like to hear,
18:19 things are in your head or anything like that,
18:21 and it's really not, it's not in your head,
18:22 it's just that your mind and your body
18:23 are really connected, right?
18:25 And so this irritability is both,
18:28 it has a biological cause,
18:30 but it's got sort of a mental effect, right?
18:32 So this is all connected.
18:34 So working on things like meditation, yoga,
18:39 relaxation practices, acupuncture actually
18:43 can be extremely helpful for a lot of symptoms
18:45 in the perimenopause,
18:46 including this sort of irritability situation.
18:50 And then there are other prescription medications as well.
18:53 So there are some antidepressant medications,
18:57 which have been successfully used
18:59 in the perimenopausal period
19:00 to help with some of this irritability,
19:02 but also some of the symptoms of depression
19:04 that we experience during this time as well.
19:07 So, there's a lot of options,
19:10 but that's very common and it's very normal.
19:12 And I think all of us are experiencing it
19:15 at one level or another that are in this age.
19:18 - My oldest is 13 and I had him in my mid to late 30s.
19:22 So I was like, you have a kid when you're in your 30s
19:26 and you can like start shaving together.
19:28 - Yes.
19:29 - All these wonderful things can happen
19:32 as we get older.
19:33 - Yes, yes, yes.
19:35 So then the acne comes back, right?
19:37 So you have the perimenopausal acne,
19:39 so you can share acne washes.
19:41 - It's actually quite convenient in that way.
19:43 It's not great for your relationship.
19:45 - Right.
19:46 - When you're angry all the time
19:48 and you've got an angry temperature.
19:50 So I don't wanna give you to give away any trade secrets,
19:54 but I hear you're working on some new forms
19:57 of birth control in your research.
19:59 Is there anything you can tell me
20:01 about birth control of the future?
20:03 - Yeah, so I will say that more and more companies
20:08 that are working on developing birth control methods
20:10 are trying to develop non-hormonal methods.
20:13 So we have a lot of hormonal methods right now
20:15 and they're great for what they're for
20:17 and they can provide a lot of relief
20:19 like we were just talking about from different symptoms,
20:21 even outside of the perimenopause.
20:23 Some people I know want to stay on their pill
20:26 because they regulate their periods
20:28 and they decrease their acne
20:29 and they stop their menstrual headaches,
20:32 so they're happy with that.
20:33 But there are a lot of people that want to avoid hormones,
20:35 either because they've had bad side effects,
20:38 because they're worried about the health risks,
20:41 or they just don't like the idea of it.
20:43 They're living a sort of a natural lifestyle
20:45 and they're trying to keep the hormones out.
20:47 So most advancement right now
20:49 is happening in the non-hormonal space.
20:52 So the product that my company is working on
20:55 is actually a new version of the copper IUD.
20:59 So it will have a lower dose of copper
21:02 and it comes on a different type of frame
21:05 that is more minimal to different sizes
21:07 and shapes of uteruses.
21:09 And so we're looking forward to maybe having that product out
21:13 as early as next year, which will be kind of exciting
21:15 because it'll be the first time that the copper IUD
21:17 that we have now was approved in 1984.
21:19 So, and there haven't been any advancements
21:23 on the copper IUD since then.
21:24 Some other options that there's some other
21:29 kind of on-demand options that are being looked at
21:32 to work with sort of the cervical mucus.
21:35 So one thing that we know,
21:37 so if you've ever done sort of fertility awareness,
21:40 kind of monitoring your cervical mucus,
21:42 you know that your cervical mucus changes, right?
21:44 Around the time that you ovulate.
21:46 So you can imagine if you could sort of harness
21:48 the cervical mucus to make it thick and inhospitable
21:51 at any time of the cycle,
21:53 then you could potentially prevent sperm
21:55 from making their way up.
21:56 So there's companies that are working on that.
21:58 So for the potential to-
22:00 - My anger isn't making it inhospitable enough.
22:03 - Exactly, exactly.
22:04 - The cervical mucus.
22:06 - Exactly, exactly.
22:07 That's a good form of,
22:08 the irritability is a good form of birth control really.
22:10 - Oh my gosh.
22:12 - But yeah, so that's really, I think,
22:15 most people are, and then people always ask me,
22:18 what about male contraception?
22:20 Because that, we've been waiting,
22:22 like what's happening with that?
22:23 And it is a real challenge to develop a male contraceptive
22:27 for multiple reasons.
22:28 So that you may have heard there was a study
22:32 that was being done on a male contraceptive pill
22:34 and they stopped it early
22:36 because of some of the side effects that men were having.
22:39 And they were having-
22:40 (indistinct)
22:41 I know, exactly.
22:42 That's what everybody was like.
22:43 They had side effects like mood swings
22:46 and depression and irritability.
22:49 And people rolled their eyes, which we're all like,
22:52 yeah, we've been dealing with this for 60 years,
22:54 but thank you.
22:56 But the big problem with when you study
22:58 a birth control method in men,
23:01 men don't have the risk of pregnancy.
23:03 As much as they would like to participate
23:05 in the whole thing,
23:06 they don't have the physical risk of pregnancy.
23:08 And so because of that,
23:10 their risk benefit ratio is a bit different.
23:14 Just from a medical perspective,
23:17 whether or not they're weenies or whatever,
23:19 that's one thing.
23:20 But from a medical perspective,
23:22 we do have a different risk benefit
23:23 because really any birth control method
23:26 that we take is safer than pregnancy,
23:29 without question.
23:31 - I've never thought of it that way.
23:32 - Yeah, so the risks that you think about
23:35 with hormonal birth control,
23:36 like blood clots and heart disease and stroke
23:39 and things like that,
23:40 it's multiplied tenfold in pregnancy.
23:44 And so that's why,
23:46 in addition to the fact that I think women are just sort of,
23:49 we've learned to just suck it up,
23:51 but from a medical perspective,
23:53 we can accept a fair amount of risk
23:55 because the alternative being pregnancy.
23:57 Whereas men, that's not their alternative.
24:00 So it has been somewhat challenging.
24:01 But there are some studies right now,
24:03 there's a gel contraceptive for men
24:08 that is pretty advanced in clinical studies.
24:11 And it's a hormonal contraceptive,
24:14 but it has shown real promise.
24:17 And it's currently being studied in the US,
24:19 which is, that's kind of critical.
24:20 There are some methods,
24:22 like there's this one method that keeps coming up,
24:24 that's kind of this reversible vasectomy
24:26 that was developed in India.
24:29 And it has great clinical data in India,
24:32 but the problem is that
24:32 if you don't have clinical data in the US,
24:34 it's never gonna get approved here.
24:35 So you have to, and it's very expensive to do those studies.
24:38 So that's been the challenge.
24:41 But I do think that,
24:42 I think we're not as far off
24:44 from a male birth control method
24:45 as we have been in the past,
24:47 which I've usually just said,
24:48 I don't know, but I think we're getting closer.
24:50 - That will be very interesting for us all.
24:53 - I have a question here.
24:55 Jessica says, "Will the new copper IUD
24:57 still have the possibility of heavy flow
24:59 and more painful periods?"
25:01 - Yeah, so the data that we've seen thus far
25:04 shows that it should be less than the current copper IUD,
25:09 but the women in the studies still,
25:13 there were still side effects.
25:14 Some women did experience heavier menstrual bleeding
25:18 or menstrual cramps with the IUD,
25:21 particularly in the first three to six months.
25:24 But what we see is fewer than half the women
25:28 that we expected discontinued because of that.
25:31 And so they were really pretty satisfied with the study
25:37 and we had a pretty high continuation rate.
25:39 So we're still finalizing the analysis of the data
25:42 and getting the review through the FDA
25:44 and all of that stuff.
25:45 But we expect that the side effects will be lower,
25:48 not zero, but lower.
25:50 - Lower is always better.
25:52 - Yeah.
25:54 - Wow, so I could keep you all night
25:55 because I have many questions,
25:57 but I know that we have to get to it.
25:59 Everybody, Kelly is so accessible.
26:04 She's about to relaunch her website
26:06 where she writes blogs that teach us all of these things
26:10 and is willing to answer questions.
26:12 And so you can send her questions on social media
26:15 or through the blog or comment on these videos.
26:18 If you have a particular question
26:20 and you can have the doctor, lady doctor,
26:22 answer your question.
26:24 Can you tell everyone where to find you, Kelly?
26:28 - Yes, so my website is drladydoctor.com.
26:31 So it's just DR and then ladydoctor.com.
26:35 And so there you can actually sign up for my newsletter,
26:38 which I usually send out about once a month.
26:40 You can send me questions,
26:41 which I actually use potentially as topics
26:45 for my newsletter as well.
26:46 If it's something that I think a lot of people
26:48 would be interested in.
26:49 And then I'm also on Instagram and Facebook
26:52 at Dr. Lady Doctor.
26:54 So just D-R-L-A-D-Y-D-O-C-T-O-R.
26:58 So you can reach me there as well.
26:59 - We are going to keep in touch
27:01 because I'm sure there will be many questions
27:02 from me and everyone else here.
27:04 And thank you for sharing your knowledge.
27:07 - Thank you.
27:08 It was wonderful being with you.
27:09 - Have a great night.