About Project M(e) - Untangling menopause... sharing my story, empowering yours.
The average woman waits seven years for a correct perimenopause diagnosis. Seven years of real symptoms dismissed as stress, depression, or just getting older.
This podcast exists to change that.
"Perimenopause, Unfiltered" is hosted by Sascha, who spent 5-7 years undiagnosed and quit her job before she figured it out. Real talk about hormones, research, treatment options, and the conversations perimenopause makes harder. With your doctor, with the people you love.
No fluff, no fear... Just the truth.
@project_me_us / www. myproject-me.com
Of the roughly 6,000 mammal species on earth, only a handful go through menopause the way we do (where fertility ends and life keeps going for years, even decades). Humans, five kinds of whale and, very recently, one group of wild chimpanzees in Uganda. That's the whole club.
This episode is about what those animals can teach us about our own midlife and why the science quietly insists that menopause isn't your body giving up but instead it's your body being promoted.
Huge thanks to Adrienne for sending me down this rabbit hole. I will never look at a pod of orcas the same way again.
In this episode:
Which animals actually go through menopause and which famous ones (looking at you, elephants) surprisingly don't
Whether whales and chimps have a "perimenopause," and how scientists measured the exact same hormones your doctor tests in you
The four-and-a-half-times statistic that shows just how much a family depends on its grandmother
Why menopause evolved, the grandmother hypothesis and the smarter idea underneath it that most people miss
Do these animals have symptoms? The honest answer, and what actually changes for them
The reframe I can't stop thinking about: in every one of these species, the female who stops reproducing becomes the longest-living, highest-status member of her whole world
Send it to a woman in your life who needs to hear that midlife is a promotion, not a demotion. That's the whole point of this show.
Come find me on Instagram @project_me_us (https://instagram.com/project_me_us), and if you've got an episode idea that sends me down a rabbit hole the way Adrienne did. I want to hear it.
New here? Perimenopause, Unfiltered is where we talk about perimenopause and menopause like real people, not like a pharmaceutical pamphlet. Subscribe so you will get an email when the next one is live.
8 Jul 2026
#20 - When blood sugar meets perimenopause - with Melissa Slemp
Melissa Slemp has lived with type 1 diabetes for over 40 years. For most of that time, no one ever connected her blood sugar chaos to her hormones.
Melissa is the author of Highs, Lows, and Hormones, host of the podcast Type 1 in Midlife and the founder of Abundant Health with Melissa, where she works with women navigating perimenopause and menopause alongside Type 1 Diabetes.
We talk about what happens when two massive, under-researched areas of women's health (diabetes and menopause) collide and why almost nobody is trained to treat them together.
Melissa's 40+ years with type 1 diabetes and why it took her decades to realize perimenopause was driving her blood sugar swings;
The gap between endocrinology and hormone therapy and why so many doctors have no framework for the overlap;
How estrogen and progesterone actually affect insulin sensitivity, phase by phase, and why this matters even if you don't have diabetes;
What changed for Melissa once hormone therapy entered the picture (glucose needs, energy, sleep, the whole picture);
Why "control" is the wrong word for managing blood sugar and what shifting to "influence" does for your mindset;
The biggest myth still keeping women from hormone therapy;
Why symptom tracking might be the single most useful thing you're not doing;
What postmenopause actually looks like once things settle.
Book: Highs, Lows, and Hormones (https://www.abundanthealthwithmelissa.com/book)
Podcast: Type 1 in Midlife (https://www.abundanthealthwithmelissa.com/podcast)
Coaching: Abundant Health with Melissa (https://www.abundanthealthwithmelissa.com/)
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Connect with Sascha: Instagram: @project_me_us (http://instagram.com/project_me_us) or check my website: myproject-me.com (www.myproject-me.com)
Enjoyed this episode? Please leave a review. It helps other women find this show. And share this episode with one woman in your life who needs to hear about this.
Free resource: Download the perimenopause self-check worksheet at myproject-me.com (http://myproject-me.com). Map your symptoms, identify your patterns, and know exactly what to bring to your next appointment.
22 May 2026
#19 - Walk in ready, part 3 of 3: The truth about HRT
In 2002 a study made global headlines: "HRT causes breast cancer". Doctors stopped prescribing it overnight, women stopped asking for it. And an entire generation made decisions about their health based on headlines that fundamentally misrepresented what that study actually found.
That study is still shaping the conversation in doctor's offices today.
In this episode Sascha breaks down exactly what the WHI study found, what was wrong with it, and where the current scientific consensus sits. Because fear based on a 2002 headline is keeping too many women from having a conversation they deserve to have.
In this episode:
What the Women's Health Initiative study actually was, who was in it, and what it was designed to find
Why the average age of 63 in the study matters enormously for how we interpret the results
The difference between synthetic hormones and body identical hormones
The difference between oral and transdermal HRT and why delivery method matters
The timing hypothesis and the window of opportunity
What the E3N study found about body identical progesterone and breast cancer risk
The actual increased breast cancer risk in the study and what the numbers really mean
The current position of major international menopause societies on HRT
What to know before your next HRT conversation
Ready to have this conversation with your doctor?Knowing the research is the foundation. Knowing how to talk about it in the room is what changes the outcome. The Menopause Briefing is a one hour course that gives you the full language toolkit, the pushback scenarios, and the guided practice to walk into your next appointment prepared. Including the exact phrases for when your doctor expresses hesitation about HRT. Find it at myproject-me.com. (https://www.myproject-me.com/the-menopause-briefing)
Free resource:Download the perimenopause self-check worksheet at myproject-me.com (www.myproject-me.com). Map your symptoms, identify your patterns, and know exactly what to bring to your next appointment.
Connect with Sascha:Instagram: @project_me_us (https://www.instagram.com/project_me_us/)Website: www.myproject-me.com (http://www.myproject-me.com)
Enjoyed this episode?Please leave a review. It helps other women find this show. And if you know a woman who is scared of HRT, who has been told it is too dangerous or who has never felt confident enough to ask about it, send her this episode today. It might be the thing that changes everything for her.
This was the final episode of Walk In Ready.Thank you for listening to all three. If this series resonated with you, the best thing you can do is share it with one woman who needs to hear it. And if you are ready to take everything we covered and turn it into a complete preparation toolkit for your next appointment, The Menopause Briefing is waiting for you at www.myproject-me.com (https://www.myproject-me.com/the-menopause-briefing).
Who has been a guest on Project M(e) - Untangling menopause... sharing my story, empowering yours.
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Dr. Mary Claire Haver
Dr. Lisa Mosconi
Dr. Louise Newson
Dr. Vonda Wright
Dr. Kelly Casperson
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