Mary Claire Haver (The New Menopause, The ‘Pause Life) is a board-certified OBGYN, culinary medicine specialist, and best-selling author. Mary Claire joins the Armchair Expert to discuss how she ended up as one of eight children to restauranteur parents, the reason she became an OBGYN being that delivering babies never gets old, and how she misinterpreted her own menopause as grief amid the death of her brother. Mary Claire and Dax talk about the untenable claims of the study that HRT gives women cancer, her argument that hormone replacement therapy is the longevity drug for women, and a hormonal solution to reverse declining libido as one reaches menopausal age. Mary Claire explains why women can still get pregnant during perimenopause, the woeful lack of information and training received by medical professionals when it comes to women’s health, and the hive of practitioners she helped crowdsource to meet the needs of the menopausal community.Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: Who is Dr. Mary Claire Haver and what is her expertise?
Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts, or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert, experts on expert. We are joined today by Dr. Mary Claire Haver.
Wow.
This is a long time coming. Big time. Armcherry's demanded it and we have produced it. We actually leaned on Armcherry's to tell us who their favorite menopause expert was. Yes. And by unanimous, popular.
Dr. Mary Claire.
She popped up and she fucking delivered. I love her.
I thought she was so great. This is so informative and helpful and needed. And I've brought this up, obviously, to a lot of my female friends.
What was the main thing you said? Because I brought it up to some people, too.
Oh, I'm just like, guys, we had a perimenopause menopause expert on. It's really intense.
It's very positive. It's like the most hopeful.
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Chapter 2: How did Dr. Haver become a menopause expert?
Sleep specialist for your insomnia.
Yeah. And a nutritionist for your weight gain. And we're good. Your pap is normal. See you next year.
And then you yourself started going through menopause.
I was, you know, I had an endocrine condition. I didn't ovulate regularly. Why? I had fertility treatments for my kids. You had PCOS? PCOS. I had the two big kids, finally got that done. I don't want to go through another miscarriage. We're done. So I go on birth control pills to manage my condition, which I did great on. That was fine for me.
And then I get to about 48 and I'm like, OK, I think we're getting close to where we're going to be. And I'm totally suppressing my period. So I'm not taking the inactive pill. So I'm totally replaced all my hormones and shut it down. I felt better that way than PCOS. I was like, probably time to get off. See where we're at.
So I talked to my nurse practitioner who took care of me and was like, I'm gonna get off the pill. We're gonna get some blood work in a month and see where I'm at. She's like, cool. Very same time, my brother dies. So I have six brothers from the same parents. My oldest brother died when I was nine from leukemia. So I was a kid when that happened.
And then my next brother, Bob, had HIV and hepatitis. The HIV is actually really under control, but it was his liver just tanking, tanking, tanking. So I've stopped the pill, see where Mary Claire's at, and I'm in the OR. The phone's ringing, ringing, ringing. I'm like, get the phone. And they put it to my ear, and they're like, Bob's in a coma. You probably should start heading home.
Did you know that was coming?
Eventually. I had sat the kids down and said, you know, Uncle Bob's getting sicker, but not like today.
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Chapter 3: What are common misconceptions about menopause and HRT?
And the scenario I painted in my head was, and I think I've already told you this, when Obama was in office, A Russian kid comes to the D.C., falls in love with Malia, takes her to Moscow. He and her go on their biggest television show and shit all over Obama and accuse him of being racist and just trash the country under the guise of this Russian dude.
And I was like, yeah, I would fucking hate that guy. I would absolutely hate him. And there's a layer of patriotism that has to be acknowledged.
Yeah.
That we all carry. And if I do think of that scenario, I just know I would hate the Russian guy who took Malia to Russia for the rest of her life and they go on TV all the time and shit on America. I would hate that guy. I don't understand the Americans who hate her so much, but I do understand the British backlash. They took the prize son. They all liked him more than the other one.
Right. But he... Taking is so like, like he didn't have a mind of his own. Oh, I know. I mean, that's so.
But then I'd be saying Malia doesn't have a mind of her own. But if Malia left with this Russian dude.
Made the choice. Never to return. I mean, yeah.
And then went on Russian television and shit on America. I'd hate the whole scenario.
I guess. I don't know. I don't know that I would. I think I would be like, yikes. She like. No, but you got to evaluate him. You got to evaluate the dude. That's the part I actually can't relate to. Like for me, Harry made a choice about his life and his family.
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