SAM WARD UPDATE: 11 Medications. 3 Years Getting Off Them. Then FINALLY, HRT.

Sam Wade, @samwade72, is back on the podcast almost exactly one year after we first sat down together.

If you haven’t listened to Part One, I really encourage you to go back and listen before this episode, because Sam’s story has stayed with me.

During one of the darkest periods of her life, Sam spiraled to the point of trying to end her life and ultimately spent an extended period of time in a psychiatric hospital. She was put on 11 different medications (AND had electric shock therapy while in the hospital) and then spent THREE YEARS trying to get off of them because she never needed them in the first place! She just needed her hormones regulated.

Today, Sam is back to tell us what her life has looked like since starting HRT, what has changed, and what she now understands about what was happening to her during those years.

In Sam’s case, hormones turned out to be a massive missing piece of the puzzle. And yes, that makes me angry. Because how many women have been treated for anxiety, depression, insomnia, rage, or other psychiatric symptoms without anyone ever stopping to ask whether perimenopause or menopause could be contributing? Why is the first line of therapy SSRIs?

This conversation is not about telling women to stop psychiatric medication or suggesting that hormones cause every mental health crisis. It’s about asking why hormones aren’t part of the conversation more often. Women deserve providers who understand that.

Please listen to Sam’s story. And please share this episode. There may be a woman out there who desperately needs to hear it.

xxx,

Heather