Episode 29 - Tiffany and Melissa of Opal & Joy - women helping women

Hi everyone, welcome to Menopause Chats. I'm your host, Aaron Drusca. Today we are speaking with Tiffany and Melissa, who run a company called Opal and Joy. And I would love uh for you both to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about what Opal and Joy is.

Cool, thank you. Thank you, Erin, for having us on. So I'm Tiffany. Melissa, hi. Thanks, Erin. We're the uh we're together with the co-founders of Opal and Joy, which is a uh natural products supplement business for women that are hitting perimenopause and menopause and beyond. And uh really the whole company sort of stems on my ridiculously horrible perimenopause symptoms. Um should I start at the beginning? Yeah. Okay. Buckle up, okay, it's a story. So um back way when um I was 38 and I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure, uh, which is such a great term. Basically, my ovaries were were uh about to go on permanent vacation, and I was trying to have another baby at the time and um was struggling to get pregnant. I have one daughter, so very um very blessed to have had her. But um, yeah, so my ovaries, uh, I just I couldn't have another child. They said I would have to have an egg donor. And um, after being so incredibly sick during my first pregnancy, I'd said, you know what, I'm lucky, I'm I'm fine with one. Um, but nobody told me that when you're 38 and your ovaries are, you know, stop producing eggs and or holding eggs, and um your body is transitioning to to menopause, nobody sort of connected the dots for me. So I went into really, really, really crazy uh intense anxiety, started having really bad achy joints, uh, my fingers. I felt like I was getting rheumatoid arthritis of some sort. My hips hurt, my knees hurt, my feet and toes really hurt, um, my my fingers hurt. I was had I started getting, you know, hot flashes, really everything that you probably like the list. Like, here's the list. Check, check, check, check. I was just like, month one, two, three, oh, let's add five more, and just going down. So um years later, I ended up moving to New Zealand. I uh got a doctor here, was like, I think I'm in perimenopause. I started Googling, right? Like as you do, Dr. D Dr. Google to try to figure out what was going on. And um my doctor just said, nah, you're too young. You're not gonna go into menopause anytime soon. Just deal with it. So deal with it. Yeah, so that was three advice, sage advice. Right. Thank you. Thank you. Just just deal with, you know, this is you know, this is part of you know getting older. And I was like, but you just told me I was too young to be in perimenopause, that this is all the symptoms. Like, pick a lane. Yeah. I was like, so finally, after three years of really battling with my doctor, she sent me to an endocrinologist. The the healthcare system is a little different in New Zealand, where you you have to get um a doctor to to to give you um the intro into other types of doctors. Um and um I met this wonderful endocrinologist who got on my blood work and saw the bloods and tracked you know my estrogen levels through all the blood works and said, okay, you you're definitely in perimenopause. You're actually gonna go through menopause before you hit 50 for sure. Um, and she was right. I went through menopause at 47 and um got on HRT and you know, other um, you know, vaginal estrogen and things that that did help, but I still struggled really badly with a myriad of other symptoms. Anxiety, joint pain, and sleep being probably the three most predominant ones. So in comes the friendship part of this. Melissa and I had met, um, I actually hired Melissa when I worked for um an organization because she's an amazing marketer and was helping with um all kinds of stuff. And one day she looked at me and was like, What's what's wrong with you?

Always put the words I say, like, why what's why are you like this? What's wrong with you? Because you were like, and this is my Tiff accent, my terrible Tiffany accent. She was like, Oh my god, I'm not sleeping, and oh god, all these things.

And um, yeah, which one of you is talking right now?

No, yeah, I know, right? And Tiffany said to me, I oh, I'm in perimenopause, like so matter of fact, and I was 41 and I had never heard of the term perimenopause. I was like, What's what's perimenopause? I feel like that's something that I should know about. Like, why don't I know what that is? And um, this was maybe like five years ago, so there hadn't been that big cultural shift, and um, you know, like the the the Dr. Mary Claire's and the Thames and Fidales of the world hadn't and the Nomi Watts, nobody was it hadn't burst into the zeitgeist at that point. It was still, you know, no one was just talking about what about women's health at all. It was just you know something that you just you know, as you and especially in New Zealand, yeah, it's yeah, it's it's quite different. Yeah. So Tip said, yeah, I mean I'm in perimenopause and yeah, what's that? And she was like, oh, you know, it's XYZ. And I thought, well, I should probably go and find out what that is. But before that, you know, Tip was yeah, saying about her her in anxiety and inflammation and all those things. And I've worked in the um in the cannabis space in America, like I've worked in cannabis media for over a decade now. So I'm very I'm a big advocate of cannabinoid therapy, so you know, particularly around the the opportunities that CBD can bring, right? No secret, CBD can be really beneficial for anxiety and inflammation and not sleep per se, but helping you, you know, unwind enough so that you can actually go to sleep, not the actual sleep mechanism itself. Um, so yeah, so I was like, you should try CBD.

And um yeah, that immediately, like a couple days after, I was like, oh, my joint pain just started lessening, and I could actually sleep better because I was having to flip over like every half an hour because this hip would start hurting, or this hip, and then I was like, oh, my hands, and then I'd wake up like kind of like clawing, and I'm like, oh my god, I'm just absolutely croning. That's exactly what I was thinking.

I was like, you turned into the crone already.

I know I'm like, am I gonna like fly off with a black bird? Here we go. Like, what the fuck? You know, and I was just so upset, and um, you know, just getting a dry vagina, you just add it all up. My skin's drying, my eyeballs are drying. I'm like, oh my god, I'm literally turning into some other animal. Um, yeah, so that was a fun, fun time because I was going through this earlier than most people, like you know, other women my age, they it's funny. Now they're they look at me, they're all, you know, they're turning, you know, 15 in their late 40s and stuff, and they're like, oh my god, Perry Minipaul's son. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, we just didn't know what was going on with you. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I felt like that was the only one. But now it's really cool because there's so many conversations that are happening, and you know, it's just we it's it's so much more.

The the beauty in in having this happen a little bit younger, because I is similar, you know, was uh I was probably around 47 or 48 at the time. And you know, now being able to share more information with people. And so I I think that's important to do, which is why this podcast exists. And so tell them you need to know, like to advocate for yourself and to like know this is normal, know what to expect, because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know that what was happening to me was perimenopause at the time, and to your similar experience, even though it was in the US, like with doctors just sort of being dismissive around it, or not even mentioning at all, like it just wasn't brought up. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Having, yeah, and and going through um those changes. I wish I would have known things about nutrition and the importance of movement and um and just and finding your tribe and really, you know, being around other women that you could find, even online, right? Just getting to know that this this is just a normal part of of life and to not feel so emotionally sort of cut off from myself. I I felt like I was in mourning for this loss of youth, which now I've been that perspective, right? Because I felt like you know, I've got I've got arthritis and I, you know, I'm like, what the heck? It is an arthritis, you know, I'm not like gonna die anytime soon. This is a natural process, but there are things that you can, you know, tools in your toolbox, right? I always talk, we always talk about this. Like there's so many tools that you can use and advocate and learn, you know, what works for me and try and yeah, to help yourself because you don't have to live like this. Like you don't have to live in pain, you don't have to be alone in silence, you know.

I think um props to you, Erin, for starting um, for starting a podcast. Just it's all about the normalization of it, right? And just having conversations and just being like, you're not you're not crazy, you're not broken, regardless of you know, what people are trying to uh like tell you, or you know, your doctor's not listening to you, or you feel like there's you know, you're yeah, you are broken, but you're not, you're changing, you're um yeah, yeah, you're you're shifting into your next phase.

And and I think too, it's this idea that like we don't if we don't know, and there's a myriad of symptoms, right? And not everyone has all the symptoms and everybody's experience is different. And so people talking about their experiences then helps other people say, Oh, well, maybe that's me. But if you're not getting hot flashes, because not everybody does, you might not even think it like the what's happening to you is related to hormonal shifts. Uh like I had a friend who had said getting had getting vertigo, and I was like, just so you know, that's on the list of symptoms. And I said, You might want to just ask your doctor about it. And you said, I'm not a doctor, so it's like I I know things, but like also please see your healthcare professional and hopefully they'll listen to you. And if they don't listen to you, find a different healthcare professional because I think that's the most frustrating. And and what's great about community, um, Tiffany, you were you were talking about, you know, just having these conversations with people is then saying to someone, do you know somebody I could go to? Do you know somebody who will listen to me? Um, and I think that's been really helpful as well. I'm in some you know, groups online where it's like I can easily say, like, yeah, if you're in this area, go see this person, if you're in this area, go see this person. Or telehealth is great now uh nowadays as well, that there's opportunities for people to use telehealth instead, where there's people who actually listen.

It's an amazing time, really, for for women's health. And it feels like there's a revolution going on, and it's it's such a like a powerful time. And you think like that's all the women that came before us that just really didn't, you know, like my mum never told me about Perry Menute, like any of this, like anything at all. And um, and that was why we named our company Opal and Joy. So Opal is Tiffany's great grandmother, who's a Texan rancher, and Joy was my grandmother who was an artist here in New Zealand. And we really wanted to like pay homage and pay respects to to all the women, you know, that that had that came before us. Yeah, that came before us and had like not maybe a great experience, and um, and making sure that that there is, you know, this conversation going forward for Tiff's daughter's generation or you know, our daughters and our nieces and our friends, and you know, even even me, like there's what five years between us and I'm I can now see when I was probably in my late 30s when I started like waking up at three o'clock. But I thought that I was, you know, because I was in New Zealand, but I was working for a um like an East Coast in a East Coast time zone. So I would I would just think that I was awake because you know, I had to be awake because I had to start work, so I was online. But really, now I know that that's that that 3 a.m. Wake up. Yeah, the witch's hour, not even the witching hour, it's the witch's hour. Yeah, and um, yeah, it's um it's a it's such a it's such an amazing thing, yeah. That that there is this online community and this this opportunity for us all to yeah, like that. I don't go to any I can go to any event now, like a wedding or like a work conference or whatever it is, and everyone's talking about perimenopause by the time we leave because I just can't I just can't not. Yeah.

Yeah, same. Like I just I feel like and I feel like I even without talking to people about it, I end up attracting people to me. Like I was in jury duty and I was talking to someone about books. I didn't even mention anything related to menopause or perimenopause, but I said, Oh, you know, I I had a bag that like I cleared it was from a bookstore nearby, and she made a comment, and then she's like, Oh, we just read a book on perimetopause. And I was just like, Of course you did. So then I was like, Let me tell you about my podcast. And but I was telling the story to my husband later on, he goes, Well, you probably were talking about it, and I was like, I wasn't. I was like, That's the thing, right? Just a beacon for like, you know, talk to me about your perimenopause, which I I'm here for. Oh, it's amazing.

Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

And then just seeing, I think we were chatting about this earlier, but like I was in an event and this woman had a little one of the little personal fans, and I was like, Hey, uh, here's my here's my card.

Yeah.

And even then when I'm meeting people locally, I just find that people are just like, oh, they're they're craving information. Like they want the information, and I think wanting also information from like non-influencers, non-celebrities. Um, so from healthcare professionals and from, you know, just sort of hearing real stories from people. Um, so I think that that's like super powerful, you know, that can that's that's out there, right? Um, so how did Opal enjoy that come about? So you have your your your grandmother's names and great grandmother's names. Yes. And like, so how did you two, you know, you're you're telling her, like, oh, buckle up, perimenopause is coming. And uh, I just feel like that was uh like perimenopauses coming to town. Oh that is amazing, yeah. You know, so it's like there's that that's coming through. And like, so how how did you get to to your organization and and what you're doing now? Right.

Well, after the great result that Tiff had with CBD, um, I thought, okay, well, and I said to her, like, I'll go find a product that will have functional mushrooms in it, some adaptogens, some other botanicals, you know, avidigurubs, things that we know have that um that ancient application for women's, you know, women's health.

Yeah, been around for centuries.

Been around for centuries, have helped women. Yeah. And they didn't, and it didn't exist. And I was like, I really want to find something for you. And yeah, there was there was nothing. Again, I'm sorry, there's nothing for you.

Gotta go.

There's nothing. No, I was like, there's nothing here. I think we need to make the products that you need. Because if you need them, and I essentially need them, it all 50% of the population is gonna need them. So let's make the thing that we know might help it work for you, maybe it will work for other women. And that's that's the whole um the the yeah, the the what's the word? Brain fog. The genesis of that of the company.

And it and um and so yeah, we formulated, I was a test bunny. Um yeah, we we it took us a while to find a formulator that we you know felt really comfortable with.

Yeah, so it was during COVID. So New Zealand was in full lockdown, like we couldn't leave the country, nobody could come in, you know, it was just like that. Was that we were we were just here. And so yeah, Tiff had worked in the natural products and organic space in Boulder and Colorado for a long time. Before coming to New Zealand, you were in Boulder. Yeah. And with my with my job, I I'd spent a lot of time in Colorado. And um, so we were both a really we love Colorado. We love Colorado, and we um and we we did a lot of obviously all we could do was just like search for people. Like we're not formulators, we're not manufacturers. We just had we had an idea and we needed to find somebody, people to help us bring that idea to life. So eventually months, months, months passed, and we finally found a um formulator, uh um, a female expert. She was a net, what is a natural she's a functional medicine doctor.

And um we started explaining like, here's the story, here's what we want, here's what we've been testing, here's what we've been doing. And she's like, right, let's make a fantastic product that's not in the market like this. And we coming from the organic space, I was dead set on everything being very, very, very clean because when you're looking for something that's um for health and especially for a supplement, you want to make sure that the ingredients are what they are.

It's not a very taking a pill with sawdust in it.

Yes, it's really cellular. It's really important that you know what you're taking. Um, it needs to come from trusted places. So we look for, you know, everything has to be GMP certified, organic, right? Organic, non-Gmod. Like we make sure that we get the best of the best. We we know our supply chain. Um, so we're very, very involved in in the whole process. Yep. And what we ended up formulating was um, do you want to show them?

A restorative sleep system, yeah, which is two products rest and relax. So pretty. Like, look how beautiful this is. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And I still even love that.

We were like, no endocrine disruptors, carbon recycled cardboard tubes, you know, because there's so much more ink and so much like plastic is just we know how bad plastic is for us.

Yeah, the endocrines that we didn't want anything, as Tiff said, you know, and even with like the so many people just take sleep gummies that are full of sugar, full of artificial flavors, because you know, you need the sugar and the flavors to get rid of the taste of you know, the thing that you're chewing, and you know, that you're spending time in your mouth. You want it to taste nice, right? So no sugar, no fillers, nothing artificial, only organic and premium where possible. So rest is our um CBD, CBN, and linolul. And linolul is a um a terpene that's found in lavender, so that's what gives lavender that um really soothing lavender smell. Um and CBN is what's known as the sleepy cannabinoid, or cannabinoid, sorry, and it um will just help you, like studies have been coming out that that are showing, demonstrating that it will help. Um if you fall asleep, it will help you, if you're sorry, if you wake up in the night, it will help you fall back to sleep more easily. And um, and then so yeah, that's for your endocannabinoid system, and which helps bring you back into a state of homeostasis. So you're feeling balanced, you know, you're you're able to unwind enough so that you can fall asleep. And it's just about getting getting you out of that um the the racing, the racing mind really at night and the anxiety and CBD has great anti-inflammatory properties as well. So as Tiff was talking about before, the the aching joints and the just the the inflammation as well. And and that was another thing about why we didn't want to have any sugar, because sugar can, as we know, trigger inflammation and you know, and you know, gummy sleep gummies have there, there's a place for everything, as you know, and we just wanted to make sure that we didn't have added sugar. That was just something that we were really.

And and it's important to know that everybody has an endocannabinoid system. A lot of people don't know that.

Yeah. Um all mammals do.

Yeah, and and we don't service that system very often, um, unless basically you go and find products that do. But that's your that's your homeostasis system in your body. It's really important to educate yourself around that because um, yeah, it's it's part of your body system that you need to take care of.

Yeah.

And your body makes its own um can cannabinoids itself. Um, like there's a bliss molecule that your body makes, and it's a there's so much information that we can um we can share a link with you for for the show notes if anyone's interested in reading more. We have lots of information on our website. Like that's what you were saying before. Um, you know, that there's so much information out there. We we want to make sure that we're giving all the information that that women need as well, um, because there is a lot of misinformation out there as well that we know. So um, but and then we also have um relax that um is for your endocrine system. So it has um ashwagandha, raishi, uh rallora, and passion flowers. So there's adaptogens and botanicals that will really help. This one's for um for like cortisol support, you know. So you don't it helps with the night sweats, it helps with um. Like your nervous system. So it's really all about just like getting your calm, both supporting all these the um helping regulate and supporting the systems in your body that will get you to a place where you can fall asleep and stay asleep and get restorative sleep. Because that was the thing that you were just you were just not sleeping at all and writing these crazy lists at three in the morning and the the wild thoughts of like, you know, the world's on fire and I'm using black plastic spatulas in my kitchen that are heart palpitations, you know, when you're and then you're like, Am I having a heart attack?

And then you Google, I'm like, Am I having a heart attack?

And then you're like, why do I And you are, and then you're like, I am like Google says I am. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, do I need to go to the hospital? Why is my heart racing? And then yeah, and it was just like on to the next 50 other things. And um, I just ever really needed help. And so I forgot I was having a heart attack.

Oops.

Yeah, it's like my you know, and so it's this this thing about women helping women too. Like this story of Opal and Joy is really about okay, it's about me suffering, and then like my best friend being like, This is not good enough. We've got to do something about this. And I think as women, we that's just such something that I really love about women, and and as as friends and and community, there's there are solutions out there, and we, you know, there's ways to share that information and and um and help each other.

And so that is everyone needs a Melissa to be like, that's not right. Totally. Like, I'll help you with this.

Oh, but everyone needs a Tiffany to have everything going wrong with it to help you feel like you have a purpose. Right. We are and she's the Virgo and I'm a Sagittarius, so it's like big ideas, and then like put everything gets put into a color-coded spreadsheet. So that's we work really well together. Yeah, it's awful.

I love it.

I love that. Um what what do you think is the biggest misconception about like CBD use?

That it will make you high, or that it will that you'll you'll feel impaired, and that is straight up the number one thing that people always think is you know, that it's gonna make you feel impaired, or you'll feel high and you won't be able to drive, or a little fit your, you know, your the way you the way you think and stuff like that. It's really good for um, you know, that's not the case. No, C B D does not do that. No, CBD is non-psychotropic, it's non-psychoactive, it does, it won't um it won't make you high, it will again like help you uh go back into a state of homeostasis. You do have to make sure, again, we always say like we're not doctors, as we were talking about before, we're not doctors. Talk to your doctor, you know, you can it can impact, you know, if you're taking other medications, it can block the receptors in your body. So you do, you know, like we're we're huge advocates of like you have to do your own research and find out what's good for you and and work with your doctor to make sure that you're not messing up any of your other things, you know, any of your other medication. But no, that's um, and it's uh it's a you know, it's a plant. It's um all of our all of our uh um CBD is grown in Colorado, it's all certified organic. We also have a um a relief oil, which is hundred yeah, certified organic by USDA, and it's also infused with organic peppermint oil, so it has a really fresh, minty taste. So really good. This is what we call like our daytime support. I even for like period cramps, I haven't taken a like a painkiller in years because every time I get that my cramps come in, I just dose up hard on this, and it really helps.

I will say that is a nice thing about menopause, no cramps.

Oh, I look forward to that.

Honestly, duh. I have enjoyed this up. I have enjoyed some post-menopause life, and um that is one of them, and my mind. Oh, well, I that's like my favorite part of the transition is just where I am mentally. It's bringing it back.

Yeah. I still have moments like we, you know, it happened earlier, which is like this is a real, this is these are real people we're talking to here, you know, where it's like brain fog happens, it's like it jokes, you know. I I totally forgot the word for broth. Yeah, I referred to it as soup water because I can't remember what it was called. I thought you said brah. Because you're like, what does that have to do with soup water? No broth.

Yeah.

Broth, as we say in New Zealand. Yeah. So I just I just completely blanked.

It's my name and a heavy time.

Yeah, I still get that too. Yeah, but I I feel so much more in control of and and and really in control of who I am and and proud of who I am. And my confidence is totally different. The way I think about things is very different. Um, I don't care as much about pretty much everything that I used, you know, that that used to bother me. I have a friend that calls it the your eff it 50s.

Well, she says everything, but yeah.

Yeah. And I feel like that, right? Like I just don't care. And that is so freeing. It is so freeing. And I feel like I've come into an era that I'm just excited about. Yeah. And I didn't crone out, I didn't become a crow. I, you know, I I I filled the toolbox with these, you know, products and others that really have helped me. And I will continue to seek out things that that helped me through the rest of my life.

Yeah. Um exercise, diet, yeah, taking care of yourself, prioritizing yourself, you know, and you know, you've got families, and so it's not always just as easy to say, I'm I'm prioritizing myself, but you know, just just thinking about what you need more than you've possibly ever done, you know, and I think that that's that's critical, and that's something that um that I'm finding as I get older, is just that um I'm a notorious people pleaser. Like that's I've always, you know, I've always been super anxious, and that's why I love CBD so much because it really helps me get out of um get out of my own head of like, oh, what if all the all the things that are gonna go wrong? And that's why I love CBD so much, that's why it works so well for me. But it's what's really funny is now I'm the one that's in perimenopause like 100% now, and I'm like, Tip, what is this? What does this is this something? The ringing ears, yeah, like the the chin hairs, like hair on my neck that keeps coming up, and like what's and what's crazy about that, at least this is for me, it's not there one day, and the next day it's there and it's like an inch long.

It's like where it doesn't like it doesn't just grows overnight or something. I have no idea. You need to make a new growth.

Yeah, top tip, top tip. Actually, I got this from you. Keep a pair a pair of tweezers in your car. Yeah. Because you're gonna get in the in the car and then lighting in your car, I don't know what it is.

It's the best. Yeah, you'll find it all.

I do have one of those magnifying mirrors in our bathroom, so that's also helpful. But like today was one of those things where I was like heading out and I was like, Oh, I have a little like lip hair growth. What's going on? I was like, let's get rid of that before we head outside. Uh, you know, the joys of aging. But uh there is a lot.

I'll be lucky though. The big like honestly, aging is the the blessing that not everybody gets, and it's yeah, it can be rough as hell, don't get me wrong, but it can also be, you know, it is that time of release and that time of you stop giving a shit so much, and you know, um it's awesome. And I read this, I saw this meme earlier, and it was somebody um saying, Hey, um Melinda Gates, French, why don't you start a new fund that will um pay for women who are like 50 who have just hadn't had this realization that they haven't been doing what they've wanted their whole life and they can pay for them to go to college so they can actually do this new this new thing or this new um starts like a venture fund where she invests into companies of people who are like this is a separate thing from our day jobs and we want to put this out in the world.

Yeah, yeah because we have day jobs, you know, and that's what we have to do to to get opal and joy off the ground, and we invested in ourselves and we you know, we're a US-based company, we use Colorado, you know, organically grown hip. We've um we're in Colorado in the States as much as we can be. And we're a US company. We're you know, based in the US, we only sell in the US, um, and we only sell online. So um, you know, it's we've learned a lot and we love the space. We love we love our customers, the women that they we love our customers, we love hearing from them. It's so cool. And um, yeah, we've actually got some new products in the pipeline, and we're really, yeah, really excited.

Yeah, really excited.

And next next, so I'm turning 50 on the 8th of September. So we're gonna celebrate um all September with a huge, you know, like 50% off birthday month. Like, let's do this. And so yeah, we're really excited. Welcome to your fuck at 50s. So there you go. I'm I'm just like, yes, yes, but you know, what am I gonna do to celebrate? You know, I just yeah, I gotta.

And I love that like because I really do feel like our generation of 50 is completely different than past generations at 50. Yeah, this is not your mother's 50. It is not at all. And some of it I was thinking, like, oh, is it just because I was younger? And you know, when you're younger, you feel like everybody who's older than you is old. Yeah, you know, but like I don't think so. Like when I go back and I see like media from that time, and it's like, no, people just looked older. But I love the meme too that it's like the the reason we look so young is that we looked old when we were young because of the way we had a the way we dressed.

Oh yeah. I look like a I look like a 40-year-old woman when I was like 11.

I love like saying and they're like, this lady was the hottest real estate agent in town. Yes, it looked like back then.

So funny.

Quick question because you were talking about this and and I love an aside, and so now we're here. But the um CBD, does it interact with people, like particularly a lot of women our age are in on uh menopause hormone therapy? Does it interact with that at all in any sort of negative way?

No. I've not experienced so I'm on HRT, I have fagulestrogen, I have other stuff. I um that I prescribe for my doctor. I let my doctor know, like, hey, I have trouble sleeping. You know, so when we're talking about this company, I was working with, you know, our endocrinologist saying, you know, I need these extra support. So that is my experience. I don't want to say like you're fine, you know, you need to talk to your and your butt um, you know, uh CBD is prescribed um a lot in New Zealand for this particular thing. Um uh especially when it comes to sleep, a lot of people have need supplete, you know, sleep support, yeah, but um don't want to take ambient and other types of melatonin or other types of drugs.

So um for an extended use, you know, like every now and then uh is fine, but um, yeah, it it's the extended use of of those things that can and sleep is so important when I I talk to people, it's like get that like it's the foundation, and so if that's messed up, a lot of yeah, everything else will be messed up.

So it's nice that there are things out there that can help people support. I mean, of course, you know, like the normal stuff too, of like you said, moving your body and like maybe not having caffeine in the afternoon. Yeah, yeah. Alcohol people think alcohol helps them sleep, it doesn't, you know.

So opposite opposite, yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you're really stressed going for the wine, yeah, um, you know, we kind of have that like wine mom's culture for a while, which I now find just really toxic. You know, I love wine, I have wine, I drink wine, but just being able to joke about, you know, downing a bottle is not a healthy thing. It's wine is really, you know, alcohol is not good for perimetabolic. It makes it a lot harder. Um, trust me, I've been there. I you know lived through that experience. And and I just, you know, you get into habits, and I was almost like craving the sugar in red wine. It was like lolly juice after a while, and then I'm like, oh my god, this is just my whole body, like everything is getting worse from this, you know. And being able to take a step back from that has been really, really positive.

Yeah, my body does not react well to alcohol anymore. Like it just is not like I get it's I'm a mess. I'm just like, you know what, I don't need it. I'm just I it's not working.

I'm there to I used to love my wine, and I had a glass of wine, like a uh a small glass of red wine the other night. And by the time I'd finished drinking it, I had a headache and I had a headache for three days. And I'm not even I'm not exaggerating, it was yeah, very sad.

Yeah, I used to love a rose in the summer, that was like my favorite. And then like now it's like uh acid reflux, thanks.

Yeah, I'll just have some fizzy water.

And so I love our products because that habit for me, like go for the glass of wine after work or whatever, and it's like I now have rest and relax like as part of my window thing. Like I might make myself like a nice mock tail on a Friday night, you know, but I'm like settling for a movie. If I want to feel calm and good and be able to go to sleep still, so that's part of my routine. Um, and it was stepping away from some of that other stuff that really feels so much better. Um, and it's a combination, right? It's taking care of yourself in so many other ways and then putting some healthy ingredients in your body that you know that are um not going to be counterintuitive to what you're trying to achieve.

Yeah, and I think you told me it's sleep timber. Is that did I hear that?

Yes, September is sleeping, yeah. National Sleep Awareness Month, yeah, which is like the perfect time. Um, again, for Tif's birthday, um, that 50% off the whole month. Yeah. Do we like the whole the whole purpose of why we exist is to help women, as Tiff said before, you know, it's women helping women. Yeah.

That's it's one of my favorite hashtags, by the way.

Women helping women. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. You gotta have you gotta support, you know, there's we've got enough external forces going against us.

You know, which is so funny because I feel like when we're younger, it there was more of the competitive nature, and I feel like as we get older, it's like, uh, why why did we do that?

The media told us to, and that we should be like size double zero and that we should hate other women. Like that's what we were we were trained to think that way, and you know, and I love that the the the younger women coming through now, like that really doesn't seem to be how it was, and it was just you know, the 90s, as amazing as they were, were like quite toxic in early 2000s, like that, you know.

Yeah, and yeah, it's just nonsense. Yeah, from that.

We gotta love each other. That's it. We gotta help each other.

We have a lot of work to do, right? If you're not getting good sleep, it's gonna make everything harder. So we all have to come together and you know, we've got we've got a lot of stuff to take care of. And as you know, as women, we have the power and the strength to do that. Yeah, how do people find out about you? Um, opalandjoy.com. Yeah, that's the best place. Yeah, I mean, we're on social media on Instagram and stuff, but it's um we we have a little bit of a podcast too, which we would love to invite you to come speak um and be a part of. And um yeah, we we put as much information as we can about you know cannabinoids and and CBD and women and lentipos. There's more research that's happening. There's some incredible doctors that are doing great work. Yeah, um, come, you know, come part, be a part of you know what we're you know, learning about what we're putting out there. And um yeah, so we're doing this whole month to celebrate just to help women, you know, try it. Get it, let's just get going. It helps you and um being connected, and that's what we're about. So great anything I want to share. Find a Melissa in your life, and um, or we'll be Melissa's for you. And yeah, just keep keep finding things for yourself, keep trying to keep advocating for yourself, keep advocating because yeah, it is so important, and it took me a long time to burst through that bubble. But when I did, man, things got so much better.

Yeah, and uh and yeah, it does get bitter, right? Oh, it does get better.

It does, yeah, it does, it does get better. Like post-minum falls, there's still things you know that we gotta do, and it takes a while to get through that as well. But man, starting to come out of of this on the other side is it's been a journey and one that I just I'm very grateful for. And yeah, so amazing.

And again, Aaron, thank you for for like have like for having us on and for having us talk about Opal and Joy, but it like for creating a space for people to talk about this and share their experiences and share their journeys, and you can realize, you know, like thank God I'm not suffering the way Tip did, and it just gives some perspective on everything.

I don't think nobody will anymore. And there's too much, like, let's not ever let everybody like there's no need for this.

There's no need for this.

There's no need for this, no need for five years of no sleep.

No, not at all. Well, and thank you all. You both have been a delight to to chat with. I I appreciate having you here, and thank you all for listening. Uh so please like, subscribe, share. Please help spread the word about menopause chats. And until next time.