I am a two-time stroke and heart attack thriver. And I'm just wondering, we're talking about perimenopause, we're talking about heart disease, we're talking about integrative or complementary medicine, but what how can we as the patient keep up with everything we gotta keep up with? Like, do I have to say it to you, and then come back and say it to Dr. Reggie, and then come back to say it to, you know, Dr. Sullivan, or when I'm reading her book do I need to bring my notes in to the doctor? Help us understand how we can bring this in together. And, and what role the OBGYN plays.

I am a two-time stroke and heart attack thriver. was misdiagnosed for about eight years, and, really had to change my life. I've lost, 160 pounds, and, was told that if I hadn't done that, I, I wouldn't be here. So I'm, I'm glad that I have surpassed, the, the, the expiration date the doctors had, had given me. but yes, it i- it is so important, that we, we take care of ourselves, advocate for ourselves. And what I want to, to emphasize, is really just being a, a participant in your own rescue and, and, and, and being accountable. It is so much easier to prevent, d- disease than to treat it.

I was advocating for myself until I pretty much got silenced and was told that it was everything else, but what was really going on, and that I had an underlying, underlying, heart condition. but, but even with that now, I, I know so much better and, and I, and I eat better and I'm very conscious, to what, I put in my body and what I do with my body.

And so I use humor to disarm 'cause sometimes the conversations can be heavy. And we know cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of people. And so, I am the lived experience. I'm not a, I'm not a expert, I'm a witness. But if people can see what I, what I did and what I've been through and how I changed my life, y- I believe they can do it too. 'Cause if then when there's a problem and you're not quite sure, you can call or now you can send a portal message and say, "These are the things that are happening. I'm not sure if it's a problem, but I wanna let you know." So sure, you're tired for a week, okay, maybe you had a more stressful week.

But are you tired for a year, or are you tired for six months? Or has that change changed the way that you've lived your life? Have you now made alterations in your own life 'cause you looked it up on ChatGPT, you looked it up on Google, and you came up with your own solution as to what the problem is, but you haven't asked a doctor why are these things happening, but you've already come up with a solution to why these things are happening