Breathe Easy: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Menopause, Hearing & Thyroid Health with Dr. Emily Perry - Part 2

Can we take a bit of a, jump forward a little bit and talk about our favorite topic- Mm ... menopause.

[laughs] Um, which seems to come up in every, um, every recording we do.

Um, w- how does menopause affect ear, nose, throat that you see? So, uh, generally, so it's the effect of dryness, and so we all know about vaginal dryness when it comes to menopause, but you also, those same hormones are actually facilitating lubrication throughout the body.

Yeah.

And that includes the nose, and mouth, and throat.

And the impact of a, of dryness is that you feel everything.

Things don't glide over each other.

And when you think about when you talk and swallow, there's lots of movement, the tongue against the teeth, uh, against the soft palate.

Like, there's a lot of contacts, and if you make that contact more sticky or more apparent, it presents with symptoms.

Um, and so, uh, cl- the most classic ENT symptom would be globus pharyngeus, so the sensation of a lump at the back of your throat.

You're only the exception if you haven't felt it in your life- Mm-hmm, yeah ... sort of thing.

Like, it is a very common sensation, but classically presents in perimenopausal women.

Yeah.

And, uh, just they feel something much more apparent when they swallow saliva.

Yeah.

And so they usually don't have a- any problems eating or drinking.

So food- Mm ... fluid fine.

Mm.

After dry- if I'm swallowing my saliva, it, I can feel it.

Yep.

It's, it's- Or a tablet or something sometimes.

Sometimes.

Yeah.

Sometimes, um, or and things get a little bit stuck.

Yeah.