no. 124 - The Pulmonary Embolism Episode

This Unmillennial Life

In this episode, you'll learn about one woman's surprise diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism and why a common medication was likely the cause.

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Website: https://www.shelleyrael.com/

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EPISODE KEYWORDS

podcast, umillennial, Gen X, pulmonary embolism, Gen X podcasts, women after 40, women after 50, podcasts for women

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Regan Jones 0:00 Today's episode is brought to you by dry farm wines. Dry farm wines sources wine to the highest standards of quality and purity while most wines sold today, are commercially produced and full of sugar, they can also include up to 70 plus FDA approved additives. Dry farm wines However, sources real wine naturally grown from small family farms that use heritage winemaking practices because they care about what they consume. They lab test everyone and only source wines that meet a strict set of criteria. Every bottle is organically and biodynamically grown lower in alcohol. No sugar, lower and sulfites dry farmed with no irrigation for minute with 100% native non GMO yeast free of additives and friendly to both keto and paleo diets. Dry farm wines is offering listeners of this unmillennial life an opportunity to receive an additional penny bottle so an extra bottle for a penny when they get their first shipment at dry farm wines.com/unmillennial that's dry farm wines.com/unmillennial.

Regan Jones 1:14 Hey there podcast listeners. Before we jump into today's episode, I want to do a little bit of housekeeping briefly, to let you know that if you were a subscriber via email for podcast notifications, there is a good chance that you have accidentally been moved over to a mailing list that is exclusively for my new baking website. And I will tell you up front I am sorry about that in trying to segment lists. And yet the people that wanted to be receiving notifications about the baking website, this baking life.com. And people who want to receive notifications about the podcast, that's unmillennial life.com. There's a little bit of overlap there. And so what I want to ask you to do is that if you want to be sure that you are getting notifications, email notifications, anytime I release a new episode, please click the link in the show notes. It'll direct you to this unmillenniallife.com/subscribe, where you can just put that in your browser, thisunmillennial life.com/subscribe. I have tried to do my best to clean that list up and make sure that you are where you want to be. But there's nothing like you making sure that you're getting those notifications. So if you've not been getting email notifications for me that episodes have been releasing, please go ahead and sign up. Now. Let's get on with today's episode.

Regan Jones 2:31 If your skin doesn't know whether to break out or wrinkle if you're caught between planning the third grade class party and researching retirement plans, or if you want to work out but the idea of CrossFit makes your 40 Something knees ache, you've come to the right place. Welcome to this unmillennial Life.

Regan Jones 2:56 I'm your host Regan Jones and welcome to today's show. So this episode is another one that I believe that I mentioned to you at the end of season six that I was getting ready to release it's not been as long in the making in terms of how long I recorded it as last week's glutathione episode. If you haven't listened to that one, please do go back and listen to it. It's very important for us as an aging population. And I hate to say those words, but it's so true to really understand about glutathione and its role as a master antioxidant. But that one had been a couple of years actually recorded. Shelley's episode has been a few years in the making, and you're going to hear us talk about that just in terms of when she first experienced this pulmonary embolism. But this episode has actually not been recorded that long. Alright, so let me tell you a little bit about today's guest Shelley. Rael. Shelly is a fellow Registered Dietitian. That's actually how I know her. She is a private practice dietitian. And she's also a podcaster, author, speaker and consultant. The name of her practice and all of her brands really is real world nutrition. And she explains that as her mission and role being able to help how people can eat in real world settings. She has, as I said a podcast she has a Facebook group a membership program, and you will hear us talk about toward the end of the episode, as always do how you can find her at Shelly rial.com. Alright, so let's jump into my episode with Shelly. I think that you're going to find this story. Very enlightening as to what the risks can be for some of the very, very common medications that many women find themselves taking. So with that, I'll say Shelly, welcome to the show.

Shelley Rael 4:48 Hi, Regan. Thanks for having me.

Regan Jones 4:49 Oh, so good to finally get you on now. People have heard me talk about episodes that have been a long time in the making. This one has been a really a years in the making. We were scheduled to record this interview, actually just right around the same time that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in March, what was that? 2021. So that's, that's been. So as I was telling you, before we started recording the interview, when I went back to start looking at all the different things that I have been considering doing episodes on, I was reminded of you and your story about having a pulmonary embolism, something I know so little about. So, for this interview, I really just want to kind of open the floor up to you and have you tell your impactful story for people because I think that this is something that women really need to know about. So kind of tell me how this all started?

Shelley Rael 5:40 Yeah, well, this was in November of 2020, some at a time where a lot of us may not remember now, but it was a different time in that we weren't. A lot of people weren't seeking out medical care as they usually were. But I'll back up a little bit. I have a family history on my dad's side of blood clots. And I've always been aware of it. And when I fly on planes, I wear compression socks, like they've got fabulous compression socks these days, everyone so and I would take low dose aspirin before I flew because I was always aware that there was a family trait for blood clots. And I'll always thought about your legs or calves, the blood DVT as we call it, the deep vein thrombosis that tends to start in the legs. And that was something I'd always pay attention to. Now, let's talk about November 2020. This was a little over a week before Thanksgiving, on a Tuesday, I had finished eating dinner. And I just remember I had a lot of cruciferous vegetables. So I just assumed that I was uncomfortable because I had gas from these veggies, because it was right in the center of my stomach, or my abdomen right below my sternum. So I just didn't think much about it figure, you know, a day or so later, I'll be better and didn't sleep well that Tuesday night. And just again, figured it was gi related. And Wednesday was doing things, you know, kind of putting my thoughts on the back burner of this being anything serious, although I did make a call to the nurse line. And the first question that is asked is are you experiencing chest pain? And I said, Yeah, cuz it was going to the chest and they said, go to the emergency room right now. And I'm like, No, that kind of chest pain, healthy, not that kind of chest pain. And they wouldn't talk to me further. They said I needed to do this. And being a stubborn person who doesn't like to go to the emergency room because I feel it's something that isn't serious. I didn't go to the emergency room. Now, this is Wednesday afternoon, Wednesday night, I wasn't feeling that great. And even when I can't even remember, I just remember I wasn't feeling good. And I ended up sleeping downstairs and I didn't really sleep. When I say downstairs, it was on the couch, sitting up and didn't really sleep. I had a lot of things going on that Thursday morning, I have delivery expected to deliver as expected, I had a couple of meetings, so I couldn't possibly cancel those to go to the emergency room. So as I walked the dogs both days, I walked the dogs that Thursday morning, and by about noon that day, I could barely breathe. I couldn't take a deep breath. I could very, couldn't really do shallow breaths. And this is where I get admonished. But let me clarify. I did drive myself to the emergency room. It is about three miles from my home.

Shelley Rael 8:46 And a very straight shot. So I do justify, it probably would have been a lot more time to call 911 and have somebody come get me and take me home. You know, I didn't want the drama in the neighborhood either because I'm one of those neighborhoods. Yeah. So this this is a standalone facility near my home. It's an urgent care and emergency room. It's not a hospital that is affiliated with one of the hospitals. And I'll tell you what, when you do say chest pain is no joke that I've always joked about saying, hey, just claim you have chest pain you cut to the front of the line. I was seeing within minutes of walking in the door. And within minutes I was had my blood pressure checked I had leads on my chest. And they did say it wasn't a heart attack. Now, they still of course had to do more things. I got an x ray I had the blood draw and still not quite sure what was going on until a nurse came in and gave me a shot in my stomach which turns out it was Lovenox which is a shot that helps reducing the risk of blood clots. And then I got a CT scan. So I got these very quickly. I think within an hour and as I said November 2020, I was there by myself. My husband was at work. And he had even said, Do you want me to come home from work like, but you can't come in if he was not allowed to come in. So even if he had gotten off of work, what would have been able to do? Nothing. So. So I'd say maybe an hour, it might not have been that long. But when you're in an emergency room, it feels like forever. The doctor comes in and asked me some questions. As if I took any medications. And here's the key for our listeners here is yes, I was taking birth control pills at the time. She said to me, it was a woman, some people have assumed otherwise. She said, What is it 50 year old woman doing taking birth control pills? Well, I'm 51. And I have a six year old grandchild. What do you think? I, the reason, a lot of women take birth control, and I was still capable at that time of becoming pregnant in theory. So that was my last day taking birth control pills. And it's like, she told me I had blood clots in my lungs. And I just burst into tears, because I had an uncle who died at the age of 53, back in 2013, have blood clots in the lungs died. And I was about the same age as him. And it's like you that overwhelming feeling of oh, I don't even know how to describe it. And, as I've said, You say this, and it's not until you experienced you acknowledge that one, like, one acknowledgement of how close you came to being not here anymore. But also I texted a couple people and said, I'm going to be I quickly learned I was going to be admitted to the hospital. And within, I'd say less than 10 minutes, it was probably much quicker. I had people covering work I was going to be doing the next day. Nobody balked at me canceling anything. I had a new clients appointment that afternoon, that person didn't second guess anything. And it was, I mean, the calendar clears when it has to. Yeah, and I mean, that morning, that very morning, I didn't cancel a couple things, because, you know, it was important stuff. Which turns out it wasn't that important. After all, once again, my my husband was calling, wanting, you know, do you want me to come home and like, what, you still can't do anything. And then of course, he took the next day off, because to take care of the dogs and, and and whatever people do when they can't, you know, their hands are tied, they can't do anything. I found out my extended family knew within the hour, thank goodness for text messaging, I was admitted to the hospital. Now that took a little bit of time, I was worried that there would be no beds. Because that was the time where there were no beds, half the hospital I did get admitted to water were COVID patients, and very tight. And so this was about noon is when I drove myself to the urgent care. And by the time I was transferred to our local hospital facility for admission, it was about midnight, two in the morning.

Shelley Rael 13:31 And I'll tell you what, Regan the whole time I was in a lot of pain, chest pain, because those blood clots contribute to a lot of pain. Never ever had anything in my legs that I'm aware of. And I would tell you, there was no signs or symptoms. Other than that

Regan Jones 13:51 I want to ask you, if you if you don't mind me stopping you there. Sure. When you were talking about being admitted, and some of the tests that they ran, and you know, it taking your blood pressure and all these different things. And then the doctor comes in and she says you have these blood clots in your lungs is that they were able to see that through X ray through a CT scan. How are they how do they find those blood clots, specifically

Shelley Rael 14:13 The blood draw, the blood draw that they took the test that they looked at is called a D dimer. And I became a little bit more familiar with it. Through this process. It's not something that dieticians tend to look at when we're in a clinical setting. And it's not a routine check either. Mine was above 13 And I should have done sorry, but 1300 From my recollection, I may be wrong on this. It's like supposed to be less than 300.

Regan Jones 14:43 Okay, so they're kind of looking in they're able to see already whatever's going on in your blood with this marker shows I guess either an existence or a propensity for these for blood clots.

Shelley Rael 14:55 Right. The X ray I don't think showed anything but the CT scan did. And the reason I remember it was a CT scan because it's I've had many CT scans in my life for various reasons. And those just take a few minutes for an MRI takes a lot longer. Yeah, very quick, very quick. And it was, I think it was able to confirm the presence of the blood clots. And when she used the plural, I've never got clarification of how many it was. It was multiple. And here's here's another challenging aspect to this right. Again, I had a routine annual checkup, literally the week before, no issues, I, there was nothing, I get my annual checkups because that's what I do. And there was no flags at that time, I had gotten my lab paperwork to have my blood drawn. And because I had gone on Wednesday morning, the day before I was admitted that my blood drawn and I just didn't, because I wasn't feeling that good, because we had to sit out in the parking lot and wait for them to call us and that sort of thing. So I didn't do it beforehand, a week after this happened. So I was in the hospital for two days. And I'll get back back to that in a second. I had my routine blood draw. Nothing was out of nothing showed. So this is really where I just want to tell people, in part that one, chest pain is no joke, obviously. But I was blowing it off as I just needed to have a balance. And I just need to let the gas pass through that sort of thing. And when Tez pain came up, I was only thinking heart related. It wasn't thinking of anything else.

Shelley Rael 16:48 There.

Regan Jones 16:49 And you know, I just want to kind of add, because I know we exchanged about this a little bit via email a couple of years ago, but I think it's important to add here. I think one of the things that Shelly and I share in common is that we kind of went into, you know, our diagnoses our experience, in my case with breast cancer, her case with pulmonary embolism, as healthy people. And so I do think that that is a risk for people who have and my audience is filled with people like this who have really made health for commitment, and you feel like you know, you've kind of done air quotes all the right things. So it probably does feel like in the moment when you're having this chest pain. You know, this is this is not something serious. Or in my case, when, you know, I felt this lump and I thought, Hey, I've been getting all my mammograms. I'm pretty healthy. Like surely this is just some sort of cyst. And yeah, it just really does go to show, we have to take things seriously no matter you know what kind of what you think you are bringing into the situation. Ideally, you're bringing in a healthy body like you did Shelly and you you come out of treatment for it. And you know, you're you're good on the other end. But I like your message to help people understand you this something chest pain can be something other than a heart attack.

Shelley Rael 18:10 Yes, completely. And as I said that very morning, I had walked my dog, it was a little bit slower just because I wasn't feeling good. I was still remaining active as active as we could be when we were told to not do things back in 2020 or, you know, we couldn't access the gym and that sort of thing. But I was still active. Still did my morning walk with the dogs that Thursday morning with discomfort, outside pain and I was exhausted as well having not slept for two days. And in the hospital, they they were going through various things, just checking my heart to confirm that the end was wrong with my heart and nothing was. And I remember even asking when I was transferred from the urgent care emergency department by my house and then transferred to a hospital facility. I had to go through the emergency room there as well. And I asked he said Oh, you'll probably the doctor in the emergency department said you'll have to go on blood thinners and I was like please not Coumadin. Which as anybody who's gone through their dietician training. I remember my internship that was my job at the hospital and doing the Coumadin training. There's plenty of other blood thinners on the market now that don't have the restrictions that some of us may be familiar with. So I was put on blood thinners that day as well. Started with a higher dose initially as is the protocol and had to follow up with a hematologist which the hematologist and oncologist share offices so yeah, like no no, no, I'm not a no I'm not an oncology patient. Don't push me there yet and they have considered it a provoked incident because of the hormonal birth control pills I was on the blood thinner was supposed to be for six months, just the timing of the appointment. So it was closer to seven months. And I'm not on blood thinners anymore. I did stop the birth control that day as as the date the diagnosis occurred. And I'd say I've been fine sense. And it's just something where I do I tend to kind of casually mentioned now in conversation, because I want to educate people inform people about the risks. And I'll tell you the one benefit about this, my husband was so nervous about everything happening, the inside outside of our house was bought out. There was nothing he could do. Yeah, literally had to sit outside to wait for me when I was discharged. Yeah. And I would talk to him and my phone was unbearable. When I was admitted, in the sense of I was grateful that people were calling me and texting me, yet it was exhausting. Time. And after the fact, i i On one hand, I know that it was a significant thing. And again, because I had my uncle who died from it, that it was serious, it is a serious thing. And at the same time, not fully grasping how much I stressed out my family and friends with this with this diagnosis or with this situation, it really scared a lot of people into what you just said, right, again, is that we're healthy if this could happen to Shelly, if this could happen to somebody I know who's active and eat well. What can happen to those who have higher risk or other things because you acknowledge that you have had have had people in your family who experience the same thing.

Regan Jones 22:11 And as I've been very open to say, you know, I had people in my family that had breast cancer and then did the genetics and actually do have a gene deletion related to breast cancer risk. You know, I just I am always reminded that we do especially as dieticians, we do, you know, really hammer home that there is a lot that you can do to overcome your genetics. But at the end of the day, I mean, we also have to acknowledge, like we, we have certain genetics, and sometimes there are things that you can't overcome. And I've kind of adopted the mentality that my genetics didn't necessarily allow, or my lifestyle did not allow for me to completely overcome my cancer risk. But it did allow me to go through chemo and radiation and surgery pretty healthy, I guess, you know, you don't you don't necessarily feel healthy when you're going through chemo, but you know, come through pretty healthy, and then come back out on the other end feeling pretty darn good these days. And so, you know, I would assume similarly for you. Like I was saying earlier, the help that you took into your experience has also helped it's helped you on the on this end of it. I do have another question for you. So when you were in the hospital, I know they gave you the Lovenox injection. What else did they do to treat a pulmonary embolism? That was pretty much it?

Shelley Rael 23:35 Yeah. That's a good question. Because I asked the doctor on like, how long will it take for this to go away. So I was taking the Lovenox is in part a clot buster, but also to prevent new ones, right. So I was given the medication to prevent new ones that my body needed to take time to break down the ones that were existing. And it was still painful. So I was literally still sitting up. I was probably at a 90 degree angle this whole time because it was still painful in my chest and my back to a certain extent. I said, How long will this take for it to go away? And it said, it can take days to weeks for it to go away. So really, the medication is there, just one, the high dose I mentioned for the first week or so it's there to just help break down the existing clot. But I only had the one shot of Lovenox. And then I got the Eliquis was the one I was given at the high dose, like I said for a week, and it's really just a matter of time the body able to just deal with it, so to speak. And I do remember them mentioning that there was some pulmonary necrosis so some tissue death in the lungs. And I even asked them if they weren't sure if it was that or pneumonia that wasn't pneumonia, I suppose that permanent or will that heal as well? And I didn't really get a straight answer on that. So I still don't know. But I don't have I don't have high concerns related to that, because I'm still able to exercise without issue and that sort of thing.

Regan Jones 25:21 And you now, if I understand correctly, you're not on blood thinners now. And you also you said immediately stopped taking birth control?

Shelley Rael 25:29 Correct. So the blood thinners so that was in November of 2020. And by June of 2021, the hematologist did do more blood work that the D dimer, again, and it was completely normal. And he said, I could just stop. And he still made recommendations that I wear the compression socks in long traveling and even suggested first class. I'm like, if I travel by plane. I think he did kind of roll his eyes at that and acknowledging that it probably was, you know, one of those pie in the sky recommendations. Yeah, I do at home, have a desk my computers on where I can stand and said stand and said, I can move it up and down, no problem. So I tend to be more conscious of whether I'm sitting for long periods. And he suggested that I even car rides, stop and walk every hour. So I don't pay a ton. I mean, I do but don't pay attention to that I don't tend to have long car rides. And I was on a plane trip this weekend, where I was sitting for about two hours, not so much that the flight was two hours, it was just some people on the plane made it difficult and sitting for two hours. Just being more aware. And the birth control pills in the sense of I stopped it. It was managing one not only that I was not going to have another child at that point in my life. It was also managing some other gynecological issues, which it wasn't able to do anymore. And so that led to me having a hysterectomy a little bit later, completely unrelated to the pulmonary embolism. But the birth control had been helping manage some bleeding issues I've been having.

Regan Jones 27:27 And so are you still under the care of the hematologist? Or have you been released from his care?

Shelley Rael 27:32 I was released from his care. Yeah, so less than a year. And when they they said when they classify it as provoked as this is, it's highly likely I'll not need them again. And going back to the leg DVT, or the blood clot in the leg, he said it could have possibly started in the leg. And I just never noticed it. I mean, if I have a charley horse cramp in my leg, I start panicking. And this was even before you know, take some aspirin and that sort of thing. I watch for swelling and that sort of thing. So this is again is one of those where I was blindsided by this because I always just thought it would start in the leg and I would notice it or feel that type of thing when it wasn't. So it did end up being an acute diagnosis for me. So it just a temporary diagnosis, though I will of course listed down the road if I need surgery, or that sort of thing and just remembering like I'm we're going to be traveling to Europe this summer and just be much more conscious of that. sitting for long periods.

Regan Jones 28:43 You mentioned compression socks and then you're talking about your trip to Europe and everything I assume you're going to wear them. Do you have like a specific compression sock that you fly with that you really like and that you would recommend or you just you know, search on Amazon and find whatever is out there.

Shelley Rael 28:58 I just search on Amazon find whatever is out there. There are some that are not as tight. So I got a set that are black and white that are some are striped and have different designs. I have one that are pretty tight. That will probably be the ones that I use that are hot pink Argyle, oh, I honestly don't recall the brand. But I'll just tell you the compression socks that we may think of or remember from hospital settings or you know compression tights of basil are not they're still around, but you can find fabulous designs on Amazon.

Regan Jones 29:35 Okay, that's really good to know. Because I mean, I didn't know I mean, I have a good friend who who has been diagnosed as having a propensity to have blood clots. And so you think about things like that and, you know, cross country flight or across the Atlantic or whatever, and that's something that people need to have at their disposal, you know, something that can sit with them. So Shelly, is there anything else about pulmonary embolism or you know the risk and taking birth control or anything on this whole entire topic that I haven't asked you about that you think people need to be aware of?

Shelley Rael 30:05 I don't think so I just want to just reiterate as much as it may be a pain in the butt to go to the emergency room or the urgent care for something that is gas or reflux or something. Don't Don't. Don't question yourself. I did. And I get, I took myself for waiting two days. And of course, I came out okay on the other end, but there's nothing wrong. And they, the nobody in the healthcare team is going to say, oh, yeah, I can't believe you came in just for gas or something along that line. Don't do what I did and wait.

Regan Jones 30:41 Yeah, yeah, very good advice. And I'm glad that the ending of the story is as positive as it is. So Shelley, I want you to let everybody know where they can find you online because you have a podcast so people can join you on your podcast. And of course, as always, once Shelly details that information, I'll be sure to place a link in all of that, places that she's available in the show notes. So let everybody know where they can find you online, Shelley.

Shelley Rael 31:06 Okay, so my website is Shelly rial.com. Don't worry about spelling it right or wrong, because I own all the binding. And it redirects there, where you can find information that I have about my real world nutrition podcast, it is a short form, just me talking about 10 to 20 minutes about real world nutrition. And I'm on social media, Instagram, shell re L and I have a real world nutrition group on Facebook. Again, if you go to the website, it has links to all of that there. And I do blog twice a week as well. I consider it just a resource library for people to learn more about just all kinds of things, all kinds of things nutrition related.

Regan Jones 31:52 Well, thank you, Shelly, for everything that you're doing in the nutrition world who make it easy and accessible for people. And then thank you so much for sharing your personal story with my audience. I really appreciate it.

Shelley Rael 32:02 Absolutely. Glad to help.

Regan Jones 32:05 Okay, that wraps up my interview with Shelly I'm going to drop in a quick commercial break here. But stay tuned for the odds and ends ending today where we'll be talking about a little pre menopausal, Peri menopausal postmenopausal beauty.

Regan Jones 32:18 Today's broadcast is brought to you by your color guru, your color guru.com is where I went this last year to get my color consultation done. And there's a little bit of comedy. In thinking about having your colors done. I say that in air quotes because many of us as unmillennials, remember back in the days of the 80s doing your color, but let me tell you what your color Guru is doing is so far beyond that. And they're giving you so many tools when you actually have your colors done. And the reason that I say so far beyond that is because back in the day, when we would find out what our colors were, I think it was like four seasons winter, summer, fall and spring. But your color Guru is much more robust than that. For instance, I'm a moonlit summer which is different than a sunlit summer. And one of the things that I love the most about your color guru and the color consultation consultation that I had done is that it comes with a color card, I have both a printed card that I can throw in my purse, so that when I am out shopping, I can pull that part out of my purse and hold it up to anything that I'm looking at to determine Hey, is this one my best colors. I also have the JPEG on my phone. So if I don't have the card with me, I just simply look at my phone and it has been invaluable. It makes shopping so much easier. So if you're interested in having your colors gone, or gifting it to someone else, you can get 10% off of your color guru consultation by simply using the code Regan, which is our E g a n at checkout at your color guru.com. There's a link in the show notes.

Regan Jones 33:57 One of the things that I noticed not too long after I started taking one of the medications that I take that's a hormone blocker. Related to obviously my hormone receptive breast cancer, who is I noticed one day as I was looking in the mirror with a lot of good natural sunlight in my car that I had developed a tremendous amount of peach fuzz on my cheeks and and chin. I didn't know that it was there. It was kind of shocking to me. I didn't really at the time know what was happening. And then I just reached out to a friend who's about the same age, no medication similarities, but she works in the dermatology space. And she I think basically was like yeah, you don't know that people begin to get peach fives when they start getting older in hormones start changing and obviously my hormones are a little different because of some of the medication that I take. So I asked her peer to peer friend to friend. You know what I do about this or I just let it go. And she was super kind to help me talk through and walk through the opportunity to do Dermaplaning on myself. Now, if you're a member of the Facebook group facebook.com/groups/this unmillennial life, there's a link always in the show notes and on my website, this unmillenniallife.com. If you're in that group, you may have seen a year or two ago that I posted initially about some disposable microplane, Derma planing tools that I use, I used those for a brief period of time, and they worked pretty well. But I recently discovered an even better self administered Dermaplaning tool by Gillette. It's called the Gillette Venus Dermaplaning tool, and you can get it on Amazon for about $15. It comes with one razor and two cartridges, I was able to use one cartridge for gosh, probably a year I would say and then have recently swapped over, it's possible that I should have swapped over to the new replacement a little bit sooner because I noticed as soon as I swapped over, I just it was it worked so much better. And this is super easy to use to dermaplane your face to get that peach fuzz off. So let's talk about the peach fuzz. I'll be honest with you, even though I've never had it, I do know that some people have it their whole lives. And I now notice it on women my age. And what I notice is that when you have a tremendous amount of peach fuzz, it not only in theory doesn't allow for the absorption of your serums and some of your moisturizers as well. Or at least that's my approach to this perception on on how I feel about it. But I also noticed that when people are using tinted skirt, sunscreen or, or foundation or their powder, it's tends to sit on the peach fuzz and just not have as smooth of a look. So I think in knowing that you kind of wonder like, Well, why are people not getting rid of it. And in doing a little bit of looking out online about the conversation, it appears that a lot of women are afraid to Derma plain and get rid of that peach because because they're afraid that it's going to grow back thicker and darker. And this makes total sense if you think about the fact that I'm assuming most of us as women who shave our legs, if you shave your legs, you know, we started off with peach fuzz on our legs and adolescents and then started shaving it and then obviously the hair changes over time. But everything that I've read on this particular topic seems to indicate and I know this is the case for me and I've been Dermaplaning my face now for a couple of years. It does not grow back thick and dark. There are things that can happen postmenopausal as estrogen goes down, and testosterone if it remains high, I believe there are some things that can happen with facial hair as a result, but that appears to be unrelated to Dermaplaning away this peach fuzz. So if you are like me, and are at some point where something has changed, or maybe you've had it your whole life, and you want to stop having this peach fuzz on your face again, I think I have found and my friend that I that I talked to about this, he was really the one that told me about the tools to do your own Dermaplaning we both agree that all of your facial self care regimen seems to work better when you get rid of all that peach fuzz. If you would like to start doing that, I'm going to place a link in the show notes. It is an Amazon affiliate link just briefly so you understand what that means. Sometimes if I post a link and it is to a product on Amazon, your price will stay the same. And I may get a very, very, very small commission as a result. So you do not have to buy off of that link. You can probably go to your local drugstore and purchase one there. But this is the product that I use the Gillette Venus Dermaplaning tool, it says on the box, that it's a facial razor and I think it works just fabulously. And the reason that I'm recommending this went over the less expensive. What I would say are more disposable ones is I feel like this just stayed sharper longer, and it's a little bit heavier weighted. So when you are Dermaplaning on your face, I just think it it works a little bit better and gets a little bit closer. You know the other thing if you aren't aware of Derma planing, even for people who do not have the peach fuzz that I'm talking about Dermaplaning is a tool to kind of get off slough off that like top layer of dead's sales to just overall give your face a little bit brighter and cleaner have a look. Okay, so that is our Beauty Segment odds and ends ending for this particular episode. And a little reminder, if you haven't gone back in the last couple of years and listened to some of the drugstore cleaner beauty episodes that I have released, those have been super popular and I have handouts for for both of those when which is one is an episode of skincare products and the other is on different cosmetics. So I'll go ahead and place a link in the show notes to both of those episodes if you want to go back and listen to those if you've enjoyed this episode or any episode of this unmillennial life let me ask you to do a couple of things. One, be sure to share this episode with a friend you can share it all across social media be sure that you are following this unillennial life on Instagram if you want to be sure that you always get new notifications on Instagram when there are new episodes. 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If you want to get in touch with me send me an email Regan at this unmillennial life.com or leave a voicemail. You can do that by going to this unmillennial life.com. That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening, subscribing, downloading and of course sharing with a friend. Hope you have a great week.