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Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Miriam Putnam is a certified wellness coach, spiritual mentor and freedom-from-stress counselor with more than 25 years of experience in holistic mental health advocacy. Miriam's life’s work was shaped by the heartbreaking loss of her mother, who struggled with mental illness, misdiagnosis and pharmaceutical harm during her own midlife transition.

Their raw and deeply honest conversation explores the intersections of mental health, spiritual health, body health and perimenopause – and what can happen when we begin to question the systems we've trusted. Miriam shares her unique perspective on underlying causes of mental anguish, the danger of holding tight to a diagnosis and how midlife can become a powerful catalyst for transformation and truth-seeking.

If you’ve ever felt like you were losing yourself in perimenopause, or you're supporting someone who is, this conversation will help you feel less alone –and remind you of your strength.

Highlights

• Miriam describes her mom’s shift during midlife
• Underlying physical conditions that can mimic or trigger “mental illness”
• Miriam’s mother’s resistance to pharmaceutical treatment and her spiritual drive
• The brutal toll of grief and loss, especially when unsupported
• How Miriam works with clients to break free from spiritual stagnation and misdiagnosis
• Exercises to strengthen the “mind muscle” and shift out of negative thinking
• Why visualizing your future requires emotional presence and clarity
• The power of remembering we are more than our hormones and diagnoses
• Miriam’s practical approach to staying conscious and spiritually well

Fact check
Cannabis use is consistently linked to psychotic symptoms and disorders. Multiple studies and reviews show a strong and consistent association between cannabis use and psychosis, including schizophrenia-like symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions (Gage & Hickman, 2016); (Pearson & Berry, 2019). Genetic and environmental factors moderate vulnerability. Genetic variations (such as in COMT and AKT1 genes), family history of psychosis, and childhood trauma amplify the risk of psychosis following cannabis use (Radhakrishnan & Wilkinson, 2014); (Quattrone, 2022); (Trotta & Spinazzola, 2025).

A big thank you to Kion Aminos, gold sponsor of the first-ever Hotflash Inc Summit. Kion’s essential amino acids provide a clean, clinically-backed formula to support muscle repair and recovery.
Get 20% off at getkion.com/hotflash.

Guest Info

Miriam Putnam
Website: miriamputnam.org
Instagram:

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Hosted by journalist and Hotflash inc founder Ann Marie McQueen, this week’s episode features Sonja Rincon, founder and CEO of Menotracker, an AI-powered menopause app based in Austria. Sonja is also a lawyer and single mother who built the tool she wished she had when navigating her own confusing and often dismissed perimenopause symptoms.

In this honest and empowering conversation, Sonja explains how she went from being gaslit by doctors to developing a secure, multilingual, research-driven tracking tool that empowers women to identify patterns, advocate for themselves, and share vital data with their healthcare providers.

You'll hear about how Menotracker differs from other apps by protecting user privacy, generating detailed reports, offering translations in over 30 languages and allowing deep integrations with wearables. Sonja also opens up about her own HRT journey and the frustrating road to understanding what was really going on in her body.

If you’ve ever wondered whether tracking symptoms is worth it, or how midlife women can step into their power as their own health advocates, this conversation is for you.

Sponsor Shoutout: Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Also a big thanks to Kion Aminos, gold sponsor of the first-ever Hotflash Inc Summit. Their clean, leucine-rich amino acid blend is up to 6x more effective than food-based protein, and helps support recovery, strength, and energy – especially under stress. Learn more at getkion.com/hotflash for 20% off your order.

HIGHLIGHTS

• How Sonja’s own perimenopause symptoms led her to HRT and away from SSRIs
• Why her early symptoms were misdiagnosed as stress
• How tracking helped her fine-tune her hormone therapy
• The importance of not giving up too soon when adjusting HRT
• The tipping point: her friend’s promotion was denied due to visible perimenopause symptoms
• Why most trackers fail: lack of reports, language barriers, and questionable data use
• Menotracker’s privacy-first approach
• Why pattern recognition is key for symptom awareness and medical advocacy
• 40+ symptoms available to track and growing through user feedback
• How she taught herself low-code tools and AI to launch the first version
• The power of knowing enough to not be bamboozled by developers
• Offering the app in 30+ languages
• Why Europe is lagging behind in the menopause conversation
• Community-based growth strategy and bringing in experts of diverse backgrounds

Guest info:

• Founder & CEO, Menotracker
• Website: www.menotracker.com
• Instagram:

Join the Hotflash inc perimenoposse:

Web: hotflashinc.com
Newsletter: Hotflash inc. on Substack
TikTok: @hotflashinc
Instagram: @hotflashinc
X: @hotflashinc

Episode website: Hotflashinc

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Substack

See hotflashinc.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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In this episode, Ann Marie speaks with Dr Gary Elkins, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University and director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory, in Waco, Texas. Dr. Elkins is the leading researcher in the field of clinical hypnosis for menopause, with more than 25 years of experience and more 100 peer-reviewed publications.

He joins Hotflash inc to explore the groundbreaking science behind hypnosis for hot flashes, its surprising effectiveness (up to 70% reduction!), how it works in the brain, why it matters for breast cancer survivors, and how hypnosis may also support sleep, stress, and other midlife symptoms. They also discuss Evia, the self-hypnosis app built on Dr. Elkins’ research, and the critical importance of hjaving non-pharmaceutical options for symptom relief.

Support shoutout Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Thank you to KION for sponsoring the first-ever Hotflash inc Summit. Their aminos is a clean, science-backed essential amino acid supplement that gives your body what it needs to build and repair muscle. It's sugar-free, vegan, non-GMO, and most importantly, third-party tested. Try it for yourself at getkion.com/hotflash for 20% off your first order.

Highlights

• How hypnosis became part of NAMS (now The Menopause Society) guidelines
• Research showing hypnosis reduces hot flashes by 70%
• What hypnosis is and what it definitely isn’t
• What happens in the brain during hypnosis
• The “triple fallacy” and misunderstanding physical symptoms
• Comparing hypnosis to hormone therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• How hypnosis helps improve sleep and calm anxiety
• Why hot flashes are a physiological issue, not a psychological one
• What to expect: when and how hypnosis starts to work
• The power of daily practice and support from others
• Addressing misconceptions about hypnotizability and intelligence
• What the research says about empathy, creativity and hypnosis
• The mind-body connection and the experiential system
• How hypnosis taps into the subconscious (without the woo)
• Dr. Elkins on consulting for the Evia app and why it matters
• Future research: hypnosis for sleep and psychedelic states without drugs

Guest Info – Dr. Gary Elkins

• Website: www.garyelkins.org
• Book: Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: What You Need to Know
• Handbook: Handbook of Medical and Psychological Hypnosis
• Evia App: https://www.eviamenopause.com

Join the Hotflash inc perimenoposse:

Web: hotflashinc.com
Newsletter: Hotflash inc. on Substack
TikTok: @hotflashinc
Instagram: @hotflashinc
X: @hotflashinc

Episode website: Hotflashinc

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Substack

See hotflashinc.com/privacy-policy for privacy information