The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as,

nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.

Bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy and bitchy.

Hello, everyone, this is Karen Nicol, family nurse practitioner,

and this is Itchy and Bitchie, a podcast that provides answers to your many unanswered health questions.

This is a quick reminder about my course called the perimenopause answer. If you're going through this phase in life called perimenopause, or if you don't know if you're in pari menopause, I would love to have the

opportunity to talk to you about the course and see if it's the right fit for you. There is a link on

our website, itchy and bitchy.com and our Facebook page, I&B podcast, where you can schedule an appointment

for a Zoom call with me. appointment for a Zoom call with me.

This is a Zoom call with me, so when you make an appointment, I will be sitting at my desk

waiting for you to join the one-on-one Zoom call.

If you listen until the very end of every episode, which I hope you do, I remind you that your health is in your hands.

And I share that on every episode because I strongly believe that we all have to advocate for

ourselves when it comes to our health care. Today, I want to share a listener's story about how she advocated

for herself, and by doing so, her life was saved. In 2023, our listener began having back pain,

which she assumed was related to her job as a farmer, which is very physical.

She figured that she had tweaked her back muscles.

She first tried walking it out, but that provided no relief.

She added cold packs and heat and over-the-counter pain medication with no improvement.

Her work productivity declined by half because of her pain,

even though she had added a back brace and a topical inset on top of what she was already doing.

As the back pain continued and worsened, other symptoms began to appear, including constipation,

...