The Power of a Fresh Start with Tonya Oxendine (Episode 133)

Hit Play Not Pause

Fitness, Health & Fitness, Medicine

4.9 • 769 Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Past trauma can lead to a difficult menopause transition with more severe symptoms. Making matters worse, severe menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and difficulty sleeping can also heighten existing post-traumatic stress symptoms for women who have suffered trauma. Female veterans are especially at risk for both, and this week’s guest Tonya Oxendine, Warrior Speak Spokesperson for the Wounded Warrior Project, is on a mission to help women like her get the care they need for a fresh start in life.

Tonya Oxendine served for nearly 30 years in the United States Army–including several years in the 82nd Airborne–retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. She joined the Army fresh out of high school to escape an abusive family only to find the first half of her military career marred by sexual abuse and harassment. Tonya remained silent and kept the pain and emotions bottled up inside, because she felt honored to be given the responsibility to serve her country and she didn’t want to jeopardize that. But during Tonya’s last deployment in Afghanistan, all of the pent-up emotions became overwhelming. She eventually got the help she needed through the Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) Talk program. She also received mental health treatment at Emory Healthcare — part of the WWP Warrior Care Network® — which helps veterans like Tonya who are living with PTSD. You can learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project at woundedwarriorproject.org

Resources

Tonya Oxendine on the Hazard Ground podcast

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:14.6	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help
0:21.2	you feel and perform you best no matter what your hormones are doing.
0:25.0	This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.
0:30.4	Hello, strong, feisty women.
0:33.1	I hope everyone is well.
0:35.8	So this week, I had the honor of sitting down with a very strong,
0:40.3	remarkable woman named Tanya Oxendine. Tanya joined the United States Army a year after finishing
0:47.4	high school, mostly to run away from a very difficult childhood and abusive family.
0:53.6	Unfortunately, she left one abusive situation only to
0:57.1	find herself in another, and the first half of her nearly 30-year army career was marred by sexual
1:03.6	abuse and harassment. At the time, she bottled it all up, because she was afraid that if she spoke out,
1:10.4	she would lose everything.
1:11.8	And she was good at her job.
1:13.9	And she otherwise loved her job, which included being a paratrooper.
1:18.5	And she loved serving her country.
1:20.8	But at some point, shortly after a deployment to Afghanistan, everything came roaring to the surface.
1:27.3	And Tanya was forced to reconcile
1:28.9	with it. She got the help that she needed through the Wounded Warrior Project, and she is now
1:34.6	a warrior-speak spokesperson, making it her mission to help women just like her get the help that they
1:40.3	deserve. That's important for many, many, many reasons, obviously. And it's also
1:45.9	important because menopause. Women who have been through trauma are much more likely to have
	...

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