Women’s Health Issues Doctors Too Often Miss with CNN’s Pamela Brown

Mary Claire Haver (0:00)

This episode contains references to child loss and death.

Some listeners may find it distressing. Please listen with care and step away if you need to.

Pamela Brown (0:10)

I was just emotionally broken. I just remember having a really scary thought of, what if I drop my baby down the stairs? I develop postpartum OCD. So these intrusive thoughts just kept getting louder and louder and scarier and scarier.

Mary Claire Haver (0:23)

Did you reach out to anyone?

Pamela Brown (0:25)

No, I didn't even tell my husband. The stress of that really manifests in different ways for different people. It was a lot and it's an experience that so many women have. It wasn't unique to me.

Mary Claire Haver (0:35)

And these women have been to some like six, 10, 12 times. And how many times this woman begged for help from the medical system? And she was basically let down at every turn. Could that have been me?

Pamela Brown (0:45)

Exactly.

Mary Claire Haver (0:46)

Like, when did you come out on the other side? Oh.

The views and opinions expressed on unPAUSED are those of the talent and guests alone, and are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. No part of this podcast or any related materials are intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. My guest today on unPAUSED is Pamela Brown, a CNN anchor and the Chief Investigative Correspondent for the Network. She's also a mother, who in the same year that she lost her own mother, found herself blindsided by severe postpartum anxiety and experience she's written about candidly and one that nearly went unseen. As a result of what she endured, she used her personal experience as motivation to dig into the many health stories that are too often overlooked. This week, CNN will premiere her multi-part streaming series called Body Language, about the moments medicine misses, perimenopause, GLP-1s, egg freezing, PMOS, thyroid disease, breast reductions, the fourth trimester, and Alzheimer's. Today, we're going to talk about why she produced the series, what she learned about what women are actually experiencing, and the moment she realized how close she'd come to losing herself. I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, and certified menopause practitioner, and adjunct professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Welcome to unPAUSED, the podcast where we cut through the silence and talk about what it really takes for women to thrive in the second half of life.

Pamela Brown, welcome to unPAUSED. Thank you.

Pamela Brown (2:42)

It is an honor to be here, truly.

Mary Claire Haver (2:44)

Right back at you.

So let's talk about the series. You had a very personal reason for building it. Before any of it, you were in what's called the sandwich generation. So your mom was having surgery, you were recently post-natal, just had a baby, and your mom was ill, your dad was getting older all the time, and you were covering the White House in a very demanding presidency.

Pamela Brown (3:11)

The first Trump term.

Mary Claire Haver (3:12)

Yeah. So how did you survive? What did that season of your life actually?

Pamela Brown (3:17)

Well, it wasn't pretty. Actually, it was pretty, a pretty messy season of life.

Mary Claire Haver (3:23)

I mean, you have the job of a lifetime.

Pamela Brown (3:24)

Yeah.

Mary Claire Haver (3:25)

You know, a beautiful new baby, and your poor sweet mama was very ill, your dad was also not doing well.

Pamela Brown (3:32)

Yeah.

Mary Claire Haver (3:32)

That was a lot.

Pamela Brown (3:34)

It was a lot, and it's an experience that so many women have. It wasn't unique to me. And I think the stress of that really manifests in different ways, for different people. For me, it manifested in postpartum OCD. So I think just the stress of having a toddler, a newborn, the pandemic, my mom dying, my dad aging, like all of it combined, just was the recipe for this like faucet to turn on in my brain that caused these intrusive thoughts. And I had no idea what it was. So it came on about, I'd say a couple months after I gave birth. And I just remember I had gotten through the fog of like my mom dying and the trauma of like her being in the hospital during the pandemic and then the funeral and just everything. And I got back home from Kentucky, back home to DC. And like, I was in such a weakened state. I was just emotionally broken. And I think that is when, from what I've learned, OCD really seizes, it seizes the moment. And my hormones were fluctuating and everything. Everything was a bit crazy. And I just remember having like a really scary thought of, what if I drop my baby down the stairs? Or, you know, what if something bad happened to the kids? Or what if I'm like driving and I hit a pole and I just lose control? And I suddenly, instead of dismissing them as like really crazy thoughts, by the way, we all have subconsciously, we should pay attention to it, right?