Patty Pappas
Patty Pappas was born in Argentina, lived in Washington DC and completed most of her schooling in Los Angeles. Patty returned to the east coast to attend the American University in Washington DC. There, she earned her BA in Communications before returning to Los Angeles to work as a Collegiate Fundraiser. On the beach in LA, she met her husband, George, and they married in 1995. Patty and George had three girls in three years, which required Patty to pivot from her career
outside the home to focus on raising her family while helping George grow his entrepreneurial businesses. Patty was an active volunteer in her girls’ lives as well as in her community. Her youngest daughter, Georgia, was the last to leave for college and is now a sophomore at SMU in Dallas. Christina is a junior at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Emily is a senior at the University of Wisconsin. Patty is enjoying applying her well-honed managerial skills to Hello Again.
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Patty on Menopause
Menopause is different for everyone. According to my blood tests, I’m 53 and still perimenopausal. 5 years ago I had to put towels under me to sleep because I would soak through the sheets almost every night. I would have hot flashes five or six times a day. I would stand there and it felt like someone was turning up the thermostat in my body to 105…slowly up, embarrass me for a minute or two then as quickly back down to 98.6. In the car with my kids everyday, I would ask, “who turned the seat heaters on…turn them off!!’ They of course would laugh as there were no seat heaters. I woke up three or four times a night, racked with persistent and confusing thoughts about all the things I was going to mess up the next day. I forgot things. I forgot lots of things like my neighbor’s son at school, my mom in a restaurant and almost every reason ever that I walked into a room. It was debilitating until the day I woke up and decided to forgive myself. I just decided to not beat myself up anymore for all the things I forgot, it was my new normal and there was nothing I could do. I talked to friends and everyone had similar stories but it didn’t really sink in that we were all going through the same thing. Different times, different degrees but all the same thing. I thought I could just gut it out. It didn’t occur to me to do anything else. I asked my GYN about waking in a pool of sweat every night but she tested me and assured me that I was NOT in menopause yet…seriously?
My relief came from an integrative doctor that I went to in desperation because I just felt a little crazy all the time. He said, “wow, your hormone levels are so low I can’t even read them” and that was the beginning of the road that brought me back to myself. The generation before did it right, timing Menopause with empty nesting. I did the opposite, I went through my most severe symptoms while raising three teenage daughters! Four hormonal women in the house..My husband became very adept at “reading” a room…and exiting quickly.
There was the tweener time when I would either have my period or have night sweats and hot flashes. This felt like the change to me. But again no, doctors still said not yet. Am I in menopause yet, I don’t know because I just got tired of asking. After 5 or 6 years, the periods stopped, the sweating stopped, mood swings not as severe and I haven’t left any children anywhere for a long time.
Patty on Cannabis
I can count on three hands the amount of times I smoked pot. I didn’t love it but pot was different back then, no judgement, it just wasn’t for me. Later in life, I preferred dulling my pain with wine…or better a martini…every night which is a real killer for a good night’s sleep. In hindsight, if the cannabis business had been as sophisticated then as it is now, I could really have benefited. Since cannabis became legal in California, I have experimented with a variety of products from edibles to vapes to patches and creams. I think back to those most symptomatic years and know using cannabis could have calmed my mind, made the mac and cheese I served my kids taste even better AND actually gotten a good nights sleep…HELLO?!
Hello Again, Patty
I use Hello Again Sleep every night. I no longer wake up at 1:20, 4:10 and and then eventually just get up at 5:00am causing me to crawl back into bed at 7:30pm because I am so tired I can’t keep my eyes open just to start the whole cycle again. Having a sleep aid that isn’t an opioid and doesn’t cause a hangover is life changing. Having a consistent good night’s sleep every night is life changing.
I use Hello Again Everyday almost everyday. I can be kinda lazy. A day can easily slip away where I can do a lot but not a lot gets done. I slip in a Hello Again vagitory, it’s subtle but its effective. I am clearer and more focused. It gives me energy to tackle the things that I have to get done, even the things I’ve been putting off.