Episode 24: It's a fun place inside my head

Alisha plays support person for a friend's IVF egg retrieval, Rhiannon unpacks what happened when she lapsed on her GLP-1 microdose, and both reflect on parenting without repeating how they were raised.

This week starts with a genuinely lovely story: Alisha spent her morning as an emergency support person for a woman she didn't know, picked up from an IVF clinic after her eighth egg retrieval, because clinics require someone to sign patients out. It's a small window into the fertility world most listeners won't have seen, and a nice reminder that community call-outs work.

From there it's a proper September check-in. Alisha's been slowly excavating a hallway full of unsold "fertility hamper" stock — a classic ADHD business idea she followed through on buying for but never marketing — and has finally regrouped it into a bookcase instead of a guilt-inducing pile of pink boxes. Her Father's Day also went sideways in a very relatable way: a surprise gift ambush from her daughter, a full meltdown over finding a friend to see the new Harry Potter movie, and a last-minute dash that somehow still went smoothly because she'd booked tickets in advance.

The heart of the episode, though, is Rhiannon's health update. She's been on a low-dose GLP-1 medication for chronic pain and inflammation (she lives with fibromyalgia and lipedema) and has genuinely noticed her patience, executive function and pain levels shift for the better on it — but she's lapsed on taking it for a few weeks, and the return of tailbone pain, neck pain and headaches has her wondering how much of it was doing. It's a candid, detailed conversation about what microdosing GLP-1s for pain and inflammation (rather than weight loss) can actually look like, including a rough reaction to the originally prescribed dose that had her back on the couch. The episode closes on something both hosts keep coming back to: how understanding their own neurodivergent brains has completely changed how they parent, especially around not squashing their daughters' joy and excitement in public the way they were taught to as kids.

What We Talk About in This Episode

• Alisha's morning as a support person for a friend's IVF egg retrieval, and what that process actually involves
• Finally dealing with a hallway full of unsold "fertility hamper" business stock — an ADHD hyperfocus idea with zero follow-through on the marketing
• Clearing out under the bed (and the immediate chaos of kids, pets and soft toys moving straight back in)
• A Father's Day gift ambush, a Harry Potter meltdown over not having a friend to go with, and a last-minute dash to the cinema that still went smoothly
• Dysregulation at the movies and in Ikea afterward, and choosing seats deliberately to give room for it
• Parenting differently to avoid repeating an authoritarian upbringing, even when it's exhausting in the moment
• Rhiannon's September reset: finishing a storage room clean-out, a big pile of folding, and embracing "a win is a win" instead of chasing perfection
• Swapping to a new doona and navigating a Father's Day scrapbook project with a daughter who wants creative input
• Washing machine, dishwasher and dryer maintenance updates
• Listener feedback on the Kat Richardson "Handfish" episode, and discovering there's a real one at the Melbourne Aquarium
• Coming off a low-dose GLP-1 medication and noticing pain, inflammation, patience and impulse control decline within a few weeks
• The return of tailbone pain, neck pain and headaches, and physio visits
• What actually happened on a smart scale while microdosing: stable muscle mass and bone density, only inflammation-related weight shifting
• Appetite and eating changes on a low-dose GLP-1, including craving more protein and less "girl dinner" skipping
• A rough reaction to the originally prescribed full dose (severe night sweats, near-fainting) and staying on a half dose instead
• Using GLP-1 microdosing for pain and inflammation conditions like fibromyalgia and lipedema, rather than for weight loss
• Third-term exhaustion, being your child's "safe space," and how that wears on a parent
• Reflecting on how an ADHD/AuDHD diagnosis changed their parenting instincts, and what it might have looked like without that awareness
• Letting a daughter be excited and "squirrelly" in public instead of squashing her joy to manage what strangers might think
• A very ADHD "what's in my pocket" cleaning haul: random found objects and a hair tie that keeps reappearing around the house
• Perfectionism, control, and letting go of the fantasy of a permanently tidy kids' room

Key Takeaways

• GLP-1 medications are being used off-label at low doses by some people for pain and inflammation management (including fibromyalgia and lipedema), not just weight loss — and the effects on things like patience, impulse control and executive function can be noticeable enough that coming off it highlights just how much it was helping.
• A "high" prescribed dose isn't automatically the right one — a lower, self-titrated dose worked better and was better tolerated in this case, and tracking markers like muscle mass and bone density (not just weight) gives a fuller picture of what a medication is actually doing.
• Understanding your own neurodivergent brain changes how you parent — recognising excited, "squirrelly," or big-feeling behaviour as normal rather than something to suppress in public can be one of the biggest shifts between how these hosts were raised and how they're raising their own kids.
• An ADHD hyperfocus business idea (like buying stock for hampers) can stall out at the "buy the products" stage with zero follow-through on the actual marketing — recognising that pattern, rather than judging it, is the first step to either finishing it or letting it go.
• "A win is a win" — a decluttering project that isn't 100% perfect or fully finished is still worth counting as progress, rather than waiting for the fully "ruthless" version that never happens.

Who This Episode Is For

Anyone curious about how GLP-1 medications are being used for chronic pain and inflammation conditions outside of weight loss. Anyone who's ever bought all the supplies for a business idea and never actually launched it. Parents trying to let their kids be loud and excited in public without the instinct to shush them. And anyone who's ever found a random object in their pocket mid-cleaning and had no memory of picking it up.

A Message From This Episode

You don't have to have it all figured out to notice what's working and say so out loud — whether that's a medication that's quietly been helping more than you realised, or a parenting instinct that goes against how you were raised. Paying attention to what your body and your kid actually need, instead of what you were taught to expect, is its own kind of progress.

Follow & Connect

Instagram: @motherhoodunmaskedunfiltered 

Subscribe & Follow

New episodes every Thursday. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, and follow @motherhoodunmaskedunfiltered on Instagram for clips, carousels and behind-the-scenes chaos.