Stephanie Corn was shopping for shoes in Houston when a terrifying realization stopped her cold: She had no idea where she was.
asserted
she → shop → idea
Frightened, she ducked into a dressing room and called her now-ex-husband to pick her up.
asserted
she → duck → her
“He asked me where I was and I couldn’t tell him,” Corn, 56, told The Post.
asserted
Corn → ask → Post
It was the culmination of memory problems Corn had battled since doctors put her into chemically induced menopause.
asserted
doctors → battle → menopause
Hot flashes, fatigue, low libido, aching joints and stubborn weight gain followed, compounding chronic pain from herniated discs.
asserted
flashes → ache → discs
Months later, a Facebook comment about peptides caught her eye.
asserted
comment → catch → eye
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that send signals to cells throughout the body, doing things like regulating hormones and supporting tissue repair.
asserted
that → send → repair
They occur naturally, but synthetic versions have grown in popularity in recent years.
asserted
versions → occur → years
Some are FDA approved as medical treatments for humans — like insulin, semaglutide and tirzepatide — but many are not.
asserted
many → approve → insulin
Without that approval, some are still sold with labels that they are for “research use only.”
asserted
they → sell → use
But just because they’re labeled that way doesn’t mean regular people aren’t buying these peptides and trying them on themselves — including a growing number of women hoping they can ease the menopause transition.
asserted
they → label → transition
Corn spent two months scouring the internet and consulting ChatGPT before ordering her first peptides online.
asserted
Corn → spend → peptides
Today, she says they’ve transformed her quality of life.
asserted
they → say → life
“Has my depression lifted?
asserted
depression → lift → ?
Do I have more energy?
asserted
I → have → energy
Can I go to the grocery store and follow that up by hitting Neiman Marcus because I want to go smell perfume and I’m not in pain?
asserted
I → go → pain
Yes,” she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
“I can do all of those things now, not because of my doctor, but because of peptides.”
asserted
I → do → peptides
Dr. Rachel Pessah-Pollack, an endocrinologist at NYU Langone, said stories like Corn’s reflect a broader frustration among menopausal women.
asserted
stories → say → women
“I have patients come in on a daily basis with questions about what they’re seeing online,” she said.
asserted
she → have → what
“There are a lot of menopausal symptoms that are undertreated, and as a result, you have people turning to different pathways to potentially get treatment.”
asserted
people → be → treatment
Jay Campbell, a co-founder of BioLongevity Labs, an e-commerce seller of peptides and bioregulators, said he has seen the benefits firsthand in women navigating menopause, including his own wife — with one caveat.
asserted
he → say → caveat
They’re not exercise in a bottle.
asserted
They → ’re → bottle
They are tools,” Campbell said.
asserted
Campbell → say → ?
“They can be absolutely transformative when used responsibly.”
asserted
They → use → ?
Yet many women in the “gray market” are ordering peptides online and devising their own protocols with little or no medical oversight.
“I own a restaurant.
asserted
I → order → restaurant
I’m not a doctor,” said Darla Allison, 45, who credits research-use peptides with helping her through perimenopause.
asserted
who → ’m → perimenopause
“You’re really like a little guinea pig pin cushion.”
asserted
You → ’re → cushion
The secret language of online peptides
Navigating the world of research-use peptides isn’t always easy.
asserted
Navigating → navigate → peptides
The online community has developed its own slang, in part to evade content moderation on Instagram and TikTok.
asserted
community → develop → Instagram
Peptides become “peppers,” users “pepper farmers” and experiments “research projects.”
asserted
experiments → become → ?
Individual products have nicknames, too, including “ratatouille” for retatrutide and “semolina” for semaglutide.
asserted
products → have → semaglutide
“We have to speak in code now,” said stay-at-home mom Lacretia Riekeberg, 47, who posts about her peptide use.
asserted
who → have → use
Videos can be taken down if they don’t, “but I think it’s important to get the message out.”
asserted
it → take → message
Riekeberg began using peptides after she gained weight following the death of her daughter.
asserted
she → begin → daughter
When insurance wouldn’t cover a name-brand GLP-1, she got a compounded version from a telehealth provider.
asserted
she → cover → provider
She eventually added experimental products to her “stack” for perimenopause symptoms, including hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog, fatigue, low libido, mood swings and frozen shoulder.
asserted
She → add → flashes
She’s tried 13 since March, sourcing, reconstituting and injecting them herself.
asserted
She → try → them
Now, Riekeberg is in a “glow-up phase.”
asserted
Riekeberg → glow → phase
“This is the season of life to be working with your body and your hormones, not against them.
asserted
This → work → them
…and 61 more, not listed.
The Aporia
