WEBVTT - Hormone Therapy Changed my Life 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.400 In my family at least, there is a lot of 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.160 hormone imbalance and my mom her hormones were very off 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.080 before she passed. So I started hormone therapy a couple 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:17.080 of years back. Hair loss, fatigue, difficulty with losing weight, 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:19.680 That's all the stuff that I was going through. So 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.880 when I started it, it just it has changed my life. 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.000 As latinas and as our moms were older, like, we 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.040 didn't talk about colors or komeson. So now that we 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.960 know what we need, more people are going to realize 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:34.640 that we need to have this treatment. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.680 Hello and happy Monday to all my lovely listeners. I 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.680 am so happy you're tuning into another episode of Cheeky's 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.120 and Chill. Thank you so much for being here today. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.159 I'm going to share my experience with hormone therapy. This 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.880 is a topic I've spoken about before, but it's always 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.200 been a pretty brief conversation and I want to dive 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.000 into it a little deeper because I keep getting asked 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.040 about it. And after my experience, we'll dive into a 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.319 Q and A with an obgyn. She'll tell us all 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.960 about the pros and cons and everything in between. So 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.639 be sure to stay tuned for that. All right, Without 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.840 further ado, let's get into this week's episode of Cheeky's 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:22.160 and Chill. First things first, I'm not a doctor. I'm 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.920 just sharing my experience with hormone therapy. If this is 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:27.800 something you think you'd benefit from, you should absolutely consult 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:29.800 with your doctor to see if it's right for you. 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.440 All I can say is hormone therapy has been a 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.560 game changer for me, and so I wanted to come 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.640 on here and share my journey with you guys. That's it. 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.800 It's important to note that there are different kinds of 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.319 hormones and different types of treatments. Some women use hormone 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.240 therapy for menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.880 mood swings, and others like me, use it for well. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.160 I went in for weight loss, to be honest, but 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.200 also because I felt very tired. I was feeling so exhausted, 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.080 I was achy. It was just the weirdest thing. It 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.440 almost felt like I was in menopause, but without the 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.640 hot flashes. So that's why I went in. And I 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:09.800 was just frustrated, you guys, because I wasn't able to 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.840 lose weight, and I was like, I'm on this keto diet, 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.040 I am working out very hard and I'm not losing 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:20.760 as much weight as i'd like. So when I went in, 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.720 sure enough, they drew my blood and yep, there it was. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:29.160 I had a hormone imbalance. And also one of the 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.320 reasons that I went was because my mom. I don't 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:33.640 know if I've ever shared this with you guys, but 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.400 my mother the last few months of her life, was 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.720 also on hormone therapy and that's how she lost a 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.680 lot of weight. Mind you, she was also doing this 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.480 like very vigorous, crazy ass diet, which I don't know 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.680 which one it is, but I know that the hormone 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:50.240 therapy helped her so much. So anyways, she went into 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.040 the doctor and they drew her blood, and her doctor 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.600 told her that she had the hormones of an eighty 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.840 something year old woman, and mind you, she was forty something. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.800 So it runs in our family. And not only did 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.960 I find out that I had very high estrogen and 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.680 very low testosterrone, but my thyroid was at a whack. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.160 That's something else that runs in my family. But I 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.600 didn't get it into like a few years ago, like 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.480 in my early thirties. You guys. So it's important, in 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.280 my opinion that you guys see your doctor and take 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:29.080 this very seriously. Some of the signs of having a 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:34.800 hormone imbalance is hair loss, fatigue, difficulty with losing weight, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.960 your your body aches, especially like your knees and your 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.320 feet and things like that. Those are all signs and 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:44.960 that's all the stuff that I was going through. So 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.200 when I started it, it just it has changed my life, 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 you guys, Like I just felt instantly better. Like I 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.680 was doing the little drops. It gave me drops. There's 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.760 creams up toostosterone and like little drops. I would just 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.680 put it in my innert wrist and rub it every 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.240 morning and it would just give me energy and it 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.040 would give me strength. And not only that, but even 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.040 like my sex drive, you guys changed completely. Like the 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.160 doctor told me, Okay, how do you feel, are you 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.880 like ready to like get it on, and you know, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:16.000 are you moist down there? I'm like, well, yeah, I'm 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.320 pretty moist, Like I'm pretty yeah, and we're good down there. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:20.919 He's like, okay, cool. I was like, well, I'm young, 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.960 it's not like you know, I'm dry. But it was 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.760 just kind of like okay, well yeah, it's not like 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.120 I'm all like, yeah, ready, you know. So he's like, 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:30.240 oh okay, it's because a good thing is that it's 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.720 not like, you know, you're not too bad because you're 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.880 not dry. You know, your your juices are still flowing. 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.440 But once you start this hormone therapy, you're gonna just 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.560 be more excited about it. And I'm like, okay, perfect, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.680 And I was more excited about it about sex sea time, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.640 you know. So anyways, that's another sign you guys, especially 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.520 for women even men, even like men start losing to 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.800 soostrone at a certain age. And again, like with everything 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.200 in our food, you guys, even the air that we breathe, 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.960 sometimes it just really like gets us out of balance. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:01.840 So it's important that you get it checked out. It's 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.839 all just blood work, and they will tell you where 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.240 you're at. And dudes too, Like sometimes dudes get to 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.520 a point where it's like damn, and go to the 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.479 gym and my muscles aren't growing as fast as I'd like, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.880 or you know, my penis is happy but not that happy, 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.600 and those are signs of maybe you need a little 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.040 bit more to stosstroone. So it's nothing bad. It's nothing 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.800 like to be embarrassed about. I think a lot of women, 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.360 especially feel like, oh shit, like if I it's gonna 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.760 make me less of a woman if I do this, 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.640 or if I admit that I have a hormone imbalance, 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.440 and I'm like, no, it's changed my life. It's helped 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.040 me lose weight. My hair is growing more now, I 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.240 have a lot more energy. When I work out, I'm 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.000 lifting a little bit heavier. Now I feel good, like 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.280 my muscle mass, like my legs are looking good again. 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.560 That's another thing. My cellulate, you guys, was out of 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.520 fucking control. Like I was like, what is happening? I 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.560 work out so much, and it was because I had 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.280 so much damn estrogen. Granted, you know cellulite, it's hereditary. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:05:59.680 I even see it on very thin girls. You know 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.279 that if you just if it runs in your family, 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:03.560 you can't get around it. 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:03.840 You know. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.480 I do massages and everything. But it's gotten a lot better, 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.520 you guys, where I don't feel as shy to be 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.000 in like, you know, a two piece, or to show 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.559 my nagas at the beach. You know. Now I'm like whatever, 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.760 because it's gotten a lot better. So it all has 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:17.799 to do with like hormone therapy. And this is something 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.760 that a lot of women don't even know, don't even 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:22.800 think about when they're thinking, like why am I so 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.680 damn tired? Why is my hair falling? Why can't I 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.440 lose weight? Like, yes, it has a lot to do, 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.400 especially when it comes to like the weight loss part 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.960 of it. You have to make a lifestyle change, you guys, 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.160 Like you have to know, Okay, Monday through Friday, I'm 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.240 going to eat as healthy as I possibly can, and 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.520 on the weekends I'm going to indulge. I'm going I'm 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.159 not going to deprive myself. All of that has and 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.279 place apart, you know, working out, sweating every day, you guys, 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.960 as much as you can twenty thirty minutes a day. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:50.920 If you can't do every day, to be at the gym, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.040 do twice a week, do three times a week, whatever 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.479 it is you can do, but get those toxins out 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.800 of your body. So, yes, all of that has a 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:02.640 lot to do with weight loss, absolutely, nutrition and working out. 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.680 But also I was doing all of that, you guys. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.559 I had a trainer. I would train five times a week, 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.280 and shit was just not happening for me. And it 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:13.680 had to do with my hormone. So this is why 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.560 I'm telling you, maybe that's why you're not feeling motivated 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.480 to go to the gym. You just feel so exhausted, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.160 and it's probably because you're a low into stostroone. So 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.480 in my experience, I just kind of felt it in 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.840 my heart of hearts, like I had remembered my mom 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:32.200 mentioning her hormone imbalance, so I thought, well, maybe that's 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.880 what's happening with me, like maybe I need to get 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:36.480 that checked out. So it was like a six cent 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.120 sort of thing, and I just went for it, and 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.480 I just googled, and I found this doctor and he 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.120 you can't go to like your primary doctor and then 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.200 they can tell you, Okay, i'm gonna recommend you this specialist, 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.600 but it does have to be a hormone specialist, someone 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.720 that does this day in and day out. And that's 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.400 what I did. I googled and I found two. I 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.760 actually was through a zoom a zoom meeting, a zoom appointment, 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:04.160 and then I went in person because I'm more of 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.120 like a in person type of person, So I did 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.880 interview too doctors and the one that i'm with now, 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.720 I'm very happy with and he's an irvine and he's great. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:13.480 And what I. 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:18.080 Really loved about my doctor in particular was he was 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:22.480 very honest. He's very straight up. He takes to sawstrone. 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.560 He's on hormone therapy. He said he had been on 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:26.640 it for like more than ten years, and his wife 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.800 as well. He's like, it's very common, and it's so 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:31.880 common and it's so sad that a lot of people 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.680 don't know about it. So I felt like, oh my god, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.920 what's wrong with me? I like felt like, oh my god, 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:39.040 my body, you know what I mean. And during that time, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:40.920 I was also kind of going through like my cists 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:42.760 and my ovaries, and I'm like, oh my god. But 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:44.720 he also told me, oh my god, this is another thing. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.520 Before I forget, He's like, you're producing so much estrogen 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.240 that that's probably why you're getting so many cysts and 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.880 your ovaries, and it's your ovaries really saying like hello, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.120 like you are ready to be a mother, but also 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.640 it's the estrogen that's going on in your body that 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.200 you should be more fertile. But because you have these cysts, 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.480 it's not helping you get pregnant. That's another thing you guys, 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.880 oh my god. Now if I'm ready to get pregnant, 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:08.839 then I would have to lay off the disosterone. So 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.920 it's all important to be informed completely with your doctor 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.280 where you're at in your life. If you're done having kids, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:15.560 you got to let him know that. If you want 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:16.760 to have kids, you got to let them know that. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.400 If it's just for weight loss, you got to let 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.040 them know that, like be completely honest. Like when I 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:22.920 started hormone therapy, I was like, no, I'm good. I 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:24.880 just want to get myself leveled out. I want to 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.480 get myself balanced. I'm not trying to have kids right now, 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:29.400 which is why I think he gave me like the 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.880 dose that he gave me a disosterone. But now if 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.440 I want to start having a baby towards the end 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:34.920 of the year, then he's going to have to like 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.000 really completely take me off or lower it. That's something 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.920 that I have to figure out with him. But it 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.959 was very very clear about how common this is you guys, 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:48.000 And it's not that something's wrong with us, although kind 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.000 of because it's like, Okay, what's happening. It has a 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.000 lot to do with our food, you guys, A lot 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.280 to do with our food nowadays our food is injected 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:02.000 with preservatives and additives and crazy things and hormones. This 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.920 is why I'm always one to like especially my poultry, 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.400 my meat, my chicken, all that. I try to get 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.240 it organic, grass fed, all that stuff, just because a 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:16.479 lot of chicken, especially you guys, is injected with hormones 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.680 to make them grow faster, because it's all like in demand, 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.960 especially chicken. So for a long time I stayed away 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.800 from chicken. My doctor also told me to stay away 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.360 from soy because a lot of it is GMO, which 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.600 means genetically modified organism, and that's why it's like all 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.720 this like gluten free and you know, non GMO. I 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.960 personally follow that because it really messed me up. You 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.280 can have meat, but like be try to do a 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.760 little bit more clean and organic if you can, and 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.720 vegetarian if possible. Not telling you to be completely vegetarian, 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.320 but it is best to add more fruits and veggies 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.400 so that you're not in taking so much hormone, especially 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.120 like at restaurants and stuff like that. You know, if 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.000 you can cook at home, cook at home, like these 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.600 are all things that he suggests. Didn't of course with 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.600 my lifestyle. It's a little hard, but with the hormones 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.400 and everything, like, I feel like it hasn't really affected me, 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.120 even like when I'm out traveling, like it hasn't really 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.400 affected me as much. So make sure you ask all 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.040 the questions when you go see your doctor and tell 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.280 them where you're atting your life, if you're done having 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.160 kids and all that stuff. You know, it is very 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.720 important to know that when going into to see your 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.280 hormone specialist. So going back to the whole low into 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.920 stosterone thing, there are women that are high into stosterone 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.640 and very low in estrogen, which means that's sometimes why 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.880 you know, some women grow more facial hair than others, 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:39.120 or they have like a stronger body odor. Those are 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.760 signs of like imbalanced hormones. So that's why it's important 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.440 to go just check it out. And I just googled, 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.440 you guys. I googled, and I was like, I need 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:52.680 to find a hormone specialist, and there are plenty, you 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.480 just have to research in your area. And my doctor 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.360 he's out here in Irvine and he's amazing. So gave 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:05.040 me to stosterroone drops. Because you're supposed to lift weights 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.520 so that your muscle grows so that you have less fat. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.880 So I was working out really hard and I just 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.920 felt like I just was not retaining my muscle mass, 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.920 which in turn, I wasn't burning a lot of fat, 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.000 you guys, So that I had to do with. I 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:23.280 was low into stostroone and estrogen. Also, there's a lot 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.520 of estrogen in SOI, which is another reason why my 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.040 doctor said stay away from SOY because when you're producing 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.960 too much estrogen, you hold on to a lot of fat. 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.000 Especially that's for women, you know, to like take care 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.760 of the baby, like to nourish the baby, you know 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.199 what I mean. So it's like your mind in a 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.760 way feels like you're pregnant, so you got to hold 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.640 onto that. Anyways, I had a lot of estrogen and 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.200 I was holding onto my fat like no other you guys. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:54.160 But I do suggest highly suggest women and gentlemen get 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.880 it checked out. It's not that expensive and it's definitely 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:07.760 a great investment and completely worth it. Alrighty guys, So 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.960 sitting here with me is doctor Erica Montes. She's a 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:16.200 board certified opgyn based in Arizona, and she's also the 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:20.120 creator of the bilingual health blog The Modern Mucher Doctor Montess. 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:21.440 Thank you so much for being on. 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.600 How are you? Thank you honey so much. I'm doing great. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.360 I'm so excited to be talking to you today. So 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.840 that way we can get evidence based information out there 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.120 to your community. And I appreciate you having me on. 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.439 Of course, of course, absolutely, I'm very excited because I mean, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.599 I just shared my experience with hormone therapy. But of 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:41.240 course I'm not a doctor, so I was like, I 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.200 need to get someone here that knows and is going 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.840 to give people solid information. So I mean, I guess 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.520 we can start with what exactly is hormone therapy. 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.720 Yeah, so hormone therapy or menopausal hormone therapy is essentially 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.000 medication or treatment that we give people who are going 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:04.360 through menopause. What does menopause mean? Menopause essentially is defined 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.480 as when you no longer have a period for one 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.920 full year. But even though we're talking about periods, you 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.640 still can actually start having some menopausal symptoms even prior 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.400 to no longer having a period. 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.640 Okay, yes, because I started hormone therapy a couple years back, 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.440 and I feel like I'm still fairly young, but I 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.960 know that there is in my family at least a 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.440 lot of hormone imbalance, and my mom was her hormones 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.040 were very off before she passed, so she was on 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.680 hormone therapy. So that's what made me go because I 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.720 started feeling a certain way, and I started feeling tired 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.680 and my hair started thinking just so many things. So 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.200 someone told me, go get your hormones checked. So it 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.840 could be menopausal. But you can, like you just said, 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.520 like you could start as early as how old. 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.280 Yeah, so I think that average age when patients starts 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.840 seeing more symptoms that were used to like when we 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.120 think of menopause symptoms such as like hot flashes, night sweats, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:04.800 inability to lead, irritability, difficulty concentrating, you know, just a 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.400 change in your quality of life that typically happens we 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:12.120 would say between like forty five and fifty five, but 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.760 we do tend to see that women even as young 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.240 as forty can be experiencing these symptoms. So it is important, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.080 like you said, I need to go get evaluated, Go 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.200 get your hormones check, because it definitely can can change 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.080 your quality of life and we want women who now 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.960 that we know, are living longer. We kind of go 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.480 through this like forty to fifty year old change and 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.200 we still possibly have twenty or thirty more years of 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.240 life left, so we definitely want to make sure that 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.280 we can have a good quality of life. 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.320 Absolutely, And do you think that maybe a lot more 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.560 women and even men are having hormone imbalances because of 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.640 what's in our food or is that like a completely 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:52.960 different conversation. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.800 You know, I think that definitely has something to do 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.520 with it, right, Like our society is like quick, quick, quick, fast, 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.200 fast fast in terms of, like you know, we can 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.280 go down the street and get food that obviously isn't 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.840 the highest quality. It's obviously most of the time ultra processed. 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:14.240 So I think our food, which in turn has different 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:19.200 chemicals and possibly hormones as well, can affect right. And 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:23.000 then also we kind of tend to have also more 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.840 of like a sedentary lifestyle where people are becoming morabese, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.040 and that's also leading to hormone and balances. So I 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.080 think it's kind of like our society in general. But then, 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.800 like I mentioned before, women are living longer, they're wanting 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.120 to lead similar lifestyles to what they had in their 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.440 earlier decades, and then that also contributes to women seeking 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.440 out care and wanting to not feel the way that 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.480 they're feeling, Yeah, for sure. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:53.560 And what are things that people can that you can 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.120 tell them like Okay, there's something going on, Like what 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.920 are you know knowing like okay, my hormones might be off? 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.760 Like what are some simple dumbs or signs? 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.879 Yeah. So, I mean, I think most complaints that I 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.840 get from patients, if it's not going to be the 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.160 more common like hot flashes and night sweats, I'm gonna 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.439 see that patients are like you know what, I just 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.520 am so irritable, like or I cry at the drop 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.439 of a hat. I can't sleep anymore, Like I used 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.520 to be able to sleep all night and now I'm 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.640 waking up at one am and I can't go back 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.600 to sleep. I feel like I have some brain fog. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.760 I feel like I can't concentrate those kinds of things. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.679 So hormones are so important, and not only our female 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.240 hormones or our sex hormones, but also hormones such as 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.440 the thyroid and things like that. So when you are 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.440 going to get evaluated for these symptoms, you also want 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.520 to make sure that they're checking other hormones such as thyroid, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.720 which can sometimes overlap in symptoms. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.240 Now that you mentioned the thyroid, that's something that I've 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.200 been taking medication for that and now that I've lost weight, 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.399 can you go back or like stop your medication for thyroid? 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.040 Is it something that you have to take forever? 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.960 For instance, I would say most of the time, hypothyroidism 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.280 or a thyroid disorder is going to be a lifelong 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:16.120 medication because I know because whenever your thyroid is underfunctioning 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:20.080 or overproducing it's it can be from various things. But 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:24.040 a lot of times hypothyroidism can be from an autoimmune 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:29.200 disorderat like how SHEI motives disease, something along those lines. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.800 So those antibodies are always going to be in your 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:37.439 system regardless of what you can, unfortunately do. So most 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.000 of the time, I would say this is going to 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:40.160 be a lifetime medication. 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.600 Oh I was hoping to hear something different, but I 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:43.840 mean it's hereditary. 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:45.120 I feel just because. 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.960 My grandma just got her thyroid gland removed, and I 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.960 have a couple of family members that are on thyroid 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.159 medication as well. So oh well, okay, that was a 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.400 question that I just had a little side question for myself. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.119 But is this something that insurance covers like hormone therapy. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.520 Yeah, so overall insurance does cover the more what I 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.520 call traditional hormone therapy. And so what that means is 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:13.720 like hormones that are quote unquote like technically FDA approved, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.480 So that would be like the oral preparations, the patches. 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:23.919 There's some topicals like gels, those are all covered under insurance. 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.720 Now there's other hormones that are in a different class 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:31.760 called bioidentical hormones, and those essentially, for the most part, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.040 I would say more than ninety percent ninety five percent 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:36.440 are not covered by insurance. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.560 Okay, And how much can someone expect to pay for 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:40.440 this type of treatment? 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.760 Roughly, you know, I would say on average, most patients 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:51.040 are paying between thirty to fifty dollars a month. The 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.760 different types of hormone therapies are going to be just 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:59.880 generalized like estrogen therapy, progesterone therapy, and then there's bad 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.679 general estrogen therapy or localized therapy for the vagina or 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:10.240 the genital area. Estrogen and progesterone therapy go hand in 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.080 hand if a woman still has a uterus, But if 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.639 you don't have a uterus, you can use what we 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.679 call unopposed estrogen where we don't have to give you 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.359 progesterone necessarily because you don't have a uterus that could 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.520 start having thickening of the endometrium or the uterine lining. 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:31.719 And then some women use the vaginal estrogen therapy just 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:37.720 for what we call genital ural syndrome amenopause, which essentially 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:42.040