September 5, 2024 • 43 mins
Have you ever wondered why, despite eating well and exercising, you still can't shake off that stubborn midlife weight gain? Join us as we reveal personal stories of battling unexplained weight gain, health issues, and the discovery of hormonal imbalances. You'll learn how anxiety, brain fog, and sleep disturbances are often tied to hormonal changes and the importance of getting the right medical care to address these issues.
In this episode, we tackle the emotional and physical tolls of midlife, from post-childbirth weight struggles to ailments like plantar fasciitis and frozen shoulder. Hear our discussions on the significance of proper nutrition and sustainable health practices in navigating these challenges. We also explore how these changes impact not just our own lives, but also our relationships with family and friends, and the importance of understanding and managing these dynamics.
Dive into an eye-opening conversation about the power of personalized hormone replacement therapy. Discover the difference between being within the medical range and striving for optimal health through functional medicine and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. We share inspiring stories of overcoming fatigue, mood swings, and low libido, and emphasize the transformative impact of hormone replacement therapy for both men and women in midlife. Learn how addressing hormone imbalances can significantly enhance vitality, well-being, and overall quality of life.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
all right, let's talk about life-changing experience.
We all had.
What is this life-changingexperience in our midlife
madness?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna get started with this,
because I was the one who got usall started with this that's
true, that is true so I'm andtypically I think it works out
that way Like I'm usually theone to try all the random stuff
first.
I don't know why I'm like theeasiest person sold ever.
Like you want to talk aboutbeing influenced?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Remember your posh spice, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, but I think everything happens to you first
and then it trickles down to us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It could be that as well.
So here's here's my personalstory, and then I think it's
going to ring true for a lot ofpeople that are listening, just
because I know that in my friendcircle it has now rang true for
every single person as they hita certain age, right.
So, as I don't know if you guysknow or not, but you know we
(01:09):
are inspire weight loss.
We all own weight loss centersin our respective towns and my
weight kept going up and up andup and up about two years ago
like horribly I think it was youknow, I don't know what it was.
It could have been menopause.
It could have been post COVID,it could have been you know a
(01:32):
variety of you know of stressors, of things, what have you?
Uh, but remember how puffy youwere too.
I was so swollen Like I felt sounhealthy and I could lose
maybe 10 pounds and then I wouldgain 15 back as soon as I like
ate anything out of.
You know our protocol whichisn't.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
You didn't eat bad.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You don't eat bad.
You know, I have days that Idon't eat well.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You like your sweets, like a lot of us, but I don't
you know, like it's just.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It's one of those things I was like this is not
normal, this is not right.
I know that I'm doing mostthings well and I know that, for
what I do, I should not be atthis point in my life, and I
think you know it's.
It's a moment of like beinghonest with yourself.
Like, do you eat clean most ofthe time?
(02:24):
Are you a heavy drinker?
Are you eating a ton of fastfood and processed junk?
And if those are yeses, thenyou know, maybe change those
things a little bit, becausethere's no hormone that's going
to fix your bad habits.
However, um, if you aregenuinely trying and you're not
seeing any positive change, youshould really consider checking
(02:48):
out your hormones and the reason.
So it was the most random thing.
I Googled a doctor in my townand when they answered the phone
they were the most pleasant,right.
So you never know, cause Icalled like three different
offices and they were honestlynot nice and I was like I'm not
gonna give you a impression.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
It's really important .
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, I'm not talking to you, I agree, and so I went
to see this wonderful doctor,and you know, it turns out that,
even though some of my labpanels were showing normal um,
they were that it was not normalfor me.
So that's something else thatyou also need to consider when
(03:28):
you go to these places is, ifsomebody is telling you that
everything is normal, but youdon't feel normal, find somebody
who's going to look deeper atwhat your normal is supposed to
be.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know.
You know how you feel and youknow how you're supposed to feel
, especially if something haschanged.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And so it turns out, you know, my thyroid, even
though it was showing withinrange, was not um, my
inflammatory markers werethrough the roof and basically I
wasn't in full menopause.
That's the interesting thing, Iwasn't in full menopause.
That's the scary part, right,like what would have happened if
(04:07):
I had waited two more years?
Um, I wasn't in full menopause,but all my hormones were all
jacked up.
So you know, doc, put me oneverything.
Okay, like he.
You know he, um, this guy istreats aggressively.
I think he, this guy is treatsaggressively.
I think more so than otherhormone people.
(04:27):
But it's worked for me andeverybody has a different
process, right?
But I guess what I'm trying toget at is the importance of
going through this process ofmiddle age with balanced
hormones will make you feelsubstantially less insane.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
But that's, that's a valid statement.
That's a valid statement as weall chuckle, as you said that,
because I think the three of ushave certainly experienced that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes, we have the WTF moments, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
But listen.
It affects everything it does.
It does.
It affects whether you can loseweight and keep it off.
It affects whether you could goto the gym and see a difference
in your workouts.
Right, if you're exercisinglike a beast and you're not
seeing your muscles grow.
You're not seeing your bodylean out.
And again back to being honest.
(05:28):
Right, if you leave the gym andtreat yourself to McDonald's on
the way home because you did agreat job, there's a good chance
your workouts aren't going towork.
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It affects everything .
I mean it affects your sleep.
It affects if you're nice topeople or not.
It affects your mood.
It affects your anxiety.
It affects if you're nice topeople or not.
It affects your mood.
Anxiety yeah, you can startlike if you you haven't been
like an anxious person yourwhole life and all of a sudden
you're anxious.
You know vaginal dryness.
I mean there's like every fullintercourse, painful intercourse
(06:00):
.
I mean there's like so manydifferent things, even thinking
for the day.
Yes, Brain fog, concentration,memory loss.
It's crazy, that's crazy.
That's why it's midlife madness.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's a freaking madness, but I guess here's the
thing and it's so different andmen go through it too to an
extent.
It's called andropause and mengo through some of it, but I
think the huge difference isthat men's testosterone.
Men are basically testosteronedominant and they are driven by
(06:37):
testosterone majorly theirentire life.
Yes, they have some estrogen,they have other hormones in
their balancing, but primarilyit's a testosterone driven body
right For men and they startlosing their testosterone slowly
but surely in their midthirties and it's just a steady,
(06:57):
it's a steady decline, right,it just starts dropping,
dropping, dropping, so theymight not be as interested in
sex.
They might just kind of loseinterest in general.
They might just kind of loseinterest in general.
They start getting puffy aroundthe middle.
They get the dad bod right andthat is a decrease in
testosterone.
Women have all these cycles thatgo up and down every month and
that's you know.
(07:17):
That's why sometimes we getmoody, like all those things.
Yes, it is, it's valid, right.
We have all these cycles.
Our bodies work cyclically.
Men are just our bodies workcyclically and when those cycles
just stop, right, it's like theweirdest thing, like all of a
sudden your body has no moreprogesterone.
(07:38):
It's done, it's over.
It's no more estrogen, no moretestosterone there's all those
things play a role in women'sbodies.
We're not.
We're not simple.
We're not simple.
Critters, right.
And if most medicalpractitioners have no idea what
(08:01):
to do with your hormones, theyjust don't.
It's not that they don't wantto, it's just not something that
they've been taught.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, and it's not something that they're.
They really are taught to lookat the numbers in a different
way.
They'll run the numbers andthey say oh yeah, you're in
menopause, You're okay, you know, you're just.
You're just in menopause,You're okay.
Yeah, no, I'm not, you know.
And a big telltale sign is youknow, Dr Marty, you brought up
(08:30):
going to the gym, and if yournutrition is good and you're
going to the gym and you'redoing good resistance but you're
not building muscle, then why?
What's going on?
You have no testosterone, youneed to build muscle.
You have no testosterone, youneed to build muscle.
You know so.
So there's a lot of differentthings that that happen.
That that puts, puts us throughthe ringer it does 100 percent
(08:53):
um.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And also, not to mention we've mentioned, like
all these different symptoms,but also you're more prone if
your, your hormones are out ofwhack.
You're more prone to certainchronic diseases too.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, prone to some cancers as well.
Like it, way back when and Ithink this is like the fear that
all of us had before we startedit, because I because I mean I
was scared.
You know, I grew up my momsaying hormones are really bad
for you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Hormone therapy is awful for you, you're supposed
to suffer through all of this,yeah, suffer through all of it
and not do anything about itthat's still the mentality, yeah
that's still the mentality youknow I get it from, like some of
these.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Some of the medical doctors see the primary.
You know the ob-gyn.
Oh oh, you shouldn't be onestrogen for longer than a
certain period of time becauseof this, but they don't see the
studies on it too.
So you know there's a lot ofdifferent factors of what you're
taking and how you're taking itand the reason why.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Mm, hmm, yeah, and with everything, with every
everything under the sun, youhave to monitor and take you
know and make sure you havefollow ups and make sure you
check your counts and all thesetype of things to make sure that
you're good.
But you don't have to sufferthrough all of these, all this
madness, all these symptoms,yeah, all these negative
symptoms.
Yeah, all these negative,horrible symptoms, symptoms so
what have you started your yourhormone replacement therapy?
(10:30):
How do you feel now, after that?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
well, um, adulting still sucks, so the hormones
didn't fix that, um, but okay,so I sleep at night, which is
nice.
The hot flashes went awayinstantaneously, so that whole.
You wake up at four o'clock inthe morning and you're like
(10:54):
you're drenched in sweat.
No, that, that, no, no, no more.
Thank you.
I've been able to keep myweight steady.
I was able to lose the weightbecause I had gained like almost
70 pounds.
I'm five foot four.
That's a lot.
Okay, that's a lot if you'resix foot tall, but at five foot
(11:16):
four, that's a lot, especiallywhen you know my entire life,
growing up up until I was up,until I had kids, honestly,
which I think is when myhormones went downhill.
I was always very small, I wasalways very petite, and so I've
been able to lose weight, um,and I've been able to keep it
off.
I think this is the first yearin my adult life, post children,
(11:41):
that I have weighed the samefor a year straight
post-children that I haveweighed the same for a year
straight.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, and and and.
Your nutrition is still thesame as as it was.
I mean some changes in things,but essentially it's the same.
And it's so powerful to knowthat, hey, this can be adjusted,
this can be fixed, it can makeyour life a little bit easier,
you know it's such a it's, it'ssuch a freedom to know that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Okay, this weekend I'm meeting some great lifelong
friends at the beach with ourfamilies, and this weekend I'm
not going to be eating thecleanest and I probably will
have a couple of drinks, not alot, because alcohol is not my
friend any longer Since I've hitmiddle age, you know.
(12:40):
So I'll moderate, obviously,because you know I don't want to
come back feeling awful allweek.
Right, it used to be a hangover, was a couple of hours, and as
you get older now it's like acouple of weeks.
Yeah, so.
So I'll moderate myself,obviously, but it's just so.
It's such a relief to know thatthis weekend I don't really
have to watch myself, and evenif I gain a pound or so over the
(13:02):
weekend, it'll come right offbut that's part of that, but
what you just said is part oflike a normal and natural,
sustainable way I understand,but it hasn't happened in 20
years I know.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Dr Mari, what about, like the shoulder pain that you
had too?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You had some like pain that you were going through
.
Okay, and that's all part ofthe inflammatory process, of all
your hormones leaving.
Okay, I did not know this.
I did not know this.
I had plantar fasciitis foralmost two years straight.
I couldn't exercise, I couldbarely walk.
Listen, I couldn't go shopping.
You know how tragic that is.
(13:42):
That's a problem for you.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's a problem.
That's not a problem for me,but for you it's a problem.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I kind of got tired of hearing her complain about
her feet hearing her complainabout her feet.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
It hurt, I know it was.
It's an awful kind of pain andnothing would take care of it,
nothing would fix it.
I tried acupuncture.
I tried.
It was like oh my gosh and myfrozen shoulder.
I could not move my arm, thisarm right here could not move.
It couldn't do anything.
I was literally like this,getting dressed.
It was horrible and I'm like Iam 50 years old, like is this it
(14:19):
?
Is it over?
Am I done?
Yeah, because, yeah, Iliterally couldn't.
Um, I couldn't move my arm, Icouldn't walk comfortably.
I was like why am I eatingclean?
Like what's the what's thepoint?
Yeah, here myself, if my body'sgonna betray me, which is
honestly what it felt like nowyou're living your best life.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I am.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I don't know about my best life.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I could imagine a better well you're definitely
not as crazy always I can vouchfor that.
You're definitely not as crankyI can vouch for that.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You're definitely not as cranky, much easier now to
deal with her.
I think it's a lot easier tonot hate the world when you feel
like yourself yeah, when youfeel like yourself, and I think
that's when the anxiety is gone,when the panic attacks are not
happening for no reason.
(15:19):
I mean every once in a whileit's a valid reason to have a
panic attack.
But you know depression a lotof people go through depression
when they're mental health thelife change.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You don't know how to deal with it, like what's the
hormones affect that you know,when you look in the mirror and
you hate everything you see.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, that's depressing, and how you feel
you're trying.
Yeah, you feel awful, you lookawful, but you're trying, but
nothing's working.
And if this is where you are,if you're somebody's listening
and this is where you are, wecan help you with that.
Yeah, we've discovered.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We've discovered a way, yeah, we can help you with
that also, like, not onlydealing with how you're, how
you're feeling and like this newversion of yourself that you
that came like almost overnight,um, also you have to deal with
how, how to deal with peoplearound you that don't understand
the why you're feeling that wayand why you're operating this
(16:17):
way and and and.
Sometimes you don't want tooperate this way.
Sometimes you know you.
You just you're just trying tofigure out how to deal with this
new you yeah, um, and newsymptoms and all these different
things that that are happening.
You have to deal with yourselfand you have to deal with those
around you too.
And then you have to stayproductive, like if you work, if
(16:38):
you have children, if you havelike you have to push through,
push through the fatigue, pushthrough, like all of these
things that still function inlife and do the things that are
required in your life.
So it's a lot to handle.
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Listen, we women, we women really go through a lot,
but we still really try andfocus and get our stuff done.
A lot of things don't slow usdown and it's harder, harder.
We just keep going.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, your hormone.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
So Dr Marty became the guinea pig.
Um, you know, we were talking,I'm like, when she was telling
me about this, I'm like, no, Ihaven't, I haven't, I haven't
experienced hot flashes, Ihaven't.
And then I remember, I can tellyou exactly.
It was like about four yearsago.
I'm cleaning and all of asudden I'm like, oh, where's
that heat coming from?
(17:37):
I'm like, huh, I'm like, oh,like I started like getting
flush.
I'm like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Knowing outside, but you're in Florida.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I actually I was in Florida I'm like I'm just
cleaning the counters.
I'm like I'm not breaking it.
I'm like, okay, I'm like I'mjust cleaning the counters.
I'm like I'm not breaking it.
I'm like, okay, I'm like, well,let me, let me bring the AC
down a little more.
So I had it 65 and I'm like,okay, I'm like it was just hot
in here, and then it kepthappening, and then it kept
happening.
Now let's back up a little bit.
(18:09):
Now I had lost over over 100.
I want to say it was like 130pounds right Years ago and I've
always, you know, I hadmaintained it.
You lost a whole human.
I lost the whole human diet andexercise.
It wasn't easy, but I did it,you know, and I maintained it
(18:30):
and it was easy to maintain.
And then, at that same time, Istarted noticing huh started
creeping up, like despite, likemy diet, you guys know, like my
diet, you know pretty good, Idon't drink sodas.
I don't, you know, really, Idon't.
I don't even know how to ordervegetables yeah, I like
vegetables, right, um, I don'teven know how to order at a fast
(18:51):
food place I very rarely go andwe cook meals at my house, you
know and I started noticing,like this weight creep creeping
up and I'm like what the?
You know what's going on.
And then I started to noticenow, you guys know I am not a
good sleeper.
No, no, to begin with, I'venever, I've never been a good
(19:15):
sleeper.
But I noticed that that littlebit of sleep that I get at night
, the quality changed.
And then I noticed that Iwasn't sleeping, or sleeping
less, and I was tired.
And then I noticed that I usedto love to read books and I
noticed I didn't have that focusanymore and Donna's sitting on
(19:39):
her couch, falling asleep on hercouch.
I mean, just have that visualit's, but it's true, right, like
you guys joke, right, we'vebeen together where you guys
turn on a movie and you guysaren't watching the movie,
you're watching me fall asleepas soon as that movie turns on.
It's entertaining, yeah, soguilty of that.
I am so guilty of that, yeah.
(19:59):
So you know, all thesedifferent things started
happening and I'm like, huh, youknow, dr Marty's, like you
really should go see.
You know, it's gotta be yourhormones and I'm like you know
what?
I think you're right, it'sdefinitely, it's definitely my
hormones.
Because you know, I startedseeing all these different
changes and the interestingthing for me is I never felt
(20:22):
inflamed.
Did I have some knee pain?
Yes, but I think that was morebecause we used to run, we used
to do a lot of mileage, we usedto run like a lot, and so I had
some injuries to my knee.
I never really attributed it tothat, but I'm sure that played
a part in it.
But I wound up getting theblood work for the hormones.
(20:43):
My hormones, unlike hers, minewere like all low, like there
were things that non-existent.
But what was really interestingwas my cholesterol has always
been up like high, despite mygood, healthy eating habits, and
(21:03):
what we discovered was is I hadan autoimmune condition and
Hashimoto's.
I was diagnosed withHashimoto's.
It's related to theinflammatory state that your
body goes into with with a lotof different things, but what I,
what we also discovered, is Ihad an issue with the thyroid.
(21:25):
All of this can tie into thehormone changes, and so my
thyroid's under control, myHashimoto's, my numbers are in a
good spot.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
How good is it, Dr Donna, to know like those sports
right, Because?
If you hadn't gone through thatyou wouldn't know that you have
Hashimoto's and all these typesof things.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah, and you know what?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Knowing is powerful because now you know what to do
about it.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
But the other thing that I didn't know in all my
reading and all my research andall this I didn't know that the
thyroid related to the highcholesterol, that the
Hashimoto's related to the highcholesterol.
I got that under control and mycholesterol is perfect.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, what happens is , if you, another thing that's
related to your hormones beingout of whack is insulin
resistance.
Yeah, and that was going to goright there with it Because I,
you know, when I first did mylab work, I turned up, you know,
insulin resistant and again wego back to we eat fairly clean,
(22:30):
right, but if you know, yourhormones play a huge role in
keeping all those systems inplace.
So, once again, if you're goingthrough, you know, and I think
like we were made to feel crazyto an extent as women yeah,
right, it literally just soundedlike something exploded in the
(22:54):
building next door to me.
That's nice, I think.
I think, as women, were made tofeel crazy when we start
experiencing a lot of thesesymptoms midlife.
Even if you're just crazy evenif you're younger right, even if
you're in your twenties andthirties and you're having these
(23:17):
wild up and down swings duringyour cycle.
That's not normal.
No, not normal, right?
So you know, take um kind oftake stock of yourself and see
where your habits can improve,and that's always the first
place, right?
You don't just want to starttaking medication and taking
(23:39):
stuff to counteract your badhabits.
That's not at all what we'readvocating.
But I do feel that a lot oftimes you're doing everything
the way you feel is right andyou're not seeing any difference
.
You're not seeing results.
Things are getting worse.
You're not seeing animprovement.
You still have the inflammation.
Consider that it's somethingyou haven't looked at yet.
(24:01):
Or consider that it's somethingthat maybe your provider isn't
versed in, just like they'reversed in nutrition.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
It's not what they do , yeah, but you know what?
It's something to keep in mindtoo, that it's not an overnight
change.
It takes, um, it takes a goodsolid year, maybe even a little
more, to balance everything out.
And and Dr Marty and I arefortunate because you know we,
we actually go to the samedoctor, um, but you know, um, as
long as you find somebody whovalidates you and who knows what
(24:29):
what they're doing and who doestesting, the blood testing,
because that's important.
So they know how to things andhow to change things, based on
what your lab say and based onhow you feel, because how you
feel is important.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
So how do you feel, Dr.
Donna?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I feel pretty good.
Actually, you know I feelpretty good.
Um, it's interesting because II'm in the middle of changing
some stuff too.
You know, um, to kind ofperfect it.
To kind of perfect it because,um, I was having issues with
gaining muscle, despite me beingactive and, interestingly
(25:09):
enough, in the past, uh, I wantto say like maybe three, four
months, I gained like five orsix pounds of muscle.
I didn't change anything of myroutine, it's just my hormones
were balanced.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You know, so that's a nice thing it makes a huge
difference.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Dr Marty, you brought up, like even young people,
like as we, as we women, as wego through our cycles, it
affects it.
You also have to remember, andyou brought it up as well your
nutrition plays a part in that,plays a part in in the
inflammatory state of your body.
The inflammatory state of yourbody, even though you're not
going through the menopause,affects those hormones, yeah,
(25:49):
and so there's even a lot ofwomen out there that have
infertility, that are overweightand their doctors say you got
to lose weight.
You know there's a lot ofreasons why you got to lose
weight, but losing that weightcan affect those hormones to
balance out that's very in linewith like young ladies that have
(26:09):
pcos yes, diagnosed with pcosyou know, 100 super in line with
that.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So your quality of life has increased, dr Donna,
and you're.
You're smiling and is awesome.
So now I'm going to tell mystory.
I was the third one to join thehormone therapy train.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
She's late, but she's .
But she's also younger than us.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
The funny thing is that I think it was like she
went to one.
She had lab work done.
Let me tell you from myperspective, and then you could
tell us what actually physicallyhappened to you, Because Dr
Donna and I have been on thislike hormone wellness journey,
right now for a couple of yearsnow.
And so you know, of course we'retelling Martha about it and
(26:54):
she's like hormones are perfect.
I still have all everything I'msupposed to have.
I went and had my labs done andI, everything is great.
And then, all of a sudden, onemonth well, this is what
happened.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I I was having, and that's one of the reasons why I
went to get the blood work done.
And when I went to get theblood work done with my regular
doctor, okay, all my counts werewithin range.
So, and that was told, I'm wayfar from menopause, which it was
(27:33):
confirmed, that that's true,with my functional medicine
doctor, but, um, I'm as fertileas a 15 year old.
That's what they told me.
I'm like, oh crap, I don't.
I don't know if that's good newsor not, but um, not having a
baby at 49 years old, that's forsure.
Uh, so I was like man.
You know, the doctor's like mycounts are perfect.
(27:55):
They're within range.
They're within range.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
And now, and I was, that's when you feel crazy and
that's one of those?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
yeah, exactly, and it's.
It's cool that we're talkingabout this because we're it's.
My story is a little bitdifferent.
I'm 49 years old.
I'm a little bit younger thanyou guys.
You guys are more far along inthe menopause thing, right?
Um, you're our.
Each of us, our stories, havedifferent symptoms and different
things that we walk through,right.
So it's cool for the listenersto to see all the different
(28:23):
stories and how everything wentdown.
But, um, I was like man, I'msupposed to be perfect, but I
don't feel perfect.
You know what I'm saying?
So, and being that we're inthis industry, I knew something
was off.
I, because we know we talk toour clients, we guide our
(28:45):
clients, right.
So now I became the client andI'm like hell, no, it's not
perfect.
I, my hormones are out of whack.
I'm gonna go to a functionalmedicine doctor that doesn't
just look at if the counts arewithin range.
They optimize you.
You want to.
You don't want to live lifewithin range.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You don't want to be average, right, you don't want
to be average.
You don't want to be average.
I want to.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I want to kick ass and take names, and in order to
do that, I need to feel that I'mI'm walking in optimal health.
That's what I want to kick assand take names and in order to
do that, I need to feel that I'mwalking in optimal health.
That's what I want to feel likeNow.
For me, I'm the sporty spice.
I love working out, I love allthe things, and I was feeling
(29:31):
like really fatigued and tiredso I wasn't like working out as
consistent as I always.
I mean, I'm a 75 hard person,meaning I like to work out twice
a day.
I love that purpose.
She does this on purpose I do, Ido this on purpose, I do um and
I just don't.
I I was so tired and I wouldn't, I wouldn't work out every day.
(29:56):
I'm not a sweets person, and nowit's like you know the hormonal
cravings at nighttime.
So now I want something sweet.
My breasts were so dense that Icouldn't do a mammogram because
(30:18):
they were so dense and hardthat I had to do ultrasounds
because we had to really see if,make sure my breasts are okay.
But there was so much pain.
My breasts were tender and inpain three weeks out of four
weeks a month.
I was fighting.
I was bleeding three weeks outof four weeks a month.
Not only that, I was superirritated.
I was snap on my husband for noreason whatsoever and then it's
(30:40):
like an out of body experience.
I snapped and then I was likewhat the heck?
Why did I snap?
Why did I do that?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
it was like you feel crazy, yeah, and then it's just.
It's hard to explain sometimesyeah only a woman going, only a
woman going through.
It understands what the heck.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Um, I was.
I'm super productive, I'm avery um my, my every minute of
my day is earmarked to getsomething done and I would.
I wasn't as productive.
I had a lot of brain fog,memory loss, like I cannot even
remember what I did last week.
You know, it was just bad, yeah.
(31:25):
And low libido, like sex wasn'ta thing for me, because I it's
like no, there's no desirewhatsoever.
All that I had all of thosesymptoms.
So I was I'm like, okay, Igotta go optimize my hormones.
So I went to I I I actually Ithink it was you, dr Marty I
(31:49):
called or texted Dr Marty, I'mlike I need to go see a hormone
specialist.
Help me find somebody.
So I went to a functionalmedicine doctor and he did the
whole panel, the hormone panel,and looked at all the things and
he did confirm that I'm in goodhealth.
(32:10):
I also have the highcholesterol cholesterol too, dr
Donna, and being that I work outevery day and I eat healthy.
You know it is in my family,but still right.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So anyways, long story short, I'm estrogen
dominant, so that's the onlything with my hormones.
Is that too much estrogen?
So my functional medicinedoctor put me in a very low dose
of progesterone bioidenticalhormone and I felt the results
(32:45):
like the benefits of it rightaway.
Like right away.
I bet your breasts don't hurt ofit right away, like right away.
I bet your breasts don't hurtmy breasts.
Listen, my breasts have nothurt a day since I and I've been
on it for three months.
Um, a day, I I'm not bleedinganymore.
Um, I, I'm always, I've alwaysbeen a good sleeper.
(33:06):
Like too much sleep, because Ican sleep nine or 10 hours a day
.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So jealous of both of you because you guys are both
good sleepers.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So now I'm an even better sleeper.
I'm not sure if that's good ornot, but I'm an even better
sleeper.
I don't have any of thesymptoms.
I'm super productive as well.
I'm back at working out, so I'mgood.
We're still tweaking a littlebit because there's some things.
I'm not 100% yet.
I just started three months ago.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
And as you get older, things will change.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
because when I first started they didn't put me on
the estradiol because I didn'tneed it.
Same thing with me and then,all of a sudden, I don't know if
I'm nicer now.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
We'll have to ask my husband, gus.
I don't remember snapping onhim anytime lately, but I am, I,
I can, I can tell that I'm likelike my mood, um, is it's
better?
Uh, so yeah, and even even when, like life is good, like you,
(34:08):
know, life is.
And then you're in these moodslike why am I in this mood?
Life?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
is good, you know it's almost like everything that
everything irritates you, likethe smallest little thing
irritates you and can send youover the edge like a crazy
person.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
You feel crazy.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
That's the best way to say it you feel crazy.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And then when you have your labs done with your
you know regular practitioner,and they look at you and they
tell you everything is normal,yeah, and in your mind you're
like, well, maybe I am crazybecause I don't feel normal.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I don't better, that's what they do Just lose
weight, you'll feel better.
You gain 10 pounds.
If you lose that 10 pounds, ifyou lose that 20 pounds, you'll
feel better.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Look, last night I went I have a client,
55-year-old, female.
Okay, all of us and I was goingthrough the hormone replacement
therapy assessment that we gothrough at Inspire and I was
asking her about her energylevels, I was asking her about
(35:19):
her libido, I mean everything,depression, sweating, all the
things like, and she's like andthe options are never.
And she's like and the optionsare never, rarely, occasionally
and severely, and she's likesevere, severe, severe, severe.
(35:39):
And as I was asking her thequestions, her eyes were like
opening, like, oh my God,somebody understands me.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Somebody believes me.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yeah, finally somebody understands what I'm
going through and so we'reputting her.
So she, she, um, opted in forhormone replacement therapy at
inspire uh, with our partners,youthful md and um.
She's starting, she's gonna gether lab work done and she's
going to go through the medicalclearance and she's so excited
(36:11):
because you know, just like wewere there, finally somebody
understands her and doesn't justsay, no, your hormones are good
, just go you're fine, just golose weight and lose weight like
no, no, no, no.
There's so much more to that,there's so much right.
So then, from our stories,we're like dude yep we are.
(36:37):
Inspire weight loss like we'rewe are the avatar.
We are our clients.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I have to bring this to inspire I fully think that
all of us began our offices likethis weight loss portion of our
offices as a result, to thinkchanges we made our personal
story, yeah absolutely.
You know, we didn't just saylike a weight loss center sounds
like a good idea.
(37:03):
We all did something and it wastransformational to our lives
and then we brought it.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
We want to pay it Right.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
So this is kind of the same thing, same thing yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Like now we know something else.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Now we're trying to show you what else we've learned
right, we're on a hormonemission, yep, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
So now, we brought it to Inspire and we're super
excited about.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Like you said, help our clients because, look, we
have a weight loss right and ourclients do amazing on our
weight loss.
Imagine that we can also helpthem with their hormones and
they're going to be their weightloss is going to be off the
charts, amazing.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
They're going to keep it off.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
They're going to be able to keep it off, but not
only that those are, those arereally those are really nice
things, but we're validating howyou're actually feeling and we
have a solution.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You might actually be crazy and we understand that,
but there's a reason why it'syour hormones.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah, it's all hormones.
Man, we're a ball of hormones,right?
Yep Wow.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
And you know what?
That's the difference betweenmen and women.
Because all the women come intothe office and they say my
husband's overweight, but if hethinks about it the next day,
he's down 10 pounds, and it's.
It's.
That's the difference.
It's the hormones that arereally, really messing us women
up, and they change.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And let me tell you the men, we have hormone
replacement therapy for men tooat Inspire, and let me tell you
that I have a couple of menaround me that that has had to
do hormone replacement therapyfor the testosterone is very
common that they have to startage 35.
Yeah, 35 is taking a dive andit's very depressing for men
(38:54):
because, you know, I am a man,you know yeah, vitality that's
their vitality, but it's nottalked about.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
It's not talked about like it is for women.
You know, and and and men don'ttalk about it.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Maybe they'll mention to their buddies, I think when
men in general let let's just ingeneral when we talk about
testosterone, you're thinkingbodybuilders in the gym, in a
back alley, taking thestereotype, taking stuff that's
probably not even necessarilylegal You're going to look like
(39:28):
this.
That is not what we arediscussing.
Yeah, that is not what we arediscussing.
Yeah, that is not what we'rediscussing for women or for men.
Um, you know, we're talkingabout optimizing not you know,
optimizing for your best.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
You yeah, whatever that is, these all these
hormones are present in ourbodies.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
We're naturally present in our body.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
As you get older, they change, they deplete, and
so you're not going to feel theway you felt in your 30s, in
your 40s.
Why?
What's the reasoning?
You know, bring the hormonesback up.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Feel good again.
But this is what we get old,especially women.
This is what we get old.
This is why our bones get frail.
This is why you become weak.
This is why you lose yourmuscle.
This is why because it's thelack of hormones.
So, if you want to, you want tonot get old fast.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
This is how I sometimes.
I sometimes think about and I'mlike huh, one day when I'm old
and in a nursing home hopefullythat never happens in a nursing
home but I'm like, huh, how am Igoing to do my hormone
replacement therapy while I'mthere?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, I told.
I told doc.
I was like, uh, you're notallowed to die.
I'm like you're not allowed toretire, you're not allowed to
die.
He just started laughing.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Well, listen, I and we all are super excited that
now we have this service linefor our clients, and fire and
and I I'm hoping that we caninterview our, you know, in
midlife madness podcast are aclient that that have conquered
the midlife madness and can cansmile and laugh on the other
(41:20):
side.
They're on the other side andand that's why you know it's so
we're.
I'm super grateful I'm sure youguys are that we get to do this
.
You know every single day, andso let's continue this podcast.
We're going to talk abouteverything midlife madness.
you know the good the ugly allthe things, because there is a
(41:46):
lot, but I have to tell you,this topic this topic is pot is
probably the top of the list man, Top of the list for anybody
out there that's going throughthrough these, all these
symptoms that we've talked about, and so, yeah, I'm so glad that
we're talking about it.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I would have to say nine out of 10 people experience
very symptomatic life changesduring middle age men and women
and I think they've been justled to believe that it's normal,
that it's okay.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Well, they may not even recognize that it's
happening.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
But that's what I'm saying.
They're told it's beingnormalized and it's being told
this is just what happens.
Yeah, yeah, and we're tellingyou that that's not the case
that well that's, that's whathappens with our mothers.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Right, yes, it happens.
Right, you gotta live throughthe hot flashes they eventually
stop.
You gotta live through thecraziness it eventually stops.
Or you get used to it or youremain crazy, you know.
And so that's not the case now,because there's so many
different things that you can doto help alleviate all these
symptoms and to go back to anormal self Hormone replacement
(43:00):
therapy is one of those things.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
So if you're listening out there, you know
Inspire Weight Loss.
We have functional medicine nowat Inspire Weight Loss.
Make sure you seek help.
It's okay to seek help and,yeah, let's keep the
conversation going because it'snot something that's talked
about as freely and it needs tobe.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
All right till next time Word.
all right, let's talk about life-changing experience.
We all had.
What is this life-changingexperience in our midlife
madness?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna get started with this,
because I was the one who got usall started with this that's
true, that is true so I'm andtypically I think it works out
that way Like I'm usually theone to try all the random stuff
first.
I don't know why I'm like theeasiest person sold ever.
Like you want to talk aboutbeing influenced?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Remember your posh spice, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, but I think everything happens to you first
and then it trickles down to us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It could be that as well.
So here's here's my personalstory, and then I think it's
going to ring true for a lot ofpeople that are listening, just
because I know that in my friendcircle it has now rang true for
every single person as they hita certain age, right.
So, as I don't know if you guysknow or not, but you know we
(01:09):
are inspire weight loss.
We all own weight loss centersin our respective towns and my
weight kept going up and up andup and up about two years ago
like horribly I think it was youknow, I don't know what it was.
It could have been menopause.
It could have been post COVID,it could have been you know a
(01:32):
variety of you know of stressors, of things, what have you?
Uh, but remember how puffy youwere too.
I was so swollen Like I felt sounhealthy and I could lose
maybe 10 pounds and then I wouldgain 15 back as soon as I like
ate anything out of.
You know our protocol whichisn't.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
You didn't eat bad.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
You don't eat bad.
You know, I have days that Idon't eat well.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
You like your sweets, like a lot of us, but I don't
you know, like it's just.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
It's one of those things I was like this is not
normal, this is not right.
I know that I'm doing mostthings well and I know that, for
what I do, I should not be atthis point in my life, and I
think you know it's.
It's a moment of like beinghonest with yourself.
Like, do you eat clean most ofthe time?
(02:24):
Are you a heavy drinker?
Are you eating a ton of fastfood and processed junk?
And if those are yeses, thenyou know, maybe change those
things a little bit, becausethere's no hormone that's going
to fix your bad habits.
However, um, if you aregenuinely trying and you're not
seeing any positive change, youshould really consider checking
(02:48):
out your hormones and the reason.
So it was the most random thing.
I Googled a doctor in my townand when they answered the phone
they were the most pleasant,right.
So you never know, cause Icalled like three different
offices and they were honestlynot nice and I was like I'm not
gonna give you a impression.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
It's really important .
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, I'm not talking to you, I agree, and so I went
to see this wonderful doctor,and you know, it turns out that,
even though some of my labpanels were showing normal um,
they were that it was not normalfor me.
So that's something else thatyou also need to consider when
(03:28):
you go to these places is, ifsomebody is telling you that
everything is normal, but youdon't feel normal, find somebody
who's going to look deeper atwhat your normal is supposed to
be.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know.
You know how you feel and youknow how you're supposed to feel
, especially if something haschanged.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And so it turns out, you know, my thyroid, even
though it was showing withinrange, was not um, my
inflammatory markers werethrough the roof and basically I
wasn't in full menopause.
That's the interesting thing, Iwasn't in full menopause.
That's the scary part, right,like what would have happened if
(04:07):
I had waited two more years?
Um, I wasn't in full menopause,but all my hormones were all
jacked up.
So you know, doc, put me oneverything.
Okay, like he.
You know he, um, this guy istreats aggressively.
I think he, this guy is treatsaggressively.
I think more so than otherhormone people.
(04:27):
But it's worked for me andeverybody has a different
process, right?
But I guess what I'm trying toget at is the importance of
going through this process ofmiddle age with balanced
hormones will make you feelsubstantially less insane.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
But that's, that's a valid statement.
That's a valid statement as weall chuckle, as you said that,
because I think the three of ushave certainly experienced that.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yes, we have the WTF moments, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
But listen.
It affects everything it does.
It does.
It affects whether you can loseweight and keep it off.
It affects whether you could goto the gym and see a difference
in your workouts.
Right, if you're exercisinglike a beast and you're not
seeing your muscles grow.
You're not seeing your bodylean out.
And again back to being honest.
(05:28):
Right, if you leave the gym andtreat yourself to McDonald's on
the way home because you did agreat job, there's a good chance
your workouts aren't going towork.
Right.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It affects everything .
I mean it affects your sleep.
It affects if you're nice topeople or not.
It affects your mood.
It affects your anxiety.
It affects if you're nice topeople or not.
It affects your mood.
Anxiety yeah, you can startlike if you you haven't been
like an anxious person yourwhole life and all of a sudden
you're anxious.
You know vaginal dryness.
I mean there's like every fullintercourse, painful intercourse
(06:00):
.
I mean there's like so manydifferent things, even thinking
for the day.
Yes, Brain fog, concentration,memory loss.
It's crazy, that's crazy.
That's why it's midlife madness.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's a freaking madness, but I guess here's the
thing and it's so different andmen go through it too to an
extent.
It's called andropause and mengo through some of it, but I
think the huge difference isthat men's testosterone.
Men are basically testosteronedominant and they are driven by
(06:37):
testosterone majorly theirentire life.
Yes, they have some estrogen,they have other hormones in
their balancing, but primarilyit's a testosterone driven body
right For men and they startlosing their testosterone slowly
but surely in their midthirties and it's just a steady,
(06:57):
it's a steady decline, right,it just starts dropping,
dropping, dropping, so theymight not be as interested in
sex.
They might just kind of loseinterest in general.
They might just kind of loseinterest in general.
They start getting puffy aroundthe middle.
They get the dad bod right andthat is a decrease in
testosterone.
Women have all these cycles thatgo up and down every month and
that's you know.
(07:17):
That's why sometimes we getmoody, like all those things.
Yes, it is, it's valid, right.
We have all these cycles.
Our bodies work cyclically.
Men are just our bodies workcyclically and when those cycles
just stop, right, it's like theweirdest thing, like all of a
sudden your body has no moreprogesterone.
(07:38):
It's done, it's over.
It's no more estrogen, no moretestosterone there's all those
things play a role in women'sbodies.
We're not.
We're not simple.
We're not simple.
Critters, right.
And if most medicalpractitioners have no idea what
(08:01):
to do with your hormones, theyjust don't.
It's not that they don't wantto, it's just not something that
they've been taught.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, and it's not something that they're.
They really are taught to lookat the numbers in a different
way.
They'll run the numbers andthey say oh yeah, you're in
menopause, You're okay, you know, you're just.
You're just in menopause,You're okay.
Yeah, no, I'm not, you know.
And a big telltale sign is youknow, Dr Marty, you brought up
(08:30):
going to the gym, and if yournutrition is good and you're
going to the gym and you'redoing good resistance but you're
not building muscle, then why?
What's going on?
You have no testosterone, youneed to build muscle.
You have no testosterone, youneed to build muscle.
You know so.
So there's a lot of differentthings that that happen.
That that puts, puts us throughthe ringer it does 100 percent
(08:53):
um.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And also, not to mention we've mentioned, like
all these different symptoms,but also you're more prone if
your, your hormones are out ofwhack.
You're more prone to certainchronic diseases too.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, prone to some cancers as well.
Like it, way back when and Ithink this is like the fear that
all of us had before we startedit, because I because I mean I
was scared.
You know, I grew up my momsaying hormones are really bad
for you.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Hormone therapy is awful for you, you're supposed
to suffer through all of this,yeah, suffer through all of it
and not do anything about itthat's still the mentality, yeah
that's still the mentality youknow I get it from, like some of
these.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Some of the medical doctors see the primary.
You know the ob-gyn.
Oh oh, you shouldn't be onestrogen for longer than a
certain period of time becauseof this, but they don't see the
studies on it too.
So you know there's a lot ofdifferent factors of what you're
taking and how you're taking itand the reason why.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Mm, hmm, yeah, and with everything, with every
everything under the sun, youhave to monitor and take you
know and make sure you havefollow ups and make sure you
check your counts and all thesetype of things to make sure that
you're good.
But you don't have to sufferthrough all of these, all this
madness, all these symptoms,yeah, all these negative
symptoms.
Yeah, all these negative,horrible symptoms, symptoms so
what have you started your yourhormone replacement therapy?
(10:30):
How do you feel now, after that?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
well, um, adulting still sucks, so the hormones
didn't fix that, um, but okay,so I sleep at night, which is
nice.
The hot flashes went awayinstantaneously, so that whole.
You wake up at four o'clock inthe morning and you're like
(10:54):
you're drenched in sweat.
No, that, that, no, no, no more.
Thank you.
I've been able to keep myweight steady.
I was able to lose the weightbecause I had gained like almost
70 pounds.
I'm five foot four.
That's a lot.
Okay, that's a lot if you'resix foot tall, but at five foot
(11:16):
four, that's a lot, especiallywhen you know my entire life,
growing up up until I was up,until I had kids, honestly,
which I think is when myhormones went downhill.
I was always very small, I wasalways very petite, and so I've
been able to lose weight, um,and I've been able to keep it
off.
I think this is the first yearin my adult life, post children,
(11:41):
that I have weighed the samefor a year straight
post-children that I haveweighed the same for a year
straight.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, and and and.
Your nutrition is still thesame as as it was.
I mean some changes in things,but essentially it's the same.
And it's so powerful to knowthat, hey, this can be adjusted,
this can be fixed, it can makeyour life a little bit easier,
you know it's such a it's, it'ssuch a freedom to know that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Okay, this weekend I'm meeting some great lifelong
friends at the beach with ourfamilies, and this weekend I'm
not going to be eating thecleanest and I probably will
have a couple of drinks, not alot, because alcohol is not my
friend any longer Since I've hitmiddle age, you know.
(12:40):
So I'll moderate, obviously,because you know I don't want to
come back feeling awful allweek.
Right, it used to be a hangover, was a couple of hours, and as
you get older now it's like acouple of weeks.
Yeah, so.
So I'll moderate myself,obviously, but it's just so.
It's such a relief to know thatthis weekend I don't really
have to watch myself, and evenif I gain a pound or so over the
(13:02):
weekend, it'll come right offbut that's part of that, but
what you just said is part oflike a normal and natural,
sustainable way I understand,but it hasn't happened in 20
years I know.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Dr Mari, what about, like the shoulder pain that you
had too?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You had some like pain that you were going through
.
Okay, and that's all part ofthe inflammatory process, of all
your hormones leaving.
Okay, I did not know this.
I did not know this.
I had plantar fasciitis foralmost two years straight.
I couldn't exercise, I couldbarely walk.
Listen, I couldn't go shopping.
You know how tragic that is.
(13:42):
That's a problem for you.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's a problem.
That's not a problem for me,but for you it's a problem.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I kind of got tired of hearing her complain about
her feet hearing her complainabout her feet.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
It hurt, I know it was.
It's an awful kind of pain andnothing would take care of it,
nothing would fix it.
I tried acupuncture.
I tried.
It was like oh my gosh and myfrozen shoulder.
I could not move my arm, thisarm right here could not move.
It couldn't do anything.
I was literally like this,getting dressed.
It was horrible and I'm like Iam 50 years old, like is this it
(14:19):
?
Is it over?
Am I done?
Yeah, because, yeah, Iliterally couldn't.
Um, I couldn't move my arm, Icouldn't walk comfortably.
I was like why am I eatingclean?
Like what's the what's thepoint?
Yeah, here myself, if my body'sgonna betray me, which is
honestly what it felt like nowyou're living your best life.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I am.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I don't know about my best life.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I could imagine a better well you're definitely
not as crazy always I can vouchfor that.
You're definitely not as crankyI can vouch for that.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You're definitely not as cranky, much easier now to
deal with her.
I think it's a lot easier tonot hate the world when you feel
like yourself yeah, when youfeel like yourself, and I think
that's when the anxiety is gone,when the panic attacks are not
happening for no reason.
(15:19):
I mean every once in a whileit's a valid reason to have a
panic attack.
But you know depression a lotof people go through depression
when they're mental health thelife change.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
You don't know how to deal with it, like what's the
hormones affect that you know,when you look in the mirror and
you hate everything you see.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, that's depressing, and how you feel
you're trying.
Yeah, you feel awful, you lookawful, but you're trying, but
nothing's working.
And if this is where you are,if you're somebody's listening
and this is where you are, wecan help you with that.
Yeah, we've discovered.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We've discovered a way, yeah, we can help you with
that also, like, not onlydealing with how you're, how
you're feeling and like this newversion of yourself that you
that came like almost overnight,um, also you have to deal with
how, how to deal with peoplearound you that don't understand
the why you're feeling that wayand why you're operating this
(16:17):
way and and and.
Sometimes you don't want tooperate this way.
Sometimes you know you.
You just you're just trying tofigure out how to deal with this
new you yeah, um, and newsymptoms and all these different
things that that are happening.
You have to deal with yourselfand you have to deal with those
around you too.
And then you have to stayproductive, like if you work, if
(16:38):
you have children, if you havelike you have to push through,
push through the fatigue, pushthrough, like all of these
things that still function inlife and do the things that are
required in your life.
So it's a lot to handle.
It's a lot.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Listen, we women, we women really go through a lot,
but we still really try andfocus and get our stuff done.
A lot of things don't slow usdown and it's harder, harder.
We just keep going.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, your hormone.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
So Dr Marty became the guinea pig.
Um, you know, we were talking,I'm like, when she was telling
me about this, I'm like, no, Ihaven't, I haven't, I haven't
experienced hot flashes, Ihaven't.
And then I remember, I can tellyou exactly.
It was like about four yearsago.
I'm cleaning and all of asudden I'm like, oh, where's
that heat coming from?
(17:37):
I'm like, huh, I'm like, oh,like I started like getting
flush.
I'm like what's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Knowing outside, but you're in Florida.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I actually I was in Florida I'm like I'm just
cleaning the counters.
I'm like I'm not breaking it.
I'm like, okay, I'm like I'mjust cleaning the counters.
I'm like I'm not breaking it.
I'm like, okay, I'm like, well,let me, let me bring the AC
down a little more.
So I had it 65 and I'm like,okay, I'm like it was just hot
in here, and then it kepthappening, and then it kept
happening.
Now let's back up a little bit.
(18:09):
Now I had lost over over 100.
I want to say it was like 130pounds right Years ago and I've
always, you know, I hadmaintained it.
You lost a whole human.
I lost the whole human diet andexercise.
It wasn't easy, but I did it,you know, and I maintained it
(18:30):
and it was easy to maintain.
And then, at that same time, Istarted noticing huh started
creeping up, like despite, likemy diet, you guys know, like my
diet, you know pretty good, Idon't drink sodas.
I don't, you know, really, Idon't.
I don't even know how to ordervegetables yeah, I like
vegetables, right, um, I don'teven know how to order at a fast
(18:51):
food place I very rarely go andwe cook meals at my house, you
know and I started noticing,like this weight creep creeping
up and I'm like what the?
You know what's going on.
And then I started to noticenow, you guys know I am not a
good sleeper.
No, no, to begin with, I'venever, I've never been a good
(19:15):
sleeper.
But I noticed that that littlebit of sleep that I get at night
, the quality changed.
And then I noticed that Iwasn't sleeping, or sleeping
less, and I was tired.
And then I noticed that I usedto love to read books and I
noticed I didn't have that focusanymore and Donna's sitting on
(19:39):
her couch, falling asleep on hercouch.
I mean, just have that visualit's, but it's true, right, like
you guys joke, right, we'vebeen together where you guys
turn on a movie and you guysaren't watching the movie,
you're watching me fall asleepas soon as that movie turns on.
It's entertaining, yeah, soguilty of that.
I am so guilty of that, yeah.
(19:59):
So you know, all thesedifferent things started
happening and I'm like, huh, youknow, dr Marty's, like you
really should go see.
You know, it's gotta be yourhormones and I'm like you know
what?
I think you're right, it'sdefinitely, it's definitely my
hormones.
Because you know, I startedseeing all these different
changes and the interestingthing for me is I never felt
(20:22):
inflamed.
Did I have some knee pain?
Yes, but I think that was morebecause we used to run, we used
to do a lot of mileage, we usedto run like a lot, and so I had
some injuries to my knee.
I never really attributed it tothat, but I'm sure that played
a part in it.
But I wound up getting theblood work for the hormones.
(20:43):
My hormones, unlike hers, minewere like all low, like there
were things that non-existent.
But what was really interestingwas my cholesterol has always
been up like high, despite mygood, healthy eating habits, and
(21:03):
what we discovered was is I hadan autoimmune condition and
Hashimoto's.
I was diagnosed withHashimoto's.
It's related to theinflammatory state that your
body goes into with with a lotof different things, but what I,
what we also discovered, is Ihad an issue with the thyroid.
(21:25):
All of this can tie into thehormone changes, and so my
thyroid's under control, myHashimoto's, my numbers are in a
good spot.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
How good is it, Dr Donna, to know like those sports
right, Because?
If you hadn't gone through thatyou wouldn't know that you have
Hashimoto's and all these typesof things.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah, and you know what?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Knowing is powerful because now you know what to do
about it.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
But the other thing that I didn't know in all my
reading and all my research andall this I didn't know that the
thyroid related to the highcholesterol, that the
Hashimoto's related to the highcholesterol.
I got that under control and mycholesterol is perfect.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well, what happens is , if you, another thing that's
related to your hormones beingout of whack is insulin
resistance.
Yeah, and that was going to goright there with it Because I,
you know, when I first did mylab work, I turned up, you know,
insulin resistant and again wego back to we eat fairly clean,
(22:30):
right, but if you know, yourhormones play a huge role in
keeping all those systems inplace.
So, once again, if you're goingthrough, you know, and I think
like we were made to feel crazyto an extent as women yeah,
right, it literally just soundedlike something exploded in the
(22:54):
building next door to me.
That's nice, I think.
I think, as women, were made tofeel crazy when we start
experiencing a lot of thesesymptoms midlife.
Even if you're just crazy evenif you're younger right, even if
you're in your twenties andthirties and you're having these
(23:17):
wild up and down swings duringyour cycle.
That's not normal.
No, not normal, right?
So you know, take um kind oftake stock of yourself and see
where your habits can improve,and that's always the first
place, right?
You don't just want to starttaking medication and taking
(23:39):
stuff to counteract your badhabits.
That's not at all what we'readvocating.
But I do feel that a lot oftimes you're doing everything
the way you feel is right andyou're not seeing any difference
.
You're not seeing results.
Things are getting worse.
You're not seeing animprovement.
You still have the inflammation.
Consider that it's somethingyou haven't looked at yet.
(24:01):
Or consider that it's somethingthat maybe your provider isn't
versed in, just like they'reversed in nutrition.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
It's not what they do , yeah, but you know what?
It's something to keep in mindtoo, that it's not an overnight
change.
It takes, um, it takes a goodsolid year, maybe even a little
more, to balance everything out.
And and Dr Marty and I arefortunate because you know we,
we actually go to the samedoctor, um, but you know, um, as
long as you find somebody whovalidates you and who knows what
(24:29):
what they're doing and who doestesting, the blood testing,
because that's important.
So they know how to things andhow to change things, based on
what your lab say and based onhow you feel, because how you
feel is important.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
So how do you feel, Dr.
Donna?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I feel pretty good.
Actually, you know I feelpretty good.
Um, it's interesting because II'm in the middle of changing
some stuff too.
You know, um, to kind ofperfect it.
To kind of perfect it because,um, I was having issues with
gaining muscle, despite me beingactive and, interestingly
(25:09):
enough, in the past, uh, I wantto say like maybe three, four
months, I gained like five orsix pounds of muscle.
I didn't change anything of myroutine, it's just my hormones
were balanced.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
You know, so that's a nice thing it makes a huge
difference.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Dr Marty, you brought up, like even young people,
like as we, as we women, as wego through our cycles, it
affects it.
You also have to remember, andyou brought it up as well your
nutrition plays a part in that,plays a part in in the
inflammatory state of your body.
The inflammatory state of yourbody, even though you're not
going through the menopause,affects those hormones, yeah,
(25:49):
and so there's even a lot ofwomen out there that have
infertility, that are overweightand their doctors say you got
to lose weight.
You know there's a lot ofreasons why you got to lose
weight, but losing that weightcan affect those hormones to
balance out that's very in linewith like young ladies that have
(26:09):
pcos yes, diagnosed with pcosyou know, 100 super in line with
that.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
So your quality of life has increased, dr Donna,
and you're.
You're smiling and is awesome.
So now I'm going to tell mystory.
I was the third one to join thehormone therapy train.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
She's late, but she's .
But she's also younger than us.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
The funny thing is that I think it was like she
went to one.
She had lab work done.
Let me tell you from myperspective, and then you could
tell us what actually physicallyhappened to you, Because Dr
Donna and I have been on thislike hormone wellness journey,
right now for a couple of yearsnow.
And so you know, of course we'retelling Martha about it and
(26:54):
she's like hormones are perfect.
I still have all everything I'msupposed to have.
I went and had my labs done andI, everything is great.
And then, all of a sudden, onemonth well, this is what
happened.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I I was having, and that's one of the reasons why I
went to get the blood work done.
And when I went to get theblood work done with my regular
doctor, okay, all my counts werewithin range.
So, and that was told, I'm wayfar from menopause, which it was
(27:33):
confirmed, that that's true,with my functional medicine
doctor, but, um, I'm as fertileas a 15 year old.
That's what they told me.
I'm like, oh crap, I don't.
I don't know if that's good newsor not, but um, not having a
baby at 49 years old, that's forsure.
Uh, so I was like man.
You know, the doctor's like mycounts are perfect.
(27:55):
They're within range.
They're within range.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
And now, and I was, that's when you feel crazy and
that's one of those?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
yeah, exactly, and it's.
It's cool that we're talkingabout this because we're it's.
My story is a little bitdifferent.
I'm 49 years old.
I'm a little bit younger thanyou guys.
You guys are more far along inthe menopause thing, right?
Um, you're our.
Each of us, our stories, havedifferent symptoms and different
things that we walk through,right.
So it's cool for the listenersto to see all the different
(28:23):
stories and how everything wentdown.
But, um, I was like man, I'msupposed to be perfect, but I
don't feel perfect.
You know what I'm saying?
So, and being that we're inthis industry, I knew something
was off.
I, because we know we talk toour clients, we guide our
(28:45):
clients, right.
So now I became the client andI'm like hell, no, it's not
perfect.
I, my hormones are out of whack.
I'm gonna go to a functionalmedicine doctor that doesn't
just look at if the counts arewithin range.
They optimize you.
You want to.
You don't want to live lifewithin range.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You don't want to be average, right, you don't want
to be average.
You don't want to be average.
I want to.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I want to kick ass and take names, and in order to
do that, I need to feel that I'mI'm walking in optimal health.
That's what I want to kick assand take names and in order to
do that, I need to feel that I'mwalking in optimal health.
That's what I want to feel likeNow.
For me, I'm the sporty spice.
I love working out, I love allthe things, and I was feeling
(29:31):
like really fatigued and tiredso I wasn't like working out as
consistent as I always.
I mean, I'm a 75 hard person,meaning I like to work out twice
a day.
I love that purpose.
She does this on purpose I do, Ido this on purpose, I do um and
I just don't.
I I was so tired and I wouldn't, I wouldn't work out every day.
(29:56):
I'm not a sweets person, and nowit's like you know the hormonal
cravings at nighttime.
So now I want something sweet.
My breasts were so dense that Icouldn't do a mammogram because
(30:18):
they were so dense and hardthat I had to do ultrasounds
because we had to really see if,make sure my breasts are okay.
But there was so much pain.
My breasts were tender and inpain three weeks out of four
weeks a month.
I was fighting.
I was bleeding three weeks outof four weeks a month.
Not only that, I was superirritated.
I was snap on my husband for noreason whatsoever and then it's
(30:40):
like an out of body experience.
I snapped and then I was likewhat the heck?
Why did I snap?
Why did I do that?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
it was like you feel crazy, yeah, and then it's just.
It's hard to explain sometimesyeah only a woman going, only a
woman going through.
It understands what the heck.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Um, I was.
I'm super productive, I'm avery um my, my every minute of
my day is earmarked to getsomething done and I would.
I wasn't as productive.
I had a lot of brain fog,memory loss, like I cannot even
remember what I did last week.
You know, it was just bad, yeah.
(31:25):
And low libido, like sex wasn'ta thing for me, because I it's
like no, there's no desirewhatsoever.
All that I had all of thosesymptoms.
So I was I'm like, okay, Igotta go optimize my hormones.
So I went to I I I actually Ithink it was you, dr Marty I
(31:49):
called or texted Dr Marty, I'mlike I need to go see a hormone
specialist.
Help me find somebody.
So I went to a functionalmedicine doctor and he did the
whole panel, the hormone panel,and looked at all the things and
he did confirm that I'm in goodhealth.
(32:10):
I also have the highcholesterol cholesterol too, dr
Donna, and being that I work outevery day and I eat healthy.
You know it is in my family,but still right.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So anyways, long story short, I'm estrogen
dominant, so that's the onlything with my hormones.
Is that too much estrogen?
So my functional medicinedoctor put me in a very low dose
of progesterone bioidenticalhormone and I felt the results
(32:45):
like the benefits of it rightaway.
Like right away.
I bet your breasts don't hurt ofit right away, like right away.
I bet your breasts don't hurtmy breasts.
Listen, my breasts have nothurt a day since I and I've been
on it for three months.
Um, a day, I I'm not bleedinganymore.
Um, I, I'm always, I've alwaysbeen a good sleeper.
(33:06):
Like too much sleep, because Ican sleep nine or 10 hours a day
.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So jealous of both of you because you guys are both
good sleepers.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So now I'm an even better sleeper.
I'm not sure if that's good ornot, but I'm an even better
sleeper.
I don't have any of thesymptoms.
I'm super productive as well.
I'm back at working out, so I'mgood.
We're still tweaking a littlebit because there's some things.
I'm not 100% yet.
I just started three months ago.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
And as you get older, things will change.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
because when I first started they didn't put me on
the estradiol because I didn'tneed it.
Same thing with me and then,all of a sudden, I don't know if
I'm nicer now.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
We'll have to ask my husband, gus.
I don't remember snapping onhim anytime lately, but I am, I,
I can, I can tell that I'm likelike my mood, um, is it's
better?
Uh, so yeah, and even even when, like life is good, like you,
(34:08):
know, life is.
And then you're in these moodslike why am I in this mood?
Life?
Speaker 3 (34:12):
is good, you know it's almost like everything that
everything irritates you, likethe smallest little thing
irritates you and can send youover the edge like a crazy
person.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
You feel crazy.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
That's the best way to say it you feel crazy.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And then when you have your labs done with your
you know regular practitioner,and they look at you and they
tell you everything is normal,yeah, and in your mind you're
like, well, maybe I am crazybecause I don't feel normal.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I don't better, that's what they do Just lose
weight, you'll feel better.
You gain 10 pounds.
If you lose that 10 pounds, ifyou lose that 20 pounds, you'll
feel better.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Look, last night I went I have a client,
55-year-old, female.
Okay, all of us and I was goingthrough the hormone replacement
therapy assessment that we gothrough at Inspire and I was
asking her about her energylevels, I was asking her about
(35:19):
her libido, I mean everything,depression, sweating, all the
things like, and she's like andthe options are never.
And she's like and the optionsare never, rarely, occasionally
and severely, and she's likesevere, severe, severe, severe.
(35:39):
And as I was asking her thequestions, her eyes were like
opening, like, oh my God,somebody understands me.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Somebody believes me.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yeah, finally somebody understands what I'm
going through and so we'reputting her.
So she, she, um, opted in forhormone replacement therapy at
inspire uh, with our partners,youthful md and um.
She's starting, she's gonna gether lab work done and she's
going to go through the medicalclearance and she's so excited
(36:11):
because you know, just like wewere there, finally somebody
understands her and doesn't justsay, no, your hormones are good
, just go you're fine, just golose weight and lose weight like
no, no, no, no.
There's so much more to that,there's so much right.
So then, from our stories,we're like dude yep we are.
(36:37):
Inspire weight loss like we'rewe are the avatar.
We are our clients.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I have to bring this to inspire I fully think that
all of us began our offices likethis weight loss portion of our
offices as a result, to thinkchanges we made our personal
story, yeah absolutely.
You know, we didn't just saylike a weight loss center sounds
like a good idea.
(37:03):
We all did something and it wastransformational to our lives
and then we brought it.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
We want to pay it Right.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
So this is kind of the same thing, same thing yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Like now we know something else.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Now we're trying to show you what else we've learned
right, we're on a hormonemission, yep, so yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
So now, we brought it to Inspire and we're super
excited about.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Like you said, help our clients because, look, we
have a weight loss right and ourclients do amazing on our
weight loss.
Imagine that we can also helpthem with their hormones and
they're going to be their weightloss is going to be off the
charts, amazing.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
They're going to keep it off.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
They're going to be able to keep it off, but not
only that those are, those arereally those are really nice
things, but we're validating howyou're actually feeling and we
have a solution.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
You might actually be crazy and we understand that,
but there's a reason why it'syour hormones.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah, it's all hormones.
Man, we're a ball of hormones,right?
Yep Wow.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
And you know what?
That's the difference betweenmen and women.
Because all the women come intothe office and they say my
husband's overweight, but if hethinks about it the next day,
he's down 10 pounds, and it's.
It's.
That's the difference.
It's the hormones that arereally, really messing us women
up, and they change.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And let me tell you the men, we have hormone
replacement therapy for men tooat Inspire, and let me tell you
that I have a couple of menaround me that that has had to
do hormone replacement therapyfor the testosterone is very
common that they have to startage 35.
Yeah, 35 is taking a dive andit's very depressing for men
(38:54):
because, you know, I am a man,you know yeah, vitality that's
their vitality, but it's nottalked about.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
It's not talked about like it is for women.
You know, and and and men don'ttalk about it.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Maybe they'll mention to their buddies, I think when
men in general let let's just ingeneral when we talk about
testosterone, you're thinkingbodybuilders in the gym, in a
back alley, taking thestereotype, taking stuff that's
probably not even necessarilylegal You're going to look like
(39:28):
this.
That is not what we arediscussing.
Yeah, that is not what we arediscussing.
Yeah, that is not what we'rediscussing for women or for men.
Um, you know, we're talkingabout optimizing not you know,
optimizing for your best.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
You yeah, whatever that is, these all these
hormones are present in ourbodies.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
We're naturally present in our body.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
As you get older, they change, they deplete, and
so you're not going to feel theway you felt in your 30s, in
your 40s.
Why?
What's the reasoning?
You know, bring the hormonesback up.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Feel good again.
But this is what we get old,especially women.
This is what we get old.
This is why our bones get frail.
This is why you become weak.
This is why you lose yourmuscle.
This is why because it's thelack of hormones.
So, if you want to, you want tonot get old fast.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
This is how I sometimes.
I sometimes think about and I'mlike huh, one day when I'm old
and in a nursing home hopefullythat never happens in a nursing
home but I'm like, huh, how am Igoing to do my hormone
replacement therapy while I'mthere?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, I told.
I told doc.
I was like, uh, you're notallowed to die.
I'm like you're not allowed toretire, you're not allowed to
die.
He just started laughing.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Well, listen, I and we all are super excited that
now we have this service linefor our clients, and fire and
and I I'm hoping that we caninterview our, you know, in
midlife madness podcast are aclient that that have conquered
the midlife madness and can cansmile and laugh on the other
(41:20):
side.
They're on the other side andand that's why you know it's so
we're.
I'm super grateful I'm sure youguys are that we get to do this
.
You know every single day, andso let's continue this podcast.
We're going to talk abouteverything midlife madness.
you know the good the ugly allthe things, because there is a
(41:46):
lot, but I have to tell you,this topic this topic is pot is
probably the top of the list man, Top of the list for anybody
out there that's going throughthrough these, all these
symptoms that we've talked about, and so, yeah, I'm so glad that
we're talking about it.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I would have to say nine out of 10 people experience
very symptomatic life changesduring middle age men and women
and I think they've been justled to believe that it's normal,
that it's okay.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Well, they may not even recognize that it's
happening.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
But that's what I'm saying.
They're told it's beingnormalized and it's being told
this is just what happens.
Yeah, yeah, and we're tellingyou that that's not the case
that well that's, that's whathappens with our mothers.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Right, yes, it happens.
Right, you gotta live throughthe hot flashes they eventually
stop.
You gotta live through thecraziness it eventually stops.
Or you get used to it or youremain crazy, you know.
And so that's not the case now,because there's so many
different things that you can doto help alleviate all these
symptoms and to go back to anormal self Hormone replacement
(43:00):
therapy is one of those things.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
So if you're listening out there, you know
Inspire Weight Loss.
We have functional medicine nowat Inspire Weight Loss.
Make sure you seek help.
It's okay to seek help and,yeah, let's keep the
conversation going because it'snot something that's talked
about as freely and it needs tobe.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
All right till next time Word.
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