Is it Too Late for Natural Hormone Therapy?

Is it Too Late for Natural Hormone Therapy?

 

This is a question that I get all the time from midlife women. And it's a great question because, as we age, our bodies go through so many changes.

 

One of the most common changes is a decline in hormone production. This can lead to all sorts of problems, like hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, mood swings, and more.

 

Fortunately, there's a way to combat these changes: natural hormone therapy.

 

Natural hormone therapy can help to restore your body's hormone levels back to where they were when you were younger. This can help to alleviate all sorts of symptoms and make you feel like yourself again.

 

However, some women worry that it's too late for them to start natural hormone therapy. They think that their bodies have already changed too much and that it's too late to make a difference.

 

In this episode, we discuss the topic of natural hormone therapy and whether it is too late for midlife women to benefit from this type of treatment. We also cover the following topics:

-Taking estrogen if you have osteoporosis

-The benefits of natural hormone therapy for midlife women

-The risks associated with hormone replacement therapy

-How to know if natural hormone therapy is right for you

And much more!

 

If you are a woman in midlife who is struggling with hormone imbalances, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now and learn everything you need to know about natural hormone therapy and how it can help you feel your best.

 

[00:59] Thanks so much for joining me today for our special monthly Q and A episode. Thank you to those of you who submitted questions on my website, KyrinDunstonmd.com. You can go to the podcast page, and you'll see the section with a microphone, and you can click it, and you can talk to me. 

 

[01:52] Mary left this message. And I think that it probably speaks to what a lot of you are dealing with right now. She is apparently a former patient from when I practiced basic corporate OB GYN. And you can hear in her message about what I was dealing with and she sees the transformation and what I'm doing now. 

 

[02:49] Hello, Dr. Dunston. My name is Mary Brown. I was a former patient of yours in Savannah. And actually I saw your PA and I have to say every time I saw you in your office, you looked so stressed out and so burned out and so exhausted. And I'm glad that you found a new vocation.

 

[03:33] And if you're a woman at midlife, and you sound like how I used to be just a hot mess and really not thriving, then listen up because I help women now undergo the exact same transformation that I underwent. Not necessarily with your career, but with your health. And if your career is stuck, then maybe it has to do with your health. Because you have to get it unstuck first. 

 

[04:31] . But Catrina said she was on a low dose of estrogen until age 56. And she's had none for two years. She's 58 and she is not on any med, other medications she says, and she says, can I re-start?

 

[05:29] She said my doctor gave me prescriptions for Gabapentin and Vagifem at 53. Is that right? But no estrogen. And she says that she has been diagnosed with osteoporosis already at 53. And all she was given was GA Pentin and Vagifem is that right? And she says, I think I'm, I should have estrogen. And I don't. So that's another question, a little different from Catrina's question, but there's a little overlap there.

 

[06:36] And she wants to know if that's a wise thing to do. And she's also been in menopause for a while. So that's the similarity with all these questions. And maybe you have this question too. You've been in menopause for a while. Maybe you have been diagnosed with osteopenia, which is bone thinning to a certain degree. And then once it passes this certain degree, it becomes osteoporosis or maybe you're having other adverse health consequences from hormonal poverty and menopause. 

 

[07:35] So you have hormone sex, hormone receptors all over your body. They help all systems in your body stay healthy. They're not just about your sex drive and your reproduction. They're about your overall functioning. They're anti-inflammatory so most women function better when they're not in hormonal poverty and they feel better and function better. 

 

[08:38] You roll out the red carpet for her, because she's a loyal friend, right? She comes every week. She brings treats. She brings pictures. She brings great conversation and connection, and you really look forward to her visits, and you roll out the red carpet. Every time she comes, she's welcome. 

 

[09:28] Let's have a quick cup of coffee, but you don't really roll out the red carpet like you used to. Well, it's kind of the same with the hormone receptors on your cells. When these hormones are not around, it takes a lot of energy for you to roll out the red carpet for your friend, right? 

 

[10:23] It costs me a lot of time, energy, and money to do it and I'm not gonna do it. So it starts taking off the receptors and the receptors start going away. And that's where this five year window comes from at the end of five years. It's thought that you really don't have the number of receptors in order to receive the information from these hormones.

 

[11:20] And then maybe you don't go all out like you used to, but you get some things ready, refreshments, and you get your house prepped, and you clear your schedule. Well, your body is the same. It will start putting an effort back into rolling out the red carpet when these hormones come knocking. So your body has the flexibility, the ability to adapt. And when the hormones are available, it can make receptors. 

 

[12:25] So I kind of like Karen, that you and your doctor decided you didn't want the bisphosphate. You didn't say why in your message and that would've been a treatment for osteoporosis, but I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that there's some data on bisphosphonate that shows that yes, it increases bone density, but the quality of bone is not that good. 

 

[13:19] So I like this approach. I will say most corporate doctors are not really willing to put any woman on hormone therapy. Who's had a D V T because it does increase the viscosity and coagulability meaning clothing ability of your blood. And so if you've had a clothing event, a lot of corporate doctors will say, you can't try hormone bones

 

[14:22]  How does your brain function improve? How does your sleep improve? How does your weight improve? How do all the things that hormones benefit improve. So thank you so much for that question, Karen, and then this relates to Ruth's question two. 

 

[15:25] And they consider the only two symptoms, urogenital, atrophy, vaginal dryness, and hot flashes. And they do put osteoporosis in there, but you won't find most corporate doctors going there first because they're afraid. Why are they afraid? That's a whole other discussion, but most of them don't understand the data. And the difference between synthetic hormones and biologically identical hormones and tic hormones do have a lot of risk and do increase your risk for breast cancer. Things like medroxyprogesterone, acetate and Equiline, which is horse estrogen. And, that medroxyprogesterone acetate is progestin. 

 

[16:29] If estrogen causes breast cancer, everybody with estrogen would get breast cancer, and they don't have estrogen. Can they get breast cancer? Yes, but it's about one, 100, the rate of women. So that right there to tell you, it's not estrogen itself that causes breast cancer. 

 

[17:24] So nothing wrong with VA fem at 53. But if you have a diagnosis of osteoporosis, the osteoporosis absolutely needs to be treated hands down. Most people are not aware. Osteoporosis takes decades to develop. We start losing bone mass at the age of 30. And if we do nothing to counteract this, it just progresses annually.

 

[18:37] And unfortunately, a third of women who have a hip fracture will die from that hip fracture. And a third will become disabled where they can no longer live independently and that can make 80 look like something you wouldn't ever want, right? Living in assisted living out of your own home with people, you don't know how to eat food, you wouldn't choose to eat right and lose your independence. So osteoporosis is not a joke. 

 

[19:51] My experience from being a board certified OB GYN for almost well since 1998, is that the corporate doctrine is their concern with what, what is the diagnosis? What drug do I need to give? What surgery do I need to do? And so they're not as concerned with what's causing your osteoporosis, and they don't really, and aren't trained in the art and science of deciphering, why you're losing bone mass. 

 

[20:59] You can still access it at stopthemenopausemadness.com. I highly recommend that you watch both part one and part two, and that you start doing the things that she's talking about to help reverse your bone loss. In addition to addressing it with bio identical hormones and possibly other medications

 

[22:16] Your cardiovascular endurance is probably pretty poor, right? Because the activity that keeps these things vital and upgraded hasn't been happening. And so they might say, well, yeah, you can do it, but it's going to take you a while to see results, and you have to be consistent, and you got to commit to a program of action, but you should start noticing something a little something maybe in a few months and then a few months later something else. 

 

[23:21] The pros outweigh the cons of it. So how long should you commit? I mean, I definitely would say six months, if not 12 months, because it takes time for your body to realize what's happening and up regulate the receptors.

 

[24:24] And I invite everybody else to listen. What questions do you have about your hormones and your health as a midlife woman? Tony Robbins said it, the quality of the questions you ask determines the quality of your life. It's true in every area. It's true for your finances. It's true for your career, your creativity, your relationships, and no more true than with your hormones and your health. 

 

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