Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy
We have believed so many lies about menopause, and how we can get through this time in our lives without all of the trauma that can potentially come with it. Leadership is speaking up leadership is paving the way communication is bringing things to light and connecting with people and getting it out there.
Women suffer in silence. The men in these women's lives don't know how to help them. Nothing is ever really taught to us because they simply don't know. More and more studies are coming out. I've had a pretty rough journey over the last couple of years, being forced into full on menopause when I had my ovaries removed in December of 2021, had my uterus out in December 2009. So it was a while between those times. When I had my uterus out there were some changes. But when they took my ovaries out, it was instant menopause, from the second they removed them from my body.
It was a shock and I thought that my body would bounce back. I thought that other parts of my body would kind of take over for the hormones that were missing. My hormones were already declining quite a bit. I was 55 when I had my Ophorectomy, I'm now 57. Almost 58 and I was told that I would have a few minor side effects. A few minor side effects when I had my ovaries removed.
Nothing that I have experienced since then has seemed minor. Major heart palpitations. Being short of breath, a 40 pound 35-40 pound weight gain. That's not minor. Joint pain left me unable to walk up steps, I don't consider that minor. Sleep that was non existent and fatigue that wouldn't go away. Depressive thoughts, depressive moments that are depressive times that lasted quite a while.
None of these were minor to me.
They were not small side effects. But all I was ever told was, “You can't have hormones, because you've had colon cancer, and you have Lynch syndrome. So you can't have hormone replacement therapy. So just deal with that”, is basically what I was told.
So I started doing some digging, because what I thought was, “what good is it to save my physical life, if my emotional life is never going to be good?”
If I can't focus, that was another huge thing. I couldn't focus for more than 10 minutes, I would have days where I would get some things done, because I would have moments of focus. But then the next day, it would be almost flat on my back with exhaustion, trudging through my days, trying to put up a brave front, but wondering when I was going to feel like me again, when was I ever going to have energy again, and I started to think it was never going to happen for me.
So I started working with with naturopathic doctors, I did everything I could to “balance my hormones”, although I didn't really have hormones to balance. I just didn't realize how low they had actually dropped. And I kept turning over stones and turning over stones and turning over rocks, and getting more and more research and digging deeper and deeper and deeper.
I didn't share much of this journey, because I wanted to be able to get some answers before I came and really talked deeply about it. I wanted to really try and get some answers, and there weren't a lot of them out there.
But I did have one doctor who said to me, “I believe that there is something deeper going on. Let me refer you to this women's wellness firm,” which she did and it's it's joy, women's wellness, the men side is blokes. So it's blokes and joy. You can find them at choosejoy.co
I have been very impressed with them thus far. They ran a panel of bloodwork, like I've never had run before. And part of it was a hormonal panel, but they tested everything estradiol and progesterone DHEA testosterone, then there was that we tested thyroid hormone and pancreatic hormones as far as blood sugar, and insulin we we checked everything. And then we did everything was in there as far as a basic metabolic panel and cholesterol and iron levels, major iron level check. We tested so many things. And my hormone levels were extremely low, dangerously low. And so we started on hormone replacement therapy. And part of me was very concerned about this because I have always heard from the time I was probably in my 20s that hormone replacement therapy increases your risk of breast cancer dramatically and you should never do it. I heard that from every female in my family.
When I started thinking about bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, with my history of colon cancer, I really wanted to start digging deeper. And as I was digging deeper, I found out some of the lies that we have been told as women now as women go into menopause we can have, we can have things such as frequent urges to pee like all night long, hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, night sweats, painful sex, vaginal dryness, massive weight gain, and, and these these symptoms are devastating, they are devastating, whether you are male or female listening to this, this relates to you, you are either going to face it someday, or you are going to know someone who's facing it.
Tthe more we know, the more we can help each other get through these times. So I went back and I started to look at the original research back in 2000, with the Women's Health Initiative, and what what this was saying and it was saying that in in the early 2000s, we have this study that said that hormone replacement therapy causes cancer.
That is what we have been told for decades. That's where the identification of risk first occurred. So I found this, this report that just came out in the beginning of November of this year. And what they are finding now is that not only is the cancer risk, I'm going to read this verbatim. This is from this is from the Cleveland Clinic. This report is I can link it in my show notes so that you can read the whole thing, but this is what they said. There seems this seems that seems to be where the identification of a risk first occurred. Since Then though additional studies and analysis have shed more light on the real risk of HRT hormone replacement therapy. Not only is the cancer risk associated with HRT minimal, but HRT can even help reduce the risk of certain cancers in some people. While there does appear to be a very small risk of breast cancer from taking estrogen and progesterone, progesterone therapy, it's about one in 1000 cases.
While this slightly increased risk might sound worrisome, recent data suggests that no increase in mortality and this cancer is typically treatable. There's also some good news for women who've had hysterectomy and who are taking estrogen only HRT with this hormone replacement therapy, the rate of breast cancer is actually less and And recent studies have shown that a nearly 40% reduction in cases of colon cancer and postmenopausal people who take hormone replacement therapy, and the report goes on my cancer in my past is colon cancer. So that really made me sit up and take a look.
This is something I will be looking more and more and more into. It made me angry that that we have believed lies. And it makes me angry that the belies we believed have left us living a life that leaves us feeling less than because we don't feel well. We're not sleeping. We're up to use the bathroom. We're having night sweats. We're having hot flashes, we're not sleeping great. And then we can't focus during the day that causes depression. We physically don't feel well our hearts will race skip beats, there's our bones get weak. The risk of heart disease in postmenopausal women is huge. And osteoporosis and and brain issues. Alzheimer's dementia.
So how, how do we know what steps to take next? I can't tell you what steps to take next, I'm going to share my journey of the steps that I am taking. And that you can go out and do your own research and figure and figuring determine what are the steps you want to take along your pre menopause menopause and post menopausal journey. So I started bioidentical hormone therapy after we looked into my hormones Again, refer back to my first episode on what do leadership and communication have to do with menopause. And there's a lot of information in there about my actual numbers. My testosterone was was 15. My DHEA was 51. My estrogen and progesterone were extremely low. So we started with DHEA to build that platform for my hormones. And then they fashioned my hormones specifically for me in the lab. And they came about two weeks after I started the DHEA.
Then we started, I chose to do testosterone injections rather than the cream. I'm not afraid of needles. And with the cream for about four hours, nobody can touch the area where you put that and I just I really didn't want to deal with it. So I decided on injections, the estrogen the progesterone are in pill form. I didn't expect to see any changes, especially positive changes for a couple of months. That was what I was told to expect. It takes some time to build up. But I noticed changes immediately. Almost immediately, I felt more energy. I felt more awake, I felt more focused. The DHEA started to build and I started to sleep better. But when I started the progesterone, the estradiol and the testosterone. My whole outlook on life changed.
The Depression left, I was able to do workouts things that I love doing. I love to lift weights, I love to do things like burpees and I love to do kickboxing I love to dance, but I have not had number one the energy. And number two, my knees have hurt so bad. I just couldn't do it. And today it was picking up weights and doing squats. And I was doing burpees and getting through the workout and feeling like I used to feeling energized after a workout running up the steps rather than trudging because my knees hurt so bad or I was so much out of breath. It has been it has been an immediate change for the positive.
Yes, there is lots of work to be done. It's not a quote unquote overnight miracle. But it is it is a steady incline up and I am good with that I am good with steady progression in the positive because the last few years have been a steady progression to the negative and it has been it has been a horrible physical journey. I broke both my wrists. I broke my shoulder in the midst of being diagnosed with Lynch syndrome and osteopenia and cancer. Amongst other things, it's been a crazy journey, going from being in the best shape of my life to to declining and not knowing why and as Actually, when those ovaries came out, I felt like I just didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't feel well. I kept trying to push through, and I did everything I knew what to do. My diet is clean, I drink the water, I'm in bed at night trying to sleep. Choosing whole healthy foods, doing my mindset work, doing the breathing, doing the somatic healing, dealing with things in my past, I did all of that. And I still found myself physically declining. And that was frustrating. I wondered what the rest of my life was going to be like. And this when I dug into more and more of what bioidentical hormones could do for me, I was willing to give it a try one for myself, and two for you.
If I can be the forerunner, if I can take my leadership and be a forerunner in this, then I'm doing what I was put on this earth to do. And so I will continue on this journey. And I will share this journey with you all along the way. So far, I've had two shots of testosterone, two weeks of estrogen and progesterone therapy. And we're up to about four, four and a half weeks on the DHEA. And then I have some other supplements, vitamin D, and ashwagandha, some other some other things thrown in there. But the the bio identical hormones are the huge piece. And I'm going to share this journey with you, good or bad. Whatever happens on this journey, I'm going to be very open with you. And I am open to answering your questions. The biggest thing is this, don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid to keep turning over rocks. What I heard all the time was consistency over everything. If you're just keep being consistent, you will see a change. But I was being consistent and all the good things, and all the physical things that everybody told me I needed to do in order to feel better. And I was only seeing physical decline. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results is insanity. We've all heard this. It's insanity. So I decided to stop the insanity. And start turning over some other rocks and see what I could find and what I could do, and I'm going to bring the journey to you. So far, I am extremely positively impressed. And I will bring these to you.
My message to you today is this. Get out there and learn. Don't give up. Don't believe what everyone tells you. Learn it for yourself. Find out for yourself. Start digging for yourself. You are worth it.
Your journal prompt:
What in your life are you doing the same way and expecting to see a different result?
What in your life are you doing the same way and expecting to see a different result?
What changes can you make to see the result you want?
