The Sex Reimagined Podcast

Dr. Liz Lyster: Weight Won't Budge? The Hidden Hormone Link to Stubborn Weight Gain in Perimenopause | #108

• Leah Piper, Dr. Willow Brown, Dr. Liz Lyster • Season 2 • Episode 108

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Ready to decode the mystery of your changing body? We've got the inside scoop from hormone whisperer Dr. Liz Lyster. With over 30 years of experience as a women's midlife health expert, Dr. Liz has helped countless women reclaim their vitality and zest for life. As an MD specializing in bioidentical hormone therapy and author of "Sacred Libido," she's on a mission to revolutionize how we approach perimenopause and menopause. Buckle up for a game-changing episode that'll have you feeling like your fabulous Goddess Self again! Hit that play button and let's revolutionize your midlife! 


IN THIS EPISODE, WE'RE DISHING ON:

  • The sneaky signs of perimenopause you might be missing
  • Why your hormone tests might be lying to you (gasp!)
  • The scoop on bioidentical hormones - your new BFF
  • The shocking link between hormones and that stubborn weight
  • Cool new ways to get your hormone fix (hello, pellets!)


EPISODE LINKS *some links below may also be affiliate links 

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Leah:

Hey there, it's Leah Piper.

Willow:

Hi, and Dr. Willow Brown here, and today we interviewed the one and only Dr. Liz Lyster. She is so fun to tune in with about sexuality, hormones, libido, weight loss, all the good stuff. She's a women's midlife health expert, and she's super passionate about helping women feel like their best selves so they can bring health and happiness into the world. She also works with men as a doctor and MD for over 30 years. She has helped women and men regain energy, reignite their sex drive, clear up hormonal imbalances and lose hundreds of pounds. She is a true wizard. She's also the author of several really cool books. The next one that's coming out is called what is it? Sacred Libido. Love that title. And, um, we just had so much fun tuning in with Dr. Liz Lyster today. You're going to love this interview.

Leah:

Yeah, she is one smart lady, so you know what to do. Tune in, turn on, and fall in love with Dr. Liz.

Willow:

Welcome Dr. Liz LLyster we are so excited to have you. It's been a long time coming to have you on our show. So welcome.

Liz:

Thank you. I'm very excited to be here.

Willow:

So Liz was introduced to us by our dear friend, Whitney, and

Leah:

out to Whitney.

Willow:

Hey girl. And she is an incredible hormone specialist. So I love this topic and love talking about how to help women through the perimenopausal years. And that is your expertise, Liz. So we are just going to dive right in. I mean, I'm just curious, uh, you know, what, what are some of the, the main symptoms that women come to you complaining about when they very first come in?

Liz:

I would say the top three are fatigue, weight gain. Those are definitely the top two. Uh, and then there's a lot of other things that can slot into the three. It can be irregular periods. It can be temperature, dysregulation, they feel sweaty, or they feel cold, or, uh, they also decrease libido. A lot of them experience that, but it's not necessarily what brings them in to see me. So, that's kind of interesting, yeah, along with all the body changes that are part of that. So, those are the, those are the main ones.

Willow:

Yeah. Fatigue and weight loss. That'll get you into the

Leah:

Or weight gain.

Willow:

Yeah. And weight

Liz:

Yes, yeah, especially when your regular doctor tells you eat less and exercise more and you've already been doing that and you feel dismissed, uh, that's, I specialize. In that scenario.

Leah:

Well, tell us more about, you know, what women need to know if they're having those symptoms that their doctor doesn't know.

Liz:

Absolutely. And I know that some of these things that you, that we're going to talk about today, you've talked about with other guests. I love your podcast. I, I listen to it all the time. Uh, so there's overlap and I'm delighted by that because that's how people learn is by hearing things again and again.

Willow:

different ways too.

Liz:

Exactly. Exactly. So number one is that these are not really in order, but number one that is coming to my mind is that a lot of women, especially in perimenopause, they are told you're still having your period. So this is not due to hormones.

Leah:

Hmm.

Liz:

And that couldn't be further from the truth. All right, so that's number one. Uh, so sleep issues, mood issues, uh, irregular periods that we just mentioned. These are things that get given a band aid medication to treat the symptom by a lot of regular doctors. So I would, let's say that's the second one important point to make is, sure, sometimes you need a band aid. However, yeah, that's fine, but you still want to fix what's going on underneath, right? It's not like the, a light on your car dash where, that was a joke from, uh, Big Bang Theory where she had something show up on her car. She's like, I just put a band aid on it. Not a, that's not good.

Leah:

Yeah. Well, there's different in injuries, right? If you've got something that's

Liz:

That's right.

Leah:

bigger situation, obviously band aids don't work.

Willow:

Yeah. I imagine, um, depression is also a big thing that you see women coming in with that they're, they're maybe I've gone to their doctors or even their therapists and you know, they're like, gosh, nothing is really helping. I know that like low progesterone, low estrogen levels can really cause severe mood dips.

Liz:

That's right. That's exactly right. And that's a classic one where the band aid is the antidepressant medication. What I tend to have with the women that come to see me is they know they're not depressed. They know that it's not depression. They, they're like, my mood is off. I don't feel good. I don't feel motivated like I used to. It's harder to get out of bed in the morning, but I, it's not depression.

Leah:

Right, they know there's been no big life changes, like their circumstances are stable, you know, everything seems normal. Yeah.

Liz:

yes, exactly. That's exactly what they'll say. They'll say, I'm really happy. Actually, I have a great relationship. My family's in good shape. I have a good job that, you know, they, they just know that that's not depression, but it's definitely mood disruption. And so a lot of times the doctor, like we keep talking about the band aids, like birth control pills, it's a stabilized mood. Sometimes that'll happen. Uh, but, and so you mentioned estrogen, progesterone, uh, also testosterone, oxytocin. All of those, lots and lots of hormones. I'm going to be doing a video on how to do a Tantra meditation. I'll be doing a meditation on the five elements that

Leah:

And weight gain?

Liz:

feeling. Yes, absolutely. Yes, it always has to do with the balance, right? We know this. It has to do with everything balancing each other. Generally speaking, estrogen promotes fat burning. Progesterone promotes fat storage. But again, that's super broadly speaking. Uh, everybody's an individual. I have plenty of women who are, I don't necessarily say this to them, but I think in my mind, opposite girls, their bodies are responding in an opposite way to what we expect. Yeah. And so by the, yeah, again, by the time they come to see me, they've, a lot of times they've been given the run around, they've waited, they've dealt with their symptoms for a really long time. And then at that point, the receptors are also part of the issue. So there's really a lot. So I have a very fun job. It's a lot of detective

Willow:

like a puzzle, right? It's like, uh, every, every woman is a new puzzle. And I'm imagining also that some of them come to you and have already been on some variation of hormone replacement therapy. So then, you know, you're looking at lab work, you're looking at blood work to figure out, um, Um, where the imbalance might be. And some people overdo hormone replacement therapy. They take too much, which downregulates the glands and downregulates the, um, the hormones that the glands would naturally put out. So it's really an art in finding the right balance. And as a, you know, as a functional medicine practitioner and Chinese medicine doctor, you know, I've been coming at it from, from the most holistic view point, you know? It's like, let's use herbs. Let's use diet. Let's use sexual practices. Let's use all these things first and, and then at some point you are going to get to a point where you're going to need, um, some, you're going to need some exogenous hormones to help keep the balance because we're living so much longer as women these days. And we need our bone density just to stay as long as we can to stay intact and our brains to stay intact as long as we can and I know that

Leah:

And for sex to hopefully, um, continue to contribute to our satisfaction. And, you know, I, where I am working from, what I get the complaints is my tissue's thinning, I don't want to have sex anymore, or I wish I could have sex, or my partner wants to have more sex, and I feel like So stressed out and over it. And so that's just another little window into, you know, who comes in my door. Um, so please continue Willow. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Willow:

Oh, that's okay. I was just, um, I was just saying like how, how, I don't know what I was saying. So

Leah:

well, I guess what I want to hear from Dr. Liz is, is that also true for you that you are, well, that a lot of women are taking too much hormones when, and do what, how do you see their hormones? Are you doing the blood work and the urine samples? And how do you work with those measurements? Mm

Liz:

yeah, absolutely. So I have a five step process that I do. The first step is evaluating the symptoms. That really is always the primary goal, right? I'm going to answer your question in a second about what I do for testing, but the purpose is not to move the numbers from here to there. It's to have her feeling good. And my definition is the same as yours feeling good. I think that libido is about so much more than sex. It's about our life energy. It's our motivation in life. Uh, and I think it's really essential. Uh, to us as women. It doesn't mean anything particular. It doesn't have to look a certain way as far as the sex. Uh, but I think that us as sexual beings, I think that's really, really important. So the first step is the evaluation of all of the symptoms. Uh, the second is the testing. As you all, as you know, there are a lot of ways to do the testing. I usually start with blood work. Number one, because it's a common language among doctors. And number two, it's easy for people to get covered on their insurance. Later down the road, I will often do urine testing. There's different types of testing. We want to get into that level of detail. We're, of course, no problem. We can do that, but all of those panels tend to not be paid for on insurance, so I don't usually start with them initially, but I like to have an initial baseline of blood work. checking all kinds of hormones. Of course, all the female related hormones that we've already mentioned, but also thyroid, adrenal, vitamin levels, basic organ function, chemistry panel, blood counts, that, that type of thing. All of those are important.

Willow:

Now my understanding of doing, um, a blood, like a serum blood test versus a saliva panel where you're spitting into a tube every three days or something is you're getting, um, you're getting like a snapshot on a single day with blood work versus I'm looking at the entire month cycle, um, fertility cycle. So I'm curious what day of the, of the menstrual fertility cycle is the ideal day and, and why?

Liz:

there's more than one answer to your question. First of all, I have tried to order that saliva panel that looks at the whole month and it's useful for women with a more or less regular period and those aren't usually the women who are making their way all the way to me.

Willow:

Right.

Liz:

I'm not kidding, every time I've tried to order it, My patient, they're not easy to do. They just haven't done it correctly. I just, I won't stop trying, but that's just been my experience as a doctor trying to explain to my patient what I want her to do. So you're absolutely right. It's a snapshot of time. Answers to your question depend on what we're looking for. For example, if a woman is concerned about fertility, she, maybe she's in her forties and she wants to ask that question. We want to find that out while we're looking at everything else. We can look either day 3 of the cycle, that gives a good indication of ovarian reserve. We want the FSH not to be too high and we want the estradiol to not be too high. As the ovaries head into retirement, uh, I always think of, what am I trying to think of? Like the baby rattlesnakes, they, they, they don't modulate their release of the venom. They just like, they're more dangerous because

Willow:

just shoot it

Liz:

it all fly. Yes. So the ovaries, as they head into retirement, they produce more estradiol. So a high estradiol level on day three is actually not such a good sign.

Willow:

Okay.

Liz:

on the middle of the luteal phase with the folliculars, the first half of the luteal phase, I know you guys know this, but just reviewing for everybody listening,

Willow:

Yeah.

Liz:

is the mid luteal, we want to check the progesterone level.

Willow:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm

Liz:

All right, and the bottom line is, as you said, this is a snapshot in time. There are some of the hormones, like the thyroid, adrenals, they really, I can put them together with what the patient is telling me, I can, you know, I can listen to what she's saying and I can put it together with that snapshot and we really have a lot to go on

Willow:

Yeah, I think that's, I think that's probably the art of doing hormone replacement therapy, right? Is you're taking the actual person and what they're telling you and the symptoms that they're dealing with, like day in and day out, and you're looking at their lab work and, and, and creating a cohesion between the two and, um, giving them, um, The pieces of the puzzle that are missing so that they can feel more, um, whole and sane and, you know, in together in their lives. It's, it's really incredible. This transition that we go through as women, you know, and, and we are so underprepared for it. I am always like to my younger, you know, students and patients. I'm always like, start taking ashwagandha right now, like start paying attention to your adrenals and your, um, your mind really at this point in time so that as you start to head into this wonky period where things start to go shifty and awry, you have a good reserve, you have a good foundation underneath you. Um, my teacher, my functional medicine teacher always taught the endocrine triangle as the adrenals and the ovaries as the foundation at the base and then thyroid up above that. And so if the adrenals are really well supported, because when the ovaries take their final bowel, the adrenals step in and they start to create more of these hormones. However, just not to the level that the ovaries were.

Liz:

yes, exactly. And I measure all of that as well. And I don't want to forget Leah's question about, I think, were you asking what are women feeling when they're starting to have that, the transition that we can see on the labs? Is that what you're asking?

Leah:

are the symptoms of, I can't remember which, um, estrogen you were talking about that was, once it starts to kind of, you know, give too much or give a lot, kind of like the baby rattler.

Liz:

Okay, so it can range anywhere from no symptoms at all. It's just the body adapting to the changes. As the ovarian function declines, the brain is releasing the FSH, the follicle stimulating hormone. The pituitary area of the brain is releasing that, and that level goes up and the ovaries just cooperate. So that's one end of the spectrum is no symptoms at all. Everything's just on track. And then it can start to introduce all these other things that we've already mentioned, I'm sure we'll think of a lot more as we go. Irregular periods, disrupted sleep, temperature changes, mood changes, those are, weight, we're gonna keep saying the same ones over and over,

Willow:

Yeah. What? So I'm curious for, for women do who do come in with low libido kind of more at the top of their list, like how long does it take them? Um, you know, once they've got on some hormone replacement, do they start to see a shift in that area of their lives like within a month? Or is it more like three to six months?

Liz:

I would say more to three to six months. It really depends on everything else that's going on. For example, if she's not sleeping, we're not gonna work on libido before we work on sleep. We're gonna work on sleep first. Uh, if she's, if she wants to work on weight loss and she's not happy, like her body self image is struggling, that's a bigger, that's even a bigger challenge. Because a lot of times, you know, for us as women, our libido, it's not just the linear model that we have from Masters and Johnson that applies really well to the men. You have a thought, then you have a desire, then you act on it, and you have an orgasm, and then it starts over. For us, there's just, it's much more cyclical. There's a beautiful graphic. that I can share with you that I really, really like that shows all the different stages. It's circular. You know, help me do the dishes and it's going to really help. That's really good foreplay.

Willow:

Yeah.

Leah:

Yes. Yes. People don't really understand that.

Liz:

Yeah. Be nice to me. Answer me nicely. Listen to my day, whatever it may be. My husband is, he knows these things. He, when I start saying it, the story, he goes, wait, do you want me to fix something or am I just listening? So he always,

Leah:

I love that. You know, I've had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Liz's husband. I have to say, we, I had so much fun just listening to this beautiful relationship. He has so, he's got such beautiful awareness of the feminine. And, uh, so go, um, Dr. Liz's husband.

Liz:

Yes.

Leah:

You know, I just had

Liz:

my, he's

Leah:

Michael, that's right, Michael. Um, I just had this thought, you know, as I've been, sometimes I feel a little panicky about this next stage in my life and it's looming. And so I think about the symptoms probably more than anything else. It's like, I'm watching out for them. Uh, when, when are they going to get, is this, could this be that I'm Going to be there soon. And um, and as I was asking this question about like, okay well What happens when this hormone changes and I think I keep on wanting to make categories like it's this hormone That's changing and it's causing this reaction like this one's for mood swings and this one's for sex and this one is night sweats And this one is temperature changes and this one's mood swings and but what I'm really Gathering because some I don't always feel like I'm getting a straight answer on that and I realize oh, it's because it could be any of them. It's not like And, and this also seems frustrating because the testing, getting the measurements from your body also doesn't seem super reliable. And which brings me back to the thing I'm wanting to pay the most attention to, and I'm wondering if this is the type of advice you would give, is it's really about how you feel. Like you opened it up, your first assessment is what's happening in your body. And how do you feel about it? And then that's actually the more accurate way to seeing how to support a person moving through this process and therefore the hormone replacement tends to be, from what I'm understanding, The most successful, especially for severe symptoms. Am I on track?

Liz:

yes, absolutely, I think you're completely on track, we've used some of the words that really apply here, holistic, looking at the body as a whole, we know, you've already touched on the fact that our thoughts impact our hormonal balance, right, if we're thinking about things and we're in a way that we've experienced more stress,

Leah:

Mm

Liz:

that affects the adrenals, that throws off thyroid, and we've got this whole hormone symphony. That's the analogy that I like. And all these different hormones that we're talking about are the violins, and the cellos, and the flutes, and the drums. You've got all the different instruments, but they all need to be sounding good and working nicely together for the music to sound its best.

Leah:

Right. I

Liz:

So I really, I really like that analogy. There's, we've, we've said the first step is the symptoms. The second is the testing. The third out of the five is interpreting the testing to optimal, not just, did you barely make it into the range?

Leah:

Mmm.

Liz:

I get this a

Willow:

they're it within range, but they're a little low, then you're, you're gonna use, you're gonna bump that

Liz:

Yeah, or very low. And this is especially true for the men. Men are about 10 percent of my practice and I love taking care of them because they're much more straightforward than we are. Just disproportionate benefit from testosterone for the men. I mean, I look at everything in the men that I look at in the women as well, thyroid, adrenals, et cetera, but they get such a bang for their buck with testosterone, so it's really a lot of fun. And they just, they just love feeling better. They just take it and they run with it. It's just awesome. Uh, and so, all right, so with the men, oh my gosh, I get so many where their level is barely in the bottom of the range and a testosterone range for men is like 250 up to a thousand and they'll literally have a level of 280. And the doctor will say, you're in the range. Nothing to be done.

Leah:

Wow.

Liz:

It's so bad. It's so bad. And then for women, of course, lots of the vast majority of people who make it all the way to my practice, they have had this experience.

Leah:

Sure,

Liz:

the third step is interpreting to optimal, not just did you barely make it in, did you get all the way, you know, where's a really good place to be in that range? That's what we want to see.

Leah:

And then how do you support them moving the range up and getting to optimal?

Liz:

That's step four. I'm so glad you asked.

Leah:

Oh, good.

Liz:

And step five is follow up, by the way. So we, we may talk about that or not, but, but step four, really looking at all of the, the different treatment options. So. Couple things. One is that you've already mentioned things that regular doctors are just not trained in, uh, the supplements, the herbal approaches, lots of data, lots and lots of data to support the effectiveness of these methods. Lots of use in other countries. Uh, we're just not, you know, the way we have things set up, at least in the United States, with the pharmaceutical industry just really leans away from that. So we want to do a couple of things. We want to, I like the word replenish, uh, rather than hormone replacement therapy, we're replenishing. Yeah. I really

Leah:

that sounds so sensual and lovely.

Liz:

Yes, yes, and it's, it's really what we're doing and we don't have to replace to, for example, the level of a 25 year old,

Willow:

Right?

Liz:

or a, even a, like a 20 year old. As I like to say, there's a reason we don't really want 20 year olds running the world,

Leah:

No, but I wouldn't mind a 20 year old or 25 year old sex drive.

Liz:

right? Exactly. Yes. That would be a yes.

Leah:

That's an option.

Willow:

You can have all the wisdom that you've gained over the years. And the drive.

Liz:

bring it all forward. Bring it all forward. So we're replenishing. Yeah, absolutely. We're replenishing. Oh, and I just love, really my favorite thing to talk about is the power of the mind in all of this. And my, my angle on the hormone replenishment has a lot to do with that. Estrogen is really helpful for lifting mood, all right, for example, helping with depression, and progesterone is really helpful for calming the brain, helping with anxiety, sleep issues, it's, it's just a beautiful, beautiful thing, and we're gonna just keep mentioning sleep because you cannot do sensuality, Optimal sexuality. You, you cannot do that on caffeine.

Leah:

Mm hmm. No

Liz:

You've got

Leah:

biggest medicine you can it you can have and give to yourself

Liz:

Yes.

Leah:

is cannot

Willow:

Sleep, laughter, and sex. I say all three. Gotta have'em all.

Liz:

Can I write that on a, I can write that on a prescription.

Willow:

Yeah.

Leah:

you go Ha,

Willow:

and sex. Make sure you get it. And don't forget your progesterone, estrogen,

Liz:

I really love those. I love testosterone for women as well.

Leah:

Mm hmm. Yeah, I have a question about

Liz:

Thousands of studies. Sure.

Leah:

So, uh, you know, I didn't realize, it seems like when we talk about, um, women's reproductive health, like testosterone gets, is not in the conversation. We're always talking about estrogen and progesterone, but I want to know, I want, my understanding now is that women have a lot of testosterone, that this isn't some sort of male hormone, it's a human hormone, and maybe you could help us demystify the role of testosterone for women.

Liz:

Absolutely. Testosterone is just a wonderful hormone. It helps the brain, helps bones and muscle, helps metabolism. It's the main reason that men have such an easier time with their weight compared to us,

Willow:

Mm

Liz:

is testosterone. Yeah, I mean, there's more, of course.

Leah:

What are, how does the testosterone levels in women change as they get older? We know how much it drops off typically for men, there's um, there's severe changes as they hit middle age, but what changes in women when it comes to testosterone?

Liz:

Yeah, so men are losing 1 2 percent of their testosterone every year, starting at age 30.

Leah:

Wow.

Liz:

So just for, yeah, yeah, so what I really don't want is for anybody to have, uh, what I'm calling medical gaslighting, where the doctor's saying, Oh, no, you're too young. It can't be your hormones. You know, there's so many hormonal disruptors nowadays that, uh, I'm seeing lots of younger people. A lot of my patients who are in perimenopausal menopause are sending me their kids to do consultations with them to look over everything.

Willow:

Well, and that probably plays into our environment as well, right? All the, all the xenoestrogens that we drink through the plastic water bottles and the soaps, and then the food that's not healthy and, and the stress levels that we're running on instantly. Yeah.

Liz:

Exactly. Okay, where were we? We

Leah:

as women's levels of testosterone drop, um, yeah, like, and also, I'm assuming because everyone is so individual that maybe for me my test, my testosterone doesn't drop like it will for willow, but my fluctuations will be in a different hormone. Do you look at it that way or am I looking at it wrong?

Liz:

Okay, definitely not looking at it wrong. Everyone has their own individual expression. When? of the different levels. There's so much that goes into it. There's the level of the hormone. There's also the activity of the receptor for the, for each of the hormones. That's, that's really important as we get older. One of the Signs of aging, as we're calling it, which of course I'm in favor of aging. I wish for us all to have long, healthy lives. However, one of the hallmarks of aging is a decrease in the receptor function, because hormones are messengers. And the receptors are the, are receiving the message,

Leah:

Okay.

Liz:

all right, and so a lot of things affect that. So for example, sleep, nutrition, how we move our bodies, all of our thoughts, all of that is going to impact that whole process. So the levels of the hormones are not the only thing that we're dealing with. Mm hmm.

Leah:

Okay, really good to know that. That, so one of the ways that you can support yourself obviously through this process is taking a look on how are you managing your lifestyle.

Liz:

Yes, you cannot out, you cannot out, you cannot out hormoned your lifestyle.

Willow:

Right. Yeah.

Leah:

how do you know when some, when doing hormone replenishment replenishment is the best answer versus, I mean, do you ever see someone and don't recommend hormone replenishment? Right.

Liz:

time someone makes it all the way to me, she has already done a lot of reading, a lot of research, really identified how she's feeling as having a hormonal basis. Uh, she's been blown off by one or more doctors. Her labs have been told she's fine. And then I look at her labs and not so much. She's like barely in the rage on, on a variety of, of levels. And so, and I personally love hormones, definitely biased in favor of hormones. Uh, we can talk more about what happens with those feedback loops. That's definitely the case with thyroid. And of course, we've got that feedback loop with the adrenals. With the ovaries, it's different because the ovaries are going to go into full retirement. And usually at some point, it's just going to help a woman feel better. To replenish, doesn't have to be every single hormone, it can be focused, this is how I approach it, is focused on how she's feeling. And I like to get started when she needs both estrogen and progesterone, when that's my assessment. I like to get those started and I like to introduce, of course, adrenals and thyroid. Those come even before. Okay, the way I describe it is like a tree. You've got the roots, you've got the strength of the tree trunk, and then you've got the leaves and the fruit of the tree. And so we're working at the root level. We want to get good ingredients for the full health of the tree, but the strength of the tree trunk are thyroid and adrenals.

Willow:

Mm.

Liz:

leaves and the fruit, that's all the quality of life, that's all the fun, that's feeling good, having our body respond to, you know, we're working out and we're eating right and when our efforts are working, that's my interpretation that there's good hormone balance. That's all the

Willow:

I'm just curious, like,

Liz:

the quality of life.

Willow:

yeah, what, how many, um, like I would say maybe what percentage of your people who come to you have a thyroid imbalance, a long, I mean, I'm sure adrenal imbalance is a lot higher, but I'm curious about the thyroid imbalance. Cause I feel like a lot of women just kind of deal with a sub par, um, thyroid, you know, it may not even show up on lab work, but it just, you know, symptom wise it's, they're always got cold hands and feet. I know I'm one of them, you know, always cold and, um, and a little bit kind of not super high energy.

Liz:

Yes, that's, that's all exactly right. Okay, you said so many things that I'm trying to kind of pull it together to respond in terms, where should we start with all of that? There's,

Willow:

Yeah, I, I think I, I, I was just curious, like, What, what percentage of the women, let's say, who come to you actually are

Liz:

thyroid.

Willow:

on a subpar thyroid?

Liz:

Oh, the vast majority, the vast majority. Uh, I have my practice. I, yes, yes. But let's come back to that and talk about men have, well, let me just say it really briefly. Men have a little more of a layer of protection, which is their very high testosterone levels compared to women. And their testosterone is made by their testicles, not by their adrenals,

Willow:

Okay.

Liz:

primarily. Whereas,

Leah:

but, but now that you said testicle, I'm going, well, what if they only have one testicle? Does that change?

Liz:

but not

Leah:

I figured it

Liz:

not usually, yeah, that feedback loop kicks in and the one testicle usually can do a perfectly wonderful job for him. Yes, exactly.

Leah:

just thinking about testicles and I, it just popped in and it had to be said.

Liz:

No problem. I know, I know. That's how this goes. You know, we could talk for hours about all of this. Okay. So with women, we have, so I, remember I talked about the Harmon symphony? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Willow:

Yeah.

Liz:

The conductor is thyroid,

Willow:

Mm.

Leah:

okay.

Liz:

is thyroid, it is,

Willow:

the conductor as the hypothalamus.

Liz:

I am talking about, you could say that, you could say that, but in my way of thinking about all of this, thyroid, there's no hormonal function in the body that thyroid does not affect.

Willow:

Okay.

Liz:

There are thyroid hormone receptors on the ovaries, and there's estrogen receptors on the thyroid,

Leah:

All right. I'm starting to understand this receptor thing on another

Willow:

important. It's like the catch, you know, you can throw the ball, but somebody's got to catch it on the other side.

Leah:

Wow. Okay.

Liz:

And then once it catches, it's got to do so many more things, right? It's got to absorb it, affect the nucleus, impact the DNA, make the new hormone levels downstream. It just is really a beautiful, incredible cycle in the human body. Yes. Yes. So thyroid. So I, that is how I look at it. Now to answer your question also a little bit differently, where a regular doctor would look at the numbers and say, this person has low thyroid. No, that's much less common, right? So we're not interpreting to, are you barely in the range? We're interpreting to optimal. Plus there are a lot of factors that falsely lower the TSH level. So the TSH is the main single test that doctors do to check people's thyroid health. Whereas when I do my initial panel, I do seven

Willow:

Yeah.

Liz:

That's just for thyroid.

Willow:

markers. Yeah.

Leah:

like T1, 2, 3, a T One, two, three, and four

Willow:

T4, free T3, free T4. Yeah. Because the TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone actually doesn't even come from the thyroid. It comes from the pituitary gland. So it's not a really good indicator marker of what's going on with your thyroid gland.

Liz:

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And it is falsely lowered by so many factors, including excess weight. So a lot of people, when they're overweight and they're stuck, they're doing everything they know to do, and it's not working. That fat tissue, it's not just there, hanging on the body bothering us. It's metabolically active. It's hormonally active and it's influencing the leptin levels in the body. The leptin level will go high and will make the TSH look better. And this is why a lot of people who are overweight and are struggling with that, their TSH looks fine.

Willow:

You said leptin, right? Yeah, tell us what, tell us what leptin and ghrelin are so that people

Liz:

Okay, so those are the hunger and satiety hormones, and there's an incredible feedback loop with the gut. Right? So leptin helps us feel satiated, like we're done. Yes. Satisfied. We're done eating. For a lot of people who struggle with their weight, that receptor process, we do keep talking about receptors, uh, it's, it doesn't function

Leah:

Right. It's like there's a delayed response, right? You still feel hungry even though you're actually full. So you keep eating and then you get stuffed and you feel over bloated and horrible because that leptin didn't, is slower on the

Liz:

kick in yet. That's right. That's right. When we eat slowly and we eat In a way that we're not distracted. We're not on the run. We're not sitting in our car, feeding ourselves, and we're really taking our time and letting the gut do its thing, right? The second brain, all we could talk all day about the gut and the hormonal impact. And so to what you're saying, Leah, the, the food has to get downstream. It has to go down that road in order for those receptors to signal back to the brain that we're. We feel full, we feel satisfied. We're done eating. And ghrelin, I always remember ghrelin like grr, like your stomach is growling when you're hungry. That's

Leah:

always think of gremlins.

Liz:

yes,

Leah:

gremlins. Yeah, yeah.

Liz:

Yes, that's exactly. And so that's signaling, uh, hunger and drive towards eating. All right. So we can measure leptin and I could see when I see it elevated, if I have somebody struggling with their weight, where that's one of their main issues that we're working on, I will often check a baseline leptin level. And we see it decline over time,

Leah:

this a natural part of aging or is this just individual?

Liz:

it's very individual, and the leptin production has to do with the person's current weight.

Leah:

Oh.

Liz:

Yes, there's so much to it. Yeah, there's just a lot,

Leah:

That,

Liz:

a lot

Leah:

mean, I have, I have been very, very overweight and I have been slim and definitely when I'm ha, when I'm heavier, I can eat more and I tend to be hungrier. And when I'm thinner, I notice that it's much easier to not keep eating. I feel less of an appetite. And I imagine that's how slim people tend to be slim. And, and those of us who've had years of being overweight, stay overweight. Am I, am I on the right track?

Liz:

Absolutely. I think you're completely on the right track. There's so much of a role to habits and thoughts, setting up our life for success. One of the doctors who I follow, one of his quotes is, the only thing you can really do with willpower is manage your environment.

Leah:

Right. Yeah.

Liz:

because

Willow:

is a lot.

Leah:

So

Liz:

is a lot, exactly, the brain chemistry is, is one part of it, but also, uh, managing our environment and our habits, uh, is also important to all of us.

Leah:

then when you see someone's leptin levels, um, are, I'm assuming fewer, like they've got low leptin, right? So they're not having that satiation experience. They've gained weight. I, and then how do you help, how does the body reproduce leptin.

Liz:

so usually, people who are struggling with their weight will have a higher leptin level.

Leah:

Oh, okay. Then I'm saying in, in

Liz:

They develop a leptin resistance,

Leah:

Ah.

Willow:

The

Liz:

okay? I compare it to, again, I've got all these images in my head, uh, of a noisy preschool, and you're the tea the brain is the teacher, and you're, you're having to talk louder and louder to get the message across. So that's the leptin level that goes up in people who are overweight and it comes down when we do the other hormone balancing and they do all the hard work on their side in terms of food, what they're putting in and all of the balancing that we're doing. Then we see that level come back down. So it's not, I don't follow it really that in that much detail. This is more of a marker.

Leah:

Right. Okay. And which just comes to, there's all sorts of elements for treatment. There's not one thing that's going to work. It's not like you just isolate that hormone and go, okay, let's get this on track and you're, the weight will

Willow:

Gotta get the

Leah:

Damn it.

Willow:

You gotta get the whole symphony going.

Leah:

It's

Liz:

I figure that one out. It is really, I love it. I love it. I wouldn't be here. I'd be retired on a beach somewhere.

Leah:

right, I feel like I'm a good example of like, give me the band aid, just tell me what to fix and I'll fix it. But when there's so many things to look at, and then to try to get that all into balance, it can feel really overwhelming. It can feel like, oh my god, there's so many things I have to do different.

Willow:

Well, I like,

Leah:

to do this?

Willow:

I like Dr. Liz's example of the tree and the trunk and you know, it's like, there's really, there's foundational things to look at. And so you start there and often when you get the thyroid functioning, the adrenals functioning, the um, the, the estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, those five things, getting those in balance, that's going to take care of so much more. then meets the eye. Like so many, many more symptoms are going to be relieved. And I think that's one of the really beautiful things about, um, finding the right hormone replacement doctor is that you can, um, you can wipe clean tons of your symptoms with, um, within a few months, you know, within a few months of the right puzzle pieces into your missing puzzle.

Liz:

Yeah. The way that I work with people, the vast majority feel an improvement. within a month,

Willow:

Mm hmm.

Liz:

like 95%.

Leah:

Here I'm thinking, God, it's gonna take a year.

Willow:

No,

Liz:

I love the year. I love the year. I love people to give me a year. My programs are year long programs. And initially it's just to get started, but then when people are going to go for it, they're going to go for the gold. Then I really love them to give me a year. However, we want to feel better, you know, that's how we're designed as humans. And so most people feel by the one month, at a very minimum, that we're going in the right direction. They can tell that by one month. Then, we're still doing some adjusting, some tweaking until we just keep getting more and more improvement in how they're feeling. And there's one more piece that I, that I talk about with people, which is what I call the hormone time frame. And that's about eight to ten weeks when the cells really realize that they are under new management.

Willow:

Mm.

Liz:

Right? Then, we're at the three

Leah:

And then what do, and then what, what do they do when they're go, okay, they were under new management, do they start behaving differently?

Liz:

They do,

Leah:

right there, and

Liz:

behaving better.

Leah:

okay, they get on board, now we're a team, all right.

Liz:

Yes, exactly. And sometimes they are little rascals and they go, Oh no, no, no. You were feeling better, but we're just going to adjust so that you go back to feeling how you were feeling. So we might actually lose a little bit of ground. And that's really important. That's where the habits are critically important. The thoughts are critically important. Uh, I really love that when women, you know, perimenopause and menopause is such a gift. It's such a beautiful time and opportunity when we're not feeling good. Sometimes for women, we only stop with the go, go, go when we get sick.

Leah:

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Liz:

right? So that's not good. But as these things come upon us more slowly, we have the opportunity to

Willow:

Yeah, our body, our bodies are always talking to us and, and, you know, but we often aren't listening. And when we go through, I love that you're, we're using the word opportunity because that's so much better than like, Oh, the drudgery and the challenge of it. You know, it's like, this is an opportunity to listen to your body in a new way and to start to take care of these vital structures in your body that make you feel emotionally Physically certain ways. Um, you know, one of the things that I love to give women as a prescription is to take more naps because we just need more rest and more rejuvenation, more revitalization at this, at this time, at this shift in our lives, because it, it requires a lot of energy for our bodies to be starting to function in these very different ways.

Leah:

well, I think it's why I love that there's the word pause and menopause it's an opportunity to take a pause at a really rich time in life When you've lived some decades and you've had lots of experiences things that have touched you, obstacles, successes, breakthroughs, hurt and heartache and just have a pause to go a lot's happened in my life And this is, this has been my journey as a woman and what does the next journey want to experience? How can I create more richness in my life with conversations and people and in a relationship to my body in a whole new way? And I know as I've been sort of wrestling with this, there's this one, Like there's that wisdom piece that I know I want to tap into and use a certain mindset and be proactive in the type of perspective I want to have during this journey and to really like treasure it. And then there's also this creeping anxiety. You know, there's something about, I think the female collective, I know certainly in my family, where it's like, Alright, well, so, well, this person had this experience and they felt crazy and they hated it and they were miserable and all this feelings of dysfunction and yet this person just had some night sweats a couple of times, but they really rolled through it. Um, And there's been a feeling of like, well, I don't want to feel crazy. I have felt somewhat crazy my whole life. I don't want to get crazier. I want to get more chill. So there's this, like we're holding a lot as we're facing the discomfort or worst case scenario, you know, um, And so I don't know that I have a question regarding that as much as I feel like the impact of the journey and

Liz:

Yes.

Leah:

You know, who who are we on the other side is the other question, which could be very

Liz:

Yeah.

Leah:

So there are women there are women that I know right who go through menopause and then they just their sex life kind of drifts. This is you know, this is called sex reimagined And so it's been interesting to go the women who just go, you know, I'm kind of done with sex You I'm just, I'm okay with that and I, and I totally respect and applause that. Then there's other women that went, sex is even better. Sex is better than it was at 20. Um, can you say a little bit about that phenomenon and how many women come through your system, and or men, who end up having better sex later in life? Or do, like, what's the percentage of them, do they tell you, like, eh, I'm done? And do you have a feeling for who stays sexy and who doesn't? In terms of how

Liz:

gosh. Okay, that's

Leah:

know that was a

Liz:

things that we now want to talk about. So the first thing I want to say is I want to reassure you, and I say this to my patients, and I'm saying this to each of you, and I'm saying this to each person listening, you are now in my orbit. And so, you're going to be fine, you're going to be fine, you're not going to be medically gaslit, you're not going to be told, oh, you're just getting older, you just have to accept it. I call that the J word, just, right? And so, you want to, we're going to reject that, we're not, we're not going to just roll over and, and let it go. To your point of women who choose to let it go, that's a choice. All of this is about empowering women. And you had a guest once on your podcast who talked about empowerment versus agency. I really enjoyed that one.

Leah:

yes.

Liz:

And I love that because who has agency is little three year old girls.

Willow:

Mm.

Liz:

We just hand them the reins, let them be in charge, and we could just take them to Congress and kick their butts and actually get things done, right? So three year old girls have agency, and then we lose that for whatever reasons, things we learn, things in our families, experiences that we have, we lose that agency. And so this is our, our opportunity to, to bring that back, right? How we choose to do it is, is individual and up to us.

Leah:

I really liked what you said, you said something earlier about, You know, this isn't, I think oftentimes what happens is a woman starts to feel bad because their partner wants sex and they start to feel like they don't, they're not interested, they're having a reaction and I think there's something really powerful about going through this process. process with someone like you, Dr. Liz, who's really advocating for them in their agency. And the better question is to ask is, well, how do you feel about sexuality? And how do you feel about being in your body? And what gives you pleasure? Because just because we decide that we don't want to have sex anymore, doesn't mean that we're, we're saying we don't want sensuality anymore. That there are so many ways to get pleasure and sex is just one of them.

Liz:

You know, it's so funny what our brains do with sex and decisions that we make. You said something about people who've, I definitely have in my patient population again, right? It's, it's self selected by the time they get all the way to me. Okay. Same as people listening right now. They are proactive. They have a, a vision for themselves that how, of how they want to feel, how they want their life to be. And I'm here to do, to work with them and be their partner in, in fulfilling that vision. And it looks different. It looks individual. Uh, there's a lot of things for women with our sexuality. So for example, with the really good sex, I think of is the change in how we relate to ourselves.

Leah:

Mm hmm.

Liz:

I remember my 20s. I remember my 20s as a time of really crippling concern over what other people thought of me.

Willow:

Mm.

Leah:

Yeah,

Liz:

Now, people who knew me then, they wouldn't, like, think of that. This was all internal, right? I was out there, I was in medical school, doing my residency, I was doing my thing. Living in, I lived in Hollywood, I lived in the Hollywood Hills and go out dancing and I, you know, externally everything looked fine, but it was really sort of like this terrible concern, right? One of my favorite quotes is Eleanor Roosevelt is, you would worry a lot less about what people think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

Leah:

Right, right. Boy, isn't that

Liz:

they're worried about them. They're worried about, oh my god.

Willow:

Yes, exactly.

Liz:

Okay. So here we are. Like, like you said, we cross a certain, certain threshold of age. Usually it's age 40. I'm just going to say it. Some women get there younger, but for sure, like once we're 40s and I'm in my 50s, which is super awesome and planning ahead for my 60s, my oldest patient's in her 80s, uh, and she gets the bioidentical hormone pellets. That's important. I want to make sure

Leah:

Yeah. Yeah, I, I want to, yes,

Liz:

that we're talking about are bio identical, they're native to, in structure, to what our ovaries are. Okay. used to make plenty of. So the production declines, and I know you guys have talked about this and you know a lot about it, we can get them from plants. I, I personally don't use the word synthetic too much because a lot of, most of these things are synthesized in a lab. Okay,

Willow:

the

Liz:

would be to,

Willow:

Yeah.

Liz:

yes, exactly. So I stick with bioidentical and non bioidentical. I, I just stick with those terms. Okay, so everything we're saying about hormones, we are talking bio identical, we're not talking about estrogens that are natural to horses or to other

Leah:

So then what are

Willow:

Plant derived.

Leah:

What are plant derived hormones? Okay.

Liz:

Yes, so they're made by being plant derived and the bioinunical, all it means is that the structure is the same or almost exactly the same as what the body used to make plenty of.

Willow:

Yeah, so if you look at the molecule of what the ovary made for estradiol, and then you look at a bioidentical estradiol molecule, they look almost exactly the same. Not exactly, but almost.

Liz:

Exactly. Very close. Very close.

Leah:

so what are the various ways people can take bioidentical hormones? We know that I think there's oil and creams and pellets and what are pellets and where do you put them?

Willow:

Mm hmm.

Liz:

All right. Wonderful. So that's so great. I'm so glad that you're asking that because we want to, we can do this at the same time as dispelling All of the horrible misinformation that came from the Women's Health Initiative study, which was 20 years ago. That data is 20 years old, okay? It's just amazing how time flies. So three things were wrong in that study. The wrong women were studied, the wrong hormones were given, and the wrong route of administration of the hormones. Let's talk since, yeah, big, huge fail, big, huge fail, and it's caused so many women to suffer.

Leah:

Jeez.

Liz:

trying to, I lived in LA at the time and I was selling my house and my realtor walked in and she was like beet red and dripping sweat and just like barely made it up my stairs, plopped down on the sofa and I knew exactly what had happened just from looking at her. Because the study, the press release came out before the doctors, before we even had a chance to actually read the study. And now over 20 years, we've had a chance to really dissect it and really see the huge, huge flaws with the study. So to answer what you were just asking, we can talk about how hormones should be given. With estrogen, the number one important point is that it's through your skin. Transdermal, you said gels, oils, creams, compounding pharmacy, regular pharmacy, all different kinds of topical estrogen. Patches, that counts, that's topical. It's well established that the increased cardiovascular stroke heart attack risk that was reported from the Women's WHI study. Was because those women were given the estrogen by mouth.

Willow:

Rather than

Liz:

is no, there is no confusion in the data any longer. It's very, very clear. Cardiology journals, OBGYN journals, when you take estrogen orally, it goes down to your stomach, over to your liver, and stimulates the production of clotting factors. It's called the first pass effect, the first pass through the liver. When you use estrogen through your skin, it does not have that effect.

Leah:

Okay, do, do our doctors still prescribing pills? I, hopefully that's not

Liz:

They are, they are, and I will say that I've had the very rare patient who that's just the only way that she can tolerate it. And feeling better is more important because In the, even in the WHI study, the women who were on those wrong hormones lived longer. They had lower all cause mortality than the women on placebo, including lower mortality from breast cancer.

Willow:

Okay. Yeah.

Liz:

Okay,

Willow:

one of the big, big things about that health, that health initiative that was really, really wrong was that it was causing breast cancer when actually getting on the right levels of estrogen can can prevent breast cancer

Liz:

that's exactly right. That's very advanced. That's very advanced. You're absolutely correct. And the other, so estrogen through the skin, one last comment on that is to talk about the pellets. I love hormone pellets. They're very convenient. They, I don't have any like handy, like to show. They're a little bigger than a grain of rice. They're made by specialty compounding pharmacies. They're not made just anywhere. uh, under very controlled, sterile circumstances. And they're, so they're literally compressed hormone. When a patient comes for hormone pellets, she comes to my office. For a few minutes procedure where I numb the skin, usually kind of, I'm pointing to my hip, pointing to my glute area. That's the, that's the fleshy part that we like. Uh, that's usually a good place for that. Uh, numb the skin, very small cut that does not require a stitch, and a little instrument that I'm, I can pass the pellets into that tissue and then they dissolve completely over time,

Willow:

Mm-Hmm.

Liz:

they do a really good job.

Leah:

pellet?

Liz:

Depends on the dose and how she feels. Uh, most women, the way I do the dosing can come about every four months. So it's really convenient.

Willow:

Yeah,

Liz:

I learned about this

Willow:

about taking certain amount of drops or putting patches on at night or all that stuff that you would have to keep track of. That's why people love pellets because

Leah:

Okay, so you get, they get to, they

Willow:

your doctors keeping track of it more than you are, which is, you know, convenient. You

Liz:

love it. I went to, to train to learn how to do the procedure and learn about the, the method of hormone replenishment with pellets. And I was ready. I took my labs with me and I knew my testosterone was low and I went into menopause when I was 43 by the way.

Leah:

Oh, okay.

Liz:

So, I have been

Willow:

were young.

Leah:

50?

Willow:

Yeah.

Liz:

age is 51, so I was way ahead of that curve, uh, so

Willow:

Did you start your Menarche early?

Liz:

nope, no, actually a little bit late, I was 13,

Willow:

okay.

Liz:

yeah,

Willow:

Normal age. Normal ish.

Liz:

yeah, you know, and, and I didn't know what was going to happen, my mother was one of hundreds of thousands of women who had hysterectomy pretty young, she was in her 30s.

Willow:

Mm.

Liz:

we didn't really have any way to know what to expect there. Although the family history is, unless it's really extreme The family history, yeah, it's not that big of a factor. Yeah, yeah,

Leah:

so, you know, I, I've got a friend right now who's taking, I think she's using cream and It's like these fluctuations, right? You're measuring. How are you feeling? How are you feeling? And she's starting like, her nipples were so uncomfortable, so sore, they're driving her crazy. And trying to figure out the dosages. So I guess my concern with the pellets is, is the pellet something you do after you kind of balance, you know what the prescription, the measurement is, or can you start with pellets? And if you don't really love it, you got to wait four months, right?

Willow:

That's a good

Liz:

exactly. I like to do A, do the hormone balancing first. Like I said, I love the pellets. I've personally been using them. I went to my training and I was the guinea pig. So I, I laid down the table and showed everybody my butt. There were four doctors. Getting trained and I was the first procedure that they watched. So, and I've, and I've used them ever since. And I really liked them, but again, I had already been doing other methods

Willow:

are, and you already knew kind of what you

Liz:

Yes, exactly. Exactly. And really, really in menopause, not the, the perimenopause again, you know. You've got your 20, you're in your 20s. You've got high levels of most hormones. And then in your 30s, the progesterone starts to decline. You're 40, by the 40s, the estrogen is also declining. Testosterone has been declining the whole time. And so we're looking, and then you get to what I call the stock market phase. That's what everybody knows. That's, yeah, that, that's the menopause transition. That's the menopause, the musical, all those funny, I, I really enjoyed that show. It was pretty hilarious. Uh, but that's, those are the symptoms that people hear about and know about the hots, the hot flashes, the night sweats, uh, all, all of that good stuff. So, and then you come out the other side, but you come out the other side with everything really low. Okay, but again, by way of reassuring you, Leah, when women are talking with me before heading into that, you're going to know, you're going to know what's going on and you're going to know that you can influence it and you don't have to suffer.

Willow:

Yes. I think that's some, that's a big takeaway from this amazing interview with Dr. Liz is, you know, there is a solution. There is, um, Dr. Liz, and there are many other really incredible practitioners who understand bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in a very safe and very effective way, and it

Leah:

leads you to the miracle of menopause!

Willow:

Yeah, and you don't have to suffer through the pair years. You can have a good time through the pair years. So Gosh, Dr. Liz, where can people find you? Tell us about your Website and any free offerings that you have to help people come on board with you

Liz:

Absolutely. You bet. So my website is www.drlizmd.com. www.D R L I Z M D.com. Always the best way to Read up on me. I like when people do that. A lot of times people arrive at my office. Oh, my, my friend said to call you. I'm like, okay. And then I have to kind of give them even more background, a lot of information about me and what I do and the practice. But also just as importantly, all the classes, courses, Books, ebooks, ways of gaining information, learning about yourself and empowering yourself through this whole wonderful miracle part of life that is perimenopause and then menopause.

Leah:

and what are the titles of your books?

Liz:

The first book I wrote was called Dr. Liz's Easy Guide to Menopause. 5 Simple Steps to Balancing Your Hormones and Feeling Like Yourself Again.

Willow:

Love it. Great title

Liz:

More about perimenopause than it is about menopause. But I was in my forties at the time and that's the title that we came up with at the time. But the feeling like yourself again, that was the key. And then the next book that I wrote, and I was part of, I've been part of several anthologies as well, which are also really cool and inspiring. Uh, but the next book that I wrote on my own is Go for Great.

Willow:

Mmm.

Liz:

That's Dr. Liz's guide to thrive at every age. Go for Great. And that's where I really talk about getting rid of the J word that you're just getting older. You just have to live with it.

Willow:

Yeah

Liz:

That's just not true. And then the last book that I wrote is called Sacred Libido.

Willow:

We like the

Liz:

This

Leah:

like that.

Liz:

do, we do,

Leah:

That's right up our alley.

Willow:

Like go for great and sacred libido. Both

Liz:

right. And then of course, also the latest latest is the Miracle of Menopause.

Willow:

Nice.

Liz:

about all of those. Uh, is on my website, contact form on my website. I just, I love to hear from people. I have a newsletter list, so I have an online community that we're working on growing and I welcome everybody to that.

Leah:

Well, thank you so much, Dr. Liz. We appreciate all your wisdom and all your time today.

Willow:

yeah. We've had so much fun talking with you.

Liz:

Likewise.

Leah:

All right, that's a wrap, folks. Remember, love, love, love, love. Now, our favorite part, the dish. Well, there's so much to say after gathering more information, first from Dr. Rosensweet, now with Dr. Liz, and of course all the stuff you've been learning for God knows how long with all the patients that you've seen who also have hormonal fluctuations, issues with periods, issues with pregnancy, issues with nursing, issues with life, um, and sex, and all that stuff, so I'm sure you have been learning a lot. You know, in the stew of, of what these people have to say. So let's first, you know, find out what

Willow:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I loved our interview with Dr. Liz Lyster today, and it was really cool to talk with her after speaking with Dr. Rosenzweig. My personal training has always erred on the side of very holistic. My functional medicine teachers were of the mindset of not using exogenous hormones at all, not even bioidenticals, because the molecule has to get changed about 18 different ways before it can be modified. Bioidentical. However, I brought a lot of that to the conversation when we had Dr. Rosenzweig on, on the podcast and he just handled my objections so beautifully. You know, I just really loved his gentle nature and his approach and he just, he coaxed my mind in a new direction and he also So told us about his book and then he told us about another book called Estrogen Matters. So I gobbled that book up and that book was really what opened my eyes to the benefit and the, the need for bioidentical replacement therapy. We're just living longer than we used to, and um, we need our bone density, we need our brain. We need our breast health. We need so much that, um, the replenishment therapies, that's the word that both, um, Dr. Liz and Dr. Rosensweet use, uh, bioidentical replenishment therapy, because we're not really replacing, the adrenals do step in after the ovaries take their final bow, and they do, um, produce estrogen, progesterone,

Leah:

give what they can.

Willow:

They give what they can, but it's like there's, there's missing pieces to the puzzle. And so that's why bringing in plant based bioidentical hormones is really, really beneficial and powerful. And it gives women their lives back, you know, it gives them their minds back. It makes them feel sane and, and it makes them feel happy. It makes them feel like they can carry on with the life that they're leading rather than just everything coming to a standstill.

Leah:

Yeah. You know, when you think about, we go 50 years, um, in these bodies that respond and react, and there's this chemistry going on in our systems that we're very unaware of, and then to have everything start, you know, shifting and changing on you. It's no wonder women oftentimes have a difficult time experiencing the full grace of what I think the menopause is as an opportunity. I also was kind of surprised just now, you know, talking about that book that you read that, uh, By replacing some of the hormones that you're losing, you can help prevent bones breaking and Alzheimer's and heart disease and breast cancer. I mean, who knew that this was that important?

Willow:

Yeah, there are just endless studies on this actually. And really, you can find studies to support any view that you have on hormone replacement. I'm sure for sure you can. And this book is just, it was written by a woman and a doctor. The woman did the writing and the doctor was kind of the, um, you know, The doctor of the book and she really had no, she didn't care either way. She was very neutral when she started writing this book and then she just saw this overwhelming evidence to the value of using replenishment therapy and it can help with people who have chronic migraines, um, all kinds of aches and pains in the body, like things that we don't think about, joint pain, things that we don't really. Fatigue, headaches, you know, we might not think about these things as being hormonally related, but often times, which is, this is what Dr. Rosensweet said and Liz said it as well, is as soon as we um, clean up a little, you know, we clean up these hormones, so many of our issues can just fall away and we can start to feel a little better. A lot more embodied, which is, you know, that's what we need in order to keep our drive and our libidos and our sexuality at a, at a optimal level.

Leah:

And I really like that word optimal level when she was taking a look at the tests because someone can be in the range, but that doesn't mean that that's optimal. And I just got some blood work done and I was really low in B12 and considerably low in vitamin D. But she said your vitamin D is still within the markers. But you're a little low. I'd like to see you boost that up. So I have to do another blood test next month and see if the supplements that I've been taking are being effective. If not, she'll put me on B12 shots. And, um, and so a, I got a little good feeling like, okay, my doctor's paying attention. She's not just ignoring that those levels are low. She wants me to get them up higher. Um, they're not called depleted. They're just low. And, um, and this helps me have a language for when I meet with the other doctor in the office who's going to talk to me about perimenopause and getting ready for that. So I feel more equipped to have that doctor's appointment and I'm going to be really curious to see how she reads these things and what her perspective is and, um, as I just dive in. Who knows? I might have to look for another doctor. Hopefully I won't.

Willow:

Yeah. Yeah. It's good to just have a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of information before you meet with your primary care doctor so that you have a better grasp on what you might want to ask them about.

Leah:

Yeah, I think too, you know, that point you made about you can find a study to either, um, give you whichever place you want to lean. And you find a study in a book about hormones saving your life and your brain and, and all these other cancers. But then you could also find an article or a book talking about how hormone replacement could give you heart disease. Like they discovered that Dr. Liz mentioned when women were having strokes and so on and so forth, because they were taking it Orally versus topically. And, uh, God, it's just so interesting. So there you have it. Everyone have a great rest of your day or night, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Love, love, love.

Announcer:

Thanks for tuning in. This episode was hosted by Tantric Sex Master Coach and Positive Psychology Facilitator, Leah Piper, as well as by Chinese and Functional Medicine Doctor and Taoist Sexology Teacher, Dr. Willow Brown. Don't forget, your comments, likes, subscribes and suggestions matter. Let's realize this new world together.

People on this episode

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Dr. Willow Brown

Host
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Leah Piper

Host
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Dr. Liz Lyster

Guest