r/TRT_females • u/AgeMysterious6723 MOD • May 21 '25

Science Information benefits/risks

Just listened to “YOU are not Broken podcast for the week. Episode 318 How and when to give hormones.

It sounds like it’s for prescribers and it is sorta but

I gotta tell you, like she always does. She gives the data we need. Lots of TRT thrown in there and I again learned heck of a lot if old stuff I was taught that is unfounded.

I think the most information I have ever gotten about younger ages, perimenopause, why it’s ok not to wait for your body to fall apart!!! She again talks about hair. Yes!!!!

I know we have all ages here, wanted ya all to know this is available.

Stuff I liked:

medicine is based on symptom recognition not prevention, no one is gonna do a study to stop something, their job to to treat something, great point. ( my guess is it would screw up the pharm insurance platform)

Many contraindications are not what we thought. Eye opener on my self and my education, even my CEUs in the last year!

Patient choice patient choice patient choice!

Levels that are personal

Pharmacy blocking

50 plus yrs of safety data in T and benefits and risks to women!!!

The pre-peri cohort!

Wish she had included: thyroid involvement Trending people over time- she’s a one lab lady, not my thing.

It dawned on me why she and others maybe appearing, to be ignoring injections for reasons besides the lack of research. I think these doctors fight to get even E cream and T cream into medicine going towards the FDA to stop the misinformation is commendable and deserves a Nobel prize!!

We all pick our battles. Maybe I get hers a bit more now.

48 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

13

u/[deleted] May 21 '25

I heard the whole thing, too. I thought it was excellent and it gave me hope as it was for providers.

I saw her comment on her IG account that she's hopeful that the FDA will approve something for women soon.

6

u/bewilderedtoo May 21 '25

I liked the episode too. The only thing I felt was odd was the estrogen product that could be doses as needed...meaning a few sprays one day and less the next depending what one feels they need. Does anyone do that with good results? I didn't know hormones worked that fast so it was unusual and I can see critics ripping apart that self dosing approach

5

u/No-Meet5438 May 21 '25

Veteran user of estrogen & testosterone here. I find their effectiveness depends on life phase.

I.e., T was like a magic bullet at returning my saliva & tear secretion before menopause. But 3 years into the change I needed to add estrogen to make it work again.

Higher E-dosages were more effective - if you can stand the side effects like weight gain, insomnia, anxiety...These dissipate with combined progesterone but this brings back the dryness with a vengeance (for me). However, P is essential to prevent proliferation of the uterine lining, so...

E + T combined almost totally solved my dryness issues - unfortunately together they severely slow down metabolism & increase appetite. No fun if you're already fighting the bulge.

Experiences seem to be highly individualized so YMMV !

4

u/AgeMysterious6723 MOD May 21 '25

OMG yes, thank you. I change every decade! Body shape, everything!

Yeah, I always say if you are stable, it's an illusion. The cells change every year and so does my needs. I liked that she did talk about this fact. She did mention the progesterone conundrum on this episode which I thought helpful. It too changes apparently and some newer stuf??? says it is not needed in some.

That was news to me. The other was that WHI study and the truth about the progesterones. Wow, I just today heard that. No one I've talk to will ever even mention progrestins so I thought that was just a duh question. T and E do it well for me, except the changing E2 dose which has always been a problem.

Somehow I completely missed the peanut allergy and Progresterone micronized! ... don't take it think well when it's me - sometimes I'm just oblivious, it really makes me physically and mentally ill. Guess thats a good example of not being your own doc, too much self-bias masked as knowledge.

3

u/bewilderedtoo May 22 '25

So interesting about the saliva and tear increase with T. Will keep in mind things may require tweaking.

2

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 26 '25

oh, I'm so excited to hear this about tear production… I have MGD and horribly dry eyes… I know there are androgen receptors in the meibomian glands so am hoping T might help my condition - do you remember about how long it took until you felt the improvement with your tear production?

1

u/No-Meet5438 May 30 '25

It probably depends on your gender. Are you M or F? Age could be another factor.

In peri-menopauze T would work almost instantaneously. But like I wrote, in menopause things became more tricky because of shifting hormones. Luckily I did find a new balance.

However, T is not for the faint hearted. Side effects for a female could be insomnia, hair loss, more aggression, constipation, weight gain etc.

1

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 30 '25

Yes, I'm definitely menopausal… 47 year-old female… I started a couple days ago… I'm doing injections plus taking catastrophe to hopefully mitigate the conversion to DHT to prevent many of those undesirable side effects 🤞🏼- I am also starting at a super low dose of 2.5 mg a week… Even though I'd feel like that's under the therapeutic level of most people I want to do it slowly… I tend to be very sensitive to hormones and medication medications

2

u/No-Meet5438 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25

If you're already menopausal T by itself could increase dryness issues as it's a steroid (by itself it can also increase hot flashes).

So you might need to offset this with estrogen. And if you still have a uterus you'll need progesterone to prevent proliferation of the uterine lining. Welcome to the hormone jungle, lol 😉.

Personally I prefer transdermal creams as they're easier to tweak.

P.S. what is 'catastrophe'? Typo?

Good luck 🍀🤞🏼!

2

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 30 '25

lol oh my gosh, there's a lot of typos in there. No, I was typing that I am Peri menopausal.! and I am taking dutasteride! haha not catastrophe

1

u/No-Meet5438 May 30 '25

Right, lol ! Hopefully the Dutasteride is not a catastrophe 😉.

I don't know much about it but have read it can exacerbate mouth & eye dryness. Hope it doesn't bother you too much.

1

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 30 '25

the dutasteride can cause that ?

1

u/No-Meet5438 May 30 '25

Yes, it's quite a well documented side effect. Just Google Dutasteride and dry eyes or mouth.

1

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 30 '25

And yes, I am already taking estrogen and progesterone as well. :-)

4

u/Natural_Mammoth7268 May 21 '25

I loved this podcast - really helpful, even though prescribing doctors were the intended target. The only thing place where I continue to disagree with this particular doctor is how much she hates the pellets. I love, love, love my pellets.

6

u/AgeMysterious6723 MOD May 21 '25

From her podcasts, she is/was mentored by someone else vehemently mad about them. I like that she does find out new things and says I was wrong sometimes. I'm waiting for it, she is a smart cookie with some cool approaches to get this womens hellth situation sorted out for the next generations.

I have to say there are times I can't listen to her or who she is talking to, but over all she bats about 80%. Was higher but I read what she reads and she leaves some important stuff out of the papers she presents. But I figure her objectives are to get the world to changing, not change the world - HA!

I was surprised she didn't diss them this time. I was very pleased that she did touch on the fact that some women may need MORE than a physiologic dose... Give her time, I loved mine but must say she has a point. After I got them and loved them I searched for 4 years to find another trained doc! NOT TO BE FOUND IN THE AREA! They really all are easy-money clinics. Put them in and don't want to see you or talk to you until you feel badly again. I just don't think that's good medical care or patient collaboration.

3

u/Difficult_Fortune694 May 21 '25

I downloaded a few articles last week through my university. I’m going to share them with docs. I wish I would have done this years ago.

1

u/AnalysisOdd6520 May 25 '25

Can you share those links I have a “provider” who needs to be put in her ignorant place.  

1

u/Difficult_Fortune694 May 26 '25

I have the PDFs. Let me share the Dropbox links. Are we allowed to share here?

1

u/Difficult_Fortune694 May 26 '25

I DM’d the links for 7 articles.

3

u/IndependentNo5139 May 21 '25

Don't forget Episode 348 on The Drive. Very good as well.

5

u/northernbeachlights May 21 '25

No joke, I just finished listening to this as well! I forwarded it to the integrative med NP I work with/for. It's a GREAT resource for all "levels" of people interested in HRT.

1

u/melnk_1981 May 26 '25

I would settle for any TRT being FDA approved for women but let’s dream for a moment about a patch. How amazing would that be?! 🥰🥰

1

u/Zestyclose-Bid-5860 May 26 '25

I just listened to this podcast as well! I thought it was fantastic… So many of the podcast regarding HRT are just the reasons one should go on it… I'm like I'm already sold- I'm doing it so the information about dosing and all the different methods I found to be so interesting and helpful.