Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Hello everyone. I am Dr. Barisa Augustine. I'm a nurse practitioner. I've been with Thrive Lab now for about two years and I've been a patient for about a year and a half. This has been a great opportunity to learn a lot more about hormone health and the signs and symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, not just for women but also the effects of hormones on men as well. So I will let my colleague introduce herself.

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Brittany Meeker:

Hi, I am Brittany. I am Bemisa's long lost sister. It's so exciting to be on here with you, Dr. B. This is amazing. We'll dive into progesterone here shortly, which is a fascinating hormone. But I am Brittany, nurse practitioner with Thrivelab. June will be about two years that I have been with them. Witnessing testimony after testimony of lives transformed. We'll go into some stories here in a little bit about that. But welcome to the webinar. We are gonna dive into all things progesterone. And I look forward to covering a lot of questions I'm sure you have about this hormone and what it means.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Absolutely. So first Brittany, what we're going to begin with is kind of like the basics. So what is progesterone and what is the role of it, especially when it comes to a female's body?

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Brittany Meeker:

Right, you know, it's pretty interesting. It really plays a major role in menstruation, pregnancy, the formation of embryos. Ideally progesterone is needed for women, especially when it comes to what it does as a function in your body. And it works together with estrogen and it helps to achieve optimal hormone levels. So there's a lot of functions it does within the body. It's one of my most favorite hormones because it touches so many different areas of the body. It acts as a natural diuretic, right? So it helps shed excess water retention naturally. It's an anti-inflammatory. It helps aid an ovulation, which is something that allows women to become pregnant, right? It really helps to balance and regulate your thyroid naturally. It has a huge effect on sleep. So women that are struggling with insomnia, it really helps you to be able to sleep. Helps even with building bones. And my most favorite thing that I love is it really helps prevent anxiety, depression, agitation, mood swings. So it really works on the CNS, especially when it works on the effects of GABA. which helps patients to be able to sleep at night. And converting fat into energy even helps with hair growth and metabolic rate. But those are some that come to mind. What are your thoughts on just different things that progesterone does?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

So a lot of the research that I've done and also seeing some of these patients in my clinic, some of the secondary issues, I would say to depleted progesterone are things like cardiovascular issues, depression. anxiety alone. I mean, there's plenty of patients that have actually come off of their anti anxiety medications just because their progesterone was low. Patients with fibromyalgia are having better sleep, better days because their muscles aren't so sore and they don't feel so stiff. And of course, you know, it does help us go into that relaxing state, you know, because of GABBA being increased. So it helps us sleep. I've even read where it can help with some sleep apnea issues, and also what we always worry about is weight gain.

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Brittany Meeker:

No, absolutely. It's interesting that you mentioned helping with joint pain with fibromyalgia, because that's one of the big things is it works on the joints and it relaxes the smooth muscle tissue. So patients who are having these backaches and joint pain, that's one of the big amplifiers for it. And then two, one of my favorites, it helps with breast health to help protect the breast and breast cancer, which I wanna go over a study with you, I found about that. But yeah, it is a fascinating hormone. It really covers a lot of things in the body for sure.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes, it is. And it doesn't get as much attention as estrogen. But I always say that they're twins. When I'm educating my patients, I let them know that this hormone has to balance with estrogen. It's very protective of the uterus to help over. You know. Um, what is it? A fibroid growth. Um, in, especially in women with PCOS, it calms those symptoms down. So I do say this is like, this is the twin. It's the quiet twin. You know, when it comes to the estrogen.

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BRITTANY:

The relaxing twin. Right.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Exactly. Exactly.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

So that's amazing. That's amazing. I do love this hormone. I call it our happy hormone actually.

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BRITTANY:

That makes me think of a patient I took care of today. She's officially off her trazodone, which is a sleep aid. You know, got her trazodone off board and she has her progesterone. Mind you, she's in menopause and no hormones are being produced. But yeah, it's definitely happy because not only does it take away maybe prescriptions you have, but you definitely feel better with the effects when you get to the root issue.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

I agree, I do agree. All right, so can you tell me some of the signs and symptoms of progesterone imbalance and like is there a specific age range that you are seeing this in?

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BRITTANY:

That's a great question. I find more of a deficiency in younger women because of the clinical signs they're showing. PCOS is becoming so common, that is polycystic ovarian syndrome. That means that estrogen, that energizer hormone is on overdrive. And when it's on overdrive, it's twin progesterone, the happy calming hormone is. depleted and what that really looks like for young women, even women in perimenopause and menopause is Anxiety they feel anxious, but then their libido is low, right? And then they have sometimes even this excessive heavy menstrual cycle Which can last seven days and it's very heavy bleeding. Even labs will reflect that they're anemic at times because of the heavy bleeding god bless them. They think this is normal. I'm used to cycling for this long. This is kind of my normal, but that's really what PCOS and what kind of that looks like. All age groups, I can't pinpoint a certain age group, but ideally all women definitely have some form or sign of a deficiency, especially when it comes to mood or being very irritable. And one thing too is migraine headaches prior to their menstrual cycles. I currently am now treating a female who was on two to three different migraine medications that were not helping and she was feeling that she was going crazy. She did not know why these medicines weren't helping. God bless her. She is now on some good old progesterone, no more migraine headaches. But you see migraines with that and just having these mood swings and just feeling pain and just feeling nervous. And so I think a lot of the ways to catch it is kind of mental health. I don't know, what do you think? How do you kind of catch those patients with deficiencies?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Well, like you, I've been seeing this deficient occur in younger and younger women. I mean, in clinic alone, I've seen as young as like 19 years old. I don't know what's going on is causing these deficiencies, but yes, they are having these symptoms. And one thing that it really does affect not just their menstruation, but it affects their sleep. Okay, big time when it's depleted. They're like... I maybe will get four or five hours with an eye. I either wake up and I'm drenched, you know, in sweat or I'm just waking and it feels like I can't get my body to calm down. And so at that point, it's like your body is not resetting and sleep is so detrimental to our health, you know, mentally, physically, that if we don't allow our bodies to reset on this cellular level, it's going to throw everything else off.

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BRITTANY:

Right?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

And so that's where the depression comes in and the skin issues and, you know, I mean, it's just, it's a vicious cycle, but it happens. So our bodies are formulated that way to warn us, you know, with these certain signs and symptoms. So, you know, when I do see the younger ones, I'm not just saying, okay, well, at this point, I can't treat you. Let's wait until it's worse or, you know, or just treating you by numbers. I'm always like, look, it can't really hurt anything. So let's try it to see if you can sleep a little bit better. And it happens. And you can just see, you can see a quick shift. And then here comes the, oh, my cycles are lightened. It's no longer seven days. Even if it's six, okay, that's progress. But I've seen it where they feel better. They don't have the PMS symptoms the same way they did or the PTSD symptoms. You know, because like you said,I would say hormone estrogen is not dominant like it was before. So it definitely does, um, bring that balance, you know, to a, to a woman's body. So I don't just, I don't just treat if you're perimenopausal, you know, or menopausal, we have to find a, you know, a common solution, you know, to help these other women out that are not, you know, that aren't anywhere near. You know, menopause, they need the help as well.

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BRITTANY:

And I love that you mentioned sleep, you know, a forum that hormone seminar, I love the way one of the speakers mentioned is at night when you're supposed to sleep, that's when the the garbage trucks come into the brain and get everything that we don't need and help shut it. So lack of sleep, no sleep is the first tail sign that something is off, because your body should be in a relaxed state to allow you to sleep. And I love that because on your point about PMS, we find it was so normal. Oh, I'm PMS saying that's actually an imbalance in itself. It is not normal to feel PMS symptoms. And I find that even, you know, with myself, you know, you're raised thinking, Oh, PMS, I'm fixing to start my period, I have x, y, z going on. That's already an imbalance within itself. But I agree with you, it's happening younger and younger. I do think it's environmental and things like that, but I love those points. That is so true.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Absolutely, absolutely. And I know we are already kind of speaking on the benefits of progesterone, but what are some of the other benefits that you're seeing? I mean, I love the fact that your patient is off of her trazodone. That's amazing.

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BRITTANY:

Right.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

I mean, as many patients as I can get off synthetic medications, I will be, because I'm so biased and I'm a naturopath, but that's absolutely amazing. What other... you know, benefits, you know, can you tell us about progesterone that you've seen?

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BRITTANY:

When it comes to the benefits of it, of prescribing it, I always tell patients that hormones work from the inside out. You start to notice the internal effects, which is sleep being the number one thing. And I think that just kind of resets things when it comes to the outcomes. And then it kind of, I tell them snowballs into a beautiful outcome of what that looks like and a positive effect. of it. I think the interesting thing of other positive things is when you your your skin changes. As we know, pregnancy has a lot of progesterone. So women having that glow, clear skin, the calming effects. Those are some of the tail signs that you know progesterone is taking effect by looking at the skin changes having clear skin. And you know, I wanna touch base on those, the women with PCOS, right? You have these clinical presentations of acne, cystic acne, right? And just really just concerns of skin is sometimes concerning for those women. And noticing those skin changes take effect in the skin clearing. Those are some of the other great outcomes I see of that progesterone taking effect. So, internally when sleep and the mood and all that changes and then works its way out to skin and the elasticity and and all of that so nothing like some natural cleanser that you don't have to it's just a pill that just helps with your skin so i absolutely love it

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

the total fountain of youth. Yeah, I've also seen it help a lot of women when it comes to their memory.

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BRITTANY:

That's true.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Like I said, it's protective. So I'm thinking, okay, is it protecting our telomeres? Is it, you know, it's amazing what this one little quiet hormone can do in our bodies.Because I do see, you know, quite a bit of very, very busy. women, especially, you know, in the corporate room. And they're just like, I can't remember day to day what I just did like five minutes ago. And it's just, I mean, it's no, yeah. Cause you know, they're trying to work their way up and they're trying to, you know, continue to do their jobs and be a mom and be a wife. And you know, and it's just, they're, they're having issues with, with memory. So I am seeing it, you know, actually help a lot of women, a lot of students, you know, get better in that realm

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BRITTANY:

Absolutely.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Great. Let's see. So now this is a common question that I often get with a lot of my patients that have tried hormone therapy before. What's the difference, or is there a difference between progestin and progesterone?

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BRITTANY:

Absolutely. It is night and day. Progestin is a synthetic form of progesterone. It's very different than the natural progesterone that we prescribe. And it really doesn't even have the same chemical structure within your body. So ideally, progestin you can find in birth controls. and it actually depletes your natural regulation and production of progesterone, the hormone that we want. And so what I find is with, you know, the synthetic form, we want to go natural, right? We want to give the body back what it's lacking naturally. And really when it comes to natural progesterone, that chemical structure we make by using wild yams, right? pharmacists or chemists, they're able to mimic that same chemical structure, which is why it's bioidentical, to mimic progesterone to increase those levels naturally. So they are absolutely the complete opposite, and they do the opposite things when it comes to outcomes, because you can have women on synthetic progestin, and what happens is acne, bloating. breast tenderness, depression, hair loss, headaches, you become almost like you have no progesterone, which you don't. I mean, you have the inability to even produce estrogen and testosterone at that point because it's synthetic and depleting other hormones. And even if we get a lab on someone that's on birth control, which usually has progestin, that synthetic hormone, that's what a lot of women that we treat on birth controls. I'm on birth control for contraceptives, but I'm having XYZ. You draw a lab panel and they're having no hormone production and then they have the opposite effects, right? Of like acne and weight gain and

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes.

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BRITTANY:

insomnia. And it's like, I love that you're wanting to have this as a contraceptive for you and your outcomes and goals, but totally depletes really what you're wanting when it comes to that. You know, what are your thoughts on that? I mean, especially seeing in birth control, but like comparing the two, because there's really no similarity when it comes to that.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

No, no, I don't think so either. I've educated patients time and time again about the disadvantages of birth control, okay? And let them know that what we do is different. We don't deplete anything or we don't, you know, we actually supplement. So we're giving you a little bit more of this, you know. other hormone that we naturally produce in order to balance the other out. We're not taking away anything from you here. And I get it. A lot of women are like, well, I do want to use it for contraception. I don't want to get pregnant, you know, but does the benefit of that really outweigh the risk of dealing, you know, with that synthetic progestin and depleting your estrogen? I mean, you know, I, I just, I do believe that, that natural is the best. you know, not to take away anything that your body is supposed to do, you know, supposed to naturally do. So, um, progesterone in my opinion is totally the way to go. 

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BRITTANY:

Absolutely!

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

It is a lot of education, even when it comes to, it doesn't matter which type of, um, horn, well, which type of birth control you're on because you do, you know, you have Marina. it releases a little bit of progesterone, progestin, but then you have the copper IUD, and we still treat women, you know, you know, with these, with these forms of birth control, with bioidenticals, you know.

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BRITTANY:

Right. And that's the beauty too, yeah.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yeah, still kind of contradicting, you know, taking both. But I do still treat women that are on birth control with bioidenticals.

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BRITTANY:

Absolutely. And that's the great thing is we do treat patients on birth controls, right? We do. And you mentioned the copper IUD, which is non hormonal, right? It's the IUD that pretty much is there as a contraceptive and the way it works is copper. Sperm is very resistant to copper. So that's how it's effective as a contraceptive. But yeah, I like your point. We really do treat women who are on birth control. But one thing Dr. Patel mentioned in a meeting. probably a year ago, is it's almost comparing taking birth control and balancing hormones to cleaning out a moldy fridge.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Exactly.

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BRITTANY:

You just take out the moldy food and just kind of wipe down the shelf or do you really thoroughly remove everything, all the junk and clean it and sanitize it and then start over to be sure that everything is cleansed? And that really stuck with me. So whether you're okay with half a moldy fridge, whatever that looks like, We can help, but if we want to really, really address it 100%, ideally, birth control would be removed, but we treat both. It's just wanting, how fast do you want the outcomes? How quickly do you want those changes?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Exactly. And one thing that we do for both, you know, women that are menstruating and menopausal women, we want them to live, you know, their best life. Okay, so this is not just, okay, we will give you this and you're going to feel better. There's work that you have to put in, you know, in order to. you know, have a successful treatment plan, honestly. You want your adrenals to be top notch. It's a filtration system. You want your liver to be good. Definitely your thyroid, because all of this plays a role in how we metabolize, absorb, and produce our sex hormones.

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BRITTANY:

Right.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

So what do you think causes the imbalances of progesterone in younger women?

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BRITTANY:

Right, so I get that question a lot. You know, what is going on, what is happening? You know, there's a really great, it was a book I had received on hormones and I'll reference it for the viewers too, just to kind of dive in if they want to do some research. But there's different things, antidepressants can cause deficiencies with progesterone aging under. Unfortunately, after the age of 30, hormones for both men and women start to decline. So as we get older, that already becomes in our area, which 30 is still very young. But ideally, our hormones are around just to help with reproduction. But my God, that's not the only reason why we want them, right? There's things that can happen. A low functioning thyroid, you know, Dr. B, like you mentioned before. is an issue that can happen. And that is one of the beautiful reasons why it is on our lab panel. I tell patients all the time, I'm glad you're here and we're reviewing your self-assessment because of your concerns with your hormones, but we're not just here to focus on hormones, right? We're gonna look into your thyroid. We're gonna check that thyroid because they mimic some hormone side effects and outcomes and they work together. I mean, they are counterparts. So if you have a low functioning thyroid and we treat you with hormones, but you have a low thyroid and it's not looked at, I mean, the job's not done. And that's not why we're gonna only focus on those. So a low thyroid, and I even looked into, you know, reading about vitamin deficiencies. If you have vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc, so those vitamin levels being low is a cause and we're corporate for that. our labs, we look into vitamin levels, right? So we're trying to really dig in deep to the system. Even I saw when it comes to stress, right? You mentioned adrenal fatigue, stress  can deplete your progesterone and then also excessive sugar intake, which is why in our recommendations with our patients, we recommend avoiding those high sugars, avoiding that excessive stress. with work and you know, it's interesting even with patients when we have these appointments, we're like, how's work? Do you work out? Do you, how's your diet? Because we're not here just to, okay, you look like you have a self assessment with hormone balance, here you go, get your medications. It's all about digging in deep. And so, and also too, there are some that will get a prolactin level, which is really just saying that your energizer hormones are on overdrive. But when that happens, as we've already kind of reviewed, that's what can cause the deficiencies. And I think too environment, right? Our food choices, but that's kind of where my thoughts are. What are your thoughts on like the deficiencies and what causes that?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yeah, I do agree. Big time with the environmental stressors. We don't know how to cope. So we cause cortisol increase. It's just anxiety. I think our bodies are driven on anxiety, you know, these days. So all of that can help in the depletion of our of our hormones as well. So I definitely do agree. I see a lot. I can probably say most of my menopausal women have thyroid deficiency and they never knew it. Never knew it. So finding that out and then helping them with that and also helping them with the sex hormones and then giving them like a balanced life to say, well, you don't have to be this triathlete in order to help yourself feel better or look better. You'll have the energy to get out and walk or mow the grass. Like, so. So I do agree with you with all these little tidbits that we don't recognize that happens in our lives that continuously cause us distress as far as anxiety and increase in cortisol and fatigue. And just looking at these small numbers and this little therapeutic range that we have and listening to the patient's symptoms, this is very beneficial for them. For women going through menopause, Also, peri-menopausal women and our younger ones now, you know, in their late 20s, you know, that are dealing with this.

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BRITTANY:

No, absolutely. And you know, it's interesting too, you know, when it comes to progesterone and we have that younger population, they feel what's wrong with me, what's happening? We treat women over 18, right? So women 18 and older is when we can start treatment with this and yeah, it's interesting in a day in a world where we live with technology and everything at our fingertips. how high stresses can be, especially when it comes to all the additives of everything that encompasses the world. Back in the day, we weren't on cell phones and having all this crazy stress happening. And so it's just really affecting our hormones. Stress can really be huge. And that's why we tell our patients, right? Meditation, deep breaths, it all encompasses treatment. Balancing hormones is the tip of the iceberg.

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BRITTANY:

And, you know, like you said, it takes a lot to do the work. And you know, Dr. Patel mentioned to you, which I love his things that really, you know, is things that I taken because it's so true. If you were in a hospital, God forbid I can control your care and outcomes because you're there and I bring you this and I do this and I can control what you're going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and what that treatment looks like. But the beauty of this regiment is. We're able to provide guidance and treatment, but we're also hoping on your end that it's a it's it's it's working together and you're putting in some of the work too, right? Yes, you'll feel better, but we want to amplify that right? So I love that.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Another question, with prescribing, do you tend to see yourself prescribing progesterone alone more often or with the other hormones as well?

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BRITTANY:

That's a really good question. For my younger women, 18 and up to like 30, late 30s, mid 30s, it depends on everything. As you know, right, it's never black and white. I ideally just prescribe progesterone. Because if they're cycling, that's estrogen, right? And estrogen's cousin per se is testosterone. Those are the energizer hormones. So ideally I will have progesterone cycled. right with their menstrual cycle around that time of the month is how I do it. But it just kind of depends. And then my perimenopausal women, I'll sprinkle in, you know, some testosterone, which we talked about last week, all things testosterone to help amplify the the happy calming hormone with the, you know, an energizer hormone. And so I find that as definitely patients are 40 and over, even menopausal meaning no cycle, I will cover all three bases. Now, of course, you know, labs are helpful in the guidance of the aggression of therapy, but as you mentioned too, you have these small little ranges and God knows not everyone in this world, we dysfunction in the same range because it's so black and white, right? I mean, my job is to have it as a marker, right? As a guide. Um, so yeah, I don't know. What are your thoughts?

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yeah, I say that they're an added bonus. Okay. I tend to, especially, well, just like you, younger females that are cycling, I prescribe progesterone first, cause I don't wanna hit them hard with too much at one time. Peri-menopausal women, pretty much the same. really really small dose of testosterone because Oftentimes and not I see that they are actually doing better on just a progesterone alone and then Sometime down the line when we speak again, you know, I'll add in a little bit of testosterone if it's needed and my menopausal women, they just get everything that they want from me. So because I especially if they've been dealing with those symptoms for so long because they are not fun. So yeah, they just get I just throw the book at them. So let them be and they feel better and have a more vibrant life. So it's you know, it's a lot better for them. But I can say that my menopausal women, I tend to prescribe the progesterone capsules for them a lot more than the creams. Because often by the time they make it to me, they've already been dealing with years of not sleeping. I mean, so I want to hit it hard, help them get the sleep, and then if we have to switch over to creams, we will. And my younger women, I start with creams first.

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BRITTANY:

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Absolutely, no. I'm at, you know, the same way, because we had both, right? We had the creams and we had the pills. And so I'm with you on that. By the time they get to us, they're like, what, uh-uh, give me, get it all to me. I'm like, absolutely, yes ma'am. It's been a while for you, you know? And so I do the same. And I find too that creams, you know, kind of our skin's the largest organ of our body, right? You rapidly absorb it. takes effect quicker, sooner. I'm like, you know, you got your regimen of beauty in the morning, just add that in, just get that cream on or at night, you know, I really like it at night because it's calming. But I'm the same way, creams are ideally better for the young ones and then as we get to that age of menopause, the pills are ideal. And then too, you know, if you're struggling with a higher insomnia at a younger age, I might do like a lower dose oral progesterone. just to help cycle that. But everyone's so different, but I like that approach for sure.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Absolutely. Yeah, this is definitely not a one size fits all. 

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

I don't think I have one patient that has the same uh Treatment plan at all. It's always something different, but that's the best thing about you know, being functionalist is because we can think outside the box You know, it's not just we're just following the same protocol for everyone because everybody is different You know, everybody literally is different

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BRITTANY:

Absolutely. And I wanted to touch base on that study. It was with A4M women's hormones. This is a great book, you guys. Pamela Smith, she was one of the speakers and she's a wealth of knowledge. And she mentioned that there was a study of progesterone in about 6,000 women, that they were premenopausal, so still having cycles. And the woman with the highest level of progesterone who had regular cycles had an 88% reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer. And we know that breast cancer is rampant right now. I mean, there are buses driving around into portable mammograms, right? I mean, everyone's like, get your screening. And so in another study, over a thousand women who have undergone treatment of infertility were evaluated for 30 years. And The trial was really done on the breast cancer risk, but women who were deficient in progesterone, which is our huge topic right now, were 5.4 times at an increased risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer, and were 10 times as likely to die from any cancer. And my mind was blown, and it's something I've always said because... Progesterone for everybody, not really, but it is just like, there's so many powerful things, right?

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BRITTANY:

And like you said, protects the uterus and then has a lot of big points with preventing cancer. So, I mean, that was just powerful to me. And I was like, holy cow. I mean, when it comes to outcomes just outside of, oh, I had these symptoms, what it does to the body. It's crazy.

Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yeah. And a hormone that's not talked about as much as estrogen. You know, it's like, wait a minute.

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BRITTANY:

Wait a minute! Taylor was talking about progesterone. I'm like, Oh my god, that's my favorite one. That's my favorite one. And Lord knows you can overdose on it. Not that we're trying to go there. But I'm like, I want to be like, I'm so glad I'm a progesterone prescriber, but almost a dealer, right? Like, who needs it? Oh my god, progesterone for everybody.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Okay, I got you.

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BRITTANY:

I got you. I got you. 

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes, yes. It's such an amazing hormone. I absolutely love progesterone. I love what I do all, you know, just in all aspects. It's just making people feel better, you know, without the harsh side effects of, you know,

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BRITTANY:

Right.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

And I don't just have to think inside the box, you know, like some allopathic medicine. It's just, it's great. It's great. We really are changing lives. So... And even on the last webinar that I did, I was like, well, change my mind to, you know, I feel great, you know, and I'm perimenopausal. I think I still have a long way to go before I'm completely over this, but I feel so much better, you know, at 44 years old, I feel great.

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BRITTANY:

Right. And at least the journey, that's the thing too, is the journey is enjoyable as we're transitioning to that next stage. And I spoke to a woman who said, it's just not talked about. My doctor saying, and this was my last patient today, my doctor saying, this is normal, you're fine. You're going through menopause and she's having all these things happening, one of them being insomnia and all those things. She's like, you know, I just feel like I have to advocate for myself and I saw y'all online and I'm this totally fits with what I want because I feel like I'm just not getting the answers.

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BRITTANY:

I think there's beauty in modern medicine when it comes to preventative health care, blood pressure checks and checking your average blood sugar and things like that. But I find if you're suffering and you're feeling like you're not heard or you're feeling like the treatment plan is not helping you at all. And it's just another added medication to dig deeper, right?

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BRITTANY:

It's ideally something that is related to hormones. And I think my favorite part of getting patients on treatment and seeing their testimony is being like. one less pharmaceutical medication off your list. Like it makes me feel so good. Because  it's such a revolving door. And I do think that there are some great outcomes when it comes to pharmaceuticals. But my pleasure like the trazodone is Yep, not needed. Definitely not needed because we got to that root issue. Right. So yeah,

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BRITTANY:

To see that transition be like you mentioned is enjoyable, right? It's not suffering. We shouldn't suffer as women.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think it's getting this, I wanna say it's a pandemic, it's like you're seeing it younger and younger. And some of a lot of the good things that I'm hearing about, especially my younger women that are still cycling is that my marriage is being saved. My libido is back. You know, I'm enjoying being intimate with my partner. My menopausal women, they are just getting out there, moving around. I mean, it's just not just the libido, they're living life you know, but it is saving relationships. BHRT really is giving back relationships, it's awesome.

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BRITTANY:

hands down, especially it's unfortunate, you know, when you hear about intimacy with a partner hasn't been there because of vaginal abrasions, I mean, no hormones and they just think even when it comes to lubricants not being helpful, my God, it's, you know, it's just heartbreaking to think that they have gone that long to search and finally find and it's like. You're good. This is normal. But hey, we can reverse this. You know, when I

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BRITTANY:

when I talk to patients, I'm always like, you know, the diagnosis is never the destiny, right? Like hearing the word menopause, perimenopausal, PCOS, that term is not, you know, enlightening to the ears. It's almost like, well, this sucks, right?

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BRITTANY:

Like, so now what? Well, now what we're gonna reverse it, we're gonna replace that and you're gonna feel better. and we're gonna get you back to how you felt before. And I think that's the enlightenment of the appointment is, yeah, you're digging in deep. It's never fun to have all these symptoms exposed of what you're going through, but the beauty is having that answer for them and knowing like, we're gonna get to the root here and this is not the destiny because we're gonna reverse this issue. So it's amazing.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes, yes. Well, Brittany, it has been such a pleasure. I love talking to you all the time.

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BRITTANY:

I could do it all day. This is awesome.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

So I do want to say thank you to you and Taylor and Josh for the opportunity to get to do these webinars so we can get our education out there, you know, because we want to spread this word. And now we have that platform to do so.

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BRITTANY:

Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it's helpful when you can look at something like this and not Dr. Google.

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BRITTANY:

Lord knows I've had patients think they had cancer. My God. And one of them comes to mind, my own best friend, okay? Having night sweats and all this thing. She's on some progesterone and DIMM. She's good. And DIMM is something that helps. kind of calm down those energizer hormones when you had estrogen dominance. So I mean, she was one step away from, you know, wanting to do a, I mean, a bone marrow biopsy. She's like what is happening and she got, you know, her hormones looked at and my god, her progesterone was super, super low. So I find that yes, it's funny looking back at now, you know, just how things ended up working out, but it's scary, right? You're like, what is happening? This is not normal. Dr. Google is not always so helpful and kind of scary. So jump on the webinar. Listen in first before you start going on Dr. Google because there is way too much false information out there. Start with the basics.

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes, yes, shoot us a message or something and say, hey, I want to talk to one of those girls that was on the webinar to ask some questions because Dr. Google will get you in trouble.

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BRITTANY:

That's right. No, Dr. Google. Okay. But that said, there are so many wonderful, awesome providers. We are a beautiful, big family. 

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Dr Bimisa Augustin:

Yes, please. Well, I think that's all on my end for all the questions.

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BRITTANY:

Yeah, I think we covered so much and I'm so glad to be on this webinar with you. You're my soul sister and I think we covered a lot of great, great information. And I'm thankful for the viewers for, you know, logging in and listening. Um, lots of good insight. Um, if you feel like you, this hits home for you or one of your friends or family, um, would be, you know, beneficial to hearing this, go ahead and share it. We would love to get the word out that God forbid women are not losing it We just need a little bit of a tweak sometimes my god So please feel free to share we would love that and as always if you have questions go to thrive lab com You can book a consult with one of our medical providers We are all throughout the United States. How many me and the Mesa we started in Texas and it has grown to a beautiful thing Even Hawaii my god, it's like I want a vacation in Hawaii and get treatment goodness So please feel free to go to thrive lab comm you can book a consult with that consult. We will go over all the things in detail specifically for you and What that looks like so feel free to log on to that website and look at all the information on there.

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