Raquael Flores (00:06.293)
Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Happy Halloween. We are here to talk about hormones don't have to be scary. We're gonna go into, you know, a little bit of basics about what that looks like with us as far as the program, answer questions that you have. Make sure you stay to the end of the session because we will have a coupon code for everyone that will be good until the 10th. So we will go through that. We also have some giveaways as well. So we'll do that throughout this Q and A. And my name is Raquel. I am one of the Directors of Patient Care. I do have a women's health background. I really enjoy and I have a passion for healthcare. I love Thrivelab. I love what we do for patients and that it's telehealth medicine and accessible for most of the public. And I'll let my coworker, Kristina, take it.
Kristina Zappia (01:11.714)
Hi everyone. Happy Halloween. I'm Kristina Zappia. I'm also one of the Directors of Patient Care here. Been with Thrivelab for about three years and just super passionate about all health in general, especially when it focuses on hormones. I've struggled myself with a lot of hormonal imbalances and just being able to talk through these issues with patients and seeing their journeys and how successful we have been has just been truly a blessing. So thank you for joining us. We're excited to chat with you guys in the chat and we will get started.
Kristina Zappia (01:45.124)
So first off, what do we do here at Thrivelab? What symptoms and conditions do we treat? We have a plethora of things that we can help our patients with. Some of the biggest ones are obviously balancing of your hormones, obesity and weight loss, but we can also help with things like PCOS or hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, eating disorders, perimenopause, menopause, testosterone imbalances, low libido, anxiety. We have a lot of good services around nutrition coaching as well as life coaching. So if you're struggling with brain fog or depression or just that feeling of being overwhelmed in life, we are here to help and we can help with it.
Kristina Zappia (02:27.78)
Did you know that 72% of Americans suffer with the hormonal imbalances between the ages of 35 to 65, but only 12% of us can actually find treatment due to the high costs and just the lack of access. There's only a very small percentage of doctors that are specialized in menopause or hormone imbalances, which is why a company like Thrivelab is so important to have. Over 70% of men and women are suffering from symptoms of hormonal or testosterone imbalances.
One in five people in the U.S. experience a mental health condition just in the past year, and over 70% of the population would like to lose weight or are struggling with obesity. So the solution is Thrivelab, our holistic telemedicine approach. You can use your health insurance for our telehealth visits. We have three times longer appointments than your average provider, meaning that you will be heard, you will be listened to. Our providers really take the time to go through your symptoms with you, discuss your medical history and do everything they can to build a 100% personalized treatment plan. We do have fast and discreet prescription delivery. So if there's anything that you don't want anyone else to know that you're taking, that's okay. They won't have to, it comes in discreet packaging and shipping is very quick. And then aside from our hormone specialists, you will have access to registered dietitians and a licensed therapist who will work alongside your provider.
Raquael Flores (03:56.857)
Alright. And from there, it leads us into: what do we prescribe at Thrivelab? So our primary focus is really hormone imbalance, thyroid imbalance, and weight loss management. We have many resources with that, which we'll talk about in a little bit as far as other services we offer. As far as the medication goes, we have every thyroid medication. We prescribe BHRT and then as well as semaglutide for weight loss. We have wonderful supplements as well as to address hair loss, skin issues, and just to help boost your overall results.
Bioidentical hormones, some of you may know what that is or heard of it, but not quite sure of how that varies from traditional hormones. So BHRT is usually referenced as your bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. HRT, which is hormone replacement therapy, usually is directed towards the synthetic side. Synthetics are gonna be like your prescription birth control, synthetic estrogens. The biggest difference with those is that synthetics don't always quite match our hormone receptors. So the longer you use those, the higher risk you have of your body not recognizing those hormones at some point and then holding and storing them longer than what it should, which is gonna put you at a higher risk of side effects. So with bioidenticals, they are plant derived. We get them mainly from wild yams. They're actually engineered to fit your hormone receptors so that your body will most likely recognize that as its own production, lessening those risk of side effects and unwanted symptoms, as well as the dosage side of it. So different than the synthetics that come in certain increment dosages that aren't really, you can only tailor or customize so much per patient, bioidenticals are actually a formulation that your provider will come up with and then manage that formula for you.
Kristina Zappia (06:15.716)
So aside from hormone balancing, we also have revolutionary medical weight loss treatments that are clinically proven to work. So I'm sure a lot of you have heard about semaglutide. Semaglutide is an injection that you would take typically once a week that will help people in most cases lose up to 15% of their mean body weight within a year. Knowing that weight gain is an epidemic in our country, over 70% of the population is overweight or living with obesity and most of us have reported that they would like to lose weight. Being that it is a chronic disease, this is a great option to help get those scale numbers down and get you feeling your best. What semaglutide does is it improves energy burn and fat breakdown through glucose control and hormonal changes. So we're enhancing your insulin sensitivity and preventing excessive fat storage. The body is more likely to use fat as energy. So coupled with our nutrition coaching, because the nutrition side is extremely important, especially if you would like long-term effects of your weight loss. We do have a registered dietitian that you would be working with and you're guaranteed to see results. We also can help with meal plans. They can help by lifestyle and behavioral modifications. Just anything they can do to support you in your weight loss journey and make sure that the weight that you do lose with semaglutide actually sticks.
Kristina Zappia (07:52.324)
And welcome to people who have just recently joined. We just wanted to make sure that you guys have all been able to go over the information that we provided. So we'll just do a quick recap on what we have been discussing. So first is real quick recap is 72% of us Americans suffer with a hormonal imbalance between the ages of 35 to 65. It's a huge epidemic in our country. Only about 12% of us are able to find treatment due to the high costs and lack of access. That's what Thrivelab is here to do is to help bridge that gap. We have providers that are hormone specialists. They have 100 % personalized bioidentical treatment plans. We offer three times longer appointments, meaning that you'll be heard and that you're, you know, what you're trying to get accomplished will be addressed. And then you can use health insurance for telehealth visits.
Raquael Flores (08:44.821)
And following that, our main focus here at Thrivelab is going to be hormone balancing, thyroid management, and weight loss. We carry a variety of different things for that, including bioidenticals for your hormones, as well as about every thyroid medication and semaglutide for weight loss. We have a great set of supplements that can be used for hair loss support, skin goals, and even just overall boosting your results.
Kristina Zappia (09:23.8)
All right, so we're gonna do our first spooky facts giveaway question. So with this question, if you know the answer, please write it in the chat. The first answer to win correctly or to win, we'll get a mystery book and a glutathione supplement. What musculoskeletal disease has a direct correlation to hormone imbalance in women and testosterone imbalance in men? Give you guys a few seconds. And if you need a hint, let us know.
Kristina Zappia (09:58.7)
And just know this musculoskeletal disease is very, very common. It's probably the disease you think about when you think of bone conditions.
Kristina Zappia (10:17.334)
All right, we got someone that got it. Doctor, or DR. Yes, it's osteoporosis. Congratulations. We'll reach out to you towards the end to make sure that you will get your prize.
Kristina Zappia (10:35.608)
All right, so osteoporosis. So osteoporosis in women, estrogen is crucial for bone density. So it helps to balance bone formation when we get older and our estrogen levels drop, especially during menopause. Bone resorption increases, leading to decreased bone density and a higher risk of osteoporosis. Women are especially vulnerable after menopause due to this rapid decline in estrogen. And in men, low testosterone can also lead to osteoporosis. Testosterone is essential for maintaining bone density as it helps with bone formation and calcium retention. In men, as you get older as well, testosterone drops due to aging and it's linked to a greater risk of bone loss, fractures, and osteoporosis.
Raquael Flores (11:19.987)
All right, when is the best time to begin treatment? We get this question a lot. For women, we treat ages 18 to 80, for male patients, 25 to 80. Oftentimes, you know, women such as PCOS could also be surgically environmentally caused. We see more and more young men that are experiencing symptoms as well as women. Any of those symptoms that Kristina went over, if you're experiencing those, there could be a very good chance that you are experiencing an imbalance. We also have a great assessment that we will give you links to that will kind of walk you through that if you haven't taken it already. But really we treat a very broad range of age knowing that hormone imbalance can happen early on and for some people you know midlife and later in life where maybe you've already gone through like perimenopause and now menopause is not treating you well so we do have a lot of options for all ages.
Raquael Flores (12:27.101)
Lab work. This is also a very common question we get or people think that, okay, now I need to get lab work. I'm not feeling great. I need to get lab work done. I can be very empathetic to this. In my late 30s, I'm now 50, I had a partial hysterectomy and it caused my ovary function to lower. I thought that for sure I was going into menopause. I was not feeling great and I wanted to get lab work done. My lab work actually came back very moderate. It was kind of disheartening a little bit. But I was still very symptomatic and luckily I had a great provider at that time that was familiar with bioidenticals and said, look, let's just try it. And so that is our view. We do do lab work. Absolutely. We do it for safety. We do it to make sure nothing's flagging. And then we do have our yearly requirement for that. But that is not our full prescribing parameters. We really look at the whole picture. So we're going to go into symptoms, severity of symptoms, health history, as well and look at the whole picture. The provider does a really nice job going through all of those pieces with you. You can also import labs. So a lot of people have already had labs done. You are welcome to import those for your consultation and we can look over those during that consult, as well as once you're in that consult with the provider, they will go ahead and issue a lab order for you. You will take that to your lab that you normally use just like you would with your doctor's office and that lab can draw those panels for you. Your lab can also bill out for your insurance. We do not directly verify the benefit for labs, but you are welcome to use your insurance that way. And I do see, I thought we had a question but there's the assessment that I see on the chat, so you are welcome to use that as well for a symptom checker if you're wanting to do that.
Kristina Zappia (14:31.876)
So what services do you have access to as a patient of Thrivelab? We have a multi-specialty care team. We look at a 360 approach to care. So, first thing is holistic healthcare. Now, aside from just the hormone balancing, we also can offer virtual care appointments or telehealth appointments. So if you're feeling ill, if you think you might have a respiratory infection or some kind of illness that can be addressed by a telehealth visit, we do have the ability to schedule you a virtual care appointment and get you to see a provider typically within a few days or same day. We also have personalized plans. So it's not a one size fits all approach here at Thrivelab. Our practitioners are phenomenal. They listen to you. They really truly want to help and they will make sure that you have a customized plan to get you feeling better. Aside from hormones, we talked a little bit about the weight loss component. Going along with weight loss, we have nutrition coaching through our registered dietitian. This can help with goal setting, with planning of meals, with logging your foods if we need to count calories. Just making sure that you're accountable because when you're accountable, you'll have more long-term success. And then lastly, we have life coaching with our licensed therapist and life coach. The day-to-day life struggles, stress, he can help with that. He can help with just modifying some of your behaviors, helping with emotional regulation, some management tools just to help you with the day-to-day tasks of life. Workbook assignments and then we do also offer some group classes for you to meet with people that maybe have same the struggles as you do.
Raquael Flores (16:10.325)
So what does this program cost?
So first we have a service fee of $33 a month. That pretty much goes to supporting our platform side. We do everything in-house. We have our own IT department and they are fabulous at daily making upgrades, making it user friendly, more user friendly for patients, as well as we have a lot of resources and tools for patients through our platform. So the 33 a month helps you support that and gives you access to those additional resources. We do bill it out quarterly. So you have a quarterly $99 fee, you're not in a contract with that. We also do reward points. So I always like to touch on that with this with patients. So right now, even if you do that assessment, you're going to earn reward points that you can put towards fees such as the platform fee, medication costs. So with bioidenticals, I would say our average patient is going to pay between 80 and 125. That usually includes multiple things or if someone's on a higher dosage, you know, that's a good starting point or average for that. And then your copays with insurance. So when you book that initial provider consultation and you're utilizing insurance for that office visit, then we will go ahead and take a $45 fee. That $45 fee is going to be your estimate of copay until we get your verification back from insurance.
Raquael Flores (17:48.957)
So again, that $45 copay will be or that fee will go towards your expected copay or out of pocket once we get verification back. We will also verify for additional services. So if you have services such as nutritionists, you know, the life coaching piece of it, we will verify benefits for that so that you know what your expected fee or out of pocket will be for those visits. So with the verification, I always like to tell patients that this is just kind of a quick screenshot of if we're in network, out of network, and what benefits would be available. Once we actually bill out for your office visit, it'll take about four to six weeks, we'll get an explanation of benefits back, and then you will be given a copy of that that will lay out more dollar to dollar what is available as far as if you have deductibles or coinsurance.
Raquael Flores (18:54.483)
So in addition to insurance, I also want to touch that if you have the original Medicare, there is no $45 fee to book. So you would just need to upload your card, which is the red, white and blue card. If you do not have insurance or let's say that you have a very high deductible plan and it is not feasible to use insurance, we do have a very reasonable self-pay option. So that initial provider consult will then charge you $94 for that visit.
Kristina Zappia (19:33.144)
All right, so what makes Thrivelab different than the other clinics out there? Well, first of all, our specialty is in hormone health, testosterone health, thyroid and weight loss management. So this is what our providers have specialty in. There isn't gonna be a provider out there that I feel is gonna be better than ours. They're phenomenal. Raquel and myself are both patients of Thrivelab and we can attest to this level of professionalism that you're gonna get with our providers. Along with that, our clinical team has over 25 years of experience and have treated over 300,000 patients in hormone health. So again, the best of the best. We optimize per individual needs, like we had mentioned with those personalized treatment programs. So not a one size fits all. You're going to be heard, you're going to be listened to, and we're going to make sure that we get you a treatment plan that will actually work. Patients are not just a number with us. We have a very unique approach. We all truly do care about your success here. We all have such big hearts. We really just want you guys to feel better and being on this journey with you, we can very much understand how difficult and frustrating it can be.
We also have Thrivelab supplements. These supplements are top notch. They're very, very good. They work very, very well. They can be used for all sorts of different ailments or things that you're wanting to improve. And you can actually purchase those on your patient portal once you become a patient of Thrivelab.
And then lastly, we do have our loyalty program. So this is just an awesome way for you to earn points that can go towards your medication, can go towards that quarterly fee, can go towards your supplements. You can get points for doing things as simple as completing your self-assessment, attending your telehealth visits. If you refer one person to us, you would get that $99 quarterly fee waived for that first three months. So lots of ways to use those loyalty points as just a way to incentivize you to just do your assessments, attend your appointments and all the things that you need to do to get to feeling better.
Raquael Flores (21:34.941)
All right, on to our second giveaway. So what percentage of doctors are adequately trained in hormone replacement therapy and menopause care? If you wanna type your percentage in there, I'll give you a hint. It goes by tens. So if you wanna pick somewhere in there, go ahead and give it your best guess. Close. We got one. So 20%.
And it shows that importance of having a provider that knows what they're talking about, as well as I always tell patients it's 50% provider, 50% patient. So that communication and that knowledge and then patient compliance, so important to know how to navigate through that for patients. So the North American Menopause Society research shows that roughly 20% of doctors have comprehensive training specifically in menopause management and HRT. Finding a provider who specializes in hormone therapy is crucial for seeing success with BHRT and TRT.
Kristina Zappia (23:01.124)
All right. And just a reminder, we will reach out to all the winners afterwards and make sure we get the contact information to send you guys out your, your goodies.
So how do you get started? So all this sounds great, but now you want to know how do I get started and get to feeling better? First thing we're going to have you do is you can go to the website, thrivelab.com, or you can scroll up on the chat and hit the link that we have in there to complete your self-assessment. This takes about five minutes, but it's really going to not only give you an idea of what is going on through hormones, but also your provider.
The next part of that would be to book an appointment with your provider. These 40 minute appointments are going to be geared towards really going over your symptoms. What are the things that you've been struggling with? You know, what does your medical history look like? What does your family history look like? They're going to want to go over all of that with you to really understand where it is to start with, with your treatment plan. And then they will discuss your BHRT or TRT treatment options with you. If you happen to be medically excluded from our program, there is a money back from that $45 that you paid if we're medically unable to help you. Then along with that is building your treatment plan, which you kind of talked about. So they will build that personalized treatment plan, go over with you the exact recommendations that they're making. You can talk through that with your provider. Any questions that you have, ask them. That is what they are there to do is to help explain how that process works. We will then complete that verification of insurance benefits and let you know what future costs for the visits will be. And then we will be ordering lab work.
Typically lab work is done about six to eight weeks after starting the initial treatment. Although some providers may do it sooner or later, it's really a patient-based system. And then the last step is after you've got your treatment plan, you approved it, you decide you want to get started. We make sure everything is shipped directly from the pharmacy to you in very discreet packaging, deliver within seven to 10 days. And our prescriptions are always compounded in the United States.
Raquael Flores (24:58.929)
And Kristina, I wanted to touch on something too before we move on to that that I didn't bring up in labs.
A lot of patients come to us that are already on therapy and they have that worry of, no, I'm going to get labs done and it's going to show I'm at normal levels. We realize that, you know, I always tell patients we're looking to make sure it's within a good range safety. There can be some adjustments that could be suggested or made, but you're not going to get penalized for being on hormones. I would say we have a very significant amount of patients that transfer over care with us, too.
Kristina Zappia (25:38.636)
Absolutely. Yes. As we're rounding out the webinar, if you have any questions, please put them in the chat. We will also provide you some links where you can schedule some time to talk with either one of us with more questions. But if you have any questions, go ahead and put them in there now and we will do our best to answer those for you.
Raquael Flores (26:09.289)
Doesn't look like we have any questions, but like Kristina said, if it's more, you know, we realize it can be very personal questions. If you're wanting to dive deeper into that, you are welcome to book a consultation with us and we are able to do that. I do see a question. So it says, can you do semaglutide at the same time as BHRT? Yes, you can. So they can go quite nicely hand in hand together and the provider can lay that out with you. If you're wanting to do semaglutide, we do a nice weight loss intake that will go through your history, like weight loss history, eating, exercise, so that the provider has all of that information ahead of time for your consultation. It does not cost anything additional if you're looking at semaglutide and hormone therapy.
Do I take the next question, Kristina?
Kristina Zappia (27:06.306)
Yeah. So Jeanette had a question. What side effects are there to HRT? This is a great question. We try to really have the provider go over side effects with you. It can be very patient-based. Some people experience no side effects. Some people may experience mild side effects. I can let you know as a personal patient when first starting, I did get a few headaches in the beginning. It just needed to be a dosage change that my provider helped me with and those went away pretty quickly. So again, definitely ask your provider what the side effects are. We do everything we can to minimize though. And if you are experiencing anything, let us know right away and we'll make sure the provider meets with you to change your dosage and get you feeling back on track.
Raquael Flores (27:49.395)
I also would like to touch on patients, like Kristina said, in a timely manner. We do have a great service, a virtual clinic for patients. So it has a lot of times other providers that are on call and covering so that we can get you in a timely manner if it isn't allowing on your provider's schedule. So you do have some great resources in addition to everything else we talked about.
Raquael Flores (28:20.883)
I see another question. So once you get started, how soon do you start seeing results? That is a really great question. Just from experience in talking to patients, I think one to four weeks, a lot of people really start noticing some changes. But we like to tell patients it takes a good 90 days to get balanced, make sure that you're patient with that. Communication is very key. So if you're still experiencing something, let's say it's, you know, 70% better, but still not quite there, we want to hear that from you. It's important that you do those assessments that we give you. Sometimes they feel repetitive, but we do give you for your time. You earn reward points for those, but that gives us an idea of someone is consistently marking, you know, maybe a two even, then we know like, okay, you're not quite there with relief. But I would say one to four weeks is pretty typical that you should start seeing some changes.
Kristina Zappia (29:21.412)
I would agree with that. Just remember that be patient with your body. Sometimes it takes, you know, 90 days to start really feeling a difference. But if you're doing everything the provider says, you will start feeling better.
Kristina Zappia (29:42.084)
Yeah. So one more thing we wanted to talk about was just that personalized approach again, that you're going to get with our providers. So sometimes when we see our provider in the general practitioner world, it's a one-time visit. They give you a medication. They send you on your way. If you're feeling side effects or not feeling great, it sometimes can be difficult to go in and see those providers to make those changes. We've made sure that if you need a dosage change or you're not feeling like you're getting the benefits that you need, or you do, you know, have any side effects, let us know right away. We will make sure we get you an appointment provider and we'll make those changes so that you can get back to feeling your best in a short amount of time. We don't want you to just be waiting around for a provider.
Raquael Flores (30:25.407)
And those are compounded monthly for you. So that's also the nice piece is that if it's done in enough time ahead of time, then that next month supply coming out can make those adjustments as well. Or even it may not even have to be a dosage, but sometimes the provider will provide a different direction dosage for you for that.
Kristina Zappia (30:49.762)
Any other questions you guys have?
Raquael Flores (30:59.743)
Well, now we go into our coupon. So if you are wanting to become a patient with Thrivelab, we have the coupon HALLOWEEN, which is good until November 10th. So if you're going directly onto the website and you decide you're going to book a provider consult, make sure that you enter that in. We cannot do that afterwards. And then if you're wanting to do a free consultation, you have additional questions. Again, we'll have that link after this that you can book a free consult and we can enter that coupon for you to start your program with us.
Raquael Flores (31:47.015)
And in the chat, you'll see that free consult link when you're ready.
Raquael Flores (31:56.021)
Well, that was great speaking with all of you. I hope you guys all have a safe and happy Halloween. I hope your kiddos, if you have kids, give you good candy. We were just having a discussion about that. Lots of Reese's Pieces now. And be safe out there.
Kristina Zappia (32:13.253)
Happy Halloween everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. Bye!
