• 18May

  The Thyroid

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Estradiol, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Research, Symptoms, Testosterone, Thyroid, Treatment No Comments

  How the Thyroid effects the aging process.

  

  This episode of the Biobalance Healthcast discusses what the thyroid is and how it effects men and women as they age. Defined terms are Hypo-thyroidism which is a low thyroid and causes conditions such as swelling, constipation, a low basal temperature and infertility. Hyper-thyroidism is the opposite, and causes conditions like rapid weight gain, anxiety, nervousness, and increased heart rate. These both play an important role in diagnosing and treating the aging process in men and women.

  Tags: estrogen, hormone, HRT, Menopause, testosterone, Thyroid

• 10May

  Incontinence Part 2

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Estradiol, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  Telling the difference between stress incontinence and irritable bladder.

  

  In this episode I continue our discussion about stress incontinence in women who have had vaginal births. Brett and I talk about the differences between other types of incontinence and how to treat them.

  Tags: estrodial, estrogen, hormone replacement therapy, incontinence, Pellets, stress, testosterone

• 04May

  Incontinence Part 1

  Bioidentical Hormones No Comments

  Incontinence in women who have had vaginal deliveries.

  

  This podcast discusses what incontinence is and how it effects women who have had vaginal deliveries. Brett Newcomb and I talk about how by getting your hormones replaced you can avoid some of the very embarrassing symptoms of incontinence and get back to living your life worry free.
• 28Apr

  The Cost of Long Term Care

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone No Comments

  Decrease the number of years in long term care by replacing hormones.

  

  This episode of the BioBalance Healthcast podcast delves into the cost of long term care for our aging population. As people age, the burden of care falls on families. With hormone replacement therapy adminstered earlier in life, we can offset disease and aging symptoms so that we can stay healthier longer into our old age. This keeps us out of nursing facilities and hospitals posibly until only the last couple of years of life.
• 23Apr

  The Cost of Hormone Replacement Therapy

  Andropause, Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Medical Care, Pellets, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) compares favorably to other anti-aging treatments.

  

  Episode 75 of the BioBalance Healthcast covers the cost of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for both men and women. Brett Newcomb and I compare the cost of hormone pellets with the cost of treatments for age-related health problems that occur when you don’t have your hormones balanced. The truth is that the difference is minimal, and often, HRT is less than the total cost of traditional medicines and treatments.
• 13Apr

  Progesterone and the Cascade of Aging

  Bioidentical Hormones, Depression, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Research, Symptoms, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  How the loss of progesterone can affect your health.

  

  As women age, hormone levels—including progesterone—begins to decrease. In this episode of the BioBalance Healthcast we talk about this decrease which causes an imbalance in the estrogen levels. Without progesterone, estrogen increases and leads to fibroid tumors. These tumors lead to heavy bleeding and often, hysterectomies in peri-menopausal women. Progesterone is not needed by our bodies post-menopause with the drop of estrogen levels. We cover the role progesterone plays in our body and how it effects us when it begins to decrease.

  Tags: biobalance, Bioidentical Hormones, estrogen, fibroids, history pellets, hormone, hormones, HRT, Menopause, PMS, progesterone, testosterone, therapy, women

• 06Apr

  Memory Loss, Dementia and Alzheimer’s

  Bioidentical Hormones, Dementia and Alzheimer's, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Pellets, Progesterone, Testosterone, Treatment No Comments

  With Age comes Cognitive Impairment.

  
   
  This podcast discusses memory loss, cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s. There are some specific things that differentiate these conditions and some are more noticeable than others.

  Cognitive impairment is when you can’t remember names of people and places. You get confused, lost, often someone else has to end your sentences. It’s a problem with not being able to focus and concentrate. Often times it looks similar to A.D.D. It’s normal for married people to not notice this change in their memory because they have a partner that is able to remember things, finish thoughts and remind them of common information.

  When your memory loss gets to be so bad that you have trouble functioning, you need to be tested with MRI’s for Alzheimer’s and/or dementia. If your scans show brain shrinkage, then you have Alzheimer’s. Common symptoms of memory loss are exhaustion, lack of energy, diminished social relationships and problems with sexual relations because of diminished energy or desire.

  Often people are afraid to talk to a doctor about these symptoms because they don’t want to be told that they have Alzheimer’s and need to be institutionalized However, it is important to be tested. In women, with the replacement of testosterone, dementia can be offset for 10 years. In addition, with the replacement of estrogen dementia can be offset another 10 years. This equals 20 years that dementia can be offset by replacing testosterone and estrogen in women.

  For this reason it is important to have the early stages of memory loss examined in order to evaluate the best method of treatment and hormone therapy.
• 30Mar

  Research and the Aging Process

  Bioidentical Hormones, Medical Care, Research, Symptoms, Testosterone No Comments

  Research and the Aging Process

  
   
  This podcast discusses the proper way to sort through the enormous amount of information available to consumers. It’s important to know how to determine whether or not a study is reliable. In the world of medicine, research yields reports that are then publicized. Quite often, consumers can’t tell what should and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

  The steps to investigating research information begin with making sure you’re looking at it retrospectively; understanding that you are often looking at data that has already been created. Many published studies are using information that has been collected for an entirely different study and applying it to meet their own hypothesis.

  A common term in research is “data mining”. This is when a source working to create a study, searches data that has already been created. A database that is commonly used is the census bureau. Scientists create a thesis based on information that they collect. This doesn’t make a study less reliable. It does however mean you need to be careful and read closely. Usually when health studies are published, the results apply to a very small window of people. There are many factors that cancel out individuals and change the results.

  An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study about men getting mild cognitive impairment during middle age. The article stated that men are more likely to get it than women. I however don’t agree with this as I have research that says 62% of midlife women have this condition. In investigating this study further I saw that the women they studied were 70 years old and had no cognitive impairment. The problem is that by 70, women have already had MCI 30-40 years prior, so of course in testing, almost all of their subjects are going to present as not having MCI. The study is working with the wrong age group of women.

  Situations like this are why it’s important to have a skeptic mind when taking studies at face value. It’s important to ask questions and find all the facts before you assume that what you’re reading not only applies to you and your health but is even accurate information for anyone.
• 23Mar

  Hyperandrogenism

  Bioidentical Hormones No Comments

  Hyperandrogenism

  

  A recent article in the Journal of Gender Specific Medicine dealt with hyperadrogenism, a condition I refer to in my soon to be published book as “testosterone deficiency syndrome.”

  Testosterone deprivation syndrome occurs in both women and men. In women, it happens after 40 when our bodies are making too little testosterone which causes us to feel less than our best. When this happens, we hit a wall. If your ovaries are removed that’s it, you hit that wall immediately no matter what age you are.

  Unfortunately, testosterone is only approved for use in male patients in most countries. However, the article makes the point that women are still getting it and its popularity continues to grow. Although testosterone is marketed towards men, women realize it’s use and importance in their own body. They want to be just as healthy as their male counterparts. Although it is FDA approved, there is no labeled option for women. Physicians have to refer female patients to a compounding pharmacy to have their prescription for testosterone made.

  The article goes on to say that although TDS won’t necessarily cause death, women recognize the benefits of treating it for more than just libido. Other conditions such as depression and bone density are results of TDS and treating these are just as important as treating a diminished sex drive. TDS leads to many conditions such as memory loss, sarcopenia (or loss of bone density) and diminished sex drive. By replacing testosterone in women, these things are not only recovered, but more serious conditions such as dementia can be offset for 10-20 years.

  It is important to be healthy, and with testosterone replacement therapy, women can have the same medical options as men and the ability to enjoy their older years.
• 13Mar

  Night Sweats and Heart Disease

  Bioidentical Hormones No Comments

  The link between night sweats and heart disease

  

  This podcast is about an article found in OBGYN news relating night sweats and heart disease. In hormone therapy, women who take estrogen typically don’t experience flushing, hot flashes or night sweats. The major difference between these are that with flushing a person generally experiences a red feeling, like after you’ve been running, that occurs on the face and neck. This happens when blood flow is concentrated at the surface of the skin. The skin may feel hotter, but the body’s core temperature remains normal. Night sweats occur at night, and leave the person sweaty, wanting to shed clothing. Finally hot flashes have similar characteristics as flushing and night sweats. The main difference is that although there is a total body feeling of increased temperature, there is no sweating associated it.

  All of these conditions are a result of an increase in the FSH, a follicle stimulating hormone. This hormone surges in menopausal women and often is accompanied by anxiety attacks.

  A study was done in the Netherlands that took a group of women, and over a 20 year period, studied to see if there was a link between night sweats and coronary disease. What they found was that the daytime hot flashes were not related to a higher risk of heart disease but the night sweats were. They compared these results with women who did not have these symptoms because they had a naturally higher level of estrogen or they were taking estrogen. Their conclusion was that women with untreated night sweats are at risk for coronary disease.

  The believed correlation between these two is that when you’re sleeping and there’s a spike in your FSH hormone, causing a night sweat, the adrenal system is alerted and your body starts producing the chemicals needed to make an emergency response. But because you’re asleep and there isn’t an emergency, your body temperature changes and you break into a sweat to try and cool your body down. Your heart is stressed because it is beating faster. Overtime this leads to coronary complications and many times, death.

  The take home message here is that if a woman has a family history of heart disease, it is important to replace her estrogen to assist in the curing of night sweats.

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