• 30Apr

  Fibromyalgia

  Menopause, Symptoms No Comments

  What is it and how is it detected?

  This week Brett Newcomb and I are continuing our discussion of five sneaky things that your doctor probably won’t ask you about, but that you should watch out for. We are focusing on autoimmune disorders , fibromyalgia in particular. We are discussing the nature of fibromyalgia and the fact that it hurts people all over their muscles. It moves around, it is not located in the elbow, or the knee, or the joints. It hurts when you sit and when you sleep and when you work. It is hard to pinpoint and many doctors do not ask about it because they are focused on the symptoms that brought you in the office and they only have a six minute window to find out what you need and try to make a helpful intervention.

  People who suffer from fibromyalgia usually begin to suffer from it around 38 years of age. Often they are mistakenly thought to have chronic fatigue. Fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disorder, the body attacks itself and the muscles become inflamed and swollen. They hurt. Chronic fatigue is a virus like the mono virus, Epstein- Barr. The initial symptom of both of them is extreme tiredness. Doctors often treat for the viral infection and the patient does not get better because that is not really the problem.

  The pain from fibromyalgia moves around. It may be in your arm one day and in your thigh another, it could be in your chest or some other part of the body. It is not localized to just a joint. Chronic pain is a viral infection and there are drugs which help with fighting the viral infection. Fibromyalgia is different. Basically you are attacking your own muscles. They become inflamed and you are never without pain. Anti-inflammatories sometimes work a little but usually not a lot. Sometimes you can be given drugs to suppress your immune system and those will help reduce the pain, but if you suppress your immune system you become vulnerable to other illnesses.

  We are spending time talking about these issues because the nature of office visits with your physician is changing. Due to insurance companies and Obamacare, it is becoming necessary for doctors to spend less and less time with individual patients. The average primary care visit is now just six minutes! Your doctor is interested and fully qualified, but may not have time to cover all the possibilities. The more you can help by being informed and prepared the better your care will be. If you know about things like the difference between chronic pain and fibromyalgia the more you can help your physician help you.

  Listen to our podcast and become better prepared to help your doctor provide you with the best care.
• 14Oct

  Hirsuitism in Women

  Bioidentical Hormones, Menopause, Symptoms, Testosterone No Comments

  The Impact of Dihyrdotestosterone

  

  Many of the women who come are considering getting BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Pellets will ask me about what the side effects are. This is part of making good decisions as an informed medical consumer. I applaud their checking this out.

  One of the strongest areas of curiosity or concern with regard to possible side effects is the question of hair growth in unwanted locations. Did you know that the same hormone causes men to lose hair on their head and women to grow hair on their face? Yes the exact same hormone, dihydrotestosterone is responsible for these changes. Men develop something called male pattern baldness and lose hair on their heads. Instead of being on their heads, it begins to grow on their shoulders, chest, back and arms. When women replace their testosterone, the dihydrotestostrone can cause facial hair to grow. For most women it is a light fuzz or down that develops. Some women will have a few dark and wiry hairs that will grow on their chins, which will need to be plucked. For most women, in my experience, the ability to get their libido back on track and their weight under control, as well as have restoration of their energy, it is worth a little facial hair.

  For those women who are concerned however, there is good news. If you are one of the women who will develop facial hair as a side effect, there are treatments which will protect you from the problem of unwanted facial hair. We can use a medicine called spironolactone to prevent all the adverse actions of DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) or another drug called finasteride to counteract all of the side effects of DHT in both men and women. Listen to this podcast as Brett Newcomb and I discuss this issue. If you want more information, check my web sites at DrKathyMaupin.com or BioBalanceHealth.com.
• 15Jul

  Obesity, Diabetes and the Harvard Food Pyramid

  Anti-aging, Bioidentical Hormones, Insulin Resistance, Medical Care, Menopause, Research, Symptoms, Testosterone, Thyroid, Treatment, Weight Loss and Fat Reduction No Comments

  Obesity, Diabetes and the Harvard Food Pyramid

  

  This podcast talks about the importance of leading a healthy life so that we can avoid conditions that are common in older people that are overweight and practice bad eating habits.
• 21Jun

  The Physiology of the Sexual Experience

  Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Orgasm, Relationships, Sexuality, Testosterone No Comments

  Sex, Orgasms, and Why Our Bodies Act the Way the Do.

  

  Ever wondered why your body behaves a certain way in sexual situations? This episode of the BioBalance Health Cast discuses the differences in male and female bodies and offer explantations about the sexual life cycle starting as infants and through adulthood.
• 24May

  Arousal and Orgasm

  Andropause, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Orgasm, Progesterone, Relationships, Research, Sexuality, Testosterone No Comments

  Bad health and addictions often cause low sexual function.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  This episode of the BioBalance Healthcast focuses on how people with chronic health problems or complicated medical histories are harder to treat with testosterone replacement therapy. This difficulty leads to a patients struggle to become aroused and then ultimately reach orgasm.
• 18May

  The Thyroid

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

  How the Thyroid effects the aging process.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  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.
• 10May

  Incontinence Part 2

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

  Telling the difference between stress incontinence and irritable bladder.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  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.
• 04May

  Incontinence Part 1

  Andropause, Bioidentical Hormones, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Menopause, Symptoms No Comments

  Incontinence in women who have had vaginal deliveries.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  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 1 Comment

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

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  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.
• 13Apr

  Progesterone and the Cascade of Aging

  Andropause, Anti-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.

  

  Download the transcription of this podcast.

  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.

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