Podcast Episode 366: From Ragey to Relief: The Hormone Secrets Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You Transcripts

Please note: Transcripts for the No Guilt Mom Podcast were created using AI. As a result, there may be some minor errors.

Elizabeth Shrader (00:00)

Often times, we start to see this change in our early to mid 30s. It goes unnoticed by many of the specialties and providers and so these women are often given diagnoses of anxiety, just really burnt out or their hormones are imbalanced or they’re just not getting enough sleep.

JoAnn Crohn (00:18)

Welcome to the No Guilt Mom podcast. I’m your host JoAnn Crohn, joined here by the brilliant Brie Tucker.

Brie Tucker (00:25)

Hello, hello everybody, how are you? I thought brilliant man.

JoAnn Crohn (00:28)

Brilliant. It just starts it off on the right note, right? Everybody needs to be told they’re brilliant and they’re beautiful. Do you know what? My daughter actually, she is on a trip right now to San Diego with her dad and they’re looking at colleges. And last night they went to go see this dance performance at SDSU because this YouTuber she’s been following for six years, Nicole Leno, is a dancer there. And this is her sole reason for going.

But she got to meet Nicole, you know, afterwards. They had pictures and she was like, Nicole, you know, told me I’m beautiful and wonderful. And I just think like, especially other women, women need to tell each other that more often because it just raises you up.

Brie Tucker (01:08)

to my sexy, badass bitch co-host,

JoAnn Crohn (01:11)

Thank

you. You are.

Brie Tucker (01:13)

We’re Babs. I’m gonna go with Babs. My neighbor, okay, wait, I had to tell you where that came, well, kinda where that came from. Like, badass sexy bitch is a thing in our balance program. People have heard us talk about that before. But my neighbor, her daughter, son-in-law, and newborn baby are coming to come stay with her for a few months. And I was like, that’s so great. Like, what name did you pick out for you? And she’s like, Babs.

Brie Tucker (01:42)

and my daughter hates it. I’m like, why does she hate BAB? BAB sounds so cute. She goes, cause it stands for badass bitch. And I was like, I love that.

JoAnn Crohn (01:49)

As a grandma name, that’s awesome.

Brie Tucker (01:56)

I’m gonna be Babs when I get older. That’s what I’m gonna do to my grandkids. I’m telling ya.

JoAnn Crohn (02:02)

That’s a good one. It is a good one. Well, our topic today is something that Bri and I talk about a lot on the podcast. Hormones, perimenopause, the things. All the things.

Brie Tucker (02:13)

Hold

Thanks.

JoAnn Crohn (02:16)

We are talking with Elizabeth Schrader. She is a nurse practitioner with a Doctor of Nursing Practice board certified in both psychiatric and mental health and women’s health with additional training and functional and integrative medicine. She is the founder and sole provider at Bella Vita integrated healing where she specializes in managing women’s health care needs, taking an integrative approach using Eastern and Western methods to optimize their health and wellness. And with that, let’s get on with the show.

You want mom life to be easier. That’s our goal too. Our mission is to raise more self-sufficient and independent kids. We’re going to have fun doing it. We’re going to help you delegate and step back. Each episode, we’ll tackle strategies for positive discipline, making our kids more responsible and making our lives better in the process. Welcome to the No Guilt Mom podcast.

JoAnn Crohn (03:21)

Welcome to the podcast Elizabeth. We’re so happy to have you here

Elizabeth Shrader (03:25)

Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

JoAnn Crohn (03:28)

We are ready to like dig into all of the like hormonal imbalance and balancing know how because this is a subject I feel is gaining a lot of popularity right now in the media. You hear all this stuff about menopause and perimenopause and how it affects women’s bodies. And you know what? I thought that I didn’t have to wait until like my mid forties to worry about this stuff. So like

Let’s start out this conversation talking about how old do you see like most in most women? What age do these hormonal imbalances start?

Elizabeth Shrader (04:09)

Well, that’s a great question because it’s much earlier than your mid 40s. So oftentimes we start to see this change in our early to mid 30s and it goes unnoticed by many of the specialties and providers. And so these women are often given diagnoses of anxiety, depression, and they’re just really burnt out or their hormones are imbalanced or they’re just not getting enough sleep. So it’s really something that starts even maybe a decade earlier than what you are thinking.

JoAnn Crohn (04:39)

some of the things like women could be experiencing because honestly, like I wasn’t prepped for this. And when I started experiencing some hormonal changes, I thought I was dying. I mean, but that’s my thought process. Always. I’m always dying. Okay, wait. Very existential dress. Yes.

Brie Tucker (04:56)

moment though,

because I have a ton of questions too. But what kind of hormonal like change, like what are you talking about? What were the symptoms you felt that you now are thinking were hormonal, but you felt like you were dying when they were happening?

JoAnn Crohn (05:11)

I started getting migraines.

Brie Tucker (05:13)

Okay, so we’re talking about when your migraine started.

JoAnn Crohn (05:15)

Migraine started and I started like, okay, I’m gonna get very TMI because I think we just need to talk about it. But like, when we talk about, ⁓ gosh, I can’t even believe I’m saying this publicly, but I think everybody needs to know.

Brie Tucker (05:30)

I’ll give out whatever I can to to help meet you in the middle there. But go on. Okay.

JoAnn Crohn (05:33)

your cycles and when you have discharge in the middle of your cycle, that changed. And I thought, my gosh, this is cancer. was like a little brownish mid cycle now. And it started right around the time I was 37. And I’m like, am I getting my period in like 12 days in? What is going on? And literally now I can like clock it. Like I could clock it like 12 days in. I’m like, okay, here we go.

And this is going to happen and this is going to happen. And that was a change that happened in my mid thirties. So I’m wondering.

Brie Tucker (06:08)

Yeah, I was gonna say, so like what she’s talking about, Elizabeth, is that pretty common?

Elizabeth Shrader (06:13)

It is actually. And one of the symptoms of low estrogen is menstrual migraines. So our estrogen starts to decrease in our thirties, sometimes in some women, not in everybody. And that can increase risk for menstrual migraines. The discharge and cycle variation, that definitely starts in your mid to late thirties and sometimes even earlier.

And we have some women that will go through an early menopause in their early thirties, which is really kind of scary and crazy, but it’s super unusual. So the things that you really have to kind of keep an eye out for are, you feeling really triggered? Are you feeling really irritable? Are you feeling like you can’t get enough sleep? ⁓

Brie Tucker (06:54)

24/7

because she could tell you when I started getting ragey.

Elizabeth Shrader (07:02)

Yes, it ranges. That’s exactly how women come. Right?

Brie Tucker (07:06)

You would call it ragey. I would like, yeah, you would see flames starting to come out of my eyes. So. Oh God, don’t.

JoAnn Crohn (07:12)

wanna talk about podcast titles

JoAnn Crohn (07:17)

No, we don’t not ready see even ragey rage will come automatically from that one. I triggered I triggered. I’m sorry. I’ll bring it back. I do ⁓

Brie Tucker (07:25)

That is interesting

you’re saying that Elizabeth because like, yeah, there are changes that happen and you said they start in your thirties and like the hormone and all of that and to kind of come from like a different different perspective, but same side of the street as Joanne. I had an IUD put in like as soon as I had my second kiddo and I’m one of those people that is blessed with the IUD that I don’t have a period. So I haven’t had a cycle.

Well, since the one I had between, because my kids are super close, breastfeeding, stopped, got pregnant.

Elizabeth Shrader (07:57)

I had the same problem.

Brie Tucker (08:00)

Okay, yeah. That’s why I go in for my actually funny story, guys, and it’s a true story. I went in for my first confirmation pregnancy test with my second child carrying the IUD brochure. And the doctor was like, wait a minute, what are you here for again? I’m like, the pregnancy test, but we’re going to talk about this once we’re done. And the doctor’s like, okay. So my point being is I haven’t had a period. And so I’ve gotten very lazy and I don’t pay attention to my mood swings or anything. So I can’t tell you.

when my cycle is, but that kiddo that I had this put in after I had her, that kiddo is almost 17, which means I haven’t had a period in 18 years. And I felt like I was going crazy too with all of these things happening to me, the itchiness, the raginess, the through the roof anxiety, having panic attacks in my sleep, hot flashes all the time. But thinking to myself, when it started, I was like, I’m 43, almost 44.

this can’t be perimenopause or anything. And then when I would go to the doctor, they would say, well, when’s your last cycle? I don’t have a cycle. So then they’re test your hormones and they’re like, well, your hormones look fine. And I’m like, okay. You get, it’s like some verification. feel seen when. Thank you. That was the V word I was looking for. You get validation. The ADHD is strong today, people. You get validation.

Elizabeth Shrader (09:17)

Yes. ⁓

Brie Tucker (09:27)

They’re like, yeah, you’re in the right timeframe. This could be happening. But then you’re just kind of left with like, well, what do want us to do about it?

Elizabeth Shrader (09:34)

Exactly. And there are things that can be done about it, but unfortunately, most providers don’t know that, right? Like they just stick a label and here’s the thing, like I think this is something that was so interesting to me in my training as a women’s health nurse practitioner. Guess how many days I got of infertility training. So infertility hormones.

Brie Tucker (09:55)

Get zero?

JoAnn Crohn (09:56)

Take a 30-minute

session.

Elizabeth Shrader (09:58)

Yeah, I think it was like less, like three or six hours. Okay. And guess how much I got on hormone replacement therapy less. And so as a new nurse practitioner, when I graduated a long time ago, back in 2006, there was a study that came out a couple of years before that. And it’s called the women’s health initiative. And it just basically bashed hormones and said that they’re terrible. Women should forget them. And actually I saw medical students two days ago and they told me they’re still getting.

that information in their medical programs.

Brie Tucker (10:31)

Yeah.

Elizabeth Shrader (10:31)

Yep,

even though it’s all been dispelled and said that this was a poorly conducted study. And yes, it is still getting out there to our current medical students.

JoAnn Crohn (10:41)

my gosh. So now I want to know then, since we know that this is debunked and since we know that like providers aren’t necessarily knowledgeable about what women need, the steps that our listeners can take to actually get the care that they need regarding their hormones. And we’re going to do that right after this. So we talked a little bit before the break about how we’re basically told by our providers, well, I don’t know what you want us to do for you. Like this is basically like,

Brie Tucker (11:11)

feel like I was being left with no professional guidance and just being like, well, what do want me to do? And if I said to them, I want estrogen, they’d be like, okay, how much estrogen do you want? Who’s the- Honey, don’t tell me that because I saw this on TikTok or Instagram that I’m actually right because I don’t want to start thinking I can follow all the crap I’m seeing on there. ⁓

JoAnn Crohn (11:22)

Who’s the expert here? Who’s the expert?

Elizabeth,

what’s the first thing that people can do when they are approaching a provider about this?

Elizabeth Shrader (11:41)

I think the first thing that anyone should do is start to really become in tune with themselves first. That’s first and foremost. So trying to see and document, write it down when you’re starting to have issues and kind of correlate, you know, say I’m having this issue, this happened at this time in my cycle. Or if you have an IUD or some hysterectomy where you still have your ovaries, you have a uterus present, that can be really kind of challenging. ⁓

you can still use a calendar and document these days of the week or month. felt super irritable. I didn’t sleep. didn’t, you know, I felt like I was losing my mind. had cramps or what have you. start to, I had hot flashes. So you start to monitor your symptoms. That’s the first thing I think that anybody should do. And then the next thing you should do is probably talk to your GYN provider and see if they have any knowledge. And if they don’t, and if you’re not getting the information that you would like, you know, you basically say, listen, hey,

I’m here, I’m having some hot flashes. I’m struggling. My cycles have become irregular. I know it may be a little bit early for this perimenopause, but I can tell you that my hormones, feel like they’re very out of whack and the provider may say, okay, let’s go ahead and get some blood work and see what’s going on. And that’s when the levels come back and so many providers will say, well, this is normal because they’re in the normal reference range of what the lab says. But that doesn’t mean that that is normal for you.

And so, yeah, and that’s where there’s this very in between practice of how we optimize hormones to each individual to get them to feel their best. That is where you have to then advocate. If you are told that you’re normal and you’re still having these symptoms, then look for somebody who is actually like a hormone specialist, somebody that has specialized training in perimenopause and menopause, and even fertility, anything like that. We’re going to have that specialized.

knowledge to be able to interpret those labs and apply them to your specific situation. So you just have to, unfortunately, as a patient, you have to be very proactive and seek out the care if you’re not getting it or you’re not being validated from your current provider.

JoAnn Crohn (13:48)

That is so interesting. What can you expect as a patient when you go to a provider who is knowledgeable in those hormones and they look at your labs and they’re in the lab normal range, what could you then expect that provider to do?

Elizabeth Shrader (14:01)

I think that at that point, that’s where they have to look at the testosterone level, especially in women who are still ovulating, women who still have their period. They’re not typically candidates for estrogen. Sometimes you can, if you have menstrual migraines, actually you are a candidate for estrogen as long as it’s provided in the right dose and the type of estrogen, whether it’s a patch or a pill or a pellet or something like that.

So usually we’ll do super low dose estrogen in women who are still ovulating, but in women who are a little bit older, they’ll get a little bit of a higher dose of the estrogen. So essentially you would take those numbers and you would take the symptoms and then you try to correlate how are you going to apply this to maximize this for this specific patient. And for me, I have a program that I work with that I was trained through that has an algorithm that I can plug in basically all of your hormones, your lab values, and it gives me

some information of how I should best treat you. And it gives us at least a starting point so that we can get you feeling better very quickly within actually as little as two weeks, which is pretty incredible.

JoAnn Crohn (15:06)

That is incredible. It seems like it’s almost, I don’t wanna say trial and error, but it is a testing process, like to figure out exactly how it works for that individual.

Elizabeth Shrader (15:18)

Absolutely, yes, because everybody reacts to hormones differently and you’ll hear some women that will say, I tried the birth control pill, it made me crazy, or I didn’t like the way it made me feel, or I didn’t sleep, or whatever. So every woman reacts to these kinds of hormones in a different way, and men too, but we’re talking about women here. And so it’s very important to specialize that. And the other thing too, is you have to take into account the entire situation. So somebody who may have a mental…

struggle like depression or anxiety or even something more like a bipolar, you have to be very careful because if you give somebody who is bipolar some type of hormone, it’s a steroid and it can make them manic. So you sometimes can make things worse. So you do have to really kind of look at the whole picture and the individual. And not a lot of places do that.

Brie Tucker (16:05)

Yeah, it’s interesting you say that because what I’m thinking is my whole life I’ve been treated on and off for depression. And I mean, we’re talking like since I was 18 and then it goes through bouts where then they’ll be like, no, it’s not depression this time, it’s anxiety. And by the way, I have never been diagnosed with ADHD. I’ve just decided that’s probably what I have and I need to go get tested because the squirrel is strong with Brie, but I digress.

I’m just wondering, are there any other things that aren’t quite, you’re easy to tell signs that you need to go in and just have things checked out? And then also trying to decide where to go. The fact that your background is in psychiatry, it’d be in a nurse practitioner in that field, that makes me feel very comfortable with the mental health side of things. But then I think I would have, I did go to my general practitioner.

for the hot flashes and everything. Cause my general practitioner also did women’s health, but wasn’t an OBGYN or anything like that. So like that’s the other, think tricky part is like, I guess I had two questions for you there. What are those like sneaky signs that maybe we don’t know are signs that we’re starting to move into a change in our hormones and that we should like be getting help. And then also how do we determine who is the best practitioner to go see? Because I kind of feel like today we’ve got a buffet.

of options at our fingertips, right? Of which practitioner do we want to go see? Is there anything to kind of help give us like a little bit of a guiding light? And I know you can’t speak for every scenario by any means.

Elizabeth Shrader (17:43)

Yeah, I think the subtle changes that we start to see in women when they have hormonal imbalances, like it’s not as easy to lose weight. So you have a little more abdominal obesity or you aren’t sleeping quite as well. You’re waking up more now at like two or three in the morning when you never used to do that. A more strong sign is having hot flashes or

your period changing in frequency. So when you start going either a week earlier, so you’re getting your period every three weeks, or you’re going a week later, once it’s a week later, if you go like a 28 day cycle and your one period comes a week later, and you’re in that general age of like 40 to 50, you’re in that perimenopausal stage at that point. So menstrual irregularities, sleep imbalances, difficulty losing weight, those are usually like the first

kind of signs and then you’ll start to notice a little bit of anxiety, irritability, rage. I have people who come to me all the time that are like, I feel like I’m losing my mind. I’m raging. they’re like, every little thing just sets me off and I never used to be like this and I don’t understand why.

Brie Tucker (18:43)

my mind every day.

and then

you’re like, what’s with the no filter thing? Like you’re screaming in your head, don’t say this, don’t say this, but then you say it. you’re like, my God.

Elizabeth Shrader (19:01)

I think that’s part of it, but it’s also, think sometimes part of being in your forties, you kind of lose that filter. Like you don’t care anymore. You’re like, I’m going to just speak my piece. You know, I don’t care.

JoAnn Crohn (19:10)

me anymore. I heard some like other kind of like interesting perimenopause symptoms and like menopause symptoms like frozen shoulder and like heart palpitations. can’t. The heart. Good. Joint joint ache.

Brie Tucker (19:12)

Yeah, you can’t.

Elizabeth Shrader (19:12)

Really?

Brie Tucker (19:24)

and we should die.

Elizabeth Shrader (19:29)

Joint pain

is a big one. that’s actually, it can be. But joint pain is very common that will go away typically with, with hormone therapy. So that’s really intriguing. And so some people who get misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia and they get these, you know, weird pain, quote unquote symptoms that’s, you know, in their shoulders and in their elbows and their knees and their hands and their wrists and all of that kind of thing.

Brie Tucker (19:32)

back pain too.

Elizabeth Shrader (19:58)

They get hormones optimized and their pain goes away. They sleep better. They’re less irritable. know, all of a sudden you’re not as crazy and ragey.

Brie Tucker (20:08)

So again, like I know you can’t give this advice for everybody, but is there any way that we can kind of get a guiding star as to where we should start if we have a lot of options to us available to us?

JoAnn Crohn (20:19)

I want to hear the answer to that question right after this.

Brie Tucker (20:24)

So Elizabeth, what kind of advice can you give us for those of us that feel completely lost and we don’t know if we should go see a psychiatrist, a psychologist, if we should go to our OBGYN, if we should go to our general practitioner because we have all these options available. Is there any kind of guiding light as to what might be a better starting point for somebody that’s maybe falling into this category, this is a better starting point, this category, this is a better starting point?

Elizabeth Shrader (20:52)

Yeah, I think the first person I would probably recommend going to is your GYN. Okay. If you have one, that would be my first recommendation. And then see, most GYNs don’t do a ton of HRT, which is hormone replacement therapy. Some do, some don’t. it’s, they, it is crazy. it is. And unfortunately, I think it’s because it’s not a big moneymaker. Unfortunately, like that’s what it comes down to. They make more money doing procedures and.

delivering babies and that kind of thing. So it’s not a priority for them. So I think you need to really do your research and see either does your GYN provider offer these services? Do they have any contacts in their repertoire that their referral list that could be potentially somebody that you could see that they’ve worked with and had good results? think also asking friends who you’ve gone to have you open up the dialogue, talk to your friends about it and see you’re not the only one that’s suffering, right?

So maybe they’ve been through this, right? And they might have a good recommendation for a ⁓ provider who might be well-schooled in this.

Brie Tucker (21:56)

think that’s crazy, right, Joanne? Like, people don’t talk about this.

JoAnn Crohn (21:59)

They don’t, but it is being talked about more. like, I have a friend who like, when I go to business retreats, her and I room together. She lives in Michigan and we’re like into the same like business stuff and really are great roommates. But because we room together, we do have all of these things come up and she was in the bathroom and she like took a cream and she was rubbing it into her thigh and she’s like, this is the hormone replacement cream. And I was shocked because I had no idea what hormone replacement treatment actually

looked like. So like, what does it actually look like, Elizabeth, when you get on hormone replacement, like pills, creams, how many times a day? Like, what are we talking about?

Brie Tucker (22:40)

terms of our life.

Elizabeth Shrader (22:44)

It comes in

all different kinds of forms. And so the best ways to deliver hormone therapy, and we’re talking mostly estrogen and testosterone therapy at this point, would be either on your skin. So that’s called transdermal. So that’s either creams or gels or patches. And then the other option would be pellets, which pellet therapy is something that gets inserted into your like buttock region.

where there’s a lot more the pellet goes in there an once it’s in, it’s in and

JoAnn Crohn (23:22)

I need to hear specifics about these pellets. How are they inserted?

Elizabeth Shrader (23:27)

So, thank you, thank you, small.

Brie Tucker (23:29)

Elizabeth, it seemed like you were trying to be so gentle with that one. ⁓

Elizabeth Shrader (23:36)

Yeah, I was trying to be a little sensitive with the subject matter. There’s a small incision that is made in the buttock region. And then we use a special instrument that’s called a trocar and we have sterile pellets of testosterone and estrogen. And so we put this into this little tray essentially, and it just gets shot into the area once we’re in where we need to be. And then everything comes out. It’s literally like a five minute procedure, very little discomfort. numb it up really good. So.

Yeah, so it’s not too bad. It’s fine. There’s nothing, you don’t feel it and even post-op, post procedures. No pain.

Brie Tucker (24:11)

Are you

Elizabeth Shrader (24:16)

Absolutely more surface area for us to work with.

Brie Tucker (24:20)

Right then, I know where I’m a top candidate for it sounds like. ⁓

JoAnn Crohn (24:23)

If you got it, you’re

good.

Of we have to go to the butt jokes right away. I mean, when you’re talking about like treatment options, you’re, I mean, you’re also talking to, I’m a girl who has colonoscopies on the regular because of my health status. So I’m like hearing like, it’s just five minutes and you get like, you get numbed. I’m fine with that.

Brie Tucker (24:49)

right, IUD insertment, anything that has numbing sounds fantastic.

Elizabeth Shrader (24:53)

Absolutely. We go through enough pain in our lives as women. Let’s make it as painless as possible, right? And that is the key.

JoAnn Crohn (25:03)

I didn’t know that about pellets. is so interesting. So, so creams, pellets.

Elizabeth Shrader (25:07)

Creams, pellets, gels, and patches. so usually for testosterone and then injections, testosterone you can do injections. However, for women, it’s usually about twice a week. And so you’re figuring I’m going to do 104 injections over the course of the year versus if I were to get a pellet, that’s three insertions a year. So way less discomfort associated with a pellet.

Brie Tucker (25:30)

So if you’re not great at follow-up, there are some options that are probably better.

Elizabeth Shrader (25:35)

Yes, absolutely. And the cost difference is really not that much different between one method over the other. So if I weren’t doing it, which I am a recipient of pellets, this is why I went into it. think it’s amazing. It’s changed my life. And I think, absolutely, I think it’s the way to go because it’s an easy technique. You get it done every three or four months, sometimes longer. I can get up to sometimes six months of relief, which is amazing. So if you don’t have to take a patch or

JoAnn Crohn (25:35)

Nobody thinking of herself.

Elizabeth Shrader (26:04)

get that sticky residue o inject uncomfortable oil l injections in your butt, ⁓

Brie Tucker (26:15)

Yeah, I think it does not include a needle on a regular basis I’m happy with.

Elizabeth Shrader (26:19)

Absolutely.

JoAnn Crohn (26:21)

Yeah, it’s so interesting the treatment options because I mean, none of us talked about this before. like also like you listening right here in the podcast, this isn’t the first time I’ve learned about it. I’m actually going through, I’ll be taking tests really soon to see if I qualify or like if I need any hormone replacement. So like this is an ongoing process. And if you are this way right now, like you are not alone in it. Like Bri and I are going through the trenches.

Right along with you. Right along with you.

Brie Tucker (26:55)

So like honestly if I had to list out like I’ve I’ve been doing this for let’s see a little over a year and I obviously do not have much relief like the relief I got was Waking up in the middle of the night. I’m on my progesterone and that helps me with the waking up in the middle of the night I’m on a low level of Paxil, which is helping somewhat with the the night sweats, but I mean

All the other things are still crazy and part of the problem I have with it is and I know that other listeners have to be in my same spot where I’ve just kind of accepted that this is my life. I’m in perimenopause and I also have the predisposition that I suck at follow-up. Like I know I suck at follow-up. If you don’t immediately draw my blood while I’m at the doctor and you go like, we just need you to make this appointment. I will never make that appointment and Joanne can attest to it.

girl has tried to drag me to appointments. And I’m like, yes, I know, I know in my brain I need to go, but I just don’t. And so I think that some people are like out there in the world. They know they’re having hot flashes. They know they’re having trouble sleeping. They also know it’s perimenopause and they know that their moms didn’t get any relief for it. So they’re like, I’m just gonna suffer through it.

JoAnn Crohn (28:10)

Do

they have to accept that as their life?

Elizabeth Shrader (28:11)

that? No,

no, and I encourage you not to because there’s also some negative outcomes that can come from not receiving hormone replacement therapy.

Brie Tucker (28:22)

going off on your best friend you work with because you’re ragey over something and you don’t even know why. Like, I can’t imagine if I had done that in a job with someone who doesn’t like me.

Elizabeth Shrader (28:34)

Absolutely. mean, that is absolutely a potential issue. And I’ve had some patients who’ve gotten in trouble at work for that exact reason, you know, because it’s like I’m raging and I don’t care. And I don’t, you know, I’m just I’m hurting and it doesn’t matter. So it does transition over into work. But the other things is with your health, can increase your risk for cardiovascular risk. So heart attack and stroke increases risk for cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s dementia, if you don’t get your your hormones managed.

it can cause reproductive issues as you’re younger, right? Like harder to become pregnant if you have hormonal issues. It can increase problems with your immune system. making you more inclined to get like an autoimmune disease or have thyroid disorder, even learning disorders and, you know, in younger people. there’s a lot that is associated with not receiving HRT that could be viewed in a negative way. It’s actually quite safe.

method of therapy so women don’t have to suffer.

JoAnn Crohn (29:33)

Before we end this conversation, I do want you to address, Elizabeth, those in the audience, possibly the parents of the members of our audience who think that HRT is not safe and will cause cancer based on the studies that have been released years ago. What do you have to say to that?

Elizabeth Shrader (29:56)

would say that your concern is real because that’s what so many providers were taught for so long, including myself. However, you need to challenge that thinking because what we’re finding now is what that study showed us. was the method. So you don’t want to be taking synthetic types of hormones, progesterones or synthetic estrogens. And so these would be like progestins or non bio identical estrogens. And these specific

hormones are dangerous and have been associated with a increased risk of cancers and blood clots and cardiovascular risk. However, these were given orally again, and orally is the least safe and effective method. So by using trans dermal, so those patches and those screens or the pellets, then that actually reduces those risks. So when we use pellet therapy or we’re using patch therapy or we’re using

injections, we’re doing bioidentical, which means it’s very similar to what our bodies actually make. And that’s why our bodies tolerate it better than the synthetic versions. And so the synthetic ones are the ones that are associated with cancers and the bioidenticals are not.

JoAnn Crohn (31:07)

⁓ I didn’t know that. You’ve dropped so many bombs on us, Elizabeth. Like this was such an informative conversation. And before you go, we always like to end on a high note. What is one thing that you’re looking forward to that’s happening in your life?

Elizabeth Shrader (31:22)

am looking forward to growing my business at Bella Vita Integrated Healing and offering these services and others as I continue to grow.

Brie Tucker (31:31)

So people can get in touch with you even if they’re not in the Phoenix area, right?

Elizabeth Shrader (31:37)

Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, they can absolutely.

Brie Tucker (31:40)

reach

out. I love that.

JoAnn Crohn (31:42)

We’ll put your link right in the show notes and any other ways you let us know. Where should people go to find you?

Elizabeth Shrader (31:49)

If you want to go to my website, which is www.BellaVita Integrated Healing, that’s a great start. And then I’m also located on Lindsay and Ray in Gilbert, Arizona.

JoAnn Crohn (32:02)

Well, thank you so much, Elizabeth, for joining us today and we’ll talk to you later.

Elizabeth Shrader (32:06)

Thank you so much for having me. This has been a blast.

Brie Tucker (32:11)

So when we closed out that interview, like after we were like, so great to have you. And we stopped recording and I’m like, all right, Elizabeth, I look forward to seeing you professionally soon because you know what? Just the fact that she said, and I, my God, Joanne, I think I’m about to cry. Yes. That you could get relief within two weeks and knowing that I have been in hell, not sleeping.

I have gained so much weight and no matter what I do, I can’t get rid of it. I am ragey and thank God you love me that we work together because I would have been fired from any other job with how ragey I get. And I am like anxious, I’m happy, all of this crap. And I’ve been dealing with it because I felt like I was just, they were like, well, we can help with the sleep and everything, but until you get your IUD out, there’s nothing else we can do. And I’m like, well, then I guess I’m just screwed because I am not willing to.

I don’t know. So yeah, so I’m excited. Elizabeth makes me feel like I have a possibility in my life that’s not just dealing with it.

JoAnn Crohn (33:17)

Yeah, I think like so many people are told that they need to just deal with it, that like their condition is incurable. It’s like the book I’m reading right now, Mind Your Body by Nicole Sacks, which I’m obsessed with, which, my gosh, I’m going to post on social media and I want Nicole Sacks on this podcast because she talks about chronic pain and disease. And it’s different than what we talked about here in the podcast, because what Nicole talks about in her book is that if you have been to a doctor,

And you have exhausted all of that doctor’s medical recommendations. And if they then tell you, well, there’s nothing you can do, you have to live with it. That’s when you consider this other method of mind, body medicine. And I thought of that when I saw you talking with Elizabeth, because it’s like you have been told, like, there’s no other way. So now like you’re finding this other option that may provide you help and relief.

And it is medical, but it’s great because it’s also like something that a lot of doctors aren’t trained in. Like just the lack of knowledge in hormone replacement across the medical field is astounding to me. And yet not surprising based on what we’ve learned on this podcast about how much attention is put to women and women’s like medical health.

Brie Tucker (34:37)

And the fact that the majority of studies that are done on hormones and hormone therapy were done on men.

JoAnn Crohn (34:44)

Yes, yes. If you want more of this, go listen to our podcast episode with Dr. Jane Morgan. We’ll have a link for you in the show notes. It is such a powerful episode about the state of women’s health and what you’re being told at the doctor. So I am so appreciative of people like Elizabeth who are specializing in this and getting the information out there. It’s amazing to hear and it’s very hopeful to hear as well.

Brie Tucker (35:13)

And

also that more practitioners are taking that extra step. Like I’m excited to see the fact that medical services are expanding with technology, right? So like just the fact of like, I really love to hear what Elizabeth does. but she’s in Phoenix and I live in, you know, Prairie Village, Kansas. Okay.

JoAnn Crohn (35:34)

Perry Village, Perry Metapos.

Brie Tucker (35:37)

Okay, that was funny. said Prairie Village, but that’s okay. Prairie Village. It’s it’s an actual. Okay, but Prairie, Prairie Fitz, Prairie Village, Prairie Menopause, all that jazz. God, Holden’s family, I need to have you on too, man. You’re speaking to me these days. But the fact that you can access these services because practitioners are taking the time and the energy and the investment to be able to do things in telehealth as well. So that it’s not just people that live in.

large cities that have a lot of doctors around that can access this. There are options for you no matter where you are because, yeah, we’re sick and tired of being told as women, we just have to deal with the pain of being a woman.

JoAnn Crohn (36:19)

We’ve been told this our whole lives! Yes!

Brie Tucker (36:22)

Yes, for instance, like I know you really want me to look into that book too that you’re just talking about because like I’ve had migraines. I’ve been diagnosed with that since I was 20, 21. And I’m on the highest dose they can give me of like reactive medication. And they’re just like, sorry, your migraines are just kind of they come and go and you’re just gonna have to deal with them. And they are deb-

JoAnn Crohn (36:45)

There’s so many stories in this book too about people who had migraines and they were told the exact same thing. And then they started this practice and they had symptoms gone.

Brie Tucker (36:54)

And

we’re not saying that everything is going to work, you know, just giving up like I tend to do sometimes when I get overwhelmed and saying like, screw it, I can’t handle it, I can’t take on anymore right now. It doesn’t do well for anybody because then what happens is you end up looking back later and you’re like, crap, I’ve been taking that screw it attitude for a year and a half now.

JoAnn Crohn (37:18)

Mm-hmm. And I’m still in the same place I was.

Brie Tucker (37:20)

I’m

in a worse place than I was because now it’s affecting my mental ability. So yeah, it’s worse. So who can help people?

JoAnn Crohn (37:30)

there. There’s tons and I hope that you took from this podcast episode that there is something that more that you can literally look at to provide you with relief in your

Brie Tucker (37:42)

Share with us. Do share with us on this episode. Leave us a review. Let us know what you thought. You think this is helpful? You think it’s all bull crap? want to, honestly, I want to hear what everybody’s hot takes are on this and share it with a friend. If you have somebody else you think that could use to hear this and to hear that, hey, you’re not crazy. There might be help. There more than likely is help. And here’s some of it. Share this episode. Share some love.

JoAnn Crohn (38:10)

We will share our own journeys as well and tell you, know, what works, what doesn’t. We’re very open here, as you could probably tell from this interview. And don’t forget to subscribe to the No Guilt Mom podcast. Remember the best mom is a happy mom. Take care of you. And we’ll talk to you later.

Brie Tucker (38:26)

Thanks for stopping by.