Why Feeling “Normal” Is Not The Same As Being Well

Feeling “fine” isn’t the same as feeling well. We sit down with Tia Christ, a nurse practitioner and owner of Pathway Health and Beauty in Owasso, Oklahoma, to unpack what it really takes to thrive in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.

We discuss how hormones, stress, sleep, nutrition, and strength training work together. If you’ve ever been told your labs are normal while your body tells a different story, this conversation offers a smarter roadmap.

We explore how to redefine wellness beyond symptom suppression, starting with the gap between normal and optimal lab ranges. Tia explains why timing matters for hormone testing, how to correlate numbers with symptoms, and when bioidentical estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone can restore sleep, mood, libido, and energy. For men, we tackle declining testosterone in a high-stress world and what data-driven, discreet therapy looks like when you aim for robust, functional targets rather than today’s lower averages.

Weight and recovery get real talk too. We compare semaglutide and tirzepatide for different goals, share what tends to work for midlife fat loss, and dig into peptides like BPC-157 for inflammation and healing. Throughout, we link prevention to daily choices: lifting for muscle and bone, yoga for mobility and calm, cleaner ingredients at home, and actual time off to reset cortisol. You’ll also learn how to choose a wellness clinic that listens first, reads labs through a functional lens, and personalizes treatment plans to your life, not a checkbox.

If you’re ready to swap five-minute fixes for thoughtful prevention—and to feel heard in the process—this episode brings practical steps and hope. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a nudge toward optimal, and leave a review with the one change you’re making this week.

Transcript

Welcome And Midlife Health Frustrations

SPEAKER_03 0:00

And so I I tried to tell those patients, hey, I don't know what it's going to take, but you have to lower your stress stuff. Easier time than done, I know.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

And I so I told my doctor, uh I you know have this sense that there's a formulas that follow.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Your next favorite podcast pick starts now. Here's the Professor and Heather Anne.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to the Professor and Heather Anne. Although we don't have all the answers, we hope that we can encourage and excite you. We are sharing our lives to inspire you to make the most of the second half of your life.

Travel, Fitness Loss, And Daily Adjustments

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Today we're stepping into an important topic: what it means to live well in your 50s and beyond. We're going to have uh a guest, a nurse practitioner who is uh the owner of a Pathway Health and Beauty. Um and uh but before we get to our guest, um we're we're going to talk uh about uh issues that have come up with ourselves uh in um um maintaining maintaining our health, maintaining healthy ways of living uh as we uh go through middle age. So uh what uh things I've things that I've had to deal with are um uh and I think I talked about this on a previous episode, uh difficulty of staying in physical shape. So um like if we travel and don't go to the gym for a week or two, then I find I've I've I've I will have lost a lot of strength. Um, and it'll take it'll take a long time to then to get back into having the strength. Uh so so as we get older, we get it, it's it we get out of shape more easily, and it takes longer to get back in shape. That's one thing. Um there's um uh prostate problems, uh enlarged prostate, having to get up to go to the bathroom several times a night. Um I have um a lot more um problems with stomach acid. There's things I've had to completely cut out of my diet, like chocolate, um, and and pretty much cut out alcohol too. Um so uh we both cut out alcohol.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

We it just seems like it affects me differently. If we do have a drink, we'll share a drink.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

To go to a restaurant and order one cocktail and share it. Um uh Heather found for me this um coffee, this brand of coffee called Purity that's includes, they have a variety of different coffees, but one of them is a special low acid coffee. That's helped a lot. Um I have to have annual, along with all my other all the other components of my annual checkup, um a dermatology exam, because I've had a number of instances where there have been pre-cancerous growths have been discovered and they've had to be burned off with liquid nitrogen. These are the sorts of things that have happened. Uh and uh so what what what sorts of things like that can you talk about?

Food Triggers, Skin Checks, And Sleep

SPEAKER_01 2:59

For me, especially since I'm postmenopausal, the dry skin just drives me crazy. Um it doesn't matter. Uh over the years I've become very particular on what I put on my skin, partly because I have very sensitive skin. So um when I was younger, I would try different things and have major breakouts, uh, found out I was allergic to a particular product. So in the in the metabol, in uh the same thing. When I was younger and I'd work out, great, if I missed a week or so, I could get right back into it. But I see now, even with yoga, if I'm not going to yoga on a regular basis, then I could uh the next time I go to yoga, it's a little bit harder to stretch. I've got to hold my poses and maybe get out of the pose and get back into the pose. Um and eating some of the things that you ate when you were younger. Uh maybe you don't want to eat as you're older because it affects you differently. Um dairy seems to be a big thing for me where um I'm just not doing a lot of dairy anymore because it's this is something that's happened kind of recently. This is I think it's always been there. I just never paid attention to it. I just see in the last six months it's affecting me way more um than it used to. And it in I and again, since I've been on my journey, my wellness journey and everything, I I think I'm just listening to my body more. We we're working hard on getting the chemicals out of our food. We we don't go out and eat a lot, we read our labels now, so I think my body just adjusting to that. I'm just paying more attention to the things that do bother me.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

And how would you say that we support each other uh in uh in the wellness journey?

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Encouragement. Uh you uh didn't lift weights or do yoga until we started dating. I suggested um working out and doing weights. Um I suggested the yoga for balance. I I have always been in the gym. I love working out. It it's I know it's not just good for my body, but it really helps me with my stress. And um I added yoga probably a good 10 to 12 years ago and saw that that really truly uh made a difference because at the time I didn't know about menopause and hormones and how your joints and just ache and how your body could just ache. And that really the yoga really helped uh uh helped me a lot with with um not being as achy, I guess. For better like I just wasn't as achy as I. As long as I'm doing yoga several times a week, I find that I'm not as stiff and achy as as much.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

And let's not forget, pickleball.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yes, pickleball.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Yes, it's great fun.

Yoga, Pickleball, And Partner Support

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I said, hey, let's start playing pickleball, and you're like, what is it? So we play pickleball, we've uh we've actually improved quite a bit. Um so I think for us it's just encouraging each other. Um we found each other in the second half of our life, so my thoughts on that is I want to keep you around as long as I can. So that means you need to do yoga.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

And I I feel better doing going to the gym regularly. And yes, Heather sometimes has to tell me, you're going to the gym today, aren't you? Uh and uh so being being more physically active, it I I I feel a lot better. Our guest today is uh is a wellness expert, and so I wonder if like you could say something about the difference between wellness and the more traditional concept of health. So, how how are they related and how are they different?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well, I think that is a great question for our guest. Let's welcome Tia. She is uh the owner, uh nurse practitioner and owner of Pathway Health and Beauty in Owasso. Welcome, Tia. Thank you for joining us today. So let's jump in with Joe's question. What's the what's the definition of wellness? He he's been asking me this question for the last few days. What exactly was your question again?

SPEAKER_02 7:42

So, how is the concept of wellness related to but also different from the concept of health?

Defining Wellness Beyond “Not Sick”

SPEAKER_03 7:49

I think they go together, but when I think of wellness, I think of total body wellness, like your body, your mental health, emotionally healthy, all those things, um they factor into how you feel, right? So if our brain is working well, our body feels good, that to me, that's total wellness.

Menopause Myths And Missed Care

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And now, and opposite, let's r reverse that too. If your body's feeling good, right, then you're going to have good mental health. Exactly. And you're going to be feeling good about yourself, which then in return, um, you know, people can see that. People see on how you're feeling both physically and uh mentally. Right. So one of the reasons why I really wanted to have you on was um hormones, yes, menopause, and all of that that that's going on uh with women that are hitting some as they're even in their 40s, um, and uh but mainly for women 50s and above. So, what are the things about menopause? Me personally, I had a hysterectomy in my late 30s, so that threw me into menopause. On one of our previous episodes, we had Shay Rossi from Fox 23 News. She's been doing segments about um with other women about menopause and how it's affecting, and she was uh went into menopause early in life as well. So let's just jump in about menopause and I'm on that journey for many years. I was told it's too late. I was told I right after my hysterectomy, I was on estradiol. Uh, but after a few years, I became allergic to the adhesive. So then my doctor's like, oh, you're fine. You're gonna be fine, you don't need to. I brought it up to him probably about five years ago, and he's like, It's already too late.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

I don't think it's too late. So I saw a woman the other day, 74 years old, her primary care refused, like, didn't even have the discussion about hormones for this lady. This lady, she's pretty active, she exercises. I think she was doing yoga too, eating well, just trying to better herself, but she still didn't feel well. So I put her on hormones. I saw her a month later, she gave me a hug because she felt that much better. I put her on testosterone, I put her on estrogen, we did all the things. She's sleeping better, she feels better. So I don't think there's like an age limit in our clinic when it comes to women's hormones. She might live another 20 years. I don't want her to feel miserable during her last years.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

I think that's the biggest thing that's the most frustrating is that for centuries. I mean, since years and years, women have just been told it's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

And you're going to have to suffer through it.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

But why do we have to suffer?

It’s Not Too Late For Hormones

SPEAKER_01 10:56

That's the big question is why? Why have we had to suffer all these years? Why is it that just now, 20 years later, I'm starting to learn more about hormones and that it is okay if I want to go on hormones? Um What are you seeing in your practice when women are coming to you? What's the most frustrating thing for them? And what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Well, we aren't traditional medicine. We're more functional medicine, integrative medicine. We strive for optimal lab values. So I think these women are coming in and they're like, well, my primary care told me that my labs are normal. And I'm like, well, let me look at them because I have a different idea on lab values. And they're coming in and their hormones are terrible. Their testosterone's in the tank, their esterines in the tank, they're not normal. So they're getting this misinformation from old guidelines like hormones are dangerous, you know. And I had a lady the other day, her primary care just refused to even talk to her. She said, That's not happening. We are not talking about that. It's terrible.

Labs: Normal Range Vs Optimal

SPEAKER_01 12:08

And it is. I feel like for many years, um, I would go in and like, okay, I just feel like I'm not myself. The weight won't, the weight has come on. I cannot, no matter what I do. If I'm feeding my body right, starving my body, working out five, six times a week, the weight is not coming off no matter what I do. Is there something, well, there's just not a lot we can do. And here, let's track what you're eating. And, you know, it was like I there was times I would leave the doctor's office and just cry in the car because it's like, this is not who I am. I do not who I in my head, who I'm seeing on the inside is not who I am. And it I recently learned as well, every time I would go in, they would say, Oh, your labs are fine. I just automatically assumed they were testing my hormones every single wellness checkup. I learned that recently. You have to ask. You have to ask. And so when they tell you, oh, everything's fine, you leave again thinking, well, they're telling me everything's fine. I'm assuming they're doing my labs. Women, they are not. I'm here to tell you all the women listeners, they are not testing your hormones. I hadn't had my hormones tested over almost four years. And I was shocked.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

It's not part of their routine labs to check your hormone levels. You have to ask for it. And even when you ask for it, they'll do them randomly. Well, if you still have menstrual cycles, there we'd like to do those on a time, usually days 19, 20, or 21 of your menstrual cycle, to capture those hormones and state, like, okay, this is this part of her menstrual cycle, what what shall your hormones be in that time of her cycle?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

So you can't just do them randomly either. Well, and I would uh uh I had a conversation um again with Shay about even sometimes during the day. Right, they will fluctuate. They'll fluctuate you could go in and have your hormones tested in the morning and they seem fine, but if you were to have to test them that same day in the afternoon, then they could have different complete readings at that time.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

That's true, and that's why we can't go off lab values alone. So we correlate those lab values with how that patient is feeling. So if she's feeling tired and has joint pain and brain fog and low libido, I automatically think this lady's got low testosterone. And I'll even put women, I'll order testosterone the same day without even doing their lab. Now, estrogen's different, it depending on the age, um, we might check lab values and see where she's at. But I can start progesterone and testosterone on the same day in most cases.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Oh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

And so how much um well, I guess like trial and error does there have to be of like since everyone's different, right? And I and you have to like try things out and have to change may have to change things.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

So we do have to change things, and I'll tell women it might take a month to feel better, you know. But I have women like feeling better within a couple weeks. Usually testosterone is constant for women. That dose doesn't seem to change that much. It's the estrogen and progesterone that we really have to work on sometimes. But usually I can um tell by her symptoms, like if she's really tired and not sleeping well, we'll do what we call sustained release progesterone. That has to come from a compounding farming, but it's pharmacy, but it's gonna last longer in the body, versus um progesterone that you can get over the counter, like you know, at a local pharmacy. It just doesn't have that sustained release component. So it just depends on the woman's symptoms, depending on what I prescribe for her.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

And then you do treat women and you do treat men as well.

Symptom-Led Dosing And Follow-Up

SPEAKER_03 15:56

Yes, we treat women, we treat men, and usually the women will come in and be like, Oh, I need you to see my husband. That's usually how it works.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

And we've actually had that conversation this week.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

So isn't uh there's some so postmenopausal women have um, you know, because because their ovaries aren't producing, their hormone levels are just sort of uniformly pretty low. Whereas men, it's a little more complicated, right? Where so pro providing exogenous testosterone, there's this like negative feedback loop that goes on, then the body's just downregulates its production of endogenous endogenous testosterone. So so what is like, you know, what kind of protocol do you have for you know monitoring your male patients?

SPEAKER_03 16:46

As far as male testosterone, again, we shoot for optimal levels in those men. So if you look back to like the 1960s, a normal testosterone level was about 700 to 900 for men, and now we settle for about 300 on the total testosterone, and their primary care will tell them, hey, that's normal, you're fine, you're not getting testosterone. Well, we're gonna get you up to probably at least 800 and monitor those labs every three months.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Okay. I want to hear your thoughts about this. I I I've read about this. Why why do you think this has happened?

SPEAKER_03 17:18

We are drawing labs from a sick population of men, and we're calling that normal.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

But but how how how did we become so sick?

SPEAKER_03 17:27

Toxins, the environment, or food. I could go on and on about that. Pharmaceuticals, um, high stress, high stress jobs, lots of different things will cause that.

Men’s Testosterone And Modern Decline

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Not just our we're in a high stress job, but we're expected, we're one of the few countries that is expected to work 24-7. Yes, correct. That's what we're doing. Even when we go on vacation, yes, we're not on vacation because we're still working. And I have am guilty of that. You know, standing in line at Disneyland, my phone rings and my boy's going, please, mommy, don't answer it. Uh, because we're just that's what's expected.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

In America it is. And so I I try to tell those patients, hey, I don't know what it's going to take, but you have to lower your stress somehow. Easier said than done, I know. But I'm taking um some vacation on Thanksgiving, and I will not be answering my message, and I will not be answering my phone because we need that time to reset where we're away from our phone and our tablets. So it's not just the testosterone or the hormones for women, it's de-stressing, eating better, movement, all those things factor into wellness.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

So, in your clinic, what are describe your mission? What are the core services that you offer in your clinic?

SPEAKER_03 18:51

I think our core mission is to help people in the right way, to help the people that aren't getting help from their traditional medical providers. We listen to our patients, we listen to their stories, we listen to their symptoms. So that's our main mission is to help people. And I know that sounds cliche, but we are helping people that haven't been helped by other people.

Stress, Toxins, And Lifestyle Load

SPEAKER_01 19:12

And so before we started recording, we kind of had a little conversation and stuff and I shared with you, which is not something I've shared with a lot of people. But my husband is amazing and very supportive, and I went on the GLP one and went on semaglutide, and they had it's like I felt like they were not listening to me. They just kept upping my dosage and upping my dosage, and I didn't really have a lot of side effects, but I didn't really lose any weight. What is it, for instance, if I came in and said this is what I have experienced before in the past, but I am hearing how GLP1s and peptides can really make a difference, um, especially for a woman, especially in menopause post-menopause. How is it that you talk to your clients? What is it that you suggest?

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Well, I think weight is a sensitive topic. Um, I had a patient yesterday and she brought it up. She's like, I know I need to lose weight. And I was like, okay, well, I can help you with that. She also took semaglatide, um, compounded semagaltide, and it it didn't help. So, in my experience, cymagaltide, if you need to lose 20, 30 pounds, maybe 30 pounds, it might be the right med for you. But it does cause a lot of side effects. If that woman needs to lose 30 pounds plus, I'm going to use a compounded trzebatide for that patient. I'm just gonna be honest with her and be like, look, I don't want you to waste your money on compounded semaglantide. You probably need a compounded trazepatide to help you meet your goals. I'll have women come in for hormones and they're like, Well, I still can't just lose this weight. And for some reason, when we put them on the GL peptides, their hormone syndrome get better and they start losing weight and they get more confident.

Clinic Mission And Listening First

SPEAKER_01 21:00

It's nice to see. And it is somebody who personally, I talk about my journey. I did not have a weight problem until after I had my hysterectomy. Still had some weight left over from my second child. I was on bed rest for six months during my pregnancy. But it was after I was no longer on the hormones and the weight just kept coming on and coming on. And I had shared in a different segment that my primary care doctor actually made me bring in pictures of myself to show that I did not have a weight problem until then. And I didn't think about it at the time. I think about it now, going, that's horrible. It's inappropriate. It really truly is, because unfortunately, women are taught at a very early age in our lives not to like our bodies, we're not happy. And then as we get older and we go through menopause, I know personally it is something I have struggled with tremendously. Um, because I just, in my mind, who I'm seeing on the outside, that's not who I am. Sure. So I like the fact that you are actually diving deeper and having these conversations um with your patients. What else would you like to share? Talk a little bit, because I'm still learning about peptides. So, what exactly is the peptides?

GLP-1s, Tirzepatide, And Weight

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Peptides are a hot topic, but if you go back to biology class, um, protein, right? So, protein is made of this chain of amino acids. So, just a little bit shorter on the amino acid chain is a peptide. So, it's basically just a messenger in your body. It tells your body, hey, go do this. Hey, go heal yourself. Like BPC 157 is a peptide that's quite popular right now. So we use that for pain, for inflammation, especially those patients that are like in a CrossFit, working out hard, they really like their BPC 157. So that peptide just goes and tells the body, hey, let's reduce inflammation in the body. So there's several different peptides. Um, some aren't still not approved by the FDA, which we do still write for patients. They just need to know that they aren't FDA approved.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

So that brings up a question: inflammation, high cortisol. So again, we'll just use mean as an example. Grew up in trauma, so automatically have high cortisol. I've been learning these over the years. I am in a high stress job that's still keeping my cortisol, which any in return I know affects the inflammation in your body.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

So peptides can help with that. Again, somebody needs to come in. We're not trying to diagnose anybody here on the podcast or anything. And we're not saying just go out and try these. That's not what I'm referring to at all. They need to set up an appointment, come in, and really have true hard conversation. I I think for both men and women, especially for women who are in menopause or post-menopause, we have just been taught to just suffer through it.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Unfortunately. And I think it's sometimes hard for us to open up, and especially with women who have gone to the doctor, um, and a lot of doctors we know um to be a fact that women come in, I'm just not feeling myself. Here, let's put you on an antidepressant.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

And that's one of my hot topics. Yes. So women will have all these symptoms like brain fog and joint pain, and they're depressed and they have anxiety. Well, here's an antidepressant. When that woman probably needed hormones.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Hormones.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

Not the antidepressant. She's not Zoloft, you know, deficient. She's probably estrogen.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

That is probably the best thing I've heard about antidepressant. She's not Zolof depressant. Nobody's Zoloft deficient. I like that. I like that. And where I'm having more conversation um with my husband is that um men have a tendency to not want to talk about their symptoms. They do not want to come to the doctor and Usually their wives are calling.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Now we do have men that say, hey, I need some testosterone, you know, but usually their wives are pushing them to come and see me. Which is fine. You know, we do see men for testosterone therapy in the clinic.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

And I think why do you think it is that men have have a tendency to hide their symptoms?

SPEAKER_03 25:36

I think they don't want to be seen as weak, you know, they don't want people to know, hey, I'm tired and I have erectile dysfunction and I don't want to have sex. That's not part of being a man, right? But I think they need to know that those symptoms unfortunately do happen as they get older and there's help. And we keep their testosterone discreet. We ship it to your house, then say what it is, so nobody has to know.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Well, I've only I've only had my testosterone measured once. That was three years ago when I first moved to Oklahoma. And it was actually pretty high. It was like in the 600s.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

I would say suboptimal. I like that. And I have suggested he needs to get it tested again. So I would do men need to have their this is a debate we've had this week. Do men need to have their testosterone checked every year as well?

SPEAKER_03 26:27

I think that they do, but again, your traditional primary care medical doctor, whoever, is not just going to routinely order that for you. They're gonna be like, well, do you have these symptoms? Like, are you are you fatigued? Are you moody? Do you have low libido, um, erectile dysfunction before they order it? So you have to ask them to order it.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

But isn't it better? Because one of the things that more people are talking about, RFK juniors talking about, is preventative. Yes. So, you know, like we had just said earlier, we're watching what we're putting in our bodies. We don't eat out as much, we read the labels of the food that we bring into our home. Doesn't it seem logical that you would want to test those so that you can get ahead of it? Why is it that the medical establishment thinks that they're only treating the symptoms? They're not trying to how they're trained.

Antidepressants Vs Hormones Debate

SPEAKER_03 27:25

That's how I was trained. You know, that's how we're all trained. Like nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, we're all trained to be like, okay, see the patient, figure out their symptoms in five minutes, and give them a pill. That's how we're trained. So until you get out of that box and realize, hey, we need to be preventing these problems, you know, just like estrogen, like women on estrogen who need hormone therapy, they're going to have a reduced risk of dementia, heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer if they're on testosterone, osteoporosis, all those things. That's true prevention. But unfortunately, these women are getting put on, like you said, antidepressants. They're getting put on these um meds for osteoporosis that have a ton of side effects when really they needed estrogen to prevent the bone loss.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Well, and it seems like even some of the like standard, standardly prescribed preventatives are their well, okay, I can ask your opinion about this. If you think that it's more just like pushing the product.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

Um, so so um my doctor um said I I should go on a statin because I have high levels of of LDL, bad cholesterol. And I did a little research, and you know, taking into account that I don't have any other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, I worked it out that going on the statins, you know, it might like lengthen my life by six months and in the and likely have have have some you know bad side effects. And so and I so I told my doctor, so uh I'm not taking that. And and he was cool. He said, okay, okay. But I you know I have this sense that there's a f there's formulas that they're following.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

There is. There's actually a calculation that I used to do internal medicine for that. We would put your gender in, put your age in, put your total cholesterol in, and that would give us a calculation to figure out a risk score for you. Okay, yes, this guy needs a statin. And so it's just overuse. You're just part of a little computer system. You just fit the boxes. Here's a statin. But those statins are causing neuropathy, uh like burning numbness, tingling your legs, they're causing dementia, and they're causing high blood sugar. She might get diabetes from the statin they put you on.

Why Men Avoid Care And Privacy

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Oh, that's something new. I had I hadn't never heard that before. I started, um, my older son was diagnosed with a very rare disease when he was a child. So that started me down the path of how much can we do more natural? Just because a doctor says you need a pill. I started years ago like, why do I need that pill? What is Is it going to do? What truly is the side effects? And if they would just push me off and go, well, this is just what it is, then it'd be like, Well, I'm not going to take it until I do research. Sure. I found out my younger son is allergic to eggs. So when he was a baby, our pediatrician told us he can never have the flu shot because there's eggs in the flu shot. So again, that just started me down the path. Well, if he can't have the flu shot, then I'm not going to get the flu shot. Why? So it it truly started me down this path of what are what is alternatives? What's the answers? Why I just feel like we've become cattle when you go to your doctor, they're in and out operations in five minutes. So you brought up that you were in internal medicine. What made you decide to leave internal medicine and do what you're doing now?

Prevention, Testing, And Training Gaps

SPEAKER_03 30:57

Honestly, I got tired of it. I got tired of being told what to do by administration. Um, I could I didn't have the medical freedom to practice how I wanted because I did work with physicians that, you know, follow the FDA, don't go out of the box. You know, I would see their patients, and so it's like, well, I really want to do this for you, but I can't. I would tell them. So I finally got sick of it. I had my own medical problems that I fixed with herbal antibiotics and hormones. Um, actually didn't know what was going on with myself at the age of 36. And I had been a nurse practitioner for about seven, eight years at that point. So I figured out it was perimenopause. I figured out it was it was SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, probably from stress, you know, from my job. So I got to a point where I can do this better and I can help patients the way I think they need to be helped. And so I started virtually my own clinic, and then eventually we got out to lawsuit space in January of this year.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Oh, I love hearing that. Because I think there's a lot of doctors, uh, female doctors that are learning about menopause when they hit menopause themselves. Usually we have to hit it ourselves. To understand it.

SPEAKER_03 32:07

To understand it.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Because they're, you know, I follow several doctors that have even shut down their practices because it's like I I don't feel like I can treat my patients correctly. It's the brain fog. Correct. And um, you know, I'm still learning about this stuff about my own body. I don't know if I can help my cl my patients with what's happening with them because we were never taught this in medical school medical school.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

I think I might have had a one-hour lecture in nurse practitioner school about menopause. Not much.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

But you would think that our OBs and gynecologists would have more because that's their specialty and they're supposed to, they're specializing in women. But it is astounding to hear the statistics of these specialized doctors that are supposed to be helping women that they weren't, they did not have this in their rotations, they did not learn this in medical school.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Well, I noticed you have the book there, you know, The New Menipos by Dr. Mary Claire Haver. So I do recommend that book a lot. I would say I wish she would get more on board with biodenal hormones, but I think she maybe talks in the book or on a YouTube channel. OBGENs are surgeons. At the end of the day, they're surgeons, they want to fix things, they want to deliver babies, they don't want to talk about hormones, most of them. So I've had patients that go and see their OB gen and they don't know what to do with them. You know, I've had patients, well, this lady was supposed to be a hormone expert. You know, they're on some website, and well, she doesn't know what she's doing.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Sorry. And that's a very true statement. And I do think it's great that doctors are finally coming forward and saying, we don't know. We we weren't taught, we don't know. Um, I love the fact that we're talking about it more. I I I keep saying that I think it's the Gen Xers that are finally like, we're not gonna be quiet.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

We want to- I love that about them actually.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

We want what's happening to our bodies, and we do not want to go through life the rest of our lives feeling like we're crazy.

Rethinking Statins And Risk Scores

SPEAKER_03 34:05

Well, I notice that more and more women are like demanding it. They're telling their providers, hey, you won't do it, I'll go somewhere else. And they come and see me.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

And I like that. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

So so that uh that that that that brings us to another question is if someone someone's choosing a wellness clinic, a wellness provider, what are the sorts of things that they ought to be looking for?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

That's a good question. Well, I love stories, okay? So I had this patient, she went to another wellness clinic. I say that quotations. They didn't know how to read labs, they didn't know what optimal labs meant. This poor woman was a menopause, and she cried in the parking lot. So she came to see me, and she's like, I just pray that you're gonna listen to me today. And I felt bad poor. I'm like, what happened to you? What did they do to you? So she brings me her lab report. I'm like, honey, you're a menopause. We can fix this. Let's do hormones today. And she cried. So I think you need to um find a clinic that will actually do a consult with you. Like we do free 10-minute consults, tell you how it works, see if we vibe together. So if they're not doing that, I would probably find somebody that does. You need to ask that clinic: do you guys strive for optimal hormone levels? Do you um practice what you preach? Are you eating well? Are you exercising? Are you doing all the things that you're telling patients to do?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

So, full disclosure, I went to one a few months ago and I it was great and I learned a lot of more information, but I still walked away with a lot of questions and was wondering if I still if they were still being I didn't feel like they were still being answered. So I think that's a a huge thing to put out there is that number one, you need to feel comfortable, you need to be with somebody that you vibe with.

SPEAKER_03 35:56

Yeah, and if you don't vibe with me, I'll send you to somebody else I like that I've semi-trained.

Leaving Internal Medicine For Freedom

SPEAKER_01 36:02

I love I love that. I I'm not going to lie, I think that that that really excites me. And the number one thing is for women, I know, especially for myself, I've gone so long without being heard that we're I'm I'm hungry for that. I'm hungry to be able to have conversation with somebody that is going to listen to me, that's going to uh give me suggestions. And I like the fact that you've said several times optimal hormones.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

The big thing with me is optimal hormone levels. When that woman comes in or man, when they come in to see me for a hormone consult, they get 60 to 80 minutes with us. We answer all your questions, we go through your labs, we ask you to bring like old paperwork, old lab values, we go through your hormones, how you're sleeping, your stretch, your lifestyle, your spirituality. Like this is true functional medicine, is what you're getting from us.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

I like that. She seems so surprised. I I'm not gonna lie, I I I am, and I just think part of that and why I seem so surprised is what I have gone through the last 20 years since being you know medically re induced to menopause of I just don't feel like people have heard me or are listening to me. And you know, Joe is amazing and he listens and everything, but I still there's still things he just can't understand.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

And you know, you can't understand the the man things he goes through. You know, we're all different, we're made different. So I think if I've got a couple and they're both struggling, it's good to like get them in the same room. I invite the husbands to come into the wife's appointments, if the if the wife wants them there, of course. Like, well, what do you think's going on? What's been going on with her? And they'll say, She's just not herself anymore. I want her to get help, I want her to feel better.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I love that. And I really think that's a major thing. Conversations between husbands and wives.

OB-GYN Education And Gen X Pushback

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Because the husbands can point out things that the wife will be like, Well, I guess I didn't notice that, you know, just real snappy with him or snappy with the kids. Not that that's your fault, that's your hormones that we can fix, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

But a partner can see things about yourself that you're not going to be able to do that. You can't always see. So, okay, one more thing about this, about optimal. It so this is it's very different from the way that and not just hormones, but all labs. Yes the way the the way that you know they're you you the results are treated, so there's a normal range, and it's usually a very wide range. Oh, it's a huge range. And then the so your doctor's like, okay, all all your labs are in the normal range, you're fine. Yes, you're fine.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Well, just like thyroid, uh, we look at thyroid differently. If you know that lab value is suboptimal to me, that woman's in their 40s or that male's in their forties, we'll put him on a dose of uh thyroid medication, more natural thyroid medication, like armor thyroid. And sometimes that's just the key to just pump you up a little bit is tweaking that thyroid hormone. So we look at like your um ferritin levels, that's a big one. Cellular iron stores, if those are low, you'll feel tired. So if that it's not just hormones, we're trying to fix not fix, I shouldn't say that. We're trying to optimize all of you your ferritin level, your thyroid, your hormones, your insulin level, all of that. It all works together.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

It all works together. Your hormones definitely play a major part, but it but I like that you're emphasizing that it's everything. Optimal health is having your hormones and everything working together and and Yes. All of it. All of it. All of it. I like that. We have any other questions that is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners?

SPEAKER_03 40:01

I think if you're struggling, find a provider that's going to listen to you, that takes hormones seriously, and look for a clinic that knows how to read lab values and optimize your hormone levels.

Choosing A Real Wellness Partner

SPEAKER_01 40:14

Thank you, Tia. Thank you for enlightening us and having this important discussion with us and sharing us, sharing with us and our listeners, talking about optimal health, talking about wellness and how our body to truly be in um optimal health, you your whole body needs to work together. And I love that your clinic helps your patients um with their overall wellness and optimizing their hormones and uh iron levels, everything that is needed for you to truly uh have optimal health.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Well, we want people to thrive, so we offer direct primary care with a functional medicine style. Um, the hormones, peptides, we have aesthetics because women and men want to look good too, but it's more geared towards natural things like microneedling, laser, things like that. So we offer everything.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Oh, great. That is good to hear. You have a true wellness clinic that is helping with the inside and the outside to help people feel their best.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

Yes. So if a woman comes in and she like you said, your maybe your skin's dry, Heather, okay. Well, you came in for laser treatment, but have you thought about hormones? You know, it just starts that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

I love that you're asking the questions. I I think that's what we've been missing all these years is our healthcare providers just asking us the questions because sometimes we just don't know. We don't know that our skin, uh having super dry skin and losing our hair could be tied to our hormones. Uh, because especially with hormones, we're just taught that's something that happens to a woman that's in their 50s and 60s and beyond. So if you're coming in 30s, you have a patient coming in in their 30s and they're like, my skin's like really dry.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

And you know let's check to blood value.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

I like that. I I really do uh like that. This conversation excites me, uh, just partly because of my own journey in the last 20 years and just the my journey in the last couple of years of just not feeling my best, but really working towards optimizing my health.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Thank you, Tia, for this has been an enlightening and important discussion to have.

Whole-Person Optimization, Not Boxes

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Listeners, we hope uh today's conversation gives you ideas, encouragement, practical steps for your health journey in uh your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. So join us here each week, my friend. We are sure to get a smile from lessons learned to mishaps, the adventures go on for miles. Here on The Professor and Heather Anne.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Thank you for listening to The Professor and Heather Anne.