Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Ready to lose 40 plus pounds without giving up happy hours, weekend brunches, or date nights. Then it's time to uncover the hidden link between binge eating and toxic relationships. And finally, break free from both. Welcome to the Hungry for Love podcast with Jillian Scott. Y' all ready? Let's go.
[00:00:24] Hey. Hey. Welcome back. And welcome to what will likely be the first of many podcasts around hormones. And today's concept is very simple and very straightforward. Normal does not equal optimal. And this is one of the things that I have seen so much with myself and with so many other women that I know. We get tested, we have different lab work done, and everything comes back in the, quote, normal range. And the problem is that range is too large. It's too freaking big. We need to stop using such large ranges to assess whether there's dysfunction. If you're listening, if you have not started yet, working with a naturopathic doctor or somebody who can look at you, your symptom profile and start treating based on that and not necessarily just looking for labs, lab markers don't also mean that you feel good. Certain lab numbers might be quote, right or even in the optimal range, but if you still feel terrible, we're not solving anything. In my view, though, the first piece is better. Identifying and seeing what is the optimal range based on naturopathic or functional medicine doctors. What is the optimal range here and now? Where do you fall? Where do your numbers fall within that? I used a company where I was able to see the standard range versus the optimal. And it was really interesting because in the standard range, I came back normal. So that would have told me nothing's wrong, everything's where it should be. And it would have given me no clues as to what do I need to address. And when I looked at what's optimal, it came back with a fair amount of red. Not everything, but a lot. This is really important because this gives us more information. For example, I have some antibodies. I don't have 1.0 just yet, but my thyroid globulin antibody, that one is 0.98. So we are getting pretty damn close, if not already cross over that threshold. And the GLP potentially could have been decreasing that because I had been on it for two months at the time that I did this test. But I know, like, I need to bring these antibody numbers down. I need to bring these inflammation markers down. My T4 was good. My TSH was really good when it comes to thyroid, but my T3 and my reverse T3 were both off. T3 was low. Reverse T3 was high. And so this gives me a starting point. Now, if I just looked at the standard numbers, it wouldn't have told me anything. But now with this optimal range and knowing, oh, I'm at 2.34 for my T3 and it actually needs to be 3.5 to 4.4, I need to get that up at least a whole 1.2 points.
[00:02:51] Now I know my body is doing some converting. My pituitary is talking to my thyroid and my body is converting a little bit of T3, but it's converting a little too much into the reverse T3, which is like the stored form. And I need to activate it and work on that conversion and improving that conversion of T4 to T3. So now I know, okay, there are a couple different supplements that actively target T3 conversion. I'm going to take one of those and now I've got a path forward and I can retest in three to six months to see what's going on, what's happening. I want to give enough time for things to start to work, but also time to catch it if it's not. I think that five to six month mark I'll be able to see are things actually working, yes or no? Do I need to pivot? Do I need to change anything? And I may need a T3 medication that may be necessary. But now that I'm looking at the optimal range for my thyroid, now I have an idea of, okay, here's what I want to address.
[00:03:50] Now, within my talk with Chatty G, she told me that I also want to be looking at vitamin D levels, ferritin. There was something else I also needed to have tested that is going to help again with seeing the fuller picture. So I have slight thyroid dysfunction. But now I have a game plan. Now I know here's what I want to get to with the other vitamins and minerals, with the other things that I was looking at. I actually asked Chadiji and she gave me ranges of here's what a standard functional practice practitioner would tell you. And she actually broke it down. It was like, here's a standard range. Here's what most doctors would say. Here's where a functional medicine doctor would say, finding better data is so much easier these days than it used to be. Now, part of the issue is we need to be able to do something about it. But one of my core beliefs is a well defined problem is a problem half solved. So if we can better understand what the problem is and you go into it knowing this is what I'm seeing now there's an easier time finding somebody who can treat you. So if it does come down to needing T3 medication, I have a couple of different options. There's a company called Vital Health and it's a company across the US and they match you with naturopathic and functional medicine doctors in your state.
[00:05:03] So that is really cool. That's something that if you have any concerns and you want to take advantage of, you could look into. They have a flat rate. You meet with your doctor once a quarter.
[00:05:13] They run the blood work and everything. I believe, at least at the time of this recording, it's $300 a month. So it's very inexpensive because that also covers your labs, which is actually really huge.
[00:05:25] Now, I also had other sex hormones tested and this is where just about everything came back low. My sex hormone binding globulin or shbg, that came back high, like out of the normal range, but too high. And really the only thing in range was free androgens. So my testosterone, both total and free, came back low. My progesterone came back low. And estradiol. Now, progesterone and estradiol I knew were going to be low. Just because I tested early in my cycle, I knew it was going to be low. I retested this a couple days ago before I left. That was great. I will have some better data there, but right now those are showing low. And my guess is that even with this updated test, my guess is that I'm still probably going to be a little low there. Anytime that there is low thyroid or an underactive thyroid, low progesterone typically goes along with it. And for ladies, by the time you hit 40, progesterone just starts to wane. And then depending on where you are in the perimenopause menopause transition, estradiol is at some point really just going to fall off a cliff. It is not just a slow decrease, it is like a complete stop.
[00:06:29] That's something I want to keep an eye on. One of the other concepts that I had was like, are you feeling good? What are the numbers? If you feel like things are working and you don't have symptoms or you're feeling really good, to even know what is the level that I want to get to down the road, like 5, 10, 20 years from now, where do I ideally need to be? This may fluctuate a little bit, but at least now you have a little more data to work with. You have a bit of a starting point. So again, all of These labs are off, nearly all of them, like, nearly everything was red. But looking just at the standard levels, they would have been like, you're fine, everything's in the normal range. And I would have been sent on my merry way with all of the symptoms that I'm carrying, which is not a huge amount. I'm not carrying a vast amount of symptoms, but enough and enough that have you stopped to wonder. But I have a bit of a plan. I can get progesterone cream and you can buy this over the counter at any drugstore, you can get it on Amazon. But I have a very low dose. I'm going to start adding a little bit of that. I've also started adding dhea, that's going to help with my testosterone levels, so free and total, because they're not even half of what they should be. So that needs a little help and a little support. So DHEA in women converts to testosterone, and they've seen that happen in men, specifically when doing HIIT workouts. There are certain studies where they've done this, where the DHEA seems to have helped with men producing more testosterone, but not always. Some studies did not show that. So we see that in women. And you may need testosterone replacement therapy at some point. But to start again for the next, like, five months, I can start with a DHEA supplement low and start to add just a little bit. And then when I test, I can see, okay, is this helping? Is this getting me where I need to go? I'm using a very small amount and so is this enough? Do I actually need to increase it a little bit? But I'm giving my body enough time to adjust and to potentially see improvements. So now I'm working on the progesterone, addressing the low testosterone. Now, from that, sometimes excess testosterone gets converted into estrogen, and so that might also help with my low estrogen. Now there's going to come a point where I'm going to need bioidentical hormone replacement, like I guarantee it. But for now, here's what I can do, here's what's in my power, and here's what I actually have access to. And there could be some very simple supplements that help your body to better function. That's what we're going for here. How can we get our bodies to function better? Because when your bodies are functioning better hormonally, you're going to feel better and then the GLPs are going to feel better and you're going to sleep better and you're going to have A better mood and all of these other dominoes come into place. We can't just look at normal ranges.
[00:09:06] So if you aren't sure what those are, your next best step, you've got a couple options. Number one, you can look this up on your own. Number two, you can go find a functional doctor, but do not go to your primary care. Do not go to a general care or OB or any type of standard doctor. They are going to look at standard ranges only. So don't do that. You're not going to get anywhere. I don't mean to devalue the work that they do or the value that they bring, because I'm sure they bring some. But with hormones, we need to be very clear in what is an optimal range. Be prepared, go in knowing what these ranges look like. If you have data already, or once you get them, or come talk to me, schedule a consultation and let's go over it. But this is one of the things that I help clients with, is really putting all of these pieces together. We need the lifestyle habits and the lifestyle changes. We need the hormonal intervention in some capacity, and it may not necessarily be hormones, but you may need something that is going to help in getting the hormones to function better. But we need enough pieces of the puzzle. So this is where like the vitamin D or even ferritin and iron levels come into place.
[00:10:10] Potentially need some GLP1 and microdosing and finding the optimal dose for your body and what feels ideal. This is where we're looking for the minimum effective dose. And if you've been through trauma, I highly recommend, at the bare, bare minimum, microdosing GLP1s to reduce and mitigate your stress response and inflammation. Because we really want to be proactive in preventing anything from turning on those autoimmune genes. Because once that gene is turned on, we can't turn it off. I'm very curious to see where my inflammation numbers are in five months, because if they are significantly lower, I have to assume that my TG antibodies were likely over 1.0 for me, means that has likely been turned on. I need to be very proactive the rest of my life to ensure that I keep my inflammation down as best as I can. But if we can prevent it from turning on, if we can prevent it from really activating in the body, that is essential.
[00:11:08] But we still need the emotional piece. We still need emotional healing. We need to address any emotional eating or binge eating habits. We need to work through our own childhood trauma or relationships with adult kids or Relationships with your spouse, your partner, maybe your ex. There are so many other pieces when it comes to abuse and healing that we need help with. And this is the comprehensive healing package. Though, like, this is the journey when it comes to healing, we want to be able to address all of these different pieces. Mind, body, emotions. This brings it all together. And so I love this new approach and philosophy that I've brought in. And I will also tell you, if something's out of my wheelhouse or here's what I would suggest, and there may still be a piece that needs to be addressed by somebody else. I cannot prescribe HRT for you, but I can do a lot in terms of helping you to bring all of these pieces together and create an opportunity where you can thrive mentally, physically, emotionally. That's what we really want, right? You have worked so hard to break free of those toxic relationships and toxic dynamics. And so often it's letting go of the toxic thoughts and voices in our own head. And it takes time, it takes repetition, it takes practice. That's how we find our true healing, our true growth.
[00:12:22] This is what I do with clients, and I'm happy to help you, too. If you would like to schedule a free consultation, you can visit bodyyoucrave.com forward slash, schedule. But take action, take initiative. For me, I think I put this off for a while. I have tried multiple times trying to find the right doctor and trying to find somebody who could help me and not getting anywhere. It started in probably 2016, is the first time I really started this. It's been 10 years of trying to find various doctors and not finding anyone. It feels frustrating. I know that there's an issue. I know there's dysfunction, but I don't know how to solve it or how to find somebody. And that task just felt daunting. But this is my encouragement. It is easier to get the help and to get the support that you need. I can give you a lot of clarity, a lot of information, bringing all of these pieces together.
[00:13:08] So that is it. This is my reminder that normal does not equal optimal. It's time that we start looking in the optimal range. And if you have recent blood work that you would like to explore, what are the optimal ranges for this?
[00:13:21] I would love to chat. We can absolutely go over any recent lab work and see where does it fall in terms of standard versus optimal. And if you were talking with just a standard doctor, I will show you where there are gaps, where there are holes and pieces missing. All right, that's it, y'. All. So this was my second full day in Tbilisi. I think tomorrow I'm going to record a podcast just about this whole experience being back here. It is wild.
[00:13:47] I grew up here for a couple years when I was in high school and I will share more of those details and more of the transformation of this city and just how cool it is. But I'll share more of that next time. All right y', all, here's to creating the life and body you crave.
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