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Life After Hysterectomy and Ovarian Cysts: Uncovering the Signs of Severe Hormone Loss in Women · Hormone Heroes with Dr. Kelly Hopkins

• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Hormone Heroes, where I share testimonials from real people who have experienced bioidentical hormone therapy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Men and women share the symptoms they have experienced and the difference proper hormone replacement has made.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, dr Kelly Hopkins, and I have been in the functional medicine space for over 30 years, with a focus on hormones for 20 years.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Please keep in mind this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Please consult with your physician or practitioner for medical advice.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Let's get started with today's guest.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Hi everybody, welcome to the podcast.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Today I have Lori from MENA, arkansas, on with me and she is a 58-year-old female tax professional.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Hi, lori, hello.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: What else would you like for us to know about you?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Well, I have a husband that we just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on Saturday Congratulations and have two wonderful children and six grandchildren and a great grandchild on the way.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Well, congratulations.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: And I also know that you are a talented seamstress because I've seen some of the bags that you make.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I dabble.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I've made Halloween costumes and bags and quilts and clothes and just whatever happens to come my way.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah you're very creative, so let me just start by asking you when did you start to notice symptoms of hormone deficiency?
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Well, I honestly don't know because I didn't realize that's what it was at all.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean I didn't feel well how I ended up coming to you.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, I had had a headache that had lasted for over a year.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Oh goodness, that I could not get rid of.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: You know, it would diminish some, but it would also increase.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, it was unbearable.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: And I just got to look and I had talked to my doctor.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: We tried all different kinds of things.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Nothing seemed to be working, and I also have fibromyalgia, so we were chalking a lot of my pain and things up to that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yes and when were you diagnosed with fibromyalgia?
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: In 2001.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you've lived with that quite a while.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you've lived with that quite a while.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: So I had zero energy.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I had zero Well I can't say ability, but I didn't have the drive to want to do much of anything.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You know, I get from work and I was done for the day.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just I couldn't function If I had a day off.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: It was all I could get my laundry done so I could keep going and, like I said, I have six grandchildren, so I needed, I needed to be up and doing and I would push myself and I would go and I would do and we would have fun, and then I would collapse because there was no more gas in the tank you know, and so our life had started becoming pretty boring because of that.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: But then I came to visit you out of a search on the Internet, of all things.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Wonderful, and you do drive quite a ways to come see us.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: We appreciate that.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: It takes me a little while to get there, but it's worth it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, and we've so enjoyed having you in our practice.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Can you tell us have you had a hysterectomy?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I had a partial hysterectomy in 2005 where they did leave my ovaries Okay.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: So the doctor didn't think that I would have much of an issue with my hormones, and in 2018 or 19, I started having a lot of pain, a lot more than normal for the fibromyalgia, and I kept having UTIs that I we'd get rid of it, and within just a week or two it was right back and you know so it was pretty constant.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And in 2020, I ended up in the emergency room and I also ended up having surgery not too long after that, because they discovered that my ovaries, which they had left from my partial hysterectomy, had decided to enlarge, and so I had one that they said was about the size of a volleyball.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Oh goodness.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: And one that was the size of a softball and so they removed and that had rocked on for a little while.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: After the surgery, everything was great.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I did great during the surgery, wasn't even in the hospital as long as they thought I should have been or thought I would be, yes, and but I still had this aggravating headache getting worse.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, of course, that's when I dove into looking at the hormones, because I thought this could very well be an issue.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: At this point I had nothing left sure I do want to circle back for a second.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you said you were diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2004?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: 2001.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: 2001.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: And then you had the partial hysterectomy in 2005?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, and why did you have to have that partial hysterectomy?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Because I was having serious, serious issues with my periods.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I was flooding majorly and I wouldn't stop.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I would have one that would last like two or three weeks and then go three or four days and not have any bleeding and then it would all start again and I passed a lot of blood clots and I had a lot of female issues going on and of course, obviously that's not comfortable.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Right, and what age were you then?
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Let's see, I was in my 40s.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: In your 40s, okay, so I just want to mention that a lot of times fibromyalgia is an umbrella diagnosis, right, and there may have been some correlation between your waning hormones and that fibromyalgia diagnosis Just the correlation there I do want to mention.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So a partial hysterectomy you are having very, very heavy periods.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: So a partial hysterectomy you are having very, very heavy periods and there is a lot of studies that show once a hysterectomy has taken place, the ovaries, even if they're left, they tend to peter out after a few years as well.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: So you've probably been living without hormones for quite a while.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: So did you ever have hot flashes or night sweats or anything like that?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, I started having hot flashes when I was about 12.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, you know, everybody starts talking about having hot flashes as they get older and I just kind of laugh.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: You know, because I lived with them, yeah, practically all life.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: You know, yes, lived with them, yeah, practically alive you know, yes.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: So it's wonderful now not having them.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: It is amazing.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: And but now the night sweats.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I had night sweats, as I well, after I had my partial hysterectomy.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: They got a little worse.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, and did they tell you the size of your ovaries had increased to the size of grapefruits and softballs due to ovarian cysts?
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I had had ovarian cysts.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: We knew that, but actually they never really told me.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, they never really told me had had ovarian cysts, though, and that's what kind of confused me when they did my partial hysterectomy that they left the ovaries.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: That was causing a lot of my pain.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: It didn't make a lot of sense to me but I'm not the doctor.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Lot of sense to me but I'm not the doctor, so I'm sure getting those big cystic ovaries out probably made your abdomen feel much better.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Most definitely, I felt better the very next day yes, the very next day I mean because, with them, when you look at having the size of a volleyball and a softball in your belly all at once, it's like you're pregnant with twins.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, lori, did you ever take birth control?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I did what form.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: They started me on birth control pills 17, 16, 17, somewhere around in there to try to help to regulate my periods because they were never regular.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I was never one to go every 28 days or anything like that.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Mine were always kind of helter skelter.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Okay I might have one, you know that was 28 days from the last one, but it might last eight days, or it might last three days, or it might last six, or you know, they were always heavy but not as bad as they had gotten.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: You know, before I had my partial.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Did you have any trouble getting pregnant once you got off the birth control?
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, it took about two years.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, and did you have to do anything special to get pregnant, or were you just patient and waited it?
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: out.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I was just patient and waited it out.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: We decided we'd just let nature take its course.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and then they had put me back Three years later, which I was on birth control, I got pregnant with my second child.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Wonderful, wonderful.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Now, that's proof that the pill doesn't always work.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Right Right, sometimes nature does win.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: So I do want to mention that a lot of ovarian cysts will form over time due to a lack of progesterone.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: And when females get you know, when we're young and we're healthy and we have lots of estrogen and we'll ovulate, and it's that active ovulation that causes a big surge of progesterone.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: And progesterone cleans up bad cells and tissue.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: It causes appropriate cell death called apoptosis, and so the fact that you had such, you know, large ovarian cysts and things tells me that you were not ovulating very often anymore and that can allow those cells and tissues to grow.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: And so and it happens to a lot of females actually.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: So let's move on to what type of hormone therapy did you try when you came to see us?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: The pellets.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: That's where we started.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: That's where I started.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I had never tried anything else.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And so I called your office and talked to Miss Kelly.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And it was kind of funny because I called that morning and she asked me what I was needing and I said I needed to see about the hormone replacement therapy and she asked me what kind of problems I was having.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: And I told her and she said I know we can help you and I said well, I need to make an appointment.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: She said can you be here at three o'clock this afternoon?
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh, well, wonderful.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: There I was.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: We do like hormone pellet therapy because it is bioidentical, meaning it matches what your body produces exactly and it gets directly into your bloodstream.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: You're not fighting digestion or your liver, all those things, so we get you turned around pretty quickly.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: It was absolutely amazing because the next day, this headache that I had had for over a year I did not have.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: That is a great testimony.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: The lack of estrogen and sometimes the lack of testosterone in females will just give you a chronic headache.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: That's why a lot of females will have those migraine-type headaches right before their periods.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: It's when all the female hormones drop so you can menstruate.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: So I had fought with headaches when I was a teenager and they had even hospitalized me for them.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: But you know, it was never.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: The correlation was never made.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And it should have been then.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, so what other benefits have you noticed?
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: I have a lot more energy, I can go and do and, like I said, I've got six grandbabies and I can get out and play with them and we go to the lake and go swimming and camping and just have all kinds of fun and go to the zoo and go to the museum, just have all kinds of fun and go to the zoo and go to the museum.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And these are things that I really wasn't able to do and enjoy before.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: You made yourself do them.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: But yeah, go and do, but it was hard.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: It's not so hard anymore.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's fantastic.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's not so hard anymore.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's fantastic.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: How about your fibromyalgia symptoms, the pain and discomfort?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: It has been a tremendous, tremendous help with that.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I did not realize how much pain I was blocking until I didn't have any pain to block and so I had just quit and it was about time for me to have my hormones.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You know, my pellets redone and I started hurting and, yeah, it was quite amazing.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: So the first time you got pellets.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: How long did it take for you to feel better?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Well, like I said, the very next day the headache was gone, so to me that was such a relief.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Right there I was ready to tackle the world.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, and then, how often do you feel like you need to get pellets?
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: About every three or four months.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: You know I've noticed there's times when I can go longer, you know, than I did the previous time.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: You know I don't know why, but it happens.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: My husband thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: You know that I.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: You know because, like he said, he said I have my wife back.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: He said, actually I'm not real sure who you are because I don't remember you ever having this much energy.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, lori, that's fantastic, that's beautiful.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: So we do a lot more than what we had done in the past.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: We have bikes now.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: We go and ride bikes, we walk, we hike.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: Love.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: That.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So, in the sense of fairness here, have you noticed any side effects that you have to deal with?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: No, because every now and then somebody will say I've got more chin hair.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Well, no, I've always had the chin hair and the mustache, and yeah, it might be a little more bothersome now than it was, but you know, I don't consider that a problem, I can deal with it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Right, the advantages are worth it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's mine the benefits far, far outweigh that Perfect.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: It does hair growth in places that I didn't normally have.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh but it's nothing that can't be dealt with right, the advantages way outweigh the the problems.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so just sort of summarize how has hormone therapy changed your life?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: in every way you could possibly imagine it really has, because I guess I was probably, you know, undiagnosed, but I'm sure I was dealing with a lot of depression because I hurt all the time, I didn't feel good, I had no energy.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: That is not an issue at all now.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Were you on medication for any of that?
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: They had put me on a lot of medication several years back when I was first diagnosed with the fibromyalgia, because at that time, about the only thing that was really helping anybody's pain with it was antidepressants and things like that.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Well, they didn't work for me, okay and so, yeah, I took them for a little while and then I quit, because I was taking a whole handful of pills that were prescribed to me and everything, and all I could tell is that it was damaging the rest of my body.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, I've been diagnosed with borderline cirrhosis.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: The living daylights out of me, and so I slowly took myself off of all the medication and I just started doing as much research.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Research.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: I had books and articles and podcasts and different things that I was going to and listening to other people and I started taking different vitamins and herbal supplements and things like that.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: That helped me just as much, if not better, than the prescription drugs were, and it was helping the cirrhosis end of it.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I am no longer there.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I have reversed that, and I just I wanted, when I was looking into this, to the pellets and everything, to the bioidentical.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: I thought that that only makes sense for me because it was more of a natural approach.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: And you had done your due diligence.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: You had done a lot of research and reading, so you knew what you were looking for.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I had.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I had gone down a giant rabbit hole, so to speak, but I was bound and determined I was going to find something that would help me, because the doctors weren't finding anything that was helping at all.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: You took your health into your own hands, which a lot of us need to do more of.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: You've also lost weight, haven't you?
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: How much have you?
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: lost 90 pounds.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, that's fantastic.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Feels wonderful.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: I bet your husband does wonder who you are.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Every now and then he comes in and he'll ask me who are you?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: and what did you do with my wife?
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I'm sure he's loving that.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: So just to recap, lori, will you hormonally, will you kind of just tell the audience what you take and what is in your pellets?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know the amount or anything, because I leave that up to y'all.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: You know that you get testosterone and you get estrogen.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, and estrogen and it is.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: You know, like I said, I don't know the amounts on that, because y'all have done such a wonderful job of taking care of me and getting me where I needed to be that I have put that in your hands and I don't worry.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, we thank you for that, because I know you have my best interests at heart.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, we've dosed thousands of patients and, you know, stay on top of studies that are, you know, most ideal dosing and things like that.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: So, do you take anything orally?
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: No, do you take progesterone.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I take the progesterone two weeks out of the month.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I take progesterone, so you have to remind me I do and you know as far as whether I could tell a difference taking progesterone or not, no, yeah, it's not real noticeable.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Right, right, Physically, no, I can't tell whether I've taken it or not.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I have to set myself reminders on my phone or put a sticky note by where I keep all my vitamins and stuff.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: You know what day I'm supposed to start taking my progesterone, yeah.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Or I won't forget.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Well, we give you progesterone because it's the third female hormone and it's very calming.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: It helps you sleep if you take it at night.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Take it during the day about two o'clock in the afternoon, you find yourself your head hitting your desk.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: You're too relaxed, huh?
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: You know it's the standard of care to not give progesterone to a female that doesn't have a uterus.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: But progesterone is very protective of the breast tissue so it can clean up any bad cancer cells.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: It can lower fibrocystic disease in breast tissue, so it is very protective.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: So that's why we give it to all of our patients and we have you taking it two weeks on, two weeks off, because it helps keep all the receptors excited for thyroid.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I do, okay, I do.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I take Take Armour.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Thyroid Armour, thyroid.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: You can tell I'm sitting outside.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: It's a nice breeze and, yeah, my brain is not on medication today.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: I totally understand, totally.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: So, lori, as a hormone hero, what would you like our audience to know?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: It is a real thing.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: I know that, like my grandmother never took hormone therapy and she had had a hysterectomy, I know in my heart that if she had done something like this, she would have been amazing, because she was amazing on her own and she had more than I did.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: So I can only imagine how she would have been had she been receiving what her body really needed.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And I have sent a lot of my clients from my office and my friends.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I have sent them to you or told them you know, find somebody that does this and talk to them because this may be something that helps you, because they have noticed such a change in me.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: They want to know what's going on.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's fantastic.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: The testimony means everything.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: And, as my husband says, I can talk to a stump.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I don't mind telling my story.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, somebody that will listen, because if they have any of the problems even remotely close to what I've had over the years, I want them to get the help quicker than what I did, you know.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: So if I'm having any issues, even if they don't think that it is hormonal, have it checked out, because it is amazing to me what all your hormones do affect in your body.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: That is so true, and thank you so much for that, lori.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: What we're trying to do with this podcast is help others find practitioners that do this kind of work, no matter where you're located, so we love that you come to us, but we also want to help people all over the world actually find this type of therapy so well.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: In closing, lori, I just want to thank you so much for your time today and sharing your story with us, and we'll be seeing you soon.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, and thank you for all that you've done for me Absolutely.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Hormone Heroes.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Take a moment to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don't miss the next episode.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: While you are there, help us spread the word by leaving a rating and a review.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: If you need help finding a practitioner in your area, just email us at drkelly at hormoneheroesorg.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: That's d-r-k-e-l-l-y at h-o-r-m-o-n-e-h-e-r-o-e-sorg.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you.