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Testosterone Truths: What Every Woman Over 40 Needs to Know · The Diva Details

0:00
Welcome to the Diva Details.
0:03
Welcome to the Diva Details, where bold,
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confident women embrace life unapologetically.
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From love and sex to wellness and reinvention,
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we keep it raw, real, and powerful. No filters,
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no limits, just fearless conversations to help
0:23
you thrive. Let's dive in with Diva Mia.
0:30
Well, hello, this is Diva Mia. Today we're talking about testosterone.
0:34
Yep, testosterone, ladies. A lot of people don't think testosterone is necessary
0:38
for women. They don't want to grow facial hair, they don't want to get too
0:41
bulky, masculine-looking muscles. It's been labeled as the male
0:44
hormone and estrogen became the female hormone, and an entire
0:48
generation of women, we believe that our sex drive disappeared and
0:52
it was okay. It was just part of getting older. Our body composition
0:56
changes. You gain a little bit of weight as you get older. But what's happened
1:00
is we're shifting our mindset. It helps with so many things when you're going through
1:04
menopause and other things. So we're going to cover all that. But there's another
1:07
side of this conversation too. Testosterone has become trendy. So lately,
1:11
if you've talked to friends, you may say, oh, you're on testosterone too. They might
1:15
be on estrogen, they might be on testosterone, they might be on progesterone. We've got
1:19
hormone clinics that are popping up everywhere for men and women
1:23
that promise better sex, more muscles, weight loss,
1:26
unlimited energy, and feeling like you did in your 20s or 30s.
1:30
So you've got 2 sides of the same coin. Testosterone is necessary,
1:33
but it's not your miracle supplement. It's not a miracle injection
1:37
or pill. We need to figure out what's true and what's just marketing,
1:40
and if you're— if you would benefit. You may, you may not.
1:43
If there's risks associated with it, because here's the thing, when you go on any
1:46
type of supplement or any type of hormone, you You really need to do your
1:50
homework. You really need to do some analysis, some pre-work. Then you need to
1:54
talk to your doctor and make sure— get all your questions answered. So we're
1:57
going to help you out with that today. We're also going to talk to
2:01
you a little bit about getting your blood work done, because blood work, ladies,
2:04
whether it's for hormones or just checking in to make sure everything's
2:08
going okay as we age, it should be a regular process. I know people
2:12
that get their blood work done every month. I know people that do it once
2:14
a quarter, then some just do it once a year. But you need to make
2:17
sure you're getting your blood work. Not just your regular complete
2:21
blood count, your CBC, and your test, your cholesterol, but also
2:25
your hormones. Then you have to realize that you need to track your hormones.
2:28
If you're getting on hormones, you're gonna have to track your blood work and determine
2:33
if it gets too high, because sometimes you take too much. Then we're gonna talk
2:36
about the pellets as well, because I was on pellets for a while.
2:39
Wasn't my favorite thing. I will talk to you a little bit about those.
2:42
Those are actually— they're pellets injected into your hip. Get ready for
2:46
a testosterone nuts and bolts conversation. This— I just want to have
2:51
a disclaimer that we are required to say, but this episode is just educational.
2:55
Hormone therapy has to be individualized because you're going to be different
2:59
from your friend. You can't just go pop pills that your friend does. You need
3:03
to talk to a qualified clinician or doctor, especially if you have any
3:06
liver issues, cardiovascular issues, blood clotting, and endocrine system.
3:11
But nonetheless, you need to get your testosterone levels checked so you know where you
3:15
need to get to. Also, you may have different goals. If your goal is just
3:18
to stabilize your menopause, that might be a different level than if you're wanting
3:21
to do bodybuilding or some type of athletics.
3:25
So remember, everything's gonna be different and it's individualized just for
3:29
you. Testosterone is not an androgen hormone. It's typically— men have
3:33
dramatically higher levels than women. We're not gonna be at the same level as men,
3:36
and you don't wanna be, but we do produce natural testosterone
3:40
as well. Realize we already have testosterone. It's not a male hormone. Hormone.
3:43
It's just a hormone. And estrogen men produce as well. It's not
3:47
a female hormone. It's just a hormone. In women,
3:49
testosterone, its primary source is for the ovaries,
3:53
adrenal glands, and it helps with tissue growth. It helps
3:57
with muscle growth. It's not just about sex. I had a friend from
4:01
Hawaii that said she didn't want to get her testosterone
4:05
levels fixed because her testosterone— she's gone through menopause and is next to
4:09
zero. And I said, why not? She's like, because I'm single and I don't want
4:13
my sex drive to increase. I thought it was kind of funny. I go,
4:15
well, it's for other things too. It's for mental function.
4:18
It's for energy, but she didn't want to do it. So she's not doing
4:22
it. So hopefully you're out there listening, but it's, it's there for
4:26
other purposes as well, not just for sexual function. It's in your body. It's not
4:30
like we're adding something that's not there unless you've decreased it so much that now
4:33
you're struggling. That's the question though. Do we give women extra testosterone?
4:37
So let's just— let's separate the biological from the reason. So there is
4:41
a myth out there that testosterone is just a man's hormone, but it's not.
4:45
Men have it at a much higher concentration. That's why they're more of a
4:49
protector, they gain more muscle mass, etc. But women, we need it
4:52
too. The biggest thing we have to determine is exactly what dose.
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It's not supposed to turn us into the same concentration as a man.
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So when you're on testosterone, you're going to be on a much lower
5:03
dose than what a man was on. There is a normal physiological range
5:07
that they have for women, and you want to keep it within that range because
5:10
you will— if you get too high, you may develop extra facial
5:13
hair and could grow more muscle mass than you want. So you gotta be careful
5:17
with it as well. This distinction matters though. You need to make sure
5:21
your dose is correct, and it's gonna be different for everyone. When we
5:25
go through menopause, a lot of people are paying more attention to their hormones because
5:29
you're gonna get hot flashes, you may have— your sexual desire may decrease.
5:33
You may not initiate sex anymore. If you're with a partner and they're like,
5:36
why don't you want to have sex anymore? It's because your testosterone went down.
5:40
You may have less sexual desire. So it does affect sex too, ladies.
5:43
But you may love your partner, but sexually you just don't feel connected
5:48
to them anymore. And a lot of it may be testosterone. It can happen
5:51
to men, it can happen to women. It just really takes away
5:55
that desire feeling, and you may feel like you don't recognize yourself. And sometimes
5:59
we're told, oh, it's just menopause, don't worry about it, you'll get over it.
6:02
Or you're just getting older, or maybe cut back on your stress,
6:05
do some more yoga, meditate. But that's—
6:09
that those things can help as well, but that they can contribute. But if your
6:13
testosterone's off— now here's the thing I'm going to tell you: if
6:16
you have complete desire for a man and even your
6:20
testosterone is low, you're still going to desire the man. But if you have testosterone
6:24
low and you're not so happy with the man and you raise your
6:28
testosterone, you may still not be happy with the man. So it's not a magic
6:31
bullet. So if you're in a marriage or a relationship where the man
6:35
did something and they violated— I think we talked about this before— your respect
6:39
or your trust, or they just don't treat you well, no matter the
6:43
testosterone you add, it's just not— it's not going to help because there's a mental
6:47
block there with you and that man. So just realize it's not a magic
6:50
bullet, but it will help, especially if you do have— you do
6:54
love the person, you do have desire, and you want to increase the desire.
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It's— that's why I say women, unless you, you know,
7:01
are ready to really like the person, don't worry about it making your
7:05
sex hormones too crazy. If you say, well, I don't want to go on testosterone
7:09
like my friend did because I'm not having any sex, then you have to realize
7:12
that you can still go on testosterone to fix all the other issues and
7:15
not worry about the sex. And low sexual desire causes personal
7:19
distress. So who benefits of going on testosterone? So I
7:24
would say one of the biggest benefits is anyone that is menopause
7:27
or premenopause or has estrogen deficiency.
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One of the things is if you get too much testosterone in your bodies,
7:34
ladies, it— your body's going to convert it to estrogen for you.
7:37
If you have vaginal dryness— and now I talk— we talked about this on our
7:41
last podcast— or if sex is painful because you're so vaginally dry,
7:45
the testosterone will help. It also helps people with sleep problems.
7:49
So if you're not sleeping well or if you got a lot of stress or
7:51
anxiety testosterone can help with you regulating
7:55
your stress, your anxiety, and your sleep. And then if you
7:59
have relationship problems, sometimes relationship problems, ladies, are because your desire is
8:02
down. I'm not saying— I'm not justifying any bad behavior on the man's
8:07
part, but sometimes it does create strife and, and it can
8:10
cause aggravation in relationship, especially if you don't ever want to have sex. So the
8:14
man might get upset with you and it could create relationship problems. And then
8:18
sometimes medications will drop your, your testosterone too. So just realize
8:22
that testosterone can be affected by so many things.
8:25
It can even be affected by illness or thyroid, and other things can
8:29
cause sexual dysfunction as well. But if sex hurts— vaginal dryness,
8:33
ladies, I will say the testosterone does help with that, and it
8:36
fixes the pain as well, because if you're not dry, it's easier to have
8:40
sex. Yes, you can use lubrications, and lubrications
8:43
do work, but it's not going to fix everything. The other thing is, if you're
8:47
sleeping less than 5 or 6 hours a night testosterone may also not be the
8:50
problem because you may also have sleep apnea, because a lot of people develop sleep
8:54
apnea as they get older. So if you're snoring or you stop breathing, you need
8:58
to get that checked out as well as your testosterone. If you resent your partner,
9:01
again, the mental component— if you don't like what they've treated,
9:05
how they've treated you, if you don't like that they've done to you, that's not
9:08
going to be fixed by testosterone. If you're not happy with them,
9:11
there's— you're going to have to work that out. Maybe therapy
9:15
or something like that. Otherwise, you're never going to get that fixed because no matter
9:18
how much testosterone, you're just still not going to like that partner. If a medication
9:22
is suppressing your libido, you have to take that in consideration as well.
9:25
There's, there's hormones, and once you get on your hormone,
9:29
you need to like analyze it and determine what is happening.
9:32
How do you feel? Is it making you feel better? Is it making you feel
9:35
worse? So there's 2 components. There's the blood work as well as how you
9:40
feel. And you need to keep track of that because if you get on testosterone
9:43
and you're not feeling anything, you need to let the clinician know. If you get
9:47
on testosterone and you feel like you're climbing the walls and you have way
9:51
too much sexual desire, you need to talk to them as well. The correct dose
9:54
is going to be determined upon you. That's why I said every single person is
9:59
going to be different, and some people don't need a lot of testosterone and will
10:02
still have sexual satisfaction, and some people need a lot more and still will not.
10:06
But your hormones are, are very important, as well as your— how
10:11
you feel about the other person. Testosterone has been advertised lately as,
10:14
oh, you're going to build lots of muscle, you're going to lose lots of fat,
10:17
you're going to get rid of your brain fog, it's going to help your aging,
10:20
your bone density, your energy in general,
10:22
etc. But most women were reporting a
10:26
little bit of improvement in some of those areas, but it's not like, oh,
10:28
these huge improvements. A lot of it's anecdotal. Biology is a
10:32
funny thing because People are different and certain things will affect one person,
10:36
not affect the other. That's why sometimes, you know, some people will have different
10:40
interactions with medications even though 99% of the people are
10:44
fine. Current guidelines though, I will say there's international guidelines that
10:48
testosterone for women is there simply to help improve our
10:51
well-being. It's— there's strong enough evidence that it does. It helps with
10:55
our bone health, it helps with our body composition, and that's important.
10:59
Because testosterone can affect your— all your biological
11:02
issues, but it doesn't mean that you need testosterone therapy
11:06
to produce a meaningful result, like extreme. A light amount may
11:10
have a huge impact. So as far as muscle goes,
11:13
because I think a lot of women, we want to keep our muscles as we
11:16
get older so that our metabolism stays up, our bone mass stays
11:20
up, and we can look clean and young into
11:24
the future. And a normal replacement levels It doesn't
11:28
behave like a bodybuilding steroid, just so you know, ladies. You're not going
11:32
to get these really thick muscles or be ready for a competition anytime
11:36
soon by going on testosterone. It's just giving you adequate levels
11:39
to give— to help you with resistance training. You still got to do the workouts
11:43
and you still got to develop your muscles the way you want to develop them.
11:46
There's not any evidence that it's going to turn
11:50
you into a super bodybuilder, but it may help you with your
11:53
postmenopausal. It may help you keep your lean muscle mass that you
11:57
may not have been able to keep before. And if someone promises it's gonna melt
12:01
all your fat away and pack on the muscle, there's a lot of snake oil
12:04
salespeople out there that try to sell pills and everything
12:07
else that it's gonna be a miracle cure. It's not. But it will help
12:11
you with a little bit of mental focus, with vaginal dryness,
12:15
with some sexual desire, and it'll help you with a little bit of muscle gain.
12:19
As far as the energy goes, it's funny because some women feel
12:24
like it gets rid of brain fog and some women don't.
12:27
It's kind of part of the normal hormonal environment, so if you're deficient in other
12:31
areas, you may need to look into that. You could have an iron deficiency,
12:33
B12, vitamin B— different vitamins can cause deficiencies that
12:37
make you have brain fog, or your thyroid. A lot of women in our 50s,
12:41
we get a thyroid issue. You may need to look into that. And then again,
12:44
I talked about sleep apnea, and sleep is so important.
12:48
I've talked to so many different people that talked about sleep, and sleep
12:52
is the magic to the whole recipe. If you're not sleeping
12:56
at least 7 to 8 hours a night, You're shooting yourself in
12:59
the foot. If you've been trying to lose weight and you're not getting 7 to
13:02
8 hours a night, you're shooting yourself in the foot because it's— you're gonna—
13:05
that's what— when you sleep is when you lose the weight. When you sleep is
13:08
when you recover. When you sleep is when your body gets reset. If you're not
13:12
sleeping, you're gonna have chronic stress, chronic cortisol,
13:15
which will keep the weight on. So remember, sleep, sleep, sleep. If you could fix
13:19
anything in your life and your sleep is off, sleep is the number one thing
13:23
to fix. And then realize that, you know, if you're insulin resistant
13:27
or you have an estrogen deficiency, that as well can affect your
13:31
muscle growth. So before assuming testosterone is the answer,
13:34
you got to investigate the problem. And again, each individual is different,
13:38
and there's ranges. There's a purpose for the range, so you can find out where
13:41
you fall on the spectrum and the range that makes you feel the best.
13:45
But you need to have somebody helping you through this because it is not just
13:49
a 5-minute appointment. Every time you go to a hormone specialist, it should be a
13:53
half hour to 45 minutes discussing just hormones and how
13:56
you feel, other medications you're taking, etc. So I will
14:00
say sexual desire is one of those most complicated things for women.
14:04
For men, not as much. A lot of men's sexual desire will go down when
14:08
their testosterone is not where it needs to be. But for women, we could have
14:12
the correct amount of testosterone and still have no sexual desire because it's not
14:15
just hormones, it's neurotransmitters, it's our our connection
14:19
to the other person. I, I know if I'm not connected, I don't feel sexual
14:23
towards them. I need that emotional connection. You also have to feel physically
14:27
comfortable, and there's also a relationship dynamic. So if you're feeling like
14:32
they're constantly dominating and ordering you around, or they're constantly fighting
14:36
with you and causing you stress and other psychological things, you're gonna
14:40
not have sexual desire. But testosterone can be one part of a system
14:44
to help but not if you're facing all those other issues.
14:47
For postmenopausal women, if you can have a meaningful improvement
14:51
just from the testosterone, sometimes, you know, your relationship
14:55
will improve just because the desire comes back. And that's a
14:59
hope for us because, you know, a lot of women were completely in love and
15:03
desiring, and then they get to 40 or 45 and their desire goes down because
15:06
they're going through menopause and their hormones get messed up.
15:10
So, but here's the thing, you shouldn't be putting a
15:14
testosterone cream on or a shot and expect it to be an overnight
15:18
fix. It usually takes a few weeks, if not a month or so,
15:22
for your testosterone to regulate to the level that you need it to, to actually
15:25
feel the difference. If you're monitoring it, don't, don't go to the doctor
15:29
a week later and say, hey, I need to increase my dose, I didn't feel
15:32
anything. That doesn't solve the problem. It takes time.
15:35
It takes time to build up. I think now that it's FDA approved,
15:39
I mean, there's currently an FDA-approved product, testosterone specifically
15:43
for women. It's— there's creams that you can use, there's injections
15:47
you can use, there's tablets. It's always prescription, ladies. This is not something
15:52
over the counter, just so you know. You should not be using off-label male testosterone
15:57
when there is a female dose, okay? And don't just go grab it
16:00
from anybody that's selling testosterone because you never know what you're going to get.
16:03
You really need to go to someone of reputable person that
16:07
handles female testosterone as well. Generally, a lot of people will
16:11
do transdermal, which means under the skin, but it depends.
16:14
I mean, some— sometimes people even take a pill. I've seen that.
16:18
But if you've got any type of liver issue, you may want to do an
16:21
injection or a cream because the oral
16:25
testosterone can cause problems with your liver. So realize your situation
16:30
is going to be different than everyone else's. Because you're unique. You may have different
16:34
health conditions, and therefore you have to have a different situation as well. The delivery
16:38
system does matter, okay? It's not just, just go grab whatever.
16:42
There are also these things called testosterone pellets, and it's inserted
16:46
under the skin. Now, they should be numbing it. I went to a place one
16:50
time where they didn't numb it very well, and it hurt like crazy. They sound
16:53
super convenient because you only take it every 3 months or so, etc.,
16:56
but there's a downside to it. Once the pellet gets in,
17:00
you can't stop applying like cream or something if you're
17:04
using that, because you could also develop side effects. Okay. And there are side
17:08
effects that come along with the pellet. And some people say that if
17:12
the dose is too high, it takes a long time to come off. And others—
17:16
I have had people say that when you are on the pellet, you ramp up
17:20
faster, but then you come down and it takes a while to get ramped back
17:23
up. So it's more of an irregular response for the people that I've seen
17:27
that have gone on the pellets. And some people say the pellets sometimes turn it
17:30
on way too high, so your sexual desire goes through the roof and then it
17:34
completely dies down again. Either way, you're gonna have to get some tests done because
17:38
testosterone is not prescribed like Botox, ladies. If you're gonna go
17:42
in and get a Botox shot, it's, it's something you have to get a medical
17:46
history. You have to— gonna— they're gonna do your total testosterone. They're gonna
17:49
do different types of testosterone, other tests like your thyroid,
17:53
your estradiol, your blood count. All your lipids, your liver,
17:57
your B12, all that stuff needs to be done before you get on testosterone.
18:00
Not every woman needs every test, but if you've got
18:04
any health concerns that point to anything, you need to have those tests done.
18:07
There is a magic number range on testosterone
18:11
where if you get to in that range, you are actually doing quite
18:15
well. Now I will say that again, even if you're
18:19
doing well, you may have other goals of competing in bodybuilding
18:23
competitions, so you want to get the testosterone higher. But you're not gonna do it
18:26
overnight. You're gonna do it again over time. It might take you a few months
18:30
to ramp up to the level of testosterone that you need. If you need testosterone
18:34
for specific symptoms, you need to make sure you document the response as you're
18:38
on testosterone. For instance, if it's specifically for low libido and fatigue, you need to
18:42
document, oh, my libido has been increasing, I'm feeling stronger,
18:46
or you're not. That's the way. And once you get your baseline, you can go
18:49
from there and adjust. And then once you have, you know that you need a
18:53
certain level, then you need to talk about Can I take it via gel or
18:56
cream or injection or pellet, or is there something else that I need to do?
18:59
Realize testosterone can be given to women in multiple ways, just like it's given
19:03
to men in multiple ways. Then if you know what testosterone range you are
19:07
targeting, that's a good important step as well. For instance, I'm,
19:11
I'm wanting to get more into bodybuilding. I need to go higher on my
19:15
testosterone than maybe I would as a person that's just trying to gain
19:19
a little bit of muscle mass and gain, gain and maintain bone
19:22
mass. For me, I might be trending higher. Now, even at the height,
19:26
I'm still not at the low of where a man is.
19:29
That's the way we are. We're just— we are built different. And then you're gonna
19:33
have to monitor your blood work and check to make sure it doesn't get too
19:36
high. Doctors will be able to tell you if your testosterone is
19:40
too high, and you might— you might get like— you might get skin hair or
19:43
acne, something. If you get too high, things can happen. Remember, if you—
19:48
when you're regulating it, you need to check it as well. And sometimes, a lot
19:52
of times, women will go on pellets and then they don't check their blood work
19:55
or get their blood work tested. And if you don't do that, you don't know
19:58
if the pellets are a good fit or not. Everyone that gets testosterone is different,
20:02
and sometimes they have hormone membership programs where
20:06
you're going in and you're paying a specific amount,
20:10
you get your blood work done, you get on testosterone, then you come back in
20:13
a month or 2 and you get your blood work done and they adjust your
20:17
testosterone. Those are the membership programs. That's something that's new that's coming
20:20
about that a lot more people are getting onto because it's very repetitive
20:25
and people check in a scientific way to see where you fall.
20:29
It's treated more like laboratory numbers instead of specific symptoms, so they're
20:33
running your numbers as well as how you feel. And if you want extremely
20:36
high female testosterone replacement therapy, then You
20:40
know, you have to understand that it may cause some mental issues as well,
20:43
as far as your sexual desire may go up. You may be very
20:48
astute. You may even develop more of an aggressive behavior. So realize that
20:52
may happen when you have too high of testosterone. But it's
20:58
so funny because some places promise that testosterone is going
21:01
to fix everything. It's going to fix your weight, your fatigue, your bad sex,
21:05
your brain fog. And it doesn't. If one hormone fixes
21:09
every problem that you ever had, then your credit card may be the organ
21:12
they're most interested in treating because they're gonna,
21:16
you know, take you for everything. The reality is, is it doesn't.
21:20
If they won't do a baseline of blood work when you go in, you should
21:24
not be getting testosterone from them. That's the first thing they should do. If they
21:27
don't do follow-up blood work at least every couple months, then you should walk away
21:31
because you're gonna want to test and want to know where your testosterone was
21:34
so you can see if there's any side effects, As well as if it's actually
21:38
working. Acne and facial hair are the biggest, but there's other things that can happen.
21:41
You need to make sure wherever you go that you're going to a place that
21:44
is credible and that is testing and checking you out. Just because
21:48
it's a cream doesn't make it more safe.
21:50
Bioidentical, they keep saying, but it's more of a marketing term. Most of these are—
21:55
the compounding products don't undergo the same FDA approval
21:58
as other FDA medications. You have to be careful as well where
22:02
you go to. Just because it's compounded as well, that doesn't mean it's superior,
22:07
okay? And if you develop the following signs, you need to
22:10
be careful when you're on testosterone. If you start to get acne or
22:14
oily skin or more body hair, your scalp starts to
22:18
change, you might even lose hair, you might gain hair, you might lose hair,
22:21
you're— you get moodier. One of the things that they don't talk about
22:25
often is that your clitoris could get larger, your orgasms could
22:29
be larger. So those types of things can happen with increased
22:33
testosterone. Some of these things are potentially irreversible, so be
22:37
very careful with this. The goal is not to see how much testosterone
22:41
you can tolerate, but how much testosterone is the right balance for you, especially with
22:45
your other hormones. The more— it's a better goal to say, what is the lowest
22:48
appropriate dose that I feel works for me to maintain
22:52
my female levels? And it's a process. It's not a, ooh, let me give
22:56
you this. And it may change over time. It may be that you start high
22:59
and you go a little lower, and then maybe next year you go high again
23:02
and you go lower. It might change with the seasons. You just don't know.
23:05
That's why you also have to keep it checked. Let's flip the conversation a
23:09
little bit and talk about men's testosterone too, because our men are important to us
23:12
ladies. So it's important to have their testosterone checked as well, because men do go
23:16
through what's— it's like a manopause, if you will,
23:19
where they go through life changes. They may have issues with
23:23
erectile dysfunction. They may be tired. And a lot
23:27
of things— they get brain fog too. Testosterone is important to be checked for men,
23:30
not just women. We don't know where— what they— there's going on
23:34
in their body. Could also be either they've gotten— gained some weight or they
23:38
have another medical condition or even medicine can bring it down for them too.
23:41
If they have a genuine problem, testosterone replacement
23:45
therapy is huge. I know a lot of men that are on testosterone,
23:48
a lot of men, especially after they get over about 40 because their
23:52
testosterone drops like crazy and they will have significant
23:55
changes. Libido will go down, their sexual characteristics will go
23:59
down, their bone health decreases just like it does in, in women, and some
24:04
of them get anemic. So you have to realize that they need to get their
24:06
testosterone checked as well. So if they're having issues
24:10
sexually, ladies, or if they're getting brain fog or tired
24:14
all the time, you may want to take them with you to get the testosterone.
24:16
Now there are places that are designed just for men with the
24:20
testosterone, but at the same time, women can go to
24:24
the same places. Because a lot of times they have a women's section or they
24:27
will treat women. You can go with your partner to the same location,
24:31
just see if they have a— if they treat women as well. You know,
24:34
fertility matters too. If you're still trying to get pregnant, if you're
24:37
in those age ranges and their testosterone is low, it could,
24:41
it could be difficult to father a child if, if their testosterone
24:45
is too low. So make sure they talk to the fertility doctor or your
24:48
OB-GYN when you're trying to get pregnant. Say, hey, I think my husband's testosterone
24:53
needs to get checked, you guys need to work that out and have them seeing
24:56
a doctor as well. If you're considering— if you're a man and you're
25:00
considering getting on testosterone, you're gonna have to say— you're
25:04
gonna have to determine how low your testosterone first. So you're gonna do blood work
25:06
as well. They'll probably check your estrogen, etc., because again,
25:10
if you get too much testosterone, it just gets converted into estrogen.
25:13
Then determine why you need the testosterone. Just like women,
25:16
we decided While we're trying to decrease our brain fog or increase
25:21
our muscle mass or make sure we don't lose bone density. All of those things
25:24
are great for women, whereas men, it's the same type of thing, but they will
25:28
have a much higher target. They're going to test and then they'll
25:32
inject and then they'll figure out where they're at. If they're
25:35
really low, they might start them on a much higher dose than you, and that's
25:38
okay. It, it depends on the person and everything is individual for men as
25:42
well, but they have a much higher range that they, they're supposed to
25:46
be in. For women and men, I mean, where should you go? For a woman,
25:49
go to your gynecologist, go to a menopause specialist
25:53
or an endocrinologist, because sexual health is so important.
25:56
And we forget about sexual health sometimes when we're at the gym, but sexual
26:00
health is extremely important. And men, there's clinics for men
26:04
and women that you can go to if you're looking for some type of membership
26:08
or to save a little bit of money. The clinic— the clinics may be the
26:11
way to go because a lot of times testosterone is not covered by insurance,
26:14
which is sad. They— it's more of an alternative medicine, but sometimes
26:18
insurance covers it. So do go ahead and check first before you
26:22
go spending a lot of money somewhere else. Also, how do you— how comfortable are
26:25
you with the provider? If you go in and it's completely disorganized, they don't
26:28
remember your name, they can't find your file, realize that might not be
26:33
the best fit for you. You need to interview them. Yeah, you got to interview
26:36
the doctor just like, you know, when you go in and see anybody. You get
26:39
to hire them because they're going to help manage your body. This is an important
26:41
part. With— if you don't have the right testosterone, if you don't have the right
26:44
levels of hormones, it can completely be a traction for your body.
26:48
If you've got low testosterone and your blood test proves it, make sure
26:52
you figure out a plan with your provider because you need to get that
26:56
fixed. I mean, it's a lifelong journey, and I think we need to balance
27:01
things out, but we need to make sure that we take care of ourselves in
27:05
a way that we can have longevity, and it helps with
27:08
our— if you're trying to get pregnant, etc. But here's what I wanted to say.
27:12
If you get the right amount and the appropriate dose, it can have extreme
27:16
beneficial effects. But realize, women, we do need testosterone.
27:20
Every woman over 40 needs testosterone. Honestly, the evidence shows
27:24
that we drop so much in our testosterone that if we're over
27:28
40, you really need to get it taken— take it seriously. But remember,
27:31
you need to determine what symptoms you really need to check because symptoms are
27:35
different for everyone. It may help with hot flashes. It may help with
27:39
some of the menopause symptoms that are driving you crazy. Because it's midlife,
27:42
it's— you're at a point where you should stop worrying about
27:46
what everybody else is and start asking questions that fit your body and
27:50
fit who you are the best. I hope that as you get older, it doesn't
27:53
mean that you're accepting every change without an explanation either. I think
27:56
we are problem solvers by nature, and we need to figure out what's the problem
28:01
so we can fix things and find solutions. But treating every change
28:04
with a hormone is also not the answer. Realize that Knowing good medicine
28:08
and how to read your body, it's a journey. As you get older,
28:12
it's gonna be more of a masterpiece
28:15
because you have to get all the different parts and put it together in order
28:20
to grow and feel better. I hope this helped a little bit as far as
28:22
testosterone. I want everyone to understand that you probably,
28:25
if you're over 40, need to really take it seriously and not
28:29
just avoid it because of the sexual components, because you have to get much higher
28:33
if your desire is low anyway. But do take it seriously and get on
28:37
testosterone if you're over 40. Get the correct dosage and
28:40
realize that it will help you in the long run and it may give
28:44
you a better quality of life. This is Diva Mia signing off.
28:47
Stay strong, stay humble, and love your life.
28:50
Take care. Have a great week. Thanks for
28:54
tuning in. Like, subscribe, and drop a comment.
28:58
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