Hormones: The Plot Thickens

In this episode we welcome Suzie Andrews as she shares a different hormone journey and why honoring what feels right for your body matters. A powerful reminder to advocate for yourself and expect better.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hot Flash and Sassy, a podcast with hot takes, hotter flashes, and a whole lot of sass. Welcome back to Hot Flash and Sassy, the podcast where we talk honestly and sometimes hilariously about the real life experiences of perimenopause and menopause. I'm Holly.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

And I'm Renee. Today we're talking with someone who's here to share her personal journey with hormone therapy, what led her to explore it, what the process looked like, and how it affected their life since starting it all over in menopause. Yes. And beyond.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

If you've ever wondered whether hormone therapy might be an option for you, you're just, or you're just curious about the experience and what this can be like with conversations for you. So welcome to the show. Susie Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yay! Yay!

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Can we do a round of applause, sure? In our editing?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Oh my god. We'll get there. We're totally gonna get there. I'm not that skilled. Susie, thank you for being here. We are big fans of yours, as you well know. And we're personal friends. We're we've worked together. You've coached both of us. So I feel like we kind of know you inside and out, but I think we're gonna learn a whole lot more about you today. So welcome to the show. And would you like to start by telling us where your journey began?

SPEAKER_05 1:27

Thanks a lot for having me, ladies. Um, I just love being here with you too.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Ah, we love having you.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

It's just wonderful. We're gonna move you into the office next to us.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yes. Oh, I would love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

But we have to have a peephole that goes in between all three.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:43

So my journey, um, a little bit different probably from others, um, had some female organ issues for years and years, several surgeries, ovarian cysts, etc. Ended up with a hysterectomy at the age of 40, and was put on a synthetic estrogen patch at that point. Um, well, the only option that I knew of uh wasn't nothing else was even discussed. So, and they actually did it on the operating table, so they were very clear that they wanted to do it immediately when the surgery was, you know, over in order to avoid me getting thrown somehow into menopause.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

I'm not sure if you've listened to past episodes, but Holly has very strong feelings about that.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

And I knew they you go right into menopause. Like this. Yes. And I did because we don't need to get into it now because my husband's gonna get upset if I bring it up again. But the patch did not get put on me. Now I only had a patch for about a week because I wanted it off, but um, I don't know if it was synthetic or not. I don't do they make biodental patterns now? I don't know. I don't know either.

SPEAKER_05 2:54

I think they still use the synthetic. I think it's like you have to advocate for yourself in terms of um what that means and what the other options are. Uh, they're not necessarily telling you that there's bioidenticals, at least that's what I've heard from people that have gone through it recently. Um, but I went on the patch and so it saved me from the whole hot flash thing. I didn't have any massive symptoms, however, I gained a lot of weight um fairly quickly. My breast got huge, which having been a small breasted woman my whole life was a little awkward and uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Nobody tells you anything about that.

SPEAKER_05 3:34

Um, but it pretty much managed what they said would be me going into some kind of heavy menopause. I didn't have any, I would say, big hormonal issues over the next 10 or 15 years. I had other issues, gut issues, brain fog, things like that that were symptoms I couldn't get my arms around. Um and nobody really, other than telling me I had IBS and trying to put me on prescription drugs, which I'm an anti-prescription drug person.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

We are too.

SPEAKER_05 4:03

Um yeah, I just don't believe in it. And but here I was on a synthetic um hormone patch twice a week. So I asked if I could remove the patch. My OB said no, it wasn't a good idea for several reasons bones, mental health, all of these things. Um, but she said you could cut it in half. And so I started, I cut it in half, and I did it half of one twice a week, which didn't do much, and I inevitably um probably six, eight months in, just ripped the patches up patch off and quit doing it, which was a six to eight months in from you cutting it in half. Weaning it.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

But but this is ten to fifteen years after your hysterectomy?

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:49

Yes. Because I didn't I just was scared. I'm like, I'm on a synthetic hormone, which anything you read about tells you that there can be cancer-causing.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 4:58

Um, all kinds of issues for your body, and I was having other issues, so I just felt like I needed to do something.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Nobody was giving me any answers.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

I think I mean birth control, that's synthetic hormone. I mean, that is that's hormones, and that I was on that for so long, it freaks me out the amount that I was on for the length of period that I was on.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

I know. Well, me too. And uh fast forward, if it's okay, I ended up with breast cancer in 2022. And the first thing I said to the doctor was, because could this have been caused by being on a synthetic estrogen patch? And they said, absolutely. So I was right to advocate for myself. I didn't have anybody hearing me. Um, I did when I ripped off the patch, it was a horrible experience. I had massive hot flashes and brain fog and uh emotional spiraling and everything you can imagine of feeling like you're going crazy. And all I was told was I had to get back on it.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

It was the only option presented to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

I didn't really wasn't presented any other options. Yeah. So I did go back on it, but ultimately still had health issues. So I ended up um not knowing how to get well. Ended up being introduced to a functional nutritionist. This was probably 13 years ago, and did a bunch of testing there and found out I had really major gut issues, um, which so much of what's wrong with us is driven from your gut. Dysfunction in the gut. Uh, which there was also, they do testing on, I had hormonal imbalances too. I had not enough progesterone, uh, not enough testosterone, too much estrogen. So I was like whacked out, didn't know it. Um so that was sort of the beginning of my journey of saying, all right, there has to be a way to figure this out, right? I I have to be able to do something different.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Was the functional nutritionist the first time that you had your hormone levels checked?

SPEAKER_05 7:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Isn't that unbelievable? You're wearing an estrogen patch and nobody wants to go, are you getting too much estrogen?

SPEAKER_05 7:10

Are you not getting enough estrogen? Or did you have too much or not enough of the other levels, which was progesterone and testosterone?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

No one talks about that. So worried about estrogen. And I'm like, there's more than just more to it.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

And the balance of it all is what's really important, which I didn't know. I mean, you know, we don't know what we don't know until we're kind of uh advocate.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah. Self-advocating. It wasn't talked about.

SPEAKER_05 7:34

No.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I mean, it just wasn't talked about. And you do have to self-advocate. And we learned that with my mother's story, it's the same thing. I mean, she wouldn't have went down the path. She didn't if she didn't self-advocate for things. Right.

SPEAKER_05 7:46

No, you didn't know to. You just trusted your doctors.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Right.

SPEAKER_05 7:49

And your doctors didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I had a I have a friend who went to a doctor within the last three years with concerns about being on birth control for so long. And she was told, Oh, that's not that's not a thing. That doesn't cause cancer. They've changed that. And I'm like, I don't think that is a thing. I don't think that's true. It isn't true. These synthetic things you're doing, like they do cause cancer. That's is is there a history in your family of breast cancer?

SPEAKER_05 8:13

No, none. Yeah. No. And I um did, I don't know, a lot of people probably don't realize this if you haven't had to go through it. They now do, and I'm at a facility, Palm Health, where they are believers in wellness and whole body healing and um dealing. And they did all the genetic testing. So they went back and looked at every part of the genetic background for me. And then I had to get all the records of my sisters and my brother and anything I could find from my parents to really look at where it could have come from. And there is no history. There is a small genetic history of colon cancer, which nobody in my family has ever had, but uh there is a um a genetic side that says I have a predisposition that just says I need to test. So I have to get colonoscopies more often. I had to have both my kids tested for this genetic thing just to make it's sort of like a wellness thing again. It's like, oh, if you could get it, let's figure out before you get it that you could do something about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Proactive. Yes, it's what a novel idea is. Let's start there.

SPEAKER_05 9:22

Yeah. Figure it out before it gets there. So n the whole genetic testing and all of the testing they did came back and said that the breast cancer that I had was hormonally driven. And if you've had breast cancer, there are all different types, and there's one that's specifically a hormonal path, and that was mine.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Unbelievable. That's crazy. So um now that you've had breast cancer, does that shape how you can deal with your hormones? Like, are there limitations? Like once you have breast cancer, aren't you limited on that?

SPEAKER_05 9:54

Really good question.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And what you can do?

SPEAKER_05 9:56

You're not supposed to have any hormones.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah, that's what I thought.

SPEAKER_05 9:59

So you're supposed to deplete yourself of all hormones. And um again, I, you know, I asked a lot of questions because you know, what hormones are the ones that are going to potentially drive something else to happen?

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Yeah. Very unlikely it will. I don't have any breasts.

SPEAKER_05 10:21

I don't have any tissue that could, you know, bring breast cancer back into the equation.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

Right.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

But I have lymph, lymph system, and there I did have some cancer in my lymph nodes, which I had to have removed. Um, so they I just have to get tested for, like I have to keep a low, if any, estrogen. But I am okay having a level of progesterone and testosterone.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 10:49

As long it is interesting, as long as it stays at within certain levels.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

And I get tested. So the first two first two years after my surgery, I was tested every six months. And also as a precursor, I chose not to take the post-breast cancer medication.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

It's called What is that?

SPEAKER_05 11:09

Well, it's a form of chemo.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 11:13

And it's called an anastrazole.

unknown 11:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 11:16

Highly, highly toxic. The side effects to me were much worse and scarier than why I would have taken the drug.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Right.

SPEAKER_05 11:27

They couldn't tell me why I should take the drug. And my oncologist, who he was a lovely man, um, when I asked him, he said, that's our protocol. And I said, Well, respectfully, I don't understand. Like, why? I had they have a test now you can take to tell you whether you need um chemo or radiation.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

And it's called the onchotype test. I highly recommend it to anybody that's either got pre-cancer or cancer. You can take it and it'll tell you if there's any reason to take it. I didn't need chemo or radiation because I got an eight eight or an eighteen on the test. And if you're zero to twenty-five, you don't need it. If you're 25 or above, you do. And then the higher the level above 25, the more, I guess, chemo radiation you need. But they don't always tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

That's what I was just gonna say. Yeah. You wouldn't have known unless you asked him why.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

Well, exactly. And he, when I said, but I had a really low score on the Anka test, and he said, I don't understand, and we don't learn that in uh med school, but our protocol is for you to take this. And I said, Well, um, I'm gonna decline. And he said, Well, can I ask you to do a favor for me? And I said, Yes. And he he was he said, Do you meditate? And I said, I do. He said, Will you meditate on it? I said, Yes, I appreciate that, I respect that. He said, I want to see you again. So he booked another appointment for me to go back. And I meditated on it, I researched further about it, and I was really convinced that all of the medical side, I was doing everything I could and should. This was their protocol, it's a drug that everything that they had said I was gonna have in my surgery and post-surgery, and the oncotest said I didn't need, so I decided not to do it. I went back to the oncologist and he said, I respect your decision. I don't agree with it, but I respect it. And he said, So I'm clearing you. They cleared me, I signed me off, I didn't even ever have to go back to an oncologist. And I went back to my doctor at Palm Health and he said, because he couldn't advise me on anything during the cancer.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Because the oncologist was in charge of that care.

SPEAKER_05 13:45

The oncologist is the one who makes decisions and make rec makes recommendations. When I went back to him and I said, This is what I've decided, he said, Phew, I'm so glad you didn't do that. I couldn't tell you that at the time. You had to be advised by your oncologist. There's absolutely no reason that you needed to take that drug. But there are things I can do supplement-wise to help you with any potential risks. So he get put me on um a supplement for reducing and or just managing estrogen and then a uh supplement called turkey tail, which is an anti-um cancer natural supplement, mushroom-driven. Turkey tail mushrooms.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Wood.

SPEAKER_05 14:30

Which I still take the turkey tail.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Okay, what is the estrogen one that he had you on? Do you know?

SPEAKER_05 14:35

I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

But you don't take that anymore.

SPEAKER_05 14:38

No, I don't take that, I took it for two years. Okay. And my blood work, and it was all driven by they were managing my blood work. So I was having blood work done every 90 days for the first year, and then every every six months for the second year, and I get it annually now. And all they're looking for is cancer markers and hormone.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Which hormones are, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

And it's fascinating because they said to me, My I have am not completely depleted of estrogen. My body is producing a very minimal amount, but it's good. Like it's good.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

And you don't have your ovaries?

SPEAKER_05 15:10

No.

unknown 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:11

Of nothing.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:13

But I my body is naturally producing what it's supposed to without any extreme levels, and I feel really good. I feel great.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

I think that is something to point out. If you allow your body to care for itself, it is a very highly refined organ. Yeah, it's meant to cure itself, it's meant to fix itself. And sometimes I feel that the other things that we're putting in our bodies maybe prevents our body from being well. So I think it's self-advocating like that.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

Without a doubt, and I um something I learned too from understanding, you know, the the magnitude of the importance of your gut, that it even drives hormonal stuff. Like I did have high, I had black mold and mold toxicity and candida. All three created a leaky gut, which everything was off. Like I had brain fog, I had diarrhea, I had, I mean, I was a mess.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

And what'd they do for that?

SPEAKER_05 16:24

They had to, with supplements, kill the candida and the mold. The mold was coming from my home. I had to do a massive mold remediation in my home, which was terrible, but you know, your health is more important than your home. Um, and then once they killed off the toxins, then they put me on a repair your gut. So I was on a supplement program for a number of months, and I also had to alter my diet.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 16:51

And um just to eat really, really, really clean. Like I could hardly eat anything for about nine months.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Okay. What does eating clean look like in that situation?

SPEAKER_05 17:03

So all organic. Okay. And no dairy, no carbs, no gluten, no eggs. Literally all I could eat was fish, beef, chicken, or pork. And vegetables, but nothing on anything. I could put uh salt, but only Himalayan pink salt, because whatever's in the iodized salt.

SPEAKER_04 17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:30

Um, and then pepper and olive oil. I couldn't use any other kind of anything. I got used to it, and I knew how to order to it when I was out. I and people did it. I'm just like, I just had a grilled chicken breast, no this, no that, a bed of lettuce, or some greens with nothing on it, and I got used to it.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

And how do you how do you feel now?

SPEAKER_05 17:54

Unbelievable. I have not ever felt better.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

How long ago was it that you completed that?

SPEAKER_05 18:03

Um, I started my journey with the gut issues uh 11, 12 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

And um repaired it, and when I went through a pretty significant trauma and it a couple years ago, six years ago, that kind of th you know, that can cause gut issues.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:25

Um, so I had to do it again, but I knew how to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:29

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

You know, you you at some point you think, wait a second, I've been here before. Exactly right. This is my stomach issues.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

And I do the testing. I can see it in the testing. Yeah. What is going on, and then you know how to treat. You know how to treat. I how to I don't take prescription drugs and I haven't for 13, 14 years, unless I have a sinus infection or some infection. But I that they can tell me, but I don't take any prescription drugs.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

How many supplements do you take?

SPEAKER_05 19:03

I am on three. I take a probiotic, fish oil, the turkey tail. And that's my fourth one. Oh, it's called liver protect.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

Um, because of some of the supplements that I was on for years, I was having some fluctuations in my liver. And so, and last year I had a bit of an issue with it. But anyway, so I take something called liver protect.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Because your liver drives everything, right? Supplements.

SPEAKER_05 19:36

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Amazing. I love taking supplements. We are bands of supplements.

SPEAKER_05 19:41

Now, okay, I'm so glad you brought that up because um be careful. Yeah, too many is not good. I ended up a year ago in the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

I remember that.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

It was pretty scary. I was in there for five days. They couldn't figure it out, and they honestly, so to be truly transparent, when I checked into the hospital, my b son had to pick me up, take me there. They thought I was a drunk. Gosh. And they wouldn't treat me. And they were they were like, you need a liver transplant, you need this, you need that, blah, blah, blah. Long story short, I was taking some supplements, and they were, I had a lead level that was a little bit high, so they wanted me to do what's called a chelation process to which helps to deplete lead. Well, that collided with another supplement.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 20:36

And it caused my organs to go into um overdrive. So my liver, my pancreas, and my gallbladder were all like massively inflamed.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

So you had to be really careful.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah. But those were just two supplements you were taking?

SPEAKER_05 20:51

Yep. That had well, no, excuse me. One was um fluconazole, which I had a yeast infection. So fluconosol treats yeast infections.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:02

So I was taking that, and then the supplement, the um chelation, didn't like because chelation hits the liver, and so does fluconazole. So they shouldn't, it's taken at the same time. Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 21:18

No, so you just have to be careful, right? I mean, supplements are good, but too much of it and in certain combinations cannot be good. Yeah. But again, I don't know, a lesson for me. I wouldn't want to go through it again, but a lesson for me, and even a lesson for my doctors.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

You know, I mean, there is no perfect science in medicine.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

It's true.

SPEAKER_05 21:40

It is a science, but it isn't perfect.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Because you're dealing with the one supplement you were getting was from your doctor at Palm Health.

SPEAKER_05 21:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

And the other one was a prescription from your medical practitioner.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Which also is at Palm Health.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

So there was a discussion there, and they're fabulous. Um That you know, you think about it, they weren't looking at the flucondazole and the chelation and thinking about the fact of them together. Right. Um, so it wasn't for them, yeah, lesson for me. Um and I'm fine, I'm great.

unknown 22:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

The only reason I asked that question is because every single time I go to a medical practitioner, I tell them the supplements I'm taking. They don't ask. I tell them no, not the supplements, they ask what medications are mine.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

My primary. She wants all of it. I like my primary now. She's very she's good. She wants that entire list. That's good. Yeah. But not all practitioners.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Most of them don't.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

They just want your prescriptions.

SPEAKER_05 22:47

They want your scrubs. You know what's interesting? I um I have my doctors are at Palm Health, and I'm grateful for that. Um, but if I was gonna s advise particularly a woman, go to a doctor that that understands functional East-West medicine. You they have to understand the functional side as well as the Western medicine to really help you because female bodies are different. And if you have somebody that understands both sides, you are gonna have somebody who's gonna be able to treat the whole body, not just the symptoms with a pill.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Well, and that's another good point because we all know that our specialists. I have plenty of specialists that deal in one thing, that's right, and they don't really want to know about the other things that are happening in my body. No. As a medical practitioner, now I have um energy and functional therapists that help me through those types of things. But particularly, I've brought up symptoms, and I say, this may not be related, but I want to bring it up here because I think, you know, sinus and a joint thing or something might be correlated because they started at the same time. Oh no, no, not related. Do you know? And then I go to a functional my doctor that manages my supplements, and she says a totally different story. So well, you think about it. If you think about the body, it's all connected.

SPEAKER_05 24:16

Every the blood's flowing, the tissues are all connected, the ligaments, everything is all connected, and it's all like functioning together as a unit. How they can think it can be, you know, driven by your hand or your elbow or your whatever or one organ, it makes no sense, right? It doesn't make sense on we are one unit, it's one body. Right. So I when people say that, when a doctor says that, I'm like, are you kidding me? Um, you know, you can treat allergies through your gut. I know if I got off of dairy, it would definitely help my and gluten, it would help my allergies. I don't want to do it right now.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah, hey, sometimes you just say, I don't care, I'll deal with the consequences, right? But also feeling good, you've got control over your body now, and I think that is a really important factor, is you can give a little bit in the food arena because you know you've got control elsewhere. Exactly right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

And I think also there are medical doctors out there that do think in that way. It's just it's not always that easy to find, and you still have to advocate for yourself in a lot of cases.

SPEAKER_05 25:29

In every case. Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

And even with the functional doctor, everybody, you have to make sure that you know your body better than anybody else.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

That's I think the biggest statement that needs to be made is they might say, oh no, that that doesn't make sense. You have to tell them how you feel, they can't tell you how you feel. That's the part I think people just take what a doctor says as gospel. They don't know. They have no idea what's going on. And when I was in the hospital, uh, and my son was so frustrated, they wouldn't listen to me. And I'm saying, I'm pretty sure these two things are colliding. I'm pretty sure, and they're like, How do you know that? And you shouldn't know that. And I'm like, my lead level, and I was trying to explain, and you're where? I go to Palm Health. Oh, you know, they're just blowing that off. They wouldn't even speak to them.

unknown 26:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 26:20

Wouldn't even speak to the doctors at Palm. And I'm trying to explain it, and in the meantime, they wouldn't give me anything for pain, they wouldn't give me anything for anything. And this went on for several days, right? Well, 12 hours I had nothing for pain.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

And you had already identified the potential correlation between these two.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

I started thinking about it. I'm like, I just got off the Fouconazole. They just gave me the chelation agent you know, last night. This happened at 3 30 in the morning that night after I took the chelation agent.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

So I was like, Yeah, you connect what you put in your body, you realize I just put did this. That's something that's different. Could you know this could probably be a cause here?

SPEAKER_05 27:03

I'm pretty good at paying attention to what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. And I could, I yeah, I knew exactly what was different.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Right.

SPEAKER_05 27:09

So I was able to say that. They just didn't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:13

Um so I yeah, you do, you have to advocate.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah. Also, like you said with your oncologist, it's protocol. They have a lot of protocols that they have to operate within. I'm very sympathetic to them for that reason. You know, there are stipulations that they have to do their checklist. I'm I am all for the medical community. I'm not a medical basher. I just think that there's certain instances where you have to keep talking, keep screaming if you have to. Well you have to until somebody hears you.

SPEAKER_05 27:44

And researching. And when to me, I am I know my body also. If if it says there's gonna be a side effect, I'm pretty likely gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:56

Swear to God.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

You've had enough experience with that, right?

SPEAKER_05 27:59

No. And that's what I said to him. I'm like, the list of side effects was the it was two pages long. I said, I won't have a life. I will not have a life if you're telling me this is what's likely gonna happen, because I know I'm gonna get most of those.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:14

I'm like, I'm not to predispose myself, but I just been living a life for a long time. I know that's what's gonna happen. And he was, he understood, he just didn't understand anybody that doesn't just follow what the doctor says. Yeah. He was respectful, but he's like, I I don't, I'm not taught what you're telling me. I only learn what they teach me in med school. I said, Well, maybe you should research some of these things. I'm not telling you what to do, but it could be helpful for understanding what some probably women are telling you when they come in and are sharing some of those concerns.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Right. Yeah, right. Or not knowing what to say about your concerns. Do you know? As some people just think, well, this might sound stupid, and I'm that person, you know, I have no problem going, this is gonna sound dumb to you because you're very smart, obviously. You've gone to school for a very long time. I have not. You're broken, and I understand that, but I'm gonna say it anyway, and you can think what you want, but I want to hear your reaction to it. Because you gotta at least ask for a reaction, at least throw it on the table.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:21

Yes. I mean, I was grateful he listened, quite honestly.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

I mean good for him, yeah, because he could have just blown you off and been like. I also really respect the fact that he gave you time to think about it.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yes, didn't make you make the call right then and there.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

He was great.

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Meditate on it. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 29:39

He was so kind, yeah. And I appreciated that and didn't feel pressured or, you know, told I was wrong and or beat up because I was making a decision. Because you know, I've had that. I've had doctors that will say that, you know, that that's wrong, and how can you and it's like it's my decision. But this guy just gave me a path, and he's and he said, Do you trust your doctor and Tom? I said, I do. And I've been seeing him for years.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

So I really love that too, because the trust factor has to be there. Oh my god. Making such huge decisions for your life. Yes. I mean, you are making a decision that infects your entire life. Yes. That theory.

SPEAKER_05 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

So having the right person by your side is really important.

SPEAKER_05 30:27

It is. And you know, I also I was thinking about as about it as you said that, that the um advocating for your own quality of life. Because, you know, there's a lot of people that they're on so many medications. Yes. And the medications are impacting them in so many different ways in terms of their quality of life. And who knows how long we have here? I don't. I'm 66. I could be gone tomorrow. I don't know. I could be around for 30 years, I don't know. But I'm not gonna give up quality of life. Oh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

You want to live your life, you want to have a good life and feel good and feel like you can do things.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

And you're a very active person, yes. So just sitting at home on the couch is not an option.

unknown 31:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

No.

SPEAKER_04 31:11

I don't know that you can do it. You like it every once in a while. Do you ever do that?

SPEAKER_01 31:16

You do, actually.

SPEAKER_05 31:17

Yeah, I really do. I've learned that I have to give myself that respite and time to say, yeah, you can lay on the couch and watch Netflix for a day. It's healthy.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:29

You know, instead of feeling guilty about it, it's healthy to do that. I mean, your body needs it, your mind needs it, and so does Netflix.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Well, it's so Netflix. We advocate rest. Every symptom that we've talked about, one of the ways to overcome the symptom is rest.

SPEAKER_05 31:47

It is.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Let your body heal. Give your body that time to heal.

SPEAKER_05 31:51

You have to. And you know, sleep underrated. So many women don't sleep well because of hormones. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 32:00

And um that when my sleep was off, that was another thing that I was like questioning because I'm a pretty good sleeper. And now I am I sleep, I try to go to sleep or get into bed between 9 and 9.30 during the week. And I'm usually asleep between 9.30 and 10. And I sleep nine out eight to nine hours a day.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

I I hear those people that are like, oh, I only need four. And I'm like, no, you don't.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Your body needs more than that. I'm happy you can function on four. That's it. You're functioning.

SPEAKER_05 32:30

You're functioning on four, it's not healthy. And it's not sustainable.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

And I would love to see what your day would be like when you were getting like seven, eight hours, something in there. You would probably feel so different, and it would be a better quality of time you have during the day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Yeah, definitely. You feel good.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Yeah. But there's so many people doing, oh, I only need four, I only need five. And I'm like, no, you don't.

SPEAKER_05 32:54

I don't understand how people can say that. Because I, yeah, no, I'm I'm all about the sleep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Me too. I love sleep. I love it. She's really good about it. I'm not so good. I went to sleep at 8 30 last night.

SPEAKER_05 33:07

I went to sleep at nine o'clock the night before.

unknown 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

It was great. I'm jealous. So we're working on that one right now.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

You know, some of that too is you've created your own rhythm, and it's like in, you know, you're you tell yourself, I don't go to bed till 10, or I don't go to bed till 11. Okay, then you won't. Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:28

It's sort of like what's your bedroom bedtime routine that you're telling yourself, yeah, I think it's time for me to go up and shower or wash my face or whatever it is that starts your routine to go to bed. It's your mindset. It's like what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Susie Andrews, you have given us so many nuggets. Functional medicine, advocating for yourself, good night's rest, allowing yourself rest to heal. I mean, that's this has been shock full of amazing advice for our listeners.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Honestly. Such a good story in such a different perspective. And I think I think that's the point. We talk so much about like hormone replacement and like what we're doing, but we try to tell everybody all the time like, it's not about what we're doing. We're not trying to push what we're doing. We're trying to push that you advocate for yourself and you do something that makes you feel better, right? And that you're healthy, you know? Right.

SPEAKER_05 34:22

Don't settle for not feeling well. Don't and don't think you have to take drugs. My journey really started with them trying to put me on IBS drugs and the synthetic patch. Yeah. Those two things were like, this can't be it.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Yeah. Right. And that's a life sentence, essentially. Yeah, we don't want one. We don't need no life sentence more than that. Right. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

That's crazy. Yeah. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Hearing all of these stories, though, is really something that why we started the program in general. Is everybody has their own journey. While our symptoms might be the same, we're all on our own special journey. And one thing that is consistent is self-advocating. You have to just gotta know your body and don't settle.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

No. So don't settle.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

I think you gave us some really great advice today. We're so grateful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

So happy to be here, and I love what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Thank you, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Love what you're doing. It's just great.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

You want to take us home?

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Sure. All right. So if today's conversation resonated with you, we'd love for you to share this episode with a friend because chances are she's going through some of this too. And don't forget to follow and subscribe to Hot Flash and Sassy so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Thursday. Until next time, stay cool, stay curious, and keep bringing the sass. Thanks for listening.