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Speaker 1: Hello, this is the Itchy and Bitchy Podcast because being

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itchy is bitchy and our medical system sucks. I'm doctor

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Keith Nolica, a vetnary, allergist and dermatologist.

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Speaker 2: And I'm Stephen Miller, a doctor of nursing practice and

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a Q Care nurse practitioner.

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Speaker 1: Send us your questions at ask at itch not dot com.

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We love you, but we're not your doctors. The information

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we discuss is not direct medical advice. Please talk to

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your provider who is the expert on your care. The

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Itchy and Bchi Podcast is sponsored by doc Itchy Medical

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Pets supplements designed to optimize your pet's health with the

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send us a quest question at ask at itchnot dot com.

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Thanks welcome back, and I hope this finds you well.

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How are you doing, Doc?

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Speaker 2: I'm good. I hope everyone's good. It's a rainy day

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here in Knoxville.

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Speaker 1: All right, So this episode is titled Menopause Science, the

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hormone dumpster Fire and pituitary Chaos. Explain so simple even

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a husband can understand, and that may sound a little derogatory,

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but I realized after talking to Karen, who's taught me

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so much, Thank you very much, Karen, and doing an

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episode on menopause, that I actually didn't really understand menopause.

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And I'm even a veterinarian. I did a master's which

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turned out at Auburn University to be in endochronology, just

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because that's what was their expertise. But so I thought

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today that we would try to explain menopause and I

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educate myself in the process. And one of the couple

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other things that kind of stimulated this was my realization

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that I didn't quite understand, and being embarrassed to tell

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Karen that I didn't quite understand. And then I saw

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this really great We try to be trendy and pay

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attention to social trends, but there was this really cute

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Facebook post with this teenage boy and his mom, and

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the teenage boy was talking about I think this was

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all AI generated, but if they were actors, kudos to you.

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But the teenage boy was explaining how the mom was

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going through cougar puberty, and so cougar is the slang

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is for sort of a semi aggressive woman who's self

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empowered and willing to date younger men and out and

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about in the world. And so, but that really funny

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thing was basically how menopause is like puberty, and I

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started thinking that, you know, that actually is probably pretty accurate.

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So we clinically talk about medical issues, and what we

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deal with clinically predominantly is single hormone deficits, so like

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low thyroid and then we do a thyroid test and

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supplement the thyroid hormones.

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Speaker 2: Is that correct, Stephen, Yeah, I mean in medicine we

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do certainly hormone replacement therapy on many levels, not just

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estrogen or progesterone, but things like thyroid hormone and testosterone

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and that kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's so clinically though, it's very much sort

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of a single item kind of concept. So the way

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the system works. And I really like Jesus for a

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variety of reasons, but one of the reasons I like

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Jesus is that he told a lot of stories and

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parables to make things very simple, and so, like the

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story of the mustard seed, a little bitty problem can

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turn into a great big issue. And so that's kind

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of where we're headed with this. So I'm going to

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try to explain the whole pat tuitu a teary hormone

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access in the frame of your toilet, And that sounds

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really crazy. Hold sick with me, doc here, but and

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you're gonna check fact check me as we go along.

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But I think this will make sense even though it

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sounds really really crazy. So there are a lot of

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different terms and many many many names, and various hormones

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and pre hormones that are involved in this. So they

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have names like act H and TSH and prolactin and

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all of these kinds of things. And if you want

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us to do a whole episode on what the terms

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mean and the actual names, we can do that send

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this comment at ask at itchna dot com. But we're

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going to ignore all the big words for now. So

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the peturitary releases all of these hormones and then they

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affect various glands in your body, your testicles, your ovaries,

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your adrenal glands, and there's this big cycle. But the

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way that it really works is kind of like your toilet.

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So you have a toilet bowl and then a tank

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of water which represents the hormones and so when you

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flush your toilet, you get a surge of water, you

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get a surge of hormones, and most of these are

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on a circadian rhythm, So like when you sleep, a

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lot of hormones get released to help kids grow and

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help you your brain regenerate and all of these good things.

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So daytime, nighttime, even seasonal in animals. So that's kind

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of the water tank. But then when your hormones are low,

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the pituitary gland in your brain, just a little BITDP

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sized thing in the base of your brain release recognizes that.

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So it's like the flute valve in your toilet that

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the water goes down and it says, oh, we need

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more water, and it the pituitary gland fills, turns on

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and starts filling up the hormones, and so your brain

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then sends signals to the glands the test testicles, ovaries,

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adrenal glands to start producing more hormone and then there's

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a negative feedback loop that the when the water gets

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high enough, the float valve recognizes that and it turns off.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so the pituitary gland starts to produce stimulating hormones,

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and that's the s in many are releasing hormones, so

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they're pre hormones.

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Speaker 1: That's Sh'S thyroid stimulating hormone and that comes from the petuitary.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and so that technically is considered sort of

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this feedback loop, and that's why it's called the petuitary axis.

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Speaker 1: And so the body says we need more hormones, the

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petuitary says, okay, well this is how you make more hormones,

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and it goes and it says how to make the hormones,

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and then the glands make more hormones. So but the

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whole system very simple. So toilet more water, the petuitary

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produces more water, you flesh, get the cycles. All of

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that makes sense. Imagine if you have fifteen toilets all

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lined up in a row and they're all interconnected, and

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that's actually what the hormone system and petuitary gland is

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doing in our bodies.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So there's five different axes, and without getting too

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thick in the weeds here, the thyed axis, the adrenal axis,

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the gunadal axis, the growth hormone axis, and prolactin axis,

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and all of those axes help control varying hormone levels

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throughout the body.

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Speaker 1: So what happens during menopause and why this is such

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a crazy time, and why it actually is pretty fitting

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to compare it to puberty. So this cougar puberty little

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Facebook post actually was pretty clever. Is that menopause is

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not like a program stop sign. So in animals, when

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they cycle through estrus and fertility periods, it's a very

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organized stop sign kind of event and then it can restart.

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What menopause is is this chaotic, crazy situation where the

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ovaries basically burn out and they stop producing the estrogen

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and the progestine, which provide the negative feedback to the

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pituitary gland, and so the pituitary gland goes crazy producing

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all of these pre hormones, which then stimulate all of

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the other glands in the body. And it's like you're

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toilets overflowing and going crazy because the float valve is broken.

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But in addition, it's all five of these access so

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all fifteen toilets in are connected and it's all going crazy,

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and it's this giant dumpster fire of hormone imbalance, and

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the protuitary is trying to get the body to make more,

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but the body doesn't have more to make and it's

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just insane. So that's what menopause is. We're going to

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take a break here and we're going to be back

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and we're going to talk about the four other medical

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conditions where the same kind of crazy dumpster fire and

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hormone chaos can occur. So we'll be right back right,

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we're back, and we're going to talk about the dumpster

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fire of menopause. But actually there are four events that

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happen in our lifetime that are similar where the peituitary

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gland and the bodies glands like the testicles, ovariase, adrenal

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glands are just totally going crazy. So menopause is one

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we talked about that now it's not an organized stop sign,

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it's just total pituitary hormone chaos. The other situations are

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true puberty. So we've all most of us, I guess

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listeners have gone through puberty, and we can remember we've

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watched our teenagers go through puberty. And it's another one

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of these times where the peturitary gland is secreting huge

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amounts of hormones to get the body to do all

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sorts of different things. So it's producing estrogen's progestins testosterone,

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but it's also precing growth hormone. The prolactin controls the

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circadian rhythms. We have cortisol levels that are being increased,

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and so you can imagine all of these fifteen toilets

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connected and the body is trying to regulate them to

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get your body as a child to mature into an

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adult and become sexually functional. So that's a really really

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complex period and a lot of chaos going through and

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it really is pretty similar to menopause. So if you

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think about increased hair growth is happening, you think about

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mucous membrane is changing, you think about skin pigment occurring,

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skin thickness, flakiness, oil secretions in the skin, it's just

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a turmoil. So the other couple of situations are sleep disorders.

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So if you're not getting enough sleep, that's when a

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lot of hormones are released and a lot of pituitary

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activity happens due to the circadian rhythm, and prolactin may

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regulate a lot of that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think it's important to point out melatonin

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is produced by the pineal gland, which is in the

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center of the brain, and then the pituitary gland does

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interact with melatonin in that it interacts with the circadian

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rhythms and hormone influences sleep wake cycles, which is influenced

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by growth hormone actchtsaging the gonadotropins. So there is definite

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interaction between the pituitary gland and melatonin that's produced by

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the pineal gland.

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Speaker 1: And that's why you'll hear a lot about taking melatonin

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to improve sleep, which then improves hormone balance. And we

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have a condition in dogs called geriatric hormone imbalance that

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has melotonin sensitivity, and so melatonin can help sort of

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stabilize a lot of these hormone axes. It doesn't really

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replace deficient hormones, but it just makes the whole system

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kind of wake up and function a little bit more normally.

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And then the fourth one is aging. So as we age,

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all of our hormones tend to change. And part of

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that is like with menopause, where they max, the ovaries

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may burn out and not be able to produce the hormones,

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which messes up the whole feedback loop and the pituitary

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gland goes crazy. But all of the hormones tend to

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kind of slow down as we age, and that causes

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a lot of dysregulation, and that's starting to be recognized

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now in dogs with this geriatric hormone imbalance that responds

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to melatonin every evening. So it's kind of this weird

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rejuvenating kind of effect that we see in dogs. Is

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that happening in people where older people are responding to

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melatonin beneficially?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they do, and certainly there are certain forms of it,

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and there's a lot of science that has gone into

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levels of oral melatonin that people should and should not take.

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So I always encourage people to discuss these issues with

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their provider.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we are not your doctors. Please talk to your provider.

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So that's sort of the controversy between high dose melatonin

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and low dose melatonin. We use high dose melatonin, but

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they can't tell us if they're uncomfortable or have insomnia

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or a variety of things like that. So humans may

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be much more sensitive to some of the side effects.

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The nice thing about melatonin is that there's really not

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a toxic dose in dogs at least. Definitely check with

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your provider about the human issues if you're going to

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take any supplements. Again, we're not your doctors. So we're

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going to take a break here and we'll be back

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and talk about some of the treatments that we can

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do for these disorders. Again, the four big disorders we

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talked about, menopauses the starting place for this chaos of

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fifteen toilets all interconnected that are overflowing, and that's the

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pituitary gland and the body's glands. And then we have

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real puberty and teenagers, we have aging and sleep disorders.

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So we'll be back in a second and I'll talk

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about what maybe we can do about some of those.

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All right, we're back, and I hope you're still with us.

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So we're going to talk about some possible easy therapies.

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Really nothing prescription at this point, although Stephen may want

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to add some things. But so, the four disorders that

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cause the fifteen toilets to overflow in the pituitary hormone

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axis dumpster fire are menopause, puberty, aging, and sleep disorders.

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So what do you want to talk about first?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we can we can address the sleep

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disorder pee certainly. I think sleep apnea contributes to so

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many issues, including heart a rhythmias and many cardiovascular issues

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as well as aging. Sleep's very important for our bodies

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to heal, and so I think it's important for people

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to have a sleep regimen that's been set for, like

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this sleep hygiene which we've talked about in another episode,

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where people begin to prepare for sleep at nine, turn

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off stimulants, turn off their computers and their iPhones, and

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turn the lights down in the house.

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Speaker 1: And I think if there's one single thing that I

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could say makes a huge difference having kids and teenagers

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and even with myself, is really get rid of the

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smartphone and the tablet, Like having those in the bedroom

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really affects your sleep and sort of this scheduled relaxation

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process getting ready to go to sleep is also really important.

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And part of that needs to be to get rid

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of the smart devices and get off of social media

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and stop dooms growing and brain rot and get your

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body ready to have a good night sleep.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it is vital to avoid

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caffeine and stimulants after about five pm.

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Speaker 1: Any chocolate or any caffeine after four pm.

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Speaker 2: Yeah zero, and sort of get the body prepared for sleep.

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So I think that's the sleep hygiene piece. Making sure

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that your bedrooms put together in a way that's conducive

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to quietness and peacefulness and darkness.

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Speaker 1: So how much do you think melatonin helps? So? And

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dogs melatonin really doesn't seem to make them sleepy at all,

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but they sleep twenty hours a day, so it's hard

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to know. Does melatonin actually help sleep in people or

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is it working in a different.

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Speaker 2: No, it helps people sleep and certain the issue is

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and there are lots of issues around melatonin. A lot

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of people overplace their melatonin, which then suppresses their internal

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production of melotone.

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Speaker 1: What do you mean overplaced?

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Speaker 2: Taking thirty milligrams of melatonin at night as opposed to

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starting off with lower doses that would just stimulate melatonin

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production in your body, and so you can suppress melatonin

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production and then that.

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Speaker 1: Causes issues as well.

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Speaker 2: You have to retrain your body to sort of get

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all that worked out. So, but melatonin is very effective.

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I think people historically have either taken too little or

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taken too much and not had good results based upon

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their lack of knowledge around melatonin utilizations.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so definitely talk to your provider about that. Also,

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sleep apnea, that's something that you would talk to your

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provider and get a sleep study and medically. You know,

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people can die with sleep apnea, so that can be

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a really serious medical issue.

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Speaker 2: Well, and I think too people believe sleep apnea is

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only obstructive sleep apnea, and I think it's important to

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sort of help our audience understand that they're varying forms

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of sleep apnea that are treated very differently. So some

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folks have central sleep apnea.

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Speaker 1: Which is like a brain neurologic nerve.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean, I think it's really really important

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that if you have symptoms of sleep apnea. There there's

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a screening tool called the stop bang which you can

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find anywhere online and take it and if you achieve

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certain number of points on that, then certainly consulting with

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your provider to get a sleep evaluation.

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Speaker 1: Okay. Aging also kind of relates, So as we age

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with a sleep app near you're typically we gain weight.

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At least I've gained a fair amount of weight, and

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so you know that may be part of the issue.

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But as we age, all of our hormones tend to

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slowly decrease, and it's almost just kind of like the

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body's wearing out. But it also relates to other things.

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So as we age, we stop exercising as much, we

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don't move around as much, we become more sedentary, we

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definitely can gain weight, and our whole metabolism, fatty liver syndrome,

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a lot of those things can happen as well. And then,

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like I said, in the dogs, we're recognizing this geriatric

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hormone imbalance that we don't really have a specific disorder,

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but we give a melotone and they seem to kind

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of rejuvenate a little bit. So what would be some

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simple aging things exerc mobile.

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Speaker 2: So in humans, the reduction of growth hormone is kind

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of referred to as somematopause, sort of like menopause, but somematopause.

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Speaker 1: Somatotropin is like growth hormone, and.

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Speaker 2: So somatopause which is decreasing growth hormone and IGF it

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leads to things like reduction in muscle mass, increasing body fat,

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low energy, decreased bone density, and reduced exercise tolerance.

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Speaker 1: And that sounds like aging.

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Speaker 2: It sounds like aging because it is aging, and so

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certainly there are many things we can do to offset that,

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like exercise, a routine exercise regimen, you know, five to

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seven days a week. If some form of aerobic and

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muscle resistance training.

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Speaker 1: Get up and Move. Used to do this Facebook post

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where it was get up and Move. It was even

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just parking at the end of the parking lot so

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you would walk more steps.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did that in an effort to encourage people,

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for the patients and friends to continue to push it.

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Even though you're tired, you need to move, and so

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daily ways to incorporate more movement would be to part

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further away from the building, take the steps instead of

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the elevator, you know, lifting objects to use your upper

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body muscles.

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Speaker 1: Certainly, I think even simple nutrition can play a big role.

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So as we get older and exercise less gain weight

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than just better nutrition pain attention to it. Yes, what

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we're putting in our.

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Speaker 2: Bodies low fat and then certainly higher protein intakes. So

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in order for our bodies to build muscle, we need

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good protein intake, and so protein really becomes vital to

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us as we age.

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Speaker 1: All right, So the other issues are than puberty, and

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there's not much that we can actually do to help

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puberty other than get through it. But definitely mental health

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is important during puberty. So it's a crazy time young people,

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you know, they're not wise and worldly like some of

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this older people, and so you know, understanding counseling, but

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also for them, you know, make sure that they're having

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really good sleep, that they're prepared for sleep, get rid

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of those iPads and smartphones, you know, really even prepare them.

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With my daughter, we were really good about trying to

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set up a pre bedtime sort of events, even starting

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as a young child, with that continued into her teenage years,

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sort of getting this relaxation schedule, getting ready to go

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to sleep. So that can be really important for teenagers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and then on the other end of the spectrum,

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you've got things as we human beings age, you get

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a reductions in LH and FSAH, the gonautotropic hormones, and

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so then people suffer side effects from rectile dysfunction, infertility,

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low energy level, and so certainly there are some HRT

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options for those things as we as we get.

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Speaker 1: Also hormone replacement therapy. So that's more of the menopause,

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which is the next kind of section, the last of

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the four. So in menopause again it's that the big

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problem is not just that you run out of estrogen,

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but that you run out of estrogen progesterones LHFSH and

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then that signals the pituitary to produce more pre hormones

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and the whole system goes crazy, so your fifteen toilets

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start overflowing. So some of the therapies for that is

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one just recognizing that this isn't just a behavioral mental

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disorder of older women. That's kind of where a lot

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of medicine used to be for way too long, and

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so now with hormone replacement therapy, it really can help

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to just provide some of the hormones like estrogen that

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reverse some of these negative symptoms like mucous membran drying,

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some of the sleep disorders, erectile dysfunctions as men age

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and have kind of the menopause man version that can

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happen as well. But what else could women do with menopause.

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Speaker 2: That would be well, I mean, I certainly think that

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Karen Nicol, who initiated this podcast years ago, would be

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the expert and certainly has had many episodes on HRT

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and of course on HRT.

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Speaker 1: So she has two hundred and seventeen episodes and they're

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all at the website which is Itchy andbitchi dot com

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So if you want to hear the expert actually talk

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in an expertise rather than a toilet metaphor or parable,

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that's your source.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, when it comes to hormone replacement therapy, it is

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such a complex topic, a complex treatment plan and individualized

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treatment plan, and certainly I think, can you know, having

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consultation with an expert talk just in hormones becomes something

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that I think is extremely beneficial.

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Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to take another break, and when we

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come back, we're going to do our legit or bullshit section,

396
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So we're going to be talking about microplastics. Stick with us,

397
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all right, we're back, and this is the legit or

398
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bullshit section where we have some interesting medical science facts

399
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and we try to determine if this is something that's

400
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,079
real or if this is really just insane. So are

401
00:24:48,079 --> 00:24:51,039
you ready, doctor Miller? Yeah, okay, So here we go.

402
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So this is about microplastics. So this actually topic came

403
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,640
up again. We try to be trendy and stick with

404
00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,519
the times here. So we were at a dinner event

405
00:25:01,599 --> 00:25:04,799
with our dearest friends. I'll leave all the names out,

406
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but you know who you are, and they are very smart, educated,

407
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curious people, and it turns out that one of our

408
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guy friends a straight guy, which will become important in

409
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the future in the story, but was horrified to learn

410
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during the day that microplastics were found in penile tissue

411
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in men. So is that real? Stock?

412
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Speaker 2: It is? It is, and certainly, you know, we are

413
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learning more and more there's emerging research and emerging data

414
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on this particular target topic. There was a twenty twenty

415
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four study that was done looking at microplastics in the

416
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tissue of men undergoing surgery for a rectile dysfunction. Okay, well,

417
00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:02,480
they found polyethylene, tetraphalite, and polypropylene in erectile tissue. And

418
00:26:02,519 --> 00:26:07,440
so microplastics or nanoplastics can enter the body through food

419
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and water, air inhalation, packaging material, synthetic fibers, and in

420
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very very tiny particles nanoplastics they enter through the intestinal barriers,

421
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the lung tissues, and so that's leak like that.

422
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Speaker 1: Kind of situation, which we'll have other episodes on. So

423
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what I found really funny about the story, just to

424
00:26:27,559 --> 00:26:30,160
kind of give you the details, is that all of

425
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,799
the straight men, so we're two gay men here, and

426
00:26:32,839 --> 00:26:34,960
I think that kind of made things on our side

427
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,119
a little bit less panicky, but anyway, they were horrified

428
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that they may have microplastics in their penis, let alone

429
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:46,720
that they've been found in placentas and female ovaries and

430
00:26:46,799 --> 00:26:50,640
brain tissue. But for some reason this penile microplastic thing.

431
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:56,640
The whole evening revolved around the horrible finding of microplastics

432
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in their penis.

433
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Speaker 2: So that was just I do want to make sure

434
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,599
the audience understands these are emerging evidence. These are not

435
00:27:06,759 --> 00:27:10,880
huge randomness trials. So it's important to know that the

436
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,720
current clinical evidence is based upon very small studies. Small

437
00:27:14,759 --> 00:27:20,039
sample size. Detection methods are not consistent. They vary what

438
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:21,319
is considered normal.

439
00:27:21,559 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 1: We don't know. So, doctor Miller, what organ has the

440
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,200
highest And I don't want you to look this up

441
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,079
before I ask you? So what organ in the body

442
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,880
has been identified to have the highest micro plastic So

443
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,799
I'm going to give you some options. So is it

444
00:27:36,839 --> 00:27:40,599
the penis or the placenta which I mentioned before? Would

445
00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:43,640
it be the kidney, the liver, or the brain? So

446
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,400
you have several options there. What do you think I

447
00:27:46,519 --> 00:27:49,400
would pick the liver? Yeah, and that makes sense because

448
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,799
the liver normally filters out toxins and does a lot

449
00:27:51,799 --> 00:27:54,000
of really good stuff for us, the cytochrome P four

450
00:27:54,079 --> 00:27:56,440
fifty enzyme pathway, all of that really good stuff. It

451
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,839
turns out it's the brain. The brain has twenty times

452
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more level of microplastic than the liver or the kidney.

453
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So that's you know, again, this comes back to our

454
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,359
dear friend that was really worried about the microplastic and

455
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,079
their penis rather than their brain, and their brain has

456
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twenty times more. So I think Karen would appreciate the

457
00:28:12,839 --> 00:28:15,880
sarcasm in that that the men would of course be

458
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:22,640
worried about their sexual organs more than their neurologic cognitive organs. Yeah.

459
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:26,359
So then the last question here is there's all sorts

460
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,599
of craziness and part of this whole discussion about having

461
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,119
microplastics in your organs and your penis specifically is oh

462
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:34,680
my gosh, what is it going to do? Is my

463
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:39,440
junk going to fall off? And so does do these

464
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:45,799
microplastics cause disorders like dementia, a rectile dysfunction, inflammation in

465
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the body.

466
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Speaker 2: So again, as I said earlier, the issue comes down

467
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,880
to we're not sure because the studies are not consistent.

468
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,640
There's small sample size in this that We're not sure

469
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,319
what the clinical outcome becomes, but we do know that

470
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these microplastics are plastics cause things like oxidative stress and

471
00:29:03,119 --> 00:29:06,519
inflammation and that type of thing. So there may be

472
00:29:06,559 --> 00:29:11,759
some correlation with autoimmune issues or whatever. We just don't

473
00:29:11,839 --> 00:29:12,279
really know.

474
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Speaker 1: And this gets back to previous discussions we've had about

475
00:29:15,279 --> 00:29:19,160
the medical system with causation versus correlation, that just because

476
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,839
we have some plastics in our brain and penis doesn't

477
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,079
absolutely mean that they cause disease, and so we do

478
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,400
need more studies, We need more information. And it sounds

479
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,200
horrible to have plastics in your body. I think we

480
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,839
all don't want plastics in our body. But it's also

481
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,599
wrong to assume that they're immediately going to kill us

482
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,400
based on a TikTok, Facebook or social media post as well.

483
00:29:41,759 --> 00:29:45,839
Speaker 2: I think we need a valid evidence that's been peer

484
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:52,200
reviewed and you know, sample size bigger to represent represent

485
00:29:52,279 --> 00:29:54,279
population impact and that sort of thing.

486
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,359
Speaker 1: So I would say this microplastic thing is both legit

487
00:29:57,519 --> 00:29:59,759
and bullshit. So it's a mixture of both. What do

488
00:29:59,759 --> 00:30:00,000
you think.

489
00:30:01,319 --> 00:30:04,039
Speaker 2: I don't know that I would call it bullshit. I

490
00:30:04,119 --> 00:30:07,440
think I think it's it could be legit. It's it's

491
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,599
still sort of questionable what what we know it's there,

492
00:30:12,599 --> 00:30:16,480
so again it comes down to what what's the clinical impact?

493
00:30:17,079 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: All right, So that ends this podcast and thank you

494
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,599
guys for sticking around and listening to us. Please click

495
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,519
that follow button and we really really do like some questions,

496
00:30:27,559 --> 00:30:31,319
so email us at the ask at itchnot dot com. Thanks,

497
00:30:31,359 --> 00:30:35,759
stay well and goodbye. Thank you for joining us. This

498
00:30:35,839 --> 00:30:39,759
is the Itchy and Itchy podcast and please click that

499
00:30:39,799 --> 00:30:42,680
follow button and send us a question at ask at

500
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,799
itchnot dot com. Thanks

