Dr. Aaron Hartman explains how women's hormones, fat, and muscle composition were ignored in drug research. The FDA took 20 years to realize Ambien is twice as potent in women. Women experience 50-75% more medication side effects and were excluded from clinical trials until 1993.
Chapters
Women are different than men. Women's hormones are different than men. Many women's fat composition and muscle composition is different than men. So how long did it take for the FDA to figure this out? Over 20 years. So let me talk about a lovely example. It took over 20 years for the FDA to realize that Ambien, a sleeping medication, actually was twice as strong in women than men because of this difference. So So ultimately, the dosing for Ambien got cut in half. So now women are supposed to take, you know, now recognized women should take half the dose of Ambien, which is a sleeping medication, than men. But it took our evidence-based system, the FDA, 20 years, almost 2 decades to figure that out and change the dosing. This is one of the many examples of our system where we overlook a certain population. If they come in with symptoms, we kind of gaslight them, tell them it's all in their head. And it requires us to become medical feminists to realize that this population of women, we need to be more proactive, we need to engage more and realize some of the situations that women go through more commonly than men. And one of these actually has to do with hormone regulation, has to do with these things called neuroendocrine disruptors, which are chemicals in our environment that more adversely affect women's fertility than men. One of the many examples of how our system actually is overlooking women and mistreat them. Point being is being educated with this can help us stop this process. But I love talking about this when it comes to medications because Yeah. As I've said before, you know, women are 50 to 75% more likely to have medication side effects than men. And until 1993, women were excluded from phase 1, phase 2 clinical trials. So, it's kind of ingrained in the system. So, becoming educated about this and knowing the difference physiology, fat composition, hormonal composition, even risk for autoimmune issues, that all plays into giving someone a personalized precision healthcare plan, which is what we do. And we our clinic, giving every patient, every female, every male, everybody individualized personalized plan. So, if you feel like you've been overlooked by the system, share your story below. Love to hear from you. And this is where we can actually educate everybody. Take care. Talk to you soon.
