My OB Told Me That Bioidentical Hormones Don't Work. Is That True?

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My OB told me that bioidentical hormones don't work. Is that true? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and fitness hall of famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions, and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Brenda from Instagram asks. My OB told me I only need estrogen and not progesterone and that bioidentical hormones don't work. Is that true? All right, well, I have the perfect person to cut through this confusion fusion. I've got Dr. Karen Dunson with me to answer this question. She's an obgyn and functional medicine expert, and she used her expertise to lose 100 pounds and healed herself from chronic disease. Now she helps tens of thousands of women lose weight, regain their energy, and master midlife through her Stop the Menopause Madness summit and her brilliant Health revolution podcast and YouTube channel. And when she's not out helping women take control of their health, she's out singing. She's a singer with the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus. And she'll be right back to answer this question.

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Yes, Brenda, I used to believe that lie too. I've been a board certified OB GYN for over 20 years and I was taught in residency that we only need estrogen in menopausal women for symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness. In fact, those are the only two symptoms of menopause that ACOG actually recognizes in the shortest amount of time, for the shortest amount of time in the lowest dose possible, and that women only need progesterone to counteract the effects of estrogen on the uterus and prevent uterine cancer. So women who have had a hysterectomy aren't given any progesterone. But this is far from the truth of what our body actually needs to stay optimally healthy in menopause and beyond. All women need progesterone. We need our full complement of our sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Women and men have the same types of sex hormones. It's just that men have 10 times the testosterone and women have 10 times the estrogen. And all of our cells depend on being nourished by these hormones. They're anti inflammatory, they promote growth and healing in all parts of our body and so they're really essential. So to say that a woman doesn't need one of these hormones and progesterone, like we talked about earlier, is the weight loss, diuretic, sleep well feel good, anti anxiety, antidepressant, happy hormone, and to say that she doesn't need that and doesn't need it benefiting her neurons in her brain which now they use progesterone for people who've had traumatic brain injury and it actually improves outcomes to say that she doesn't need that is really depriving her of everything available to her to nourish her body and make it as healthy as possible in her later years so that she feels good and also is healthy down to her bones and her muscles. So it's not true what your OB is telling you, that you only need estrogen, you also need progesterone, and you also need testosterone. And then this issue of bioidentical hormones don't work is very interesting. So I would ask them, don't work to do what? So when we use bioidentical hormones are biologically identical hormones, what we're doing is replacing your hormonal deprivation that happens at midlife and menopause, where your body isn't making high enough levels of estrogen, progesterone, and often testosterone to nourish your cells, nourish your muscles and keep them healthy, nourish your bones and keep them strong so you don't get osteoporosis and they get thin and break. And so all of your cells need these hormones. And so when you say bioidentical hormones don't work, it tells me that somebody hasn't been properly educated. And that's not uncommon for physicians who are traditionally trained like I was, because I used to be guilty of what I call contempt prior to investigation. So there was actually a guy in our town who practiced the type of medicine I practice now. And we used to kind of make fun of him because he did weird tests we weren't familiar with and used treatments we weren't familiar with. So we used to call him a quack because we weren't familiar. And I call that contempt prior to investigation. And really, there's a certain arrogance about it. Well, I'm board certified OB gyn. I know everything there is to know about women's health. But clearly I didn't because my own health was in the toilet and I was obese and had fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue and all kinds of health problems. So now I'm teachable. And it wasn't until I became teachable and open to learning something new that I could learn the truth about bioidentical hormones. So, yes, they work. They've been used globally for, like I said earlier, over 50 years to large success. I've used them myself for over a decade to help reverse my health. And I've used it with thousands of women. So I'm not sure what this practitioner was referring to. Who said that to you? They don't work. But it does sound like to me, someone who's not educated properly in the safe and effective and skilled use of bioidentical hormones, but the truth is that they are a very effective tool to help women replete their hormones and achieve hormonal balance and really thrive into midlife and beyond.

This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetoj.com.

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