Hands Off My Hormones - Why The Government Is Targeting Anti Aging

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Hello everybody, Matt Gallogly with the Practice Profit System for our weekly podcast. And today, kind of really super psyched because I am Dr. Mickey Barber, the famous Dr. Mickey Barber that you hear me talk about all the time, with locations in Charleston and Charlotte. Her clinic is Better Life Carolinas. Mickey is a recovering anesthesiologist, right Mickey? Isn't that about right?

That is about right, yes. And I'm very glad that I've recovered, uh, these days. Sure.

Well, Mickey has a lot of great qualities aside from the fact that she's a phenomenal doctor. She's my doctor. Uh, she's helped me turn around my own, uh, lipid profile, which is pretty ugly, which we're not here to talk about that today, thank God. But, uh, she's also— we have a common bond of our love of Louisiana, southern Louisiana, New Orleans, and all of that since I spent 5 years down there. So for those of you that are not New Orleans Saints fans, do not hold it against Dr. B. So Um, all right, so Mickey, let's dive in here. I want to give people a little bit of your background. Tell everybody about what your practice is and what you do and kind of what your passion is, because what we're going to be talking about today is not necessarily about growing your practice, but it's really about protecting your practice from the FDA. And we're just going to leave that hanging right there, but I want to give people some background about who you are and what you're passionate about before we dive into our main topic.

Sure. So as you said, I was an anesthesiologist. I actually did my training at Tulane, was where I did my residency, and then Brigham and Women's Hospital. And I was on faculty at Tulane for 7 years after that. And life was kind of kicking along just fine and dandy. I moved from New Orleans back to Charleston, which is where I'd gone to college and med school, and was in my mid-40s and had 2 toddlers and was working at an outpatient center and became very ill. I went from being on top of the world, feeling great, in good shape, to not being able to even make it home from work without pulling over to the side of the road and sleeping for 10 minutes before I got home. Fast forward. I went through really almost 3 years of a pursuit and an adventure to figure out what was wrong with me and how it could be treated. I went through, of course, the conventional traditional physicians' offices and got pretty much nowhere. I was finally diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic, but the treatments were extremely conventional. At one point I was taking 23 medications at one time. So eventually, due to connecting with a physician who had just started in functional medicine, who was also an anesthesiologist, We sort of figured out, hey, these are some things that are more physiologic, more natural, having to do with diet, exercise, supplements, and hormone replacement, as well as detoxifying to turn my health around. And that's when I decided, you know what, I can't practice anesthesia anymore. I was told that was probably not a good idea given my condition. I had an autonomic neuropathy. And so a friend of mine, a plastic surgeon, called me one day and he said, hey, do you know anything about this anti-aging medicine? And I said, no, but it sounds like a good plan. So that's how it's like all great business ideas start, right?

That sounds interesting. Let's try that.

And I was feeling well enough at that point that I could. And so I, um, went to a lot of meetings, did some training, read a lot. Did some certification. And so it's coming up on 20 years that I've had an age management and wellness practice.

So you're really kind of one of those early pioneers. It sounds a lot like— I just interviewed Donna White, who's here in Charlotte. I don't know if you know Donna, but she worked on—

I don't know.

Yeah, you know of Donna. Yeah, it's a very similar story. You know, mid-30s, she would just— unbelievable debilitating headaches and issues around her menstruation cycle and just, and then moving into like just horrible, horrible stuff. Very, very similar. And so the two of you are very— you're kind of a pioneer, McGee. I mean, you're really kind of one of the first ones out there, right?

That is definitely true. Um, it's interesting, I've been thinking about this because I knew we were going to have this podcast, and when I first started, you know, almost 20 years ago, we were really the first practice that I was aware of in the Carolinas that were talking about testosterone for men and bioidentical hormones for men and women. But even now, Matt, as you know, we're still sort of on an island. You know, I mean, there are definitely—

Yes.

More people, more physicians in this space. But it still is kind of surprising to me how many things that we do at Better Life Carolinas that other people don't do. You know, I've got a surprise.

Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting because our clinics were literally right down— both of them were located on Pineville Matthews. We're right down the street from each other. And granted, we did obviously nothing but ED, and I know you treat a lot of different other things, but I knew of you and I could tell right away you were one of the— you were one of the few that knew exactly what they were talking about, right? Like, you know, that's the— and yeah, you know, there's a lot of people out there. So which leads— this is what I really— this is what we're really here for today, is we want to talk about some issues that are going on, and I wouldn't call them just some issues, but these— if you are doing any form of peptides, hormones, anything really in our space, you need to pay real close attention because the FDA is trying to lay the hammer down and really trying to— is it safe to say outlaw what we do to a certain degree or eliminate our access to the medicines? Tell us, everybody, what's going on.

Right. Yeah, it's really frightening. I feel like— and, you know, I've talked about this just since this whole COVID thing has happened that, you know, looking through the magnifying mirror really at medicine and where do we stand and, you know, the oversight and overreach of the government in the practice of medicine has just gotten amplified, in my opinion, over the last 2 years. Coincidentally, having nothing to do with COVID I don't believe, the FDA has gone on the warpath, really, to close down a lot of things that compounding pharmacies provide us with. And they— good news is that when COVID hit, they put that particular issue kind of on the back burner in front of Congress. But now they really have their foot on the accelerator again. So the question I get asked all the time is, why would they be doing that? Why would they be doing that? Well, you know, when compounding pharmacies first happened, which was about 20 years ago when I started my practice, it was just a small sliver of patients who were utilizing those pharmacies. Well, it's grown so much, and, and these pharmacies are providing not just hormones and peptides, but, you know, compounding things for children, for animals, for surgery centers and really bypassing Big Pharma and the pharmaceutical industry, which is why the FDA, who really has an incestuous relationship, in my opinion—

You think just a little bit? Just watch Dopesick. Let's just say 10% of that's true. It should scare the living crap out of you.

I know. I mean, it's frightening. And so Big Pharma now has seen the impact of what is done, made in compounding pharmacies, and is trying to shut them down and take products that we use in an age management and wellness practice. And the only way that they will be available is through a pharmaceutical company. They've already done that with HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, which we've been using for you know, 20 years, um, for, uh, we don't really use it as a weight loss medication. I know some weight loss clinics they do, but we use it to augment, uh, testosterone production in men. Um, and we've been using it for years. Well, they've already pulled that out. Um, you know, they met in front of Congress, I guess it's been 3 years ago, and I don't know how everybody listening feels about politicians, but there are very few of them that are medical doctors. So, and the ones that are, I think, are trying, but, you know, it's an uphill battle. So they, you know, testify in front of Congress, and they say that the compounding pharmacies cannot compound anything that is a quote-unquote biologic. So anything that our body makes cannot be compounded. It can be manufactured. Through the pharmaceutical companies, but not compounded. So HCG fell onto that list, and we really can't get it anywhere. I mean, we have stockpiled it with the help of some compounders that we work with, but that it is going to be in short supply. So it's already happened. Now they are going after testosterone pellets, compounded injectable testosterone, DHEA. Estrogens, everything. Anything that is compounded and can be manufactured is at risk. I've been working with the Compounding Pharmacy Alliance for coming up on 2 years now, and that is a big organization that really is just to protect compounding pharmacies. And there we have lobbyists, there is money being sent that way. But like any cause, we need more money. And the most important thing, Matt, which is why I wanted to, to do this podcast with you today, is that providers— physicians, nurse practitioners— do not realize this is happening. And we need a real grassroots effort getting in contact with your legislators and saying, no, this is not what we want. This will limit— Care and medication. I mean, think about it this way. So when the pharmaceutical company makes, let's say, an estrogen cream, they're going to make one strength. So it'll be one size fits all, as opposed to if you have an estrogen cream compounded for a patient, you can choose that strength. So you can individualize that therapy for the patient. So right there, you're, you're taking away access and individualized, personalized care from patients and the ability to prescribe for patients individually from the physicians.

Well, you know what's interesting is I've said this for about 4 years when we have this entire conversation about nationalized healthcare. And I tell my friends who are not in the medical space, we already have nationalized healthcare. It's just an Americanized version of it. We'll never have the European-Canadian version, right?

Right.

Because Americans will see through that. But what Americans don't know, because it's really happened, really what they've done is they have, in essence, federalized the pharmaceuticals and the hospital groups under the guise of nonprofits and capitalism, right? All you got to do is look at how much money— how much money has Pfizer and Moderna made with COVID Hey, let's get another shot, right? So it's crazy. And so when I tell my friends, when they're like, oh, my doctor— I want a doctor that's going to spend time with me. Well, the doctor can't spend time with you because they're always reducing their reimbursement rates. The reimbursement rates never go up, they always go down. They have to. And I explain, I don't want to rehash the system, and this to me is just another way that they're trying to move to federalized healthcare. Because if they can eliminate the choices, then they can keep— I don't want to get too political here, but I'll just say it— then they can keep us in another form of chains because our choices are gone, right? And what I see, what I see is we should be putting more people on HRT and peptides and DHEA and estrogen creams because It is better for them. I mean, you and I are a living, walking testament to that, right?

Absolutely.

I mean, Mickey, what was the path I was on before with my blood panel? At the age of 54, where was I headed?

Heart attack.

Heart attack by the time I am 60? Massive?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, we had to get it turned around. And same with me. I mean, I was not able to function. It had to be turned around. And, you know, like, Everything that you're saying is so true, and you know I'm on the same page with you there. Doctors are the worst, though, at mobilizing and putting their money where it counts. And I know this when I spoke at the Age Management Group, you know, last spring. Most doctors did not contribute to the cause. And I'm saying, if you don't contribute to this cause, take some money out of your pocket, And sign the petitions, you won't have a business. I'm sure that most of your clients are using peptides of some sort. They've already pulled BPC out, so it's very hard to get BPC, which is probably the best peptide we have because it has so many applications, really no side effects. And so they've already pulled that one out. And why? Because they are manufacturing it. There's a Phase 3 clinical trial of BPC eye drops for dry eyes, which it works very well for that. But that's what's happening. They're pulling more and more and more of these peptides out so that, you know, one, you're going to have to get it through the pharmaceutical company and pay 3 times more.

That's the worst part about it. You're going to pay 3 times more.

The HCG that you can get, Pregnyl, which is through the Pharmaceutical companies, costs 3 times more. So it's $300 instead of $100, and it's on back order all the time. I mean, you have— there's a waiting list to get it. Um, it's just insane, and it's scary to me. But people ask me all the time, when am I going to retire? I said, well, if they pull all these drugs and peptides and everything else out of the practice, I probably would retire.

Yeah.

What are you gonna do?

Well, let's, let's just take a— you know, if people go, oh, that would never happen in America, all you have to do is go to California. So I have a number of clients in California. I have, um, I have interest in a couple of clinics out there. And when I say interest in clinics, I got to be clear, obviously they're not the clinics or the management company, because I don't want somebody, you know, thinking, oh my God, he's practicing medicine without a license. I have to put that disclaimer in there, Vicki, in today's day and age. And I have a number of clients in California. You know, you can't get peptides in California?

Wow.

Zip. Zero. So when one of my client doctors, her children got COVID, and she goes, what do I do? I explained to her the protocol you had me on when I got COVID. And she goes, well, I can't get those peptides here. I'm like, what? She goes, I can't, I can't get those. I can't get thymosin alpha. I can't get PPC-157.

I can't—

you know, we had to move heaven and earth for her to find ivermectin, right? You know, just the challenges of— and now she can do pellets and testosterone and estrogen creams, but, you know, it, it's already happening. And oh yeah, it's, it's awful for the patient. It's awful for the patient.

I've been practicing medicine 40 years. And since COVID this is the first time that when I have called a prescription in for something, in this case it was for ivermectin, I get asked, why am I calling it in? What is the reason? What is wrong with the patient? Never have I ever been asked that question. And I've asked other doctors, has anyone ever asked you why you're calling? I mean, you could call in a narcotic, an antibiotic, a blood pressure medication, a heart medication. No one asked, why are you calling this in? And my colleagues and I have gotten to the point, like, we just say, it's none of your business. I'm calling in this prescription. If you're not going to fill it, then I'm going to call my patients and tell them never to use your pharmacy. I mean, it's ridiculous.

Hey, remember when you phoned in my ivermectin and they changed the dosing?

You told me that. I think that did not happen to me. Yeah.

No, that— no, they changed. Yeah, they changed my dosing. You called in 5 days, they gave you 3. Oh my gosh. That's right. And they cut the dose in half.

Yeah. Yeah.

Are you feeling better? Yeah, but I only got 3 days worth. You're like, what?

I forgot that. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, I— and what can we do about it, really? I mean, what are we going to do about it? I guess that's, you know, I want to send people to compounding.com.

Yeah, let's— we're going to talk more about that. So let's talk about compounding.com and let's talk about how we can fix it because there is a major issue. Without a doubt. And I agree with you, if you are doing any form of anti-aging, I don't care if it's $50, $100, you've got to get involved in this. I've told every single one of my doctors, this is not an option. You do not get to debate this. You have to do this. You have to step up. So let's talk about what we can do. Let's talk about compounding.com. Let's talk about their approach, because we all know that the laws are not made by the citizens. They're made by the lobbyists, right? Isn't that how DC works.

Right. So, exactly right. Well, one of the things that would be helpful, and you have my email address, if there are any physicians who really want to get more grassroots involved, meaning if you're going to A4M or any organizations and you can get in front of people, that helps a lot. I know that the Alliance for Compounding Pharmacies has a booth scheduled for The Age Management Medical Group in Miami and with A4M. But if you can get involved, and if you're giving a talk, you know, 5 minutes of your talk, get push-out emails to your patients, to your database, having the compounding.com link on there so that people take action. I mean, that's— To me, money and getting with your Congress, sitting down, calling them on the phone, whatever it takes, is hugely important.

So, with compounding.com, how does it work? So, when the money goes in, so they have lobbyists. Do you know how they're approaching this? How are they going out and educating our congressmen and congresswomen?

So, what they've been doing for the past year is they have been Because it hasn't come in front of Congress yet, they've been doing kind of the prep work. So they have been meeting with staff for the legislators. They have now— they just started, uh, probably 6 months ago, a big media campaign drilling down on the people that are in Congress, educating them about, in this case, bioidentical hormones. So they've already started the education process. With our senators and members of Congress, so that when it comes in front of them, they know something about it. They know about compounding. They know about bioidentical hormones. I know the International Peptide Society is doing their own thing. I'm not involved with that. I've signed the petition. I think the Compounding Alliance has more skin in the game. They hired a big media company. I guess it's. 2 years ago. One of the things that they've done is gotten several of us on different podcasts to get the word out there. And they're going to start running commercials on social media and on networks, really, you know, pushing again the personal choice. So it's a very organized, pretty well-funded approach. There's another website called We the Women, which is only focused on hormones for women. So there are a couple of other groups that are approaching this. And so the more information and the more pressure, the better. But I think that the compounding.com, when you go in there, there are a couple of things happen. One, it'll ask you if you want to donate. And the other thing that's equally important is you put your zip code in there, I think, and then it'll connect you through email to— oh, I'm sorry— to your senators and congressmen and women so that your interest and your position goes straight to them, which is super easy. I mean, it makes it very easy to do. Oh yeah.

I mean, getting a letter to your congressman or woman is like uber easy these days.

Yeah, right. That's what I hope everybody that listens to this podcast does today. And then if you can craft, and if you can't come up with it, You know, I can get an email crafted through the Alliance for Compounding Pharmacies that you could send out to your whole database, kind of explaining, you know, the history. And again, you know, sending you to a direct link.

It's not just about the doctors, DOs, nurse practitioners, medical professionals, prescribers doing this. You'd also want this to go out to their patient base, because I saw you did that with the Great Barrington Declaration, right?

Correct. Yeah, correct.

And that's really who's going to lose it. That's the biggest loser in this.

Absolutely. And patients get very upset about it, and, you know, they will mobilize if you get them the information. Uh, every time I send it out— because I've sent out a couple of times, um, to my patient base— and people will reply back, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it. Um, so I really strongly encourage that, and I'm sure that you encourage your your clients to have an email database. So right there, you know, reaching thousands of people pretty easily.

Yeah.

Hands off my hormones and hands off my handguns.

Right.

Isn't that the whole deal?

I like that. I like that. Not trying to make less of the peptide issue. They're not going to go in front of Congress right out of the gate with that. They may not even have to. They've already closed it down, you know. But the hormones, they are— that is going to be in front of Congress probably, probably by the end of this year.

Yeah, if they can drive the cost up, then they can put more through the insurance providers, which means that then they eliminate us as a voice, right? This is the, this is the last stand. Our world, the cash world, anti-aging, regenerative, uh, men's and women's sexual health— in my view, this is the last stand We, we are the last citadel. We are the Alamo when it comes to, um, protecting the patient's rights for them to have free choice. Now, we want this to end better than it did at the Alamo, clearly, right?

Sure.

Right? But, you know, it's— and it's probably not that dire, but it's getting pretty damn close. And if we don't start doing this now, there's not going to be any voices left. And I, every single day, every single day, Mickey, either through social media, Voicemails, emails, people calling me. They're like, get me out of insurance care. I can't stand it anymore. I can't do it anymore, Matt. Can't work any harder. I have a surgeon client, used to do $5 million a year in surgery, highly trained under Dr. Andrews, one of the best. He now does about $3.5 million a year and he has 20% more staff and he's doing 20% more surgeries. More surgeries, less revenue. More staff. Like, this is a recipe for— it's awful.

Crazy, isn't it? I don't know. I mean, I— it's scary to me. I mean, that— I guess, you know, you reach a certain time in your professional life where you feel like, you know, you've really worked hard, you've established a good practice, you're making good money, you have good employees, and to have the government Threatening that, our patients' welfare and our own success, is just— it's scary. It's scary stuff to me.

I agree. Well, okay, so folks, I want you to go to compounding.com. You need to sign the petition. You need to reach out to your congressmen and women, your senators, your elected representatives. You need to make a contribution. You need to get this out to your, to your patient staff. When people are coming in, you need to be handing this to them because You know, there is still an opportunity for us to have a voice about things in America, and it's not just by shouting on Facebook and telling the other side they're stupid. Like, there is a process for doing this, and if you don't, we're all going to wind up hanging out at Kaiser Permanente waiting in line for, you know, whatever, you know.

True.

Couldn't have put it better, Ryan. Yeah, there you go. Well, I am a wordsmith, Mickey. You should know that about me after 4 years.

I know, I was gonna—

So, and Mickey, if, you know, I know you're always there to help. I've directed a number of my clients to go talk to you with regards to some of the work that you've been doing to help patients recover from COVID and some of the other things that you've done. What's the best way for someone— now I understand, like, you don't wanna give your personal email, but like, how should somebody, if they have questions or they wanna talk to you or reach out to you, learn a little bit more, how do they get in touch with you? What's the best way?

Well, it's Dr. Barber, so D-R-B-A-R-B-E-R, at betterlifecarolinas.com. So plural, Carolinas. If you— you can call the office and they can find me, which is 843-577-8484. Yeah, I'm happy to help any way, you know. Best thing that ever happened to me was, you know, almost dying from an unusual illness, um, because it's put me in a space that, you know, I enjoy every day. And, um, you know, we have to protect what we do, and, you know, this is the time to do it.

And I'll, you know, like I said, I've— Mickey's the only one that I trust with my hormones because having, you know, had a practice that inserted, uh, thousands of these things a month I'll tell you this, Mickey. I was just at an event in Austin, Texas, with a bunch of my friends, and I had a lot of them I hadn't seen in 10, 12 years, and they couldn't believe how good I looked. A lot of them are, you know, they're all in their 50s now. They're all getting fat. They're all getting the paunch. They're all taking mid-afternoon naps. They're like, I have no sex drive. And I'm like, yeah, nope, I'm good on all fronts. So thank you for the great work that you've done on me and for your patience, and we're going to keep fighting. this thing. So appreciate everything you've done for me personally. It's made a huge difference.

My pleasure.

All right.

Okay.

Check it out, folks.

compounding.com and Dr. Miki Barber at Better Life Carolinas. That's drbarber@betterlifecarolinas.com if you want to reach out to her, get yourself signed up. And, uh, we'll post more of these resources in the show notes. Thank you so much, Miki. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Have a good rest of your day.

You got it.

Thank you so much for listening. If you liked this episode, take a moment and share it with your fellow medical professionals, or post a positive comment and rate it on wherever you just listened. Now don't forget, you can get a copy of my book, The Anatomy of a Seven-Figure Medical Practice, for free. Just pay $7.95 in shipping and handling, plus you'll get over $1,197 in free bonus material. Simply go to sr. srpmedicalmarketing.com/book. That's srpmedicalmarketing.com/book. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next week.