1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,300 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:15,000 Now, here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,360 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified doctor of non-force chiropractic and practitioner 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,080 of functional medicine. 7 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:29,560 I identify conditions that other doctors miss by doing tests that most doctors don't do, 8 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:31,400 like saliva hormone tests. 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,720 This is the third in a series of episodes on hormones. 10 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:40,620 The first one I talked about a really surprising article that came out in the medical press 11 00:00:40,620 --> 00:00:48,800 with two medical experts talking about hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women and 12 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,200 a widespread problem that family physicians are just not treating women who are coming 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,400 into their offices with symptoms of menopause. 14 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,560 They're not being properly treated because they're worried about the side effects of 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,720 conventional hormone replacement therapy. 16 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:09,640 So there are other alternatives, more plant-based hormones, natural alternatives to the standard 17 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:15,720 PremPro and Premarin, horse urine hormones that were standard hormone replacement therapy 18 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:17,400 for several decades. 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:24,080 Last week, I focused on estrogen, the problems of low estrogen, some of the alternatives 20 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:29,440 to standard hormone replacement therapy for resolving the issue when women present with 21 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,320 low estrogen, especially on salivary hormone testing. 22 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:37,680 So when you test saliva instead of blood for hormones, you get an average throughout the 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:43,280 day instead of just a snapshot in time of something that's constantly going up and down. 24 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,480 So last week, it was all about estrogen. 25 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:50,600 This week, I'm going to focus on progesterone, the other major hormone that we're concerned 26 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,520 about for menopausal women. 27 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,900 I'm also going to talk about a really exciting case study about a 62-year-old woman who came 28 00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:03,220 to see me with headaches, low thyroid symptoms, disappointing results with the therapy that 29 00:02:03,220 --> 00:02:04,220 she was getting. 30 00:02:04,220 --> 00:02:09,720 So she was going to another functional medicine doctor, and she still wasn't feeling right. 31 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,200 So she had good testing done, and she was getting some therapy, but she still didn't 32 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,200 feel like herself. 33 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,900 So she also had thinning hair and sugar cravings, low blood pressure, lightheadedness. 34 00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:20,400 So we'll come back to that. 35 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,500 First, let's talk about progesterone. 36 00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:24,760 What is the function of progesterone? 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:33,440 So pro to promote gestate in addition to its role in menstruation, pregnancy, and the formation 38 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,700 of embryos, progesterone balances estrogen. 39 00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:40,080 It's anti-inflammatory. 40 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,380 Progesterone acts as a diuretic. 41 00:02:42,380 --> 00:02:49,300 It enhances GABA, G-A-B-A, the calming neurotransmitter for people that have anxiety. 42 00:02:49,300 --> 00:02:51,640 Progesterone enhances thyroid function. 43 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:53,480 It improves sleep. 44 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,480 It helps build bone. 45 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,680 It helps maintain bladder function. 46 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:03,880 Progesterone can help reduce anxiety, irritability, and mood swings. 47 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:10,700 It helps the body eliminate fats, increases metabolic rate, improves hair growth, lowers 48 00:03:10,700 --> 00:03:17,040 bad cholesterol, protects breast health, and supports the immune system, among many other 49 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,040 things. 50 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:22,440 It's becoming clear that hopefully that progesterone has many effects throughout the body. 51 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,960 And that's why it's so important that if you're not feeling like yourself or you know someone 52 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:31,480 who is not feeling the way they should to get testing if they have these types of symptoms. 53 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:39,000 So symptoms of insufficient progesterone are anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, 54 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,080 insomnia, pain and inflammation. 55 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:48,840 Losing progesterone contributes to osteoporosis and excessive menstruation and hypersensitivity, 56 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:56,800 nervousness, migraine headaches, weight gain, decreased libido, and decreased good cholesterol 57 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,760 are all signs symptoms of insufficient progesterone. 58 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:03,840 So what causes low progesterone? 59 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:09,680 Well, menopause, obviously, but also stress is a huge cause of low progesterone. 60 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:16,280 Loss and taking antidepressant medications, excess sugar consumption and saturated fat, 61 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:23,280 deficiency of several vitamins, especially vitamins A, B6, vitamin C, and zinc, and also 62 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:29,120 having low thyroid can contribute to low and result in low progesterone levels. 63 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:35,320 I decided to start doing this series on hormones when I read this just really surprising article 64 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,720 that came out about where Dr. Stephanie Fabian, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women's 65 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:46,080 Health and medical director of the Menopause Society was speaking out against the fact 66 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:51,320 that most practicing physicians have been scared off prescribing hormone replacement 67 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:58,100 therapy for the past 20 odd years because a huge study called the Women's Health Initiative 68 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:03,360 showed that conventional hormone replacement therapy can increase the risk of breast cancer 69 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:05,040 and heart disease. 70 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,600 So what they don't tell you or what you don't usually hear about, I don't think that wasn't 71 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:10,600 even mentioned. 72 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:12,080 So even Dr. Fabian didn't mention this. 73 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,640 She sort of alluded to it later in the article. 74 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:20,840 But much of this increased risk for breast cancer and heart disease was caused by synthetic 75 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:23,200 progestins. 76 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,880 So the hormone replacement therapy that women have been taking for decades, PremPro and 77 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:35,560 Premarin, PremPro is, so Premarin is horse urine estrogen and PremPro is Premarin with 78 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,680 progestin, synthetic progesterone. 79 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:47,120 And this is well documented now that the synthetic progestins are carcinogenic and they have 80 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:53,640 an entirely different function to the natural progesterone that your body makes and to natural 81 00:05:53,640 --> 00:06:01,520 progesterone that you can get from plant-based sources to fix the problem of if you test 82 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:02,880 low in progesterone. 83 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:08,920 So synthetic progestins have a whole bunch of horrible side effects which may be familiar 84 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,080 to women that were taking these things for many years. 85 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:18,560 Synthetic progestins, not natural progestin, but synthetic progestins cause increased appetite, 86 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:25,480 weight gain, fluid retention, irritability, depression, headache, decreased energy, breast 87 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:33,360 tenderness, decreased sexual interest, acne, hair loss, insomnia, nausea, spasm of the 88 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,840 coronary arteries and worst of all, they interfere with your body's own production of natural 89 00:06:38,840 --> 00:06:44,000 progesterone and they don't help balance estrogen which is really important. 90 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:50,440 So worst of all, progestins, synthetic progestins, not natural progesterone, but synthetic progestins 91 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:55,560 increased breast cancer growth as was shown in several studies which is why so many doctors 92 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,840 have just thrown up their hands and said, well, if you don't want to increase your risk 93 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,280 of breast cancer then you'll just have to deal with the symptoms of menopause because 94 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:07,400 it's too dangerous to take the drugs that we would otherwise give you. 95 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,720 Well, that is not the only option. 96 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,840 Before we get to the natural options that are available that I've been using that many 97 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,880 other doctors use now, more on synthetic progestins. 98 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:23,580 So synthetic progestins also stop the protective effects of estrogen on the heart. 99 00:07:23,580 --> 00:07:29,200 Estrogen is actually, natural estrogen and progestone are protective on the heart. 100 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:36,440 They increase, but the synthetic progestins increase bad cholesterol, decrease good cholesterol 101 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:42,760 and they counter-effect many of the positive effects of estrogen on serotonin and therefore 102 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,240 mood. 103 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:49,380 So natural progesterone that is produced by your ovaries before menstruation and your 104 00:07:49,380 --> 00:07:53,640 adrenal glands after menstruation as well as plant-based. 105 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,400 So if you come into me, test low or you go to any functional practitioner these days, 106 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:03,480 hopefully and you test low and progesterone, we're going to recommend a natural plant-based 107 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:10,720 progesterone therapy which helps balance estrogen, improves sleep, has a natural calming effect, 108 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:17,160 it lowers your blood pressure, helps the body use and eliminate fats, lowers cholesterol, 109 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:23,600 increases metabolic rate, it's a natural diuretic, a natural antidepressant and an anti-inflammatory. 110 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:29,440 Natural progesterone also stimulates the production of new bone and enhances the effect of thyroid 111 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:35,440 hormones, improves libido and helps protect nerves in the brain and throughout your body. 112 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:39,880 So most importantly, not only does it not increase your risk of breast cancer, natural 113 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,480 progesterone reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. 114 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,800 One study of 6,000 premenopausal women who's those with regular cycles and the highest 115 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:55,880 levels of progesterone had an 88% reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer. 116 00:08:55,880 --> 00:09:01,380 I've mentioned it before, that progesterone balances estrogen. 117 00:09:01,380 --> 00:09:03,240 So what does that mean? 118 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:07,800 All the benefits that I've listed for natural progesterone only occur in the presence of 119 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:09,320 adequate estrogen. 120 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:14,160 Progesterone cream has been available over the counter for many years and some women 121 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,440 are afraid, so many women are afraid to take estrogen that they just take progesterone. 122 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:24,280 But too much progesterone, like so many things, can cause problems. 123 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:29,500 Among them, too much progesterone can elevate stressful cortisol levels. 124 00:09:29,500 --> 00:09:34,680 Too much progesterone can increase insulin resistance, which is basically becomes diabetes. 125 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:41,280 It can also increase appetite and carbohydrate cravings and relax the muscles of the gut, 126 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,840 causing bloating and constipation. 127 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:50,080 Too much progesterone can contribute to gallstones and incontinence and it can decrease growth 128 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:56,800 hormone and also suppress the immune system and cause ligaments to become lax, causing 129 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,360 achy backs and hips and legs. 130 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:01,880 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 131 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,280 You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions to almost any health challenge. 132 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,880 We're talking about hormones, specifically mostly progesterone today. 133 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:15,240 And I've got an exciting case study about a 62-year-old woman that came to me with headaches, 134 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:17,760 low thyroid, disappointing. 135 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,440 She was going to another functional endocrinologist, functionally oriented endocrinologist who 136 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:28,040 was doing a great job, giving her some really good products, treating her with mostly natural 137 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,040 therapies. 138 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,040 But she still wasn't feeling good. 139 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:33,360 She wasn't getting the results that she had hoped for. 140 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,920 Her hair was getting thinner and she had intense sugar cravings. 141 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,560 Even though she was really good about not eating, she had an excellent diet. 142 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:45,400 She did not eat much grains, starch or sugar at all, but she still just really, really 143 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,120 craved it and didn't understand why. 144 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,600 She had low blood pressure, not on any medications for it, but she was aware of it and wanted 145 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,080 to do something about it. 146 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,040 Didn't want to need to become dependent on medication for that. 147 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,440 And she had, she didn't get lightheaded when she'd stand quickly. 148 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,560 That's a common sign of low blood pressure. 149 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:09,840 She had swelling, fatigue after eating and loose bowel movements and was getting bruising 150 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:11,960 that she'd never had before. 151 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:17,220 So I tested her, did the hormone, saliva hormone test on her and it showed that she had very 152 00:11:17,220 --> 00:11:19,720 low cortisol levels throughout the day. 153 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,920 So she had extreme adrenal fatigue. 154 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:24,720 She's a successful businesswoman. 155 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,800 She's got a busy life. 156 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:33,400 This is part of life if you're a busy person a lot of times and she didn't seem particularly 157 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,880 stressed when I asked her, oh no, I don't, I mean, I just have the normal stress of life, 158 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,240 quote unquote. 159 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:45,420 But it was having a significant toll on her body, especially her adrenal glands and her 160 00:11:45,420 --> 00:11:50,400 progesterone level and DHEA levels, which we'll talk more about that later, but these, 161 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:57,000 her progesterone was actually high as well as DHEA, which is a precursor for estrogen 162 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,000 testosterone. 163 00:11:58,000 --> 00:11:59,720 So those were actually higher than normal. 164 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:04,600 So she was taking a little bit too much of that from what she was getting from her other 165 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:05,600 doctor. 166 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,120 I also did some blood work and her blood tests showed that she had pre-diabetes. 167 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:14,660 Again, even with that excellent diet, she had pre-diabetes and low protein levels. 168 00:12:14,660 --> 00:12:16,920 She was really surprised about this. 169 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:18,660 How could she have low protein? 170 00:12:18,660 --> 00:12:20,580 She eats a really good diet. 171 00:12:20,580 --> 00:12:26,120 She eats quite a, for her weight and age, a sufficient, more than sufficient amount of 172 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:30,960 fish and chicken, good quality protein, but she still had low protein in her serum. 173 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,040 Well, I explained to her that most of the time when that happens, very common actually, 174 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,080 I see it all the time. 175 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:42,360 People who are eating adequate amounts of protein still end up with insufficient protein 176 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:46,940 in their serum because of low acid in their stomach. 177 00:12:46,940 --> 00:12:51,840 To absorb the protein that you eat, you must have sufficient hydrochloric acid in your 178 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:57,800 stomach to break that protein down and absorb and assimilate it to get it into your cells 179 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:01,040 where it can help rebuild and repair tissues throughout your body. 180 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:02,040 It's so important. 181 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:07,680 And especially as you get older, if you're over in your 60s or 70s or older, it's really 182 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:11,560 important to get that checked, maintain adequate protein levels. 183 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:15,840 And oftentimes it's not because you need to eat more, but mostly often, most frequently 184 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:21,400 in my experience, because your stomach stops making enough acid to break that protein down 185 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,200 so that it becomes assemblable. 186 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,480 So she had low protein, she has stress on her liver. 187 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:33,280 It's a 62 year old woman, stress on her liver, high cholesterol, low thyroid. 188 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:38,000 She was being medicated for that folate and B12 deficiency and vitamin D deficiency. 189 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:44,120 So she was significantly deficient in two B vitamins, folate and B12, as well as vitamin 190 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:49,440 D. So she was eating a good nutrient, she was eating a good diet, but not absorbing 191 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,440 the nutrients from the food because she was eating some good sources of these B vitamins 192 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,280 even, but wasn't absorbing them. 193 00:13:56,280 --> 00:14:00,480 And so I gave her some basic nutrient support, a good multivitamin, which is always a four 194 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:05,800 capsule a day multivitamin with minerals that your body can actually absorb and use, a fairly 195 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:12,880 high dose of fish oil, vitamin D with vitamin K and some digestive enzymes and that hydrochloric 196 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,600 acid that was missing from her stomach so that she can absorb the nutrients from her 197 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:18,880 food. 198 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:24,580 Then we added some folate and B12 to fix those deficiencies and some adrenal support. 199 00:14:24,580 --> 00:14:31,960 So when somebody's adrenal glands are as fatigued as hers were, my first step is to give adrenal 200 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:37,940 glandulars, which are basically just ground up adrenal glands from healthy young animals 201 00:14:37,940 --> 00:14:44,040 that have all the components of cells that your body needs to make new adrenal functioning, 202 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:49,520 healthy adrenal gland cells that will restore your adrenal function very quickly. 203 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:54,660 And then eventually we only do those short term, usually four to six months typically, 204 00:14:54,660 --> 00:15:01,480 and then move you over to support for keeping your adrenal glands functioning normally with 205 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,760 adaptogenic herbs. 206 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:09,120 So often start with both actually, but long term, you don't need to take the glandulars, 207 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,860 just some support to deal with the normal daily stress. 208 00:15:12,860 --> 00:15:18,120 So the upshot is four months later, almost all of her symptoms had dramatically improved 209 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,200 and many were gone completely. 210 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:21,760 She was really excited. 211 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:26,800 She said, I'm starting to feel like myself again. 212 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,520 The sugar cravings were gone. 213 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:30,160 Her lightheadedness was gone. 214 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,420 The fatigue after eating is gone. 215 00:15:33,420 --> 00:15:37,760 Her stools are normal and she's getting the bruising, still getting a little bit of bruising, 216 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:39,760 but much less than she was. 217 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:45,120 She had more energy and her headaches were almost gone, very, very much less frequently 218 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:46,800 than they had been before. 219 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,560 So she was really excited about that. 220 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,920 And I've had so many similar cases. 221 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:57,600 It's really sad that so many women are suffering from symptoms like this that can be helped 222 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,600 and they just are convinced that there's no option out there. 223 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:05,600 So please tell people, if you know someone who's having menopausal symptoms, things like 224 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,680 we've been talking about, that there are options out there and you need to do the proper testing 225 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:18,000 to identify the proper solution and it need not involve heavy side effects, latent pharmaceuticals 226 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,800 or anything else that has side effects or increases your risk of cancer, et cetera. 227 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,160 So how do I keep myself abreast of all the latest information about this? 228 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:33,600 I go to a conference every year, the Lens Conference Laboratory Endocrine and Neurotransmitter 229 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:42,920 Symposium, and they have just the top experts in the field there every year, among them, 230 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:43,920 Pamela Smith. 231 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:49,840 So if you want to educate yourself about this, Pamela Smith is not only a fantastic physician 232 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,800 and speaker and educator, but she writes books for the public as well. 233 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,960 And this is one I recommend, probably the best single book if you want to educate yourself 234 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,040 about these things that I've been talking about. 235 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:06,720 Pamela Smith, MD, the title of the book is What You Must Know About Women's Hormones. 236 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:11,240 And Dr. Pamela Smith is a diplomat of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Physicians 237 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:16,200 and a director of the master's program in medical sciences with a concentration in metabolic 238 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:21,000 and nutritional medicine at the University of South Florida School of Medicine. 239 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:25,440 She has practices in Florida and Michigan. 240 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,280 And her book is divided up into three parts. 241 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,000 The first part describes your own, your body, how your body makes its own hormones and the 242 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:35,400 functions and the side effects that can occur if they're not at optimal levels. 243 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:42,280 And part two focuses on the most common problems that arise from hormonal imbalances, PMS, 244 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:48,280 hot flashes, the common stuff, but also some lesser common disorders that you may not realize 245 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,840 are related to hormones, osteoporosis. 246 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,600 And in part three, she focuses on hormone replacement therapy, focusing on the difference 247 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:59,480 between natural and synthetic hormones. 248 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:04,280 So again, the book is titled What You Must Know About Women's Hormones by Pamela Warteyan 249 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:05,280 Smith, MD. 250 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:10,440 It's an excellent book to educate yourself and also arm yourself if you're getting treatment 251 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:14,200 from a doctor currently and not getting the results you want. 252 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,800 I'd love an opportunity to help you, but if you want to educate yourself a little bit 253 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:22,040 more before you make a change or even perhaps just continue with the doctor that you're 254 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:30,400 seeing but be able to ask them educated questions, this is a great resource to educate yourself. 255 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,480 One of the most common questions I've got this past week is how much does it cost to 256 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,180 get this salivary hormone test I'm talking about? 257 00:18:38,180 --> 00:18:41,880 So the comprehensive test, there are some different options, but the comprehensive test 258 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:47,280 that includes all of the things I've been talking about, all three estrogens, estrone, 259 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:54,880 estradiol, the most famous one, estriol, all three estrogens, four cortisol tests throughout 260 00:18:54,880 --> 00:19:03,880 the day, progesterone, DHEA, and testosterone, that comprehensive salivary hormone test through 261 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,640 Doctors Data is $220. 262 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,440 So that's the money that goes to the lab for them to perform that test. 263 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:14,320 And you can check out that test on their website, doctorsdata.com. 264 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:20,960 You can go on their website and click on the test menu and endocrinology and under that 265 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:26,440 the comprehensive plus hormone profile saliva. 266 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,600 And you can see a sample report to see what your results might look like. 267 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:36,360 You can also just email me and I'll send you a sample report of this if you'd like. 268 00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:41,880 Doctors Data is the premier lab in the country for doing this type of testing. 269 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:46,200 And it's really simple to do for people who are afraid or getting their blood taken or 270 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,720 reluctant to go in and get an eel stick. 271 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,040 The nice thing is it's just a kit that either I have the lab, if you come to me at the office, 272 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:57,200 I've got them in the office or I can have the lab ship a kit directly to you. 273 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,760 I have patients in many states around the country and I just have the lab ship the kit 274 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,520 directly to you and you open it, you read the instructions. 275 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:10,400 There's four little tubes and a straw that you use to spit in each of these four tubes. 276 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:14,800 You collect one first half hour after you wake up in the morning. 277 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:19,600 The second tube is around lunchtime, dinnertime and bedtime. 278 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,400 So half hour after you wake up, lunchtime, dinnertime, bedtime. 279 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,540 So that gets this nice range of cortisol levels throughout the day. 280 00:20:27,540 --> 00:20:33,060 So your stress hormone that's produced by your adrenal glands, cortisol, varies throughout 281 00:20:33,060 --> 00:20:35,980 the day on a normal curve. 282 00:20:35,980 --> 00:20:37,520 So it starts out highest in the morning. 283 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:38,520 It's really high in the morning. 284 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,720 It drops down around midday and lower in the evening and the lowest at night. 285 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,520 But that curve, so it's always going to, if it's working normally, will always be in that 286 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,600 type of a curve, but it should also be within a certain range. 287 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,880 So we want to make sure that's why we need to do four tests and not just a while. 288 00:20:53,880 --> 00:21:00,000 Some doctors just do a morning cortisol blood test and that doesn't tell you what it's 289 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:01,000 doing the rest of the day. 290 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:02,400 So you really need that. 291 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,840 You need to see those four results throughout the day. 292 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:11,480 And then the lab takes a little bit from each one of those four samples and makes a fifth 293 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:17,120 sample, which then gives them an average throughout the day to test all the other hormones, the 294 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:21,900 three estrogens, the progesterone, the testosterone and the DHEA. 295 00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:27,000 That's how they get that average throughout the day versus a snapshot in time. 296 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,640 If you get a blood test, they get that average by taking those four tubes that you've collected 297 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,720 half hour after waking, lunchtime, dinnertime and bedtime. 298 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,400 And that allows you to see a more accurate result of what your hormones are doing throughout 299 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,360 the day. 300 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:46,120 So you just collect the four samples of saliva. 301 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:48,560 There's a little freeze frozen pack in the kit. 302 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,040 You put that in the freezer, you collect your four samples, put them in the freezer and 303 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:57,440 the next day or the day after even whenever it's convenient, there's a FedEx bag included. 304 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:02,480 And you just FedEx it back to the lab and I get the results in usually a week, sometimes 305 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,200 a little bit longer depending on how busy the lab is. 306 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,400 But the most important thing about this is you're going to find information that you're 307 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,040 not going to get anywhere else, especially by doing blood testing for hormones. 308 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:17,440 The saliva hormone test gives you information you can't get any other way. 309 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:22,000 And it's important because most of the time when the results come back and you have an 310 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,480 issue, what are we going to do? 311 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:31,280 The most common remedy, especially for estrogen and progesterone problems is to do a transdermal 312 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,480 cream or an oil. 313 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,980 But the bottom line is you're rubbing this on your skin and it's getting absorbed through 314 00:22:36,980 --> 00:22:38,600 your tissues. 315 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:44,440 And that type of therapy, when you want to check your progress and check your dosages, 316 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,000 then that is not readily shown accurately on a blood test. 317 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,920 It's passing through your interstitial fluid. 318 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,440 It's bound up to red blood cells. 319 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:56,040 It doesn't show up in serum like most things on a blood test. 320 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,520 So they kind of go hand in hand. 321 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:03,360 And a lot of functional practitioners, even more progressive doctors, are becoming more 322 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:04,800 and more aware of this. 323 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:10,520 And of course, anyone can get progesterone cream over the counter. 324 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,200 A lot of women have been using that for years. 325 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,320 But if you really want to know what your status is, whether or not it's working, or if it 326 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:23,520 is or isn't, why, then you have to get tested and you have to use a test that fits the treatment. 327 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:30,560 So transdermal hormone therapies, very low dose, plant-based therapies with none of the 328 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:36,360 side effects of the traditional hormone, synthetic hormones that women were on for decades. 329 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:41,480 You want to use the transdermal therapies and saliva testing hand in hand because they're 330 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:46,080 the best way of assessing your progress. 331 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,800 So do you know someone who's struggling with this type of thing? 332 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,440 I'd love an opportunity to help them. 333 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:54,160 I've had so many, it's so exciting to see people feel better, especially when they've 334 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,200 been convinced for a long time that there really was nothing that could be done. 335 00:23:58,200 --> 00:23:59,200 And there is. 336 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,240 There so often is something that can be done if you do the proper testing and the proper 337 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:04,240 therapies. 338 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:05,240 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 339 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:06,240 Thank you for listening. 340 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:07,720 Please send me your questions. 341 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:09,200 Email me. 342 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,120 You can text me at 805-218-3939. 343 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:20,960 I look forward to speaking with you right here next Friday at 4 p.m. on KDAR 98.3 FM. 344 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,920 Do something to be healthier this weekend than you were last weekend. 345 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:25,920 Have a fantastic weekend. 346 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,600 We'll see you right here next Friday. 347 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:34,100 You've been listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 348 00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:38,620 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 349 00:24:38,620 --> 00:24:43,000 drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 350 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,880 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 351 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,840 ones because our health matters. 352 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:58,640 Join him next Friday at 4 p.m. for Safe, Effective Natural Solutions right here on 98.3 The Word, 353 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:13,640 KDAR.