Dr. Barter talks with Dr. Anna Cabeca, author of The Hormone Fix, about women’s sexual health and hormone changes such menopause and healthier aging.

Applicable Supplements

Adrenal Energy Boost

Transcript

Intro [00:00:03] Welcome to the Fearless Health podcast with host Dr. Ann-Marie Barter. Dr Barter is on a mission to help people achieve their health and wellness goals and help men and women live their best lives fearlessly. Dr. Barter is the founder of Alternative Family Medicine and Chiropractic in Denver and Longmont, Colorado.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:00:24] Doctor, and I thank you so much for being on here today with us, we really appreciate you coming on the show.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:00:30] Oh my goodness, I love being here with you. Thank you, Ann-Marie. It’s great to be here.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:00:34] Awesome. So I would love to hear your story because your story is really amazing if you wouldn’t mind telling that

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:00:43] to, you know, it’s really it’s been a journey and it’s it’s been one of constant learning like for so many of us, right? Aren’t we always learning about ourselves, our bodies? And and what’s the next news that my story started with honestly being diagnosed at age thirty nine with early menopause and infertility? I was told I would never be able to have another child, and egg donation was my only option, possibly. But I felt the highest doses of injectable medications. I was sleepless, I had hot flashes. I was fatigued, worn out, depressed and stressed. And for me, as I share this in my book The Journey and the Story, but it stress and trauma. Grief led me into a journey around the world looking for answers because there I was, and I began, you know, Emory University chain top one of the top universities in the country and my doctors bag was empty. When we get a diagnosis of infertility or we get a diagnosis of menopause, but don’t think, how do I reverse it? Right? How do I reverse it or what’s going to happen for the rest of my life this way? What is the, you know, what’s her next steps? What’s the what’s going to happen next, right?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:02:03] And so that was that was kind of my journey. And around the world, I went looking for answers. And lo and behold, I was able to reverse my infertility. I was able to get pregnant again at age. At age forty one delivered my baby, Ava Marie. So your Emory, she’s about right and and she’s now 11. I’m fifty three with an 11 year old and it’s been a journey. It’s been a journey. At forty eight, I had a second round of menopause and that’s why I’m so passionate about really empowering our body mind, you know, physical and spiritual aspects of our body to really heal and improve the quality of our life. No matter, you know, no matter what we’ve been through, no matter what diagnosis we’ve had, no matter what struggles we’re currently facing, like learning to have peace in this situation regardless and just take the next step. And for each one of us, how possible that is.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:03:03] I think that’s so important because you were paralyzed, you said your doctor’s bag was empty and you’ve got this terrible diagnosis that you have clearly risen above. And I mean, how did you end up rising above that? Because that’s so helpful for so many people out there?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:03:21] Yes. Well, there’s several steps. So learning again, that it’s not just about the physical, you know, having faith in God for, you know, for for me was a huge part of it, just having faith and then never losing hope. Although there probably to be honest, I probably did lose hope for quite a while. And and then finding natural solutions. So part of my natural solutions was finding mocha and other herbs and ingredients that help support my adrenal glands was so that’s my product. That’s where my product, Mighty Mocha Plus, comes from this journey around the world. Just finding these healing foods that help me, I believe, become pregnant, right?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:04:00] Like, I thought God brought them to me, you know? And since have helped so many others that way. And then and then the other part is just recognizing that, you know, through this, through this journey, through this physical restoration that I was now from a state of infertile and, you know, a body inhospitable to pregnancy to a body that was a healthy vessel for pregnancy to deliver a very healthy baby, thank God. And so I think that was such a realization for me using biochemical hormones in progesterone and then also recognizing as I continued this journey, it was like one stop fixed everything and then everything was rosy, right? Once I once I delivered Ava Marie and the PTSD from trauma was still like rearing it again. I wish I knew then what I know now, but what I realized was that what I realize now is that there’s this period of, let’s call it, hormonal instability, or I call it neuroendocrine vulnerability. So that is age like 35 to 40 through 55 when progesterone steeply dropping because of decreased ovarian function.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:05:16] So we get the sharp decline of progesterone as well as our reproductive hormones, add in some stress trauma, whether it’s PTSD or adverse childhood experiences. That loss of this neuroprotective hormone progesterone, which is like ours, also, it’s our pregnancy hormone protestation, but it’s a brain protective hormone. It’s going to progesterone receptors are in our fascia progesterone. It’s important for bone growth and healthy breast, and even we know now can help improve risk of other cancers like ovarian cancer, colon cancer, etc. So healthy progesterone is really key, not to mention beautiful, healthy hair and good elasticity to the skin. All that good stuff progesterone does, but it’s one of the mother hormones. So. So recognizing that you know, I need to supplement with progesterone, bioidentical progesterone and what those differences are, as well as other additional biogenic or homework hormones. But nutrition and lifestyle was paramount and is paramount. Those are the first. Those are the things that we really need. We can’t just take a hormone. I always say, you know, it takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. So we can’t just take a hormone and expect everything to be great or everyone on thyroid hormones would be fed, right? Not the case.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:06:29] So you made a really important point. You said bioidentical hormones, not hormone replacement therapy. Can you go into the difference because most people think when they go to the primary care and they get. Hormone therapy, they are getting bioidentical hormones. They’re not so can you expand on that?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:06:53] Yes, absolutely. It’s a really big it’s a really big area of confusion. In fact, I just did a PSA interview for The Washington Post today about this because the Our National Menopause Society has in 2017 kind of reversed its statement and said, OK, well, hormone replacement for these conditions is OK, but you know, versus the earlier statement that’s saying, Oh, you know, two years and that’s it. Now we’re like, OK, more and more and actually, International Menopause Society president also said that testosterone therapy should be considered therapy in the post-menopausal women to benefits outweigh any risk. And like, really, what are the risks and in physiologic doses, healthy physiologic doses? So bioidentical what our body produces naturally chemical structure. We want that same chemical structure that we’re taking, either internally transdermal and tragically injection or pellet. Many different ways we can get get hormones but bioidentical to what our body would be producing anyway. So, for example, progesterone and I use, I typically like to use a combination progesterone and pregnenolone in my formulas and but, you know, derived from yam derived from a natural source, but identical to what our body’s producing versus synthetic hormones like progestin it more and more we’re seeing in the literature progestin. It’s different from progesterone. So progestin, which were studied as part of the Women’s Health Initiative trial that blew up hormone replacement therapy in the media worldwide in 2002. Where are synthetic? Those are synthetic hormones, and they have a negative cardiovascular profile compared to the bioidentical progesterone, which does not, which may even be breast protective. And I really believe that using especially if we were living in the Amazon, living out in nature, picking our food and going out, waking up with the sunrise, going to sleep for the sunset, we might not need hormones. But I don’t know about you. My life’s a little bit crazy and constantly being my hormones are constantly being drained. So using some biological hormones, using adaptogens, herbs, good, healthy lifestyle, meditative practices, you know, it’s really very important getting out in nature. All those things are cannot be replaced by a drug, right? A hormone, whether it’s biological or not. But supplementing with bioidentical hormones can really help the transition phase and beyond.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:09:31] I agree completely, and I think women really want to have a low grade level of hormones just so that they don’t struggle with issues that we’ll get into in a second, like dry vagina or a lack of libido or weight gain or all those other things that elasticity in the skin that you still have. But you made one important point that I’d like to go back to pregnenolone. We don’t hear about this hormone much, much, but is so, so critical. What? What is the importance of pregnenolone?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:10:02] Yeah, I love pregnenolone. Me too. Yes, it’s so good. So essentially, it’s been really essential for my health. And pregnenolone is one of is a precursor hormone to progesterone. So again, it’s one of our mother hormones derived from cholesterol like the rest of our hormones, and it is brain. It has healthy neurologic function. It can help us get a good night’s sleep. It is really an anabolic hormone, helps build us up versus tear us down. So pregnenolone has shown good. There’s been really want to say all the research on pregnant women, right? It has been recommended for a long, long time. But it is. It’s one of those quietly forgotten hormones. So what you love about it Dr.?

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:10:52] Well, so my biggest thing is that I see a lot of stress people, everybody is really, really stressed, it seems like. And so the pregnant on cortisol still always happens. And so the adrenal function is just so ramped up. And you see these pregnant all levels be incredibly low. And then these patients are presenting with a lot of belly fat. They’re so fatigued, they’re exhausted. And so we have this adrenal picture. And then the rest of the hormones are, well, again because it’s a master doctor. So I love pregnenolone. I generally will start there when I ran a hormone panel and just see what’s going on because it does so much like that crash in the afternoon. I just I just think it’s amazing.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:11:35] So I agree. And my cream, like I created a cream with progesterone and pregnenolone. It’s my pure balance. But there’s 10 mg of pregnenolone in it and per pop so transdermal. As long as we have healthy, you know, overall healthy intestinal track and transdermal creams, hormones can work really well. And so again, I agree pregnenolone, either transdermal whenever we can do hormones transdermal or avoiding oral swallowing our hormones, that is preferred. We get good results that way. So I am a big proponent of that and I typically recommend at night. But like I said, for that really stressed out person who’s really driving cortisol, then we might need, you know, then I would typically recommend it in the daytime.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:12:20] Yes, exactly.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:12:26] So I have patients come in and they say, I think I might be going into menopause. So what does perimenopause look like? Because people don’t? Really. They’re not sure.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:12:41] Yes. Yeah, no. Good question. So. And this is in this is often a big area of conflict between a patient and a doctor to where they’re like, Hey, something’s wrong with me that you’re too young to be in menopause, right? Or you’re having these symptoms and like, for example, coming in with anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, those are peri menopausal symptoms. So, you know, those are three that are typically given, you know, a antidepressant or SSRI prescription anti-anxiety prescription and some sedatives for nighttime when it’s really, I would say, progesterone insufficiency. And we need to top it off as top them off with some progesterone, as well as get their body using their own hormones better, like stress management, right? And all that good stuff that helps us build up our own natural hormones. So perimenopause typically will see the gynecologic symptoms that I see all the time, such as irregular bleeding, heavy menstrual flow, breakthrough bleeding, more pain and discomfort with their periods, and maybe some ovarian cyst or fibroid issues coming up. But really, mostly they come in with PMS, severe PMS, worsening PMS that the symptom of hating your husband only two weeks out of the month, right? You have that symptom. It’s only two weeks, and it’s most likely your hormones and not your husband. It’s funny because I was having a discussion with another colleague the other day that a neurologist and we were talking and she was telling me about some things that were happening. I’m like, When do they happen in your household? When are you feeling on edge? What’s going on there? And sure enough, it’s like the week before her period starts. I’m like, Well, you know, your husband has something to, you know, has some part of this, but let’s let’s get your hormones checked out.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:14:30] Let’s start with, you know, I do what you do like does detox. Let’s support your liver detoxification. Let’s clean up. Let’s get rid of any zino estrogens or, you know, hormone disruptors, and let’s take up your own progesterone and support your adrenal glands so that that you feel better. It’s a little bit goes a long way here, especially in the stage and in other symptoms that people typically don’t think about related to the perimenopause. Also, that heart palpitation that you’re getting all of a sudden like that takes women to the E.R. right. They’re thinking they’re having a heart attack or they’re having a fibrillation, but they’re feeling that heart rate palpitation and also, you know, muscle cramps like cramps, you know, aching when you wake up in the morning putting your feet on the floor and it hurts me. Our hormones are part of our fascia, and as our hormones, especially progesterone, that nice get our hormone of just, let’s just say, of birth and rebirth like that we need on a daily basis to know that as we lose progesterone, we become stiffer because it’s part of our fascia and we need it for that elasticity and our collagen to rebuild the collagen matrix.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:15:44] So how does diet play into this?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:15:48] Yeah, that’s a really good question. A well, especially in the perimenopause, because one of the other symptoms of perimenopause is that weight gain. And this is you can relate to this MRI when patients come into our office and they say, you know, doctor and our doctor and I am gaining five, 10, 20 pounds and I’m not doing anything different, right? And early as a young doctor, I’d be like, Sure, you’re not sure you’re not. Surely you’re eating like a candy bar or you’re driving through instead of walking or whatever you may be doing, right? But lo and behold, when that happened to me, when I hit forty eight and I had been organizing detoxing and I was doing everything the same, but I was gaining about five, 10, 20 pounds. And for me, that was a huge eye opening event and I was a huge wake up call.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:16:35] And because I had been over two hundred and forty pounds lost and kept off, you know, over 80 pounds for quite a while. And you know, so gaining that weight, anyone who’s lost weight knows that when they start gaining weight, you’re like, you don’t know, you’re terrified. When will this weight gain stop? I would stop. I might be 300 pounds before this weight gain stops. So that’s when I really recognize how important I get in my diet haven’t changed seriously. My lifestyle haven’t changed. The stressors hadn’t changed, but my physiology was changing again. This hormonal decline, but not just our reproductive hormones, know we get an increase in cortisol. We become more insulin resistant as we get older and adiponectin decline. So this like metabolic hormone declines. And so I recognize too, that was getting this brain fog, not making the decisions really struggling. And as physicians, we rely on our memory and for me to really amazing, especially visual memory. And so I was noticing all of these things were off, and I was most troubled by that very rapid weight gain despite doing anything different. And so that’s when I really went Kito, but then I got all the side effects of Quito and I called it Quito crazy, and as a mom of teenagers and a young child in elementary school, all girls, that is not something that you can actually allow. That is not good for a happy home. And so that’s when I recognize, too, that an important part of that was to add on the organizers, hence my Quito Green or Quito alkaline approach that I talk about in my book The Hormone Fix. And my next book coming out called Quito Green 16. Also this Quito green concept because those out cleansers are so important and the intermittent fasting. So as we get older and why this is so important, not just was was I able to lose like 18 of those 20 pounds very, very quickly within six weeks. I also felt more clarity and energized and alert and productive and passionate than I had in years. And that’s what really struck me, and I was like, OK, well, we know Quito, you know, ketones are good for brain health or seizures, and you know, all these other things, right? But how does you know, how is it really relating to this menopausal brain that’s going on? And research continues to come up with this really fascinating, these fascinating tidbits. So as estrogen and progesterone decline, our body’s ability, our brains ability to use glucose for fuel also declines because you’d call it gluconeogenesis, so the brain’s ability to use glucose or sugar. Quick and easy for the brain brain food as that declines because it’s an estrogen dependent phenomenon. So it’s a hormone dependent phenomenon. Our hormones are tanked or we’re getting brain fog. We can’t sleep, we’re anxious, we’re depressed. We have all these neurologic symptoms. That’s a combination of hormones and neurotransmitters and our brains ability to use sugar for fuel, glucose for fuel. So what do we need as a best brain source? We need ketones. We absolutely ketones are not hormone dependent fuel source for the most part that I can tell so far that I have not seen in the literature so we can shift to ketones. And that’s what I did shift to use ketones.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:20:01] But I was key to a green keto alkaline and with lots of plant based grains that makes all the difference in the world to the keto diet for women, especially in this perimenopause. So think of glucose is to gasoline as ketones are to jet fuel. And whenever we can, we want to shift using that jet fuel on a regular basis. During this perimenopause, I mean, intermittent intermittent fasting will take us out of using ketones and offer that just works for me. So and it works for so many of my patients. I’ve now had over 100000 clients go to green, which is really exciting.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:20:38] Have you seen patients gain weight on using the keto diet? Have you seen that at all?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:20:46] Yeah, I have seen patients gain weight as well as hit a wall. Most women would say like they initially experienced some weight loss and then hit a wall, or they just won’t. They won’t go anywhere. Gained weight. And I think a lot is because people are guessing, not testing. So I make my clients use urine and ketone test strips. So I have these very simple test strips on my website where my test reps, because why use two things if you can use one? So I created them to measure urine. And urine. Ketones?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:21:16] And I think what when we test and I notice a couple of things, they’re very acidic. They’re so they’re, you know, acidic, inflamed or they’re eating a food sensitivity because dairy is a big food sensitivity and that’s allowed on many keto plan. So. So eliminating the food sensitivity, that’s key. And also, if your body is not digesting, the meats are hard to digest. And if you’re not digesting well and and you’re never actually in ketosis, even though you’re following a keto diet, maybe because you’re getting too much fat or too much protein, that makes a big difference. Those are factors that really impede us.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:21:56] So testing is key, and that’s usually where clients will break through a plateau.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:22:04] I think that’s a critical feel better. Yeah, I think that’s such a critical point. I noticed when I did ketosis, if I ate too much protein, I would pull me straight out of ketosis. It was so fascinating to see that. And it was a lot less than I would have thought protein wise, and it would just totally shut me out or some of the foods. I wasn’t thinking, Oh, it’s not high enough carb or not eating too much of it. I’ve heard patients say I had squash. I didn’t realize that I couldn’t have that on the keto diet or that that would maybe blow me out of ketosis because it is a high starch food so super fast. Maybe they’re so on. So back to perimenopause, when is an appropriate. Age for somebody to approach it.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:22:50] That’s a really good question. I mean, typically the perimenopausal time period I really have seen it shift are good five to 10 years earlier than it was when I first started 30 years ago into medicine. So I typically will say this perimenopause easy late thirties, early forties, but it really depends. So we have said in the past the average age of menopause is age 52. That’s 12 months without a period at age 52. But it is so variable. I mean, more and more women. And in fact, I have a program. I had a live Q&A call for clients and a program I have and one, you know, so many women were in their early forties when they experienced menopause, and they’re struggling and they may be put on birth control pill or something just to kind of, you know, reduce the gynecologic symptoms as they’re going through it, as well as the hot flashes and many of those symptoms that we experience hot flashes, mood swings, irregular cycles. So many women don’t even know when they went through menopause because they were artificially. Suppressed, so to speak.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:23:57] You have a comment on using birth control during that time period. I mean, what’s your what’s your opinion on that?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:24:03] Yeah, because you know, our periods and our symptoms are signs to us of what’s happening in our body. So if we, you know, it’s like, you know, think of your children having an argument, right? You have to communicate. Our bodies have to communicate with us, and that’s what our symptoms are. It’s communication. If we cut off that communication, then we’re kind of maneuvering in the dark. So I find that unless we need it, absolutely for birth control, there are better ways. I’m a big fan of the pericarditis. You know, I think the sector is a really good option, but the non-hormonal idea is a super easy option. And then we had our period tell us what is, you know, what where we need to adjust our period to tell us so much about our body.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:24:49] And it’s interesting. I mean that everybody tells a lot of the hormonal birth control methods as safe. I mean, you feel like they’re safe.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:25:00] I think they’re incredibly risky. And especially during transitions, I wouldn’t use it in young girls unless absolutely necessary again. Let’s see, though, you something, if we can, on hormonal, and that’s the whole thing. And there’s a lot of a lot to go into that. But but birth control was initiated early on. I mean, you know, really amazing young lady is come into my practice at 12, 13 years old, put on birth control pills for acne or put in birth control pills for PMS.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:25:27] I’m like, Wow, these are symptoms. Let’s get to the underlying root cause of these symptoms. Plus, we know that if we’re started out on birth control pills before age 16, then we have an increased risk of breast cancer and other hormonal problems as we get older. So that’s huge now. Also, the same thing is true at the second transition phase. So if we are put on birth control pill during the transition phase of menopause number one, we’re not listening to what our body is doing, so we’re not able to react or respond. Right. Our life research has shown that birth control pills blunts our dopamine response in our core, that we’re also blocking this transition phase with artificial. It’s a progestin, it’s not a bio identical progesterone and and you know, and the estrogen as well. So and plus it depletes her body of magnesium, B vitamins, calcium, folate. So it’s really important that we replenish if we’re on birth control pill for the time we need it also, but do something different if we can. So that’s where bioidentical hormones and something like a pair guard IUD is very nice.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:26:33] So, yeah, I completely agree. Are you when when we’re talking about women that are perimenopause, I think some of the symptoms that women never talk about or are very rarely talked about or they talk about sheepishly dry vagina, vaginal atrophy, lack of libido and all these things patients have said, Oh, this is just something that I live with or something that I need to live with. Can you comment on that?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:27:04] Absolutely. Absolutely. And anyone listening who has been powering through are just living with it. There is so much we can do to reverse it, and that’s something I’ve been passionate about. Remember, I went through menopause at thirty nine, again at 48. I mean, that is and I’ve had four children vaginally. So you know, you’re in vaginal dryness, urinary incontinence or leaky bladder, those kinds of things. We do not have to live with that. There are natural ways that we can reverse that, especially when it comes to vaginal dryness. I mean, that’s why I created job. I mean, I had to create solutions for me because existent, right? None existed, and I was a scientist before I went to medical school, actually. So I’ve had this amazing background, but I just God blessed me with in so many ways to help me figure out, you know, problem solve these things. And so I wanted natural product, chemical free. And so I created Jova, which has DHEA, and it has plant stem cells from the Alpine Rose Ima oil to help penetrate the ingredients, as well as coconut oil and shea butter and to help with it. And it’s a step above our cosmetics, so to speak, cream like an anti-aging cream we would use on our face. This is for our vulva, and I recommend clients use it from clitoris to anus and to help restore that tissue and revitalize that tissue and really just kind of turn back the clock. And what we see is an improvement in vaginal dryness. Our own natural moisture irrigations, fold in elasticities come back and orgasm and pleasure, as well as a decrease, if not elimination, of those accidental urinary leaks.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:28:42] Of course, we always want to do our pelvic floor exercises at the same time. They go hand in hand. We keep doing our Kegel exercise at our pelvic floor exercises till we die, right. Our bladder health is so critically important. Our vaginal health is so. Critically important doesn’t matter if we’re not sexually active or any, you know, in the you know what our plans are. But I will tell you, Dr. Murray, is that yesterday on a call with some clients in a live Q&A that I hosted, a beautiful woman came on the call and shared very vulnerable. She is 76 years old. She was widowed when she was 40, was alone for 30 years and no sexual interaction.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:29:28] No love in her life for that many till, like six years ago, she met this man that she just absolutely loves and and and and she was struggling because he was unable to have intimacy because of severe vaginal dryness, atrophy and lights and sclerosis that developed over this time. And she had no idea because she wasn’t paying attention, right? And she goes, I’ve been powering through it until she learned about my products, and so her doctors weren’t going to give her anything at 71 or 70. Now 70, she’s 76, and so she was kind of left out on her own to suffer and struggle and power through right. And so she’s been using Java, which has been really beautiful and doing my sexual CPR program, which is just a fun class to help reignite our feminine energy. And she’s like, Oh my God, I wish I found this 20 years ago. And so but she’s been able to change that situation at 76 and encouraged her and her husband, her new house, because they were married, met six years ago. Now they’ve been married for three years, so he’s in the room and this conversation? Say, I’m just so happy. It was lovely, right? Lovely. That gave me hope. At 53 being single.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:30:35] So, so awesome. You have to tell us what the sexual CPR program is.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:30:39] So yeah, absolutely. We’ll give you a link to for your listeners, for a for, you know, a link to my interview on Help Doctor. My sex drive has no pulse, so a free interview that’s part of life, like essentially a preview to the to the program, and it gives you the three secrets to sexual desire. So sexual CPR is really about reigniting our own feminine energy, whether we’re alone or married or, you know, like we’ve been married for 30 years or more, right? It’s just about reigniting our sexual desire, looking at our health, our physical health, our feminine health because and you know, whether it can if we’ve struggled with hormonal problems, understanding where they’re coming from, going through these, I call them seven keys to get your sexy back these areas in our health that could be blocking us and reawakening. Are going to really our energy, our sexual energy, which we can channel to be in our creative, to be in our philanthropic, to be in our

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:31:43] relationships, relationships and you know, it’s it’s really it’s been beautiful to watch blossoming of women in my program, there’s women from our early 30s through 76, at least last night. The 76 year old.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:31:58] That is so fantastic. So I am curious what I have been seeing more recently on labs has been very young women having incredibly low hormones across the board. Are you seeing more of that and what do you think is is the cause of that? Is that environmental toxicity?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:32:20] Stress, environmental stress, environmental toxicity, birth control and even if we were on birth control for over a couple of years prior, those are three main areas that I typically will see that from. And the good news is like, you know, we can replant and I’m living proof. 39 menopause 48 Menopause again reversed it again till age 52. So I’m in my third menopause. I think I think I’m done this time. I think I really menopausal this time. But but it it means my labs were there to prove it right on. My hormones were tanked and I failed the highest doses of injectable medications at thirty nine with no ovarian response. And so and you know, really recognizing like what we need to do to revitalize re-empower our body. So it’s healthy and we take the power back over our health. Now when we supplement with hormones, we still need to look at why are they low? And I wouldn’t supplement at a younger, you know, certainly in a younger woman, unless absolutely necessary. I still want to figure out why are the hormones, why? What is causing the ovarian insufficiency right? What is blocking the commute hormonal communication system?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:33:33] And we figure that, you know, in a stepwise way, right? We want to detox. We want to test, not gas. Guess we want to support the adrenal glands and do lifestyle and nutrition practices that help. That’s 90 percent of it. And that’s why I was so passionate to write my book The Hormone Fix, because like I said, it takes more than hormones to fix her hormones.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:33:53] And every woman, every woman, every man has such power over their own body to reverse these changes that are occurring. I’m the age my mom is. I’m actually older than my mom was when she had her first heart attack and needed bypass surgery. So like, I have been paying attention to this stuff my entire life. Yet still with everything I knew struggled from stress and trauma and burnout, you know. And and and. Regardless of that and watching so many women reverse the trajectory of their health to really improve it and be in charge of their health is it’s just a beautiful thing to witness because we are entering this transition through menopause. It’s not like waiting to die, it’s like attaining a higher level of clarity and enlightenment, and for me, certainly spiritual connection and joy and passion.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:34:48] Now that, like my brain fog lifted than I’ve ever had in my life, which is which is amazing.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:34:55] It sounds to me and this is my philosophy in practice, I think women should be able to continue to enjoy their lives and be on some sort of low dose of hormones to help them achieve that. It’s more bioidentical so they can feel great so that they can look great so they can feel still have a sex drive. So the sex life, whatever

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:35:14] it is that helps

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:35:16] them live so they don’t feel like they’re showing up to die, basically, or just feel so anxious or sad or depressed or whatever it is, whatever side effects that they have are.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:35:28] I agree. I agree. I use five identical hormones regularly. Yeah, I use my job for me. My routine is I use my job in the morning on the clitoris to anus. That’s very important, essential and a little bit on my lips, too to help with you never have put lipstick on and it bleed like I

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:35:46] had my Christian Dior read. I usually red and I would get these lipstick bleeds. I’m like, I’m going to use Joba. There won’t be any more lipstick bleed, which is my progesterone and pregnenolone at night. You know, a shot or two of mighty mocha during the day, and a hormonal bioidentical hormone turkey that has a little bit of biassed and a little bit of DHEA like one milligram of DHEA, two mg testosterone. So that’s kind of my daily and bioidentical progesterone orally, sometimes in addition to the transdermal.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:36:19] We’re talking about your skin before we got on the call because your skin is so beautiful. And what were you using on your face?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:36:27] So I used just I just terrible with it. I just use a regular ivory like goat milk soap. Wash is what I’m currently using now goat milk soap wash. And then I use the pure balance cream on my face, around my eyes and my neck, and then I use Jova on my lips.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:36:45] Yeah, that’s fantastic. I mean, you have really got that dialed you very, very well dialed in. Are there any tips that you’d like to leave the listeners with?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:36:56] Over your own body and know that you can be healthier tomorrow than you are today. And I would say to, you know, if you if anyone listening has been struggling with their hormones, with their help to recognize that we have so much control and often it’s a fuel choice, if that’s your choice, as well as a lifestyle choice in the self-care we take today, we make today is going to give us a better tomorrow. So.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:37:23] Thank you so much for being here. This was such an incredible message in a message that needs to be screamed from the rooftops because women just don’t know that they have other options. And I’m so grateful that you took the time here today. Where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you?

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:37:39] Easy. DrAnna.com and /book will give you Get You My Book page.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:37:48] Awesome. Thank you so much.

Dr. Anna Cabeca [00:37:49] Thank you. Thanks, Dr. Marie.

Dr. Ann-Marie [00:37:52] Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed learning with us today, please give us a five star review. Comment like and share our podcast with your friends and family. As always, if you’d like to learn more information about today’s guest, please head over to Fearless Health podcast Dot Com for links to their site and other educational resources.