Category: Testosterone

FEEL AMAZING AGAIN…OPTIMIZE YOUR HORMONES

By Brenda Lee Herrod, APRN, MSN, WHNP-BC

PART II

Some people think of estrogen as the female hormone and testosterone as the male hormone. The truth is that testosterone is very important to women too. Testosterone is important for men and women as it protects every organ and body system. Your overall well-being and life quality are maintained by testosterone. It is a source of youth, longevity, and vitality. By age 40, a woman has lost half of her testosterone production. In today’s environment, we also have a lot of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that reduce our testosterone too. They are found in personal care products that we use daily, like lotions, make-up, nail polish, soap, pharmaceuticals, and plastics.

By having your hormone levels optimized, you can feel your energy increase, enjoy better sleep quality and mental clarity, be able to achieve your goal body composition, increase your sex drive, and protect your bones, brain, heart and lower your breast cancer risk as a woman. You will be able to gain confidence, feel stronger and be more vibrant to enjoy life more. Isn’t that what life is all about?

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) using pellets is the best way to optimize your testosterone levels to achieve energy, longevity, and wellness. The hormone powder of wild yams is compounded in a special pharmacy and pressed into a tiny pellet, the size of a grain of rice. Lidocaine is injected into the fatty tissue of the upper buttocks and the pellet is inserted using sterile technique and secured with steri strips and a small dressing. The gradual release of pellets simulates the body’s natural hormone release of testosterone and estradiol. The pellets are released slowly over three to six months according to your cardiac output. They are conserved when you are sleeping, as you don’t need high levels of hormones while you are in a state of rest and relaxation.

Pellets are more convenient than other methods of HRT such as using daily types of hormones like messy creams, gels, sublingual troches, or getting weekly injections. Another important benefit is that your hormone levels do not fluctuate with pellets like they do with other forms of HRT. Pellets mimic the natural release of estradiol and testosterone and levels stay steady much longer, avoiding the ups and downs of your hormones. Hormone levels are allowed to rise higher because they are placed subcutaneously and not metabolized in the liver such as injectable testosterone or oral forms.

At New Leaf Wellness, we will work with you to set expectations, closely monitor your labs and symptoms to help you safely achieve the full benefits of hormone optimization. We want to improve your outcome so you can have an improved sense of well-being and outlook. This stage of life can be very fulfilling and rewarding when you feel amazing again! You deserve this!

Schedule a FREE consultation to learn more about bioidentical hormones and how they can help you
FEEL AMAZING AGAIN!

REFERENCES
Gray, Stephanie. Your Longevity Blueprint, Advantage Media Group, 2017.
Donovitz, Gary, and Cotten, Mandy. Breast Cancer Incidence Reduction in Women Treated with Subcutaneous Testosterone: Testosterone Therapy and Breast Cancer Incidence Study. European Journal of Breast Health (2021): 17, 2. 150-156.
Donovitz, Gary. Testosterone Matters… More! The Secret to Healthy Aging in Women, Wheatmark Publishing, 2020.
Sieman, Robert S. Live Life Better with Natural Hormone Therapy, New Leaf Wellness, 2017.

MOVE FORWARD WITH JOY

Moving forward and finding joy or connecting to the feeling of joy gives us hope. Having a healthy lifestyle helps us heal and move forward!  Some tips to move forward from the point that we are at:

MOVE FORWARD WITH A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE…
• Eating a balanced diet. Choose a variety of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Limit processed foods, caffeine, and alcohol.
• Drink water!
• If you are a smoker, try to quit. Smoking can trigger hot flashes, weaken bones, and irritate the bladder.
• Incorporate regular physical activity into your daily routine. Exercise improves bone density, reduces weight gain, and elevates your mood.
• Stress management techniques like meditation and yoga improve coping skills.

ANOTHER TIP TO HELP MOVE FORWARD…
Balance your hormones! Hormone therapy is an option for men and women. Your New Leaf Wellness health provider will help educate you regarding the benefits and together you will decide on a treatment plan that is right for you.

Schedule an appointment to review your symptoms, medical history, family history, and lifestyle. Your provider will work with you to tailor a treatment to meet your needs to reduce symptoms, improve your quality of life!

When you are busy with your own emotions – worrying about the future, regretting the past, thinking about what others have done wrong – you are missing what this moment has to offer.

What is really important right now is living life with JOY. But you cannot fill a cup that is already full. You have to empty the cup to let new energy come in. Follow the tips above to empty “your cup”! If you are open, you can find joy, things to be grateful for, and move forward.  However, if you are filled with all types of stress and negative emotions it is challenging to move forward.

Let lifestyle changes and balanced hormones help you move forward and better yet…move forward with JOY!

Schedule a FREE Consultation to start moving forward with Joy!

OMAHA LOCATION NOW OPEN

Please join me in the celebration of the opening of New Leaf Wellness, Omaha. My name is Brenda Herrod and I am a nurse practitioner with an incredible passion for overall wellness! Please come for a free consultation at New Leaf Wellness to find out how we can support you in your journey for a healthier lifestyle! You deserve to feel confident, strong, and healthy. Self-care is very important and YOU are the only one who can do it for yourself. We have so many personalized services to offer.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, RECEIVE…
• Free B-12 injections with Free consultations
• Free Express Back Facial with Hot Stones! Enjoy the relaxing, relieve your stress treatment!
• Free Revision samples with a skin analysis
• Free samples of Myers Immune Boost
• 50% off one area for Plasma Pen – new clients
• 50% off Microneedling with PRP – new clients
• 50% off Lash Lift – new clients
• 25% off Dermaplaning – new clients
• $9.00 Botox with the Glow Plus package
• Free tours through the new facility

GIVEAWAYS!*
• Plasma Pen Treatment (valued at $600)
• Microneedling with PRP (valued at $349)

*Giveaways will be drawn after the final event. Must meet with a consultant to confirm eligibility!

FEEL AMAZING AGAIN…OPTIMIZE YOUR HORMONES

By Brenda Lee Herrod, APRN, MSN, WHNP-BC

PART I

Do you suffer from brain fog? Do you complain of anxiety and have endless nights without sleep, resulting in a lack of energy, fatigue, and mood swings? Are you frustrated from gaining fat around the midsection and losing muscle, no matter how well you are eating, or how hard you are working out? How is your libido? Many women (and men too) suffer from these symptoms, as well as hot flashes, incontinence, vaginal dryness, accelerated skin aging, and joint pain. They are discouraged when told that it’s just “midlife changes” and to deal with it.

You don’t have to live with it and continue to suffer. There are options available. If you have decreased hormone production and some of the before-mentioned symptoms, I strongly recommend checking into bioidentical hormone therapy to optimize your hormones. Age-related decline in hormone production is one the most common causes of hormone imbalances. Poor nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, and lifestyle choices can also cause hormonal issues and make you feel like “crap.” In our early 30’s our hormones start diminishing and continue to plummet as we age, especially by the time we are in our 50’s and 60’s. Chronic disease can develop if left untreated. Restoring your hormones can actually slow down the aging process and prevent issues like cardiovascular disease, which is the number one cause of death in men and women. Other health issues that can result from low hormones are Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and likely breast cancer.

Often the biggest fear that people have is that hormones can cause cancer. Cancer is not caused by hormones. The elderly have the greatest risk for cancer and they have the lowest level of hormones, while twenty-year-olds have the highest levels of hormones and a much lower risk of cancer. The important part is the type of hormones, the safest dose, route of administration, and having a provider closely monitor your labs, as well as the patient’s individual symptoms. It is essential and the best practice to treat patients on symptoms they are experiencing, as well as doing frequent lab work to monitor blood levels.

Bioidentical hormones are structurally identical at the molecular level to those naturally produced by our bodies and are made from wild yams. Synthetic hormones are derived from animal parts or urine and have a different molecular structure than what our body produces. Biodentical replacement therapy can be a part of a personalized health management program, but only when administered by providers specializing in natural hormone replacement therapy. These hormones include estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE COMING IN JANUARY!
In the meantime, you can use the form below to…
Schedule a free consultation to learn more about bioidentical hormones and how they can help you!

REFERENCES
Gray, Stephanie. Your Longevity Blueprint, Advantage Media Group, 2017.
Donovitz, Gary, and Cotten, Mandy. Breast Cancer Incidence Reduction in Women Treated with Subcutaneous Testosterone: Testosterone Therapy and Breast Cancer Incidence Study. European Journal of Breast Health (2021): 17, 2. 150-156.
Donovitz, Gary. Testosterone Matters… More! The Secret to Healthy Aging in Women, Wheatmark Publishing, 2020.
Sieman, Robert S. Live Life Better with Natural Hormone Therapy, New Leaf Wellness, 2017.

SYMPTOMS RELATED TO HORMONE IMBALANCE

Are you experiencing symptoms like WEIGHT GAIN, DIFFICULTY SLEEPING, or DECREASED ENERGY?
Frequently related to these symptoms is…hormones!

HORMONES
Hormones play an important role in our overall wellness. They are part of the endocrine regulatory system and secreted by endocrine glands acting as messengers to trigger or subdue parts of our body. Hormone-sensitive target cells in tissues and organs make changes when exposed to hormones. The hormones are broken down or metabolized slowly, but function in very powerful ways. Even tiny amounts cause big changes, controlling and coordinating activities throughout cells, organs, or even our whole body. These changes control most major bodily functions from basic needs like hunger to complex systems like metabolism, growth and development, reproduction, and even emotions and mood.

Major endocrine glands: pituitary, pineal, thymus, thyroid, adrenal glands, pancreas, ovaries, and testes.

Hormones you may have heard of: thyroid, insulin, cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

HORMONE IMBALANCE
Starting as early as age 25-30, our hormone levels can start to change becoming imbalanced and producing effects like weight gain, insomnia, fatigue, lack of energy, mood fog, anxiety, and depression. Often a hormone imbalance goes unrecognized. We might just identify the symptoms and chalk it up to getting older or being stressed and might possibly take medications to treat individual symptoms. These symptoms and more are why too much or too little of a certain hormone can be serious.

Schedule a free consultation if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO FEEL 20 YEARS YOUNGER?

Which would you like to feel like?
Would you like to feel your age or would you like to feel 20 years younger?

When we are young, it is the abundance and perfectly tuned balance of hormones that makes us vital, wrinkle-free, sexually active and quick to recover from colds and flu. Hormones keep us fertile, and our joints limber and well- lubricated. It is our hormones that help us think well, remember where we put our keys and relate to others in intimate, connected ways.

As we age, hormones begin to fade, though exposure to toxins, eating badly processed foods, leading sedentary lives and not getting enough sleep also play their parts.

We can reverse or at a minimum stall the ravages of aging with hormone support. There are many types of hormones that work together to create the puzzle that becomes our lives and the more pieces (hormones) we put together in proper balance and in the right formulations, the more likely we are to age in a healthy, vibrant and beautiful way.

The best hormones to use are the bioidentical ones and that is what New Leaf Wellness uses. They are prescription medications estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid and adrenal support, and they are pharmaceutically made to look identical to the hormones our own bodies make when we are young and healthy.

With the proper hormones, prescribed by New Leaf Wellness providers who are trained and experienced in how to use them and when to use them safely and effectively, we spend less money on health care, on going from doctor to doctor and test to test with no hope of improvement in sight.

With hormones in balance we don’t need yo-yo dieting. Our bodies stay at their optimal weight, and exercise is pleasant with results we can be proud of. With hormones we find ourselves getting sleep again and feeling refreshed in the morning.

Hormones are safe and they protect us from diseases of aging. They protect our bones from osteoporosis and our hearts and brains from deterioration.
Yes, it may sound like hormones are the fountain of youth, but all you have to do is ask and look at those who take them and compare them to their peers who don’t.

When we see patients for the first time we ask: If you didn’t know how old you were, how old would you think you are? The answer from people on hormones is always 20 years younger. From those who don’t take hormones, it’s always at least 20 years older. Which would you like to be?

WHAT IS PELLET THERAPY & WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER IT?

What is Pellet Therapy and why should you consider it? Subcutaneous estrogen replacement therapy often referred to as “Pellet Therapy” is not a novel idea. It was initially described in 1938 as an alternative treatment for menopausal symptoms. Subcutaneous estrogen replacement involves the placement of crystalline, biodegradable pellets of estradiol subcutaneously into the buttocks. Placement is performed in the office using local anesthesia.

Advantages of Pellet Therapy

Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) is very advantageous. ERT is superior to any other remedy for the treatment of hot flashes and vaginal atrophy. It has also been found to be cardio-protective, to improve cognitive effects, and to aid in the prevention of osteoporosis.

Despite these advantages, many patients discontinue their ERT for various reasons. The most common include irregular bleeding and or concern about breast cancer. Women discontinue therapy due to unreliability in taking pills, skin reactions to patches, nausea, or incomplete relief of symptoms. These patients may benefit from alternative routes of ERT like “pellet therapy”.

Subcutaneous ERT, unlike oral estrogen therapy, is better able to mimic premenopausal physiologic levels of estradiol and estrone. Subcutaneous estrogen has a favorable effect on lipid profiles with an increase in “good” cholesterol HDL and decreased level of LDL’s “bad” cholesterol. Although estradiol levels differ among patients, individual levels within each patient have very little variation. Implants provide more stable circulating estrogen levels than any other route of administration.

Insertion

Insertion is easily performed in the office. After a small area of skin is prepared with local anesthesia, a 5 mm skin incision is made in the subcutaneous fat of the buttocks. The trocar with cannula is advanced through the incision. The trocar is removed and the pellets are loaded into the barrel of the cannula. The obturator is inserted forcing the pellets out of the instrument into the subcutaneous layers of the buttocks. Complications, albeit rare, include bleeding from the insertion site, bruising, or wound infection.

Testosterone & Progesterone Therapy

Another potential benefit of pellet therapy is the ability to combine subcutaneous estradiol and testosterone replacement. Testosterone therapy has been used for patients who complain of reduced libido. A combined dose of estrogen and testosterone has been shown to significantly improve libido, sexual enjoyment, and menopausal symptoms lasting for 5-6 months.

Appropriate patients include peri/postmenopausal women seeking to relieve hot flashes, vaginal atrophy, maintain or increase bone density, and produce favorable lipid changes. Patients with an intact uterus require progesterone therapy to protect the endometrium, as do patients using other forms of estrogen replacement.

Pellet Therapy and Libido

Subcutaneous ERT or “Pellet therapy” is a convenient form of estrogen replacement therapy, eliminating the need for daily pill or patch. Furthermore, combined therapy adding testosterone can also be used to adjudicate symptoms of decreased libido, leading to more sexual enjoyment.

New Leaf Wellness has a vision to provide women with awareness, options, and solutions. We take pride in providing a safe space for women to explore choices for their sexual health, rejuvenating their appearance, and improving their lives. New Leaf Wellness understands the intensely personal and sexual health issues involved in these surgeries/treatments. Our staff is dedicated to patients having the best outcomes with the highest levels of safety and comfort.

Lastly, if you have questions, please reach out using the contact form below and we will make arrangements for a FREE personal consultation!

LOW TESTOSTERONE MAY CONTRIBUTE TO DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN MEN AND WOMEN

We traditionally think about testosterone helping with energy, sexual interest, erectile dysfunction and libido. When we look closely at medical studies, we find a link to depression and anxiety when testosterone is low.

I’ll repeat it: Low testosterone levels may increase the risk of depression and anxiety. Higher testosterone levels decrease the risk of depression and anxiety. Taking testosterone (testosterone therapy) if your levels are low often improves depression and anxiety.

Testosterone levels are tested with blood tests at our clinics. Blood testosterone tests give providers an accurate idea of the amount of testosterone that is available to be used by your body.

Testosterone levels can be raised in numerous different ways and require a prescription from the provider at New Leaf Wellness. New Leaf Specialty Pharmacy specializes in compounding personalized testosterone and other hormones. At New Leaf  Wellness, we also have NLRx supplements that can support your wellness.

Once you start testosterone therapy it will take 2 weeks or sometimes longer to see how well testosterone helps with depression, anxiety and other health issues.

There are many other factors that can contribute to depression and anxiety including nutrient deficiencies, let’s get you feeling better! New Leaf Specialty Pharmacy specializes in compounded personalized prescriptions of testosterone and hormone therapy prescribed by our providers.  We can help; contact us for more information…

TESTOSTERONE: Moods, Motivation, And More…

Most people associate testosterone with men. It’s true that this vital hormone drives the development of the male brain and is responsible for the deep voice, facial hair, and many other features we associate with maleness. But women produce and need testosterone too (just as men have some estrogen), just in smaller amounts.

In both men and women, testosterone helps protect the nervous system and wards off depression, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. The aging process, however, can leave some men with low testosterone levels that have been shown to increase symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as a host of other issues.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF LOW TESTOSTERONE

  • Moodiness

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Lack of motivation

  • Low libido

  • Fatigue

  • Trouble sleeping

  • Erection problems

  • Increased body fat and reduced lean muscle

  • Low bone density

  • Hot flashes

  • Hair loss

Male Menopause?

Male Menopause? What’s that?

Even though there is more public talk about women and menopause, men also encounter a hormonal imbalance as they age (andropause). Because women tend to have a more abrupt hormonal change they are more likely than men to realize that their symptoms are from a hormonal imbalance. Men tend to have a more gradual change–with symptoms slowly appearing over 20 year period. Often the symptoms are not seen as a hormonal decline.

Male menopause (called andropause) has many different symptoms. These symptoms come from a drop in Testosterone.

Andropause (male menopause) Symptoms:

  • depression
  • irritability
  • decreased morning erections
  • longer recovery time from workouts
  • stiffness and pain in joints and muscles
  • decreased concentration
  • decreased ability to build muscle
  • lowered mental acuity
  • loss of the competitive edge
  • overall loss of vitality
  • fatigue
  • sleep disturbances
  • and more

A man may still have a good libido (sex drive) but be suffering from a decrease in his Testosterone levels because he does not realize that Testosterone performs many functions in the body. Testosterone is not just a “sex” hormone.

“I feel back in balance. I have more energy and feel more focused.”
– Charlee P., New Leaf Wellness Patint

Strong associations between low Testosterone and…..

  • bone loss (osteoporosis)
  • dementia
  • type 2 diabetes
  • elevated LDL cholesterol
  • arthritis

There is a lot of incorrect information about the negative side effects of Testosterone and when you research the studies you will find that when bio-identical Testosterone is prescribed and monitored by a hormone specialist, Testosterone is a benefit to the overall health and vitality of men and has not been shown to cause cancer or heart disease. Proper hormone balancing for men results in a man who feels great, thinks clearly, moves easier, and enjoys life better.

We at New Leaf Wellness like to help you live life better. To get started, contact us for a complimentary consultation.