20 Years of Thyroid Problems. Why Was Hashimoto's Missed?

Intro: Welcome to the Ask Dr. Boyd podcast where we ask real patients from our practice real questions to help you. We talk about hormones, we talk about longevity medicine, we talk about functional medicine. We hope you enjoy the episode. In this episode of Dr. Boyd, we talked to Denise. We talked about hormones. We talked about endometriosis. We talked about polycystic ovarian syndrome. talked about living with your hormones or lack of hormones. Let's get into it.

Denise Boyette: My name is Denise Boyette and um I'm 52. When I moved down here about 7 years ago, trying to find anybody, a doctor, nurse practitioner, anybody that would help with my hormones, I had a hysterectomy at the age of 41ish and uh have no ovaries, any of that. But nobody would help me. nobody, you know, they would either say, you know, go do this or here's a sleeping pill or here's a um anti-depressant or um you know, just other things, but they just really wouldn't want to help me. Um and I felt like I was more educated than they were on the situation. And I've known I know my body and so I just kept, you know, searching and searching. I went through a lot of practitioners looking for somebody that would help. And one of my co-workers found Dr. Boyd and he helped her not in the same facet but other ways and because she's still childbearing but was able to help her and I was like okay all right let me let me look into this and so I did and I've referred several other patients. Um my boss's wife sees him. Um, well, I think she sees Lauren mostly, but yeah. So, it's just it's been a great he's educated me so much on my own health that I didn't know existed.

Dr. Boyd: Well, thank you for being here.

Denise Boyette: You're welcome. Thank you.

Dr. Boyd: So when when you had your hysterectomy let's go back and actually revisit six months prior to so things were changing uh and the the hysterectomy was coming into light that that may happen for you and I don't need to know why you had your hysterectomy. So did you individually uh ever think that I would need uh hormones? So you're 41. And did you think you would need hormones after your hysterectomy was complete?

Denise Boyette: Short answer, yes. Long answer is because I dealt with it for 10 years prior. I had indometri I had endometriosis really bad.

Dr. Boyd: Okay.

Denise Boyette: So, I was put on um Lupron, Depo, Lupron, uh Depo PA, everything trying to control my endometriosis. And um I just got to the point where all right, you know, childbearing is over with, I'm ready to get this done and over with. So um you know, being in the field that I was, I already knew that I was going to need something to help me.

Dr. Boyd: So it's interesting. So you mentioned two drugs that are very common. In fact, Depo-Lupron is the gold standard for treatment for endometriosis patients. So what le depon does is it tells the brain to tell the ovaries to quit producing estrogen with the understanding that if I have estrogen elevation that it's going to stimulate my endometrial glands inside my pelvis inside my abdomen which causing which causes pelvic pain and so dealing with pelvic pain. So it's interesting that um we're talking about hormones but yet we we can also segue over here to endometriosis. 15% of the population of women have endometriosis and it starts after puberty and it's it's a pro and and there's there's theories on why people have endometriosis. Retrograde menstruation is is is one of the most common uh theories of why women have endometriosis. So retrograde menstruation means you menstruate backwards. Okay? So, all women know when they're on their menstrual cycle, it's going to come out their vagina onto a pad or a tampon. But there's menstrual blood that flows backward through the fallopian tubes and ends up in the pelvis and the abdomen. Reasons that we don't understand, whether it's genetic, whether it's environmental, sometimes those glands implant on tissue in your body and they cause inflammation. And when we have inflammation inside of our body, that causes pain. And so over time, endometriosis patients oftentimes have progressive and progressive and progressive pain that can be debilitating. And so some practitioners treat with drugs like the birth control pill to suppress uh estrogen. Some use Depo PA. Depo PA is not on the market anymore, but that is an agent that suppresses estrogen. And then Depo-Lupron is the considered the gold standard. And so sometimes you use Lupron before hysterectomy, sometimes you use it after hysterectomy, sometimes both. And so very interesting from a hormonal standpoint. You had did you did you mention you were on the birth control pill?

Denise Boyette: No, I never took birth control pills. Well, I did, but for tried to control cycles.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah,

Denise Boyette: because I also had I was also diagnosed with PCOS.

Dr. Boyd: Okay.

Denise Boyette: So

Dr. Boyd: a hormone problem.

Denise Boyette: Yes.

Dr. Boyd: Yes. Yes. Exactly. So let's just let's stay on the on the on the decrease in estrogen component. So the birth control pill, depo pvera, depolon all suppress estrogen with the thought that if we can decrease estrogen, those glands that have implanted all around your pelvis, all around your abdomen won't bleed and won't become infected. All right. So you were already in a hormone depressed state even before your ovaries were removed. And you said that started a decade.

Denise Boyette: Mhm.

Dr. Boyd: before. So around 30 you were on these suppressive drugs and the interesting thing about those and again the birth control pill double pa d Lupron all suppress your estrogen and make you menopausal and the company Lupron company likes to tout that it's just temporary. The Lupron will produce this process of a pseudo menopause and once you come off Lupron the hormones will return. Sometimes that happens sometimes that doesn't happen and I think I don't think and again I used Lupron many times when I was in my traditional medicine practice. So you understood to have depressed hormones. Then you go to your hysterectomy. Your ovaries were removed. That removed clearly biologically all of your estrogen, testosterone or progesterone hormones at that time. So you knew that this was you in your 30s, you knew this. Now you're in your 40s. You've had a hysterectomy. Did your doctor talk to you before or after when we when they removed your ovaries at the time of hysterectomy? Hey Denise, you need to go on a replacement estrogen.

Denise Boyette: No. So this would have beenif 2015 range.

Dr. Boyd: Okay. So interesting. So two two questions I have for you. 2015, we were still following the Women's Health Initiative guidelines for hormones that came out in 2001, which stated blackbox warnings that estrogen causes uh heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer. And so many OBGYNS never would give hormones because of those blackbox warnings based on the study that was done in in 2001, Women's Health Initiative. So here's here it is 2015. Was your doctor did they ever discuss hormones with you or did they follow the guidelines that no, I'm not going to prescribe hormones because they cause breast cancer, strokes, and heart attacks?

Denise Boyette: No, he was very upfront with everything about the hormones and that I needed to be on something. Um, I was even on um a patch going in a estrogen patch going into surgery so that I woke up and was still able to have some sort of estrogen and then was able to like transition on to others once, you know, I started to feel better and got my bearings back on me. But yeah, it was he was completely open with it.

Dr. Boyd: So he he was a believer that that estrogen uh is necessary even though the blackbox warnings at that time said it may cause breast cancer. Okay. Kudos to him because a lot of providers did not. So you you woke up from your hysterectomy patch on 41 years old. So tell me what's happened with you over the past 10 years from a hormonal standpoint and and eventually what led uh you to us at Epiphany

Denise Boyette: after eventually like you know getting myself you know stable I was able I went on to estrogen um oral estrogen 2 milligrams. I did take Estratest. Yeah for a while. I think I was taking like Estratest HS half strength and then adding a supplement of estradiol like one milligram maybe because the too much I didn't like the testosterone feeling and I think you know I was still 41 and I you know there's all those symptoms of hair growth and you know all those those misconceptions about testosterone that I even though I knew I still didn't want those things for me but then they discontinued Estratest half strength and Estratest and So I couldn't get that anymore. And so I just stopped taking testosterone and was only taking estrogen and I was also on thyroid medicine. I was on Synthroid um levothyroxine and feeling decent. I mean didn't know any better. Just thought that was the way that you're supposed to feel because that's the way your mom felt and that's the way her mom felt and that's just the way it is, you know. And then um and came down here trying to get you know somebody to refill my medicine and just getting being pushed off and pushed off and pushed off and

Dr. Boyd: so explain that. What do you mean pushed off? What exactly did you hear and what did you feel when you say pushed off?

Denise Boyette: Basically was being pushed off when I say that is that one either they didn't want to prescribe it because they didn't feel comfortable like your primary care or something. Okay, great. you don't you're not educated in women health. So I went to an OBGYn and um got all the blood work done and they're like uh my FSH came back and it was elevated and um they're like well you still have your ovary and I'm like no I don't have any ovaries and they're like well your FSH is there so you obviously have ovaries

Dr. Boyd: tissue.

Denise Boyette: Yeah. And I was just like no I don't. I swear like I've had them removed and they're like, "Well, um, you have to go see an endocrinologist because this isn't well." I'm like, "I literally don't have them." So anyway, after Okay, that's not the doctor for me. So just kind of, you know, just again, just not anybody hearing me that I might know something about my own health. Um, and like I said, well, you need to, you know, you need to see this doctor and you need to see this doctor and this doctor because they just can't control everything at one time. So, I So, I was just like, okay, I I don't know. So, I went back to the doctor I used to work for and was like, okay, why why are they telling me this? And he's like, well, you're taking estrogen. That's why your FSH is high. You know, that's just common. And I was like, "Okay, so why doesn't it this doctor, an OBGYn, know that?" He's like, "I can't tell you that. I mean, I wasn't part of their education training." So,

Dr. Boyd: yes.

Denise Boyette: So, and then luckily like within two or three months after that, I was able to find you

Dr. Boyd: land on me. Okay. Very interesting. So, a couple things that are that are interesting. So this this problem that you hear about frequently and again fully transparent I was I was part of this world of of traditional medicine and you see so many patients and you give 3 to five minutes for a patient visit and and you zero in on one thing and you're looking at a blood test and the blood test says this and they don't hear and this is exactly what happened to you. FSH was this therefore you can't have that. You say, "No, no, no. I I know my own history, and oh, by the way, I worked at a reproductive endocrinologist office for 18 years, so I do know a little bit about hormones, but you were still brushed off." And so, I say in response to what you just said to me, if that happens to women that are listening to this, please have hope that there is somebody hopefully that you can find that will listen to you clinically and listen to your symptoms. So interesting because you're an educated lady. You've been in the medical system, ran a reproduct reproductive endocrinologist practice for 18 years, and yet you still had a decade of poor care and nobody listening to you with you reaching out to multiple different practitioners.

Denise Boyette: And that's the frustrating thing.

Dr. Boyd: And that's what Epiphany's mission is. It's very interesting. Uh I'm not perfect by any means. I don't have all the answers for women as it relates to their health care, but I do know that we have a broken medical system. Your story right there just represented that. And yet you end up going home very frustrated and oftenimes never getting care. And then you go back to the the the family doctor with this story and guess what? He put you on an anti-depressant which makes all of your hormone symptoms even worse. And so I think your story is very powerful uh and affecting other women. Hey, there is hope. You just have to look and find people like Epiphany um and um and move forward with your care. We encourage and you you know this in in our conversations. We encourage you to be your own advocate. Epiphany is all about educating you and uh in education then you feel um that I can make statements for for my own advocate for my own health and that's what we want you to do. So you land in my office and

Denise Boyette: you listen to me.

Dr. Boyd: All right. So what what what specifically was the most important thing when you came into my office? Obviously I'm a new doctor. never see me.

Denise Boyette: Mhm.

Dr. Boyd: You hope that um after multiple guys or multiple women,

Denise Boyette: I I hope this guy can can help me.

Dr. Boyd: You have some encouragement, but you also, I'm sure, are saying to yourself, "This is this another bone head that's going to not take care of me?"

Denise Boyette: Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to lie. Of course, I thought that. Well, you know, just because I've I've also been in the health care field and you're going to find some doctors that are in health care for money, you know, and you know as well as I do that you don't really ever get rich doing just seeing patients.

Dr. Boyd: No, you need to go into business if you want to get rich. Elon Musk, Elon Musk never went to medical school.

Denise Boyette: Yeah. You know, and there's a reason why you chose medicine and and I hope that, you know, it's for people. It's for the right reasons and not monetary. But with that being said, of course you did. You sat down. You listened to me. You heard. You listened to my history. You listened to the way that I described myself and not and didn't describe me as or didn't put me in a box with um somebody else that just walked out of your office because I'm not her. I'm not my mom. I'm also not my sister. Right. And there's not one clear path for everybody. So, and that's what I liked about you is that you were just like, "Okay, let's let's get a baseline."

Dr. Boyd: Mhm.

Denise Boyette: And let's see where we can go from there. And then you listen after I came back from my blood work and we talked about it and you gave me lots of ideas and I said, "All right, let's work on one thing." And because I'm like I'm a I'm a clear believer is like I can't fix one thing if I I can't fix it all if I don't know which it is. So I can't tell you how I'm feeling. So let's let's work on this right now. This is obviously an issue then let's when that gets better let's work on the next thing and let's you know and let's work and see how I I feel. And you've also educated me on so many other things that I didn't know that those levels can affect my other body parts.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah. So, let's go back to that first visit. What do you think your single most important question was for me on that day?

Denise Boyette: I think it was, how can you help me help myself?

Dr. Boyd: Okay, that's great. So I was encouraging you to be an advocate for your own self.

Denise Boyette: Okay? And even though I have knowledge in this field, I'm not sure where where to go with this.

Dr. Boyd: And so we we we we went through your history. Uh I obviously knew what you did in your in your past. The interesting thing about knowing what your past was can be a real um stumbling block for physicians and and so when you're in in in a hormone field sometimes doctors think you know more than you do and and you know again I I've run into this with nurses and other doctors and other uh medical health professionals but you're a patient in my office and so irrespective of what you've done I need to educate you on how I can help you learn more about yourself and and that really is is the epiphany model and the epiphany desire for you as a patient. So how can you you had a plan to some degree but but I need help getting there and and and and we did that. So what we did for you after we listened took a good history we we did a panel of blood work and and that blood work included a lot of things that are not done in traditional medicine as you know and so u a few of those and I'm just going to comment that are very important because it helped dictate your health and I'm going to use B12 for example for for you obviously you knew about B12 uh your your B12 and I don't remember the exact number was was probably half of what we

Denise Boyette: it was very low.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah. What we would want you to be. And so, uh, we use this, uh, story all the time. You know, if there's 25 kids in a classroom, one fails, the other 24 graduate D minus to A+. But we know that the Dminus student is not equal to the A+ student. But in medicine, all of you are the treated the same way. Exactly. You're in the range, you're fine. So, I'm going to use your B12 as an example. B12 is very important. It's a vitamin. It's very important for your brain. It's very important for your nervous system because we don't eat meat uh from a cow heart. Uh we don't eat a heart or a liver, other other organ meats. Typically, most Americans have a B12 suboptimal level or B12 deficiency. Okay. Huge range in B12. my office here the the B12 range is from about 300 to,100 and our Illinois office it's from 280 to a th00and u and and so if if I let's assume that you were we'll use our range here let's assume you were 301 so you're Dminus back to my student example you're a D minus uh as a patient my range over here for me I'm at 1099 now if you ask a logical question is the and we know B12 is important is your level of 301 are are you equal to the patient from a health standpoint just from a B12 standpoint equal to me at 1099 well the logical answer is no back to my student the Dminus student is not the same as the A+ student traditional medicine as as you well know you're fine and nobody would talk to you about optimizing ing that B12. So what do we do? We put you on B12 injections and 99% of our patients are on B12 injections. And um and so you get your B12 up to 1200 and it's a lifetime treatment because you're not going to start eating liver next week.

Denise Boyette: Correct.

Dr. Boyd: Right. And so that would have been something that we we we advocated for your health. we uh described why you need to do this and then you make the decision and you made the decision that you were going to move forward with B12 optimization. And so that would have been one of the blood tests that we optimized. I'm going to talk about vitamin D. Um, had you ever in any of your other practices, even your endocrinology office, had you ever had a doctor talk to you about vitamin D levels?

Denise Boyette: My the doctor I worked for did and um we we did test patients for it and I don't know that I had ever been tested for it. Yeah.

Dr. Boyd: Um, in your other practices that you went to as a patient, correct?

Denise Boyette: Yeah. I don't think I'd ever been tested for it.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah. So, it's interesting. So, he did. Kudos to him. Now, I don't know if he had a level an I would assume if he tested it, he was he was um is it a he or Okay, he was probably trying to encourage his his infertility patients to increase their levels if he's testing for it. I assume so. Interesting thing though for you here, you are running the practice, you hear about all these hormone levels, you know what he was doing, and yet you go to your own doctor and he doesn't test you for that. And even so you were in the traditional medicine box even though you experienced this every day. You went to a practice that wasn't encouraging you to be your own advocate. Therefore, you never had a vitamin D level as you just as you just mentioned. And so these are the things that that Epiphany do does. Um and um and and and that's been good for you uh as you've stated. So, as we as we managed your your labs initially and talked to you about the things that we encouraged you to do, where did we go from there?

Denise Boyette: Um, well, first of all, I I had, you know, I'd been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and, you know, I've had the traditional labs of TSH, freeT3, freeT4, but never the other one that showed

Dr. Boyd: the antibody testing.

Denise Boyette: Yes.

Dr. Boyd: Yes.

Denise Boyette: And mine was off the charts.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah.

Denise Boyette: And you're like, it doesn't matter what all those show. I mean, this right here. And I'm like, yeah, I'm taking these medications. I'm taking um levothyroxine. I'm taking Cytomel for my thyroid, but yet I'm still not feeling well, not feeling great. I mean, again, I'm just feeling like I'm supposed to be feeling and not quality of life, but you know, just is that just the way that you're supposed to feel when you get to 50 years old? Well, I hope not because I got a long way to go. But um and then I was like then start reading into it and about Hashimoto's and all of this and you changed my medicine to Armour Thyroid and I'm like okay you know there was you know we started low and it was a struggle but you know we worked our way up and had no idea

Dr. Boyd: right

Denise Boyette: no idea.

Dr. Boyd: So let's go back. When were you diagnosed with your hypothyroidism?

Denise Boyette: M probably 30.

Dr. Boyd: So 20 years.

Denise Boyette: Mhm.

Dr. Boyd: Um went by. So we we test you for we do the uh thyroid antibody level. Uh that is the diagnostic tool for Hashimoto's and like you said your antibodies levels were very high. And so then we don't know when that happened. We you now know that that Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease. you know so much more about Hashimoto's than you knew, you know, before you were diagnosed, right?

Denise Boyette: The sad thing is how much of my thyroid has been destroyed uh because of the build the fact that I've never been diagnosed. How do I have other autoimmune diseases? Do I have other autoimmune diseases that are um coexistent with

Dr. Boyd: your Hashimoto's? Mhm.

Denise Boyette: Well, how would you know to test for those if we don't even know we have Hashimoto's, right?

Dr. Boyd: So, you go 20 years with hypothyroidism and then we run a specific blood test. When you were done, when when when I talked to you about that, did that make you angry looking back 20 years that you potentially could have had Hashimoto's this entire 20 year period of time and nobody's diagnosed it, therefore nobody's treating it. What was your tell me what your feelings?

Denise Boyette: I wasn't angry, I guess. Um because you don't know what you don't know, but I I was floored and um and then as I started to understand it, it started to make more sense to me exactly why, okay, now I know why I have this or that or, you know, feel this way or that way. And yeah, it makes so much more sense than than just like I said, it's like here's a pill, take it, you'll feel better. Or if it don't, okay, but you know, you're in this range that we have right here for you. And that's that's all we can do, you know, and that's, you know, and you're like, okay, like again, it comes down to, well, you don't know what you don't know, but you know, is this just the way I'm supposed to feel? I mean, I'd never been 50 before, so I don't know if this is what I'm supposed to feel like.

Dr. Boyd: Do you think traditional medicine in general, uh, because we know that most women once they're done having babies, uh, leave their OB/GYN sometime around 50, um, and end up at their family practice office. Do you think in general family practice doctors as you age and have the the hormone problems with depression, anxiety, weight gain, trouble sleeping, decreased sex drive, on and on and on, do you think the standard response for most women in this country, in this world, is pat you on the knee and say you're just getting older?

Denise Boyette: Oh, 100%.

Dr. Boyd: Okay. So the patient then hears that you're just getting older and I would say that most women walk out and say I guess I'm just getting older.

Denise Boyette: Mhm.

Dr. Boyd: Why don't you think there's a righteous an So you have a pretty strong personality. I I'm I'm going to say but yet basically that's what you were told. And um and so my response because I have a strong personality would be to to neck punch the guy or the or the woman and say, "Did you hear what I just said?" And just to tell me that I'm getting older when I have all of these symptoms really, doctor, is that really your answer? And but you will agree that is probably the scenario that exists in many many many offices in this country, Europe, Canada, etc. It's a sad commentary. You agree with that? So part of this ask Dr. Boyd is is and I'm truly grateful that you're here telling your story because your story is going to resonate with a lot of people and whether they come to Epiphany or find a doctor wherever that's not going to say to them this is just part of getting older is going to help them for the rest of their life. Age healthier, live happier. So I want to go back a little bit. So you were on uh and I I kind of want to parse this out a little bit. So, you had 20 years of hypothyroidism. Okay, that means that your thyroid gland, which is right here in your neck, is not working the way it's supposed to. Your thyroid, you've got about 50 plus hormones in your body, and they all have a specific mission. They're little spaceships flying around your body. They land on a space station, and they're supposed to transmit information to the body to do certain things. And thyroid is is probably probably one of the top five most important in your body. And so that thyroid is not working well. And so the thyroid that's supposed to go to each individual cell to help it is not is it doesn't have adequate amounts. Therefore, it's being replaced in you with the drug Synthroid, levothyroxine,

Denise Boyette: Cytomel.

Dr. Boyd: All of those are synthetic drugs. That means they're made u by big pharma. uh made for quarter of a penny, turned around sold for a lot more. Synthroid is now the most prescribed drug in the entire world. Now it was statins, it was Lipitor for the past 20 plus years. Uh Synthroid has overtaken that and it's very interesting. Why are we seeing more hypothyroidism? That's a great question. And and again encouraging patients to make sure they're getting the entire thyroid panel. So when you say to your doctor, I I need my thyroid checked and and again a couple other things. You know, after the age of 40, at least 40% of women have hypothyroidism. At least 40%. It may be higher than that. And really, you should have your thyroid checked twice per year because if you get di checked on on Janu on January 1st and then on February 1, you develop hypothyroidism, you don't see the doctor till the next year. You go an entire year hypothyroid. So fatigue, um cold intolerance, uh inc um constipation, um are all problems with hypothyroidism, brain fog, and so we re we advocate that you get checked twice per year, including in your TSH, free T4, free T3, reverse T3, TPO antibody, and a thyroglobulin antibody should be and and again for people that are listening to I repeat that again. TSH free T4 free T3 reverse T3 TPO antibody and thyroglobulin antibody are necessary for the panel to look to get a complete picture for Denise and we did that and that's how we diagnosed your Hashimoto's. So it's a separate problem than hypothyroidism. Now, the Hashimoto's may have been the causitive reason that you have hypothyroidism, but there are many people out there that don't have Hashimoto's that have hypothyroidism. We're not sure why, but we know that that Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism often go hand in hand. The interesting thing, and you know this, we've talked about this, is is we treat your Hashimoto's as an autoimmune disease by trying to repair your gut. And in repairing your gut, then your body can learn to heal itself. And the things that come inside your body, plastics and toxins, etc. that land on your thyroid that are the body recognizes as foreign, if we can remove those and then develop good gut health, then maybe the body can heal itself. Can Hashimoto's be cured? I believe it can by healing the gut. And with you, that's what we have worked on. And so a a very different protocol, you becoming your own advocate. Uh the other thing I wanted to mention, tell me what um thyroid medicine you're taking now.

Denise Boyette: Armour Thyroid. Armour Thyroid.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah, I like Armour Thyroid. That's that's good. So, um, from a, and I'm not putting you on the spot here, but, but what was my rationale to you that resonated with you to become your own advocate for why I switched you to Armour Thyroid off of levothyroxine?

Denise Boyette: I think it's because it's not synthetic.

Dr. Boyd: Great. So, it comes from a pig.

Denise Boyette: Oh, I didn't know that.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah. Yeah. So, now you do. Yeah. So, and that and again, that's my apologies. I I I should I should have I should have told you that and maybe I did and maybe I didn't but I'm going to

Denise Boyette: you know that there was a lot of information back then.

Dr. Boyd: Yeah. So if if if if you don't know that I accept responsibility for that. The interesting thing is now there are people out there that absolutely don't eat pig and and they don't eat bacon, they don't eat ham, etc. The reason we like um Armour Thyroid and NP thyroid is because we we call those biologics. Okay. Again, it's it's a it's a mammal like we are. Um, and so if if we have a thyroid and a pig has a thyroid, uh, the the molecule is the same. Now, the interesting thing is T4, thyroid 4 from your thyroid gland, which levothyroxine is, has to be converted to thyroid 3, and then thyroid 3 goes to your cells and does what they're supposed to do. So Epiphany's thought is why would we give a T4 drug that has to be converted using an enzyme that B1 vitamin B1 is necessary to convert. What happens if there's a problem with this enzyme? Then the conversion is problematic and then T3 then is decreased to the human cell. Why would we not just give T3?

Denise Boyette: Mhm.

Dr. Boyd: So, Epiphany's thought is if we give a biologic, it's not synthetic. And then number two, we're given a T3 molecule that goes directly to the human cell. You It's interesting. You said it took a little bit of time and part of it was switching a drug that you've been on for a long time.

Denise Boyette: Yeah.

Dr. Boyd: Part of it was is this guy, meaning Dr. Boyd really uh speaking something that I agree with and you had to wrap your head around that. But eventually you said yes this makes sense and then you have done well using Armour Thyroid.

Denise Boyette: Oh we when I come in it's like here's a whole bunch of supplements. All of these are going to make you feel better but at the same time it's like okay you know here I am. a drugstore in my cabinet. And so like what exactly is the best ones that I need to do to to to live my best life to the fullest? Quality over quantity that.

Dr. Boyd: So if I could narrow so let's assume we're just going to use the number five. I want you to take five things for you moving forward to for you to have your best life. Okay? Okay. So, it minimizes a poly supplement, poly drug type of world. Obviously, you need your hormones, okay? Uh meaning specifically your testosterone and your estrogen. And you either need it in a form of a pellet or you need it in in the form of a troy. That's spelled tr o c h e. It's a lassen that you chew on. A pellet goes underneath your skin. So, I'm going to for you I'm going to say troy. Okay. The second thing is you need your thyroid medication. All right. The third thing you need a methylated multivitamin that has all the micronutrients in it. 40% of the country has a methylation defect. So unless you take a methylated multivitamin, you're not getting optimal nutrition from all of your micronutrients. And we specifically methylated. So, we specifically recommend one called 10X methylated multivitamin. It's a Gary Brecka. Uh he he's the one that developed the product. I think he's sold it now, but that's the one we recommend. I recommend uh magnesium. Magnesium is very powerful in relaxing the blood vessels for your heart, for your brain. So, it decreases your risk for uh card cardiovascular disease, uh strokes. And it's very good to optimize your gut health. Meaning many many patients are constipated. Uh so constipation causes abdominal pain. So we recommend one called organics. That's o rg g- an n iixx. Mag 7. So it has all seven substrates on the magnesium.

Denise Boyette: Because mag there's so many magnesiums that you don't know which one that you're supposed to.

Dr. Boyd: That's right. So we give you all of them in in one product. And then the last thing I would put you on is a baby aspirin and and a chewable baby aspirin, not an intericcoated. Entic coated, believe it or not, is encased in plastic. And with all of our uh intake of plastics in our environment, that's one less we have to do. So, a chewable baby aspirin. Why? Decreases your risk for cardiovascular disease, strokes, and also decreases your risk for colon cancer. You're not a smoker. The number one killer cancer-wise for you sitting in that chair chair is colon cancer, not breast cancer. But yet, we spend so much time scaring women to death about breast cancer that we often times forget that colon cancer is is the number one killer in women outside of lung cancer uh for for smokers. And so those five things is is how I would have you live your best life without carrying poly supplement polypharmacy in your suitcase.

Denise Boyette: Okay. Do you recommend just out of curiosity because I know it was recommended years ago is um do your patients that do smoke do you do you um still prescribe them estrogen?

Dr. Boyd: I do. Uh and so the the idea that estrogen causes uh and smoking cause heart attacks that you do have an increased risk of having an event either a heart usually a heart attack when you smoke and you take estrogen. Okay? And it's because of the inflammatory component of what's going on in the blood vessels and and and theoretically and it's a small risk. Uh again it goes back to the women's health initiative. They looked at that and and it is it is an elevated risk but it's a small risk. So I would not hold uh estrogen back from a smoker. Very interesting. You know smoking the number of smokers anymore is decreasing so dramatically. So that's that doesn't happen very often in our office. Hey, hey, hey.