Ep # 182 - Hormones And Longevity Made Simple

Feeling older isn’t just about the number on your birthday cake. It shows up as low energy on cold mornings, slower recovery, stubborn weight, brain fog, and a sex life that suddenly feels complicated. We sit down with Shellinie Muneshwar,, nurse practitioner and owner of Ageless 2gether in Ridgewood, New Jersey, to talk about what “regenerative” wellness can actually mean in real life and how people can feel better while they age.

We get specific about hormone optimization and longevity, including how hormone levels tend to decline each decade and why balancing testosterone, DHEA, estradiol, and progesterone can impact energy, mood, muscle, metabolism, and sexual wellness. Shellinie also shares why her practice often focuses on couples: when one partner improves and the other doesn’t, relationships can feel out of sync, so treating the whole picture matters.

Then we dig into practical options: sexual wellness support for erectile dysfunction, vaginal dryness, orgasm challenges, and incontinence; weight loss plans that combine GLP-1 medications with hormone support to help preserve muscle mass; and IV therapy topics like high-dose vitamin C and NAD IV for patients seeking recovery, inflammation support, or sharper focus. We also talk about what it’s really like to leave traditional medicine, start a clinic, and build trust in the community.

If you care about healthy aging, hormone health, sexual wellness, IV therapy, and sustainable weight loss, you’ll take away a clearer roadmap and better questions to ask your provider. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s trying to feel like themselves again, and leave a review with the biggest health goal you want to tackle next.

Ageless 2gether
Shellinie Muneshwar
551-310-4771
584 NJ 17 North ridgewood NJ 07450
shellinie@ageless2gether.com
ageless2gether.com

Transcript

Welcome To The Show

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.

Doug Drohan 0:10

Everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, Doug Drawn. I'm the owner of the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. And today, hey, it's springtime. It's supposed to be spring. It's pretty darn cold out there. Uh, and we might be feeling our age when it's, you know, you're getting up and it's in the 30s and it's April and you like what's going on. So I think it's a perfect opportunity to introduce Shellinie Muneshwar. She is the owner of 2 Together, based in Ridgewood, New Jersey. And we're going to get into what Ageless Together is all about. Welcome to the show.

Shellinie Muneshwar 0:40

Thank you so much, Doug. It's a pleasure.

Doug Drohan 0:43

Yeah. So basically it's a wellness-focused practice, right? I've had a lot of wellness-focused businesses, owners on the show. Uh, you know, there's functional wellness, there's integrative wellness, there's chiropractic, uh, you know, all different types of terms we we hear getting thrown at us. So, what is um, you know, your practice, Ageless 2gether, all about?

Shellinie Muneshwar 1:10

The focus of it is helping patients to feel their best. It doesn't matter what age they're at.

Doug Drohan 1:15

Okay.

What Ageless Together Does

Shellinie Muneshwar 1:16

Longevity is something that is being tossed around in social media. But listen, I don't have the fountain of youth. However, I can help patients to feel their best in the aging process. And that's what Ageless 2gether is all about.

Regenerative Medicine And Hormones

Doug Drohan 1:31

So it's somewhat innovative, I guess, but what is regenerative? So does that mean you help people, you know, build back their brain cells or uh, you know, their mitochondria to help their muscles, you know, last longer or stay fit? Like what exactly is is uh a regenerative medicine solution?

Shellinie Muneshwar 1:51

So with regenerative, we're talking about optimizing the hormones. Okay as as we age, every decade we start to de our hormones start to decline. So for males, that's testosterone and DHEA. For female, it's testosterone, DHEA, estradiol, and progesterone. So when we're able to optimize all of that, it helps with longevity. I don't know if you're familiar with the studies now out our our muscle is tied to longevity, whether it's brain cells and sexual wellness, all coming together. So improving our hormones help with regeneration.

Doug Drohan 2:28

And then of course, yeah. So I think in the in the in the world of hormone replacement, I think more women, I think, have been maybe women were the first to really look into, you know, when they when they're in their, I guess, menopausal um, you know, time of their life. And I think that's something we heard of more so years ago. But obviously, as you're saying, it's not just women, you treat men too. And then, you know, when you think about hormone replacement for men, there's a lot of commercials now. If if you watch golf, you you see these commercials all the time. And it's about testosterone, you know, low T and things to help bring back your testosterone levels to a to an optimum number, I guess. So is that like you just mentioned testosterone for men? Um, are you seeing more men that you're treating in your practice, or is it mostly female-based?

Shellinie Muneshwar 3:17

No, it's a combination. So my practice actually specialized with couples. Obviously, I don't require them to come in together. I found that from treating men for years, they would report feeling great, sex drive, and increased. However, their counterpart are not experiencing the same improvement. So now I've coupled it where you know it's specializing with couples as well, and I treat individuals.

Doug Drohan 3:43

And I guess that's why it's together is part of the name of your company, right?

Shellinie Muneshwar 3:47

It's not about Yeah, it's like get her.

Doug Drohan 3:49

Yeah, and I guess that's a good point because if one, you know, it it's like anything, if if one of you know, one of the persons in a in a relationship are in shape and the other one's not, you know, the one who's in shape feels great. Hey, let's go have some fun. Yeah, let's go hiking, let's do this. And if the other one's not in shape, then it's gonna be tougher on their relationship.

Shellinie Muneshwar 4:09

Absolutely. Um, and I've found that now, since my practice has been established and getting couples to improve their life, whatever that means for them, has improved their relationship as well.

Doug Drohan 4:21

Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I uh this is really gonna come off the wrong way, but I remember years and years ago, like on a talk show, there were like these couples on it, could have been Oprah, whatever, and the wives were complaining that their their husbands didn't have any desire for them anymore. But when I looked at the wives, they were overweight, they didn't, you know, I'm like they they weren't that attractive. So I'm like, you know, I think it's a it's a two-way street. Uh, you know, same thing on the other side, you know, if you're not taking care of yourself and you're letting yourself go, and and the other partner is, you know, taking care of their self, uh, themselves, yeah, there's gonna be this um disconnect, I guess, in desire and attractiveness.

Shellinie Muneshwar 5:05

Absolutely, and I think that's one of the problems. We for women, they tend to not invest in themselves. For my male patients, they're ready to improve whatever it is that they're looking to achieve. But women, they think twice about everything, and we need to invest in ourselves, right? For longevity, for brain health, for cancer protective, for our life, our sex health as well.

Doug Drohan 5:28

Yeah. Um, but I I you I mean, you have to admit though, like today, you know, if you go to any soccer game, baseball game, uh, women are not wearing mom jeans much anymore. Yeah, you know, I think there's there is more you could call it pressure, you could just call it lifestyle change of the the newer generation of women in their 50s, uh, even in their 60s. There's a different, um, we were brought up differently when it came to looking at fitness and health and fitness as you know, compared to my parents' generation. You know, they never went for a jog, they never went to the gym. So I think, you know, the newer generations definitely do more about staying in shape. And, you know, having a kid, you know, it used to be you just give up kind of, uh, that's my body, my body changed. I had a couple of kids, what do you expect? But now I find it, especially in the neighborhoods. I, you know, I frequent uh with the magazines that I publish, you know, you're not you're not seeing too many people that are um letting themselves go as much. You know, I think there's more internal pressure and external pressure to stay in shape.

Shellinie Muneshwar 6:33

Absolutely. And you have to also look at it this way we are living longer, right? Right. So if we're starting to let ourselves go at an earlier age, then the decline is just going to continue to worsen.

Sexual Wellness For Men And Women

Doug Drohan 6:46

Yeah, yeah. So talk to me about some of the therapies that you offer.

Shellinie Muneshwar 6:50

In addition to the hormone optimization, I also specialize in sexual wellness. So I think it's such a taboo, and it's like a sh we can't talk about it much. ED, for example, erectile dysfunction is something that's affecting men as they're aging. And the longer they wait to correct that, it becomes more expensive and more difficult to treat. And it's the same thing as well for a female vaginal dry vaginal dryness, um, difficulty with orgasm is a problem. But and I I don't know, Doug, have you seen the commercials with um the poise, right? If you're developing incontinence, you know, you go who wants to wear poise underneath their beautiful outfit, right? So sexual wellness and tightening the vaginal wall and preventing against incontinence, that's also part of the practice that is um, I think, not that I think it is important for men and female.

Weight Loss With GLP-1 Plus Hormones

Doug Drohan 7:47

Yeah, yeah. And then um, you know, aside from that, you all also offer, as you mentioned, you know, helping people uh lose weight. Uh now that is that in addition to or is that part of the program? I mean, obviously not everybody needs to lose weight, but I'm sure everybody, you know, most people say, I could I could certainly tighten up a little bit, especially if you've you know reached an age where your you know muscle mass is is decreased, right?

Shellinie Muneshwar 8:15

Absolutely. So my weight loss program, it it differs from I guess what you're seeing everywhere else on the commercial. It's always promoting um the weight loss medication, GLP1 or whatever, it's out there. Um, I couple the hormones with the GLP1, and I've had I'm having wonderful results in regards to preserving the muscle mass. And that I feel long term is going to benefit my patients, improving actually maintaining their metabolic rate. Because when you're going on GLP1, if you're losing only weight and muscle mass, then your metabolic rate is destroyed when you get off of the medication, right? So for my patient, when their hormones are optimized and I add in the weight loss medication, it's like the cherry on top. They're able to maintain, they're able to see that decrease in body fat versus the muscle mass increasing as well. So that's I also make sure that my patients um I include in the program two personal training sessions with my partners, um, because working out is essential. You cannot just go on a weight loss medication and expect to get achieved goals.

Doug Drohan 9:27

And with those weight loss psychosempic, I heard that it does um, you do have decreased muscle mass, you know, kind of for want of a better word, you know, your your muscle mass decreases or wastes away while you're losing weight. Uh, you might look good in clothes, but you don't look that good uh in a bathing suit because you've lost a lot of muscle mass.

Shellinie Muneshwar 9:47

Absolutely. And then again, like I mentioned, their uh metabolic rate is decreased as well. And what's the point? So when I couple my patients with a proper treatment plan, they have wonderful results.

Doug Drohan 10:00

And and to clarify, when somebody's metabolic rate decreases, this is the thing about uh when I used to work out a lot and I was a personal trainer, you talk about eating every three hours, you know, small meals instead of like fasting, because when you fast, your body's taught to lower its metabolism to respond to the the fewer calories that it's being uh asked to kind of metabolize, right? So the lower your metabolism is, the easier it is for you to gain weight because you're not burnt, it's your body's ability to burn calories. And you know, somebody like Michael Phelps, when he was, you know, competitively swimming, I think he ate like 10,000 calories a day. Now he was probably burning, you know, 9,500 calories a day. Um, but if you were somebody who's on a Zempic and or you've just fasted and now your metabolism is like at 1500 and you eat 3,000 calories, you're gonna be in trouble.

Shellinie Muneshwar 10:54

Absolutely. Is that the same concept?

IV Therapy Benefits And NAD

Doug Drohan 10:57

Yeah, yeah. Now you um you also talk about IV therapy, right? So one of the things that you offer, I guess, in addition, is is I fe IV therapy. What are the benefits uh for health and wellness when it comes to IV therapy?

Shellinie Muneshwar 11:12

Um, there are wonderful results. I mean, actually, benefit of IV therapy. So the ones that I do are a bit more specialized. Um, for example, anyone that had um history of cancer or are in the process of being treated with chemotherapy and all of that, high-dose vitamin C provide wonderful results if it's clear by their oncologists, because it helps the new cells that are being replicated to become stronger and decrease risk for metastasis, right? So the cancer cells from attaching on to that. And then there's also NAD IV, which I love because again, with the mitochondria health, we're looking at NAD in regards to improving that and improving concentration.

Doug Drohan 11:58

What is NAD?

Shellinie Muneshwar 12:00

Nicotinamide, adenine dinucleotide. It's a fancy word of um, it's one of those longevity um vitamins that they're talking about now.

Doug Drohan 12:11

Okay, okay. So you come in and you get hooked up to an IV and you kind of sit there for half an hour or so while it's uh yeah.

Shellinie Muneshwar 12:20

It's a bit longer. So um the vitamin C can take 45 minutes to an hour, especially when I do high dose vitamin C for anyone with autoimmune disease as well. Um that is really beneficial for them because rotine is in the inflammation from their body. Um, the NAD, it's a bit longer. It could take like two hours because it's tense, it's by it bypassed the lungs. So some patients can have a little bit of chest tightness and discomfort. Um, so that infusion takes a bit longer to infuse.

Doug Drohan 12:52

So not everybody can administer IVs. So your background, um, you're a nurse practitioner, right? So tell us a little bit about your background.

Shellinie Muneshwar 13:02

Yeah, so um I've well I was a nurse for 10 years, and from working in the hospital system, I saw the decline in the health of the patients that were admitted. And it's the same thing. After a while working on the floor, you see the same patients coming in and we're just throwing medication. Um, I was just tired of doing that, and it's a bit depressing as well, seeing the menstrual patient come in and the sound, the sound, sundowning patients as well. Um so I decided to go back to school and pursue being a nurse practitioner. And the same thing, I was terrified of practicing traditional medicine. Um, and then I was hired by a practice where I was doing PRP injection for joint pain and to for patients that didn't want a narcotic or didn't want to undergo surgery. And so then my career just continued. I wanted to look at alternative medicine and regeneration versus just throwing a pill that you would take that is really not improving the quality of life. So for the last 15 years, I've been in medicine and I do love educating patients and improving their quality of life.

Doug Drohan 14:12

That's great. That's great. Yeah, and I guess you know, there are a lot of um medical, um, I'll call them offices, you know, that offer IV, and and it's something that I guess is becoming more and more popular. I know some people are kind of uh afraid of having a needle, but the point is is not every practice can have somebody, it's it's not like you could just be a the you know the the receptionist and start administering IV. So you have to be you have to be uh at least a nurse practitioner to be able to administer an IV?

Shellinie Muneshwar 14:45

No, um some like for example, the Myths Pause, they have like nurses that can just start the IV, but they should have a practitioner ordering it, whether it's a nurse practitioner or it's an MD um or a PA. So those are the ones we are the ones that can order it.

Doug Drohan 15:03

Got it. Okay. Yeah, so when did you open this practice?

Shellinie Muneshwar 15:07

So I started about two years ago, but then I kind of partner with another provider, it just didn't work out. So I'm back on my own the last year. So for the last year, I've just been at it.

Doug Drohan 15:19

So what has that journey been like being a uh a business owner on your own, right? I mean, you worked, you worked for, I don't know if it was for a hospital or whatever, you know, where you had uh, you know, I've been initially a family nurse practitioner and now you decide to go off on your own. But first you're partnering with somebody, so that gives you a little bit of security, yeah. Uh, but that didn't work out, which often happens. So, what has this journey been like of being an entrepreneur?

Shellinie Muneshwar 15:44

You know, it's tough. It really is. I didn't, I know medicine, I know how to treat patients, but running a practice is just a different animal, to be honest. And I I didn't consider all of the other things that it entails getting patients into the door and building a brand and just telling the story and building the trust. So it's really hard, Doug.

Doug Drohan 16:07

Yeah, well, you're talking to the right person because that's what that's what I do. I help people tell their story and connect and get more patients through the door. But you are one of probably the majority, maybe 95% of the people I speak to, and certainly doctors and nurses and you know, medical professionals who went to school to be, you know, to study whatever medicine they're practicing. Nobody taught them about accounting, marketing, HR, all the things that go into you know, running your own practice. And and I always say, like, when people, especially like during COVID, a lot of people went off into their own thing. They they followed their shark tank dream, so to speak. But, you know, there's one thing saying I want to be on my own, there's another thing living it. And uh I you know, I use the Mike Tyson phrase, everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth. And uh when you're a business owner and and new, you get punched in the mouth a lot, a lot of things you didn't see coming.

Intro/Close 17:01

Oh my god.

Doug Drohan 17:02

So, what do you do to like keep yourself mentally motivated? You know, and have that that mindset to say, I, you know, I believe in what I'm doing and I I can stick to this.

Shellinie Muneshwar 17:14

You know, when you see the results of the the patients are able to achieve, and believe it or not, so many patients are having difficulty finding that right provider, it just gives me motivation to continue.

Doug Drohan 17:27

Right. I mean, you you help, uh you know, one testimonial kind of puts wind beneath your sails and and you know helps you get through those those days where you know maybe it's not so fun.

Shellinie Muneshwar 17:38

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Packages, Timelines, And What To Expect

Doug Drohan 17:40

So what um, so like if somebody wanted to come in, do they just come in for like a one-time treatment? And this is funny because I know what the answer is going to be, but you know, whether it's they want to feel they want to get their vitality back or they want to lose weight or they want to improve their sexual uh wellness, um, do you get people that come in and say, Hey, can I just try it once or twice and see how it works? And like, how does how do your like uh packages uh how are they designed?

Shellinie Muneshwar 18:06

Absolutely. So for the hormone packages, listen, once you start supplementing, there's no trying it, right? I actually let's rephrase that. I tell patients to try it for a three-month span. So I bill in quarterly, where their medication is included in their treatment and all of their consultation. That way, patients are not afraid to reach out for questions. Um, that's for the hormone. For the weight loss, it can last anywhere from 10 weeks or so for their treatment package. For the sexual wellness treatment, it's usually that's a bit harder because with if you're having ED or if you're suffering from vaginal dryness, one treatment may not um provide you the benefits. So it usually takes a bit more for ED, takes succession, which is done in six weeks, um, for uh decreased vaginal dryness or inability to orgasm for a female, it may take two treatments, whether it's like an OSHO that I do, um, and that's six weeks apart.

Doug Drohan 19:04

And then that so with ED again, being influenced by um the commercials I see, there's so many ads for Cialis and these other, you know, options besides Viagra. So why why not just take a pill if you're suffering from ED?

Shellinie Muneshwar 19:22

Well, that's just improving blood flow at that point. Most patients they just want to not depend on a pill, the blue pill, the pink pill, whatever pill is out, right? Um, the goal is to not only improve the erection quality, but the quality of life. And that's where hormone comes to play. They feel good and they're able to improve erection quality as well, for example, with testosterone. Um, but if they're further, if they're on testosterone, they're looking to boost their um function in the bedroom, then that's when the the shockwave therapy or the P shot is ideal for those patients.

How To Book And First Visit Steps

Doug Drohan 19:58

Oh wow. Okay. Okay. So how does somebody get in touch with you? Like what would be the next step?

Shellinie Muneshwar 20:04

Absolutely. So they're welcome to call or text us. Um, 551-310-4771 is the office number. Um, of course, on the website, they can um request an appointment there as well.

Doug Drohan 20:19

And the website is ageless to the number twogether.com, ageless together. And it'll be at the bottom of this podcast anyway. People will be able to see it in the uh in the summary. Yeah.

Shellinie Muneshwar 20:31

Yeah. Those are the two ways.

Doug Drohan 20:33

And you and you have a your office is located where?

Shellinie Muneshwar 20:36

Um 584 NJ17 North, Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Doug Drohan 20:42

Okay, so Route 17, yeah. So where what is that near if I if I know Route 17?

Shellinie Muneshwar 20:46

Like where do you near like it's right after the um DNG plant nursery?

Doug Drohan 20:53

Okay.

Shellinie Muneshwar 20:54

So like the building right next to it, it's not like the traditional office building, it looks like a house. Um but that's where it is. Yeah, yeah.

Doug Drohan 21:02

Excellent, excellent. Well, this was great. I mean, is there anything uh we didn't touch on that you just you wanted people to know about? Um, you know, we talked about well, you know, we one of the programs, you know, and obviously this goes into everything that you're you're about, but there is uh navigating new parenthood. There is something called discovering balance in midlife, and then feeling ageless again, the over 50s program, where you know, 50 is the new 30. Is that what you're telling us?

Shellinie Muneshwar 21:30

Absolutely, Doug.

Doug Drohan 21:32

Yeah, that's great. And then within those programs, those are kind of the packages that you talked about, but they're they're personalized for each person.

Shellinie Muneshwar 21:40

Yeah, absolutely. Like the parenthood, whether it's um postpartum depression as well, that's not being talked about often enough. Um, or just being fatigue, there are treatment options for those parents as well.

Doug Drohan 21:55

Got it, got it. Yeah, and then lastly, so if somebody, you know, somebody's gonna book. An appointment with you, what happens at that first appointment?

Shellinie Muneshwar 22:03

So I guess it depends on what service they're coming in for. If it's the hormone that my friend desk would set them up for blood work, um, which we try to get it covered through their insurance, um, but the practice in itself, we're not an insurance-based practice. Um, but we set up an hour-long consultation where we're diving into not only the blood work, but lifestyle and um genetics and uh a well-rounded conversation so that way they can take away a lot more from their consultation. And then depending on that, they're able to move forward with treatment. Um, if it's the ED, you know, we start treatment the same day. Um for the IV therapy, whether it's hydro vitamin C, there are some markers that I like to um get done with blood work to ensure that they're able to tolerate the IV.

Doug Drohan 22:53

Okay, okay, good to know. Excellent. So this was great. I really appreciate you joining us today. Uh again, it's Ageless2gether.com, uh, the number two, uh, located in Ridgemont. This thanks very much for joining us.

Shellinie Muneshwar 23:08

Thank you so much for having me, Doug.

Doug Drohan 23:10

Uh you and I will be right back.

Intro/Close 23:13

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.