GLP-1s, Hypertension, and Blood Pressure Medications w/ Dr. Yolanda Lawson

A GLP-1 can drop your blood pressure five to six points, which is exactly why so many women make a dangerous mistake with their meds.

Registered dietitian and GLP-1 user Ana Reisdorf talks with Dr. Yolanda Lawson, OB-GYN and past president of the National Medical Association, about why a woman's cardiovascular risk catches up to a man's at menopause, the blood pressure drop you can realistically expect from weight loss on Ozempic, Wegovy, or Zepbound, and the under-discussed way GLP-1s help your body clear sodium. You'll learn exactly what to do — and what to ask your provider — before you ever consider stopping a blood pressure prescription.

IN THIS EPISODE
- How much a GLP-1 actually lowers blood pressure (and why every 2.2 pounds you lose matters)
- Why women's heart disease risk climbs after menopause when protective estrogen drops
- The hidden way GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy help your body excrete sodium
- Whether the racing heart you feel on shot day is affecting your blood pressure
- What to ask your doctor before stopping blood pressure medication after weight loss

ABOUT THE GUEST
Yolanda Lawson, M.D., FACOG, is a board-certified OB-GYN with two decades of experience and founder of MadeWell OBGYN in Dallas, Texas. She is the Immediate Past President of the National Medical Association — the largest and oldest organization of African American physicians, founded in 1895 — where she made women's heart health a pillar of her presidency. She earned her medical degree at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, interned at Morehouse School of Medicine, and completed her residency at St. John Hospital & Medical Center in Detroit. She is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and serves as Executive Medical Director of Maternal Infant Health at Health Care Service Corporation.

CONNECT WITH YOLANDA
Instagram: @YlawsonMD
LinkedIn: Yolanda Lawson MD  [confirm full URL]

BLOOD PRESSURE RESOURCE (My BP Control / CDC Foundation)
Website: https://www.mybpcontrol.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cdcfound
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CDCFoundation

SPONSORS
Timeline (Mitopure) — Urolithin A to support mitochondrial renewal, muscle strength, and healthy aging.
timeline.com/GLP1Hub for 20% off

Tyde Wellness — Licensed providers who adjust your dosing as your body changes, plus a real care team, GLP-1 nutrition guidance, microdosing, and hormone therapy.
tydewellness.com/GLP1Hub, code GLP1HUB50 for $50 off your first month

CHAPTERS
00:00  The warning before you quit your meds
01:38  Meet Dr. Yolanda Lawson
03:37  What hypertension actually does to your body
05:40  How to know if your numbers are controlled
09:04  Why a woman's risk is different
13:23  Menopause, hormones, and birth control
14:59  What GLP-1s really do to blood pressure
20:20  Salt, food, and the sodium connection
24:38  Stress, sleep, and the alcohol trap
29:13  Reasons for hope (and where to find Dr. Lawson)

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*The content of this show is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The goal of this show is to provide various points of view about GLP-1 Medications. The personal and professional opinion of the guests and their content does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Ana Reisdorf or GLP-1 Hub.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's some exciting studies and research going on now around other applications and prevention of disease with GLP1. So I'm super, super excited. I'm excited over time that they become more accessible, right? To folks that need them for their health. And when I say accessible, I'm talking about not only access to the medicine but also affordability.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

A lot of people start a GLP1, watch the weight come off, and decide they don't need their medications anymore, like their blood pressure meds. And today's guest sees what happens next. She wants every person, especially women, to hear this before they make that call. Welcome to the GLP1 Hub Podcast. I'm Anna Reisdorf, registered dietitian, GLP1 user. And today I'm joined by Dr. Yolanda Lawson, an OBGYN and past president of the National Medical Association, the country's largest and oldest organization of African American physicians. She made women's heart health a pillar of her presidency. And we're talking about why a woman's cardiovascular risk catches up to a man's atmenopause, the blood pressure drop you can actually expect from losing weight on a GLP1, the under-discussed mechanism that helps your body clear sodium, and what every woman should do before she even considers stopping her blood pressure prescription. And as always, if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really helps us grow. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Now let's get on to the episode. Welcome to the GLP One Hub Podcast. I want to welcome today Dr. Yolanda Larson. We are going to talk about a really important topic for everybody that I feel is not discussed enough: high blood pressure or hypertension. So, Dr. Lawson, can you introduce yourself and tell everybody a little bit about your work and what you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Sure, absolutely. And good morning. So I am actually an OBGYN. So I'm a women's health expert and I'm also the past president of the National Medical Association. That's the largest and oldest organization of African American physicians in this country. We started in 1895. Our entire mission has been around disparities. And so when you talk about cardiovascular disease, one of the pillars of my president presidency was around heart health in women. And so it's near and dear to me. Of course, being an OBGYN, looking at the impacts of hypertension and hypertension-related disorders on maternal mortality. I think of it for our women in middle age, perimenopausal and postmenopausal woman. You think about over lifetime, once we get to menopausal age, our heart and cardiovascular risk go up. And so when you think about it being a leading cause of death in this country for men and women, but I'm particularly passionate about this in women. When you look at women, certainly black women over age 21, around 60% have some form of cardiovascular-related disease and primarily hypertension. I also grew up in the South. It's important to me because I grew up in the South. And hypertension, of course, and hypertensive disparities are very prevalent in the South. And so high blood pressure, hypertension is near and dear to me as a passion, as a physician, as an advocate, as a person who supports and helps to inform policy. And so I'm always advocating around hypertension in women. So that's a little bit about me. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So can we start by first defining hypertension? Absolutely. And talking about like why we care about that, like why we should worry about it. And then I want to move into the women piece specifically because that's that's really interesting to me.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

So hypertension or high blood pressure, as it's commonly called, is really thinking about what is that resistance of the blood as it flowing through your blood vessels. And so the normal range we want ideally for people is that top number. You'll hear people say, they'll say to me, Dr. Lawson, do you mean my top or bottom number? And so we want that top number, the ceiling or your maximum should not exceed 130. And the bottom number should not exceed 180. And so I always tell my patients that's their ceiling. Because people are always saying, Do you have a normal blood pressure? But I'm always asking, do people really even know what that is? And so we want it less than 130 over 80. It's very important that people understand that because we always think about the downstream risk when you have hypertension. When you have high blood pressure, you may be able to go to work every day and do everything you normally do. You may not feel it, but it is certainly doing things inside the body. It can lead to heart attack, stroke most commonly, kidney disease or kidney failure, and even dementia. And so these are conversations people should know what are those risks when I am not controlling my high blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Right. So is it causing that damage because of the pressure that the blood is putting on those tiny veins in your brain and in your eyes?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

It's damaging the blood vessels, exactly. And so it's damaging the blood vessels. So I just named off the top four things, but of course, we worry about heart failure. We worried about vision loss. But certainly when you begin to think about things such as dementia, you begin to think about the close relationship to stroke, those are disabling, right? And so it is very important. Again, I reiterate controlling our blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Okay. So how do you know if your blood pressure is controlled? Because for me, like I usually just go to the doctor and they check it and they're like, sounds good, looks good. So, but I would assume it varies throughout the day, right? Like it's not all-solutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Well, yeah, it's not our blood pressure is dynamic. It's not going to stay the same day for day. It's going to raise, for instance, if you go out and take a run. And if you go out and exercise, it's going to fluctuate. That's okay. But you, the most important piece to this, you're right. If you go to the doctor, you're not diagnosed with hypertension. Yes, I still encourage you to periodically check it. Right. I tell people if you go to the grocery store or the pharmacy, there are usually machines and you can easily check it, even if you don't have a cuff or a machine at home. But if you have a diagnosis of hypertension, right? You certainly should be checking it more frequently. I usually recommend at least daily. But I want to bring, make sure we elevate this. The most important thing here is measurement. We must measure to know. You may go to the doctor only once a year. Is that sufficient? Probably not. You should periodically. So I tell my patients, incorporate it. Like I said, when you're at the grocery store, go and go back there and check it. Usually you can do it for free. I'm noticing airports now have blood pressure stations where people can check their blood pressure. And so I think just making sure that you check it frequently, but certainly if you're diagnosed with high blood pressure and or you're taking medicines, you should be checking it daily.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Right. And so to get a diagnosis, because I know some people have like, what do they call it, white coat syndrome, where their blood pressure goes off if they see a doctor, um, that kind of thing. So how many high numbers do you have to have in a row to get a diagnosis? Because I would assume sometimes like I had reclampsia as a as a pregnant woman. And so my blood pressure was through the roof when I had a baby. My baby was in the NICU, and so my blood pressure went insane because I was super stressed out because the baby was in the NICU. So, yes, I had it right at that time and it came back down. But like, how many times should be is it elevated before you get like a diagnosis?

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Certainly. So we are quite aware that people have the white coat syndrome, right? They're anxious, they may have rushed, been in traffic to get to the doctor's office. Your blood pressure could be elevated. We typically always will repeat it, but we also ask you to keep beginning to keep a blood pressure log where you're checking it at home and repeating those numbers. Typically, if I see your blood pressure elevated once, no, I am not going to give you a diagnosis. Usually we're looking for that elevation at least four to six weeks apart. If it's persistently elevated, then we would be considering you diagnosis, right? Because as I stated, there could just be you were moving and rushing and a little bit stressed that morning. Could have had caffeine. Sometimes we'll see it even with caffeine, right? Could raise the blood pressure. And certainly you bring up a great point. You had it in your pregnancy. One thing that is so important that oftentimes women certainly don't realize if you're diagnosed with preclampsy or hypertensive disorder in pregnancy and you have the baby, usually pregnancy is gonna can aggravate our blood pressure. It's pretty common. It usually takes at least six weeks for that to go away. So the postpartum phase can be quite important for women to also frequently check your blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Right. So I think that's a nice transition to speak about women specifically. So you mentioned, I mean, you get a higher blood volume when you're pregnant because you got to feel the baby and all of that. So that would I assume would affect your blood pressure, plus whatever crazy hormone stuff is going on. So then what happens for women specifically that puts them at higher risk? Or is it that they're not paying attention or they just have these other different risk factors? So why do women need to be Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Let's break this down a little bit. Let's so I'm gonna separate pregnancy from non-pregnancy, right? And so when we talk about in pregnancy, you're right, we have a higher blood volume, but a lot of this also has to do with the placenta. And so not everyone's blood pressure goes up in pregnancy. We usually expect a slight elevation. Typically early in pregnancy, it may actually drop, right? And so that's why frequently, when you're getting your prenatal care, every prenatal visit, right? It's your blood pressure, is your blood pressure, is your blood pressure. And so it is important because as I stated, sometimes the physiologic changes there. We can see those elevations and we have to distinguish. Sometimes I'm diagnosing chronic hypertension, right? And it's just that someone got pregnant at the same time and they didn't realize they had high blood pressure versus pre-clampsia versus, which usually happens in the second half of the pregnancy, versus just gestational hypertension. Just I'm pregnant and my blood pressure is just running a little bit higher, but it's not pre-clampsia. So that's in the pregnancy side. When you think about women holistically, holistically, typically our rates for heart disease go up around age 50, middle age, right? And so we used to always think about the man and the heart attack, middle age, but then also women, right? And so I continue because oftentimes women, our symptoms may be different. We may present differently than a man does with cardiovascular-related symptoms. But certainly for a woman who has high blood pressure, I'm always counseling her around the control of that blood pressure because I want to reduce her risk for stroke and heart attack and those other hypertension-related disorders.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

You know, I'm always talking about focusing on the fundamentals and not chasing extremes when it comes to health. This is especially important if you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or using GLP1 medications. Because while a lot of the conversation around GLP1s focuses on weight loss, what I actually care about is protecting your muscle. Muscle is one of the most important indicators of long-term health and resilience as we age, especially for women. And muscle health is really about energy. See, inside your muscle cells are little tiny energy producers called mitochondria. They help support strength, recovery, and overall muscle function. And as we age, mitochondrial function naturally declines, and that can impact everything from energy to maintaining your strength. And that's one of the reasons that I've personally added mitopure gummies from Timeline to my routine. Mitopure contains clinically studied urolithin A, which helps support mitochondrial renewal, basically helping your cells produce energy more efficiently. It's not about doing more or adding something complicated to your day. It's just a simply daily habit that supports healthy aging at the cellular level. And the gummies just really make it easy. There's two sugar-free gummies a day. They're vegan and independently tested for quality. If supporting muscle health, strength, and healthy aging is important to you, especially during midlife or while using a GLP1 medication, Idopure is absolutely worth considering.com backslash GLP1 hub. Again, it's timeline.com backslash GLP, the number one hub to get 20% off your order. Mm-hmm. And so typically for women, correct me if I'm wrong, the the risk of heart attack really goes up after menopause because the estrogen is protective in some way. And so when those go away, they become more at risk. So is that when you really recommend that women start really checking their blood pressure as they get closer to 50?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I am recommending it throughout age because many things. So typically, yes, I am certainly much more cautious as a woman is going through menopause just simply because of her risk. And what if she's taking hormones or that kind of thing? That can even raise your blood pressure. But I say this to you, and I'm mentioning hormones because even for younger women, if you're taking birth control, like combined birth control pills, those can raise your blood pressure risk too, right? So for us, because we have these hormones, right? There are certain risks lifelong. And so I really want to reinforce here the message is important for us throughout our lives. You heard me say women over 21, right? Begin to get these things. And what if you do take? There are people who take blood birth control pills who are 25 years old. Their blood pressure can go up. I have to take them off of that. And so all of these things, these things are important. Or, like you, you mentioned I had pre-clampsia in pregnancy. That increases your risk, right? Lifelong to develop hypertension at any point, even before menopause. So all these little things, and then let alone family history. So all these things, again, warrant frequent, right, testing of your blood pressure and knowing your numbers.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Right, right. So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about the GLP one medication. So I believe, you know, weight loss, which could be helped by the GLP one, can help your blood pressure. But is there anything that we need to think about with GLP1 and somebody who might have high blood pressure?

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Certainly. So I want to I want to level set folks here. So typically when people are diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure, one of the first things we're doing is looking at what's their body mass index or their weight, because oftentimes as people gain weight, right? Whether you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s or so forth, weight gain can easily agitate and increase your blood pressure. And so one of the first things we begin to do, we you always hear folks talk about this healthy lifestyle. Some people, yes, could have a normal weight, but a good bit of people will be carrying excess weight. Usually, if we the first thing I'm gonna have you do is look at, we usually have a goal of around 10% weight drop, right? So every 2.2 pounds or so you lose, you're gonna drop that blood pressure number by about one. What we've seen with the GLP1s, right, because they're promoting that weight loss, we certainly have seen positive impacts on not only high blood pressure, but cardiovascular disease broadly. And what we typically will see with that weight drop is somewhere between a five to six point drop in blood pressure. So we know that they're supporting lowering blood pressure, improving cardiovascular outcomes. And that's a piece, an important piece of overall heart health is the weight management.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

So some people have told me that they feel like their heart rate gets elevated, especially around the day of their shot. I have felt this in the beginning, like I couldn't sleep well right around the day of my shot. So what does that have any effect? Is that doing something to my blood pressure or is that just like that?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So they have been nope. I've certainly heard those sentiments myself also about the heart rate increase and that type of thing. So again, most blood pressure monitors, if you check your blood pressure, it will also get your heart rate. What I typically ask my patients to start recording it for me, right? No different than when people are complaining, it could be headaches or other little vague symptoms. And so I'm saying, get your blood pressure at the same time so I know if it's a blood pressure-related item. Some people, I have patients who are afraid of needles, right? So their heart rate goes up just because if I even mention the word needle or shot, their heart rate goes up. And so I'm really trying to also differentiate is it something, is it just slight? Is it something they should be concerned about? Do we need to work up and get other testing on the heart? You know, is it medication related? So those types of things. But the first thing, again, is the measurement for us so we can track and trend it.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Right, right. So other than the positive benefits for the cardiovascular disease, is there anything potentially negative with the GLP one that you've seen or that your patients are experiencing in terms of their heart health?

SPEAKER_00 18:12

In terms of the heart health and GLP ones, I wouldn't say there's anything negative because, you know, we're looking at the holistic patient and the whole patient, right? As a comprehensive assessment. And so when you talk about negativity, I'm looking for other side effects. Or some people won't tolerate the GLP one. And some people may not even lose weight, right? It's always as we're counseling people, if they're initiating these drugs or these medications, you know, I level set with people. If this works in you, it may potentially have this benefit for you, right? But as it relates specifically to heart health, um, I don't have anything to contribute to you that I'm I have a that there's an adverse impact on heart health. You mentioned like slight things like um the heart rate increases, but those, you know, I differentiate side effects versus adverse outcomes. And we have to differentiate the two.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, I've seen a lot of research about just a lot of positive benefits for heart health. And then, you know, that will sometimes go away if people stop the medication, that their cholesterol will go up and those things will reverse, you know, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

And that's why it's so important as we're having this conversation. Much of this conversation, we're also thinking about high high blood pressure and controlling your high blood pressure. And so, as I stated earlier, the GLP1s and the medications are a piece for this, right? For people who are really having challenges with weight management and weight loss, right? Knowing that it would benefit their other health conditions. And so that's why it's so important to have a plan, right? Having a plan that's comprehensive where I'm not just relying only on the GLP one medication, but I'm thinking about my physical fitness inactivity. I'm thinking about my stress reduction, I'm thinking about proper sleep, I'm thinking about my nutrition. So I'm thinking about these other things, right, that support me being heart healthy. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

So I think that at least for a lot of my audience, the GLP one really gives them an opportunity to finally be able to do some of those lifestyle things. So if you lose a little weight, you're able to exercise more easily. That it takes away that food noise and the craving. So you're able to eat the right thing. So, what are some of those lifestyle things? You kind of mentioned a lot of them there, but like maybe starting with nutrition, like what is some of the number one thing that you can do nutrition-wise to keep your blood pressure well regulated?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

So, probably what most folks listening here will would know about is salt reduction, right? Sodium reduction, which is another benefit for the GLP1s, right? They help with that sodium excretion. So that's why we'll sometimes see the benefit also for GLP1s. That's a really helpful, kind of probably not widely known benefit as it relates to high blood pressure. But salt reduction is hugely important. So often my patients say to me, Well, Dr. Lawson, you know, I don't eat a lot of salt, I don't add a lot of salt to food. And you may not be, but you still could be consuming foods with high sodium content, right? So and that's where that eating out some of the fast food comes into play, those choices. Right. And so certainly nutrition is quite important as we talk about this. High fat. So I'm thinking about that because of, of course, the weight gain that's going to contribute to that, which can agitate your blood pressure. And then, of course, on your cholesterol, the impact on your cholesterol. So um, lowering the fat, being cognizant of the fat. And so typically for me, I'll be honest. I shared with you, I'm in the South. And so for me, I've had patients say to me, you know, Dr. Lusson, you really expect me to eat like that. So instead of telling what them they they can't do, I often frame it about what they should do. I just kind of start with, let's have a goal of four servings of fruits and and or vegetables a day. Two fruits. You know, I start talking about reinforcing what you should do because when I start talking about what they can't do, right, it it's an issue. It really, it really is. And you know the relationship people have with bacon. I mean, I don't have to tell you that. I did not have to tell you how challenging that relationship is.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

I I really enjoy it too. I'm not gonna sit here and lie about it. I do, I do. It's got the fat, it's got the salt, it's got all the things that uh that you just said we shouldn't have. But it is very tasty.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

In moderation. In moderation.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Sure. So, what about the exercise component? What do you recommend there for blood pressure? Because you did mention briefly that maybe going for a run could raise your blood pressure. Is that something to be worried about, or should you just try to do what you can do?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

It generally is not. That's a general physiologic, natural, normal response that our blood pressure is going to go up slightly. Our heart rate will also with vigorous or strenuous activity. And so when you talk about the exercise component, it is quite important. You know, we are living in a society now where people are so sedentary during a day. You know, I encourage my patients, certainly if I'm worried about if they have borderline high blood pressure or high blood pressure or not, the importance of physical activity. There are not many medical conditions that don't avail well, right, to physical activity and exercise. So I really like that you you talked about earlier sometimes the limitations people may have due to their weight. But I just tell people start somewhere. You know, I usually want you to get 120 minutes a week. That's what's recommended in cardiovascular exercise. Everyone can't do that. But if you're doing 10 minutes a day, that's a start and that's helpful. If you're just standing once an hour from your chair, people who are working at a desk all day, that's a helpful start. And so start where you can, begin incorporating into your regular duty lately activity. If it means parking further from the store when you're walking into the grocery store, how do I incorporate activity into my daily life? But activity is quite important, as we all know, for our heart health and for our cardiovascular health for certain.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yes, for sure. I I think that that a lot of us are so sedentary because we're stuck on these desks all day that it's the desk and the computer, yes. It's awful. It's awful. So you mentioned briefly stress. So that's something we've been covering a lot here on the podcast is how stress influences your ability to lose weight, how stress influences your nervous system, and then your body starts to kind of stress out about it. So, how does stress impact your blood pressure? And and how do we manage it in this crazy world that we live in?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, so stress is so important. You know, I I often have this conversation with patients because it is often difficult to put in a plan or execute a plan if you're not managing the stress. And so, stress reduction for me starts a lot of times is foundational because you're right, stress impacts those circulating cortisol and certain um flight or fright hormones in our body that again raises the blood pressure, right? It can impact your sleep. So in your stress and it can trigger anxiety, that type of things. Poor sleep quality. Poor sleep is also another trigger where people don't sleep well, typically the next day, blood pressure is usually a little higher. So your sleep is quite protective. And so when you talk about stress and our mental health and that component of this, it is very important to start deploying those measures that are healthy measures, right? Because sometimes we're we're seeking things such as smoking and alcohol for stress reduction. Those are only going to do more harm for a person who's already highly stressed. Yeah. And so we don't want to do things that are harmful. And so I'm always trying to push patients to think about let's do this in a healthy manner. It may be meditation for some people. For some people, it may be spirituality in church. For some people, it may be working out. This is how I reduce stress at the end of my workday. For other people, like I said, it could be essential oils. I have a lot of people that do essential oils and um fragrance around stress reduction. So I'm I'm always encouraging people, not only giving them ideas, tools, and tactics, but what works for you. But again, I don't want people to adopt, you know, habits that are not healthy, such as drinking and alcohol. There are people I've had people who go out and on the weekends after they've been drinking. Blood pressure's high. They see me on Monday. What happened this weekend? This is unusual for you. Alcohol can have that impact on people. And so I always ask my patients, certainly if you have a diagnosis of high blood pressure, be cognizant of that alcohol consumption.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

You guys remember my conversation with Beth a while back, the one that became one of the most popular episodes? Well, Beth is from Tide Wellness, and that conversation is the reason I'm comfortable telling you about them today. So many people lose weight on GLP1, feel amazing, and then six months later, they're back to where they started because the program ended or the provider disappeared, or they were never set up for the long haul. But Tide Wellness is built differently. Licensed providers who actually adjust your dosing as your body changes. A real care team you can message when you hit a plateau or have a question or need help. Nutrition guidance designed specifically for how GLP1s change your appetite. And if you've got questions, you can book a consultation and actually talk to a provider, a rare find in this space. If you're looking for more than GLP1s, they also do microdose GLP1 programs, hormone therapy, longevity peptides, and the kind of support that matters when you're trying to feel your best long term. Tide is built with support by a team that really cares. Go to tidewellness.com backslash GLP1 hub and use the code GLP1Hub50 for $50 off your first month. Again, it's TideT Y D E wellness.com backslash GLP, the number one hub, and the code is GLP1Hub50. Really? Right. And also, I think a lot of people don't realize we think alcohol helps reduce our stress, but really the next day it makes it a lot worse. Or you do something stupid, your stress gets a lot worse.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

So it's really, I'm sure we could tell some stories, but I will not go there today.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

No, no, we don't need to like you know, it doesn't actually do what you're trying to do. Like it feels that way in the moment, but in the long term, it really has the opposite effect. So I think that's a great point. So with the GLP1 medication and kind of just an increased awareness around wellness these days and that kind of stuff, are you hopeful for people's heart health in the future? Can we get this heart disease thing off our number one cause of death? I am hopeful.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that through technology and through innovation, through research and discovery, we have drugs like GLP ones. Right. And so the GLP ones have given them hope. I have seen people die from obesity-related disease, right? Even after having bariatric surgery. And so I'm hopeful because we now have more tools than just the surgery alone or some of the other things that had such severe side effects, or, you know, people who just have been resistant to other measures to lose weight. I'm quite hopeful around what we're doing, what we're continuing to discover, what we're continuing to discover. I think we're going to be able to see more and more discovery and research and development. There's some exciting studies and research going on now around other applications and prevention of disease with GLP1. So I'm super, super excited. I'm excited over time that they become more accessible, right? Yeah to folks that need them for their health. And when I say accessible, I'm talking about not only access to the medicine, but also affordability.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm looking forward to the new Medicare coverage that's coming in a couple months. And um, hopefully that will kind of start the ball rolling towards other things. And then competition, because like you mentioned, there are other medications coming too. Um, and I think competition lowers the price.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

It lowers the price. So I'm I'm hopeful. You asked me that. I am. There's a lot of things I'm not hopeful for in healthcare these days, but with this, I am quite hopeful. Good, good.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Me too. I I I think that there was a paper article that came out said obesity rates declined for the first time. For the first time. Two decades, three decades, however long it's been. So I think that that's a sign of hope for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

It certainly is. And you know, again, being a women's health expert, you know, when you think about one in five women are obese in this country, I mean, that's staggering, right? And so I think about it when I operate on these people. I think about it when they want to get pregnant or if they do get pregnant, how it impacts delivery. I'm thinking about it later on with you know obesity-related cancer. So I'm thinking about this. Obesity intersects my work all the time, no matter really what I'm taking care of you for, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. So, where can people find out about your work, Dr. Lawson? Where can they connect with you on online? Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

So I first want to make sure that we leave today. Everyone is actionable. Create your plan to manage your blood pressure, right? Let's all have a plan. Let's measure our blood pressure. Let's think about our lifestyle and our health. And what are those little things that we can do, right? To protect our cardiovascular health. And then if you are on medications, please take your medications for your blood pressure. That is something that we still continue to struggle with today. Or people think, oh, I started a GLP1, I'm losing weight, I'll stop my medicine. I'm just asking that people do that in concert and in communication with their healthcare provider. And to get more information, you can go to www.mybcontrolum.com. And that way you can get more access to how do you create your plan. And then secondly, again, my name is Dr. Yolanda Lawson. I'm an OBGYN. And you can find me really at Ylaus and MD on Instagram or Yolanda Lawson MD on LinkedIn or Facebook. So, but thank you. But again, let's work on controlling our blood pressure, even though we're losing weight. Let's make sure when it's time to transition off meds, we're doing that in communication with our healthcare provider.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Yeah, 100%. And and I'm staring at my blood pressure monitor across the room. I'm gonna go check my blood pressure. Lawson sits right there. So I gotta go get it after our conversation. So thank you so much for being here. And I'll put all those links in the in the show notes so people can connect with you. And I really appreciate it. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the GLP1 Hub podcast. I'm so grateful for this important information that Dr. Lawson was willing to share with us. Such an important message. And if you want more information about being successful on your GLP1 journey, I send out a newsletter every Tuesday called the Steady State newsletter, where I talk about nutrition, weight loss, mindset, maintenance, all the things that you need to know. And you can find a link to sign up for that in the show notes below. And I'll see you in the next episode.