The Menopause Hour with Winona
Welcome to The Menopause Hour, the podcast where you’ll find the answers to your most pressing menopause questions—the ones you won't get from your OB/GYN. Hosted by Winona’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Green, and Medical Director, Dr. Cat Brown, The Menopause Hour is here to empower you with expert insights, tips, and real talk on navigating menopause with confidence and clarity.Brought to you by Winona – menopause care made easy. Join us each episode as we explore the symptoms, solutions, and science of menopause, all while breaking down the stigmas and misconceptions along the way.
The Menopause Hour with Winona
Episode #17 Managing Hot Flashes, Night Sweats & Sleep Disruptions in Menopause
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In this episode, Dr. Green dives into the causes and treatments for hot flashes, night sweats, and the sleep disruptions that often accompany them. He explains how fluctuating estrogen levels impact mood and cognition and why symptom-based care is key to effective treatment.
Dr. Green also answers questions about HRT side effects, how long symptoms last, and how to manage issues like low libido, mood swings, and weight changes. Plus, he introduces Winona’s new 7% Minoxidil Hair Serum and shares advice on optimizing menopause care with personalized plans and lifestyle support.
Looking for more answers? Join our next live Q&A at bywinona.com/liveqa-spotify.
Get more info on Winona's treatments here: bywinona.com/treatments-spotify
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Welcome to the Menopause Hour, your go-to source for empowering answers to your burning menopause questions, the ones you will get from your OBGYN. Brought to you by Winona, Menopause Care Made Easy and hosted by our experts. CMO Dr. Michael Green and Medical Director, Dr. Kat Brown.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everyone, and welcome to another one of Winona's live QA's. Today's a special one. It's our Dr. Dialogue. Um, so I think these things are really special because we usually kind of touch on a little bit of a subject, but um, so I'll give them over to Dr. Green in a minute to kind of introduce himself and talk about that subject in a moment. But just wanted to say again, really, we're so glad you're here. Um, I think it means such a big thing when you kind of, you know, take the time out of your night to be here to ask your questions. We love getting to kind of hear from you all um and get to touch on all that. So super glad you're here. Um, just wanted to also point out a couple things. If you haven't heard yet, um, we do now have the Winona app, which is super, super exciting. This just launched last week. Um, there's already thousands of women in there. Um so we would love you kind of just to jump into that as well. Um it's a great place to have, you know, deeper conversations about menopause to kind of get, you know, your questions answered, um, to make connections, join meetups. Um, there's a lot happening in there, um, as well as the fact that we're going to be doing a lot of our events going forward, kind of in the app. So um please go find them. Um, we would love you to get connected in there. It's a really, really cool new thing. Um, that's been really, really exciting. Um, if you've been to one of these before, you probably know some of the gist of kind of what we do. Um, if not though, this is a great time to go ahead and start putting your questions um in the chat. It gets a little bit crazy in there usually. So I always like to tell people, go ahead and get your questions in there as quickly as possible. Um, and we'll get to as many of them as we can. Um I always, I always love getting the questions and seeing everyone's um kind of you know things that they're wondering about. Um, so go ahead and start dropping those in there. I do see that we have someone says hi from Wisconsin. Um I'm so glad to see you. I think that's so fun. It's one of my favorite things about Winomana is that, you know, we just really have people kind of from everywhere, um, which I think is so cool across the US. Um, but so Dr. Green, I will kind of pass it over to you to do a little introduction of yourself um while some questions get dropped in there, and then we'll get to the questions.
SPEAKER_03Great. So uh thanks, many. My name's uh Mike Green. I am an OGIM. Uh I also chief medical officer of Linona. Um and we know this kind of been my little baby along with uh some other really important people. Um and it's been really exciting um to watch it grow and um be able to touch so many lives um and help women in an area that sometimes they just can't get help with um from their regular in-person doctor. So um really thrilled um to be a part of Winana. I um spent uh 17 years doing full-scale OBGYN. I've worked as LB hospice. Now I spend most of my time doing this, um, although I do still see patients. I live in a small town and we had a little royal help clinic. And so I staffed that um to be part of the community and uh help some women because without me it's an hour drive to the closest gynecologist. So I do still see people in a brick and mortar situation along with um online. So um please put your questions in the chat. Um, this goes a lot better if um you ask questions for me to answer. Um, otherwise I'll just start rambling on. Um, we do um want to talk a little bit about uh vasomotor symptoms, is what they're called. That's like hot flashes and night sweats, and also how that can affect sleep and sleep disruption. So it's one of the sort of like cardinal things of uh the menopause transition. When people think about menopause symptoms, that's usually what they think of is hot flashes and night sweats. Um, but the truth is there's a lot of women um that have other symptoms besides that, and many women that get all kinds of symptoms that they may not even realize are symptoms of menopause and don't get hot flashes or night sweats. So they think, oh, it must not be that. So the absence of hot flashes from night sweats does not mean you're not going through the menopause transition or that your other symptoms are not from it. Um, but these are sort of the classic things that people think about. It's it's the sort of stereotypical thing we see, like, you know, this is what me people make jokes about. You see cartoons about it. Um, I remember seeing a cartoon with a lady with a coffee pot on her head, um, and she was trying to be super efficient putting her hot flashes to use. So um, you know, these are the kind of things that that we see. So hot flashes um and night sweats, night sweats are basically just hot flashes that occur at night. Um, and they tend to wake people up at night and then they're drenched in sweat sometimes. I'm so bad they have to change their pajamas and their sheets and stuff, and it can be really annoying and really disruptive. Um, hot flashes um uh can happen during the day or at night, and they're basically this sort of sensation of hotness that goes through the body. Um, and they can be experienced in many different ways. Um, and they can last from a few seconds to several minutes or sometimes even longer. Um, they really can present in lots of different ways. And what's really thought to trigger these is um the abrupt changes in estrogen. And so what happens is the ovaries are supposed to make estrogen in, and basically they make sort of a little bit at a time and they release a little bit at a time. So you get this nice steady amount of estrogen. Um, and it can vary through the cycle, but it doesn't go quickly up and down. It kind of varies in it in a nice sort of uh kind of soft way. Uh and what happens as the ovaries start not being as productive is they still want to get the hormones out, but they're not able to do it in a smooth way. So they kind of just spit out the can and you get these spikes of hormones, and it's these spikes of estrogen levels that tend to cause the hot lashes over Nikesworks. And so it tends to be really intense as you're going through the menopause transition. And then as you sort of pass through it and go through you complete menopause and time goes by, for most women, those hot flashes get better. For some reasons, for some reason, there are some women where they don't and they separate those for quite a long time. Um so it's interesting. Some of the symptoms of menopause get better after menopause is completed, like hot flashes and nights, but some symptoms like fascial dryness and some other skin changes and hair changes actually continue to worsen as you go through menopause. So it's it's kind of an interesting thing. Um, the treatment for hop flashes, uh, the best treatment is to treat the underlying cause, um, and that is to add back the estrogen that the ovaries are trying to make. And so that way you have a nice steady state of estrogen. And so even when the ovaries put out a little bit of estrogen, it doesn't make that abrupt change because you have a nice steady state already on board. And so hormone replacement therapy does that. And usually that's one of the quick, what I call quick wins. So when you start HRT, it can take a while for the symptoms to really go away. But the hoff night sweats are usually early wins, they go away fairly quickly. Some of the other things, like the metabolic changes and the weight loss that you know that that happens as you treat um with HRT. So people often gain weight. So reversing that, sometimes the sleep issues, the mood issues, some of those things can take longer. Um, hair issues certainly take longer, but the hot flashes and night spots, for a lot of people, they're they get better fairly quickly, which is pretty nice for people. Um and so estrogen is really the way to treat it. There are other medicines that can help. Ioza is a fairly new medication um that treats hot flashes that's non-hormonal. Um, and so for women that for one reason or another can't take hormones, ioza can be a great solution for that. But it really only treats these days of murder symptoms, it doesn't treat all the other symptoms of menopause. So, really, if you can be tolerate estrogen um and you're a candidate for it, it's a much better way um to treat it because it doesn't just treat the hot flashes, but treats all the symptoms of menopause and gives long-term health benefits. Um, so that's kind of the uh hot flashes and the night sweats in a nutshell. Sleep disruptions are pretty common in menopause, um, and for lots of reasons, but night sweats is really a big one. So when you wake up and you're soaking wet, um, that can really mess up your sleep. Uh also uh a lot of times women uh need to urinate more frequently, and so sometimes that can disrupt their sleep as well, and estrogen can help that as well. So um, you know, apart from the fact that it's a drag where you don't get into that sleep, it can also cause other issues down the road because when people are setropied, um, it can affect cortisol system and affect um the way they uh deposit fat. And so people tend to hold on to calories that create satty foods, it create high calorie foods. Um, and um also when you're seetrified, your brain doesn't work as well. Um, and so you don't have the real power to to not back the poor choices. So not only craving the poor choices, but to sort of use the real power to open it. So that can jury we can update open and also unhelp.
SPEAKER_04So working on the sleep can help all kinds of things on acrylic issues. And usually the underlying issues would be in a post-transition or sleep issues have to do with those night sweats, particularly is probably the most common thing, but also sometimes on uh the urinary pregnancy and put those sort of her tree well with estrogen.
SPEAKER_03So that's kind of a summary of sort of hot flashes and night sweats and sleep disruption. The treatment is really going to the estrogen. Um, and that's something that we can provide as a pill or a patch or a cream um uh to an app. So I hope that's helpful. I hope we have some questions. Um and he can probably on to the QA so you can almost stuck in other.
SPEAKER_01No, thank you so much, Dr. Green. I think that that was really helpful, kind of getting like a little bit of you know a background and kind of how that all that is all going on in there. So I think that was great. We do have a few questions. Um we have some good, we have some that we have in there, so we'll jump into those. Um just for I see there's a few new people that have joined as well. Um, if you weren't here right when we jumped in, feel free to go ahead and start putting your questions in the chat um and we'll get to those. Um, but we have one question starting off from Rosie, um, which is kind of on topic of hot flashes. Um and she says, after a year of being HRT on HRT, why are my hot flashes back at night now? So I'm guessing they've gone away and they've come back. So, like, why might that be, Dr. Green?
SPEAKER_03So this is actually pretty common. The the body's needs can change over time. So a dose that might work for you a year ago may not be adequate anymore as you continue to move through the menopause transition. So it might be that you need a higher dose of the medication. Um, and that's most likely what the issue is. The opposite can happen too. Um, sometimes uh as time goes on, your body doesn't need as much medication, and that can show up with some side effects. Um, but in your case, it sounds like we may need to increase the dose uh of the estrogen component of your HRT. So I would um send a message to your Winona doctor. We're very happy to help. Um, and they can talk with you about how to help with that um and get you on a dose that's gonna get you feeling better again.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And our next question is from Laura. Um and Laura says, My last cycle was in 2009. Um said I had my first hot flash when I was 37. I'm 54 now. Um, she says, it seems like this is still happening. When does this end? When does postmenopause start? Um, and when is it over?
SPEAKER_03So um the definition of menopause is one year without a period. So um you, if your last period is 2009, you completed menopause in 2010. Um, so you are postmenopausal now. Um but uh everybody's a little bit different in how their symptoms go away. So for most people, the symptoms grow gradually. Some of the symptoms that I touched on before were gradually get better with time, like the hot fleshes and night sweats. There are some individuals that keep having those. My mother-in-law is in her 80s and she still gets fighting, not hot flashes. So um, you know, for for some women, unfortunately, if in the last long time, but for most women, that part gets better. Some of the other areas still needs help, and that can be, for instance, some of the vaginal changes, operatural dryness and thinning, skin and hair changes, um, can all continue to be a problem. So um it's safe to be on hormone replacement therapy as long as it's giving due benefit. Um, so there isn't sort of a you know, five years and that's it. You don't use it up on it's actually there are long-term health benefits with staying on it um for a long period of time. So as long as you're still having symptoms, it's fine to continue to treat the symptoms medication. Um, and get the health benefits of medication as well. So when will this end? Boy, if I knew that, I'd be buying lottery tickets because you kind of need a crystal ball because everybody's different. It's amazing how unique and varied the human body is and the ex human experience. Um, yeah, so your story is going to be different than anyone else's, and you'll tell us when this all ends.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Um, our next question is from Tammy. Um and Tammy, Tammy says, I began HRT last week, yay. Um, or she doesn't say exactly what it is, but HRT. And she says, I'm 51 and has suffered quite a while before I went for HRT. Um, she says, but I'm noticing I have some major acne this week, kind of like my 14-year-old self's acne, which is also enlarged and painful breasts. Any help, Pierre?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so one of the interesting things, kind of fortunate, unfortunate things about HRT is that the side effects tend to happen early on and then get better. The benefits tend to take a little while, but can last so long, kind of. So if you're only been on it for a week, it doesn't surprise me that you're having some side effects right now. It takes about three to four weeks for the levels to really get up to um where we want them, and then you know you stayed. So as you take the medication, your levels are going up fairly quickly, and then they sort of level off and get into what we call a steady state, where it's a it's a nice steady amount. The body doesn't like change, and the rapid changing in hormones that's happening right now because starting hormone replacement therapy can cause side effects. So breast tender acid is a very common one, and that's probably coming from the estrogen on, and that tends to get better after a few weeks. Um for most people, it definitely gets better within a month or so. If it continues beyond, you know, a couple of months, it may be overdose is too high. But you're on early enough that I I would wager that this is going to get better pretty quickly, and it's part of that early uh side effect profile we see from the changing hormone levels. Acne in a similar thing, just like when you're a teenager and your hormones are all of a sudden you're soaring, and that's when you sort of get acne and things. I mean, it levels octane gets better for most people. Um, same thing. You get those rapid change and hormones, that's probably what's triggering the acne. It shouldn't get better, hopefully within the next few days. So hang in there and uh leap should be coming.
SPEAKER_01I feel like that's that's a great motto. Hang in there, and hopefully relief's coming soon. I love that. Um, our next question um is I have been on the 50-50 cream along with the DTA for three months now and feel good. Um, she says, at what point should it be discontinued? If so, she says my age is 54 years old, and I had a T A TAH at the age of 35 and recently began taking these wonderful products.
SPEAKER_03So um the average woman is on HRT for about five years, uh, some more, some less. It used to be the idea that we wanted people on the lowest possible dose for the shortest amount of time, but that concept is really kind of going away as we're knowing there's a lot of research now showing that HRT as a long-term medication can give significant health benefits, particularly cardiovascular. So it can decrease your risk of heart attack and and and uh other cardiovascular issues, which is super important because that's the number one cause of that um for women. And so you can decrease that risk, you can spend life expectancy. So it's really safe to be on it as long as it's helpful and it's not causing side effects. Um you don't develop some kind of health problem or be appropriate. So um, like I said, the average woman is five years, but you could be on it a lot longer than that if not, or it might be that you know you want to go off it sooner and that's out your tweet.
SPEAKER_04But certainly if it's said it to stay on this for the long term.
SPEAKER_01And our next question comes from Eileen. Um, Eileen says, I'm on my first week. Um, the the cream and the DHEA capsules, she says, How long until um relief can be expected once starting on treatment?
SPEAKER_03So there are some things, as I said before, like hot flash it's an expets that tend to get early release, usually within the first three to four weeks, sometimes sooner than that. Um other things tend to take a lot longer. So weight loss, um, hair changes, hair improvement can take a lot longer. Um those can take three, six months before you really see significant improvement. And then there are other things sort of in between. Um and um sleep um sometimes is a quick win, sometimes it takes longer for people, depending on what's causing the sleep problems. Uh vaginal symptoms uh can take uh kind of an in-between amount of time for some people. Some people get some relief pretty quick, but for some people it takes longer to get the tissues in the vagina to really respond to the estrogen treatment and improve with the the dryness from the glands starting to improve. And also as the vaginal tissues thicken, you get more support with your bladder and it can help with um with those symptoms. Uh, skin changes sometimes take a little bit longer as well. So it's a mixed bag. Um, and you should get some symptom relief in the first few weeks to a month, uh, and then more and more symptoms should start getting better as time goes on. So it's a it's a bit of a process.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Um, and our next question ask her says, Hello from Colorado. I'm 53, period stopped F50. Um, I didn't gain any weight due to menopause, but I've lost libido and energy, but gained depression and many more disrupting symptoms like vertigo, weakness, and anxiety. Um she says, I'm a new patient and I've yet to receive my first prescription. My question is, would I gain weight after being on HRT? She says, I've also been on fertility medications for eight years. Um, and would that put me at a disadvantage for being able to take HRT without the side effects like cancer?
SPEAKER_03So their fertility medicines do not change your risk as far as HRT goes. They have their own sort of risk, but it doesn't multiply any risk from HRT. So that's a non-issue. Um, and so whether you've been on fertility medicines or not, it doesn't really change the risk of HRT. Um, just lost the first taps already.
SPEAKER_01Uh no, you're all good. The other one was would I gain weight on the weight?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So the if you look at long-term, most people find it easier to lose weight on HRT. So HRT should not cause long-term weight gain. Some women experience some water retention in the first few weeks, um, which water retention is going to make the scale look heavier and you may feel swollen, but that's a temporary thing. And it's not really real weight gain, it's just water weight. And that tends to come off of time for those that get it. A lot of people don't get it at all. Some people get it really bad, and most people look, they get it, they get a little bit. That tends to go away, usually within a few weeks if you get that. But it shouldn't cause uh HRT really should not cause weight gain. There were some older types of HRT, particularly different types of progestions. Um, so we use micronized progesterone, which is a bioidentical progesterone. Synthetic progesterones are actually called progestins, and there were some that have been used for HRT that really stimulate appetite and can cause weight gain, which is why there's sort of this thing out there that HRT can make people cause weight. And that was true with the older medications, but with the bioidentic hormones, we really don't see that. Um, micronas progesterone does not typically cause the uh the increased appetite, but some of the progestines do. And I mean, unless you're on a crazy high dose. So um, for most people, uh, they find that HRT is at minimum weight neutral, and for a lot of people, helps them lose weight in one turn.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Um, and our next question um is from Carmen. Um, and Carmen says, Hello from Washington State. Uh, I just started with HRT barely four to five weeks ago. Ago, my struggle has been with mood. Um, she says I've been crying at news stories or commercials. Will HRT help stabilize my mood swings?
SPEAKER_03It should. Um, assuming this is coming from your hormones, and it sounds like it probably is, HRT should stabilize that. It's kind of similar to um pregnant women and um postpartum movement. So it's again this rapid change, this abrupt change when hormone levels uh can really mess with people's moods. Um, and I've seen a lot of obstetrics um do this all the time. Like commercial combine, I'm kind of like a baby. What's going on? It's a hormone. So um so both as I described at the beginning, this sort of abrupt on and off of the hormone release from ovaries can certainly cause mood changes. But also at the beginning, when you start HR key, um, as those levels climb until we get to steppy stake, because you have these changing hormone levels, as we're getting you to where you need to be, that can cause these mood issues as well. I do expect this to get better, um, probably over the next few weeks.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And our next question is from Eileen. Um, Eileen says, is it better to take the medications before bed to help reduce hot flashes and sleep disruptions? Or is there no difference than if it's taken earlier in the day?
SPEAKER_03Most people find that estrogen and progesterone are best taken at that time. Again, to just as you said, to maximize the sleep benefit. Um there's a small percentage of people where progesterone in particular can do the exact opposite and can act as an activating, like a almost like a caffeine-like medicine. So if you find that you take it and all of a sudden, bing, you're wide awake, um, like you should, you know, you just had an energy drink. That may be you may be one of those, you know, small percentage of people where progesterone does that. In that case, you should switch to the morning. Um and then an even smaller percentage of patients, progesterone can give them like crazy dreams. So if that's happening again, taking it in the morning will fix that. DHEA, I find for most patients, it doesn't really matter when they take it. Some people say that taking it in the morning gives them an energy boost, and so that might be worth doing. But I found for most people, it doesn't seem to be as important as a pedestal yes, which isn't pretty astronomy. So if it's easier to take it all together at night, um, do it that way, or if you want to try the DHA in the morning, um, that's a reasonable way to go as well.
SPEAKER_01Invited, oh, you're back. You dropped out for a second, but you're both.
SPEAKER_03Oh, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Okay, sorry. Where did I leave off?
SPEAKER_01No, it was just for it was just for about 10 seconds, right at that end. So I think you pretty you got the whole thing answered. Yeah. No, you're good. Um, well, our next question is from Rosie. Um, and Rosie says, What can be done for low libido and if my current 50-50 HRT is not improving it?
SPEAKER_03So DHEA can often help with libido. So I don't know if you're on the BHEA, but that would be something that could be added in addition to the 50 paper green um to help with libido. And for some people, that work quite well. So um, if not on DHEA, I would message your um women doctor and ask about that because that may be very helpful for you.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, Dr. Green, that looks like it's kind of all the questions we have going on in there for tonight. If anyone else has another question they'd love to ask, please drop it in the chat. Um, but just kind of uh a few things I want to point out as well that are like really great resources to be able to use. Um, your doctors are always available 24-7 as well in your patient portal. So um that's what I always tell people too, is that they are there to answer your questions. They love to hear from you. They want to talk things through. That's a great place to reach out to um that way. We also, if you love these Docker dialogues and our live QA's, um, we have a podcast called The Menopause Hour. Um, and it's on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. And that is also um, I love that one as well. I think it's fun kind of you can put it on in the gym, you can put it on in your car on the way, like to work from coming back. Um, and so I think that that's also kind of a great resource to check out as well. Um, I do see that someone's typing, so I'll give them a second kind of to maybe drop a last question.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, look at Dr. King also, yeah, because you did um introduce our new um uh minoxidil care series. So this is really exciting for us. So we've been in business now um over four years, um, and we have added exactly two new products in those four years. So, you know, we're a company that believes in in sort of do what you do, do it really well, um, and don't do a bunch of other stuff. And so a lot of other companies have like this huge menu of stuff, and it's pretty hard for me to imagine how people are doing this well. So we're really careful. Um, and it takes us a long time because we want to get it right. So we did our um our skin cream last year, um, which is just an amazing thing. Um, and that's been super popular. Thanks, Eddie. My wife absolutely loved it. Um, and um we had just introduced our newest thing, which is the monoxidal hair serum. My wife was one of the beta testers, and she's very happy with this well. Um, and so this is um, it's a prescription strength monoxidal. It's not, you can't buy this on Amazon. Um, you need a prescription for this because it's a 7%. It's topical, it goes into the scalp because that's you don't really rub it in your hair, rub it in your scalp because that's where the hair solids are. Um, and it works really well at making the hair healthier and thicker. Now, the thing about hair, which is a little frustrating, is hair is on a cycle that can be like three to six months cycles. So any hair treatment is not going to work immediately. Hair treatments always take a long time because of the physiology of the wear the hair cycles. So people usually in about the two to three months, people start noticing some improvement, but it really can be four to six months before you really see huge improvement. But this is a really good product, it can really help with hair thinning. Um, it can make your hair thicker and healthier. But you know, don't expect to do three applications all of a sudden and oh my gosh, my hair is amazing. So it doesn't quite work out my hand for I wish it did. Well, if I had a magic blonde, believe me, I would not be holding back. Um and uh it's uh it's fairly simple. You um put the drops in your hands, rub it into your scalp, and let it sit there and let it do its magic. So um that's something that we're really excited about. Um, like I said, uh my poor wife is our one of our guinea pigs, um, and she uh she has been on this for a while now. I'm super happy with the results. So um you can ask everyone on the doctor about this. Um and uh I think it's something that is maybe really helpful for our patients.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And I I know also a few of our ambassadors have gotten the chance to try the product already, and they've they've been loving it too. So I think it's a it's a really exciting one we have, you know, kind of coming out as well. Um, and it looks like we do have one last question, uh, kind of just at the end here. Um, or it's a two-part question. The first part is um, our question is I have a maintenance regimen for blood pressure, hypothyroidism, and cholesterol. Is it all right to have HRT in addition to this mix?
SPEAKER_03Yes, absolutely. So here's the thing: as long as your medication is controlling these, then it's it's safe to be uninjecting. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure, you will need to get your blood pressure controlled before you start HRT. But if you're on maintenance of blood pressure or um thyroid medications and lipid medications, HRT can be extremely helpful and very safe for data. Um, in particular, actually, HRT can also help with your liquid profile. I mean, it's not a statin, it's not going to work like that, but it does help increase HDL, which is the Bible cholesterol, and decrease LDL. So it can be good for your uh your cholesterol numbers as well. It should be uh neutral for your blood pressure as long as your blood pressure is controlled and your thyroid as well. Some people think that HRT messes up the thyroid, and that's not true at all. Um, however, thyroid is a finicky thing. Um, and I'm sure you've noticed this if you've been on thyroid med, your doctor wants to check your thyroid every so often that sometimes has to adjust to those. So thyroid doses sometimes need to be adjusted from time to time, um, but it won't be um because the HRT isn't going to make it worse or cause problems. So with those things, it'd be absolutely safe to start hormone replacement therapy.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And for on that same question as well, there's a second part. Um, and they also said they also have an anti-anxiety medicate medic medicine. They say, I'm hoping this would go away with HRT. Is that true?
SPEAKER_03So some people do experience anxiety as a symptom of the menopause transition. So if that's what's driving the anxiety, HRK can be very helpful. Um, and actually, we often see patients who um go to their doctor, um, their doctor doesn't realize that these symptoms are from their estrogen levels um and their menopause, the menopause transition. And the set treats them with anti-anxiety medications or um antidepressants or other kinds of medications. Yeah. And um, when the patient starts HRT, they find out, hey, wow, this is actually helping my symptoms, and they're able to wean off of your other medication. So don't just stop your anti-anxiety medication. You definitely want to go through, be the doctor that's striving now. Um but it's possible that the HRT will make a stitch. You don't need a smut or maybe need not eat it at all once the HRQK saying. But again, that's not something that you want to do it yourself. Um, you want to definitely um do it with the doctor's advice that's helping you refer.
SPEAKER_01And it looks like we do have another question about our hair, new hair product. Um, they're wondering on the hair car product, does the hair fall out when stopped, like the over-the-counter type?
SPEAKER_03So the hair should so when you stop the medicine, no. Sometimes there can be in the first few weeks an increased shedding of hair as the body sort of gets rid of the old hairs um to make room for the new hairs to come in. And that's honestly part of the hair cycle. Um, but it shouldn't cause, you know, some giant rebound effect when you stop it. Um and um although when you stop it, the beneficial effects do go away. Um, so eventually your hair will, you know, maybe go back to the way it was. So um it sort of works while you're using it, but it shouldn't cause a sort of global shedding when you stop it.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And it looks like we did have one other question pop up as well. Um, we have a woman wondering, she says, I was prescribed a DHEA, but I haven't started it yet because I've been a bit nervous hearing about some side effects other women have had. Um she says, I'm getting relief uh from most of my symptoms from the estrogen and progesterone cream, uh, but my zero libido hasn't gotten any better. Will DHEA help that? Should I try to add it?
SPEAKER_03So if your doctor prescribed DHEA, they clearly think that it's the right thing for you. Um DHEA can help with libido. Um, and you know, if you're reading about side effects from known to women, um that's one thing. If you're reading about side effects from the internet, that's a different thing. Um, so the problem with DHEA is that it can be bought over the counter as a supplement without any doctor advice. And so people go and they buy DHEA at you know the health food store and they don't know how to dose it and they take 200, 400 milligrams, crazy doses. Uh, there are other people that use it as a performance-enhancing drug. Um, and in these really high doses, it can be that. Um, and in that case, in those really high doses, it can cause really significant side effects. So the horror stories you mean on the internet are often from this problem is that people are using way too much of it. Um, we never prescribe about 50 milligram feature to free structure about 25 milligrams. And it's that those side effects are fairly unusual. Now, it doesn't mean you can't get side effects. Um, any medication can give people side effects. And so if you're reading this from Winona women, then it's not this issue I'm talking about. It's just that some people get side effects from medicines. But most people do very well on WHEA. And so my thing is well, don't cheat yourself out of something that could help you because somebody else got a side effect from it. Because most likely you won't. And if you do get a side effect, you stop the medication, the side effect goes away. Um, so if you're you know, you're sort of cheating yourself out of potential benefit because of this fear from other people's experiences that may not be your experience. So my recommendation would be to go ahead and start it. Um, libido is, you know, an interesting thing. Definitely the menopause transition can decrease libido. It's very common, and DHEA can help a lot with that. On the other hand, libido is um often multifactorial. Um, so you want to work on other things as well. Um, relationship issues, um you know, your teenagers at home driving crazy, stress, um, when we're stressed out, we don't really have time for sex, and so our libido goes down. Um, sometimes just the busyness of life. Um, it's nothing bad, but you're just so busy that you don't really have time for sex, and so you don't have time for libido. Um, body image issues can cause that. So if you gain some weight through the menopause transition, that that can cause uh libido issues as well. So um you want to work on all these things together, but also the DHA in and of itself can help. Um, but generally, you know, you want to think about this globally um and work on it in as many ways as you can. Um, but DHAA can be very helpful. And um, I think it's a shame if you don't get treatment that could help you because you know some individuals on the internet um have had you know random problems. So that would be my my two sense.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And it looks like we had another question about the hair care product as well. Um, they say I lose a lot of hair, especially when I shower. Will this new product help me? Um, I have I have low thyroid and I've been on the armor thyroid for several years, which has helped normalize my thyroid. Will this new product help with not losing hair and growth?
SPEAKER_03Yes, it should. So it does help with um, again, making your hair thicker um and um healthier. Um and so not only do you lose less hair, but your hair becomes thicker. Um, so it works on both sides. Uh, it does take a while. Um, most people, you know, at the two-month mark, maybe starting to feel something by three months. Most people are seeing some improvement, but it really can be four to six months to get maximum improvement. But it should help. And as I mentioned, some women get this sort of initial shedding in the first couple of weeks that can be a little scary. Um, but that's just the old hair is getting sort of jettisoned to make room for the new hair growth. So don't be alarmed if you see that.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And then we do have a question from Eileen. Um, and Eileen is asking, what if you take a THE C uh THC edible from time to time? Can that have a bad side effect?
SPEAKER_03Uh that shouldn't interact with your HRT. Um, and so um, you know, that's not an issue as far as HRT goes.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Well, that looks like what is all the questions that we have kind of in the chat for today. Um, but like I was saying before, thank you all so much kind of for stopping by and asking your questions. We always love getting to have these conversations with you all. Um, like Dr. Green said, we do have that new product, so that's a really exciting one. Um, we also, of course, the podcast, ask your doctor, and then also on our website, we have so many resources as well that are going on in there. Um, so thank you everyone so much for being here and for really just taking, you know, your menopause journey into your own hands. That's one thing that we love to see is, you know, um women kind of, you know, jumping into that and um making it, making it their own. So um we love to see that. We love to have you all here and we hope that we'll see you. We have these doctor dialogues and live Q ⁇ A's um twice a month. So please come to another one and we'd love to see you again. Um, and thank you so much, Dr. Green, for your time as well. You always give such great, thorough answers. And I see a lot of people saying that, you know, in the chat as well is that they love kind of, you know, having a doctor really be able to kind of dive into these questions as well. I think that that is so helpful and something I love to see that Winona does as well. Um, but I hope everyone has a great rest of your night and we hope that we'll see you at our next event.
SPEAKER_04Thanks, everybody. Bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you for joining the Menopause Hour, brought to you by Winona. Menopause care made easy. To learn more, find Winona at bywinona.com and on Instagram at Bi Winona. Want to have your questions answered next? Register for our upcoming live QA. Linked in the show notes.