Full Transcript Introduction to Hormones and Brain Health 0:00 Hello and 0:01 welcome to another special interview for the Reversing Alzheimer's Summit. 0:04 I am your summit co-host, Doctor Kristine Burke. 0:08 If you've been watching this summit, you know that over the last decade, 0:11 I've helped many patients reverse their cognitive decline. 0:15 And in this summit, I am bringing you interviews with thought leaders 0:18 who can help you understand how you can prevent and reverse cognitive 0:22 decline and Alzheimer's for yourself and your loved ones. 0:26 Hormones are one of the most powerful and often 0:29 misunderstood drivers of brain health, especially as we age. 0:33 And today, we're joined by someone who has spent over two decades 0:38 helping women navigate that transition with clarity and precision. 0:42 Doctor Sharon Stills is a natural medical doctor 0:45 with over 20 years of experience focused on women's health, 0:49 particularly the hormonal transitions around menopause. 0:52 She has advanced training in European biological medicine 0:56 and is widely recognized for her expertise in bioidentical hormone 1:00 replacement and individual root cause care. 1:03 She is the creator of the Red Hot Sexy Menopause program, designed to help women 1:08 navigate midlife with intention and a renewed sense of self. 1:12 And she is the host of the Future of Menopause Medicine Summit. 1:17 In addition to her clinical work, she has served as a physician educator, 1:21 including as a North American lecturer for the Paracelsus Academy in Switzerland, 1:26 and has contributed to the field through her involvement 1:29 with Bio Regulatory Medicine Institute 1:31 and as a board member with the Archive of Healing at UCLA. 1:35 Doctor stills is the founder of Stills Health Clinic in Scottsdale, 1:39 Arizona, where she focuses on complex chronic illness and personalized 1:43 health optimization. 1:45 Her work has been shaped by her own health journey, which continues 1:49 to inform her perspective and commitment to patient care. 1:53 Doctor stills. Welcome to the summit. 1:56 I am really looking forward to this conversation. 2:00 Thank you. It's great to be here. 2:01 I'm excited too. 2:02 I know, I know. 2:04 All right, well, 2:05 let's jump right in, because I know one of the things that I want to hear from 2:08 you is when we're specifically talking about hormones and brain health, 2:13 what do you think is the most underappreciated in 2:16 how they influence cognitive aging? 2:20 Yeah, that's 2:21 I mean, I think a lot's underappreciated because I think 2:25 just in the general society consensus, even in medicine, 2:30 we really still think about sex hormones as sex. 2:35 Like, do I have a libido or not? 2:37 And for hot flashes, do, do I have had flashes? 2:40 Do I want to get rid of them? 2:42 And if it's a cycling woman, we think about it for her period 2:46 or for fertility. 2:48 But we forget like the depth of hormones and how they affect our brain, 2:55 our immune system, our lymphatic flow, our gut, everything. 3:01 Like there's nothing the hormones don't touch. 3:04 So I think it's a lot like if we just take progesterone, for example. 3:10 Pretty much 3:11 there's like this old outdated school of thought that you only need progesterone 3:15 if you have a uterus to protect your uterine lining from building up. 3:19 And we know that's not true. 3:22 And so women, even in like the bioidentical in hormone therapy field, 3:27 if you take it a step more than women or physicians might start to think, 3:32 well, progesterone is like your chill pill. 3:36 And so it's 3:38 metabolizing down to 3:39 allow pregnant alone which is hitting the Gabor receptor sites. 3:43 And so it is down. 3:45 It is up regulating Gaba which is our down regulatory. 3:49 It's our neuro inhibitory trans neurotransmitter. 3:52 And so I always call it it's like the hormonal Valium 3:56 or Xanax or whatever you want to call it. 3:58 And so it's really good for sleep and anxiety. 4:01 But progesterone is also 4:05 supporting mitochondrial activity in the brain. 4:09 It's supporting the myelin which is super important for formation repair. 4:15 Just in you know we think of myelin sheath. 4:17 We think of M as. 4:18 But in general we want good neuro neurological conduction. 4:23 It's down regulating glutamate which is the opposite of upregulated Gaba. 4:28 So glutamate is like the brain is on fire and Gaba is like I'm 4:32 the fire department chief. 4:33 And here I come with my water. 4:36 It's decreasing inflammatory cytokines. 4:39 It is reducing micro glial cells.
Progesteroneu2019s Role in Cognitive Support 4:43 It is calming. It is stabilizing. 4:46 It is reparative. 4:47 It's a great thing like post-concussion. 4:50 So there's like all this 4:53 physiology and biochemistry that these hormones 4:57 are doing on a deep level that we just don't really ever talk about 5:02 because we're a very pharmaceutical based society. 5:07 And so we're missing out on the beauty that these hormones 5:11 are giving us on a really deep level, on a really deep level. 5:15 That was just a beautiful overview of how deep that hormones can actually touch us. 5:20 And, you know, while we're talking about progesterone, it's also something, 5:25 you know, in the same way that, you know, we need to be focusing on, 5:28 you know, estrogen is the primary 5:29 hormone of women, and testosterone is the primary hormone of men. 5:32 But we each need the other. 5:34 And the same is true about progesterone for men. 5:36 For all of the reasons that you just listed, like we need to win, 5:40 especially when we're treating someone that has cognitive decline, 5:43 I think we need to be looking at not allowing their progesterone 5:46 to be basically undetectable, which is not uncommon. 5:50 Yeah, I mean, I probably treat 80% women, 20% men. 5:55 And doctor been my son who practices with me. 5:59 I tend to give him all the men because he treats women. 6:02 But he also, you know just like you treat all the men. 6:04 But yeah, I mean I have all my guys in that category 6:09 or as they're aging, I'm not waiting for cognitive issues 6:13 to start where we're, you know, preparing so that they never do start. 6:17 And we're protecting and preventing. 6:19 But yeah, I like 6:20 of course I give men progesterone and people think that's so weird. 6:24 Like, oh, but is that going to turn him into a woman is like no, no, no, 6:27 no, no, no. 6:28 It's going to help him just like it helps her. 6:31 And same for testosterone. 6:33 And I picked progesterone. 6:35 I was kicked around and say like, you know, they think diamonds 6:38 are a girl's best friend, but it's truly progesterone. 6:42 But but, I didn't pick estrogen 6:45 because I think, you know, you said, like, what is underappreciated. 6:48 And I think and I love, you know, Queen estrogen. 6:51 All hail. She's amazing. 6:52 Like we think estrogen. 6:55 You know, whether it's brain health or bone 6:57 health or cardiovascular health or whatever health we're talking about, 7:01 we're always like putting estrogen at the forefront 7:04 and forgetting about testosterone and DHEA 7:08 and progesterone and oxytocin 7:11 and thyroid hormone and adrenal hormones, 7:16 and they're all really important. 7:20 So yes, I love estrogen. 7:22 And estrogen is very important. 7:24 But to me it's like they're a team. 7:27 They're a symphony. They're a baseball team. 7:30 You're not going to get to the World Series 7:31 if you don't have your first base, and you only have your pitcher. 7:34 And so we have to really think of it that way. 7:38 And I don't know about you, but I see so many women who come in 7:42 and they're just put on an extra dial patch and an oral Prometric. 7:47 And no one's even had the conversation about their DHEA, their, 7:53 their testosterone, their oxytocin, 7:56 their melatonin, all the things. 7:59 And so if you take nothing else from this talk, at least for starters, like, 8:03 there are a lot of hormones, it's 8:04 not just estrogen and progesterone if you have a uterus. 8:07 Yeah. That's so true. 8:09 And the symphony analogy is so applicable to. 8:12 Right. 8:13 Or actually I, I really love the baseball team because it's like a, 8:15 it's like the perfect number for the hormone conversation. 8:19 But it really does emphasize 8:22 like all of our systems are a balancing act. 8:26 There really isn't. 8:27 Well, we tend to hone in and focus on one thing as the hero. 8:32 Just like anything else, 8:33 it it's really the supporting characters that make it all work. 8:38 Exactly. 8:39 And I mean, I think about it, I mean, I'm a natural pathway position, 8:43 but I also while I was in that path, like medical school, started studying 8:47 European biological medicine in Switzerland and Germany. 8:51 And so I take everything through like a terrain based lens. 8:56 So even hormones they need, it's not just about hormones. 9:01 And a lot of people know me for hormones because I'm always talking about hormones, 9:04 but it's what kind of a terrain are these hormones going into? 9:10 And is the fascia unrestricted? 9:12 Is the lymphatic system flowing? 9:14 And especially when we're talking about brain health, 9:18 like we have the whole lymphatics, which is the lymph of the brain. 9:23 And if you're glimpses and moving and I could totally go off on a tangent. 9:28 I love this tangent. 9:30 If your goal in life is in moving and you're not getting into deep sleep 9:34 and your glimpses and draining, that's just the perfect disaster 9:39 for setting up cognitive issues and dementia and Alzheimer's. 9:43 Because you're not 9:44 cleansing out the towel, you're not cleansing out the amyloid, you're 9:47 not draining, you're not regenerating, you're not resetting. 9:51 And so, you know, we just keep stepping it back like further and further. 9:56 And then, you know, why is your lymph not draining well? 10:00 Are you stressed and not sleeping. 10:01 And so are you stressed and not sleeping 10:03 because you don't have enough progesterone and testosterone and estrogen? 10:08 Or are you stressed and not sleeping because 10:09 your nervous system has dysfunction? 10:12 Or are you stressed and not sleeping because you have cavitation in your mouth 10:16 and you have drawn sections and this is affecting the flow, 10:19 or you have scars or I mean, so we we talk about hormones, 10:24 but we have to remember, no matter what you're talking about in health, 10:28 like there is a whole system, a whole body that has to host 10:33 the hormones, that has to encourage the hormones to flow. 10:36 So get it. 10:38 You know, it can be very simple and it can be very complex. 10:42 Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. 10:44 So we touched a bit on the underappreciated hormone progesterone.
Estrogen, Brain Function, and Alzheimeru2019s Risk 10:50 And when we're thinking about the other hormones like estrogen what do you think. 10:55 How do you view estrogens mechanism like at a physiologic level. 10:59 Like how it's interacting in in the brain in ways that may impact Alzheimer's risk. 11:05 Yeah. 11:05 So I mean it's definitely increasing synaptic plasticity. 11:09 And so 11:11 I mean, I don't know how long ago is where we didn't 11:13 even think that was something that was possible for you. 11:17 And and it's like, here we are. 11:18 So I mean, that alone that you know, 11:22 this doesn't have to be your, your life sentence. 11:25 Like you can make change and it's also helping with glucose metabolism. 11:31 And so we think of it as like type three diabetes Alzheimer's. 11:37 And so you know, then that takes us like out of the brain 11:42 and into our mouth for a second as to what are you eating? 11:46 Because what you're eating is definitely playing 11:49 a huge role in your brain. 11:52 And so estrogen is there to help with glucose metabolism, 11:56 but it's not like the be all, end all. 11:58 It's not like you can pack down, you know, a bag of Snickers bars. 12:02 And as long as you take some estrogen, it's going to metabolize properly. 12:06 So your diet, you know, you go back to the foundations 12:10 of like diet and sleep and community and sunshine 12:15 and hydration and hydration is super important for brain health. 12:20 I mean, estrogen is decreasing inflammation. 12:23 It's decreasing neuroinflammation. 12:26 It is helping with mood regulation because of its connection through serotonin, 12:33 which is 12:33 connected to melatonin, which is connected to sleep. 12:37 And so to me, like I've been doing this 12:40 for 25 years and like everything starts to fall back on itself. 12:43 And it all comes down to like, your trauma and your nervous system and your stress 12:48 levels and your sleep and your hydration and your diet and your movement. 12:52 Like we go back to 12:53 you see the on like Instagram, you know, nature's best physicians. 12:57 And it's like, you know, bare 12:59 feet in the ground and sunshine and you know and it really is true. 13:02 So Master Gin is also helping with cholinergic signaling. 13:07 It's doing a lot of profound things in the brain, 13:11 again, not just modulating through the hypothalamic axis 13:16 that like, you shouldn't be sweating, you know, or having a hot flash. 13:20 And so, I mean, it is really like 13:23 when a woman or is deprived of estrogen and you give that back to her, it is 13:29 literally, I hear the same, you know, it's like someone just turned on the switch. 13:35 They just flipped the switch. 13:36 And it's like all of a sudden I am not concerned 13:40 about why I walked into this room. 13:42 I mean, and you know, you're not going to be perfect like even the best of us. 13:46 I'm like, you know, have like, those little moments where, you know, 13:50 and I think part of that is also because we are just bombarded. 13:54 We're bombarded with technology, we're bombarded with chemicals. 13:59 We're bombarded with emfs. 14:01 And so it's hard to be a human. 14:04 These. 14:05 Yeah, our bodies have a lot more to do than they used to. 14:07 One of the other things that I've learned along my own journey into this cognitive 14:13 decline reversal work that was really interesting, 14:15 is that the same areas of the brain that atrophy in Alzheimer's disease 14:21 are the ones where we have the highest estrogen receptor density. 14:24 Yeah. Right. 14:28 We're really 14:28 programed to need this to support the brain. 14:33 I mean, if you think about like who gets Alzheimer's, right? 14:37 It's, you know, the majority, you probably know the statistics 14:39 better than I do, but it's more women, it's more post-menopausal. 14:45 It's you know, it's such a to me. 14:47 It's so clear. Right. 14:50 You see this? 14:51 You see that? 14:52 And my dream is to be the hormone fairy. 14:56 Like I live now in Scottsdale, Arizona. 14:58 And so this is a retirement community to a great deal. 15:02 And so we have a ton of aging facilities, 15:06 whether it's memory care or just assisted living. 15:09 And I would love to go in dressed as the hormone fairy 15:12 and just give everyone hormones because so 15:16 many of them are just sitting there and it's like heartbreaking. 15:20 And I truly know because I see it in clinical practice. 15:24 But if we would just go in and going 15:26 have those places would shut down there, wouldn't be a need for them anymore. 15:30 It's a real travesty of what's going on 15:34 and how people are suffering, especially women. 15:37 Yeah, it really is. 15:38 And that kind of brings us to the idea about the timing 15:42 and the timing hypothesis. 15:43 And so talk about how important 15:45 you think timing is when it comes to hormone replacement. 15:48 And brain protection. 15:50 So, you know, I'll make it really easy to understand, like 15:54 as you start losing estrogen, as you start losing anything 15:58 that is important in your life, it's good to replace it as you're losing it. 16:02 So I'm testing and looking 16:05 and treating in perimenopause before menopause. 16:10 So timing is important, as if you lose something 16:15 and you replace it right away, then you've never really lost it. 16:20 That being said, so there I so 16:22 I see women come from all over to see me because they have been told 16:28 by their doctor and it makes me really angry. 16:31 That well, you're 75, so you missed the window. 16:36 And I don't care that your life is horrific and you're suffering every day. 16:41 Sorry, no hormones for you. 16:43 And I'm like, that's ludicrous because. Yes. 16:46 And I tell them, you know, yes, it would have been better 16:48 if you were here in my office when you were 48. 16:51 But you know what? 16:52 You're here now. So let's do something now. 16:54 And we give hormones. 16:56 You know, the one thing you want to make sure like cardiovascular wise, 17:00 you want to make sure there's no high concern 17:02 that there's plaque that potentially is going to be set free. 17:06 But barring that aside, 17:08 I give them hormones. 17:10 And I mean, they're like, you know, they 17:13 they're like my my raving fans because they're like, oh my God. 17:17 Like I just wasted 20, 20 years of my life. 17:21 It's so sad. 17:23 Two decades you gave me hormones. 17:25 And the beautiful thing about hormones is like, it's not like,
Timing Hormone Therapy for Brain Protection 17:28 well, it's been 20 years when I was in medical school, 17:32 like they taught us, you know, if someone comes in 17:34 and they have autoimmune disease and they've been sick for five years, 17:36 they can't expect you to get them better in two weeks. 17:39 Like they have to give you some time because they've been sick a long time. 17:43 But the beautiful thing with hormones is like, you know, 17:46 we give hormones and then we do a clinical check in four weeks later 17:49 and within four weeks, like there's significant change. 17:55 They are like, wow, I am, you know, remembering things. 18:00 I feel like myself again. 18:02 My mood is regulated, my sleep is better. 18:05 And of course, like I said before, if you get that sleep, you know, 18:09 you get that deep sleep, you get that 18:11 lymphatic drainage, you get that re regeneration, renewal. 18:15 Like, I don't feel like if I don't sleep, you know, I'm worth nothing. So. 18:19 But so it's all pieced together. 18:21 But you know, even within four weeks they're starting to see changes. 18:26 And it's like it's such a mixed bag because they're obviously 18:29 they're super excited. 18:30 But there's some anger that comes up with that because it's like 18:34 I mean, literally they've been suffering since they were 55 and they're 75 now. 18:39 I mean, like we need to scream this from the rooftops. 18:43 That's like 20 powerful years that just were lost. 18:48 And so like, you know, it's just B.S. 18:52 that you you missed the boat. 18:54 There was no missing the boat. 18:56 And, you know, I had a cute little woman fly in from Hawaii. 19:01 You know, she's like 85. 19:03 And I'm like, let's, let's do it, girlfriend. 19:06 You love it, 19:08 I know it is. 19:09 It is very interesting just to see like it's like a re blossoming. 19:14 It's a reawakening with the hormone replacement therapy. 19:17 And I think, you know, a lot of that came from how hormones 19:21 got so controversial for the last couple of decades. 19:25 And, you know, most of those causes 19:28 for concern if you will have been retracted. 19:32 So what do you think now? 19:34 What do you think 19:34 clinicians are still getting wrong about hormone replacement therapy. 19:38 Now, do you have three weeks? 19:41 Well, I do, but I don't know if the rest of our viewers do. 19:46 So I started practicing. 19:48 I graduated in 2001. 19:50 So I opened up my clinic in 2002. 19:53 Not the one where now, but my old one. 19:56 And, it was right when the Women's Health Initiative, 20:00 this study that, like everyone you know, was poorly performed, poorly analyzed. 20:06 But it was like, right at that time. 20:08 And also, Suzanne Somers had written a book 20:14 and honestly, like, I went to Catholic medical school to be a pediatrician. 20:19 So, you 20:20 know, did a little women's health when I was doing 20:23 my training because, you know, we treat everything as a natural path. 20:27 But it wasn't like I went to school, like, I'm going to make a difference 20:30 in women's lives and their hormones. 20:34 But I had a patient come into me and she had the book, 20:37 and I was like, Suzanne Somers, like Chrissy, I'm just 20:42 got her to help us with our brain health. 20:44 And but I have a really open mind. 20:45 So I was like, all right, give me the book. 20:47 Give me a couple of weeks. 20:48 I wasn't as busy back then. 20:49 I was like, let me read the book. And see. 20:51 And I thought, well, you know, Christie Christie was pretty smart. 20:54 She got it going on. 20:55 And but I can even improve upon this because of what I know about liver health 20:58 and gut health and lymph health. And so forth. 21:00 And so I treated her and she got better. 21:05 And then like all of a sudden she told everyone. 21:08 And then before I knew it, I was like, bioidentical hormone specialist. 21:11 So it was happening at that time. 21:13 But so I tell this because I've been doing this a long time. 21:17 And so my mentor was Doctor Jonathan Wright, which yeah, I know, you know, 21:22 it makes me sad because a lot 21:24 of the big hormone experts don't even know who he is. 21:27 And it's like he is the grandfather of biomedical hormone replacement. 21:31 He wrote the first script for bias. 21:33 There's a reason why bias 8020 is a starting prescription. 21:38 Because of his studies and what he found in the urine of healthy women, 21:43 that most women, prior to popular belief, 21:46 are actually producing a lot of estrogen. 21:50 And because doctors are looking in the wrong place 21:52 and they're looking in the blood where you can't find it 21:55 all because it has a short half life, they don't realize that. 21:58 And so I forgot what your question was. 22:02 What a question too. 22:03 Well, we started off talking about why it was a controversial 22:05 and then not just lead us into kind of your your journey into it. 22:09 You kind of you got clocked in right at the beginning of the controversy. 22:14 I, I've been in practice a bit longer than you and a decade longer. 22:18 And so I had been doing all the hormone replacement 22:22 the way that we had been taught. 22:23 Right. 22:23 Primer and then Provera, and then that's what was studied 22:26 in the Women's Health Initiative study. 22:27 So it was it was a complete flip around for us, 22:30 and everyone was throwing their hormones out like babies with the bathwater. 22:34 And then it was devastating to women. 22:37 But the fear about the breast cancer risk was so great. 22:41 And then, you know, my career was also actually influenced 22:45 by Suzanne Somers, because that book came out around the same time. 22:49 And so I had patients in my practice 22:51 that asked me about bioidentical hormones, and I told them what I had been taught. 22:55 And, you know, we don't know that it's safer. 22:57 Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe, like blah, blah, blah. 23:00 All the things I had been taught to say. 23:02 And then they would, you know, smile politely and then they would go find it 23:05 elsewhere, but then come back to me because I'm a family physician. 23:09 So then they would come back to me a year later for their annual exam, 23:12 and they would look fabulous and feel like, who are you? 23:15 And vibrant? 23:16 And I started noticing that the difference between the women I was treating 23:20 the way I was supposed to treat them, and the ones who were getting 23:23 bioidentical hormone replacement was really a big gap. 23:28 And that made me question like, 23:31 hang on, is what I learned really the best thing? 23:34 And then, you know, the no evidence thing that I had been taught, 23:38 if you start looking, then you find, no, there is a tremendous amount of literature 23:43 that thyroid, I mean thousands of articles. 23:47 So that was the beginning of the crack for me of transitioning into root 23:52 cause medicine, because it was the first time that, 23:56 you know, the paradigm of what I had been taught had really cracked open 24:00 right in front of me. 24:01 So when the controversy was happening, 24:04 I was like, this is this doesn't make any sense. 24:06 So I was like, everyone's bioidentical hormone healer 24:10 because I just looked at the physiology. 24:13 I'm like, this makes no sense. I looked at the study. 24:15 I thought, this makes no sense. 24:17 Why don't we villainize progesterone, which is toxic and is, you know,
What Clinicians Get Wrong About HRT 24:20 synthetic progesterone. 24:22 So what do people get wrong? 24:25 They get wrong that all is not important. 24:27 And there's like this weird online thing. 24:29 Now everyone is like a villain. 24:30 Not, well, not everyone, but these influencers who I think are just 24:34 trying to make a name for themselves, be controversial so they get more clicks, 24:38 you know, are villainized all, which is like extremely important 24:42 for our brain, extremely important for our cardiovascular system. 24:48 So you know, they're getting wrong, that they're just using patches 24:52 and they're not testing the right way. 24:53 So we do 24 hour wet urine testing, 24:57 the dried urine test that so many people are familiar with is inaccurate. 25:02 You cannot get a circadian rhythm 25:05 of hormone production by just taking four samples. 25:09 That's like very random. 25:11 Not to mention dried urine is not as accurate as having actual wet urine. 25:15 So the way we test is very specific and very accurate. 25:20 The way we dose, the way we compound, like so people 25:25 just think because it's bioidentical that it's natural. 25:29 And you know, I learned that like my first year in practice 25:33 because I wasn't yet on hormones. 25:35 I was younger and like my patient took out the hormones I had prescribed for her. 25:39 And I was like, why is that red? 25:42 And she's like, I don't know this, but you gave me. 25:43 And I'm like, oh my God. 25:45 Like the compounding pharmacy is putting like dyes. 25:48 Your cap sulfur, progesterone. 25:50 So you know, you have to be like, we're you know, I'm not an anal person, 25:55 but I'm super anal 25:56 when it comes to what you're getting and what you're putting in your body 25:59 on a regular perspective, like premature Amazon peanut oil. 26:03 And it's not GMO free, and I'm sure it's rancid. 26:06 And if you were doing it for a week, I wouldn't be that concerned. 26:09 But you're doing it day in and day out because hormones are forever, 26:13 you know, and I'm taking on, you know, I'm like, yo, prime out of my dead hand. 26:17 I'm keeping them. I don't know what you know, just in case. 26:19 I don't want to be without them. 26:20 So I mean, there's a lot that they're getting wrong. 26:23 They're just measuring in blood, which does not tell the whole story. 26:27 They're not a plot, you know. 26:28 They're not applying hormones properly in the right form. 26:33 They're using pellets which overdose and burden the liver. 26:37 You know, I can go on and on. They're, 26:41 they're not a plot. 26:42 Like they're using creams and putting them, like, here or to the abdomen. 26:47 And then that causes dermal fatigue. 26:50 So they stop working as much. 26:53 So like if you're on hormone creams, you want to apply them to mucosal tissue. 26:58 So we do trans mucosal application not transdermal 27:02 because you can use less and get a bigger bang. 27:05 So there's a lot I mean I see women literally 27:09 from all over the globe and like the stories 27:12 and the things I see them coming in with, you know, are just like, 27:16 if I banged my head against the wall every time, I'd be like, very bruised. 27:21 You'd have cognitive decline is what you would I would definitely I'm not. 27:24 Why? You know, and we're just talking about 27:27 sex hormones and, you know, there's cortisol, there's thyroid, 27:33 there's melatonin, there's oxytocin, there's insulin. 27:38 I mean, there's all these other hormones that play a role. 27:43 So people are seeing it like this instead of like this. 27:47 And so when you go to a doctor, you really want them to see the whole you. 27:52 And like I was saying before, before we came live, 27:54 live like you don't want to be, you know, in a doc 27:57 in the box where they're just injecting you with something, 28:00 they're not paying attention to how it's metabolizing. 28:04 Because I see women on estradiol patches, and then I check how they're metabolizing 28:09 and they're metabolizing down very inflammatory, dangerous pathways, 28:14 or they're taking that estradiol patch and they're turning it into estrogen, 28:18 which is an inflammatory estrogen rather than into Israel. 28:22 So, you know, you really want to have a balance of estradiol 28:26 and estrogen and not everyone needs an 8020 bias. 28:29 But biased is still the way to go. 28:31 But they might need a 50, 50 or 60. 28:34 You know, you have to be testing, you have to be monitoring, and it's truly 28:38 the art in practice because you also, as a clinician, 28:42 as a physician, you need to be looking at the patient in front of you 28:46 because everyone is I have some patients, you know, 28:49 I get like super sensitive patients, as I'm sure you do. 28:52 And sometimes it blows my mind. 28:54 I'm like, I cannot believe your levels are optimized 28:57 and you feel good and we're giving you like half a half 29:00 a line of cream, like, but, you know, everyone is different. 29:04 And so we have to take that into account and we shouldn't settle. 29:08 Like if you're working with a physician who has you on hormones 29:11 and you're still suffering, like I see patients come in from other, 29:15 you know, all the time 29:16 and they're like, well, yeah, I've been on hormones for three years, 29:20 and now instead of having ten hot flashes, I have seven a day. 29:24 And so, you know, and I said, well, that's good. 29:25 You've improved. 29:27 And I'm like, no, 29:28 you know, if you're symptomatic and these your hormones are dialed 29:31 in, they need to be dialed to you, you know, feel good. 29:34 And I'm not saying hormones are, you know, I used to always say 29:37 like it's a myth of a magic bullet like that. 29:41 You know, everyone comes in like, do you have the magic pill for 29:43 me, doctor stills, you know, like, I wish it did. 29:45 That make my job a lot easier? Here, take the magic pill. 29:48 But, you know, as I've gone on, I mean, I do think the closest thing 29:52 to a magic bullet is replacing your hormones. 29:57 Because, 29:59 like I said in the beginning, 30:00 it has just such an overarching effect in so many things. 30:03 And so I've kind of started calling myself like with patients. 30:06 I'm like, I'm a hormone first doctor. 30:09 Like if you are applicable for needing hormone replacement 30:15 and you have a laundry list of things that are concerning you 30:18 that you want to prevent that are bothering you, that are symptoms, 30:22 like, let's do your hormones first and then let's see what's left. 30:27 Because sometimes nothing's left, right? 30:29 Like it was just a drought of hormones. 30:32 And so rather than chasing every little symptom 30:35 and every little thing and a stack of supplements, you know, 30:39 it's like, wow, that was kind of like a magic bullet. 30:43 Yeah, that's really interesting perspective. 30:46 Like thinking about the I love the I love your comment, 30:49 a drought of hormones because that really can be so applicable. 30:53 You know, you've talked to in different places about how 30:57 you kind of think about the approach to hormone replacement therapy 31:00 or how how you think it should be done thoughtfully. 31:03 Walk us through maybe just at a high level, what you think that 31:07 that looks like in practice, like just, you know, maybe like, 31:10 where do you begin and how are you assessing it so that people, our viewers, 31:16 can have a better understanding of what they should be expecting to experience? 31:20 Yeah, I mean, the first thing is, you know, getting to know you like, 31:24 you know, like really taking a good detailed case about who 31:28 this person is because their history will tell you 31:31 if they have had hormone issues their whole life. 31:34 Yeah. 31:35 For with infertility did they have PCOS? 31:37 Did they deal with fibroids. 31:38 They have endometriosis on and on and on and on. 31:43 And so it's like just seeing who's in front of you. 31:47 We do baseline hormone testing. 31:50 We kind of do like a high five promise. 31:52 Like you're not going to just 31:54 get hormones, 31:55 like you're going to be engaged in your health 31:58 and you're 31:58 going to be an active participant, and you're going to support your liver, 32:02 and you're going to support your hormone receptor sites, 32:04 and you're going to take the supplements that do those things, 32:08 and you're going to do toxicity testing and gut testing. 32:12 So we can make sure everything because there's so much out there, 32:17 like I see women come in and they go, well, I'm on Dune and I'm on calcium glue. 32:22 Great to, you know, for my beta, look around this and I'm on demand 32:26 because I'm not even sure why I'm on it, but it's because they think it's estrogen. 32:29 Is it on to prevent cancer. 32:31 You know, so and I'm like, well let's find out what you actually need 32:35 because yeah like beta look, you're on a screen high in your gut. 32:38 And recirculating estrogen is a really riveting story. 32:42 A lot of times when I do gut testing, it is not an issue. 32:45 So you don't need to have that support. 32:48 Like we test, we work, we retest. 32:50 So you know, we're doing baseline testing. 32:54 Then we're starting hormones. 32:57 We're doing a four week check in. 32:58 You know there is for some women 33:01 they go on hormones and like literally the next day 33:04 we get phone calls to the front desk. Oh my god. 33:07 So many hours I was up nine hours or my brain is better. 33:10 This is better. That is better. 33:11 You know, we had one woman come in like she literally couldn't walk 33:16 like her hip was so messed up. 33:18 Joint pain. 33:19 And like, she called the next day, like, 33:21 I was like, I just walked 15,000 steps and I was like, wow. 33:24 So, like, there's that extreme of, like where it is this overnight sensation. 33:28 Then there's women who go on hormones 33:31 and, you know, their bodies like them. 33:34 I haven't seen you in a while. 33:35 And there's like a period of adjustment. 33:38 And so often, you know, it's why we do a four week check in. 33:42 So if we're getting calls, you know, this is happening that is happening. 33:46 We're maybe tweaking some things 33:49 or we're just saying, you know, if you can handle it, handle it. 33:52 Because 33:54 almost like 99% of the time we get to that before we check in. 33:56 And I'm like, so how's the bloating or the 3 pounds or whatever? 34:01 And they're like, I'm like, yeah, remember you called my office 34:03 three weeks ago and like, oh yeah, that's totally gone. 34:06 So, you know, check in. 34:07 And then at eight weeks we do another test so we can compare and we can make sure, 34:13 because you can't tell like, 34:17 oh is like you can feel better and that's great. 34:21 But when it comes to hormones, you can tell, are you metabolizing 34:26 to an inflammatory way or are your symptoms gone? 34:29 I see this a lot, especially with women who come in who are on the patch 34:33 like they feel better, but they are not optimized. 34:38 Their levels are still low, they don't have the right 34:41 ratio of estradiol to is still there, you know, so you yes. 34:46 I want you to feel better. 34:47 That's like 34:48 but I also want you to be optimized because it's like not a conversation. 34:52 I enjoy having where like, I know you've been on hormones for ten years, 34:58 and I know that you don't have hot flashes anymore, 35:01 but you're not really optimized and you're not really getting 35:04 the protective benefits. 35:06 And like, that's, that's that makes me sad too. 35:08 It's a sad is the woman who's been suffering for two decades. 35:11 So there's a lot of intricacies that go along with what 35:16 when I'm saying we're doing thoughtful, you know, and we're not overdosing. 35:21 We're not saying we want you to be 15 again 35:23 and get a period and have these high, high levels. 35:27 That is almost dangerous and certainly not necessary. 35:31 And we're dosing to optimization and symptom reduction. 35:36 It's like the best of both worlds. 35:38 My best friend and I, we went to med school together,
Thoughtful Hormone Optimization in Practice 35:41 and we call each other at the end of the day. 35:43 And it's like you have a good doctor day and it's like a good doctor day is like, 35:47 the labs look good and the patient feels good. 35:49 You're like, yeah, a good doctor day 35:50 patient feels good, and the labs don't like good advice, you know. 35:53 So we want to have both because we want you to be getting that protection. 35:58 Because that protection is profound. Yes. 36:02 No. And I, I've had women like I've been practicing 24 years. 36:07 And so I have patients who've been with me 36:10 since this is, you know, since the beginning. 36:12 And so I have this whole stable of women 36:15 who are now in their 70s and 80s and have been with me 36:20 for 24, 20, you know, almost almost a quarter of a century. 36:24 And they are so awesome. 36:26 They are like so sharp. 36:28 They're like riding motorcycles and sailing the world and traveling 36:31 and having amazing sex and sharp as a tack and all the things. 36:36 And I'm like, you know, that's good evidence to me. 36:39 And it's very good evidence. 36:41 That is very good evidence we had a couple of years ago. 36:44 We took a picture in February for Heart Health Month of all of our 36:49 or a group of our patients, our female patients that were over 70. 36:53 And it's just such an amazing, vibrant picture. 36:57 It always brings me such joy when it comes up in my memories 37:01 and I get to remember, you know, it's it's just really it's fun to see 37:07 and to help people to really shine and to feel great. 37:10 It's awesome. 37:11 I mean, it's my whole definition of aging. 37:15 And what the aging process looks like has significantly changed. 37:20 Like, I think about what I saw growing up, like my grandma, my mom, my aunties, 37:26 like, you know, love them dearly, but they were old when they were 50, right. 37:32 And now, like you said, 37:34 we have this huge patient population in their 70s. 37:39 And so I'm 50, I just turned 58. 37:41 So I'm like, these women are like rock stars. 37:43 I'm like, I'm I haven't even hit middle age yet. 37:46 I'm like, you know, just can't. 37:47 I mean, so it's like aging is such a privilege. 37:51 Aging is such an opportunity. 37:53 And and I truly believe I mean, not only but having proper 37:57 hormone balance is such a huge piece of it. 38:03 Like if, you know, Doctor Lindsay Berkson, I don't. 38:08 So she's 38:08 a hormone guru queen, I love her, she's brilliant. 38:13 And you would think she's like 45 and she's in her late 38:18 like like and she you know, is walking the talk. 38:21 And I hope when I get to be 78 people will say that about me. 38:24 Things I have now. 38:25 But so it doesn't have to be like, 38:28 I think this is our most vibrant age. 38:32 I mean, I just start a brand new clinic, like most people are winding down. 38:35 I'm like, no, no, no, I got another rodeo going on. 38:38 So that's why it's so sad when you hear these women who are, you know, had decades 38:44 robbed from them, but, you know, in they're like, yeah, it's just aging. 38:48 And you're like, no, no, no. 38:50 With I mean, if you're listening, it's like I always think of when I go to 38:55 yoga and, you know, in hot yoga, 38:58 they say like it's never too late to build a healthy body. 39:02 And like, it's never too late to get your brain back, 39:06 to feel good, to reverse cognitive 39:09 decline like it's never too late. 39:13 I mean, you know, we do all sorts of stuff from red light and photo, bio modulation 39:17 and neuro viser and, you know, there's so many tools that you can be used 39:23 with your hormones, with your healthy diet, 39:26 with your movement, with your prioritization of sleep, with purpose. 39:31 Right. Like, what's your why? 39:34 You know, like me, I'm gonna live 230 because I'm very attached 39:38 to my granddaughters. 39:41 How very, very long time. 39:44 So I can see their kids and their kids. 39:45 Kids. 39:46 So you know what's here, but they show, like, studies show, right? 39:49 That, you know, the more purpose you have, why you get up in the morning, 39:54 what you're doing, you know, keeping your brain active. 39:57 And, you know, I alluded to it a little before, but like 40:00 the society we live in is such a double edged sword. 40:03 Right. 40:03 Because like, this is awesome. 40:05 Like, you're hosting a summit. 40:07 I host a summit. 40:08 We touched thousands and thousands and thousands of, you know, all of you 40:12 listening, like, without technology, you wouldn't know this. 40:15 You wouldn't be hearing this awesome, you know, interaction. 40:18 But then there's like the flip side of that, that we're just, 40:22 you know, we're just glued to our phones. 40:25 I mean, even just like posture and fascia. 40:30 And I keep saying like, babies are soon going to be born, 40:33 like with their next curve. 40:34 So they can just automatically look it up, look at their phones, 40:38 you know, and I mean, I work on it too. 40:40 I'm like, I'm, you know, I live in the society too. 40:42 I'm not perfect. 40:44 And so we have to like turn off. 40:47 We have to meditate and go inside and be okay. 40:52 And quiet and be okay with silence and be in nature 40:56 and all these things like it's it's a lot and it's a little. 41:01 And in it all is important. 41:03 So like if you're taking hormones but you haven't really worked on your emotions 41:08 and you're inside all day and you're scrolling, scrolling, 41:11 scrolling, and you're looking at the, you know, hormones will help. 41:15 But to me, like I want you to heal 41:20 and healing is multifactorial 41:23 as a human being and as you're going through the aging process. 41:28 And I mean, when I say, like, aging is a privilege, like every day I get up 41:33 and I thank, you know, who I thank for, like, I get a 41:37 I get a gift of another day and how am I going to use this gift 41:42 and protecting our brain, you know, so that we can 41:45 because I don't want to be 130 and not, you know, maybe my last, you know, my last 41:49 ten years, I'll be a little loopy and, and I, I just have to go. 41:54 But, you know, I want to be functioning. 41:55 I don't just want quantity. 41:57 I want quality and good quality. 41:59 And so we all have that. 42:02 You know, I, you know, I did not come out of the womb like a superstar healthy. 42:06 You know, I was a very sick kid. 42:09 And, you know, it's probably why ended up on this journey. 42:12 Right. 42:13 As many of us do who become healers. Right. 42:15 We're trying to help ourselves. 42:17 And then we go, oh, well, I can help people to up. 42:20 So, you know, I always say, like, if I can do it, you know, anyone can do it 42:25 because I, you know, had a horrific and horrific hormones. 42:30 Like, you know, I had PMS 42:33 that was like I was either bleeding or I had PMS. 42:37 It was like maybe I had like four good days during the month. 42:40 And so, you know, I know what it's like. 42:43 I've been there, I have suffered and I know. 42:46 And so there, you know, there's hope, there's always hope. 42:49 Don't let anyone tell you it's too late. 42:52 You missed the boat. There's nothing we can do. 42:54 This is just aging. 42:56 You're getting old. Suck it up, buttercup. 42:58 You know? 42:59 Know there's always hope and there's always looking. 43:02 And you have to be. 43:04 You know, it's easy to take hormones, but 43:07 can you really eat a nutritious diet? 43:10 Can you can you turn off Netflix and prioritize 43:12 going to sleep so you can get that glimpse to drain? 43:16 These are the harder things, right? 43:17 Yeah, they really are. 43:19 Well, I think that we have covered such great ground. 43:24 And I don't even need to ask you this question, but I will 43:27 so that we can leave our viewers with this thought in mind. 43:30 And that is, do you view hormone optimization as optional 43:34 or foundational in a true crime prevention strategy? 43:39 What do you think the answer to that? 43:41 Well, we know what the answer is. 43:42 But what I will say is, as a natural ethic physician, 43:46 I treat everyone individually. 43:49 You know, I work with a lot of patients dealing with cancer, a lot of patients 43:53 dealing with autoimmune disease and now long Covid and vaccine injuries. 43:58 And, you know, and they all get treated very differently 44:03 because the pathophysiology of why someone develops, 44:07 let's just say cancer is unique. 44:10 It's like a fingerprint. 44:12 You know, there's like all the overlying things we think of like 44:15 emotions and toxins and gut health and diet and trauma and all these things. 44:20 But it's different for everyone and how you know your body. 44:24 So it's like it's unique. 44:26 It makes my job very complicated because I don't just go like, 44:29 here's my cancer protocol. Yeah. 44:30 So but when it comes to hormone decline, although, you know, as I talk like there's 44:36 intricacies in dosing and who's going to who needs more help on your baseball team? 44:42 Everyone needs hormones because losing your hormones is not a disease. 44:47 It's a natural transition. 44:49 I mean, if I could redesign how we age, I'd probably tweak the whole. 44:53 But I wasn't asked so. 44:55 But you know, so yes, it's not optional. 44:59 It's foundational because we're all going through the same transition 45:03 and men to, you know, like we didn't really talk about and then a lot but 45:07 you know, they go through and your pores and they lose their testosterone. 45:11 And we didn't really 45:12 talk about testosterone, but testosterone also for neuronal growth and dopamine. 45:17 And it's anti-inflammatory and handles, you know, it's muscle mass 45:21 which helps to maintain neuroplasticity. 45:24 And for most people, yeah, I know I thought of that earlier 45:27 in our conversation. 45:27 And I was like, well, we missed that. Yeah. 45:30 You know, we didn't even talk about you know, we didn't talk about a lot. 45:33 But yeah. 45:33 So, you know, it is not optional if you want to 45:37 age healthy and keep your brain intact and have your, 45:41 you know, your wits about you, I feel like it's it's 45:45 a necessary thing that everyone should be looking into. 45:49 Yeah, it's absolutely foundational. 45:51 If those are your goals, I totally agree. 45:54 My gosh doctor, this has been such a great discussion with you. 45:57 I'm really grateful for you and sharing your time 46:00 and sharing all of this information with everyone on the summit today. 46:04 And we talked about your upcoming summit, I think, in August. 46:08 Correct. 46:08 The Future of Menopause Medicine Summit. 46:11 Yeah, we changed the name. 46:12 It is is it that the name of it, you know the name better than I do. 46:15 Yeah. I think it's your menopause medicine summit. 46:18 We'll have to have you come on and speak up. 46:20 That would be lovely. About. 46:22 Yeah, we have a cool tagline and we we just changed it 46:25 because it's the fifth year. And I was like, we didn't. The name. 46:29 But yeah. 46:29 So I definitely encourage people to look out for that coming out in September. 46:33 And if people would like to know how to get in touch with you, 46:36 how they might be able to work with you, where can they find you? 46:40 Well, we opened up a new clinic called Lasting Wellness Center, 46:43 and maybe by the time this is airing, our website will be up. 46:47 But Dr. 46:47 stills.com is where you can find me. 46:51 You can find me. 46:52 Dot Sharon stills just by googling Instagram, I try to hang out there. 46:56 I don't do a great job of it, but I'm trying to of yeah, I'm I'm pretty. 47:00 I find online. 47:02 Well my viewers, if you have enjoyed this discussion today 47:06 on the Reversing Alzheimer's Summit, I invite you to join us 47:09 for some of our other sessions where we continue to dive into my passion 47:13 solving the root causes of cognitive decline. 47:16 Thanks for joining us. Bye everyone.
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