Tammy's BioTe: Married Thanks to Pellet Therapy

Eva (00:10): This is Before and After Stories. I'm Eva Sheie and on this podcast we talk to people just like you and me to find the real beauty of plastic surgery and elective treatments.

Eva (00:23): Our topic today is hormone replacement, and I am honestly looking forward to learning about this because I know very little about this topic. And our guest or victim, depending on how you want to describe her, is Tammy, who has agreed to tell us her story about her experience with hormone replacement. Welcome, Tammy.

Tammy (00:44): Thank you for having me.

Eva (00:47): Tammy, can you just tell us about yourself a little bit, as much as you're comfortable sharing?

Tammy (00:52): My name is Tammy and I am a hospice nurse, 51 years old and divorced, and about to get married again after seven and a half, eight years of dating. I've got four kids. They're grown. My oldest is 30 and they go down from there. So I live a fairly boring life at the moment. But I work a lot, strange schedule, odd hours I keep.

Eva (01:27): I heard you say earlier that you just came off a 20 hour shift before you got on with us. I wonder if that kind of schedule makes you just feel bad all the time? Is that accurate?

Tammy (01:38): I'll tell you, honestly, perhaps. I was talking to my client this morning and she said, "Ooh, I'm at about 80% today." She, you know, kind of checks in. She's hospice. And I said to her, I said, "Yeah. I was thinking about when would be the last time I could say I felt 100%." But, yeah. I'm going to agree with you on that assessment, that I always feel ...

Eva (02:06): So we're talking about hormone replacement. I already said that. And I want to know first how you came to discover that that was even an option? When did the idea even enter your mind?

Tammy (02:20): How detailed do you want me to get on this? So I actually, both Queenie and Mary who performed the procedure, I am friends with both of them on Facebook and I posted some smartalecky post about this horrific 50-year-old physical, my yearly physical. And both Mary and Queenie just private messaged me on Facebook and was like, "Hey, we got a deal for you." So that is-

Eva (02:57): The didn't collude to send you the same message at the same time?

Tammy (03:00): I don't think so. I think they just read my horribly depressing post and tried to offer me some hope.

Eva (03:11): Okay. BioTE is hormone replacement. It's a brand name for a particular kind of hormone replacement. Do you want to give us the 30 second explanation of what that is?

Queenie (03:21): BioTE is a company that started several years ago and they have combined 30 years of research and experience and information. And they have come to create a really simplified and really ideal way of optimizing hormone levels. And what they are is they are the backbone and the support and the trainers and they credential practices and they partner. And they do a very nice job of ongoing education, certification processes. And so we selected, after looking into some different opportunities to offer patients hormone therapy, it was BioTE all the way after looking at some of the options.

Eva (04:05): So they just made it easy, not just for patients to choose it, but also for you to give them great options?

Queenie (04:12): Yes. I think that BioTE probably is invisible to the patient, in a sense. Obviously they have a social media presence and an online presence, but they are absolutely tremendously supportive to the practitioners.

Eva (04:28): I feel like way back in the early 2000s hormone replacement was a wacky topic and you could only get it from these wellness types of folks. Maybe back then people were less likely to get their head around doing something like that, especially because the people who were providing it were a little bit on the fringe. So Tammy, did you ever feel like that going into this? Or because you already knew Mary and Queenie, did you just trust what they were saying?

Tammy (04:57): I have to tell you, 100% I didn't look into one thing. I didn't read about it. I grabbed a pamphlet on my way out to work.

Eva (05:08): Because you felt like you were supposed to.

Tammy (05:10): Well, yeah. And because truthfully Queenie and Mary, whatever they said, I was like, "Okay. I'll come in." Got my blood work. You go in and get your blood work done first and then proceed from there. And I went in after they had both reached out and got my blood work done, grabbed a pamphlet on my way out. I will say, to my credit, I do at least when I refer people, like, "Here's the website." You can read up about it. I can't really tell you anything. But here. You can do your research. But truthfully, for me, it did. And Queenie's right. Them, there at the clinic walking you through it and doing it, that's who you're dealing with. To me, it's was just that's where they get their product from or however that goes. And trusting in the people that are executing it and doing it. For me, that was the important thing.

Eva (06:11): So you get your blood work done. What happened after that?

Tammy (06:15): A week later roughly, I think it was about, Mary called me and was just like, "Holy crap. You don't have anything. No wonder you feel awful." And so then went in and it was ... I don't know. I don't think it's 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes. From my understanding, they get your numbers and they compound the dosages according to what you need and they have the optimum levels that they want to get you to. And she just numbed me up and slipped a couple of pellets. She said they're like Tic-Tacs. I didn't look. They just slip them in and I went on my way.

Eva (07:04): Where are they? Can you tell me where they are?

Tammy (07:06): Yeah. They're right ... You don't want to say your butt cheek, but high up, up on your backside.

Queenie (07:17): And there are many things that I think optimizing hormones can do for you. But are you comfortable sharing some of the things that were really telltale signs or things that you had hoped to achieve by having this therapy?

Tammy (07:29): Sure, sure. If we go to my doctor's appointment, which was absolutely horrifying. It was my yearly exam and the year before at my yearly, I had had an IUD in, which was time to get it taken out. And at that point I had no idea what was going on with my physically. You have an IUD in. You're not getting your period. Whatever. So whomever was with me looking at different things was, "Oh, it doesn't look like you're in menopause. You should get your period within a couple of weeks after getting this IUD out." Along with that, I also had had a suspicious on my yearly exam and I had to get a colposcopy done. They just biopsied that and that all came back fine. But in the meantime, I never got my period. It never started and I had no idea what was going on. Like, "How long does this take? Is it weird because I've had the IUD in for five years?" But I just went on my way.

Tammy (08:37): So fast forward a year. It's time for another exam. So I go in and now I'm 51. I need to get a colonoscopy and I need my yearly and I have arthritis. It's so depressing. They give you this list, you can't ask any questions that are outside of what they consider the scope of what just a yearly is or you're going to get charged money. I'm like, "Okay." So I'm getting my exam and my doctor literally tells me she can't find my cervix. So, right...Your face, you're just ...

Eva (09:20): How is that a thing?

Tammy (09:24): I was like, "Well, I'm pretty sure it's there. I've had a few kids. Nobody has ever not found it in the past." So I'm there and it is so ridiculous. Like, I'm thinking, "Oh my God. She needs to put on a helmet with a minor's light on it or something." What is going on? I need to do this. Then she says something like, "It's so crooked. Oh, I shouldn't have said crooked." She's like, "It's really tipped and I'm having a hard time." Then she says, "This shouldn't be this difficult." I'm like, "I know. I've had a few of these before." It was just a very strange thing. And when she got all done, this is the part I left out of my Facebook post. I didn't say all that in my Facebook post. But when she got all done finally and had to switch to the old school equipment, she said, "I'm so sorry." And then she said, "You might experience some bleeding because your vagina is so atrophied."

Tammy (10:35): And I literally,...Along with the colonoscopy and the arthritis, I go, "What did you just say?" I said, "Atrophied is the word that you guys use for this?" I'm just thinking, "You've got to be kidding." In my nursing life, all I'm thinking is every atrophied elderly stroke patient. Now this is the word we're using to describe this. I was horrified, absolutely horrified. So, I left there thinking, "All right. I guess this is life now." I got a call, then I went and got lab work done and I got a call. She left me a voicemail. And, I love my doctor, it's not that. But she left me a voicemail and said, "Hi, Tammy. We just got your lab work back. You are definitely in menopause and your cholesterol's a little high but we're just going to watch that. Call me if you have any questions."

Tammy (11:29): I mean, that was it. It was just an announcement and it was like, "Do we do anything about this? What about the things that I've been complaining about, not sleeping?" You know, I wasn't sure about hot flashes and I would have these waves and, you know, maybe night sweats. But, you know, I've got girlfriends who had hot flashes and literally you're sitting there talking to them and they're hair is just soaking wet and you can just see it. I wasn't having extreme like that, but it was still clearly I was not feeling good. Just tired, achy, and again, an atrophied vagina, which let me tell you, is ... Sex was just off the table in my life. It wasn't happening. It was really becoming, I mean truthfully becoming a problem.

Tammy (12:20): And so those are the things. And again, not in those details, but a sarcastic post about turning 51 after that doctor's appointment was what started this whole ball rolling.

Queenie (12:34): Thank you. I think that you are amongst probably the majority of women that come in. And that self assessment is just exactly that. It is for that for each and every patient but I think that a lot of what you just described there, how tired you are, achy, trouble that starts happening in their intimate lives, not sleeping, hot flashes or not hot flashes. Sleep is really an interesting thing and it sets the tone for our energy for the full 24 hours. So thank you for sharing.

Tammy (13:07): To just sit down and have somebody, number one, hear you and, number two, understand. Because if you're just trying to sit and tell your husband or your partner, whoever, like, "Hey, you know, sex is miserable. It's painful. It's horrible. It's awful. No offense." You know, I mean, it's not anybody who's understanding anything. And so it was so great to talk to these girls and feel like you're being heard and to know that you're not just ... Seriously, I mean, it sounds corny but alone on an island. It's just like, "Hey." You know, I got a big mouth. I talk. I'm pretty open about a lot of things. But people that aren't that just end up, you know, suffering in silence because nobody thinks to talk about it or you don't want to talk bout it because it is horrifying. And to be honest with you, my fiance, he's six and a half years younger than me and so, you know, that was another thing that was played into maybe already feeling a little bit insecure about things like that. And then to factor that in, you start thinking about, "Well, hey, you're six and a half years younger than me and if you were dating someone six and a half years younger than you, we're looking at me being 15 years older than somebody.

Tammy (14:31): It sounds silly, but those are all of the things that, you know, were going through my mind in all of this. And, it was just really great to talk to them and hear them and have them hear me and be like, "Okay. I'm not the only one feeling this way." And what I realized and I think a couple of people for sure that I have talked to about this have gone in. And actually, I just checked in with one of the girls right before we got on this Zoom meeting to see how she was doing. She's a few weeks behind me. I told her about it and I think she no questions asked, either she just went in. Because, I was already feeling good. I mean, I could tell in for sure less than two weeks that something was different with me. And so when I told her about it, she went straight in. And when that doorway is opened up to feel like you can communicate these things, which sometimes could be embarrassing or ... I don't even know if embarrassing is the right word. It's kind of more horrifying, sad than embarrassing. But then all of a sudden you have somebody say, "Oh my gosh. Yeah. I haven't had sex with my husband for two years."

Tammy (15:41): You know, I see a lot of people, I meet a lot of people in my work and it's kind of easy to have medical conversations with people and I don't struggle with that. You start talking and be like, "Gosh, everybody in this age group, we're all, kind of, having the same difficulties, the same problems." And that was super, super empowering really to have that support.

Eva (16:09): When you had the pellets put in ... I wish there was a nicer word for these.

Tammy (16:13): I know. Tic-Tacs, Mary called them.

Eva (16:15): All I can think is hamster food. When you had the Tic-Tacs put in, you said that you started feeling better, what, about two weeks later?

Tammy (16:26): Yeah.

Eva (16:26): What was the first thing you noticed that got better?

Tammy (16:31): I wanted to have sex all the time.

Eva (16:33): Oh, wow.

Tammy (16:37): I mean, it's so ridiculous saying this, but it was just like everything had been dead for so long. And I'm not talking just dead. I mean, I am talking the last few times in the last few years that I had attempted to have sex with my partner, it was excruciating. I mean, I'm talking tears just rolling down my face going, "How can I even get through this?" And it was just like everything woke up and I ended up ... I don't know if you want to say I got my period again, but that woke back up everything. I am sleeping amazing. Those waves, which I think were hot flashes, maybe not extreme horrible ones, but I'm not having any of that anymore. I feel complete temperature control when I am home. And that had always been a problem that I had had. Talking to my doctors that I don't sleep normal, but when I'm home, I need to get a good night's sleep because then maybe that's got to get me through for three nights of just piecing together naps. And, somebody had prescribed me once just a sleeping pill and I had tried it for three nights and it was horrible. I hated how I felt. So I was just back to trying to take melatonin or just do anything anyway.

Tammy (17:59): I have...My nights I am home in my own bed, I sleep like a rockstar. I mean, I am able to go to bed by 10:30 and I am up, I'm awake, ready to go 6:30 in the morning. Every part of my life is better.

Eva (18:16): Have you told your doctor about this?

Tammy (18:18): I have not ever. I never called her back.

Eva (18:21): Wow. I'd like to hear that conversation.

Tammy (18:23): Well, when I go in to get my cholesterol rechecked, maybe we'll have a chat.

Eva (18:29): That, to me, seems like the saddest part of the whole story is that the person who should have known that this is available for you in this particular medical situation didn't even say a word about it.

Tammy (18:42): Yeah.

Queenie (18:43): I think that the truth is that we are all going to age. And as we are progressing through our years that without question and it's just become the way it is. They label it perimenopause or you are in menopause and it's just that we should expect to have hot flashes. We should expect to be irritable. We should expect to be achy because we're aging. And, you know, even with the libido changes or things like that physically that become uncomfortable for women and certainly even for men. Number one, we're all going there. And I think my biggest desire at this point is for people to, whether they think it's woo-woo or not, and I did too before I started. I would be lying if I said otherwise. But I think that for them to know that there is this opportunity to feel wonderful, sleep wonderful, have better energy, improve your health. It is such a preventative as well as just giving people a lot of energy and a lot of positive life back. We have a long way to go for this to be maybe more globally recognized as an option.

Eva (19:53): I think what I'm taking away from this conversation that's, kind of, the most important is if you aren't seeing someone who hears you, understands you, and knows what to do about it, you can find that. Because you had a doctor who heard you and understood you, but she didn't actually know what to do about it. It turned out to be your friends that did and they just happened to be also in medicine, like you are. But most people don't have access to just 15 nurses on Facebook. We don't all have that like you do, which is special and it's helpful.

Eva (20:30): When did you do this? I don't even know what your original timeline was?

Tammy (20:35): November 11th I think. So it was right before the holidays started. And if I'm understanding this correct, it's about every three to four months that you get the pellets replaced. You know, and it's sad. That was a big conversation that I had to have with my significant other about this isn't anything personal. I mean, it doesn't make anything easier when you're going through it or being on the receiving end of being with someone who seemingly doesn't want to have anything to do with you. Whether it was selfish on my part or not, I mean, I was certainly aware of it. But there was also literally I just was at the end. There was nothing I could do about this. I felt like it was just really at a desperate point or breaking point where it was just like, "Something's got to change here." So, I was cautiously optimistic, just hoping. And like I said, it wasn't two full weeks and I thought, "This is absolutely amazing." And I just, I don't think you could put a price on it, honestly.

Eva (21:44): So Queenie, if someone's in the Twin Cities and they actually want to get more information, where do you want them to go look or who do you want them to call?

Queenie (21:53): You can call or text the clinic, 763-205-4718, and/or go to the website. But I think the very first step is really to come on in and do the medical paperwork and start with some labs and have a lab draw.

Eva (22:11): And I understand that it's not covered by insurance, but the cost is really not much different from what we spend on our hair, at least what I spend on my hair. Is that accurate?

Queenie (22:22): Yeah, I think so. I think there is a slight difference in men and women as far as pricing, but I think it's probably an average of let's say $2,000 to $2,800 annually for men and women and we can certainly bulk your pricing with people who are interested in learning more. I have not met a patient yet that didn't say it's worth every penny. And if there's something they're going to keep up in their regimen, it is this.

Eva (22:50): Tammy, before we go, tell us what you're doing this weekend?

Tammy (22:55): I'm getting married. All because of the pellets. They're really ... I'd like to say I'm kidding, but I don't know if this would have happened, if this proposal wouldn't have happened. I'm laughing about it, but truthfully, these were serious discussions that we were having about how ... I mean, you sit with your partner and they almost have tears in their eyes going, "Are you just this repulsed by me?" Or saying I love you but I guess I've resigned myself to the fact that sex isn't going to be a part of our relationship. I know it sounds silly and I keep going back to that. But truthfully for me, you know, I wasn't dealing so much with thyroid, weight gain. I know that that's something that is very helpful too. I don't want to make this raunchy. But it was a hard conversation to have. To have somebody that you care about looking at you and saying, "I love you, but I guess I've resigned myself to this fact." And I think part of his understanding came then when he saw me, like I'm miserable too.

Tammy (24:12): I think part of it is just if somebody just thinks you don't care and you're just flitting through life and it's just to have that honest conversation and to sit down and say, "Hey, I am unhappy too." This isn't what I want my life to look like or feel like or physically anything that's happening." And, again, I mean, I just feel like my proposal and now this wedding really happened, came out of some really honest conversations and then the hope and then ultimately not just hope anymore but physically those changes happening.

Tammy (24:48): Thank you Queenie and Mary. You single handedly saved my relationship. But I think it's a bigger thing for people, and again, this is the second relationship for me, second marriage. But, you know, when you think of people that have maybe been in a marriage for 30, 40 years and you do, I'm sure, just give up or resign yourself to this is what life is going to look like or, you know, same thing, the aches, the pains, the bad sleeping, the hot flashes. That's the part that was so ... Just really to feel like you were heard and you weren't just alone in your symptoms, everything that goes along with that.

Eva (25:35): Thank you for telling us all about it, all of it. Really appreciate it, especially your candor and your willingness to be so open with this is really incredible.

Eva (25:50): If you'd like to tell your story on this show or if you're a medical professional who would like to submit someone else's story for consideration, send us a message at BeforeandAfterStories.com or follow and message us on Instagram at Before and After Stories Podcast. I'm Eva Sheie, the host and producer of Before and After Stories and my cohost is Queenie Dahlin. Our engineer is Daniel Croeser. Before and After Stories is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io. That's Axis, like Axis of Eva.