More Donna Lee: Co-Host Donna Lee On the Benefits of Testosterone Therapy for Both Men and Women

Speaker 1: 0:09
Welcome back to the Armor Men’s Health Hour with Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee.

Dr. Mistry: 0:16
Welcome back to the Armor Men’s Health Hour. I’m Dr. Mistry, you host, here with my cohost Donna Lee .

Donna Lee: 0:20
I think we should be syndicated.

Dr. Mistry: 0:22
I think we should be syndicated.

Donna Lee: 0:23
How do we make that happen? If you’re a listener out there, or an agent…

Dr. Mistry: 0:26
Please…

Donna Lee: 0:28
…call Dr. Mistry.

Dr. Mistry: 0:28
You know what a common criticism I hear about this show?

Donna Lee: 0:31
That I don’t talk enough?

Dr. Mistry: 0:32
That’s right.

Donna Lee: 0:32
Because you talk too much. I don’t like to interrupt you. You’re so engaging and amazing that your words stream together like fluid, liquid gold.

Dr. Mistry: 0:43
Nobody here is going to question why you still work for me. That’s that’s the nice, kiss-assing.

Donna Lee: 0:48
That’s right. I kiss your ass hard.

Dr. Mistry: 0:49
That’s right.

Donna Lee: 0:51
Cause I don’t like to get fired.

Dr. Mistry: 0:52
Well, there we go. So, you know what I thought we would do here?

Donna Lee: 0:55
A question/answer session?

Dr. Mistry: 0:55
Really, I want you to ask me questions that you think are interesting about what’s going on here in the clinic. And I’d love to hear some feedback that you’ve had from patients about some of the different treatments we’ve had, that we can just like put it all together in one show.

Donna Lee: 1:10
Okay. Well that sounds fascinating.

Dr. Mistry: 1:12
So I didn’t give you any prep time.

Donna Lee: 1:14
You did not.

Dr. Mistry: 1:14
You start. Go ahead.

Donna Lee: 1:15
Thanks. On that note, my husband’s always asking questions.

Dr. Mistry: 1:20
Let’s see.

Donna Lee: 1:20
Cause he’s got all those cardiovascular issues and you know his history since y’all are so close. I would like to announce though that I came home one day and I told my husband that you made me cry at work and his response was , “Well, what did you do, Donna?”

Dr. Mistry: 1:36
That’s right. And so for a lot of men out there, they’re confused because that sounds really like a reasonable thing to ask. But now that I’ve becoming more of a well -aware person, I now realize it should have been, “What did he do?”

Donna Lee: 1:51
Yeah. That’s what I thought he was going to say. You know, he takes your side and I don’t understand. Anyway, his questions are always, as are his friends, cause they’re all in the same age group in their early to mid fifties is, how healthy is it to be on testosterone if you’ve got cardiovascular issues? So he had a quadruple bypass. He’s got a lot of friends in his position. A lot of them are overweight. They’re not healthy, they’re smoking, they’re drinking. So I think he’s scared as they are about taking testosterone, because I think it’s like, you know, they’re worried some sort of weird cardiovascular boost that they’re going to get that’s gonna give them a heart attack.

Dr. Mistry: 2:22
Totally. And I think that, that’s a great question, so.

Donna Lee: 2:24
Thank you.

Dr. Mistry: 2:24
There is some controversy because of some studies that came out several years ago that suggested that testosterone use might be dangerous for some men and make their cardiovascular disease worse. I can tell you that not only have those studies and the methods behind them been not supported, but for decades, we have known one thing for sure, without a doubt: having a low testosterone puts you at higher risk for death from cardiovascular disease. We know that.

Donna Lee: 2:56
OK. Well, there you go.

Dr. Mistry: 2:56
We know that. We know, that is settled science. If you are walking around with a testosterone level of 185 or 210, and you go long enough, you are going to have a higher risk of heart attack and stroke than your neighbor who has walking around with a testosterone of 500. So…

Donna Lee: 3:11
What’s a normal range of testosterone?

Dr. Mistry: 3:14
350 to 1000 is what we use. The numbers from your insurance company, your lab may not be completely in line with those. And I think a lot of men, they don’t do testosterone therapy because they’re scared that their insurance won’t pay for it or somebody told them it wouldn’t.

Donna Lee: 3:27
Or it’s expensive.

Dr. Mistry: 3:27
Or it’s expensive. I mean, it’s super cheap.

Donna Lee: 3:29
It’s really cheap.

Dr. Mistry: 3:29
It’s super cheap. Like of all the things that we do to people, it’s super cheap.

Donna Lee: 3:33
When I came over here three years ago and found out the pricing, I was like, “Are we charging enough? Cause it doesn’t seem like it.”

Dr. Mistry: 3:39
Yeah. I mean, if such as somebody out there, whenever somebody tells me that, “Man, Dr. Mistry, whatever you recommend , it was a lot cheaper than what I thought it was going to be,” that makes me so happy, because you know, I want people to know that that good healthcare is completely accessible. And if you just kind of disassociate yourself a little bit from what you kind of think you’re entitled to get paid for with your insurance, then you get to be the boss of your own treatment. And you know, so many guys buy testosterone, like from some back alley gym or ordered online or, you know, pick some extra up when they’re across the border. And I’m like, “It’s super cheap here. Just let’s just buy it here! Why are you going through such craziness?”

Donna Lee: 4:17
Oh gosh, I had an angry patient once at my previous clinic. He was yelling and screaming, and the staff brought me in as a manager, and I had to deal with him. And he was yelling and screaming, and then we looked at his testosterone level and it was 3000. And I was like, “Oh.” And he like owned a gym. He was very upset.

Dr. Mistry: 4:32
I’m glad you brought that up because that’s a common myth, in fact–that being overly testosterone may cause you to have a bad attitude. Let me tell you something. That guy was probably a real jackass to start with.

Donna Lee: 4:44
He was.

Dr. Mistry: 4:44
He didn’t need any help from the testosterone.

Donna Lee: 4:45
He was amazing. He physically got in my face as if we were about to go throw down on the parking lot.

Dr. Mistry: 4:51
After more than a decade of treating patients, and because we do it in a controlled way , I would say that incidences of road rage, ‘roid rage, or incidences of greatly altered personality are extremely rare and uncommon. And people often will say, “Well, what am I going to turn into once my testosterone’s normalize ?” And I say, “Well, were you kind of a d**k before? Because if you were, then you might turn back into that guy.” But it’s not going to take an otherwise mild-mannered, regular person and turn them into the incredible Hulk.

Donna Lee: 5:22
Hulk Hogan.

Dr. Mistry: 5:23
Which would be awesome.

Donna Lee: 5:24
That would be kind of cool, if you turned green.

Dr. Mistry: 5:26
It would be awesome.

Donna Lee: 5:26
It would be cool. Well, I can tell you, I take testosterone through our clinic. I see Leonora Brown, one of our providers and I feel amazing all the time. And when I get that shot every two weeks on a Friday, did I tell you? I have the most amazing boss dream ever. Like I’m the boss of the world.

Dr. Mistry: 5:43
Sweet.

Donna Lee: 5:43
Every two weeks I have the best dream. The staff thinks it’s hysterical.

Dr. Mistry: 5:46
Well, I , you know, that’s great because a lot of , if you are listening with your wife or, you know , my incredible cadre of women listeners are tuning in.

Donna Lee: 5:54
All two of them.

Dr. Mistry: 5:56
Yeah, all two of them. Both of you. Testosterone replacement therapy is something that is possible in women. We usually do that in conjunction with estrogen replacement therapy, but not always. So for some reason, you’re just not comfortable taking estrogen , or you’re not a candidate for it. We have a lot of young patients with low libido who do get better libido with testosterone replacement. Topical creams are probably the most common way that we give testosterone, or pellets in women, but occasionally , like yourself injections , because they’re so inexpensive, tend to be the one. The volume is real low that we have to give. So , sometimes it’s hard to drop such a low volume, but we definitely have ways of replacing testosterone. It does help maintain muscle mass. It does have a role in bone health and libido and mood, you know…

Donna Lee: 6:48
Yeah. I’m still looking for my libido, but I feel amazing.

Dr. Mistry: 6:50
That’s right. We’re still looking for it . It’s like a scavenger hunt around here.

Donna Lee: 6:54
I heard dr. Wang on our show, not too long ago, talking about hot flashes and the menopause episode that I thought was super fascinating, because that’s my age group. She said, “That’s What She Said,” that’s the segment that is called, “That’s What She Said.” Women have hot flashes in this age group because their estrogen has dropped. So I went to Leonora, our provider here that I see. And she put me on estrogen and guess what? My hot flashes are gone. That’s like magic. It’s amazing.

Dr. Mistry: 7:20
That’s nice.

Donna Lee: 7:20
I’m the best testimonial you’re going to have all day.

Dr. Mistry: 7:22
I guess. And you know, women are also going to notice an improvement in their skin and hair texture and really a return back to feeling better. And so the same thing happens in men. In women it’s called menopause, and in men we call it andropause. And that is a part of the natural decline in testosterone. So either you’re going to be a guy out there that says, “Well, this is natural and this is supposed to happen to me.” Or you’re going to say, “Well, this is happening to me. And I want to do something about it.”

Donna Lee: 7:48
I have a question. I wanted , well, my husband actually had another question. He wanted to know if there’s something similar to women when they’re on their monthly angry cycle…Is there something that men go through? Cause he feels like he has a monthly issue where he’s just angry.

Dr. Mistry: 8:01
The answer, the answer is probably not. But if he’s like me, it’s probably payroll for his employees.

Donna Lee: 8:07
That’s every two weeks though!

Dr. Mistry: 8:07
And maybe, and maybe his wife is going through her time and I’m just having my little response to it.

Donna Lee: 8:11
Maybe my boss made me cry and then I went home angry and it made my husband angry. But then he took your side.

Dr. Mistry: 8:17
Yes. Because I was probably right.

Donna Lee: 8:19
It’s true. I have to admit it. You’re more rational. I get it. Okay. Anyway, what else do we have to talk about today? We have the shockwave therapy that you wanted to talk about it.

Dr. Mistry: 8:27
Well, I think it’s great. You know, you get to be on the frontline with a lot of our patients. I’d love to hear what feedback you’re getting on patients that undergo shockwave therapy for erectile dysfunction.

Donna Lee: 8:38
Goodness, I knew we’d have positive feedback, but I didn’t know it’d be this good. We’ve had patients, several patients, many patients, but by the fifth cycle, they get six treatments. By the fifth treatment, the reactions are incredible. One guy said he has to, he stopped taking Viagra altogether by his fifth treatment of shockwave therapy. Another patient who’s gone through chemotherapy and radiation who thought he would never ever have an erection again, he started getting natural organic erections after the fifth treatment.

Dr. Mistry: 9:03
” Organic erections.”

Donna Lee: 9:05
Was that good? Did that sound holistic.

Dr. Mistry: 9:07
That’s pretty good. That’s what we want you to have–an organic erection.

Donna Lee: 9:09
No, that’s incredible. We have more, but we don’t , I don’t have time to go into all the details. But I was super impressed with that. We had one guy who on his first treatment said he didn’t have to use Viagra when he went home to have relations with his wife. Now our provider said some of that might’ve been psychological, but hey, I’ll take it! Right? It was his first treatment.

Dr. Mistry: 9:28
That’s right. That’s right. You know, we’re big believers in the placebo effect around here. And if you’re interested in getting a more thorough evaluation for your erectile dysfunction, or if you have an enlarged prostate, or you have prostate cancer and want a second opinion–we’re big fans of second opinion. That’s what we do. It’s different than what you’re going to get elsewhere. And that’s something that we would like to push.

Donna Lee: 9:50
Right? And we welcome all your questions and your comments to armormenshealth@gmail.com. Thanks for letting me talk .

Dr. Mistry: 9:57
Oh yes . Please let us know if you’d liked more Donna.

Donna Lee: 9:59
I like more Donna. I’m unhinged! We’ll be right back.

Speaker 1: 10:03
The Armor Men’s Health Hour will be right back. If you have questions for Dr. Mistry, email him at armormenshealth@gmail.com.