Brittany Estrada 00:00:00 Probably the most well known peptide right now are the GLP one drug. So those are things like what Govi and Ozempic and Majuro. And whatever camp you fall in, you have probably heard of them because they are everywhere and for good reason. You know, they are highly effective drugs, but they also stir up a lot of controversy, because I think that there's always this idea that maybe they're too good to be true. And so we got our way. The risks and benefits. Right.

Erica Boland 00:01:01 Hey loves. I'm Erica.

Brittany Estrada 00:01:06 And I'm Britt. She's a chiropractor and midwife.

Erica Boland 00:01:08 And she's a nurse practitioner and womb healer. Together we are bridging the sacred and the scientific to help you step into deeper alignment with the incredible wisdom of your body.

Brittany Estrada 00:01:16 We are mothers, soul sisters, and women who are deeply devoted to serving the feminine collective.

Brittany Estrada 00:01:22 There is no topic we aren't open to exploring, and we are so looking forward to navigating this journey with you and our amazing guests.

Erica Boland 00:01:30 So settle in, preferably with a great cup of coffee. Put one hand on your heart and breathe as we dive in.

Brittany Estrada 00:01:37 Welcome to our community.

Erica Boland 00:01:40 Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us for another episode of The Womb Women as we get closer and closer into spring. So hopefully you're feeling that like little bit of resurgence coming your way. And by the time that you listen to this, it's the weather's a little warmer wherever you are. So go ahead and settle in. And if you're driving even, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, like one hand on the wheel for a hot second, I'm going to have you really connect with your pelvic floor. So take one of your hands and grab your glute and sit your sit bone right down on your seat. And then other hand, grab the other glute. Spread it out outside of your sit bones.

Erica Boland 00:02:26 Sit right down on your seat, and I want your pelvic floor to be as in contact with whatever seat you're in as possible. And then I want you to notice what happens to your pelvic floor. So keep your minds attention on your pelvic floor. When you just relax your belly, let everything go. You probably felt a little pull in your chest, a little drop of your pelvic floor coming into that relaxed state. If you weren't able to feel it, then even more reason to connect to this area of your body. The safety and security. Close your eyes if you can, relax your jaw. As we know, through the front fascial lines, deep and superficial. We connecting from our jaw all the way to our pelvic floor. Let go of any of the tension that started again. Settle in. Be right here in the moment. Deep breath into your low back. Feel that energy. Fill up your pelvic bowl. Are coming closer to the time of, like, fresh start that new season.

Erica Boland 00:03:47 When we actually want to take on maybe a little more emphasis in our projects. Maybe taking on something new. Certainly letting go of anything that you've kept so far this year that still is not serving you. Inhale that desire. And exhale the rest of it. Feel your mind and body. Let go little by little. And out. All right. Go ahead and open your eyes or come back to us. And feel free to practice that. When I get the question of how do I know if my pelvic floor is relaxed or not? That's one of the things I'll have you start with. First, it can feel frustrating if you can't feel it, but I promise with a few days of consistency you will. And today we're going to get a little bit nerdy, or Brit's going to get a little bit nerdy anyway and talk about peptides, which she said has been a pretty big hot topic in her practice. And so, Brit, I would love for you to just start off and telling us, like maybe one of the most common questions that you get from patients or clients in regards to peptides, or a question that you get from patients or clients that you're what comes to mind for you is like peptides are the answer or are not the answer.

Erica Boland 00:05:10 Yeah.

Brittany Estrada 00:05:11 Great. Well, first off, thank you for that meditation. Pelvic floor connection continues to be such an important part of the work that I do with clients. And I always think of you when I'm walking women through that connection exercise. So love it so much. And, you know, in addition to helping women connect to their core and pelvic floor, I get the honor of helping them make a lot of decisions regarding their health care as to whether they want to implement supplements, they want to use different medications. I do a lot of work with bioidentical hormones, and lately, especially in the last year, I have woven in peptides. So probably the most well known peptide right now are the GLP one drug. So those are things like what Govi and Ozempic and Majuro. And, you know, whatever camp you fall in, you have probably heard of them because they are everywhere and for good reason. You know, they are highly effective drugs, but they also stir up a lot of controversy, because I think that there's always this idea that maybe they're too good to be true.

Brittany Estrada 00:06:14 And so, you know, I've been really curious, and I try to always lead with my curiosity and just this desire to learn more. So I've been really curious, like, what do these drugs actually do and how do they work in the body? So basically peptides are small chains of amino acids. So whereas amino acids are the building blocks of protein, peptides are essentially like smaller versions of that. And what's really cool about peptides is they have a very specific response in the body. So they only go to certain receptors, which means that the response is very targeted. Whereas when we use something like a drug, we tend to get side effects because there's a broader response in the body. And so that's one reason why peptides are gaining a lot of popularity. And when I kind of went down the rabbit hole of peptides, there are so many there's hundreds of different peptides. So the GLP one drugs are just one example. Insulin is probably the most well known peptide hormone that the general public is aware of.

Brittany Estrada 00:07:19 But oxytocin is also a peptide hormone. Glucagon is a peptide hormone. So these are a part of our normal makeup. But we can synthesize them in a lab to then have these very specific therapeutic benefits. So again, the most common one right now that I'm getting questions about are the GLP one drugs. And I have really found them to be super valuable. You know I definitely think like with anything they can be misused, you know, when people are using them specifically to promote really rapid weight loss. Yes, we are absolutely going to see significant side effects. You know, the biggest one that's often talked about is the muscle loss. Because, you know, if we are rapidly losing weight, we tend to lose muscle in addition to fat, which can worsen metabolic health over time. That's not good for anybody. But if you have someone who is doing all the things they are really watching their diet, they're moving, they're managing their stress and they're sleeping, and they're coming alongside those lifestyle interventions with a really low dose or a conservative dose of GLP ones.

Brittany Estrada 00:08:31 Then they can have some really positive results that significantly improve their metabolic health over time and even help them lose fat while also building muscle, which is really cool.

Erica Boland 00:08:41 Yeah. Do you see, I think that that's like a unicorn client, right? Not in for the majority. Not in your practice Probably, right? Yes. You're attracting the clients that are already radically responsible. For the most part, they are willing to take radical responsibility for their health, and they're willing to work for muscle gain, right? For nutrition, for movement. And what I see in our area, in our family, in our greater area or practice is this like, this is the quick fix. And I found it shocking to look at some of the research that was presented at one of the chiropractic conferences that I went to last year in regards to some of the major side effects and risk, and some of it even talking about like cancer risk with long term use of these. Another thing that I found was shocking is the recommendation for children struggling with obesity to be placed on a GLP one.

Erica Boland 00:09:48 So for me that part was alarming. And yet I think it's like so important to have this conversation because it is with anything in healthcare. It is never all or nothing completely good or completely bad. There's a time and a place for it. So what I hear you saying is that these are best used in small doses with the person that understands that they are not the cure all, and that they have to make other lifestyle changes with them. So what does that look like then? Is there a ideal time that they're on them and then they're tapered off? Or because I think like general population that's listening to our podcast probably doesn't even realize that some of the things that you named are peptides, right? Like insulin, like oxytocin with the amino acids. And we emphasize protein intake so much. So I think that that's helpful for people to put the pieces of the puzzle together that way. But what does it look like when someone comes to you and you realize, okay, Probably a low dose of this would be good.

Erica Boland 00:10:48 Do you have a system or protocol that you're trying to then also taper them off of it or what does that look like?

Brittany Estrada 00:10:57 So the really beautiful thing about utilizing GLP ones is that we have a lot of flexibility. So when you get them from like you get the name brand ones, they come in pre dosed vials basically or pens. And so when we're getting them from a compounding pharmacy which is normally what I do because I'm not running these medications through insurance that actually costs significantly more unless you qualify as a diabetic or in some cases if you have obesity and you have, you know, multiple health issues, sometimes we can get it covered by insurance. But in general, I'm getting these through a compounding pharmacy, which tends to be less expensive. And then we have a lot of flexibility with dosing. So, you know, the standard dose is that you start at 2.5mg every week for a month, and then you ramp up to five, and then you ramp up to seven. And I think the highest dose of appetite.

Brittany Estrada 00:11:47 And this is true appetite I'm talking about semaglutide is the other one, but true appetite I'm typically using really small doses. So for example I'll start someone on like a milligram and we'll try that for several weeks. Maybe we'll do it every other week. And we really are customizing the dose according to what they need. And you know, for myself, I rarely will prescribe something to someone unless I have tried it myself. So I was curious when I looked at the research. You know, we see anti-inflammatory benefits. We see benefits in lipid profiles. And so I have incredible blood work. I am super metabolically healthy. But one thing I struggle with is I have pretty elevated cholesterol, but I have pretty elevated, damaged LDL cholesterol, which is, you know, quote unquote pretty bad. So I've had multiple providers in town want to put me on statine medications, and that just didn't sit well with me, given that I really have no other metabolic risk factors. My blood sugar markers are impeccable. I don't have a lot of inflammation.

Brittany Estrada 00:12:50 You know, I had a cardiac calcium score that was perfect. And still I have people wanting to control this highly oxidized LDL cholesterol, which I totally understand. And we hadn't gotten really anywhere with using some of the typical supplements that are recommended specifically for that issue. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to try myself on a super, super low dose, like about a fifth of the starting dose of peptide and just see what happens. My lipid panel normalized within six weeks. So that to me is pretty incredible. I didn't notice any significant side effects. Again, I was using a really, really small dose and I was actually able to build muscle during that time because I was tracking this and I actually had just started a new lifting program. So all that is to say is that it is super important to individualize the dose and the way that the drugs are being utilized in the conventional population or a conventional medical model is probably not ideal. Right. And we talk about this all the time.

Brittany Estrada 00:13:49 A lot of that has to do with the fact that when you have 10 to 15 minutes to talk to a patient, you aren't going to have time to dive into all of those lifestyle factors and all of the nuances of tailoring something to an individual. You have time to really like, look at whatever the normal dosing schedule is and write them a prescription, then send them on their way. And, you know, so that in and of itself is a huge issue. And I totally agree with you. And I hear you when you say, you know, there's research about cancer that sounds super scary. And we're, you know, starting to see this pushed on children because, you know, we do have a significant childhood obesity epidemic. But what I will say, you know, one thing specific to the research regarding cancer, one, I was reading the study about how there seems to be an increased risk in the development of thyroid cancer in the first year after starting these drugs. But what was interesting is they did more screening on the patients who were taking a GLP one drug than they did on the rest of the study participants.

Brittany Estrada 00:14:51 So we have a screening bias, meaning that if you look for something often enough, you're probably going to find it, right. And after that first year, the risk basically goes down to the risk of the general population. And thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers that we see. So, you know, we have to we have to look at everything and really run it through all of the filters and be discerning. So the other part of that is obesity in and of itself is a huge risk factor for all kinds of issues, including cancer. So we got our way the risks and benefits. Right. And that is the conversation that I'm often having with my clients who come to me wanting to explore these medications. And to your point, most of the clients that come to see me are already pretty well educated. They're pretty health conscious, but I have a lot of perimenopausal women who are doing all of the things, and they are struggling with continuing to gain weight. Their metabolic health is tanking.

Brittany Estrada 00:15:53 And so, you know, particularly with that population, we have to have the conversation of you're going to get so much more benefit if we can help to normalize your hormone levels. So a lot of times I'm having the conversation of, let's put you on some bioidentical hormones and get that balance first. And then if we need to, we come alongside with the GLP one drugs, and they're going to work a heck of a lot better than if we just, you know, start those right off the bat.

Erica Boland 00:16:19 Which is a huge educational piece that I would imagine most people in the medical model don't fully grasp because of the way that our health care system is. And and I know this is a blanket statement, but because of the way that our health care system is, especially in a the clinic or in a hospital setting where you're seeing a specific population and health care is still pigeonholed into there's this problem, there's this problem, there's this problem, and our country has a metabolic disease problem. Right? And all of these things that you're talking about fall under that metabolic disease.

Erica Boland 00:17:01 And now we're having that even younger and younger. And in my opinion, childhood obesity is completely preventable. But you now have a child that's under the care of parents that either have significant lifestyle risk, I guess, for this child, and likely lack of education or lack of willingness to make change and take some accountability for that. Because normally when it's hard for us to make change for ourselves, our children will be the determining like, okay, I will do this for them. But we see childhood obesity increasing, increasing, increasing. So when it's like, okay, it's so important to get this information out into communities, it can feel a little bit daunting to think, okay, we need all of the medical professionals to understand this, but what is something? Because we have a lot of providers that listen to our podcast, what is something that you would recommend or somewhere that you would recommend? People can start to get enough information that they can be themselves, become educated on this, and have more community talks, or even just via social media and helping raise the awareness that, hey, first of all, bioidentical hormones are important and also what that looks like with nutrition and exercise, what that looks like when you put that alongside peptides or GLP ones, and then that management of that.

Erica Boland 00:18:28 From a provider standpoint, we have more and more functional health or functional medicine providers popping up in our area. And I imagine that this is something that all of them would want to know more about.

Brittany Estrada 00:18:40 Yeah, I have learned a lot from Doctor Tina Moore. I think she is brilliant, and she's really the first person who started talking about utilizing the GLP ones in a microdosing fashion. And so it's been really informative to, you know, learn from her. But I am constantly curious. So, you know, if you actually look PubMed, we've been studying this class of drugs for like 30 years. Like there's actually quite a bit of data and we have data again that they are anti-inflammatory. They significantly support metabolic health, but they may have applications for supporting neurological health as well. So it's really interesting. But I think she is probably one of the loudest voices. And there's a great podcast that Mark Hyman did where he invited Tina Moore and Carly Means on to really debate this topic. Because, you know, to your point, we have this this obesity epidemic.

Brittany Estrada 00:19:36 It is absolutely impacting our youth. And you know, when a child has a chronic health issue, they're an excellent customer for the pharmaceutical industry because they get started on medications so early. So we have this system where our food is full of chemicals. It is making a sick. And then we are sold drugs to then combat these illnesses that were caused by the food. So we need policy change. And I'm really hopeful that that's what is coming down the line for us. But that's the root of it, right? So the answer is not that we just give everybody these GLP one medications. And I am so excited for us to learn more and more about peptides, because there seem to be so many incredible applications. And I know that again, GLP are getting a lot of the attention. That's the big thing right now. But one of the things that I wanted to share is that, you know, there are hundreds of peptides that have therapeutic applications. And so as I was kind of delving more into this world, I was super curious, like, what are the other peptides that are currently available? How do you use them? So one of the ones that I came across is called BPC 157.

Brittany Estrada 00:20:47 It was a peptide that was found as a component of gastric juices. So it has a lot of therapeutic benefits specific to GI issues. It's very healing to the lining of the GI tract, but it also has a lot of anti-inflammatory benefits. So this is one of the first ones that I decided to utilize. Personally. I've shared before that I have chronic low back pain since having the boys, and I generally can keep it well controlled. I do a lot of things, including lots of chiropractic work and breathwork and all the things to just keep myself feeling good. But every now and again I have a flare and I don't necessarily want to throw down a bunch of ibuprofen to help manage that. And I want to still be able to move without pain. So BPC 157 has been one of the things that has worked so beautifully after 2 or 3 doses, my pain is usually completely gone and I can go about my life because it is just so anti-inflammatory. So there are a lot of athletes using BPC 157 and there actually are now some research studies specifically regarding the benefits for GI health, but I foresee BPC 157 as being one of the next peptides that gets widely marketed as a drug because it has so many incredible benefits and doesn't really seem to have a lot of significant side effects, if any, which is pretty cool.

Brittany Estrada 00:22:04 And that's a general thing with most of the peptides, is the side effect profile can actually be really low when they're used appropriately.

Erica Boland 00:22:13 Yes. Good to know. And yeah, this is full circle because it's all related with the metabolic disease, with the gut health. What person today does not have some sort of gut disruption. And if there is a safe peptide that can be used alongside of all of the other lifestyle changes that we've talked about then? Great. Totally off topic, but kind of on topic is a question for you. What is your practice as a provider for looking up research? Do you have routine regularly or I know you reference PubMed a ton and are staying up to date, and I think that that's important for all of us, especially as the time from research to implementation actually gets wider instead of shorter like you would think it would with increase access to information. I imagine for you that implementation time is much shorter than the national average, which is 17 years. So what do you do on a consistent basis for looking up the latest research for what's trending? Obviously, but also just things that you're interested in.

Brittany Estrada 00:23:18 I mean, I'm just one to like to go down rabbit hole. So when I kind of get a hit of inspiration I will take to PubMed, I'll kind of look and see what's available. I'm always reading other people's books. There's a couple different people who have written about peptides. I think it's Doctor Seeds. I will link the books that I've referenced in the show notes for sure, but I feel like, I mean, my book collection is pretty insane. I am all about reading as much as I can. There's normally a stack on my bedside table of all kinds of medical texts, and then I also will we'll hop on PubMed and sometimes for hours. And that's just something that I enjoy doing because I really, truly love to learn. And then usually, well before I'm implementing it in my practice, I'm doing it with myself. So like I said, I trialed BPC 157. I trialed the GLP ones on myself before I ever prescribed them to patients because like I said, I wanted to have some kind of experience personally before I just, you know, went out and started using these things with patients, especially given the amount of fear that I feel like has been really widespread regarding the use of GLP ones in particular, and I wanted to be able to share, you know, the effects specifically on my lab work and all of that.

Brittany Estrada 00:24:35 So, yeah.

Erica Boland 00:24:35 I was hoping that you would touch on that because I knew that you had done that, and I couldn't remember if we had covered that in a previous podcast or not. Obviously, your personal health information that I'm not going to call out publicly on our podcast, but I was hoping you would touch on that because I knew that you had been wondering about that for yourself. And I've we've got a couple other patients here or friends that have said the same thing very specifically with their cholesterol, very specifically with LDL, where it's like we're doing all the things we're doing all these anti-inflammatory changes and all the things. And this is still the marker that is way too high. And yeah, pretty crappy. So I appreciate that you were willing to share that. And I know you're more of an open book, but what would you say for two separate things for providers, your main takeaway and then for just general population that's listening to this as a potential patient or client of either yourself or their local functional med provider.

Erica Boland 00:25:32 What would you say the two takeaways from this would be?

Brittany Estrada 00:25:35 I think, number one, what is shown to us in all arenas are the extremes, right? There's the extremes of you're going to develop thyroid cancer or you're going to destroy your gut. So what I always say is like, can we just find some middle ground and can we actually go back to like the research? Because just, you know, there's the shock and awe factor that is like all over the news, right? And is that necessarily what's true? So I always think it's really helpful for us to go back to the actual research. What does it say. And then I also think it's really important for us to like tune in intuitively. And that's really hard when you are super busy in your practice and you have a million things going on, like practitioners rely on the information that is being put out by the governing boards of their specific, you know, specialty. Right. And so it's so much easier to rely on the CDC or Acog to give us information like, it would be so great if that was a reliable source.

Brittany Estrada 00:26:37 And also, it's okay for us to ask questions. And so I think the biggest takeaway is like, can we just get curious. And for patients, you know, we have to recognize that GLP ones are an extremely lucrative business. You know, many of you probably saw the Super Bowl commercial from hers that was all about, you know, the system is rigged against us and our food is poison and it's making us fat. So here's the answer. And, you know, like really tugged on the heartstrings a little bit, right? Like, yes, it is. And here's my answer. So I totally get it. So it's important for us to recognize that this is a business. And there are people who are going to use it to make money. And also there is a time and a place for utilizing all of the tools that we have. And one of the things that doctor more often talks about is, you know, when someone is sick and inflamed and they really don't feel good, it is hard to make lifestyle changes, right? It just is.

Brittany Estrada 00:27:37 And so I do want to share that I don't only use these meds with someone who is doing all the things and eating well and moving, like sometimes I use it with patients who honestly are super unhealthy, super metabolically unwell because I need them to have a little bit of a win. So that motivates them to then want to make changes. And so that's the art of practice. Like it's this constant, like weighing the risks and benefits and figuring out what is appropriate for the individual 100%.

Erica Boland 00:28:09 Thank you for saying that. That is somewhere, as a provider that I have changed, I guess over the years, if you will, something down to something as simple as like, do you remember when animal care was huge and it was like all the everything and you know, you can look at the ingredients list on these different even over the counter, whatever. But at the end of the day, if it's sparks energy or hope or joy in someone and now they are on a path for long term health, that is amazing.

Erica Boland 00:28:40 And we can only hope that they are under the care of a provider that is choosing to take the time with them to talk about the other things, or at least collaborate with someone that will talk about the other things. Because I am done saying it's the system, the providers are choosing to stay in that system. So that's a choice. Yes, they're burnt out. Yes. Their appointments are sure. Yes. There this. And yet it's a choice to stay in it. When we know that it isn't working, we can at least collaborate with other providers. So with these like quick fix gimmicky changes, what comes next for someone that has found that quick fix and that there started that quick fix. We know that it isn't the end all be all. But now they have motivation and that's huge. That is like life changing. Yeah.

Brittany Estrada 00:29:32 And you know I do hear from especially women. And I struggled with my weight for a long time. So I have deep empathy for this. But I do have women who are really they feel stuck because they really feel like they're doing all the things and they're not seeing any change.

Brittany Estrada 00:29:48 So then they kind of just throw up their hands and say, you know what? Like it's not even worth doing this. So again, sometimes, like coming in with something like a GLP one drug is the thing that can just kind of keep them motivated to keep going, because it's typically the really boring things done over a long period of time with consistency that make the change. But that's hard to get people to adhere to. That's just human nature, is that we do want a quick fix. And so it is always a balance.

Erica Boland 00:30:21 Yeah. great. Thanks for this Brit. Super informative. I love it when you dig into the science and share it with us. So thank you for taking time today.

Brittany Estrada 00:30:30 Yeah. And you know, the last thing I want to share is if you're curious about peptides, I definitely encourage you to kind of dig into some of the resources that will listen. The show notes I do want to share just a quick funny story, because as I was experimenting with different peptides for myself, you know, one of the things that I have struggled with, particularly in the last several years, like my libido can be really low.

Brittany Estrada 00:30:54 I mean, I've got three little kids. I run a business like, you know, sometimes it's just it's just not there. So there is a peptide called red tide and this is actually available via prescription. The brand name is VLSI, I believe. And so it's actually used for like hyperactive sexual arousal disorder I think is is the term. But you're supposed to use it about 45 minutes prior to sex, which I always think is funny because that definitely takes away the spontaneity. Right? So like right. It's like using something like Viagra for a man. Right? But I think that's one of the big complaints about women is that they can kind of get in the mood. They're responsive, but they don't just like have the desire randomly. So it is funny that this drug specifically, like you kind of have to plan out when you're going to have sex. But anyway, I decided, you know what? I'm just going to try it because so many of my clients are really struggling with this.

Brittany Estrada 00:31:49 And, you know, I want to have another option for them. And so I, you know, give myself a little dose according to the protocol that I had found. And within ten minutes I was like so nauseous it reminded me of morning sickness. And I'm sitting there like, oh, good Lord, I can't imagine that. If you're feeling nauseous, it's really going to put you in the mood, right? So then I like and I hadn't really looked up the side effects prior to this because I had just, you know, kind of gotten excited. I'm like, I'm gonna try this. Like, let's just see what happens. And like one of the number one, this is the number one side effect is actually nausea. So, you know, all that is to say, I also have talked to people who it works beautifully for. And that has been like the thing that has really supported, you know, rebuilding a relationship with their spouse after menopause. So like all that to say, like, again, we're all individuals.

Brittany Estrada 00:32:40 We don't know, like something might work really well for one person. Something might not work at all. So anyway, I just wanted to share that.

Erica Boland 00:32:47 Within ten minutes I got super nauseous was not the word I thought you were gonna say. Yeah.

Brittany Estrada 00:32:54 Yeah. Nauseous. Not aroused.

Erica Boland 00:32:58 Thank you for the honesty. Yep. Of course. Awesome. I was gonna just say we'll get all those resources. Brittle link what she mentioned in the books. And you will now all have a rabbit hole. If you haven't gone down this one already, you can start to explore.

Brittany Estrada 00:33:15 Yeah. So you all enjoy. And, we'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Womb Women podcast. We are thrilled you joined us today and hope you found the conversation as inspiring as we did to connect with us further. Follow me Brit on Instagram @thebrittestrada and Erica at @themovementmidwife. For more information on how to work with us, check out our websites linked in the show notes.

Brittany Estrada 00:33:42 We can't wait to have you join us for the next episode, but until then, we invite you to step into your power and embrace the wisdom of your body. Bye for now.

Brittany Estrada 00:34:06 Just as a reminder of the information shared here is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your health care provider for any medical questions or concerns.