The Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast

BEE #145: Hormone Health Decoded: A Candid Conversation with Dr. Peter Castillo

• Kristin Jones

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In this must-listen episode, I sit down with my own hormone replacement therapy doctor, Dr. Peter Castillo, to uncover the truth about hormone changes and how they impact women’s health—starting as early as our 30s.

Dr. Castillo is a board-certified urogynecologist and founder of Swan Medical, with practices in Danville and Los Gatos, CA. After years of treating pelvic floor issues, he realized that many of his patients’ symptoms stemmed from hormone insufficiencies—and that sparked his mission to educate and empower women to reclaim their vitality.

We talk candidly about:

  • Why hormone shifts often begin in your 30s—not just at menopause
  • The silent suffering many women endure due to lack of education and support
  • How hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can transform energy, mood, cognition, sleep, and libido
  • Common misconceptions about menopause and aging
  • The importance of comprehensive lab testing and personalized treatment
  • The barriers women face—like medical gaslighting and insurance limitations—and how to advocate for yourself
  • Why hormone optimization is about more than symptom relief—it's about your brain, heart, and quality of life

If you’ve ever felt dismissed, depleted, or in the dark about your hormone health, this episode will arm you with clarity, confidence, and actionable steps.

🎧 Tune in now and start advocating for you.

Resources on sexual health recommended by Dr. Castillo:

App: Rosy App Women’s Sexual Health
Book: Come As You Are by Emily Nagosky
Podcast and book: Shameless Sex Podcast and Book by Amy Baldwin and April Lampert

Menopause and HRT:
Estrogen Matters by Avrum Blooming
How to Menopause by Tamsen Fadal

Longevity:
Outlive by Peter Attia

Swan Medical
Instagram: @swanmed
Website: https://swanmd.com/

Connect with me online:

1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinjonescoaching/
2. You Tube channel, Kristin Jones Coaching: https://www.youtube.com/@KristinJonesCoaching44

3. You Tube channel, Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@breakthroughpodcast-44
3 . Website: https://www.kristinjonescoaching.com

If you want to learn how to stop nighttime eating, get my 3 Day Nighttime Snacking Reset: https://go.kristinjonescoaching.com/nighttime-snacking-reset

Needing more specific and direct support for your emotional eating and overeating? Check out my online course, Stop Dieting Start Feeling, and my personalized coaching program, Breakthrough To You.

If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to leave a review on the platform you used to listen and share it with your friends on your Instagram stories. Also, be sure to follow me on Instagram @breakthroughemotionaleating, and don't hesitate to slide into my DMs to share your thoughts ...

Kristin Jones:

Do you want to lose weight but struggle to stay committed to a meal plan because you constantly feel hungry? Does food provide you comfort when you're bored, angry, lonely or sad? If so, you are in the right place. My name is Kristin Jones and I'm a life coach specializing in emotional eating and weight loss, and I'm also a lifelong emotional eater. I want to provide you with information, motivation and support so you, too, can learn to manage your issues with food and develop a healthy relationship with yourself. Welcome to the Breakthrough Emotional Eating Podcast. My name is Kristin Jones and thank you so much for joining me this week.

Kristin Jones:

Now I've been talking about this, for it's going on five months now, so if you've been listening to the podcast, you know that I, back in January, I started hormone replacement therapy and I didn't know anything. I didn't really, honestly, didn't even know what it was. I didn't know how it would help me. I had no clue about any of that stuff. I just knew that there wasn't something sitting right with me. I just didn't feel right in my body. There were a lot of things that were not working for me. I'm going to say 15 years of not getting a full night's sleep Y'all it's a long time I had a long stretch of insomnia, very, very dry skin, vaginal dryness all the things that come along with being in your mid to late 50s and didn't really even think that there was anything that I could do about it because, in all honesty, my mom didn't do anything about it, so I didn't even know that this was an option. And whenever I talked to my doctors at Kaiser not throwing Kaiser under the bus, but my doctor at Kaiser they just gave me estrogen cream and that was it, and so I didn't have any other point of reference.

Kristin Jones:

And the reason I have this amazing gentleman on my show today is because, essentially, whether he knows it or not, he has ultimately changed my life and my life is better since he has come into my life. So I am so honored to have on the podcast my hormone doctor, dr Peter Castillo, and he is from Swan Medical Offices and he works out of Northern California, in the Bay Area, and they have two offices one in Danville, in my hometown, and another in Los Gatos. Both of them are in Northern California and the work that he's doing is just amazing, and I'm going to let him explain what he does. But the reason I felt it was so important to have him on the podcast is because I have a really strong suspicion that there are tens of thousands of women like myself who got through menopause didn't seem like it was that. It wasn't that I want to say earth shattering, I didn't have hot flashes or anything like that, but I just didn't like how I was feeling and I kind of became resolved that this was just the way my life was going to go for the rest of my life.

Kristin Jones:

And I think it's so important and Dr Castillo and I have had conversations about this, about how important it is to let women and men know that they have options and that it's not just you just have to put up with this, you just have to settle for this. There's so much more and there's so many more things that you can do, and so that's the main reason why I wanted to have him on is so we could talk about these things that a lot of times nobody talks about, and that it really is for everyone's benefit to really give you as much information as I can and inform you with as many options and give you all the options that you have out there, and then let you make the decision about what you want in your life and the direction that you want your life to go in. So, without further ado, please, I would love to introduce all of you to my hormone doctor and my friend, dr Peter Castillo. So, peter, thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast. We're so happy that you're here.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Thank you so much, Kristin. It's truly an honor. And likewise, I think you've had an impact on my life because, since we've met, you've convinced me that I need to do more yoga. You convinced me that I need to take better care of myself, and it's not uncommon to hear physicians you know, don't always practice what they preach because we're so busy thinking about how to take care of others but that's not really an excuse. So, yes, I will see you this week in your yoga class.

Kristin Jones:

Okay, that sounds good.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

You're gonna have to hold me to that.

Kristin Jones:

I'll hold you to it, exactly, exactly. So if you could tell, I would love for you to tell my listeners about kind of how you, how you got into um, what you do, and actually explain to them what you do, what kind of, what kind of a doctor you are and what kind of practice um you run and the things that you that you do for women?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Sure, sure. Well, I think have to start it by saying that a lot of your story that you describe just not feeling right in your body, not having solutions being offered and being told that well, that's sort of normal. These are kind of the common things that I see as a urogynecologist, because everything that I treat is a quality of life issue. It's not a life-threatening issue, it's not a cancer, it's not an illness, it's not a disease state, it's aging and it's life events and childbirth and the consequences of such. But yet menopause is never discussed, and the one common theme that a lot of my patients have is that they're in the demographic that are most experiencing hormonal changes. So my patient demographic is typically, though, it ranges from 18 to 98, the median range is 40 to 55. And these are the patients that are perimenopausal, entering into menopause, that have not been informed of what's coming, and so they have to figure it out on themselves.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

And the misconception is that if there's no symptoms, then you're okay, and 80% of women will have hot flashes, night sweats, what we consider vasomotor symptoms. Those are withdrawal symptoms. They're not just a passing fancy, it's truly a problem. That is a signal for what's coming. The withdrawal of estrogen leads to a whole host of symptoms, so 80% of women will have that. However, 20% won't, though I call them the blessed, because they're the ones who enter into menopause, stop having periods and didn't suffer like others do.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

The misconception is that they're not going to suffer as a result. The only difference is one had a parachute when they went into menopause and the other one did not, and those withdrawal symptoms are a hallmark to know what's coming. Those that didn't have those symptoms may not be aware of what's coming, and the downstream effects of those are things just aren't working. They don't feel right and because of the mantra of the lowest dose for the shortest duration of time is how we would administer hormone replacement therapy. Only if a patient is severely symptomatic really leaves a whole host of patients untreated and unaddressed.

Kristin Jones:

Right, Well, and so I think the thing and you and I talked about this in my first appointment that and I'm going to let you explain it because I know I did a podcast on it, If you all look back, and I talked about in my podcast probably it. So if you, if y'all look back, and you and I talked about um in in my podcast, in podcast, probably three or four months ago the M, I had no idea the whole impact of the impact on my body of the, the, the reduction and the reduction of the production of estrogen and testosterone in my body, and and, and how it was impacting like major organs, and so to me, I was just blown away by that. So could you explain to that in the way you explained it to me?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

It made so much sense, so let you do that Sure, sure, and I have a tendency to go to get professorial when I start explaining this, but I'm just going to kind of explain it in a simple way, because I think one of the things that I really like to do for patients is explain things in a way that they understand, because it's not always so obvious. So you know, plants need water, they need sunlight, they need nutrients. The body needs the same thing, just different nutrients. And you know, as long as those nutrients are around, you can live a long life. However, we were never designed to live as long as we are, and proof of that is the ovarian cycle.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Ovaries have a finite lifespan, meaning you're born, women are born with all the ova eggs. You will have your entire life and every month you will cycle and sacrifice tens of thousands of eggs to generate one ova, that is, that is worthy to ovulate and potentially get pregnant. Well, in the course of those 30 years first 30 years you lose the vast majority over 80, 90 percent of thoseva, which case what's left are the ones that may or may not work. So the process of menopause is when you stop ovulating because there's no more viable ova. So that means, by average age of 51, hormonal support goes to almost a net zero. Very, very quickly Stop ovulating. Your estrogen production goes down to near zero and it's not going to come back. Can't jumpstart the ovaries. There's all kinds of ideas of using regenerative therapy to restart ovaries, but that has not been demonstrated. And so, just like plant life, if you don't get the nutrients or support, you will wither.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

And women's bodies, just like men's, have receptors for both sex hormones estrogen, testosterone and estrogen. Just to focus on that first, is what supports all of your connective tissue your skin, your bones, your blood vessels, your heart. And wherever estrogen goes, it brings blood flow. So, as long as there's estrogen and there's receptors to receive it, blood flow angiogenesis gets attracted to those areas and sustains tissues. However, when you lose estrogen, those receptors are not being stimulated. Blood flow decreases. Blood vessels are not attracted to the area you lose blood flow. So all of the areas that are most dependent on blood flow decreases. Blood vessels are not attracted to the area you lose blood flow. So all of the areas that are most dependent on blood flow, like the brain, like the skin, like the vagina and the bladder and nerve endings without blood flow, there's no oxygen, there's no support for the nerve endings. Things change very quickly, Right.

Kristin Jones:

Y'all. He said your heart, your heart, your heart is impacted by that. And that's the part that just blew me away when you said you know, the heart and the brain both were being impacted by the reduction and and. And it wasn't something I was doing wrong, it was just a process of my aging. And I remember the thing I said to you was why doesn't anybody know this? Like why, why don't I know that? Just because of this aging process, that it's not just the glamour stuff, this is like my heart, this is my actual heart, and my brain is actually deteriorating because of that reduction in those hormones that I didn't know I had any control over.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

It's. You know, it's really unfortunate that we don't do enough education on this, and probably one of the reasons and I think you asked this question earlier is one of the reasons why did I get into this field, why did I become focused on hormones, is because there's just not enough education, particularly in women's health, on what's to come. It's always wait until the shoe falls off and then address it, put a bandaid on it, fix it and then move on, but never an explanation of why it happened in the first place, what can be done to prevent it, and if you can't prevent it, how do you address it and manage it moving forward, unfortunately, we've all fallen into this era of a black hole of information about hormone management for the last 22 years, and it's not until now that the buzzwords of menopause and perimenopause and HRT and all these things are now floating around through social media, because so much attention is now addressed is bringing this. But a lot of women suffered as a result, because of the lack of information, and then to make it worse and because of the lack of information, and then to make it worse. Practitioners, physicians, we're human, we learn and we apply. After years of doing the same thing. Over time you stop learning. All of us have a tendency to do that unless you strive and push yourself to stay abreast of things.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

But most of us, including my generation, were trained in an era where menopause was an optional thing to treat. It is something that is part of aging. You just let it go because we had this misconception that hormone replacement therapy was a bad thing because of misinformation. It took 22 years to undo bad news and that bad news was wrong. So now all the attention is out because finally all the societies and everybody's on board, all the medical colleges are all on board. Menopause is an endocrine or a hormone insufficiency, no different than if it was your thyroid or adrenals or anything. Having an insufficiency has to be addressed, otherwise you cannot survive, right? So now that the colleges are all on board, now everybody is talking about it, but it's still disorganized and all those that are in my generation of training still think that estrogen causes cancer and bad things. Right?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

So dogma continues. Patients keep still getting dismissed or telling them that that's normal, it's part of aging. Oh, I can't give you estrogen because you're going to cause cancer or you're too old, it's too late. All these myths, these incorrect statements every single day is what I face when my patients come to see me for the, you know, after seeing three or four other providers and finally coming to see us Right. But so I digress. But a lot of the challenges and I think it all it's always going to come back to my why. My why has to do with how do I undo the past, how do I help people moving forward? Right, whether through education, through lectures, through just one on one teaching, because your success is going to help others. Right, right, right.

Kristin Jones:

Exactly. Well, and the funny thing is so, um gosh, it was like four or five years ago. Um, so this is funny, y'all, cause I was. I was I teach in. I teach at a yoga studio in one town not the town where I live in, but five years ago I was in a locker room and a woman was talking about hormones and she was, and I was kind of like just kind of listening, not really paying much attention to what she was saying. But she said she mentioned Dr Castillo's name. I had no idea who he was, but I was like huh, so I looked him up and I got on the computer, looked him up and I see he has an office. Well, his office had just closed in the neighborhood in the area where I was, and he just had his office down in the South Bay, which is probably about an hour and a half away from where I live, and I was like, oh, that's too bad, and I kind of put it, just kind of like blew it off, didn't think about it.

Kristin Jones:

So then, when I reconnect, the reason we came together, as Dr Castillo made mention, is he is a member at the club where I teach yoga and his wife took my class and wanted me to meet him and we kind of all got together and talked about what I do and what they do, and in the process, when it was like, oh, what's the doctor you know? Oh, what's your husband's name? And she says, oh, dr Peter Castillo. And I said, oh, my God, I've heard of him. So I mean he has a stellar reputation and I think the thing that I think is so important and this is something that I would want everyone, whether you live in my area or not, whether you could come and see him or not the bedside manner that his office does for their patients is so far superior to any interactions I've ever had in any kind of doctor-patient setting that I've ever experienced. Their office one. It's absolutely beautiful, but it's the people who work there are so caring.

Kristin Jones:

And when you call and you have a question or you have a concern or there's something you're not feeling right or we're not sure what, I don't because there is an adjustment. I mean there is an adjustment. When you and and he and I talked very honestly about my numbers were so low. I mean when he says, like estrogen stops and you have none, that was me, I had none, I wasn't even measuring. It wasn't even measuring on the blood test that we did. I knew there was going to be some adjustments that we were going to have to do, and so the one thing he told me was here's what could happen, here's a possible side effect If this happens.

Kristin Jones:

Not once was I told, you're just going to have to ride that out, it'll go away eventually.

Kristin Jones:

He always told me call the office, let me know what's happening and we can make some adjustments.

Kristin Jones:

And every time that I've called with a question or with some sort of concern, it's either I'm put directly through to him or I'm put through to somebody else, but I'm responded to and never am I told it's okay, you're just going to have to go with that, you're just going to have to go with that, you're just going to have to ride that out.

Kristin Jones:

Because that was the one thing I didn't want to ever hear was I was going to have to ride something out, because that's what I've been told before. And so I think that to me is something that I would want to tell anyone. If you're looking for someone when it comes to this type of thing, when it comes to HRT and it comes to hormones, there is going to be adjustments, but you need an office, you need to find somebody who will listen and who will just hear you out and will actually empathize and and and work with you, and that's really what I just feel so blessed that I have this with you and with your office, and it seems like that's just the culture that you created in your office.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Thank you so much for saying that, kristen. That really means a lot to me. It is something we strive to create. These are intimate concerns. Every aspect of this journey through midlife and menopause impacts your life in an intimate way, whether it's with intimacy or intimate concerns that you have trouble speaking about because they're considered taboo or normal or because grandma had it. That's supposed to be normal. There's a lot of things that just are not discussed. So the reason why our practice is called intimate wellness is because it's all the intimate concerns that people hold tight to their chest 30% of women will never bring up to their physician. Most don't even know, their partners may not know or their families or members don't know, and they go through that silently. And to take that burden off of them, to give them a safe place to share their concerns, to feel heard, to have options and for them to make their own decisions on how they want to choose their health and healthcare that's really what we want to create. So it makes me so happy to hear what you just said.

Kristin Jones:

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean I have. I have so many friends who who are getting services other places. I have one person in particular who says, yeah, you know, I'm, it's, it's okay. I mean I don't really like my doctor, but I mean I'm going anyway and I'm like, no, that's not okay, that's, that's not, it's not okay not to be heard.

Kristin Jones:

And I think that that's something, as women, we have to, really we have to work on is we have to be okay, we have to be okay with advocating and we have to find people that will, that will listen live in my area or not, there are doctors out there, there are people out there that are doing this kind of work and that it will. It is something that you can. You can, you know you can find somebody who really will, who will listen and who will, you know, empathize and and actually be able to give you some really concrete, you know next steps that you can take, really concrete, you know next steps that you can take. So so what would you say if someone is listening and they're like I, I everything that you're talking about, you know the, the, the hot flashes, or the dryness, or you know vaginal dryness, or just I'm not sleeping well, I don't feel right in my body, I've gained 20 pounds.

Kristin Jones:

All those things. I just don't know what to do. What would you say? What would be your first step for somebody? What would be somebody's first step to do?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Well, the thing is, life is challenging, right, and we're very quick to assign explanation for things, and we're human nature. We look for explanations for things so we can move past them and move on, whether it's the right answer or not. We just need something to hold on to, just so we can keep moving, because life doesn't wait for us and, unfortunately, the misconception of menopause only happening at 51 is part of the problem, and the way we define it is part of the problem and the way we define it. So, before I explain what to do, I want to explain why. So menopause is really a two-phase problem, or a spectrum of a problem, if you will, because remember you talked about how your ovaries have a finite lifespan.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

They're responsible for producing 85% of your sex hormones. That means your testosterone and your estrogen 85% comes from the ovary, and they're made differently. Your ovaries have follicles and you ovulate every month. That creates your estrogen cycle, which is why it's a cycle. It goes up and it comes down, it goes up and it comes down, and it's very rhythmic 28-day cycle for most women.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Testosterone, however, is not produced in a cycle. It's produced on demand. You have baseline production from your adrenal glands that make up 15% of it. And that just keeps your performance hormone there, keeps your receptors alive and keep things working. But on command whether you're being chased by lions, racing a marathon or you're being aroused, will cause your ovaries to produce, on demand, a massive spike in testosterone, very similar to what your adrenal glands do under fight or flight right. So epinephrine and adrenaline go through the roof when you're under stress or under performance. Your testosterone does too, but from your ovaries. The ability to do that is dependent on the body of the ovary and how much of it is left. So as over the years your ovaries are decreasing in size and capacity, the ability to produce testosterone decreases by 50% between 30 and 40 years old.

Kristin Jones:

See, that's what people don't understand. I mean, I think people think they're too young, like, oh, I'm in my 30s, I don't need to worry about this.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

That's exactly right, and that's what I mean by the misconception about how menopause is defined as incorrect. It starts between 30 and 40, you lose 50% of your production Between 40 and 50, you're in that perimenopausal transition, which is why menopausal symptoms last eight to 10 years. It's not just because estrogen's changed. You may not even had fluctuations yet. Everything could be working fine with your obligation.

Kristin Jones:

So you could still be having a regular period, all those things.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

That's right. Yet because if you go to the doctor and say I'm feeling this, I'm gaining weight, I've lost my memory and I can't my libido shot, I have no stamina, and they say, oh, you're fine, I'm not going to check your labs because you're not menopausal yet. The point is you lost half of your support hormone, your performance hormone, which is testosterone, and testosterone behaves predominantly on the brain through performance, meaning memory, sleep, libido, drive, motivation, muscle mass, weight management, breast cancer protection. Testosterone has an enormous role in the body and when you lose 50% of it, the 40s becomes hard and we're quick to say, well, of course it's hard, finances are hard, work is terrible, my kids are driving me crazy, my parents are getting older, so all the things start to build up, but suddenly life didn't get harder. It's that we're getting weaker. So that's the challenge. So why is it that we lose 50% of our testosterone at the age between 30 and 40? And I always found this interesting.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Evolutionarily, we were never meant to live this long. If you think from prehistoric times. What is it that prehistoric people needed to do? Procreate forage for food, defend your tribe. You need testosterone, adequate amount of testosterone, your ability to do that on command by 30, you're no longer that person. You're not the procreator, not the provider. You're the grandparent passing on information and history to your grandchildren. You're not that person and then that's it. But now we're living to 85. That means our performance hormone is gone from starting at 40 by 50%. Your ability to make the respond in the right way is lackluster. So that's why, on average, our patient average for our sexual dysfunction patients that come to see us is age 44. They don't even think they're menopausal. They just wonder where did my orgasms go? Why don't things feel the same? Why am I feeling dryness? Where did I leave my keys? It's a whole host of symptoms that fall under that one problem, and this is so predictable.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Yeah so that's sort of the challenge is that we've misdefined it, we've misexplained it or we lacked we didn't explain it, and patients continue to suffer in vain until they realize, like you, I don't know what's going on, but I've got a long life to live and I've got a lot of stuff to do. I can't be performing this way and I, you know it's I've got to do something. I've got to do something. So unfortunately, it takes somebody to not accept dogma and question why the doctor said there's nothing that can be done. Suck it up. You really have to be a self-advocate, and that's what we try to do is empower our patients through education so they can self-advocate for themselves, and we're here to give options.

Kristin Jones:

Yeah, exactly, well, and it's. And gosh, when you were talking, I was thinking about I couldn't make it through the afternoon without like needing a nap. I mean I was so tired all the time and I thought I mean part of that was because I wasn't sleeping, but also I just my energy was so low and I, just I, I again, I just thought it was, this was just how, this was just how things were, this is just how it was going to be. And it's so different now and and things are. You know, it's, it's just, it's so it's so much better.

Kristin Jones:

And but that performance piece and again I think that's the most that's such an important thing is that people in their thirties and forties, especially women in their early 40s, they think, well, I'm too young, I'm too young to start going through this. I still have a period. And again, I think it's also because if you go to your general practitioner, that's usually what you're told is if you have a period, you're still okay and there's nothing wrong and that's and you know, and there's nothing and there's nothing wrong. So I think that that is again it's. It's not. It's people not, and women especially not accepting not accepting that and knowing that there are other options and I think that I think feel like healthcare has moved in that direction in the in the last probably 10 years, that that doctors have to, they don't just get assigned people anymore. I think doctors have to, they have to show up, and that's really what you and your office is doing is you are showing up and showing up and being there for people, the way all doctors should, and I think it's just people knowing that they can advocate for themselves and that they can get actually what they need.

Kristin Jones:

What do you feel like is the role of fitness? You know, activity, nutrition in hormone, in, in, in, when you start to see these changes, because most people are like oh my gosh, I'm so tired, I don't have any energy, I, I, I, just, I can't do any, I, I, I couldn't, I couldn't start exercising now, I don't. You know, all I want to do is eat carbs all the time, or all I want to do is eat sugar. Um, what? How does that impact? How does fitness and nutrition impact a person's hormones and their response to them?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Sure, sure. So, like I mentioned, 15% of your testosterone and estrogen will come from your adrenal glands, and you have some control over that, meaning trying your best to have a low stress life, having time to meditate and exercise, having time to really be you and take care of you. That's very important, but in our hectic life living in the Bay Area or in any metropolitan area these days, you have to be burning the candle at both ends, otherwise you're not a productive member of the society. It's unfortunate that that's the life we live. Well, you will sacrifice something in exchange for that, so that 15% goes down very quickly to very small numbers. So taking care of yourself is first. Proper nutrition, proper exercise, proper rest are necessary for everything to work well. You still got to do the hard work, though, and you remind me all the time.

Kristin Jones:

You got to do the hard work.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

It's not just about going to the gym and lifting weights, not just about getting on the treadmill, but also, you know, maintaining flexibility. Maintaining those small muscle groups are key. Now you can increase baseline production through exercise, through weight training, proper nutrition. But to what degree? When our production, natural production, is declining? Right, so continue doing them. Oftentimes it's not enough to replace what's been lost.

Kristin Jones:

Right right.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

And then the challenge becomes is that, well, if you don't have the interest, how do you get out of the house? If you don't have the interest, how do you get out of the house if you don't have the motivation to do it right, which is where the testosterone part becomes a big, big uh impact. Um, you know the um. It's truly a motivating hormone that stabilizes moods and has a and you have by, by default, a positive outlook on anything you want to do. You know mood is a big part of the testosterone purpose, so it's a mood stabilizer and you know the challenges that come at us every day when we're weak seem overwhelming.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

I guess overwhelmed is probably the best word that many people will feel because they can't keep up with all the things that are coming at them and they don't have the energy to overcome them. Imagine if you could slow the world down and all of a sudden, all these millions of things that are coming at you, you can actually see calmly and see them in a logical sense. You can address them. That's sort of what happens when you optimize your testosterone levels to stabilize your mood and the world becomes more manageable. It's no longer overwhelming and now you can be so much more productive when the lights are brighter and everything's clearer.

Kristin Jones:

Right, and so, and I think that that again is something that that you know, if, if you are, if you're listening to this, and that is you, or you think gosh, I feel like there's so many things that are coming at me and I just, I just don't, I just don't know how to, I don't know able to deal with stuff, but now I feel like I can't. It's not that, I think, and I think we, as women especially, we just turn the blame on ourselves. Well, there must be something. I'm not trying hard enough, I'm not doing enough, and there is and can be a legitimate reason.

Kristin Jones:

And if you're in your 30s and 40s, that legitimate reason could be, and probably is, your testosterone levels, and so, knowing that we have to stop turning on ourselves and blaming ourselves and realizing that, oh, there could be a medical reason for this happening, and I need to investigate that, I need to figure out. And, yes, you can go and ask your general practitioner, but that probably won't get you anywhere. So you may need to find someone like Dr Castillo who does these things. And it's unfortunate that. And I don't necessarily want to have to put you on the spot about insurance, but we have talked about that, that that every, every, essentially, and, as you and I talked about, everyone needs this. Everyone, everyone is going to go through this and, in my mind, that's why insurance, that's why our, our major carriers don't cover this, because everybody needs it and it's going to be expensive for them.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

So there's, you know, there's something I always like to remind myself of. Everybody needs it and it's going to be expensive for them. So there's something I always like to remind myself of and patients about their own providers. Their providers truly do care about them. They actually want the best for them. It's because they don't know what they don't know, and it's by no fault of their own unless they actually make the time to go out of their way to learn something that is so novel and unique to them. And once you're established in practice, it's harder and harder to do that. But it's truly their best intention. So it's never my intention to get in between the patient and their doctor. In fact, I would rather meet, speak with or educate the physician on the why, and some are very open, some are not, and that's okay. But at least I've shown the patient, or at least I've educated the patient enough that they can at least speak to them and they can advocate for themselves about what they want.

Kristin Jones:

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. Oh, go ahead.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

The other challenge is how and you know how the FDA oversees all production of commercially available medications. It's a very hard job and it's what they do, and I do want to give them credit, because what they do is their intent is to protect the public from just nilly-willy medications showing up on the market and then people getting sick or hurt so, without proof of evidence or anything. So that's their primary role, their role. However, because they are rule followers, they can only do things in the order that they were done. So, for example, when medications become FDA approved, the manufacturer, the pharma, has to submit a protocol that identifies a demographic. A protocol that identifies a demographic, a narrow range, a fixed dose or series of doses and strict guidelines in which to follow, which means that a lot of medications become focused on a particular demographic or a particular gender and sex.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Hormones like testosterone and estrogen are genderized because testosterone, when it came to market, was studied in men, because that's where they wanted it to be, because that's the deficiency they were trying to address, without understanding that women have that deficiency also. Men need estrogen just as well, but there's no estrogen replacement for men, because they will make their own if you replace their testosterone. However, the contrary is not the same for women, because there is no FDA approved testosterone for women in this country and that's because the FDA is very strict and they just they've shoot down things for you know, unknown reason. Anyway, other countries have FDA approved versions of, or not FDA approved in their countries, but they have commercially available testosterone for women and I predicted that within the next 10 to 15 years we should have a female commercially available testosterone. The FDA is like a massive ship that takes a long time to turn. It takes a while before that becomes available.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

So unfortunately it becomes an off-label medication. I mean, there's no FDA indication for it. Anything that wasn't studied in that population or for a condition becomes off-label, which means insurances are not in a rush to cover it, right. So that's why, unfortunately, if you manage to get your insurance to cover it, it's going to be a sort of a generic approach, a minimalist approach to replacement. They'll say, well, let's take a male's prescription, divide it by tenths, and you're going to take that tenth of a pea-sized amount and you're going to apply that to you.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

How much are you really getting? Who knows how much got absorbed? Who knows and how much is? How much are you really getting? Who knows how much got absorbed? Who knows and how much is actually doing work in your body? Who knows? Because they're not checking labs beforehand or afterwards because they don't know what to do with the information. But there are ways of getting your doctor to prescribe that. Sometimes insurance will cover it. Many times they won't, because there's no indication for women to have testosterone, according to insurance companies. The way they see it, it's wild, that is just wild, but I think it's again.

Kristin Jones:

I think it's really.

Kristin Jones:

It's fortunate that there are people, there are practitioners like yourself who are, who have become, who are educated in this area, and that and the word, you know, the word is spreading. I know that one of my clients from Pennsylvania reached out to speak to your office and and she ended up finding someone in her area. You know, immediately in her area that she didn't even know that person existed, but because she learned, because I had talked to her about it, and she called your office and she talked to some you know she talked to I think it was Jessica. She talked to, you know, somebody at your office and got the information and then was able to find somebody in her area.

Kristin Jones:

So they're, they are out there and it's just, you know, we, we get to, we get to know that we have options and and that's really what you know, I just want people to know is that the options are out there and that we don't have to settle. I think you said I believe, if I say this correctly I don't think I'm going to, but I think you were saying that something about it's not enough just to not be in disease, that that's not a quality of life. Just because you're not sick, that's not living.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

It's true. It's true we measure health by whether you're sick or not, and it's not enough to not be sick is really the way I look at it, because there's a lot of healthy people out there, but they're vitamin D deficient, their B12s are malabsorbed, their hormones are deficient, 12s are malabsorbed, their hormones are deficient, their cortisol through the roof, they can't sleep, but yet they're healthy because they don't have a disease that can be treated by a pill. They have aging, they have hormone deficiencies, but who's measuring those appropriately? So you're right, I agree a hundred percent.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

I think people nowadays, since COVID, they found that there's an upswing in the amount of people interested in their longevity, because I think one thing that COVID taught us is we are not immortal, and it brought us to face our mortality. And so a lot of people started to take control of their own health decisions and not just looking at where insurance sends you and not just looking within your network, but looking for the right person that fits you Right, Because every practitioner has their own style and personality, and so do patients, and they have to fit, they have to jive, they have to understand each other Right, right In order to have respect.

Kristin Jones:

What is? Can you share what is the most gratifying part of your job?

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Oh, there's so many. So as a urogynecologist, my focus has always been on quality of life issues but pelvic floor issues, incontinence, prolapse, complications from childbirth or congenital malformations To fix those things was extremely gratifying because not too many people can do that and they were oftentimes just told that they've got to live with it and deal with it. But to have somebody get back to their normal activity, be able to run and jump with their kids, be able to have the activities they want to do, that was very gratifying. I thought that was the best it could be. Once I realized that the root cause behind a lot of the things that I treat as a urogynecologist has to do with the aging process and loss of hormonal support and I started treating hormones. It first started with sexual dysfunction and then, when I found the root cause being hormonal insufficiencies and normal aging is, and the consequence of that was impacting all these things, that's when truly I see joy in every single patient I see now Because they're happy, they're energetic, they're smiling, their couples, their relationships are tighter, their performance at work is better.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

I can't, you know, I don't need kudos, I don't need any of it. I just know I go home happy with that, yeah, just to know, and the fact that they will tell their friend that lives out of the country. They'll tell their friend that lives on the East Coast. And sometimes they call me and I say, well, you know what? I happen to know somebody that's about 100 miles away from you that I can vouch for and we'll send them there. But I don't know. I think it's hard to say one thing. But just to know that I don't know, just to know that I can improve patients' quality of life through through really education and giving them good options.

Kristin Jones:

Okay, great, what would? And so it, what would one, what would be one thing that you would like to leave the listeners with what? What one? Either one piece of information, or one piece of guidance, or or advice that you could give a woman out there who is experiencing, who is experiencing these, these, you know, either in their 30s, their 40s, they're experiencing these symptoms. What's something that you would want them to know? What's something you'd want them to know.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

That, because of lack of information and education for women and for physicians alike, many of the patients that are going to enter into menopause and perimenopause they're going to feel unheard. There's several resources that I can share with you, that you can pass along Perfect, okay so that they can educate themselves and so that they have the verbiage and the knowledge to be able to discuss with their primary care. But one of the things that I've learned to shed is don't accept no is no for an answer. Always advocate for yourself. Don't allow the medical gaslighting, just because they don't know what they don't know, to be your solution, because unfortunately, too many people do that. They just accept it because they feel that, well, we know best. Well, we don't always know best.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

So, advocate for yourself. Know what it is that you want. What do you want out of your life? You're 45 years old. You have career goals, you have family goals, you have financial goals, whatever those may be. This is not the time to just accept weakness Right, and not the time to expect to accept you know that this is as good as it's going to get. This is probably what I consider. The 50s and new 30s should be the peak of many women's careers and if you think about it just from the highest, most established women in executive boards and large companies are in their 50s. They're probably the most valuable person for that company. To lose them because there's no accommodations or because they can't would be a shame. So this is always such a hard question to answer, but I think really just advocate for yourself, realize that there can be better and if you're not getting the answer, look elsewhere.

Kristin Jones:

Okay, awesome. Well, thank you so much and I hope I know, I know that the information that you provided, I know has been so valuable for so many people who are listening and for anyone who you know. If you're in that situation, please, you know, I will absolutely, in the show notes, have the resources that Dr Castillo will pass on to me that will be able to give you some information and some education about the verbiage to use when you speak to your own primary care doctor. But just know that there's help out there and there are many other doctors all across the country who are doing this kind of thing and that, again, as he said, don't settle for no and know what you want and don't stop until you get answers and you get what you want.

Kristin Jones:

So that's a great piece of advice for any woman, for any person. I mean, that's just the way we should all live our lives. So thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I'm so happy that we had this conversation and I just always I mean I want to tell everybody about you because I'm just like I say, you've changed my life. So it just makes me so happy to be able to share this information with so many people and to allow you to be able to have the impact on other people's lives that you had on my life. So thank you so much I appreciate it.

Dr. Peter Castillo:

Thank you so much, Kristen. I'm honored to be able to help.

Kristin Jones:

Absolutely. All right, y'all, we will be back next week. I will have all of Dr Castillo's resources in the show notes and, again, if you have any questions about anything, you can reach out to me. You can add a comment to this podcast episode. If you're watching it on YouTube, you can add a comment. I will get those, I will respond to you and if you need to connect with him, I'll give his contact information also in not only in the show notes, but also in the description on my YouTube channel as well.

Kristin Jones:

All right, have an amazing, amazing week, everybody, and remember advocate for yourself and your life. Just being sick is not good enough. We can be healthy and we can thrive and we can continue to live amazing lives well past our well past menopause. So again, thank you so much for joining me this week and listening to the podcast, and we'll see you all next week. All right, take care. Thank you for listening to this week's episode. If you are interested in learning more about how I can help you understand and manage your emotional eating, including the use of hypnosis to uncover the root cause of your eating, go to my website, kristinjonescoachingcom. Thank you.