Episode 463: Dr. Erika Schwartz: Why Your Doctor Is Wrong About Hormones and How HRT Actually Saves Lives

Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Greg.

All right, you guys, you're in for.

You need hormones.

I remember everybody needs hormones.

Everybody needs hormones.

Well, if you guys haven't guessed it yet, we have a hormone doctor on the podcast today, but not just any hormone doctor.

This woman, Dr.

Erica Schwartz, is the OG of hormones.

I know now it's like super trendy, and everyone's talking about hormones and HRT.

This lady was doing it way before it was popular and, you know, trending on, you know, Instagram and TikTok.

And so I am so happy to have her in the studio today.

So Erica or doctor, how do I call it?

Erica, I can call you Erica.

I think I know you.

I know.

We are.

We are.

It's such a pleasure to be here.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be with you.

I'm excited to have you here.

I'm here with you.

Well, what's so interesting about

all the things, right?

Tell them.

So I met Erica probably like 25 years ago through a mutual friend named Tammy, who at the time was working at Extra TV.

Right.

And her and I became fast friends, me and Tammy.

And Tammy was doing all sorts of things called, she was doing a show called Life Changers.

Do you remember this?

I was supposed to be one of the main life changers.

We did this.

pilot that they were incubating.

So I did that.

And then they, it was me and two other guys.

Right.

Okay.

Remember?

And and and then I remember they wanted me to read teleprompter.

And I remember taking a ride and

going to Santa Monica and saying, you know what?

I don't want to read a teleprompter.

I can't do that.

Right.

It's not for you.

No.

So then I went to Lisa Grigorich, who was the executive.

Lisa is the EAP that was the executive producer of Extra Back.

That I totally remember.

And I totally remember this because I was a life changer.

It was Dr.

Drew was the main guy.

He became no.

So what happened is I left and I said, I can't do it.

I'm going back home.

Even though they gave me this amazing contract, I never made that kind of money.

It was amazing.

But I was like, I can't do this.

So I went home back to New York.

Right.

And there were two other guys who were doing it.

And then they weren't there anymore.

And then they brought Drew.

Dr.

Drew.

That was funny.

And then I was on the show a couple of times, but it was so funny.

So that's when we met.

It's wild.

And I, so I was, just so everyone knows, this is like a whole new, a whole different lifetime ago, but I was a life, I was a life changer and I was a body image expert at the end

on the show.

But what was so interesting is you were really close with Tammy as you were, you were like longtime friends.

And Tammy would always tell me, oh my God, Jennifer, you have to talk to Dr.

Erica.

She's the smartest woman in the world.

She knows everything.

Not exaggerating at all.

No, but I swear, that's what she would say.

She was like, emphatic about it.

She's like, if you have any health issues, she's so amazing.

You have to talk to her.

She's so knowledgeable.

And then she connected us, and you were so lovely.

And thank you.

I'm glad to hear that.

You were so lovely.

I don't remember ever meeting you in person, but we talked on the phone.

We talked on the phone.

And I just, we, I just had such a nice feeling about you.

Cut to now 25 years later, you've written a bunch of books, but you're, you're, you're, one of your books is being re-released.

And the book is called Don't Let Your Doctor Kill You, which is a great title.

So you're on the podcast to kind of just talk about everything, you know, you've been doing.

But I really wanted to talk to you about hormones and HRT because like we said, it's so popular right now.

Metapause is so popular.

Everyone's talking about it.

And what I really like about you is that you're an actual doctor for real.

For real.

And

have been doing this for so long.

And when you are dealing with hormones, like to be, I'm going to be totally candid, I'm not on anything because I am really scared to screw with my hormones.

Of course.

And when you have too much information, it's actually more dangerous than having too little information because now you're just confused and don't know what to do.

So I want to ask you something.

Is HRT, there's all these like, there's always this underbelly of chatter that it's dangerous.

Is it dangerous?

No.

HRT is exactly what you need because Think about it.

When in your 20s and you're full of hormones, you don't really get sick a lot.

When you're pregnant and you're like overflowing with hormones, sure as hell, nothing happens.

And you're like immortal, literally.

So HRT is really important, but it's not HRT, it's the kind of hormones that you're taking.

And it's all because of a study that went awry

in 2002.

called the Women's Health Initiative.

And the truth behind that study, you're going to love it, was it was a government sponsored study paid for fully by pharma so pharma gave the hormones that they were using which were not human identical bio-identical whatever we're talking about now but they were like they look different they were like from pregnant horses urine anyway and

they gave that the pharma gave the drugs to the academic institutions that conducted the study.

So when the study went off, and it turns out five years into the study that the women were not doing so well, they were 10 years postmenopause, they were smokers, they had all kinds of preexisting conditions.

There was no reason.

That study was just flawed.

And the moment that came out, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society, which rules the coup when it comes to women's health, got scared that the truth would come out that it wasn't, that it wasn't government money, but rather drug money drug money yeah it is drug money right yeah so they took they told everybody they're bad for you they cause cancer they cause heart attacks strokes they cause like blood clots whatever and seven million think about that number seven million women were taken off their hormones instantly by these doctors who carely clearly didn't care enough yeah and

the

North American Menopause Society sent out a note because the doctors were like, so what are we supposed to do now?

And the women were like, what am I supposed to do now?

They said, you should dress in layers and you should be in cool rooms because if you sweat, that's the way to, you know, take care of it.

Just think about that.

That's 2002.

So.

That was disgusting, actually.

I have no words.

So I was.

That was the way that we should deal with it.

Just put extra layers on.

Exactly.

Because of hot flashes or whatever.

Of course.

Now listen to this one.

2011, there is an International Menopause Society conference in Italy, which I went to because it was in Italy.

Right, right.

Let's be honest now, right?

Right?

Yes.

And there are all these researchers coming and talking about it, and they're saying there's no class effect.

What does that mean?

That all estrogens are not the same, that all progestogens are not the same, testosterone are not the same.

They're not the same if they molecularly, their molecules don't look the same.

Did it cross the Atlantic?

It didn't.

We came back here.

Nobody was getting hormones.

It was a mess.

I was working with bi-identical hormones and I had written a book that came out literally in April.

So I was at the right place and the right time.

What was that book called?

The hormone solution.

Yeah, the hormone solution.

And it has, it was

since re-released, it's called a new hormone solution, but either either one.

And it was number two on Amazon.

So all of a sudden, I'm the expert.

Right.

2013,

the principal investigators, so all these academicians who had done this research on the study came out in the medical journals, like in JAMA, and said

that it didn't really matter.

if you're on the hormones, these hormones that they had been on, or not, all cause mortality was the the same so the study was flawed and it didn't prove anything but guess what the media didn't pick up on it right there was not one word in the media i wrote about it but then again i was screaming in in the dark at the time right right right and it was really horrible so of course i've been taking care of women giving them hormones forever but then all this data started coming showing that hormones were good for you, that they didn't cause cancer, cancer, that they didn't cause blood clots, that bioidenticals or human identical hormones are fine.

And not only that, you desperately need them.

So the North American Medical Society and ACOG were like, oh no, we can't do it, whatever.

Slowly but surely they started moving in that direction.

But now they went against compounding pharmacies because they weren't FDA approved.

And now they're FDA approved.

You can get them anywhere you want.

Anyway, and they tried to say, well, as low a dose as possible for a short a period of time as possible.

Now it's for as long as you

alive because I'm not going to stop the hormones so that I can dry up and die.

Right.

I'm not planning on it.

So wait, back then then, so, because what I even noticed now, so let me just ask you some very poignant questions, because what's happening is I feel like MDs, like doctors, like my gynecologist, for example, you know, they're reading these blood panels very differently than, let's say, a functional medicine doctor would, right?

They're like, oh, your testosterone is fine, even though it's so low, it's like five, right?

They're like, you're fine.

Right.

But if you go to a functional medicine doctor, then they're like, oh, no, you're really low.

You know, you need to be put on this, this, and that.

Why is it that actual MDs are still not on the bandwagon for hormones, but the functional medicine doctors and all these other HRT clinics are?

Well, that's a good question, right?

Yeah, thank you.

Yes.

So it's like this.

The medical education, medical school has not changed an iota since when I went to medical school 50, 60 years ago.

Literally, nothing has changed.

So they, you know, and I used to interview people for, I was on the board of one of the medical schools in New York, and I used to interview people to go to medical school.

And I never interviewed somebody who said, oh, I want to be rich.

I want to be important.

I want to be arrogant, whatever the hell.

They all wanted to heal.

Four years later, they turn out to be assholes.

They don't care.

They don't care.

They don't care.

But they're following the same party line as 50 years ago because nobody told them that things have changed.

So that's why what you're getting is they have no idea about hormones.

There's no education on hormones.

So is it because also, like, this is what I, and I've mentioned this before on this show and with my friends, is that the, the, the medical system as we use, as we used to know it is so just broken, right?

Like to get a doctor is almost impossible.

It's literally almost impossible.

Like, I don't even have it like a, like a main doctor.

Which actually might be better for you.

Really?

Well, let me tell you the problem I find, right?

Every doctor becomes now a concierge doctor, or they are the functional medicine doctors.

And to see these doctors, there's a major price tag.

So it's making people sick, right?

Because if you're somebody who is making like a modest income, you are screwed.

There's nowhere to even go to even get proper advice.

And if you're going to a doctor and you're someone who's hitting menopause or perimetopause or whatever it is, they're not going to help you.

They'll say, oh, no, you're fine.

here or maybe here we'll we'll give you this testosterone cream or something but it's a very um blunt way of gen of dealing with people.

No one's really tweaking and looking and changing and fixing.

You're getting a very, very sterile medical visit, right?

Because people don't have, they don't have time for you.

It's like on to the next one, unless you want to pay $20,000 a year.

And then I will see you when you call me.

That's literally what's happened in the medical industry.

Yeah, at least.

That's like literally you.

making it sound better.

Oh, and I'm trying to be polite, you know?

You are.

You are.

Because that's what's what's happening.

Because it's a mess.

It's a disaster.

And the reason it's a disaster is because nobody cares.

Nobody cares.

The doctors just care about getting it done.

They follow algorithms.

They follow, you know, protocols.

Let AI do that.

But is it because there's too many patients and too few doctors?

Or is it because after,

or do you think it's because after a while, people become really kind of desensitized to people who are sick.

Listen, it could be any of those things.

Right.

But you know what?

It shouldn't be.

Because if it is,

like I said to you, you're better off with no doctor.

So then, what, okay, so then what would you have people do?

If you have no doctor, then what?

You figure out who you are.

So the point is, you figure it out.

I should be my own doctor.

You're probably better off than getting an asshole who's not going to help you.

Or misdiagnose me.

exactly because they're lazy and I have a ton of them situations like that because I still see patients all the time but this is the thing so you're better off first of all you know and that's don't let your doctor kill you the goal is how do we protect ourselves and how do we empower ourselves because nobody's going to help us and all these like you know media, whatever, social media,

excellent, they have a, you know, they have all the answers.

They don't see patients.

So what the hell are you going to do?

Well, that was my other thing, right?

The second someone has any blip of popularity, they all want to be, every doctor I meet wants to be famous.

They want to have followers.

And then once they start like tracking on social media, the patients are then like just discarded, basically.

Can you imagine?

And they're just posting and they're going to speak at this conference and they're going to this stage.

And they're like doing a sponsorship deal.

Every doctor now is monetizing the fact that they're an expert and there's no doctors in the doctor's office no

patients right and you know what they're doing they're promoting whatever is paying them yes and it's horrible horrible this is why

that's why i came out well this is why i want to know can you please i know well how do we find like listen how do you find a doctor well what okay you're saying we have to be our own our own you have to start owning it our own medical advisor you have to so okay so if you don't have the if you don't have the knowledge and the wherewithal, and if you just Google or chat GPT, you get a plethora of stuff that doesn't make sense.

So what is someone like, give me some tactile things that people should do to govern their own bodies then?

Like that actually can work.

Totally.

Okay.

Your lifestyle.

Okay.

As you get older, and you know, and I hate labels.

I don't like premenopause, perimenopause, postmenopause, whatever.

Menopause, I hate that.

Yeah.

Because it's a continuum.

From the time you go through puberty till the time you close your eyes for the last time.

It's a continuum.

Things change.

We know that.

So the better you know yourself, the more you address your lifestyle, the more likely you are to make life a continuum of health with small interruptions when you're sick.

And that's my goal to teach you.

So the point is

you can take care of yourself.

by looking like as you get older, you can't tolerate the same lifestyle that you had when you were young.

Your body can't.

So you want to make your body feel better.

So you need to sleep.

But then when your hormones are out of whack, you can't sleep anymore.

Right.

So there, that's when you need hormones.

You know, you can exercise and you need to exercise because you want to maintain your muscle mass.

Cause as we know, muscles are the currency of youth.

You want to eat more protein and stop eating all the carbs and stop drinking all the alcohol because we can't can't process it anymore.

Right.

And the thing is that this is just some of it.

You can start meditating.

If you don't want to call it meditation, just sit there by yourself, you know, call it anything you want, breathe.

You know, there are a million little things

that will help you

get yourself better.

You know, I was going to say one thing about exercise because that's something I,

to me, exercise is the fountain of youth beyond everything else, right?

You could be doing, you could take every supplement and you could be taking every hormone in the world, but if you're not exercising daily

and lifting heavy weights as you, as you, as you get older and just moving your body, forget about it.

Or just walking, plain walking.

Like, let's not overcomplicate stuff.

Right.

You know, just go for a walk.

Movement to me, there's nothing better.

That's like the foundation.

Everything else, you can build from there.

Right.

Well, let me throw a little wrench in that one.

Go ahead.

If your hormones are out of whack and you feel like shit,

you're not going to be able to get off the couch.

You're not going to be able to exercise.

So then you're going to go like, okay, this is Mother Nature taking me out.

And I'm like, no, that's not Mother Nature taking you out.

It's a moment when you can confront the fact that you can change it.

But when would you, when do you know?

Like when, if someone's sitting on the couch and they're super lethargic and they don't want to, they don't want to work out, they have anxiety, they have depression or like they're just like they just have their lackluster okay how do they what's the what's the correlation like truly give us like symptoms if it's not like we all hear about what the symptoms are are perimetopa you don't like the names but like you can use them don't no no let's say just ignore me if i'm a medical advisor to my own body which you are which i should be because you live there i don't right that's a good way no doctor lives there right

how do we know and how do we know if we need estrogen if it's progesterone if it's testosterone?

Like what's the, or if it's even hormones at all?

How do we know if actually we need hormones?

You need hormones.

How do you know?

You know, because estrogen keeps your brain, your heart, your bones, everything that falls apart as you get older is protected by estrogen.

Think about when you're full of estradiol, right?

Your bones don't fall apart.

Your skin looks nice.

You have no wrinkles.

Oh, so that's estrogen.

So that's, but you know what?

It's not only one.

They're all together.

Well, this is what my point is, though.

Like, I, you know, people, like, I have a lot of friends who are taking testosterone, right?

But they're not taking estrogen or progesterone.

And they need progesterone if they take testosterone.

Is it a mistake just to take testosterone as a woman if you're not taking estrogen and progesterone?

It may not be.

Depends on the person.

And remember, that's why I go back to the individual is like the key, right?

So it may not be, but testosterone should go with progesterone because testosterone does turn into estrogen in the body.

So you want to protect your uterus, not a problem.

You're okay.

But the thing is, you will know when you need hormones.

And I'll tell you how you know.

You don't feel like yourself.

It's like in my case, an alien invaded my head.

I am pretty even-tempered.

Okay.

And suddenly I was like moody.

And I was like, short.

People complain about that a lot.

Okay.

Nobody thinks hormones.

They'll give you an antidepressant.

Antidepressant is the number one medication that they give women when they start going through the changes.

Then it's birth control pills.

Now, birth control pills, they should get rid of them.

I mean, if they were men, we wouldn't have birth control pills.

The problem is that they put you in a menopausal hormone state because they shut off your own hormone production.

So if you do

control pills do.

Yes.

Yeah.

Or the IUD Morena with the hormone, the synthetic hormone in it, those things actually

cause more problems than they solve.

You know, they used to never give women over 35 birth control pills because in Europe, they used to go through menopause with that.

Now they give it to everybody.

And then what happens?

You still wind up with no hormones and you wind up in trouble.

So the the thing is, when you start not feeling like yourself, probably it's time to have your hormones checked.

Ideally, in my world, I would want your hormones checked when you're not having problems, because I'd like to know what your ideal hormone balance is in the second half of the cycle, not the first one, because I'm not looking for your fertility level.

because there's more to you than just your fertility, right?

But we might never know that.

And what happens is that I would like to know what your hormone levels are.

So then as you start going through these not-to-be mentioned labels,

your hormone levels start fluctuating.

So you'll have high estrogen one day, low estrogen another day.

So if you give someone estrogen at that point, you'll create more problems because what's going to happen is their boobs will start hurting, their periods are not coming right.

So you want to actually know your patient, which is why you need to know yourself.

Right.

You need to know who's sitting across from you and you need to care about them.

So how do they, how do they, so the three, again, so if we're self-governing ourselves and we're finding all these things and we were talking about how doctors are kind of like checked out for the most part because of, you know, desensitization or lack there or too many people or bad education, whatever the reason is, how does someone find, okay, so now that they're self-governed and now they're like, okay, yes, I need hormones, where do they go?

Do they go to, because HRT clinics are popping up at the corner.

On every corner.

Yeah.

And that's where people are going.

Right.

Is that, so is that not what people should be doing?

You know what?

It's better than not doing it.

Okay.

So that is something that you would suggest to do.

I'd say once you know yourself, once you've adjusted your lifestyle, right?

Yeah.

Because they're going to just give you hormones because they have the protocols.

They'll follow protocols.

Well, they'll say they want to make money.

They're expensive.

By the way, these things are not cheap.

Well, right.

So you have to make sure that they're doing the right thing.

Well, that's what I'm saying.

How do you know, though?

That's the thing.

Well, you look at your lifestyle.

So if you're not sleeping well or...

No, no, no.

Let's move past that point.

We're doing all those things now.

Now we're sleeping well.

Now we're like, oh, shit, I do need hormones.

Right.

Now, what do we do?

Like, now I, let's say I call up

Dr.

Smith.

I go to see Dr.

Smith.

Dr.

Smith is like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We'll give you, we'll get your blood test and we'll do a blood test.

And that says, yes, your testosterone is five you're fine then that's dr smith who was trained by by the american college of obstetrics and gynecology so the word do i if you go and find you know whether it's called you know the problem is

the problem is that functional complementary integrative wellness anti-aging longevity everything means the same so that's the key that's good to know it's all just like you know it's like how advil motrin Leave are all the same.

Yeah.

They're all ibuprofen.

Well, no, that's good.

Can you talk about that a little bit?

I think people are very confused.

Of course.

So I am.

Well, I'll be happy to fix it.

Thank you.

But this is the thing.

You have to find someone who has experience.

That's the first thing.

That's why I came out.

Yeah.

Because there's so many inexperienced people.

who promoting themselves as experts who don't see patients.

And that's not okay because you're not helping women and you're actually kind of fueling the fire against hormones by getting the wrong doctors the wrong providers so it's very important that you find the right ones so you know i teach at a form which is the american academy of anti-aging medicine which has hormone tracts and they teach them and they get them certified and they have some basic information.

So go find one of those.

There are a lot of those.

But the thing is, if it's working, so let's say, okay, you've gone, you started, they're not going to sell you into many supplements, you're lucky, they figured out that your hormones are low, they'll give you hormones and you feel better.

So you're lucky.

If you don't feel better, just give it three months.

If in three months, you're not back to your 35-year-old self, move on.

What we have to understand is the relationships with doctors are the same as any other relationship.

If it's a two-way street, it works.

If it's a one-way street, it's a dead end.

So you don't want to be in a dead end.

So if you feel better in three months, stay with it.

If you don't feel better in three months, find someone else.

And as you said, there's one on every street corner.

There is.

So let me ask you this.

So when is take, when is HRT dangerous?

Because

they're so, they pop up everywhere,

could it be, if you're not with the right provider, can it be dangerous?

Not really.

So there's

no way for it to be dangerous.

You know, when I say something like this, don't push it through that far.

Okay, right?

Yes.

Yes.

Don't go that far.

I would say chances are that if they're not giving you the right thing for you, it's not going to work.

which means it's not going to be enough.

The formulation is not going to get absorbed.

Don't do pellets.

Your body does not absorb pellets.

I was going to ask you about that.

So she's talking, you're talking, Erica's talking about testosterone pellets.

Very popular.

Yeah.

Very popular.

Because they're promoted a lot of marketing for it.

And you know what?

And they're expensive.

And you got to keep on getting them.

And doctors make a lot of money off of these stem, these testosterone pellets.

And so they're pushing them.

That's what a lot of these HRT doctors are doing, pushing these.

And also, like, what happens?

Like, you're going from zero to 60.

You put a pellet in your butt.

It's like four, your testosterone goes from like 10 to 400.

And there's nothing you can do about it.

You can't learn.

No, you just have three months that it'll stay there.

But this is the interesting thing.

Your body releases hormones and pulses from your brain, your pituitary gland, sends pulses to your ovaries

to release hormones.

Right.

So they're not there all the time.

They come and go.

When you put a pellet in, you're releasing hormones all the time.

Not a good idea because you're going to keep on flooding your receptors on your cells with hormones.

And they're going to be like, screw it.

I'm not interested in this anymore.

So then you're going to dull your receptors.

And then people like me are going to wind up having to clean up the mess by figuring out how to give you hormones that your body will actually accept.

So, no,

if it's about money.

That's actually a great point.

So once you kind of screw around with your receptors like that, how can you can you fix them?

If you're lucky, yes.

So would you say then, what is the best, what's the best vehicle to get testosterone into your body?

Injectable or creams.

There's a new form, which is like sublingual, like a thing, which has not been studied enough, which is new,

that

I would not endorse yet, but hopefully it'll work.

The problem with oral testosterone is, you know, it goes through your liver the same as oral estrogen goes through your liver.

Your liver is already over toxic, right?

From all this crap in our environment, right?

Yeah.

So you want to protect your liver.

So if you can get the cream to get absorbed, by all means, do it.

If you can get injections once a month, twice a month, that's fine.

Remember, they come out in pulses.

So you don't have to have it all the time.

As long as you have it once in a while, you will protect it.

Because remember, you're going to be doing strength training.

So you're going to have muscles.

So your muscles will protect you.

What is your take on creatine?

I love pre-creatine.

You do?

Do you take creatine?

Yeah, of course.

Five grams.

twice a day, three times a day.

So do you, I take it too.

And I, I, do you know what, do you know anything about the white wash acid wash all these different types of washes no for creatine tell me about it well no i just feel like you got to be from what i uh like from what i understand you got to be very very careful of what the like where you're getting your creatine from yeah but i think you should be careful of where you get anything from yeah 100 so you're right so i think i use momentous you guys it's my favorite and that's just it's called momentous it's like they it's like everything is triple party i actually got it because of you really Yeah.

I love that.

Thank you.

By the way, Momentis, you hear that?

Oh, third-party tested, not triple-party tested, third-party tested.

I don't even know what I'm talking about.

I was looking over your shoulder.

Yeah, no,

I got it.

I got it.

I love it.

Did you like it?

It seems to be good.

I mean, it's a good thing.

But there's like a lot of good ones.

We have one at Evolve Science that they sell, which has great bioavailability.

Then there are like bulk nutrients, supplements that are good.

There are a lot of good ones.

And the way you know it, as you know,

is you take the five grams, you put it in a little bit of water, not this much water, but a little bit.

You take it, and then all of a sudden, your brain kicks in and you feel good.

So you know it's working.

So that's what I want, that's why I wanted to ask you about it, because a couple of things.

Women are really scared of taking creatine.

Oh, high.

Because it's the same as the hormones.

We've heard so much of it being like, oh, it's going to bloat you.

And it's going to,

it's a, it's a supplement that guys only take again there's a lot of like rhetoric that's been around for like 30 years that people still kind of remember or heard in the past and so it's kind of like tainted what what the truth is right but that's the one supplement that i think i mean listen i'm no doctor but i would think but you actually live in your body and you know better right or i play one on tv right no but like

but like if you it's better than most of those well right no exact thank you but i think if you want to like if you want to like keep muscle on your body yes right?

Correct.

Creatine will help you with strength and with recovery.

Exactly.

But the other thing is what you just said is that brain fog.

So that's why.

That's why I said to you, because it's about bioavailability, right?

Yeah.

And you want to make sure that you're not taking talcum powder, basically.

Exactly.

And so that's the best test.

You just take five grams, put it in a little bit of water, mix it because it dissolves immediately.

Then chug it down.

And if within five to 10 minutes, you're like on, then you go, okay, this is working.

That's a, I see it because I'm not a, I'm not a shake person.

I don't really have shakes.

I'm not always shakes, you know, I do.

And I start every morning with a shake.

And then when you put the creatine in it, it's like, okay, I have amositol in there.

I have whey protein.

I have all kinds of other stuff.

Right, right.

How am I going to know?

So that's the best test.

That's a great, that's a great way of doing it.

So, cause like, like to your point, like, well, you'd have so much, you have a shake every morning.

I have a shake once in a while.

So, then, like, what people do is then they don't, they don't take the proper supplement.

Like, everyone puts everything in the

shake.

They put so much in the shake.

But you were saying other things.

What else do you think is important for people?

Like, what supplements are you some that you swear by?

Can I name you some and you just say which ones you think?

What do you think of fish oil?

I think it's great, but what kind of fish oil?

Omega-3, omega-9,

omega-3.

15.

Fatty 15.

Oh, fatty 15.

Fatty Fatty 15 is really good.

Is it different than omega-3s?

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're higher concentration.

So they're great.

Then there is plasmalogens, which is omega-9,

which work on the brain really well.

So they're, don't do omega-6, whatever you're doing.

That's the one.

Don't do six.

So tell me what supplements then I won't do the game with you.

Go for it.

No, no, no.

I want it.

ADK, of course.

I want you to say that the ones, the supplements that you think think are the most important for women to take as they hit menopause.

How about forever?

Or forever?

Whatever, right?

ADK, we have, I have that as a combination because, you know, vitamin D, because it's about D, obviously.

D is actually a hormones, a hormone.

Yep.

It's not

vitamin, but it's a fat-soluble hormone.

So if you take it ADK together, it gets absorbed better.

I've always, that's interesting.

I always heard vitamin D take with K2, but I've never heard A.

A.

Yeah, it works great.

So that's the formula I'm using at Evolve Science.

And, you know, I'm going to write that down.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next one.

Okay.

Magnesium.

Remember, magnesium is crucial.

Now, there are a lot of types of magnesiums.

And, you know, citrate is great to make you poop.

Right.

But it's also muscle relaxant.

You know, glycinate is great as a muscle relaxant.

So I think combinations are great, but also citrate is wonderful.

You don't have to go too far.

Can you, do you take

magnesium citrate then in the morning and take, can you take magnium?

No, it doesn't matter.

I only take it at night.

Because people take magnesium glycinate to chill.

But citrate won't make you chill.

It might, but you know what?

You can also take L-theanine, which is calm.

kind of thing right in the morning and that will help you calm down now anxiety, as you know, comes from hormones.

So if your hormones are in balance, you're not going to be walking around with a knot in the pit of your stomach.

Really?

You don't need the CNA.

So tell me all the benefits then of hormones, just so we have

a really good clip that I want to put up.

Okay.

Hormones.

are the foundation of everything because they're made in different cells in the body and they travel through the bloodstream and they affect every cell of every organ in your body.

So they're really important.

And by hormones, I mean, you know, the sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, but I also mean insulin.

I mean thyroid.

I mean adrenal.

There are a lot of hormones.

They work together.

So if your hormones are in balance, you stay young, you stay useful, you have a brain, it affects your brain, it affects your sleep, it affects your ability to work out.

You know, I put libido in there because it's important, obviously, and I wrote a whole book about it.

Of course, you did, right?

But it was like trying to show people that intimacy and sexuality are not the same at all ages, and as you go through life, things change.

Yeah, it's important for technology.

That's important, so it works.

But anyway, so all of these, everything,

everything, the clarity of thought.

Yeah.

Your appetite.

You know, we have GLP-1s now.

Everybody's taking GLP-1s.

If your hormones are not in balance, the GLP-1s are going to be just another fad diet.

Really?

Of course.

So what happens, because you're right, it's such a fad, right?

Everyone's taking these GLP-1s.

And they all look like bobbleheads.

What do you think about this whole thing?

Yeah.

Listen, I've been working with them for five years because I teach peptides at A4M too.

Oh, you do?

Yes.

So I've learned a lot.

I know peptides pretty well, and we use a lot of peptides.

But GLP1s are great, but you know what?

They're great in context, like everything else.

When you lose weight, like let's say you're 50 pounds overweight.

Not happening here.

No, not here.

Not here.

Not here.

50 pounds overweight.

So you made muscle to carry those 50 pounds of fat.

I mean, 50 pounds of overweight, not fat.

So you have more muscle than you think, right?

Because you have to carry it, because you're carrying the weight.

Like resistant training, like it's more carrying on.

No, it is because you're carrying so much extra

resistance.

Exactly.

So then you start taking GLP1 and you start dropping the fat, but you're also dropping the muscle.

And while you're dropping the muscle, then you know what happens.

Everything else falls apart.

Then your metabolic rate, which is crucial, goes down.

So now all of a sudden, you look like a bobblehead and you feel like crap.

The only way to prevent that is to have your hormones balanced first.

And the way I say it is, we treat people in layers.

So the treatment starts with the hormones.

If your hormones are in balance, then I can give you GLP ones, then I can give you supplements, then I can give you peptides, then I can send you to workout, then I can do a lot of things because you have the foundation.

So hormones are the foundation.

They are.

Yeah.

They really are.

And I wish I could say they're not, but I learned it over 30 plus years of doing it.

And so how does, so for example, do you treat men as well?

Of course.

Half the practice is men.

Oh, half the practice is men.

So if men have low testosterone, what are some symptoms beyond the ones that we think of, like low libido, their strength is, you know, injuries?

Depression.

Is depression?

Yeah, you know what?

When they get older and they stop losing their macho thing, they want to go do things and they just sit on the couch, back to the couch.

Right, back to the couch.

Back to the couch.

That's low testosterone.

They don't go to the gym.

They're not interested.

But if they do go to the gym, I think a lot of guys do go to the gym.

Yeah, I know.

And they're trying so hard and they're like stepping on the gas with the

gas tank empty.

So that's really bad because that brings me to one thing.

The whole thing with prostate cancer and testosterone was one report in 1939 by one doctor by the name of Huggins who reported a patient of prostate cancer with high testosterone.

And that took over the whole urology idiocy.

And to this day, they're still not going to give testosterone to men.

And in in 2007, this guy, Morgenthaler, who was the head of urology at Harvard, did a whole review, like a total study review of every study ever conducted and proved that there was no connection between prostate cancer and testosterone.

And nobody talked about it.

But what about if I heard?

that if someone has cancer that runs in their family and they're more susceptible or prone to maybe breast cancer or any type of testistic, whatever kind of cancer, hormones can't activate that.

Is that false?

It's false.

It's false.

Because hormones are not going to activate things.

If you do genetic testing, which is a complete waste of time, because if you remember, we spend billions of dollars on genome testing.

And we're still running, I mean, if you go to a functional medicine doctor, they'll do genome testing and they'll tell you, oh, you know, there are three genetic diseases we know about.

And the rest of them are, oh, you know, your gene could be activated and might increase the risk.

When I hear the word might, I run away.

And the thing is, genes will get activated.

It's our lifestyle.

If we eating our microplastics in the air, and if we're eating the hormone-treated cow, we are going to increase the risk of cancer.

And the thing is, instead of running and saying, oh my God, I don't want to get cancer, maybe we change it and we make it, I want to live the healthiest life possible for as long as possible.

Instead of running from doctor to doctor to doctor, looking for what?

So what do you think of functional medicine doctors?

What's your take?

They're fine.

If they know what they're doing and they have experience and they care about you, anybody's fine.

Right.

You know what I don't like?

I tell you, what I don't like is when you go to a doctor and they'll say to you, you say oh I want testosterone no you can't have it I'll give you cancer when somebody says that what it means to me is they don't know anything about it and they're not listening to you so that's the dead end street right out the door next right so you're all about like really

your whole thing is like picking practitioners doesn't matter what type of doctor

but someone who you feel genuinely cares and sees you and is seeing you and listens to you and is telling you like people come to me and tell me stuff like you said about whitewash whatever

right what was the comment I'm gonna look it up because it's gonna I think I said it wrong and I'm like no but don't worry about it but this is the point there's a point to that curious yeah go ahead

this is the thing yeah go ahead there's a lot of stuff I don't know and all I have to say is I don't know because the moment I say I don't know my credibility has gone up with you you respect me you know I care about you I'm not gonna to bullshit you with my ego.

I'm not putting my ego first.

I'm putting you first.

So that's how you judge your doctor.

Because you're special, though.

A lot of people, like we were saying, like you're a unique person.

That's why, Tammy, who said that, said that in the first place.

But I have to say, it's become a

monetization.

Also, the truth of the matter is like.

People, like, it's expensive.

Most doctors are not taking insurance.

The good ones are not taking insurance.

I can bet you, if I went to your office,

I bet you're a fortune.

There's no way that you're taking my Blue Cross Blue Shield for free.

No.

And you know what?

Why?

I tell you why.

Okay.

I never took insurance because.

Yeah, see?

I tell you why, but I'll tell you why.

Okay.

And it makes sense because we, as in you and me,

should change that whole insurance idiocy

because

I didn't take insurance because I didn't want anybody else between you and me.

I didn't want the malpractice lawyer there.

I didn't want the insurance there.

I didn't want anybody there.

It's an extraordinary lawyer.

It's between you and me.

So that's, you know, now it's AI who's deciding if you should have whatever the hell you're having.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It's disgusting what's going on.

But people say stupid things because they don't know any better.

They'll say, well, the insurance will cover this.

And they don't understand that.

That means you and I are paying for it.

Right.

So, no.

What you want to do is say, no,

I want, you you know, like the end of life is the most expensive part of healthcare.

All the young people are paying for the expenses of end of life, which is total bullshit because we're going to die anyway.

That's right.

So what are we talking about?

We have to change the system.

If we don't change the system, we're doomed.

Yeah, I agree with you.

Okay, there are a couple other supplements I want to ask you about.

All right, the supplements.

The supplements.

We didn't finish them.

We didn't.

Okay.

Quercetin.

Is that something that we should be taking?

and what does it do no not necessarily it's okay but no coq10 is that coq10 yes coq10 is great okay coq10 helps with energy production on the at the cellular level so now everybody's talking about cells everybody's talking about mitochondria yeah and

that's a great supplement coq10 is great because i take for for the cellular health i take truniogen nad do you take that yeah and we i work with nmns which you write, true niogen squid one.

Wait, you work with NMN?

You should be off of the show.

No joking.

No joking.

Well, no, because I thought NR is a precursor.

It makes it NMN.

Oh, yeah, it is.

You got to take NMN, has to convert into NR.

So isn't it better just to take NR, which is true niogen?

If it actually converts.

So if it converts, you're lucky.

If it doesn't convert, NMN's kind of better because it's more likely to convert and more people.

Really?

Why?

And you know, because of the way it's made, really, the way they make it.

Oh, that's it.

That's all it is.

Yeah.

And you know what?

We give NAD shots in the office.

Yeah.

They love it, but not IV.

Make sure you tell them, not IV.

IV NAD doesn't work.

It's painful.

You feel like you have an elephant sitting on you.

Right.

Well, it takes a long time.

Three, five hours to get it in.

And then by the time it comes out, by the time you walk away it's out so you want something that stays so we do like subcutaneous in your skin does that work though people like it yeah but does it work i don't know see this is the thing like i'm not overall like vitamin ivs right it's a huge business right i have it we do it everybody does right but these ivs like i i don't know like i feel like you're putting all this liquid into your body you pee it out in two seconds you sit there you've spent all this money you spent all this time and then it's poof it's gone interesting let me give you another piece of it.

Okay.

So IVs used to be what you get when you go to the emergency room and you're half dead, right?

Yeah.

Then all of a sudden, somebody got the idea, like, maybe we can keep people healthy with IVs.

Yeah.

And then we started growing it.

And so if it's the right stuff in it, it'll help, but not for hangovers.

Because people use it for hangovers.

Yeah, exactly.

And the hydration and things like that.

Exactly.

But if you use it consistently for immune boosting, for when you travel, for anti-inflammatory, they work beautifully if you put the right things in them.

They do.

So

is it just another one of these myths that like you are just pissing them out two seconds later because they're putting all this liquor?

Like people get these vitamin C things, right?

And like, you know, my mom would always say, why are you doing that?

Like, it's a waste.

She's also like, she's a nurse, but she's like, you're just going to pee it out.

She's a nervous.

She's like a conventional amount.

Yeah, she's like, you could, you're just going to pee it out anyway.

Right.

So you're saying that

it depends on what the scenario is.

Yep.

And I think that I look at what we do with the IVs and I look at what I do with IVs and I say, hmm, they actually work if you do it right.

So there's something else that you said.

Okay, let's go.

I'm going to circle.

I'm going to go right back to those NAD IVs.

I could not agree with you more.

However,

actually, True Niagara put out an NR IV.

Have you heard of this?

No.

So their IV IV is accepted, like this is like super potent, very potent, and it takes 30 minutes to get into your body.

Does that make a difference?

You should try it.

If it works, I interviewed for A4M, where I run the podcast there.

Yeah.

The founder of True Niogen.

Oh, wait, hold on.

Is it Charles Brenner?

Yeah.

He's the scientist, right?

Yeah, he's the scientist.

Okay.

So he sold me on the whole thing, obviously.

Right.

I bought the whole thing.

I did it.

I didn't do the IV.

So, yeah it happens to be a good product right it sounds like a good product right why not right so but no i'm asking i want to know legitimately right no i would you know the data behind it is good the the thing is like okay so how about nac have you heard of nac of course n-acetyl cysteine yeah is amazing it's great for your brain it's great for your lungs it's great for everything and I use it regularly.

Funny that you mention it.

I use it in the morning and at night.

When somebody has a cold and they cough or some and their lungs are not okay, the moment you give it to them, they heal.

You don't have to give them cough medicine.

Really?

So I've been taking it every day.

Is that okay?

Because does your body get used to it?

Yeah.

If you're taking a supplement for too long.

Yeah.

The body gets used to it.

So I like drug hormone supplement holidays to give your body time to reset and then say, oh, I want this again.

Right.

So I do that.

Like, how long should the vacation be?

It depends what it is.

Like, when you finish with a bottle, skip the next bottle for a week or two.

Really?

Yeah.

Or like cycle it because, yeah, your body gets used to it.

Yeah, and you don't want it to be used to it.

You want it to be like, oh, yeah, I like this.

It's like now I'm traveling, right?

Right.

So I'm traveling all week.

So I have my AM and my PM pack.

And I put whatever I'm taking in there.

So I'm going to take.

the most because I don't want to get sick.

I want my immune system to be top, right?

Yeah, of course.

I got to have a braid for you.

Right, of course.

Like, I ask hard-hitting questions everywhere.

That's right.

So there,

like, I'll take a lot of them.

Then I'll go home and I'll be like, okay, you can chill out.

Okay, so then tell me what you're, what you do every day.

What's your, you say you take your AM ones and your PM.

What do you do AM and what do you do PM?

All right.

So AM, what do I do?

I do some vitamin C.

I take vitamin C because you know what?

Linus Folaine got a Nobel Prize for a reason.

I don't take huge doses, but I take about a thousand milligrams twice a day.

How do you take it?

Oral.

Which one did you say?

Oh, you know what?

The ones I use is

allergy research is the one I like.

I'm going to ask you about one that my friend is taking.

He just actually sent it to me.

Yeah.

He asked me to find out about it.

He's like on top of his stuff.

So

okay, so this is what it was.

And I'm like, I never heard of it, but it's like a vitamin C type.

I'm taking this liposomal or something, yeah.

You just said it.

Liposomal, you know what?

That's like a gimmicky thing for absorption, that it's better absorption.

Yeah, what's the case?

So, what do you call it?

Liposomal.

That's exactly what it is.

Right.

So, it gets absorbed better, supposedly.

I'm not.

It's not interesting.

It's not, it's not true.

It's more expensive.

It's more expensive.

So, someone just takes a thousand, you take a thousand milligrams of vitamin C.

Okay, what else do you take?

And then, when I travel, I take defense, which is lactoferrin.

Lactoferrin is actually an immune booster that your body makes.

It's part of your body, and you really can't find it very often.

We have it, and

the, you know, the practice has it, and it's great.

You know what?

Echinasia and all that other shit?

No.

Yeah.

This one works really well.

And I've been using it since like, God only beats it.

Really?

Yeah.

And it really, only when I travel.

Okay, what's the other ones?

Let's see.

What else do I take?

CoQ10,

creatine.

Yeah.

What else do I take in the morning?

In the morning, I take the NMNs,

right?

Because of the NAD thing.

Then I take a peptide.

It's called TB4 Frag, which is a peptide that's an immune-boosting peptide.

How is it?

How do you take?

It's oral.

Oral.

No, everything I'm taking is oral.

I don't do any shots when I go anywhere.

No, no.

Okay.

And now, you know, there's a lot of debate with the injectable, with the FDA involved, and all of that.

So I'm not really interested in that.

Right.

Let's see.

What else do I take in the morning?

How about at night?

At night, I take the ADK.

Okay.

I take.

Oh, you take vitamin D at night.

Yeah.

But I can take it in the morning.

It's fine.

Okay.

I take Prodrome Glia, which is the omega-9, which is, oh, in the morning, I take the fatty 15.

And you take another type of omega at night.

Yeah,

because omega-9, which is prodrome glia,

actually helps helps you sleep beautifully.

I've never heard that.

Listen to this one.

There's another one called Apigenin, which is from chamomile,

and that helps you sleep well, too.

Really?

Okay.

Are you taking that?

I take that.

Yeah, I have it.

I'm thinking of the pack, but I have it in that pack.

And then what else do I take?

Magnesium, the defense?

I think that's it.

Is there blood tests so people can take them to see if they should be taking these?

Because instead of just giving people lists of things, like you know your, you know yourself, right?

Because you're a doctor.

No, no, no.

I was gonna say, I was gonna say, I want to correct myself

because you know your body, you're paying attention.

Yeah, you've been like your own advocate.

Everyone should be their own advocate.

I know that's what I understand.

But instead of just like giving, not you, but instead of people just taking a ton of different stuff, is there a blood test so people can actually see what they're deficient in when these are things that are a little bit more, you know, a little more unique.

Yeah, right.

You know what?

There are a lot of blood tests.

Most of them are to make money off of you.

Right.

They're not going to teach you anything.

Which ones should people, which blood tests should you take?

Oh, probiotics.

Oh, yeah.

And you did with something else.

Okay.

You know what?

I'll do like B12 level, folic acid level, iron level.

You know, then I look at inflammation.

So like

CRP, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, sedimentation rate.

So I'll look at what what I could treat, what I can make sure I minimize.

Like, I don't want inflammation, obviously.

Who does?

Isn't it?

Isn't inflammation,

that's how everything gets.

And everybody's taking ibuprofen, Motrin for it, as if that's going to help you.

That'll put a hole in your stomach.

Right.

Take some probiotics, take some digestive enzymes.

So when do people take digestive enzymes?

Because I think before meals, you know, before big meals.

Okay.

Because they have the enzymes, right, to help your

liver and your gallbladder so you take that and some people swear by them i know that's i was gonna that's what i was asking you oh my god they love them so how do we know if you need one i don't take it you don't take it no i don't get heartburn i don't i don't get any problems so then we're fine you don't need to take it yeah i mean you gotta look at what's going on right the other bloating bloating is hormonal bloating is hormones well it can't be because i've been i i get bloated i've been like maybe like

too much like everything i i like been i I've been getting bloated since I was like 20, 19, 18.

So that's hormonal.

No, it's because I love to eat food.

It's called

food.

No, I eat a lot.

I eat a lot too.

I eat a ton of, like volume is my thing.

I can, I have to like is it fiber?

Like you're eating 30 grams of fiber?

Like a salad.

My, like my friends and family say that's like a trough.

Like I love it, me too.

I'll have like a bowl of salad that's like this and I just like, literally I can be I can eat out of it for an hour.

God bless you.

What's wrong with that?

I get bloated from it.

So then do I need a digestive enzyme from it?

Try it.

See what happens.

Try it.

Always.

Try it.

If it works, by all means.

If it doesn't work, get rid of it.

What probiotic do your people take?

Depends.

Like, you know, they're probiotics or candida and like, you know, Saccharomyces Boulardi, whatever, if you have Candida.

But there's some bifidas.

They're basic probiotics that help.

that work really nicely.

You can also drink like, you know, the brine from sauerkraut and kimchi and all of that.

I don't hate that stuff.

I know it's very bad.

I'm just saying it.

I know.

I'm just saying it.

I don't do it, but I like actually Sauerkraut because I'm from Eastern Europe.

I know you are, of course.

That's why.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Okay, so basically, you gave me a great list of, okay, so all these supplements.

Okay, the book is called Yet Again.

Do you want to say your title of the book?

Sure.

Okay, say the title.

We're going to do another podcast for you.

Yeah, but due time.

Don't let your doctor kill you.

God, no, please don't.

Please don't.

Please don't.

Erica, I'm so glad that you came on.

I am thrilled.

When I saw that it was you, I was like, this is heaven.

This is so

happy to see a house.

I'm like, it's her house.

I know.

By the way, yeah, well, because this is where I do my little thing, my little podcast in the basement.

It's so cool.

Thank you.

You're beyond cool.

Oh, my God.

And I love it.

And I want to see your new TED Talk.

I'm very excited about that.

Okay, so I'm going to, I'll send it to you afterwards.

Send it to me.

Oh, my God.

I'm so excited.

And your book, I mean, everything.

You're so good.

You're so good.

Listen, this is what happened.

Listen, I didn't think think I was a part of you.

Oh, my God.

You're Ballyblades.

I'm so proud of you.

You're so sweet.

Thank you.

Women should support each other.

If women got it.

There are, you know, that's a whole other podcast we should be doing.

Yeah, we should.

Everyone, Dr.

Erica Schwartz.

Besides the book, where could people find you?

Dr.

Erica Schwartz.

Yes.

D-R-E-R-I-K-A-S-C-H-W-E-R-T-Z on Instagram.

There you go.

And if you are living in New York, are you accepting new patients?

We have like three other doctors.

They don't have to have me.

Okay, they don't have to have you.

But yes, I am.

But to answer your question, there is an answer.

This is what I like about you.

This is a doctor that's actually a doctor that's seeing patients.

Yes.

You have time.

Well, how else am I going to know what's going on?

What?

How?

Hallelujah.

Thank you.

And you know what?

I'm not here to endorse or become an influencer.

I want to tell the truth because I have the experience.

I've been doing it for 30 years.

And that's the thing.

That's why you're like a trusted source.

That's what I say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, my God.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.