S1: It's time for KPBS midday. On today's show , we're talking about housing and health care. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. While housing is in short supply , where developers are building is drawing concern. We'll talk about it. Plus. Have you ever been prescribed an extracurricular activity ? Well , it's called social prescribing. We'll tell you how it's used then. The need for understanding women's hormones in health care is the subject of a new book. That's ahead on midday edition. So new KPBS reporting shows a significant portion of new San Diego homes are being built near freeways. Concerns over pollution and congestion continue , right along with the struggle to bolster San Diego's housing supply and bring down costs. KPBS found that from 2018 to 2024 , roughly one fifth of new housing permits countywide were within 1000ft of a freeway. Jade got a covers public policy and local politics for KPBS. He joins me now. Jake , welcome.
S2: Thank you. Happy to be here.
S1: So glad to have you.
S2: And even on actual pieces of furniture You can see it accumulating when you live that close. And so that's what is. That's what's getting into your lungs and into your body and into your system. Every time you're near those pollution sources.
S1: You spoke with Jolene Miller , who lives next to the eight and 15 interchange in Mission Valley.
S2: There's there's this ever present , um , knowledge that there's this black soot kind of getting into the air and everywhere around you. And , um , she told me what it feels like just being on her patio. I think we have a clip.
S3: You can wipe your little table down on the patio every day , and it's going to come out black every day.
S1: Yeah , I can so relate to that. And I don't even live near a freeway. Um , you found that countywide , 1 in 5 new building permits issued in the past six years were to actually build homes near a freeway.
S2: About 6 or 7 years ago , the LA times did a whole investigation into the homes in LA that are being built right next to the freeways , and it's really noticeable. When you drive through LA , you can see these big apartment complexes going up literally right next to the freeway roll freeway walls. And so it's it's a super common phenomenon all over the state of California. And part of that is because we have a lot of freeways that go through all of our cities and our urban areas. Um , but the pattern of that being some of the only places where new homes are allowed is pretty consistent across not just our communities , but all over the state of California.
S1: Well , who's responsible for the decisions to put these homes next to freeways.
S2: So it's not the developers or the builders who are building them. They want to build wherever they can. These are political decisions that are being made at the city planning department and the city council level , where the planning department draws maps that say , you're allowed to put these types of homes here and these types of homes here , and you're not allowed to put them here. That's how zoning is set up. And so the zoning maps that a lot of places have , particularly here in San Diego , just don't allow new homes to be built anywhere else because there's strict rules about what sort of homes can be built in what neighborhoods. And so there's only some places that allow the type of dense construction that we're seeing next to these freeways.
S1: Yeah , it's interesting because in so many other places around the country , right next to freeways , you'll find gas stations and restaurants , maybe a pharmacy , those sorts of things being built. But but certainly not a lot of homes in some places.
S2: And so when planners are deciding where new homes are going to be allowed , um , a lot of times they're looking for a parcel of land that doesn't maybe already have homes on it , doesn't have some other sort of development that is , you know , useful to the community , what have you. And so a lot of the places that are left in San Diego County , in , um , densely populated cities like we have here in Southern California , are just sort of these parcels that aren't ideal. You know , they're they're the last ones left for a reason. And so when a lot of the other places have already been built out , they've already built , you know , little single family homes and all the fancy residential neighborhoods. Um , there's nowhere else to build anything except for these , you know , pieces of land that are kind of weird little corners next to a freeway or next to like some factories , or next to pollution sources that are not the first place anyone would pick to build homes , and that's why they're the only ones that are left. Now , the other side of that is there are very strict rules. Like I was saying , in a lot of the residential areas that say you're not allowed to build apartments here. So we have a whole lot of land that zoned for housing , but it's not zoned for anything more than a single family home , maybe a couple ADUs in the backyard. So the city has a requirement to plan for a certain number of new homes. That's at the state level , and they have to find somewhere to put them. And if they don't put them into these residential areas where there's low density housing , they have to put them somewhere and they end up next to a freeway.
S1: Any sense of how people who are already living in these residential areas feel about apartments being built next to freeways.
S2: Um , well , I think that they are more concerned about not having apartments next door , and so they don't necessarily , uh , give too much thought to where they are going to end up. And , I mean , we we know that just because of the pushback that any new plan to allow more density gets here in the city of San Diego , when the city was updating the university community plan , which was a plan to completely change that area , that's got a lot of low density building and allow a lot of new apartments next to the trolley line , next to all the jobs that we have up there. It's a place that could use some more housing , but there was a lot of pushback from the community that lives there against changing any of their neighborhoods. So as long as you don't put the apartments right next door , as long as you find somewhere else to put them , you know , maybe down by the freeway , then they usually are okay with that. And that's why we end up with this pattern , because city leaders are trying to please their constituents , you know , and listen to the community and what the community wants. But sometimes what the community wants is to not allow any new homes in their neighborhood. And then that means they push them out to places that aren't as desirable.
S1: Seems like a small fragment of the community. There are a whole lot of people here who want new homes.
S2: Well , yeah. And so that also is is part of the equation is who shows up to the meetings. Uh , if there's a meeting on a Tuesday night , some people don't necessarily have the time or the energy or , you know , they have kids , they have jobs , they have lives. And so they're not going to go spend a couple of hours at a community planning meeting to try and argue for more apartments. Like , that's usually something that most people don't want to go do. And so if there's only certain people who are showing up to those meetings , and it's only the people who have maybe a vested interest in preventing more housing , there's incentives there that don't really line up for just , you know , I don't know me to go to a planning meeting on a Tuesday night. You know , people like me or people my age or people who , you know , have other stuff going on , aren't going to be as interested in doing that. And then they don't get the feedback from , as you say , a big portion of the city that definitely is in favor of new housing and in favor of , you know , bringing costs down by building more.
S1: They get the feedback. They know. Better.
S2: Better.
S1: Tell me this. Can you explain the connection between housing construction and rent rates right now , though ? Yeah.
S2: In the past six years , we here at KPBS , we looked at the places that permitted lots of new homes and the places that didn't , and the we at the zip code level or at the. Yeah , at the zip code level , places that permitted lots of new homes or zip codes where lots of new homes were allowed , had much lower rent growth than places that didn't. So the places that permitted the most homes in the past six years , the downtown zip code was the number one permitting place in the whole county. They had the lowest rent growth in that whole data set. So rents still did grow a little bit over six years. That's going to happen. But it was the lowest rate in those zip codes that had the most permits. And so there's a direct connection between allowing more homes to be built , allowing more construction , and preventing this runaway rent growth that is driving people out of the city.
S1:
S2: Where you can build zoning is the is the overarching limiting factor for what sort of construction gets built. If you think about , you know , a development company , they want to build as much as they can. They want to use every opportunity they can to build more , to make more money. That's the incentives that they have for their business. And so the thing that's limiting , that is where the city says you're allowed to , and the city only says you're allowed to build apartments on a very small percentage of residentially owned land , and that zoning that limits apartment construction in a lot of the residential neighborhoods is one of the reasons why you're only seeing apartments near the freeways , because you go into those residential neighborhoods where there's lots of these , you know , million dollar homes and little McMansion style buildings there. You're not allowed to build anything else in those neighborhoods because of this zoning. And so when you can't build apartments there , they want to build them somewhere and they're going to end up somewhere else. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S2: The crisis is driven by under production over a couple of decades. There's been a shortage of homes for a long time. And the only way to address a shortage is to build a lot more. But because of those zoning limits that say you can't build here or there , you end up searching for different places to build those new homes that experts say we need. And the only places you're left with are some of these places right next to a freeway , right next to a pollution source , or maybe further east and out away from the city and the amenities and all that. And so there's all these different problems that go into finding where to actually build all these new homes that experts say we need. And if we keep up the pattern we have right now , a lot of them , a lot of them are going to end up next to highways , next to pollution sources , things like that.
S1: It's a chronic issue. But thank you so much for your reporting on it. We'll continue to follow it. I've been speaking with Jake Gatta. He covers public policy and local politics for KPBS. Jake , thank you so much.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: Coming up , we'll tell you about a new way of treating mental health issues called social prescribing.
S4: So if this particular individual is suffering with anxiety , maybe we're going to suggest a group dance class. It might be visiting a museum or something like that , a pottery class.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. It's no secret loneliness and mental health issues are on the rise , especially among youth. So much so there is a youth mental health crisis. But could arts and culture be an antidote ? Well , one local health provider is testing out a new program with that in mind. San Ysidro Health is now partnering with Art pharmacy , a company that brings social prescribing to health care. Now , social prescribing aims to connect people to community activities as part of their health care. Joining me to talk about this is doctor Preeti Ojha. She's chief behavioral health officer at San Ysidro Health. Doctor. Ojha , welcome.
S4: Thanks so much for having me , Jade.
S1: So glad to have you here. So social prescribing. It sounds very fancy. Um , but what could fall under that umbrella , though ? Yeah.
S4: So that's just an opportunity for health care providers to connect their patients with activities in the community. That could be dance. It could be music classes. It could be going to the museum , pottery classes , really wide range of arts and culture activities.
S1:
S4: The organization has a care coordinator that will do an assessment with the patient. And then from that assessment there are about 3 or 4 different activities that they might conclude are a good fit for whatever's going on in that individual's life. So that could be a dance class. For example , group dance has been shown to be effective for the management of anxiety. So if this particular individual is suffering with anxiety , maybe we're going to suggest a group dance class. It might be visiting a museum or something like that , a pottery class , and then over the course of 12 months , they get 12 doses. That could be 12 completely different activities or the same activity once a month over that course of the year.
S1:
S4: And when they participate , we also fund one companion to visit whatever the activity is with them so that they could go to a dance class with a caretaker or a peer , a best friend , something like that.
S1: Hmm , that's pretty cool. So the UK was actually the first country to have a national program for social prescribing. What can you tell me about the research behind it and where it stands ? Yeah.
S4: So the UK has really been the driving force behind this. And where the most robust evidence comes from is from the UK and Europe. And so what we have seen there , where it continues to grow , they have national social prescribing associations Nations and agencies there. What they have shown is that in terms of it becoming an evidence based intervention , it's looking pretty positive. There's still a lot more research that needs to be done , especially here in the United States. But generally speaking , what we've seen is that it has had a positive impact on people's mental health and physical health , especially for those individuals that are maybe a little bit more socio economically disadvantaged , which is the primary population we serve at San Ysidro Health.
S1: And so the hope is to start this in September. Is the program open to the public or.
S4: So right now for the pilot ? It's for patients who are active in the behavioral health department at San Ysidro Health. So not yet.
S1: So how exactly could social prescribing work to improve health outcomes ? Yeah.
S4: So when we think about the last five years or so , we we went from , you know , typical run of the mill day to day life. And then this pandemic happened. And when we for the children that are participating in this pilot , we're really focusing on folks that are 12 to 25 years old. In this particular program , when we think about where they were at five years ago , they were going to school , and one day they weren't going to school. And while it was incredibly important that we did socially isolate at that time of the pandemic , it had some ramifications on folks mental health because they went from kids who were in elementary school , for example , went from free play , recess , being with peers , making friends to now learning on the computer. So fast forward five years , it's a little bit hard to acclimate back into a world for some where that's no longer the case , where we are forced again to reintegrate with peers to have that free play. And so having a forum that promotes that type of activity in a safe , trauma informed way can help foster some of that development.
S1: I mean , so it's almost here's my question. Like what came first ? You know , it's the chicken and the egg question. Um , where Were youth in largely people sort of already seeing a decline in their mental health.
S4: So when you look at rates of depression and anxiety globally , pre-pandemic versus post-pandemic , and then of course , during the pandemic , there are differences. So pre-pandemic rates of depression and anxiety were less than that during the pandemic. They peaked during the pandemic and unfortunately they have continued to be elevated. And so they haven't quite come down to pre-pandemic rates yet.
S1:
S4: So I think certainly the pandemic did bring mental health awareness to the forefront. People aren't as shy about discussing it. The stigma , I think , is headed in the right direction , but we're not quite there yet. Um , and then , of course , the symptoms really intensified. People were kind of forced to have to deal with some of what they were that what they were experiencing because. They were with it 24 over seven. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , break it down for me.
S4: What we're hoping to see is that it also helps improve kids self-confidence , because that's something that we also want folks to feel empowered. We want children to grow up in an environment where they're feeling like , okay , I got this , I can do this. I have a hobby , I'm good at something. I'm developing a skill set.
S1: So now why is San Ysidro Health tackling this now ? I mean , why did you all decide this was a good time to partner with Art pharmacy on this goal ? Yeah.
S4: So we're super excited about this because I have two components to answer that question. One is we want to be innovative. As I just said , our pre pandemic versus post pandemic rates are not where we want them to be. We want the rate of depression and anxiety to go down. We have better resources now. We have more providers , but we also have more patients. So we need to be innovative in terms of how do we push the needle forward. And this what art pharmacy does , what social prescribing does is supplement underlying treatment plan. So we're still doing psychotropic medication management. We're still doing individual psychotherapy. But this is an additional arm to a traditional treatment plan. Why we're excited about particularly this partnership is because what we did at San Ysidro Health was kind of an in-house social prescribing , where we created the space for patients to participate in various activities. So we have a pediatrics program where one of our peer support specialists developed a workshop for parents and caregivers and children to come in and do things like arts and crafts. And we had such amazing feedback that we continue to have amazing feedback that for a lot of families , they say this is the only opportunity we've had to do something like this with their children. And then on the adult side , we've created wellness programs with some of our outstanding case managers , where again , they've created an environment for patients to come in and participate in these types of activities. And so to be able to more formally provide this resource and partner with some of the amazing arts and culture contributors in the community is very exciting.
S1:
S4: So I can think about some of our own patients that have engaged in our wellness groups at San Ysidro Health. These are folks who , immediately when the pandemic started socially isolated , were very cognizant of social distancing and things like that. And we realized that as those measures were starting to soften a bit , and we wanted to encourage patients to come back into our clinics , that there was some reluctance. And so we developed this program where over the course of anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks , the same few patients would come in up to 10 to 12 patients in each group that we would offer. And at each site , we did this across various sites in different languages English , Spanish and Arabic concurrently. The patients developed a sense of camaraderie. They developed a sense of community. They knew these are the same folks that are going to come back the next week , that I'm going to enjoy the time that I'm spending with them , which was something that they had lost in the years prior. And when we look at the rates of depression and anxiety by way of their screening measures , we use the PHQ nine and Gad seven as standardized tools to monitor someone's symptom tracking. Essentially , those improved when you compare before the wellness group and at the end of that wellness group. What's something that I really love highlighting is our group based in El Cajon , which is an Arabic speaking women's group. They developed a sense of peer support amongst the activities of just getting to know each other better , of bonding with each other. Of creating that sense of familiarity and community. Within just a small group there. And it's where they they now support one another , even outside of the group , which has been really wonderful.
S1: That's excellent. And so right now this this is focusing on kids. Yes.
S4: Yes.
S1: Will it be expanded you think to adults. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. That's my hope. So. Um , a lot of the research right now is actually on the older adult population , because that's where where we historically have seen rates of loneliness. And it was really only through the pandemic that we started to notice a higher rate of loneliness in children , which makes sense. And so this particular pilot is focused on people 12 to 25. But my hope is in the future will expand because we think about the population here in San Diego. We got a lot of folks entering the later stages of their lives. So we want to make sure we're optimizing their experience as well.
S1: You know , given the success of the program , it almost sounds like kids aren't getting enough time to just play. Yeah.
S4: Yeah.
S1: Exactly. It's like everyone needs more free time and more playtime in their schedule. Yes.
S4: Yes. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S4: And that's where this new quote unquote technique comes in. And we need to kind of catch up with folks and provide low risk , high benefit interventions. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S4: So while we are a small pilot , so our hope with our pharmacy right now is to target about 200 to to 250 patients that are active in the behavioral health department between the ages of 12 to 25. What we're hoping what will show from that is that this is an effective intervention and that our our partners across the county , across the state will participate as well. And eventually that payers , insurance companies , things like that will see the value of this intervention and help fund it in the future.
S1: I've been speaking with Doctor Preeti Ojha. She's chief behavioral health officer at San Ysidro Health. Doctor Ojha , thank you so much.
S4: Thank you for having me.
S1: Coming up , we hear about the importance of hormone therapy when it comes to women's health.
S5: I always tell my patients , your hormones are everything. Have your hormones checked because they really are the foundation for how we feel here.
S1: About the hormone manual when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. There's no manual for dealing with hormones. They can be complicated and confusing , and yet they're very important to your overall well-being. But treating women and their hormones with a one size fits all approach doesn't really work either. Well , my next guest has a new book filled with advice from years in medicine. Doctor Julie Taylor is a functional medicine doctor based in Pasadena , California. Her new book is called The Hormone Manual A straightforward guide for every Woman at Every stage of Life , and she'll be discussing and signing the book on Tuesday , August 26th at Warwick's Bookstore. And Doctor Taylor , welcome to Midday Edition.
S5: Thanks so much for having me. It's an honor to be here.
S1: I'm so glad that you have the time. Um , it's such a it's an interesting topic here. So tell me , when did you decide it was time to sit down and really write this book ? Yeah.
S5: So it was very just organically kind of created. I've been in practice for about ten years , a little bit over ten years , and probably just a couple of years into my practice , um , sort of in hormones and menopause and perimenopause. I had patients tell me , you know , that they had never heard this information before , that they never really knew that this existed , that they never really knew that they could manage their symptoms through hormone treatment and balancing their hormones. And , you know , they just kind of started to tell me that I needed to write a book , and I really needed to get the information out there and that people really needed to know. So I started the process several years ago , and with three young kids at the time , it's taken me a long time to to get it to completion. But , um , you know , it's really just my heart and soul and really the information that I really want my patients to know and that I really want , you know , sort of women across , um , across the community , across the country to really know , to understand , um , how their symptoms are , you know , often based on their hormones and how they can really manage those.
S1:
S5: I think , you know , even just talking about that and really understanding that , you know , symptoms like anxiety and depression , I think that that plagues so many , so many women. And they really don't , um , often think that it's related to their hormones. But so many women who come into my practice , you know , have new onset anxiety or new onset depression , and they don't really know why. You know , nothing's really changed. They their life is sort of the same. Um , you know , they haven't really had any sort of significant events that would have caused this new onset anxiety and depression. But it's really affecting their lives. It's affecting their sleep , it's affecting their quality of life. And they they don't really know what to do. And historically , women have , you know , gone down the road of , you know , anti-anxiety medication or antidepressants because that has been the protocol for how , you know , women are treated , who who are suffering from these symptoms. And progesterone , for example , is such an important hormone. It really is our hormone that stabilizes our mood , that acts on our Gabaa receptors , that helps us to feel calm , helps us to fall asleep , helps us to stay asleep. I mean , helps us to really feel stable. Um , from a mood perspective. And that hormone is one of the first hormones to fall when we enter into perimenopause and certainly into menopause. So even something like that is sort of revolutionary for women to realize , oh my gosh , I've never talked about progesterone before. No one's really ever talked to me about progesterone before. What is it ? And and and now , you know , they're able to sort of understand that hormone is related to my to my mood. And instead of sort of going down the road of pharmaceuticals , there's there's a completely different approach that is really root cause medicine. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , and hormones not only relate to mood , but also things like what hypertension may be. Tell me about some of those other things that that your hormones can can affect that are common. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. It's there's a laundry list for sure. I mean , it is it is very , very broad. Um , for sure. And um , so , so I would say I mean , sleep is one. Um , I would also say that even women coming in with joint pain , you know , they all of a sudden think that they have a new diagnosis of arthritis. Um , you know , they're achy when they get up in the morning. Um , you know , when they get out of bed , they , they just , you know , their joints hurt and they and they don't really understand why. That's very much of a hormonal issue. Estrogen is so important for our joints and keeping those , you know , flexible and and working properly. And so , you know , estrogen is is very important for joints. Um , libido is a big one. You know , I mean , women come in and , and , you know , their their libido is low , their energy is low , their muscle mass is low. Um , that is very much related to testosterone. So again , testosterone is another one of those hormones that's not really talked about. We typically think about estrogen for women and testosterone for men. And that's kind of where it all ends. But testosterone is so important for women. So I would say sort of that that get up and go , that drive that energy to kind of , um , you know , seize the day is very much testosterone related to when our testosterone falls. We tend to feel those symptoms. And then if we're if we're talking about things like , you know , heavy periods or fibroids or ovarian cysts Variances or cramps or anything like that , you know , again , very hormone related. Very. Estrogen and progesterone , um , you know , definitely an imbalance between those two. But but it really affects so many things. I mean , I always tell my patients , your hormones are everything. Think about your hormones before before you think about maybe jumping on , you know , a pharmaceutical medication , have your hormones checked because they really are the foundation for how we feel. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And hormones , hormone imbalances are something that are mostly thought of for folks who are in perimenopause or menopause. But these imbalances can happen at any point in life. Right. Mhm.
S5: Mhm. Absolutely. And that's really why I created that. You know , this is sort of the manual at every stage of life because you know , teenagers are often inundated with hormone imbalances that cause migraines and , and heavy periods and cramps and acne and you know , all of those things that are very and mood issues. You know , I mean , we say , oh , it's just a moody teenager , but but , you know , I think it's important to really evaluate what their hormones are doing at that stage of life , because if there is an imbalance happening during their cycle , it will impact the way that they feel. And there are things that we can do about it to help teenagers feel better. And then you think about like 20 something year olds and 30 something year olds and infertility and endometriosis and , you know , ovarian cysts and fibroids and all of those things are are different stages of life. Um , hormones kind of impact those certain things. So I think it's it's really important to think that , you know , maybe my hormone , maybe my symptoms are actually related to a hormone imbalance as opposed to maybe something else , um , that they might be thinking of.
S1: Well , in hormone balance isn't something that you're your primary care provider. Uh , checks.
S5: It's tricky. Um , so. So in medical school and in residency , we don't really learn about. Uh , well , certainly we don't learn about root cause medicine , which is which is what functional medicine is. It's sort of figuring out what the root cause is. We learn about how the body works , how it breaks down , and how to fix it with medication and procedures. Um , so we don't really learn about , you know , that a hormonal issue might be actually at the root cause of what's going on. So it's tricky because , you know , women really want to use their primary care physician or their gynecologist as , you know , as their doctor. Like they have all the answers. But but it's critical to understand that you have to find the right doctor to treat the right symptom. If you have a broken bone. You're not going to go to your primary care physician and expect them to , you know , do an X-ray and to cast you or to maybe do surgery , if that's what you need. You're going to go to an orthopedic surgeon. It's very important to go to a specific doctor who really understands and has training in hormone imbalances and perimenopause and menopause and all the nuances , because if you try to go to your regular primary care physician , you're probably going to be frustrated. And they might they might test your hormones. I mean , it does happen. You know , you might go and say , hey , this is what I want to have checked. I listen to this podcast or , you know , I talk to my friend and they said I should get my estrogen and progesterone check. So can can we just look at that in the blood. And they might they might check that off of the lab slip and have you go get your labs checked. But what often happens is that you'll come back to that appointment and they'll they'll give you your results and they'll tell you that everything's within normal limits. Right. So then you say to yourself , okay , well , I guess it's not my hormones because I had them checked , but you didn't have them checked in the way that they really need to be checked. Like , there's very specific tests that really dive into what your hormones are doing at different stages of your cycle. So it's not just a matter of going to quest and having a lab slip that checks your basic hormones. It's really seeking out the right provider who has that in-depth training that that they didn't teach in medical school or residency. So I think that's the tricky part , because I think women really do get frustrated. And they they think they maybe think that it's their hormones. You know , they think that I , you know , these symptoms feel hormonal , but then they go to their doctor that they trust and their doctor is has their best interest at heart , but they just don't have the proper training. Um , so I so that that's a key a key component.
S1: And to be clear , again , the type of hormone test you should be asking for is Testosterone. Progesterone. What ? Estradiol.
S5: Yes. Cortisol. DHEA. There's a lot of different sort of hormones within the testing , but I think really starting with just getting to the right provider , and then they will know what to do. Um , I think that's really the beginning of , of your search is , is finding someone who knows what tests to do. And you can just ask him , you know , do you , do you practice functional medicine ? Do you practice menopause medicine ? Do you work with a compounding pharmacy ? I actually had a patient , um , who's been seeing me for years , and she actually called the local compounding pharmacy , and she asked them , who's the doctor in the area that you would recommend ? Who who works with the compounding pharmacy. And they recommended me. So that's another really great way to go about finding someone is contact your local compounding pharmacy because I actually have to prescribe most of my bioidentical hormones for women from a compounding pharmacy. So that's another really great place to to look.
S1: What about supplements ? I mean , you know , there's there's this whole market for supplements , powders , all of that stuff. Um , and it makes a lot. They make a lot of promises. You know , when it comes to your health.
S5: I mean , there's , you know , we're inundated with social media ads for this is the the latest and greatest supplement. This will help you with everything. I always recommend that that my patients let me kind of analyze what they need to create , you know , sort of a a treatment plan that's specific for them. So I think rather than , you know , kind of taking what you might see online or , you know , what a friend might recommend is have your physician who is balancing your hormones. Also , you know , figure out what you need. Supplement was. So my patients are on very specific supplements that are based on their symptoms and based on their lab results , for example cortisol. So cortisol is our stress hormone. We don't give it nearly as much credit as it needs. Um , when we're under chronic states of stress that cortisol is chronically elevated and it can really cause significant issues over time inflammation , hypertension , weight gain , difficulty losing weight , insulin resistance. All of those things can come from elevated , uh , having an elevated stress hormone , which is cortisol. So so there are different supplements. There's testing. First of all , that is important to analyze. Um , for that cortisol , uh , it's a urine test or a saliva test that again , is very specialized. And really only , you know , sort of these like special hormone doctors or functional medicine. Doctors would know about those. But there are different supplements that are used to treat the nuances of those cortisol imbalances that might be seen. So I think it's important not to treat yourself , you know , like get get what you need based on your symptoms and based on your labs , and really have a provider come alongside you to , um , to create the treatment plan that is personalized for you.
S1: For those who may not have access to all that , what test is it ? Just out of curiosity , what test is it that that test one's cortisol and what is there a supplement or a food , um , that someone should be taking to make to counteract high levels of it ? Yeah.
S5: So , um , I mean , the , the two different the one main test that I use is called the Dutch test. And that is a very complex , um , very thorough , uh , urine test that that is used to check hormones and cortisol levels and things like that. So really , depending on what that shows. Um , will determine what what needs to be done. But I would say what I , you know , tell my patients and I think this is just kind of a broad , um , recommendation is , you know , focus on your stress. How are you feeling on a regular basis ? What is your stress level on a scale of 1 to 10 ? Do you feel stressed out all the time ? Are you having difficulty sleeping ? Are you having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep ? Those are all , um , you know , uh , effects of cortisol being out of whack or too high. So those are the things , you know , that. And then I think , you know , making sure that you're incorporating , um , things every day to decrease your stress , uh , whether it's yoga or going for a walk or taking a bath or , you know , sitting down and reading a good book , something like that. You know , those are the things getting out in nature , gardening , you know , those are the things that will help to decrease Increase your cortisol levels and really help to kind of balance that part of things.
S1: You know , when it comes to women's health , what do you think doesn't get talked about enough ? Hmm.
S5: Postpartum depression I think is a really big one. Um , that is something that , uh , really impacts so many women. And I think , you know , women who suffer from postpartum are sort of marginalized. You know , I have three kids of my own , and I know , you know , what it's like to , you know , postpartum when you when you go to your OB and you go to the , the pediatrician , really the focus is on the baby. Um , that is really kind of culturally in our country. That is the focus. Um , there's not really a lot of focus on mom or her mental health or her physical health. So a lot of women really do suffer from postpartum. And even here in my community , I know of at least two women who have taken their lives because their postpartum depression was not treated , you know , well enough. So It is , in my mind , very much of a hormonal issue. I mean , we are filled with progesterone again , the the amazing hormone that helps us to feel stable and , you know , stabilize our anxiety and depression and really stabilize our mood. And we're filled with progesterone when we're pregnant. So a lot of women feel really great mood wise when they're pregnant. I mean , not everyone , but lots of women really feel great when they're pregnant. And then postpartum , we really lose a lot of that progesterone through the placenta. Um , and so it can really leave women at a deficiency , thus causing that postpartum depression. Um , so , so I think women who are postpartum really need to have a hormone specialist on board. Um , if they're experiencing any of those symptoms to , to to manage those things and balance those things. Um , it's critical.
S1: Lots of great information today and lots of great information in your book. I've been speaking with Doctor Julie Taylor. She's a functional medicine doctor based in Pasadena , California , and author of the new book , The Hormone Manual A Straightforward Guide for Every Woman at Every Stage of Life. She'll be talking about her book at Warwick's Bookstore in La Jolla tomorrow. That is Tuesday , August 26th. Doctor Taylor , thank you so much.
S5: Thanks so much for having me.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
