The Vitamin Walk

After I’m finished with a hormone consult, I take my patients on a little “walk”. Randy calls it the Vitamin Walk. We stroll through our lobby and check out all our vitamins and supplements because there is so much that can be done to optimize the treatment plans that come from our consultations.

From A to Zinc - hormones and supplements working together for the greater good.
For instance, there is ongoing research on the estrogen receptor. It needs zinc to work properly when you give it estradiol. So if you give it estradiol, but you don't have zinc, it's not going to fire the way it should. It's not going to reduce your hot flashes, it’s not going to benefit your bones. You’re going to think your new therapy isn’t working - and it actually isn’t working optimally - but it’s because of the lack of zinc, not the addition of estradiol. So there's all kinds of little snippets that we keep in mind and offer to our patients to ensure they see optimal results with their new therapy.

Herbal supplements
There are also herbal supplements that can act as aromatase inhibitors. So if we want to stop the conversion of the body from testosterone to estradiol, we can give an herbal supplement that does that.

DIM shines bright
My favorite supplement for most menopausal women is called DIM. This supplement helps with our estrogen metabolism. What happens is that estradiol converts to estrone and then estrone gets broken down into several estrogen-like substances. One of the substances is proliferative, so we would call it bad. And the other one is non-proliferative, so we would call it good. And then you excrete it.

We can give this supplement, that is a derivative of broccoli and cauliflower, that makes your estrogen metabolism flow smoothly and converts the estrone to the good estrogen and then it passes on out. So DIM is one of those supplements that gets your metabolism going and your estrogen flowing by binding to all the right receptors. And we're only able to do that with DIM. There's no drug out there that does that.

Let’s go for a walk!
If you are interested in learning more about all our vitamins and supplements, give us a call or click here to schedule a consultation.

Tanya Manoni is a Chattanooga-native but earned her BS in chemistry and PharmD at the University of Utah. She brings with her years of experience in compounding and pharmacy corporate management. Tanya's professional interests include not only BHRT, women’s health, and dermatology, but also nutrition and fitness, in which she became interested while playing NCAA Division I college soccer. While living in Utah, Tanya earned her level 1 certification in avalanche search and rescue, and she continues to enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking. She lives in Chattanooga with her husband and two kids, so you will find her running between soccer fields and dance studios in her free time.