Confessions of a Male Gynecologist

Medicinal mushrooms are a fantastic tool for mitigating risk and cultivating health. From Reishi to Tremella, Lion's Mane, and beyond, the Western world is finally waking up to the magic and medicine of mushrooms. With that increasing popularity, more and more research is being conducted that confirms what ancient traditions have long known about the medicinal benefits of mushrooms. Today I'm join...

I can't bring myself emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, or physically to use hormone pellets with my patients. Hormone pellets are tiny pellets containing hormones and medications inserted under your skin and replaced every three to six months. In my clinic, many unhappy patients come to me with complications from pellets. Outside of my clinical experience, I also tried pellets myself a fe...

You can't biohack your way out of your symptoms; you have to address the root cause. Where many testosterone clinics are quick to identify low testosterone and start testosterone therapy, it's often a sign of many deeper issues. This is where poly-hormonal adrenal testosterone (PHAT) syndrome comes in. PHAT syndrome presents with a host of symptoms, including lower testosterone levels, insulin res...

Low testosterone in women is the plague of the 21st century. Testosterone is one of the most important parts of women's hormone replacement. While most women feel their best with testosterone levels in the middle of the normal range, I see a lot of women with levels at the low end of that range. Unfortunately, because testosterone is so misunderstood, it often gets overlooked. Today I'm busting te...

Hormone replacement is not usually life or death, except in the cases of the thyroid and adrenals. Thyroid disease has tripled in the last few decades, and thyroid medication is consistently among the top three most prescribed medicines in the world. At the same time, many women find themselves with adrenal insufficiency due to a workaholic lifestyle and burnout. Today, I'm joined by the most prol...

Thyroid hormone is one of the two hormones that are critical to our survival. Unfortunately, thyroid disease is very common, and women are around five to eight times more likely to be diagnosed with a thyroid condition than a man. In my practice, I see many women who have either been diagnosed with thyroid disease or who have subclinical thyroid disease, where they have all the symptoms but have o...

"This ain't your Mama's menopause. You get to define what it looks like moving forward." - Dr. Mariza Snyder During perimenopause, it can feel like everything is falling apart. Your body is changing, sex hormones are declining, and ovarian function shifts towards retirement mode. But the more metabolically flexible you are heading into menopause and beyond, the more control you have over how this...

How are we at a point where women are terrified of a hormone they've had in their bodies most of their lives? Many of us have heard horrible things about estrogen and its connection to breast cancer. A lot of this public aversion stems from a study that came out in the early 2000s called the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). The WHI was a landmark study designed to define the risks and benefits of...

Traditional plastic surgery training taught Dr. Anthony Youn that the bigger the operation, the better. This idea was reinforced throughout medical school and residency and stayed with Tony as he built his practice. As he grew, he built up a long waiting list of patients across the country and felt like he had hit the pinnacle of success. Then he had a horrible complication with a patient that tra...

Estrogen is probably the most misunderstood hormone. The demonization of estrogen by the Women's Health Initiative has done a disservice to women's health and caused a lot of fear. Between the patients who don't want to take it and the doctors who refuse to prescribe it, many women are missing out on estrogen's protective effects and suffering needlessly for years and years. I want you to know you...

The medical community is often critical of new ideas. Yet, if we don't evolve as providers, we're doing our patients a disservice. As someone who's been at the forefront of women's health throughout her career, Dr. Anna Cabeca never let the naysayers deter her. Back in her first practice in a small town in Georgia, Dr. Anna often found herself with patients with little resources. That experience f...

Which supplements do you recommend? Do they really work? How do you identify which brands are good quality? With so many supplement options available, it can be hard to sift through the noise and find the ones that make sense for you. Plus, just because something is natural doesn't automatically mean it's safe.  For over ten years, I've worked to hone in on the most beneficial supplements, and tod...

Early in her clinical career, Dr. Stephanie Estima recognized through her patients that men and women required very different approaches to achieve successful outcomes. That realization led to Stephanie developing a standard of care uniquely focused on female health and wellbeing. Now, her mission is to inspire women globally to be the best versions of themselves physically and emotionally through...

Many patients are choosing providers outside of the traditional medical system because of negative experiences with MDs. In a time where there are so many doctors, experts, and gurus to choose from, there's no need to stay with a provider that is failing you. At the same time, figuring out who is well-positioned to help you has become quite confusing. From doctors who aren't medical doctors to spe...

Nat never planned to treat women's health. Coming out of her studies, she opened up her clinic and found herself inundated with women desperate for answers to the symptoms they were experiencing. After turning many women away, thinking she couldn't help, she started to recognize a pattern of common symptoms in most of their cases. Years of study, practice, and experience later, Nat is now known as...

All too often, it's women who bear the brunt of medical device failures. A major example is Essure, which came on the market in 2002 as a female sterilization device. It was sold to physicians and patients as a non-surgical, FDA-approved option that could be inserted without much downtime. Sounds good, right? That's what many of us thought at first, but by 2016, many women reported issues, and I s...

Confession: You are being lied to about hormone testing, and, in many cases, you're either not being tested enough or being tested way too much. There are many "hormone experts" out there, and the information they share is often wildly contradictory. From providers who say hormone imbalance doesn't exist to those who only want to see results from a specific day of your cycle, how do you filter out...

Many women have a similar experience: you're feeling like crap, but when you go to the doctor, you're told everything is normal, and you're fine. Understanding your hormones is a critical foundation for advocating for yourself and being empowered when it comes to your health. To start things off, this week is all about your hormones. I'm sharing the basics every woman needs to know about her hormo...

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Confessions of a Male Gynecologist, a cheeky-sounding name for an unconventional show. I'm Dr. Shawn Tassone, a board-certified OB-GYN who's also board certified in integrative medicine. It's an unusual combination, rooted in my recognition that I couldn't help my patients as much as I wanted to through allopathic medicine alone. How we respond to our health and...

Have you ever wondered why you need to worry about your hormones? Or how hormones impact your overall health and well-being? Have you made the connection between your weight gain, heavy painful periods, hot flashes, severe fatigue, or thinning hair? Maybe you have, but like so many other women, you've been told you're fine or you're just getting older. How do you make the connection and bridge the...