
#842: Join us as we sit down with the hosts of SHE MD – world renowned OBGYN Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi, “Dr. A,” & women's advocate and influencer, Mary Alice Haney. This powerhouse duo brings unfiltered, impactful conversations to the SHE...
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Dr. Thais Aliabadi
The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
Michael Bostic
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Lauren Everts
Fantastic.
Michael Bostic
And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic.
Mary Alice Henney
Are bringing you along for the ride.
Lauren Everts
Get ready for some major realness.
Michael Bostic
Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her.
Lauren Everts
Doctor Ali Abadi and Mary Alice Henney are here to talk all different things about women's health. Every woman is going to love this episode. We talk about why women's health is ignored. Pcos, endometriosis, and infertility. And there's a lot of things that Dr. A calls out in this episode about truths that doctors miss. I love their mission to drive awareness and education. You guys have seen Dr. A all over Keeping up with the Kardashians. I'm sure you've seen her on Olivia Mum's Instagram. She really is the OB GYN to the stars. You may recognize Dr. A from her celebrity clients. She has Rihanna, all of the Kardashians. She also has Haley Bieber. She's had Halle Berry. Olivia Mum, I feel like even Nicole Kidman, Brook Shields, everyone has talked about her. And then she also is joined by Mary Alice Henny. Like I said, she is a woman's advocate and influencer. Now, this is really cool because they host a podcast called SheMD and they host it on Dear Media. So we wanted to have them on to just give you guys all the different information about early detection. We wanted to talk about weight loss medications such as Ozempic. We even wanted to reveal hard truths about PCOS and endometriosis. So this is a must. Listen, with that, let's welcome Dr. Ali Abadi and Mary Alice Henney to the him and her show.
Michael Bostic
This is the Skinny Confidential.
Mary Alice Henney
Him and her.
Lauren Everts
We're so excited to have you both here. Can you give our audience a little background, each of you?
Mary Alice Henney
I'll start because I'm closer to y' all, and then we'll move to the left.
Lauren Everts
Love it.
Mary Alice Henney
I started out in the editorial world. I was the west coast editor of gq, Allure Marie Claire, kind of, you name it. I was the Hollywood person. So I, you know, decide who help decide who was on the COVID And then I would style them. Then I became. I did television. I did a show called Ambush Makeover where I'd grab you off the street and give you makeovers. And then I created different TV shows. Then I became a celebrity stylist. And then I became a fashion designer. And I, for 10 years, had net a porter, launched us I was at Saks, so Covid hit, and I was making red carpet cocktail dresses. And so that was it for my fashion line, which was really sad. And at the same time, my parents got sick with brain disease, and so I just sort of didn't know what I was gonna do. So my friend Molly Sims was like, come on my podcast. You know, let's. And I said, okay, let me bring doctors on that I really care about, whether it's brain or premenopause or whatever that is. And that's where I met her. She came on and I said, oh, my God, this is my next mountain. If I can get your information into the lives and ears of every woman in the world, will change the world for healthcare for women. Cause it's so broken.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I'm Dr. Thais Aliabadi. I'm a gynecologist. I've been in. I've been in private practice for 24 years around women for 30 years. My biggest passion in life is to change women's health, and I've tried to advocate for it, but now with the platforms, with the podcast, the reach is bigger. So I feel like I can reach more women and hopefully help them become their own health advocate and teach them how to navigate our current healthcare system.
Lauren Everts
Out of everything that you've seen, what do you think is the biggest bullshit? If you had to call something out with all the healthcare going on, you see it behind the scenes, especially with women. What have you seen that you just can't stand?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Dismissal. 50% of women, when they go to their OB GYN, they leave thinking that their complaint was not addressed. They were dismissed. And I think that number is a lot higher than that.
Michael Bostic
And.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
And that really upsets me. If you spend a day with me in my office, by the end of the day, you'll go home with a broken heart.
Lauren Everts
What do you mean? Why?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Because, you know, I see a lot of women who have been dismissed just because that's my practice. And I see a lot of endometriosis. I see a lot of PCOS patients. PCOS and endometriosis are the top two causes of infertility in women. Top two majority of doctors and all, almost all women, men, they've never heard of these two conditions, which is heartbreaking. And by the time these 75% of PCOS patients are never diagnosed, majority of endometriosis patients are never diagnosed. In this country. It takes nine to 11 years to diagnose endometriosis. And by the time you diagnose it, these women have you know, no eggs left. I mean, in your waiting area. Someone pulled me aside and said, can you help me? Because no one's helping me. I'm getting dismissed. And it is endometriosis, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. And this is the story of my life. And that's all I see. So one message I have for women is that don't think whatever your doctor says is the truth. As much as I love doctors, they don't have time, and a lot of them are not educated on women's health. You know, when you go through an OB GYN residency, they talk about, you know, you learn how to deliver a baby, how to care for the mom during pregnancy. But we spent a very short amount of time on women's health, on the GYN aspect of it, which is from fertility to painful periods to fibroids, polyps, menopause. I mean, look how little people knew about menopause 10 years ago. And any sort of, you know, my mission to full circle back, my mission in life is to change women's health and to basically help women to be their own health advocate. And the only way to do that is by educating them. And that's why we started our podcast, because it was a place for me to go and really teach them. It's not a generalized podcast. We literally take topic by topic, and sometimes I go as detailed as the dosage of the medication that I prescribe. Obviously, I can't treat people over a podcast, but at least they. I give them a checklist that they can take with them to their appointment, and that's the first start.
Lauren Everts
Why is endometriosis happening more and more and more? Why are we seeing so much of this?
Mary Alice Henney
I don't think it is. I think it's because nobody's diagnosed.
Lauren Everts
Right?
Michael Bostic
So you're saying the issue's been there, but nobody diagnosed it. So it's just. It's just as prevalent as it's been. But nobody's known they had it.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I was in south of France, and my husband's. One of my husband's relatives lived there, and he's an obgyn, and they could never have a child. And out of curiosity, I'm like, why did you guys didn't have a. A child? They're like, well, it didn't work out. And the first thing I asked the wife, I'm like, did you have painful periods? She's like, oh, my God, it was so painful. But it. I mean, I was sitting, I looked at my husband. I mean, obviously I didn't say Anything but a wife of an obgyn. Many, many, this is many years ago. Didn't know to this day why she didn't get pregnant, you know, and I could solve it for her in two seconds. So. But I just want you to know that we talk today at, we've this weekend we've been talking about pcos, endometriosis and fertility, menopause, fertility. And, and so many women came up to me. One of them just now came up to me and said, for the past few years I've seen at least hundred doctors, I know I have endometriosis. I go in and they tell me, no, you don't.
Michael Bostic
So I am willing to look uneducated as a man on this show. What exactly is endometriosis for the uneducated and pcos?
Mary Alice Henney
Because those are the two causes of endometriosis.
Michael Bostic
That one we have talked about pcos.
Lauren Everts
So I'm up to date pcos.
Michael Bostic
No, no, I want to hear about.
Lauren Everts
Can you explain a specific.
Michael Bostic
I'm not going to explain it. We're stay. No, I know what it is. We're staying on endometriosis.
Lauren Everts
He's like PG13, you have no idea.
Michael Bostic
I just said I'm willing.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
We're going to talk about both of.
Michael Bostic
Them because let's down endometriosis.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Let's start with endometriosis. So endometriosis affects 10% of women on the planet. Close your eyes and think of 10%. Right? Yet many doctors don't know about it, don't diagnose it. Patients have never heard of it, Forget about men, they've really never heard of it. And endometriosis is when cells similar to. So from the day we get our period to the day we're menopausal, our ovaries are helping us get pregnant. They secrete a hormone, estrogen and progesterone. They get the lining of the uterus ready for pregnancy. When we don't get pregnant, the lining sheds as a form of period. Once a month, 10% of women on the planet have cells similar to the lining of the uterus, outside of the uterus, around the tubes and ovaries, in the wall of the uterus or. Or inside the ovaries. If it's inside the ovary, it's called endometrioma. If it's in the wall of the uterus, we call it adenomyosis. But the condition is endometriosis. Now, once a month, when the ovaries are secreting hormones to get the lining of the uterus ready, these implants outside of the uterus get stimulated. And I'm simplifying it. And when we don't get pregnant and the lining breaks down, these cells on the outside break down and bleed.
Michael Bostic
Okay?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
You're not supposed to have blood outside of the uterus, so it gives a lot of pain. Painful period, painful sex. If these implants are on the bladder, these patients get recurrent bladder infections. They keep bouncing into the doctor's office with a prescription for bladder and, you know, antibiotic. But they don't get better. They have pain with deep penetration during sex, they get bloated, they get back pain, and eventually, because they get dismissed, because they go to the doctor and someone says, take Motrin, take Advil. Here's a heating pad. Here's a note from school. Or you're, you know, being dramatic. Painful periods are normal. Dismissal after dismissal after dismissal until eventually their egg count and quality shoots down and their pelvis scars. Right? Their tubes get blocked. They're at risk for ectopic pregnancy outside of the uterus. They can't get pregnant because of that inflammation, that inflammatory response in the pelvis that causes scarring and adhesions and blocks the egg from getting into the fallopian tube.
Michael Bostic
The ectopic pregnanc pregnancy is when it gets stuck and doesn't come into the tube.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
It gets stuck in the tube or somewhere. You know, it could be in the ovary, but outside of the uterus.
Michael Bostic
Okay. And then they wait to get this information so long to the point where they're past the age of fertility or they're past. It's. It's.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
And they're. They basically.
Michael Bostic
I'm just trying to keep up.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Yes, absolutely. And these patients usually, let's say, show up at 34. I had a patient, 34 year old. Her egg count was zero. This woman had gone to doctors for nine years. Do you understand? We did a podcast. I did a bowel resection because of the adhesion. Sometimes they get adhesions in the bowel and almost like a bowel obstruction. We had to cut someone's bowels out. She came on our podcast just because she got dismissed. This is so common, you guys.
Mary Alice Henney
But Olivia Culpa episode, she goes deeply into her endometriosis episode. And that. I mean, she's. It's. If you listen to that, you're just. And this is happening to women all over the place. If a woman like Olivia Culpa, who has access to everything, can't get the right medical care until she found Dr. A imagine what a woman in Alabama who doesn't have.
Lauren Everts
So, you know, can I. Can I say something, though? I think that where this starts. This is going to be weird. Where this starts is when you're a little, tiny girl. And what I mean by this is there's a shame around asking questions about your vagina when you're really, really little. I had someone tell me, you know, from the second your daughter's born, use the word vagina, talk to her about her vagina, make an open dialogue. So when she comes to me when she's 6 or she's 10 or she's 13, she can have open conversation. What happens is that there's a shame around it. And so women don't want to ask questions, and then they go to a male gynecologist. And to be honest, like, that's maybe another layer of shame if they're not used to talking about it when they're little. So it seems to me it starts very young.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
It starts very young. And even when you talk about it at home, and you can still take him to female gynecologists, too, it's not just male gynecologists at that age. They usually end up in the pediatrician's office, right? Not in a GYN office.
Michael Bostic
And.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
And pediatricians don't know how to handle these patients because they don't know. They haven't been trained about it. Now, I mean, we. With so many podcasts, and, I mean, I've done my little share of bringing awareness to this condition now for many years, but luckily, that's why, you know, when you invite me to come here, I run, because I feel like if I have this mic and I, and your audience can listen to me, I can save a little girl from becoming infertile later in life and suffering from chronic pelvic pain. And these patients, let me tell you, the saddest part is any human on this planet earth with chronic pain becomes depressed. There's no one that can wake up every morning in pain and be okay. Especially when you keep going to doctors and they dismiss you and you start thinking you're crazy when. Well, let me tell you, women are not crazy. We are. We have superpowers. We are so in tune with our body. And when we think something's wrong, 99% of the time, and I'm not exaggerating, 99% of the time, the patient's right, something is wrong.
Lauren Everts
So if you were to spread the word to women everywhere, what would you have them do to prevent this from happening and to prevent infertility from happening.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
In the future, I would say be your own health advocate. There's no other way around it. Order to be your own health advocate, you need to be educated on that topic. I get very irritated when women say, I'm going for my pap smear. It's please don't say, please don't switch your well woman exam or GYN exam. That needs to be done annually. Just, you know, don't simplify it to a pap smear. Pap smear is one part of that. If you have painful period, it needs to address if you have heavy period, if you're spotting, if your periods are irregular, if you have acne, if you have hair loss, if you have facial hair, if you have family history of cancer, if all of it, your egg count needs to be tested. So all of it should be part of a well woman exam. So it's not just a pap smear. But in order to advocate for yourself, you need to educate yourself. Luckily, now we have artificial intelligence, we have chat GPT. We started this podcast not because I wanted to have a podcast, because I work a hundred hour weeks.
Michael Bostic
But don't stop the podcast. I need you to keep doing the podcast.
Mary Alice Henney
It's doing well, poor thing. I'm like, okay, after you're fin surgeries, you have to come over here and we have to shoot the podcast about pcos, endometriosis.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
And I do that because I see the pain. And I always tell her, my patients with pcos and endometriosis are so traumatized that over the years of practicing medicine, that trauma has transferred to me. I'm traumatized. And by coming on these podcasts and speaking about it, I'm healing their trauma or my trauma that I inherited from them. It is really painful to spend. And that's all I see. My practice is endo and pcos. I have, I had a patient last week, she came from Chicago. When I went in, she had her luggage. And I'm like, I was the first thing I told her. I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that you have to come from Chicago for me to treat the top cause of infertility in you. You know what the diagnosis is, but you've been so dismissed that you have to get on a flight and come to see me. That's. I'm embarrassed for me and for my. For this healthcare system that has failed you.
Mary Alice Henney
Well, and we always say about the podcast, she, I mean, no, very few people can fly to LA and go see Dr. A. That's a very small percentage. She says, I don't want you to come see me. I want to educate you enough so that you can go to any doctor and walk in with a roadmap of what needs to happen. And I don't think you could talk about endo without pcos, because they're sisters and they are, both of them together are the top cause of infertility.
Lauren Everts
What is PCOS?
Mary Alice Henney
Dr. Haney will not be answering that.
Lauren Everts
I play one on tv, but I'm actually going to let her.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So polycystic ovarian syndrome affects 15% of women in this country. Close your eyes and think of 15%. It's one of the top causes of infertility. With endometriosis, the two are the top causes. Right.
Michael Bostic
Could you have both?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So this is what's important about it.
Lauren Everts
Keep up, Michael.
Michael Bostic
I'm keeping up.
Mary Alice Henney
I'm so proud of you for asking these questions. Boys have to be educated.
Michael Bostic
I have sisters and a daughter. You know, I love this.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
And a wife. So 40% of PCOS patients have endometriosis. Yes. So when you diagnose endo, you better not miss pcos, and when you diagnose pcos, you better not miss endometriosis. PCOS is a hormonal condition that affects 15% of women in this country. If you go to Middle east, that number could go as high as 23%.
Lauren Everts
Why?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Because the at the core of it is insulin resistance. And so the countries where there's diabetes and insulin resistance are more prevalent. You see it more. It has a genetic factor to it. The problem is we don't know why. That's the big problem with pcos. We don't know what the cause is, but why some people have it. It could be inflammatory, it could be insulin resistant, it could be post birth control pill, pcos. There are different forms of it, but as at its core, it's a hormonal imbalance. And these women, generally speaking, have irregular periods and they have elevated testosterone symptoms. What are those symptoms? Facial hair, body hair, acne, hair thinning. Majority of these patients have a mood disorder. They suffer from anxiety and depression. They gain weight even though they're doing what a skinny person is doing next to them.
Lauren Everts
Gracie Norton came on our podcast and talked about this.
Mary Alice Henney
Yeah, Gracie is amazing. She's an amazing advocate for that.
Michael Bostic
So is this.
Mary Alice Henney
She was on our bucket list.
Michael Bostic
Is it. Or is it largely led by insulin resistance? Or that's just a symptom of.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
No, it's largely led by insulin Resistance. And I was getting so a lot of these patients have family history of diabetes, insulin resistance, PCOS or gestational diabetes or overweight family members. And believe it or not, anytime you combine easy weight gain with anxiety and depression, the sum of those two equal an eating disorder. So I always say, instead of whenever you see a teenage girl with an eating disorder, before you put them through a psychiatrist, a therapist and diagnose them with a mental health disorder, make sure you better make sure you're not missing pcos. If you want to find PCOS patients, go knock on these eating disorder centers. Their stories are devastating. These are young girls that are eating exactly what that skinny friend is eating at school. They're exercising, probably more, and they cannot lose one pound. So eating disorder and very prevalent in PCOS patients. And PCOS as one of the top causes of infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome does not mean cysts. These people have a lot of follicles in their ovaries. Their ovulation is suboptimal, and there are two reasons why they can't get pregnant and they end up in a fertility clinic at an older age. One is because they're not ovulating regularly. So even if they have regular periods, their ovulation is suboptimal so they can get pregnant. And the second thing is PCOS patients have a lot of eggs. So they go to the doctor and the doctor does an ultrasound, says, oh my God, you have so many eggs in your follicles. Well, it's a double edged sword because they do have a lot of follicles, but the quality goes down really fast after 30. So if you have a PCOS patient, you better diagnose them early. And if they don't have a partner, and in my office, if you can't afford it, the problem is paying for egg freezing. But I force, literally force my patients to freeze between 28 to 30. So if I have a 22 year old PCOS patient and I've checked their egg count and their egg count is high. I always tell them at 22, I'm like, just be ready, start saving. Because at 20, between 28 and 30, unless you're ready to have a baby, I will ask you to freeze eggs.
Lauren Everts
I would have loved for you to explain that to us since you knew what PCOS is. Michael.
Michael Bostic
No, I was, I would figure out the doctor take that one.
Lauren Everts
Let's let, let me ask a question. You, you kind of mentioned this a little bit. Say there's a 21 year old or an 18 year old and she finds out she has indem endometriosis and pcos. What is the roadmap of you telling her to do between 18 and 40?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I love that question.
Mary Alice Henney
It's such a good question.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So first of all, let's start with pcos, right? So majority of PCOS patients go through life, never get diagnosed, 75% and I think that number is probably around 90%. But the studies show 75% means it's 90.
Lauren Everts
For sure.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
It's for sure 90. So because these patients don't get diagnosed, I one of the things I did once we started having this reach and it has been, I've been the biggest PCOS advocate all my life. I've dedicated my practice to PCOS and endo. I started a platform called Ovaries ovii. There's an assessment test. It's. And it's free. Anyone can go. Obviously I can't diagnose you online because you're not my patient, but if you take this assessment, I can tell you whether or not you have the likelihood of having pcos, which is the biggest step in the right direction. Because once you know that you might have pcos, you become your own health advocate, right? So, so you start googling a PCOS doctor near me. And in addition to that, over the years I used to treat a lot of these. A lot of patients. One, A, they don't have access to a doctor. B, when they have access, they get dismissed. So over the years I used to give multiple supplements to these patients to treat them. So with the help of some of the smartest scientists on the planet, after many years, I created one supplement that they take once a day that will address almost all their symptoms of pcos. So that's one thing I've done for pcos. But my dream is for everyone who thinks as an PCOS diagnosis or has irregular period, is overweight, has acne, hair loss, facial hair, body hair, infertile, go take the assessment, it's free, just take it and if you have it, become your own health advocate, go to your doctor, go to a PCOS specialist. So that's one. Let's go back. What was this? What was the question again?
Lauren Everts
Meaning like what should a 21 year old do until they're 40?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Bravo. So on the second hand, painful periods, which we talked about. So here's what I do in my office. If you're 16 years old and you come to my office with your mom and your mom or the patient says, I skip school when I have my Period. I stay in bed, I can't go to the gym, I can't do sports. That's endometriosis until proven otherwise. Treat those patients, suppress their endometriosis. Don't dismiss them, number one. Number two is check their egg count. I have 16 year olds who have an egg count of a 40 year old because of endometriosis. So it's never too early to check an egg count by 18. I want every single girl on this planet to know her egg count. Genetics play a factor. Endometriosis plays a factor, PCOS plays a factor. And then you follow that egg count. The test is amh, anti malaria and hormone is covered by insurance. Most I had, we had a, this a little assistant who used to beautiful young girl who used to work for us. One day she came to me, she's like, listen, I've been listening to your podcast. I think I have endometriosis. I'm 24. I went to my doctor, my gynecologist last week and I said, I want, can you check my amh? I want to know what my egg count have really bad periods. And the gynecologist told her in Los Angeles that it would be malpractice for her to order an AMH because 24 was too young.
Lauren Everts
No one has ever told me that in my entire life to check my egg count, ever. I've never heard that. We've had a lot of people on this podcast. I've never heard to get my egg count checked ever.
Mary Alice Henney
I mean, well, do you know your lifetime risk of breast cancer?
Lauren Everts
No.
Mary Alice Henney
Okay, so when she saved Olivia Munn's life, thais had breast cancer and then you, very famously, Olivia's now really come out and change the world for breast cancer. She saved her life by doing this genetic test which I'm going to let her again talk about. But these are basic things that every woman should know. Their lifetime risk of breast cancer. And I'm going to have her explain that. And their egg count, I mean that's what we talk about, you know, it's just being, being educated. Women that are educated are fearless and so powerful. We're powerless when we don't know what to do. When we met, I had never heard of PCOS. And she started talking to me and she's. 15% of all women have it, 75% don't know that they have. Blew my mind. She told me her breast cancer journey where as a doctor she had to fight to get a mastectomy and then was told she had breast cancer. Olivia would be in a very different situation if Dr. A wasn't her patient. So you want to talk about the lifetime risk? We have all of these free tests for women on our website because this is our mission.
Lauren Everts
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Michael Bostic
Symbiotica.com TSC this episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or managing a growing brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your own terms. If you're an entrepreneur, an aspiring content creator, or anyone that is looking to just create a side hustle to either generate a little bit more buzz around you personally or to generate some extra income, Squarespace has you covered. Lauren and I have been hugely outspoken for years about owning your own platform online. So many of us fall into the trap of only creating content on these third party platforms that we really have no control over. They can ban a profile, they can decide to switch directions and not allow certain kinds of content. You never know. You're always at the mercy of these third parties. This is why it's so important to own your own. Your own E Com channel, your own newsletter, your own RSS feed, you name it. Own your own profile online. And Squarespace can help you do it. Whether you're looking for intelligent design, they can help you build and stand up a beautiful website. Whether you're looking to create payments for that side hustle or that maybe Farmer's Market shop, they can do that as well. Or if you're looking to build a full out brand, Squarespace can help you do that as well. They can also help you sell content. Whether you're looking to build a course or a subscription business, Squarespace can do it all. And of course, they have SEO tools to help you continue to get discovered. So if you've been thinking about creating that brand, that side, hustle that side, project anything online, make sure you think about having Squarespace help you do it. Of course, we have an incredible offer for our listeners and viewers. Go to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're Ready to launch squarespace.com skinny to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain, again, that's squarespace.com skinny we have a lot of doctors on this show in different fields. And you know, a lot of them are now saying, especially ones that are now out talking and screaming from rooftops and whatever their respective fields are, that a lot of the medical system was designed for emergencies or tragedies or after something happens that preventative and it's not preventative. And so now a lot of them are leaving and going, you know, and doing things with these content or private practices or things that are kind of outside of the traditional medical field to go and get this information to people. And we had a doctor on here, he started a very prominent company in la and he was saying that him as a doctor, he was so traumatized after all these surgeries and doing all this work and he was so out of shape and so sick himself. And he realized, like, after all the schooling, he actually didn't even know how to get healthy and he had to leave and go figure that out. And I think as people that are outside of the medical field, we just assume every doctor knows all this stuff and is going to tell us this stuff. And until you start having these conversations, you don't realize you really have to be your own advocate.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
But a woman's health is a different monster for the number of times. One of the moms told me one day, she's like, as a woman, when you go to the doctor and you complain about anything, the diagnosis is always between your ears, which means it doesn't matter what you complain about. They call you anxious, they tell you you're PMSing, they say it's in your head, they tell you you're weak. And that needs to end because it's so far from the truth. And that's why women show up so late with advanced stage breast cancer. I've been practicing, I've been in my own private practice for 24 years almost, and I've never lost a patient under my care to cancer. You can't tell me that's lucky you. It's not luck. I'm so vigilant with my patients. I take every symptom they tell me seriously. I have a story just to bring that home for you. One of our patient who's coming on our podcast one day. Young, beautiful, influencer. She's living her best life. Beautiful daughters at home, loves her husband. Once she had six months to a year of bloating, bloating, bloating, bloating, bloating. And I had delivered her babies. One day she came to me and she's like, I'm bloated. I've done everything. I've SIBO testing, supplement, I've changed my diet, the list, on and on. I've seen so many GI doctors. And then you know what she did? She stood up in front of me in the room, she looked at me in the eyes and said, something's wrong with me, something's wrong. And I'm like, I believe you. Let me put a camera and look inside. That's it. Do you know how many patients I see for bloating? But this woman looked me into my eyes and said, something's wrong with me. I took her, I did laparoscopy. She had little lesions everywhere. They were atypical for endometriosis. But I'm like, maybe it's endo. Regardless, I resected all of it laparoscopically, Send it to pathology. The pathologist called me after a few days. She's like, how did you. Why did you take this patient to the operating room? I'm like, why? She's like, this is one step before peritoneal carcinomatosis. It's a cancer of the peritoneum which can kill you like a blink of an eye. And this woman had gone to so many doctors, so many doctors, so that procedure was life changing for her. And that's why I say women. If you're listening to this, if you feel like something's wrong, almost always something is wrong. And don't just, you know, if someone's dismissing you, go ask for a second, third, fourth, fifth opinion right now, thanks to Chad, GPT, you can just punch in your symptoms and nine out of 10 you're going to get the right diagnosis.
Lauren Everts
What was Olivia Mum's story? I know she's come out and talked about you multiple times. I've seen her on her Instagram.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So Olivia, young, super healthy. She had just. I had just delivered her baby and she came to me during her pregnancy. If you're my patient, you know that it doesn't matter where you come from after, you know, by 30, I have your lifetime risk of breast cancer calculated. Why is that so important? If ev, you know, just like you know your name, your last name, your date of birth and Social Security number, as women, you need to know what your lifetime risk of breast cancer is. There's nothing negotiable about that. Why is it so important? If your lifetime risk is 20% or more, you fall into the high risk category. An average American has a 12.5% chance of getting breast cancer. One out of eight women will get breast cancer, right? 85% of these women don't have family history. So don't tell me I don't want to do imaging because I don't have it in my family. Majority of women with breast cancer don't have a family history. As an American woman, you have a 12.5% chance of having breast cancer. Now, if you have dense breasts, if you're tall, if you have family history, if you have dense breasts, if you have extremely dense breasts, these things keep adding up. If you're overweight, they start adding up and your lifetime risk can go up. So you can't assume what that number is. You have to calculate it. If that lifetime risk is 20% or more, you do not wait until 40 to start breast imaging, which is the message every single woman is getting in this country when they go to their gynecologist, wait till 40 to start a mammogram. How many times have you heard that?
Lauren Everts
That's what all I've heard, right?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
If your lifetime risk is high, you can start imaging as early as 30. And that imaging is not just mammogram and ultrasound. You have to add MRI to it if you have family history of any cancer. In addition to that, you also have to take a genetic test. In my office, I do the Myris genetic test. I don't know if you've heard of Marriott. They check for 48 cancer causing genes. They calculate your, your tyrocusic risk of breast cancer, which is the formula. I'm telling you, it's available to everyone. We have it for free at gmd. You just punch in your information and it tells your lifetime risk. But what Marriott does is that in addition to those two, two information, they look in your DNA for tiny little markers. These are markers that individually don't have power. But some women walk around with tons of these markers in their DNA. So their tyracusic risk score based on just history alone, height, weight and family history could be, let's say 18%. But when you look for these tiny little markers, not the 48 cancer causing genes. These are little tiny markers that number that 18% could shoot up to 38%. That's why it's so important if you have family history, to add the genetic test in addition to tyrokusic. Now this Olivia's story. She had family history. Her mammogram and ultrasound were completely negative because she was at the time, I think, 41. She had just delivered ordered breast imaging and it was normal. And one day when she came back and I had done the Myris genetic test on her, and when her results came back, I told her, you know, that she needed an MRI at first. You know, most women don't know why they would need an mri. I mean, it's not, you know, they usually. Most doctors don't order it unless you have family history. So because of her lifetime risk, I had her. Her lifetime risk at the time was 37%. So I called her, I said, you need to do an mri. I think she was a little apprehensive because her friends told her, why is your doctor so paranoid? You don't really need it. For my patients or people who know me, I don't negotiate. If you're my patient, I don't negotiate because I'm responsible for keeping you healthy. So she went and did her mri. They found two lesions on her right and one on her left. All three. She had a very aggressive form of breast cancer, but we caught it so early. She did a double mastectomy, obviously. Cause it was bilateral and it was super aggressive. And she had a tiny little baby at home. She came to my office, she's like, what would you do? I'm like, well, I did a double mastectomy for myself, so, you know, that's what I would recommend. And she's so lovely. I don't know if you know her. She's the sweetest, most amazing human on this planet. And it took her a minute to heal because the trauma of being diagnosed at such a young age with an aggressive breast cancer is really hard. But it took her, I think, maybe a year. And in March or April of last year, you know, I used to tell her in the office, I'm like, you know, I. I made a documentary because my journey was crazier than her journey, my breast cancer journey, and how I had to advocate for myself. And I told her, I'm like, you know, I don't have a voice. But someone like you, you can save millions of women, millions of women if you just talk about the Tyre Cusic risk calculator. And she did it. And on the day she released her post and talked about this, this risk assessment tool, I think that one of the cancer government's cancer sites crashed, Crashed, completely crashed. Because people, I mean, even today in an audience of, I don't know, 200 people, I said, raise your hand if you know your lifetime risk of breast cancer. Five people raised their hands. People haven't heard of it. Do you know your lifetime risk of breast cancer? Do you know what I'm saying? That's what's so devastating for me every time I hear of a celebrity or a patient dying at a young age. Stage 4 breast cancer, right. We were talking. There's no preventative.
Lauren Everts
Do you have to do all four things that you said to get your lifetime risks risk?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
No. So tyrakusic we have it on gmd. They can go on gmd and it's a formula. You punch in, you answer a bunch of questions. They're very basic in America. You have to put the birad scoring because that's how we score mammograms. And if you want to know whether or not you have the density your.
Mary Alice Henney
Breasts are with the birad score.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So it's the way we score your mammogram findings.
Lauren Everts
So you have to get a mammogram to then put it into your calculator, usually.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So not necessarily. So one of the questions, so the questions are height, weight, age, family history, whether or not you're Ashkenazi, age at first period, age at menopause, whether or not you've done hormone replacement therapy. So they're very basic. Question 1 question is density of the breast. If you don't know your density of the breast, don't mark it. It's a density of the breast is a finding on imaging. So you can't touch your breast like I have.
Mary Alice Henney
I go like this, I'm like, ooh, they're big. Like that is not a dense breast, that you can only find it in a mammogram.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So mammogram or mri, the radiologist usually makes a note. And for women with extremely dense breast, these women are at a higher risk of breast cancer. And the problem with extremely dense breast, which was my case, is the mammogram might not be as accurate. And 2D mammograms, the two dimensional, it's just an X ray of your breast. People with dense breasts on a 2D mammogram, their breasts just the area looks white so the radiologist can't really comment. So they say based on what we see, there are no lesions, but they can't really evaluate the breast. Breast. That's why having a 3D mammogram and adding an ultrasound is crucial for women with dense breasts. And 50% of women have dense breast tissue. And the younger you are, the denser your breasts. The older you get, the less dense. But these are basics. I mean, we cover all of this in gmd. But if I, if it was a world, you know, I always say I would love for women on this planet earth to give me one hour. If, if we would pause the world for a second and let me talk to these women for one hour, I will. I would arm them with everything. At least the most important things for them to know, from egg, from endometriosis to pcos to breast cancer, and how to be their own health advocate to STDs to all of it. We can. These are very simple topics. I'm not, this is not rocket science.
Lauren Everts
What was your journey with breast cancer that's so crazy that you like work in this field and this happened to you? I can't even believe it.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
You know what? It changed my perspective because I had never been sick prior to that. And once I became a patient in this broken healthcare system, I realized that if a woman in my position had to fight so hard to save her own life, other women have no chance, have no chance.
Lauren Everts
How did you even discover that?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So I was 48. I went for my mammogram and they did, they found something in my left breast. At the time, I was 48, I was, I was a vegetarian for seven years. I had no family history of any cancer, let alone breast cancer. I never smoked, I never did drugs, I rarely drink alcohol. I had never been overweight. I was not on hormones. So I was like the perfect woman who would never get quote, unquote breast cancer. So I, they did a biopsy, they found some atypical lobular cells and they told me, there's some atypical cells, let's remove it. Great. I went, they removed it. I went back to my post op check and my doctor was a breast cancer specialist, said, okay, go and come back in six months. I said, okay. She's like, we're going to repeat your imaging. Okay. I went to my office and I was sitting in my office having lunch with the myriad drug rep. And I had always calculated my patient's lifetime risk of breast cancer. And he looked at me, he's like, I was telling him about my breast cancer. I mean, my breast Biopsy. And he said, did you ever calculate your lifetime risk? I'm like, no, that's a good idea. Let me do it. So I started punching my information in, and one of the questions says, have you been diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia? I put a check in front of it. As soon as I put a check in front of it, and I hit calculate this number popped on the screen. 37 and a half percent. I almost fell off my chair, you know? Cause I'd done it for my patients for years, but it never even crossed my mind that I would be one of them. And I was like, this can't be right. I logged out, logged in again, 37 and a half percent. I called my doctor. I'm like, wait a minute. You told me to go and come back in six months. I have a 37% chance of getting breast cancer. I have three little kids at home. I love my husband. I. My job. I don't want to get breast cancer. She's like, come see me. I went to see her. She's like, listen, you're too young. What do you want to do? I'm like, remove my breast. She's like, you're crazy. You're so young. I'm like, no, no, no. I had implants at the time. I'm like, I don't care. Just remove my implant. Remove my breast tissue and put a new implant. She's like, no, it's disfiguring. It's such a traumatic surgery. You don't want to do it. Trust me, you're okay. You're going to be fine. You're so healthy. Look at you. Why are you so paranoid? Go do it when you're 50. You know, you go home if I. I always say this. If you had. If I had told you you have a. You're boarding a plane that has a 37 and a half percent chance of crashing. Would you board that plane with your children? So why is it that people called me crazy? I went, I asked so many doctors. They all called me paranoid crazy. Until one doctor told me, you know what?
Mary Alice Henney
What?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
You should do this. And I pretty much convinced her to do this for me. And she sent me for an mri. And I went to my hospital to do the mri. And on the day of my mri, the day before my double mastectomy, the radiologist was like, why are you here? I'm like, oh, I'm having a double mastectomy tomorrow. So they wanted an mri. She's like, you're having a double mastectomy? With a negative mammogram ultrasound. And your MRI was benign. I'm like, yeah, because my lifetime risk is high. I never forget that moment. I was sitting. They were starting an IV because you needed a contrast with mri. As she was walking away from me, she turned around, she's like, you're crazy. And. Well, I had my double mastectomy. Apparently I bled a lot. It was a complicated, you know, because my surgeon at the time, who was willing to do this, I think had done four mastectomies because no one else wanted to do my mastectomy. Pretty much it took 10 hours. I got two units of blood transfusion. But so many people had called me crazy that I hired a videographer to video video to videotape my journey. And I don't remember this, but I saw it on video. As soon as they wheeled me out of the operating room, the first thing I said to my husband, I started having tears come down from my eyes. And I said, go tell my ch. Go tell our daughters, mommy will never come home telling them that she has. Like, I would never come home telling them I have breast cancer. And I was so happy. And even though I was sick and I was getting blood transfusion, I could fly. I was so proud of myself. I felt like this giant weight was off my shoulder and I could go live my. My life. A week later, I get a call from my reconstructive surgeon who called me and said, thais, I need to talk to you. And he told me that on my path report, not in the left breast where they will. They were digging for years on my right breast. At six o' clock, I had invasive breast cancer. So not even. It was stage one invasive breast cancer.
Lauren Everts
So did you feel an intuition that you had had that or did you just think you were going to get it? Like, what? There. It must have been more than just.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I'm a very logical person. 37 and a half percent. Boarding that plane was a huge risk for me, and I didn't want to board that plane. And my surgeon the day before my surgery said, I told her, why do you guys argue so much? I'm a mother of three little children. Why is it so hard for people to do my double mastectomy? This is me. I understand. I take the risk. It's okay for me to. For you to do this. Why is it an uphill battle? You know what she told me? She said, because we have really good chemo for breast cancer.
Mary Alice Henney
Oh, and this is one of the top OBGYNs in the world. And she's having to fight for herself in that way. That's the point of it all. That's the reason we started gnp.
Michael Bostic
So what do most people do? They would just give up. They would just say, be told they.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Would not give up. They would go, come back in six months. And you know, with my cancer, the type of cancer that I had, chemo doesn't really work in advanced stages. That's why people die. Do you understand? That's why women die of breast cancer. I'm not saying we can prevent all of it, but we can catch these high risk women early. And I'm not saying go remove your breasts. That's not my message. But you need to know that if you're 20% or more, you need to start imaging as early as 30. If you have family history, you need genetic testing. If you're high risk risk, in addition to mammogram and ultrasound, you need an MRI. If your lifetime risk is north of 30%, besides doing imaging every six months, you have two options. One, you can take a medication like tamoxifen that will block 50% of cancers from coming. So it can reduce your risk of breast cancer within 10 years by 50%. So it can drop you from 40% to 20%, from 30% to 15%, which is significant. You have to take it one a day for five years.
Michael Bostic
Are there side effects?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
There are side effects. It can give you hot flashes, vaginal dryness, brain fog. But you know what? For someone who lost their mom at age 14, 25% might be a high number. Right? It's all relative. And if your risk is high, then as a woman, you should have the option of doing a double mastectomy, which is what I did. So when you deal with cancer and you know what the outcome could have been had I not done it, I never get sad about the breast cancer. I only get sad when I think of what could have happened to me and my children had I not advocated for myself.
Lauren Everts
And you have had a front row seat to seeing what breast cancer does to people's lives. So I'm sure you were even more, who wants chemo?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
How can you look a mother in the eyes and say, we have good chemo for breast cancer. That's how women get treated in this healthcare care system. But it doesn't even. But you know, breast cancer is again, one slice of that, well, woman exam. Knowing your lifetime risk, doing the genetic test, then you get to all these other things. So that's why, honestly, we started gmd. And I always say if you told me you can go back five years and not have breast cancer and live that life, or which was an amazing life, by the way, I was still advocating for women. But my advocacy and my passion for helping women around the world who I've never met, I've never seen, or have never talked to before, is beyond anything I could have imagined. It's my mission in life and I will help change women's health. I can't do it by myself, but together we can. We can, you know, we can do this.
Michael Bostic
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Lauren Everts
Do you know what I want after I deliver this baby? A freezing cold Spritz. Spritz Society. I like this brand so much I actually did a collab with them. We did Spritz Society Times the Skinny Confidential. My obvious favorite flavor is that flavor. It's the pink lemonade made and it's officially available nationwide. So you can get it in 40 states at target. You can get it at H E B Gopuff. You can get it at Jewel Osco. You can also get it online@spritzsociety.com it comes in a cute pink can. And you should know that this award winning can cocktail brand was founded by my girlies Claudia and Jackie from the Toast. You guys know it. It is a part of the Dear Media Network work. Spritz society has won USA's Today Best Canned Cocktail three years in a row. You gotta try though the pink lemonade. So how I do it is I crack open a can and I put it over ice in a wine glass. Sometimes I add a sprig of basil. There is no fake stuff in it, it's real white wine, a real cane sugar, and six ingredients or less. They also have a peach, but I just prefer that pink lemonade. I'm telling you, Strawberry, rose and lemon. It tastes like a bold strawberry lemonade. It's not too sweet. Head to spritz society.com to find a store near you. And don't forget to follow Spritz on Instagram. They're always dropping exciting new flavors and throwing fun events. Spritz Society summer starts here.
Mary Alice Henney
I think you talked about something. You talked about shame with women, and we talked about shame. We talk about this a lot. Is that. That our mothers had so much shame in menopause and they weren't allowed to get hormones. They. They suffered in silence. Our generation, we're talking more about menopause, a little bit about pcos, a little bit about endometriosis and breast cancer. But there is Olivia and I talk about this a lot where she said the only time she cried, she never cried, not one moment. Because her. Her. Her mission was to save her own life. Like, she knew from Dr. A what to do, but the first time she had, she looked in the mirror after having, you know, the reconstructive surgery, she cried and. Cause she said they were misshapen. And then, you know, to see her now and to have her in the skims campaign and she showed the scar of her mastectomy, and she came on the podcast and she talked about it. So, I mean, obviously Dr. A saved her life, but the shame seems to be going away. Women aren't ashamed anymore. You know, we're saying, hey, this is me, and, you know, I have a mastectomy or, or with pcos, I can't lose weight. I have acne, I have facial hair. They're ashamed to talk about it. Women that have endometriosis and can't have sex because it's so painful, they're ashamed of that. Women in menopause are ashamed to say, like, I'm not fertile anymore. I feel like I'm thrown away at this age. And that's what all of us are doing. That's what you're doing by talking about this on your podcast. If we can take the shame away and make women empowered by, again, the knowledge, they're. They can do anything. You know, they can save their own life. So I think, like, getting rid of that shame that you were asking about earlier and saying I think is important.
Lauren Everts
I think it starts at home of just making it not a topic that's shameful.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Every.
Lauren Everts
Every woman Has a vagina.
Mary Alice Henney
Like, it's not like we say, vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina. And my boy, I love this man sitting here asking these questions. I have all boys, and when they were little, we named it the right thing. And they need to know about menopause and pcos and endometriosis because they'll have a wife or a mother or a sister who's gonna be going through breast cancer 1 in 8. So they need to be armed. You know, Dr. A always says, I like men to come one time to a woman's well visit so that they can sort of look what they're going through. When a woman is going through perimenopause and menopause, voice menopause, all these things are happening to her. My husband sat me down and thank God I have this podcast. And he, he literally said to me, I think you, you have dementia. I think that there's something wrong with you. I'm like, listen to the menopause, you know, episode. I have brain fog and hormones are going to help and my brain's gonna come back. But right now, you can have a conversation that's super important. I'm not gonna remember it next, you.
Lauren Everts
Know, he says, when I'm pregnant. He goes, what's wrong with you?
Mary Alice Henney
I'm like, what's wrong with me?
Lauren Everts
He says, what's wrong with me? I'm like, he's, he's like, you seem a little forgetful. I'm like, because the baby's taking all.
Mary Alice Henney
My vitamins and taking all your brain.
Michael Bostic
I did see, literally, like, it wasn't a bad crash where you crashed the whole side of the car.
Lauren Everts
Get over it.
Michael Bostic
And I said, did you do this? And she got mad at me for asking if she did it. I'm like, I, I, she, I don't know if that was me. I'm like, you're the only person that could be.
Lauren Everts
You lose your brain.
Mary Alice Henney
It's the same thing a minute pregnant. Same thing. When I was pregnant, I was like, I can't find my keys. No, it's, it's, I can't remember what I said.
Lauren Everts
It's, it's like you have had Today you woke up, you're like, I had to wake up at 4:45 with the dog. I'm like, trying to get.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
That is early exactly.
Michael Bostic
My, Listen, I'm, I have independently things, my own ailments, but I realize I can't talk about them when she's pregnant.
Lauren Everts
I have a question. This is, this is an ignorant question. I'm not making a statement so everyone can calm down. I'm just wondering, is there a correlation between all of the hormones from IVF and cancer? Because you see it, you see go up.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
That's very. So. So to answer your questions, the one thing I worry about with my patients are these patients who've done 8, 9, 10, 12 cycles of IVF. For those patients, they might have a slightly higher chance of ovarian cancer. And when they're menopausal. And definition of menopause is no period for 12 months. And the average age of menopause being 51 and a half. When they're completely menopausal, I might offer prophylactic surgery to remove their ovaries, especially if they have family history of it or obviously any genetic mutations. But other than that, most patients don't have as many like my patients worry about. Not two cycles of egg freezing. Absolutely not. They're very, very safe. If you have to freeze eggs, you have to do it. If you have to freeze embryo.
Lauren Everts
So it's not freezing. But what about the part where the, where you.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
But they only get a couple of weeks of it, so it's not.
Lauren Everts
So the freezing is, Is not a big deal. But I'm talking about, and maybe I'm saying this wrong, the part where they, like, put the egg in you with all the shots.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
No, that's fine.
Lauren Everts
Okay. That's fine.
Mary Alice Henney
I think there's a lot of myths.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Very, very safe.
Michael Bostic
What about. You mentioned this earlier, quickly. What about hormone replacement therapy in the correlation to cancer? Because that, you know, men and women. Do you worry about that at all?
Mary Alice Henney
I love this question.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So I would say hormone replacement is crucial for most women going through menopause. We have more data. She mentioned that the Women's Health Initiative. There were a lot of flaws with that study. When I started practicing medicine, we would give hormones to every single woman. Now, that was an extreme. If you were. Were 85 years old and you walked to an office, they would start you on hormone replacement. But now we have so much more information than the WHI study came out and boom, everyone stopped hormones. And I think the women in that generation really, really suffered. And for women who've gone through menopause, from hot flashes to night sweats to brain fog, lack of sleep, hair lost, skin thinning, vaginal dryness, painful sex, weight gain, joint pain, I mean, the less complex goes on and on and on. It's one of the most horrific time for women. And hormone replacement really, really eases that Transition, especially when prescribed the first 10 years of menopause.
Lauren Everts
How come I know someone that was on hormone replacement that's close to us that, that they found something in her breasts. Like it was not cancerous, but they found something and they told her to get off hormones because that's Could.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
That's the.
Lauren Everts
We got to send her to you.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So, I mean, obviously I can't have a comment because I haven't seen the path report, but let's say if you have someone with a lifetime risk of 48% for breast cancer, I would say, you know what? I'll be uneasy. Not only she can't be. She shouldn't be on hormones. She should be on something that would block the estrogen and lower that risk. So those patients can do a double mastectomy and then get hormone replacement. If someone has breast cancer or their biopsy is cancer, sometimes friends don't share all the details. Right. If she had an early, early stage one breast cancer that was removed, she. She won't be a candidate for hormone replacement if her cancer was estrogen receptor positive or progesterone receptor positive. So. But generally speaking, hormone replacement is extremely safe and it is a game changer.
Michael Bostic
For women, I think so for men, too. Like we. I. People ask me on the show, they're like, are you on hormone replacement? I said, it's not. I'm not right now. But it's a matter not of not. But when I think at certain points it's dangerous for your hormone levels especially to plummet. To plummet. Yeah.
Lauren Everts
You both have spoken about Ozempic. What is your feelings on that?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So.
Mary Alice Henney
That'S why we met. No, I'm not going to talk about it. I just think it's the most important. I mean, we're learning so much research about how geoprotective it is and how heart protective it is this.
Michael Bostic
So is that because it solves insulin resistance?
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Not really. So let's talk about this. So actually, I'm just wondering.
Michael Bostic
I'm trying to keep.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
No, no, no. It helps.
Lauren Everts
Dr. Boston is on the case.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
It helps. It helps. It helps insulin resistance for sure.
Mary Alice Henney
But by the way, this is such a good qu. This is what I do in the podcast. I ask the questions because I'm not a doctor, so I'm not.
Michael Bostic
I have no shame around. Because I know.
Mary Alice Henney
Me either. I'm like, what does that mean?
Michael Bostic
I could say, listen, I was never put to school on this. I'm just. Yeah, this is my school.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So. In 2014, these medications were introduced to the market. And in 2014, I started using these medications for my PPCOS patients. In 2014, I had patients who would lose 60, 70, 80 pounds. Back then I was using Trulicity, a different name. And from there I went to using Victoza. From Victoza to Saxenda, from Saxenda to Wegovy, Wegovy to, I'm sorry, Saxenda, I think to Ozempic, Ozempic to Wegovy and then to Mounjaro and Zepbound. So the medications have gotten better and better over the years with better weight loss profile and less symptoms. I because these medications have been a game changer for my patients for almost 11 years now. I actually get upset when people have negative comments about these meds because for women who suffer from obesity, from insulin resistance, they're overweight, these medications have been life changing for them. And it's easy for a thin woman to sit and judge them. And these are women who are always told, well, eat less, exercise more, you're probably eating unhealthy. Which is not true. It's not true for these women and it's so unfair to them. And for the first time in the history of the world, for the past 11 years, we've had a medication to treat these patients and it's been an absolute game changer. I tell you, when it exploded in this country, I was probably one of the handful of people in this country who had so much experience with these meds because I was putting everyone on it because of pcos. And in all these years, I've never seen a bad, you know, side effect. I've seen side effects but nothing dangerous from it. The most common side effects being nausea, heartburn, constipation, fatigue. But if you tell these patients, but you know what it is when you, you, when you have someone who's 280 pounds, she's already tired, she can't exercise, her self esteem is probably affected, she's not feeling well. And as you drop their weight, they get motivated to get up, they get motivated to exercise because for the first time in their life, they're actually seeing results off.
Lauren Everts
This is what our friend was telling us the other day when we were out. She's like, I was 260 pounds. She's like, I, I was starving myself, trying everything, I couldn't do it. She's like, I got on her confidence back. She got her confidence working out every day.
Michael Bostic
She's no, I think like what we talk about on, I definitely agree with you. I think it could be a tremendous tool Especially for people that are struggling with that kind of weight loss journey. I think where sometimes like there's nuance to it is you'll have somebody who's really not struggling, but they want to trim off like 15, 20 pounds. And they're not not working with a medical consultant or not looking at any of their, they're just, they're just kind of doing and they don't really know how to manage, how to use it. I think that's where people can get in trouble. But again, if someone's obese and struggling, I think the benefits far outweigh not using the tool.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I also use it, you know, sometimes in my perimenopausal or menopausal woman. It's very hard. You know, as we get older, we become more insulin resistant. Especially with history of, let's say you have PCOS and you're going through menopause, it's really difficult to lose even 10 pounds. So sometimes I use it, let's say I have a 54 year old who cannot lose that 20 pounds with diet and exercise.
Mary Alice Henney
Yeah.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
So you know that. But I agree with you, it needs to be under the supervision of a physician.
Michael Bostic
The way I think about it is like you'll see a lot of young 20 year old men start getting on hormone replacement therapy because they want to get, get strong in the gym and they're not consulting with medical professionals. And then what they don't realize their fertility plummets and they're, you know, they have all these things because they're like, oh, I can use this tool. I look at all of those tools in the same light. So you gotta work with someone who knows their shit.
Mary Alice Henney
And I think it's influencer medicine that's, that's really dangerous. And that's another reason that we started the podcast, which is you need medically backed, science backed, you know, you need to know the newest research, you need to be aware and sometimes and listen. I have tons of friends that are amazing influencers, but when they start talking medicine, it makes me a little scared. And I think that you really have to know, you know, go to medical school or, you know, we should be getting our medical advice from people that went to medical school. And I think that what the influencers can do in such a beautiful way is share their own journeys and have other people with their own journeys. And that's what we do on the podcast too, when we have all these.
Lauren Everts
Amazing women and then bring the experts on.
Mary Alice Henney
And then bring the experts on. So they're sharing Their story, Sis was our first episode, and she shared her pcos and her endometriosis. But nobody should be taking medical advice from sza, so you have to be talking to the expert that helped her get to where she was. Kim Kardashian came on. She was talking about psoriasis. We had Dr. Wallace, who was the number one autoimmune expert. He explained medically what happened to her, how he treated her. She was so open with her journey with it, and that really helped. Helps people that are. Again, the shame. She was saying, I at the Met Gala had to, you know, I had psoriasis all over my face. She explained her shame in that moment. And you think Kim Kardashian, who's so beautiful and kind of the. The epitome of beauty for a lot of people, her talking about that is really important, but it was also really important to have Dr. Wallace talking about the medicine and the science behind it.
Michael Bostic
I think people were just in. We're an interesting time right now, especially in the medical field, because to your point earlier, some medical professionals, if they call you crazy or they don't take your symptoms seriously, it's like, well, you maybe don't want to listen to them. But then others like yourself, who are really advocating and getting the word out there, I think people, you know, are really just trying to figure out who to listen to and who to trust, because it'd be a. You know, it's a tragedy when you go to someone and they either deny you care or tell you that you're crazy when you actually have something. But again, like, sometimes that happens because these people. Oh, that's. My doctor said that, so it must be true. We talk about. There's so much nuance to this space, but again, I think it comes down.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
To being your own advocate, even as a physician. I got a call a couple of weeks ago and a physician called me and said, you know, there's this doctor in Santa Monica who thinks maybe you're not diagnosing endometriosis. Like, I'm over exaggerating. And thank God, because I have a. I take a video. Every time I go in the pelvis, I take a full video. I zoom on the lesions of endometriosis. I have biopsy path report.
Lauren Everts
It's like James Cameron in the Titanic.
Mary Alice Henney
She is James Cameron.
Lauren Everts
Like, she's in there.
Mary Alice Henney
She's in that vagina videoing it. It's amazing.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
It's not vagina. It's in the abdomen.
Mary Alice Henney
See, that's why. That's why I Play a doctor on TV instead of really being.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
But in reality is, even when you want to help women, there are other people who want to take you down. So it's. It's. It's a. It's a difficult world for women.
Michael Bostic
Like, just so you know, this episode will go out, and I imagine 95% of people will be very happy and excited.
Lauren Everts
But there will be TikTok clips in this one.
Michael Bostic
We are no strangers to having people like yourself on and getting flack for even having the conversation.
Lauren Everts
I don't care anymore. Let's ask the burning question. If the guy gets his balls clipped. I love this question, is, does prostate cancer go up?
Michael Bostic
I really don't want.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I think you need to ask a urologist that question. Okay. But as a gynecologist, I will tell you that for up to two months after a vasectomy, you can still ejaculate sperm. And there are couples I might want.
Michael Bostic
A little more than two months.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
No, but once you.
Lauren Everts
I've had a lot of sperm. This has been a lot of sperm for me. I am sperm cow.
Michael Bostic
I'm trying to avoid the clipping in general. Scares the hell out of me.
Mary Alice Henney
Well, let me just tell you the opposite story of this. And I told my boys this story who are leading into the age of being sexually active. I said, listen, when I got married with my second husband, he said, we have five children together. I don't want any more kids. And I saw. And I was dying. I'm missing a baby. And I was like, okay, totally. I said, I'm on birth control. Any. Any.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Don't tell me you were lying. I totally lied.
Lauren Everts
I would lie. I get that. If I wanted another kid and he didn't, I would lie.
Michael Bostic
I mean, we can. I don't have as many kids as she wants.
Lauren Everts
Well, I'm not being honest. I would lie.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Women don't listen to them and don't listen.
Mary Alice Henney
I want to tell you as a man.
Lauren Everts
So finally, scoop it up there.
Mary Alice Henney
Yeah.
Lauren Everts
Put your legs up.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
I have patients who come to my office. They're like, can I borrow a syringe? And I'm like, what for?
Mary Alice Henney
I didn't.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
You know what they do? They go to. To the condom and they pull the sperm out and they inject themselves.
Mary Alice Henney
But I didn't do that. But my husband had to get a vasectomy finally, because I had a baby and a miscarriage. And he goes, you're not on the pill. It's still tricking me if we're married. And so up until the point. He had the miscarriage, and two weeks after, he's had more sex than he ever had in his life. I was trying. I was trying. I was trying. I was like, give me that other baby.
Michael Bostic
Which scares me. So I don't know. I'm to.
Lauren Everts
I'm in charge of that.
Michael Bostic
I heard it's. I heard it's pain more painful than people say.
Lauren Everts
So you don't know. We don't know if prostate cancer goes.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Up, you know, but I don't want to comment on that because I don't feel men.
Mary Alice Henney
I like it.
Lauren Everts
I just thought I'd ask.
Michael Bostic
She said not to get one, so.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Thank God I don't treat prostate.
Michael Bostic
She said. She said. So you're saying don't get one.
Lauren Everts
It's okay.
Michael Bostic
We don't have to get one.
Mary Alice Henney
I don't think that's what she said.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
Go back to women.
Lauren Everts
Where can everyone find you both? Pimp yourselves out your Instagram. How do they take the quiz? Where do they find the podcast that is with Dear Media, which is so exciting. Tell us.
Mary Alice Henney
The podcast is called SheMD. It's on YouTube. It's everywhere. You listen to your podcast on CMD. We have the exact genetic test she uses, the lifetime risk. We have a link to ov.com. oVI is launched three months ago. It's o v I I dot com. You can go on it and take the exact questions for free that she gives every single patient that comes into her office. Office. You can also get the supplement the point of it is. Which will treat all of your. A lot of those symptoms. Our social media handle is. Oh, okay. GMT podcast at TMD. Podcast at Thais. Dr. Thais Ali body haney official. And it's ov. What's. I don't.
Michael Bostic
Well, either way, we're gonna link it all out.
Mary Alice Henney
I should know this. This is terrible find.
Michael Bostic
I mean, we'll. We'll find it and we'll put it all in the notes so everybody can find it easily.
Mary Alice Henney
You guys, thank you for having us. I think this conversation was. So you kind of, like, condensed all that we do on, you know, some. Some of our episodes.
Michael Bostic
But if they want the detail, they got to go listen to the podcast. They can find everything.
Mary Alice Henney
Every single episode. It's anything you could think about for women's health. We've done 53 episodes. If you want to know about menopause, if you want to know pcos, if you want to know about endometriosis, htds. You know, every single condition that a woman will have from the beginning of her journey to and I will wanna say we talked a lot about pcos. Greg Renfro, one of my friends that started Beauty Counter Her Daughter, the mother daughter story, what you were kind of asking that one is that will will break your heart and just and but it will for a mother struggling for a daughter not knowing what to do. Really listen to that episode.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi
But thank you for having us.
Mary Alice Henney
Yeah, it was so much fun. And thank you for dear media. Honestly.
The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast: Dr. Thais Aliabadi & Mary Alice Haney on Infertility Issues Doctors Miss, PCOS, Endometriosis, & Why Women’s Health Is Ignored
Hosts: Lauryn Bosstick & Michael Bosstick | Guests: Dr. Thais Aliabadi & Mary Alice Heney Release Date: May 15, 2025
In this compelling episode of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, hosts Lauryn Bosstick and Michael Bosstick engage in an enlightening conversation with two prominent figures in women's health advocacy: Dr. Thais Aliabadi, a renowned gynecologist, and Mary Alice Heney, a seasoned women's advocate and influencer. The episode delves deep into the often-overlooked issues surrounding women's health, specifically focusing on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and infertility.
Mary Alice Heney [02:12]: Mary Alice Heney brings a wealth of experience from the editorial and fashion worlds, having served as the West Coast editor for major publications like GQ, Allure, and Marie Claire. Her transition into health advocacy was fueled by personal challenges, including her parents' battle with brain disease. This journey led her to co-host the SheMD podcast on Dear Media, aiming to educate and empower women about critical health issues.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [03:21]: Dr. Aliabadi is a distinguished gynecologist with 24 years of experience in private practice. Her passion lies in transforming women's health by advocating for better awareness and education. Known for her work with high-profile clients such as Rihanna, the Kardashians, and Halle Berry, Dr. Aliabadi leverages her platform to address the gaps in women's healthcare, particularly concerning PCOS and endometriosis.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"Dismissal. 50% of women, when they go to their OB GYN, they leave thinking that their complaint was not addressed. They were dismissed."
(04:05)
Dr. Aliabadi highlights a critical issue in women's healthcare: the frequent dismissal of women's symptoms by medical professionals. She asserts that the actual rate of dismissal is likely higher than reported, leading to prolonged suffering and delayed diagnoses of serious conditions like PCOS and endometriosis.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"Endometriosis affects 10% of women on the planet. Yet many doctors don't know about it, don't diagnose it. Patients have never heard of it."
(08:16)
Dr. Aliabadi provides a comprehensive overview of endometriosis, explaining how it involves uterine-like cells outside the uterus, causing severe pain and leading to infertility. She underscores the alarming statistic that it takes 9 to 11 years to diagnose endometriosis, during which time many women experience irreversible damage to their reproductive health.
Mary Alice Heney:
"Olivia Culpa went deeply into her endometriosis episode. If a woman like Olivia Culpa, who has access to everything, can't get the right medical care until she found Dr. A, imagine what a woman in Alabama who doesn't have..."
(11:32)
Mary Alice shares anecdotes illustrating the widespread lack of proper medical care for endometriosis, emphasizing that even women with significant resources struggle to receive accurate diagnoses and effective treatment.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"Be your own health advocate. In order to be your own health advocate, you need to be educated on that topic."
(14:10)
Emphasizing the role of self-advocacy, Dr. Aliabadi encourages women to educate themselves about their health conditions. She introduces tools like the Ovaries ovii assessment test, designed to help women identify the likelihood of having PCOS and take proactive steps toward diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"I was 48. I went for my mammogram and they found something in my left breast. At the time, I was a vegetarian, had no family history... I calculated my lifetime risk of breast cancer and found it was 37.5%. I decided to undergo a double mastectomy."
(43:43)
Dr. Aliabadi shares her poignant personal experience with breast cancer, detailing how she discovered her high lifetime risk and chose to proactively undergo a double mastectomy despite initial skepticism from her medical team. This transformative event reinforced her commitment to advocating for women's health and early detection.
Mary Alice Heney:
"Dr. A saved Olivia Munn’s life by doing this genetic test, which helped in early detection and treatment."
(35:21)
Mary Alice underscores the impact of Dr. Aliabadi’s approach by citing Olivia Munn’s experience, illustrating the life-saving potential of early detection and personalized risk assessments.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"If your lifetime risk is 20% or more, you fall into the high-risk category. An average American has a 12.5% chance of getting breast cancer."
(35:21)
Dr. Aliabadi elaborates on calculating the lifetime risk of breast cancer, emphasizing the importance of genetic testing and advanced imaging techniques like MRI for those at high risk. She criticizes the standard recommendation to wait until age 40 for mammograms, advocating instead for personalized screening based on individual risk factors.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"Hormone replacement is crucial for most women going through menopause. It eases the transition from symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness."
(63:25)
Addressing concerns about hormone replacement therapy (HRT), Dr. Aliabadi clarifies misconceptions stemming from the flawed Women's Health Initiative study. She asserts that HRT is safe and beneficial for managing menopausal symptoms, particularly when prescribed within the first ten years of menopause onset.
Dr. Aliabadi:
"These medications have been a game changer for my patients with PCOS and endometriosis for almost 11 years now. They help address insulin resistance and facilitate significant weight loss."
(64:53)
Dr. Aliabadi discusses the positive impact of weight loss medications such as Ozempic on managing PCOS and endometriosis. She highlights their effectiveness in reducing weight and improving insulin resistance, thereby enhancing patients' overall health and fertility prospects.
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [04:17]:
"If you spend a day with me in my office, by the end of the day, you'll go home with a broken heart."
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [06:56]:
"I think it's because nobody's diagnosed. I don't think it is. I think it's because nobody's diagnosed."
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [14:19]:
"If you're trying to advocate for yourself, you need to educate yourself."
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [43:51]:
"You're so motivated to get up, you get motivated to exercise because for the first time in your life, you're actually seeing results."
Dr. Thais Aliabadi [51:23]:
"If you want to catch high-risk women early, you need to know your lifetime risk."
This episode serves as a critical wake-up call regarding the state of women's healthcare. Dr. Thais Aliabadi and Mary Alice Heney shed light on the systemic issues that lead to the dismissal and underdiagnosis of conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, which are prevalent and significantly impact fertility and quality of life. The discussion underscores the necessity for women to become informed health advocates, utilizing available tools and resources to ensure early detection and effective management of their health conditions.
Key takeaways include:
Awareness and Education: Women must educate themselves about their health to advocate effectively in medical settings.
Early Diagnosis: Conditions like PCOS and endometriosis require timely diagnosis to prevent long-term complications such as infertility.
Personal Advocacy: Dr. Aliabadi’s personal journey with breast cancer exemplifies the importance of self-advocacy and proactive healthcare management.
Advanced Screening: Personalized risk assessments and advanced imaging techniques can significantly improve early detection of breast cancer.
Medication Management: Medications like Ozempic have proven beneficial in managing PCOS and endometriosis by addressing underlying issues like insulin resistance.
By addressing these critical areas, the podcast empowers women to take control of their health, seek appropriate medical care, and challenge the existing healthcare norms that often overlook their specific needs.
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This episode is a must-listen for women seeking to understand the intricacies of their health and the importance of advocating for themselves within the healthcare system. By combining expert medical insights with personal experiences, The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast delivers invaluable information that can lead to healthier, empowered lives.