Transcription
The single biggest waste of money [music] in the supplement aisle right now.
"I don't like." "Really?" "Generic versus name brand. Is there really a difference?" "Yeah, there's up to 10% difference."
"For the person that says I'm not doing hormone therapy, Phil, what are my options for over-the-counter?"
"So, first will be magnesium glycinate. Second would be..."
He spent 22 years watching people get prescribed medications they don't need and waste money on supplements that don't work. Phil Cowley, known as Phil's My Pharmacist on TikTok, is here to give you the real answers about your health. No filter, no fluff, just the truth your doctor didn't have time to tell you.
Hi, friends. I am so glad you're here. So, today I'm going to do two things for you. First, I'm going to help you save a lot of money. And secondly, I'm going to get you real answers about your health from someone who is not afraid to tell you the harsh, unfiltered truth.
You might be wondering, Tamsin, what the heck are you talking about? Today's guest is Phil Cowley. He is a pharmacist who has spent over 20 years watching us walk into his pharmacy confused, overwhelmed, and chronically under informed. And a few years ago, he decided to do something about it. He started telling the truth about which supplements and products work and which are an absolute waste of your money. His videos reach millions and millions of people every single day.
Today, Phil is joining me to give us real solutions around women's hormones, hair loss, skin problems, sleep problems, you name it. You know I love my supplements, so I had lots of questions for him. He has unfiltered reactions to some of my favorite products and supplements. And if you are loving this podcast, I would love to hear from you. If you can take, I don't know, 30 seconds and leave a quick review anywhere you get your podcasts, I would so appreciate it.
This is going to be such a fun conversation. Phil, welcome to the Tamsin Show.
"No joke. We've known each other forever. This is so much fun."
"Yeah, you walked in and I went, 'Oh my gosh, this is the first time we've met in person.'"
"But it's like you already know each other."
"I know. I know."
"It's I already feel like anyway, but..."
"So, we met and fell in love on TikTok, right? A few years ago. So, anybody that doesn't follow yet is going to be following you after listening to this show. There's no question in this episode. But, let's talk about where you started."
"Well, it's like everybody else, 2020 ruined our lives, right?"
"[laughter] Like, everybody started there. So, 2020 happened and then 2021. We're inside of a hospital. That's where my pharmacy was. So, I I I have four boys. I'd run the pharmacy for 22 years. I missed every soccer game. I was late to every dinner cuz I mean, pharmacy hours are horrible, right? And there I am in 2021 and I see what everybody else is now seeing. So, about a third of all pharmacies are closing over this last 7-year period going on. And I thought early because we didn't do one COVID shot, we didn't do one COVID test. There was a test Utah site that literally was where I used to park. And they gave away all the shots and everything for free out there."
"So, they didn't need you."
"So, they didn't need me. So, there I am inside the hospital. All the doctors are doing telehealth. No COVID shots."
"Right."
"So, I take $280,000 out of our savings to keep the pharmacy open during 2021."
"Wow."
"So, I sit down and my my dad, he's like a big like stoic, I'm not going to give any feelings. Yeah. And I'm like, screw that. I'm going to My boys are going to know that you can have feelings, okay? They don't You don't have to tell all of them, boys, but you you're going to have some. So, I sat down with my boys and I said to them, I said, 'Look, we may have to close the pharmacy and I don't know what's next.' And my third boy looks at me, says, 'It's okay, Dad. I believe in you. You'll figure it out.' And I'm like, 'What the hell am I supposed to do now? I had no plan.'"
"How old is he?"
"At the time, he was like 12. And he's like, 100% believing in me. And I'm like, and I turned to my wife afterwards, I'm like, 'I wanted a break. I was just going to take this little Now I have to figure this out.' And so, at that point, I had somebody call me up and said, 'Hey, do you want to be on an Instagram video?' And I'm like, yeah. And I At the point, I had zero I didn't have Instagram, I didn't have Facebook, I didn't have TikTok, I didn't have anything."
"You're running a pharmacy."
"And I'm a I'm a true Gen Xer. I'm trying to hide behind everything, you know what I mean? Like you want no attention. So they I went and and it was for a gym. They they needed and I said, 'Why me?' And they said, 'Well, we need somebody your demographic.' I'm like, 'Oh, you need an old guy.'"
"[laughter] And I said they said, 'Yeah.' So I went and did it and while I'm doing it there's this group there and they're like, 'Why aren't you on social media?' I'm like, I don't I don't know. And I needed to fix the pharmacy so I'm like, 'Why don't we just go on? Maybe I can get a thousand followers. Maybe I can get an extra couple hundred people coming in. Maybe it'll happen.'"
"So you're trying to just kind of get more attention for the pharmacy."
"Yeah. And so we started on Instagram first and we did well, but not great. You know, we were doing good. I think it well, we did really well. In the first three months I had about 10,000 followers. So I'm like, 'Wow, this thing's going.' So on October 1st, we started on uh 2021, I started on TikTok and the first three days I got 600,000 followers in the first three days."
"What What did you do? What did What did What did you do to get 600,000?"
"[laughter] I had a complete meltdown. Complete meltdown."
"What did you do to get 600,000? What What were the videos?"
"So the first one I did was magic mouthwash. So anybody that's ever had really bad cankers, you go to the pharmacy and they mix up this stuff. And about two weeks before I did the post, I had this guy that had cancer who was a friend of a friend and he called my friend who called me and said, 'Hey, that he just got charged $82 for this magic mouthwash.' And I about lost my mind cuz it to make it cost you $7."
"Oh, how awful."
"And he's got And so So I'm like, you know, really, you can just do this with over-the-counter stuff. So I thought of the idea. I'm like, 'Well, let's just show everybody how to use over-the-counter stuff to make magic mouthwash.'"
"Mhm."
"And as soon as I did that, like the idea of this cooking plus health care all came into one and people just And then I realized the problem was is that people don't even know what pharmacists do."
"What do pharmacists do?"
"Pharmacists are supposed to be the hub of health care. We used to be the first person you would talk to. So you'd come and say, 'I've got this going on.' You're like, 'Well, go see a doctor.' Or you come in and say, 'Oh, that's easy. Just grab this thing.' Like we were free health care."
"Yes. Yes."
"There was just a counter there. You could barge anytime you want to, and you can do it. Well, now, you know, your your millennials, your Gen Zs, they don't have a clue what to do with us."
"Mhm."
"So, I thought, why don't we show them what I've done for 22 years? And so, I just talked to the camera like you were Susan that's been coming to my store since for 20 years plus. I'm like, she asked this question, I'll just tell the whole world."
"I mean, you tell the truth about health care online, and people are hungry for it."
"They want to know where to go look."
"Yeah, okay. So, you you got your 90 seconds."
"Yeah."
"And something that you'd want 90 minutes to tell people. So, you get a lot of backlash cuz you're like, well, you didn't tell them all this other stuff. I'm like, people aren't going to listen that long, guys. I give them one piece of information, they go. So, I say, the trailhead is here. And then they give me the credit when they go dig in for like 4 hours figuring it out. Like, you can come in and just start with a fact, epithelial tissue in menopause women is 40%. You lose 60% of your epithelial tissue. And people are like, okay, that's a problem. What the hell is epithelial tissue?"
"[laughter] And then they'll go dig into it, and they're like, okay, well, that explains all of these things that are going on."
"We have to explain what that is."
"So, epithelial tissue is this little spongy amounts of tissue. We have it in our skin, and you also have it in your vagina, and you also have it in your mouth, and you have it around inside of every artery, and every and and it's there to help it everything that needs to get bigger and smaller. So, your skin swells. Sometimes your arteries got to get bigger and smaller. It makes everything really flexible."
"Right."
"Well, by the time menopause sets in, you lose 60% of that epithelial tissue."
"Which is why we feel dry, and we feel..."
"the board. Like, all of the all of them are epithelial. When you a list of if somebody says, I have all of these things, your shoulder."
"Yeah."
"Epithelial tissue. Cuz there's so much blood flow. So, so, I'll say that, and then somebody will go dig for like 4 hours, and they'll figure out epithelial tissue, figure out that's the problem, and then all sudden the medications they take make sense, and then they'll see me in the airport, and they'll come and give me a hug as if we know each other, which is fantastic. Like, you changed my life. I'm like, 'No, I talked for 30 seconds. You took 3 hours. You changed your life, not me.'"
"Well, you are changing lives, though. Okay, so you got all these followers, you had never done this before. You were like, 'Phil's my pharmacist. I'm going to go ask him a question inside of a retail store.' And now, you are online, you have 600,000 followers?"
"At at this point. At the time, yeah."
"What did you do when you..."
"I come home the 600,000, it was really funny cuz first I was really excited. And then I opened it up and there were tens of thousands if not more comments. And first I'm like all excited, and then for the first time in my life, somebody had said something really negative."
"Right."
"And I and I didn't realize how the game was played. So I'm sitting out in my truck."
"You should have called me. I could help you with the negative comments."
"You know who actually [laughter] helped? Jennifer Garner helped. Like, she was follow she follows me one day and I and I [laughter] and I DM'd her."
"Hold on, name drop Jennifer Garner?"
"Just one time and I don't know if it was her or her social media person that I talked to cuz we know how this works."
"So, I was like freaking out one day and I'm like, 'How do you deal with all the negativity?' She goes, 'You don't read any of it. You don't read the good, you don't read the bad, you don't read any of it.'"
"Perfect."
"She goes, 'Just take care of your kids, live a good life, and you'll be fine.'"
"Aw."
"And that was pretty early on and when she started following it was like when you called the first time for podcast."
"Yeah."
"I'm like, 'I'm nobody. How is this even happening?' But I was sitting in my truck, 600,000 followers, reading these negative comments, and I am petrified to do anything. Like, I'm sitting there and my wife comes out and sits in the truck next to me and she like says nothing for like 3 and 1/2 minutes. And then she just turns to me and she goes, 'You know it'll be okay, right?'"
"Aw."
"I'm like, 'Well, it's got to be cuz this is how life is now, so.'"
"Wow. That is I love that story cuz you know what? But sometimes we forget to go back and get the real part of what happened and everybody sees, you know, the millions and millions of, you know, followers and comments and products and all those kind of things of where you are today. So, let me ask you this question. I know that people are working really hard now to, you know, make sure their health is right and they're getting advice from every which way and trying to make it perfect. Is there something everybody is just doing wrong right now? I mean, are we doing too much?"
"We're getting stuck in ruts. I mean, there's nothing worse than thinking the other side's wrong. So, whichever side of it you're on..."
"Yeah."
"...we've decided on almost everything anymore that there's that if I'm right, somebody else has to be wrong. We don't realize that those two things don't have to happen. The other person can be right and you can be right and they can cross over and then it's like these charts. I think one thing that I found that's the hardest is that people are choosing a path and they're closing their ears. They think, okay, this hillbilly couldn't know anything or the hillbilly can will be saying..."
"Who's a hillbilly?"
"I don't know, just generally speak. I love hillbillies, [laughter] so I can do it cuz like they're my people, but but you know, you're like somebody out there saying that there's no way that this all-natural person has got anything [clears throat] going on and the same you'll go something that all-natural like, oh, then everything Western medicine's wrong. I think what we're doing wrong is we forgot we like each other."
"Mhm."
"And that somebody can be 20% wrong, but 80% right and you can be 80% wrong and 20% right, but if you got it together and you're like, okay, where's the middle? I think we're doing it wrong because people are choosing it and the polarization of the whole thing has become..."
"And they're saying there's only one..."
"Well, I mean, you know, we had this when it comes to you you mentioned menopause and we've talked about it a lot, obviously, but you know, it's like hormone therapy or no hormone therapy and then there's two there's those camps."
"20 the 2002 study..."
"Oh, I know. Well, we could do that, too. Trust me. We've..."
"Holy cow. I freaked out in 2002. Just for the record,"
"[laughter] when it came out, cuz my wife has an autoimmune we've got a kid that has a disability. So, I'd already done all the research on estrogen and the and the the problems with estrogen. So, I could have told I could have dialed it in to like individuals. I lost my mind in 2002. Like everybody was dropping off of their hormone replacement and I was picking fights with doctors, telling them that they're wrong from 2002 on. Just because we had so many problems with with fertility, I'd already done thousands of hours of research on this and I'm like, 'Okay, here's the risk factor. If they're smokers, they have MTHFR, high levels of homocysteine, take them out of the study.'"
"Now, we're talking about the 2002 Women's Health Initiative just for people that are..."
"If they would have taken that one group out, they would have found no results. Instead, they didn't they their exclusion criteria weren't set up properly in that in that study. That's the only problem. They just allowed anybody and everybody there and they didn't take out this one subsection of people."
"And the Women's Health Initiative was what scared so many women into believing that hormone therapy, estrogen, causes breast cancer."
"It is probably one of the biggest tragedies when you talk about loss of days of life that we've done in modern medicine. Because they died People who came off of estrogen and progesterone die so much younger than those that stay on it. But they they're still trying to kind of sweep it underneath like we didn't do that. Not to count the fact of all the miserable things that you go through. So, you went from a 40% of people on hormone therapy in 2002 down to five. And it should be closer to 70% are on some level of it."
"Isn't that crazy?"
"I'd go higher except for there are some risk factors. So, I'm trying to give a little bit of it. Anyway, you I know we just took like a left-hand turn here, but I mean..."
"because well, we talk about it a lot, but the truth of the matter is is that you were actually when you talk about the front line, you were on the front line seeing doctors stop prescribing it, medical schools stop talking about it, women scared of taking it."
"UTIs pop up through the roof. They're coming to me said, 'I used to not get UTIs.' Said, 'You used to be on estrogen.' Yeah, but that's dangerous. No."
"Wow, you saw all of that. You saw You You all sides of this."
"Yeah, it's so you they'd come in, and then so they'd start on three SSRIs. I'm like, you know, if you went back on your progesterone and estrogen, we could get rid of some of that stuff for you. You know, you didn't have it. You were fine. Then we stopped it. You start You see You'd be staring at them, and they're like, 'Yeah, but my doctor says it's dangerous.' And then I would always go back and say, 'Tell your doctor to go look at the exclusion criteria. Who did they allow into the study they shouldn't have?'"
"Let me ask you this question. How do you feel now when you look at where we're where we are? Because I got to tell you, I was as a journalist back in 2021,"
"Cuz you're That's where I found you."
"shocking. I watched all of your stuff, cuz I'm like, finally somebody's preaching what I've been screaming. And you know, uh you know, the problem you have now is I still think that there's still a lot of misinformation out there, and it feels like like it still feels like you have to like I'm coming out. I'm I'm I'm telling everybody I'm going to be on hormones, rather than it being just mainstay."
"Because the evidence the evidence is pushing that you everybody should be on it. Unless..."
"Mhm."
"...you have these five things."
"Right. And can you go over those five things for people who are saying like, 'What are those now?'"
"Anytime you have cancer risks,"
"Sure."
"...you have to let that patient decide."
"Okay."
"Cuz although it doesn't really increase cancer risk, there are like certain family histories that Like I tell them to stay away from BPAs. I tell them to stay away from everything, cuz you're like and I tell them to maybe, you know, double your mammograms, cuz it's it's common after you."
"But contraindicators are if you have had a history of cancer,"
"cancer or blood clots are a big deal. If you've had blood clots, if if you're a smoker, which is is a huge problem there, for sure. And then anytime you have somebody whose mental health is truly completely unstable, which isn't very many people. I'm not We make jokes, but I'm talking about really once Those people I'm very very hesitant to not have the psychiatrist and the hormone doctor working together in tandem. There's nothing worse than having the psychiatrist do one thing and the hormone doctor do something else because those people are the ones that we find the biggest risk of like suicide and self-harm and things like that, too."
"Do you feel like we're getting somewhere though in this conversation? Other disciplines are moving into it, finally."
"They have to."
"Yeah, right? It can't It's not going to be a problem."
"bear and there's a lot of mad mama bears out there."
"[laughter] And so, you know, I mean, now they're like, you're not taking this away from me again. I think that conversation's come in and I think that there's a lot more people who are seeing longevity things happening to them. It used to be that like if you weren't an OB, you didn't care, you know."
"Yeah, well, now now people are coming to them and saying like, does my cardiologist know? Does my GP know? Does my endocrinologist know?"
"gave me a colonoscopy and so I'm sitting there getting ready to go under and I'm all nervous. And right before they went under, the anesthesiologist recognized me because he followed me. And so then the then the GI doctor starts talking to me about epithelial tissue in women and how this study made sense and how I need to make a post about how they need to be on hormone therapy because..."
"[laughter] ...of what's happened inside of the colons of women and I'm like, that's all cool."
"[laughter] I am mostly naked. We could do this like when I wake up, but anyway, it's funny cuz yes, it's going into all the disciplines cuz it used to be that our our system's kind of messed up because the doctors like if somebody said, what's the most important medication? I'm like, well, which doctor am I talking to?"
"Right."
"Cuz if I'm talking to a cardiologist or if I'm talking to a psychiatrist, they're going to tell me different answers and they don't talk to each other. So,"
"but you you're the kind of the translator between all the Is a pharmacist a translator between all the different doctors? Is that what it is?"
"Absolutely. The best advice we always get. So, if somebody calls me up and says I have this patient that has these major headaches, I'll immediately go to the protocol of the headache doctor who I work with closely. It's not my protocol. I know what he prescribes and what order he prescribes it in it. So then if like a dentist calls up and says I've got a TMJ problem." I'll go to the orthopod that works with the TMJ and I'm like, 'Here's your steps.' And so, it's really nice cuz you get to be that middle person cuz you know each one of them. So, you That's the reason why I always, you know, pharmacy should be the hub."
"Mhm."
"We shouldn't be the expert, we should be the hub. We're like, 'Okay, come to the hub. Now, let me send you to the other one.' Because we do that. And GPs are that way, too. The only difference is with a GP, you wait 6 months to get in..."
"Sure."
"...and get an average of 10 minutes because they don't get paid enough to do their job. And so, they're just like, you know,"
"Well, that's why I have so fast. That's why I love the fact though that you're you're online with this information because not every First of all, there's not as many pharmacies, especially not independent ones. And two, because you answer so many different questions for people. I mean, you really do. Is there one question that you see asked over and over again or one topic? I mean, I know, you know, I talk about about women's health. But is there something that you're seeing over and over that people are curious about or want answers to?"
"Anxiety and depression."
"How How to handle it?"
"What to do with it? Do I really need to be on these medications? Is there a more natural way to do it?"
"What's the answer?"
"What You have to start breaking down what the root causes of it is. So, sometimes the answer is hormones. Sometimes the answer is you're on the wrong SSRI."
"Mhm."
"Sometimes the answer is it's not depression or anxiety, you just have chronic fatigue going on. And they're like, 'Okay, what's that mean?' I'm like, 'Well, you've overtaxed your body for way too long. You've got to change it.' So, what I try to do in the posts is say, so pharmacists can't diagnose. So, what you try to do is give them enough breadcrumbs of clues to say, 'Is this you?'"
"Mhm."
"And then they listen, they're like, 'Okay, I just hit eight out of eight. This is me. This counts.' Sometimes you're listening, you're like, 'I got two out of eight. This isn't me.' So, part of it is it's just having people start realizing to ask the right question. If you go into a physician and say, 'I have anxiety.' They'll have you fill out a questionnaire. And then they'll say, 'Okay, well, yeah, you've got anxiety. Here you go.' But what they didn't ask is, 'Where's your energy level? how well are you sleeping, what's your hormone level at? Like they won't ask those questions because you came in with the fix my anxiety. So they're fixing the thing you asked for."
"Oh, wow. So are those the breadcrumbs that you have people go to? What are the breadcrumbs? So somebody listening right now says, 'Hey, I have anxiety. I think it's, you know, I'm dealing with kids and uh my elderly parents and I am trying to figure out my reinvention of my next career and I want..."
"like burnout not anxiety?"
"...I want to build I want a TikTok account like like Phil's and what do I do? You know, but I am I have a lot of anxiety. Where do you start with that?"
"So the idea that you just listed off just a laundry list of stuff that you're trying to cope with,"
"Mhm."
"...I would first look at it and say, 'Okay, how much how much stimulant are you taking in order to keep up with your life?'"
"Mhm."
"When somebody says, 'Okay, I've got all of these things I need to do. I can't keep them all together.' I'm like, 'Okay, how much caffeine?' And they'll start laughing. They're like, 'I don't know, like 600 mg of caffeine a day.' And then they'll look at the next thing. I'm like, 'Okay, so first of all, we probably need to start working on increasing like true energy levels and see if some of your anxiety will have anxiety.' See, anxiety is a depletion of something not an excess of something."
"Say it again. It's a depletion of something not an excess of..."
"something. A lot of people think you've got it."
"Mhm."
"So that makes the idea you've got something you've put in your bag and you're carrying it."
"Yes."
"The truth is is the bag you're talking about is completely empty and so your brain is freaking out."
"Oh, wow. Okay."
"So you have to first look at it that way. So then I would look at somebody like that and I'm like, 'Are you taking creatine?'"
"Mhm."
"And how much creatine are you taking? They'll look at me like, 'You're crazy. Like that's a workout thing.' I'm like, 'No, go look at the studies on the way that your brain works and how much better it works when you hit 5,000 mg of creatine and see the fact that you'll have true ATP production from creatine.'"
"ATP production?"
"That's So the..."
"You got You got to talk to me at..."
"you at sixth grade level. It's at sixth [laughter] grade level. That's what it is. It's called sixth grade level. You should have..."
"Okay, give me the sixth grade level, Phil."
"So, each cell has a power plant. That's your mitochondria. That power plant, what it puts out instead of electricity is ATP, and that's the energy source. Caffeine blocks the thing that says we're out of energy in your brain. So, it's not that your energy gives you energy. It just blocks your brain from thinking you're out of energy. So, you you keep functioning, but you function at a lower level, and you fatigue it out more and more. So, anytime you can increase ATP, which is the energy source inside each one of the cells, the less you need to tell your brain you don't have it. And what a lot of times happens is because you're telling your brain that you're not out of energy, but you are, you go into this brain fog,"
"Mhm."
"...where you're like a squirrel that drank coffee, and you're like doing 100 things, and then you finish, and you wake up in the morning and you say, 'I don't Well, what what is any of this?' Like, I don't even This is not effective. And so, you know, somebody who comes in with what you said, the one thing I would say is, 'Are you listing all of these things out, and then saying I have anxiety?' Then what it is is we need to actually increase true energy levels with you. So, I would look at things like GAA, which is a precursor to creatine and creatine."
"Mhm."
"And let's see if you can go to the root, fertilize the root, and let's see if that anxiety still exists. But, there's other people who can't get out of bed. They bed rot."
"Yes, that's different."
"Now, that one I'm going to look at completely different. So, that you know, when I say, 'Are you a bed rot, or you can't get out of bed?' You actually have the Sunday scaries, or what they're called, every morning. At that point, there's something in your life that you probably need to deal with, and which you're going to say, 'Okay, now we're looking at medications like SSRIs.' But, I don't put anybody on SSRI unless they can tell me the name of their therapist."
"Ah."
"Because SSRIs by themselves..."
"Yes."
"...They're They're just going to become a crutch. They work well, but if you're not actually doing the work, your brain will get used to having it. And a year down the road, you'll still feel the same. You've become used to it, but you haven't worked on your problem. So, I always ask when they get them started on an SSRI, I said, 'What's the name of your therapist?' When I dispensed it, and if they couldn't say it, I'm like, 'Okay, next time you come in, you're going to tell me the name of your therapist.'"
"And then that and then we have that next conversation."
"the next conversation is, 'Did you start working on fixing it?'"
"Yeah. So, let me ask you this question. Getting to the root is something that you talked often about, and that's it's so necessary when we're being We have a lot of things thrown at us. What's our protein? Do we need creatine? What are we know what do we need vitamin E, vitamin D K2, and then 20 other things added to that. If you If a woman is standing in front of you or somebody in midlife right now and says like, 'What are the three supplements that are the most important things, Phil, that you think I should do because I'm throwing money in all different directions, and I don't I'm so confused at this point?'"
"So, first will be magnesium glycinate. Second would be vitamin D with K2, and then the third would be creatine."
"Those are the three."
"100%. That's where you start. Those are the ones you take. I mean, I can keep going further than those. Those would be the three that if you give anybody, their lives will feel better in 2 weeks."
"Why?"
"First of all, our creatine women's creatine levels So, creatine's the secondary source. We have ATP, and then your backup batteries is creatine. Women's creatine starts diving at 32. So, men have 20 to 30% more creatine than their female counterparts all the way through life, which means we have 20 to 30% more backup batteries than men do. So, the funny joke You've always seen those ones where women are in the gym, and they're working out next to the guy in the guy's working out, and she's like up, and then she's down, and then she's up, and then she's But, that's really a thing because you have less. So, your energy sources are way low from the beginning. You You're tanked really early on in life. Number one. Number two, I know everybody's got all these worries about long-term health care with But, it's fractures that ends lives because you get You break a bone. You break a hip. Then everything starts going downhill. Women's osteopenia, loss of bone mass, is not getting better. It's getting way worse."
"Why is it getting worse?"
"Uh it's a combination of diet and caffeine and now the GLP-1s, which I'm not talking bad about them cuz you get a lot of hate if you put that out there. I'm just saying it does increase osteopenia. And there's a lot of factors that are now pushing through to where you're just not you're not building that bone mass and you would think after all these years we would get better, but we're not getting better on the levels of bone mass."
"Yeah, I feel like I didn't know what a DEXA scan or a bone density test was four, five, six years ago. Now I know what it is, but I guess..."
"And it's been around for a long time, but it wasn't it's just not a focus. It's not as sexy as a lot of the other products that are out there. The idea of taking it is just not Like some things are easy on TikTok. You're like, 'Hey, you want to look 10? Take this pill.' Everybody wants to know about it. 'Hey, you want young skin? Here you go.' You'd say you don't want to break your hip in 40 years, they're like, 'I don't care.'"
"Like no, you're right though. You're really right. There's no question of that."
"vitamin D, so because of the bone density."
"Okay, vitamin D K2 because it helps it absorb."
"Well, yeah, because you've got to get it in the vein, but then we got to move it from the vein to the muscle in the bone. And so..."
"In a pill form?"
"Yeah, in a pill form is great. And then And then the final one then the magnesium glycinate because more So 50% of the nation is slightly deficient of magnesium. And that seems like not a big deal."
"Mhm. Mhm."
"But when we do everything we do, if you drink uh electrolyte drink and it has a lot of sodium, our body has to keep the same amount of positives on the inside as it does on the outside. So all that salt you took in from those fries, it's going to kick out magnesium cuz magnesium's got a plus two and so it'll trade it out. Without magnesium, bone, muscle, brain, your neurotransmitters, they're all interrupted. And then the glycine, glycine's actually a neurotransmitter that works to help us settle down. So it it makes us calm and cool without going to sleep."
"Mhm."
"If you took those three, you're going to your brain's going to feel better. You're going to have higher energy levels and I know that your bone density is taken care of."
"Can we link to three products that you really like in the show notes?"
"Yeah, absolutely. If you want to do that. I mean, there's some cuz you don't need to spend a ton on it. Like those three don't need to be expensive, either."
"Good. I'd love to do that cuz I think it's really important and it's the number one question I get asked all the time. And we talk you know I talk a lot about hormone therapy, but it's also like what what are the other things in feeling better?"
"But hormones also need help, too. Like just the hormone..."
"Yes."
"...is the trigger. You still need to have all the building materials and everything else so the body can finish it, which as we get older, those all go away, too."
"Well, I want to help people save money, too, because I think that you're about that and having them not waste and..."
"up really poor, so yeah. I I grew up really poor, so yeah."
"We're going to help because I I'll tell you what, I have had for a long time that kitchen cabinet, you know, whatever, and I open it up and it's got the smell of all the supplements in it, you know, that..."
"not great. The smell is not great."
"It's not great and I shot it and I was like I'm just..."
"root, take it out of there first cuz that's the one that stinks the worst. Oh, wow."
"I'm sure it's in there somewhere, trust me. So, a lot of people a lot of women feel like their body just stops working, you know, in midlife, perimenopause, menopause."
"Which is true. I mean, you're 30% down."
"You're 30% down of your energy level."
"30% down of everything. Like everything stops. Like if you when you lose your epithelial tissue, you never have to worry about you didn't have to worry about your cholesterol. Like honestly, my wife had a cholesterol like 218 when she was in her 30s and the doctor was like, 'We don't treat it cuz you have estrogen.' As soon as menopause comes, she's going to get loaded with it. So, like your heart, your lungs, your feet, your your brain fog, all this stuff, like it's all 30% shrunk because estrogen was your hero, but now it's not."
"Of course."
"You guys have the ultimate abandonment issue. Estrogen leaves you."
"Yes, it's a it's a true abandonment issue."
"She's She's just awful."
"She's just not that into you."
"No, she's not. She likes the younger ones [laughter] now. I don't know what's wrong with her. Isn't that awful?"
"All right. Let's talk about some of the different ways. Um I want to run run through some of the symptoms if we can if they're in menopause, menopause, and what you know people can do about it because I want them to go away with actionables and at least know what to do not to. Hot flashes. What actually helps and what are we wasting our money on right now?"
"So I'll go two directions."
"Mhm."
"Prescriptions first. Does that work? Hormone replacement. I'm going to say it on like every one of them. Hormone replacement, you need to be on it. I think it's fantastic. Hormone replacement. There are some antidepressants both Paxil and venlafaxine both have had good tests on them. They're both really hard to get off of so that's got to be something you're kind of committed to cuz they are hard to get off of."
"Yep."
"And then my favorite one that's underused is gabapentin. Gabapentin's got its own bad thing so I'm not We just don't have forever. This is this is where the I have 30 seconds not 30 minutes."
"But yeah, we have 30 minutes here actually. So yeah. [laughter]"
"But gabapentin is one of those that actually really does help and it's because it works on this receptor called an alpha two delta is what it's called and it changes thermal regulation. And so our bodies are fickle. It's 1°. Like if our bodies change by 1°, we're either we're really too hot or too cold. Like inside..."
"1°?"
"...1° is all it takes for you to feel like I am burning up. And so we're not That's the reason why if you've ever been in a car where you're like 67 68 66 69 67 68 and it's because 1° can make such a difference. So those would be the ones that I would that are actionable that they do work. They're inexpensive. Um each one of them has their own side effects. You want to look at it but those are the prescription ones."
"And when you talk about hormone therapy, we're talking about estrogen?"
"Estrogen and progesterone in most cases and then I I always say if you're going to do the two add just a touch of testosterone in there because I believe if I can keep your muscle mass around longer and I'm speaking this to the general population of menopause premenopausal that you'll keep you will be healthier at 70 or 80 and you'll say that feel guy was right in 20 years cuz that muscle mass is what's going to sarcopenia, which is the loss of lean muscle mass,"
"Mhm."
"...is the only indicator of early onset death that's continually shown. If you lose lean body mass, you die younger."
"If you lose?"
"Lean body mass, which is lean muscle. That's the only one that you can predict every single time. So, obesity's one of those things that we've seen where like, okay, that's a big problem. It can lead to all this stuff, but obesity with lots of lean body mass doesn't look the same as somebody who has no lean body mass. And so, women lose muscle really fast, and that like creates so much problem. So, I always say if you're going to do two, do the third one. And you don't need a lot, but that's where not only your libido comes from, but your energy level comes from in the keeping of muscle. So, I always like all three."
"And you're good with compounded because you do compounding pharmacy, or do you say like do the..."
"I mean, I understand that the you know, from one person to another like if you talk to doctors, doctors are working with 60 pharmacies, and they're like, there's there's inconsistency."
"Sure."
"What I tell people is, but if you're working with one pharmacist, you won't see that."
"Or you can go to the one that's the man's version, take a tenth of it, and that's your testosterone. That's what I do."
"It's just the same."
"Okay."
"Like honestly, the AndroGel that they produce is inside of methyl cellulose based gel that has a lot of alcohol, so it drives it in. It'll work fine for you."
"Yep."
"So, you can do that, or you can do any of the other you can do either way, and it's fine. I would just tell people stay consistent where you're going, then your doctor can stay consistent in what they're doing. The biggest problem I have is when people are like jumping from manufacturer to compound, and then to a different compound. Now I'm doing pellets. You have to stay consistent, or your doctor cannot help you at all. So, wherever you go, stay there."
"Okay. So, I..."
"Oh."
"I was going to go back. And then herbal for the hot flashes that just cuz there's people out there that are going to be curious about that. Magnesium glycinate will help you with that. Black cohosh is probably your best bet, but it's not super effective. And then Shatavari I like as well."
"What's the last one?"
"Shatavari. It's an Indian herb. And that one is really cool cuz it actually releases more LH. So, it kind of does this trickle-down effect from the top to the bottom."
"All right, we're putting that one on the list, too."
"So, I'm just I'm going to put it out there just so people can choose because I'm all about staying in the middle, if that makes sense. So, I'm trying to I'm trying to make everybody happy, which is hard to..."
"everybody happy, Phil."
"It's hard to do that. Somebody's always going to be unhappy, so [laughter] anyway."
"All right, the next one, dry skin, texture of your skin changes, makeup's not staying on anymore. What do you have for skin care?"
"So, I like collagen, but collagen without hyaluronic acid does you no good."
"Topical collagen?"
"Uh oral or topical or both. Because the thing is you are losing collagen, and a lot of people say, 'Well, collagen's just amino acids.' Well, collagen's this big Yeah, but amino acids turn back into collagen as soon as you get in. You're loading with the right precursors. But hyaluronic acid being involved with the collagen is the only real way you're going to rebuild that barrier. So, both topical as well as oral, that's a good way to go. Second thing is L-arginine. L-arginine is is an amino acid. It increases the system called the nitric oxide system. Nitric oxide feeds the epithelial tissue that I said was so important. And so, beets have have nitro have L-arginine or you can just get straight L-arginine, but L-arginine, which traditionally they used like gym guys use it to pump up, that's like their boosters. You actually find a lot of results with that epithelial tissue inside that skin res- ponding to L-arginine and collagen, as well. Retinoids do work."
"Yes."
"But they increase cell turnover rate, and they haven't fixed that epithelial tissue. So, I would use an oral L-arginine with the retinol, and you're going to get a whole lot better result than just the retinol, cuz I do like the retinols."
"And with those you can get over the counter or are those all prescribed?"
"So, you know, that's the funny thing is each one of them hits the same receptor. It just depends on how much..."
Patience, you have. So, tretinoin, which you get from a physician, is obviously the best, but it also stimulates the heart as it grabs onto that receptor and won't let go. I actually like the retinols that are over-the-counter. That's a good source retinol. It takes longer for it to get in, but it also sticks around longer and it's got a softer bind to that receptor. And it's a lot cheaper. And so, what I get from people is if you're consistent about putting on one of those other ones, you'll actually get that skin will get to where you want to be. You just have to have a little more patience to get there.
>> And it and it costs less.
>> A lot less.
>> I like that. And we're going to need it for a while.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay, one thing I did not expect in menopause was body odor. Like especially underarm body odor.
>> Yeah, and this one's freaky.
>> If you actually...
>> This one's freaky and...
>> behind it's like weird.
>> Okay, I don't know the reason behind it, but I know this. I I mean, I don't know if I've ever said this before. I used to wear these sheath dresses in news and I would stain from you know, the lights are hot in there, but I would just stain the bottom of them to a point where even if I got the dress dry cleaned, it would still stink. It was so disgusting. And I I've talked to women about it. Like I finally opened up about it and so many women have said like, "I don't even know what that. It's not like a sweat smell. It's like what is that?"
>> Welcome to our world. That's what men have all the time.
>> I don't think that's what men have. I think men have like a sweat smell.
>> A it's a it's a bacteria. So, your bacteria both in your gut and on your body changes with menopause. So, that so, we have I mean, there's it's not really there, but it's fun fact. It's we have almost as many cells that aren't ours living with us that are ours.
>> [clears throat]
>> That's how many bacteria we have. When you hit menopause, your sebum level changes. And so, that that oil that your body produces changes. So, the crops you're growing in your armpits...
>> Did you say the crops?
>> Yeah, cuz we have bacteria in there. It used to be these really sweet, nice bifidobacteriums that would make you like you I don't I saw this funny thing where Sydney Sweeney and uh Amanda Seyfried...
>> Yeah.
>> Seyfried.
>> And Seyfried they were they were they were talking like they were doing that truth or not and and you know I'm honest like I don't sweat and that thing goes off and she's lying [laughter] and Sydney's making fun of her cuz she doesn't, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Give Sydney a little bit of time, she'll get there, too. What ends up happening is as you start sweating more because your sebum goes down and when you start doing that you produce a different type of bacteria. So the bacteria you have growing in there has now changed. So you have to kill that bacteria before you put on the deodorant so you can get it to go away. And most women just don't realize that's the case. So hypochloric acid hypochlorous acid, sorry, or glycolic acid, benzoyl peroxide, if you use that first, what we're going to do is we're going to kill the bacteria and then you'll go back to smelling closer to the way you were.
>> So you you rub that on. But I use a pit grit, like a pit like a grit that's like a...
>> So you're you're physically removing the bacteria with your...
>> Is that okay?
>> Oh, yeah, it's just fine. But if you took that same pit grit and put just a little bit of benzoyl peroxide or a little bit of glycolic acid and did the same thing, you get a longer longer lasting.
>> And then can you wear natural deodorant?
>> That point after you've got rid of it. Now remember you're eradicating a bacteria so...
>> Cuz I wear men's deodorant, Phil.
>> Yeah, well, it's cuz your bacteria I know that joke but like the bacteria inside your gut as well as on your body after menopause looks closer to a man's. Like if we took all the bacteria and we grew it out...
>> Yeah.
>> your bacteria will look closer to a man's bacteria than it will be from a woman that's 15 years younger. Their bacteria looks different. So you have to move to the men's because you're actually treating the same problem at that point. Thank you for justifying that point.
>> It's really what it is. Like it's just so weird.
>> Aris' deodorant all the time. He's like, "Where's my deodorant?" And I go, "Oh, I I have it."
>> You have to because it's the bacteria that does it. So what that stain was was really the bacteria. So you need to clean it first so benzoyl peroxide, glycolic acid, then put on and then the natural can come around but you do need to give it some time to go to the natural.
>> Mhm. Okay.
>> And you'll actually be able to tell where you're at in stages by what your bacteria is doing. So that in one day I I they'll be able to scrape bacteria and say, "Oh, look, you're this far into menopause or perimenopause."
>> Oh my gosh.
>> Cuz the bacteria is just fast.
>> me, they would have known. Okay, I want to get through some of these cuz I know what I'm I'm keeping you on. No, you don't. I'm I'm just so fascinated. Hair loss. This is one of the most emotional symptoms, I think.
>> Women will give up a marriage before their hair.
>> I'm...
>> Like for real, like it's like the worst thing in the world to them. Like that's a meltdown.
>> It's really hard.
>> could be going out and it's their hair they care about.
>> So, what is causing it and what can we do? What kind of solutions are we talking about?
>> have to So, the biggest problem people have with hair loss is they look at it as a single problem and it's never a single problem.
>> Okay.
>> So, estrogen goes away, so androgens, which are the male hormones, come in and they have a bigger role. You don't have more of them, but now they don't have the estrogen to block them. So, you have a hormonal hair loss that is happening.
>> Mhm.
>> We talked about epithelial tissue. Well, we've got less blood flow to all those those those follicles in your head. And so, because of that, those follicles are starting to shrivel up. That's a second problem. And then the third problem is is that everything is chronically dry.
>> Mhm.
>> And every time it's dry, it becomes inflamed. So, we have to treat inflammation, blood flow, and we have to block hormones. And normally what people do is they'll try one for a while, it'll work for a little while, and then they'll shift to another one, and then they'll shift to another one. You have to do a three-pronged approach if you want to keep that hair where it's at.
>> So, what do you do?
>> So, if you're if we're going to talk about hormone, the topical minoxidil is the cheapest, easiest way to go. It does have some side effects that come along with it. You can use saw palmetto with pumpkin seed and it works the same. It's just not quite as abrupt to the system and I actually like those ones better cuz it doesn't bind quite as much. So, that's going to be So, either minoxidil or saw palmetto with pumpkin seed would be one of the two.
>> And is that already combined or you need to combine it?
>> in almost everything it is. And I would say that I I probably do I would probably do the pumpkin seed saw palmetto orally in that case, but there's a caveat to that. So, they'll have to come watch more videos cuz there's more to that story. But, you can do it topically.
>> Okay.
>> Blood flow. Blood flow, there is So, everybody uses this thing called L-citrulline. L-citrulline is a silica-based L-arginine. And we talked about how L-arginine helps with blood flow in other areas. Those add L-arginine topically helps a lot. That's also where rosemary oil comes in and some of these other things. By itself won't do the job, but when we start adding blood flow with rosemary or with L-arginine, it helps.
>> Okay.
>> And then finally, you've got to make sure that you've got the right short-chain fatty acids being built by the bacteria in your hair, which means you've got to feed it the right types of oil, which is the reason why your jojoba oil or your macadamia nut oil, those oils the bacteria will eat them and then it'll put out it'll actually put out short-chain fatty acids to feed the hair follicles. And so, you have to make sure you have those essential oils. So, you've got to have the good oils, got to have the blood flow, and we have to take care of the hormones. You have to do all three of them. But, you also need to be on hormone replacement therapy on top of it. Like, this is beyond like I'm already making the assumption that we've convinced you.
>> So...
>> Yeah. Well, I'm just thinking people if you if you cannot be or you don't want to be right now because we know that, you know, out of you know, there's 96% of women that are not on it, right? When we're only at 4%.
>> get the patches anyway, so.
>> And the patches now they're scam the package the packages you can't get the patches. Like, what are you doing about this? So, [laughter] what's the what's the manufacturing issue, correct?
>> Yeah, it well, it's and it's and there's nobody incentivized to make them. So...
>> Why?
>> inside the United States we pay the most for our brand-name drugs and the least for our generic drugs. And so, when it comes to you go to somebody and you're like, okay, you can make a pill for 1/10 of a penny or you can make a patch that costs a ton of money, which one they're going to do? They just throw out pill after pill. They don't even want to make these factories anymore because there's not the money in there to make the patches. And so, trying to convince these companies to do that has been a real trick, and that's really where you're struggling at. So, they are like getting closer, and I think when they come out, they'll be more expensive, but the idea of doing something expensive as a patch, you're just going to have people say, "I don't want to."
>> Well, that's what worries me. We got we got this far. We've got people listening, convinced, you know, deciding if it's part of the one of their options, and then we're like, "Oh, but we don't have it."
>> I mean, we did the post your patch campaign, you know, and we had women all over the world posting their patch. It's just been amazing to see, and then this happened, and I went, "Oh, how's that possible?"
>> So, remember, you still could use like what I'm telling people right now is I understand that the creams aren't as good as the patches, but they're a whole lot better than nothing.
>> Exactly.
>> So, it's a good secondary. And if you put the cream on and then throw a Tegaderm, which is just a type of Band-Aid, over the top of the cream, it actually sticks on longer, and you get a lot better absorption. So, you just take the area that you put the cream in and work it in, and then you know how you go in for surgery, they have that clear Band-Aid, that's a Tegaderm.
>> Yeah.
>> And you just throw it over the top of that, you get a better absorption of that there, and then see so you don't have to use quite as much of the cream and things like that. It's I think it's inconsistent. The patch is better.
>> But it's like a homemade patch.
>> Yeah. And then there are a lot of people who can like...
>> Can we do that video together?
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> I think that's a really good idea.
>> Yeah, it's really And then there are a lot of people who can move over to oral doses. I understand the oral doses have its And then there are a lot of people who can move over to oral doses. I understand the oral doses have its problem, but just because you hear about it doesn't mean it's going to be you. And if you ever if you can move over to just taking a daily pill or half a daily pill, it does make your life easier. So, I would talk to my doctor say, "Am I Cuz I can sell you uh 100 pills of estradiol for $7.
>> I just worry about people that are just stopping and saying like, "You know what? I don't even know what to do. I'm just not doing it."
>> Yeah, I I tell a lot of those people I would talk seriously with their doctor, and if you've been on a patch for a really long time that's the exact same dose, chances are you could be you could transfer over to something cost you $7 a year.
>> Yeah. And have the same and have the same benefits.
>> you get a 2-mg estradiol and you crack it in half, that's 200 doses. I can get you set, you know, and you have the same benefits. Not for everybody, but it is for 60% of people. That's a lot of people that, you know, could move over, and you do get regular dose like when you do it that way you can go really regular, and it's super easy, so.
>> I want to quick go back to um hair hair supplements. How do you feel about hair supplements?
>> I think they're necessary, and I think a lot of them are full of stuff you don't need and have like three things you do need. So, like they'll throw a crud ton of uh of biotin in there,
>> Yeah.
>> which is a great filler, but you probably don't need it. But in the main time they still have, you know, alpha ketoglutarate, plus they've got L-arginine, plus they've got other things. So, most of them have benefits that are really good, and I do think that that I I think it does help by 10, 15, 20%. Mhm. And if you had talked to a woman that's losing their hair, they're like 15% I'm in.
>> Great. 100% I'm in.
>> going to go in there and say that there's a hair vitamin that'll give you 100%, but it does increase it by 15 to 20%, which is enough.
>> And noticeable.
>> Yeah, that's enough for the person who you say as long as you're real with them, like it helps by 20%. Like it's just like red light. Red light helps cuz that's another one I like. It helps 20 to 30% of people with hair loss.
>> Are we talking about the...
>> the helmets?
>> Yeah, but you also could use the red light that you're just like some of the other ones that are just panels or like if you want to lay on the side. I mean, it'll still do the same thing. Red light's really cool.
>> Yeah, red light's very interesting to me. Is that What are the other Well, you have the face You like the face mask, too?
>> I do. So, our So, the mitochondria, the power power house of our has its own type of RNA that doesn't look like anything else. It's like alien. It's just really weird. And when wavelengths hit that mitochondria, it actually increases energy levels on our little power plants. It's almost like each one of our mitochondria have solar cells on the outside of it. And NASA's the one that found it. So, it helps any cell that's not getting enough energy and the ones that go first are the ones that make skin and hair. And so, it's really useful for both of those places.
>> It scares my husband when he sees me in that mask, but I don't care.
>> Yeah, my wife's got them She's got the helmet [laughter] on and she's got the one here and she's got the one on her neck and she's like glowing red over there and she's still somehow looking at her phone. So, I don't...
>> [laughter]
>> I don't know how she can see through all that other light.
>> We can do amazing things, Phil. Well, let's go to sleep. Sleep gets so much worse.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> In your life. There's no question. Progesterone, part of hormone therapy.
>> Yeah, because progesterone turns into allopregnanolone. And allopregnanolone binds to part of your brain where Valium and Xanax, it's the same receptor it binds to. So, imagine taking a Valium every day of your life and then somebody says, "Nope, you can't have it anymore." You're not going to see it.
>> all those years.
>> It's base It's Yeah, it hits the exact same receptor. The allopregnanolone hits the exact same receptor.
>> All right, for the person that says, "I'm not doing hormone therapy, Phil. What are my options for over the counter?"
>> So, first of all, I do like valerian root even though it smells terrible. I do actually think that small doses of melatonin is completely and I can get into this appropriate for over the age of 45.
>> Tell me.
>> So, the problem you have is that they're worried about melatonin. If you look at it, they're worried about it messing with your hormones. Well, your hormones are gone. So, I don't worry about giving you a little bit more hormone to it once you get over it. In fact, you'll find they use melatonin for lots of really strange things. They There's a There's a therapy they use in breast cancer as adjunct therapy to everything else where they use high doses of melatonin because it the way it works.
>> Wow.
>> And so, it does help in those areas. So, melatonin's a great a great option. Valerian root's a great option, but I already said that you need to be on magnesium glycinate and magnesium glycinate should be taken at night and you want to make sure it's therapeutic. So, you want the higher dose at night. That also help with the bowels, which is going to be another one of those problems.
>> I like that you've narrowed it down to the three main ones right now for us because I think that it can be really overwhelming.
>> And I'd love to say Ambien or all these other things, but the problem is is each one of those comes with...
>> Mhm.
>> so much baggage to it that I would rather like if they want to talk about it, I'm not anti any of the prescription stuff, but I'd like like to sit down with the individual and say, "Can we talk about your family history? How much do you drink? Do you have addiction in your family? Where's your sleep coming?" Cuz there's a whole lot more to it, you know? So...
>> The other The other cool The other breadcrumbs.
>> Yeah, I would love to know a little more. So, I'm not against any of those things, but there's a lot more.
>> I know we addressed skin earlier. Are there any products that you think I don't want to say reverse aging, but really help with aging skin. Are they the ones we talked about before or is there anything additional?
>> Yeah, I mean, I actually do like PDRN just to put it out there. I like the PDRN [clears throat] when people are constant. If you know, you've got your tretinoin, your retinols that we've already talked about. You're already going to fix it with you've got as much collagen and hyaluronic acid as you can. I do like PDRN and I do like red light, which isn't actually a product. I do like the red light and skin. I think you find That's where you find real collagen coming back. I I really like that one as people will find it and it's got a whole lot more longevity to it if you're good about being able to do it.
>> If you're consistent with it.
>> Yeah, and that's the best part about women is is that they've had to be consistent for so long that for me, I'll do it like twice and then I get bored of it. And my wife is like she is consistent, so...
>> Well, that's a good thing. Okay, I want to do kind of a uh pharmacist confessions. Is there something that pharmacists know that the public does not know?
>> We know how to work the system.
>> Ooh, okay.
>> We know who to ask the right questions to. We know what we should be paying for items. We know things. So, the number one thing I tell people always ask their pharmacist is what would you do?
>> Okay.
>> Because when you do that, it changes things. So, like if you can get a pharmacist that's true and they'll come in and they're like, "Okay, I'm having all these problems or with my doctor gave me all these they say what would you do? You're going to get this other thing. So we know how to work the system. Our system is extremely complex.
>> Mhm.
>> And so usually if you come in and say I need my estrogen patch and like they'll just say I don't have it. If you and then if the question is okay, I'm in a mess here. What would you do? They're going to say, well, I know that our wholesaler gets it on Tuesday. So start calling you on Tuesday and you'll be able to get it on Tuesdays. I know that Walmart or Costco or whoever else had them yesterday.
>> Mhm.
>> Like they'll start telling you things like that and if they don't have them that way you're like, well, you still can use vaginal tablets and actually use an oral tablet vaginally and it works the same. They'll start giving you all the little secrets. So pharmacists because we talked cuz we're the hub we don't run into roadblocks cuz we already know the you know, we can take the subway, we can walk, we can take a car. We know all the paths and I think that the secret really there is pharmacists know how to work the system probably better than anybody else. So ask them like even if you're like, I've got to get this cancer drug and I don't know how to do it. Ask your pharmacist. They already know all the avenues for you to go find it and they love it when you give them if you're not yelling at them, if you're like asking them like, I know you've got this knowledge. You're going to be shocked on how fast the pharmacist can fix most of your problems.
>> So I've all I've always wanted to ask a pharmacist this. Generic versus name brand. Is it really a difference?
>> Yeah, there's up to 10% difference, maybe 20% difference from brand name to generic and I will never buy a brand name drug and I will never buy a brand name drug when there's a generic available. Instead, I will find a brand of manufacturers that works good for me and I will stay with that generic.
>> How do you know as a as a as a regular consumer, how do you know?
>> Look at the pill, the numbers, the way it looks. Come in and say I need the one that has 32 on it. And they'll say, well, they'll they'll you'll look each one of your pills will have a number. It'll say 32 or it'll say 27 or it'll say whatever it is. And then they'll say, okay, you need the power brand. Or you'll need this brand or you need So, like Teva or Tiwa is made in Israel and every time there's a conflict, Tiwa brands disappear cuz they're hard to get a hold of, but they're one of the very best generic companies that are out there. And so, most people come in and say, "I need Tiwa." Or they'll say whatever it is. So, what I tell people is, yes, there is a variance, but you can deal with it. I would just tell you So, as a pharmacist, I only use generics, but when I find one that I like, I'll say I I need that generic. And if they don't have If one place doesn't have that generic, I'll go to a different store and get that generic cuz there is The variance from brand to generic doesn't bother me. It's just every month if I get a different generic, then that means that there's a change every single month. So, I want one generic.
>> Single biggest waste of money in the supplement aisle right now.
>> I don't like greens.
>> Really?
>> I don't like them.
>> feel like that's the easiest thing. What cuz cuz you can get them...
>> Because you have to be so selective of when it's harvested, what's in it, how much is there, the cost of them are really high. I mean, they're fine and and there's good to them, but just generally like and that's a blanket statement cuz there's some that are better than others. But like when you just talk greens, I'm like, "Okay, but what greens and how much greens are we getting there?" Are you regulating how much of the vitamin A you're getting? Are you taking the kale at the same time so I get the K2? Are we And a lot of times when you actually go dig into some of them,
>> Right. Right.
>> you go there and they're literally just taking whatever's harvested and they're like,
>> It's green.
>> And it's the same greens, it's still kale, but like I'm like, kale that is coming from one area versus another area is going to completely diff be different.
>> Wow. Okay, I didn't...
>> They are really easy. I have no problem with people taking them. The question was waste of money and the biggest problem I have a lot of greens are really expensive for what you're getting.
>> Mhm.
>> So, that was the money part of it that made me say that, not the fact that they're useless, but the money part cuz a lot of them are really expensive comparatively.
>> No, no, no, that was the money part. That's what I'm asking. Okay, can we do a quick rapid fire of keep or throw out?
>> Yeah.
>> All right. Melatonin gummies.
>> I'm fine with them. If you It used to be melatonin gummies were garbage because they were hard to formulate. Melatonin's got this very lipid base. They've improved them a ton. I take the melatonin gummies. They're fine. You just have to be careful which where you're getting your gummy from. If your gummy tastes really good, you've got a problem. It should be just a little bit greasy.
>> Okay. Greasy?
>> That's I don't know how to explain it other than that, but you'll actually feel that they've used lipids to put in with lipids. So it kind of there's just a little bit of it. It's not really sweet, but it's it's like a CBD gummy. You know how they're they're greasy kind of. I don't know how to explain it other than that.
>> They shouldn't taste like candy.
>> No. That means that they put it in water with lots of sugar and those are a lot harder. But gummies are fine. It just depends on the company.
>> Collagen.
>> Yes, with hyaluronic acid. No, without.
>> Biotin.
>> By itself, no.
>> Electrolytes.
>> You know there's one company out there that you take one of their drinks and it's the same as eating the same amount of salt as two big McDonald's fries. Like that's how much salt you're getting from it. So I'm going to say I'm going to say rapid fire is only if they have magnesium and potassium in there. It's yes. Everything else, if it's mostly sodium, no.
>> Probiotics.
>> Absolutely. After the age of 45, everybody should be on a probiotic. I think everybody it's a the research is amazing that's on the probiotic. But it again, you have to get the right one.
>> And green powders, as we already talked about.
>> Green powders It if you're consistent, it's fine. I wouldn't take it because it's expensive. But if if you love yours, take it cuz especially like I know it's fine. It doesn't cost me too much. That's fine. So.
>> Where can people find you, Phil?
>> Phil's My Pharmacist. If you look up Phil's My Pharmacist, I'm on all the social media platforms and I would love it if they came and I'd love it even more if they tell me what they want to know about cuz that's the best way to find content.
>> I know. I think we're going to do a DIY patch.
>> Let's do it. [laughter]
>> Thank you so much. So it's seriously such a pleasure.
>> You're always so awesome and thank you for being a friend for the last couple of years. I've needed you, so.
>> I've needed you, too.