GLP-1s: Microdosing, Our Honest Conversation

GLP-1 medications are everywhere right now. In this episode, Alaina shares her experience microdosing, while Steph talks about why she’s considering it. An honest conversation about curiosity, choices, and what we’re learning along the way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hey, I'm Elena. And I'm Steph. And this is thanks. I needed that. A 12-minute conversation between friends to boost our mood and redirect our day.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Because otherwise we'll just spin. So take a breath. You're with friends now. Hi. Hello. I'm very excited about this conversation. Are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I'm a little nervous, but I am excited too.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I know, but I I'm excited about it because it's important and it's topical and it's a version of a conversation I've been having with myself and others and my community for a long time. What are we talking about? We're talking about essentially weight loss. But through yeah. But like GLP ones. We're talking about GOP1s, but I'm saying like the bigger conversation around like our body and how we want to feel.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

But we're talking about GOP1s.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

We're talking about it, and I've been taking one. I've been microdosing for almost two months. But Elena, you don't need to lose weight. I know. But it turns out you can take this for a variety of reasons. And mine was um two that I knew about and one that I didn't. Okay. Okay. So the two I knew about were um for the past year, year and a half, my cholesterol's been high. And um diet, exercise, I am somebody who works out six days a week. Like let's say five and a half I average per week. Um, but yeah, like intensive, three days with a trainer, two to three days running. Not um it's it's not uh low-intensity workout.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

I am very good, I'm a very good cook. I know what to eat, I'm mainline protein like we're supposed to, right? I don't drink enough water, I'm not great at that, I'll be honest. Um, but my cholesterol, I could not get it down with diet and exercise. And it's genetic. I know I my mom's like a little crystal ball. Like I know that this is coming for me. The other thing was my liver enzymes were high, which is new. And I and my doctor was like, well, you just need to drink less. And I was like, I have maybe one to two drinks a month. And usually it's like if I'm on vacation or I'm not a big drinker, so I was like, that's not it. Like something else is going on. I've had my gallbladder out. Um, the gallbladder leads into this other thing that I have, which I'm not crazy taught about talking about, but I'm just gonna throw it out there. I have irritable bowel syndrome, I've had it or inflammatory bowel syndrome, whatever you want to call it. I've had it since grad school. It is stress-induced and sometimes a lot of times food-induced. And there's some rhyme and reason to it, but after I got my gallbladder out, it it got pretty intense. And so I'm saying like two to three, you know, flares a week. And you know, really not knowing how I'm gonna feel while I'm eating a meal, let alone 20 minutes after. And so um, I'm so uncomfortable talking about this, but um, so I have irritable bowel. Okay, okay, so I go to the doctor, I find this doctor, and I'm also gaining weight because I'm perimenopausal. I was gaining a lot of weight. Um, I had a tummy tuck last year, I'm like a year out from it, and just not feeling good at all. And so my doctor kind of was like, You're not a candidate because you have a healthy BMI. And I was like, but people can take them for controlling like a sugar addiction, or which I do have, or did, um, which could help me maybe control my diet better so my cholesterol would go down. Like I was trying to like, yep, trying to consider it, and she was like, No, you're not a candidate. So I found a different doctor that I thought was gonna listen to me more about this like whole host of symptoms I was having and look at me, not just stats, right? So I was like, listen, I know this drug is really good for inflammation, and part of my problem in my life is this this inflammation, this inflammatory bowel disease. And um, so anyway, she decided to give it to me. When I checked into the doctor, I've weighed I weighed more than I've ever weighed non-pregnant. Okay, and I like despite all this working out, all the eating the right things, I do have a sugar addiction. And um I started taking a microdose of trizeptide. Okay, and I'm not a physician, neither of us is a physician. Like, this is something you talk to your doctor about. And I so I started microdosing, and um it was almost immediate um in terms of not having that hunger, that um running food talk in your head. Running list of like what should I eat next, or what can I eat, what shouldn't I eat? How you know, just this like running ticker tape of anxiety about my food.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

So that was gone almost immediately. Um I stopped having an irritable bowel.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

That's wild. I mean, I already knew this, so my reaction is like right.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

But I yeah, like it, like it went away. I could cry. Like I have not had this much freedom from pain in my gut for uh when did I go to grad school? 2000? So 25 years. I mean, yeah. And it's been and it got worse after I got my gallbladder out in like um, I think I my gallbladder came out like 15 years ago or something. But I've lost um I have lost a significant amount of weight, and I don't want to lose more weight. I've lost about 15 pounds.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Um, so yeah, there there is that side effect. I do I feel great. Yes, I feel absolutely incredible. Am I nauseous sometimes? Yes. That yeah, yeah. My doctor told me to take it at night, do the shot at night. Um, but it doesn't happen like immediately when I take the shot. Like this morning I woke up and I was nauseous, and I don't know why, but it wasn't that long and it went away, and I'm still able to eat.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

But there's just this moment when I'm eating when I'm done, and that's it. And I'm done eating, which I've never experienced in my previous life before this taking this drug.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

It's so fascinating because everyone does have like a different the people I know that are doing, um, that are on these medications, both from like um, and we're we're specifically talking about this microdose journey, which um I want to kind of like try to stay focused on, even though like loss journey. It's different than the weight loss journey, even though like weight loss is part of the microdosing journey by default. Um, but um, I do have a friend who said she's like, I never really had the nauseous thing. Like she just didn't, you know. So I think it's like she's like, but I definitely have different, I had different um, she goes, I I it's like food is not part of my daily dialogue anymore. She's like, Do I still enjoy it when I eat it? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

I have zero pain in my body right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yes. Like I don't have pain after my runs.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

She goes, and I'm sharp as a fucking tack. Yeah. When she's like, when I get up in the morning and I'm ready to dive into work, I'm just like, go, go, go, go, go. She's like, and not in like a neurotic, I'm on, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

No, there's a clarity, there's like a level of anxiety that's removed from your brain, which gives you space to do other things with your brain.

unknown 8:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Like honestly, I could cry. It's such a relief that I feel on this drug.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

You know, okay, so Katie Um Kate Storino.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Katie, yeah, Katie Storino, for mega baby.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Um, she has lots to say about this. So we've talked about her a couple of times. Follow her. Um one of the things she was talking about was um this uh conversation around food noise. And I've heard a lot of comments of people like food noise, everyone's talking about food noise, which is like the new thing. And I'm like, if that's your reaction to somebody talking about food noise, then you actually have never had food noise. Yeah. And so that's what she said. She's like, here's the thing if someone is doesn't understand what food noise is, that's fine. But it doesn't mean that you've not that the other person has not experienced it. Right. It doesn't invalidate someone does. Right. And that is also one of the most appealing things to me about it is the pain or the inflammation, the mental clarity, um, the food noise, and also just like general longevity, the studies that are coming out around brain health, the reduction of dementia and Alzheimer's in people. Like, if I'm gonna, God willing, if I've got another 40 years in me, right, I want my brain to be with me. And you want the quality of life to be there.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I will say it's not um, there's a lot of women microdosing right now, a lot of women on age. And if you're not working out as intensely and consistently as I know you are, as I know I am, it's a different thing. The drug is different. Yeah, and I'm I do the working out keeps my appetite high, it keeps my uh protein intake a priority, it keeps um keeps my skin from sagging off of my body. Like I did not want to look, I didn't want to age my face. Right, from losing too much. I mean, I'm vain. Listen, like I own it, like I did not want my face to look different. You didn't want to have that like hollowed. No, uh-uh. And I don't want to, you know, I I wasn't interested in being smaller as a primary motivator. I did want to lose a cup, you know, this inflammation that I had that I knew was great.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Um but yeah, I wanted to see. I'm a big like the effort, I like to see the results of my effort, and I get messed up when I don't feel like I'm getting out what I'm putting in.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I saw this interview with a a doctor, a woman about this specifically with women. And she said, um I'm sorry, it wasn't just about women, but it was about she said, the of my patients that I am prescribing a GLP one, specifically microdosing, maybe she didn't say that part, whatever. She said something to the effect of 80% of them are not for weight loss first. She's like, because the benefits that are coming from from this. Um, and she's like, and if you know of the stories, if you know of the people who are on a weight loss um di uh dosage, right, and they've lost all this weight and they look hollowed out and they're still eating poorly and they're not exercising. And if they go off the drug, they're gonna gain it all back, all that stuff. She goes, that is a dosage and diagnosis issue. Hmm. It is not the fault of the drug, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Or and it's also none of our business about whatever that person is. It's also none of our business, but that's their journey, not ours.

unknown 12:16

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Um, but I found that interesting because there is a lot of conversation around that. And um, she's like, that's that's actually a diagnosis and dosage problem. So like that's a caregiver conversation. Right. Um I also had a friend who um her husband was on a weight loss journey with one of these medications, so uh not microdosing, okay? Higher dos. And um he had thought about it for like a year or two and decided to do it. And she is not on a weight loss journey and has decided to microdose. And our mutual friend was having this conversation with her, and she said, What was the decision? She's like, he just feels so good. Like he feels so good, weight loss aside. Yeah. And she goes, and I'm like, wait a second, if I could feel that good, what might be possible, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, I it's not um, so I pay, I'm on the um, I'm on the microdose weekly still until we take my labs. We're gonna take fasting labs at my next checkup and see if I've if my cholesterol and my liver have enzymes have improved. Okay. Um, and then I'll probably go to like every other week. And then even I was talking to Lauren, my best eating trainer, and um when we're um when I'm doing a lot of long runs, yeah, I I need to be very mindful of like I'm watching my weight a different way now.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Um to make sure I'm not it's a dosage thing. Like you said, to your point, like it's a dosage thing. I don't know that I'll, you know, maybe I'll take like a quarter every, you know, um, every week, or I don't know. I don't know, but I'll work with my healthcare practitioner to figure out how to maintain my weight, but still have all the other benefits.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

And every morning, so I've been really considering it, right? Um and I finally made an I have an upcoming endocrinology appointment. And so I've I've emailed ahead to like have this conversation. And that's the other thing. I have Hashimoto's, like I have inf I have inflammation all the time. But um Did you hear Teddy just growl? No, no, but I just totally lost my train of thousands.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Anyone heard that? That was Teddy.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

So funny. Um uh oh shit, I just lost my train of thought. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, no, I lost I lost it before Teddy. Hashimoto's talking to my healthcare provider about it. Um can't think of it. Shoot, I'm sorry, Steph. Okay. This is why I need to get clarity in my head. It was something about um the um oh, oh, oh, oh, wait, it's coming back, it's coming back, it's coming back. Oh, every morning, right now, when I get up and I take my thyroid medication to help my thyroid, I'm like, this is what we use drugs for.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yes, it's medication. Katie Storino also says that. She's like, it's a medication we take for anything.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

It's a medication we we take medication to help us feel better. Right. My opinion is this because this medication is tied directly to weight loss, it's an inf it's no pun intended, it's an inflammatory, it's an inflamed conversation.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Because people have a lot of opinions on how people lose weight. Oh my god, yes, they're so judging. People have opinions on how people lose weight. So if you do it with a GLP01, they have an opinion. If you go to the gym five days a week and cut calories, they're like, wow, can you sustain that? Can you do that forever? Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, I know it's just there's a lot of projection on that. She's doing keto, like everyone has an opinion, right? Keto. Oh my gosh, people are so judging about keto or vegan, they think you're terrible. Right. Like, just let gosh, let people navigate their own paths here. But I think that food, the food noise part, like I talked to my husband and Lauren about this. Yeah. And they don't have a lot of food noise, they never have. That's not how they relate to food. And I was like, wow, really? Like all stuff. Yeah, because I've always had it. And I and I was telling Lauren this morning during my workout, um, that I've never um I've never had that naturally skinny phase. I mean, I'm a smaller person, but I've had that's not I'm a I'm a rounder, you know, squishier person. Like I'm not uh I have not I I have worked very at times in my life I've been very fit. I have worked very hard at that through diet and exercise. That's not like a resting state for me at all. And um yeah, I love to eat. Oh my gosh. And I still love to eat, and and food does not taste different to me, and I'm able to eat smaller portions and feel satisfied of anything I want. But I'm and I'm eating the still the right stuff and I'm lifting all the weights and doing all the things, but I can see how this drug can be abused, I can also see how it has way more benefits than initially thought. And that if you think it's right for you, I'm excited for you to learn more. I and just as an as a note of like transparency and authenticity, I paid um, I buy it from the manufacturer direct from the drug company, and I I think it was$300 for a month, and that was me taking it weekly.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

So it's not cheap. Yeah, it's not cheap. When I take it half as much, it would be$150. Or when I take it, you know, whatever I'm doing. That's that's the level of money I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Yeah, I think that's gonna change over time too. Absolutely. As the studies come out with the other benefits of it. Um, and you know, I'll leave you with this. Like, I was talking to my therapist about this in our last session about because I have shared a lot with her about my journey with food and my body and and weight. And um, I was like, I'm really thinking about it. Um, my best friend, you, um asked me a hard question in Florida, which was like, Do you feel like you're cheating or something like that? Yeah. And I was like, and I suspected you might feel that. I was like, I don't know if I quickly answered. I don't remember how I answered you in the moment. I was like, and it's not that I feel like cheating. What I realize now, it's a fear of it not working. Really? Not a fear of it, I'm sorry, not a fear of it not working, a fear of having to do something for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Oh, yes. You were very much like, what, but what then? But what then? Yeah. And I was like, I never even asked that question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

And that's just not, that's just like a personal. In therapy, I was like, but then I can, but now I can zoom out and go, like, I'm 51 years old. If I have, God willing, another 35 to 40 years. I don't care if I'm on a GLP one for the rest of my life. Right. Life is short in comparison. If being on this helps me feel better, and I said this to my brother. I've finally crossed the hurdle in the past 10 years, we'll say, maybe even like five, where activity, physical activity, is no longer a punishment for my weight. Oh gosh. Yeah. I actually proud that I can go on a jog and do it. I'm proud that I like it makes me feel athletic and badass. And then I get all the mental benefits and physical benefits as well, right? I have finally, after 40 years of being told I needed to change my body, right? Come to fitness and exercise and out an active life as a pleasure and a privilege. And a mental health practice. And a mental health practice. And if microdosing, if I dissue, decide to do it, makes that easier. Yeah. I want to hike a fucking mountain when I'm 60. Yeah.

unknown 20:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

I don't want to. And listen, life can happen. We don't know what the future holds. But if I can go, I can say yes at this age to something exciting because I feel I don't know. I could go on. You're just trying it. You're just trying it and seeing how it feels. And and that's it. I really hope that people listening are like um feeling like heard and understood whether you're like just on this journey or not. I just think it's like, you know, we all have conversations with ourselves about food and body in a certain way. I I don't, you know, some people might not have food noise, but they might, I feel like everybody has a relationship with their body. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

You know, and leaving space for that and for them to make that decision and to keep your mind open.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yeah. For yourself and others too. Yeah, keep your mind open for other people going through it. Um, all right, team. Oh, Elena, influence me. Um, mine is my GLP one.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

You have two. I'm if you're cu here's my influence me commercial about it. If you're curious, ask your doctor.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

If you that's it, period. Ask people you trust. It is free for you to decide. And I hope you won't feel ashamed of it or I don't know. I just that's That's my influence, me.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Because we we are so often judged whether we realize we're being judged or not. People judge others based on their body, period. Right. I have felt that judgment. You have felt that judgment. Yes, 100%. It's none of their fucking business. No. If there is a way to take that self, that food, that that noise away and just feel confident, yeah. Mind blowing. Right. My influence me. What is that? Was that the way? It's the body splash I had in Florida. And you were like, it smells like the tropics in here. Yeah, it smelled like Saint Bart's. Yes, I think that's what it's called. Uh uh. Wait. It is. So I can tell you it does smell like St. Bart's. I've been to St. Bart's. I think all the kids are using it. I was influenced on Instagram like a year ago. This is, I think, my second or third bottle. And it's just like a body mist. It says hair and body mist. And it's called St. Bart's.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Is it O-U-A-I or Q-U-A-I?

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

O U A I. I think it's A. I think she, I think the woman who's the CEO of that, I think she used to work for Chloe Kardashian.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Oh, that tracks.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah, I want to smell it.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

All right, everybody. Um, this was a little longer than 12, but it was a good topic. Um, if you um thank you for thank you for listening. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

And if you needed that, please share this with someone else who might need it too.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

All right, have a good night. Day.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Take care. Bye.