Hormone Heroes
Testimonials from real people who have experienced bio-identical hormone therapy. Men and women share the symptoms they have experienced and the difference proper hormone replacement has made. Men discuss the advantages of testosterone and women discuss the benefits of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone therapy. The roles of thyroid, adrenal health, insulin resistance, intermittent fasting, and micronutrients are also discussed.
Hormone Heroes
Why State Champ Football Coach Says Testosterone Therapy is Life-Changing
Have you ever pondered the significant role hormones play in our daily lives? In this week’s episode of Hormone Heroes, we have Jeff Lynn on the mic—a dedicated football coach, husband, and father—to talk about his life-changing experience with testosterone therapy. Jeff candidly shares how he went from feeling worn out and lacking energy to experiencing a remarkable transformation after starting hormone therapy.
Join us as we explore the symptoms Jeff encountered prior to his diagnosis and the pivotal moment that pushed him to seek help. He discusses everything from trying different forms of testosterone—creams versus pellets—to finding the right approach for his body. You'll hear about his struggles and successes with testosterone therapy, providing valuable insights into what it means to regain energy levels, improve workouts, and enhance lifestyle at the age of 49.
What's more, this episode breaks down common misconceptions surrounding hormone therapy, particularly the stigma often attached to testosterone use in men. Jeff's journey is not just about treatment; it’s a call to action for listeners to consider their own health and wellness proactively. Hormonal health is deeply intertwined with overall well-being, and awareness is the first step toward change.
Whether you're someone experiencing fatigue, a caregiver, or simply curious about hormone health, this episode offers a plethora of insights. Tune in to discover the real-life benefits of testosterone therapy, and maybe you’ll find the encouragement to explore a path to better health. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and join us next time for more enlightening discussions!
Welcome to Hormone Heroes, where I share testimonials from real people who have experienced bioidentical hormone therapy. Men and women share the symptoms they have experienced and the difference proper hormone replacement has made. I'm your host, dr Kelly Hopkins and I have been in the functional medicine space for over 30 years, with a focus on hormones for 20 years. Please keep in mind this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please consult with your physician or practitioner for medical advice. Let's get started with today's guest. Hi and welcome to the podcast. Today we have Jeff Lynn. He is from Roswell, new Mexico. He is the head football coach of Roswell High School. They have won three state championships. He is the husband to Kirsten, who is a physical therapist, and slightly younger, I might add, than Jeff. He is the father of four three teenage boys and a three-year-old daughter, lincoln. And full disclosure, jeff is my brother and I'm very proud of him and so thankful he's on the podcast. So welcome Jeff.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Kel, how's your day going Great? I never have a bad day. Oh, kel, how's your day going Great? I never have a bad day. Oh, that's wonderful. Why is that? Because I'm on testosterone.
Speaker 2:Amen, brother, it's just a lot better to have a good day.
Speaker 1:That's right, that's right. So, jeff, how old are you? I am 49. And when did you start to notice symptoms of hormone deficiency, and what were they?
Speaker 2:Oh, like I didn't know I was having hormone deficiency. Obviously, you know, I just noticed that I had a lot less energy. You know, I just I'd be sitting in my chair at night and I'd fall asleep and that wasn't like me. I'm pretty high energy, pretty high. You know, I move around a lot and can't hardly sit still, but I was just and this was probably I don't know where I really started feeling it, probably about four or five years ago, not that I felt bad, I just I just didn't feel like I had as much energy. And then I went to the doctor and got some blood work done and I was really, really low on testosterone. And so I'd say about four or five years ago.
Speaker 1:And you're an active guy. Right, you were exercising. I know you used to run. Do you still run?
Speaker 2:I don't run as much as I used to. I lift three times a week and I try to do cardio at least a couple times a week. I ride the Peloton or I will get on a treadmill and run a week. I ride the Peloton or I will get on a treadmill and run. I'm doing like the Swedish four, like I don't really run the whole time. I like sprint or go as hard as I can for like four minutes and then I walk for three minutes. So I do some of that kind of stuff. Like I go out to the track and I'll run the straights and walk the curbs and do some pushups, that kind of thing. But I lift three times a week regularly and then I try to walk nine holes of golf at least once a week. So yeah, I stay pretty active and I would say that I'm relatively fit for a 49-year-old.
Speaker 1:Sure, and how about eating? What does that look like for you?
Speaker 2:That's probably my one vice. I don't really drink, I don't really smoke, I don't gamble. But sugar, you put a cake in front of me and I will crush that cake. I have a problem with sugar. We can thank our mother for that. You know, after every meal we always had to have dessert, and so I'm kind of in the. After every meal I have to have dessert. So ice cream cake. I don't do very well on that. I have tried to limit my carbs a little bit. I do some intermittent fasting. I don't eat till one o'clock every day, so I do some intermittent fasting and try to limit my carbs, but I'm not great at the eating side of things. That's something I'm trying to work on, but that's hard.
Speaker 1:So how many hours do you try to fast?
Speaker 2:I try to fast at least 18 hours a day. So I figure I stop eating by 6.30 or 7 at night and then I don't eat again until 1. And so I try to get at least 18 hours of fasting.
Speaker 1:So you try to eat your ice cream by 6.30, have it eaten.
Speaker 2:Exactly. I sit at home and fast, yeah, and I don't really eat, I don't really even. Well, you just saw me you call me a liar. You just saw me eat a burrito, but most days I don't really even eat lunch. I have like a banana or an apple, and that's pretty much what I do for lunch, and then try to have a decent. I have a big dinner and so that's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you break your fast with something small and then have a dinner. That sounds good. So you mentioned being on testosterone. What kind of hormone therapy have you tried?
Speaker 2:So I've done the cream. I started with the cream and so I've done the cream. I did the cream for I don't know, six months, seven months, and then I was pelleted. I did pellets for six months and then I was pelleted. I did pellets for six months and then I went. I actually went back to the cream. I like the cream better. I don't know. There was just something about pellets. I didn't like reaching back there on my butt and felt something. For some reason.
Speaker 2:It kind of wigged me out, so I and I know you know pellets is a big part of what you do, but I just I felt a lot more comfortable with the cream. So I do the cream daily. I do it every morning when I wake up and I put it underneath my arm, right here and right when I get out of the shower, and that seems to be what's working best for me.
Speaker 1:Sure, so pellets are something that can you know. If they're placed on the posterior hip, they can be felt when you reach back there, and they stay there till they melt away after about four to six months. So I get that. So have you had your labs redrawn on cream? You're out in New Mexico, so I haven't had my labs drawn since the second round of cream.
Speaker 2:You're out in New Mexico, so I haven't had my labs drawn since the second round of cream. I had my labs done, probably right in the middle of my pellet therapy. I can't remember. Like I want to say, like my initial testosterone reading before I got on anything was about, was it? Was it 200 or something? I can't remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were pretty low.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like in the 200s or something, and the last time that I had that checked it seemed like I was in like 750 or something like that. Yeah, that's good. So I'd come up quite a bit, but I haven't had it done. Probably in the last year I haven't had it done.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we try to keep a guy between 900 and 1200 on pellets. It's a little harder to get that high on cream, but I have seen it in lab work. You know, especially if you've just applied it you can get that high. So what benefits are you noticing?
Speaker 2:I mean I just have more energy. I, like you know, I have a three-year-old. I'm 49 years old and I have a three-year-old and like I I can chase her around now and like I'm not like right when I get home I'm not hitting the recliner and falling asleep, I just have more energy. And then I found that my workouts are better. I don't really like when I lift, I don't really lift heavy, yeah, but I have noticed that, you know, I've gained muscle mass Like I'm gaining muscle at my age.
Speaker 2:I'm not, I'm not staying the same or it going away, like I'm putting on muscle. So I think probably those are the two benefits that I've seen. The most is just, I've got more energy, my workouts are better, I'm putting on muscle and I don't ache as much. I don't feel like I ache as much and I do feel like I sleep a little bit better. And I don't know if I'm sleeping better because my workouts are better and I'm burning more energy or if that's a direct effect of testosterone, but I do notice that I sleep a little bit. So I sleep better, I have more energy and I feel like I'm putting on muscle at my age and I think that's important. So what do they say? You lose? Every 10 years, you lose 10 percent of your muscle, or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, muscle is the currency of aging, or anti-aging rather. The more muscle mass you can hang on to, the younger you metabolically will be.
Speaker 2:And another thing, like I've lost weight. I mean I think I've lost some weight on it as well. I think you know I'm down about 10 pounds and again, I don't know if that's the testosterone or if that's the result of having better workouts, but I have lost some weight since being on testosterone.
Speaker 1:It's probably a culmination of the testosterone, the intermittent fasting, the workouts all of it because your body composition's changed. You've probably lost more than 10 pounds of fat, but you might have put on a couple of pounds of muscle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but I just feel better and I've got more energy. I mean, I think those are probably the two big things.
Speaker 1:So so if Kirsten was in the room, what would? What would she say is different about you on testosterone.
Speaker 2:I think she'd probably say the same things. You know, I think I mean I don't know for sure, but I think she'd probably say the same things. I've got more energy and I'm in better shape, and that kind of stuff. So I think that's probably what she'd say.
Speaker 1:You're not a recliner, dad, where you just go sit in the recliner.
Speaker 2:Now don't get me wrong. I can sit and I can put my fat ass in the refiner and chill. You know what I'm saying. But it's not because I have to now, you know, it's because I want to and I don't have anything else going on. So, yeah, and I'm pretty good at giving directions with from the recliner, you know, especially, especially in the boys around but oh heck, yeah, no, but I don't have to be a recliner dad anymore. I guess I get to be a recliner dad. It's a choice.
Speaker 1:There you go. So since dad's not in the room to defend himself, he's also. We call him OG, the original gangster. He's a football coach for how many years? Over 50?
Speaker 2:He's in his 40s. I mean, you know, it's kind of a cool stat. I say this every time, but you know like. So we won a state championship this year in football at Roswell High. We were 2024 state champions. So with that state championship, our father, the OG, has won a state championship in every decade since the 1960s. So he won one in the 1960s as a player and then in 70, in the 70s. He won a state championship in the 80s, the 90s, 2000, 2010 and 2020. So every decade since the 1960s he has either been a player, assistant coach or the head coach on a state championship team in the state of New Mexico.
Speaker 1:That's quite the that is what an honor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is like a that's like that'll never be done again. I mean that's that's like that'll never be done again. I mean that's like legend stuff. I mean so, yeah, and he's 77 and he still. I mean he still coaches our offensive line and he still gets out there and gets after those kids every day and just just fun to be around.
Speaker 1:He's Hall of Fame in the state of New Mexico. For what's the exact title, jeff? He's in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in the state of New Mexico. For what's the exact title, jeff?
Speaker 2:He's in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and then he's also in the New Mexico High School Federation Hall of Fame in Omaha, Nebraska. So he's had a great career and we finally got him on some testosterone.
Speaker 1:Have you noticed any changes in him?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know, I don't know, maybe not as grumpy. Like he's pretty religious in the way he works out and he's fanatical in the way he eats. Like he doesn't eat any carbs and he only eats one meal a day. I mean he does a 24 hour fast every day. And you know he's 77, 78. I don't remember exactly how old he is, but he's.
Speaker 2:I look at his peers, the guys that he coached with throughout his career, and those guys aren't as nearly as good a shape as he's in. And you know, I think the testosterone and you know the fasting and you know his commitment to working out, to working out, yeah, he works out two or three hours a day, right, like, yeah, yeah, he does a lot of like elliptical. He's got a little problem with his leg and he can't run or walk anymore, so he gets on the elliptical and works out a couple hours every day and I think he even does. I think he even hits the weight some. I think he lifts some.
Speaker 2:So you know, I told somebody this the other day. Like you know, about 10 or 15 years ago he figured it out. You know he stopped eating carbs and started working out and you know he's probably lost 40 or 50 pounds, and I mean he's doing a lot of things that guys his age don't do. Yeah, just, I think the testosterone is probably part of that. I mean most of the guys his age that he coached with, they can't even hardly get out of the house.
Speaker 1:You know For sure, even they can hardly get out of the house. You know for sure. A funny story kirsten told me, the elliptical he uses at the gym is it's got skull all over it because he spends about two or three hours a day on it yeah, yeah skull is tobacco. You know if for anybody that doesn't know but like, oh, that's so gross but it's, it's a testament to his commitment, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they're going to put a plaque on that thing. I guess he's worn that thing out. So same one too, like he's got it. He takes his cell phone. He has to plug his cell phone in. There's an electrical outlet that he can plug his cell phone in and you know, he sits there and does the elliptical and listens to Rush Limbaugh. I don't think it's Rush Limbaugh anymore, but it's whoever took Rush's place.
Speaker 1:And I think I got him AirPods, but he still listens to it out loud.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I can't imagine. You know, the people that he works with every day, has to work out with every day have to listen to that he's kind of funny.
Speaker 1:He's an enigma. Well, jeff, did you have any side effects to your testosterone at all, pellets or cream?
Speaker 2:No, not really. I mean, the only side effect that I've had is I've gotten more hairier. I'm naturally kind of hairy. I've got a hairy chest and I think it's probably got a little bit more hairy, but that's really the only thing. I think. You know. It's been a really positive experience and I would encourage anybody who's thinking about it just to do the research and maybe give it a try. It's been a good experience.
Speaker 1:That's great. So you would say hormone therapy, if not changed your life, it's at least enhanced your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's enhanced my life Like it has. I can tell a difference. I can tell a difference and I think it's been good.
Speaker 1:So, as a hormone hero, is there any advice you'd give to anybody that might be listening?
Speaker 2:You know, I think some of the the misconceptions about you know I I grew up around sports and football and you know we always, you know I grew around some guys that were on, you know, testosterone or steroids in locker rooms and that kind of thing, and I think we have some misconceptions about what that is and you know we're all going to rage and we're all going to get acne and you know those kinds of things. I think I would encourage you just to kind of do the research and do things. And I think you know the medical community has not done a good job with testosterone and you know hormone therapy. You know there was those things that came out like in the night. There were studies done in the 1950s that said it was bad and we're still basing decisions off both studies.
Speaker 2:And I think if you're in 2024 and you're you're having some of the issues that I was having, I would definitely look into it because it's it's made a difference in my life and because I got a three-year-old, you know, and I'm 49 and I got a three-year-old man, I'm going to have to chase that little girl around for the next 10, 15 years and so I think it's been really good for me to get on this stuff and I think it'd be good for other people to do the research. And you know, talk to your physician and talk to Kelly and make sure it's right for you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Just do your homework and don't don't believe everything you hear. I mean that's, that's. I think part of my reluctancy was because I listened to like everything I heard in the past about it. And when you really get down to business and you really do the study and do the work, I think a lot of people would benefit from this type of therapy.
Speaker 1:So check it out. Thanks, jeff, I was just going to mention Jeff does a lot of other things we didn't mention, but he you cold plunge, you do red light therapy, anything else?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did the 10X health genetic study about a year ago, year and a half ago, and I tell you what that's made a huge difference I got on those. I don't know if you're still doing that kind of stuff, Kelly, or not. Yeah, we do the Gary Brekka stuff, you know. I did that genetic test and I take magnesium, I take zinc, I take the supplement TMG I'm not even sure what that is and I take the methylated multivitamin and I really feel like that's made a difference, Like I haven't been sick this. The flu has been going around and COVID and all that stuff's been going around and I haven't been sick the whole winter. And I work in a school with 1400 kids and and you know they bring that stuff to school every day and I'm in a locker room and a weight room with them and I haven't been sick at all and so that's, that's done good. I do cold plunge. I cold plunge every weekday. I go for five minutes at about. My cold plunge you stay is about 54, 55 degrees.
Speaker 1:So do you make noises like? Could we get a recording of you getting in your cold plunge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe, like I, mainly just maybe. It just takes your breath away. You know, I tell you what. You know. You get out of that deal, man, and the way I compare it, is you ever given a dog a bath?
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Right, and then they get the zoomies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:That's the way I feel when I get out of the cold plunge. I feel like a dog that just got a bath. You know, I just just feel good.
Speaker 1:Endorsens dopamine rush, all those things. Excellent. All right, jeff, I know you're a busy man. Thank you so much for being on today. Yeah, no worries, all right, bye, bye. Thanks for listening to Hormone Heroes. Take a moment to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. While you are there, help us spread the word by leaving a rating and a review. If you would like to share your bioidentical hormone story or need help finding a physician in your area, please email us at drkelly at hormoneheroesorg area. Please email us at drkelly at hormoneheroesorg that's D-R-K-E-L-L-Y at H-O-R-M-O-N-E-H-E-R-O-E-S dot org. We want you to be a hormone hero.
