A Surprising Healing Moment

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I Dr. Kelly, I had an emotional breakthrough that was so significant that by the time the class was over, I couldn't leave. And I laid on the floor for 20 minutes. And I was like, man, if I go back and tell my friends at church and the elders and the everybody, hey, I I went to this yoga class and had more internal healing than I've had in 25 years. Right. They're gonna go come out of him in the name of Jesus. You know? You know what? That's pretty much what happened. Yeah. So I, you know, it started a different course of life, and then it really became about getting a more holistic view of things instead of just endurance sports and racquetball and weightlifting.

What Hormone Heroes Is About

SPEAKER_01 0:40

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.

Meet Ray Schloss And His Pivot

SPEAKER_01 1:15

I have Mr. Ray Schloss. He is the founder of Thriving 24-7, a wellness and longevity coach, a certified hypnotherapist, meditation educator, and former Microsoft executive with extensive experience in leadership, communication, and community building. After 17 years at Microsoft, including serving as a global director of technical sales enablement, that sounds super important, right? He retired in 2024 and he shifted his focus towards wellness, longevity, meditation, and personal development. His health interests are also deeply personal. After experiencing years of reduced energy and metabolic challenges, he explored hormone therapy, peptides, meditation movement, and other wellness approaches as part of his own recovery journey. Today, Ray combines his corporate leadership background with his experience in wellness, yoga, meditation, hormone therapy, peptides, and longevity to help people improve their overall quality of life. He grew up in Myrtle Beach, the lovely Myrtle Beach, and now he lives just outside of Seattle, Washington. He's got two grown sons. You were a single father for a while. So enough about what I have to say about you. Tell us your story, Ray.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Well, that was pretty thorough, Dr. Tony. I think the only thing you forgot it was spent decades addicted to racquetball. Other than that, I think it was pretty much on the money.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

So Yeah. Well, now it would be pickleball.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Well, yeah, you know, the first time I tried to play pickleball, just sheer muscle memory, the shot was coming over, and there was a wall behind the court where I was playing with my buddy who owns the gym up here where we live. And I was like, I'm not going to be able to get that over. So absolute muscle memory turned around, faced the back wall, hit the ball as hard as I could. It went off the back wall, over the net, and landed on the other side. And then I turned around and we both started laughing. It's like, you can't do that in pickleball. You can do it in racquetball, but it was a great racquetball shot, but pickleball.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

I think it should have counted.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Thank you. I did too. That was you know, I was like, come on, man. Anybody can make that so that's that gonna count, but no, it didn't apply. So

Growing Up Myrtle Beach And Surfing

SPEAKER_00 3:38

anyway.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So growing up in Myrtle Beach, were you like a surfer dude?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

You know, I tried and I was not good. But I think there were a couple things, and it's still it's something that I would still love to try to accomplish in life, would be getting good at surfing, but I was not very good. And part of it was back then in the early 80s, and I'm talking like, you know, like 80, it was, you know, sh really short boards were the style. And so people had just learned how to do maneuvers that nowadays are like just nothing, everyone does them. But like to be able to go up onto a wave and do a 360 and turn and come back down, it was revolutionary. And uh to do that effectively, you had to have these very unstable short boards. So you had to be a good surfer to kind of have the coordination to pull that off, anyways. And Myrtle Beach has traditionally really, really bad waves, and I'm being kind about saying that. So unless the storm's coming in, they were awful, right? And uh so you were you were hampered by the fact that you were trying to learn to surf on these lame waves. So I think that's a sufficient amount of excuses to just say I really kind of sucked at surfing.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Well, obviously the environment didn't lend itself to supporting your surfing career.

Air Force Academy Exit To Philosophy

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Well, I went to the Air Force Academy and I went nearsighted and lost my pilot's qualification. And I really went there, I wanted to fly F-16s and be an officer. And losing that, and it happened in my freshman year. I didn't want to think about being in the military without being a pilot. And so I left. I left the academy and I went to a school called Furman in Greenville, South Carolina, which we just got through the World Cup. And anybody who knows Clint Dempsey, who, you know, is the greatest American soccer football player ever, right? That's where he went to college. He went to Furman. So that's our claim to fame, is that Clint Dempsey played soccer for Furman. But uh so went to Furman and I switched from being an aero engineering major to philosophy, and my parents were thrilled about that. You know, they were really excited for my future and career path.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

So on. But you were having fun, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

I was. I found that, you know, philosophy. I couldn't believe it. I took this class as an elective, Furman's a literal arts school, right? And I took this class as an elective and got like an A plus in 19th century philosophy or something. And I was like, wait a minute, you just have to sit here and think and talk about shit. Like, you know, this that's all you have to do to major. You know, I was like, I literally went and changed my major from accounting. I was supposed to be a CPA or whatever, literally changed it to philosophy and was like, I'm a philosophy major.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I'm in.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah. But the the benefit of that was that, you know, philosophy is about communication beyond thinking. Like you can sit and think all day long, but it's really about learning to express ideas and communicate effectively. And that's really what I learned. And the way I, the first step to really getting to Microsoft was that I got hired, I moved to DC, I had a young family, and we moved to the DC area, and got hired by this law firm to be their, like the on-site technical lead for their, and they had a parent company out of Texas. And I beat out 11 other technical people, and I had really no technical background. And I mean, I was thrilled and shocked that they hired me. And they the first thing they said is look, the 11 other people that you beat that all are better qualified for this than you cannot communicate effectively. And we need to bring these aging senior partners into actually being willing to use Microsoft Word instead of standing over the shoulder of their administrative assistant secretary and just dictating because they've done that for 30 years.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

And they're like, we think you've got the social and communication skills to be able to help them do that. And I was like, okay, well, that's cool. And I was like, philosophy major, yeah. And then just literally one thing led to another, and there were a lot of twists and turns in it. But I ended up at Microsoft and 17 years later in 2024, uh retired and to really concentrate on producing meditation content and music. And then to your point, Dr. Kelly, like I had been helping friends and family and co-workers for a long time on wellness and biohacking and longevity. And just was sincerely encouraged by some people I really respect and trust that they were like, you need to formalize this. Like, there are people who actually need the same thing that you did, like for those senior partners at the law firm. Right. So that's really it. So it was just kind of that being able to pivot over to that.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah. Well, and Ray, you obviously were walking the walk, not just talking the talk. You looked great, you felt great. And and people were noticing that and going, hey, I need something of what, you know, kind of what he's got going on. So that was probably you were a good example of what you were teaching anyway. So you started out just by kind of helping your buddies and people you worked with.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, for sure. So and it was one of those things that, like, I mean, I'm getting ready to be, I'll be 61 in a couple weeks, and I still have my natural hair color. And I've not I've done zero to my skin and my face, like no Botox, no peels, nothing. I have my own home regimen and actually created my own home serum, which I think I'm getting ready to start selling on my website because so many people have asked, like, hey, what do you you know, what do you do? And it has copper cup ties and other stuff in it. But anyways, yeah, yeah, it was really pe when they when people would generally find out my age, like I'd be giving presentations or whatever was going on, and then you know, somehow something come up and and then be like, it was usually like, Oh, do you have any kids? And I'm like, Oh, yeah, you know, I I I do. And so at the time I'd say, like, you know, yeah, they're 25 and 27 or something like that. And people would just be like, What are you talking about? And then I'd usually joke around and say, Well, I started when I was 10, you know, or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, that aspect, and people like, well, what do you do to take care of yourself? And then be it just opens the door conversation of like, well, let's talk about that. And that was great.

A Lifelong Wellness Obsession

SPEAKER_00 10:28

And I was so into biohacking. And and Dr. Kelly, I started this because when I was in like seventh grade, that's when I got my first weight bench and ordered protein supplement pills from GNC or something. But um, my dad was a collegiate athlete, and when got to his 40s, when he was probably 42 when I was born, he was in the Navy in World War II and everything, and he just decided to stop taking care of himself completely. And I saw this man year after year after year go from being the six foot-one collegiate basketball player on scholarship to when he passed at about 85, he was probably five foot seven. And it's because he had decided he just he got this lazy boy chair and he sat in that chair the majority of the rest of his days after he got an early retirement from the company that he worked for. And uh I was just like, man, I don't want to that can't happen to me, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Right. You think he was suffering from depression, from retiring, lack of testosterone? What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I I think he he had a really hard childhood. And I I think something, and you know, I don't want to get too deep in the weeds of my parents' relationship. We didn't even talk about that. It wasn't good. They were together like 56 years or something. I think he I think he somewhere decided he just needed to take a break. And that break ended up being 40 years long, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

So I I don't, you know, Dr. Kelly I don't, I don't know. I loved him to death, but uh yeah, it was a learning lesson of like, hey, if you stop moving, if you stop taking care of yourself, you know, this is what can happen to you. And it was very unfortunate. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

And uh very purposeful in helping you know what you didn't want to do. When did you start you know, you mentioned supplements and weightlifting as a seventh grader. Did it hit you in your 30s or 40s that you wanted to start supplementing some things or how did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

No, it was it's been my whole life. I mean, literally from seventh grade. I mean, uh the whole way through, I was, I mean, it and maybe it was just like, you know, if we're on nonlinear timelines, like we can get into discussion about the nature of reality or whatever, but you know, maybe my future self was already implanting in my younger self, hey dude, if you start taking care of yourself now, it's gonna pay off down the line. So start taking care of yourself. I don't know, but now my whole life it was about wellness and really trying to take care of myself. And uh I was an endurance athlete for 35 years and did marathon triathlon, you know, cycled extensively with a club team. And I then went, I I found out about yoga in Qigong.

Injury Sparks Hot Yoga Breakthrough

SPEAKER_00 13:29

And when I was about 48 and I was playing racquetball, like I said, absolutely addicted to racquetball, played like four or five days a week. And I went to hit the serve one day and I strained everything across my packs and I couldn't even breathe. And I was just like standing on the court like thinking I was gonna die. And I was like, okay, I'd better get flexible. And so I looked into yoga and maybe like the third or fourth class, you know, being someone who followed Mick Jagger's life advice that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right? And I'm like, what's the hardest, what's the hard yoga? You know, I want to do the real yoga, you know, and I was like, oh, this bikram stuff. It's 90 minutes and it's at least 105 degrees. Sign me up, man. That sounds like the you know, the marathon of yoga. Right. So I went to this Bikram class and I had, and and I will say I at this point, I was at about 25 years of part-time ministry, homeless ministry, preaching to congregations, you know, street ministry, music ministry. I toured with a black gospel ensemble, band playing guitar for them. I played in a lot of bands, and I was I was decoupling from that dogma. And I went to this Bikram class, and about halfway through the class, we were doing these hip opener, you know, posture. And I, Dr. Kelly, I had an emotional breakthrough that was so significant that by the time the class was over, I couldn't leave. And I laid on the floor for 20 minutes. And I was like, man, if I go back and tell my friends at church and the elders and the everybody, hey, I I went to this yoga class and had more internal healing than I've had in 25 years. Right. They're gonna go come out of him in the name of Jesus. You know what? You know what? That's pretty much what happened. And uh yeah, so I, you know, it started a different course of life, and then it really became about getting a more holistic view of things instead of just endurance sports and racquetball and weightlifting. And I was running a marathon, maybe six weeks after that first Bickram experience. And at about mile 10, I was like, why am I doing this? Like, what am I running from? You know, like I've been doing this since seventh grade. That's when I started running too. And I was like, what am I doing, man? I was like, I don't need to do this anymore. And it was an out and back and out and back, half marathon too. And thankfully, and I got to 13.1 miles and was like, I'm done. It was like, you know, force gump, you know, when he was running out on the road, and he's just like, I think I'm done now, you know. That was that was literally it. I was like, I think I'm done now. And I didn't run another five miles for the next five years.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Wow. So I did one half marathon, and I thought, this is never need I never need to do this again. You know, I it just it wasn't it's like I've I got that far as what is jigong, what'd you call it?

Qigong Explained In Plain English

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Jigong. What is that?

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Okay, so qigong is the traditional Chinese practice of energy. It literally means energy practice, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

And so it's learning how I mean our bodies are electric. I mean, you're a doctor, you know, like why do we have EEGs and EKGs and everything else is because we're our bodies generate electricity, right? Right. So we are able to use that as you learn, and this is the same thing in yoga. There's a lot of, you know, the the yo the eight limbs of yoga, a lot of it deals with learning how to breathe and move energy in your body and the postures and all that. But in Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese practices, qigong is the foundation of learning about energy centers in your body and movement in your body and how you can be healthier and open up the meridians of your circulation and your energy flow and everything by doing specific movements and things. So it it's the basis of you may have heard of Tai Chi. So Tai Chi, okay, well, in in in and I'm brutalized, but in in Chinese, it's actually Tai Chi Chuang. And so when you think of qi gong, that Tai Chi Chuang, it's like that same root is in there. And Tai Chi is literally taking Qigong movements of energy and then learning how to make it a soft martial art. Okay. And then if you take Tai Chi Chuang and you make it a hard martial art, it's Kong Fu. So Qi Gong goes to Tai Chi Tuang goes to Kong Fu. And uh, so when you see the movies and you know these Shaolin monks doing incredible things, like they'll take a, I mean, and this is real life, they'll take like a nine-foot wooden spear with a metal tip pointed spear, you know, end of the spear and put it under their chin and bend it, you know, with like and not break the skin. You you learn that energy and matter, thank you, you know, Einstein, they're interchangeable. You know, they knew that a long time ago. And uh so I really was very fortunate that the same time I started yoga learning about Qigong and Qigong meditation, and I got to spend a week at a retreat with a Chinese Qigong master named Robert Peng, an amazing, amazing human being, and uh learned some very incredible Qigong meditation practices, and it had such a huge impact on me, Dr. Kelly, uh, that I was like, I need to learn to share this with people. And so I started teaching Qigong meditation at our local yoga studio. And then just over time, it's just been the foundation of my internal wellness practice. You know, as much as like, you know, yoga is there to be a holistic thing of movement and the eight limbs and pranayama breath work and all that. You can you can practice qigong meditation very simply by just lying in bed or sitting or something. And, you know, you can do qigong movements, and there's incredible forms and things you do, but it's a very low barrier to entry for people. And it can become very like there are advanced practices. I'm developing a course that's almost ready to go on my website, on Throbbing247.com. That's gonna include four Qigong meditations that you have some incredibly easy, and then one that takes some learning, but that one is what is considered to be the greatest longevity and wellness like practice in Qigong. So it's it's kind of a gamut. But anyways, that's qigong energy movement.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

That that is fascinating. And yeah, I've done hot yoga and things like that, and but that was that was the first time I'd ever even heard of that. So I wanted to explain that.

Low Energy, Mold, Long COVID, Low T

SPEAKER_01 20:16

So you when did you start getting into testosterone therapy and start supplementing that way?

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yep. Well, somewhere around 2021, I think, I got some combination of mold exposure and long COVID. And it it suddenly, like, you know, I I was like, okay, this is gonna pass. I didn't know what was wrong yet. I didn't and I didn't understand about the mold exposure. I knew all about mold toxicity from biohacking, but it was literally one of those, oh, it'll never happen to me. Right. And then this, you know, I I went from like on a scale of one to ten, a nine of energy level to like a three. But I was like, okay, I'm gonna get better because I've always just been very, very energetic, very healthy. And it I wasn't getting better. And month after month, and I was like, what is going on? And I could tell that, you know, my from from all the years of endurance sports, I was like, my mitochondria are not working correctly. And for any of our listeners who may not know what mitochondria is, they're these little power plants in our cells. And they use something called through the Krebs cycle, they create ATP, which is adenosine triphosphate. And that is really what powers, you know, our our whole body. And when those mitochondria are compromised, you get things like chronic fatigue syndrome, Epstein Barr syndrome, things where people are just like, I can't function because you have no energy. And just month after month, it was not relenting. And finally, I you know, got a bunch of lab work done, and it came back that my testosterone was 215. Which is abysmal.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

And I so I went to my doctor, and my doctor was this 67, 68-year-old, very kind, skinny looking Santa Claus guy, you know, white beard and just very always so very kind man. But he really wasn't up on pert near anything of the last 20 years.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

And so there were times I'd have to kind of educate him on things. And so I, you know, I sat there and I'm like, look, man, look at my labs, okay? My testosterone's at 215. I want to get on testosterone therapy. And he's like, if you, if you do that, you're gonna have a stroke.

unknown 22:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

And I was like, what? And he goes, Well, that's what happens. If you get on testosterone, you're gonna have a stroke. And I'm like, dude, be your crap. Like, what are you talking about, man? My testosterone is that of like a maybe healthy 42-year-old woman who's not athletic. What are you talking about, dude? And so we we talked about options, and he was like, Well, there's a gel. You could try the gel. And I'm like, okay, I'll try the gel. And I hadn't started injecting anything yet, Dr. Kelly's. And even though I have like 31 tattoos, I like not a big needle fan. So I was like, okay, gel sounds okay. So I tried the gel for a while intermittently, and nothing really changed. And so then I got a buddy who actually helped me get into peptides. I'm really grateful for. He was a former bodybuilder and everything. And he's like, hey man, there's this new oral testosterone for HRT for men, and it's called Kaisotrex. And, you know, give it a shot. And I listened to a podcast with these doctors talking about it. So I went to my doctor, Dr. Santa Claus, right? And I was like, hey man, here's Kai, you know, what about Kaisotrex? And he's like, never heard of this. And I'm like, not surprised, but you know. Uh-huh. So he prescribed that. And I tried that for a number of months. But through the course of this, I had started using peptides. And they'd they really had turned my life around. And I was so grateful. And that's a whole nother part of this. But I went, you know, finally was at the point of like I heard a podcast with Dave Aspary, biohacking, a godfather of biohacking, and uh and this urologist who was saying that, you know, they're finding out now that microdosing testosterone subcutaneously, which anyone listening, that means under the skin instead of intramuscular. If you don't know that, that's intramuscular hurts more, you know.

unknown 24:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

That like you can now start injecting like five days a week, and it gives you a steady line of testosterone versus the once a week intramuscular that you know is gonna wane by the end of the week. It's the same practice that I think really works with TLPs. Okay. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it. So I got you know, injectable testosterone from my new doctor. I got a new naturopath who is an amazing guy. He immediately was like, that totally makes sense, man. Let's do it. And Dr. Kelly, that happened about maybe almost three months ago. Complete turnout, absolute gain.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

So what are your have you gotten your levels checked again on your microdosing? I have that. But you can just tell and how you feel that your your levels are staying up higher.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Yeah, the the stroke in testosterone, that was a a very flawed study done on VA patients back in the early 2000s, and it was it just really gave testosterone a bad rap for a while, but it was a very flawed study. Those guys had poor testosterone estrogen management. They weren't, you know, donating blood when they needed to. They were using Scipionate that was you know hard on a few patients' livers and it was just it w it was just kind of it just it scared everybody off of testosterone for a while. So if they haven't, you know, if they're still ascribing to that line of thought, you you know, but I think more and more people are are back up on you know, they're getting there's just too much wellness going on in the world today to still ascribe to those flawed studies. But so you so you started doing your testosterone injectable sub Q, and then uh you've actually we when we spoke before you're you're starting to do some peptides, you walk us through what you're using.

Peptides For Mitochondria And Recovery

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Yeah, so back I I did the Inca Trail and Machi Picchu in 2019 in Peru. And it was it was not easy. And that was even even though I was not like actively doing triathlon or anything anymore, it was still it was not easy, right? Because you're in the Andes and you know it's like 14,000 feet at times and everything, and it's you know, not a lot of oxygen and no very, very, very little sleep for three plus days. And so that was 2019. 2025, I had signed up with a bunch of people I know to go back and do it again. And I was like, I'm gonna die because I was still in this on a three of a scale of one to ten. And I was like, I really kind of scared that I could just drop dead somewhere on the Inca Trail. And so I'm on this thread on WhatsApp with Dave Asprey and another lot of biohacking people. And one day somebody started talking about Cell UPP-322. And and I was like, what is that? So yeah, these two guys were going back and forth about like, well, yeah, man, you know, they call it sloop for short. I was like, Sloop's great, I've been using it, wow, it changed everything, man. All my gains in the gym are better, I feel awesome, you know, my body composition's better. And and I'm like, wow, well, it's a I looked it up and I'm like, oh, it's a peptide. And I've heard, you know, I've I'd already learned about other peptides through biohacking, but I'm like, you got to go to a research use only site, and you know, you're gonna check a box that says this is for laboratory use only, not for human use. And, you know, you get this little vial of powder, and then you have to reconstitute it and you gotta inject it and everything. And I was like, well, at least sloop is an oral. Wow, it's a tablet. And I was like, okay, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it. So I ordered some, and I was sitting on the couch on the third day that I took at Dr. Kelly, and literally just went, oh my God, I've got energy in my body. And I went from like a three to a five. But that was like significant.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

That's a big deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

It had been three years of just feeling at a three. And I was like, oh my gosh. And it was like that like glimmer of hope returns. And then it, you know, in the anything worth doing is worth overdoing. I'm like, okay, well, if some of this is good, like, you know, what else can I do? And I think in the next, you know, two months, I probably I tried probably 30 different peptides and regulators, made it through Peru. My breathing really got helped by something called tax arrest. I think it's A19, it's a it's a lung bioregulator that really helped because breathing and was a huge part of the problem with the energy. And that really helped. So I survived Peru, got back, and just was like, I'm gonna learn as much about peptides and what I can do. Can I really fix my mitochondria? So I ended up using one called SS31, which I was very fortunate enough to just like a month ago be on small Zoom call with one with the woman who was the primary driver in discovering SS-31, this amazing chemist. She was really, really super cool. And uh got to thank her personally. But I think using SS31 really took me from a five to like about a seven. And then I kept on with other ones that complemented that MOT C and CJC1295, and then TBC, you know, God, uh BPC, there's 157, TB500. I tried just all these different ones and was was getting gains along the way. And, you know, it I was like, wow, this is transformational. And especially because they're just amino acids, right? And so anyone who's listening who's like, okay, well, what's an amino acid? They're the building blocks of proteins. And there's, you know, I know you know this, Dr. Kelly, but if I was listening and I'd be like, what the hell's, you know, an amino acid, whatever. We have essential and non-essential amino acids that the essential ones our body can make, right? Or the non-essential ones our body makes. The essential ones we have to get from diet or outside of our body somewhere. And the best source for that is eggs. You know, they have a complete essential, you know, amino acid profile, also villainized by the FDA or whoever for along with testosterone. Don't eat eggs and don't take testosterone there.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

So I, you know, I just learned more and more about how these peptides are just little amino acid chains. And it's why Big Pharma has been fighting, you know, any research use of that apart from patented medications from like Lily and Merck and these other ones that do, like, you know, Ozempic and semaglutide, and you know, because you can't patent something that your body already does or knows what to do with it. A natural substance, right. Add some something onto the end of that chain so that they can say, oh, that's our creation, and they can patent it, and then they can make literally billions of dollars selling weight loss drugs to people. Right. Right. So yeah, I started using retitrutide GLP3. And just over time, peptides and hormone therapy absolutely took me from a three back to about, I'm at about an eight again, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

That's great. So I just learned yesterday about a bucal delivery system for peptides. And if you want to look it up, it's neopeplife.com, N-E-O-P-E-P-L-I-F-E.com. It's a new breakthrough delivery system just coming on the onto the market. But I just literally found up I found out about it yesterday. So you don't have to inject the peptides. They're there you it's a patch you put on the inside of your cheek. Oh wow. And yeah, very cool stuff. But I encourage you to look that up if if you just to just to be in the know.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Yeah, no, thank you. I haven't heard of that. That's pretty

Thriving247 Coaching And Programs

SPEAKER_00 32:52

cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

So, Ray, let's talk about your website, thriving247.com. Tell us about your services and what what you have different programs I see there. Just tell us you you you went official, basically. You were already doing this for for friends and coworkers and things like that. And then somebody said, Hey, Ray, you really should be official with this. So you went and made this website. So tell us about it.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Yeah. So it's it's going official is a great way to put it, Dr. Kelly. And I, you know, I work with people one-on-one, but there are also some options on there for smaller group, you know, and obviously one's a little more expensive than than the other, right? But it's really just been coming together in the last number of months. And you know, it's it's a portal for anyone who would like to connect on coaching on a number of different things. I mean, obviously we're talking about TRT, HRT, you know, bad, bad acronym use, testosterone replacement therapy, hormone replacement therapy, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

And then for peptides and everything too. And, you know, or if I I've done a lot of work around sexual wellness and r relationship communication and everything. So, you know, it's kind of, you know, an entryway to someone who may just really have some questions. And the best things to do is just there's a contact form on there, just fill it out. It's really short, just say hey, and I'll contact you and let's see if it's a good fit to work together.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah. I see what topics, you know, that you're offering to help with longevity, life coaching, hormone replacement therapy, relationship support, meditation. Just you're just a resource, a very rich resource for a bunch of different avenues. And as humans, we're not just the physical, we are spiritual and we are emotional, and you just you kind of have it covered. That's awesome. So your programs.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

I'm sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

No, well, I was just going to kind of describe your your programs here. The premium personal, the VIP, uh, the circadian is what it's called. What would that look like for somebody?

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Well, that's only open to five people at one time maximum. And that is absolute like white glove. Like you've you've got my phone number, you can text me. Like, you know, we have a WhatsApp thread and we can we communicate through that, and I've got like a you know, back to corporate land, a service level agreement that I'm gonna be responding to you within eight hours of any questions that you have. We also meet on a regular basis face to face over Zoom. If you're in the Seattle area, we can actually talk about meeting in person. But other than that, it is really designed for someone who like wants to take this very seriously and is motivated to see some transformation in their lives. And maybe, and this is the thing too, Dr. Kelly, is that it can also be sometimes, you know, people just don't have someone to talk to about things that like maybe you don't even know if peptides are right for you, but you're struggling in other areas of your life. I mean, we haven't even gotten into like sexual wellness with help with peptides or anything too. But like, you know, that you don't have someone to talk to, or maybe you don't have health care, or you don't get to go see a Dr. Kelly, you know, or you like, you know, you need some other resource. It's available for people in those situations as well.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

And that that's definitely available for all four levels of your offerings here. I do also like the flow community empowerment, just the way someone could be part of a group. Because if you are part of a group, questions will be asked that you were either afraid to ask or didn't think mattered. But it I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

It's just it's an amazing It's exactly the idea is that you know you can be on a Zoom call with other people and not have to say a word. You don't even have to turn your camera on. You can just be like, hey, I'm curious, but I'm also kind of shy and I don't want to talk about my issues and learn from others. Or you can also submit a question ahead of time. And I can, you know, say, hey, from the community, here was a question that we're going to talk about today.

Relationship Health And Clear Communication

SPEAKER_00 37:21

What does it look like when a couple is facing a combined challenge of perimenopause and low testosterone? Like, you know, what does that do to a relationship? Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

And then Oh God, what does that do?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Nothing good. Nothing good.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah. I will say, you know, as long as they're on the same page, you know, that's the thing with when you're working with a couple, is, you know, if if the woman gets fixed, you know, she's up here and you gotta bring the partner right along with her, and vice versa for sure.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Absolutely. And that's a lot of what I've learned about communication and relationship optimization is just it's fundamentally about communication. You know, I mean, there's there's I I was very fortunate to have dated someone and she was absolutely brilliant. And, you know, we we learned this technique of like, hey, you're once a week, you're supposed to have what's called a glass clearing conversation. And by glass clearing, it means that anything that is coming up in life that you are not comfortable sharing with your partner, it's like there's a pane of glass between you and you threw a handful of mud on that glass. Maybe it's something that you feel shame about or you feel guilty about, or you know, you were you're scared that if you told your partner that, they would, you know, reject you or abandon you, or you know, whatever it is. And so you you keep that internal, and that's that's starting to prevent a clear line of sight between you and your partner. And so the best thing that you can do is once a week sit down and just be completely transparent, like with wisdom, you know, with one another. With wisdom, right? And not like, you know, hey, I really like the babysitter, like, you know, like but maybe maybe you frame it more like, you know, I I just want to let you know I I love you and you, I I only want you, but I'm struggling with some weird feelings. And I just, you know, like I I don't want to hide that from you, you know, you know, or something. I mean, there's there's wiser ways than going, wow, the babysitter is smoking, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Right, right. Wonder why I'm feeling that way.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

Yeah. So it's it's really just, you know, communication is the

Sleep First Then Hormones Then Peptides

SPEAKER_00 39:47

foundation. Also, with like wellness and longevity, the first thing I do is ask people, like, well, what are you trying to achieve in life? And if they say, okay, well, you know, yeah, I want really smooth skin and I want, you know, I want my hair to be really healthy or body composition, I need to lose weight, like, you know, or I'm having cognitive decline. And let's talk about like, okay, well, Semax is great for that, right? And and looking at it and saying, before we get there with peptides, that peptides are the the end of the downstream. The the beginning is sleep, number one, most important. Absolutely. If you're not sleeping right, doesn't matter, you can, I mean, that's where our our body heals, where our hormones are really doing the work that they need to do, right? I mean, everything happens. Like sleep is number one. You know, nutrition, hydration, exercise, and movement. Are you moving your body? Is your lymph able to, you know, move because you're moving, right? It doesn't move on its own. If you don't have those things covered, then using you may get benefit from a GLP and you're gonna lose weight, but you're gonna lose muscle because you're not gonna eat right and you're not gonna sleep right. And you'll be like, oh wow, look, I'm I've you know, I've just lost 10 pounds. Yeah, well, maybe like four of those pounds were fat, and you just lost six pounds of muscle. And when you get off your GLP, if you haven't learned to moderate your appetite when it comes back after getting off your GLP, you are going to end up worse than you started because you're the app you will suddenly be like, oh yeah, I went from eating four pieces of pizza to one when I was on the GLP and then I felt really full and I didn't want to eat anymore. But now I'll, I'm gonna eat six because I miss eating pizza, right? I mean, and then and you know what? Give me a milkshake with that too. And you're gonna end up worse. So that whole holistic approach of like, we've got to look at the thing is is something that's really intrinsic to all that process I do with people.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

And I I just want to point out things I'm seeing on your website is that you have the resources to help someone have a physician-guided evaluation, FDA-approved pharmacies, custom protocols. Like you're you are coaching in a sense, but you also have resources that you can guide people to.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

That is exactly right. And thank you for bringing that up because it's a really important

Safer Access Through Telehealth Options

SPEAKER_00 42:18

point. When I've coached people on peptides where, you know, they go to a research use only site and they order, you know, like GLOW, which is copper peptides with BPC 157 and TB500, because they want collagen enhancement. It's good for, you know, all of your collagen-based things, which is our skin, our always, you know, fascia, all that. And uh they get the vial and it's powder. And they also ordered a vial of reconstitution solution and they found a way to get syringes, and not always possible. And like you can't go on Amazon in every state and just buy syringes. We can in Washington, so I'm grateful for that. But, you know, and then I'd literally have to get on a Zoom with someone and be like, okay, look, nope, nope, not that vial. Get the other one. Okay, that one. Okay, now, you know, and and then it's like, what do I do with this needle? Okay, look, we're just gonna, you're gonna put it in the okay, we're gonna pull two million. Is that enough? Is that enough? Okay, hold on, right? So that whole process, plus you you, you know, they may say 99% pure, certified by third-party lab. I only work with research use-only sites. There's two of them that I absolutely completely trust. But at the same time, you know, did they come from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, or Mexico, or China? Those are the five places where a whole lot of peptides come from. And you know, you can't even really use credit cards on some of these research use only sites because the FDA and big pharma is pushing so hard to shut down anybody who's not buying their patented meds that the way they're getting to really hammer these small these other companies is by going and threatening. To sue the credit card processing companies if they handle transactions from these resource use-only sites. And so, you know, and and like the credit card companies are like, well, we're not dealing with that, so we're not gonna work with you anymore. So you may have to use Venmo, you may have sue PayPal, like cryptocurrency. So it's it's kind of sketchy, Dr. Kelly, and to to you know, someone who's not used to really weird biohacking do-it-yourself stuff.

unknown 44:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

And that's where the telehealth is really incredible. And I think also, I bet within two years, you're gonna have to do it through telehealth because the FDA is gonna shut down research use only. Yeah. And so what this does is again, someone who may not get to come and talk with someone knowledgeable about hormones, like you know, like you are, they get to go to that site, they can click through from thriving247.com, takes you to a site, you can sign up. There's a lot of peptide and hormone options. You get a telehealth visit with a trained physician who, unlike Dr. Santa Claus, actually knows what they're talking about with this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

And then they custom, you know, prescribe something for you. It goes to an FDA-approved compounding pharmacy. They make the peptides here in America, you know, with the best purity, and then they ship it to you pre-constituted with exactly what you need to use it, and whether there's some nasal sprays on there, there's some orals, but there's also injectables. And the doctor talks with you, like what, you know, what what do you need? Is it just HRT? Is it also peptides? Is it a combination of both? And that is is an if you don't have your own doctor or like me, your doctor didn't know honestly what he was talking about with all this.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Telehealth is a great option.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

And I would I was just looking at some of the things your clients have said about you. Uh working with Ray over the years has been a tremendous experience. He possesses top-notch skills, intuition, and communication abilities in each interaction. He's committed to helping others and creating successful outcomes for all parties involved. He is at the top of his craft. And that's from a CEO. So you you work with all types of people. You have the ability to work with very productive, you know, individuals at the at the very top of their career ladder. And but also, you know, you might could help the the mom of three, you know, that just needs some guidance and direction. And so I think what what you've done with your website, thriving247.com, is you've made it all of this accessible to everyone. And they can they can reach out to

Final Thoughts And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 46:50

you. I feel like we have barely scratched the surface on what you and I could talk about. And we're gonna have to have you back and go off into all these different veins of conversation. But for the interest of time today, I'll kind of wind us up here. But I do believe you are a hormone hero in a lot of different ways. And uh, is there anything, any closing words you'd like to give us?

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Just how much I've enjoyed getting to know you and talk to you, Dr. Kelly. Like to your point about talking for a long time. You know, we were supposed to have this short intro call and how long did we talk for on our intro? Like the other day, we're just like, oh hey, you know, so I love getting to share with you and your audience. And yeah, I would look forward to getting to do so again one day.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

Thank you so much. So, Dr. I mean Dr. Ray Schloss of trying I'm putting a doctor in front of your name because you might as well be one. Ray Schloss, his website once again is thriving247.com. And he's easy on the eyes. So if you get to zoom with him, he'll he'll that'll be a pleasure. And uh very knowledgeable. When you play, are you still playing music somewhere?

SPEAKER_00 48:00

Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean it's I don't play live anymore, but it's but I do this music production for like the Monroe Institute and you know all these other companies, but also personally, and I have a couple people that I collaborate with on developing and producing music, and uh I'm very fortunate to work with them. And uh yeah, no, I you know, I love helping people through everything that we just talked about, but the joy of producing music is is really something that just makes my day a positive thing, Dr. Kelly. So yeah, I love, absolutely love, love music.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

So like light your fire. I love that. Yes, ma'am. All right. Well, thanks, Ray. We will we will have to do this again soon.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Absolutely. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you, Dr. Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

Uh-huh. Bye-bye.

Subscribe, Review, And Share Stories

SPEAKER_01 48:50

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 hormoneheroes.org. 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.