An Introduction to The Savvy Patient

Dr. Gillian Goddard and Erin Stein introduce themselves and explain what this podcast will be all about.

We take a moment to remind you that while this is a medical discussion, it is not providing a diagnosis or treatment or any medical advice. The only way to get a diagnosis, treatment or medical advice for your particular condition is through a discussion with your doctor.

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Get your copy of The Hormone Loop by Dr. Gillian Goddard wherever books are sold.

This episode was produced and edited by Erin Stein. Music: “All We Live For (instrumental)” by Wolfclub licensed through Audiio.com. Intro and outro edited, and video created, by Ian Mayer. The Savvy Patient logo by Amanda Spielman.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Gillian Goddard: Welcome to The Savvy Patient, where we make medicine make sense. I'm Dr. Gillian Goddard. I'm an endocrinologist and an expert in women's hormonal health with two decades of clinical experience. 

Erin Stein: I'm Erin Stein, a writer, editor, filmmaker, and media psychologist, but definitely not a doctor. 

Dr. Gillian Goddard: By looking at the data and breaking down the research, we will help you get savvy. Remember, this podcast is not meant to replace medical advice from your own doctor.

Erin Stein: We thought we would just talk a little bit here to explain who we are, introduce ourselves, and talk a little bit about what we hope this podcast will be.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: Erin and I have known each other for a very long time. We're middle-aged ladies who met in high school. We were both in theater together. And then in college, we both studied journalism. We even moved to New York around the same time and fun fact, briefly shared a studio apartment. And we're still friends.

Erin Stein: And then one day, Gillian called me and said, I'm going to be a doctor. And that's a very Gillian thing to do.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: I remember that day. Even though we have all these things in common, our day-to-day lives are actually very different. We come to our conversations with different backgrounds and different life experiences. So, Erin has two cats. I have four kids. I think Erin has feelings about that.

Erin Stein: It's a lot of kids. It's good if you like your own children. I mean, I like them too. It's just a lot when you visit Gillian's house. To be fair, if I had four cats and you came to my house, you would think that was a lot of cats. We thought we should explain the name, the Savvy Patient, because that is what we want you to become by listening to this podcast. So, what does that mean? What is a savvy patient? A savvy patient is someone who wants to take charge of their healthcare using the best available information. And a savvy patient is interested in how the research is done, how the medical guidelines are formed, and what that means for them.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: I think a savvy patient is someone who knows interesting things about medicine too. Like, did you know that during pregnancy the human body actually works 40% harder? Savvy patients also know things like Ozempic and Wegovy are the same medicine. They're just branded with two different names for two different uses.

Erin Stein: In this podcast, we will be talking about perimenopause, menopause, explaining the difference, or not. All the fun stuff related to those periods of our life. The hot flushes, also known as hot flashes, periods, brain fog, everything from PCOS to breast cancer, which I actually went through last year. So, we'll definitely talk through that.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: Endocrinologists are doctors who study hormones and the glands that make those hormones. Hormones, it's best to think of them as like instructions that tell different parts of the body what to do. When most people think of hormones, they automatically think of estrogen and testosterone, the hormones that are involved in making babies. But we actually have dozens of hormones and they do all different things throughout our body. They tell our brains to be alert. They tell our hearts how quickly to beat. They tell our guts how quickly to move food through the system. When things go awry, it's a little bit like trying to put together an Ikea coffee table without the instruction book. So as an endocrinologist, it's my job to help get things back on track.

Erin Stein: It's important to note that even though hormones are often discussed as women's health, everybody has hormones that do all the important things your body does. It's not like only men have testosterone; women have testosterone, and men have estrogen. We all have the same hormones. So, it's what are these hormones doing, right?

Dr. Gillian Goddard: Yeah, just have them in different amounts. And that is really what leads to some of the differences in how our bodies function. But there's a lot more that is similar between men and women than there is that is different.

Erin Stein: Women do have some specific things they deal with.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: We do. We do go through a number of different stages in life related to our hormones and we'll definitely be getting into that.

Erin Stein: What are some things that someone comes to see you for? Because hormones, like yeah, we all have them. We have no idea what they're doing in there. And how do you know that you need to see a doctor about them?

Dr. Gillian Goddard: I see lots of women for lady issues, no doubt about it. But I also see people because they're having problems with their thyroid hormone and their thyroid gland. I see people to help them with their diabetes, both type 1 diabetes, which people usually get in childhood, and type 2 diabetes, which affects more people in midlife. And now a big part of my job is helping people with medical weight loss as well.

Erin Stein: I worked in publishing for many, many, many years, but I've been getting a master's degree in media psychology. So that will definitely play into this podcast as well, because how we talk about these things, the way the media portrays health, and how women deal with health, all plays into our psychology and our feelings about all these fun, fun life changes that we all get to go through.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: 100%.

Erin Stein: We're also going to talk about things like body image, just how sexist medical language and research can be. All the implications of having kids, not having kids. We come to that from both sides. And we will keep you up to date on all the GLP-1RAs. Did you know fun things like Gila monster venom is how we figured out how to make those medications?

Dr. Gillian Goddard: Yeah, pretty great. Gila monsters are from Arizona. That's where we met.

Erin Stein: And yes, once in a while, we will talk about men's health because we all have hormones. But we'll be a little focused on the ladies. We will be swearing on this podcast. So, brace yourselves for that. We are going to be talking about female issues, which requires some swearing.

Dr. Gillian Goddard: I think that's right. But maybe don't listen with your kids in the car. Quick note on language though. Experts like myself, endocrinologists, were actually among the first people in medicine to recognize that gender isn't binary. We know that when we refer to people with ovaries as women or girls, that that doesn't cover everyone. However, most medical research is actually based on this construct that all people fall into just two categories, male and female.

Erin Stein: So, we want to acknowledge this as we know that the labels we will often use won't capture everyone's experiences, but we are going to be talking about the research a lot. And so, we have to talk about it in the way that it was done and its context. We also want to acknowledge that both of us have privileges. We are both white. We have access to health care. We have the funds for insurance coverage. And this is something we also want to talk about. We want to get into all those nuances in future episodes.