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Dr. Rubin remained in this area for over 5 years watching gen, you have an increased risk of breast cancer, however
the influx of HMOs and feeling the crunch that all doctors an article in the March 2010 Journal of Menopause stated
were experiencing with these new medical formations. She that using transdermal estrogen doesn’t increase incidents of
decided it was time for a change and picked San Diego as breast cancer or stroke.”
her new home. She felt that this was an area with more As Dr. Rubin notes, “Doctors need to keep up to date on the
consciousness when it came to a holistic approach toward literature out there in regards to hormonal treatment. Many
medicine. doctors do not even know how long bio-identical hormones
Today Dr. Rubin is certified by the American Board of Family have been around, since they only recently gained public
Medicine and the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. recognition in the 1980s but they have been actively dis-
She has recently completed a two year fellowship in Anti- pensed in Europe for over 50 years. I do a peer review
Aging Medicine. Her practice is located in Encinitas where medical article search every month to keep in tune with new
she practices aesthetics medicine, anti aging medicine, and advances.
regular family medicine. “I do everything from Pap smears to The passion with which Dr. Rubin expresses her feeling
colds and sinus infection. However, my main focus is meno- regarding women and menopause is obvious not only in
pause and andropause.” We all know the term menopause, her words, but in her eyes. She truly cares about each and
but less familiar is the term Andropause, which is a lowering every one of her patients. She has seen many patients who
of testosterone levels in men. came to her after negative experiences with other physicians
Dr. Rubin does admit that it is often the wives whom she and this is upsetting to her. As she notes, “I’ve had patients
treats with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, that come to me who said that their complaints weren’t taken se-
recommend their husbands pay her a visit. “The women are riously. Of course there are marvelous doctors out there who
back on track due to their treatment and they have their sex get it and do it right. But as an obstetrician, I’ve delivered
drive back, so they will suggest their husbands do the same a thousand babies and I thought I knew everything about
so they can keep up with them.” labor and delivery and pregnancy, but when I got pregnant
An explanation from Dr. Rubin on women and hormones is I realized I didn’t know anything. It’s kind of the same thing
truly enlightening, she explains, “Declining levels of hor- with menopause. So it is sometimes hard for a male doctor
mones are found in women often years before menopause. or even a young female doctor to understand when you tell
During this perimenopausal period hormonal levels start to them that you went to Vons and they didn’t have the type of
drop. Testosterone goes first, they get decreased libido, get cream cheese you wanted and you were hysterically cry-
tired and decreased self confidence. The next thing you ing in the middle of the aisle, and you didn’t know why. Or
lose is progesterone. You get irritable, have mood swings, that you immediately went home and yelled at the kids, they
can’t handle stress, can’t sleep, and are easily overwhelmed. won’t understand it. They will think you are crazy, but you
Next you lose estrogen, you get hot flashes, vaginal dryness, aren’t crazy you just need progesterone. And progesterone
foggy thinking, your hair thins and your nails get brittle and is a hormone that is a GABA receptor agonist that says to San Diego
suddenly you can’t remember the names of things.” Luck- your brain 'I am at the beach, I am in the hammock, and Woman
ily for women who are going through these stages there are the sky is falling, and I don’t really care.' If you don’t have
solutions to these hormonal fluctuations. As Dr. Rubin notes, GABA, You get pissed off at kids, you are crying, and you
“The first thing I do with my patient is listen to them. Once I don’t know why. You don’t need Xanax or Lexipro you need 15
hear what their symptoms are then we check serum levels someone who understands menopause and is going to listen
and we start a treatment using supplements and bio-identical to you, and have the experience to balance your hormones.
hormones. In six weeks they come back and I ask them the It’s so simple.”
same questions again. We review their previous list of com- When Dr. Rubin steps in and helps a patient to feel human
plaints and determine what has improved and what hasn’t, again, to feel back in control of her emotions the result is not
and then we check hormone levels again. If things are fine only a happy patient, but a doctor who is happy that she took
and the symptoms have improved or completely disappeared her parent’s advice and chose medicine as a career.
then they don’t need to come back to me for a year. If their “I hear this every day, fifty year old women come in to see
levels are not fine I will do one more adjustment, see them me and say I could care less if I ever have sex again. This
one more time, and then again in a year.” is because their testosterone levels are low. Who wants to
live from fifty to one hundred and not have sex? So I give
With all of the interest in bio-identical hormones and the them testosterone and they get their lives back.” She adds,
wonderful changes they can make in a woman’s life, we had “My favorite patients are the ones who can’t even stop cry-
to ask Dr. Rubin if there are still doctors out there prescribing ing through the appointment because they feel better and
synthetic hormones to their female patients? “Yes, unfortu- haven’t for so long. That is when I say to myself. This is a
nately, and there have been so many studies that prove this great job!”
is dangerous for women. Studies have shown that taking For more information on Dr. Rubin and Nouveau health visit
synthetic estrogen orally increases the risk of stroke by her website at http://www.nouveauhealth.net
450%, yet some doctors are still giving estrogen orally. Oral
estrogen goes into the stomach and into the liver. The liver
perceives a high level of estrogen causing the liver to put out
any kind of protein it can to bind onto the estrogen to lower
the levels. One kind of protein is clotting factors, so this
increases your risk of clots. Breast cancer is also a concern.
It has been shown that if you take very high levels of estro-
November/December 2010