Empowering Alternatives In An Overprescription Epidemic with Andrea Shuman of Mycrodrops
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Welcome back to Therapist Expanded! Today I’m interviewing Andrea Shuman of Mycrodrops.
Here are ways to learn more: Mycrodrops.com to take Andrea's quiz to determine how this could help you, Facebook, Instagram, and moving video App announcement.
Use code EXPANDED at checkout for $10 off your first order of $30 or more!
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- Andrea tells us about how she started her healing career in Massage Therapy before studying Ayurvedic Medicine, and then became an entrepreneur in the foodspace making Ghee, before starting Mycrodrops
- She shares that women in midlife transitions have always been drawn to her, and how now in midlife herself she sees how dynamic of a time it is now
- Andrea describes how her own experience was very difficult even with her specialization in women’s health and her subspecialty in post-partum, and how difficult this was and that she’d set herself up well for the post-partum period but struggled a lot with weening depression
- We went more in depth into weening depression which isn’t well understood, and the general challenges of nursing women
- She shares how she needed support and needed a reminder that she had all of the tools, and could formulate her own solutions, so once clear, that’s what she did
- We discussed women’s hormones, in depth testing, and mental health and how that leads to over-prescription of antidepressants
- Andrea shares how her mother was on antidepressants for over 30 years and just came off of them (she also states that over 50 million Americans are on antidepressants!)
- The research that Andrea has done shows startling psychotropic over-prescription rates and the incredible bidirectional gender biases of prescription
- Andrea has heard a common refrain from women that they were commonly put on antidepressants after a sexual assault, with no plan for trauma treatment or an end game to get off of these medications
- I share my view that even after 30 years of antidepressants, sleeping pills, etc, we as humans can still come off of them with support because we are innate healers, and Andrea agrees
- Andrea shares the way she views the patient as the expert and her mother’s experience with psychiatric in-patient care after de-repressed memory retrieval (it's common for people in midlife to have recovered memories surface)
- She shares how long-term antidepressant use is an off label use of the medication, and how the studies that have been done show that use over two years has negative consequences
- One of these negative consequences is a reduction in empathy over time, and with 50 million people on these drugs, she invites us to take a moment to consider the social ramifications
- Andrea explains the reasons she is developing an App to help people recall the granular data of their day-to-day experience to report how they’re doing to their practitioners so their prescriptions and treatment can be tailored to their life, because people do not tend to remember the granular details and instead remember a synopsized version of their lived experience
- She shares how Ayurvedic medicine is measured on a spectrum rather than binaries of less or more which are often the way measurements are done in allopathic medicine
- The app captures the important metrics of lived experience to better inform treatment with nuance
- Andrea shares how GPs are largely the ones prescribing antidepressants and this data would really help them, and that the American Psychiatric Association (the psychiatrists) are sounding the alarm because of the overprescription epidemic
- She gives the history of PMDD treatment and how PMDD was likely a created title to rebrand Prozac under a new name because they ran out of their patent
- Andrea says it’s important to look at the for profit and sociological factors to this complex problem, and how we need a complex solution
- I mentioned the dutch test and when I would recommend women getting that done
- Andrea shares about her Mycrodrops product and the development and history of where she is now
- She also explains some of the use of microdosing with psychedelics as well, and how what people are trying to treat with psychedelics without the aid of other herbs can be difficult, because some psychedelics bring the system up, some down, and they all have different bioavailability, and this is more complex than just taking some mushrooms and finding relief
- Andrea shares that her products all have a stable base and how the compounds in her base all work together (this is fascinating - she truly is an expert)
- She describes her 3 products called Motivated, Focus, and Grounded and what’s been added to her stable base to achieve these different result
- Andrea describes how these are all food-based, taste good, could be taken once a day instead of many times a day like many tinctures and herbs (I’ve checked out her reviews and people love her products!)
- I discuss the quiz she has on her website and her rave reviews
- What mental health revolution means to Andrea is about people being empowered to take their life and health into their own hands
- Andrea shares how a growth area she moved through was the fear and feelings of failure when she was holding onto something that wasn’t working anymore
- I wondered if she was experiencing the conditioning that therapists often do that they are hurting other people by going after what they need to do on the deepest level, and she gave examples of how at the time she had difficulty letting go, this was something she was experiencing and how this relates to self-trust
- Andrea shares how it felt like her therapist was brought to her by magic because there’s such a great fit, and it was very difficult to find therapists at the time, as well as how support is so necessary, rather than “cowboy heroics”
- Andrea describes her generous offer of a coupon code and the invitation to take her quiz to know what’s best for you, and to enjoy her blogs on mental health, herbal medicine, and microdosing
Here are ways to learn more: Mycrodrops.com to take Andrea's quiz to determine how this could help you, Facebook, Instagram, and moving video App announcement.
Use code EXPANDED at checkout for $10 off your first order of $30 or more!
*Hey! What's Your Therapist Fulfillment Flavor? Take the QUIZ to find out and see how much your fulfillment really is like ice cream!
On a serious note, this quiz could illuminate the beginnings of a path to your fulfillment so take the QUIZ today and receive curated content just for you!
I hope you enjoy the podcast! Please Subscribe, share, rate and review if it feels genuine to you!
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