The peptide that I am going to share with you today is different in many ways, but the first reason is that it is only taken 10 days each six months. But, the benefit will be long lasting.

I dedicate hours to researching the body, how it works and especially how peptides play in the body. The more I have researched this one (and I have been doing so since November 2025), the more I think this may be the MOST important in my entire stack.

It’s called Epitalon. And, it is a peptide bioregulator.

Deep in the middle of your brain is a tiny, pea-sized gland called the pineal gland. Most of us hear “pineal gland” and immediately think melatonin and sleep. At least anyone who has ever researched why their sleep is in the toilet would think that. You all KNOW that I am a sleep struggler at times.

A helpful analogy would be to think of the pineal gland like the conductor of an orchestra. It helps regulate the timing of so many of the things your body needs to do every day: sleep and wake cycles, hormone signaling, repair, recovery, immune function.

We have talked about this at length, but as our body ages, every single system ages with it. They all change with age and time- many becoming less robust, sharp and “on-time”.

Here are some of the things I have dealt with and in talking to hundreds of women, you may have experienced, too:

• You’re exhausted all day and then suddenly wide awake when your head hits the pillow…that wired but tired feeling.

• You wake up at 12:00-3:00 a.m. and your brain decides this isthe perfect time to live in “what if land” and ruminate on the most random things ever.

• Your sleep feels different, meaning you can sleep through the night but you don’t wake up feeling very refreshed.

• Your recovery is slower, hard workouts linger longer, your cough or cold just won’t completely go away.

• Your hormones feel unpredictable- hello, all of us feel this!

Perimenopause is absolutely part of that picture, but there are also age-related changes happening in the systems that control our circadian rhythm and melatonin production. And, that’s where Epitalon gets to work.

Epitalon is a very small peptide, just four amino acids, and called a peptide bioregulator because of its small size.

Much of the research I have found came from a Russian researcher Vladimir Khavinson, who spent decades studying peptide bioregulators and aging. The idea behind it is not simply, just take some melatonin to go to sleep. That feels so much like putting a bandaid on a giant wound.

The research around Epitalon has looked at whether it can influence pineal function and the body’s own circadian and melatonin signaling vs supplementing melatonin from an outside source. It is always going to be the root cause lens that gets my attention.

Melatonin is the output but I want to know what’s happening at the factory.

While better sleep is the reason I am going to take this tiny but mighty peptide, there are some incredible longevity benefits that I can’t wait to share with you below. I am trying to keep this accessible and not overtly nerdy. Fingers crossed.

Telomeres

Think about your DNA like a shoelace and at the end of the shoelace, you have those little plastic caps that keep it from fraying. Your chromosomes have something similar. They’re called telomeres.

As we age, and our cells continue dividing, telomeres generally get shorter.

Eventually, when they become critically short, cells don’t function or replicate the same way anymore. That process is one of many mechanisms researchers study when they’re trying to understand cellular aging.

Your body also has an enzyme called telomerase that can help maintain telomeres.

And this is where Epitalon shines: some laboratory research has found that Epitalon may influence telomerase activity and telomere length.

That does not mean we have proof that Epitalon makes humans live longer- but I am fascinated by the mechanism of action on improving the health of our telomeres.

My stance on wellness is to add life to my years (and years to my life because I am greedy!) I’m thinking about cellular aging, metabolic health, cardiovascular health (and my elevated biomarkers- that thankfully are on the decline thanks to my microdose), immune function, recovery (I am a mover and shaker and my body needs to KEEP up), maintaining as much resilience as I can as I keep on my midlife journey.

Longevity benefits are the reason this peptide as been on my wish list for months and months. Today, it launched with Ellie MD and I am ordering now.

How DSIP different

DSIP and Epitalon get put in the same bucket because people talk about both of them in relation to sleep, but I don’t think about them the same way at all. And, often people stack them together.

DSIP is what I choose when the problem is more immediate: I’m wired, my stress response is up, my brain will not shut off, and sleep is suffering. I used this after my surgery in February and it transformed my deep sleep cycles.

Epitalon is the peptide I think about much more long-term: circadian rhythm, pineal function, and the cellular-aging mechanisms being studied around it (not just better sleep, but improved longevity).

The easiest way I can explain is:

DSIP is about tonight.
Epitalon is about the next 20 years (plus a great night of sleep)

That doesn’t mean either one is a magic fix- you all know I hate that term. It also does not mean that everyone needs to use both. They do slightly different things and that is where each person can decide (along with a physician) what is the best route for them.

My plan.

I plan to use Epitalon (linked here ) as a short, periodic pep to support my long term health (anti-aging, telomere, neuroprotection, sleep regulation, mood support, antioxidant, insulin/cholesterol benefits)… and sleep. I would do anything for sleep.

I’m going to put my health-coach hat on for a second: Please don’t take my personal protocol and turn it into your must-have stack. If you are curious about this peptide, complete the intake form so that a doctor can review it for you and make sure you have no contraindications.

So much of wellness has become about what we can feel immediately:

• Did the scale finally move in the right direction?

• Can I keep up with my kids afterschool?

• Did I sleep better last night?

• Is my glucose better on my CGM?

• Do my clothes fit better than they used to?

I care about those things too, mostly the sleep one ;) But I’m also much more interested in the things I’m doing today that I may never be able to feel or see (kind of Thymosin Alpha-1, too).

I am rallying around the things that are about repairing or preserving my aging body systems vs fixing a symptom with a bandaid. I have zero desire to spend my 40’s (which is a decade I LOVE) trying to look 30. I love myself more now than at 30 by a long shot. Have learned so much over the last 14 years.

My personal goal is to get to 55, 65, 75 and still feel like my very best version of me.

Strong.

Mentally sharp.

All day energy.

Able to travel and lift my bags!

Lifting heavy weights at the gym with MB.

Able to get on the floor and get right back up (chase grandkids someday!)

Enjoy the life Michael and I have worked hard to create. My body is going to age, telomeres are going to shorten, and hormones are going to change. I’m not trying to pretend biology isn’t happening.

Here is where my head is at: What can I do today to give that future version of me the best possible shot?

Epitalon is one of the things I’m trying, and I like to think of it that way. Like giving my 65 year old self a little boost of TLC. Who knows what she will have journeyed through- but we all need our best shot at lots of beautiful, healthy years.

That’s what adding Epitalon into my stack is for.

Ready to go? Fill out the intake form and see if Epitalon is a fit for you and your body: HERE

If you have any questions, I am here for you! Set up a free 15-minute discovery call here.

Also, if you are unsure of what may be a great fit for you, you can take this 3-minute quiz that will help you identify your goals and provide a tailor made list of products that may be great for you!

^{I’m not a doctor. I’m a certified health coach and integrative health practitioner who does a ridiculous amount of homework. This is education and a description of my personal experience—not medical advice. Peptides can have risks, contraindications, and unknowns. Always work with a qualified medical provider before starting a peptide protocol.}

On one side you have pharmaceutical grade peptides. These are prescribed by a licensed doctor, compounded at an FDA-regulated 503A pharmacy, tested for purity and sterility, and dispensed with medical oversight over the course of the treatment.

On the other side you have “research grade” peptides. These are sold online without a prescription, marketed with the disclaimer “for research use only, not for human consumption” (This is a big red flag), often 40-70% cheaper, and increasingly popular among biohackers and cost-conscious buyers.

They look similar. They come in vials. They’re often the same molecule on paper. So what’s different and why do you need to care?

Let me walk you through it, because this is honestly one of the most important conversations we can have about peptides right now. And, a question that I get often about pricing of pharmaceutical grade vs. research grade peptides.

Core Difference

Pharmaceutical grade peptides are made for human use. Every step from raw material to final vial is regulated, tested, documented, and traceable. There’s a licensed doctor prescribing. There’s a licensed pharmacist compounding. There’s a regulated facility with quality systems, sterile environments, and inspections. Yes, please and thank you!

Research grade peptides are made for laboratory research. The legal fiction of “not for human consumption” allows them to bypass every one of those requirements. Purity is often lower. Testing is optional. There’s no doctor, no pharmacist, no oversight. It is just a website, a credit card, and a vial in the mail.

Both may contain, say, “BPC-157.” But what else is in the vial? That’s where things get uncomfortable and a little murky.

Purity: What’s in the Vial

Pharmaceutical grade: typically 99%+ purity, verified by third-party testing. The active peptide is the peptide. Impurities are documented and within accepted safety thresholds.

Research grade: purity varies wildly. Independent testing done by advocacy groups and peer-reviewed research has found research-grade peptide vials that were:

• Under-dosed (30-70% less peptide than claimed)

• Contaminated with bacterial endotoxins (which can cause fever, chills, and dangerous inflammatory reactions when injected)

• Contaminated with heavy metals (lead, arsenic, mercury from cheap manufacturing)

• Contaminated with residual solvents from the synthesis process

• Contaminated with unlabeled peptides or other proteins from cross-contamination in production

• Mislabeled — the vial simply didn’t contain the peptide on the label

Think about that for a moment. You’re injecting something into your body, potentially every day, and you have no way of knowing what’s actually in it. That is a hard pass for me- even if friends of mine tell me how great their experience has been.

With pharmaceutical grade, purity is guaranteed and documented. With research grade, you are the actual guinea pig.

Testing: The Difference Between Documentation and Nothing

Pharmaceutical grade peptides go through:

• HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) testing. This verifies peptide identity and purity

• Mass spectrometry (you know I want to get nerdy with you here): confirms molecular structure

• Bacterial endotoxin testing: This ensures the product won’t cause a systemic inflammatory reaction

• Sterility testing: required for anything injectable

• Potency testing: confirms the dose is what the label says

• Stability testing: verifies the peptide is chemically stable for its stated shelf life

This happens with every batch, every time. The testing is documented in a Certificate of Analysis (COA) that traces back to the specific batch. The telehealth platform I use, Ellie MD, has its own dedicated compounding pharmacy, CloverX, and you can call the Pharmacist in Charge (PIC) that actually compounding your exact peptide.

Research grade peptides may come with a COA, but many of those COAs are fabricated or not from independent labs. There’s no requirement to test. No requirement to disclose. No enforcement.

Some reputable research-grade suppliers do test their products, in fairness. But when you buy from them, you have no way of verifying that the vial you received matches the certificate they sent you. And most research-grade suppliers aren’t reputable, as they are not required to be.

Oversight: Who’s Watching?

This is where the gap becomes substantial.

Pharmaceutical grade peptides flow through a chain of accountability:

1. A licensed medical provider reviews your health history, current medications, contraindications, and prescribes only if it’s appropriate for you

2. A 503A compounding pharmacy, like Ellie MD’s partner CloverX Pharmacy, prepares your specific prescription under strict federal and state regulations

3. The pharmacy is regularly inspected by state boards and follows USP chapters 795 (non-sterile), 797 (sterile), and 800 (hazardous drugs) compounding standards

4. The Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) governs everything they can and cannot do

5. If anything goes wrong: the doctor, the pharmacy, and the platform are accountable, licensed, and traceable

Research grade peptides flow through:

1. A website

2. Your credit card

3. Your mailbox

That’s it. If something goes wrong: a contaminated vial, an infection, an adverse reaction…you have no recourse. There is no doctor to call. There is no pharmacy to complain to. The seller often operates offshore or under LLC layers designed to prevent accountability.

Contraindications: The Hidden Danger

Here’s what almost nobody talks about with research-grade peptides: you don’t know what’s contraindicated for YOU.

When you get pharmaceutical-grade peptides through Ellie MD, the intake process asks about:

• Personal and family history of cancer

• Thyroid conditions

• Kidney or liver disease

• Pregnancy or nursing

• Medications that may interact

• Allergies and prior adverse reactions

• Other prescriptions

• Recent surgeries

• Existing conditions like PCOS, cysts, nodules, or autoimmune disease

A licensed provider reviews all of it. If a peptide is contraindicated for your specific situation, they don’t prescribe. They may recommend an alternative, or decline entirely.

With research grade, you get… nothing. No medical review. No contraindication screening. Just a vial and instructions from a Reddit thread.

Real example: Growth-hormone-stimulating peptides (Tesamorelin, Ipamorelin, Sermorelin) raise IGF-1, which theoretically affects cell proliferation. For someone with certain nodules, cysts, or a family history of hormone-sensitive cancer, that matters. A doctor would catch it. A research-grade website will not. There are also wonderful cognitive peptides but they are not suitable for someone who is currently prescribed SSRI’s. You need medical oversight to ensure what you want to try, will truly work for your specific body.

Pricing: The Difference Isn’t What You Think

Research-grade peptides can be 40-70% cheaper. And on the surface, that looks like a great deal. I hear it all the time.

But here’s what you’re paying for with pharmaceutical grade:

• The raw peptide (which, for pharmaceutical grade, is USP-verified premium material- often through PCCA, the Professional Compounding Centers of America)

• The compounding process at a 503A facility with sterile suites, ventilation, and inspection compliance

• Testing at every step (HPLC, endotoxin, sterility, potency)

• The medical provider’s time to review your intake and prescribe

• The pharmacy’s licensed pharmacist to prepare and dispense

• Custom, sterile packaging designed for stability

• Accountability if anything goes wrong

• Insurance and regulatory compliance

Research grade skips all of that. So yes, it’s cheaper because they’ve eliminated every safety step in the chain.

One more thing on pricing: the “cheaper” price on research grade is deceptive when you account for potency. If a research-grade vial contains 30-70% less peptide than labeled (as testing has repeatedly found), you’re paying less per vial but MORE per actual therapeutic dose. And you can’t even calibrate your dose accurately.

You’re not saving money. You’re just getting less product, less oversight, and more risk for what looks like a lower price.

The Real Risks of Research Grade

Let me be direct about what can go wrong:

• Infection at the injection site (from contaminated or non-sterile product)

• Systemic inflammatory reactions (from bacterial endotoxin contamination)

• Adverse reactions from mislabeled or misdosed peptides

• Interactions with existing medications that a doctor would have caught

• Progression of undiagnosed conditions (thyroid, cyst, tumor) that a proper intake would have flagged

• No recourse if any of the above happens you cannot sue an offshore research chemical supplier, and your insurance won’t cover complications from unregulated drug use

• Contamination of your immune system with unknown proteins that may sensitize you to future issues

• Legal exposure- technically, using research chemicals for human consumption is often a legal gray area

Why I Chose Ellie MD and Their CloverX Pharmacy Partner

When I spent 15 months researching peptide providers before starting my own protocol, this was the top of my non-negotiable list. I needed:

• A 503A compounding pharmacy with actual inspection history

• A doctor network that reviews every intake individually

• Traceable, documented sourcing- knowing where the raw peptide comes from and how it’s tested

• Accountability if anything went sideways

Ellie MD’s pharmacy partner is CloverX is a 503A compounding pharmacy in Tomball, Texas that works with the Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) and follows USP 795, 797, and 800 compounding standards. Their facility undergoes regular inspections. They comply with the Drug Quality and Security Act. Every prescription is made to order for a specific patient, from a specific doctor.

That’s the setup I needed to be able to put a peptide in my own body and to be able to recommend the platform to my clients, family, friends and community.

Final Thoughts

Peptides are one of the most exciting developments in longevity medicine. But like any powerful tool, the source matters enormously.

Pharmaceutical grade + doctor supervision:

• Verified purity and potency

• Sterile, tested, documented

• Medical review protects against contraindications

• Accountable, traceable chain from doctor to pharmacy to you

• Costs more because it does more

Research grade + self-directed use:

• Variable purity, often contaminated or misdosed

• Little to no testing

• No medical oversight, no contraindication screening

• No accountability, no recourse

• Costs less because it eliminates safety steps

If someone tells you the two are the same, they either haven’t done the research or they’re selling you something.

The peptide movement will be judged over the next decade by how the community handled this exact question. I want to be part of the group that took the harder, more expensive, more responsible path- and helped the women I care about do the same.

If you’re peptide-curious and want to explore safe, doctor-supervised access, my Complimentary Ellie MD Discovery Call is where we start. And if you’ve been using research-grade peptides and want to have an honest conversation about switching, that’s a real conversation I’m happy to have too, no judgment.

Your health is worth the higher standard.

xo,

Brooke

Brooke Brennan, IHP-2 | B.B. Wellness

Ready to Start with a Safe, Supervised Source?

• Take a 3-Minute Quiz- helps to identify your specific goals and what products may be best suited for you to research (quickie 3 minute quiz!)

• Register directly with Ellie MD - connects you to their doctor network and CloverX pharmacy partner

• Book a free 15-min Discovery Call - we’ll talk goals and pick your starting peptide together

• Download my free Peptide 101 Guide - 21 pages of plain-English peptide education

Disclaimer: This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information reflects my personal experience and research as an Integrative Health Practitioner (IHP-2) and Certified Health Coach — I am not a licensed medical doctor. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting any peptide therapy. Peptides referenced are prescription medications available only through a licensed medical provider and a 503A compounding pharmacy. Individual results vary. Material connection disclosure: I am an independent Brand Partner with EllieMD and may earn commission on links in this post.

I became interested in TA-1 for personal reasons. The first being a higher viral load that I have carried for over two decades and the second was a deep desire to keep my immune system in check after my fat transfer to my breasts in February of this year. I decided to add TA-1 into my peptide stack. Since my add 6-months ago, I have had a very low viral load with no flares, and when I came home from my surgery and both my kids had the flu I was so grateful that I did not get sick! I can’t say for sure that TA-1 is the reason, but my experience so far with TA-1 has encouraged me to keep learning and grow in my understanding of how it can support our aging immune system in midlife. (My hormone doctor noticed in my labs when I stopped TA-1 for a period of time as both my hs-CRP and homocysteine increased. Once I resumed taking it, both numbers went back down!)

I spend a lot of time researching and sharing information about hormones, keeping up with your lifting and muscles, prioritizing protein, understanding your labs and biomarkers, metabolism repair and how we can age well decade over decade. I have spoken about this before in my podcast with Heather and also when I shared originally about my decision to start peptides, but we need to be digging into the fact that our immune system ages right alongside every other aspect of our body.

Immunosenescence is that name given for the aging of our immune system. Our immune system doesn’t switch off at a certain point, but it does slow down, may be a little late to the party or just me less sharp or robust when we need it. The communication/signal between our immune cells changes over time and with age- that means that recovering from a sickness may take us longer and some people may feel more of an inflammatory environment within their body. Researchers have given a name for that chronic, low-grade inflammation: inflammaging. And, this is a term that is used a lot in my research on Activators. Over time, your immune system becomes less coordinated or clunky. It does not just protect us from illness and infection- your immune system helps influence how we heal, adapt, age and recover.

I am navigating midlife with my eyes wide open, my mind staying curious and my day job being to help other women learn what they need in midlife to feel their best, too. As women, we spend a lot of energy trying to find the right practitioner to help optimize our hormones, but what if we started thinking about how to support our immune system as it ages, too? Imagine how good we could feel! That is why I keep coming back to TA-1, even though for all intents and purposes this is one of the most un-sexy peptides that exists ;)

When I describe TA-1 and how it is immune supportive I always try to start with the fact that it is not an immune system “booster”. TA-1 is smart- it is an immune modulator. That means that TA-1meets you where your immune system is at. So, if a person is struggling with an under active immune system, it may help to strengthen it. If a person is combating an overactive immune system- it can help bring it down to restorative balance. Immune modulation to me means bringing your body’s immune system back to your balance- its not overworking or underworking. It is ready for whatever signals your body sends its way so it can show up when you need it and how you need it. Like I said, such a smart peptide!

This matters because our immune system isn’t designed to be permanently activated- no part of our body is meant to be cranked up all the time. Our body needs an immune system that responds appropriately, communicates effectively, and returns to balance once the job is done. This is one of the reasons that I think this peptide has been studied for such a variety of conditions- from vaccine response, chronic viral infections, cancer, allergies, asthma, autoimmune conditions, COVID 19… the list is extensive.

While there is quite a bit of data and research on Thymosin Alpha-1, there are still some unknowns, as well. I think it is important to state both: the knowns and the current unknowns.

TA-1 has been studied for many years, and it has a role in an RX called: Thymalfasin (used in other countries for specific medical conditions). Scientific evidence describes how it interacts with the immune system- and there is reassuring short term safety data. I see many people sharing on IG and Substack about how TA-1 can be used to support anti-aging, disease prevention and longevity. While I am not saying that may not be true, right now those have not been proven. Have people experienced all the above? Yes. Has it been repeated and proven in a scientific study? Not yet.

You know that my philosophy is foundations first, always. Then, you add supportive layers of peptides. The foundations always come first: prioritizing sleep, eating enough protein, lifting heavy weights, stress management, spending time outside, and nourishing your body well will always have a greater impact on your health and biomarkers than any supplement or peptide ever will.

I don’t view TA-1 as a replacement for the foundations- I see it as a tool that may help the right person at a time in their life when they need immune system support. As with every peptide I use an important aspect will always be medical oversight and quality sourcing. You need both every single time.

After using and researching TA-1 over these last six months, my biggest takeaway has little to do with the peptide itself! Our immune system deserves more attention, care, and TLC. We talk about healthy aging in terms of hormones, body composition, cardiovascular health + brain health, but immune system health just doesn’t get the time and attention as these others.

Our immune system is working every single day, without us giving it a single thought, and like every other system in the body (and our actual outside of the body), it ages over time. And, may need a little extra something to keep it running sharply.

I don’t know the broader future of TA-1 in terms of longevity and future research. Personally, I am on a subscription of TA-1 and plan to be on it long term. If the immune system can help our body to not succumb to many chronic diseases or ailments- wouldn’t we want to give it everything we got?

Whether or not TA-1 ends up being part of your immune system support or peptide stack, I hope this encourages you to think about your immune system more deeply. Supporting healthy aging isn’t just about adding years to our life- it is about adding life to our years. That is done by adding resilience and support to every system of our body.

I wrote this to share everything I have learned so far around one of my favorite peptides: Thymosin Alpha-1. I love to educate and truly believe that proper education leads to empowered choices. I am not a DR and my experience may not be the same as yours. That is why I always want you to stay curious but be thoughtful and intentional about peptides. I love that Ellie always has doctors that review, prescribe and then have on-going support for me in the patient portal.

If you want to learn more, here is the product page with lots more information.

Nathalie Niddam: Podcast on Thymosin Alpha-1

Hope that you are all having the best week and if you ever have questions, I am here for you! I also have a lot more foundational peptide information in my free guide you can grab it here.

Lots of love,

B

1

1. Health and Wellness Zoom Recording

2. Free Peptide 101 Guide (answers most FAQ)

3. Brand New 3-minute Pep Quiz!

4. 15-Minute Complimentary Discovery Call

5. Smiles by Shields- Dr. Shields (Biological Dentistry)

6. DexaFit Jacksonville: Dexa Scan and VO2 Max Testing

This page exists because I take your trust seriously and I want to be fully transparent about who I am, what I do, what I share, and how I’m compensated. Please read this before engaging and being educated with the content I research and share on this Substack, and thank you so much for being here!

About me

I’m Brooke Brennan- wife, mother of two, Certified Health Coach, and Integrative Health Practitioner Level 2 (IHP-2). I run an independent health coaching practice (BB Wellness) and am an independent Brand Partner with EllieMD, a telehealth platform specializing in peptides, hormone therapy, and longevity protocols.

I am not a licensed medical doctor, pharmacist, nurse, or other licensed medical provider. The information I share is rooted in my personal research, love of understanding mechanism of action, professional training as an IHP-2, and my own experience using peptides, running labs and functional medicine protocols.

What this Substack is and isn’t

This Substack IS:

• A space for honest, evidence-based education about peptides, functional medicine, perimenopause, longevity, and midlife health.

• A reflection of my personal journey and the protocols I use myself- I will share everything I try and why.

• A community for women (and the men who love them) navigating midlife optimization

This Substack IS NOT:

• Medical advice

• A substitute for a relationship with your physician, gynecologist, or other licensed healthcare provider

• A diagnostic tool

• A guarantee that any peptide, supplement, or protocol I discuss will work for you- I share all the science I learn along the way and how things work for me in my body.

Always consult a qualified medical provider before starting any peptide therapy, supplement, hormone protocol, or significant lifestyle change. Individual results vary based on biology, age, medical history, hormonal status, lifestyle, and a hundred other factors I can’t see from here. 13 years ago I shared the importance of bioindividuality in the way we eat, move and live. This extension of my practice is no different- we all have different needs and ways to meet those needs.

About peptides

Peptides referenced in my posts (including GLP-1, GLP-1/GIP, Sermorelin, Tesamorelin, Ipamorelin, BPC-157, TB500, NAD+, Glutathione, Methylene Blue, Thymosin Alpha-1, MOTS-c (my fav!), DSIP, Semax, Selank, PT-141, GHK-Cu, and KLOW) are prescription medications. They are available only through:

• A licensed medical provider (who must approve a prescription based on your health history)

• A 503A compounding pharmacy (FDA-regulated, NABP-accredited)

I do not prescribe or dispense these. I do not sell or recommend the use of research-grade or non-prescription peptides. The peptides I discuss are only legally and safely accessible through proper medical channels.

If you’re curious about whether peptides are right for you, my recommendation is to work with a qualified provider (mine is Ellie MD).

My connection with EllieMD

I am an independent Brand Partner with EllieMD. This means I earn commission when readers purchase products through links in my posts, my website, or my Substack.

This relationship is disclosed in compliance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides. My partnership with EllieMD is real, and my income is meaningfully tied to readers and customers engaging with the platform.

That said:

I would (and do) recommend EllieMD even without the financial relationship. I spent 15 months researching peptide providers and interviewed five other practitioners before choosing them. I chose to become a Brand Partner because I trust the product, the doctor network, and the 503A pharmacy partnership. The financial relationship came after my conviction, not before.

I will not pretend a recommendation or something I have tried that works for me is “neutral” when it isn’t. And I will never share a product I wouldn’t put in my own body. You all know this about me- I am such a stickler. And, so thankful I discovered the power of these peptides in my body.

How I handle your information

If you subscribe to this Substack:

• Your email is held by Substack under their privacy policy

• I do not sell, rent, or share your email with third parties

• If you reply to one of my emails, I will see your reply and will respond personally

• If you ask to be removed from any list or conversation, I will honor that immediately

If you contact me through my Peptide Exploration Questionnaire, Health History Form, or by booking a call:

• Your responses are seen by me and held in confidence

• I do not share your health information with anyone

• I treat all client information with the same level of care I would want for myself- full confidentiality.

Contact

If you have questions about this disclosures page, my content, my relationship with EllieMD, or anything else, you can reach me at: bb@brookebrennanwellness.com

Thank you for being here, and for reading carefully. My goal is always to be transparent with those of you who make an active choice to be a part of this community. I pour into this work each day and will continue to share authentically.

xo, Brooke

Brooke Brennan, IHP-2 | B.B. Wellness |

Last week I measured my grip strength. I came in at 87 pounds, right hand. I was kind of giddy about it (I do strength train daily, but still-seeing the number was satisfying). And then I went down a research rabbit hole, because I had a thought: why is this number so widely cited as a longevity marker?

What I found shocked me. So today I want to share it with you. Because that is who I am. Your wellness nerd.

The number nobody talks about

Here’s a stat that should be on a billboard:

Grip strength predicts all-cause mortality better than systolic blood pressure does.

That’s not a wellness influencer claim. That’s from the PURE study- Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology- which tracked 140,000 adults across 17 countries for over 4 years.

The researchers found that for every 5 kg (about 11 lbs) decrease in grip strength, the risk of dying from any cause went up by 16%. The cardiovascular death risk went up by 17%.

In other words: how hard you can squeeze a dynamometer tells us more about your lifespan than the blood pressure cuff at your annual physical.

Why? Because grip strength is a stand-in for something much bigger: your total muscle mass, neuromuscular health, and metabolic resilience. It’s the easiest, cheapest, most reliable proxy for how robust your body is overall.

If your grip is strong, the rest of you usually is too.

The bone density connection

Grip strength has a direct, well-documented correlation with bone mineral density-especially in the wrist, hip, and spine. Multiple studies show that women with stronger grip strength have higher bone density and lower hip fracture risk later in life.

The mechanism is beautiful in its simplicity: muscles pull on bones. Bones respond by getting denser. When you grip hard, you’re recruiting forearm muscles that attach to the radius and ulna. When you carry heavy things, your hand muscles signal your skeleton to stay strong. When you hang from a bar, you’re loading your spine, shoulders, and ribs in ways that stimulate osteoblast activity (the bone-building cells that I learned about during my UNF Anatomy and Physiology course).

For perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, this matters even more. Estrogen decline = bone density loss = fracture risk. Strength training (especially the kind that taxes grip) is one of our most powerful counter-measures.

The takeaway: if you want strong bones into your 70s and 80s, build a strong grip in your 40s and 50s. Lift heavy and often.

The cognitive health connection (this one really got me as I have a ApoE 3/4)

This is the part of the research I find the most fascinating, because most of us don’t think of our hands and our brains as connected. But they are.

Multiple longitudinal studies- including the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging and several international cohorts- have shown:

• Lower grip strength predicts higher dementia risk. Often the decline in grip strength precedes cognitive decline by years.

• Women with the strongest grip strength have 40-50% lower risk of cognitive impairment in their 70s and 80s compared to women with the weakest grip.

• Grip strength correlates with executive function, processing speed, and memory- not just motor function.

Why? Two theories, both probably true:

1. Muscle is an endocrine organ. Skeletal muscle releases myokines — BDNF, irisin- that cross the blood-brain barrier and protect neurons. More muscle = more myokines = a healthier brain.

2. Grip strength reflects neuromuscular integrity. The nerves that control your grip travel from your brain through your spinal cord to your hand. When that whole system is healthy, your grip is strong. When it’s deteriorating, your grip weakens- and often that’s the first sign that other neurological systems are slipping too.

For midlife women, especially those of us with family history of Alzheimer’s or carrying the ApoE 3/4 genotype like I do, this is huge. Strength training isn’t just for our body. It’s for our minds.

So what’s a “good” grip strength?

This is the part everyone wants to know, so let’s get specific.

Here’s roughly what right-hand grip strength looks like for women by age:

As an almost 44-year-old woman averaging 87 lbs- I land in the “strong to excellent” range: roughly the 80th-85th percentile.

For reference: I measured at 87 lbs last week, and I felt SO proud. I’m almost 44, I lift heavy 4x a week, I walk, I do pilates, I do mobility work. The number is the receipt for the work.

“Okay Brooke, my number is lower. Now what?”

If you measured and your number was lower than you hoped, please don’t panic. Here’s the truth: grip strength is one of the most trainable strength markers we have.

Here’s the approach I’d take, in order of priority:

1. Carries — the highest leverage exercise

Pick up heavy things, walk with them, put them down. That’s it.

• Farmer’s carries: A heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand. Walk 30-60 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times.

• Suitcase carries: Heavy weight in ONE hand. The off-side core has to brace. Bonus oblique work.

• Overhead carries: Lighter weight pressed overhead while you walk. Brutal in a great way.

Start with a weight that’s challenging but you can hold for 30 seconds. Add 5-10 lbs each week.

2. Dead hangs

Hang from a pull-up bar. Just hang. Aim for 30 seconds at first, build to 60+. If you can’t hang at all, start with assisted hangs using a step.

This is hands-down one of the best things you can do for shoulder health, grip, AND spinal decompression.

3. Deadlifts

If you’re already lifting, train your grip by deadlifting without straps. The grip becomes the limiting factor and that is perfect.

If you’re new to lifting, dumbbell Romanian deadlifts are an excellent place to start.

A weekly plan to add grip strength

Here’s what I’d actually do, given a 45-60 minute workout slot 3-4 days a week:

Day 1 (heavy lift day):

• Deadlifts (3 sets of 5, no straps)

• Farmer’s carries (3 rounds, 45 seconds heavy)

Day 2 (upper body):

• Pull-ups or assisted pull-ups (3 sets of as many as possible)

• Dead hang (3 attempts, max time)

• Hand gripper (3 sets of 10 each hand)

Day 3 (lower or full body):

• Romanian deadlifts (3 sets of 8)

• Suitcase carries (3 rounds, 60 seconds per side)

Daily (anytime):

• 30-60 seconds of tennis ball squeezes while watching TV, on calls, anywhere

Track your grip number every 4 weeks with a dynamometer. The investment is about $25-40. If you’re serious about your healthspan, get one.

A few last thoughts

In our 20s and 30s, fitness is mostly about how we LOOK. Sometime in our 40s, that has to evolve. Fitness becomes about how we’ll FUNCTION in our 70s, 80s, and 90s. Whether we can carry our own groceries. Whether we can pick up a grandchild without injury. Whether we can hang on to our independence.

Grip strength is one of the most direct ways to measure that future. Not how we look in our jeans today. Whether we can open the marinara jar in 2055.

Train accordingly.

xo,

Brooke

P.S. If you want to take this deeper- if you’re curious about how peptides like Sermorelin, Tesamorelin/Ipamorelin, MOTS-c, and BPC-157/TB500 support muscle building, recovery, and bone density during perimenopause, that’s exactly the kind of conversation I have on my Discovery Call. Strength training is the foundation. Peptides are the cellular signaling that helps you recover and adapt faster that we layer only after foundations are set.

I want to talk about something I don’t usually write about, because it sits a little outside the peptide content you came to my Substack for. But I keep getting DMs about it, and a few of you have asked me directly: “Brooke, Why did you become a brand partner with Ellie MD and why are you so excited about it?”

So here is the honest answer. It is wordy, because that is me.

Let’s be honest.

If you’ve made it to this Substack- if you’ve stuck with me through longer posts about Tirzepatide microdosing and Selank/Semax and the difference between Tesamorelin and Sermorelin…I already know quite a bit about who you are. You are my people.

You’re thoughtful, self-aware, the kind of woman who doesn’t move on something just because someone DMs you with a bunch of exclamation marks. Maybe you have watched other women try to build “businesses” online and seen how it sometimes ends: burned out, embarrassed, overpromised, under-supported.

You’re not opposed to the idea of a new business idea, but you’ve seen enough online that don’t quite work to last a lifetime.

If you’ve ever been hesitant about something like this, your hesitation isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom. You’re protective of your time, your reputation, your relationships, and frankly your heart. That instinct has served you well. I know those all served me well, too.

I’m telling you this upfront because I’m not here to convince you to make a move one way or the other. I’m here to provide education and clarity. If this is for you, you’ll know. If it isn’t, you’ll also know. I trust you to figure that out and I’m just hoping to bridge the gap with some information.

What I see happening in midlife medicine

Here’s the bigger context that makes all of this matter: We are standing at a wild moment in medicine, and I don’t think most people see it yet, unless you are plugged into this space.

Ten years ago, if someone had told me I’d be microdosing GLP-1/GIP every Monday morning for inflammation and metabolic markers (not for weight loss), I would have looked at them like they had three heads.

If they’d told me I’d be running functional medicine labs in my own practice- testing my clients for candida, mold, heavy metals, hormone metabolites- I would have said “that’s not a thing for normal people.” When my mother went through menopause, HRT was a controversial taboo topic. Now it’s standard care, thank God.

Here’s what I see coming, and coming fast:

• Peptides as a standard layer of preventative care. GLP-1/GIP for metabolic health. BPC-157/TB500 for healing. MOTS-c for cellular energy. Sermorelin for sleep and lean mass. DSIP for the women who can’t seem to stay asleep through the night. The full longevity toolkit. My whole stack.

• HRT becoming routine, not radical. And, new compounded options the legacy system isn’t yet equipped to offer.

• Wearables doing what doctors used to do. Continuous glucose monitors. Oura. Whoop. We’re constantly collecting data on ourselves- but most women have no one to help them interpret it.

• Diagnostic labs that none of us thought we’d ever have access to. Function Health is already doing this. Within five years, comprehensive biomarker panels will be a normal annual routine.

• Functional medicine merging with conventional care. Not as alternatives. As a both-and. I live in this gray area.

Why Ellie MD

When I was searching for a peptide provider for myself (which took me 15 months and 5 different practitioner interviews- I wrote about that journey here, in case you missed it), I needed:

• A 503A compounding pharmacy-FDA-regulated, NABP-accredited

• A doctor network that prescribes responsibly with intakes and on-going support

• A product line that goes beyond GLP-1s into the full longevity stack: KLOW, MOTS-c, Sermorelin, Tesamorelin, Methylene Blue, NAD+, Glutathione, Thymosin Alpha-1, BPC-157/TB500, PT-141.

• HRT (because it’s not 1998 anymore)

• Skincare backed by science (EllieVate Skin+)

• A mission rooted in longevity- not weight loss as the headline, but healthspan

Ellie MD was the only platform I found that checked every box. As I started understanding the business side of how they built it, I realized something else: they’re also building a community of mostly women who get to participate in this shift, instead of watching it happen to them.

That’s what made me say yes. The innovation, offerings, oversight and the community of other leaders supporting each other.

What being a Brand Partner looks like

It’s $79 one-time to get started, plus $8/month tech fee for your business platform. That’s the entire investment to begin. No kits to buy, Inventory to store, shipping to manage. Ellie ships every order directly to the customer, from their dedicated pharmacy in Texas. You just connect people to the right products.

You earn up to 40% commission on every retail sale, depending on your monthly volume. There’s no cap, no minimum sales quota with a “if you don’t hit it, you’re failing” energy.

Monthly Partner Bonuses at the Director level and above range from $500 to $3,000 a month, plus advancement bonuses, designer jewelry/luggage awards, and earned travel.

No medical license required. You don’t need to be a doctor, NP, IHP, RN, or pharmacist to be a Brand Partner. Ellie’s doctor network handles all prescribing. You’re the educator and connector. This is the part I love the most- I get to be nerdy and share information, but there is a doctor that reviews every single intake for every single peptide.

You get a personal business site, Ellie Hub (their AI-powered platform), marketing materials, and ongoing training. The training is absolutely something that sold me. Finding good training on peptide therapy options can be overwhelming. Ellie MD provides training multiple times each week on so many different topics. There is always someone willing to help!

But honestly? The math isn’t even the most exciting part. The most exciting part is who you get to become inside this- and who you meet along the way.

What working with me looks like

This seems to be where many women pause- feeling like they could fail or that they are not “right” for this.

Maybe they sign up with an upline who seems excited at first, but once the paperwork is done, the support disappears. Or it becomes “rah rah” energy with no actual plan behind it. Maybe their upline means well but is overwhelmed herself and doesn’t have the systems to actually teach. Or they get added to a chat with 50 notifications and zero structure. And, when it doesn’t work out, they walk away thinking the problem was them.

That isn’t how I work with the women and men on my team. Here’s what I strive to do:

• I am the upline/mentor who knows the science. I’m an IHP-2 with a peptide certification in progress. I read the studies. I write the long blog posts. You don’t have to be the expert- I am, and I’ll teach you what I know. I also happily partner with my team on calls where they may be meeting with someone who has questions that they may not feel ready to answer.

• I tailor your start to your life. Not the imaginary life where you have hours of free time- yeah right! The actual reality with a job, kids, partner, dinner to make, sports to drive your kids to. Whether you have 3 hours a week or 15, we’ll build around it. There is no wrong way to start.

• You’ll have a clear “what to do this week” plan. New BPs get overwhelmed because they get handed a thousand resources with no priority. We start with one thing at a time. And honestly, Ellie is really great and making sure new BP have just want they need to get started. Access to everything is right there, but it isn’t necessary right out of the gate.

• Real access. Group texts (low-frequency for the people who joined for the discount, high-frequency for the IHPs and builders). Voice notes when you need a pep talk, calls when you have a real question, facetime meetings when you need me to walk you through how to access things real time. And, a peer community of other thoughtful women and men figuring this out alongside you.

• No pressure to be someone you’re not. If you’re a quiet sharer, we lean into your existing relationships. If you’re a content creator, we build that out. If you’re a clinician, we shape the conversation around your professional network. There is no one-size-fits-all script. We are all different and I meet each person or business where they are at.

• Honest conversations about what’s working and what isn’t. I’ll tell you when something I try lands and when it doesn’t. We’re building this together and I’m not pretending I have it all figured out. But, what I don’t have figured out I will keep working on!

I’m here for sustainable growth, real development and honest mentorship that feels human. These connections with my team are what I love the MOST each day.

Let’s talk

If you’re reading this and any of the following resonate, let’s talk:

1. You’re already obsessed with longevity, peptides, HRT, functional labs, or wearable data- and your friends keep asking you for your opinions (are you the go-to health guru in your group?)

2. You’re a clinician (NP, PA, MD, RN, IHP, RD, chiropractor, acupuncturist) and want a way to recommend trusted products without inventory or liability (while keeping your clients in your ecosystem)

3. You have a wellness-adjacent business: med spa, fitness studio, holistic practice- and want a new revenue stream that fits your audience

4. You’re in midlife and feel like you are missing out when you see other women building businesses that match how they want to live and loving it

You do not need to be polished, perfect, or have a giant audience. You just need to be eager, willing and excited to learn.

What’s next

If you’re the kind of woman or man who values clarity over chaos, mentorship over manipulation, structure over ra ra- you’ll feel at home with me. I am a pretty chill leader, but I will always meet you where you are at with anything you need.

If it’s not for you, that’s completely okay. You don’t owe me anything. But you do owe yourself the chance to explore what could be possible. Always zero pressure over here. I hate when I feel under pressure and will never do that.

Curious?

Reply to this email and I’ll personally write you back. Let’s have a real conversation.

If you’re more of an “I’ll book the call myself” person, here’s my direct calendar for a Business Opportunity Call: https://calendly.com/bbwellness/business-opportunity-call

If you want to read about Ellie MD first or sign up and just GO: Click here to learn more

This is a space that is growing, in the early stages and has been reviewed as the fastest growing vertical in the wellness space. If something in you is saying “wait, maybe me”- that’s worth a 15-minute conversation.

Either way, thank you for being here. 💛

xo, Brooke

Brooke Brennan, IHP-2 | BB Wellness | Director, Ellie MD

P.S. If you’re not ready for the Brand Partner conversation but you ARE curious about peptides for yourself, my Peptide Exploration Questionnaire is the right starting place-no team talk required.

Earnings as a Brand Partner are not guaranteed and depend entirely on individual effort, participation, and time invested. Please review Ellie MD’s full Income Disclaimer at elliemd.com/income-disclaimer.

But first I have to figure things out for myself.

That’s what happened when someone close to me was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.

I’d heard of thyroid problems in a general sense, but I had not thought about it deeply. I did know that Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease, that it can go undetected for years, it affects many systems of the bod. But, when you know someone who is on the beginning of a diagnosis journey you deep dive.

I know a lot more now. I’ve spent weeks reading studies, listening to podcasts, talking to practitioners, and trying to understand what my person is actually dealing with and what might actually help. I have to do this because the doctor just chucked the diagnosis at them like it was no big deal.

This is what I’ve learned and I’m sharing it because I suspect I’m not the only one who found themselves suddenly trying to become an expert in something they had only scratched the surface on. And, because the more people understand this condition, the better chance the people who have it get the support and care they deserve. That is what we all need in the end, right?

What Hashimoto’s Actually Is

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease. That means the immune system, which exists to protect the body from threats, has mistakenly turned on one of the body’s own organs: the thyroid gland.

The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the throat, and it is responsible for a number of things: metabolism, energy production, body temperature, heart rate, mood regulation, digestion, hair growth, skin quality, cognitive function.

When the thyroid is being chronically attacked by the immune system, all of those things start to suffer: quietly, gradually, in ways that are easy to dismiss or attribute to stress or aging or not sleeping well enough.

Over time, as the immune system damages thyroid tissue, the gland produces less and less hormone. This typically leads to hypothyroidism: an underactive thyroid. Hashimoto’s is primarily an immune problem, not just a thyroid problem. The hormone deficiency is a secondary effect. The real issue is that the immune system has gone off the tracks.

That distinction matters because treating only the hormone deficiency, without addressing the immune dysregulation, leaves the root cause untouched. And, that is what I see so often in my work. We receive a band-aid fix, vs a true solution.

Hashimoto’s is the most common cause of hypothyroidism, It affects women roughly seven times more than men, is widely, chronically underdiagnosed — partly because its symptoms overlap with so many other conditions (depression, anxiety, burnout, perimenopause, anemia), and partly because the standard lab test most doctors run can look completely normal even when the autoimmune attack is already underway.

The Labs That Count

Here’s something I learned: a TSH test alone is not sufficient to diagnose or monitor Hashimoto’s.

TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is produced by the pituitary gland. When TSH is in range, most doctors conclude the thyroid is functioning normally.

But TSH doesn’t tell you whether the immune system is attacking the thyroid.

For that, you need antibody testing, which is not always ordered, and not always included in a standard panel.

A complete thyroid workup for Hashimoto’s should include:

Thyroid hormones:

• TSH

• Free T4 (the storage hormone the thyroid produces)

• Free T3 (the active form the body actually uses + many symptoms trace back to poor T4-to-T3 conversion)

• Reverse T3 (an inactive form that can accumulate and block T3 from working)

The autoimmune markers:

• TPO Antibodies (anti-TPO): elevated in approximately 95% of Hashimoto’s cases; this is the primary diagnostic marker

• Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb): a second marker; some people only show up here

Supporting labs that are just as important and often skipped:

• Vitamin D: deficiency is strongly correlated with autoimmune disease and is extremely common

• Ferritin (stored iron): low ferritin impairs thyroid hormone conversion and is often a hidden driver of fatigue and hair loss

• B12: frequently depleted in Hashimoto’s; impacts energy and neurological function

• Selenium and zinc: essential cofactors for thyroid function

• Magnesium: broadly deficient in the modern diet; affects sleep, stress response, and hormone function

• Morning cortisol: adrenal dysregulation often co-occurs with thyroid problems

• Celiac antibodies: Hashimoto’s and celiac disease co-occur at elevated rates

The Role of Food- Which We Know Creates The Strongest Foundation

Food isn’t going to reverse Hashimoto’s. But, it can reduce the autoimmune activity driving it.

The gut-thyroid connection is meaningful. More than 70% of the immune system resides in the gut. When the gut lining becomes inflamed and permeable, called “leaky gut”, it allows particles into the bloodstream that shouldn’t be there, triggering chronic immune activation.

For people with Hashimoto’s, addressing gut health is often one of the most impactful interventions available. I often talk about the importance of our foundations and gut health is a vital foundation of health.

The most significant dietary change I have read about is removing gluten.

The protein structure of gluten closely resembles thyroid tissue at a molecular level. When gluten particles cross an inflamed gut lining and enter the bloodstream (back to that leaky gut), the immune system attacks them. In doing so, they may attack the thyroid as well. Many people with Hashimoto’s see their TPO antibodies drop significantly on a gluten-free diet, even without a celiac diagnosis.

Dairy is often the next thing to remove, as the casein protein in dairy can trigger similar immune responses in some people. This kind of takes me back to my Whole30 days- where I learned that gluten and dairy are the primary food triggers for most people and their elimination can create a body environment that is much less inflammed.

An anti-inflammatory focus: fatty fish, olive oil, colorful vegetables, selenium-rich foods (a couple of Brazil nuts a day is enough), fermented foods for the microbiome, bone broth for gut lining support are all beneficial. These are all foods we should be eating anyways. One of my favorite ways to use Brazil nuts is to make a homemade coffee creamer with it- so delicious!

What Triggers Hashimoto’s?

Hashimoto’s is rarely caused by one thing. It’s usually a melting pot of genetic predisposition and environmental/ lifestyle triggers that push the immune system past a threshold. Understanding the triggers is one of the most empowering parts of this because many of them can be addressed.

Here are the one’s that were to most common as I researched:

Gut permeability: When the gut lining breaks down, the chronic immune activation that follows is thought to be one of the most common underlying mechanisms in autoimmune disease. Leaky gut, again. I am going to run a stool test on my loved one to better understand what is happening here.

Viral infections: Epstein-Barr virus (the one behind mono) is one of the strongest known triggers for Hashimoto’s. H. pylori, Yersinia enterocolitica, and Coxsackievirus are also implicated. Many people can trace the onset of their symptoms to a period of illness. I had a viral flare in my body after I had Covid for the first time- virus can “awaken” dormant viruses in the body.

Chronic stress: Chronically elevated cortisol disrupts immune regulation in ways that promote autoimmune conditions. The stress-autoimmune connection is mechanistic.

Nutrient deficiencies: Selenium and Vitamin D in particular create conditions that allow thyroid autoimmunity to develop and persist.

Toxin exposure: Mercury concentrates in thyroid tissue. Fluoride and chlorine (in municipal water) compete with iodine at receptor sites. BPA and endocrine disruptors interfere with thyroid signaling. I am running a hair tissue mineral analysis test to understand metal levels.

Pregnancy + postpartum: Hormonal shifts during and after pregnancy can trigger Hashimoto’s or worsen an existing case. Postpartum thyroiditis is a related condition that often goes undiagnosed.

Gut dysbiosis: An imbalanced microbiome impairs the immune regulation that keeps autoimmunity in check. Again, hoping to gain information from the Stool Test that I run in my practice for my person.

Many people can identify a significant life event — an illness, a major stressor, a pregnancy-that preceded their symptoms. That is not a coincidence.

RX Support

Thyroid hormone replacement is the primary conventional treatment, and for many people it’s helpful.

The main options I have found in my digging:

• Levothyroxine: synthetic T4; the standard first-line treatment; works well for many people

• Natural Desiccated Thyroid: derived from porcine thyroid and contains both T4 and T3 in a natural ratio; many patients report significantly better symptom resolution than on synthetic T4 alone. I have been on this per my hormone specialist and so far so good.

• Liothyronine (T3): sometimes added for people who don’t efficiently convert T4 to active T3

One thing worth knowing is that conventional medicine typically treats to a TSH range of 0.5–4.5. Functional practitioners often aim for 1–2 for actual symptom relief. If someone is still symptomatic with a “normal” TSH, this is worth tucking in your back pocket.

Low Dose Naltrexone is one that I have just started reading about but don’t know enough yet to share.

The Supplement Approach

Key supplements with actual evidence to benefits and support are:

• Selenium: reduces antibodies, supports hormone conversion

• Myo-inositol: clinical studies show TSH and antibody reduction

• Vitamin D3 + K2: this is often low in Hashimoto’s patients

• Magnesium glycinate: sleep, stress resilience, and enzymatic processes

• Ferritin: this is often a hidden driver of fatigue and hair loss

• B12 (methylcobalamin): sublingual or injectable for best absorption

Beyond supplements: gut healing protocols to address SIBO (I offer these in-practice if you need), dysbiosis, and intestinal permeability; stress regulation as a medical intervention; sleep optimization- this is my go to sleep support tool; infrared sauna for detoxification support; acupuncture for symptom management and immune modulation.

What About Peptides?

This is an emerging area and he research is still developing. But it’s showing up more and more in functional medicine circles, and I think it is worth talking about here. You all know that I am very deep into my peptide research so that aspect is very interesting to me.

A few peptides are generating particular interest for Hashimoto’s and were even DM to me after my IG post yesterday by people who are finding success utilizing them as part of their Hashimoto’s protocol:

BPC157: probably the most directly relevant. A synthetic peptide derived from a gastric protein, with strong gut-healing and anti-inflammatory effects. Given how central gut health is to autoimmunity, the rationale makes complete sense to me.

Thymosin Alpha-1: produced naturally by the thymus gland, it regulates T-cell activity and immune balance. Well-suited for autoimmune conditions; I use this as I have a higher viral load and it has kept my flares to zero! This is an immune modulation peptide- it supports and underactive immune system by boosting it and an overactive immune system by bringing it down to balance.

KPV: a small anti-inflammatory peptide with targeted effects on gut inflammation and intestinal barrier integrity.

Quality sourcing matters with peptides and you want physician oversight. Compounding pharmacies are priority not random online vendors. But more and more knowledgeable practitioners are incorporating them, and the underlying science is interesting. Here is the trusted telemedicine company I use and recommend.

What I Want for the Person I Love

More than any specific supplement or protocol, what I want is for them to feel seen to have a provider who takes their symptoms seriously, runs the right tests, and treats the whole picture and not just a number on a lab report. I want them to be educated, know what to ask and how to advocate for themselves.

I want them to know that Hashimoto’s is manageable and that antibodies can be reduced. That some people reach what amounts to remission through the combination of the right hormone support, gut healing, nutrient optimization, and immune modulation.

And I want them to know they don’t have to navigate it alone. They have me every step of the way. I won’t rest until I know that they have everything they need as they embark on what this means for their life.

I hope this is a useful place to start if you or someone you love has Hashimoto’s, too. Push for the full labs. Find a provider who looks at root causes. Take the gut-thyroid connection seriously. And, don’t let anyone tell them it’s just stress.

This is not medical advice- you all know I am no doctor. I just want to take care of the people I love and make sure they have enough education to ask the right questions and know when to push back. Please work with a qualified healthcare provider to develop an individualized treatment plan.

You all asked for a rapid fire of all the midlife symptoms and what I have used and seen lift with. Here you have it!

Question 1: My belly fat has grown and my visceral fat is up on my Dexa scan.

THE PEPTIDE: Tesamorelin + Ipamorelin

This combo targets growth hormone release specifically, and tesamorelin is actually FDA-approved for visceral (deep belly) fat. Ipamorelin stacks with it cleanly- no cortisol or hunger spikes. This was my “why does my stomach look like this when I work out regularly” answer. Slow and steady, but real. This helped me put on the muscle that no matter how many lifting sessions I did each week, I still saw no progress (it also helped my sleep!)

Question 2: I am exhausted and tired. Coffee doesn’t touch my exhaustion and I can’t keep up with my kids.

THE PEPTIDE: MOTS-c

MOTS-c is a mitochondrial peptide- basically it signals your cells to produce energy more efficiently. Think of it as jumper cables for your metabolism. My workouts stopped feeling like punishment and my afternoon crash got quieter. This one surprised me and you all know that it is my favorite peptide ‘child”. Stamina, energy, zest for life. No need for extra coffee- just fuels my life and LOVE it!

Question 3: My skin and hair were look dull, wrinkled and thin. Help!!!

THE PEPTIDE: GHK-Cu

Copper peptide that ramps up collagen, elastin, and wound healing. I used it topically via Serum AND in injection form. The combo hit differently. Skin texture improved, hair felt thicker, and a scar I’d had from my explant and tummy tuck started to fade. This is one I’ll never stop. I just finished my second round on Monday and my scars from my fat transfer are white, my hair is thicker than ever and have zero shedding and my eyebrow bald spots have all grown in.

Question 4: I am having surgery and want to have a smooth recovery. What did you use?

THE PEPTIDE: BPC157 + TB500

BPC-157 is the gut-and-tissue repair peptide. TB-500 is the mobility and systemic healing one. Together they’re the recovery stack. I used this after my fat transfer and started 5 days PO. My legs were horrifically bruised and three times their normal size with swelling. After 3 days my leg swelling was almost gone and my bruises were already almost yellow and gone. Also, now that I am back to lifting heavy, this helps SO much with DOMS. We also use it for Michael’s golfers elbow and shoulder.

Question 5: I can’t sleep. Sometimes I can fall asleep, but I am up at 2 AM (not on purpose like you). I just want to sleep through the night.

THE PEPTIDE: DSIP (Delta Sleep Inducing Peptide)

DSIP promotes deep, restorative sleep by modulating cortisol and stress hormones. After my surgery I was not sleeping at all. I don’t know if it was body trauma or the requirement to sleep on my back but I was a walking, talking zombie. This blunted that. Not sedating-just... let me actually fall into real sleep. And, sleep through the night. I can get up to use the bathroom and fall right back to sleep.

Question 6: My anxiety and stress feel really high during the day. I try to meditate, workout and use breathwork. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. I need something that works in a pinch.

THE PEPTIDE: Selank Nasal Spray

Selank is a Russian-developed anxiolytic peptide. It modulates GABA and serotonin without the dependency risk. I use the nasal spray version. It takes the edge off anxiety without making me feel flat or foggy. Actually made me feel clearer. This one is underrated. For context, I now use this before Evan drives (Michael is the drivers ed, don’t worry) and it helps me not feel so overwhelmed with worry. I use this when I need it, not every single day.

Question 7: I am sensitive to everything but want to put on some muscle and try to sleep a bit better.

THE PEPTIDE: Sermorelin

Sermorelin stimulates your pituitary to release its own growth hormone- more of a gentle nudge than a sledgehammer. I used this after my surgery to help with recovery and lack of movement. Better sleep, slow body composition shifts, improved recovery. Good starter GH peptide if Tesamorelin feels like too much. I have used both and describe being on sermorelin as a “second skin” it works behind the scenes and you don’t notice it. You just sleep better and see your abs pop ;)

Question 8: My brain is running on fumes- I can’t focus and have awful brain fog.

THE PEPTIDE: NAD+ Nasal Spray

NAD+ declines significantly with age and is central to cellular energy, DNA repair, and cognitive function. The nasal spray delivers it fast. My focus sharpened within days. This has become a near-daily add. It’s subtle but when I skip it I notice.

Question 9: I keep getting sick and feel chronically run down. My immune system feels shot.

THE PEPTIDE: Thymosin Alpha-1

TA-1 is an immune-modulating peptide. It’s used in clinical settings for chronic infections and immunocompromised patients. For me, it was about managing my high viral load and not getting sick before my surgery. Getting my immune system out of a constant low-grade inflammatory state. Felt like my baseline just... lifted. Both my kids had the flu the day I got back from my surgery and Michael went out of town. Guess who didn’t get even a single sniffle? Me. Also, this is keeping my viral load cleared which is amazing. I will be cycling this once a year at least.

Question 10: I experience fatigue, mood dips, and overall bleh.

THE PEPTIDE: B12 Injection

Foundational but totally underrated. Most people are low or low-normal. Injectable B12 bypasses gut absorption issues entirely. Energy, mood, nerve function- when your B12 is optimized, everything else works better. I cycled this during fall cold and flu season and it was a lifesaver!

Question 11: I have MTHFR, oxidative stress, dull skin, and inflammation everywhere.

THE PEPTIDE: Glutathione Injection

The master antioxidant. Glutathione clears out cellular damage, supports detox pathways, and has a visible effect on skin brightness over time. Injectable form actually makes it to your cells (oral bioavailability is poor). I noticed skin first, then just a general reduction in that “inflamed from the inside” feeling. This is hugely liver supportive and as we age, we need all the liver support we can get! I plan to cycle this 2 times a year.

Question 12: I am just like you- my cholesterol is high, A1c is elevated, I have a 5-6 pound weight swing and just feel puffy overall.

THE PEPTIDE: Microdose Tirzepatide + B12

Tirzepatide (GLP-1/GIP dual agonist) at microdose is a metabolic reset- it’s not about dramatic weight loss, it’s about quieting food noise, stabilizing blood sugar, and working with your body instead of against it. Pairing with B12 offsets the energy dip some people feel. This changed my labs. Cholesterol 260 > 182. A1c 5.6 > 5.1. ApoB 93 > 82. Insulin 5.2 > 1.9. LDL 138 > 95. Also, I am always on the low side of my 5-6 pound swing and no longer swing ;) I am steady every time I get on the scale, even the day before my period which historically was a huge jump for me.

Question 13: My libido disappeared. Poof. Gone.

THE PEPTIDE: PT-141

PT-141 works on the brain- specifically melanocortin receptors…not just blood flow. It actually increases desire, not just function. This one requires a bit of experimentation on timing and dosing but when it works, it works. Midlife women deserve to have this conversation. I said what I said. And, I am going to keep talking about how we deserve to feel good in every single corner of our life!!!

I’m not a doctor. I’m a mom who got tired of feeling like a lesser version of herself and started asking better questions. Do your research.

Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

Here is my trusted telemedicine partner for peptide support. Advocate for yourself.

If you want more details: download my free peptide guide.

If you want support and a 15-minute complimentary chat with me as your resource: book a call here.

I’m in my 40s. I’m a mom. I own a business, have a wonderful relationship I care about, and approximately zero time to feel like a half-alive version of myself. Somewhere along the way, that’s exactly what happened. Not dramatically or all at once. Just a slow, quiet dimming. I can’t even tell you when I noticed it happening and that kinda bothers me, too.

Low libido. Low mood. Snacking my way through the afternoon because something had to feel good- and we know my leptin is abysmal. A general sense of “where did I go?” I figured it was what everyone kept telling me: this is just life after 40!

You have read so much of my journey through my elevated labs and work with microdosing, needing to put on muscle after my big surgery in June, hoping to help my non-botox face with GHK-Cu, helping balance my immune system because of my higher than normal viral load, surgery recovery, deep sleep issues, finding the energy to outrun my kids, and now onto my newest obstacle. Finding my long lost libido.

I started hearing about PT-141 from other women in similar boats. An FDA-approved peptide, originally developed for sexual desire. I was skeptical, but that is my resting state. But I did the research, talked to my doctor, and decided to try it.

Here is what I have dug into over the last two weeks on PT-141 (and small update, I am 3 weeks in on my Testosterone journey and feeling a lift!!!)

What is PT-141?

PT-141 ( bremelanotide) got FDA approval in 2019 for hypoactive sexual desire disorder. This is the clinical term for “I used to want this and now I don’t and it’s bothering me.” It’s a small subcutaneous injection you take about 45 minutes before you want it to work. But true to who I am, I am going to do mine a little different.

Unlike hormones, it doesn’t work on your estrogen or testosterone levels. It works directly on the brain receptors in the hypothalamus that govern desire at the neurological level.

The Appetite Part

I have read testimonials from women who noticed they were less “ravenous” while on PT-141. I already do not have any food noise, but if you are someone who is constantly grabby around food or snacks this could be an interesting aspect for you to consider.

Here’s the plain-English science: the receptor PT-141 activates, called MC4R, also happens to be your brain’s primary “I’m full, stop eating” switch.

The most common genetic cause of severe obesity in humans is a broken MC4R. When that receptor doesn’t work, the satiety signal never shows up. When it does get activated, you feel satisfied faster. Don’t you just LOVE science?

A 2022 clinical trial tested this directly: women taking bremelanotide ate 400–470 fewer calories per day versus placebo. Not through willpower, or white knuckling anything. Through the receptor doing its job. The Study is linked here for those of you who love the nerdy details.

I’m not saying PT-141 is a weight loss drug. It’s not approved for that, and the research is early. But the reduced appetite I have read about is very real for many women, and it has a biological explanation.

The Mood Lift- I Will Absolutely Take It

This one caught me most off guard. I have read that after about a week in, you may feel lighter. Not euphoric. Just more like your old self. More motivated. Less flat. I know this can also be boosted by my testosterone.

The science is still emerging on this one, believe me, I searched. No clinical trial has tested PT-141 specifically for depression, but the mechanism explains a lot. The same receptor network PT-141 activates also connects to the dopamine system (the brain’s motivation and reward engine), stimulates a protein called BDNF (which we have talked about with Semax and DiHEXA )that helps brain cells recover from chronic stress, and dials down neuroinflammation- which researchers now believe is a major driver of depression, especially the kind that doesn’t respond well to standard antidepressants.

Perimenopause Whack-a-Mole

Here’s what nobody tells you about perimenopause: it’s not one problem. It’s a cluster. Low desire, low mood, low motivation, weight creeping up, sleep going sideways… and conventional medicine treats each one as its own isolated issue with its own isolated drug.

The frustrating reality is that these things are connected. Estrogen decline affects the melanocortin system. Chronic stress dysregulates it. Poor sleep disrupts it. When the system is off, you get the whole cluster at once. Whack-a-mole.

The peptide I am trying for one part of the cluster seems to talk to most of the others. Not as a cure, but as a signal to a system that was significantly underactivated.

What I Plan To Try

I plan to use a lower dose (as I do with many of my peptides), or microdose of PT-141. The main side effect at standard doses is nausea, and the lower dose mostly sidesteps it. I will take it with food, stay hydrated, and use it as a microdose for 2 weeks before I reassess.

I’m also on hormone therapy. PT-141 isn’t a replacement for that, it is a completely different pathway, completely different job. Hormones are the foundation. This is something else.

And: if you have cardiovascular issues or uncontrolled blood pressure, this isn’t for you! Talk to an actual doctor, not just a wellness influencer (including me).

My blood pressure is nice and low, and in my intake form for this peptide I had to share my actual blood pressure reading.

A Few Final Things

I am starting to take PT-141 because I want to want things again. I didn’t expect a peptide designed for libido to have opinions about my appetite and my mood. But here we are.

The data is real and the mechanism of action all makes sense. And feeling more like myself: more motivated, more present and more satisfied- is worth both talking about and sharing about.

You deserve to know all the levers that exist. Not just the ones that get approved for one thing and quietly do several others.

My PT-141 arrives today and I will be taking my first dose tomorrow morning. I also plan to take my blood pressure every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the first few weeks as I get this going.

I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. I’m a person who did a lot of research and works with my doctor and a physician led telemedicine practice. PT-141 is a prescription medication. I promise to share my experience here once I begin my protocol! More to come!

Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

My libido isn’t low. It’s zero. Like I wake up and slink out of bed so that Michael doesn’t approach the bench kinda low.

It’s not that I have less desire than I used to. It’s that the desire isn’t there at all. The brain doesn’t switch on. The part of me that used to notice, anticipate, want, initiate- it’s just gone quiet. Not a flicker. Not a maybe. A flat line.

For a long time I thought it was stress, Michael’s constant work travel, my schedule managing the fam, my age… am I broken? I tried all the things- date nights, my favorite smut books, more sleep, more time together, lots of talking about it…etc. None of it touched it. Because none of it was the problem.

The problem was a hormone that my doctors had never bothered to pay attention to.

My testosterone is a 7.

For context, my new hormone specialist wants me at 100-200. That’s a thirty-fold gap between where I was and where my body is supposed to be running. And I’d been sitting at 7-or near it-for who knows how long, telling my gynecologist I was tired, my workouts weren’t working, my mood was flat, and my libido was nowhere to be found. We talked about cycles. We talked about sleep. We talked about stress. Nobody ran a testosterone panel.

It wasn’t on her radar. It isn’t on most of theirs. Women’s testosterone is one of the most under-tested, under-treated, under-discussed numbers in midlife medicine, and it is the hormone most directly responsible for the part of you that’s gone quiet.

So if you take nothing else from this post: ask for the labs.

I’ll tell you exactly which ones below. But first, I want to talk about libido-because that’s the part that brought me here, and I’m guessing it’s the part that brought you here too.

Testosterone is the hormone of desire. Not estrogen.

Estrogen takes care of the tissue (moisture, blood flow, comfort). Testosterone runs the desire itself.

Testosterone is what flips the switch in the brain that says I’m interested. I want this. I’m going to think about it.

The receptors for testosterone live thickly in the parts of your brain that govern reward, motivation, anticipation, and pursuit. Basically all the machinery that makes you want anything, not just sex. When your testosterone is at 7, those circuits don’t have the signal they need to fire. So you don’t have less desire. You have no desire-generating signal at all. So lucky for my husband.

That’s the part I want midlife women to know. It’s not that you’ve changed. It’s not that you’ve stopped caring about your partner. It’s not that you need to try harder or relax more or schedule it in. The switch isn’t lazy. The switch isn’t getting any power or umph!

And once I understood that, I stopped feeling broken. I just took matters into my own hands.

What zero-libido actually feels like

I want to describe this with some precision, because the medical language for it (”low desire,” “hypoactive sexual desire”) doesn’t capture what it actually is.

It’s not “I’m too tired tonight.” It’s “I can’t access the part of my brain that even wants to consider it.”

It’s not “I’m not in the mood.” It’s “I haven’t been in the mood for so long I can’t remember what that feels like.” I can still get on board, but it takes a LOT of warming up. It can be kind of exhausting if I am being fully transparent.

It’s not a problem in your body. It’s a silence in your brain. The thoughts don’t arrive. The noticing doesn’t happen. You don’t catch yourself thinking about it during the day. You don’t feel a pull. You don’t feel anything in that lane at all. The lane is closed.

And when you try to force it-to “be in the mood” because you think you should- it feels like trying to turn on a lamp that isn’t plugged into anything. You can flip the switch all you want. There’s no power running to it. This is me. I want to be with Michael. I want him in every way, but my brain is getting in the way! My brain is literally cock blocking me at every turn.

If you’re nodding right now, you are not the only one. You are not broken. You are running on fumes from a hormone nobody told you was draining. And, we are most likely all draining.

What restored testosterone is supposed to do

I’m still climbing toward my number, so I’m telling you this from inside the experience, not the other side of it. But here’s what’s supposed to happen, and what I am excited to start to feel.

The switch comes back online. Most women describe this as the first thing they notice. You start noticing again. A thought arrives. A pull arrives. A spark of interest crosses your mind in the middle of the day for no particular reason. You hadn’t realized how completely silent it had been until it makes a sound. Maybe, I can watch Off Campus again and want to drag my husband to my bed.

Desire returns before performance does. The wanting comes back first. The body follows. (Estrogen and good blood flow handle the body’s part- but the wanting is testosterone’s job, and it’s the part that has to come back first or nothing else makes sense.)

Pleasure capacity sharpens. It’s not just that you want it more. It’s that when it happens, you can feel it more. Testosterone affects sensitivity, response, intensity. As my friend Kristine say: Yes. Thank you, More Please.

The wanting spreads. This is the part that surprised me. The same “wanting” system that runs libido also runs ambition, creativity, drive, and the will to plan things. When your testosterone comes back, you don’t just want sex again- you want life again. You start making things. You start chasing things. The full appetite returns, not just the sexual one.

I think of testosterone as the hormone of vitality- the wanting hormone. When it’s gone, both go quiet. When it comes back, so do you. I want to come back online in all ways.

The other things low T was doing

Here are some common Low T symptoms. Many of these have been balanced out for me by more Peptide Stack- energy is high (MOTS-c), recovery is great (BPC157/TB500), Muscle is growing (Sermorelin/ Tesa-Ipa), no brain fog (MOTS-c and Semax)

• Tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix.

• Workouts not producing the body you used to have, even though you’re working harder.

• Soft muscles. Slow recovery.

• Mood flat- not depressed, just muted.

• Brain fog you keep blaming on perimenopause (and yes, also that because I blame everything either on periomenopause or Michael).

• The thing you used to “push through”- you can’t push through anymore.

• A loss of the want. Not just for sex. For many things.

If you’ve ever said “I don’t feel like me,” there’s a real chance testosterone is part of the story.

The labs to ask for

This is the slide I want printed on the back of every woman’s annual physical. The standard hormone panel most GYNs run is not enough.

Ask for, at minimum:

• Total testosterone

• Free testosterone (the bioavailable kind — the part actually doing the work in the brain)

• SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin — it controls how much of your T is actually free)

• DHEA-S (a testosterone precursor — if this is low, your body doesn’t have the raw material)

• Estradiol (because testosterone doesn’t work in isolation)

• Progesterone

About the numbers: most lab “normal” ranges are based on the general population, not on optimal function. A “normal” total testosterone for women is often listed as 15–70 ng/dL- but normal and thriving are not the same number. A lot of women feel like themselves much higher than the bottom of that range. Your number is a starting point for a conversation. This is where having a clinician who actually treats women in midlife matters more than where they trained. I am doing a lot of research on testosterone numbers and what numbers are most optimal- I have had SO many DM’s with other women sharing their experiences.

The forms of TRT — and why I chose mine

I’m using an injectable (low-dose testosterone, weekly, subcutaneous). I went with it because it gives the most precise dose control, the smoothest levels, and the easiest course-correction. If something’s off, you change one variable and retest.

The other options, briefly:

• Pellets. Tiny implant in the hip, lasts 3–6 months. Convenient but once it’s in, it’s in.

• Creams and gels. Daily topical, usually inner thigh or labia. Adjustable, but absorption varies a lot person to person. And we live in FL where I sweat all the time. This one did not fit my life.

• DHEA. Not testosterone itself, but its precursor. Sometimes a piece of the puzzle alongside.

The best one is the one your body actually responds to and that fits your life.

What lifestyle can do (and what it can’t)

Lifestyle didn’t get my testosterone to 7. But it shapes how well any therapy works.

The needle-movers: lifting heavy, enough protein (closer to 1 gram per pound of goal weight), sleep, cutting back on alcohol, managing chronic stress (cortisol steals the same raw materials), and the basics-zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, healthy fats.

But if your level is 7 and your target is 200, you cannot eat and exercise your way there. You can support the system. You cannot rebuild it from scratch.

How often to retest

Baseline before starting. 6–8 weeks in, or after any dose change. Every 3 months for the first year while you’re dialing in. Every 6 months once you’re stable.

What I wish someone had told me

A few honest things:

The libido piece doesn’t come back overnight. The brain switch starts flickering on in the first few weeks for some women, takes a couple of months for others. Both are normal. You’ll have a flat Tuesday and a noticeable Friday in the same week.

Side effects are usually dose-dependent. Acne, oilier skin, occasional irritability if you’re running hot. The serious ones (voice changes, scalp thinning) are almost always a sign the dose is too high- I also heard of facial hair, enlarged clitoris as being signs the dose is too high, too.

It’s almost always off-label in the U.S. There’s no FDA-approved testosterone product for women. That doesn’t mean it’s experimental-it means the pharmaceutical industry never bothered to study us.

Don’t treat testosterone in isolation. If estrogen and progesterone are also low and untreated, testosterone alone won’t bring you all the way back. The hormones run as a system. I talk about this all the time- our systems are not in a silo. We are an ecosystem fully interconnected.

The wanting really does spread. When the desire comes back, it doesn’t stay in the bedroom. You’ll find yourself making plans, starting things, wanting things again. That’s the part nobody warned me about, and the part I’m most grateful for.

What I want you to walk away with

If your libido feels like a zero- not low, off- please don’t take it as a verdict about you, your relationship, your age, or your appetite for life. Take it as a number you can measure.

Screenshot the lab list. Bring it to your next appointment. If your doctor brushes you off, find a new one. There are clinicians who actually treat women’s hormones in midlife. They exist. They are worth finding.

My testosterone was 7. My libido was zero. Both will be climbing.

Yours can too. And, I promise to keep sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of midlife and our cycle of Perimenopause whack-a-mole.

xo

I am connecting some dots about it in this video. Low energy wasn’t my baseline on MOTS-c. I was an overflowing well of energy which I think was really supporting my low T.

Here is a link on MOTS-c information. I have also shared a post on here called What's in my stack that talks more in depth about why I love MOTS-c.

Ok, off to do my coffee enema to try and detox my liver and get a little more energy in my body. Love, B

You’ve seen the headline. I have even created entire Corporate Wellness programs about it. It’s been on a thousand wellness graphics: sitting is the new smoking. It sounds dramatic and it’s only partly true.

Researchers who actually compared the two found the comparison overstated. In the largest analysis, the heaviest smokers had about 2,000 extra deaths per 100,000 people per year compared with never-smokers; the most sedentary had about 190. Smoking is still in a category of its own. I am so glad I gave up that habit the day I met Michael.

But here’s what they also found, and what almost nobody quotes: prolonged sitting is its own quiet problem.

Not a catastrophe. More like a slow drip. And in midlife, when hormones are shifting (you think?), and muscle is harder to hold onto (not as bad when you are on Tesamorelin/Ipamorelin) and the brain is more sensitive than it used to be, the slow drip matters more than it used to.

This is not being written to scare you off your couch. But, if it gets you up and moving, you are welcome!

The number that surprised me most

The average American adult sits about 6.5 hours a day. If you work at a desk, it’s closer to 10 (this is why I bought my standing desk). If you add driving your kids all over town, dinner, waiting in the car or stands at a sports practice, and an evening show, you can clear 12 without trying.

This is how our life is shaped in midlife. Chairs at work, chairs in cars, chairs at dinner, a soft place to land at the end of the day. You did not fail at standing. The world stopped requiring it. Bypassing being a bit uncomfortable, and always offering a seat.

What sitting does in the body

When you sit for a long stretch, let’s say 60+ minutes without standing, a few things happen.

Your large leg muscles, the ones that normally pull glucose out of your blood (this is one of the reasons that I love MOTS-c), essentially clock out. Insulin has to work harder. Triglycerides creep up. Blood flow slows.

In one study, interrupting an 8-hour sitting block with a 3-minute light walk every 30 minutes improved post-meal blood sugar and insulin by 30 to 40%. Not from a workout. From walking to the kitchen. That is wild to me. The fact that it does not take a lot to make a lot of difference.

Over time, this pattern is associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline. Which has been a hot topic over here as of late.

A 2025 study from Vanderbilt found that more sedentary time was linked to brain shrinkage in Alzheimer’s-related regions, and the link held even in people who hit their exercise minutes. The gym does not cancel hours of sedentary time.

A separate meta-analysis of 250,000 adults found that high sedentary behavior was associated with about a 30% higher risk of dementia.

Why midlife is the time to make a pivot

Three things are happening to women between 40 and 55 that make sitting more impactful than it did at 30.

Muscle. Strength starts dropping in our 40s, with the quadriceps often the first to weaken. After 50, inactive adults can lose 1 to 2% of muscle mass per year. (again, cue the tesa and ipa linked above). Significant muscle loss jumps from about 7% in premenopausal women to roughly 30% in early perimenopause.

Muscle is the organ that handles your blood sugar. Losing it makes everything else harder.

Insulin sensitivity. Estradiol helps your cells stay responsive to insulin. As it changes, even women with “normal” labs can start feeling the 3 p.m. crash, the new belly softness, the sleep that doesn’t restore. Sitting compounds this. And, I can tell you that in midlife, I am offered seats all the time. Usually, it is the drivers seat. For example, today I will be in the car almost 6 hours just driving Evan to and from his school multiple times.

Bone and brain. Both are use-it-or-lose-it tissues. Both are more vulnerable in midlife. Both respond to weight-bearing movement in tiny, frequent doses.

The takeaway isn’t do more. It’s sit in fewer unbroken stretches.

The smallest thing that actually works

This is the part I want you to remember.

You do not have to add a workout.

You do not have to buy a standing desk- although it made a world of difference in my daily life!

You do not have to walk 10,000 steps.

The research is very, very forgiving:

People who replaced 30 minutes of sitting with light activity- and “light” means walking around, doing dishes, folding laundry- had a 17% lower risk of dying over a 10-year follow-up.

The 30 minutes didn’t have to be continuous. Splitting it into 6 5-minute chunks gave the same benefit.

Not 30 minutes of exercise. Thirty minutes of not being sedentary, broken up however your day allows.

Eight easy swaps

• Stand up every time you take a sip of water. Refill the glass. Sit back down. You’re done.

• Take phone calls walking. Even a slow lap of the living room counts.

• Do 10 calf raises while the coffee brews.

• Park in the farthest spot. Reliably worth two extra minutes a day, every day. I always do this. I joke it is for my health but really I drive a monster sized car and do not trust myself to park by others.

• Walk through commercial break during your nightly show. Or one chapter of a podcast. Pick a trigger and then get moving.

• Stand for the first 10 minutes of any meeting that doesn’t require a screen. No one will notice. Your body will thank you.

• Put one thing you need every day on a high shelf. A reach = a stretch = movement.

• Set a “bottom of the hour” alarm for one workday block. Not all day. Just from 10 to 2. Stand at :30. That’s it.

These are not cool or sexy. But, what I have learned In 13 years in my health coaching practice is that it is never the big, huge steps that meaningfully move the health needle. It is the little things, repeated over time, that create lasting health.

Ok, back to smoking.

The smoking comparison is a little off, but it forces us to take notice. Smoking was a thing I did to myself in high school and early college. Sitting is a thing that happens to us, in a culture that built itself around screens and chairs. Ease. Comfort.

The fix isn’t a massive upheaval. It’s a series of purposeful pauses, the kind a body in midlife is actually asking for.

A glass of water.

A lap of the kitchen.

A reach for the top shelf.

Done often enough, those little interruptions are the closest thing we have to a quiet, free, repeatable little insurance policy on these magnificent midlife bodies of ours.

You don’t have to overhaul a thing. You just have to stop sitting quite so still.

PS: I did purchase a walking pad for under my desk and I absolutely love that I an do all my work and get some extra, easy movement in.

If this is helpful, the sister Instagram carousel has a version you can save and send to a friend.

Love,

B

I’m a 3/4. You know this by now as I have shared it over the last year. Which means I think about my brain in a way most people don’t or may not have to. Every habit gets evaluated against one quiet question: is this protecting the brain I’m going to need at 75?

The sauna passed that test a while ago, and the more I’ve sat with the research, the more obvious it’s become that this is one of the most underrated brain tools I have.

So let me tell you what I know, what I feel, and how I actually use it.

The study I keep coming back to, because I am a nerd to the core

There’s a Finnish cohort and they followed about 2,300 middle-aged men (I wish that women were included but for the sake of this study, the mechanism would be the same for women as far as I am concerned) for two decades and tracked how often they used the sauna. The findings are the kind that make you perk up and pay attention.

Men who used the sauna 4–7 times a week had a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s compared to once-a-week users. Men who used it 2–3 times a week had about a 20% lower risk.

That’s a dose-response curve. The more, the better.

A real caveat: this was traditional Finnish sauna, hot and dry, not infrared. But the underlying mechanism- the controlled heat stress your body adapts to- is the same conversation.

Infrared runs cooler and the sessions tend to be longer, and your core temperature still climbs, your heart rate still rises, you still sweat through your eyelashes. Your body doesn’t really care which photons heated it; it cares that it had to adapt. That adaptation is the real magic of the sauna.

What heat is actually doing in that little box

I don’t want to bury you in mechanism (even thought that is my personal sweet spot), but a few things are worth knowing because they make the practice feel less like vanity and more like medicine.

When you heat your body in a controlled way, it produces heat shock proteins. Think of these as your cells’ cleanup crew. They find misfolded, broken, gunky proteins and either refold them or escort them out.

This matters for the ApoE4 brain specifically because so much of Alzheimer’s is, at its root, a protein-clearance problem. Anything that helps the brain take out its own trash is on our side. Heck yes.

Heat also raises BDNF- brain-derived neurotrophic factor- which is basically fertilizer for your neurons. It’s what helps you build new connections, learn, remember, and bounce back from stress. BDNF tends to decline with age and drops faster in perimenopause. Saunas push it back up. We also talked about BDNF when discussing Semax in a previous post.

There’s also the cardiovascular piece, which is downstream of the brain piece. Your blood vessels expand, your heart works the way it does on a moderate jog, and over time your vascular health improves. The brain is a vascular organ. What’s good for your heart is good for your head.

What I notice

This is the part I love and the part that hooked me before I’d read a single study.

After the sauna, my head feels quieter. Less chatter, less anxious edge, more of that pleasant tired-but-clear feeling you get after a good workout but without having done the workout. I sleep deeper at night. My mood is lighter.

Other things I’ve noticed over time: my skin is better. My recovery from workouts is faster. I get sick less often. And there’s a meditative quality to thirty phone-free minutes that I genuinely look forward to. It feels like a place where nothing can touch me.

My current routine

Full-spectrum infrared, 6-7 times a week, 35–40 minutes per session, somewhere between 145–150°F. I sip electrolytes going in and sweat drips coming out. I sweat, I breathe, I don’t bring my phone. I always read. Toward the end I push to where it’s a little uncomfortable, because that last few minutes is where the adaptation happens.

If you’re starting from zero: 2 times a week for 20 minutes is a great place to begin. Work up. Your tolerance will build faster than you think.

The caloric burn

I get this question a lot, so let’s get it out of the way: yes, an infrared sauna burns calories- somewhere in the ballpark of 200–600 per 30-minute session, depending on your size, your temperature, and how vigorously you’re sweating. But the numbers floating around the internet are not from rigorous peer-reviewed studies, so I treat them as a nice bonus rather than a reason to use one. Sauna does not replace my exercise.

The reason I use one is the brain. The body composition stuff is a sweet cherry on top.

Things to be thoughtful of

A few honest considerations before you go all-in:

Hydrate seriously. Water alone isn’t enough. You need electrolytes- sodium, potassium, magnesium. I lose them faster than you’d think.

Don’t go in dehydrated, hungover, or running a fever. Your body is already taxed; don’t make it worse.

Check with your doctor if you’re pregnant. Same for anyone with cardiovascular issues — talk to your clinician first. Honestly, anyone with chronic health issues being monitored should chat with their doc.

Watch your evening timing. Sauna right before bed can backfire and keep you up. Try to finish at least 90 minutes before you aim to be asleep.

Be patient with adaptation. The first few sessions might feel hard. By session four or five, the same heat feels easier. That is the training effect. Remember, that magical adaptation.

It’s not magic on its own. A sauna inside a life of poor sleep, sugar, and stress won’t save you. The sauna is one of many small levers- it stacks with the others. As with anything I talk about… NOTHING replaces foundations. Foundations come first, always. Then, we layer other tools and support intentionally.

The bigger, broader picture

I’m 3/4. Two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. Our brains in midlife are going through a hormonal upheaval that nobody really prepared us for, and we have a narrower window to lay down protection than the men in that Finnish study did.

The sauna is one of the simplest, most evidence-supported things in the entire longevity toolkit. It costs nothing past the upfront purchase, requires no prescription, no clinician, no special training. You sit, you sweat, you adapt, you build a more resilient brain.

For thirty minutes a day, six or seven days a week, I get to do something measurably good for the version of me at 75. I’d be in there even if it did nothing for my skin or my sleep or my mood. The fact that it does all of that too is what makes it the easiest non-negotiable on my list.

If you’ve been on the fence, this is your nudge.

Love,

B

What are your thoughts on this? What would you say if your 18 year old came to you and they were curious about peptides?

I would love to hear so that we can start some good dialogue on educating our kids on them. They are googling, seeking resources and usually, they are not safe options.

My two cents.

Two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. We don’t talk about that nearly enough.

The day I saw 3/4 on the page, something in me clicked into place. Sleep, strength training, food, hormones- all of it became non-negotiable. And the peptide work I was already doing for energy and recovery suddenly had a much bigger reason to exist.

This post is about five tools I’m thinking about specifically for my brain. None of them are magic. None of them replace the basics. But for those of us in midlife-especially those of us with a little extra genetic homework to do- these are the ones I keep coming back to.

A Quick Word on Why ApoE4 Changes the Conversation

The ApoE4 brain is a little different. It clears waste a bit slower. It runs a little hotter (more inflammation). Its mitochondria, the energy makers in our cells, are more vulnerable. And it tends to start using glucose less efficiently in midlife, sometimes decades before anything feels off.

Translation: an ApoE4 brain wants more support around clearance, calm, cellular energy, and the strength of the connections between brain cells.

Every peptide below hits at least one of those.

Semax

Semax (linked here) is a nasal spray peptide that’s been used in Russia for decades for stroke recovery and cognitive support. The reason I love it for the ApoE4 brain is simple: it raises BDNF, which is basically fertilizer for brain cells. More BDNF means more growth, more resilience, more capacity to form new connections.

What women tend to notice: sharper focus, better word recall, more mental stamina. It’s not a stimulant. It’s more like the lights coming up in a room that was a little dim.

I think of Semax as the clarity peptide.

Selank

Selank (linked here) is Semax’s sister-same delivery (nasal spray), different superpower. Where Semax brings the focus, Selank brings the calm.

Here’s why this matters for us specifically: perimenopausal anxiety is real. The 3 a.m. wake-ups are real. Chronically elevated cortisol is one of the most under-discussed accelerators of brain aging…it literally shrinks the hippocampus, the part of the brain Alzheimer’s takes first.

Selank takes the edge off without making you foggy or sleepy. People often pair it with Semax — Semax for focus, Selank for the steadiness underneath.

I think of Selank as the nervous-system peptide.

Methylene Blue

I know — technically not a peptide. But it belongs in this list, and I want it on your radar.

Methylene Blue (linked here) is an old, old molecule that turns out to be one of the best things we have for mitochondrial health. In plain speak: it helps your cells make energy more efficiently. And, a brain that’s running on better energy thinks better, clears waste better, and ages better.

This matters enormously for ApoE4 carriers because our brains start losing some of that metabolic horsepower in midlife. Methylene Blue helps put it back.

People describe it as a clean, sustained mental energy- no jitter, no crash. Some take it before deep work or workouts. (One important note: it interacts with SSRIs and some other medications, so it’s a real conversation to have with your clinician before you start.)

I think of Methylene Blue as the cellular energy tool.

DiHEXA

DiHEXA (linked here) is the frontier piece of the protocol. It’s an oral peptide originally developed at Washington State University, and what it appears to do is help the brain build new connections between brain cells — new synapses.

That matters because cognitive decline isn’t really about losing brain cells first. It’s about losing the connections between them. DiHEXA seems to help rebuild that web.

This is a tool I will use under the care of a knowledgeable clinician, and not as a starting point. But, for someone with elevated genetic risk who already has the foundations dialed in, it’s a promising next layer.

I think of DiHEXA as the structural support peptide.

MOTS-c

MOTS-c (linked here) is the one I’m most quietly excited about, because it’s a peptide your own body already makes. And, you know it is already my favorite peptide in my stack!

It comes from inside your mitochondria, and it acts like a master signal for metabolic health. It improves insulin sensitivity, supports the way your body uses energy, and mimics a lot of what you’d get from really consistent exercise- at the cellular level.

Our levels of it drop with age. And given how tightly metabolic health and brain health are linked (some researchers now call Alzheimer’s “type 3 diabetes”), restoring a more youthful MOTS-c signal feels like one of the most foundational longevity moves available to us.

For midlife women, where insulin sensitivity often shifts during the menopausal transition, this one is especially relevant. A more metabolically resilient body is a more metabolically resilient brain.

I think of MOTS-c as the whole-system peptide.

How I’m Stacking These for My Brain

The way I think about it for an ApoE4 brain, in order of priority:

Foundation — cellular energy. Methylene Blue and MOTS-c address the metabolic story that’s quietly underneath everything else.

Middle layer — calm and clarity. Semax for focus and BDNF. Selank for the calm-under-stress that protects the hippocampus.

Cherry on top — structural support. DiHEXA as the frontier piece, only when the rest is in place.

And I’ll say it again because I really believe it: peptides are a layer. They sit on top of sleep, strength training, hormones, food, and connection. Foundations come first, then we stack the peptides over top for support.

They don’t replace any of it. The women I’ve watched make the most progress are the ones who got their basics rock-solid first and then added these tools intentionally.

The Bigger Picture

ApoE 3/4 is a prompt, not a sentence. The science is moving fast. The tools are getting more refined. And the foundations- sleep, training, food, hormones, stress, connection-remain more powerful than any single molecule.

What I want every midlife woman in my life to know: we are not powerless here. We have a window. We have tools the previous generation didn’t. And the things that protect the brain are the same things that make life feel better right now — better sleep, stronger body, cleaner energy, more presence, more connection.

ApoE 3/4 and all, I’m playing the long game. And I’m so glad you’re playing it with me.

This is for education, not medical advice. Always use physician oversight when starting a peptide program. Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

And, reach out if you need support with any of the three above!

Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

Now?
It feels like survival.

There are the school concerts, teacher gifts, finals, field days, sports banquets, graduation events, end-of-year parties, signup forms, spirit weeks, summer planning, and somehow… regular life still has to happen too.

This hit for me last night when I had yet another experience on why I hate technology and we don’t belong in the same era. The stress and adrenaline kept me up past 10 PM!!

And for so many midlife women, this season hits differently than it used to. It is not fun anymore, it is stressful and requires Olympic level time management- ouch.

You wake up already behind.
Your nervous system feels maxed out before breakfast. Then, we add coffee. Because, let’s face it, we are rebels and risk takers in midlife! Ha!
You are overstimulated by noise, schedules, questions, and constant notifications.
You forget things you normally would never forget (like the birthday present I need for my son’s friend by tomorrow AM and just now remembered about)
And by the end of the day, even tiny problems feel enormous because your brain simply has no more bandwidth left. Cue me, last night, in bed, with over 100 heartbeat navigating instagram.

This is the part nobody talks about enough: midlife women are carrying an incredible cognitive and emotional load. Truly. We are the glue. We keep all the wheels on the bus.

Not just physically doing things. Holding them all mentally.

The calendar.
The emotional management- we have two teens and so I not only manage my emotions, but the emotions they bring to be during their life and day.
The logistics- needing to be in two places at once on Saturday at noon? No problem, I will figure it out.
The remembering- or lack thereof? I can’t keep it all straight all the time and usually have a hand of sharpie reminders every single day.
The anticipating- thinking 5 steps ahead of every single event, moment, day. Preparing for the unexpected and expected alike.
The keeping everyone afloat while quietly trying not to fall apart yourself. This. OMG. We bend and we bend… but we just don’t ever break, do we?

And during high-demand seasons like May, many women (me, I am the many women) realize their nervous system doesn’t bounce back the same way it once did. Or, ever did, if I am being honest.

That is why more women are becoming interested in tools that support not just “energy,” but regulation. Trust me, I am going back on my “no wellness purchases in April or May” for this one. Let’s just call it my Mother’s Day present.

Not feeling hyped up- nope, already there.
Not numbed out- no time to not feel. I want to feel it all and just ride that wave like the chill beach girl I imagine I am in my head.
Just… steadier. Cool as a fucking cucumber. That is my mantra.

That is one of the reasons Selank has become such an interesting conversation in my world.

Selank is often discussed for its potential role in supporting a calmer, more balanced stress response without the heavy or sedating feeling we want to avoid. I just want to feel grounded, ready for whatever life throws my way.

And honestly, that distinction matters in our day. We can’t be numbed up to do all the things we want to do well. We need to feel it all but not get “hyperaroused” you know that feeling.

Most moms are not trying to “check out.” (at least before 6 PM)
They still need to function- well. Really well.
They need to be the family uber, answer work emails, create dinner or three depending on the tastebuds of the fam, remember the birthday gifts, teacher gifts, stay patient, and somehow keep showing up for everyone around them. Yep. And, when you have been alcohol free for 920 days (woooweee!) you know that you will get through this day even if it isn’t pretty.

What we want is not sedation.
It is emotional breathing room- just room to feel, be and process.

The ability to pause before reacting- I am not great at pausing.
To think clearly under pressure- I am actually very good at this!
To feel less emotionally flooded by everyday stress- this changes based on situations and more blessed midlife hormones… oh, and Michael’s travel schedule. If I am alone for the week I feel kinda feral.

That is where the conversation around nervous system support becomes KEY!

Many women I talk to each week describe wanting to feel:

• calmer but still productive

• emotionally steadier

• less mentally all over the map

• more resilient under stress

• clearer and more focused

Not superhuman or stepford wives. Just supported- you know, cool as a fucking cucumber.

And maybe the most important thing to say is this: If May feels harder than it used to (worse than the first two weeks in December if you ask me), you are not failing. You are in a community of women deep in the May trenches with you.

You are likely carrying more than anyone realizes while navigating a season of life where hormones, stress tolerance, sleep, and nervous system capacity are all shifting underneath the surface. Cool, cool. Yep. We do it all on the outside while our systems are giving is the middle finger on the inside.

Of course you feel overwhelmed sometimes. Duh.

Of course your brain feels tired. Repeat: Duh.

Of course you feel like you need a deeper kind of support than another cup of coffee (but coffee does really make my heart so happy!)

Midlife is not about pushing harder anymore. We already do that damn well. We push until we get it all done. It is about supporting yourself differently while still juggling all the balls.

And for many women, that realization changes everything. And with that, I am going to buy my Selank. Who’s with me? A better May for all midlife mommas? One for all, all for one? Do we have any cheerleaders?

Here is the link to Selank- I am ordering now!

Sending love. Calming breaths. Feet on grass. Gratitude. Tall ceilings. Kids that bring their laundry down. No missing assignments. And, a mother’s day where you feel seen. Heard.

Love,
B

Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

PS: I am ordering this now (it is Thursday at 10:17 AM. I will keep you posted on my experience. You won’t even recognize my energy I bet. I will be me, but chill. Love you!

Each person is different and navigates their own health obstacles and goals. You all know that for me, the first goal I had was bringing my A1c, Cholesterol and ApoB down. We have a heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s in my family and keeping these numbers in an optimal range is a giant priority for me. I had success with this goal after only 12 weeks and continue to support my metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers with a small weekly injection of GLP-1/ GIP + B12 Microdose.

My dose has stayed the same since September and I am on a “mini” microdose. I take about half of what is prescribed to me as that is what works best for me and my body goals.

I started a cycle of Thymosin Alpha-1 before my surgery in February. TA-1 is an immune modulator peptide. The thing I love about its mechanism of action is that if your immune system is working in overdrive it brings it down to balance and if it is lagging it brings it up to balance. It is such a smart peptide! I carry a high viral load and keeping my immune system boosted is another priority for me. I know that as we age, all of our systems age right alongside our skin, bones, hair, nails, eyes, etc. The stronger I keep my immune system, the better it can fight against all the things I am actively trying to avoid.

For my surgery, I knew I would need an immune boost and boy did I ever! I returned from surgery on a Monday afternoon- Michael flew out on a work trip right as we got home. Both my kids had the flu- fevers, coughs, colds… the whole 9 yards.

Guess who didn’t even get the sniffles? Me!

I take Thymosin Alpha-1 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Just a small maintenance dose, but enough to be supportive of my viral load and desire to keep my immune system robust in midlife.

My surgery in February consisted of pretty intense liposuction of my flanks, inner thighs and back of my legs. Then, the doctor injected the harvested fat in my breasts. I had a huge concern with sagging skin and healing after this procedure. I did not want to create a problem with my legs while solving my post-explant breast deformity.

GHK-Cu is a copper binding peptide that supports skin rejuvenation, wound healing and hair health. It is the anti-aging peptide and it has been such a support on my post-op body. My scars are almost all the way white, my skin is firm and tight on my legs, this also supports the fine lines and wrinkles on your face by promoting collagen and elastin production. It is a magical peptide for me!

GHK-Cu enhances tissue repair and also has anti-inflammatory properties. It is a wondefrul post-op tool, but it is a peptide that I cycle 3-4 times each year. However, I do think that the next time I cycle this supportive tool, I am going to try the KLOW 4-in-1 Peptide!

I take GHK-Cu on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was prescribed to be 5 days on, but in full transparency, the only peptides I do 5 days on and two days off are my night-time stack.

I would love to say that I don’t have a favorite, but that would be a bold faced lie. I do and I talked about it in a video on Substack last week. MOTS-c is my favorite. I love the peptides that work behind the scenes but I really love the peptides that leave me feeling something.

With Tirzepatide, my anxiety and food noise were turned down to “mute”. No volume there whatsoever. My biomarkers are all optimal and I love that I feel satisfied after my meals.

Thymosin Alpha-1 I don’t “feel” anything. However, I know it is working as I have had zero viral flares since taking- so that is a win, just working in the background.

GHK-Cu has given me stronger fuller hair on my head, fuller eyebrows, firmer skin, beautiful scar recovery and no skin stretch marks or sagging after my surgery. I see this one, but after about 4-6 weeks of use. Nothing instant.

MOTS-c I felt in 24 hours. I felt like I was my most energized version of me. Not a jittery, caffeine energy, but a steady pool of energy to pull from all day. No highs or lows. Balanced energy. Another perk I see is with my morning workouts- they are INSANE!!! I can workout for 60 minutes, hard, and feel great after. My endurance and stamina are through the roof on this one. It has a whole host of other benefits- which I shared in my other video.

This one is my favorite child ;) I was convinced that at almost 44 my workouts would never look the same, PR’s were a thing of the past… but nope! I am here and ready to PR!

I take MOTS-c exactly as prescribed by my doctor- no deviations!

So many of the things I am on right now are a result of my post-operative experience. After my fat transfer in February I could not sleep. I am not usually a back sleeper- I love to sleep on my stomach but am not able to until I hit 12 weeks. I was a zombie. I wasn’t healing well, navigating parenting well and would go to bed anxious about what the night would bring.

It reminded me of when we had a newborn and you would go to be never knowing how long you would close your eyes before being woken up.

I started to take Delta Sleep Inducing Peptide (DSIP) about 6 weeks ago and it has transformed my nights. This did not happen right away- it was around 2 weeks when I felt myself staying asleep longer each night, dreaming and waking up with deep sleep scores like I had never had before.

DSIP works by improving your sleep quality: enhancing deep sleep cycles, sleep duration, falling asleep faster and most importantly STAYING asleep all night long. I love that it does not have the same “forced sleep” or sedative effect of the gummies I was on before DSIP. I don’t wake up groggy or hungover feeling. I just wake up feeling rested, happy and with a full tank of gas.

I take DSIP 5 nights on and 2 nights off, exactly as prescribed with one deviation. It works best for me when I take it 3-4 hours before bed instead of 1-2 hours before bed.

The last peptide in my current stack is Sermorelin. I started this peptide as part of my post- op healing stack, as well. I am sure you are seeing a trend here. Many of these will fall off my rotation once my cycles are completed. I will then lean on them, as needed. But, I love having this in my arsenal because it has been incredible for my body, nervous system and sleep support.

Sermorelin has supported my wound healing and tissue repair immensely. Once I started this I noticed a decrease in swelling in the few areas that were holding onto fluid. I was so grateful because those spots were painful to the touch and the relief brought me better days ;)

While I am just now getting back to lifting heavy weights- taking Sermorelin has really been a complement to the work I have been able to put in to my body with strength training. I have seen muscle growth during my “restricted” lifting season and I love that I don’t feel like I have to play catch up to put my muscle back on after my procedure.

Sermorelin plays a role in promoting better sleep and I know that this paired with DSIP is what has been helping me improve my nighttime routines and circadian rhythm. I also feel like Sermorelin helps me calm my nervous system down a bit. I run pretty high strung by nature, and this brings me down a couple notches before bed which really helps turn off that “wired but tired” feeling.

I take this one at the same time as my DSIP and exactly as prescribed by my doctor.

I think in the end, I will end up on my “mini”microdose of Tirzepatide, MOTS-c, and rotating in one other peptide each cycle based on my body and my goals at the time. I am so grateful to have the support my body needs in midlife and hope that this helped you all better understand my “why” behind each of my choices.

As a last note, I get asked all the time how I inject in my arm, so here you go!
In all my 4 AM glory, a video on how I inject my tirzepatide in my arm with the use of a chip clip- nothing fancy!

I am always available for questions, support or just an ear as you navigate this space. I know it is loud and overwhelming. I will be your peptide pal if you need it!

I offer a complimentary 15-minute peptide discovery call for anyone who needs to chat: find a time for you here.

If you made it to the end, you are a trouper. This was a lengthy one! Thank you for reading and for being curious and open to learning new things!

Testimonials reflect individual experiences with our services. Ellie MD does not guarantee similar outcomes for everyone

Love,B