Mike Kocsis, Balance My Hormones & Testosterone Replacement

Mike Kocsis is the owner of Balance My Hormones, who provides clients with over 25 years of experience in TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy)/HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).

My conversation with Mike, who set up the company is one that I think is hugely relevant to a huge proportion of men. Yes women as well, however, I wanted to focus on something I could speak about from my own experience and not stray too far from that.

We spoke about:

• Testosterone Replacement in men
• The impact of low testosterone
• Life changing impacts of this intervention
• The impact in daily life
• What drives Mike in his passion for this work
• TRT, can can get confused with Growth Hormone
• The signs of low testosterone
• The importance of using a highly credible organisation

Mike team focus with clients is to guide them through their journey, with doctors specialising in hormone deficiencies that are difficult to access through traditional NHS and private doctors.

Using the most up-to-date industry guidance and safety protocols that you will not get from most TRT & HRT companies. The use of our very own GPhC Pharmacy also decreases processing time and reduces the potential errors that can be third-party by third-party pharmacies.

 The team of Personal Case Managers and Support Staff use their expertise in TRT/HRT to educate clients on the best options and pitfalls to avoid when investigating whether or not they have sub-optimal hormones.

To find out more about Guy Bloom and his award winning work in Team Coaching, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching click below.

The link to everything CLICK HERE
UK: 07827 953814
Email: guybloom@livingbrave.com
Web: www.livingbrave.com

Transcript

Guy Bloom    00:00 

Welcome to leadership bites with myself, your host, guy bloom. This is a leadership podcast where I have conversations with colleagues, I chat with guests, and sometimes they'll be just me talking. You can connect with me at livingbrave.com and when you enjoy the episode, subscribe and please tell everyone. So Mike, how are you?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    00:22 

Hi guy, how are you?
 
 

Guy Bloom    00:24 

Well, great to have you on this episode of Leadership Bikes welcome thank you. Thanks for having me.
 
 

Guy Bloom    00:30 

So listen, we've known each other for a little while, kind of through various conversations, and it will become clearer as we go through that I'm. I was gonna say you're a sort of, I'm a patient of yours. I don't that would be the right to talk, right? Yeah, a client, I think.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    00:46 

We like that would be it covers all bases.
 
 

Guy Bloom    00:49 

Yeah, I think clients are much better way of looking at it. So I know who you are, but let's just get you to introduce yourself and then we'll get into a whole load of questions that I'm I'm waiting to ask that's fine. So I'm Mike cosas. I'm the founder of balance, my hormones and also the harmonised pharmacy. And I started. In 2016 to help men and women who had hormone issues and difficulty getting access to the hormone treatments from more traditional sources like the NHS or other private options. So I founded it. It's been my passion and it's something that I've done to make a difference in people's lives.
 
 

Guy Bloom    01:30 

So this is a topic that, um, so I'm really clear. I am a client of yours and it was. I'm I'm not even gonna say game changer for me. I'm gonna say life changer for me, which is why I am a client, but also be what I recognise in dealing with in the leadership space. Why is this on a leadership podcast? It's because I deal with a lot of people who are inverted commas, senior and often older. And as a coach and an observer of human beings, I observe certain things that I am actually able to say. I think there might be something else. I'm, you know, going on here and I think you, you know, you might want to look into it. So that's how actually it's sort of come into my kind of purview to saying, you know what, let's put this out there and if it helps one person, I think this conversation will help a lot of people. So that's the catalyst for me getting, getting you on.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    02:31 

Appreciate it.
 
 

Guy Bloom    02:33 

So with that in mind. Let's just start off, I guess at the at the basics of, um, there's maybe a a great sense from people when you hear testosterone replacement and HRT. I think HRT for women is much more. Acceptable as as a statement. I think sometimes when you say tisrt people kind of almost go, you know what like body building, growth, growth hormone. I think that side of things has got a bit of a big smoker. So maybe if I could just get you to give a little bit of a let's, let's explain the vocabulary.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    03:11 

To the apple that's.
 
 

Guy Bloom    03:12 

Fair enough. Where we're coming.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    03:13 

From so I mean it's unfortunate just getting back to the conflation between, you know, bodybuilding and testosterone. Yes, we'll start with testosterone replacement therapy. I said the falls under it. Can be considered hormone, a form of hormone replacement therapy. But there are other forms of hormone replacement therapy, such as thyroid replacement therapy or you're duno gland replacement, which would be cortisol or or estrogen if you're female through through art, but for and females can also get a form of TRT as well. When they go through menopause, the sex hormones aren't what they once were. So Oestrogens replaced progesterone and testosterone, so but for men. I think we've tended to find it as to source replacement therapy and that can consist of, well as the label says, testosterone treatment and coaching and support usually goes into it because as you start testosterone treatment, yes, it consists of either an injection or a cream, but then there is the guidance portion of it that helps men through it. So I think getting back to your question, the overriding. Factor in society as they hear the word testosterone, they can access some people off down the wrong path and they think ohh like you said bodybuilding and and you can see how I was in that in the article in the Daily Mail. I don't know if you you saw where they interviewed me about testosterone placement therapy. I've been on the treatment for 26 years, but unfortunately they conflated it and made it as if this was done not for a health reason but for bodybuilding purposes. And I had to go to another programme, the Kevin O'Sullivan programme, to kind of dispel some of those myths. And I also, also on my own YouTube channel, had to had to do the same because it's not what it is. But I can't force society to change their views just yet. I hope they are changing. But this is the way, this is the way it is. But what we do, you know, balance our hormones is helping, you know, men and women with hormone replacement and men with testosterone replacement.
 
 

Guy Bloom    05:23 

Ok. And I think this is really important because for so for example CBD is a CBD or as a thing that's come into the consciousness a lot more. And I've said and for those of you that don't know it's a it's a fantastic you can get it at Holland and Barrett, Sam, you know you can order it, it's absolutely fine and but it's got the word cannabis in it and so people can go a little bit bonkers about it, but all the kind of all the stuff being taken out of it. It helps just with information. No, but if you say it and use the word cannabis, people can have a reaction to it. So I think the last few years there has been an A, I think we are on the brink of people going. All the education, I think around the vocabulary, you know, Coca-Cola used to have coke in it, you know.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    06:13 

Don't worry it.
 
 

Guy Bloom    06:14 

Doesn't, it doesn't now you know I think it's okay to to to have these conversations. So I think this would really help then if we went into why. A word I for example, I'm 53 years old, and I don't know how many years it is now that I've been with you must be three or four years now at least, at least so rather than me and I will at some point, but just why would a? Let's just talk about. Why would somebody? Think to themselves I might have a problem with my testosterone. What would be the indicators that maybe should be an alarm bell for them to pay attention?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    06:58 

To I, I think some of the most important ones, we use something called the Adam's questionnaire. It's kind of medical survey asking patients of certain symptoms, but the top symptoms they have to do with sexual function are usually the ones that are highly correlated to you actually having low testosterone and those would be lack of morning erections. And those are important because if you're not getting the blood flow down there, it's going to continuously give you then negative effects in the bedroom or a lack of further erections not just in the morning but when you need them. So erectile dysfunction is another issue, and also desire the desire to have sex. These are the three kind of main ones that have to do with Lotus Alstrom, but there are others more subtle and once you've hit those three, really tough sexual function symptoms. The levels are going to be really, really low in most cases, but there are other symptoms you can start having. You know, a bit more, I think lethargy or falling asleep after dinner, or lack of the same drive that you once had. These could start as slightly levels slightly higher than what would be required to have the Lotus Austrian for the sexual function. But everyone's different. So you may have had really high testosterone at one time in your life and that now has fallen to a point where it's not what. Once was, but yet you might still fall within a slightly normal range. And that's a whole another topic. What the ranges are, because they're not set in stone, they keep changing based on the population is changing. We know that today's men have lower testosterone levels than their granddads did on on the whole.
 
 

Guy Bloom    08:37 

For me personally, what really pulled me to this was. I describe it as. I didn't really have that sexual dysfunction side. And I don't mean that as in I just wanna be clear. I didn't have to say it. It just didn't play out like that for me. But what I what I had was a sense of disconnection from. I would be in conversations and meetings and I would feel disconnected. I would feel tired after two 3:00 in the afternoon. I was even good night's sleep. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I I struggled with. Being do, I have felt it like somebody could tell a joke. Would know it was funny, but I wouldn't laugh. Almost as if my body was disconnected.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    09:38 

From yeah.
 
 

Guy Bloom    09:39 

From from my brain. And it felt like sometimes I was. I would describe it as having cling film wrapped around my head. As in, there was a there was a film between me and the rest of the world. And I would think to myself, I'd be driving home, going, right? I'm going to get in, I'm gonna, I'll do a workout. My brain intellectually wanted to do things, but my body was like going that would be no.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    10:05 

Yeah, yeah so.
 
 

Guy Bloom    10:07 

And that's how it that's how it really played out for me to a point where life was becoming. Not not unpalatable like where's the nearest bridge, but I was going my quality of life was becoming so poor because I literally couldn't get involved with it. If that, if that makes.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    10:25 

Sense absolutely. And that's another symptom that you called brain fog. There's some patients will have where things aren't clear you can't keep focused and that's kind of falls into the category of you know you're not able to perform either at work Oregon sport like you once were and. Yeah, these are all kind of symptoms that tie in data to low T so if a man is suffering from those, the best thing to do is get a blood test. Let's see where your levels are, let's discuss it with our case manager and the doctor, what those symptoms are and and and possibly treatment if if that's required. I mean if you can do lifestyle changes or. You know, making sure enough sleep and once all those are sorted, if you still have those symptoms then then yeah, the treatment can be a really good option.
 
 

Guy Bloom    11:13 

Well, I'm going to go because I appreciate that you don't want to sort of sit there to being a salesman.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    11:18 

So no, I don't want thank you. No I.
 
 

Guy Bloom    11:20 

Totally get that right. But I'm going to offer my experience, which was when I took my first injection, other than the fact that I was sat there with a needle for the first time going. And, and now I do it with the greatest of ease, with a little bit of familiarity. But what happened for me was when somebody says, So what did it do? Yeah, I go, well, there was no sense of it actually taking me into an enhanced state of anything. What it did was it just allowed me to feel like I was on an. At the level I should be operating at, and what I mean by that is is if I have a bad night's sleep. For whatever reason, I'm still going to be tired yeah if I, if I, if I don't exercise, I'm still going to be flabby and overweight. But because the brain fog and the desire, the intellect as in I want to and then the ohh yeah, yeah, I feel okay, I can go and do that. Actually what was happening was I did start to exercise again and I did start to notice that actually my muscle density was enhanced. Not like bodybuilder stuff, but just I wasn't. It, it was giving me that sense of being. This is how as a 50 year old man who is now exercising three or four times a week. I didn't get bigger, I didn't get more veiny, I didn't. But I was just, it made sense that yeah, I I I would now look like a relatively healthy human being who can now act. But I'm still 50, so it didn't enhance me. It brought me to what a healthy 50 year old man should be operating at. And I think that's a that that actually doesn't sound lot but it it's it was a it was a game changer absolutely and it has been for lots of other men, myself included is. But I think we're just trying to spread the word because you know the dose. Matters you know if you you're on a therapeutic dose of testosterone you replacing what your body doesn't make enough of and you're trying to kind of level off the the quality of life to where it would have been had your levels not dipped. I mean obviously we're all getting older it doesn't stop every bit of aging but I find that it does help quite a bit and more than if if you just I think we're that nature take its course of course you you've entered this state because you did have a medical condition called. You know, testosterone deficiency hmm so so tell me, what the where does a man start to? You know, when's Yeti's peak and in terms of having testosterone and when being in your thirties, being in your and of course there will always be outliers yeah but generally speaking, you know when somebody's in there, if you, if you just looked at most 50 year olds or most 40 year olds, would you be able to say, look, if you give me 100 people in a room, I would guarantee you that at least X % are not feeling quite right because they're in their forties they're in the fifties.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    14:36 

Yeah, you know.
 
 

Guy Bloom    14:37 

What starts to?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    14:38 

Happen so I think the testosterone levels peak obviously to puberty up to 18 to probably the early twenties, and then they start dropping, I can't remember like 3 to 4 % each decade thereafter, theoretically. I mean, in the past and we've even seen some older men just who got blood tests just for the sake of getting blood tests, finding that their levels were actually higher than they thought they were and even the free tests. And that's the other thing we have to decouple is there's the testosterone total, then there's also the kind of bioavailable testosterone or the free. Testosterone is next level that you look at and that's really what matters the most because we have seen men with really, who are in their fifties sixties seventies even that have really surprisingly high level of testosterone total. But if you look at your binding protein, sshg. That could be also very high. And then when you look at the calculated free testosterone, that could be very low and that's the free testosterone which is may be determining what symptoms older men will have but so the levels not only drop as far as the total levels, but then also your free testosterone can also drop as you get older. So when you're younger, the amount of binding protein ashg and the amount of feet is lower and the amount of free testosterone is higher. And as you get older the chbg starts to increase. That's just a function of age. There are other things that could accelerate it such as non alcoholic fatty liver disease or even alcoholic fatty liver disease can cause it ashg to rise as well as diabetes not diabetes but as well as. I think certain diets can cause it to rise, diabetes actually. You'll end up having a lower SHBG, but generally aging brings the chbg level up and we tend to see men as they get older who have less free testosterone as well as less total. But sometimes, like I said, there are men who have a decent amount of total but they're free is really, really low, which puts him in the category of having testosterone deficiency.
 
 

Guy Bloom    16:32 

And is there a again, there's always outliers, but is that can somebody in their twenties, you know that to me, I might as an outside person, just go if you're in their twenties you're fine, aren't you? Yeah, it's, you know, what's the reality?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    16:49 

Of that there are more and more young people that are coming in complaining of of Lotus Austria and symptoms and with blood tests on both types of levels total free to match and. You know, I I just did a video on our YouTube channel about in kind of environmental toxins and things that might be lowering testosterone exposure.
 
 

Guy Bloom    17:10 

To this place, so plastics.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    17:12 

Plastics, pesticides, phthalates forever. Chemicals that come from plastics they're all circulating about, which may be one of the causes of the low testosterone the doctors they just had on. He's like I without a doubt. These are the combination of which are called enterkine disruptors. And they come in many different forms. These may be contributing to these lower levels, even younger men, even as in the womb they say they find microplastics in the womb. So there's no wonder we're seeing younger men with low testosterone issues.
 
 

Guy Bloom    17:49 

I've definitely been reading just vicariously just various pieces of information and listening to certain podcasts and plastics. Is this, you know from the fact that he's so around us in packaging and the water bottles, whatever it is and these these kind of microplastics that I've heard things that, you know, you can, you can take on board the equivalent of a credit card of plastic, you know, every couple of days. And you know again, I don't know how true that is because, you know, who the heck am I? Even if you said a month, I'd be like.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    18:22 

Yeah, that's a lot.
 
 

Guy Bloom    18:23 

What a credit. A credit card a year I get that seems like an awful lot. So even if it's out a.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    18:29 

Bit yeah, it's.
 
 

Guy Bloom    18:31 

It's there's there's a lot of differences in the world from 100 years ago, 50 years ago and and we're going now and.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    18:38 

I suppose.
 
 

Guy Bloom    18:39 

I'm surprised to him a.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    18:40 

Hundred years, ago you know, the biggest diseases were you know, you die from infection, you know or you know something that antibiotics can cure. Now it's. These long term diseases like diabetes but some of it you wonder if it's being led by by testosterone deficiency anyway, about the plastic thing it's quite funny. I like to sometimes would have prosciutto with my eggs in the morning and there's put these little thin plastic films in there and I could have sworn one time I had to bite and there was a bit of plastic kind of bundled up within the fat of of this. So I mean it's everywhere and then you know when you get paranoid like ohh, did I swallow plastic inadvertently? What's in my gut you think about the poor fish. That are swimming, swelling, loads, loads of plastic.
 
 

Guy Bloom    19:23 

Yeah, it's it's it's um. So I guess the thing for me is the. And I don't know how you may not wish to talk about this. So when I ask you this, if you kind of go, ohh God that's a can of worms. I'll, I'll I'll break it up. Which is so I found when I approached my doctor. On a couple of occasions, even though they were lovely and I did the blood tests, they said no. Find and I remember going on A2 occasions, but I'm not.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    19:59 

Fine, yeah.
 
 

Guy Bloom    20:01 

No, yeah, this. There's nothing here in your bloods. And I went, hmm, the the only reason I'm challenging that is I know what good normally feels like, and this isn't it. They weren't being awkward. They weren't being obstinate. But they legitimately. Didn't see it as an issue.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    20:20 

No, they don't.
 
 

Guy Bloom    20:22 

And I just wonder why that might be. And I see a lot of people going. My doctor didn't really even want to have a conversation with me about TRT.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    20:31 

I I think 1 they're not trained to. They're still kind of stuck in the past and kind of equating testosterone with prostate cancer or some other things that have shown not to be the case at all. Especially the work but done by Abraham Morgan Toller about the saturation model of testosterone where there's basically a saturation point. The data shows the only link between testosterone and prostate cancer are those men with the lowest levels of testosterone had the greatest risk of the more malignant forms of prostate cancer. So that was interesting because in the past and he basically looked at the old data that was published in the forties that that created this myth around the danger of testosterone in the medical community and it was based on two patients. We actually went to the raw data in the libraries in Harvard and it's like you can't base this science on two patients and that's what has been rethought. And so doctors still have that in the back of their head. That's could be one. I think it's changing. I mean just the other day. We had a patient that was referred to us by an inadvertent indirectly by an NHS GP because the NHS GP so we can't help you but why don't you go to balance her hormones. It's true stories as a really really pleased to hear that but I think the NHS. We've heard all sorts of things like the NHS made a mistake by treating all women on HRT. They don't want to make the same mistake with TRT because of the cost to the system. Ok. But they'll do gastric band surgeries I suppose to to work down the road because I don't think the NHS works under the under prevention. You know years ago I worked at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and I was part of the, I think it was a Cleveland care quality program where we measured patient satisfaction and that was actually the one sending out the letters and assessing that and the whole point was about preventing. So if you can look at the quality of care, a big part of the quality of care was how do you prevent disease and so treatment. At least the United States, at least in some parts, was based on how do you prevent more expensive costs to the healthcare system by doing it through prevention. And I think testosterone replacement therapy and HRT to a certain extent is a form of prevention. But the NHS doesn't practice prevention and so we get all the time men who are turned away by their nhsgp either out of ignorance, usually out of ignorance. But like I said, we were surprised and quite pleased that. I think it's starting to change and and hsgp because their hands are tied are now referring patients to us.
 
 

Guy Bloom    23:06 

And you know, when I look at the suicide rate in men compared to women, which is, I think it's three times higher. You know, we just for some people it won't be part of that story for them at all. But I would probably say for says the obviously the medical expert here. So this is, this is, this is bro science at its finest. But what I would probably argue is that in a not insignificant amount of man it is a factor. In how they feel that to what degree that would be for any individual I do not know. What I notice is that for me I didn't wake up on a Monday and suddenly there was the change I it crept up on me and I it probably took a couple of years of me then realising. You know what, what's been happening because it was, I think it was so incremental that it kind of caught me out and I do see. At 53 dealing with execs who are usually in their 40 and upwards kind of space, I do see people who are tired. And their energy, their motivation, their will, their dry you've it's. They put it down to workload and they put it down to the stress of the job. Of course those things are true. However, almost as the seniority and the role grows and the stress grows, these individuals are often, I think, having this physical decline yeah to which, you know, they, if they were in their twenties and they were and they had the experience to handle where they are, the energy would be there. They just be up for it. They'd be. But I I, I think there's a link and I think a lot of people are misappropriating life stress yeah to actually something that if if they had something like this, they'd be much more capable of dealing with it. I I don't know how that resonates with you.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    25:15 

Well, I mean there were studies I I'd come across where you know, men who are executives, CEOs tend to have higher levels of testosterone than others in testosterone improves your cognitive abilities. And maybe if they've had higher levels of testosterone in the past and they approached it with their GP and they said no it's not there shouldn't be the end of the story because there may not be the level that. They need to function at and as we mentioned, the reference ranges are skewing downwards because like other toxins are many different reasons and as a result, whatever the known reference range is now, at least with NHS is willing to treat. Is volatile too low only reflective of the society being quite poorly in the in the area of of of testosterone. So as a result they they don't get treated on the NHS. But you know you're right if you want to perform in your job as an executive, having all the benefits of the testosterone from like say the lack of brain fog improved the brain fog, improve recognition, you can improve your health and Wellness and your motivation. At the workplace and and back at the gym, which is important, I would say exercise as part of a healthy, healthy lifestyle, then yeah, you need to be at the top of your game. And if you're deficient in testosterone, where your body's not receiving the testosterone at once did, then it's something that ought to be considered at least looked into.
 
 

Guy Bloom    26:44 

Ok. So if if somebody just walk me through the process, which I think we, we lightly touched on it, but if somebody's just sat there going. You know I don't feel right. And they reach out to you because you know they have that suspicion that something may not be quite there. Just what what? You know Bob rings you up or sends an email.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    27:09 

To you what?
 
 

Guy Bloom    27:10 

What happens? What happens next?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    27:12 

Mike, so once we get gathered information and find out that you have interest, you think you have these symptoms, we would book you in with one of our case managers. Now some of our case managers are ex doctors, X nurses, X tart advocates were they're very clued up in the industry and they can. Work as a patient advocate. So they're not your doctor, but they're very knowledgeable. They don't provide medical advice, but they give you that that support. They listen, hear what what's going on, and they help collect all the information you need to go to the next step. And usually the you know either before that conversation, we can send you a blood test so that when you have that conversation there's some real data in front to discuss. Or if you're unsure, you can have that conversation with the case manager and then have your blood test done after. Now you need two blood tests to assess it. After the age of 40, some of the data says that it the diurnal rhythm isn't as important. I think traditionally you look at the morning levels and younger people because testosterone tends to be higher in the morning and falls down in the evening. But usually after the age of 40 that could be anywhere all over the place. So we usually say according to the guidance, let's get a blood test before eleven a m in the morning. And we need two of them because you know it can be just had a bad night's sleep. But if this has been consistent. More than likely you've contacted us for a reason. You didn't just say ohh I had a bad night sleep. I think my testosterone said I'm going to call balance hormones. More than likely this would be going on and on and on for some time. Or you've come across this thought of this concept of Lotus estrone and you want to see if that's your issue. So once that happens we get once we know we've got two blood tests and meets the criteria for most of the doctors then we'll put you in with the consultation for the doctor. After the consultation for the doctor you can have you'll get your treatment. Your treatment sent from our pharmacy and then you get any and all support that you need to deal with the treatment. So if there's any questions about side effects, the doctors involved in that care, we also have the coaching service that they can answer some questions that you have and how to be your advocate between you, the doctor and the team. So it's quite a unique thing that we do with the TRT coaching. We know some people hire coaches separately for other reasons. We built that into our service so and what? Is it for you know somebody's gonna be listening to this and it may have they've come across it or the resonating so you might be the the next best step for them and I think ohh is it is is that it is it a couple of weeks that you're on it a couple of months aren't you're on it must give your life.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    29:48 

You're on that. How does that play? I think so. I'm so ingrained in the culture of TRT that you know, it's, it's just part of it's for life. I mean, there are some people that have this notion that I'll just do it for a little bit, but that's not really how how it works. Some people think I've got to the certain point I did my exercise and motivating me to do that and they stop only to return again because you really had the levels in the 1st place. You know, I would say the vast majority of cases people really don't just drop out once they realised they come to this point, they really don't want to go back to where they were. It's not that you can't stop, it's just many of the benefits that you'll see will gradually overtime dissipate and you'll probably return to your past. So hopefully you know that's not the case, but if you were low. And efficient as an adult in the mid forties to fifties, the likelihood of you just having the testes of a 20 year old again are quite minimal. I mean maybe one stem cell treatments come out, it may help with that. But essentially from the point of TRT onwards, you're not under your own steam per se, you're, you're under the steam of of of the testosterone treatment and that's not a terrible thing. But it's one of those things that men should be aware of as being on TRT can also can diminish your fertility whilst you're on it, but doesn't mean it has to. There are ways to minimise that. I think men maybe in the forties and fifties the some may still be interested in having children, some don't bothered and they just want to crack on. So the HCI I mentioned is just going to Europe in that kind of mimics what the signal to your test use would normally be, at least to produce testosterone and having a little bit of this may. May minimise the atrophy and also may minimise the decrease in sperm count and quality, but that's very individual patient. We'll talk to the doctor about that, but there are options, you know, to mitigate that.
 
 

Guy Bloom    31:46 

So I've I've interestingly every now and then, because it's been X amount of years that I've been on it, I have every now and then forgotten to take a jab and um and I've realised after when I get to the end of the second week. Well, I've even actually, you know, then I remember once I'd forgotten, then I kind of, I had a load of work and I drove off to be away for a week and I thought, bugger. I think I should have taken my jab and I just started to notice that I was a little bit more irritable. I was getting tired again. I was in a workshop and I was going, God I'm knackered. And he was so very subtle. Subtle, just I but I thought, ohh, this is only taken about three weeks to you know, that end of that second week, that third week. I just was very alert to the fact that you know that ah there's I can. Feel it coming back, you know?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    32:46 

Yeah, that's. No, that's actually some men get very anxious about missing a dose, even for a day. And you say, you know, it's as you've seen, you went the whole week without is not the end of the world. It's not ideal. And you just get on your next injection or your next application of cream and your pick up where you left off, right. You didn't revert back. You had some symptoms, they came back. But it's not like the man that's suffering day in and day out with low testosterone without the ability to have that injection or that application of scrotal cream, because then you've got this lifelong love. Low levels. And I liked it too. If you were to draw a graph of the testosterone off you'd injected, and then after it kind of falls to its Nadia that you would measure that area and you compare the same amount of time, let's say 2 weeks to a man with normal testosterone production and measure that area under that curve. I think you would see a larger area under the curve for the man that's injected the testosterone than you normally would see for the man. That's just normally producing low levels of testosterone. So what I'm saying is the benefit is. You know, you're you're only one injection or one application of cream away from getting out of that hypogonadal state, even if it's temporary and that it's not so. I mean, it's important that you stay with your treatment on a regular basis, but if something were to happen, life gets in the way, it's not going to derail the whole treatment.
 
 

Guy Bloom    34:17 

And this may be the only time in my life I'm going to say the word hyper gonadal and in in a conversation, which is fun, which is which is fantastic.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    34:24 

It's got a nice ring to it.
 
 

Guy Bloom    34:27 

And and just you know, do you and this is not a loaded question but I think it's worth people hearing. Do you say yes to everybody?
 
 

Mike Kocsis    34:37 

No. No, there are some people who are not good candidates for treatment. Some people don't. They don't qualify. Some people who might have other health complications that need to be sorted first, you know, before that's looked at along with working with their GP. So no, it's not for everyone and we have to look at every case individually, but there are some Contra indications for treatment in some men and we just have to look at everyone individually.
 
 

Guy Bloom    35:08 

So listen, I'm, I'm alert to sort of people's attention spans on when they're listening to to podcasts like this and I I wanted to you know, we've got a relatively substantial podcast now and I just the reason I am willing not willing, that sounds patronising, but the reason I wanted to get you on was I've always found you to be very honest, very transparent. There's a lot of integrity around you and I think that's relevant. To a topic like this that um for anybody that is just listening to this and going yeah TRT I've heard about this or ohh that sounds like I should maybe just Google testosterone replacement therapy or go to balance my hormones. That's the place to go. But just and and if those things resonate and I just wanted to say contacting you as an organization to anybody that feels should I. Take the next step. Number one, you're not going to be pulled into a sale where they're going to try and block your stuff. I think that's key so it's not. Ring them up and don't worry, it'll be with you within 24 hours.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    36:21 

Yeah, there's.
 
 

Guy Bloom    36:22 

A bona fide process, they they care that you've got integrity and you you wanna, you know, I know that you believe in this personally. And you will be. Looked after, you will be in a safe space and you will be treated with respect, but it'll also be very honest and very clear and very transparent. And I think just as a topic, it's not that I'm putting my name to you, but I think it's a topic that should get more exposure. And I wouldn't have asked you to come on if I thought it would damage my brand or what people might see if they then engage with you and I start getting emails going.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    36:57 

Christ Guy, I've just been speaking to.
 
 

Guy Bloom    36:59 

To those buggers. So I just wanted to offer that and I and I think it's. I think you're doing. I mean, I know it is a company, but I also think you're doing something that has genuine value and is massively important.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    37:14 

I appreciate that and I just want everyone in the UK to know that it's okay, that a company does healthcare, it's not unique. I think once all healthcare in the United Kingdom was was private and the NHS has done a fantastic job of providing care at, you know, free at the point of care, but there are options. Because you can't do everything for everyone and what they don't do well we found is men's health issues, testosterone treatment. And so I set up, I founded balance for hormones because I wanted a really good option for people. I enjoy this. My background is in healthcare, healthcare administration, essentially doing what I went to uni for all those years ago. I've got an MBA in healthcare administration. So I want you to really good service that men could look to in this particular area. And I and I just want to let everyone know that it doesn't have to be a dirty word, having an organization or business or for healthcare brilliant so listen, on that note, I'm going to bring us to a close mic. I'll make sure that there's a link and etcetera in the description, but balance my hormones. Dot co. Dot uk or dot com dot co. Dot uk. Dot co dot.
 
 

Guy Bloom    38:27 

Uk balance my home hormones is indeed balance my hormones. Dot co. Dot uk. And I'm sure for those people have been listening, thank you so much.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    38:37 

Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
 
 

Mike Kocsis    38:39 

That's it. So I hope you enjoyed the episode. Please share so others get to hear about us and subscribe so you keep up to date on new episodes. Also visit livingbridge.com if you want to connect with me and find out more about executive coaching, team effectiveness and changing culture ohh and of course you can buy my book living Brave leadership on Amazon. So on that note, see you soon.