Dr. Sasha Rose breaks down why eating less and training more stops working after 40, what actually changes in a woman's body through perimenopause, and what protects strength and metabolism instead.

Many women describe it the same way: the body seems to change overnight, and the only guidance on offer is to cut calories, do more cardio, and accept it as normal aging. Dr. Rose walks through why muscle is central to metabolic health, what shifting hormones do to body composition, why under-eating and over-training can make things worse, and which markers are worth watching.

In this episode:

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, medication or supplement.

Colin Renaud, PA-C walks through how statins are prescribed, what a cholesterol panel does and does not tell you about your heart, and why two people with the same number can carry very different risk.

Statins are one of the most prescribed medications in the world, and for some people they are exactly the right call. The question this episode asks is narrower: how do you know whether you are one of those people, and what else belongs in the picture alongside the number on your panel.

In this episode:

This episode is a discussion about how decisions get made. It is not a recommendation to start, stop or change any medication.

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before making any change to your treatment.

Colin Renaud, PA-C works through peptides, GLP-1s, hormone therapy, NAD and the rest of what is filling your feed, and sorts the ones with something behind them from the ones that will only cost you money.

Peptides, GLP-1s, hormone therapy, NAD, longevity supplements, biohacking protocols. Some of them genuinely work, which is exactly what makes this hard to navigate. The question is never whether a thing works for someone. It is whether it does anything for you, given what is actually going on in your body.

In this episode:

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, medication or supplement.

Colin Renaud, PA-C explains why so many men over 40 are told their testosterone is normal and still feel exhausted, foggy and flat.

The lab reference range runs from roughly 300 to 1200. A man at the bottom of that range is inside it, so he is told he is fine. Normal and optimal are not the same thing, and one marker on its own does not describe what is happening. Colin walks through what testosterone actually does, the markers that usually go untested, what drives levels down in the first place, and why testosterone therapy alone often falls short when nothing underneath it changes.

In this episode:

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, medication or supplement.

Colin Renaud, PA-C explains why peptides do nothing for so many people, and what has to be in place before they do anything at all.

Peptides are signaling molecules, not a shortcut. Two people can take the same one and get completely different results, and the difference usually is not the peptide. Colin walks through what they actually do in the body, why the hype outruns the evidence, and the parts of the picture that get skipped: sleep, nutrition, stress, blood sugar and muscle. He also takes live questions from the audience.

In this episode:

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, medication or supplement.

Dr. Sasha Rose and Colin Renaud, PA-C get into why a GLP-1 prescription on its own so rarely holds, and what has to sit around it for the results to last.

They walk through what a GLP-1 actually is, why the weight so often comes back when the medication is the whole plan, and the pieces that get skipped in a fifteen minute visit: protein, muscle, sleep, stress, nutrient status, and where a patient is in perimenopause or menopause. They also take live questions from the audience.

In this episode:

Med Matrix is a functional medicine practice serving Maine and New Hampshire. Learn more at medmatrixusa.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a patient provider relationship. Always talk with your own qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, medication or supplement.

In this episode of the Med Matrix Method Podcast, Dr. Sasha Rose, ND, LAc explains why insulin resistance is not a diabetes story, why it builds for years or decades before blood sugar ever looks abnormal, and why the one marker that would show it is not on a standard annual panel.

Insulin is the key, the cell is the lock. Turn that key often enough and the lock wears out. Dr. Rose walks through what that means in practice: why the weight will not move, why the afternoon crash happens, why the fat lands around the middle, and what a workup looks like when someone actually goes looking.

What we cover in this episode

• What insulin resistance actually is, explained with the lock and key
• Why insulin can be elevated for years while blood sugar still reads normal
• Why insulin is not included in a standard annual blood panel
• The conditions it sits inside: type 2 diabetes, PMOS which used to be called PCOS, fertility, fatty liver, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome
• The early signs that get dismissed: cravings, hunger, the after-meal energy crash, trouble concentrating, midsection weight gain, mood changes
• Skin tags and darkening skin at the neck and underarms, and why they are a signal rather than a verdict
• Why insulin is a storage hormone, and what that does to fat loss
• Visceral fat, waist circumference, and why the midsection specifically
• Cortisol, chronic stress, circadian rhythm and shift work
• Sleep quality versus sleep duration
• Hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, glucose tolerance testing and what each one does and does not tell you
• Why two people with the same lab results leave with different plans
• The three places Dr. Rose asks people to start

Chapters

• 00:00 Why insulin resistance is more than diabetes
• 04:10 What insulin resistance actually is
• 09:05 Why it matters if you do not have diabetes
• 11:20 What it sits inside: PMOS, fatty liver, metabolic syndrome
• 15:40 The early signs that get dismissed
• 19:30 Why it is rarely caught early
• 22:15 Why the weight will not move
• 26:40 Body composition and the feedback loop
• 29:05 Visceral fat and the midsection
• 32:20 Stress, cortisol, sleep and shift work
• 36:10 What a conventional workup looks for
• 40:00 How a functional medicine workup differs
• 44:30 Why two people get two different plans
• 48:00 Where Dr. Rose asks people to start
• 51:00 A question on glucose tolerance testing

About the Med Matrix Method

Functional medicine providers talking root cause, prevention and longevity, one to two times a week. We cover hormones, gut health, metabolic health, peptides, thyroid, sleep and healthy aging, and we take live questions during the stream.

Listen anywhere you get podcasts: medmatrixusa.com/podcast/

Work with us

Med Matrix sees patients in Maine and New Hampshire. Book a free discovery call at medmatrixusa.com

Disclaimer

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, nor is it a substitute for medical advice. Individual results vary and are not typical. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, supplement or medication.

In this episode of the Med Matrix Method Podcast, Colin Renaud, PA-C explains why the earliest signs of cognitive decline usually show up decades before anyone thinks to look for them, and why being told "you're just getting older" at 40 is not an answer.

Brain fog. Losing a word mid-sentence. Reading the same paragraph three times. Most people file those under normal life, and sometimes they are. What Colin looks at is whether the pattern is persistent, progressive, and sitting on top of things that show up on labs years earlier: blood sugar dysregulation, inflammation, poor sleep, chronic stress, nutrient deficiency and hormone decline.

What we cover in this episode

• What cognitive decline actually means, and why it is rarely one single cause
• How blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance affect how the brain is fueled
• Inflammation in the brain, and why it builds quietly over decades
• Why the pattern can begin 20 to 30 years before symptoms are obvious
• The early signs people dismiss: brain fog, slower recall, losing your train of thought, word finding, trouble focusing
• What a functional medicine intake actually asks about, and which biomarkers get run
• Sleep and the glymphatic system, the brain's overnight cleaning cycle, and memory consolidation
• How much sleep it takes to get enough deep sleep
• Chronic stress versus healthy stress, and where the line sits
• Nutrient status: vitamin D, B vitamins, magnesium and omega 3 fatty acids
• Adaptogenic herbs and how they relate to the stress response
• Mitochondria, ATP, and why cellular energy production matters for the brain
• Why supplements alone do not work on top of poor sleep and poor diet
• Why consistency over months, not weeks, is what actually changes anything

Chapters

• 00:00 What we are covering
• 02:19 What cognitive decline actually means
• 03:44 Blood sugar and how the brain is fueled
• 04:58 Inflammation in the brain
• 06:31 Why it can start 20 to 30 years early
• 07:04 The early signs people dismiss
• 10:27 "You're just getting older" is not an answer
• 12:53 What a functional medicine workup looks like
• 14:02 The biomarkers that get run
• 15:59 How many new patients arrive not sleeping
• 17:37 The glymphatic system, the brain's rinse cycle
• 18:33 Memory consolidation during sleep
• 20:37 How much sleep is actually enough
• 22:08 Chronic stress versus healthy stress
• 26:05 What shows up on labs
• 31:35 Nutrients: vitamin D, B vitamins, magnesium
• 33:45 Adaptogens and the stress response
• 36:03 Mitochondria and cellular energy
• 42:28 Omega 3s, DHA and EPA, and the cell membrane
• 44:01 Why consistency is the whole game
• 47:34 A patient case study

About the Med Matrix Method

Functional medicine providers talking root cause, prevention and longevity, one to two times a week. We cover hormones, gut health, metabolic health, peptides, thyroid, sleep and healthy aging, and we take live questions during the stream.

Listen anywhere you get podcasts: medmatrixusa.com/podcast/

Work with us

Med Matrix sees patients in Maine and New Hampshire. Book a free discovery call at medmatrixusa.com

Disclaimer

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, nor is it a substitute for medical advice. Individual results vary and are not typical. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, supplement or medication.

In this episode of the Med Matrix Method Podcast, Colin Renaud, PA-C and Dr. Sasha Rose, ND, LAc explain why the hormone panel or nutrient test you asked for so often gets declined, and what that has to do with how insurance decides which care gets reimbursed. This is about the system, not the people in it. Your provider may agree the test matters and still not be able to order it.

They are careful to say it early and often, so we will say it here too. This is not about blaming your doctor. As Colin puts it, your primary care provider is not a bad person, they want to help you, and they are working inside a system that is pulling them in a dozen directions at once. This episode is about the system, not the people inside it.

What we cover in this episode

• Where conventional medicine is genuinely excellent, and why emergency and trauma care are not the argument here
• Why prevention is difficult to measure and even harder to reimburse
• How insurance shapes what your provider is able to order, and why a hormone or nutrient panel often gets declined
• Why the standard visit is only a few minutes long, and what that leaves no room for
• Media, fear, and the rise of health authorities with no clinical training
• When wellness content is really a sales pitch, and how to tell the difference
• Why functional medicine sits outside the conventional model
• Catching dysfunction on labs before it becomes a diagnosable condition
• Optimal ranges versus standard reference ranges, and why the same result gets read two different ways
• Guidelines, liability, and why providers often cannot color outside the lines
• What the numbers actually say about US healthcare spending and outcomes
• What a collaborative first visit looks like when it is not transactional

Their closing point, in their words: this is not anti-medicine. Medicine saves lives every day. The argument is that the system, as designed, is not built to keep people well before a diagnosis exists.

Chapters

• 00:00 The business of being sick
• 05:21 The forces shaping your care that nobody names
• 06:13 Where conventional medicine is genuinely excellent
• 10:11 Why prevention is hard to measure and harder to reimburse
• 14:38 How insurance decides what can be ordered
• 16:39 Why your visit is only a few minutes long
• 19:25 Media, fear, and the new health authorities
• 23:10 When health advice is really a sales pitch
• 27:42 Why functional medicine sits outside the system
• 30:17 Exchange of information is not profitable
• 32:58 Catching dysfunction before it becomes a diagnosis
• 36:34 Prevention versus a lifetime of treatment
• 39:05 Guidelines, liability, and coloring outside the lines
• 42:40 Optimal ranges versus normal ranges
• 49:25 True or false: what the numbers say
• 53:24 A listener comment, and where we actually stand
• 55:03 Prevention before diagnosis, and taking an active role

About the Med Matrix Method

Functional medicine providers talking root cause, prevention and longevity, one to two times a week. We cover hormones, gut health, metabolic health, peptides, thyroid, sleep and healthy aging, and we take live questions during the stream.

Listen anywhere you get podcasts: medmatrixusa.com/podcast/

Work with us

Med Matrix sees patients in Maine and New Hampshire. Book a free discovery call at medmatrixusa.com

Disclaimer

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, nor is it a substitute for medical advice. Individual results vary. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting, stopping or changing any treatment, supplement or medication.

In this episode of the Med Matrix Method Podcast, Colin Renaud, PA-C and Dr. Sasha Rose, ND, LAc take on adult ADHD: why it gets missed for decades, why it is not laziness, and what a root cause approach actually looks at.

Three hours can pass and feel like fifteen minutes. One of Dr. Rose's patients called it time blindness, and it is one of the clearest signs of adult ADHD that almost nobody names out loud. Most people still picture ADHD as a child who cannot sit still. In adults it shows up as internal restlessness, brain fog, overwhelm, emotional highs and lows, and an attention span that gets written off as a discipline problem.

What we cover in this episode

• Why ADHD carries so much stigma, and how the shame follows people into adulthood
• Executive function, attention regulation, and the role of dopamine and norepinephrine
• Why stimulant medication works, and why an Adderall deficiency is not a thing
• Blood sugar regulation, energy crashes, and why breakfast changes the entire day
• The gut brain axis: the microbiome, intestinal permeability, inflammation, and neurotransmitter production in the gut
• Sleep, circadian rhythm, the glymphatic system, and why sleep is the first thing we look at
• Nutrient status and the role of food: magnesium, omega 3s, zinc, B vitamins, protein and healthy fats
• Botanicals and micronutrients, why dosing is personalized, and the drug and herb interactions worth knowing about
• Hormones and the brain: the estrogen and dopamine relationship through the menstrual cycle, perimenopause and menopause, plus what suboptimal testosterone looks like in men
• Why high achieving women with undiagnosed ADHD burn out, and the diagnostic gap behind it
• Breathwork, square breathing, and nervous system regulation
• What a comprehensive functional medicine workup actually includes

Their one takeaway if you remember nothing else: eat a breakfast with protein and healthy fat in it.

Chapters

• 00:00 Why adult ADHD gets missed
• 03:32 The stigma, and where it starts
• 07:51 How symptoms differ in kids and adults
• 09:45 Time blindness
• 11:53 Root causes through a functional medicine lens
• 14:19 Dopamine, norepinephrine, and why stimulants do what they do
• 16:18 Blood sugar swings, crashes, and attention
• 21:03 The one breakfast change worth making
• 26:47 The gut brain axis and the microbiome
• 31:10 Why sleep is the first thing they look at
• 39:00 Botanicals and micronutrients, and why dosing is personalized
• 42:05 Drug and herb interactions, and why guidance matters
• 44:38 Estrogen, dopamine, and the female pattern
• 46:59 Testosterone, motivation, and mental reflexes
• 49:46 Breathwork and square breathing
• 52:07 True or false: ADHD myths
• 54:11 What a comprehensive workup actually looks like

About the Med Matrix Method

Functional medicine providers talking root cause, prevention and longevity, one to two times a week. We cover hormones, gut health, metabolic health, peptides, thyroid, sleep and healthy aging, and we take live questions during the stream.

Listen anywhere you get podcasts: medmatrixusa.com/podcast/

Work with us

Med Matrix sees patients in Maine and New Hampshire. Book a free discovery call at medmatrixusa.com

Disclaimer

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, nor is it a substitute for medical advice. Individual results vary. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting or changing any treatment, supplement or medication.