Episode 204
Dr. Anju Mathur:Why Your Doctor Keeps You Sick Instead of Getting You Well
Dr. Anju Mathur:
Why Your Doctor Keeps You Sick Instead of Getting You Well
After years of being a conventional physician prescribing medication after medication, Dr. Anju Mathur discovered functional medicine when her own health suffered. In this episode, she shares how she transitioned her practice from symptom management to addressing root causes. We discuss her three-pillar approach to healing, the truth about bioidentical hormones, and why your body's innate healing ability just needs the right support.
First Aired on: Aug 11, 2025
Episode 204
Dr. Anju Mathur:Why Your Doctor Keeps You Sick Instead of Getting You Well
Dr. Anju Mathur:
Why Your Doctor Keeps You Sick Instead of Getting You Well
After years of being a conventional physician prescribing medication after medication, Dr. Anju Mathur discovered functional medicine when her own health suffered. In this episode, she shares how she transitioned her practice from symptom management to addressing root causes. We discuss her three-pillar approach to healing, the truth about bioidentical hormones, and why your body's innate healing ability just needs the right support.
First Aired on: Aug 11, 2025
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Introduction
Dr. Anju Mathur is a board-certified MD and functional medicine practitioner who has been practicing integrative medicine for almost two decades. She founded Angel Longevity Medical Center where she specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and helping patients get off prescription medications. In this episode, she joins me to talk about her journey from conventional medicine to functional medicine and her three-pillar approach to healing.
Episode Highlights
Dr. Mathur's Awakening from Conventional Medicine
Dr. Mathur describes her realization that conventional medicine was only managing symptoms, not truly healing patients.
- Patients were happy with her as a doctor but weren't overcoming health challenges
- She felt like a "drug pusher" writing prescription after prescription
- Drug reps would provide pre-printed prescription pads to make prescribing easier
- Her personal health crisis led her to discover functional medicine
The Power of Bioidentical Hormones
Dr. Mathur explains what bioidentical hormones are and why they're different from synthetic hormones.
- Bioidentical hormones have the exact identical structure as human hormones
- They're made in a lab but are not "natural" - they're personalized medicine
- No side effects when taken in correct dosage - only good health
- Can be started at any age - she's treated patients from 16 to 86 years old
The Dangerous Truth About Psychiatric Drugs
Dr. Mathur shares a concerning patient story about the effects of psychiatric medications prescribed off-label.
- A 25-year-old with migraines was put on seven drugs including psychiatric medication
- Patient experienced personality changes and suicidal thoughts
- Psychiatric drugs become addictive within one month of use
- Patients must work with prescribing physicians to safely get off these medications
The Three Pillars Approach to Healing
Dr. Mathur's systematic approach to identifying barriers that prevent the body's natural healing ability.
- Things that shouldn't be in the body: toxins, infections, parasites, heavy metals
- Things that should be there but aren't: hormones, nutrients in optimal ranges
- Things that are present but out of balance: mineral ratios like zinc/copper, calcium/magnesium
- Treatment must be personalized - what works for one person may not work for another
Nutrition as the Foundation of Health
Dr. Mathur emphasizes the critical role of proper nutrition despite minimal training in medical school.
- Medical school provides only three hours of nutrition education in 5.5 years
- Fast food creates metabolic chaos in the body
- Stopping fast food consumption can have huge immediate impact on health
- Proper nutrition supports the body's natural detoxification processes
Patient Education and Empowerment
Dr. Mathur believes her job is twofold: helping patients get well and educating them to stay well.
- Patients should understand the causes of their health issues, not just manage symptoms
- Goal is independence - patients shouldn't need lifelong dependence on practitioners
- Detailed medical history with timeline is key to finding root causes
- Treatment focuses on how patients feel, not just lab values
Notable Quotes from this Episode
The body has an innate ability to heal itself and is trying to heal itself continuously because it is trying to survive. If you have a chronic disease, then there is something blocking the body to overcome that barrier.
Dr. Anju Mathur
My job is twofold. One thing is what I do is help you get better and feel like yourself, but that's only half of the job. The other half is education so you can stay that way.
Dr. Anju Mathur
When she got off five of those drugs very fast, she told me 'when I came in, I almost felt like that it wasn't me, it was somebody else here sitting here.' This is like a personality disorder that is brought on by the drug, not by the patient.
Dr. Anju Mathur
Other Resources:
Other Resources:
Connect with Dr. Anju Mathur
Connect with Dr. Anju Mathur
Watch this interview:
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Anju Mathur: You have a heart attack, you have a stroke, you have a broken bone. Then the mainstream is, is crucial to have. But outside of the acute situation, mainstream is not, I think of the value that the people can get using alternative.
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to The Inspired Living with Autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson, and today we're do joined by Dr. Andrew Mather, a leading, holistic and functional medicine practitioner who has been administering prescriptions that infuse her patients with long-term health and blue zone tempered wellness that defy the effects of aging.
Dr. Mathre, her staff at Angel Longevity Medical Center. Hone a creative combination of resources that boost the immune system and promote prolonged renewal at a cellular level. In today's conversation, we're discussing how to support the body with its innate ability to heal so that you can feel like yourself again.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Mathur, welcome to the podcast.
Anju Mathur: Oh, thank you so much for having me here. It's a pleasure.
Julie Michelson: I'm so excited for this conversation. I was saying before I hit record. You are. You know, you've been, been doing, practicing this kind of medicine, functional, integrative, longevity, whatever you want, whatever label you want put on it.
Um, real medicine, I, I call it, um, for longer than, than it's really was, was called functional medicine. So I thank you for your commitment to, to helping your patients. Truly get well, um, is amazing. Te tell listeners a little bit about that shift, um, because you know, back, back in the day there wa that there was no longevity track in medical school.
So, um, tell us a little bit about what inspired you to, to shift practice and, and start Angel Longevity Medical.
Anju Mathur: It is been, it is been a journey to, literally, it's been a journey. You know, it's like, where do you go and you do the next thing, and then you find out, oh, it works great. So you do the next thing and the next, and the next, and then you arrive.
I've been doing this for almost two decades. Then I started, um, the way it worked out was one fine day, I, I looked at my practice and I saw that the patients. Even though they were happy with me as a doctor and as a person, uh, but they were not really overcoming the health challenges. They were kind of being managed, you know, so the whole mainstream medicine is to manage the symptoms of patients and not really end anything or, or overcome anything.
Even the word cure is now illegal to use. But, uh, so crazy. Yeah. So that, that kind of, so I looked at my existence and I said, you know what? This is not really fulfilling to me. I almost feel like, you know, almost you feel like a drug pusher. Sure. Because you are writing, you are writing prescription after prescription.
In fact. At those times, we used to have drug reps come in and they would bring you a prescription pads and they would already print the name of the drug on the prescription pad, and all you had to do was, oh, doc is very easy. You don't have to remember the dosages. Everything is here. You just have to write the name and sign the sign, the prescription.
It was almost like you are like drug, like you're paddling drugs, you know? Yeah. And, and not really getting any, any really good outcomes in terms of patients staying. You know, I feel awesome. I feel like myself again. Yeah. Or I have the vitality, you know, I'm climbing mountains, I'm playing with my grandchildren when I'm 80 years old.
You know, things like that was not happening. And then at the same time, I personally also got into a situation where I really didn't know what was wrong.
Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm. Even
Anju Mathur: though applying all the, you know, mainstream ideas and ideology and the lab testing and whatnot. There was nothing wrong with the labs uhhuh.
There were the standard labs that were being done, and I was, uh, basically a ball of exhaustion. I was literally exhausted 24 7, and I had terrible, uh, sleeping, you know, issues. I couldn't sleep all night. And then during the day, I was so tired I couldn't, I mean, I could barely walk. Or do something for an hour for that, I had to rest at least two or three hours.
Julie Michelson: Oh my goodness. And then
Anju Mathur: it was like the whole day, luckily I had another doctor that was working for me in my clinic. Mm-hmm. So I could take the time out and I could rest and do some things. But then at the same time. I was like, I gotta figure out the solution. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: What's going on? And, and listeners can so resonate with many anyway, you know, your labs are fine,
Anju Mathur: right?
That's exactly right. Yeah. I mean, this happens every single day in my practice. Yeah. Uh, patients come in and they tell me. Or on the other hand, they were, like you said earlier, the example you gave me, you know, they don't do anything for a long time. Yeah. Until you come down with a major illness that now they can give you the ICD nine code or IC 10.
Yeah. I don't do much coding. So Iicd 10, coding, whatever for the insurance, uh, purposes. And now they can prescribe the drug for you because now you have. Whatever it is you have. Yeah. Ulcer colitis, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, you name it. And I mean, this happens very routinely with patients who come in like for Hashimoto's.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: First of all, they're, they're never checked. The antibodies are never checked. But then eventually when the patient pushes a doctor to, to check the antibodies
Julie Michelson: mm-hmm.
Anju Mathur: And they come back positive and the doctor just throws out a diagnosis, oh, you have Hashimoto's, but you can, you cannot do anything about it.
Right. You know, you might as well just forget about it. Patients are like, you know, flabbergasted. They're like, what are you talking about? I have a gazillion symptoms, but. There is no treatment for it. Right. There's no cure for it. So there is like, just forget it. So it, it's kind of interesting, you know, the whole mainstream ideas and the commercial medicine is only if you are really, you know, I say if you drop on the floor Yeah.
Acute. Yeah. Drop on the floor. You can't do something. You have a heart attack, you have a stroke, you have a broken bone. Then the mainstream is, is crucial to have.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, it does. It does that beautifully. Like, yeah. Yeah. Surgery.
Anju Mathur: Yeah, surgery, exactly. Trauma you have. Yeah. You have a big, huge gallstone stuck in your, one of your ability ducts.
Then yes, you do need surgery and you need all the care that the commercial medicine has to offer, but outside of the acute situation, mainstream is not, I think of the value that the people can get using alternative. So that's really where we stand and it's, so I, I had to figure out for myself because.
You know, I had, I was at the dead end. I'm like, what do I do? And luckily I got invitation at that moment when I was researching, and this is like 20 years ago, 2004 or something, 2005. And I got invited to one of the bioidentical hormone replacement, um, uh, conferences in Beverly Hills. Nice. And Dr. Terry OG from Belgium was the one that was, uh, doing that, um, conference.
So that was a game changer. Once I learned, and I, one of the funny stories is this, when I walked into the room where they were full of MDs, right? Sitting there, what I saw, a major striking difference. You know, when you go, when I was going before to a medical conference, the doctors have very serious.
Right. Right. They kind of, they kind of look bored with what they're doing. And I was the same way. I was like, okay, I'll sign my name and get the hell out. Right. I need, need the credits. Yeah. You know, you need the credits, you need the continuing medical education. And that's all I was doing. I was, I'm guilty of the same thing.
Check the box. Sure. Yeah. Check the box and get out. You know, you go to Hawaii, you go to all these nice places, and then you, you're not gonna sit in the, in the classroom to learn about anything. You wanna be on the beach, you know? Right. I mean, I'm being honest. That's really what, even including myself, I was doing that.
Sure. But this time when I entered the room, it was so much. You know, energy talk and the energy and the good vibes, and the doctors are excited. They're really enjoying the conference. I mean, that was mind boggling to me. I'm like, what is this? This is very interesting. Like the Twilight Zones. Yeah. Yeah. So I went up and talked to Dr.
And he was like, yeah, I'm taking eight hormones. I'm like, eight. There's a lot of hormones, and he wasn't even that old, but he said, no, I'm just balancing my hormones and I feel awesome. And he is, I mean, he worked so hard, you know, round the clock. So that was inspiring me. It was very inspiring. So I came back and I checked my hormones, you know, did the blood test right away and I figured out what was wrong.
And then the rest was history. I, I recovered pretty fast and, uh, you know, I actually research, started researching nutrition. Because this, but for you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean exactly that. That was the first thing. Yeah. That was the first thing. Because without nutrition, it's very difficult to be healthy.
Julie Michelson: Yes. You know?
But they don't teach that in medical school.
Anju Mathur: No, no more than three
Julie Michelson: hours.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. No more than three hours in five and a half years of medical school that I did in India.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. So, um, well, or here they don't, I mean, it's the same.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. Yeah. It's the same. Exactly. It's a western, uh, medical science. That's what I studied.
Um, yeah. So this, so this is it. It just was gradual. So one thing after a next thing Sure. You know, I learned about nutrition, I learned about detoxification.
Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm.
Anju Mathur: Which is brand new idea to, to an md I mean to an md. I was like, what do you mean by detoxification? And my person that was helping me with nutrition, she told me, Andrew, you should do a liver detox.
And, and I said, liver detox, what is that? So I said, okay, I'll do it because I like this person very much. She said, okay, whatever. She said, okay. I said, try it. Yeah. Yeah. And I did it and it was amazing experience. It was like, I. For the day that the day of the detox. Mm-hmm. I was feeling like I had all the symptoms of flu.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, sure.
Anju Mathur: And I was like, I was like, wow, what is, this is like a real deal. Like it, it wasn't it, it actually got turned on because of the detox that I was doing.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Anju Mathur: So literally I spend the entire day sleeping. Mm-hmm. And eating. Yeah. Those are two things I did. And then the following day. It was a new day.
It was fantastic. I felt amazing and I saw the gallstones coming out, you know, in the stool, and that was mind blowing to me because normally you never see that with anything I had done prior to that.
Julie Michelson: Right. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: And so at that, at that point, I realized that it was my moral obligation.
Julie Michelson: Oh, I love it.
Anju Mathur: To, to share that with the patients.
I, yeah. I can't treat myself as a separate thing than the patients patients. And, but the good news is that when I, I was a little, you know, kind of nervous because this is not me. It's a little different, right? Yeah. It's not, it's not straight medicine. It's not conventional medicine. So I was kind a little nervous about talking to the patients, but I thought, no, it's, it's really important that I share this with the patients.
Julie Michelson: Sure.
Anju Mathur: But I was so happy for the response. Because the patients were like, yeah, do whatever you can do to help me.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: I said, okay, sure. So I give them, you know, that that was it. I mean, every time I have introduced something new in my practice that I don't know, there is doctors doing it forever. I didn't know.
I'm new to this, so I tell them, look, I've never done this before.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Anju Mathur: And, but I've studied it, you know, I'm certified in it, but I've never actually done it. And you know, and you know, the universal response Sign me up. Yeah. Uhhuh, you sign me up. We we're so frustrated with the mainstream Sure. That we need a solution.
So whatever solution you have, we wanna take it because you obviously care about us, you know?
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: And so that was very heartwarming. And so that's, that's how I converted. It was a long answer, but,
Julie Michelson: well, no, and it, and it just, um, keeps the, it's like a snowball effect, right? Yes. First of all, you can't unlearn it, right?
The importance of detox, the importance of nutrition, like you can never go back to, oh, we don't, you know, this idea of, it, it, I always say, you know, nobody has a prescription deficiency. That's right. That's not the problem. And I'm not anti prescription because my bioidentical hormones are prescriptions.
So, you know, I, it, it's, you just can't, you can't switch that off. I just, we'd like to say you, you use the word alternative and to me it's like, no, you just have a bigger toolbox, right? Like, I'm sure you're, you're doing supporting patients, you know, with. A variety. I know that the kind of stuff you do at, at your clinic is the same kind of stuff we do at ours, and it's, it is just a bigger toolbox.
You're not, I'm guessing you're not anti prescription. Is there a time and a place where you'll write a script for someone?
Anju Mathur: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the drugs, big, big pharmaceutical drugs have a place. And the place is acute emergency.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: So if somebody has a blood pressure of 200 by one 20, you're not gonna sit there and try to give them herbs.
Right. You know, even though, or just tell them to
Julie Michelson: keep meditating until it comes down. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. So there, there is a, there is a time and place for it, but I, I, ideally speaking, I would rather not have a patient on any prescription medications, bioidentical hormones. Some of them are prescription. But they are not big pharmaceutical drugs.
Right. Right. They're not. They're compounded by the pharmacist. Yeah. To basically make it personalized to you and your needs. So it's a personalized medicine, but the big pharmaceutical drugs are not personalized. They are one size fits all. Right. Most of them, they have a couple of, uh, doses, different doses, but that's about it.
Yeah. But with the bioidentical hormones, we are really. Uh, exactly. Finding the fine, tuning your dose to you, uh, which could be very different from the person sitting next to you. Sure. So, so, yeah. So that's a difference. So I don't, the only drug that I would never prescribe to anyone is a psychiatric drug.
Yeah. The deficiency of psychiatric drug is not the reason you have anxiety or depression or whatever else you want to call it, the label. Right. So I'm definitely against psychiatric drugs, but anything else that saves your life. Absolutely.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And, and I love that you brought that up. Again, those are, those are so misused.
They're all those, all of those drugs are made, were made and studied as short term interventions. And they're just being thrown at at people like here, you know, take this, especially, I know so many listeners back to the, the comment of like, you know, your labs are fine, right? When so many people have been offered antidepressants by their physician who didn't know what else to do.
Right. Like, and it's, it are, it is. I'm not saying they're all saying it must be in your head. Here, take this. It, I, I did have a, a physician once tell me that before she changed, um, and left the Western model, that she had gotten to a point where she felt like if she didn't offer a prescription, she wasn't helping.
She realizes her perspective's very different now. Um, but yeah, I, I. So I love that, that you brought that up. But again, back to, we don't, we don't have, it's the same. I was on 10 prescriptions at my sickest.
Anju Mathur: Wow.
Julie Michelson: You know, and so then you get into the, some of them are for the side effects of the other ones, you know, and that.
Fear-based. Well, if you don't take a biologic, you know, even if you feel well, your body's gonna, and it's like, it, it just was, it's just backwards. Um, you know,
Anju Mathur: I think, I think it's, uh, how, what's the word? Sometimes it's like people think it's, it's fear mongering. That's what it's, yeah. It's a fear mongering.
The people, like I just, I'm treating a patient just recently came in and she had this severe migraine on one side of her head, one side of her head. Severe young girl, 25, 27 years old. Scary. And yeah. And then she got put on seven different drugs, including psychiatric drugs. Oh. Once I started treating her and I said, okay, and then she got off of some of them because my, one of the things that I do usually is when a person walks in with 10 different prescriptions, my job is now not only to get her better, right?
Like actually handling, handling the underlying causes, but also now get them off the drug, right? All the drugs. So my product is that at the end of the whole program that I'm doing, I got a patient that is off drugs and is on everything natural. Replace and they're feeling amazing. Feeling better than, yeah.
Yes,
Julie Michelson: exactly.
Anju Mathur: Amazing. Like they're literally feeling, so this patient that I'm just mentioning, she came in just a couple of maybe through two or three weeks ago, and she had this severe headache and they gave her a psychiatric drug for that migraine because it's off label use. Oh goodness. She got, she got amitriptyline and it's a centrally acting drug and it's very, very strong drug and with so many side effects.
So when she got off the, uh, I think she got off five of those very fast, and then she told me this. She said, you know, when I came in, I almost felt like that it wasn't me, it was somebody else here sitting here.
Julie Michelson: Oh, I would imagine. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. And I was like, you know, if I say something, I would feel like, did I even say that?
So this is like a personality disorder that brings, is brings on, is brought on by the drug, by the
Julie Michelson: prescription.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. Yeah. Not by the patient. I, this is nothing do with that person. Right. It's a synthetic, artificial. Personality that is implanted in the person now because of the drug. Wow. So she, she actually literally, I've never had somebody express it.
So, uh, so well, right. The way she expressed to me, I'm like, wow, now I get that. It's like, wow, really? She said, yeah, I, I would tell something to my sister and then later on I would say, did I even say something like that? What did I say? You know? And she's only 25. Wow. That's scary. Yeah. Very scary. And then she said, you know, I would have thoughts.
I should put away my knives.
Julie Michelson: Wow.
Anju Mathur: Literally, like she said, I don't know what was happening in my head. I thought, okay, I should just put myself, I mean, she's a smart girl, right? So she said, you know, instead of harming herself or somebody else with the knives, because it is a side effect of the drug, it increases the homicide and suicide ability of the person with the psychiatric drug.
I, I was very impressed with this person because she's like, okay, I'm getting off. And of course my job is to make it easier. But the drugs are very, very addictive.
Julie Michelson: Yes. Yeah. There is
Anju Mathur: no short-term use. There's no short-term use. They become addictive within a month. Wow. So you take any drugs for one month, you will be addicted.
And she was, she says, you know, I didn't want to, I wanted to take the drug at night.
Julie Michelson: Wow.
Anju Mathur: I, I, I was looking for it at night. Yeah. So I knew that this is addiction because I, I don't, I wanna take it, even though it's not helping, it makes, it, puts me to sleep. She said I was taking it at night so I could just go to sleep.
And then in the morning I feel weird.
Julie Michelson: Wow.
Anju Mathur: And so, and then she, I mean, this patient is very strong, so she said, I just, yeah. I mean, of course you can't get off the drugs like cold Turkey. This is not to tell someone to do. No, and
Julie Michelson: I, I am so glad. I was like, I do wanna make sure we circle back and say like, you're a physician helping patients safely get off of their medication.
So for li, anybody listening, you know, this is not, we're not suggesting anybody take themselves off of medications. I, I tell people all the time, you know, people read my story or hear my story. They'll say, you know, I wanna do what you did. I wanna get off my medications. And I, I was like, well, I just want it to feel well.
Right. I wanted to get well and, and be well and getting off the medication. Having your physicians take you off of your medications because you no longer need them, is the goal, or, you know, or, or. Because you wanna do it safely, but um, it is really because the body does adjust and you never wanna just decide for yourself
Anju Mathur: for sure that that's part of the plan.
I always tell the patient to work with the doctor who gave them the drugs,
Julie Michelson: right. Yeah. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: That's the, because I'm not qualified to take you off psychiatric drugs. Right. So they do need to, uh, coordinate and then get the exact dosage of how to we off.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: But just knowing that people have to know the correct, the truth about the drugs is very important.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: Because the patients, the people are not educated then they cannot even discuss with their physicians what to, to do.
Julie Michelson: Sure.
Anju Mathur: So this podcast, obviously the, the goal is to just educate people.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: And inspire. And inspire, yeah. I mean, this patient is doing so much better. You know, the headache is almost gone.
There's no migraines. Like she was taking so many pills for migraines. It's like, wow. So
Julie Michelson: I'm surprised she could even function. Really?
Anju Mathur: Yes. She couldn't. Yeah, she was terrible. I mean, when she came in, her husband was with her. It's amazing. I mean, now she's like a new person. Very fast. You become yourself, right?
You basically become yourself. You are not copying someone else. You are yourself. And that's really what I, I want for every person. To feel like themselves.
Julie Michelson: And I love that. I, I was watching some of your videos and, and I was like, oh, she gets it. Like the, especially listeners, again, back to that before anybody knows, you know, what's going on.
And I, I know you use the word label, so I think you probably feel the same way I do about, you know. Labeling, you know, the, the diagnosis or the symptoms so that we can give the medication and, and all of the psychology, uh, that, that we go through when we have that label. And then we have to, you know, we start identifying, at least I did identifying with the label.
Um, oh. But, but that I, that idea of not feeling like yourself. So I don't care if your labs are beautiful. If your doctor knows what to do, doesn't know what to, you know, when you don't feel like yourself, something's wrong. Yeah. Something's out of balance, something's missing, or you're, you know, toxic or something is, and so to me that's the biggest gift of, call it functional, integrative, alternative, whatever.
Word somebody wants to use for a better way to practice medicine is listening to the patient and not just looking for the name of the symptom, like really getting to what is driving that.
Anju Mathur: A hundred percent. I mean, the medical history in detail with the timeline is the key because things don't happen without reason.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Anju Mathur: There is an earlier, there is a cause of why you feel like this. You certainly break out into hives. Okay, well there is a reason why you're breaking out into highs. So why don't we find out what that is? And then if you find out what that is, then you can treat it and it will not come back because now you know why, what happened and what caused it.
Right? So it is not only that, which is empowering. Empowering, exactly. This is what I tell my patients. My job is twofold. So one thing is what I do is help you get better and feel like yourself, but that's only half of the job. So the half of the job is to get you all and, and get you to feel like yourself, but the other half is education.
Mm-hmm. So you can stay that way.
Julie Michelson: Yes. I always say, if I do my job well, you know, then they don't, you shouldn't need a health coach for the rest of your life.
Anju Mathur: Right. Like, that's right. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It's not like psychology. You go to psychologists for the rest of your life. Right. It's like, hello.
That just makes you very dependent. Yeah. Um, someone else, but not giving you the power and empowering you and giving you the tools that you could use yourself.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. And that education really is, it's empowering. I, you know, even I was just talking to, to somebody who had made a diet change and then, you know, ha had a, uh, ate something that, that was a trigger.
Um. But like, because she hit her, you know, she was clean and she's doing all the things and she could really feel it. And she was, you know, typical, like, upset with herself. I was like, it's, it's, there's power in that. Like now you know for a fact that, that, you know, gluten makes you feel terrible. Yeah. And that's way better than, you know, 10 years from now remembering that Julie told me that gluten was part of my problem.
You know, like I, your body is giving you information and so that's a win.
Anju Mathur: Absolutely. Yeah, that's exactly. In fact, I encourage patients to go through experiences like that for, for themselves. Yes. It's 'cause it is powerful. Totally. Totally. Yeah. So they become very sure about themselves, like what it really is the truth for them.
Right.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, because we are all different, you know, I may have opinions about certain things that I, you know, I see 90 something percent of people with autoimmunity, you know, could, I can fill in some blanks. Right? But it ev But we are all individual. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: That's exactly right. Well, I'm really happy, Julie, that you're helping so many people.
Julie Michelson: Well, thank you. Likewise. It's, it's amazing. I wanna touch on, and I know it's not even fair to open this door, so maybe you'll come back and talk to us a another time with a deeper dive. Um, but. Bioidentical hormones, you know, kind to me like that was part of the, the what led you into this, you know, light medicine, if you will.
Um, so I wanna talk about the, the differences. I know you like busting myths and, and I do too. Um, 'cause I hear so many. And, and some of 'em, I just, even logically don't make sense to me, but let, can you just share with us, first of all, what is different? Well, you know, I mean, it's in the name, but how do people know?
'cause I, I get all the time, well, I'm on hormones and they don't, people don't know what they're taking or what they're using.
Anju Mathur: Yeah, well, bioidentical was a new word that was coined a couple of decades ago that it was not non-existent before that, and the word was needed because, uh, we couldn't really call it natural hormones because these are not available in nature.
Because these are available in human bodies. And, uh, so the, the technology was such that we could make those, um, identical hormones in the lab. Mm-hmm. So they were not natural, they were manmade, but they were bioidentical, which means they were in the exact identical structure as a human hormone. And so that's the difference.
So it is like having your own hormone, but just given, uh, exogenously, but they are your own hormones. So the body doesn't distinguish or differentiate between those hormones and anything else. It it, it takes it in like its own. Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: So
Anju Mathur: there is no, uh, adverse effects connected with it. Of course, they could be underdosing effects and there could be overdosing effects.
Sure. Yeah, but there's no side effects. Well, side effects. I, I like to explain the side effects because the word side effects means that the effects are gonna be happening on the side, right? When you are taking the dosage correctly as prescribed by a physician, right? That means it's not under your control.
You cannot do anything about the side effects, whereas the bioidentical hormones, if taken in the right dosage have no side effects.
Julie Michelson: Other than you feel Well, is that a side effect? Yeah. The
Anju Mathur: only side effect is good health. Yeah, absolutely. I tell the patient, they ask me, what is the side effect? I say, side effect is good health.
Uhhuh,
Julie Michelson: I I love that you, you spec clarify. Um, because I, I get this all the time. Um, the people think natural is the answer to everything. And so I love that you differentiate, like, no, these, they are made in a lab because, you know, I, and I'm a horse lover. I have horses. I, I, you know, but I, I don't, I'm not a horse.
So the natural horse hormones are not a friend to my body and have side effects.
Anju Mathur: Totally, totally true. Yeah, that's a good way to explain it. Uh, one other thing I'm gonna just plug in in here is Uhhuh. Premarin. Yes. Premarin. So the pregnant mares urine. Yeah. That's where the Premarin comes from.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: So you were being given pregnant horses urine.
Julie Michelson: Right. I mean, I think luckily was never, but, but as much as I love my horse, I still wouldn't and nor would I give her my hormones. Like, I mean that, it's just crazy. Right. So I love that you bring that up though, because it is the same even way off topic, but you know, with like natural ingredients and makeup.
Well, lead is natural. It's naturally occur, you know, like let be
Anju Mathur: true,
Julie Michelson: really thoughtful about, about that approach. Um, and because I can't help myself, is it ever too early or too late to support hormones?
Anju Mathur: Absolutely not. You can start hormones at any age.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Anju Mathur: The oldest I've started is 81 years old.
Julie Michelson: I bet, I bet that I'm as, I shouldn't assume it's a woman, but whoever, I bet that human loves you.
Yeah.
Anju Mathur: She absolutely loves me. And now she's 86 years old and she probably feels, she feels like a million bucks. She actually is 86, but she works every day, 12 hours a day. Wow. Amazing. She's got a beautiful organic restaurant. She's a restaurant owner. Oh my gosh. And she works there every day. I have seen her going up and down the staircase because it's on the hills, the restaurant is on the hills, so there is stairs.
So she goes up and down the stairs and she's a hostess there. She's awesome. And then she works like she, and she's a psychologist, so that's her second job. So she's doing all of that and, um, yeah, she's amazing. I think she's a good, uh, model for other patients to follow because. It is, it's,
Julie Michelson: it is. So, it's fascinating to me that I had shared before we started rec recording about, uh, somebody who had just said, well, her doctor told her she was too old to start hormone at first.
Put her off. Put her off, and now she's too old to start. And I, I've heard this so many times though, from people, and I don't, I don't understand like, why would you ever be too old? To support your health. Like, it just doesn't, I can't, I don't even understand the reasoning. Um, so I love that story that, that, um, you know, 'cause my mom was in her seventies when she moved here and, and we got her on, on hormones and I.
Night and day. You know, she's like 20 years younger than she was nine years ago. It's amazing. Absolutely.
Anju Mathur: Yeah, absolutely. This happens all the time and the earliest you can start is the earliest when you are feeling this eased with your body. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Love that.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. So earliest I've done, I've done in my practice, earliest I've done it 16 years.
Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Well, because. Support, you know, supporting cycles. Yeah. It's a, it is a, a whole, I know a whole nother, there's so many different conversations I wanna have. Hopefully you'll come back and, and talk to us a little bit more, uh, about, um, but I want you to share also with listeners that your approach, you have kind of three pillars.
Um, and, and I, I just think it's a good, it's not that listeners haven't heard this. Over and over and over in different ways from different people. Um, but I just love the way, the way you put it, like when you're, when you first meet with a patient or you know, you're, you're thinking about a case. Um, but you know, you already said none of us have a prescription deficiency.
Right. And I think I am, I'm paraphrasing you didn't use these words, but it sounds like you don't think that people just show up broken. So like, what is going on? Why so much chronic illness? Why, you know, what are the things that that, you know, you know, you've gotta, I call 'em rocks. You gotta look under these rocks to see, um, because I know it works across the board.
What's, what is, what are your rocks?
Anju Mathur: Yeah. So the, the three rocks that I'm gonna look under, right
Julie Michelson: uhhuh,
Anju Mathur: it is just more like common sense. And that's another thing I tell them that, you know, we do common sense medicine. I love it. So we know the basic premise is that the body is, has an innate ability to heal itself.
Yes. So if you know that, that the body has the ability to heal itself and is trying to heal itself continuously,
Julie Michelson: right, because
Anju Mathur: it is trying to survive. So the basic thing about life and the body is that it's trying to survive no matter what happens.
Julie Michelson: Yes. It's
Anju Mathur: always trying to survive. So now if you have a chronic disease or you have whatever disease, then you know one other factor.
The other factor is that there is something blocking Yes. The body to overcome that barrier. There is some barrier there. So there are three types of barriers, three rocks that we could look under. One is that you may have something that you have in the body that it should not have. Mm-hmm. For example, toxicity, environmental toxicity, that guts in your own body.
You know, there is outside, there is, I mean, it could be mercury, it could be any heavy metals, could be mold in the environment that's now inside. Or, you know, tick-borne diseases, whatever, infections, parasites, things like that, that should not be in the body, but it is there. So you have chronic viral infections.
You know, we test for all of those. Uh, now I'm testing for COVID, uh, spike antibodies because I wanna find out, do you have long haul? What do you have right? And so those are the things that should not be in the body, but it's there.
Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm. Then
Anju Mathur: the other one, is that something that should be there? Yeah, but it's not there.
For example, this is where the whole picture of bioidentical hormones comes in. Mm-hmm. So you should have the hormones in certain optimal ranges, but you don't. So we want to now make them optimal for you. Yes. And how much is optimal? Is very personalized. Yeah. So everybody's different. I've had a patient that felt like a million bucks at 400 te I'm talking about testosterone.
Okay. And, uh, and then there's people that don't feel well until they're 1100. Right. So it's all different. There's, you can't really compare one person to the next. You have to individually treat each person. Uh,
Julie Michelson: so you're treating the person, not the lab paper.
Anju Mathur: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Like somebody asked me, Hey, how much does, should I have? I'm like, I have no idea. How do you feel? Yeah, exactly. I mean, we, we wanna correlate the levels with what you are doing and how you are feeling and doing. So that's the other pillar, right? So the things that you should have, but you don't have in optimal quantities.
Then the third pillar is that you should have things, but they're just not in correct balance.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Anju Mathur: So that includes a lot of things. Uh, don't think I've figured out, figured it all out. I haven't.
Julie Michelson: Oh, come on.
Anju Mathur: I haven't figured out everything in every detail, even though every day I want the patient that's more complicated than the previous one.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: Because it stimulates my thinking. I gotta figure out what else is happening so then I can help more people. But the imbalances, I'll give an example. Example would be, let's say minerals. In the minerals. You have calcium and magnesium, so they both are needed in the body, but you can have one in too much excess.
Julie Michelson: Sure. Or
Anju Mathur: too little. Same thing with zinc and copper.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Anju Mathur: I have actually treated a patient. Who was on two psych drugs and he was severely depressed in spite of the drugs and couldn't sleep. And I remember just giving, and he said, I don't want any hormones. And I'm like, okay, great. No problem. Let's figure out what is imbalanced.
And then we imba, we, we ch, we fixed his imbalance and it was a zinc and copper imbalance. So, and then I think a couple of months later he says, I'm fine. I'm actually fine. I have no depression. I'm like, wow.
Julie Michelson: Isn't that amazing? Yeah. 'cause we need minerals. We have minerals, but the balance is, is, and we don't realize that so much of what we do in modern times can deplete one or the other, or um, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean somebody was supplementing I properly, they just.
Got out of balance.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. I mean, you know, we have things like copper pipes now. Yeah. We have copper pipes or we have copper pants, cooking cookware. I mean, there's many places, so you kind of have to see if things are in right ratios, even on the hormones, sometimes they're not in the right ratios, so you have to kind of get those in the correct ratio so then you can feel this is why.
Uh, we are going for how do you feel? Yes. Do you feel like yourself again?
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: You cannot feel like yourself. For example, you have a headache, right? And you take a, take an aspirin or something. The headaches lessons, but you don't feel like yourself. Right,
Julie Michelson: right. Yeah.
Anju Mathur: You still kind of annoyed. Still there.
Yeah. Still there. But you don't feel like yourself when the headache is gone a hundred percent and everything is in balance, you will not even think about the headache. Right. And you'll be just by yourself. I mean, you'll be yourself and then you'll do whatever you that you know that makes you happy.
Julie Michelson: Yeah.
Anju Mathur: So, so that's, uh, that's a philosophy. Those are the three rocks that I would go under there.
Julie Michelson: I love it. That's so amazing. And I, I just appreciate your approach. Um. You know that, that, wouldn't the world be a better place if we all felt like ourself, you know? Exactly. Like our, our best self. Um, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
Anju Mathur: I mean, the wars would go away and the conflicts. Conflicts. Yeah. The summit would
Julie Michelson: be amazing.
Anju Mathur: Yeah. If you're depressed and anxiety, how well can you get along with others? You know? Right.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Oh, such a amazing, amazing, just brilliance and, and so glad that you shared some of your wisdom with us.
Listeners are leaning in 'cause they know I'm getting close to wrapping up, so I'm gonna ask you for one step that they can take starting today to improve their health. And it could be anything.
Anju Mathur: Um. Well, I think the nutrition is a foundation like you have to eat right. You know, if you, if you, if you are eating in the fast food restaurants, I would say stop that.
That would be the fastest and the easiest around in your health. True. Huge impact, right? A huge impact. I mean, there's been movies made out of it. I mean, there is so much information out there on how the fast food affects. Your cholesterol, your bad cholesterol, your blood sugars. I mean, it just creates a metabolic chaos in the body.
Yeah.
Julie Michelson: So, such great gold. Yeah, just drive right past that. Drive through line. Don't do it. The funny thing is you do get to a point, people are always shocked to, you know, like, I wasn't born eating the way I eat now, you know? Well, I might've been born to eat that way, but I grew up with junk food and fast food and all the same stuff, you know, and, and you really do when you eat.
Only real, mostly whole foods are really minimally processed. Um, you, you lose your taste buds change and, and when you're not being fed those chemicals that are addictive and you know you don't want it, like I couldn't, I would rather not eat, than eat something, eat. Fast food, food, like it is not food. So I love that you brought that up.
That's a, that's a really, just like getting your hormones balanced will really have a big impact. Yeah. Avoiding the fast food will too. So.
Anju Mathur: Exactly. And it is, it is in your hands. You don't have to, yeah, you don't have to go see a physician, right? It just go, go past the fast food. It's free restaurant. It's free, it doesn't cost you money.
Julie Michelson: I love it. Oh, thank you so much for your time, your wisdom, your obvious passion for helping people feel like themselves and, and be well. Really, really appreciate it.
Anju Mathur: You're very welcome. It was a pleasure talking to you, Julie, as well.
Julie Michelson: And for people that aren't gonna check the show notes, where is the best place for people to find you?
Anju Mathur: Oh, just go to my website. It's called angel longevity.com.
Julie Michelson: Love it. Visit. So the website's really rich too. So angel longevity.com. Have a a beautiful rest of your week.
Anju Mathur: And you too. Thank you
Julie Michelson: for everyone listening. Remember, you can get the transcripts and show notes by Visiting Inspired Living Show. I hope ​
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Connect with Dr. Anju Mathur
Dr. Anju Mathur
For over 15 years now, Dr. Anju Mathur MD, a leading holistic and functional medicine practitioner, has been administering prescriptions that infuse her patients with long term health and Blue Zone tempered wellness that defy the effects of aging. Through customized diagnoses, Dr. Mathur and her staff at Angel Longevity Medical Center, hone a creative combination of resources that boost the immune system and promote prolonged renewal at a cellular level. Dr. Mathur’s prescribed health plans typically include combinations of natural medications, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, IV treatments, fitness, and nutrition coaching. As a menopause specialist, she has also successfully guided hundreds of women through midlife changes with her attentive treatment methods.
Dr. Anju Mathur trained and practiced as a medical doctor in the Greater Los Angeles area and is board-certified in anti-aging medicine by the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. She studied at M
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