Transcript

Hello everyone. It’s Kylie here. Welcome back to the hormone hub. Today we are going to have a look at those normal [00:01:00] results. Okay. And this is sort of something I throw out into the Facebook group every time, you know, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when your doctor says everything is normal.

So it always, you know, we always get some funny Responses, but the reality is, you know, perimenopause menopause still seems to be a mystery. Okay. And, you know, menopause is starting to get a bit more air time, but perimenopause is still like this big mystery and it’s barely discussed, you know, outside obviously of, of our circles.

But, you know, from my perspective and where I sit, perimenopause is actually where the, the fun and game starts. So this is what, you know, actually can do sort of like the biggest damage in some instances have the biggest impact to a woman, to her physical, mental, emotional health, to her relationships, to her performance at work, you know, all of these things, it all starts in perimenopause, you know, not[00:02:00] menopause.

Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t some rough menopause symptoms cause they 100% are. But they, they are more understood and there is a bit more, you know, option medically to offer for, for menopause. But you know, there’s absolute crickets chirping when it comes to perimenopause. So today I’m gonna jump in and have a look at why those sort of test results can come back normal and you know, you feel anything but normal.

So yesterday I was chatting or the other day I was chatting to a client in the UK and she was sort of saying that now there is special leave available, and she wasn’t sort of a hundred percent if it was classified as sick leave or not for perimenopause and menopause. So, you know, and this is great.

But I was a bit conflicted about this because, you know, on one hand I thought, oh, about bloody time that they actually start to recognize that, you know, this is a really [00:03:00] debilitating, you know, and life changing time. But on this, the other hand, I was kind of thinking, you know, are we over medicalizing what should be a normal and mostly painless transition? Okay. So it’s, yeah, it’s a really interesting sort of conversation because culturally, you know, menopause and the symptoms that we deal with through perimenopause and menopause is a very much a Western thing. So traditional cultures, in Japan and also you know, certain tribes in the Amazon, you know, Maori’s, you know, traditionally haven’t had a word for menopause because you know, they’ve been completely asymptomatic. So they just go from having a monthly period to not having one, you know, job done. End of story. Now this is changing over time as the Western dietary and lifestyles begin to influence day to day life, you know, Japan now [00:04:00] has a word for hot flushes, which they never used to. And certainly with Maori’s, you know, embracing a, you know, regular Western style life, it’s certainly become an issue with a lot of women there as well. So it’s, it’s really interesting that it seems to be, you know, definitely a 20th century, 21st century thing, and a very much a Western thing.

So, you know, and again, this medicalization and the trauma associated with what should be a natural part of our lives mostly seems to be happening to Western women. You know, if we think of polycystic ovaries, if we think of endometriosis, you know, I did a bit of digging and it was actually hard to find any information, you know, on other cultures and you know, whether this was even, you know, an issue. So yeah, again, it’s are we doing it to ourselves? Okay. So, you [00:05:00] know, just to sort of recap, so premenopause is that sort of period of time roughly, you know, it can be anywhere between four years to up to 12 years in some women before we say goodbye to our menstrual cycle.

And, you know, we embrace a pretty much a roller coaster of a time. Okay. It can start around 40, sometimes even younger. But you know, if you start to notice anything from 45 onwards, it certainly, you know, comes as a shock to a lot of women. Now, because you know, if you’ve always had a rough time with your menstrual cycle, you know, you, you’re probably very aware of this, we might not ovulate every month, and this, again, it leads back to our less than ideal, diets, our lifestyles, our stress, anxiety, like it’s all linked. And we sort of have become mostly sort of estrogen dominant, you know, progesterone deficient.

So we lose that lovely calming hormone of progesterone. [00:06:00] So that beautiful balance between the two. Or we might have been on the contraceptive pill or other hormonal contraceptions that stop us from ovulating, you know, and this, you know, we, we are losing again that beautiful, you know, experience of, of what should be a natural cycle.

Now I totally take on board that some women’s natural cycles have always been horrific. So it’s kind of, you know, I’m talking to that as well. Now, you know, and how do we know that we’ve got a hormone imbalance? So, you know, things like extreme anger, irritability, you know, those big emotions, crying watching TV commercials, not being able to sleep well, putting on weight, itchy skin, like heavy, heavy clotted periods, or, you know, for some women, you know, lighter periods, sore boobs before your period, anxiety, depression change like hair falling out, changes in your skin.

 And I’ve spoken to quite a few women recently about that lack of cognition and [00:07:00] memory in some cases. So this is a really hard time for a lot of women, you know, and their families as well. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. So, you know, with a few sort of like simple changes, we can really turn that roller coaster around, you know, turn it into a Ferris wheel.

So it’s that smooth transition. And you know, this is my jam. This is, you know, what I love to do, like help women navigate these tricky times. You know, and generally the improvements we see they’re quick, they’re manageable, they’re sustainable, you know, realistic, without the need to be medicated for a condition.

Okay. So it is a normal part of our lives. And I really want to sort of say, it’s not something that we need to be ashamed of, or we need to be embarrassed to talk about it. You know, we absolutely deserve the right to have doctors who a, know what we are going through. And b, know how to help us. Okay. And you know, if we can’t have that, you’ve got me, this is my jam or, you know, [00:08:00] other natural health practitioners.

And I also really want for you to have the understanding of what you’re going through. So you get to make an informed choice about what’s right for you. So that being said, I just wanted to sort of take a little segue over into, you know, the types of women I love to help. Okay. So these are women who want to make a change and they know on some levels that they deserve better.

Okay. They don’t wanna feel like crap and they don’t wanna accept that this is just the way it has to be, you know, because we all deserve better than that. And the women that I work with, the ones who get results, do three things. Okay. So they, first of all, they trust the process and they follow the steps.

Okay. And that’s it, you know, it’s, it’s just trusting the process, following the steps, showing up for themselves. So this means, you know, they committed to make some changes and this isn’t about committing to be perfect. Okay. We looking at this as a long term plan, [00:09:00] so, you know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.

Right? So, you know, it’s, you do need to do some work and, you know, make some changes because we are looking at this for the long term, but, you know, above all, we need to just remain positive throughout the whole process because, you know, it’s fun. We shouldn’t be, you know, a lot of women, I talked to have lost the fun in their life.

Okay. So last week was sort of the perfect example. So I have worked with this beautiful client Angie a couple of years ago, and Angie started referring all of her friends and every single one of her friends that she’s referred on is, you know, they’ve all said it’s because how great she’s doing. So, you know, she, yes, she lost weight. Yes. She’s got clearer skin and you know, so on. And then that’s all part of it, but it’s not really about the way she looks. It’s the whole new lease of life that Angie has. So it’s her energy, her vibrancy, and, you know, that’s what these [00:10:00] women wanted. And you know what, when you are taking care of your own needs, this really does shine.

So all of Angie’s friends that I’ve worked with have gone on to have similar results. So I caught up with one lady last week. So Kathy, so Kathy’s completely eliminated her anxiety and she, you know, really worked on making some changes to simplify her life. You know, she recognized while we were doing the work together that she needed to, to make some serious changes.

And when we caught up last week, I was totally mind blown at Kathy’s transformation because she was, she was so fragile when we first spoke and she was so overwhelmed with her life. But she made the choice and she pared back, you know, different things, she went to the extreme, she totally restructured her life, but, you know, and she said, because through doing that, she was back to feeling like her old self again, you know, [00:11:00] and she, she sort of said, oh my gosh, you know, the person that I was when we started working together, she goes, I knew I wasn’t that person. I knew I wasn’t an anxious, uptight person.

 So yeah, so just the, the transformation in Kathy was mind blowing. Now, what I’ve done is I’ve linked, I actually got Kathy to, you know, we had a video chat about this and I’ve asked her, I said, oh, look, do you mind if we, we record it? So we did. So if you wanna have a look at, you know, Kathy’s transformation and some of the changes she made, I’ll put the link to that in the show notes for you.

Now, all of these ladies got phenomenal results and it wasn’t because of a particular diet or it wasn’t definitely wasn’t because of a particular supplement. It was because they wanted to make a change and they didn’t wanna accept that this was just the way it had to be. Now another example, another one of my clients, Sally had a type two diabetes diagnosis. So, you know, and again, that wasn’t who she wanted to be. She still has young [00:12:00] kids and she still wants to be active and healthy. And, you know, so she knew she had a choice and her choice was to make a change. And in the three months that we worked together, you know, we did it, we just made, you know, realistic changes that were gonna fit in with her life.

 And then she also took it to the next step. So she decided to make changes to her lifestyle. So she signed her kid up to do a letter box drop run, you know, knowing full well that the kid was unlikely to follow through. But it made sure she got out the door before and after work every day. And she was just walking around the neighborhood dropping off pamphlets, but she knew she had that commitment.

She would get up and, and move. And she did that through Melbourne winter, so kudos to Sally. And you know, we also started, we started supporting her hormones, supporting her blood sugar and, you know, so she wasn’t feeling so exhausted and flat all the time. And you know, when we did that, she, she noticed that [00:13:00] her energy improved out of sight, because her energy was better she, you know, felt like making better choices. She was able to move more. She was more motivated. You know, her sleep was better. Her headaches disappeared. So because she was feeling good, you know, it was easy for her to continue to make better choices for herself, you know, versus before, when she was so exhausted, you know, just the easiest option was the only option.

 Now, you know, as well as this sort of changing, you know, her mindset and changing herself, you know, yes, she’s lost 15 kilos, which is absolutely amazing. You know, she’s lost that whole puffiness. And she also, she’s really confident that this is something that she can continue doing with because of how good she feels.

 Now I just want to sort of be really transparent and let you know that there’s also, I’m not a miracle worker. You know, and I can’t help everyone. And I can’t help [00:14:00] people who, or women who are looking for a magic pill. You know, that’s not the answer, or women who just aren’t open to making change because, you know, really, if nothing changes, then, you know, nothing changes.

And I did have a lady who joined my program a few weeks ago. She joined, she was all excited. You know, she’d been feeling like rubbish for, you know, pretty much her whole adult life. You know, she was homeschooling her kids, she had a lot on her plate and, you know, she had compounding health issues as well.

So we had our initial appointment. We, you know, put together a treatment plan for her, you know, mapped out sort of a roadmap of, of what we were gonna do for the next 12 weeks. Then one weekend she decided to jump in. She went through all of the content of the whole course and then said, oh, this isn’t gonna work for me.

I already know all of that. Okay. So. That kind of, you know, made me feel sad, a little heartbroken because on [00:15:00] one level I, a hundred percent take these things personally because, you know, I have put my body and soul into these, you know, the programs that I run and, you know, and I’m very invested in helping my clients create the change that they’re after.

And this is why, you know, I work with women where they’re at, you know, I don’t try and make a one size fits all. Slap it on you and try and fit you into a, a box, you know, because that just doesn’t work. So we’ve seen through the changes that Kathy made, that Angie made, that Sally made, you know, we make it work for you and your lifestyle.

Now, what else that made me feel particularly sad about this woman was because she just wasn’t open to change. So, you know, the reality is, is for her is nothing is ever likely to change. Okay. So we can think where that we know everything and you know, but how good are we at actually following through and keeping the momentum going past that first couple of weeks.

And you know, [00:16:00] this is where, you know, we offer you the personal support to help you create the change you’re after and keep it going. So, yeah, so little segue on kind of like what happens when we, we choose to make a choice. All right. So getting back to those blood test results. So the first port of call. When things start to feel a little bit off, or maybe they’ve been off for a while is generally we go to the doctor. Okay. Now this is perfect because we really do want to, you know, have a, a good checkup, you know, make sure there’s no potential medical issues.

 But the reason this feels like a dead end for so many women is because there’s no kind of definitive test, you know, for perimenopause, menopause for, you know, women in their sixties who feel like rubbish. There’s no actual medical condition. So rather it’s a set of signs and symptoms. Okay. So the reason that we are told [00:17:00] that everything’s normal is because, you know, normal is such a, you know, it’s such a big range.

And if you think of that bell curve, you probably heard me talk about this before. If you think of that bell curve, you know, normal is everything that sits inside of that bell curve. But the thing is, if you are on the higher end or the lower end of normal, like, and you know, this goes for all of your markers.

So things like iron, if, you know, if you are on the low or the high end of iron, you know, you’re not gonna feel great. You know, if you’ve got sort of low iron, but you are not diagnosed anemic, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need help. Okay. So what we wanna do, and that goes for your liver markers, it goes for your thyroid markers.

It goes for, gosh, your vitamin D your vitamin B you know, like all of your regular blood pathology that you would have, you wanna be in that optimal range. So that optimal range is, you know, pretty much smack in the middle and a lot [00:18:00] smaller. So it’s when we are in that optimal range, this is where we feel well.

And we be well, we are well, okay. So when we are on the outside of normal, you know, or the outside of optimal, we’ve got a diagnosable condition. So we are anemic or we have a thyroid problem, you know, but my favorite is, let’s wait and see, like really what are we waiting for?

The diagnosable medical condition? No, thanks. I’d rather do what I can to get back in the optimal range. And you know, this is what we did with, you know, Angie and Kathy and Sally, and, you know, so many of our clients is we look at, you know, the signs and symptoms that you are experiencing and what is causing those.

Is it that you’ve got a hormonal imbalance? Is it that you’ve got your digestion is less than optimal. You’re not absorbing the nutrients from your food. You’re not eliminating properly. Is it that your livers a little sluggish? You know, do you have inflammation in your body? [00:19:00] Are you stressed to the hilt?

Are you sleeping well? And you know, when we start to support you holistically, this is where we can make some changes. And this is what’s gonna serve you in the long run. Okay. So my, my offer to you is if you aren’t feeling great, you’ve been told everything’s normal. Or even if you haven’t been told everything’s normal, you know, if you want to get the support to make the change, then, you know, come and talk to us about, you know, joining the well balanced woman program or looking at our website and seeing what we have to offer, because we really can help you if you are ready to make a change, you know, and you’re open to making a change. Like really it it’s you, I can’t stress how actually easy it is, you know, making those, those small changes.

Anyway, so that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. And next week we are in for a little treat. We have a guest speaker coming up. [00:20:00] We’ve already recorded the interview and I am so excited to put that one forward to you next week. All right. Check out the show notes, everything you need, including Kathy’s interview is in the show notes.

Thanks for listening. And I’ll talk to you soon. Bye now.