Transcript

Kylie: [00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to the Hormone Hub. Today I am super, super excited to introduce you to a special guest that I connected with, Oh, I think a couple of months back now. And you know, we’ve had so much fun every time we connect. Now our lovely guest today is Asia Sherif-Clark. Now Asia is a certified international health coach, an integrative nutrition health coach.

She’s the host of the Iron Deficiency Anemia podcasts and helps women with iron deficiency anemia who wanna boost their energy naturally and maintain it so they can stop dragging and start living. So with more energy, passion, and joy, and don’t we all want to do that? So today we are talking about taking control of iron deficiency anemia, and I know that this is a really big thing for so many women, you know, [00:01:00] because we are sort of in the, the perimenopause/menopause space here in the hormone hub, you know this when women start to go through, you know, some of, some women have struggled with iron deficiency anemia for a long time, and then for other women it’s a brand new, you know, joy that perimenopause can bring.

So, welcome Asia. It is so great to have you here. Why don’t you say hi and tell us a bit about you. 

Asia: Thank you so much. Oh my God, you did such, just a brilliant intro. But Kylie, first of all, I have to say thank you so much for having me. This is just super exciting for me to be able to talk to, I think this is the first one I’ve done with the host from Australia.

So this is super exciting for me now. I feel so international now. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, so yes. Well, the [00:02:00] beginning of my journey actually starts with this me choosing to focus on serving women with iron deficiency anemia. I struggled with it for 33 years before recovering. Wow. So from about age 17.

Wow. Into until about the age 50. Yes. Yes. And it’s interesting, Kylie, I don’t know if I shared previously. I was actually donating blood in high school, so I think I was probably around a junior in high school. I’m around 11th grade and I was so proud of myself. I went home, I had my little, I donated blood sticker on, and my mom was horrified.

She says, Asia, you can’t donate blood. You’re anemic. And I said, Wait. I’m, What, what, what is that? And she explained to me that because my levels are so low and I’m always exhausted and tired, I’d never made that connection. And so it carried into my child rearing ears. And so when I was pregnant [00:03:00] with my first son, I had to take those horrible green tablets that they gave you back in the days of the, of the early 90s.

Yes, Yes, yes, exactly. And so I never really got a handle on it, but I just kind of, you know, I lived with it and I didn’t realize that when my sons were young, cause they’re two years apart, that it wasn’t just mommy tiredness, right? Because I thought, Oh, this is just mommy tired. And yeah, this is what happens when you have kids.

You’re just tired. So actually it got worse when I got older. So in 48, 49. Yep. This is around right before Covid, about 2019. It’s getting so bad. Yeah, and I’m , what’s the word I’m looking for? I am actually changing in the bathroom 10, 12 times a day. Wow. And I’m like, Wait a minute. This is crazy.

So I march into my doctor’s office. I do what every great patient does. I tell her exactly what she has to do for me. [00:04:00] I said, You’ve gotta get me a hysterectomy. She says, Wait a minute. Wait. No, no, no. Let’s back up Asia. Hold on. First of all, how about we find out what’s causing this? And it was the first time in my life of all these decades that I had had a doctor say, Let’s find out the cause.

So that became like my mission to help women focus not just on treatments, which of course we know you need them. And they can be life saving, whether they’re supplements or infusions, but we still need to get back to the cause. And so that was the first time that we focused on the cause. I did end up getting a hysterectomy because I was 50 and I said I would love to have one and just stop the cycle.

But I’d love to keep those ovaries cuz I don’t wanna go into full blown menopause and go from Jekyll to Hyde. I wanna stay married. I don’t want him marching out the door because he doesn’t know from day to day who I am. 

Kylie: Prison Orange isn’t my color. 

Asia: Exactly. That’s right. That’s right. But [00:05:00] it was great. The greatest part of that experience is that it got so bad that I had to take action because I was coasting and I was in that stage of numb, but, but 33 years.

Can you imagine? I know, I know. And I remember one doctor back in 2016, she says, Ooh, your iron’s still low. Don’t take one, take two. Don’t take two, take three. 

Kylie: Yeah. See that? So, yeah. And there’s gonna be so many women listening to this. And it was funny because I did a group call in my, in my vip, my client group this morning.

And one lady, she was off to see her hematologist, you know, for the thousandth time. And I said to her, We need to have a look at what’s causing this. You know, because your iron infusions, that’s just a bandaid over the top. Yes. And she was sort of like, looked at me and she went, Oh, well, it’s just kind of the way it is.

I was like, Oh. No, no, it’s not. So this, it’s… 

Asia: Good [00:06:00] for you. Oh my God, you just gave me such, like, ah, I’m popping bubbly. Because we don’t know what we don’t know, and we don’t see that as a treatment and, and all and good because a lot of women seriously need that treatment. But at this same time, we, we’ve gotta make sure that we’re, we are always trying to get back to the root cause, the underlying thing that’s making this necessary in the first place. Absolutely. 

Kylie: One hundred percent. Yep. No, I’m with you right there. Yeah. Every step of the way. Oh my gosh. I just like, it blows my mind 33 years, you know, 33, putting bandaid over bandaid, and I know there’s gonna be women listening to this going, Oh my god, that’s me. You know?

 So, how, because, you know, feeling tired and feeling exhausted is a really common thing for a lot of my listeners. So how do women know if they’re anemic? 

Asia: Great question. The [00:07:00] first thing I always say is when you’re going for your annual or however often you go, depending on what country you’re in, some women go once a year, so women go twice a year.

Some women just know, I’m not feeling quite myself and I need to go in. I always say, if it’s not part of your regular blood work to just ask for it. Say, you know what? I’m feeling way more exhausted than I used to. I’m having a hard time staying awake at work. Whatever the symptom is. I always say almost like a, a little sentence frame.

When I do this, I feel this. When I walk into work, I just wanna close the door and put my head on the desk. Whatever you’re feeling and say, Could you please run that blood work for me so that they can check, they’ll be able to check levels to see. I believe the normal range is somewhere between 12 and 15 when they’re checking hemoglobin.

So I would say just get that work, that blood work done, what doctors, have them [00:08:00] interpret it for you if there’s something you don’t understand when you’re looking at those numbers, but pay attention to how you’re feeling first and foremost. Don’t check it off. Don’t say, Ah, yeah, this is just, you know what?

I need to go ahead and put on my big girl pants and I need to keep on moving. Saying, No, no, no, no. I need to check this out. 

Kylie: A hundred percent. And I think as women, you know, and I’ve talked about this, my listeners probably rolling their eyes, here she goes again, we are so good at just pushing through and oh my God.

We get done the stuff we need to get done and we just push through and we just do it because, you know, we, we we’re capable of doing it and we just do it. You know, you’re right.

We’re headed for that wall and we just get done the stuff that we need to get done. But you know, it’s not always in our best interest to do that. 

Asia: Right. And I think part of it is, first of all, Kylie, we have never been shown models of women who [00:09:00] don’t do it. 

Kylie: Yes. Because we were brought up, we were the, You can have it all generations, right?

Asia: Yeah. And also too women, we, we’ve always worn that cape because our mothers never, and grandmothers never talked about anything different. We just saw models of them handling it. We don’t know that they went over every once in a while to a neighbor’s house to have a cup of tea and sob about how hard it was.

We never saw that. They protected us from that. Yeah. So we thought that they were so strong, but as I’ve gotten older my mom always talks about a good friend that she says that’s where I could go and fall apart. Yeah. So we need to know that it’s okay to be vulnerable and to say, You know what? Ask for help.

Reach out for help. Having what you have here, like the hormone hub, Oh my God. Like. 30 years ago, 40 years ago, my mom would’ve died. She doesn’t care what it costs. This is an investment in her. She would’ve, she would’ve she, she’s throwing her arms around you right now, just so you know. 

Kylie: Yeah. Oh, I’m hugging her right back.[00:10:00] 

Oh, okay. So what are the five thieves of anemia? 

Asia: I’m so glad you asked about that. So this is something that I came up with because here’s what we don’t talk about. No, here’s what, let’s talk what we do talk about. It’s almost like you are in your world of dealing with hormones, and even when you talk about menopause, they always bring up hot flashes or hot flushes, right?

They don’t talk about any of the underlying things. So very similar in anemia, what we talk about is all of the physical symptoms. Yeah. Exhaustion, tired, dizziness. But what we don’t talk about is the rollercoaster of emotions and the things going on underneath. Yeah. So I always say the five thieves are exhaustion, guilt, anger, shame, and numb. And so when we talk about those exhaustion looks like this, I can barely function. I’m just pushing through it. I’m dragging through the [00:11:00] day. I’m at work. I just wanna crawl back in bed. That’s exhaustion. But here is guilt. I am so exhausted. I don’t have the energy to spend quality time with my kids, let alone hang out with friends.

Yeah. So not only don’t, do you feel bad, but you also feel the guilt of not feeling better. Here’s what it looks like for shame. Shame is the brain fog is horrible. I just wanna burst out and cry. I wanna burst into tears because I can’t remember anything. I slur my words. It’s so embarrassing at work.

 I get so embarrassed. And then anger is, this is my seventh round of infusions. What is it gonna take to fix this? I’m over this already. So that’s anger. And then numb is the most dangerous. That’s the one I had for three decades. Numb is, this is the way it is. I’ve had anemia all my life. I just live with it.

And so the dragging continues. [00:12:00] There’s no action spurred in numb. That’s why it’s so dangerous. So if you have anger, it actually spurs you more into action than it does if you have numb. But yep, we have those five exhaustion, guilt, shame, anger and numb. And I always tell women, figure out which one is robbing you, whether you know it or not, just to kind of bring it to their awareness.

And it’s, and if you’re feeling bad about it, I always say, Your anemia is not your fault. Blame it on the five thiefs. Blame it on one of the thiefs, but it’s not your fault. 

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I love that. You know, and just sort of breaking it up, because you’re right, we sort of think of exhaustion and we don’t actually go beyond that.

Exactly. You know, I’m just sort of sitting how many emotions. Yeah, yeah. I’m sort of sitting here listening to the, yeah, going, Oh, I actually should go and get my, my levels checked cause it’s been a while, you know. 

Asia: And that really goes for any, that goes for any chronic illness or anything [00:13:00] we may be dealing with, whether it’s diabetes or we’re dealing with some other, some illness.

Yeah. Where we feel guilt about what it’s doing to our families or not being able to spend quality time or not having a great love life, not being able to go out for game night or girls night out or date night. Like we have all these pieces where no matter what that illness could be. Yeah. We may still be feeling a sense of shame and guilt and, and anger.

So just to be able to voice that and talk about that. 

Kylie: Yeah, you’re right. And I think, yeah, you could sort of take that and apply it to menopause really. 

Asia: Oh my God. Yes. Say it Kylie. Absolutely. 

Kylie: We could apply this to perimenopause and menopause for the ladies down the back in case you didn’t hear it.

That’s right. You know, then any, take any autoimmune conditions, you take a, you know, a cancer recovery, you take, you know, all, anything really, you know, this whole myriad of things. That that we go through. 

Asia: That’s right. As [00:14:00] women and we, we bear that burden of oh my God, it’s my responsibility to take care of, you know, my world and all my loved ones.

Yeah. You know, how dare I not feel good? How dare I not, and then, you know, and that’s just, that’s incredible pressure. It’s just crushing. 

Kylie: Yeah, yeah, Yeah. That’s it. And it’s just, yeah, we’d kind of internalize it all and just keep going and we just push through and we just, But we are really going through the motions.

We’re not living life. That’s it. That’s it. Wow, that’s so powerful. Okay, so if, if, you know, if anyone’s listening to this, and I know I am, it’s sort of like, okay, it’s been a while since I’ve had my bloods done, what are the things, you know, that we should be asking our doctors for, you know, to, to actually make a difference?

Asia: And that is the one thing that I feel like would, it’s just going to save women so much pain and suffering and heartache and shave years off, [00:15:00] if, if we can connect these dots early enough. So I would say, first of all, for any beautiful soul listening, first of all, I don’t want them to take away, Oh God, I wish I had known this before.

I’d say, Today is a great day. You know, you start kind of where you are today. So I always, I go back to that conversation I had with my doctor and the question she asked me. So I always say the three key questions that can help you get to recovery faster is, number one, do you know what’s causing this?

Because that’s a root cause question versus a treatment question, which is, you know, So what should I take for right now? Yes. Yes. So, do you know what’s causing this? Are there any specialists I need to speak with? Right? Because sometimes the GP is not the one. The GP needs to do a referral or get you to a specialist, someone who can get some tests run or another bout of tests.

So do you know what’s [00:16:00] causing this? Are there any specialists I need to speak with? And then number three, are there any underlying conditions that I’m not aware of? Yeah. Yeah. And even though a woman might say, But wait a minute, my doctor doesn’t know. I don’t know. I said, But the power’s in the question because if you say that, then they’re like, Wait a minute.

I, I did, It didn’t even dawn me. Maybe we should start looking over here to see is it something autoimmune? Is it something this, is it. Then you become this detective and you’re partnering together and you are just so focused on having a root cause conversation. So those three questions are root cause questions.

And I always say we don’t wanna just have treatment conversations. We wanna have root cause conversations. 

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, it’s conversations like this that sort of empower women, you know? Yes. It’s okay for you to ask those questions, you know? And I think traditionally we’ve been, we go to the doctor and we sit there and we say that we are tired.

And, you [00:17:00] know, and then we get the treatment and we just, you know, and, but to actually, you know, ask those questions, it’s definitely empowering because it’s putting you back in control of, of what’s going on with your health. And you know, and asking, and rightly so, can we dig a bit deeper?

Exactly. Yes. I feel tired. There’s a yes, I know I’m anemic, so there’s a good chance I’m still anemic. But can we dig into why that is? ? You know, I don’t want a test for you to tell me what I already know. 

Asia: Yes. And for women who feel a little bit nervous, because again, this, this falls under, you know, the whole self-advocacy if you’re feeling a little bit nervous about going in, because let’s face it, the, the appointments are rather short. You may go for an hour, but you spend a fraction of that time really with your physician. And so when we go in… that’s right. 10 minutes. And I’m so glad you confirm that for me. I said, I’m not going to say 10 minutes, but I believe it is.

So, Aha. 10 minutes. Yep. 10 minutes. And so when we think [00:18:00] about how we’re feeling when we go in, we may feel, well, first of all, if we were in traffic or you know, something, we, we rushed in from work or we’ve gotta get to work, we’re, we may feel a little bit flustered, and then the whole time that we’re waiting for that doctor to swoosh in for that 10 minutes, we’re thinking, Oh God, I have to remember to ask them this, this, and this, and I don’t wanna forget. And so then you have all this pressure you’re trying to remember, and then the doctor starts speaking. And so then you’re thinking in the back of your mind, I don’t wanna forget what it is I wanna say. And then they’re like, Oh, do you have any questions?

And then you may remember one or two, and then you go home. Ah, I can’t believe I forgot, that’s right. So what I encourage women to do is to jot down a couple notes and take that journal with you. Yeah, yeah. That way you can be present when the doctor’s talking and then when the doctor’s finish, if you wanna tell them at the end.

But if you wanna tell ’em at the beginning, either way. Yeah. You can just open that up. Take, have a just a deep sigh of relief and say, [00:19:00] This is what’s been happening. I notice in the evening around this time, this is going on with me. And that way they’re like, Huh. They don’t feel this sense of, I had to remember, so much is happening, feeling frustrated with themselves.

Keep a little journal. Or even I did a podcast yesterday. Someone mentioned on a, their phones because our phones just a little audio record. But just a great way. Just take some notes with you. 

Kylie: Yeah, absolutely. I, yeah, I send myself text messages all the time. Yeah. And it comes back to that brain fog because I know that’s it, you know, and I think that brain fog is a couple of things, you know?

Yes. It’s changing hormones. Yes, it’s because I’ve got a squillion billion other things on my plate, and if I don’t send myself those text messages, it’s gone . Yes. So, yeah. Yeah. Ok. So how can women get more support. 

Asia: Ooh. I think this is probably right where you are as [00:20:00] well. I am finding that we are living in a perfect time today, where women are starting to realize slowly but surely, but we’re starting to realize that working alone is really, really difficult.

It’s, it’s faster and easier, you know, when you’re working in groups like with yours or groups like with mine, so one of the things I tell women to do, first of all, is to always know that they are not alone. Yeah, I don’t care what they’re going through with anemia. Someone else has it. So if their first step, for example, is a Facebook group and a lot of women around the world are doing that now they’re hopping into, I don’t wanna say anemia groups because anemia can mean a bunch of different things.

They could be talking about other types, but they’re hopping into an iron deficiency anemia group. They’re hopping into one for iron deficiency anemia for, for women. I think that’s a great first step if they’re going, There’s nothing [00:21:00] local for me. My doctor doesn’t have a brochure for support group, but I know I need some support because my one office visit a year and then them telling me to implement, take this, call if you have questions and then you’re off to the races is not enough support for women because of all, because of the five thieves and because of so many other emotions.

Yeah, so I’d say that’s a great place to start. The next thing is podcast. So like I have a free podcast, the Iron Deficiency Anemia podcast. It’s a great way to get resources to get information. That’s that’s another good resource. But I think first and foremost, if we’re going to focus in on root cause conversations, I always say join a free Facebook group that’s talking about recovery.

So I have the Iron Deficiency Anemia podcast community, and that’s a free one. And I love that because we’re not just talking about my hair fell out, my nails are brittle, this is happening. Yeah. We’re talking about [00:22:00] how can we empower ourselves and move forward on this journey so that we’re going from no energy to full of energy.

Yeah. That we’re going from, I can barely function to omg I’m ready for game night, movie night, and date night. So in order to do that, because I say energy is just the beginning. So you wanna put yourself in an environment like a great plant. You wanna be near the window, not in the closet. Yeah. So you wanna be in an environment where people are saying, Oh my God, recovery is possible if I can get to that underlying cause. So let’s, let’s have all those cause conversations. So I do, I have that. And then of course I do also have a, I call it the energy booster starting kit. It’s a freebie, but that’s at my name. So it’s asiasharifclark.com. 

Kylie: Oh, and we are putting that the link to Asia’s energy Boosting Starter kit in the show notes.

So make sure you go looking in the show notes for that. So yeah, so. Everyone gets a prize. . 

Asia: Yeah. Woo. That’s right. [00:23:00] Like Oprah says, right? And what I, what I love about that is that it answers the question for women, where do I begin? So whether you’ve had it, if you’ve been struggling with anemia for six months, or six years, or unfortunately longer, a lot of women for decades, still I think having that starter kit, because there’s some things in there, there’s some nuggets where people think, Oh my God, I didn’t realize this should have been my early step. I kind of went over that, but again, there’s no judgment and. When you’re in that Facebook group in the Iron Efficiency Anemia podcast community, you don’t feel like, Oh my God, there’s a sense of, Ugh, I should have known this.

It’s like, No, let’s start from where you are. So I always jump in with support, jump in with support around root cause conversations as well, so that you’re not just swimming in a sea of symptoms like you were sharing with a young lady, just doing infusions, which is wonderful for life saving. When they’re like, Look, we need to, uh, we need to get your levels up to a [00:24:00] safe level, but if this is decades, if you, if this is your, your 10th or 12 or 15th, then it’s like, okay, we need to.. This is what I love to say.

I work in three buckets, the health bucket, the nutrition bucket and the lifestyle bucket. We can’t just ignore what’s going on in the health bucket and start working with supplements and different things. And we haven’t addressed the root cause. Absolutely. So we’ve gotta work in all three of those buckets.

Kylie: Yeah. Yeah. I very much a believer of that too, you know, And it’s the same, you know, for women going through perimenopause, menopause, there’s no magic supplement. You know? We need to do the foundation work with the nutrition and the lifestyle and the stress management if we’re gonna see long term results, So, So yeah.

So we need to get out of that sort of conditioning. All right. 

Asia: We need the support. We need the support from, from people like you making that happen. 

Kylie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that’s like, And likewise with you, you know, people who’ve walked that journey before. And I think that’s a really powerful thing to [00:25:00] see someone who’s come out the other side.

Asia: Yes. And still standing. Right. A little bit crazier, but still standing. 

Kylie: I think we’re all a little bit crazier. 

Asia: That’s right. That’s right. 

Kylie: I think we actually care less about what other people think too, so. 

Asia: Absolutely, absolutely not especially on not with this menopause journey. Certainly not. Yeah. 

Kylie: Oh Asia, it has been an absolute delight to have you today.

Thank you so much. Thank you. So ladies, if you would like to find out more about Asia and you know you are welcome, we’ll put the links down for the Iron Deficiency Anemia podcast and also her Facebook group as well. So we’ll put all of those links as well as the link to the energy boosting starter kit in the show notes.

So make sure you go looking for that. Join Asia’s community and yeah, she’s a wealth of knowledge and an absolute ray of sunshine. 

Oh, thank you so much Kylie.. 

Thank you so much Asia, and I have no doubt that you will be back [00:26:00] on the podcast at some point. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for listening everyone. Bye.