The Unfiltered Health Podcast
The Unfiltered Health Podcast delivers real, authentic conversations about health, wellness, and longevity. We break down complex health topics, sharing evidence-based insights, practical advice, and personal experiences. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and build a supportive community committed to living well and thriving together—no filters, just the truth about what it takes to achieve lasting health.
The Unfiltered Health Podcast
70 - Women's Health Week Sept 2 to 6; Breaking the Stigma Around Menstrual Health
Ever wondered why your menstrual cycle feels like a mystery? In our special Women's Health Week episode, we break down the intricacies of menstrual health, starting with the fundamental question: what is a period? We'll walk you through the phases of the menstrual cycle and emphasize that 'normal' varies widely among individuals. Learn the factors influencing cycle lengths and why it’s crucial to seek professional advice if your cycle seems off. We also highlight the importance of open conversations to dismantle the stigma surrounding menstrual health.
Discover how tracking your energy and symptoms can be a game-changer for managing your menstrual cycle. Hormonal fluctuations can impact your energy levels and susceptibility to injury, making adjustments to physical activity essential. We explore the benefits of using apps to track cycles, offering valuable insights into patterns of energy, mood, and pain. Personal stories from our hosts bring to life the common experiences of fatigue, hunger, and mood swings, reinforcing the importance of listening to your body and making informed adjustments.
Lastly, we delve into strategies for managing menstrual symptoms and the interconnectedness of the body's systems. Chronic stress and its effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes can exacerbate conditions like IBD and IBS. Listen as we share our frustrations and triumphs in dealing with chronic pain and navigating the healthcare system. From practical tips to heartfelt personal anecdotes, this episode aims to empower you to take control of your menstrual health and advocate for comprehensive medical care.
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Hello, guys, and welcome to our newest episode, and today, on episode 70, we are celebrating Women's Health Week. So Jean Hale's Women's Health Week is Australia's largest event dedicated to health and well-being of all women, girls and gender diverse people. Every September, over 200,000 people gather in boardrooms, tea rooms and community centres of Australia to share vital, up-to-date health information. The 2024 event will be held from the 2nd to the 6th of September, and today we're actually going to have a conversation around our own period stories, period facts, and we're also going to answer your questions about periods that you've asked on Instagram during the week Plus, if you aren't following us on socials, do it so you can ask us questions whenever we do put up question boxes or just in general, too, if you have any questions around certain topics you want us to chat about. We are going to kick off in terms of the agenda. Firstly, to define what a period is nailed it.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, define what a period is. Uh. So menstrual cycle is measured from the first day of your period to the day before your next period, and it's related to the sequence of events that occur in your body as it prepares for the possibility of pregnancy each month. Fun fact I actually realized that the word period is coined period because it's literally the starting and the ending of something. Yeah, and I was like, oh my god, this is what's called a period. I only jared about this, like this year. Anyway, so, breaking down the phases of period cycles so I have a fair few notes of period stuff. So I've just pulled them all together from my previous episodes and podcasts and notes that I've had over the years from training and courses, and I just wanted to share what I've got in my notes because I think they're pretty good.
Speaker 2:So period cycles they all range in total length depending on the person. So if you went to school and learned it had to be exactly 28 days, that's not necessarily all, true. It can vary between 25 to 33, 35 days. I think that outlier is when it's over 35 plus days and your cycle is taking longer, or it's also too too short, like seven days apart, that's. That's something that you'd need to go and address with someone like a gynecologist or doctor.
Speaker 2:But your cycle does change as you age, and something that I realized through many courses over the years was that when you first get your period as a young person, it is not going to be regular and you cannot expect it to be regular. So when you're learning in school, your cycle should be 28 days. It's not always necessarily true, because your body's still working itself out. Those hormones are still trying to figure themselves out and how to regulate themselves. So it also changes based on stress, including overtraining, how much you are training as a person in general, medications you might be taking, nutrition or malnutrition as well. Genetics and also pregnancy can change your cycle patterns. Any questions on that one?
Speaker 1:No, I think this one's really important because I think it's something that often isn't spoken about in terms of what is considered normal and what isn't considered normal, especially because it it can be so individualized and varied from person to person, and not everyone will fit into a particular like textbook.
Speaker 1:You know definition of what a period is, what, what symptoms you're going to experience, and I think it is important to note that. You know, while there is general guidance, it is going to vary from person to person, and I think this is where a lot of females get lost, and we'll jump into this a little bit later. But these are some issues and questions that females face all the time. Example like is the length of my cycle normal? Am I, you know? Is it normal for me to have pain? Is it normal for me to feel certain ways? And I think that's also why we wanted to jump on and talk about this in today's episode, because it is something that needs to be spoken about more often, especially when it is impacting your life yep, I think it's changed a lot over the last few years.
Speaker 2:Like the, definitely conversations have become louder and a bit more obvious and easier to find. However, I do think there is a lot of shame and stigma, which steph was telling me earlier before we jumped on and recorded that the theme of this week for the gene house women's health week is shame and stigma today.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so every day in terms of this week I mentioned before is september 2 to september 6 is women's health week, and each day is a particular topic. So Monday was get to know your body, tuesday is having courageous conversations and today is actually shame and stigma. So tackling certain kind of taboos and sharing stories about things that women feel embarrassed or ashamed to speak about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think talking about about periods it's such a natural thing for us. I wish it wasn't so shameful quote unquote to talk about or have this like embarrassing feeling around. But I think it's just because it's our bodies and all our bodies are different and sharing that is so personal and it is so private. And I think, yeah, just if we can talk about it in the factual ways of like what actually happens and maybe some of our own personal experiences today, which we'll go into later, I think that might shed some light on people's situations and hopefully give you more confidence that you're okay or you're normal, or ask more questions around the people who are professionals who can help you.
Speaker 1:So shall I dive into the phases yeah, I think let's first dive into the phases and then we might actually chat about some questions that people have asked us around periods and anything to do with that?
Speaker 2:definitely okay. So the phases there are four phases in a 28 day, let's say, average cycle. The first phase is considered as menstruation. It's approximately three to five days, maybe longer, maybe less in some. I probably would say, if there's anything less, again go talk to someone about that but approximately three to five days. So that is the bleed. That is the bleed, that's the obvious time when it starts and stops, generally speaking, with menstruation. Actually it shouldn't be too much spotting around menstruation. They do say in a lot of the courses, in the books that I've read, that it should just be a full bleed. It should be very obvious. It shouldn't be like oh, is it coming, is it not? It should be just a bleed.
Speaker 2:The second phase is the follicular phase. So it's approximately 14 to 21 days in length and that actually includes the first day of menstruation. So from day one, soon as you start bleeding, that is part of the follicular phase. But once menstruation stops, the true building of the follicle again comes into play. So the length does depend and the length is only dependent on ovulation. So the length does depend and the length is only dependent on ovulation.
Speaker 2:So ovulation is when the egg is released and it's the most fertile period and also the most energetic you'll feel in your cycle. Generally speaking again, these are just like generalizations, but typically from this point your estrogen peaks, your body temperature should peak and it in in data. It says that to confirm ovulation it needs to rise by 0.2 or to 0.5 to 0.6 degrees higher to confirm that you have ovulated. If that happens, then ovulation has occurred and you're now in that window of 48 to sorry 24 to 48 hours where you're ovulating. You don't ovulate for a whole week. There are there was old research or old like facts or points in the day where they used to say you'd be fertile your whole entire period. It's not actually true.
Speaker 2:You're only fertile for 24 to 48 hours, maybe 72, maybe 72, okay, um, and then you've got the last phase, which is the luteal phase. It's approximately one to two weeks in length again, length depends on person um, you're not fertile during this period. Progesterone is the highest here and you will feel a little bit hotter during this period. So progesterone is a heat inducing hormone. It raises your basal body temperature and your cervical fluid. Okay, there are changes in cervical fluid. So no shame and stigma here, we're going to talk about it. So in your, when you're ovulating, you will feel more, um, like that, the egg white elasticky. It will be a little bit more stickier, but like, not like, not clumpy, just like, like, like the egg white consistency. That's probably the best way they can explain it and that's the only explanation that I've always coined it as um, or actually they've got a few.
Speaker 2:My notes it's all wetter, might feel a bit wetter, yeah, um, but then towards the end, once you stop ablating, 24, 48, maybe 72 hours after, it'll change. The consistency will be a little bit thicker and possibly won't be egg white. It won't be clear. It will be a little bit thicker and possibly won't be egg white. It won't be clear. It might be a little bit more white, um, and more sticky. And there's actually a reason for that because it's to try and stop the block. It's stop the stop, block, sorry, block the passage of sperm, stop the block, stop the block, um, so it's no longer fertile cervical fluid, it's just to block the passage of sperm. Um.
Speaker 2:It's pretty amazing what the body can do and it's pretty amazing how detailed this stuff can be like. Even the release of the egg. The progesterone actually helps release the egg in the corpus luteum in your ovaries. Once that's released, it opens up, it goes out, it flows through, it is expecting to be fertilized, it's not. And then the luteal phase happens. It kicks in, you're no longer ovulating anymore and then menstruation happens and you release the egg. It's a pretty amazing process. Once you understand that happens and you release the egg.
Speaker 1:It's a pretty amazing process once you understand that it is, and I feel like it's a process that often complicates and overwhelms people, and this kind of leads very well into some of the questions that we had on instagram, because, when it comes to your energy levels, your training, there's a lot of information out there on instagram that says you should only train at a specific time or you might hurt yourself or you can't train during this time, and so that's actually one of the questions that we had from a client how do the different phases of the menstrual cycle impact strength training and also energy levels? So we might dive a little bit deeper into that. Actually done.
Speaker 2:Shout out to uh Trinity. It's one of our ladies that live clients, so she did ask how the different phases of the menstrual cycle impact strength, training, energy levels. So the best time to train, can confirm, is during ovulation. It's because, pardon me, you have the greatest amount of estrogen and testosterone in your body. So estrogen and testosterone are both anabolic in nature, so they're just building their really good way to deal with stress.
Speaker 2:Um, when you talk about catabolic, it's like breaking down. Anabolic is building up. So, in terms of muscle, it's the best time to train because you have the most amount of energy, your performance is increased and you will be able to tolerate high loads of physical stress and probably emotional stress too, which, at the opposite spectrum, when it's not the best time to train, I think it's really dependent on the person, because I personally like training during my period, especially if I'm feeling okay, but sometimes I'm not feeling okay and I don't want to train. So I think it's more based on what are you going through, what's happening in your life? Can you deal with it or are you unable to? I generally like to train during my period regardless, but I won't be chasing PBs, I will not be going into the gym and lifting the heaviest weight I have all year or all month at at menses, when I'm bleeding like no way, um, and there is a lot of research.
Speaker 1:Sorry, no, please go step. I was gonna say there is a lot of research to suggest that, in terms of dealing with your pain as well, it is actually important to keep the body moving, but how you move is going to be dependent on how you're feeling and what you are up to. You know, if you're feeling extremely tired and you're in a lot of pain, a light walk might be all that your body can handle. If you're feeling amazing cool, you know, hit the gym or do your regular training. There is no right or wrong. Any movement is going to be beneficial, but it depends on how you're actually feeling of course, exactly right.
Speaker 2:And during menses your estrogen is the lowest. In the luteal phase it basically starts to taper off. So you'll feel this. You feel slowly in your 28 days, your month, that you'll have a day where you might just be peaking. You're on top of the world, you've got great energy, you can tackle everything. You're doing all the admin tasks, getting through work so productive, so many steps, or hitting everything right, right, and then eventually, from that point, you might not feel like it's tapered off, but there will be a point where you've noticed, okay, I'm really tired, and you have to just be aware of that.
Speaker 2:Um, I would say, from an injury point of view, because your estrogen is the lowest, you definitely this is why you wouldn't want to be training too heavy or also putting like too much work into your training sessions, like just cross your t's, dot your i's in your training sessions. If you are going to go train, um, because your estrogen is the lowest and so is your testosterone, the small amounts that we do have as females in our body, it's not the time to be doing anything crazy because from a pain, injury point of view, it's it's the worst time and that just goes back to you know.
Speaker 1:Listen to your body. If you're feeling tired and fatigued, auto-regulation is there for a reason. It's not the time to be hitting pps. That's your time to be, you know, dropping the weight back 20% and just doing what you can on the day.
Speaker 2:I think from this question, though, what came up for me was like how do you know when you have the most energy? For some people who don't have the ability to understand, maybe or not feeling like they have energy during their month, I think this is like a totally like a bit of an outlier question, where you need to need to find a baseline of where you are when you normally sit, when you're not bleeding, versus when you are bleeding, and find and start to take notice of the patterns that are happening, because I've been tracking my own cycle for Jesus. I don't even know how long anymore Eight years, like I know when it's supposed to come. It's very regular. I know my emotions around that time of the month is not very good. Yeah, still, you know, you still got to learn how to manage it, but I think, if you're not sure when your energy levels are the best, you probably should start taking notice and tracking that in an app. Do you use an app actually?
Speaker 1:so I do. I think tracking such a great um tool. I don't know. I use this really basic. I think it's literally called period diary, okay, and I track it just to check, like, how regular my periods are.
Speaker 1:Um, but I always say to clients as well, because if a client has a spike in their pain and they also have their period that week, pain levels and sensitivity levels are heavily increased when your body has is going through their period. So I always say it's good to track to then know, like you said, if you've got mood swings, if you're feeling low, it's you know. If you know that you're getting a period that week, it could be because of that headaches as well. A lot of people get migraines and headaches on their periods. So I say, if you're not currently tracking and you do go through phases where sometimes you're super low in energy or you get headaches or you get random birds of pain, track it to see whether or not it aligns with period, because often those symptoms could be in response to period I fucking love that, because it's like so funny when we have clients who come in and like I don't know, I'm so tired and we don't go straight to period because I know this is kind of a thing these days.
Speaker 2:It's like why do you blame my period for me being moody and tired? It's like, hey, we're not gonna do that. Did you eat today? Have you drank water today? Yes, yes, yes, okay, are you close to period? Yeah, and they're like oh, oh, my God, I am too, yeah. And then it's like how do you forget? Like how do we forget that I do too. Sometimes I'm like why am I so tired today? And I check my app and I'm like oh, I'm five days out.
Speaker 1:No, wonder that's me. I'm always like reaching for like carbs or I feel very, very hungry, like the week of and I checked it yesterday Cause I was like I'm so damn hungry today I want to eat everything, and it's like two days to a period I'm like, oh, that makes sense, no shit, no shit.
Speaker 1:So it's like a lie bomb and also gives you that reassurance of like I'm not going crazy because I've seen so many reels that are so relatable and I know a lot of females can be like oh my God, I know this reel where it's like you have a stomach pain or you have a headache and you're like is it because I haven't eaten? Is it because I haven't gone to the bathroom? Is it because I'm low on hydration? Is it because I've got my period? Is it because I've got pelvic pain, Like it could literally be anything?
Speaker 1:So that extra reassurance that, like oh, actually I'm due in a couple of days is kind of like oh cool, I can look down towards something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it like oh cool, I can look down towards something, yeah it gives you permission to be like yes, okay, I'm not going crazy. Yeah, I think, um, I use the read my body, read your body, read your body app. I don't know if you've heard of that before. You can track your temperature. I use it on purpose because I have some like unbeknownst to everybody else on here and you. I actually have like a bit of a low thyroid and it's it's been around for a while, but I use it.
Speaker 2:Okay, you can track your temperature to see what's going on with your thyroid. Cool, fun fact. I like that. Yeah, so, if you're, if your temperature, this is okay and this is not doctor's advice. This is stuff that I've learned from naturopathy over the few years. From naturopaths, I think if your temperature is below 36.1, 36.2 degrees, then there might be something indicating that there's something wrong if it's consistent, consistently low. So I like to see what's going on, because it's amazing what like a fraction of a degree can, can do, um, and then, yeah, I like to see to track my ovulation, because usually what will happen is it'll slowly climb up 30, 36.1, 36.2, 36.3, and then also be 36.5. And I'm like, oh, my God, like my temperature is hot, but also like, okay, I've, I'm, I'm about to start ovulation.
Speaker 2:But then if it tapers back down, if it goes 30, 36.5 and then goes 36.5 and stays there and then it peaks two days later sorry, it drops down two days later. That's when it confirms it, by the way, so it's not like when you don't get a confirmation until the temperature starts to go back down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is cool, and I think the more you understand your phases, the more you understand the symptoms that come with it, your mood, how your body feels. The more you become your phases, the more you understand the symptoms that come with it, your mood, how your body feels, the more you become in tune with your body, and it's so important, like being able to put things in place if you need to when it comes to that month, such as you know if you know you're going to get a headache, hydration, you know, salt intake, magnesium, all your supplements If you know you're going to struggle to train, train, you know, make sure you're training heavy, you know, leading up to it, so then you have the time to rest and chill when you have your period. Like you know, being able to just prepare yourself for what's about to come, I think is really empowering as well, because a lot of the symptoms that we do experience during periods can be quite negative and can be quite debilitating and can really get you down.
Speaker 2:So I feel like the more you're in tune with your feelings and the more you're in tune with the symptoms and when they come, the more you're able to take control of it and actually have things in place, which is, I think is so important yeah it's empowering, because it gives you the ability to tackle things the way you need to, properly, without lashing out or over exaggerating mentally and physically and emotionally sometimes, because it can be a bit of a whirlwind, and I've we've got a question here as well about how to reduce PMS symptoms. This is so broad because PMS, pms Okay, so it's premenstrual, premenstrual symptoms, but it's. There's also another one called PMDD. It's premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I am not the professional to talk about this, but it's the PMDD. It's premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I am not the professional to talk about this, but it's.
Speaker 2:The PMDD is essentially very, very, very debilitating and it's almost like you're in a hole and you cannot escape and then finally your period finishes. Or you get your period and you feel better, or your period finishes and then you feel better and you're like oh, I was just like it was nothing. I don't know why I've exaggerated. It can ruin relationships, it can ruin your work life. It is so full-on, according to like research, that if you do have pmdd, you can get an actual physical diagnosis from a doctor, um, but I would really really look back at a person's nutrition, environment, um, the basics, their sleep, the stress, the things that we wanted to talk about today. Originally, before we um found out it was women's health week some of those simple basics. They can probably help a lot with pmdd, with pms, I think it's really similar.
Speaker 2:Pms is not as debilitating, um, but I think pms gets a bit of a bad rap because we're already going through something in our body. It's releasing an egg, it is taxing like it is tiring. So when we're talking about pms, it's generally related to just a bit more irritable, a bit more. Maybe you can't or don't want to deal with people's shit as much. Short fuse, bit impatient, yeah, yeah, I would think that's perfect explanation. I think when you have PM, if you feel like you have PMS again, go back to the basics. Are you sleeping enough? Are you drinking enough water? Are you eating enough food? But I think one thing to really look at is like are you slowing down to give yourself the time of day to also self-regulate your emotions? And there are some supplements that people can take. There are. There are things that people can do. I would also look at stool. I don't know if you know this, steph, but your estrogen is actually cleared through your bowel movements, so interesting.
Speaker 2:So, if you're not going to the toilet regularly, you're not actually releasing estrogen. And the thing with estrogen is is that when you don't release it out of your bowels regularly every day you should be going every day it actually gets re-upcycled through your body, in your bloodstream, and this is where estrogen gets a bad rap, because estrogen isn't bad. It's actually a steroid hormone. It helps us build muscle. It helps us, it's a good stress buffer, emotionally and physically. But when you are not going to the toilet and not pooping, it gets re-upcycled through the bloodstream and it can cause like weight gain, can cause issues with like fat loss, essentially, and it can cause issues with mood.
Speaker 1:So that's something that makes a lot of sense and then I think if you are someone experiencing this or you know you do have gut issues in terms of what to do about it, I would go and see a naturopath that specialises in Periods, period periods, pain, women's health. I think definitely do not go and see a doctor about it.
Speaker 2:That's our experiential advice. This is our experiential advice. Exactly.
Speaker 1:I think there are really great doctors out there that are great advocates for it, will listen to you, will give you some really great advice, but you've just got to know where to look. You've just got to know where to look. You've got to know who to go to, because there is a lot of and not just GPs or doctors, but there are a lot of specialists, allied health professionals, um, that don't give you as great of advice when it comes to dealing with your period, when it comes to dealing with symptoms, and a lot of the time you just go around in circles or you just put up with the pain or put up with your symptoms and feel like it's just normal because that's. Or you just put up with the pain or put up with symptoms and feel like it's just normal because that's what you've been told.
Speaker 2:Yep, I actually would love to talk about gut health just for a second because I had this. I had an episode that I was going to do a very long time ago I never did it and I have the notes on it and I thought it's a little bit about gut health and how the hpa hpg access plays a role in our period pain. So I'm just going to read my notes. So did you know that period pain is related to your gut issues? It is known that women with inflammatory bowel disease, ibd, also have exacerbated symptoms during menses. So I had a research paper that said irritable bowel syndrome, ibs, and inflammatory bowel disease during, um the menstrual cycle, um they're correlated and increased symptoms in female with IBS patients and dysmenorrhea and PMS. So IBS gut health issues, if you like, ibs is an umbrella term, it's a syndrome and usually a syndrome is an umbrella term for something like I don't really know what is causing it. Um this, this research that I had here was in relation to the hbg and the hba a access. The hbg is the hypothalamic, pituitary, gonadal access. It's related to your brain and your sex organs, um the brain and brain's communicating with the gonadal organs, ie the ovaries for women, via hormones, and there's a few like. This is quite wordy and long, but I'm just gonna summarize it. Ultimately, this link is what enables a woman to have a period and if she decides to conceive. So if you're too stressed, something might not work here and that's why you might not be getting a period. The hba axis is the hypothalamic adrenal access, which is part of the autonomic automatic nervous system. Quote, unquote. It's where the gastrointestinal tract and brain communicate with each other too. The HPA access will influence the DI tract activity, immune cells, as well as mood regulation, cognition and mental health. So I think what I was trying to get in this podcast that I wanted to make a long time ago was that your ability to have a period, and healthy period, is related to how well the hormones are activating in your brain and how well they're also communicating with the nerves in your gut and your immune cells, which is the in the body's defense system. Um, the researchers suggest that a constantly activated hpa access by chronic or traumatic episode may lead to a dysregulation of the hpa access and cause pathology, which is like disease, illness, injury. For those who don't know.
Speaker 2:Um, the reason I was making this link is because it's important to never isolate an organ, a system or function or just pop a pill for an ill. It's valuable to look at the human body as a network that communicates with each other all day, every day, to protect you and achieve homeostasis. There's a multitude of reasons, essentially, why something could not be working or why you might have a mood disorder, or why you might be really irritable, or why something is not working as well as it needs to be. But it can be looked at and, in terms of gut health, I really want people to be empowered by this kind of advice is that what you do to your body is what's going to happen inside and eventually it's going to communicate to you.
Speaker 2:Your body is going to react in a bunch of symptoms, and the symptoms is communication. If it's not working, if you're getting a lot of pain, if it's really bad, um, debilitating pain it's communicating with your headaches. It's communicating with it's losing minerals, not enough water, um. If you're getting itchy skin, is there something that you're eating that is aggravating those tissue cells? Um, what is going on? You need to like think about what your body is trying to tell you. Is your skin breaking out? What are you eating? Is your hair thinning?
Speaker 1:What are you not eating? That's where I come from. All systems work together. No systems work alone. So I think, especially if you are dealing with any type of period-related pain, go and get it looked at further. Go and check your gut. Go and see if your gut is in order. Have a look at other you know external factors that could be influencing your period pain and don't settle for it just to be, oh, this is normal, this is something you have to deal with.
Speaker 2:You're just going to have to live with it, because that's absolutely not the case at all I love that you can't just settle sometimes for like this is just who I am, because it'll get to a point where that symptom will develop into something worse, and that's exactly what that was saying.
Speaker 1:It'll eventually lead to something worse, like disease, illness or injury and I think, definitely, if it's impacting your quality of life, you need to go and do something about it, and I know it's. You know, I know it's very easy to say go and do something about it, because you know I've worked with many clients who have, um, you know, period symptoms that are impacting their quality of life and they've gone to see health professionals. They've been gaslighted. They've been told it's professionals. They've been gaslighted, they've been told it's very normal. They've been told there's nothing to worry about. They've been told they just have to deal with it.
Speaker 1:And so I understand that it gets frustrating and you feel like there's just no point investigating further. But I would highly recommend you push, keep going to see different people, you keep getting a second advice until you find someone who is actually going to listen, actually going to investigate further for you, actually going to create a plan for you, because you shouldn't have to deal with that, especially if it's affecting your quality of life yeah, and if you know, if you don't know, reach out to people who might know, or reach out to people who can lead you to other people and ask for free consultations.
Speaker 2:You don't have to pay for everything all the time. You can say can I please have a free consultation with you? Or especially if it's someone in the like a naturopaths they usually have free consultations. Um, a doctor probably not right, but with naturopaths, if you're looking for something that's a bit more natural health remedy, you do need to find someone who understands blood work, though. You don't want someone to just understand like food is good, but I think if it's something super serious, there needs to be some blood work checks done to have more stool tests, saliva tests, but I think blood work is usually like the gold standard. Definitely, saliva test, but I think blood work is usually like the gold standard. Definitely. We had um another section on today. There was a period story from each of us I think I'm kind of staring into the abyss.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say I think my little spiel before on, like advocating for yourself, is sort of from personal experience. Anyways, in terms of a period story, I'm someone that's suffered with very heavy periods and very excruciating periods, to the point of it being quite debilitating, and it's always been that way quite debilitating, and it's always been that way. And I've been someone who has tried in the past to go and see people about it, but I've always got a push back or always feel like I'm being gaslighted in terms of oh, it's very normal, and you know it's this and you just have to deal with it and all being very much like you know, here's a pill, take this, you'll be.
Speaker 1:You know you should be fine, and so I'm only really it's. It's probably taken me to be honest, which I know this is very common. It's probably taken me till now, which I think like from having my period, maybe what 12, 13 till now I'm 28. Now I'm probably really looking into it and pushing for more answers now and it's taking me this long because of all the pushback I've gotten, because of people telling me this is normal, you're just going to deal with it, it'll get better when you get older.
Speaker 1:Blah, blah, blah, blah so I think you know, if you ask and I've spoken to a lot of clients as well who have been in the same position and I think there's a study that's um, in terms of like a period pain and related pathologies from period pain, I think the study is it takes 10 years for a female to get a proper diagnosis or something, because of all the pushback, because of not getting any direction, because of being shoved, you know, given band-aid type treatments, um, and it's. It's really sad, it is like it is really really sad.
Speaker 2:So you said you've had painful periods since you were. Since you've had it.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, debilitating, debilitating periods, and it's been. Do you work through it? What do you do? I do, I usually work through it. If it's a day where I'm off, I'm perfect. I'm crawled on the couch with a heat pack, yeah, um. But if it's a day where I've got a full day of work, I just deal with it.
Speaker 1:And it's funny because, you know, you get asked when you see, um, when you see like a specialist about it, a question that comes up is is the pain so debilitating that you can't work? And I always laugh at that because I'm like well, yes, but I do work. So does that mean that my pain is not valid? And, you know, does that mean it doesn't fall on the scale of being too painful or debilitating? It's like our pain threshold becomes so high that we just consider it normal. It's almost like so when you get yeah. So when you get asked a question like that, you're like well, I can work through it. And so there you know, you get an answer oh well, then that's okay, then that's good. And in your head you're like well, no, it's not, because I'm just putting up with it you definitely shouldn't have to.
Speaker 2:For it, I don't wow, to be honest. I don't?
Speaker 1:you're a trooper. I have taken stuff in the past and it's done absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2:Really okay. That's when you know you like if it's nothing's working, then yeah, you have to get another opinion definitely messed up. And then when you see, like how many professionals do you think you've seen at?
Speaker 1:least 10, 10, yeah, at least, I'm sure, health professionals.
Speaker 2:You're kidding over how many years? Probably over 10 years, it's like one a year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, essentially I did. Actually, to be fair, maybe five or six years ago I did see a gynaecologist and the conversation was just so terrible and so off-putting that she put me off seeing someone for like four years.
Speaker 2:Do you?
Speaker 1:feel comfortable sharing what she said. Well, yeah, that's fine. It was a five-minute consult. It was you know the minute consult. It was you know the standard. What are you feeling? Do you get heavy bleeds, pain levels, blah blah. And she, basically, as I was talking to her, she was writing a prescription and she handed me a prescription and she was like here's the pill, take this for three months, come and see me, your pain will be fixed. And I looked at her and I was like I was like I don't want to take the pill and she was like wait.
Speaker 2:So why not you spent money, muller dollars donato to go to a gynecologist who would have costed like three, four, who knows 300? 320 yeah at that time. They're probably like 500 now, and then she told you to go on the pill show me on the pill.
Speaker 1:She said this will fix your pain. You'll have no problem. Come back in and see me in three months. I guarantee you it'll fix everything. And I was like, but I don't want to take the pill. And she was just like why? And I was like I'm not comfortable with it. I've had a lot of friends fucking band-aid I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Band--aid, you know, bubble gum Told her how I felt and she looked at me. She had glasses on. She was very cocky. She put her glasses down and she was like listen, I've been in this industry for 20 years. I see this all the time. Take the pill and you'll be fine.
Speaker 2:And I just looked at her and I was like gas lit to the max. I was like goodbye. Yeah, I would have grabbed that piece of paper. I'm going to take your pill and I'm taking my money back for this shit because paid for $80 at the doctor for this yep, I had to pay $320 for a five-minute consult to be told take the pill, you'll be fine.
Speaker 1:Didn't care that. I didn't want to take it, so walked out of there, ripped up the paper and then after that it put me off for like a good five years to look into it again, and I know there are so many females that have had similar stories to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there is heaps. So now you're doing what if you're comfortable to share with the audience.
Speaker 1:So now I'm seeing a naturopath and we're kind of taking it step by step. We've got blood tests, ultrasounds, looking into things further to see what's coming up. So that's kind of yeah, we're investigating.
Speaker 2:That's what you need. The thing is like you need to investigate and you need to work with someone who has the means and the tools to actually go to that next level and refer you and get those referrals. Doctors might not like it. I've had one as well where I went and started to see a new doctor and I wanted a referral from my naturopath to do more blood tests and she was upset. In that consultation I came to her and I was telling her my symptoms like they're not getting better. I better, I want to work with a naturopath as well. These are the blood tests that she'd like to receive. And she looked at these blood tests and she's like.
Speaker 2:She started off being nice and she was like, yeah, we can do this one, this one. But you know, if you want to work with a naturopath, why are you working with us too? You have to choose one. Like the naturopath doesn't pay for the medical bills. Yeah, she was getting upset and I said, hey, I just came here to ask for your help and assistance in helping what I'm going through. I'd like your help and her help. I'm not here saying you're better or she's better, I just would like your help. And she's like it's fine, it's fine, but you know, and she didn't say anything after that, she's like all she ended was with you know, and I was like you know what.
Speaker 1:I get that from a lot of clients that have gone to doctors for blood tests for naturopaths and the minute they've said the n word yeah, doctors have just gone like no, no, I don't want to give you this test. Or like why are you seeing them? This is stupid.
Speaker 2:But like yeah, I'm really curious as to why I think it has to do with the medical costs, because medicare or it's bulk build, so the government essentially pays for it, whereas the naturopath isn't paying for it, or something like that. I don't really know how it works particularly, but it's to do with the money. A hundred percent and um, I don't think they have, like they're not very in sync.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I know the way that obviously doctors and gps look at pathologies and issues. The pathway in terms of the treatment that they go down versus the treatment that naturopaths go down are two very very completely different different black and white.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and I was gonna say something with the oral contraceptive pill when you were talking about that.
Speaker 1:So yes, because I know you've had experience with I mean, I've never taken the pill, but I know you have yeah, I did have here to talk about that briefly.
Speaker 2:Um, I only started to take it because I thought it was the right thing to do. It was like 18, 19. I was like, okay, I think this is like the right time. I, let's, let's try it. Um, and I jumped on it and it lasted a month and my mood and my emotions, my abs, it was chaos. Like talking about it makes me feel so like erratic, because it was just my emotions I could not regulate, like they were just completely different. I was crying every day. It was just really, really tough. I went through really hard time and then I was told the doctor I'm not taking anymore. He suggested a different one and I got the iud.
Speaker 1:That didn't help.
Speaker 2:That didn't help either. So this rod was stuck in me and now I'm panicking and I was like having again still emotion, still mood swings. I was just like not the same person anymore for like three, four months. Got it removed and getting it out was an ordeal. It actually got stuck, I think, a little bit in my tissue of my bicep and so he was pulling at it. I fainted in the chair. I woke up like 10 seconds later, like in his arms and like he's got like the, the freaking tweezers forceps, yeah the forceps to pull it out.
Speaker 2:Anyway, he's like all right, you're awake, you okay. And I was like, yeah, yeah, okay, what happened? He's like you just, you just passed out. And I was like, oh my god, okay, got onto the bed. He eventually took it out.
Speaker 2:It took, like he what it didn't want to come out so traumatic yeah, anyway, I decided you know what, no, I'm not taking any more oral contraceptive stuff or anything, um, and I'm glad it happened, because from that point on it made me go okay, what the hell is a period and what do I need to know to help what I'm going through and do?
Speaker 2:I even need it? Do I even need the oral contraceptive pill? I haven't taken anything since then, and that was when I was 18. I'm what, it doesn't matter how old I am now, like 10, 11 years later, I haven't touched it. Nine, eight years, 10 years, 10 years anyway. Um, but the oral contraceptive pill or any of them don't regulate your period. They do not regulate your cycle. It is a fake bleed. So when you take the sugar pill, it essentially is just mimicking. Um, it's creating. It's creating a bleed, but it's not actually fertile, like it's not. It's not it. How do I explain this? It's like an artificial. Yeah, it's an artificial bleed because you haven't ovulated.
Speaker 2:That's right oh, yeah, so because, because the ocp and all of them, they, they blunt any fertile. Uh peak, you're not. You're not ovulating you're not, you're not making an egg. You're not releasing an egg. It is a fake period because it is, you haven't gone through ovulation that's so interesting I didn't know that, didn't you? No because I made so many posts about this. I'm so sorry steph it's okay, don't worry, don't stress. This is why we're talking about it. No shame, no shame.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say you know what? I see that much information about, like periods and peel and what's regular, what's not, and I just find it so overwhelming that I just don't even look anymore and that's probably why because you've been struggling with this for 10 years you're probably like oh, I don't care yeah, it really gets to that point and I think I think currently I am still frustrated, even though I'm looking into it.
Speaker 1:It's something that I think you've just got to be okay with. It's going to be. It's going to take time to get to the bottom of things for you to say, see, maybe like improvements. You know, I always say, like exploring your period pain is like dealing with chronic pain, because essentially it is a form of chronic pain.
Speaker 1:It's not an injury where I've damaged tissue or muscle or bone acutely, but it is a pain that comes again and again over every month and my diary reminds me thank you very much, and it feels like it comes every two days oh, it's so quick hey but it is.
Speaker 1:It is like it is a form of a chronic pain, and chronic pain takes time to get to the bottom of and takes time to improve, and it's kind of the similar thing of like dealing with period pain or like investigating period symptoms. Um, it is something where you you do have to go on a journey, you do have to do a lot of trial and error, you do have to, you know, stick through some crappy advice. You do have to kind of keep at it, even though you feel frustrated, you feel, even though you feel like you're not getting anywhere. It is something that you just have to accept. It it's probably going to be like that for a while, but you know there is hope that the outcome is going to be you're not going to have debilitating pain or symptoms, or you're finally going to get some answers, or you're finally going to have a plan, and I think that's definitely worth it.
Speaker 2:I think there's more than hope, Steph. Like if you're, it's like with our businesses if you're chipping away, you're doing what you need to do. You're asking higher order questions. You're going and seeking out advice. It will get better.
Speaker 1:It just like you said, it will take time, it's just going to take time and it, just like you said, it will take time, just gonna take time and I think it's you know. If there is anyone listening that is dealing with period related pain symptoms, whatever it may be, go and get you know, go and get it checked out, go and investigate further. Um, there is a few pelvic floor physios and, I think, doctor and gynecologist that I've actually put up on my stories that have been shared and recommended from other females. So go and check that out if you're not sure where to go as a starting point yep, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:There's amazing doctors in this space. You just absolutely have to find them.
Speaker 1:You just gotta know how to find them, exactly, exactly and I think at least once you're there, definitely you know, push for yourself and advocate for yourself. Until you get to the bottom of that, until you get answers that's the other thing too. You have to back yourself and you have to really go like no, this I'm not crazy, because they make you feel crazy sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, genuinely doctors make because, like I went, I've got this new doctor. I haven't gone to see, you know, because I haven't been sick. But I also don't really want to go see her because they fill their schedules with like 10 minute blocks. Like you have 10 minutes and it's back to back and she's there from 7 am to 11 pm and I'm like how do you build a relationship with anybody a, b, how can anything be tailored enough in 10 minutes? It takes me an hour to tailor a training meal plan, lifestyle plan with a client. How do you do anything in 10 minutes? How do you understand who I am in 10 minutes? Like you also don't even care. You don't feel like you care. So back yourself, keep advocating for yourself and go seek out the people like us. If you need referrals and we need to contact one of our maids to find out more, we will do that because we will get the answers, because people will respond to us absolutely what else?
Speaker 2:I think we've wrapped, we've come pretty well yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 1:I think that whole point was to just bring a little bit of education around periods, around what you can experience, but also in terms of I guess what we're trying to promote in today's episode is if you are dealing with anything period, pain related or symptoms or whatever go and get it checked out. Don't take no for an answer. Back yourself and do something about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that was our biggest kind of point of this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love talking periods, I love talking female health because it's so empowering, because you don't have to be stuck. Just because you feel stuck doesn't mean you really are. It just means you haven't got the right answer yet. So, yep, I think let's all right, wrap it up there. High fives all around, okay? Well, that commences, I'm sorry, commences. That closes our that closes our women's health week. Thank you all for listening. We have an announcement to make. We will make it very soon Drum roll please.
Speaker 1:You will have to wait till next episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, next episode we'll be announcing some exciting news together. And so stay tuned for that. Please turn post notifications on. Give this episode a five-star review or the podcast five star review as well, if you're loving and listening often, and make sure you have um us on social media for the pain. Mayo on instagram and raquel fit pt on instagram. These are our personal pages, but we will be updating the podcast one. So yeah, that's it, thank you all. See you on the flip.