Best Protocols for Gut Infections with Ann Melin

Ann Melin is our lead health coach at Women's Wellness Radio and a certified Holistic Health Practitioner, Clinical Nutritionist, a Clinical Master Herbalist, and a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner. In this episode we talk about gut health, gut infections, and the best treatment protocols.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:35 The connection between gut health & hormone health
Min 05:20 Symptoms of gut infections
Min 11:00 Why you need to address gut parasites
Min 14:35 Gut healing protocols & lab testing
Min 22:50 SIBO & GI map tests
Min 27:10 Links between gut parasites & other diseases
Min 30:10 Getting treatment for chronic conditions
Min 38:00 Treating gut parasites (candida, SIBO)
Min 41:35 Herbs & supplements for gut health
Min 45:20 Steps to WWC coaching

Resources:

Check out our coaching program to see if it is a fit for you.

Visit our shop here.

Beautycounter products - non-toxic line of beauty products

Learn about our protocols for toxins testing here.

Here are more resources, outlining our testing protocols for other nasty gut issues, including SIBO, parasitic infections and Candida.

Join Our Community!

If these talks resonated with you and your case, we’d love to get to know you better!

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to get our Top-Down Digestion Guide here, and come on board!

We have lots of valuable, free resources for women's health we share weekly.

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Bridgit is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.

Fixing Chronic Fatigue with Shelley Gawith

Shelley Gawith is a Functional Nutritionist in private practice in Wellington, New Zealand. She completed Nutritional Therapy Association studies, IHS Advanced Functional Assessment Training, and is a Certified Gluten Practitioner. In this episode we talk about adrenal health, her amazing health history, and her work in helping busy career women overcome fatigue & anxiety.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:30 Introducing Shelley Gawith's work
Min 04:25 Shelley's health journey with chronic fatigue syndrome
Min 08:30 Shelley's steps to getting better
Min 12:10 Cellular energy & adrenal health
Min 16:40 Root causes of Shelley's health problems
Min 21:45 Work stress & its effects on the adrenals
Min 26:50 Shelley's advice for career women
Min 36:50 Hydrochloric acid
Min 39:05 Gulping water but getting dehydrated
Min 42:30 Using electrolytes
Min 47:40 Shelley's resources

To learn more about Shelley, visit her website here and follow her on social media:
Facebook
Instagram 

Resources:

Check out our summit recordings and programs at our shop.
31 Day Challenge 
Beautycounter products - non-toxic line of beauty products

Here's the video version of the interview with Shelley Gawith:

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to get our Hormone-Lovin’ Superfoods Guide here, and come on board!

We have lots of valuable, free resources for women's health we share weekly.

Create a Healthcare Revolution with Chris Kresser

Chris Kresser is the founder of The Kresser Institute, co-director of The California Center for Functional Medicine, and author of the new book "Unconventional Medicine" as well as New York Times best seller "The Paleo Cure."

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:55 Introduction to Chris Kresser & his health history
Min 05:00 Chris Kresser's work & books
Min 06:25 The state of health care & chronic disease
Min 10:25 Working with health practitioners & the problem of insurance
Min 21:10 The pharmaceutical industry's influence & functional medicine
Min 26:25 Chris Kresser's clinical practice & programs
Min 33:50 Networking for health practitioners
Min 42:50 Chris Kresser's resources

To learn more about Chris Kresser, visit his website here and follow him on social media:
Facebook 
Twitter 
Pinterest 
Google+ 
YouTube 

Resources:

Get 50% off our Hormone Summit, Menopause Summit, & Perfect Periods Program using the code rock2018
Kresser Institute for practitioners
Beautycounter - non-toxic line of beauty products

Here's the video version of the interview with Chris Kresser:

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to get our Top-Down Digestive Repair Guide here, and come on board!

We have lots of valuable, free resources for women's health we share weekly.

Bridgit's Year in Review

I'm your guest this week where I will be reviewing the year 2017 and the decisions I made on my health, family and business. I'll be interviewed by our new team member Stephanie Risinger who'll also tell us about her podcast.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:05 Introducing Stephanie & Bridgit
Min 03:15 Transitioning from Portland to Arizona
Min 06:20 Review of Bridgit's physical health
Min 11:16 Marcons and using Western medicine with Eastern medicine
Min 14:10 Dealing with emotional health
Min 20:30 Getting help from different practitioners
Min 23:45 Lessons learnt in 2017
Min 26:50 Bridgit's habits and routines
Min 28:50 Big wins for Women's Wellness Collaborative in 2017
Min 33:35 The future of Women's Wellness Collaborative
Min 37:35 Stephanie Risinger's podcast
Min 40:10 Health steps taken by Stephanie

To learn more about Stephanie and her Holistic Fertility and Wellness Podcast, visit her website here and follow her on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Resources:

1. Marcons And Biofilms With Dr. Yoshi Rahm

2. Low FODMAPs diet

3. Are Food Sensitivities Preventing Your Pregnancy? with Sarah Clark

4. Fertility Week sign up page

Here's a video version of the interview I did:

“How was your 2017? I’d love to hear about it below!”

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to get our Top-Down Digestion Guide here, and come on board!

We have lots of valuable, free resources for women's health we share weekly.

Sun and Sunscreen: Skin Cancer Prevention with Dr. Keira Barr

Dr. Keira Barr is a dermatologist, uthor, eader, peaker n educato i e ield. In this episode we talk about the skin (which is the largest organ of the body), sun exposure, skin cancer and using sun screen.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 02:10 Introduction to Dr. Keira Barr & her skin history
Min 07:20 The skin as the largest body organ
Min 08:15 The skin and mind-body connection
Min 13:00 HPA access in the skin
Min 15:50 Stress & believes and their effects on the skin
Min 18:20 Listening to your body & skin
Min 23:50 Types of skin cancers
Min 31:20 When to see a dermatologist
Min 33:30 Factors contributing to skin cancer
Min 35:45 The right amount of sun exposure
Min 42:35 How to use sunscreen & spray sunscreens
Min 47:35 Sleep and melatonin

To learn more about Dr. Keira Barr, visit her website here and follow her on social media:
Facebook 
Instagram 

Resource:

Free 30-Day program 

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner,

Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

Ease Anxiety and Support Immunity in a Disaster with Mira Dessy

Mira Dessy is the Ingredient Guru and a Houston area resident whose home was flooded in Hurricane Harvey. She is a practicing holistic nutritionist and meditation expert.

She’ll share both how she remediated her home and some of the emotional and physical health challenges she handled with nutrition, supplements and mindfulness.

We cover:

• The DIY actions she is taking to restore her home

• How a community can come together in a crisis

• The symptoms she’s noticing right after the hurricane

• The emotional toll of losing your possessions and your home

• How even junky food, given with love, can be nourishing!

• How to kick a sugar habit if you’ve relied on it through a disaster

• The supplements Mira uses to stay healthy

• How quick and simple meditations can help for sleep and stress

Resources

Download notes from this interview HERE.

Get Mira Dessy's free ebook: Eating Out Healthy

Moisture Meter - to make sure all surfaces are dry enough before beginning the rebuilding process.

To learn more about Mira Dessy, visit her website here and follow her on social  media:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

You can listen to this and all other episodes on the podcast or watch directly on our YouTube channel here.

Please enjoy these articles from our friends Trudy Scott from Every Woman Over 29 and Jodi Cohen of Vibrant Blue Oils:

Nutrition Solutions for Psychological Stress After a Natural Disaster

3 Steps to Combating Mold with Essential Oils

Essential Oils to Modulate the Toxic Effects of Mold

Tomorrow we’ll have our final day of Mold Week with Ryan James, teaching you how to get the most out of an insurance claim.  Home remediation can be quite costly; let Ryan keep you from getting the short end of the stick from your insurance company.

Audio-Only Version

If you are on-the-go or have a poor internet connection, it will be more reliable to play the following audio-only version.

Free Guide: Healing from Toxic Mold

You want help for your mold symptoms ASAP! Cut to the chase with this straight-forward guide, outlining my favorite supplements for detoxing mold. As a person who has been healing from mold toxicity, I can personally say these supplements support my daily self-care effectively.

Let me help you start healing!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP
Founder of Hormone Detox Shop

A Functional Physician's Approach to Mold with Dr. Jill Carnahan

We’re back for day 5 of Mold Week, and my guest today is Dr. Jill Carnahan. Dr. Carnahan is an integrative and functional medical doctor practicing in Colorado. 

Jill and I cover:

• Why you should not use bleach to clean up mold

• What air filters she recommends

• Her four step approach to healing

• What other infections and chemical exposures she looks for

• What natural and pharmaceutical medications she uses

• How to test to see if you have mold and the genes that make you susceptible

Resources

Download notes from this interview with Dr. Jill HERE.

Dr. Carnahan's Free Guide

To learn more about Dr. Carnahan, visit her website here and follow her on social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

You can listen to this and all other episodes on the podcast or watch directly on our YouTube channel here.

Audio-Only Version

If you are on the go or have a poor internet connection, it will be more reliable to play the following audio-only version.

Free Guide: Healing from Toxic Mold

You want help for your mold symptoms ASAP! Cut to the chase with this straight-forward guide, outlining my favorite supplements for detoxing mold. As a person who has been healing from mold toxicity, I can personally say these supplements support my daily self-care effectively.

Let me help you start healing!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP
Founder of Hormone Detox Shop

Symptoms of Mold and Easy Detox Tips with Bridgit Danner

We are back for day 3 of Mold Week!  You'll learn about:

• How mold can grow without you knowing it

• The difference between mold spores and mold toxins

• The long list of symptoms that can be caused by mold

• Ways to test your home and body for mold

• Simple, affordable ways to clear mold toxins out of your body

• Why your belongings often need to be left behind in order to heal

You can listen to this and all other episodes on the podcast or watch directly on our YouTube channel here.

You can also subscribe and listen on our podcast.

Download notes from this interview HERE.

Private Coaching with Bridgit

Trying to figure out how to deal with toxic mold? Check out our current coaching programs to see if working with Bridgit is a fit for your case.

Resources

Go here for mold testing information.

Listen to our interview on Marcons here.

Audio Only Version

If you are on-the-go or have a poor internet connection, it will be more reliable to play the following audio-only version.

Shopping Links

Bonus Content!

Get headache tips from today's host, Erin Knight of Engineering Radiance. Erin is a natural migraine relief specialist and a functional health coach.

Free Guide: Healing from Toxic Mold

You want help for your mold symptoms ASAP! Cut to the chase with this straight-forward guide, outlining my favorite supplements for detoxing mold. As a person who has been healing from mold toxicity, I can personally say these supplements support my daily self-care effectively.

Let me help you start healing!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP
Founder of Hormone Detox Shop

Be Aware of Waterborne Pathogens with Dr. Darin Ingels

Welcome to Day 2 of Mold Week. Dr. Darin Ingels is a naturopathic physician but was a clinical microbiologist and immunologist before going back to medical school. So he has a pretty broad background in infectious diseases and microbiology. He understands both the causation side and the healing side of mold illness.

In this interview, we focus on:

• Which bacteria and parasites may be present in flood waters

• How to dress to protect yourself while remediating a water-damaged home

• What you’ll need to throw away when and if it’s been touched by water

• Simple supplements that protect your immune system

• Why you need to be careful with drinking & bathing water after a flood

• How insects descend on an area, after a flood, and what to do

You can listen to this and all other episodes on the podcast or watch directly on our YouTube channel here.

You can also subscribe and listen on our podcast.

Download notes from this interview HERE.

To learn more about Dr. Ingels, visit his website here and follow him on social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Audio-Only Version

If you are on the go or have a poor internet connection, it will be more reliable to play the following audio-only version.

Free Guide: Healing from Toxic Mold

You want help for your mold symptoms ASAP! Cut to the chase with this straight-forward guide, outlining my favorite supplements for detoxing mold. As a person who has been healing from mold toxicity, I can personally say these supplements support my daily self-care effectively.

Let me help you start healing!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP
Founder of Hormone Detox Shop

Detox Your Body and Brain with Dave Asprey

Mold Week is here, and I’m so pleased to share our first interview with Dave Asprey of Bulletproof. Dave may be best known for his Bulletproof coffee but what started it all was his quest to end his chronic, mysterious illness, which he later learned was triggered by toxic mold.

Dave’s interview is a good sampling of the many aspects of mold. We talk about:

• Your odds of having a water-damaged home

• Why modern homes are great homes for toxic mold

• How you can get sick from a water-damaged building without realizing the source

• How toxic mold is found in human and animal food

• A Bulletproof ® diet to avoid mold and help your body recover

• Dave’s favorite supplements to help clear mold

• A spray that helps stop mold growth

You can listen to this and all other episodes on the podcast or watch directly on our YouTube channel here.

You can also subscribe and listen on our podcast.

Download notes from this interview HERE.

Dave Asprey's Resources:

Moldy Documentary

Homebiotic Shopping Site

Bulletproof Diet Poster

Click on an image below to get the resource.

Audio-Only Version

If you are on the go or have a poor internet connection, it will be more reliable to play the following audio-only version.

Free Guide: Healing from Toxic Mold

You want help for your mold symptoms ASAP! Cut to the chase with this straight-forward guide, outlining my favorite supplements for detoxing mold. As a person who has been healing from mold toxicity, I can personally say these supplements support my daily self-care effectively.

Let me help you start healing!

Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP
Founder of Hormone Detox Shop

A Deeper Look at Hormones with Dr. Shawn Tassone, MD

Dr. Shawn Tassone is a board certified OBGYN and integrative medicine practitioner. In this episode we talk about hormones, infoceuticals & self care.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:50 Introduction to Dr. Tassone
Min 07:35 Dr. Tassone's practice
Min 10:20 Treating with bio-identical hormones
Min 14:50 Infoceuticals
Min 19:20 Self care - helping yourself first before others
Min 26:30 The wounded healer archetype
Min 30:10 Aging, hormones & identity

To learn more about Dr. Shawn Tassone, visit his website here and follow him on social media:
Facebook 
Twitter 

Upcoming Event: Mold Week

From Oct. 30 - Nov. 5 2017, we will be having a special week on the podcast called Mold Week. This is a week I created to teach you on how to protect yourself from toxic mold. We will have an interview every day and you'll get an email everyday for the duration of the event with a link to the day's interview. Sign up for Mold Week here.

Here's a video version of the interview I did with Dr. Shawn Tassone.

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner,

Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

SIBO Causes and Treatments with Dr. Ken Brown

Dr. Ken Brown is a board-certified gastroenterologist and in this episode we talk about SIBO, IBS, how they are connected and how to treat SIBO.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 02:20 Introduction to Dr. Kenneth Brown
Min 03:50 The connection between SIBO & IBS
Min 06:00 IBS-C & IBS-D
Min 09:00 SIBO & parts of the intestines
Min 13:45 Case scenario of a SIBO patient
Min 15:30 Motility of the intestines
Min 20:30 SIBO & autoimmunity
Min 25:05 H. pylori & SIBO
Min 29:35 Special diets
Min 32:20 Treating SIBO
Min 38:05 Atrantil

To learn more about Dr. Ken Brown, visit his website here and follow him on social media:
Facebook 
Twitter 
YouTube 
Google + 

Resources:

Try Atrantil at my shop here

Here's a video version of the interview I did with Dr. Kenneth Brown:

MegaGuard

A great way to get started on tackling your bloating is use MegaGuard.

MegaGuard is formulated to promote normal digestion, balance stomach acid, and reduce things like gas, bloating, and indigestion.

Click here for more information and to purchase.

The Super Woman RX with Dr. Taz Bhatia

Dr. Taz Bhatia is a board-certified integrative medicine physician and wellness expert specializing in women’s health, weight loss, nutrition and family wellness. She is the author of “What Doctors Eat,” “The 21 Day Belly Fix,” and the recently released “Super Woman RX.” In this episode we talk about her evolution from a physician to functional medicine and empowering women to reach their full potential and be the best versions of themselves.

Click here to download an mp3 of "The Super Woman RX with Dr. Taz Bhatia.”

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:30 Introduction to Dr. Taz Bhatia & her book
Min 06:25 Being a super woman & taking care of yourself
Min 11:30 Dr. Taz's approach to guiding women
Min 14:00 Shifting your energy to the right things
Min 17:45 Embracing who you are
Min 21:40 Your hair & connection with health
Min 27:25 The 5 Power Types
Min 32:40 Dr. Taz's clinic & online work with patients

To learn more about Dr. Taz Bhatia, visit her website here and connect with her on social media:
Facebook 
Twitter 
Instagram 
Pinterest 
YouTube 

Resources:

The Power Type Quiz 
The Super Woman RX book
The 21 Day Belly Fix book
What Doctors Eat book

Here's a video version of the interview I did with Dr. Taz.

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

To leave a review on iTunes for our podcast, please follow the steps found here.

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

How Electromagnetic Fields Affect Your Health with Evan Brand

Evan Brand is a nutritional & functional coach working in the online space. He has his own podcast called The Evan Brand Show. In this episode we talk about electromagnetic fields, how they can affect your health and some simple ways in which you can reduce your exposure.

Click here to download an mp3 of "How Electromagnetic Fields Affect Your Health with Evan Brand"

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:50 What is EMF?
Min 03:55 How EMF works in the cells & body
Min 06:00 Using cell phones, EMF effects & solutions
Min 13:30 Reducing EMF exposure
Min 14:00 EMF sensitivity & genetics
Min 16:10 Effects of EMF on other health conditions
Min 19:20 Electrical gadgets, defender shields & EMF
Min 23:10 Sleep, anxiety & restlessness
Min 27:00 Dealing with cell phone radiation
Min 31:40 Autoimmunity
Min 34:30 Smart meters
Min 40:00 Resources

To learn more about Evan Brand, visit his website here and follow him on social media:
Facebook 
Twitter 
Instagram 
YouTube

Resources:

Radiation Nation by Daniel T. DeBaun
Zapped by Ann Louise Gittleman
Dirty Electricity: Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization by Samuel Milham
Overpowered: The Dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMF) and What You Can Do about It by Martin Blank
Clinical research on EMF from a cell phone penetrating a child's skull

Here's a video version of the interview I did with Evan Brand.

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

To leave a review on iTunes for our podcast, please follow the steps found here.

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

How to Overcome Chronic Health Conditions with Sandie Gascon

Sandie Gascon is a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner from Ontario, Canada. She works with men and women to help free them from various health issues, live their lives to their fullest and do the activities they love. She is our guest this week where we talk about overcoming chronic health conditions like migraines, acne & Lupus, and steps to healing.

Click here to download an mp3 of "How to Overcome Chronic Health Conditions with Sandie Gascon".

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 01:50 Introduction to Sandie Gascon & her training
Min 02:45 Sandie Gascon's health history
Min 11:00 Dealing with Lupus & gadolinium
Min 14:10 Sandie's resources to heal herself
Min 19:05 Amino acid therapy & SSRI
Min 24:20 Trial & error healing, and studying FDN
Min 28:45 Laying the foundation of healing
Min 35:00 Frustrations during healing
Min 43:15 Oxilates & testing
Min 47:00 Sandie's resources

To learn more about Sandie Gascon, visit her website here and follow her on social media:

Facebook Page

Facebook Group

Instagram 

Resources:

Sandie's Free Training Series
Effects of Childhood Trauma on Women's Health With Nikki Gratrix 
Heal Your Pain With Dr. Joe Tatta
Women's Wellness YouTube Channel
 

Here's a video of the interview I did with Sandie Gascon.

To leave a review on iTunes for our podcast, please follow the steps found here.

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

The Parasite Hormone Connection

 

Do you think parasites have nothing to do with hormones? Or that parasites are very rare and only found in places like rural Africa?

You would be wrong on both counts. In this article, I'll explain:

• What is the connection between hormones and parasites

• What are the symptoms of a parasitic infection

• Why are parasites so common

• What you can do about it

The Link Between Parasites and Hormones

A parasite is dictionary defined as “an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.” 

You might be thinking, “well shouldn't my body prevent parasites?” You are right; it should but it doesn't always succeed. Parasites can enter through the skin or the vagina but the most common area of entry is the mouth.

When you eat something or put your hands in your mouth you expose yourself to potential parasites and their larvae.  Parasites are found in soil and feces and do a great job of spreading themselves around.

When you swallow a parasite, your stomach acid should burn off the pathogen. However many of us have low stomach acid production from a thyroid condition, because of aging, or because we were eating on in a rush and we didn't get our bodies into “rest and digest” mode.

If a parasite survives the stomach it can live in the intestines or move to other areas of the body. Parasites can remain for decades. You may also be wondering, “isn't it somewhat normal to have parasites?”

According to Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman in her book Guess What Came to Dinner?, some amount of parasites could make for no noticeable symptoms. It really depends on the type and quantity of parasites and the strength or weakness of the host.

You are the host and the environment you create in your body helps determine if a parasite finds a good home or not. If your intestines are out of balance because of eating inflammatory foods, leaky gut, antibiotic use, other infections, or eating a high-sugar, high-refined flour diet you are providing a welcoming home for a parasite.

So now you understand how having a parasite is indeed possible. But why would this affect your hormones?

Having a parasite will cause inflammation in the gut and a potential loss of nutrients going to you, the host.

Hormones stay in balance through:

• Production

• Clearance

• Communication

Parasites will contribute to the overall poor environment in the gut. And your gut is an important location for hormone production and clearance.

The nutrients you absorb in the gut are the ingredients to make hormones: B vitamins, amino acids, fats, etc. That's why I consider it not only very important to eat nourishing foods, but also to take high-quality supplements to 'mind your gut'.

Parasites can contribute to an imbalanced bacterial environment in your gut. (Other contributors are sugar, alcohol, white flour, genetically-modified foods, and antibiotics.) That imbalance can lead to a re-activation of used estrogens getting back into circulation in your body, possibly increasing your risk of breast cancer. (source)

In a healthy gut, used hormones that have been rendered inactive in the liver will be expelled in the intestines through the bile. In an unhealthy gut, an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase will be produced, making estrogen active again. This happens within a set of gut bacteria called the estrobolome.  

Dr. Izabella Wentz, in her book Hashimoto's Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back, connects many parasites to the "triggering and exacerbating" of the autoimmune thyroid condition Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. These include: Giardia lamblia, Dientamoeba fragilis, Toxoplasma gondii, Entamoeba histolytica, Blastocystis hominis, Bartonella henselae and Cyrptosporidium.

Hormones are made in response to the needs of your body. If your body is chronically fighting an infection in your gut and dealing with the inflammation there, hormones will be made to combat that stress, namely stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.

As a woman, you want a balance of stress hormones and more restorative hormones in the Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) family like estrogen and testosterone. If your body is making a lot of cortisol in comparison to DHEA, you could have symptoms like overwhelm, low sex drive, infertility and loss of muscle mass. Menopause and peri-menopause can be more difficult.

The above are just a few ways that parasites and an unhealthy gut can lead to hormonal problems.

Symptoms

The symptoms of a parasitic infection are numerous. This list is by no means a way of diagnosis but rather examples of the diverse ways that a parasite could manifest:

• Constipation

• Diarrhea

• Gas and bloating

• Muscle pain

• Anemia

• Autoimmune diseases

• Skin rashes

• Insomnia / Waking up too early

• Anxiety

• Fatigue

• Teeth grinding

• Frequent colds and flu

In this article, I am focusing on parasites but we often see parasites in our clients like Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and candida. Parasites can also help house and protect things like Epstein-Barr virus, mold mycotoxins, and Lyme infection. So in complex cases is often important to clear the gut of these pathogens.

But sometimes our clients are fairly healthy have lots of good habits, they are just stuck in one area of their health. They can't get pregnant or they're chronically bloated. These are cases where we've been able to address the gut and get good results overall.

According to the Center for Disease Control, millions of people in the United States are affected by parasites every year. How much of a problem parasites depend on who you ask. The colleagues of mine who treat complex cases are quite convinced of the efficacy of parasite treatment. You can hear my interview with parasite expert, Dr. Todd Watts here, and you can register for the Parasite Summit here (and more information is below).

Parasitic infections do seem to be on the rise because of these factors:

• International travel

• Contaminated public water supply

• Household pets

• Daycare centers

• Eating at restaurants

• Food imported from other countries

• The use of antibiotics

• Factory farming (including farmed fish)

A Personal Story

When I was in my early twenties I lived in a village in South America. All the pathogens there were new to my body and even though I tried to drink clean water I got very sick a few times. After that, I lived in Mexico and while there I was chronically constipated. I didn't know much about parasites back then but I suspected them I looked into getting a test run but opted for a kit I could buy at the store to clean parasites in my colon. Later my boyfriend at the time, who also lived in South America, passed a long worm out of his stool.

I forgot about parasites for a while but during a stressful time in Chinese medicine school, I developed IBS that would not go away. I attributed it to stress. If my diet is “really perfect” with all fresh, clean foods my digestion can be pretty stable. But cheating at all on corn chips or a beer would make me have loose stool again. This pattern went on for many years and I even had to stool test and treated H pylori infection with still no improvement.

One of my parasites that came out in my stool.Trust me, I was really grossed out when I first saw this too. Toothbrush somehow makes this picture grosser. I did not touch it to my toothbrush, just put it on top of bag for size comparison.

This past summer I interviewed Dr. Todd Watts office about parasites. Perhaps with that awareness in the back of my mind, I noticed a parasite in my stool the next day. I quickly ordered a stool test from a leading company we use and the test came back positive for a type of parasite.

I have been treating my parasite and, though I'm just beginning, I have passed another worm and some larvae which, while gross, is also pretty exciting to know that I am getting something out of my body that was likely stressing it for a long time. I know that my white blood cell count has been low for years and no one was able to explain it but I think this helps explain it.  

Besides coming back from South America with a probable parasite I also came back with a lackadaisical attitude about sanitation. I thought that here in the US we were too paranoid about cleanliness. We have also learned in the last decade a lot about the microbiome and we are often encouraged to 'eat dirt and go barefoot.’

After reading Guess What Came to Dinner? by Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman, I have quite a different perspective. We DO want to be clean and careful to prevent parasites. It is much easier to prevent parasites then test and treat for them later.

Prevention Tips

Luckily there is a lot we can do to prevent parasites:

• Always wash hands prior to eating

• Keep your fingernails short and scrub under them with a brush

• When you use a public toilet seat squat over it rather than sitting on it

• At home, keep your bathrooms clean and sanitize toilet seats and bowls*

• Keep the interior or your car clean*

• Avoid kissing your pets or letting your children do so

• All family members should wash their hands after petting the family pet

• Pick up pet waste and don't let your kids play in areas where they can be exposing themselves to residual pet waste

• Get a report on your local water quality and drink only filtered water (Filters need to be very fine a size of 3 microns or under to filter microorganism cysts.)

• While hiking, never drink out of streams and carry a fine pore filter of 3 microns or under while camping

• Wash raw fruits and vegetables before eating

• Be very careful with cooking meats and fish to ensure that any larvae in them are killed

• Cook beef to an internal temperature of 160° f

• Cook chicken, lamb and pork to 170° f

• Cook fish until flaky and do not cook in a microwave

• Avoid eating raw Pacific salmon and rockfish (Flash frozen fish are safer.)

• Eat fiber such as raw nuts, beans, greens berries; these sweep your colon

• Avoiding sugars and simple starches that parasites thrive on

• Avoid swimming in freshwater lakes

• Always sit on a towel in a sauna

• Be aware that public mud baths and spas can carry the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis (This happened to me the only time I used a mud bath!)

• If you are pregnant or immunocompromised, avoid changing your cat's litter box and have someone else and household do it

* Please note that you don't need to use potent chemicals for cleaning.  You can use potent essential oils instead!  Dr. Mariza Snyder is my to-go resource on essential oils, and her book, Smart Mom's Guide to Essential Oils: Natural Solutions for a Healthy Family, Toxin-Free Home and Happier You has many great cleaning recipes.

If you would like to learn more about parasites, I encourage you to attend the Parasite Summit hosted by Dr. Jay Davidson. This event is an eye-opening journey into parasites and their effects on health, hormones, detox and more!

Learn more here.

Accurate testing for parasites cannot be conducted at your local doctor's office. The technology is just available in this setting and paradigm. We do conduct these tests with our private clients and develop protocols to help them eradicate gut pathogens. If you are interested in talking to us more about it you can check out our coaching options here.

To Your Health! 

Bridgit

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Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.

Current Trends in Women's Health Disorders with Ann Melin & Bridgit Danner

Ann Melin is a functional health coach and my colleague in the Restore Your Radiance Program, which we discuss in this episode. She's our guest this week where we talk about the program and issues we have come across recently in our practices.

While we are no longer offering this particular program, we still provide private coaching and cutting-edge test reviews. You can learn about our current coaching programs here.

Here's what you'll hear:

Min 02:10 Ann Melin's work in the Restore Your Radiance Program
Min 05:30 Bridgit's work in the Spark Case Review Program
Min 08:35 Challenges/road blocks to good health
Min 12:30 Health profiles of women in the program
Min 17:55 Thyroid issues among women
Min 21:05 Gut issues among women
Min 23:10 Interacting with other health practitioners
Min 27:10 What the program offers & follow-ups

Resources:

Lab Testing for Women's Health Webinar replay
Our current private coaching programs

And here's a video version of the interview on YouTube.

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If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!

Thanks for listening,

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

The Benefits of Lab Testing for Women's Health

You are trying to fix your hormones, tame your hormones, survive your hormones…is it working? If not, here’s help and an explanation of why it’s so complicated.

Your body is complex- 11 systems comprised of 37.2 trillion cells working together with 100 trillion bacteria to keep you energetic, sleeping well and thinking clearly.  Source

Our modern environment is also complex. Wi-fi, international news reports, food additives, long work days…we all have a lot challenging us right now.

You are probably already trying to be healthy. Did you cut down on sugar, caffeine, gluten?  That’s great! Are you noticing some steadier moods or a slimmer waistline? I hope so. 

You may also be trying to get regular exercise, and maybe even meditating.  That’s great too!  How about reading blogs like this one and attending online health summits? Yup. These foundations of diet, exercise, stress reduction, and education are all very important.

But what if you are still tired? What if you still have no sex drive?  Raging acne? Creeping weight gain?

You may think, “well I must have adrenal fatigue.”  

That’s the mindset I had several years ago. I was eating really well but still had spotting before my periods and really low energy in the afternoons.  I thought, “Well, it’s the stress. I need to do a better job of handling stress.” But I never seemed to accomplish that.

Later I had a DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones) test, and it revealed something new to me.  It suggested I may have low thyroid function, which I had never suspected. I didn’t have the hair loss, weight gain, etc. that I had learned about with low thyroid.

Important Point #1: Your hormone problems are not always what you think. 

It’s easy to come to a conclusion that you have estrogen dominance, low hormone levels, low adrenal function, etc, but you don’t really know until you test. You can, like me, beat yourself about a diagnosis you’ve decided on and keep self-treating for it, but it’s better to test and really know.

After my DUTCH results suggested I had low thyroid function, I ran a full thyroid panel on myself for the first time. Although I had run blood tests in the past, I had never tested my thyroid antibodies as I hadn’t suspected an issue there.

My results showed a very low level of thyroid antibodies, and I’m so glad I caught it early.  Around the same time I was chronically sick, and, at first, I figured it must be this thyroid issue. 

But soon after we learned that we had toxic mold within the walls of our house, which took me down a deeper rabbit hole of testing.

Important Point # 2: Your hormone problems came from somewhere.

It’s important to realize that your body will not randomly give you a thyroid condition, or any other hormonal imbalance.  It wants to have a working thyroid gland and balanced hormones.

As I learned about mold, I learned that it, among other triggers, can contribute to thyroid issues. This is why I still do not identify with a Hashimoto’s diagnosis, but rather I consider myself a person in the process of healing and clearing deeper causes of illness.

Recently I had a new type of stool test. My past stool tests had revealed some bacterial imbalance and H. Pylori infection, an infection I cleared without any improvement in my gastrointestinal symptoms.  

I was ‘inspired’ to run a GI Map test by Diagnostic Solutions laboratory after interviewing Dr. Todd Watts about parasites on my podcast, and then promptly passing a worm in my stool the next day! What timing. Side note: if you see something that looks like a pad thai noodle or a bean sprout in your stool, but you’ve didn’t eat either the day before, you should be highly suspicious!

The GI Map is different because it looks for DNA fragments of parasite and other infections in your stool.  So it doesn’t miss much.  However, according to Dr. Watts, it is still inadequate because it does not test for every type of parasite.

But for me, a parasite was found, and it did appear to roughly match the specimen I had found in my stool.  I lived a year in rural South America about 20 years ago, and I had suspected a parasite back then.  But you don’t need to leave the country to get a parasite!  Again according to Dr. Watts, “everyone who has a pulse has a parasite.”  According to the Center for Disease Control's website, " Parasitic infections affect millions of people in the United States every year."

I mention stool testing because 100% of the clients in our coaching program have GI issues contributing to hormonal issues.

When you are housing candida infections, aberrant bacterial growth, parasites, H. Pylori infection or Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), it’s a chronic stress or your body, leading to inflammation, malnutrition or even autoimmune disease. It’s incredibly common, and digestion and hormones are not often enough linked in the medical conversation.  

Important Point # 3: Your primary care doctor probably doesn’t take a functional approach to health care.  

Many people comment to me that they want to feel better and they are very interested in the functional approach, and then their next question is, “Can my doctor run these tests for me?”

Yes and no. Sometimes your doctor to run a full CBC blood panel for you, and have them add vitamin D and thyroid antibodies. However:

1. Within a conventional medical system, she can’t run labs for diagnoses they don’t suspect based on their training

2. If she is not a functional practitioner, she will not interpret your results in a functional way, and may tell you you are fine (when you don’t feel fine)

3. She definitely cannot run the advanced urinary, saliva and stool tests we use because these tests are not available to them through the conventional medical system

You can’t ask your doctor to practice functional medicine if that’s not what she practices.

It’s like asking your massage therapist to give you acupuncture.  It's not within their training.

Our clients can sometimes get helpful blood tests through their doctors that we can review, and I also encourage them to use a Health Savings Account (it’s pre-tax money you put towards health expenses) when possible.

I understand that spending money out-of-pocket on medical expenses is not fun. I understand that many people are living on modest means and supporting kids, parents, and other family members financially.

Our family has spent, get this, at least $100,000 in remediating mold in our house, replacing all our stuff, missing work, moving to a safer space, and treating our health.  And the spending hasn’t stopped because I’m not all healed up yet, and we still have some mold-infected belongings to replace.

Still dealing with mold, over a year after it was found.

So I am sympathetic, but at the same time, I have made incredible sacrifices to heal myself and my family.  And I would do it again in a heartbeat.  

The experience I went through with mold was a huge growth opportunity.  It made me realize how short and fragile life is, and gave me a deep hunger to get well and live my life to the fullest.

I recently read this quote in the book, Gratitude, by author and physician Oliver Sacks, after he learned he had advanced liver cancer, "It is now up to me to choose how to live out the months that remain to me. I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can."

I had a firsthand experience with the web of diseases and how they interconnect. It was not easy to identify my root causes nor navigate the options for care. 

As a health coach, my experience made me a strong advocate for my clients to persist and get well, even if the path seems impossible to find, or the mountain too big to climb.  

We have women in our program who are too sick to work, homemakers or who are working low-wage jobs. I am fiercely proud of them for choosing to invest in their health. Others have parents that choose to support them in their healthcare, often in cases of infertility where the odds of becoming a grandparent are increased!

It comes down to choosing more for yourself- to believing your health could be improved, which allows you to be happier and more productive.  You also have to be willing to work and to pick yourself up when you have a hard day of symptoms.

If you'd like to have a conversation with me about your health journey and what we do in our functional health coaching program, please check out our current coaching options  Our private coaching program does include choosing the best lab test for your case, placing the orders for you, interpreting your results, setting a protocol based on those results, and adjusting and monitoring your protocol for best results.

Free Educational Videos on our Favorite Lab Testing

In this video, Ann Melin is describing about the DUTCH i.e Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones by Precision Analytical. She will also explain about different types of hormones and organic acids.

In this video, Ann Melin is describing about the GI-Map from Diagnostic Solutions Lab. She will also explain about Stool testing techniques, different types of pathogens, worms and intestinal health.

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Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP, is trained in functional health coaching and has worked with thousands of women over her career since 2004. She is the founder of Women’s Wellness Collaborative llc and HormoneDetoxShop.com.