And Yet

Is your doctor listening to you? Actually listening? In today’s world of medicine, many patients aren’t being heard. In fact, many are being completely dismissed, invalidated, and sometimes even insulted. Especially when it comes to women’s health, doctors sometimes don’t take women seriously. The doctor-patient dynamic here has damaged people, even to the point of causing diseases to get worse. This is Angela Allen’s experience. Angela is a psychiatric ER nurse based out of North Carolina. So far in her life, she’s had quite the battle with endometriosis. She’s had over five surgeries and a multitude of doctors totally reject her plea for help, treatment, and care. Even as a nurse, she, too, has struggled with the cold doctor-patient power dynamic. Today, we talk about our overall experiences with endometriosis. The three of us each take turns telling stories about our surgeries, treatments, total rejections by doctors, and the trauma that is associated with this cycle as a result. Angela specifically talks about her own healing process and how she’s learned to advocate for herself in the doctor’s office prior to going under the knife. Get ready to learn more about how to find your voice in the doctor’s office, self educate, and empower yourself to get the treatment you deserve. Some Question I Ask: What was your process in getting diagnosed with endometriosis? (4:45)What feedback did you receive after your first surgery? (7:39)What have doctors told you that really shocked you? (15:52)What’s it like for you to switch from being the nurse to the patient? (17:23)How can someone practically prepare for a doctor visit? (18:30)How did you prepare yourself for a potential hysterectomy? (23:20)How do you feel when you see the uterus as a symbol of unity and strength depicted now in social media and in art? (25:05)What’s your job as a nurse in a psychiatric ER like? (38:04)In This Episode, You Will Learn: How endometriosis can be diagnosed. (4:48)About Angela’s experience of her pain being dismissed by her doctor and being labeled a drug addict. (7:48)Why the doctor-patient dynamic disserves patients. (17:27)How to find your voice in the doctor’s office. (18:37)Why a hysterectomy may be needed to help treat endometriosis. (21:34)About the intangible grief and isolation after having an unwanted hysterectomy. (25:34)How to cope with the grief tied to a hysterectomy. (32:34)About the long-term effects of being dismissed by your doctor due to severe chronic pain. (35:04)Resources: Endo Coach RN WebsiteConnect with Angela: Instagram

Sometimes, when you make a mistake or say the wrong thing, it sticks with you. I mean, it really sticks with you. Sometimes, that can stick with you for days, weeks, or even years. Even just thinking about it can make your face turn red and your chest constricts due to all the anxiety, guilt, and general discomfort around the whole thing. These feelings can spark the desire to run away and avoid this discomfort at all costs. This is especially true with conversations centered around race: where white people with good intentions make mistakes, get defensive, and avoid the discomfort. On today’s episode, we talk with Joy Fennel, who handles these difficult and uncomfortable conversations with absolute grace. Together, we talk about where we have unintentionally participated in “white feminism,” and left others behind. We debrief our mistakes, confront our own white privilege, and learn to grow from there. Get ready to get uncomfortable with us and grow through this process. Some Questions I Ask: Do you often get stuck in uncomfortable conversations where you have to debate whether or not to confront racism? (18:34)How would you like to have these conversations? (22:19)Why aren’t black people receiving proper medical care? (33:29)Did you face representation issues while growing up? (35:44)What changes do you see in beauty trends? (37:48)What are your goals for the future? (53:17)In This Episode, You Will Learn: Why America needs to enter into uncomfortable discussions around race. (7:05)How Joy prioritizes giving grace to others within these uncomfortable conversations. (11:33)How Joy determines whether or not to confront someone. (19:17)Why the “revved-up mentality” is dangerous to progression and health. (22:40)Why people distrust allies. (26:48)How anger shifts into depression, and how this is dismissed through stereotypes. (30:00)Why black people are their own advocates in healthcare. (34:04)How Joy began her journey in the beauty industry. (38:15)How impactful it is to see a situation from other points of view when it comes to race. (51:19)Connect with Joy:Joy’s InstagramThe Joy In Beauty InstagramCloutier Remix ProfileThe Joy In Beauty Website

Did you know that 80-90% of female-bodied individuals suffer from PMS?Did you know that actually suffering from PMS isn’t how life needs to be for those who experience periods?This episode of And Yet Podcast is about empowering women and female-bodied people to use their menstrual cycle as an asset rather than a hindrance on their quality of life. Lara Briden is here to share some of her wisdom and experience with helping her patients progress from accepting period discomfort as a normal life experience to helping them mostly—if not completely—eradicate all PMS symptoms.Lara Briden is a naturopathic doctor with over 20 years of experience. Her mission is to have easy, symptomless periods, and join the worldwide period revolution. Her book Period Repair Manual outlines practical solutions to improving PMS and all unpleasant symptoms related to the menstrual cycle.Right now, conventional medicine tends to brush off many period problems, telling patients that it’s “normal.” Lara Briden, however, says menstrual health is not separate from the rest of your health, even if conventional medicine treats it that way. Instead, it’s more like a monthly report card that will determine if you are eating a nutritional diet or have any underlying health issues.Learn how you can take back control over your period on this episode of the And Yet Podcast.Some Questions I Ask: How did you become involved in the area of menstrual and hormonal health? (4:00)What do you mean when you say that menstrual health is an indicator of overall health? (5:41)What can our periods tell us? (6:36)What PMS symptoms are normal and considered healthy? (16:05)What PMS symptoms should raise a red flag? (25:04)What is the problem in misdiagnosing something like PCOS? (27:52)How should we be talking to medical professionals about our experiences? (38:38)How can we learn to use our cycle to our advantage? (44:20)In This Episode, You Will Learn: How menstrual health indicates overall health and what our periods are telling us. (5:51)What is and is not a period. (10:39)The various PMS symptoms that are normal and why they are experienced. (16:13)Vitamins and supplements that help rid you of your PMS symptoms (27:06)What PCOS is and its effects. (29:15)Useful scripts and suggestions to help with having tough conversations with doctors about pain and other symptoms. (38:44)Tips on using your cycle to make time for self-care. (44:31)Connect with Lara Briden: WebsiteFacebookTwitterInstagramAdditional Resources:Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden“3 Signs Your Period is Not Really a Period” by Lara Briden“Histamine Intolerance and a Brand-New Way of Treating PMS or PMDD” by Lara Briden

Dr. Nathalie Martinek is a well-being mentor, coach and educator for physicians and healthcare professionals. She is originally from Toronto but she now lives in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Nathalie has a PhD in developmental biology and she is also the founder of a new app called Safe Space.

It Didn’t Start with You Show NotesMark is a leading expert in the field of inherited family trauma. He leads workshops, hospitals, conferences and teaching centers around the world.  Mark is the author of the book It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle.Timestamped Notes[00:37] There are fears or anxieties that strike people when they reach a certain age or an event or depression that people never get to the bottom of and symptoms that really come from nowhere. What Mark is learning is the symptoms could actually be the residues of trauma in a person's family history that was biologically inherited from parents or grandparents or even great grandparents. Epigenetics therefore gets into what going there. There are numerous examples of trauma like when a spouse cheats, parents fight or someone dies. Trauma changes people. Any kind of trauma can create an epigenetic change. When trauma occurs it causes a chemical change in the DNA and this can change how genes function sometimes even for generations. A chemical tag will attach to the DNA and tell a cell how to use or ignore a certain gene based on the trauma the body has experienced. The way the genes are affected can change how a person reacts or feels. They can either be reactive or overly sensitive to situations that are similar to the traumas our parents experienced therefore dealing with it better. An example is if a person's grandparents were from a war ton country where there are police everywhere and people being shot. The grand parents would pass forward skill sets like sharper reflexes or quick reaction time to help us survive the trauma they experienced. A stress response can also be inherited along with the skillset.[04:04] People are born with fears and feelings of their parents or grandparents and think that those fears they are theirs. Mark wrote the book because most people do not make the link. These traumas are passed down in gene changes. A chemical change happens to the grandparents which may silence, activate, and turn up or down a gene. It is the gene expression that is passed down. This does not change the DNA but it changes the way the genes express. This can be passed forward for three generations.For years it was known that something like this was happening but it wasn’t until thirteen years ago when Rachel Yehuda  a neuroscientist out of Mt Sinai Medical school in New York discovered that the children of holocaust survivors share the same trauma symptoms as the children especially specifically the low levels of cortisone. Cortisone is the stress hormone that gets people back normal after a stressful event. Holocaust survivors and their children experiencing depression and anxiety. She also found the same pattern in the children born to mothers who were pregnant near the World Trade Center when it was attacked. The babies inherited compromised cortisone levels but 16 different genetic markers like being smaller for their gestation period. A couple of years ago Racheal finds that survivors and their children share the exact gene changes in the exact same region of the exact same gene technically the Fkpb five gene.[06:50] This research suggest that traumas are heritable. People are three times more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder if one of their parents had PTSD meaning that those people will struggle with anxiety and depression. The pattern can be observed for two generations in humans but further research indicates three generations is also in effect. This was done using mice and rats which 99% of a similar genetic makeup as humans. It is easy to get a generation of mice in 12-20 weeks whilst with humans it takes 12-20 years.At Emery Medical School at Atlanta, they take male mice and they make them fear cherry blossom scent. Anytime the mice smelled the smell they would get shocked. They noticed that thy were changes in the brain, blood and sperm but specifically in their brain where there were enlarged areas where there was a greater amount of smell receptors so that the mice could protect themselves by detecting the scent  at lesser concentrations. That’s the epigenetic change or adaptation. They also saw changes in the sperms and they took some of the sperms and they impregnated female mice that were not shocked. They wanted to see what would in the next generation. They found that the mice in the 2nd and 3rd generation became jumpy and jittery just by smelling the smell. The inherited the stress response without directly experiencing the trauma.[09:09] Traumas are very important. In the contraction of the trauma is the expansion. The traumas themselves are seeking that expansion and therefore keep repeating in sense to show us what is unhealed because ultimately people seek healing. Even after healing Mark thinks that a vestige of the trauma will remain to ensure that people are walking the path that they trust. When people hit on a practice that motivates them, it's these practices that people heal. The experience changes people towards an action and it's through taking that action continually that people heal. In the book Mark tells the story of a woman who wanted to commit suicide. She wanted to be vaporized and incinerated. After interrogation with Mark it turns out she lost most of her family members in Auschwitz.[14:23] People can be born with a body feeling or emotion they can never wrap their heads around. That’s one aspect of knowing one has inherited a feeling. There also some tell signs when things strikes suddenly. An example is realizing a fear, anxiety or symptom that begins suddenly when people reach a certain age or hit a certain milestone like marriage or pregnancy. Mark met a lady whose anxiety problems started once she was pregnant. Her main fear was harming her baby and it turns out her grandmother harmed her child and they were never allowed to talk about it. The lady realized she was carrying her grandmother's experience in her fears and how when something is kept under covers, the traumas find a way to arise more doggedly. When traumas remain unresolved or the healing is incomplete or the people involved are rejected, aspects of the original trauma will repeat itself in the subsequent generation.[15:25] Sometimes children in a family get different traumas. Marks says that it is like an eight cut pizza. The cut pizza represents the traumas in the family. The first boy might take two pieces of the trauma from the father' side and the first girl might take a big piece of pizza from the mother's side and later born children seem to carry trauma  that can be even further away maybe a grandparent's trauma. First boys and first girls in a family can take a larger piece of the trauma. In huge traumas like the Holocaust, different kids can carry different aspects of it. One child may carry a fear in the smell of gas while another may be scared that she could lose her children. In the book there was a case of three Lebanese women who both of their grandmothers were given away as child brides to the old men. What passed down was that one sister married a much older man like her grandmother's and the other sister didn't have anything to do with men and she did not marry. The other one shut down every time she dated.[21:10] There are three mechanisms that scientists have illuminated. Three ways in which Trans generational trauma can be observed. The first is DNA methylation where there is methyl residue added on to the DNA and this can be observed for three generations. Another one is non-coding RNAs. Scientists see this in excess amounts for three generations. The third one is called Histone modifications which are added to the proteins. This means that scientists can look at something very physical and see it repeated in three generation. Isabel a researcher at the Brain Research Institute at the University of Zurich traumatized male mice by repeatedly separating them from their mothers. Afterward they exhibited depression like symptoms that were called inhuman. They then took the depressed mice for three generations and dropped them in a bowl of water along with the mice that was not separated from the mother. The mice that were separated from their mother would float and drown whilst the mouse that was not separated would try to get out of the bowl of water. When they dissected the mice they found same trauma symptoms in the 2nd and 3rd generation despite only the 1st generation experiencing the trauma. The researchers found abnormally high numbers of small non coding micro RNAs. Although the mice in the 3rd generation also expressed the same symptoms as their fathers and grandfathers, they did not have the elevated numbers of the micro RNAs. This allowed researcher to speculate that there is a three generational link but perhaps not beyond that. Currently there are studies with worms where they can see generational links for 14 generations so there is still a possibility of going beyond 3 generations.[25:27] The largest trauma that Mark has worked with is attachment. This can come in two ways, experiencing one's own break from the mother or inheriting ones fathers or mother break with his or her mother. Some of the male mice that were separated from their mothers did not express the behavioral changes themselves, they epigenetically transmitted the behavioral change to their female offspring's. Father's trauma could go into either direction.Once a person has figured out their trauma language, they need to have a new experience that is powerful enough to override the trauma response that lives inside. This experience needs to be emotionally important. The idea is to steal traction away from the trauma cycle that is in the mid brain. The experience needs to engage the Prefrontal Cortex and change the brain because energy is being pulled out from the limbic brain, stress response or trauma. This leads to the rewiring of new pathways as well as stimulating the release of a few good neurotransmitters like Serotonin, Dopamine and Gamma-amino butyric. These hormones are necessary to get pregnant for couples. The genes express can be affected positively by doing that therefore reducing the likelihood of your child picking up trauma. When the mice were transferred in a positive environment they did not pass it down to their offspring.[35:26] Mark's book teaches the reader how to become a detective, to uncover the clues or the behaviors that repeat. There is a trauma language that a body speaks and there is also trauma language of a repeating self-destructive behaviors that people keep making. People need to learn how to listen to such language and symptoms. The book then leads the reader to where the language originated from the family history. With all that information, breaking the cycle is possible. There are many questions in the book that help the reader unearth their language. Readers are encouraged to have support before starting the journey.Knowing what's going on expands our knowledge and the resources to deal with our situations. Not knowing makes one live in a cloud of misery where one thinks everything bad happens to him. The book is very freeing because it allows people to shake the family tree and see what falls out. If one ignores the past, it will come and haunt them later in the future. Exploring it gives options of breaking the disruptive pattern. The trauma itself contains the seed of expansion. In the contraction lives the expansion.Connect with Markhttps://www.markwolynn.com/mark-wolynn/- Personal websiteResourcesIt Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How   to End the Cycle- Mark Wolynn

Sally works at a clinic that provides in-clinic abortion services. On the days when she is handling administrative duties, Sally will usually be signing prescriptions, checking over charts and making sure patients are being seen in the appropriate way and getting to the right providers. She also provides on-call advice to patients who are post-abortion or maybe coming for their appointment soon. She answers all their concerns and explains what's normal and what's not.Time Stamped Notes[0:58] For abortions, Sally has seen people of all ages. Not very many of the patients will be under 16, but once in a while Sally will attend to patients under 16. Most patients will fall in the age bracket of 16 to 47 years. The patients will be from all backgrounds, religions and races. Sally notes that 59% of women who receive abortions already have children. She believes that mothers are more likely to seek an abortion just because they kind of understand the implications of what raising a child is for your community and for your family.[2:33] There's two types of procedures that Sally's clinic offers. Patients can have a medication abortion or a surgical abortion. For the medication, the patient will come in, they will be given a pill and then the next day in their home, they take four pills to help the pregnancy pass. Sally explains that every woman experiences it differently. Some women may experience the worst pain of their lives while some may experience no pain at all, but usually the pain level is somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. The pain usually depends on where the patient is at in their gestation cycle. However, it is very common to have like menstrual leg cramps which the clinic provides pain medication for.[3:11] Surgical abortion is much less scarier than the name implies. There's no cutting or scraping. It's really gentle dilation of the cervix and the removal of the pregnancy with a straw which is also known as a curette. Mothers are always more likely to opt for the surgical procedure just because they've had speculum exams before, they've delivered and they're a little bit used to that clinical environment.[4:28] Sally often tells her patients that it's normal to have every emotion. When Sally first became a fresh screen abortion nurse, she expected a lot more angst from the patients. However, what she witnessed was a lot of relief. Clearly the issue had been on their minds for a few weeks or several days before they went to the abortion clinic where their medical issue was solved. Whenever Sally is in the room with a patient waiting for the doctors to arrive, they're always asking a lot of questions. In truth, the anticipation is actually far worse than the procedure itself.[6:37] The law requires patients to wait 5 to 10 days after having their evaluation and blood tests. After the 10 day period, 90% of the women will still be sure that that is what they want to do. Sally believes that this is accurate for patients who arrive and don’t wait. 10% of them will probably go home and will not go through with it all the way because the clinic has excellent counsellors who will be able to spot when they aren’t ready to make this decision or don’t want. Sally, therefore believes that this statistic will not change whether they had to wait or not. Sally always tries to remind her patients that it's okay to feel sad and to feel angry and to feel just conflicted over the choice that they have made.[12:58] For people who have had abortions, grief comes from different places. One is from feeling sad that they found themselves in that position. Secondly, grief may come from the reality of what it means to be an adult in this world. Abortion is a big decision and this is just an indication of crossing over to adulthood. People who find themselves pregnant often grieve the end of their childhood.[15:37] Initially, Sally thought that the people who were having abortions were teenagers who found themselves in bad situations. However, sometimes people want to have abortions because they want to be in a place in their life where they feel they can raise a family and at the moment, having a child is not the best way to do it. This could be because they are not where they want to be in their career or they need some mental health services to get themselves sorted out or their relationship is pretty new and they want to give it time to breathe. Society nowadays has made many people feel like abortion is only appropriate when there are dire situations. However, women have abortions whether they're young or coming to the end of their reproductive years because they choose what's right for their community.[22:41] Sally believes that if society didn’t stigmatize abortions, there would be less abortions because women would have greater access to birth control because of so much stigma around birth control where some people are acting as though that is a form of abortion as well. Research has shown that one in four women have abortions. By not stigmatizing abortions, these women would be allowed to grieve more and be happy. They would get to go through abortion as a rite of passage.[26:06] Being able to experience a whole range of emotions, whether you're getting your first period, having an abortion, having a baby, it is spiritual practice, especially when you are joined with other people. Sally always feels this way when she's in a procedure room when a patient's having an abortion and they're being so supported. Their physician is there talking them through the whole thing and giving them whatever they need. Some patients don’t want to hear anything while others want to be given like a step by step guide. The doula is there holding the patient's hand and everyone is so loving and supportive.[27:13] Some facilities won't use the term doula and they call it, support person and this is really what a doula is. The doula must not necessarily be part of the medical staff and the doula is just be there to hold their hand. A doula is like water and they're there to morph into what the patient needs in that moment. So typically it's waiting with the patient as they're getting into their gown.[33:51] If you're a person who's just had an abortion and you're struggling with the feelings you're having afterwards, then just feel those emotions. That's okay. Be as permissive with yourself as possible. Allow yourself to be totally thrilled and happy and ready to just start your new life, but also to grieve what that other ship had for you and what this new ship you're on is like. Be so gentle and talk to someone.

We feel like crap when taking the pill.We’re not alone in this experience of feeling like crap when taking hormonal birth control pills.We’re not against hormonal birth control, but we are against using the pill as a blanket solution. There’s well-documented gender bias in the medical field, and it’s time for doctors to really start listening to women.Over the last decade, for the first time, statistics for hormonal birth control for millennial women has actually decreased because of the rough side effects that have become commonplace. In other words, women aren’t putting up with this anymore.On today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Jolene Brighten. She is one of the pioneers in menstrual health reform in the United States. She’s a functional medicine naturopathic medical doctor, founder of Rubus Health, and is globally recognized as the leading expert in post-birth control syndrome.Our conversation covers everything from personal experiences of doctors not paying attention to us in the clinic, and personal experiences regarding the pill. We also discuss methods to change the dismissive culture around menstrual health in medicine, natural alternatives to hormonal birth control, and how the story of menstruation is shifting to a story of empowerment.Learn how you can take control over your menstrual health, medical care, and your symptoms on this episode of the And Yet podcast.Some Questions We Ask: ·     What does hormonal contraception do to the body? (8:02)·     How hormonal contraception can create a divide between the body and the self. (12:01)·     Why has the pill become the go-to treatment for menstrual health issues? (21:33)·     What really happens after the pill? What should women expect to happen? (40:09)·     What are natural alternatives to hormonal birth control? (46:50)In This Episode, You Will Learn: ·     Why millennials are rejecting hormonal contraception. (6:08)·     How hormonal contraception affects the body. (8:19)·     How the story of menstruation is shifting to a story of women’s control over their own bodies. (12:31)·     How the culture around medicine focuses on giving women a quick fix for their menstrual health issues, and how you can be part of the change. (21:44)·     What to expect to happen to your body after coming off the pill. (40:28)·     Why it’s important for women to learn to work with a menstrual cycle. (48:13)Connect with Dr. Jolene Brighten:WebsiteFacebookYouTubeInstagramRubus HealthBeyond the Pill by Dr. Jolene BrightenAdditional Resources: Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

The And Yet Podcast; the debut series hosted by Siena and Kelsey about the intersection of culture and health. No topic is left undiscussed - they go there! Coming soon to your favourite podcast player.