#103: Detoxifying Your Body and Environment with Bridgit Danner

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha. I want to share something with you that I believe God is doing right now in women's health. We're in the middle of a massive movement and most people don't even know it. Every single day, 6,000 women in the U.S. enter menopause. That's over 2 million women a year, and by 2030, that's more than 1.2 billion women worldwide. So here's the thing, most of these women feel exhausted, bloated, anxious, disconnected from themselves, and the medical system is Doctors are handing out prescriptions and quick fixes, and no one is helping women heal from the root cause of their issues. That's where Fast to Faith coaches come in. As a certified coach, you'll be equipped to help midlife women balance their hormones, heal their gut, regain their energy, and reconnect their faith, the foundation that so many of us have been missing. And from a business standpoint, woo, this is one of the most lucrative untapped opportunities in the entire health coaching world. The global health coaching industry is expected to reach over $33 billion by 2023, and midlife women are the fastest-growing, highest-spending demographic in that space. Most importantly, these women stay with their coaches. They invest deeply because they are desperate for lasting transformation— body, mind, and spirit. So if you've been feeling that pull and that whisper that you're meant to do more, This is it. Now is the time to rise, to serve, and build a purpose-driven business that not only changes other women's lives but transforms your own in the process. Because when you help one woman heal, you help her family, her marriage, her faith, and her future. That's the ripple effect that we're creating with Fast to Faith. So join me, click the link to come watch this webinar. It might be the one thing that really moves the needle for you in this Next season. I can't wait to see you in there. Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Gutsy Gynecologist. I'm a triple board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. After caring for thousands of women, I've come to realize that your gut health determines your gyn health and your overall And it's a super gutsy thing for me to go against conventional gynecology practice to bring you the truth. No more Band-Aid medicine, ladies. We're talking root cause resolution on this show. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place, and I want to be your gutsy gynecologist. So welcome. Welcome back, ladies. So I am here once again to give you hope and guidance to live your best life. And I know that a lot of you are struggling or you know someone who's struggling, like a friend or a family member. You know, they've gone down the road of seeing all the doctors, all the specialists, to the point where They almost lose hope, and that is not okay. Our medical system is broken. I, you know, admit that, but there are answers. You just have to keep searching, you know, and you're on the right track listening to podcasts like this. Or if you know that person who really is losing hope and needs to hear this, please share it with them. But this episode, um, is just gonna give you hope because my guest today, she had a chronic illness for years and she finally figured it out. And talk about a pain-to-purpose story. She like totally flipped life on its head and now she's helping thousands of people recover from the same issues she had. So I just love these type of people that, you know, they don't lose hope, they keep their faith, they figure it out, and then they turn it into something beautiful and amazing and help other people. Because honestly, that is what this life is about. It's about us helping each other, connecting, lifting one another up, being there for each other, growing in community. Oh my gosh, I just thought of my church, how at the end of every service they say, you know, growing in community as God's hands to serve. So that is ultimately why we're all here. And, you know, I want to be here for you through your struggles. And some of us have deeper struggles than others. Some of us have more health challenges because of our genetics or because of our environmental upbringing and exposures on a regular basis. And some of us, we just need a little bit of tweaking here and there. We just need a little extra vitamin D. But some of us really have some chronic issues going on that can't be figured out. And so my guest today, Bridget Danner, is all about helping you figure out how your environment is affecting you and your health. So she is an incredible woman. She is a licensed acupuncturist and she's a certified diagnostic practitioner. She has given over 12,000 treatments in her career. That's amazing. Acupuncture can be so healing. But, you know, she had this thriving integrative wellness practice in Portland, Oregon, But she developed an environmental illness due to her toxic mold in her home. So she was already experienced in hormone management, nutrition, and all of this, but this really helped her become acutely aware of the powerful impact the environment has on your health. And it took her a long time, she'll admit, like, to really heal from this because she has that bio-individuality that makes her more susceptible to mold toxicity. So she's been interested in her environment her whole life. She donated her allowance to Greenpeace as a child, and she was writing cosmetic companies when she was a kid about their practices of what's in their products and all of that. So I just love her passion for this. And I want you to think about your environment and how things could be impacting your health And wellness that you might not necessarily be aware of. So she actually, you know, going through this, she lost her house and everything she owned due to this toxic mold. So she's an extreme case. They had to move 1,000 miles away to Arizona in the desert for her to heal. But we can learn so much from her story. That's— I love stories. I think they're so powerful. You might not have that extreme situation like Bridget did, but I bet there are things you can do in your life, tweaks you can make, swap-outs, things you can get educated on that can take your health to the next level. So Bridget now educates about toxins and detox through her online community, and she coaches women how to detox through a functional approach. And she's got a masterclass coming out in a couple weeks called the Toxic Mold Masterclass. And as she's going to mention today, like, it doesn't have to be like, you know, you have a mold illness and you need this masterclass. She has experts on here talking about like the environmental toxins hiding in our home where we spend a huge majority of our life, you know. So I feel like this masterclass is good for everybody. But today's episode, we are going to talk about what are the do-it-yourself detox treatments that you can just do. You don't have to go for fancy functional medicine consults and go through all the rigmarole. And she talks about just like basic things that you can do on the regular to detox your body from all these environmental And we are more toxically burdened than ever before as a civilization. You know, chemicals that we're exposed to every day on a regular basis through our skin, through our air, through our food, through our water, they didn't even exist 100 years ago. Our great-great-grandparents did not have to deal with this. Thousands, I tell you. The United States has thousands of chemicals that are put in our daily regular food that other countries around the world have deemed toxic. They literally do not allow them to be used. Yet in the United States, we continue to use these thousands of chemicals. And so we really need to be our own advocates, and we really need to support our body's natural detoxification pathways of the liver and the gut and the skin and the lungs and all of the lymphatic system. So Bridget's going to talk about how to do that. This is a cool episode. You're going to end with a bunch of new tools in your toolbox to help you reclaim your health. So here we go. Well, welcome, Bridget, to the Gutsy Gynecologist Show.

Hi, Tabatha. Thanks for having me.

I'm So excited for this conversation today because you have a really awesome masterclass coming out and I want women to check it out. What's it called?

It's called the Toxic Mold Masterclass.

So this is really important. I don't think that we know enough about environmental toxins, and mold is one of those sneaky little culprits that we don't realize. Right. So what are you going to talk about in this masterclass? Why should my listeners check this out?

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think mold is an underlying cause of more things than we realize, more symptoms, especially the ones that are dragging on and you can't seem to fix them, even though you're changing your diet and going to bed early and trying to do the right things. I mean, that was definitely in my story, including hormone stuff that we'll talk about today. So at least to have some awareness of what it is and what to check for in your house and What kind of the grouping of symptoms might look like. And we also talk about, in general, living a nontoxic, low toxic lifestyle. It's impossible to live a nontoxic lifestyle.

Right.

Yeah. Because it is so multifactorial. And once you become sensitive to one thing, you're usually sensitive to other chemicals more. If your body's becoming weakened from mold, you maybe picked up other infections. So these events can seem like a lot, but even if you tune into a couple of talks that interest Great. I'm doing like a 10-minute talk every day, so I just kind of go start to finish through the whole topic through the week.

Oh my gosh, that's going to be so good. And I don't know if I said it, but it's free, right?

It is free.

Sign up and watch this and get educated.

Yeah, I think this is my 7th or 8th event and this is like my best one by far. The speakers are really amazing. Somehow I cajoled all of them to do slide presentations, so it's like very professionally organized and stuff like that. So we're not just chitchatting. We're really giving you the real deal.

Awesome. And then women have access to the book you wrote, The Ultimate Guide to Toxic Mold Recovery, if that is an issue for them. So I think definitely check it out. The links are in the show notes. So cool. All right, so let's talk about just toxins in general. Mold is one of them, but what are some other toxins that we get exposed to in the environment?

Yeah, so mold is an interesting one in that it's a natural substance that releases something really dangerous inside our own bodies. That's going on too with different infections like mold and parasites and bacterial imbalances. But then other toxicants are man-made that we think of more, like pesticides and herbicides and fragrances and all those things, food colorings. And then heavy metals, which are natural but weren't really meant to be dug up and distributed. So we're getting exposed to those too. And one of those in excess could bring you down. But usually, like I said earlier, if one is strong, then the other ones are kind of piling on as well. And they can make for subtle changes too. So if we talk about hormones, changes in your period, changes in your fertility, Because toxins are usually inflammatory to the cells. They often attach to cell receptors where hormones like estrogen should attach. They create a burden on the liver. They can back up the lymph. They can disrupt the gut microbiome, which can lead to a lot of detox problems and other problems. So there's just something— I usually say it simply, like, there's something that's not meant to be there. Our body wasn't designed to handle these. So it creates a stress on our body and just like a cascade of effects throughout the system.

Yeah, I love how you explain that. And a lot of times we don't find out exactly what our toxic burden is, to what extent, because testing can get expensive and complicated, right? So I love that we can just really focus on supporting those detox abilities of our body. You mentioned the liver and the gut and the skin and the lymphatic system. So I would just love to go through, like, how do we support a detoxing lifestyle, if you will? How do we optimize our health just on the daily?

Yeah, that's a great question. And this topic can be so big, and you don't have to be an expert at everything. You don't have to know all the heavy metals or anything like that. But I would say there's 2 things. One is you need to just kind of keep reducing the toxic load in your home or where the time you spend the most. And then, like you said, improve or just support detox pathways. So I'll talk about both of those. Or let's say for part 1, if you want to ask me more questions about things to avoid around the home or things to check, we can do that. And then, yeah, part 2, we're detoxing through our skin, through our breath, through urination, through stool. The liver needs to be working. The kidney needs to be working. The liver needs a lot of nutrition. It needs a lot of amino acids. It needs a lot of micronutrients. So getting a really rich whole food diet helps with that. And just avoiding foods that are inflammatory and processed prevents part of that load. Drinking lots of water is a simple thing. Just waking up in the morning and having a little warm water or warm water with lemon or having electrolytes in the morning, just hydrating and kind of resetting in the morning is a super simple thing. People can add. When I— especially when I was at my sickest, I dry brushed every day. And that's not something people are as familiar with, but it's very easy and affordable, and it just kind of keeps things moving, keeps the lymph moving. And that seems to just help the body detox and have energy. It helped me a lot. When I'm out and about, you know, I see people and they just look kind of puffy, and they, you know, like the skin is just not healthy. And those are people who should be dry brushing. As well as just exercising, right? I mean, probably your listeners are exercising, although some of us like exercise more than others. But not only is it good for building muscle and creating testosterone and doing some important things, it's also helping us detoxify. We're breathing more, we're circulating. Making sure you poop is really important. You guys, you could probably talk about that on the show. Minimum 1 bowel movement a day, but really having 2 or 3 is more ideal, especially when we're active detoxing. So even before you think about doing more advanced detox things, just simple things— movement, hydration, supporting constipation issues, supporting any sleep issues, because our brain detoxifies when we sleep. We do a lot of healing when we sleep. So we usually say— I have like 10 things in my book, like, get these 10 things down and okay, now you're allowed to go do some more detoxing.

Yeah, you threw out so many golden nuggets right there, so many good opportunities to really hone in on our health. I think it's super important to eat to help your liver do its detox jobs. Do you have any foods that you really love to help support that liver function?

Especially this time of year, I like collagen powder. You can kind of put it in everything. You can put it in soups to add more protein. And there's different types of collagen powder, but they're usually different amino acids than you're getting when you have a chicken breast or whatever. So I like doing collagen powder. We need a lot of protein actually to detoxify. And sometimes as women, we don't get enough. I mentioned lemon water earlier. That's like a super simple one. But I do like a drink with lemon, cilantro, and just like some greens, like broccoli sprouts or whatever you want to do, and a little local honey and blend it up. So that's like a little easy liver tonic that I make sometimes. The liver likes onion. garlic and cruciferous things, likes organ meats, likes eggs if you tolerate eggs. So I think liver just likes a whole variety of whole foods, nuts potentially if you tolerate nuts. The B vitamins are important for the liver, so those can come from like nuts or meats or greens.

Yeah, I think that God gave us like everything our body needs to function and we keep trying to muck it up, right? Like, right, to eat out of boxes and bags and really like Everything we need is in the food that's already created. So I love that. Just go back to eating basics, whole foods, clean meats, all of that good stuff. That's so good. Oh my gosh. So you talked a little bit about dry brushing for your skin, and your skin is amazing.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah. Tell me, what is your regimen or what do you usually do?

So usually you just do it first thing in the morning. It doesn't have to come before showering or whatever. That's not— if you shower in the morning, then you dry brush first. It's called dry for a reason. I'm more of a nighttime bath person, so I just dry brush in the morning. It just takes a few minutes. You buy this hard bristle brush at a natural grocery store. We sell one as well. And you just brush brush towards your heart. So you're doing like a few strokes over the front of your arm and the back of your arm and side of your arm. You know, they usually come with a long handle so you can kind of get your back. Some of them come with like a mini brush so you could do more around like your ears or your palms. If you have more time, doing all the little parts feels really nice as well. It's like, you know, a little lymphatic massage for your body. So it's also good for cellulite, which Some people may be happy to hear if you want to like give a little boost to cellulite, you can do a little grapefruit essential oil on the area as well and brush. And then I think cypress is the other one that you can do. But even just doing the dry brush is helpful. And then watching that you're not having processed fats because those can contribute to cellulite too. Making sure your gut— I'm just going to riff on cellulite for a sec. Make sure your gallbladder is moving is good for cellulite too. So you can help that with a coffee enema, which is also something I got into. to while I was detoxing from mold myself. Not everyone's going to try them, but I really love it. I do it still like once a week and it helps you recycle glutathione in your body, which is a really important detox antioxidant.

That's awesome. Okay, so for my listeners, why does it work putting it up your butt as opposed to drinking it? Because we all love to drink our coffee.

Yeah, everyone asks that question. So it's putting it in the butt to get to blood supply that goes to the liver. And there's a compound in the coffee, I forget the full name of it, it's some kind of acid. You use a light roast coffee where that compound is more active. And that compound hitting the bloodstream is what helps with the glutathione production. So it is different. You're going to get a little buzz, so to speak, from doing a coffee enema, but it's just not the same as ingesting it and having it go through your stomach.

Yeah, I've had patients ask me, like, I'm really sensitive to coffee. Is it going to be okay? But like you said, if it's a light roast, it's organic, you're going to be fine. It's not going to stimulate things in that way. It's really just getting to the liver, getting that blood flowing, and cleaning things out.

Yeah, it could be a little stimulating. You could always just start with, like, one round your first time. And there are other types of enemas out there if coffee really, really doesn't work for you. But yeah, I feel people have these questions, which is valid, before they try it. Sometimes you just have to try it to see.

Yeah, exactly. How else do you like to detoxify your gut? Is that your main way?

Through the gut? Yeah, I think I personally love techniques and lymph. I mean, the gut is obviously really important. We can get into it, but I love sauna. I own one and that helped me. I would say coffee enema and sauna were the biggest needle movers for me I was my sickest. But you can also move lymph with like a mini trampoline. You can get lymphatic massage, red light therapy. So there's a lot of cold and hot plunge, cryotherapy. So there's a lot of things for movement. I would say those are like my favorite. But as far as the gut, do you want me to talk about some of my favorite supplements for the gut?

Yeah, for sure.

Well, I like immunoglobulins for the gut. They kind of help with that mucosal layer and kind of gently work on any infections in the gut. So these are cow-sourced from cow blood, so they're not vegan-friendly, but there's a couple formulas I use. Some can really help with constipation, some can help with diarrhea. There's different formulas. So I like Mega Mucosa, and that helps a little bit more more with constipation and kind of food sensitivities, feeling like foods kind of scratch up your gut. It helps build that layer and kind of make things smoother. And then I love the product Mega IgG 2000, which is a little bit more for infections and chronic loose stool, which I had for many years, I think even before I encountered with mold, and is not a problem at all for me now. So those are some products to know about. I do like getting lots of fiber And then I like pre-fibers, so prebiotic fibers that feed your friendly bacteria. So we can try to get more diversity of different types of foods in our diet, but most of us still don't get enough fiber. So I like those pre-fibers to feed the friendly bacteria. And then we generally use a spore-based probiotic that helps read the gut environment and decides like which bacteria to starve, which bacteria to build. And it can actually grow diversity. So if you've been exposed to mold or other environmental toxins as well, antibiotics is another example, your gut bacteria is usually disrupted and it needs to be restored and built back. So there are different herbs for killing stuff off and all that, but really pretty safe is the process of rebuilding the gut and just kind of making it It's a more normal population, and then that's just a stronger way to detoxify and then just feel better day to day. So having less symptoms.

Yeah, I think you have to support your system and have your gut functioning in order to do those detox processes. And I'm so glad you mentioned the IgG because I have seen this a lot recently, and I don't know if it has to do with the vid or what, But almost every stool test I'm getting, women are low on their IgA, their IgG response is out of control. And I just think our immune systems are so overburdened that we are struggling. And I love the idea of using essentially colostrum from cows, right? It's what we get from Mother Nature when we breastfeed and nurse our children, or we got as infants. We got all those immunoglobulins to support us. And I have seen so many adults needing that support. So I think that's a great supplement that you recommended.

Thank you. Yeah, I saw those in test results too before COVID time too. I think it's just stress. I think stress is a lot of it. I think I've read a study about like watching the news and like your immunoglobulin levels go down. I was I was like, whoa. So actually, like meditation and like mindfulness and gratitude is actually good for your gut mucosal layer. So there's a lot of talk about leaky gut, which is, it's an important thing too, but there's not much talk about that mucosal layer that really needs to be like a thick and healthy protection. And some other things that can help with that are like licorice and aloe. There's licorice tea, like for example. So there's other ways to kind of nourish that layer as well.

Yeah, so important. Oh my goodness. So you had mentioned the sauna a little bit in passing. I would love to talk about that a little more because there's different types of saunas and I think people think they're just sweating things out. They're not really understanding what's happening with infrared sauna and how that's helping you detox. I'd love you to talk about Yeah.

So like when you sweat, when you exercise, that's a little bit more temperature control. And you're, even though exercise is great, we just talked about that, you are putting your body under some stress. So it's a different kind of situation going on. It's still good as long as you're not overdoing it and you could get plenty of antioxidants. But sauna is like you're relaxed, right? You're in a, you're in a different state and you get more relaxed. Relaxed while you're in there. So it can be great for sleep. I mean, you really need to be in that rest state to heal. Your body can't heal when it thinks it's still in crisis. So I think that's one of the many reasons sauna is helpful in like chronic health conditions. I'm really excited that more and more people are buying them for their homes. So yeah, I'll talk a little bit more about the wavelengths and stuff. I mean, the traditional saunas were like Finnish. Finnish, you know, they didn't have infrared lamps or whatever. So they can still be effective. I feel like sometimes, um, you know, I do, I do, I'm going to talk about infrared and that it is good, but, uh, I, it doesn't always have to be like the fanciest, newest sauna.

Yeah.

As long as you're relaxed and you're getting a sweat. Um, the first sauna that I was really using and benefiting Actually, the first 2 were just kind of like in a gym, like electric kind of saunas. You know, I didn't have any money or any place to put a sauna when I was losing my home to mold. So this was pre-COVID. So luckily all these saunas were open and I got tons of benefit. But now I own a far infrared sauna, is a one-person sauna. Far infrared goes the deepest and is the most detoxifying because of that. Yeah. The other levels are mid and near. So if you get like a bigger box sauna, it probably has all 3. Like I have a Sunlight and Sauna and their bigger saunas have all 3 options and you can do different programs. Like if you're trying to lose weight or work on your skin or an injury or detox, you can choose their wavelengths, which is cool. So just pay attention when you buy a sauna, which wavelengths they're advertising. So for me, I wanted like a smaller sauna. I was most interested in detox. So I have a far infrared sauna and there's a lot of science about sauna benefits, like tons of it about detoxing heavy metals, mycotoxins, repairing cells, you know, deleting damaged cells, boosting the immune system. So it's, it's really, really great. And yeah, just pay attention like that, your, your health goals and what kind of wavelength Thanks. You are looking for awesome.

Okay, so what else are we missing? We are working on our gut, we're making sure our liver's functioning, we're sweating, we're dry brushing, we're moving our lymphatic system, we're doing the infrared sauna. Is that everything that you typically do on a regular basis?

Um, maybe the last one I'll add to that— well, I'll maybe I'll add a couple more lifestyles. Like, I really am a fan of getting outside. Yeah, you know, getting sunshine, getting that like break from being in your house and in your head. There's a lot of study too on nature and how it's like relaxing for us. And then indoor air quality is now worse than outdoor air quality. So, you know, I see I'm always picking on my neighbors. I look out this window. I see I barely see people get outside. People will even drive to the mill.

Oh.

And the mailbox is right around the corner, you know?

Oh my God.

You know, they stop on the way home, even though like their house is 2 doors down from the mailbox. And I just, I'm like, no, you have to do the opposite. You need to be like, I want to get in an extra 5 minutes outside, so I'm going to walk to the mailbox. Or, you know, it doesn't have to be huge. You can just like walk around the block after dinner, which is great for your insulin sensitivity Um, you know, if you don't have time to take a big trip to nature, you can just like sit in your backyard and drink tea and sit in the sunshine. So I like that. And then I'll mention too, like friends time and social time. Um, I think especially as women and as we go through difficult things, we need to stay connected to people and make time for the people we love, um, because it does nourish us. And I think it makes a big difference.

Oh my gosh, I couldn't agree more. Like, without that, that is the biggest struggle in COVID is we're just not connecting the way that we did and we're all feeling alone. Oh my goodness. So that—

Yeah, yeah. Now more than ever. Yeah. So yeah, like starting to, like, if you're feeling comfortable with that, starting that, um, back up. Um, and then what was I going to mention? Do you— should we talk a little bit more about hormones in particular?

Yeah, I think that my listeners would love to know, like, why is mold such a big deal when it comes to hormones? How is that related?

Yeah, I mean, you wouldn't even think it really, would you? Like, why would those things be related? I read something a couple years ago from a book by Neil Nathan that had come out, and one thing he explained was that your hypothalamus-pituitary axis, like gets inflamed directly from the mycotoxins. So it's not receiving and sending signals correctly. And then for people like me, that can result in low hormone levels. So low sex drive. I was like, I mean, one of my chronic symptoms you wouldn't think had anything to do with mold was like spotting for my, for my periods.

Mm-hmm.

I just had low progesterone and like everyone said it was stress, but I I had like grandma hormone levels, you know, and they were pretty tough to like come back. Thyroid is often affected too. I see a lot of Hashimoto's and mold come together. So because mold is so disruptive of the gut, then it starts to develop into autoimmune. So thyroid can be affected. I mentioned sex drive. Yeah. So it can make for more difficult like menopause, more difficult periods.

Yeah.

definitely more difficult fertility, because if men are producing less testosterone, they're potentially producing like less sperm, not as strong sperm. There could be like some really mitochondrial deficits because mycotoxins affect mitochondria potentially in any cell in the body. Mitochondria is really important for fertility. And then women need to be cycling, you know, regularly and strongly to to get pregnant as well. So that can be affected by living in mold. Ironically, I got pregnant right after moving into a moldy house, but I hadn't been there that long yet. But it made, you know, I don't, I didn't know, but it was making my life as a new mom like a lot more difficult than it needed to be. You know, I was developing chronic pain that didn't go away. You know, I developed all these different problems.

I was go—

okay. I was gonna try to remember. So it can make hormones low, but sometimes some people also have high estrogen in a mold situation. So they're not clearing the estrogen out of their gut properly because their gut isn't healthy. And then they may be having some storing mold or mycotoxins in fat tissue, and that fat tissue is making more estrogen. So that can go that way too. I see more with myself and my clients low levels, but some of the mycotoxins do have like an estrogenic effect on the body, like plastics or fragrance do. So you could have that as well. It probably just depends on like your genetic makeup and different things about each person. So having like rapid weight gain could be part of mold, but it can go the opposite too. Like you can, your brain is inflamed, so you lose your appetite. You're having heartburn, you're not digesting. So it can kind of go either way. And then with appetite too, you can also lose your sense of satiety. It can affect like your— what's it— your ghrelin and your leptin. So does it— like, you can be losing your cue to stop eating. I was definitely craving carbs and caffeine because I was so tired, which, you know, a lot of people feel that way because they're not sleeping enough and stuff. But that's just like one more reason you could be gaining weight. On top of everything else, it's just like you're looking for some energy. So, you know, carbs burn the quickest. So there's like a few kind of hormone effects that you may see.

So you were going through all of this struggle in this new house and you were having these issues. What clued you in to finally say, hmm, maybe it is mold?

Oh my gosh. First of all, it took forever. You know, I was in that house like 8 years, trying everything, doing everything. And then one winter, I got strep throat. I had to take antibiotics for the first time in like 20 years, and I just didn't recover from that. I was still like super tired. I had just started working at home full-time, and I was going to the naturopathic college, getting IV therapy, doing detox, like a detox program, like a supplement one. And I was just like I was like, guys, I am— this is not working. Like, I am so tired. So they ran some more testing and they asked me about my home, luckily. And they said, well, has anything changed in your environment? And we, you know, thought of a couple things. And one of them was some moisture that had like leaked into the basement. The basement was like always kind of gross and smelly. And, um, and I was down there more because we got this cat. and its stuff was down there. And yeah, I was working at home more. Then we had this like rainy winter and the water intruded in the home. And I think it was just like my body was done. You know, I had already been having lots of little symptoms, but by that point I just couldn't like handle any of it anymore. So I'm really thankful that they said something. And I had of course like heard of mold, And then I didn't really want to find out after that because I knew what a horrible mess it would be. But you do have to just open that box and find out. And we had a lot of different areas with mold that had been going unaddressed for many years.

Yeah. I think for people who definitely can relate to your story, they've done all the regular regular stuff that should have made them feel better and they just don't. And so I think this is really important to know that there could be deeper things going on. I talked to Dr. Diane Mueller about mold toxicity in depth on one episode, and I just think that us sharing our stories is so powerful. And the fact that you finally figured it out, but then you go on Like, hey, I'm going to just help a million people and help them figure out how to avoid all this tragedy. Like, that's really awesome. And it shows and hopefully gives people hope. Like, yeah, there is a way out and you can get through it and feel amazing again and look amazing and have a good life like you're doing. So that's really awesome.

Yeah, 100%. Yeah. And like, just a little asterisk, Like it took me a long time before I was ready to teach about it, write about it, because it's not—I'm like getting—it's not an easy journey. Like I already had the background of great habits. I was a health practitioner. My friends are health practitioners. You know, I had plenty of resources, and it still was slow. So there was just some some years where I was just like keeping my head above water, taking breaks from work when I could. You know, moving, then I got divorced. So like a lot, you know, life keeps happening. And then I was like, okay, you know, I started to talk more about detox, but then I was like, okay, I have the energy to share this. And yeah, you're right. Say like, as tough as it is to lose your home or, you know, go through all this stuff, it actually, like every crisis, I'm sure you have some examples from your own life, Tabatha, Like, there's usually a happy ending where you're like, wow, I never thought the story would twist like this, but the ending is like even better than I would have ever imagined, right? Because I would have just stayed like in my old life doing X, Y, and Z, and instead I like created a whole new life.

Yeah, exactly. You can never give up hope. You have to keep searching. I think that's the key. And I know that there's people listening to this going, They have that friend who just does not feel well, cannot figure it out, and you get to the point where you feel bad for that person and you don't know what to say to them anymore, and you might even avoid their calls. And this is the kind of episode to share with them because it could be mold exposure. It could be a high toxic burden from this other stuff.

Yeah.

So tell my listeners Like, what are they going to get out of your masterclass? Because I— this is so much bigger than like half-hour discussion, right?

Yeah, it is. At least like we're creating some awareness and people are curious. You can either go by your symptoms or you can start thinking about your home. You know, we've got, uh, a part of the masterclass will have like a quiz, a little easy quiz about like symptoms in your home. My blog at bridgetdeanner.com has like some info about about testing and stuff. But the event is like start to finish. The first day is all these professional remediators and home testing. And then the end is like moving on in a new home and having a nontoxic home and how to maintain your home properly. And then kind of everything in the middle is about the health journey and supplements and calming your nervous system and stuff like that. So whether or not you have mold, There could be some useful information to come out of it. But I think it's good to have like anybody who's living in a home, which is like everyone, you know, whether you're a renter or an owner, there's some things to just know about and be aware of. I wasn't aware of those things. I always just thought a home was like a thing to decorate. You know, I didn't think about how my gutters were draining or anything, you know, and that's going on a lot. So, you know, everyone listening to this podcast is amazing because they want to be a good steward of their house. But health is not just your body, it's your space. So just having some knowledge about mold and, you know, we have some other kind of, you know, potential health triggers on the summit too. It just kind of opens it up. And I love what you said about you have to keep looking for the cause. Like, it's really true. It's— there's so many different causes and you owe it to yourself to have a healthy life. And so that means just keep digging, keep trying.

Yeah.

I had tried a bunch of stuff before I found out I had mold. And that's sometimes how it goes. Hopefully I'll save some people out there those 8 years I spent. Maybe they'll find it in a year or 3 years or something like that, which would be great.

Well, and I love the idea of watching the masterclass to learn what to look for so you don't get to the point of having mold toxicity. I know myself, I think I've mentioned it before, I built a brand new home and they started in November. And so the foundation, which is all wood in Michigan, got snowed on. The snow sat there, it melted. How many times did that happen? And to think all that mold could be growing behind your beautiful new walls and you have no idea and you just think everything is perfect and it isn't always the case.

Wow.

And so I love the idea of you guys are really delving into all this stuff that we just don't think about on a regular basis.

You don't want to. It's boring. Yeah, it's totally boring. Yeah. One of our experts who's just been in the space like 30 years, he's like, every crawl space is moldy. He's like, every one I've ever went into. So, you know, it's, you know, and not to say everyone's getting sick from mold. I'm not saying that. But yeah, it's just, yeah, it's something to be aware of. And, you know, as women too, like, I know when I was married, like, I was like, you take care of the house. Like, I'm I do, but it takes a team sometimes because we're not all both, you know, catching, um, you know, the same thing. So I think it's, you know, you probably have a mostly female audience, as do I. Um, and, you know, women are like the kind of the queens of the home, and, and we do protect our family. And this is, this is one thing to know, to know about so you can protect your family.

Yeah. And oh my gosh, you mentioned like the attics and the crawl spaces. And most of us have husbands or partners. My husband is an electrician, and when he works in old houses or sometimes newer houses, if he goes in those spaces, his respiratory tract is flared up for days. He can't breathe. He's all stuffy, all of that. I think he's got the genes that make him more sensitive to mold. And so it's not just about you listening. It might be about your family members or people in your life.

Yeah.

And we got to share this information. So hopefully everybody will sign up for the masterclass, share it with everybody they know, because it's just good information to have to hopefully prevent chronic illness. Really?

Yeah, for sure. Well, tell your husband I want him to wear a full respirator mask next time he goes in the space station. Oh my gosh. I know.

I tried to get him to wear an N95 and he's Like, really, honey?

Yeah, really. And the answer is really. Yes. Really? Yeah. Yeah. The ones that are plastic with the 2 things coming out are even better. They have like little filters here because then he's getting more coverage. Yeah. And I mean, we know none of it. Again, none of us like to wear that stuff, but we've all had to kind of get used to it during COVID And if you're in a space a few hours and you have to wear a thing, it's better And, you know, it ripping up your lungs. And it's, it's long-term contributing. I just interviewed someone about the mold cancer connection. Like, it's real. So it's definitely, you know, for your long-term health as well.

Yeah, exactly. That stuff is scary. So awesome. Well, thank you for all this great information. And where can my listeners find you and follow you just in general?

Yeah. My main site is just my name, which is BridgetDanner.com.

Awesome. And are you on Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff?

I am. I'm more active on Instagram, and it's Bridget_Danner.

Awesome. I will have the links in my show notes. So thank you so much for sharing your story and being brave and helping other people deal with this, you know, so they don't hopefully have to go through everything Yeah, well, thanks for having me and your enthusiasm about this topic.

I appreciate it.

Okay. I know you got some really good tips out of that episode. So many helpful tips and tricks to really just help your own detox pathways do their job. Like, our body has the ability to get back into homeostasis and to detoxify if We first remove the source, so we stop being exposed, and secondly, optimize those pathways so they can do their job. My favorite golden nugget was the coffee enema. I think that is a really great tip, especially for women with gallbladder issues, gallbladder and liver issues. So the gallbladder stores the bile that the liver Makes. And the bile's job is to pick up toxins, get hold of it, and excrete it through the stool and get rid of it. Hormones, drugs, pesticides, all of that stuff, and mold. So if the gallbladder is being sluggish, which often happens with estrogen dominance or other hormone imbalances, Insulin resistance, with obesity, things like that. The liver gets sluggish, gallstones start to form with those toxins in there, and it's very common for women to end up having their gallbladders removed over this whole mess. If you do a coffee enema, that coffee has theophylline in it, which stimulates Your liver and your gallbladder to contract and to actually excrete those stored toxins. So it's like a really easy way. You know, might not be the least embarrassing way, but is a really good way to actually get things moving and removed from your body. It also the coffee enema. Stimulates glutathione production in your colon. So glutathione is one of those master antioxidants that our body hopefully makes. It goes around and cleans up all the cellular debris and damaged DNA, reactive oxygen species that are like left over. It's like when you have a fire, that fire Fire produces energy in the form of heat, which is good, but it also creates a byproduct of smoke, right? And if the chimney isn't open, the smoke will fill in the house and make us sick. So the fire was good, it kept us warm, but the byproduct of the fire, the smoke, could choke us out. So anti-aging is like that. Antioxidants are like opening the chimney. It's getting rid of that smoke, all that used up energy, the bad stuff, the byproducts that we don't want. So you really do need glutathione for health and wellness. And that's actually a big reason why NAC has been used so much during this pandemic and does such a good job because it's the precursor ingredient to make glutathione. So coffee enemas, give them a try. You can go on bridgetdanner.com. She's got a whole blog on this. It's not as crazy and scary as you think, and it might really save your gallbladder, might save you from having surgery. So that was my golden nugget for today. I hope you're getting value out of these episodes. I'm really trying. I'm listening to my patients and hearing what they're struggling with, and that's what I'm focusing on. So if there's something that I haven't touched on, please give me a shout out. Let me know what you want to talk about, any guests you want me to have on. I do this for you. I am here for you. I know that you're not getting the answers necessarily. Really that you want. And we're going to change things. We're going to change the system. But I need your help. I need you to spread the word and share the news. I need you to share this podcast with all the women in your life. I need you to give it a 5-star review. I need you to hit the subscribe button. Like, all of those things are going to help move the needle to really make an impact. So let's do this together. Thank you so much. Check me out on TikTok @thegutsygynecologist. I'm being super gutsy by, like, trying something new, and it's been fun. So come on over there, check it out. I'm educating on hormone literacy so that we can figure out what the heck's going on with our bodies. And if we can, like, help younger women in our life understand what's going on with their bodies before they get to the point that we got to? How amazing would that be? So have them follow me on TikTok. It's all good stuff. And on Instagram @thegutsygynecologist. So have an amazing week, ladies. I love you all. You're doing awesome. Keep it up. Oh, and have a kick-ass week.