#120: Warning Signs You Need a New Doctor!

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha.

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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. Hi, Dr. Tabatha. All right, ladies, I hope you had an amazing Easter. I know I did. It was wonderful. It reminds me of all of the promises God has made for my life and that I need to stay in faith and just know that he's got me. I— it just, it keeps me going. It's been a hard season or a hard few seasons. I'm sure that you guys are feeling the same way. Like, everyone I'm seeing is struggling in some way. You know, my dad recently developed blood clots in his lungs. That is, you know, that can be life-threatening. That was very scary. And he has been in the hospital 3 times because every time he goes home, he relapses. And it's been a real struggle for me to Watch him be in the conventional medical system, and you know, as well as they did taking care of him acutely, when it comes to long-term chronic issues or getting to the root cause of the issue, they just don't know how to do that. And so what we found was every time my dad would go home. he would relapse. And, you know, that got me thinking, what is going on at home that is making him sick? And he has chronic lung disease, and what is driving that process? Because he gave up smoking over 25 years ago, the poor man. He shouldn't have chronic lung disease, right? So you start thinking why. You have to question why. And I realized that he had mold in his basement that was triggering his lung disease. And so he can't be at home without steroids and oxygen. And so we need to take care of the mold issue. And if you've heard my other episodes with like Bridget Danner and Dr. Diane Muller, you know that mold is a complicated issue. It's hard to figure out and diagnose and then take care of. That's the bigger piece of it. So I spent the weekend helping my parents with their home and dealing with that whole mold situation. And he's improving, so I'm optimistic. But what I wanted to point out was that takes a toll on me because that's a lot of emotional stress and more physical stress, obviously. But all of that emotional stress drives inflammation. So what I see on a regular basis with my patients is women in this sandwich situation. They are, you know, raising their children. Even if your kids are grown at this point, they're still causing you a lot of emotional stress just because you worry about them as a mom, right? And then on the other side, you have your parents who are getting Getting older, and I am seeing more and more women who are taking care of their ailing parents. It seems like the pandemic has really pushed that process of chronic disease, sped it up, and caused so many new issues. And so you are self-sacrificing. You are not taking care of yourself because you're taking care of your mom or your dad. While you're trying to juggle your life, you're taking care of your kids.

Oh my gosh.

And then some women add on a career on top of that, and it's exhausting. Like, your adrenal glands will shut down. So just on my soapbox for a minute, I want you guys to not underestimate or discount the major, major impact that has on your health. That's driving all kinds of inflammation. So it's really important. important if you are one of these women to take time to rest, restore, repair. Like, you really do need to take time for deep breathing and getting away and doing nothing and getting massages and soaking in the tub and having quiet time with your brain to process everything that you're going through. Because if you don't process it Your brain will file it all away, and then it, it will want to process it when you try to go to bed. It will open those files at bedtime and, oh, you didn't deal with this, you didn't deal with that, you didn't deal with this. And even if you figure out how to sleep through that, whether it be medicated sleep or alcohol-induced sleep or whatever, like, those files in your brain still need to be dealt with. And if they're not, They will come out in other ways. So that's just my little tangent because I am frustrated. I'm really frustrated with conventional medicine right now and my dad being sick and dealing with it. Oh, the piece I didn't even explain was his doctor didn't want to test for mold. His doctor didn't want to test for adrenal fatigue, even though he's been on multiple rounds of Steroids, which shut down your adrenal glands. And, you know, my mom asks why. And the truth is, if doctors say, no, you don't need to do that test, it's because they don't know what to do with the results. That's the honest truth. They don't know how to order that kind of test and they don't know what to do with those kind of results. So, if you have a doctor that is open-minded and is willing to learn and be inquisitive, that's amazing. And I would encourage them to, you know, I would encourage you to talk to them about that. But unfortunately, what I hear all the time is, nope, there's no reason to test that. Nope, that's not the problem. Nope, that's not important. No, that's not a thing. That's the worst answer of all. And so if your doctor is closed-minded, they're no longer willing to learn and investigate, you should probably find a new doctor. So that's what drove this episode today is red flags that you get when you go to the doctor because I just saw a patient this morning and we talked all about this. There are warning signs when you're at your doctor's office that give you that gut instinct like, This is not where I belong. This person is not going to help me actually heal and get well. And the biggest ones I see are either being outright dismissed, like I mentioned, that's not a thing, we don't need to test for that, stop looking at doctor, you know, stop looking at Google, that kind of stuff. Um, that is a big one. So if your doctor's dismissing you, you need to find a new doctor. If your doctor is closed-minded and doesn't want to to realize that there's new science out since they did residency 20, 30 years ago and that they can't practice the same way. You need to find yourself a new doctor. So I started thinking, what else are the big red flags for women? So, you know, birth control pills, that's the most obvious. If your doctor wants to use birth control pill to solve all your problems, that's a huge red flag. Birth control pills should only be used for birth control. If you're struggling with your weight and they tell you to eat less or exercise more and they don't look at your adrenals and your thyroid in detail and your blood sugar and actually evaluate your situation, you need to find a new doctor. If they offer antidepressants when you do not have a, you know, depression as a medical disease, That is a red flag. You do not need antidepressants when you are tired. And, you know, this is super frustrating to me because now the major societies that tell gynecologists what the standard of medicine should be— the North American Menopause Society, American College of OB-GYNs— they now recommend antidepressants. for menopausal symptoms. So here you are in a time period of your life where your hormones are declining. And so you are prone to developing insulin resistance and weight gain from all of that insulin. And you're going— you're in that sandwich period where you're stressed out because you're taking care of your parents and your children and you're doing your job and all of the things that's driving weight. And then you go to the doctor and they, first of all, tell you that hormones are dangerous, which is another red flag, or they offer you antidepressants for those symptoms, which inevitably will cause you to gain another 20 to 30 pounds, which will make you feel even worse, which will drive up your insulin resistance and blood sugar issues, and you will be even more miserable. And then you might actually develop depression. So— If your doctor's handing you antidepressants, think twice before you get on those. They have a lot more side effects. Another huge side effect is tanking your libido, just ruining it. So you gain weight and you have no libido left, which you barely had already at menopause. So that is one of the worst medications a menopausal woman can take. If you're doing well on it, Thank goodness. Um, and if you need it for depression, that's a whole nother story. And, you know, we can talk about ways to handle those side effects, but unfortunately most women don't actually need it for depression. The other big one is they put you on something like a PPI, a proton pump inhibitor, Protonix, Nexium, omeprazole for heartburn. And they leave you on it. They'll— if you're on that medication more than 4 to, you know, 3 to 4 months, that needs to be reevaluated. There's a reason your stomach is making too much stomach acid, and that needs to be addressed. And it's usually a diet and lifestyle situation. It's usually a gut microbiome issue. You usually have the wrong bacteria living in there, not enough digestive enzymes to get your food out of your stomach and into your intestines in a timely manner. Something else going on. Being put on a statin for years and years and years for your cholesterol issue without figuring out what's going on because elevated cholesterol is not simply something that is a statin deficiency. There's a reason these levels are changing. For women, most commonly, it's the changes in your hormones. Did you know cholesterol is actually the backbone ingredient that's used to make your sex hormones? So your body uses cholesterol to make estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, aldosterone. It needs cortisol. So imagine you go into menopause and you're no longer making all of these hormones that you used to make. Your cholesterol is probably going to go up because you're not using it the way you used to. That isn't necessarily bad in and of itself. Cholesterol is much more complicated than that, and we've dumbed it down and we've really given it a bad rap. And so it's important that you go to a functional or integrative practitioner who understands the importance of cholesterol and what all those numbers actually mean because they're It's not just bad and good, and it's not that straightforward. And statins do not fix the problem. They cause many other problems. The biggest one is mitochondrial dysfunction. They wipe out your CoQ10 levels, and you can't make your energy without that. So statins really cause a lot of damage in women over time. Um, let me see. Doctors who say that synthetic hormones and bioidentical hormones are the same and there's no difference— that's a red flag. If they want to give you Premarin or something else made out of conjugated equine estrogen, or Prempro, which is, um, like medroxyprogesterone or norethindrone, those are synthetic progestins, and those completely act different in your body, and that is not what you want. So you need a prescriber who understands the difference between the forms of hormones, and that's a really important key because it changes the risks associated with taking those medications. So let's see a couple other ones. This is what I heard last week. There was no discussion about the menopausal process. It wasn't How do you want to go through and transition in this time? Do you want to transition naturally or do you want to try some bioidenticals? It was, yep, it sucks to age, and some, you know, joke about it. That is not acceptable medical care from a doctor to a patient. That is ridiculous. And for doctors to either ignore the discussion or to blow it off like it's a joke. That's a huge red flag. You need to find somebody who will listen to you and actually give you the risks, benefits, and alternatives of all the safe, good options out there. Another red flag is your doctor's quick to do surgery or procedures. So those should be last resorts. You know, I'm hearing more and more about women in their 30s now having their gallbladders removed. It used to be, you know, women in their 40s would have gallbladder dysfunction. You know, in medical school we're taught the 4 Fs: fat, fertile, 40, and something else. Um, so the problem is you need your gallbladder. If you've had it removed, We can do, you know, do your best to function without it. It stores your bile, but your bile is really important to move your cholesterol around and to move your estrogens around and all of your hormones that are cholesterol-based. So if you don't have enough bile to transport that, you're going to end up with estrogen dominance, which You know, is another issue. The other piece of it is bile helps transport toxins out of our body that our liver has worked so hard to remove out of our bloodstream. And so if we don't have this transport mechanism to safely get things to our stool, you know, we're going to struggle. We're going to have more symptoms and more issues. If you have gallstones, you need to ask why. Why is my bile not moving in and out of my gallbladder? Why are things so stagnant that I'm forming stones? So that's the difference between functional medicine and conventional medicine, is functional medicine isn't just trying to put the Band-Aid on the problem, it's asking why and trying to figure out that and fix that problem. So don't just be quick to sign up for surgery. I know a lot of surgeons who love to do surgery, and that's going to be their solution every time. So, and then if you get a doctor who rarely does surgery, they're often not very good surgeons. They're timid, they're indecisive, they don't have good decision-making skills in the OR or good operating techniques. So. It's really important if you do have surgery that you, you know, think about these things. Is my surgeon a good surgeon? Do they do this on a regular basis? But is this all they do? You know, so you really— we put too much trust in our doctors, and I hate to say that as a doctor, but it's the truth. So I really want you to be your own health advocate. Because— or get a friend, get a family member, get someone to be a health advocate for you. Go to the appointments with you, ask these questions and help discern. You know, go with your gut instincts. If things don't feel right, there's a reason for that. And we as women have been taught to ignore all of our instincts, and we really need to get back to listening to them. And, and going with our guts. So those are my major red flags. So what are you going to do about it? Like I said, get yourself a health advocate if you're uncomfortable doing it for yourself or you're not sure what questions to ask. Some people aren't confrontational. They don't want to question the doctor because it seems disrespectful. That is an antiquated notion. I want you to get that. crap out of your head. That is old school. Doctors need to be questioned. They need to be held to the fire. They need to be able to explain to you why they're doing something. If your doctor cannot give you a reasonable explanation of why you need to continue a medication or have a surgery or not have a lab draw or checked or something like that, like, they need to have a good explanation that sits well with you and that you're comfortable with. So I just want you to find someone like that, and you might have to go down the road of looking for a functional medicine practitioner or an integrative medicine practitioner or a naturopath. Those are wonderful options, and they're becoming more available. Like, I'm licensed, I think, in 30 states now, or 31. It's ridiculous. Um, so those barriers really are coming down. Okay. I want you to listen and get yourself educated as much as possible. Listen to podcasts, watch summits and conferences, you know, read books. Everybody, every woman should read Eat Fat, Get Thin by Dr. Mark Hyman. We should not be afraid of fat. It's an essential part of our vitality as a woman. So I recommend everybody read that book. Bare minimum, start there. Mark Hyman is an amazing resource for all things functional. So while you're looking for a new practitioner, you can also do your own investigation. You can order your own labs. You can go to ultalabtest.com and order your lab work if you want. You find the site and get your blood drawn. You won't know how to interpret it necessarily. And I don't encourage you to do it and not have someone to work with to look at them, but it's a good starting point, especially if your doctor really refuses to do anything and you know you need those tests. Um, another thing, just stop snacking all day. Like, that's a really easy thing that you can start to incorporate. Or stop incorporating is those snacks. Get your blood sugar under control because blood sugar roller coasters cause us to have concentration issues and mood swings and sleep issues. We wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning. So many things from blood sugar imbalance cause us to make poor decisions then the rest of the day and have no energy and— You know, it's a slippery slope. So even if you can't get any help from your doctor, you have to do that basic stuff. You have to clean up your diet. You have to get rid of the snacking. You got to get the sugar out of your diet. You have to move your body with purpose every day. You have to stop and process your mental thoughts. All of this, you need to do the basics before you, you know, try and get any deeper. So I hope this was helpful. I feel like I was on a little bit of a rant, but I'm really frustrated that every single day I see women that tell me the horrible things their doctor says or does. And I just— even though I keep hearing it and I've been hearing it for years, it doesn't get old. It just gets me angrier because our system is broken and it seems to be getting worse. Like, The amount of apathy is just becoming so increasingly high. And I think it's because doctors are overworked. I was there. I understand. Like, they're just as unhealthy as you are. And you're going to them asking them, how do I fix this? They don't know. Otherwise, they would have fixed themselves already. And so I have no doubt the majority of your physicians are just as frustrated with their weight and their fatigue and, you know, their lack of energy and their lack of concentration and their sleep deprivation, like their joint pain, all of it. Your physicians are struggling like you, and they don't know what to do about it. So Don't be mad. It's time to just find another solution, right? So I hope this was helpful. Listen to your gut. If your doctor is saying the things we talked about today, start looking around. My favorite resource, ifm.org, will— you can look up practitioners all over the country and find somebody trained in functional medicine by the Cleveland Clinic. That's where I went through. And that's That's an excellent resource. You can always reach out to me if you feel like you want to work with me one-on-one at drtabatha.com. But just start taking back control and realizing that ultimately the answer lies within you, you know, like Luke Skywalker or Dorothy. You know, it's just, it always comes back to the answer lies within you. So take control, ladies. I know you can do this. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, let me know. Hit me up with the 5-star review. Let me know what you want to listen to next. Um, I do this because I care about you, not because I care about the broken medical system. Um, I do this for you. So go have a kick-ass week. Bye, ladies.