#124: Bonus Episode: The Happy Vagina Rally with Dr. Betsy Greenleaf

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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, ladies.

Welcome back. Welcome back. I'm really excited about this little bonus episode because we are talking about the Happy Vagina Rally that's coming out this week. It's an amazing online summit, an opportunity for you to hear all about ways that your health can be affected as a woman and what you can do about it. So it's not just about the vagina, but I do want you to be able to be comfortable saying that word and I really want you to understand like how all of your systems work together, how your vaginal health is affected by your other systems and your pelvic health. And so Dr. Brecci Greenleaf is my guest today and she is the host and creator of the rally. So I'm really excited for this short little conversation about what is going to be in the rally so that you know why you need to sign up, right? So let me just sing her praises really quick. Dr. Betsy Greenleaf is a premier women's health expert, entrepreneur, inventor, business leader, and she specializes in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery for over 20 years. She's a trailblazer because she was the first female in the United States to become board certified in urogynecology. She possesses a professional reputation that has led to her being sought after by medical societies, associations, and corporations to provide lectures, teaching, and advanced training. In 2018, she was honored with the title of Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetrics and Gynecology for her service and dedication to the field. She holds committee positions on many of these women's health organizations. She's a board examiner, she's a spokesperson, and she's been quoted in major media outlets. So Dr. Greenleaf is also the CEO of the Pelvic Floor Store, an online store dedicated to finding reliable products for pelvic health. So Dr. Betsy takes a holistic mind-body-spirit approach, which I love, to health and wellness. She believes many answers to a healthy life are found within, and she views her role in life as a wellness guide. So I love that. And she has taken it to the next level with the Happy Vagina Rally. So stay tuned so you can hear what You know, is going to be discussed in that so that you can sign up and watch all of it and get all the good juicy details. I will tell you, we dropped some good golden nuggets in this episode, so you're going to get value out of this today. And you know what? I love podcasts because you can pause them and come back if you need to. Like, if you don't have an entire half an hour or hour or whatever it takes to listen to the whole episode right now, You can always come back and not miss your place. So that's what I love. Or if you're like, man, that was so important and I really needed to understand that concept, you can go back and listen again. So I know I've done that with my own podcast that I listen to. So thank you so much for sharing your time with me. Like, I just feel super honored that you're even here listening. I do this for you. So let me know what else that, you know, you want to listen to and hear about, because it's all about serving you ladies and helping you reclaim your health. So enjoy. Well, welcome Dr. Betsy to the Gutsy Gynecologist Show.

I'm so excited to be here, Tabatha. Thank you so much for having me.

Oh my gosh. Yes. Because you have an amazing rally coming out this week, the Happy Vagina Rally. Please tell my listeners, what the heck is that?

Yeah. So I realized that there's There's so much about pelvic health and hormones that we don't talk about. Luckily, people listen to your podcast are in the place where they're listening to this kind of stuff, but the general population doesn't really know and they're afraid to ask. So I decided like, let's get a bunch of experts together. And even though we call it the Happy Vagina Rally, which is kind of more to get your attention, it's not just about pelvic health. We have lectures about Pelvic health. We have you, you're giving an amazing— Dr. Tabatha is giving an amazing lecture on hormones. So we have hormones, we have diet, we have weight, we have bone health, we have sexual health, everything that a woman needs to know starting like 35 and over. So, you know, if I know like 35 is still very young, but you're knocking, you're starting to knock on that perimenopause.

door.

And so this is to get people prepared. And then for the people that are in perimenopause and menopause, this is an awesome summit.

Yeah. Well, I think you hit on an important point. Like, I am seeing women younger and younger having hormone issues to the point where we're now saying perimenopause can start as early as 35. And really what's happening is our hormones are imbalanced, right?

Definitely. And, you know, you know, there's so many different factors that go in there. I mean, I just love your name, like the Gutsy Gynecologist, because this is something you and I were not taught in medical school, but how gut health really plays such a big role in our inflammation and in our hormone health. And so everything from gut health to stress, and, you know, the world is not getting less stressful, unfortunately.

No, it is not. No. It's just compounding. We're more stressed out. We have more environmental toxins, so many things affecting us. So that's awesome that your summit is going to cover all of these important key topics. Who do you have talking about pelvic health?

Yeah. So, well, you got me. Yes.

Yes.

It's not just the Betsy— it's just not the Betsy Show, but we have, we have I'm talking a lot about how gut health affects vaginal health. And people are like, wait a minute, how is that connected?

Yeah.

So we talk a lot about how the microbiome of the vagina and the microbiome of the gut, the vagina and the gut, how they interact and how they actually interact with brain health, where all this is connected with anxiety and depression, or even like from a pelvic standpoint, recurrent infections, even low sex drive, which that has been amazing to me. That they're finding out that if the microbiome, the bacteria balance in the vagina, if this is off, that it could actually have this feedback loop to the brain affecting sex drive. And so, I mean, you and I have both seen this where people come into the office and they're like, all right, I'm having problems with sex drive. Like, just give me hormones. I mean, hormones are a great tool, but if the hormones aren't working and the gut isn't balanced, and then sometimes we need to look at the vagina too. So, I have a whole lecture on that. We have, I'm trying to think who else is talking. I have a urogynecologist who's talking about prolapse and incontinence. We have, oh, actually one of the leading vulvar dermatologists, like talk about a rare specialty.

Yes.

So, Dr. Lynette Margeson has pretty much written all of the textbooks on dermatology. And we're like, well, you know what? There's skin down there. What do we need to pay attention to? And there's some conditions like lichen sclerosus, which you'll find out what that is if, you know, hopefully you're not having issues with that, but you'll find out what it is and what to look for and how to take care of something like that, which is an inflammatory condition of the skin of the vulva. So—

Gosh, so many important things. I mean, I was on an interview yesterday talking about birth control pills, and I had remembered I remembered that in my teenage years when I was on birth control, I had chronic yeast and bladder infections all of the time from those damn pills.

Me too. That's so funny because the moment I went on birth control pills, constant yeast, constant urinary tract infections. And talking about the gut, that was also around the time that the American Heart Association diet came out. And so it was like the first time in my life that I was like, I wasn't heavy at that time, but I was like, let me try to be healthier. So I'm going to eat this American Heart Association diet, which was very high in carbohydrates, very low in proteins. And then you added that throwing off the gut. I'm sure, knowing what I know now, I'm sure I was walking around with horrible yeast in my gut. Oh my gosh. And not knowing until literally probably about 5 years ago, not knowing that Wait a minute, that birth control throws off your gut health? Like, who knew? I know.

And okay, we are 2 very prominent gynecologists. We are well trained. We are certified from all of the boards, right? Like all of the standard boards in the country that are deemed like the final say. And yet we're not trained in the truth and in actual health, right? So I think it's so important for women to watch summits like this to really hear like, oh my gosh, medical, you know, community has had it wrong more than one occasion and they keep getting it wrong and they keep having to put their tail between their leg. Oh my gosh. So yeah, it's like no one ever said to me, hey, maybe it's your birth control pill. They just keep giving me antibiotics and Diflucan. And same as you, like, I remember what I ate back in the '90s, like huge plates of pasta and sugar, like Swedish Fish and gummy bears and licorice, because there was no fat in any of that stuff, right?

Yeah. You were like, no fat, no cholesterol. Exactly.

Meanwhile, our sugar's out of control, feeding all that gut dysbiosis, causing yeast infections. What a miserable time of life that was.

I mean, I went into medical school, too, like Very thin. I was always very thin. I gained 75 pounds in medical school and couldn't figure out why because I was eating bagels every day.

Oh my God.

I was being healthy because I'm like, well, this is low fat, low— there's no cholesterol, there's no fat. Like, I wasn't eating any meat. Like, I was like, I'm being healthy. Like, what is the problem? I don't understand. Why am I having all these health issues? And once, you know, like, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition at this time, you know, and just thinking like, okay, that's just my life. And now looking back going, oh my God, this was all my diet and stress and birth control all coming together.

Yeah, I always say like becoming a doctor is the most unhealthy profession you could enter, right? Don't you agree? Like, ridiculous. And the last people to be giving health advice to are doctors in the conventional system.

We're like Broken.

We're a hot mess.

And I think with so much of the education really still stuck in the 1950s, because I had to give a lecture recently at the American College of Osteopathic OB-GYN on vaginitis, so vaginal infections. And they were like, well, we need you to give the lecture from the standpoint of what's the gold standard right now. And I was like, so I went and I looked up what the gold standard was and I'm like, the gold standard of how they diagnose vaginitis is the same standard that they used in the 1950s.

Amen. That's not okay. What we learned in medical school was already antiquated and they want us to perpetuate that. Please tell my listeners, you can now look at the microbiome of the vagina, right? We know how to evaluate what's living in your vagina. We don't have to do all this antiquated guessing and just throwing antibiotics at you.

And it's funny to know that, like, I've been doing vaginal microbiome testing for about 12 years and to know that still the majority of gynecologists aren't even doing that. Like, no, really, you've got to look at the functional gynecology like, like you're doing. And I have a funny story about that. I had a nurse that was working with me years ago and she was not trying to get pregnant, but she was Not trying not to get pregnant. So, um, and so she just thought she couldn't get pregnant because her and her boyfriend were having unprotected sex for 6 years and she never got pregnant. She just assumed that she couldn't. Um, she comes and works for me and she sees what I'm doing on patients and she's like, I want to see what my vaginal microbiome is. So we do a swab and it was completely off. So I fixed her vaginal microbiome. In the meantime, she breaks up with that boyfriend, starts with a new boyfriend, and wouldn't you know, like no joke, like a week into the relationship, like, you know, they have sex, and then like a couple weeks later she's like, uh, I didn't get my period. And lo and behold, she was pregnant. And she's like— and I'm like, listen, you're a nurse, you know how these things happen. And she's like, well, I just assumed that, um, you know, I hadn't gotten pregnant for all those years, that it was that I couldn't do it because Her previous boyfriend had been married and fathered a couple of children, so she didn't think it was him. So I'm like, yeah, well, we fixed your microbiome and now that improved your hormones and your fertility.

Yes. Oh my gosh. The vaginal microbiome is such a big deal when it comes to fertility and miscarriage and all of that. So important. And I mean, the science is out there and all the amazing testing opportunities and the ability to intervene and get it balanced. Conventional gynecology is just way behind on the 8-ball. Like you said, they're back in the 1950s. So it's really—

I talk to my colleagues, traditional medicine colleagues, and they're like, no, that has nothing— the gut has nothing to do with the vagina. I'm like, it has everything to do. And actually, it was really funny. I was having a conversation with my husband the other night because it just popped in my head randomly. Years ago, there was an article that came out in like the regular newspaper That made mention of eating chicken increasing your risk of urinary tract infections. And I remember at the time all my patients were coming in with this article and they're like, do you think I'm getting urinary tract infections because I'm eating chicken? And I'm going, no, it has no connection. And it literally wasn't until like last night I was talking about gut health and that popped into my head and I go, oh my God, I never thought about this. Like, there was— they were having a big issue at that time with chicken being very high in E. coli. And I'm like, well, E. coli is like one of the number one causes of urinary tract infections. I'm like, if people were eating the chicken that was having problems with E. coli at that time, maybe they were increasing the E. coli in their gut and therefore leading to this higher risk of urinary tract infections.

I was like, Wow.

I never even thought about that.

Yeah, exactly. And women nowadays, we're so busy and stressed and we're eating on the go. We're not making enough hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes, and that bacteria is not getting killed off the way it should be, and it's wreaking havoc on us. So I love that you are diving into all of this because I think it's so important because I see women that are stuck on this antibiotic Roller coaster or the Diflucan roller coaster. And you mentioned lichen sclerosus. That's definitely an issue that gets misdiagnosed quite often. I find that conventional gynecologists don't seem to be well trained in vulvar conditions. So, you know, the skin on the outside of the vagina. So I'm excited for that lecture because I think it's really important for women to understand. You know, they're like, oh, I'm irritated down there, and they don't really know why until So they just learn to live with it, right? Like, I hear that all the time. And, and then you start avoiding being intimate because it's uncomfortable. You're trying to avoid being in pain, which is understandable, right? But it can lead to relationship issues and just really permeate your whole life. And so this kind of stuff's really important, isn't it?

You know, it made me think about, we do have a lecture talking about like pain with intercourse, which unfortunately happens as we get older, um, is very common from the thinning of the vaginal tissue. But I have a woman who is an erotic massage coach doing one of the lectures, and so it was fascinating because this is what she does for a living. She teaches people how to do erotic massage. When I first heard about it, I was like, well, that's kind of interesting. And then I was like, well, like, why would that— why would I want that? Like, why would I want to make my I don't want to be selfish, but why would— like, what's in it for me if I'm just doing things to my partner? But she explains it in a way that you're like, oh my God, like the person giving the massage is like super empowered. Like it's really like female empowerment and how to learn like to like kind of tap into your femininity and sexuality to use this empowerment to then like Do this massage and drive your partner crazy. So it was, it's really fascinating.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. We need to check that out because I was actually just saying that the other day, like as we get older and we don't have the same level of sex hormones, the desire isn't always there. Like we're not just walking around looking at guys going, man, he's hot. I want him. It's that you have to start to initiate the acts and get into the behaviors and those feelings of enjoyment and pleasure. will stimulate the desire. So, it's kind of the reverse of when we're younger, right? Like we used to want it and then have it. Now we gotta have it and that will perpetuate us wanting it. And I love that idea of like finding new ways to be sensual and enjoy because it's not all about just the drive anymore. So, that sounds amazing.

Yeah, she's, she's super fun and that, that's a fun lecture too. So, yeah. And then I actually, I was really excited about this one. This one, I mean, it might not seem that impressive during the, during the summit, but I have a pelvic meditation that we're doing one of the nights. And it's not just, just meditation. I actually did a lot of research into certain tones and like certain tones of music that stimulate the pelvic chakra, which is this energy center in our pelvis. And then also, if you listen to it with headphones, there's something called binaural beats or binaural music where if you listen, it's just slightly different tones in your left ear versus your right ear. And they found that scientifically, when you listen to this type of music, it actually induces relaxation. So it can be like very anti-anxiety producing. So we have that, we have that also during the summit that was kind of fun to make. I have a bunch of people teaching exercises. We have a urogynecologist who's actually teaching some like belly dancing to strengthen the pelvic floor.

Oh, so cool.

That's been fun because that's the other thing is like I wanted it to be more fun and not like, okay, let's just sit here and listen to a bunch of lectures. So there's a little, you know, there's some fun, there's some humor, there's, you know, we're trying to kind of have fun with the idea. And that's why even we went with the name Rally. Which was funny because my summit company didn't like that name. But I'm like, I don't want it to be like a summit or a seminar or like a lecture. I wanted it to be like fun, like, yay, let's go.

Yeah. Well, it's like you're trying to rally women to wake up and realize that there is something that can be done about their issues. And, you know, they might not be getting answers from their conventional gynecologist. And so You know, I just, I love empowering women to take their health back into their own hands because really you do have to be your own health advocate. You have to stand up and ask questions and fight back. Otherwise, you're not going to actually reclaim your health. You're going to stay the way you are, or like most of us, just keep sliding further, further into disease, right? That's not what we want.

You know, I was surprised. I actually found research, and I'm surprised I actually researched this, but 65% of women are uncomfortable saying the word vagina.

Yeah.

Well, how— if we can't say that word, and 80% of women will have a pelvic health condition at some point in their lives, if we can't say the word, how can we talk about it and get help? So that, that was really important for me too, to even throw the word vagina in there, though I was really worried about getting blocked on social media for advertising the summit. And so far, so good.

Good. Yeah, I think that's so important. Like, if we can't even be comfortable talking about it, we're not going to ask, right? And unfortunately, a lot of doctors don't ask the patients. You know, that's common practice too. It's like, if there's an issue, she'll ask. And that's just not usually the case, you know? And I inherited a very Well-established practice when I first came out, and I had a lot of older ladies and they were very sexually active. And so I was so glad that I was asking them the questions because they shocked me. Like, I was surprised at all the questions and all the activity that was going on, but I would've had no idea if I hadn't initiated that conversation. And I think a lot of women just don't have that kind of doctor. So I always say, like, if you're not comfortable Talking to that doctor, try to seek someone else out or watch things like the Happy Vagina Rally because it's full of all the information that you need, right?

Dr. Tabatha, that is such an amazing gift that you gave to your patients because you're probably the first person that's even asked them about that.

Oh my God. I heard that all the time, Betsy. Like, wow, really? Why are you asking me that? I'm like, what do you mean? Why am I asking you that? That's part of the reason you keep having bladder infections. 70-year-old woman and it's, we need to get you lubricated. We need to stop the trauma, that kind of stuff. And, or I would get women who would have prolapse, you know, their body parts physically coming out of their vagina and they didn't know there was anything they could do about it. And if I didn't ask, they would just deal with it, you know? So it's like, it's heartbreaking to me how much the medical system fails women. And so thank you so much for all you're doing because you are making a huge difference. I mean, This is needed.

You know, I was thinking too, it's, it's just even like talking about not just pelvic health, but even like talking about, you said before, the sex. I remember one time I asked a woman, you know, and she was in her 80s, and, and I said, you know, uh, do you have any pain with any sexual activity? And she was like, first of all, yeah, she was shocked I asked her, and she was like, yes, I am. And then all of a sudden my medical brain got out and I'm thinking like, okay, what things are going on in her vagina? And I'm like, okay, well, Like, what is happening? Are you having pain with initial penetration? Are you having pain with deep penetration? And she's like, no, my husband is crushing me because he's so heavy. She's like, I can't stand the weight of him on top of me. And I was like, oh, I never really thought of that. And I said, well, have you tried other positions? She didn't even know there was anything other than missionary.

Oh.

She was like, had gone, like, you know, been married for over 50 years and had no idea that there was anything else. And I'm like, well, now we gotta like adjust some of these positions to get you someplace that's more comfortable.

So— Yeah. Oh, that's such an important story. Like, you really just have no idea until you start that conversation, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So—

Well, okay. So this rally starts when?

June 9th through 12th. Starting at 9 AM Eastern time. It's about 4 hours a day, so you can easily fit that into your schedule. Um, it's usually about half hour, the lectures. So we got 8 lectures a day. You know, Dr. Tabatha's in there, so make sure you at least come for hers, if not the whole thing. Really, you don't want to miss it because there's some amazing information. And it's available for 24 hours. So when it comes out live, you'll be able to watch it for free for 24 hours, and then the next day resets. So from 9 AM Eastern to 9 AM Eastern the following day, and then the next day goes away, and then the next day starts. So you have a lot of opportunities to watch it. And there's also an opportunity to even just purchase it if, you know, if like most women have a busy schedule, and you want to watch it at your own leisure. So there's that option also.

Oh my gosh. Well, I'm really excited because women need this information. So the link to sign up is in the show notes. You guys, you need to check this out. It's this week. So get on it. But thank you so much, Dr. Betsy, for being such an amazing women's advocate and like bringing us the truth.

Thank you so much. I want to tell you one more thing. So in anticipation of this summit and yours is coming out pretty soon, I want to bring awareness around vaginal health. So I've started a hashtag vagina challenge. And so I'm posting videos of people just saying the word vagina. So if you want to join, join us.

Yeah, awesome. I love you, Dr. Betsy.

Thank you so much, Dr. Tabatha.

All right, I know you got something out of that episode because we dropped a lot of good juicy nuggets in there to help you realize why something might be going on with you, or maybe why something was going on with your health in the past, and now it's all just making sense and kind of coming together. You know, if we can get all the pieces of the puzzle turned over and figured out and put them together, you're going to have some much clearer picture of what the heck's going on with your health and your struggles. So I hope you found that valuable. Check out the Happy Vagina Rally. It is on— oh gosh, June 19th.

June 19th. It starts Thursday.

So the link is in the show notes. Click to sign up. Even if you can only watch like 1 or 2 things, I mean, you're gonna get value out of every interview. So at least sign up, it's totally free, and give yourself that awesome gift. So thank you so much again for your time. I appreciate you. Let me know how else I can serve you. Go have an amazing kick-ass week, ladies.

Bye.