Detoxifying Your Body and Environment with Bridgit Danner

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, 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 gyne health and your overall health. And it's a super gutsy thing for me to go against conventional guys 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 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 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 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, you know, upbringing and exposures on a regular basis. And some of us, you know, 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, like, 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, you know, she's been interested in her environment her whole life. She, you know, donated her allowance to Greenpeace as a child, and she was writing cosmetic companies when she was a kid about their practices of, like, what's in their products and all of that. So I just love her passion for this. And I want you to think about, like, 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 without thousand 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 master class coming out in a couple weeks called the Toxic Mold Master Class. 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 master class. 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, like, what are the do it yourself detox treatments that you can just do? You don't have to go for, you know, 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 exposures. 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. And it's 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.

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 in 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, Tabitha. 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. You know, 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, like, dragging on and you can't seem to fix them, you know, 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 like, you know, what kind of the grouping of symptoms might look like. And we also talk about in general living a non toxic, well, low toxic lifestyle. It's impossible to live a non toxic lifestyle. Yeah. Because it is so multifactorial and once you become sensitive to one thing, you're usually sensitive to other chemicals more. You know, if your body's becoming weakened from mold, you maybe picked up other infections. So you know, these, these events can seem like a lot, but even if you tune into a couple talks that interest you. Great. I'm doing like a 10 minute talk every day. So I just kind of go start to finish through the whole topic for the, 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?

Like it is free.

Sign up and watch this and get educated.

Yeah, it's, I think this is my seventh or eighth 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. Yeah. Organized and stuff like that. So we're not just chit chatting, we're really, you know, giving, 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, 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, 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 you know, weren't really meant to be like dug up, distributed. So we're getting exposed to those too. And one of those excess could bring you down. But usually like I said earlier, if, 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 like cell receptors where hormones like estrogen should attach. They create a burden on the liver. Um, you know, they can back up the lymph, they can disrupt the gut microbiome, which can lead to a lot of like detox problems and other problems. So they're just something I use it to say. It's simply like there's something that's not meant to be there. Our body wasn't designed to handle these. So it just, 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 like 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 know, 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, a detoxing lifestyle, if you will, like, 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. Like you don't have to know all the heavy metals or anything like that. But I would say there's two 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 one, 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 two, 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, inventory and processed, you know, prevents part of that load. Drinking lots of water is a simple thing. You know, just waking up in the morning and having a little warm water or warm water with lemon or having electrolytes in the morning, just like 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. 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 it not only only, you know, is it good for building muscle and creating testosterone and doing some important things. Like, 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 talked about that on the show. You know, minimum one bowel movement a day, but really having two or three is more ideal, especially when we're actively 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 10 things in my book. Get these 10 things down and okay, now you're allowed to go do some more detox.

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 it's. There's different types of collagen powder, but they're usually different, like amino acids than you're getting, like when you have a chicken breast or whatever. So I like doing collagen powder. You know, we need a lot of protein routine 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 in a little local honey and like blend it up. So that's like a little easy liver, like tonic that I make sometimes the liver likes onion and garlic and cruciferous things, likes organs and 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, eat out of boxes and bags. And really, like, everything we need is in the food that's already create. Created. So I love that. Just go back to, like, 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, like, 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, like, before showering or whatever. Like, that's not, you know, like, if you shower in the morning, then you dry brush first. Called dry for a reason. I'm more of, like, a nighttime bath person. So I just dry brush in the morning. It just takes a few minutes. You buy this, like, hard bristle brush at a natural grocery store. We sell one as well. And you just 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 a, 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 of 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 guy. I'm just gonna riff on cellulite for a sec. Making 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 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 is some kind of acid you use, like a light roast coffee where that compound is more active and that con. That compound, like hitting the bloodstream is what helps with the glutathione production. So it is different, like you're going to get a little buzz, so to speak, from doing a coffee enema. But it's. It's just not like the same as, you know, ingesting it and having it go through your stomach.

Yeah, I've had patients ask me, like, I'm really sensitive to coffee. Is this 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, like, techniques and lymph. I mean, I. 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 and a mansana were the biggest, like needle movers for me when 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, you know, cryotherapy. So there's a lot of things for. 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 for 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 they, there's a couple formulas I use. Some, some can really help with constipation, some can help with diarrhea. There's different formulas but so I like Mega Mucosa and that helps a little bit more with constipation and like kind of food sensitivities, like 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 did 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 like not a problem at all for me. So those are some products to know about. You know, I do like getting lots of fiber and 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 helps read the gut environment and decides like which bacteria to starve, which bacteria to build and it can actually grow like diversity. So if you've been exposed to mold or other environmental toxins as well, antibiotics could another example. Your gut bacteria is usually disrupted and it needs to be restored and built back. So there are different herbs for like killing stuff, killing stuff off and all that. But really pretty safe is the process of like rebuilding the gut and just kind of making it a nor 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 like support your system and have your gut functioning in order to do those detox processes. And you know, 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, you know, 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.

Yeah, I saw those in test results, too, before. Before COVID time, too. I think it's 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 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 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, you know, there's different types of saunas, and I don't think. I think people think they're just sweating things out. You know, 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 that.

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. 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 different state, and you get more relaxed while you're in there. So it can be great for sleep. 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 chronic health conditions. I'm really excited that more and more people are buying them for their home. So, yeah, I'll talk a little bit more about the wavelengths and stuff. I mean, the traditional saunas were, like, finished. You know, they didn't have infrared lamps or whatever, so they can still be effective. I feel like sometimes, you know, I do, I do. I'm gonna talk about infrared and it is good, but it doesn't always have to be like the fanciest. This newest sauna, as long as you're relaxed and you're getting a sweat. The first sauna that I was really using and benefiting from, actually the first two 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, the other levels are mid and near. So if you get like a bigger box sauna, it probably has all three. Like I have a sunlight and sauna. And their bigger saunas have all three 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, 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 really, really great. And yeah, just pay attention, like your health goals and what kind of wavelengths 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?

Maybe the last one I'll add to that. Well, I'll maybe I'll add a couple. The more lifestyle is 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. 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 mailbox. And the mailbox is right around the corner.

Oh, my God.

You know, they stop on the way home, even though, like, their house is two 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 five 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. 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. I think especially as women and as we go through difficult things, we need to stay connected to people and. And make time for the people we love, 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 back up. And then. What was I going to mention? 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 could come out, and one thing he explained was that your hypothalamus pituitary access, 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, I just had low progesterone. And like, everyone said it was stress, but I just was. 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. 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 regularly and strongly 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. I didn't know, but it was making my life as a new mom, like, a lot more difficult than it needed to be. I was developing chronic pain that didn't go away. I developed all these different problems. Okay. I was going to 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. 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 is 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, maybe it is mold?

Oh, my gosh. First of all, it took forever. You know, I was in that house, like, eight 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 naturopathic college, getting IV therapy, doing detox, like a detox program, like a supplement one. And I was just 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. And I was down there more because we got in 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. Who definitely can relate to your story, like, they've done all the regular stuff, you know, 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. You know, I talked to Dr. Diane Mueller about mold toxicity in depth on one episode, and, you know, I just think that us sharing our stories is so powerful and the fact that. That you. You finally figured it out, but then you go on to, like, hey, I'm gonna 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 100%. Yeah. And like just, 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, 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, Tabitha. 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 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, you know, 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 like this is the kind of episode to share with them because it would be mold exposure. It could be a high toxic burden from this other stuff. So tell my listeners like, like what are they going to get out of your master class? Because I. This is so much bigger than like half hour discussion, right?

Yeah, it is. At least like we're creating some awareness so people are curious. You can either go by your symptoms or you can start thinking about your home. You know, we've got a part of the master class will have like a quiz, a little easy quiz about like symptoms in your home. My blog@bridgetdanner.com has like some info about you know, testing and stuff. But the events is like start to finish. Like the first day is all these professional remediators and home testing and then the end is like moving on in a new home and like having a non toxic home and how to maintain your home properly. And then kind of everything in the middle is about the health journey and, you know, supplements and calming your nervous system and stuff like that. So whether or not you have mold or 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. In a home, just like everyone, you know, whether you're renter and 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. 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 health. 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. 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. You know, I had tried a bunch of stuff before I found out I had. Well, and that's sometimes how it goes. Hopefully I'll save some people out there. You know, those eight years I spent, you know, maybe they'll find it in a year or three 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, like, right. Myself, I think I've mentioned it before. I built a brand new home and they started. 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? You know, and to think, like, 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. And so I love the idea of, like, you guys are really delving into all of this. 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 call, every crawl space is moldy. He's like everyone I've ever went into. So, you know, it's, you know, and not to say everyone's getting sick from mold. I'm. I'm not saying that. But yeah, it's just. Yeah. Something to be aware of. And you know, as women too, like, I know when I was married, like, I was like, like, you take care of the house. Like I knew. But it takes a team sometimes because we're not all both, you know, catching, you know, the same thing. So I think it's, you know, you probably have a mostly female audience, as do I. And you know, women are like the kind of the queens of the home. And we do protect our family. And this is, this is one thing to know, to know about. So you can protect your family. 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, like his respiratory tract is flared up for days. You know, he can't breathe all stuffy, all of that. I think he's got the genes that make him more sensitive to mold. And so, you know, it's not just about you listening. It might be about your family members or people in your life. I mean, we gotta 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, yeah, for sure. Well, tell your husband I want him to wear full respirator mask next time he goes in this.

Try 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 two things coming out are even better. They have like little filters here because then he's getting more coverage. Yeah. And I mean, no, none of it. Again, none of us like to wear that stuff, but we've all had it kind of get used to, 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 than, you know, it ripping up your lungs. And it's, it's long term contribute. 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 bridgetdanner.

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 hold. Hopefully have to go through everything you went through.

Yeah. Well thanks you for having me and like 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 detox toxify 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, gall stones 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 it's 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 react reactive oxygen species that are like left over. It's like when you have a fire. That fire produces energy in the form of heat, which is good, but it also creates a byproduct of smoke, right? And if the filth or 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, you know, choke us out. So 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, 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 not getting the answers necessarily 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 five 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 at the gutsy gynecologist. 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, and if we can, like, help the 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 at the gutsy gynecologist. So have an amazing week, ladies. I love you all. You're doing awesome. Keep it up. Oh, and have a kick ass week.