Episode 1: An introduction to Dr. Tabatha, The Functional Gynecologist

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a 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. 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. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome.

I've created this podcast because I want to empower you to take control of your body, your health, and your life. So I'm a practicing gynecologist. I see patients all day long in my office. And what I've realized is that a lot of times I'm saying the same thing over and over. There's only one of me and there's so many of you that I want to make a greater impact. I want to reach the masses and help you reclaim your health. We are all unique in how our bodies respond and react, but there are many basic principles that hold true for everyone, and I want to share this knowledge with you. I want you to know that you are important. You have a purpose in this life, and you'll be best able to love.

Others and fulfill your purpose if you take care of yourself.

I want you to understand your body.

Has innate intelligence to remain balanced and.

Be healthy and reproduce and thrive.

You just have to give it the.

Right ingredients and environment. Unfortunately, our environment has damaged our hormonal system through pesticides, chemicals in our food, cosmetics, and personal care products in our air and water. So we have this epidemic going on of chronic conditions and it's rising exponentially.

Like obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disease, like thyroid.

Which I have, and chronic fatigue. So I'm super passionate about helping you understand what's normal and natural and what's cause for concern.

Concern.

I've always rocked the boat and gotten into trouble because I ask why. I want to know the why behind everything. I've never been able to just follow.

The status quo or do something because.

I was told to. If it didn't make sense or have a reason, I just couldn't go blindly along with it. There were many times as a resident that I got in trouble for being argumentative, not doing what I was supposed to do because I was trying to figure out why we were doing it, as opposed to because that's what the books say to do. I was trying to understand the physiology behind it and reconcile in my mind why it worked. So I've always rocked the boat. That's just who I am. And I'm going to keep asking questions until it makes sense. And I'm going to help you guys figure stuff out as well that I'm just so passionate about educating women on healthy diet and lifestyle choices. And what does that look like? What's the science telling us? I want us to get back to being joyful and thriving again. Really. I've spent the past 25 years studying human physiology and everything that encompasses women's health.

So I want to share my story.

With you just so you can get a better idea of where I'm coming from and why I do what I do and feel the way I feel.

Since childhood, I've suffered from an array of symptoms including alternating diarrhea and constipation, stomach pain, bloating, headaches, painful periods. My family didn't have health insurance when I was younger, so we usually relied on some homeopathic remedy like peppermint extract, honey, a tincture of iodine, or a bath. It wasn't until I got pregnant in high school that I realized how complex the human body really is. So a few months after delivering my daughter, I developed severe depression, hair loss, weight loss, and had difficulty swallowing from a large goiter in my neck. After lots of blood work and ultrasounds and iodine scan and biopsy, I was eventually diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. This was scary time for me because I didn't understand what or why was happening to my body. And at 18 years old, I definitely didn't have the confidence to speak up. It wasn't until many years later in medical school that I finally understood what my body had gone through. I felt bad for my younger self and wished I could go back in time and explain to her how to heal herself. But alas, I'm here now trying to help you not go through what I went through. In addition to my medical issues, I was trying to make the most of my difficult situation. So after I dropped out and got my ged, I started in the community college and I realized I loved science and human physiology. I studied hard and transferred to Michigan State University where I graduated with honors with a bachelor degree in physiology. I continued on through medical school and residency to fill to fulfill my purpose of helping women have a voice and a choice in their health care. But unfortunately, becoming a physician is about the unhealthiest profession you can enter. For over 15 years, I was sleep deprived, eating processed junk on the go, not exercising, missing most of my family get togethers and not nurturing my faith. I thought what I was doing was right because it would make me a better doctor. But it actually made me very sick. I was thriving professionally in my practice, but patients were waiting two months to see me and telling their friends to come and see me. I was performing surgery on women for chronic pelvic pain, prolapse, heavy bleeding, incontinence, you name it. Doing surgery on them gave them back their freedom and joy. So you would think I'd be the happiest person around. But because I had neglected myself for so long, focusing only on my patients and my family, my body broke down. My Hashimoto's thyroid disease flared up, but this time it wiped out my thyroid function. So I was exhausted. I gained weight and became very depressed. I developed a second autoimmune disease called Raynaud's syndrome and my irritable bowel syndrome was out of control. Then the straw that broke the camel's back, or should I say my back. I had a back injury. I went to my family doctor and then a sports medicine physician who told me that I injured my hamstring from running too hard. So for an entire year I thought I strained my hamstring and I lived with daily pain shooting from my buttock down to the back of my leg. I avoided any activity that would aggravate it. But once my calf started going numb, I had an MRI done and realized I had a herniated ruptured disc in my back. So off to the orthopedic surgeon I went. He told me it's been going on for so long that I really needed surgery to fix it. Reluctantly, I signed up for surgery with a six week recovery. I felt like I was abandoning my patients, but I was at the point where I could barely perform surgery or deliver a baby, so I had to do it. So I was a good patient for six weeks and followed all the restrictions. But when the six weeks were up, my surgeon told me I was free to return to my previous life and do everything I used to. So I went back to work and my third night on call, I re.

Injured my back in the same spot. Spot.

Somehow I made it home and got into bed, but I literally couldn't get out of bed the next morning. Thank God for my husband, it was Christmas Day no less, and I had to call a fellow colleague and ask her to take my call and explained I couldn't, I wouldn't be back. I went and saw the surgeon and he told me I needed to have my back fused with plates and screws and then I would eventually herniate above and below those and require more surgery. He said back surgery is like lay's potato chips. You can't just have one. That scared the crap out of me. So I went for a second opinion to another orthopedic surgeon and he said the same thing. I left that office determined to find a different way to heal. As difficult as it was, I took four months off of work to completely focus on my healing. I started the Whole30 program and went to physical therapy twice a week. I started listening to podcasts by Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Amy Myers and eventually found the world of functional medicine. I loved the idea of getting to the root cause of my illnesses and not just keep putting band aids on my situation. I needed an entire overhaul of my life to heal myself. I needed to learn how to say no to things, how to eat clean, healthy food that I prepared to eat in a calm matter without distractions while not working and doing 10 other things. I needed to learn how to integrate self care into my daily life, how to listen to my body when it's screaming clues at me that something's wrong, how to get on a schedule that allowed me to get enough sleep, how to exercise regularly and avoid more injuries, and how to have faith that God will show me the way if I'm just open and listen to what the universe and my body are telling me. So I'm super excited to tell you that I figured this out and with my help, you can too. I've learned so much along this crazy difficult journey and I feel obligated to share it with every one of you. I want you to learn from my struggles and my mistakes. I want you to start making changes today to get get on a better path toward health and vitality. In my podcast, the Functional Gynecologist, I will be covering so many topics in explaining our body's normal phases of life. As a woman, I'll be talking about puberty, the menstrual cycle, the reproductive years, perimenopause, postmenopause, how our diets and lifestyle choices and and environment affect our hormones and contribute to disease. Some of the topics will be hormone imbalance, stress management, weight gain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, the effects of birth control on our system, pelvic floor issues, nutrition, intermittent fasting, exercise, thyroid disease, depression, anxiety, infertility, pregnancy, you name it. I will give you interventions, techniques and remedies to treat these conditions. You're gonna go away from this learning, hopefully learning something new every day. That's my goal. I'll interview leading experts in their fields to give you the latest cutting edge science on how to get healthy and stay healthy and answer all your questions. So stay tuned. Please join me for this amazing podcast that I'm, I'm super passionate about and excited to bring you. If you've been looking for a functional gynecologist, you found her. So follow me on Facebook and Instagram @Doctor Tabitha. That's T A B A T H A with three A's, no eyes. Shoot me your questions. I'll be sure to get back to you. I am here for you, okay? And I would love it if you would rate my podcast on itunes. You know, a five star review would be amazing. That would tell me that you're interested in being proactive with your health and to hear more. I'm so excited to share everything I've learned and continue to learn. So join me on this adventure and in episode two, I'll break down the menstrual cycle. What is happening, why it's important on our health and how we can use it as a fifth vital sign as an and as an indicator for our overall health. So grab your favorite coffee or tea and join my sisterhood by listening to the Functional Gynecologist podcast. Tell your girlfriends, your sisters, your mom, co workers, strangers in line at the grocery store about me. I want every woman to have a voice and be empowered to be the amazing woman they're born to be. Have an awesome day.