Why Doesn’t My Gynecologist Help Me Feel Better?

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 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. Hey ladies. Okay, I got this question and I thought this would be a great podcast episode. So thank you for being here with me. I just wanted to say that really quick and if this resonates with you or if you think of someone that you know and you're listening to these episodes, please share it with them. Just send them a text or you know, on Facebook, just tag them or on Instagram. I really want to get this message out there that we do not have to suffer and we're not alone. And if conventional gynecology and conventional medicine is failing you like it is for so many women, there are other solutions. There are other options. So my question I got was why does my conventional gynecologist not know how to help me feel better? Why do they keep telling me there's nothing wrong and they can't check my hormones or that my hormones are fine? So I'm just going to be 100% honest with you guys because I was a conventionally trained gynecologist and I practiced that way over a decade. And I'm here to tell you that what I learned in Medical School 20 some years ago was already antiquated. We learn what they figured out back in the 1950s and 60s and that is still taught to us. It's a disease oriented model. So it's very much focused on diagnosing you with a disease that is recognized by insurance company. What is the ICD10 code? You know, when I was in school, it was probably the ICD 5 or 6. I don't know. They keep updating these codes and that means insurance companies will determine whether or not they are going to acknowledge that as a disease and cover the medication or surgery related to treating that. So insurance and big pharmacology, the big drug companies, absolutely dictates how medical students are trained, how residency programs are run. When I was in residency, it was commonplace to have a drug rep come in two to three times a week to bring us lunches and quote, unquote, teach us about their drugs. So it was always, what drug treats what disease? And if there is no drug, what surgery treats that disease? And so that was. That is how residents are trained. In every specialty, we are trained to focus on what. What drug will be the band aid to that symptom, to manage it. It's never about reversing disease, stopping the progression. It's very much focused on band aid approach. So the bigger point I want to make is gynecologists are actually surgeons. I did a four year surgical residency. I spent four years delivering babies and doing episiotomies and suturing you up and doing surgeries and removing organs like ovaries and tubes and uteruses and repairing bowels and things injured from endometriosis. I focused on learning procedures in the office like colposcopies, IUD placement and removal, biopsies of the vulva and the vagina. It was very much hands on, surgically based. It was very much, what do we need to remove and repair. It was less about why did this happen and more about how to fix it. Gynecologists are actually surgeons. We did not do extensive training in the endocrinology system and all of the intricacies of our hormones and how they are related to the endocrine. Endocrine system of our adrenal glands, of our thyroid, of our pancreas with blood sugar and insulin. You know, we did the basics of internal medicine rotation. So we got your basics. Like, we knew how to admit someone with raging diabetes, get their blood sugar under control and send them on their way. We understood the basics of treating a sinus infection. We understood the basics of, you know, how an orthopod would help with a fracture. We got all the basics. And the same goes for hormones. We did a little bit in the endocrinology department, we did a little bit in the hormones. But mostly our hormone training is focused on what drug, so what synthetic hormone medication will combat your hormone symptoms. And it's very much focused on what birth control pill can we use to override this system? And then in menopause, if you're going to use hormones, which drug are you going to use? There was no training on bioidenticals, there was no training on the difference of that. There was no training on the intricacies of testing hormones and understanding optimal ranges. It's very much either you have, you know, an estrogen of 2000 because you have a tumor, or you're normal because your level is somewhere between 20 and 800. That is not hormone balance. That is not benefiting anybody. So I am here to apologize that I didn't understand that and I practiced that way for a long, long time. And I'm sorry that conventional gynecology continues to be this way and that you are much gaslighted and dismissed. You're told you're crazy, you're told you're fine, you're told to suffer and just deal with it. You're told that you're just aging and to get over it. All of those are unacceptable answers in my book. And we should no longer put up with doctors saying these things to us as women. It's unacceptable to me that we allow conventional gynecology to be stuck in the 1950s and to not get it together. We look at them as hormone experts, as women's health experts, and they are failing. And I just want you to realize that there are practitioners out there in this country, there's thousands of them, actually, who have gone on to study hormones and through functional medicine, and through anti aging medicine and integrative medicine, we understand hormones, hormones have been studied. We understand how to test them, how to balance them, how to replace them. We understand all of it. Just not in conventional medicine. Just not in conventional gynecology. The fact that conventional medicine continues to ignore and gaslight women and not say that there is a way that I just find unacceptable. So I want you to feel empowered and excited that there is help out there. You don't have to be miserable. You don't have to deal with hormone imbalance, which leads to breast cancer and bone loss and brain fog and dementia and heart disease. Like, you don't have to put up with all of that. You literally do not. You can get into balance. You just have to work with the right person. And so it's not even worth arguing with your conventional doctor if they try to tell you that you can't test hormones or that there's no difference between premarin and bioidentical progesterone and estradiol and things like that. If they literally don't know, just find somebody else. Find someone else like me or a colleague of mine, and we can help you because you can feel amazing. You should feel amazing. And there's no reason to put up with that kind of treatment. So I sound a little upset because I am. Because I dedicated over a decade of studying to become the doctor that I became, only to find out what I studied and what I learned is not helpful to women. Actually, it is not helpful to you to reclaim your health. It may slow your disease process, or it may put a bandaid on your issue and fix that one symptom, but it's actually not fixing the root cause of your symptoms. And so new symptoms pop up, and the drugs that I gave you usually cause new issues. So I am frustrated that I spent so much time learning the wrong stuff and focusing on helping big Pharma get rich and the health systems make their money because I needed to do more surgery and this and that. So thank you for letting me vent. But I feel like you are in agreement and you're feeling the same way, because that's what I'm hearing from you every day in my private practice. Every day, I have women come to me being told all of these things, and so I needed to address it. So you should feel amazing in this time in your life, at every time in your life does. Aging does not equal disease. That is a myth. So if one more doctor says it's because you're getting old or because you're aging, you need to walk out of that office and never go back, because that is garbage. God did not create our bodies to fall apart and create disease as we age. That's just not how our bodies were created. Our bodies were actually created to maintain homeostasis and function vitally, you know, throughout all of our years. And so I would encourage you to continue to educate yourself, continue to ask why? Why? Why not be afraid to take ownership of your health? You are your own best health advocate. You are the doctor. You are in charge. I can be your guide. Somebody else can be your guide, and we can help you order the right tests, interpret the tests, get back into balance, use medications if necessary. But you no longer have to be the victim of this broken system. You can be in the driver's seat of your own health. So I hope this, like, pumped you up today and encouraged you to, you know, either look for a new provider or go have a conversation with your current one. You know, and just keep seeking answers because you deserve to feel amazing. You should. You know, I saw someone this morning who, when I saw her a couple of years ago, she said to me, I feel like I am 83 years old. And apparently, she said today that I told her, you don't have to feel like that. And she was so grateful because I gave her hope where her conventional doctors were not giving her any hope. They told her this was life from here on out, and she didn't want to accept that. And here she is a short while later, living a beautiful, amazing life, and she doesn't feel like she's in her 80s anymore, nor should she, because that means something's imbalanced and something's wrong. And so, you know, when I hear that, it just fills my heart and it drives me to keep getting this message out and to help you guys realize, like, there is another way. Don't lose hope, okay? So please share this episode with all of the women in your life. Everyone you know, we need to create a movement. We need to change the broken system or it's going to destroy us as women. So let's all get on board and do this together. Give me a five star review. Leave me a review. Let you know, Let me know what else you want me to talk about. And let's shift this broken system. All right? Go have a kick ass week, ladies. Bye.