WDS Gaby Udabor | When Doctors Say, "We Don't Know" Podcast | Episode 305

Welcome to the show. My name is Eva Vennari, founder of the Elevate Institute, and I'll be your host for today's podcast, When Doctors Say We Don't Know. This is an inclusive conversation, and so many are craving to share their stories and experiences. Today's guest is no exception. Today's honored guest is Gabby Udabor. She is a functional medicine health consultant and a nurse practitioner and the owner and founder of Gabby Yu Health and Wellness Hub. It's a 100% online functional medicine and integrative practice for women, and she helps women overcome fatigue by addressing hormonal and mineral imbalances with gut health and to achieve better quality of life. Gabby, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Eva. So excited to be here.

I'm so excited that you're a part of— you raised your hand to be a part of this conversation. Because as a health practitioner yourself, you know, being a nurse practitioner, this is a side of the story that I think many people don't hear enough of. So I'm so looking forward to digging into this conversation. But first, I know that you had a personal story about when a time when a doctor didn't really have answers for you. So share with us what that was all about.

Yeah. So, um, as you know, Eva had mentioned here, I'm a nurse practitioner. I was trained in the traditional model. And so 2 years ago, struggling with my own personal health. But this has been something that has been going on for many years. So almost a decade I've been struggling. And so 2 years ago, I kind of got into that level where I was very tired. And just like, you know what, I need to find something else for myself because I was dealing with a lot of multiple GI problems, going from one doctor to the other, doing labs, getting medications, and it didn't seem like I was getting better. And it was more frustrating to me because being that I was— I'm a nurse practitioner and, you know, like I'm taking care of people and I'm frustrated, like I can't help myself. What in the world is going on here? And anyway, so I kind of started doing my own research and, you know, back and forth, and then, um, found, you know, this thing called functional medicine. I was like, huh. And so I have this lady I used to follow on Facebook. I used to see all her posts and everything and, you know, just saves most of the things she posts and all that. And I said, you know what, I'm going to contact her. And that's how, you know, I contacted her and, um, and talked to her about my issues. And she was like, yes, I can help you with that, and scheduled a call. And, you know, first thing, the first thing, we went through a very long call, you know, with my consultation, and I was blown away because all the things that I didn't feel was addressed when I was working with my healthcare providers, she addressed them, like, from, you know, my lifestyle, my eating, my stress level, all around. And within 6 months, things that I didn't feel like my doctors were able to help me with, I started seeing changes, and I was blown away. And I said, you know what, this is how I want to practice. And that's how I came into learning functional medicine and then decided to train myself to go into functional medicine so I can help other people.

Well, you bring up a really, really good point, and alluding to the idea that the length of time that you spent with this this other doctor was different than the length of time you were spending with the, with the previous doctor when you're going from doctor to doctor in the traditional medicine. So, um, on average length of time you would spend with those doctors, how long in minutes do you think that was?

Oh my goodness, maybe 10, 10, 10 minutes. You know, at me, like, just looking at the labs and all that. And to talk about, you know, when you talk about the minutes, I mean, one other thing I forgot to mention is that some of my labs actually, they actually, you know, they look normal.

Normal, right.

But I don't feel good.

And that doesn't match up. A lot of people, when they— I'll hear this a lot, you probably do too— on a blood test, the report back from the doctor is, well, everything is within, and I quote, within normal range. So what does that really mean, within normal range, if you don't feel good?

Yeah, it's like it's within normal range, but for that person, it's not normal because they're still having the symptoms. And it's to look further, and which is what I started learning more, um, when I started doing functional medicine.

Now, and I bring up that, that whole point about the within normal range. And I'm wondering if you could speak to the mean of normal range rather than the static of what we think is normal. So like when people go and get their tests for, let's say, thyroid, and they're looking at the different hormone levels in the blood.

Yes.

It's not just based on what's normal for an individual, it's what's normal for the society as a whole, how many people are getting tested and what's average for all of those people. So can you— yeah, I think a lot of people don't understand that. Can you tell us a little bit more and break that down?

Yeah, so it's good you even brought up the thyroid. So, okay, now, you know, I told you, I said, you know, I was going— I was frustrated because I had multiple GI problems. But then, of course, when I started working with my functional medicine provider, I later found out that I had Hashimoto's. Okay, of course, every— some other things were revealed. So talking about thyroid, we spoke on thyroid, and because this is what really happened to me. So anytime I go to my doctor, the most times they're always checking, um, TSH, checking T4, you know, but that was not enough and it was normal. Okay. And it was something that for me, I am, even though I was a nurse practitioner, it didn't occur to me that, look, they were supposed to check other things. And being that, you know, because when I talk about GI problems, you know, I had chronic constipation and belly pain and all that, which of course, when your thyroids are messed up, You know, you could— that's one of the symptoms. But of course, the numbers were looking normal. So coming back to talking about normal, there is difference between normal and optimal range.

Okay.

And that is where people, you know, how we need to address our clients, our patients, not the normal range, or, you know, wait till it's in the disease state.

Yes.

That is what we have been taught, right? It's either normal or is way over the line, which at that time is probably kind of late in the game. But that is one thing, knowing the optimal range, which you can see the trend, like this is what's going on. If the person don't do some changes, it's going to get to disease. That is where You know, with working as a functional medicine training, you— this is where we work. We do not do normal. We are doing optimal. What is it for that person? What symptoms are they getting? Looking at the trend. So those are important things that, you know, people need to know about that.

Yeah. Which is, which is also different than just covering it up to come to what feels like normal with a medication, because you can make some things— you mentioned you were on different medications, but none None of those worked. Yeah. So was it that they worked for a little while and then eventually stopped working, or was it that they never worked at all?

It just caused me more problems. So example now, one of the things apart from having cancer, I had what's— I don't know if you call it H. pylori, which is a bacteria that causes gastritis and of course if not eliminated or getting to the normal level, one can get gastric cancer and all that stuff. It causes a lot of pain, acid reflux, all that. So for me, it took time for the first to even be checked for even whether I had H. pylori because I did not show the typical symptoms. Okay. So I was this kind of person that I was a health nut person. I was always, I was pretty healthy.

Okay.

And I do all the healthy stuff. I'm not— I don't have any other things like I would say going on. But when I go to my doctor, I was just like, I am healthy. How are you doing, Gabby? Oh, I'm fine. But there's something wrong with my GI. That's all. I always was bringing that up. And even over the years, when I started looking at my medical records, and I looked at what I'm going to the doctor for, it's usually abdominal pain, GI, abdominal. It's all about that. But anyway, the medicine, um, okay, for the H. pylori, because there were different types, I'll focus on the H. pylori, which was the big thing that made me to say I need to look for something else, okay? Which now I feel it was a blessing because it made me to know functional medicine.

Yes, I understand.

Yeah. Yeah. So the thing about it was the, the H— for the H. pylori, they gave me a bunch of medication, a lot of antibiotics. And it was tearing apart my GI, and I was not still getting rid of it, you know. And then the GI doctor got tired of giving me— because there were all these medications to see which one I'm sensitive to and all that— and then sent me to an infectious disease doctor because he's like, I don't know what to do with you, let's send you to the infectious disease.

Right.

Took me to infectious disease. That one, I don't even know if he even looked at my face. He just looked at all the labs, blah blah blah. And he's like, yep, this is the medication I'm giving you.

Wow.

Threw me out again on a bunch of antibiotics, tore my system apart, went to retest, still had the infection. And I was like, this is not— I am not doing this. Same thing with the constipation. They gave me medication to help me to have easier, you know, um, go to the bathroom easy, but then it was like way opposite. Of what I want. I'm running, I take the medicine, I'm running to the bathroom immediately. And I'm like, what kind of life is this?

You know, not normal, not even optimal.

Combined with all those things. And then I just like, I gotta look for something else. And this is where I, you know, found my pathway. I'm like, I'm finding something. And that's how I found my way.

So on that, I mean, you had, you had that idea when you— this doesn't, this doesn't work for me. I can't I mean, isn't that funny? You're functional medicine. I can't function. So how did you come to the choice of the person, the doctor that helped you eventually?

Okay. So my choice came, as I said in the beginning, like I was kind of already following this lady, you know, because I'm in a lot of different health groups and all that. And I saw this lady, she was always posting things with functional medicine, how patients got better. So, you know, and it was just— and till today I know this is, you know, I'm a woman of faith and I believe God wanted me to go through this, um, for this reason. Because I would save her posts and I just keep following her, and I liked the method and everything. And, you know, I just keep following her and I was a little bit stalking her. Yeah, when this time came and I decided, because I looked at different functional medicine people, but this one was where my spirit just kept going, that this is the one you should pick.

Got it. All right. Yeah. So it just, she landed with you. It felt right. It resonated.

That's right. In my gut.

Yeah, that's ironic, but so true. And I think that this little insight of intuition that says, this is the person because she's speaking to me. I think a lot of times that gets swept under the rug and we just go, oh no, I'm going to listen to my regular doctor and keep going, doing what we did before. But that's insanity. So how about, you know, she spent that long time with you, the intake and going over all of your history with you, and what did you find? How did you get onto the other side and feeling better?

And so this is another thing too, you know, um, which is the way I operate now. Um, you know, after discovering her through that, you know, Facebook, following her, looking at all the things she did, I had the free call, of course, um, to kind of now see, oh, do I really like her? And of course we did that few minutes call and I said, okay, you know what, this confirms that I want to work with her because, you know, I gave her briefly my problems And then now scheduled more for the bigger call. So what was that question again? I kind of got sidetracked.

Well, the process after this. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Okay. So the things I discovered, so when I did that call, and it was like a 90-minute call, so it's not your 10-15 minute call, because I had filled a form which would tell— pretty much ask me everything in my life, which is something that really was very attractive to me because I'm like, wow, I have never done any visit that is so detailed. Being somebody that was a nurse practitioner working in primary care, it was always rush, rush, rush, giving me a bunch of patients. I can't even finish what I need to do. So anyway, when we got into the call, You know, she started asking me, of course, all the things that was happening with me, kind of just linking them. And she's like, this is what I think is going on. I was like, oh my goodness, I never looked at it that way. And then, you know, linking it with my labs, with the things I mentioned, then talking about my stress, and then some things I was doing, because again, as I told you, I was— I'm a health nut girl, you know. Some healthy things I was doing was not even appropriate for me to do. Being what my body was going through. Example was exercise. Okay, so I used to work in a job where I have to be there at 7. And, you know, being that I have 4 kids, I always try to do my exercise in the morning. And then I try to wake up in time to do the exercise, but then I was not sleeping enough. So, which is something she picked up on that. She said, your body is going through a lot of stress, and now the exercise is good, but The way you're doing is not working for you. Okay, so it was either I had to cut down or pick another time in the evening or so to do it. So those were a lot— some, you know, there were so many things she just picked on and on and linking the puzzle. It's just like, oh my goodness. After the end of that call, I told her, I said, I want to be like you when I grow up.

Yes.

I want to practice. This is what I'm looking for. Because prior to all this time, I have been having this second thought that I wasn't feeling fulfilled in my profession, um, that I wanted to change to something. I've always loved nutrition, and I was like, maybe I should go into being a nutritionist, all that. Because I was always that nurse practitioner that I am not big on just wanting to write prescriptions. I always felt there's something else, and I'm always big in teaching lifestyle, all that, even before I found functional medicine. So when I found functional medicine that incorporates incorporates all this and also still can help the patient heal them from big illnesses and all that, I was like, yes, I want to do this. Can you tell me how to train?

How to train while you're raising 4 kids? That's a, that's a lot. That's a lot on your plate.

Yeah, but it was one of the best things I did in 2018. I, I never regretted going through that.

Well, wonderful, because now they're going to have a mom that's healthy.

Yes, absolutely.

Yes. So when you work with others, do you focus on working with— you said women in particular. Do you focus on women who are also moms and trying to schedule, you know, a busy, balanced life, or who do you focus on? Yeah, yeah.

So I do focus. So I focus like when— if you see my thing, I say I help women overcome fatigue, because that was a big thing for me too, that I was in that level where I'm up and down. I feel like I am, you know, you know, I'm that go-go woman. You know, I do a lot of things, you know, have my own business, I do teaching, I do different kind of stuff. And but, you know, you want to do this thing, but you're tired, you're so exhausted because of course you don't feel well. everybody's depending on you, you know, you have your family, you have— and it's like, how can I do all this? You know, I want to do stuff, but doing it in a healthy way. So yeah, I am, you know, those kind of women, I will very much, um, work with them because I can relate how, you know, this— how that I have gone through that, you know, I can relate with them very well with that.

Yeah, you, you have been where, where they might be. So as, as far as As far as people finding you, how, how are you getting the word out about what you offer?

Yeah, so I'm very big on social media. So I have different places you can find me. I do have my Instagram, which is GabbyU_HealthHub. And on Facebook, you can find me Gabby U Health Hub. And then I do have my YouTube channel as well, which I'm planning to rebrand. It's just youtube.com/GabiUdabor. So I do a lot of cooking too.

Oh, so kind of cooking. What do you do?

Yeah, I— so I do cooking. So it's mostly good. So now I'm adding other things like interviews, and in the future when I start a podcast, I'm going to be adding those things there as well. So I do cook foods that are gluten-free, dairy-free, So it's clean foods, but delicious and multicultural. So yeah, that is the kind of foods, just kind of bringing it back that eating healthy doesn't have to be, you know, dry, that you can still enjoy your foods as much as you can. Because I'm always experimenting in my kitchen and I started that. So again, as I said, I'm rebranding that YouTube channel because I'm adding more stuff, more than cooking in there. But if you go in there, you can see a lot of my recipes there as well. Um, so yeah, and then of course, if somebody wants to reach me, I have my website, which is gabbyuhealthhub.com. I have a thing there that you can fill an application to, you know, talk to me, have a free, um, 20-minute consultation to see if you want to work with me and if we are a right fit. So any of those places you can send me, you know, chat with me in any of those places or catch me there.

Yeah, exactly. Well, and I'm thinking I've got— I'm stuck on the gluten-free and dairy-free because I remember having to do that for my own gut health. And if I was out with friends or even with family, they would question, well, what are you doing? Why is it that you can't eat this? And I'd say, well, you know, I'm gluten-free, I'm dairy-free, I'm soy-free. I'm also nut-free. And they're like, and taste-free? What do you eat?

So I get that too. Yeah. Yeah.

So I love that you're doing that. I mean, I wrote some recipes myself. It is— the kitchen becomes the laboratory, right?

Yeah.

So I can't wait.

It's challenging. And this is one thing I find a lot of my clients, women, when I tell them some modification they have to do, and they will say, oh, you know, my family will not eat this, um, or how would I need to do the same food with my family? But the thing is that it's not going to be easy. But if you really know what is good for you, feel like you want to make a change in your health, you will have to do that. And I know you sometimes, you know, as you said, with family, friends, they will question you to be like you are not belonging.

Yes.

It could be very, very emotional. It could be lonely. But you know what your body feels like. Like for me, when one time I went to a party and, and they had this empanadas which was made with flour. And by the way, I have a recipe there that you can see that is gluten-free empanadas. And somebody was like, oh, you want— Gabby, don't you want this? I said, no, I don't eat anything that has gluten because it was made with wheat. And she looked at me and was like, oh. Because she knew I had GI problems. She's like, oh, I'm so sorry you won't be able to eat this. I said, oh no, girl, don't be sorry. My body's happy. My belly's happy. It is not like I'm feeling deprived. And so it takes time to get to that level where you are so comfortable, but it's something you have to practice and keep going. You know how good you feel.

You know, I do. And I'm curious to know, it's like, as a person who has given up the gluten-free and the dairy-free, and for those who are listening who have not had to, they might be confused by it and they don't always know what to say. Like she said to you, oh, I'm so sorry you can't have this. But what's the better way for them to look at it?

Yeah. And the way to say that, and this is what I've used for myself a lot, I said, no, this is my choice. I love what it's doing for me that I'm not eating that and my body is healing good. My body is good without it. I mean, sometimes, you know, you don't need a long explanation. You just say, oh no, no, this is my choice. I love it. This is how— because when you show a passion of something, people will not like, huh, okay.

Right. They, they, yeah, they don't know what to think of it.

Yeah, there's nothing much they can say. I mean, imagine when somebody tells you, oh, I'm so happy. I love this. This is good for me. What are you gonna say? You don't have much to say anymore. This is when you want to try to be defensive, like, ah, you know, and then they start, you know, asking you more questions and all that. Just say, oh, this is perfect, I love it, this is nothing to me, you know.

Yeah, well, and that's why we have so many different dietary considerations to make. And I think, as you mentioned, it was at a gathering, a party, and I think the party hosts, they want to be able to— it's It's very tiresome to keep up with all of the food different stipulations. And so it's like, what do you do? Have nothing? Water? Here's water.

You know, and that's the thing. Yeah, there's always something. There's going to be protein unless you're a vegan. There's going to be vegetables somehow. Only maybe a few parties, they might not. There's always going to be something that you can just Stay on and just eat it. Because I have gone through this a lot with clients. So like, okay, Christmas is coming, this, how are you? You have to plan. And again, if you're going to be— if somebody is hosting, you can decide to volunteer to bring your food too.

Yes, yes. Yeah, good strategy. Yeah, bring your own snacks. I used to bag mine up and put them in my purse knowing that I may not be able to fill up on a single side dish that they had that was good. And I didn't want to burden the person who was hosting, right, with my dietary needs. And so it's a happy medium. It's like if you can find that. But that's a great tip, especially going to any— anytime I notice, you might notice this too, that November, starting November all the way through December and after New Year's, that time period, nobody wants to talk to me about food. They're like, oh, there's Eva, and they cross the street.

Yeah. I've had people like, oh, Gabby, do you have to talk about that now? I am trying to do something like a free 5-day detox challenge before Thanksgiving. Because I know after Thanksgiving, when Thanksgiving comes to Christmas, nobody's wanting to do something. But, you know, just prep people so that, you know, even though they go into the season, they won't overdo it. You know, because if you can get yourself— because it's just a matter of practicing. I mean, talking about that many years ago, even before I got into functional medicine, when I Originally, I started as a health coach. I had this networking company that they do weight loss and all that. And I decided, I went into to start, I lost a lot of weight because I was having a lot of weight issues after having my son. And I started the Program in December, December 10th, and my friends thought I was nuts.

That is how driven you were. Yeah.

I said, you know what? I don't want to take this body into— I think that year was 2016. I said, when it's 2017, Happy New Year, I want to make sure I have lost some pounds. I wasn't going to take that body into that new year. And I did it. I was feeling great. It was the best decision. I could walk my way around there. I didn't feel deprived. But, you know, it's just when people are ready, they will do whatever it takes to get them there. Because sometimes when people will say, I cannot, is it I cannot or I will not. There's a difference.

Yes.

If you really want to do it, you know what it is. Because I was just like, I got to get there. I don't care whether it's Christmas or whatever. I am starting.

You get to a point where no more is unacceptable.

And those are just excuses sometimes.

They can't— they can be, but every— like you said, everybody has to be in their right timing. And that kind of wraps that— that brings us down to our final question. Yeah. In, in that there are things that are So important to remember, and you touched on so many of them. So when it comes to, to your journey with gut health, what do you feel is the most important thing to remember when searching for answers?

So when you're searching for answers, so one of them is don't give up. And, you know, not giving up, do your research, okay? Be your own self-advocate. And it's about mindset. And for me, I feel like as long as you're living in this world, there's always going to be a solution. Ask questions. You know, be your own self-advocate, do your research, you know, go through, you know, like you can search a lot of different providers. And if also the last thing I'll say about that is that when it comes to gut health, The best person you can work with is a functional medicine provider or a naturopathic doctor. You can still have your primary care, but if you really want to get deep into healing, holistically healing, you need to get those kind of providers to work with you.

To spend more time with you and ask the deeper questions.

Yes.

Wonderful. Great advice. And I want to say thank you for being on the show. We are out of time.

Yes.

So I'm so glad you were able to come on and make the time with us today, Gabby.

Yes. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Yes, you're welcome. And thank you out there for listening with our guest Gabby Udebor on today's show. This episode of When Doctors Say We Don't Know has been yet another engaging conversation. And my goal for those of you listening That you will hear that message of hope so you too can turn your experience of pain into triumph. And if you're driving or simply can't click on the links right now, remember you can always hop on to my website, theelevateinstitute.com, follow the podcast links and find today's show. There's more to talk about. Tune in next week for a new episode of When Doctors Say We Don't Know. This is Eva Vennari reminding you to question everything.