Overcoming Hormonal Chaos and Fatigue: Insights with a Functional Medicine Expert

Are you struggling to think clearly, be motivated, or to even get out of bed in the morning? These are just a few of the symptoms of brain fog, and in this episode, you'll learn about the root causes. Hello and welcome to Beyond Diagnosis, a podcast to raise your awareness, decisions, and voice for alternative practices so you can take back control of your health. I'm Rita De Michele, your host, a mindset and empowerment coach, and the founder of the Onus platform. Join me each week so you can create the health of your dreams. Claudine Francois is a functional medical practitioner who helps thousands of women regain vibrant health. Hi Francois, welcome to the show.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome, you're welcome. We actually had you on last year around this time, I think it was, and we were talking about gaslighting and all everything about functional medicine. So I do encourage people to go back to the beginning of last year to find Francois's, uh, Claudine's— excuse me, Claudine's episode. But in this one, we're going to be talking about how the impact of brain fog affects people, where it comes from, what they can do about it, and how your work helps. So let's start off with what are some of the common symptoms of gut-related brain fog?

Well, when people come to me, they often have a cascade of symptoms, a cluster of symptoms, and often they, they correlate with brain fog. So Fatigue, like you mentioned earlier, super common. Women are dragging themselves around. They feel like they're dragging themselves through quicksand, right? No amount, no amount of naps or caffeine are gonna help. So that's one thing. The other thing is feeling really scattered and unfocused. You know, like they, they'll go to sit down at a, a project or a task and they, they just find themselves staring blankly at the computer or at the page because they just kind of lost their focus. Memory issues are really common. We've probably all had that experience where we walk into a room and it's like, what am I here for? Where are my keys? You know, forgetting dates, forgetting deadlines, that short— like your short-term memories on vacation. And then mood issues, super common, especially with the women I deal with who are usually also going through perimenopause or are in menopause. And so you'll have instances of anxiety, anxiety if you didn't have anxiety before. Right? Depression, that irritability, snapping at people, basically just feeling like your emotional thermometer is out of whack. Like, you're like, is it working? Why isn't it working? And then other things like skin issues, you know, acne, eczema, digestive issues like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, hormonal imbalances including low libido, and even insomnia. Those are all things that are kind of clustered around This brain fog phenomenon.

It's a lot. It's a lot. And it— you know what, it was really interesting what you were saying about some of those symptoms, is that it's so easy to actually attach those symptoms to something else and start labeling yourself that you have— maybe someone goes, I can't focus, I can't think, my short-term memory's gone, I must have ADD. You know, everyone's doing their self-diagnosis Mm-hmm. Or this general labeling of if you have this, you have this. Some conditions seem to be trending at the moment and they're being wrongly diagnosed, whereas it could be something like gut-related brain fog. So what are some of the other conditions or issues that someone can have that often accompany gut-related brain fog?

Well, so the obvious one, since it's coming from the gut, is your digestion, right? So I'll often have women either have one or a combination of bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. And those are usually also a symptom that something is going on in your gut. And as many of us have probably heard, there's that brain-gut connection. Yeah, you know, 90% of our neurotransmitters Right? Our serotonin, our dopamine, our GABA, 90% of them are made in your gut. So if your gut isn't functioning, your brain is also not going to function well. So those digestive issues are like a little, hey, pay attention. It's kind of like the obvious one, right? Oh, there's something going on in your gut. A lot of people though don't attribute that to the source of their brain fog. As I mentioned, skin issues, that's like another way your body is trying to get your attention. It's like, because I used to have adult acne. Like the cystic kind, you know, they have these big bubbles like under your skin. It's very painful, it's very embarrassing, and you're thinking, what is wrong? What's wrong with me? I'm not 14 anymore. Why do I have all this acne? And that's another symptom that there's something going on in your gut that can also correlate to that brain fog. I mentioned the hormonal imbalances. This is a huge one. So many women come to me depending on their age, right? I'll either have PMS, or we'll have like low libido and, um, like PMS and irritability, or low libido and, and, um, irritability, right? So depending where they are in their life cycle, this, these hormonal issues, you, your hormones really rely on a healthy, well-functioning gut in order to have healthy hormones. So when your gut is off, hormones are off. And then like I mentioned, the mental health concerns, right? That because so many of our neurotransmitters, those all of the little communication mechanisms in our brain are created in the gut, including melatonin, which a lot of people don't think about. When we start to have brain issues, people can't sleep well. They start having more anxiety, more depression. They can get really snappy. You know, they, they basically have this double whammy of feeling emotionally drained. And physically drained.

So for someone who's listening to this and they're, and they're thinking, well, I do have some of those symptoms, you know, I have some diarrhea, I've got some bloating, um, yeah, you know, I don't feel motivated or bright in the morning, and they say, well, but I'm taking a great probiotic, so why isn't it working? You know, so, you know, someone says, well, I, I take I've got fiber in my diet, you know, I'm looking, I exercise, I take a great probiotic. Why is it not working?

That's a great question. And my ultimate response is, well, we need to test to find out why, right? There's a great gut test that we can do to figure out why. What some of the reasons I see are, however, someone could have an imbalance of their gut microbiome. Like maybe taking that probiotic is actually making things worse because maybe you have an overgrowth Right. Maybe you have a parasite, which isn't uncommon, right? I would say probably 25% of the clients that I work with get— have a parasite. H. pylori is super common. About half the population has H. pylori, which is this spiral-shaped bacteria that burrows into your stomach lining and it neutralizes the stomach acid. It could be digestive enzymes. Maybe you're not digesting protein well, maybe you're not digesting fat, and then you're not getting the nutrients from those things. Maybe you have leaky gut, which is super common now because we're all super stressed out. Aren't we?

Yeah.

So, I mean, the big— if you were to ask me, like, what's the root cause? Like, why are people having gut-related brain fog? I would say the, the top reason, the first thing that comes to mind is chronic stress. Because when you have your chronic stress, everything stops. Your body's not going to be creating Digestion, the digestion processes isn't going to happen because it's like, I need to run away from the tiger. I'm going to give you all the energy to run away from the tiger. We do not need any energy happening in the digestive process. So chronic stress stops that whole process and then you start getting problems, right? And then inflammation. I don't know if this is in your, your Instagram feed, but in my Instagram feed everywhere, it's like inflammation is the root cause of all chronic disease. And I'm like, yep.

Yeah, I see it all the time.

So when you have inflammation, it's going to be, it's going to impact your gut. It's going to impact your brain, of course, because inflammation of the brain is just as common as inflammation in the gut. And when you have one, you probably have the other, or at least the beginnings of it. And that imbalanced microbiome we talked about, and then leaky gut, those are all huge precursors to the, the, that symptom of brain fog.

A lot of people, or some doctors and practitioners, are still skeptical about the term leaky gut. What would you, what would you say to that?

I love this because I actually had a client with huge gut issues. She actually went through 3 surgeries, 3, and still had a lot of the same issues. She asked her GI doctor, this guy who's His his training is in the gut, right? Like his whole life has been looking at the gut, studying the gut, and he said to her, leaky gut isn't a real thing. And I asked her when he graduated medical school. It was sometime in the nineties, right? The nineteen hundreds, as my kids like to say. And I realized, well, that's why because they discovered leaky gut during the Ebola crisis in two thousand and one. That's when they found that. people who had Ebola in their stool, or, you know, what was left of their stool, they had this chemical called zonulin. Zonulin is what the immune system secretes to open up those tight junctions of our, our cell lining in our intestines. It opens them up, and that's how things start leaking through, that leaky gut. It's doing it to get rid of toxins, but when our body thinks incorrectly we have all these toxins, it stays open. And that's how you get leaky gut. But that wasn't discovered until, what, 23, 24 years ago? So anyone who graduated pre that— and of course, once it's discovered, it's going to take 5, 10 years to get into the literature and then become common knowledge. And, you know, so, and it probably wasn't even taught in schools until the 2010s, at least.

Before.

So anyone who graduated before then, they, they have no clinical experience of leaky gut.

And if they don't keep up with, with what's happening, because, you know, they're always so incredibly busy, you know, you have to really dedicate that time, don't you? I know I spoke to a gastroenterologist about my mother once, and I said, you know, she could possibly have SIBO. And he said to me, what's SIBO? And I, and I said, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. He goes, oh, I've never heard about it. I think I'll do some reading, which was great to hear that. But I was, was taken aback. Mm-hmm. That he had, like, I'm not a medical professional and I've heard of it, you know, sort of thing.

It's rampant. Yeah.

So Claudine, tell me, what is the impact between food and inflammation in the gut? And can you explain a little bit about what— just what people— I mean, most people know what inflammation is, but just in case What is it? What does it do? And what foods contribute more towards creating inflammation?

Yeah, so inflammation is an immune system response, and it's usually— I, I have this little, uh, way of explaining it. It's basically like your body puts the, uh, offending substance in a histamine jail. I call it like a histamine bubble, right? So in the case of leaky gut, for example, You know, you have these foods coming through those, those tight junctions that are now open, right, in your gut lining. And your immune system is like, well, I gotta capture those and shuttle it off to the liver, which is how people get liver backup if this happens a lot. But it puts them in this little histamine bubble or jail, and that is inflammation because you have all of this gunking up your body. You can think of it like a car that hasn't had an oil change. You have all this inflammation gunking up your body. Coming from all those, all the different places, and that creates kind of a traffic jam, right? So your body can't do its normal processes because all these inflammatory bubbles are in the way. So when it comes to diet, there are, there are inflammatory foods, right? And I, when I, when people come to me, they're often already eating healthy. Most of the people I work with are not going to McDonald's every day. Right? They already are eating healthy, but they may not realize that there are 4 main foods that are super inflammatory, whether you have a certain allergy or not. And they are gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and alcohol. Now, I think alcohol is probably pretty obvious.

Yeah.

I think, especially now, you know, given the news that we've had lately about how alcohol is Also could be a precursor to certain cancers. But when it comes to gluten, gluten is basically like sandpaper in the gut, right? So if you can think of eating gluten, I mean, there are many reasons why gluten isn't good for you, but the main one is it's basically like tearing apart your gut. It creates, it triggers an immune response in the gut, and that causes inflammation and can lead to leaky gut. Dairy can also be inflammatory for many people because the immune system is a little bit nearsighted. So you can imagine if you're, if you're nearsighted, you just take off your glasses, you can see a person over there. You're like, but is it my friend Bob or is it my friend Dave? Like, they kind of look the same from that far away. And that's kind of how the immune system sees dairy and gluten. They're about 70% similar on a genetic level. So the immune system sometimes confuses them and that's why it can also be inflammatory. Not to mention that I don't know what the dairy is like in Australia, but in the US we have the worst dairy and we put all the terrible things in it. So there's that too. Um, and then refined sugar, which is basically feeding the bad bacteria in your gut, which can really throw off the whole balance of your microbiome and then— or, and thus cause inflammation.

It is true, you know. And then, you know, one of the things is, Claudine, I find is that people know it— gluten is so addictive, bread is so addictive. And sometimes when you get a blood test And they do a test for celiac or that, it goes no. So people go, no, it doesn't affect me, I can keep eating it. And so then they'll never attribute the fact that their diet and what they're eating is causing those symptoms. And especially I find I've heard a lot of friends say, because I do struggle with gut bloating, etc., They say, no, food doesn't affect me at all. I never bloat. But they have arthritis and they, you know, have all these other aches and pains. And is that sort of— is that part of it? Is that, you know, we are talking about brain fog here specifically, but the food would create the brain fog, but it's also creating all these other symptoms.

Absolutely.

That's where people maybe aren't relating the food to their brain fog. Because they go, I don't bloat.

Right. That's the thing is so many of the inflammatory responses aren't immediate, especially if you have, um, you have food intolerances, which can be caused by leaky gut, right? So you might have it kind of go the backwards way, the backdoor way, rather than you eating the food and you having a stomachache, you could eat the food and then 24, 36, 72 hours later have a response that has nothing to do with your gut. And so you don't associate them.

Yes.

So when you say someone eats something and they don't, they're like, I don't have any issues. You're talking about my dad, by the way. He's come off of gluten, but he has neuropathy, which is when you can't feel your hands and your feet. Like, he literally cannot feel his hands and his feet, which is an inflammatory response, right? He has high blood pressure. He, you know, he has all these things that he's taking medications for. That could be helped if he were not gunking up his body with his with his inflammation, right? These inflammatory foods. But because he doesn't want either he doesn't see the dots or he doesn't want to connect the dots. I'm connecting them, right? God, hear the dots!

And is he listening to you?

Bless his heart. No. But you know family. Exactly.

I was going to say, well, that's just family, isn't it?

Yes, yes. But that's. I mean, I have, I have heard that often, especially when it comes to family members and practitioners. They don't want to see the connection because, I mean, for one thing, it's not as obvious as I eat the thing, I feel the pain. I mean, I used to get migraines, but I wouldn't get it right away after eating gluten. I had to have a buildup of gluten in my body before it finally triggered enough inflammation to completely put me out. Right?

So yeah, so once your cup is full. That's when you start feeling it. So that could be because my question was going to be, what about when people— it must be hard to identify. Like, someone could have brain fog and they have it for a week, and then the next week they're going, oh, I feel really clear and motivated. So, you know, it's obviously nothing I'm doing. It just happened to be that week I was feeling off. What would you say to that?

I love the sink analogy. The gentleman who created this, it's called the MRT. It is a food sensitivity panel that we can run. He told me about this, this sink analogy, which is that if you think of the foods you're putting in your body as a faucet and your body's ability to detoxify anything in those foods as the drain, you just have to make sure the faucet isn't faster than the drain. Because if the faucet is faster than the drain, the sink fills up and then eventually it'll overflow. And that's your symptom, right? Whether it's a migraine, insomnia, PMS, you know, whatever it happens to be, your thing of the gut issues. So if it's this faucet and the drain, who knows how long the faucet's on before the drain backs up and your sink fills up. It could be a day, it could be a week. And that's why it's so hard To just cognitively think, well, I ate this and therefore I feel this way. So that's why I value testing so much, because I can see in the numbers how it is your, your response, your body's responding.

Oh, that's really interesting. That's really interesting because, you know, it's so easy to think, well, you know, I'm feeling good today. You know, everyone sort of like thinks, oh, what did I eat today? That affected me, but it could have been what you ate several days ago, or you've eaten for several days and you just don't happen to be eating— that contributed to it. It's not always—

Exactly.

Oh, I've got a tummy ache, I've got— I can't think, or I fall asleep, or I'm, you know, so tired, because there are the symptoms of like brain fog as well. It's my immediate, but it's not necessarily. So what sort of testing do you do to work out whether someone has an imbalance in their gut microbiome that could be causing this brain fog?

Well, my favorite test— and you're not supposed to have favorites, but I absolutely do. Your kids, you're not supposed to have favorites, but the GI Map is my absolute favorite. It is a gut test, and it tells us— has 85 different markers about what's going on in your gut. So all the different potential problems, right? Like different parasites, different worms, different bacterial pathogens, viral pathogens, all these different digestive markers. Like I was talking about earlier, whether you can digest protein, whether you can digest fat, do you have leaky gut? How is your immune system response in your gut? Like there are all these different parts of it. And it is super eye-opening for people when they start to make the correlation because there's also a marker. on this test for your body's immune system response to wheat, which is not the celiac marker, right? So, when you were saying that some people were like, well, I don't have celiac, I'm fine. There are about 200 different ways to test for an immune response to wheat, right?

Uh-huh.

Celiac is actually an autoimmune response to wheat. So, that's a completely different thing. But there are 200 different markers that tell us how is your body, how's your immune system responding to wheat. One of them happens to be on this test, and so if it is elevated, I can tell someone this: Your body does not like wheat. To be fair, it's most people; their body doesn't like wheat. But but you know that can see all these different indications as to what is causing this cascade of symptoms that someone could be experiencing.

I love testing. You know, not that I do it, but I've had several tests done, and it does give you so much information. You know. And some people I've heard across, um, socials, you know, they say, oh, don't go to testing, you know, it's— look at— just look at your lifestyle. But I feel like that testing gives you so much information, even for the person who's experiencing the symptoms. So at least you know, you know, because you can feel like you're going a bit crazy with all this, you know, and then you've got the brain fog and you just cannot think your way out of it. You know, and it's disheartening, and it does put you off sometimes seeking help because you think, I've been to this one, I've been to that one, I'm still feeling the same. So tell us, Claudine, as a board-certified functional medicine and health practitioner, how is your work different to, you know, traditional medicine or other people's Other practitioners and what they do when it comes to addressing this gut brain fog?

Yeah. Well, when it comes to functional medicine versus traditional medicine, functional medicine, as we've talked about before, they're all about putting the bandaid on. You have this symptom, I'm going to give you this pill, right? The pill didn't work. Let's do this surgery and cut something out. Versus in functional medicine, we're looking at figuring out what is the root cause. We really want to dig deeper. To get to the reason why you're having this issue. Because if we can figure out the reason why you're having the issue, we're not just gonna cut off the symptom. We're gonna figure— because when you just mask a symptom, which is that Band-Aid, your body's gonna find another symptom to give you. It's gonna keep giving you these indications that something's wrong until you fix what's actually wrong. So that is what functional medicine does. It really figures out, okay, Is there an imbalance in the microbiome? Are there certain foods that are triggering inflammation for you? You have a hidden parasitic issue that can be addressed. You know, so we figure out what that thing is, we get rid of that and actually resolve the source of brain fog or any other symptoms you have rather than just masking the symptoms.

That's fantastic. And can you walk us through some of the, you know, processes that you have for creating, I assume, would be a personalized approach to someone's gut-brain, uh, you know, what are those support protocols that you put in place with someone?

Yeah, absolutely. So there's, of course, diet, right? And I don't— I'm not saying diet like I'm putting you on a diet, right? I'm looking at what foods could you be eating that are inflammatory or triggering, right? So we take those out and we replace them with nutrient-dense supportive, you know, gut-supporting, hormone-supporting, all of those foods that are going to help heal your gut lining and nourish that microbiome. Because even if your main issue isn't gut stuff, that can have a cascade effect on other areas of your body. So we need to have a healthy gut.

Mm-hmm.

But then it's not just about food, right? There's going to be lifestyle factors like sleep, stress, even movement. They all play a huge role in gut health and brain function. So When I'm working with people, we're, we're spending a lot of time on developing stress. I call them reduction and release techniques that work for their busy lives. Everyone I work with is busy. So it's like, what can you do that's simple and easy? Can, if you're getting stressed, can you take some deep breaths? Right? Could we do a quick meditation? Can you take regular breaks throughout the day so you don't get, you know, hemmed in and more stressed? But then also focusing on optimizing sleep hygiene, because that's when your body does its rest and repair. To make sure you get restorative rest. And then of course, that targeted supplementation. So on a case-by-case basis, we're looking at, well, what does your body need? Does your body need, like you said earlier, probiotics to support a healthy microbiome? Do you need digestive enzymes to get more nutrients absorbed? Does your body need omega-3s to combat inflammation and support brain health? So really finding out, kind of like playing detective.

Yes.

Actually, it is what it is. We're playing detective. We're looking, we're trying to dig and dig and dig until we figure out what is going on with a person so that we can get to that root cause. And that's how, where we start from versus the other way, the symptoms. We start from the root cause.

And it is, it is that personalized approach because when you say to somebody, um, just take fish oil or just take this. Well, it might be that that does nothing for that particular body, that person's constitution of what they're experiencing, and it might be fabulous for somebody else. So I love that. I love that digging in deeper, what's behind, what's behind. And also, you know, it was interesting, I heard this study saying, and when you were talking about the lifestyle, um, they were saying that even just 30 minutes of exercise a day Can change your gut bacteria from, you know, a little bit more pathogenic to healthy.

It's true. Yeah. And I will say that—

How does the movement do that though? Do you know?

Um, the mechanism behind it? I think it stimulates the good bacteria and the bad bacteria are like, ew, I don't like this.

What are you doing? Like life.

But I will say more exercise isn't necessarily good for everybody because I have had clients who are like those super go-getters and like, I'm just going to do a HIIT workout or I'm going to do a, you know, this crazy workout every day. But they were already under so much chronic stress. They just needed a nice walk. Right. So you really have to gauge where your body is, where your nervous system is, determine what's best for your body.

Can you share a client success story with us quickly?

Sure. I mean, yeah, I have plenty of them. Um, but I will say there's one lady I worked with, her name was Lorena, and she came to me, she was super exhausted, like debilitating fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, stubborn weight. And she actually was in her late 20s at the time. So it was very unusual. Most of the women I work with are in their late 30s and above. But because she, she was already, she had had so much stress in her life already, she was already seeing the effects of that chronic stress long-term. And she kept going to doctors and they would, you know, they weren't telling her much, right? They weren't giving her any answers. They just kept telling her, oh, well, you have too much stress. You know, maybe you're depressed. Do you want an antidepressant? They told her to eat less, exercise more, and de-stress. So not super helpful, right? So she comes to me, she's like, this isn't working for me. I've tried working myself, working out to death. I've tried, you know, doing all these things. It's not helping. So she knew there had to be more to the story. So we, we did her GI map. We did a few tests, but one of them was the GI map. We found a bunch of issues in her gut and we basically implemented that personal protocol. So we did dietary changes, we did targeted supplements. We did stress reduction techniques for her. We also found out that she had mold toxicity, which is another layer to the whole story. And within a few months, her brain fog and fatigue had drastically improved, right? She was actually able to work, which is what a lot of women have an issue with. They're like, I need to be able to think. I need to be able to focus and work. Her memory was sharper. The weight started coming off, and she really started feeling like herself again. But I would say the best part was she finally felt validated and empowered to take care of her own health because so many women are being told, you know, either it's all in your head or like I said earlier, I, I hear so many doctors tell their clients, oh, well just eat less and work out more. And they're like, I'm already eating 800 calories a day and working out like crazy. Like, what else can I do? So feeling, you know, she was validated. We looked through the test, we told her what was going on, and we were able to come up with a solution. So she basically felt like I I can I can fix my body. I know how to be healthy because I now have these tools.

That is fantastic. You know, because it is. It gives, like you said, it empowers women. It gives them hope again because there's nothing worse than having symptoms for years and years and years, seeing. A plethora of different practitioners and doctors and then just not getting anywhere. So to finish off today, what encouragement could you give to some of our listeners who are in that situation? They've had brain fog for years, they've done so many different things, to not give up on themselves and to keep, you know, finding someone like you?

I would say, for— yeah, the first thing is to keep advocating yourself. Advocating for yourself and to seek answers because there is someone out there who can help you. Just because the doctor says there's nothing wrong with you or that's all in your head, it doesn't mean it's the end of the story. You know your body the best, right? And functional medicine can absolutely be a great option for people who don't— who are looking for a holistic root cause approach, right? So don't be afraid to seek out a practitioner who will really listen to you.

Right.

Make sure you find someone who will really listen to your story and take a comprehensive look at your health from all angles, not just your symptoms, but your diet, your lifestyle, your stress levels, environmental factors, the whole thing. And then really remember that it takes time to heal. It takes consistency. Like, there's no magic pill or quick fix, right? Everyone's so used to getting the pill, the thing that does the thing. But when it comes to healing your body, it does take time. Um, so you have to be able to make some changes along the way, but it is so worth it. So I would say don't give up. There are people who, I mean, most of the practitioners I know, we work with people from all over the world. So it doesn't really matter where you are. If you're in a place that receives mail, you get a test in the mail, you can work with a functional medicine practitioner. You just have to find someone who aligns with you that you feel comfortable with, you feel is really listening to you.

And that is so true. It is. I love the be seen, be heard, because that is so important. If you don't feel empowered by the practitioner, or the practitioner is disempowering you, you're just not going to continue. But from what you're saying is, from— if I can recap, you know, there is answers. Like, you don't have to live with this debilitating brain fog, which does affect everything. You're— like we said, your memory, your energy, your desire to be in life, participate. You know, there are answers. You do the testing. There's hope. There's possibility. You know, people can heal and regain a vibrant life.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Claudine, for coming on. And for everybody who has heard this and think, this is what I need, Claudine's details will be in the show notes, so please seek her out and find the answers you need for your brain fog. Thank you, Claudine. It's been a pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome. I would love to know what was the biggest insight or aha moment you got from this interview so you can now speak up, take action, and make informed decisions for your health. And if you like this episode, get instant access to your free ebook, Alternative Wisdom: Taking Back Control of Your Health, at life-onus.com.