Jill Nicolini Interview with Sherri Griggs

Welcome to the Balanced Body Podcast, where Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Health and Wellness in Omaha, talks to us about health, wellness, and balancing hormones.

We are back with our friend Sherri Griggs, excited to have her here from Balanced Body Health and Wellness from Omaha, Nebraska. Welcome back, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great today, Jill. How are you?

I'm doing okay. Now, I don't feel as balanced as I should. I had 2 groin hernias removed on Monday, so I'm recovering, but I'm here. I'm able to stand and walk and feels better to do so. But it's something— someone asks you how you feel, usually you say great, but I'm not so great, to be honest. But I'm getting better, so I do appreciate you asking. And, you know, I know you're in the Medical business. It's so funny because I know we're going to talk about menopause and so much more. Let's remind everyone what you do for new time listeners to start.

Right. So Balanced Body Health and Wellness. I'm a nurse practitioner certified, and what we do is we help people balance their bodies through the use of hormones as well as diet, exercise. Oh, I hate the word diet, right? How about good food choices? Right. Good food choices and exercise and sometimes supplements.

Perfect. I like the way you worded that. I think it sounds better myself. Let's talk about the website. How do we find you?

Yes. The website is www.balancedbodymedical.com and you may also call me at 402-807-5333.

Awesome. And we're excited to have you back here and to talk more about, well, menopause. But it's something that not every woman knows about. It's so funny. I was just thinking before my surgery, hmm, my period's been late. I wonder if this menopause thing is starting. I'm 45. And then I got it yesterday, but I was laughing because I was thinking about you, and I know we talked a little bit about it, but it could happen to someone in their 40s, even sometimes in their late 30s, right?

Correct, yes. I've actually known women that have had their ovaries stop working in their 20s, but yeah, you can start having symptoms as early as your 30s. You'll start to lose your progesterone. And some of those first symptoms will be trouble sleeping, trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, and the worst one is trouble shutting your mind off and it just races. You can't fall asleep. But, you know, average age is 51 years, but it typically occurs 45 to 55, and sometimes those symptoms are subtle.

Got it. Well, let's break it down. And for the basics out there, which is a lot to learn, what exactly Could you break that down for us today?

You bet. So menopause is when the ovaries stop working, okay? They stop making your hormones that you need and the medical field will say that after 12 months of not having a period, then you are considered to be in menopause. Now prior to that, it might be premenopause or perimenopause because you're going through that. Sometimes you'll have a period. You might go 2 or 3 months without one and then all of a sudden you have one again. So the ovaries are just— they're working a little bit and then they don't. And during that time period, those symptoms start happening.

And let's talk specifically about some of the symptoms. I know we talked about a few, right? But let's also— you mentioned there's at least like 30-something, right? How many in particular are there? 34?

Well, 34, and some people will say 42, but there are several, right?

Wow.

And many times, you know, you'll go to the doctor and they'll say, oh, just get through it, or here's something for depression, and it can help. But when you're talking about those symptoms such as hot flashes, right, all of a sudden you're hot, you're sweaty, you're flushed, and it just— it comes out of nowhere. I actually had a cousin of mine that said she carried a little fan around with her because whenever the hot flashes hit, she would turn her fan on. How about the night sweats? Yeah. You're sleeping and all of a sudden you wake up in the middle of the night and you're hot and you're sweaty. And we're not quite certain why that occurs. We know it has something to do with the falling estrogen in our hypothalamus. But it, you know, it's just all of a sudden there you are in the middle of the night and you're drenched, right?

Mm-hmm.

The irregular periods, we talked about those.

Yup.

Yup. How about the mood changes? And I— the one I hear the most from women is that anxiety that they've never had and all of a sudden they're having anxiety and it's just come out of nowhere and it's very disconcerting for them because that's not— a symptom they've had, or if it is, it's much worse. And you can go from feeling anxious to sad to weepy to angry, and you don't know why. It's just the emotions are overwhelming.

Okay, good. I'm writing this down. Go ahead, what else? What else?

Yeah, we keep going. Well, breath soreness. Now that tends to decrease further on as you get into the into menopause because that a lot of times is caused by excessive estrogen, even though we're starting to tell you your estrogen is starting to go. But if your estrogen is dominating over your progesterone, you know, it's all a balance. The decreased libido, we touched on that a little bit last week, but that is as you are losing your testosterone, it decreases your libido or your desire for sex. That's definitely related to some of those hormones that are slowly but surely disappearing. And along with that comes vaginal dryness.

Mm-hmm.

That's directly related to the estrogen, and, you know, it has to do with blood flow and natural lubrication, which I had a friend who talked about how painful sex was, and that all had to do with that vaginal dryness. Now you also get vaginal atrophy. So the— as the vagina loses the, the lubrication and the moisture, it starts to atrophy or get smaller, and that's all part of that. Some strange things that can go on with the fluctuation of the hormones, it affects the central nervous system and you might get some tingling in your extremities.

Yeah, my goodness. Well, it's so crazy because, you know, that, that's another interesting one. My girlfriend had the Tingling. She thought she had carpal tunnel and the doctor told her that was one sign of the menopause. How crazy. I never knew.

No, right? That's not one that you hear about. Or burning mouth, tenderness, tingling, heat, numbing, numbing in the mouth. You know, the mucus hormones in the mouth have sex hormone receptors. And as we're talking about things drying, that can be part of it. Your taste might change. So during menopause, and think about women who've been pregnant, right? When they're pregnant, their hormones are doing all kinds of different things. Same way with menopause. Oh my goodness. And then the fatigue. Oh my goodness. And it can be very distressing and sometimes debilitating because your lower quality of sleep because of that lack of progesterone. And then the night— the hot flashes and the night sweats that wake you up. And there can be bloating. And that can be, you know, a number of reasons— water retention, Maybe stress. Maybe all of this is stressing you out so much, right?

Yeah.

That's just a side effect. Other problems with your digestive system, joint pain, because estrogen— one of the things estrogen does is it decreases inflammation. And I was talking about that, as I had mentioned last week, with my networking group of men. Men have estrogen, and estrogen is an anti-inflammatory. So as When men go through andropause or menopause, they might have joint aches.

Yeah.

The same as women, right? Muscle tension and aches that can go along with that. Itchiness, because if estrogen is related to collagen production and we talked about hydration, your skin can get dry. We mentioned sleep. Oh my gosh, difficulty concentrating. Do you ever have it? You just, you just, you can't remember things, you have mind fog, you have trouble concentrating. These are all part of loss of that estrogen.

And yeah, people don't even know what estrogen is, right? It's like, you know, it gets confusing, all the hormones and the progesterone, the estrogen, and There's other stuff, the FSH. Yeah, it's— it could be confusing to the regular person and the doctor never really takes the time to explain.

And they don't. And again, it's a specialty. So it's about taking the time to learn a whole other specialty and that's what hormones are. They're definitely a specialty. Now, we know that hormones are our endocrine system and we have endocrinologists. But they tend to focus on your diabetes, your thyroid difficulties. These are your sex hormones. These are your hormones, your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, your DHEA, and like you talked about, your SHBG, and you've got your, you know, FSH, your follicle stimulating hormone, and all these are related. And some of these are there to stimulate your hormones. So you might find that. Something like your follicle stimulating hormone is very, very high because your body's trying to get your follicles, your ovaries to make more hormones. So understanding that anything that is a stimulating hormone is stim— trying to stimulate the others. So that might be high when those are low, right?

Yeah.

So you still have more symptoms.

Yeah, well, speaking of weight gain, I was just gonna ask you. Yep, tell me, tell me.

Right, your weight gain, your trouble, like, why am I gaining all this weight in my middle section? Where did this come from? What is happening to me? And I've had women say this to me, just a friend at the gym the other day, what the heck is going on? And I said, are you still taking your hormones? She said no. I said, get back on them. Because that is what's happening. And stress incontinence— now many women have always thought, well, I've had a baby, I'm going to have stress incontinence, or I'm going to have incontinence, and that's not always true. Now yes, there can be some serious damage to those pelvic muscles, but maybe there wasn't. And that incontinence isn't because you had babies, that incontinence is because you don't have the hormones you need. To keep your bladder from being overactive, and it's very, very common. And the pelvic muscles do weaken along with the loss of those hormones.

I mean, is there a way to get them back? I mean, besides doing hormone replacement therapy, is there something we could be eating or drinking? How can we replenish and increase our estrogen?

Well, there are ways to do that naturally, and part of that, that's food choices.

Right.

So there are foods that we can eat that will help boost our estrogen, and those are a lot of our plants that contain phytochemicals. And those compounds, they work as antioxidants, and they— one group of phytochemicals are phytoestrogens, so they mimic estrogen. And when the body absorbs them during digestion, then the body can see them as estrogen. So some of those are like Isoflavones, lignans, stilbene, and you're like, what? Okay. Fruits like apples, berries. We've heard berries are very good for us. Grapes, peaches. Some of our grains, barley, oats. Liquids, believe it or not, beer.

Mm-hmm.

Which, you want to watch that alcohol though.

Mm-hmm.

Coffee can have some good— yep, olive oil.

Mm-hmm.

Of course, you've heard about red wine. Yup. Nuts, seeds, almonds. Almonds are a good one. And we can also do some soy. We have to be careful with that soy though, so it's best to do some of our soy products such as like miso, which is a fermented soy.

Mm-hmm.

If you were to do it on soy, the last thing you wanna do is become estrogen dominant. But vegetables, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Spinach. Stuff that's good for us anyway. So, as I'm naming all of these, these are what we, you know, call clean foods, right? These are real whole foods that are good for us, and making good food choices definitely helps. Vitamin and minerals. Vitamins and minerals. Vitamin B, and vitamin B is a big one. So, that, you know, if you can get a B complex, And I always recommend it being a methylated B. There is a genetic disposition out there, MTHFR, that might cause your body— about 50% of the people have it, and it prevents your body from using B unless it is in the methylated form. So I tell people, if you're not having any strange symptoms, which that's a That's a whole other conversation about that gene, but you might as well get them methylated. At least should you have that gene, then you know your body can use that B or that B complex.

Wow, interesting. It's funny, you just caught me wondering. I have a genetic disorder. They say it's the MTHFR mutation in a gene. I don't produce folic acid, but why am I thinking this is Does this have anything to do with estrogen? I gotta figure this out. I swore the doctor said something when you have this gene mutation. And I, again, I can't even say it correctly. MTHFR. It's like mother.

It doesn't— MTHFR.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Is that it? Is that it?

Yeah, that's it.

Okay, because I have that. So I'm prescribed like folic acid, 1 milligram a day.

Yes.

But yeah, I didn't realize. I don't even know what that is. They just say take folic acid. And then I heard it has to do something with my hormones, so— oh my gosh, you've heard of this? Interesting.

Yes. And you know, it affects how your body is able to process amino acids. So for yourself, the best thing for you to do is you should make sure that if you're taking any sort of a vitamin, which you should, make sure that it's a methylcobalamin. It's a methylated B vitamin, not just A regular B vitamin. So most of your over-the-counter supplements will not be methylated. They're a little bit higher-end supplements, that is. So you want to make sure that you're getting a methylated B, otherwise your body can't use it because of that genetic— that gene mutation.

So it's just— it's a waste. It's just passing it up. No one's told me this. Okay, I'm— whoa, okay.

Yeah, and a lot of people— and you know it, at some point you had some symptoms, something was going on that caused your doctor to test you for that and tell you, yes, you need your folic acid. But then again, in our— what we call our functional medicine, we know there's more things that go along with that.

Yeah, well, I only found out because I was doing genetic testing to try to have a baby. About 8 years ago, and that's when it came up. And that's when my doctor said, oh yeah, just take folic acid. And that's, that's all I heard, and that's all I do. And I really knew nothing about it. I haven't even looked into it, but I knew it had something to do with the hormones in it. I know it clearly affects my body.

All right, it does. Yeah, because of how your body cannot break down the amino acids. And, and oh my gosh, and that can affect your hormones. That can affect everything because you need methylation And it's required for, you know, a lot of our metabolic processes. So it can have a lot to do with some nutritional deficiencies. Again, that's why I talked about making sure the B is methylated so your body can use it. And some of those deficiencies can be implicated, you know, can have a lot to do with weight gain or the inability to lose weight. And that's what we do here at Balanced Body Health and Wellness is not just look at the hormones but make sure that we look at— Everything about you so that we're not just giving you hormones that aren't necessarily doing the best that they can because you do have something else going on, Jill, such as your MTHFR mutation.

Yeah. Oh, thank you for this insight and so much more. Hold on, before we continue, let's remind everyone how we could reach you. We'll do our quick break right here. Good conversation.

Yep. You can call me at 402- 1-877-807-5333. You can also email me info@balancedbodymedical.com or visit my website www.balancedbodymedical.com.

Perfect. Stay tuned everyone. We'll be right back. Taking a super quick break. Don't go anywhere. And welcome back to the show. We are joined here once again by our expert and we're talking more about menopause today. I love this. Sherri Griggs here joining us with an amazing background and Balanced Body. She's here talking to us about, you know, increasing estrogen, the problems menopause, what it's doing to our bodies, how we can fix it. And of course, she's here to help us heal. And with all she does, just want to point out you can reach her at balancedbodymedical.com. That's balancedbodymedical.com. Welcome back to the show.

Thank you.

All right, all right. What else did you want to share today?

Well, we actually— there, when you'd asked about some natural ways to help with your menopause, there are a few other ways that I can add. And that not only includes— I think we left off with like our— some of our vitamins, right, and our minerals. So vitamin D. Now we learned several years ago about how important vitamin D is for our health and our wellness.

Uh-huh.

And vitamin D can also help with estrogen production. Now everybody should be on vitamin D because there are so many things it does. Now one of the other ones that they found It's vitamin E. Now vitamin E, that's a fat-soluble vitamin, so you don't want to take more than is recommended.

Okay.

You can talk to your medical provider about that. Vitamins that are fat-soluble can be toxic if you take too much, so always follow the instructions on that. But it can help reduce the hot flashes and insomnia. Now there are some other supplements, and people are on both sides of the fence with Yes. When you start talking about herbal supplements. Those are not FDA regulated, and so always, always talk to your medical provider before you start taking something just to make sure that there isn't some sort of a complication or something that would cause problems with another medication that you're on. But there are 3. There's black cohosh, and that's an herbal Yes. Remedy that they used many, many years ago to help treat symptoms of menopause and especially for hot flashes. Now DHEA, that actually is another one of our hormones and you can get that just over the counter, but again, you want to make sure that you get something, I'd say, that's clean, you know, there aren't a lot of fillers in it, it doesn't have gluten, things like that in it. But it can help you to produce hormones such as testosterone and estrogen. And red clover. Red clover is rich in those phytoestrogens that I talked about, and it can also help with hot flashes. So again, these are all things that are not necessarily FDA approved, and you always want to make sure that if you do start something like that, that your primary care provider knows about it. So there isn't any complications regarding medications you may be taking.

Interesting. And it's funny, I get confused with DHEA and DEA, right? Because that— can you explain the difference? Because there's both, right? And I never know the difference.

Well, no, there's just DHEA, and unless somebody is Leaving the H out. It is— and I will probably slaughter this— but dehydroepiandrosterone. So somebody might be leaving the H out.

Oh, okay, okay, perfect.

DHEA—

yeah, there isn't an androgen that I'm aware of as a DEA, but a DHEA. So it's very possible that They're just leaving that age out.

Oh, all right. Thank you for that. All right, all right, all right. We still got more time together, honey, so we still have more to talk about. I know we're focusing on menopause and so much more to balance our bodies, our lives. What else did you want to add about this?

Well, I'll tell you what, there are still a few symptoms that we didn't talk about.

Yeah, let's do it. Bring it on.

They just keep coming. How about dizzy spells?

Ooh, that's a good one.

Who could have ever thought Right? That dizzy spells could be a symptom of menopause, but it's hormonal changes, right?

Yes.

And, and that affects our insulin production.

Ah, interesting.

So your body may be having some difficulty maintaining your blood sugar stability. Now, if you're eating clean, right, you're, you're changing how you're eating, you're starting to eat healthier, that means you're taking in less sugar. less— I always say the white stuff, right? White sugar, white pasta, white bread. You're taking in less of that, so maybe you're getting a little hypoglycemic, a little low in blood sugar, which could cause you to have some dizzy spells.

Okay.

Interesting. And then allergies. Some women have said their allergies get worse.

Really? I didn't realize that. Okay.

Very strange, right? Because we might have a spike We might see a spike in our histamine, and histamine, that's the chemical that makes us itch. So whenever we are, say, bitten by something like a mosquito, your body sends histamine to that area and that's what makes it itch.

Ooh.

So if your histamine is increasing, you might be itchy, and along with the dry skin we talked about, some women will experience an irregular heartbeat. Uh-huh. Awesome. And that's important to talk to your doctor about.

No.

Right?

Uh-huh.

No, no, go ahead, continue. I'm sorry to cut you off. Go ahead.

That's okay. No. Well, because changes, you know, the lack of estrogen as we start to lose estrogen, because estrogen is an anti-inflammatory, sets us up for our heart— for heart disease, right? For inflammation in those vessels that can cause blocking of the vessels. So that's something that can happen. It can be completely normal. Many people have what we call PVCs, or premature ventricular contractions, and that's perfectly normal, but don't make that assumption. Always get that checked out.

All right, and we've still got 3 more minutes. What else did you want to share, Ms. Sherri?

Okay, a few more. Body odor, that makes you anxious, but you're having those Sweat, right? We talked about the changes of mood, irritability. I talked about anxiety, but what about depression? Because you're not sleeping, you don't feel good, you don't understand what your moods are, and now you're depressed. And this is all part of— part of menopause that we don't necessarily think about.

Well, also, let me ask you this, because at Balanced Body Health and Wellness, you also— you talked to us a little bit about metabolic syndrome, right, in the past, and what that is specifically.

Mm-hmm.

But you can also help treat people. I know we're focusing on the menopause today, but high blood pressure, low cholesterol, high blood sugar, abdominal obesity— there's a lot to you and obviously all that you could do. So I just wanted to make sure we know that, you know, metabolic disorder and your hormones, you could help with both.

Correct. And part of that is that all comes— it can be together. As we age, we start to have some insulin resistance and you might have been told, well, you're pre-diabetic.

Yeah.

But we don't want to wait until you're diabetic to treat you. Let's prevent you from becoming diabetic.

True.

Let's do some prevention here. Let's pay attention to what your cholesterol is doing. Can we increase your good cholesterol, decrease your bad, before you have to take a statin?

Yeah, and treat—

The cholesterol-treating drugs.

Yeah, and treat the cause, as you say, not just the symptoms. I love it. And, um, you know, maybe next time could we talk a little more about the hormone replacement therapy as well that you, you can help us with? I'm just curious about that as well.

Yes, so next week what we'll do is we'll talk all about the different kinds of hormone replacement therapy, the pros, the cons, and things that we can do to help you.

Okay, great. Thank you so much, Sherri. Remind us how we can reach you, please.

Yes, you may call me at 402-807-5333. My email is info@hormonereplacementtherapy.com. At balancedbodymedical.com and then our website www.balancedbodymedical.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Balanced Body Health and Wellness. Perfect.

balancedbodymedical.com. Thank you so much for being here, Sherri. Looking forward to the next time we connect. You have a fantastic day, okay?

You do the same.

This has been the Balanced Body Medical Podcast with Sherri Griggs, owner of Balanced Body Health and Wellness. If you're looking to find Sherri, go ahead and look for the website balancedbodymedical.com. If you're looking for the business and you want to find Sherri at her office, you can find her at 10815 Elm Street in Rockbrook Plaza.

Thank you.