Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
"What natural treatments can I use to help my IBS symptoms?"
~Kelly T Scottsdale, AZ
Finding a good Gastroenetologist to treat IBS symptoms with lasting results, can be very challenging. While I am not a Gastroenterologist, I have helped a lot of women in my seventeen years as a Naturopathic Doctor achieve remission or at least much better control with my "Naturopathic IBS Process" I will review today.
Natural IBS Relief for my patients is very troubling and challenging to achieve. That is why helping with this is one of my favorite things to do, especially when I was younger I was SO EMBARRASSED to even tell my doctor about this. Also, as a child growing up I thought it was totally normal to feel like someone was stabbing me in the stomach with knives. Many days I would sit hunched over my desk holding my stomach in severe pain as a child at school, scared the teacher would not give me a bathroom past fast enough or at all...
So of course my IBS symptoms became MUCH WORSE when I went off to college as a seventeen year old. The stress was triggering me and I was convinced the school put sawdust in my food because my belly would swell up like a balloon after each dorm cafeteria meal.
The good news about this though, is that severe stomach pain no doctor or gastroenterolostic could solve, is what brought me into the Naturopathic Doctor profession. As I tell in more detail in my story about "Why I Became a Naturopathic Doctor."
Up until that point I was on track to be an OBgyn and studying biochemistry and premed. My professional pivot point happened because nobody in MD land could fix my female bloating. Why would I want to go to school to learn how to be ineffective?
The relief I found from Naturopathic Medicine was truly astonishing and much better than any prescription drug I had tried from the variety of specialists I visited with. Up until that point I had been on a very stressful loop of doctor appointments and scary tests.
Furthermore, the Naturopathic Doctor talked to me for an hour about my sleep, stress, period, diet, schedule, and alcohol consumption. Things nodody ever asked me about before and I suddenly realized as I ate more junk food and had greater stress and less sleep my IBS symptoms were flaring badly.
As a teenager away from my family at college, I was going to all these appointments for my IBS by myself, and it was my first time without my mom there to answer the doctors questions.
First the college campus doctor sent me to an internal medicine doctor who had no answers. The Internist then sent me to a GI Doctor. That GI Doctor did some tests, then sent me to a different Gastrogenterology specialist. I saw multiple Gastroenterologists to no avail and nobody could seem to ever help me with the alternating Female Bloating, and severe IBS pain I suffered with.
HOW IS NATURAL GASTROENTEROLOGY DIFFERENT THAN AN MD DERMATOLOGIST?
Finding a good Gastroenterologist that provides long term lasting solutions for IBS is very difficult is basically what I learned from my own heartburn, stomach pain, and female hormonal bloating. The pills I were prescribed were basically useless and my depression and anxiety worsened as I felt more nervous at school, and hopeless there were decent long term solutions.
If you have IBS you begin to develop anxiety because most of my patients with these unpredictable symptoms eventually develop anxiety over not having control of their schedule, event, or work day.
HOW DO YOU HELP WOMEN WITH THEIR FEMALE HORMONAL IBS AND BLOATING?
So today I would like to talk about how I address chronic upset stomach symptoms much differently than the average GI Doctor, or Gastroenterologist. Don't get me wrong, I am not "poo pooing" going to the MD Gastroenterologist at all. Honestly, I highly recommend and prefer you go to an MD Gastroenterology Specialist first to determine there is nothing actually wrong with you like cancer. They can perform a variety of tests to rule out cancer such as blood work, ultrasound, x-rays, Colonoscopies and Endoscopies.
When I worked in regular Gastroenterology as the hospital I worked at for eight years we would constantly scope patients, and if we found nothing wrong, then the doctor would give me a handout on IBS Foods to Avoid (Listed Below), and ask me to call and update our post surgical patients the "good news" that they are healthy and "Just have IBS."
Well as nice as that is to know that you don't have cancer, it certainly does not fix the IBS symptoms and patients would often call back complaining to me that their stomach was still getting worse and the doctor would want them to come back in for more testing. One patient at the hospital I worked at called me every single day about her IBS for nearly eight years!
While I am certain she is probably not still alive at >115 years... she will always be alive and well in my mind! I guess you can call it somewhat of a hazing process that I went through at the hospital I first worked at in 1999, I was a new grad, and twenty-four year old newbie so all the older doctor's and nurses in charge of me passed her off to me and only me as an "educational opportunity." What I learned working in a big clinic that managed IBS symptoms, is that after a while every doctor and nurse begins to lose empathy for IBS patients because they don't know what else to do. So eventually you may see your doctor hit this brick wall with your IBS symptoms and they then dismiss you with.... "Deal with your gas. The average person has gas fourteen times per day. This is all normal and fine." But it is not fine, and IBS patients do not feel fine.
So I got assigned this elderly IBS woman's chart routinely to call and triage her chronic constipation and IBS symptoms. Some days when it was bad she would call me three times a day. On her good days she would call me once a day. Every day my nursing supervisor would know exactly when I was talking to her and actually review other patients she needed me to call as we both listened to her review the same frustrating IBS symptoms each and every day.
For many days in a row we constantly reviewed her doctor's IBS plan I was to enforce of prunes, a long with increasing her hydration, her fiber intake, her magnesium, and to no avail, she was not any better. Every day she would tell me exactly the same thing and I would tell her doctor exactly the same thing.
No doctor or nurse could handle the poor elderly woman's confusion over her female bloating and constipation, and because I was the youngest there... all the doctor's and nurses literally dumped this patient they all knew they could not help on me as my personal project to manage. While I knew I was being somewhat hazed as a newbie, I was also convinced to care and listen and try to help her solve the constipation by adding in more hydrating fruits and not so many dried fruits which finally seem to work and eventually we would hear from her several times a week instead of several times per day.
It literally got to the point that she would call the nursing triage line and start with, "Nicole....." and if I answers the phone I knew it was her immediately, as did any nurse, assistant, or receptionist in our clinic. My support staff would tell her to hold a moment and instantly transfer her to my desk. We do learn and memorize our patients sometimes just by the sound of their voice. So my very first "Dear IBS Patient" and I basically became BFF's. Her doctor would scream at me any time I mentioned her name, would basically tell me to deal with it unless she was hemorrhaging internally with blood or black stools he did not want to hear about it.
The pressure was on me, and I am a stubborn competitive Scandinavian doctor that likes to see results. So it was all on me to help this patient feel "heard" about her painful stomach aches, gas and bloating. I learned instead of falling victim to it at exactly the wrong time each day ie: the early morning and late afternoon are the worst time to try to talk to your busy doctor or nursing staff, I became proactive and would wait to return her call every late morning, once my call button was off, and I no had any other patients to triage stressing me out wondering if it was a heart attack, stitches or a fracture I needed to triage.
So every day around 10am, I would grab a cup of tea, from the break room and do some stretching and gear up somewhat like a professional athlete, for my daily marathon constipation nursing call about her constipation and bloating. Often I could complete a full fifteen minutes yoga stretching routine while listening to her through my headset. She generally spoke at a rate that nobody could interrupt, and it was the exact same description of her stools I would listen to each day.
Every day for many years, I would eventually do yoga or just kick my legs up and listen to her complain to me about her ongoing IBS symptoms for a good fifteen minutes before reiterating the same advice her doctor always told me to tell her when we reviewed her case.... the same advice that still continued to fail her, and despite me being able to provide her empathy for her IBS, I did not have a long term lasting solutions to help reduce her female IBS and bloating symptoms. We were both frustrated.
Working many years as a telephone triage nurse for the Gastroenterologist, I was the person triaging his post surgical patients for emergencies while managing chronic patients through our portal. I learned a lot from sending all the different GI Doctor's messages about their patient's concerning IBS symptoms, and often their solution would be for me to call to the pharmacy another drug that did not seem to provide lasting relief, caused side effects, or even worse did not fix the IBS symptoms at all. Many patients would get worse with the prescription medicines, fiber, psyllium, and stool softeners they would recommend for female constipation.
This was in 1999 before I started Naturopathic school, and I was using the hospital based IBS management system, and at the time I will admit, I was frustrated too, because I did not know what I know now as a Naturopathic Women's Health Doctor. Thus the reason, I share my most common IBS patient's story. A story I have since heard many times, with the same failed treatments.
Let me help you learn from my past mistakes and lack of proper education about IBS symptoms and why we need to address them properly like a screaming toddler and expect if we cover their mouth with our hand.... they will stop screaming.
Every parent knows that when they try to stop a kid from crying they may even get violent and kick or even bite you, so it is best to "listen to why they are upset" in the first place. In order to do that we need to implement my IBS symptoms process that helps to understand why my IBS patient's gut is screaming at them that it is not happy.
The spoiler alert in my story of "Why I became a Women's Health Naturopathic Doctor," is that I had gone to a half dozen of them in college, had a battery of stressful tests conducted on me that seemed to just worsen my anxiety and fears I had cancer in college, and nothing they prescribed me ever seem to help my symptoms.
The real problem is that nobody was talking to me about my nutrition, and I had recently changed to the Vegan Diet my room mates in college were eating, and many of the new foods that were supposed "Healthy Foods for Women," were not a good choice for the "Nicole Diet."
This is where Naturopathic Medicine really shines, because we are tailoring the patient's nutrition, macronutrients, and micronutrients to what specifically worked for them. If one diet truly fit all, then we would not have IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and the food that is the right fuel for my body, is oftentimes not the right exact diet for my patients. While I give all my patients my Naturopathic Hormone Balancing Diet Program when they enroll which has the top fifteen allergens I most commonly see removed, nightshades are removed, and foods that specifically irritate the lining of the intestinal tract such as citrus and cashews are removed, I still have to work to adjust the meal plans and recipes to what works specifically for my patient.
HOW IS NATUROPATHIC GASTROENTEROLOGY DIFFERENT THAN MD GASTROENTEROLOGY?
Helping women manage their IBS naturally with nutritional changes, microbiome testing and management, hormone testing, and food trigger elimination, is one of my favorite things to do as a Naturopathic Doctor!
I know first hand how scary it feels to not know where the next bathroom will be or if I will make it through a long bathroom wait line with IBS symptoms. I know stress is a terrible IBS trigger because my stressful biochemistry track I was on in college is what started flaring my stomach pains. The less reliable my stomach became the greater my anxiety. Which then suddenly became a vicious IBS loop.
WHAT IS IRRITIABLE BOWEL SYNDROME? (IBS)
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) also known as chronic digestive issues resulting in diarrhea, constipation or alternating diarrhea and constipation is best improved with Naturopathy.
WHY DO MORE WOMEN HAVE IBS SYMPTOMS THAN MEN?
When women are noticing IBS symptoms flare with PMS, Perimenopause or Menopause that can indicate a hormonal Root Cause. Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Hypothyroidism can also impact digestion and cause constipation or diarrhea. Most hypothyroid patients struggle with constipation. With menopausal changes, your body becomes more dry and inflamed.
I hope any patients suffering with IBS symptoms feel comfortable talking to me about their embarrassing symptoms because back in the 90's I was terrified with anxiety to talk to my doctor about these very common Women's Health symptoms and that also was part of what delayed my ability to receive help for the IBS.
I was having massive stomach pain and problems and no MD I went to could ever help me. Each day in college I felt like a victim of IBS and never knew when it would strike. Would I have an episode during a test or a presentation? I felt terrified of the random pattern of the IBS and was never sure what to do, what to eat, or what medicine to take for my IBS.
Eventually, a friend recommended I see her Naturopathic Doctor who promptly tested me for Food Sensitivities and prescribed an IBS diet and Herbal Medicine supplements to help me finally get control of the IBS symptoms. The Naturopathic Doctor also talked to me about my stress levels as I was a college student that had just moved an hour from her parents for the first time and stressful life changes also seemed to be an underlying cause of my IBS. I had such a great experience with that Naturopathic Doctor that I decided to stop my pre-med plan to become an OBgyn and go to school instead to be a Women's Health Naturopathic Doctor.
WHAT CAUSES IBS SYMPTOMS?
The causes for IBS are not completely clear; physical and emotional issues, as well as dietary factors or irritants, have all been linked to this condition. Possible treatment considerations for IBS include increasing dietary fiber, eliminating allergic/intolerant foods, addressing the possible contribution of emotional components, and incorporating nutritional therapies. In many cases, IBS can be controlled by managing diet, lifestyle, and stress. From my experience as a Naturopathic Doctor treating a lot of digestive issues, I most commonly find there is a Food Sensitivity we can easily test for via a simple finger poke. Knowing which foods upset my stomach was a huge game-changer for me and explained why some meals I was fine when I was eating a small number of foods I was sensitive to, but it was the meals where I had unwittingly mixed ALL of my food sensitivities together that I would have a severe uncontrollable IBS flare! Mystery solved! Herbal medicine is then needed to heal the inflamed gut while we eliminate the triggers as in "Leaky Gut Syndrome." Eventually, the reactions to most of the foods on the Food Sensitivity test diminish and the patient can return to a normal diet rotating their allergens and continuing to watch for flares.
Nutrition Guidelines
Fiber acts like a sponge by attracting water into the digestive tract, softening stools and preventing constipation. On the flip side, fiber is also useful for adding bulk to the stool which is helpful when diarrhea is present.
Bitter foods can improve the whole upper digestive system’s function and enhance the absorption of nutrients. Try adding some bitters to meals, which include chicory, endive, radicchio, and dandelion greens.
WHAT IS THE "MAGICAL HERB" THAT WILL CURE MY IBS SYMPTOMS?
If there was a magical exotic herb from the rainforest that I could take to cure my IBS permanently, trust me I would be taking that IBS herb, and blogging about it. Many of my IBS patients expect I have some magical herb to cure their IBS. That is not a realistic expectation, and instead I am working the above IBS steps with my patients to understand what makes their specific IBS symptoms better or worse. Herbal medicine is best used to help manage symptoms and heal the lining of the digestive tract so it can make HCL and enzymes again.
Herbal and Nutritional Supplements have been shown in research studies to be helpful in the treatment of IBS.
HOW DO I KNOW WHAT MY IBS FOOD TRIGGERS ARE?
Food Allergies and Sensitivities have often been linked to the symptoms of IBS. Roughly two-thirds of patients have some type of food intolerance or allergy. I have never seen a patient in my practice that did not have some form of food sensitivity triggering their IBS. Therefore, it is imperative that patients address these causes and eliminate the offending agents. Talk to your Naturopathic Doctor about identifying potential food allergens through Food Sensitivity Testing.
Lifestyle Guidelines
Emotional Components such as depression, insomnia, fatigue, and anxiety are often associated with IBS sufferers. Increased contractions of the colon have been shown to occur in patients with IBS in response to stressful situations, which can lead to uncomfortable symptoms.
Various methods of treatment that may be helpful to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue include biofeedback, individual counseling, guided imagery, and physical activity. If necessary, seek the help of a professional to manage stress or other emotional factors.
It is important to determine the cause of any intestinal complaint; therefore infectious or other causes of bowel symptoms must be ruled out prior to diagnosis of IBS. Once a diagnosis of IBS has been made, know that stress and emotional factors weigh heavily in the equation and should be addressed as part of treatment. Food Sensitivity Testing from a reputable lab company is mandatory for me to properly help IBS patients. Please make sure it is affordable to work with me as well as afford a Food Sensitivity Test as we will need a few visits together and the specialty test is not covered per insurance as the majority of the labs I order usually are such as Hormone Testing is covered per your insurance plan.
Thank you for your great Naturopathic questions! Please send them to me on a postcard to my address below as I love to get something in the mail that is not a bill. If your question cannot fit on a postcard that means you need to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit with me. Pop over to my SCHEDULE page to get that set up!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum Depression, Chronic Fatigue, Holistic Psychiatry, Depression, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Autoimmunity, Food Sensitivities, Digestion, Dermatology, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best-integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
"Are there any natural Dermatologist foods to avoid for my Rosacea?" Lilly Scottsdale, AZ
Rosacea is one of the most difficult skin conditions in Holistic Dermatology to treat and requires an aggressive Naturopathic nutrition, hormone, supplement, and general dietary support. Patients are quickly overwhelmed with the long list of potential trigger foods for Rosacea below and oftentimes cannot adhere to a Rosacea Diet or even understand what foods they need to be eating and avoiding without my help as a Naturopathic Dermatologist.
In addition to minimizing the foods known to trigger Rosacea it is imperative to test and balance hormones as this condition typically comes on with Perimenopausal changes in the thirties and forties, or with menopause around fifty. Thyroid conditions are also notorious for drying and irritating the skin whether the thyroid is too high or too low can upset acne and Rosacea in hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and Hashimoto's.
If you need my hormone and dermatology help for your Rosacea, simply visit my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic Hormone visit. I would be happy to help you identify which foods on the below list are triggers and walk you through my Naturopathic Dermatology process designed to improve Rosacea, Hormonal Acne, Cystic Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, Seborrheic Dermatitis, Hives, Rashes, Dandruff and Chronic Skin Conditions.
Common Rosacea Trigger Foods to Eliminate and then Test
Yogurt
Sour Cream
Cheese
Chocolate
Vanilla
Soy Sauce
Yeast extracts (bread, soup, nutritional yeast)
Vinegar
Eggplant
Avocado
Spinach
Broad-leaf beans and pods
Citrus fruits (including tomatoes, bananas, red plums, raisins, figs)
Spicy and thermally hot foods, Liver and organ meats
Foods high in histamine (see below)
Drinks that Trigger Rosacea:
Alcohol, especially red wine, beer, bourbon, gin, vodka, champagne
Hot drinks, including hot cider, hot chocolate, coffee, and tea
Foods High in Histamine that Trigger Rosacea
Fermented foods (salami, pepperoni, sauerkraut, fermented fish, tempeh)
Artificial food coloring, especially tartrazine (yellow 5)
Benzoates including food sources of benzoates, benzoic acid, and sodium benzoate
BHA and BHTAll prepared dairy products made with restricted ingredients
All cheese
All yogurt
Butter milk
Products made with:
Anise
Artificial colors and flavors
Bleached flour
Chocolate/Cocoa
Cinnamon
Cloves
Curry powder
Hot paprika (cayenne)
Nutmeg
Seasoning packets with restricted ingredients
Margarine
Preservatives
Restricted fruit
Some jams, jellies
Any food made with or cooked in oils with hydorlyzed lecithin, BHA, BHT
Grain products
Commercial pie, pastry, and fillings
Baking mixes
Dry dessert mixes
All breakfast cereals except those make with plain grains
Most crackers. Crackers must be gluten free, yeast free, and free of ingredients on this list
All packaged rice and pasta meals except with gluten free, yeast free natural/allowed ingredients
Vegetables That Trigger Rosacea:
Eggplant
Pumpkin
Sauerkraut
Spinach
Tomato
All vegetables prepared with restricted ingredients
Fruits that Trigger Rosacea:
Apricot
Cherry
Cranberry
Currant
Date
Loganberry
Nectarine
Orange
Papaya
Peach
Pineapple
Prunes
Raisins
Raspberries
Strawberries
Fruit dishes, jams, juices, made with restricted ingredients
Meats and Legumes that Trigger Rosacea:
All fish and shellfish
All processed meat
All leftover cooked meat
Raw egg white (as in some eggnog, hollandaise sauce, milk shakes)
Soy beans
Red beans
Fats and prepared foods
Fats and oils with color and/or preservatives
Hydrolyzed lecithin
Prepared salad dressing with restricted ingredients
Prepared gravy
Flavored syrups
Prepared icings/frostings
Spreads with restricted ingredients
Cake decorations
Confectionary
Commercial candies
Flavored gelatin
Mincemeat
Prepared relishes and olives
Soy sauce
Miso
Commerial ketchup
Pickles
Flavored milks
Fruit drinks (except pure juices of allowed fruits and vegetables)
Carbonated drinks (except carbonated mineral water)
Alcohol: Beer, wine and cider and all other alcoholic beverages
Medications and Vitamin Supplements
Tartrazine is in some medications (both prescription and non-prescription), and some vitamin supplements. Essential medications should be tartrazine-free. Pharmacies keep a list of manufacturers who produce tartrazine-free products. Some toiletries and cosmetics may cause contact dermatitis.
Cosmetics That Trigger Rosacea:
The following products may contain benzoates, parabens, pthalates, and fragrance check labels:
Eye cream
Hair dyes
Hair sprays
Skin creams
Perfumes
Soups
Sun screens
Vanishing cream
Other cosemetics
If you need my hormone and dermatology help for your Rosacea? Simply visit my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic Hormone visit. I would be happy to help get you through the Naturopathic process of understanding your individualized Rosacea triggers.
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Menopause symptoms can be truly miserable between hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, constipation, dry skin, and mood disturbances such as anxiety, depression, trouble concentrating, poor memory, ADHD, and generalized brain fog.
Many women experience hormonal anger from constantly feeling too hot.
Ladies, let food be thy medicine with this easy Menopause Milkshake recipe designed to help calm hot flashes and night sweats. This recipe is packed full of herbal medicines to help women stay cool.
Whether the heat is bothering us in Arizona, or we are having a hot flashes or night sweats the cooling properties of spearmint, red clover, and nettles combine nicely with blueberries and pears to help cool women down. In Herbal Medicine, every food has a "temperature" and it is either heating, neutral or cooling. We need to avoid the hot foods, and heating herbs if too hot as I explain in my blog about how I gave myself a hot flash from mixing them all together!
Nettles were found to help menopausal hot flashes after 8 weeks at 450mg daily. Spearmint is cooling and refreshing.
Red clover is a phytoestrogen herb that also works for anxiety as a mild sedative to help women sleep better. I also love Red Clover for gentle ongoing detox support as a clogged liver often causes imbalanced hormones.
By combining multiple cooling foods and phytoestrogens this is how many of my menopause patients manage their menopause symptoms with Bioidentical Hormones!
Menopause Milkshake Recipe:
1-2 cups of chilled “Hot Flash Iced Tea”= Spearmint, Red Clover, and Nettles Herbal Tea
1 cup frozen Blueberries
½ frozen Pear
½ cup of Kefir
1-3 Tbl freshly ground Flaxseed
1-2 Packets of Stevia to taste (optional)
1 Scoop of Protein Powder or Collagen
Mint to Garnish
Instructions:
Add chilled herbal tea, fruit, flaxseeds, kefir, protein, and stevia to blender. Mix well and garnish with mint. Drink 1-3 shakes per day for hot flashes and night sweats.
To make your “Hot Flash Iced Tea,” combine 1 tsp each of nettles, red clover, and spearmint per 8 oz of water.
Tea should be made fresh every 1-2 days and discarded after 48 hours in the refrigerator.
To make 2 nights' worth of iced tea at once, you will need 3 cups of boiling water and 3 Tbl of each:
1) Nettles 2) Red Clover 3) Spearmint
Cover herbs with boiling water, stir, and let steep covered to preserve the mint essential oils for 15-45 minutes. Letting your tea steep a little longer helps absorb the minerals and phytoestrogens that mimic estrogen into your tea. Chill your tea before using it in my Menopause Milkshake.
Women should drink their menopause shake 1 hour before bedtime for optimal, cool sleep.
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 23 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best-integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease.
She has been an Herbalist for over 28 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan (not Medicaid) and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Scottsdale Naturopathic Doctor
Bladder Pain, frequency and urgency for women can feel very frustrating as there are not many prescription medications for long-term bladder pain. Ironically, women with bladder pain are shucking corn as we speak and throwing the important Women's Health herb corn silk in the garbage can!
This must stop! Today's PSA for women will be on chronic bladder pain for women and how I work to manage it naturally!
The MD's I used to work for would inevitably ask me what herbs worked for bladder pain, since it was such a frustrating symptom for women to complain about. They knew they did not have much to help their symptoms. I taught them about corn silk tea, and how to properly make it to heal and calm an irritated bladder and they would often report back how much better their patients were with cornsilk tea.
If you have to plan all your day errands and trips around where you can find a bathroom every 30 minutes, then something is seriously not right and you may benefit from some cornsilk tea!
Corn silk tea is a fabulous soothing treat for an irritated bladder. Whether you are using corn sik tea for preventing a bladder infection or calming the irritation of interstitial cystitis a form of chronic irritable bladder it generally works well for most women, and is a trusted Women's Health herb that is cheap and effective.
Horsetail and marshmallow root can also be safe and calming to the lining of the bladder. The demulcent properties of these teas are great for preventing bladder infections because the slippery "mucilaginous" nature of the glycosaminoglycans prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall. Another example of a demulcent herb everyone knows that is mucilaginous is Aloe vera.
To make corn silk tea it is best to add 1 Tbl of heaping herb per 8 oz cup of room temperature water into a mason jar. Shake well and let sit overnight as a "cold infusion." The demulcent or mucilaginous properties of corn silk actually extract best in room temperature water than a typical hot tea infusion.
Strain your infusion and drink 2-3 cups at least per day to calm a very irritated bladder.
Patients with Food Allergies or Sensitivites to corn should not use cornsilk tea as they will likely react adversely to it which is an occasional side effect with any herbal medicine. Although I rarely see this!
Bladder pain for women can often accompany hormone imbalance with perimenopause and menopause.
I often find many food triggers from spicy foods, tannins, acidic foods, citrus, and Food Allergies and Sensitivities irritating my patient's bladders. This is why it is very important to work with a skilled Women's Health Doctor that knows how to address both nutrition and hormone imbalance that are often the root cause of bladder pain.
With menopause comes hormonal changes that can alter the friendly flora in the vagina and cause pathogenic organisms to take over such as a Yeast Infection. If you have already been to a Urologist, and have received no improvement then you are a perfect candidate for Naturopathic Medicine and hormone balancing!
Antibiotic use without enough probiotics to restore the microbiome are also often to blame for chronic female bladder pain. The bladder often becomes inflamed after a course of antibiotics and it is important that women rely on probioitic capsules for a month after one course of broad spectrum antibiotics and not just rely on yogurt. You basically need to drink a gallon of yogurt a day to fix your microbiome after taking harsh antibiotics and if there is underlying hormone imbalance causing pH changes it can create the perfect storm for bladder inflammation which triggers constant pain.
If you have already been worked up by a Urologist, and nobody has been able to help you then Naturopathic Medicine will be a perfect fit for you to try to heal from chronic bladder pain.
We ultimately need to figure out what is wrong with YOUR bladder, and the triggers and herbs it needs to be healed will be very individualized for each woman. But rest assured, you should not have to live in constant misery and pain with your bladder. This is one problem that is better off served with Naturopathy, Bioidentical Hormones, and herbs as there are not many medications that help for bladder pain.
If you need my help with your bladder pain simply pop over to my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit. I would be happy to help with this very common yet frustrating women's health issue!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum Depression, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 23 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease.
She has been an Herbalist for over 28 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Women's health is a little bit more complicated than men's health because of the constantly fluctuating hormones we experience every month and throughout our lives. It is completely normal for women to experience hormone imbalance. We must talk about it and educate women to spread awareness so they can take charge of it. When we don't properly address women's hormones, I see many women develop anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and insomnia.
In honor of "International Women's Day," I have put together multiple resources for women to help understand their hormones. Thank you to everyone who shares my hormone posts on their social media. Together we can empower women to take charge of their hormones and not be embarrassed to talk about these issues with their friends, family, and doctors!
Night Sweats- Natural Remedies
Hot flashes, Heatwaves & Hormones
Hormone Imbalance Feels Like Your House is On Fire and Nobody Knows Why
Insomnia: Bedtime Snacks for Women
Progesterone for Mental Health
Female Bloating & Constipation
Hormonal Anxiety is Like Snowflakes
Anxiety: Fight, Flight or Fright?
Happy International Women's Day! I hope you find the articles I have put together on Naturopathic Women's Health helpful.
It is a joy serving so many amazing women. I love working for you as your Hormone Doctor, and helping you reach your health goals with Naturopathic Medicine!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 23 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best-integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease.
She has been an Herbalist for over 28 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan (not Medicaid) and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Holistic Dermatology & Hormones
Cystic Acne is a form of Hormonal Acne that tends to NOT follow the normal program when it comes to what is helpful for my typical acne patients.
Both the internal treatments from a Naturopathic standpoint, and the topical treatments vary quite differently in my mind and it is very important to get this skin condition under control with the proper treatments that work for cystic acne rather than lumping acne patients into a “one sized fits all” treatment plan that always fails the poor cystic acne patient.
The real Dermatological problem with cystic acne is it is occurring DEEP within the skin, and therefore most topical treatments are completely useless as they will not penetrate deep enough to be effective.
Cystic acne often does not rise to a head as normal acne, and attempting to pop cystic acne will cause scarring, as I have received from my own frustrating battle with cystic acne I share in "My Personal Acne Story."
Furthermore, so many of my cystic acne patients are in pain, frustrated, and desperate that they are constantly picking at their cystic acne and using mechanical scrubs.
If you do not learn anything from me today please learn that you should PLEASE THROW any mechanical scrubs into THE GARBAGE CAN if you have cystic acne and not use them. They will aggravate this condition and generally just dry out the top layers of the skin without addressing the problem at "The Root Cause."
Cystic acne is a very complicated chronic disease condition to treat in my experience, and is always multifactorial. Identifying all of the triggers from diet, hormone imbalance, and environmental causes must be addressed in order for cystic acne to permanently resolve.
As a female hormone specialist, I have seen many patients over the years with cystic acne, and there is always some form of hormone imbalance occurring between the female hormones, the pancreatic hormones, thyroid, and/or adrenals. Occasionally some women have imbalances in all of the aforementioned hormone systems.
The other issue with hormones and acne is that most of the MD's I worked for over eight years do not have the understanding of female hormones, and fine-tuning them that I have, and even if they know how to order your hormone panel (most do not) they don't know what numbers are optimal, and they lack the Naturopathic tools that I have to address the hormone imbalance.
The other issue with an MD treating your cystic acne, is they only know how to prescribe hormones, they don't know how to balance them. Generally, I do not prescribe hormones for cystic acne, which would be the only thing they would know how to do for you. Hormone excess is generally the issue at hand, herbs and natural supplements they don't know how to prescribe are then used to treat the hormone imbalance to clear up cystic ane.
A skilled women's health and hormone doctor is mandatory to diagnose the root cause of the cystic acne and order the correct lab panel that addresses all the hormones that can be potentially out of balance. My lab panel for this is generally 5-7 pages. Patients often tell me their MD just "Checked all their hormones," and all I see is a TSH, and or a testosterone level.
If we also do not address the diet and make dietary changes there is generally NO HOPE for me to improve your cystic acne. Just taking hormones is generally not enough, most hormone diseases I see occur because of digestive issues, as in Functional Medicine we call Digestion the “Mother of Hormone Imbalance,” so I never want someone to enroll in my practice and expect me to help their cystic acne, if they are not willing to make dietary changes.
It will simply be a waste of everyone's time and I only want patients to sign up to work with me that are willing to let go of whatever preconceived notions of diet they have and work to eat the diet their body is directing them to follow via signals from their skin.
Naturopathic Medicine will fail patients that cannot make diet changes, and it is important that patients know that up front so they can either work in conjunction with a counselor to assist me in enforcing gradual dietary changes needed by the body, or simply not sign up for Naturopathic services if you are reading this and thinking… “Nope, nope, nope…not gonna do it lady….”
Trust me, I feel your pain with diet changes and have struggled to cure my own cystic acne over the years. It was my 3rd year in Naturopathic school that I sat in on a lecture about cystic acne and realized I was doing everything wrong trying to apply things to my skin WAS USELESS as the professor described, and I needed to change my nutrition completely. It was only when I changed my nutrition, that my cystic acne cleared up. When I cheat on my nutrition too much around the holidays guess what happens?
It comes right back!
I still struggle with some of the dietary choices but I am able to them 80-90% of the time so that my skin is now clear. So this is something I live every day myself. I know it works, I get amazing long lasting results with patients that astonish and wow their friends and family with their beautiful glowing skin!
I have had also a few failures treating cystic acne because parents enroll their teenager without asking them first if this is something they are willing to try to do. Have your teenagers read my blogs on acne and let them decide if they will be able to do it or not. Many are enthusiastic, and are really excited to learn about the option of Naturopathic Medicine!
With that being said, many of my teenagers are some of the most diligent compliant acne, eczema, dandruff, and psoriasis patients! Most of us adults tend to have more food hang ups and habits than teens, and many children are very intuitive with their body and are excited to have all the right information. Kids also think it makes perfect sense that the food they eat is making their skin bad and they are more open to making changes with proper instruction and follow-up. I can work with picky eaters, as I was that way too. If you can get your child to commit to 2-4 weeks of diet changes their cystic acne will clear up and they will see the benefits of the diet changes, that is when they will be the most motivated to follow it for the long run.
How to care for your cystic acne:
Use all mild products that are hypoallergenic and free of parabens, phthalates, and xenoestrogen agents as hormonal acne can be made worse by these fake hormone chemicals.
Use a mild peel on your skin at bedtime that is not a mechanical scrub. Never scrub acne prone areas! Scrubbing your acne just spreads the bacteria causing acne around your skin and makes it worse!
It is better to exfoliate daily with a gentle peel such as beta, alpha and glycolic acids. Aloe vera is also a natural exfoliator and perfect for my cystic acne patients to use as their “spot treatment” as I discuss in my blog, “Dr. Nicole’s #1 Acne Potion.”
Apply “Dr. Nicole’s Acne Potion” to your problem areas before moisturizing and 2-5 times daily to reduce inflammation to your acne lesions
Apply a very light moisturizer to your skin that is hypoallergenic and free of parabens and phthalates as I discussed also above. None of your products should have these hormone mimickers as it is the #1 thing messing up hormonal acne and cystic acne for some of my female patients!
Go to an esthetician for monthly facials and ensure they are following my instructions as above and guiding you to the right trusted paraben and phthalate free organic products that will be the best for your type of acne.
Keep in mind that with cystic acne, “Less is more.” I often think of the movie Tommy Boy, where he sets his sale on fire, and completely loses his sale because he is overly aggressive and stressed out.
This is how I was before I learned the best treatment for cystic acne. I had a lengthy ritual of bedtime treatments and morning treatments I would apply to the cysts, and in hindsight I was really aggravating my skin. Less is more!
I hear and see this happening often with my cystic acne patients, and as a hormone doctor that endured a long battle of cystic acne which I explain in my blog, “My Battle with Adult Acne,” I know how frustrating it is and how it can even impact your self esteem and cause low self esteem.
While I never judge anyone that has acne, I know it caused me to hide and avoid events that required me not to wear make-up like pool parties, hiking, and camping with friends. I was privately horrified with how my skin looked and always had a giant boil forming on my chin or jaw line as well as general acne breakouts.
As the first step for your cystic acne treatment, please stop using harsh peels, mechanical scrubs, and oily products on your face. All of these will make your skin much worse, and you need to get the right topical and internal treatments, and a diagnosis for your flavor of hormone imbalance, so that we can prevent you from having permanent scarring on your face.
Did you know I find many different types of hormone imbalance causing cystic acne? It is not a one sized fits all treatment process, and I am more of a "Dermatology Detective."
I used to work for a Dermatologist that would actually shoot steroids into my cystic acne, so I know how miserable it can be. But, what I have learned from that is that our skin is simply sending us messages in the form of a skin problem, once we listen to the message and address the physical imbalance…. The skin problem goes away. That is then how I work my way out of a job as your “Holistic Dermatologist.”
If you have cystic acne and want to prevent scarring to your skin, simply pop over to my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit. I would be happy to help!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 23 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best-integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease.
She has been an Herbalist for over 28 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan (not Medicaid) and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
Hormone imbalance from Perimenopause is especially frustrating. As a Female Hormone Specialist I refer to Perimenopause as permanent PMS. Whenever I say this to my new perimenopausal hormone imbalance patient they nod their head in complete agreement. So there you go.... I finally have said it out loud and now confirmed exactly why women prior to menopause feel permanently agitated, angry, bloated, moody, sad, achy, inflamed tired and blah. Welcome to permanent PMS!
Fear not there is Naturopathic Help for your Perimenopause!
Perimenopause is defined as the 10 years prior to menopause. With the average age of menopause being 51, many women will enter perimenopause around the average age of 41. Some women will enter perimenopause as early as 30 and some women will begin perimenopause in their late 40’s.
Regardless of when perimenopause begins it never goes very well because women are in a constant state of estrogen dominance during menopause that appears on paper very similar to PMS. Instead of having PMS a few days each month women begin to report to me that they are only experiencing a few good days each month on the "Hormone Rollercoaster" as the hormone imbalance continues and their symptoms of estrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency continue to persist until a hormone doctor trained in Naturopathy such as myself can artfully intervene with herbal medicine and bioidentical hormones.
Hormones are not always required to treat perimenopause or menopause although some women do truly need them and feel a strong benefit. When women choose to avoid hormones in menopause they can work with a skilled Women's Health Naturopath using herbs, nutrition, vitamins and supplements as a natural alternative to bioidentical hormones. I am happy to support women on their preference either way and understand many women do not want to take hormones or cannot due to certain health conditions especially, Breast Cysts and Breast Cancer.
Because the treatment of perimenopause does not always require bioidentical hormones, women are often better served by a Naturopathic or herbal medicine approach to balance their hormones. Around age 35 testosterone levels will naturally decline and women will notice more fatigue and joint pain after exercise and that it takes longer to recover from their work outs as testosterone’s role in the body is to help heal and repair muscles and joints. Therefore women are left feeling more stiff, achy and fatigued as they struggle to accomplish as much with their workouts and daily functioning due to declining testosterone levels.
Progesterone levels also begin to decline around age 35. A young fertile women of age 20 would have an average testosterone level of 20, whereas perimenopausal and menopausal women tend to have levels around 1 or even in the decimal points. This is “Nature’s Birth Control” and serves as somewhat of a protective function for women with declining ovarian reserves and advancing age as they naturally become less likely to become pregnant with a child with Down’s Syndrome. But as the progesterone naturally becomes deficient in perimenopause, women are left severely “Estrogen Dominant” for their entire cycle and not just the few days before their period starts.
Perimenopausal hormone imbalance is also the culprit behind all of the annoying uterine, breast and ovarian conditions that women develop in their 40’s and 50’s. Perimenopausal hormone imbalance causes breast cysts, Fibroids forming, uterine polyps, heavy bleeding, endometriosis and even breast cancer can result from severe hormone imbalance. My #1 pet peeve as a Female Hormone Specialist is when women have surgeries for these estrogen dominant states and nobody ever bothers to correct the hormone imbalance. Leaving women with chronic mental health symptoms, joint aches and pains, lethargy, insomnia and an overall lack of vitality.
The best thing women experiencing perimenopausal changes can do is schedule an appointment with a holistic hormone doctor. Let's discuss your symptoms and then order Naturopathic Hormone and Nutrition labs.
Just correcting the deficient progesterone and testosterone is never sufficient until we address the estrogen dominance which requires herbs and supplements. A well seasoned Naturopathic Female Hormone Doctor should be able to help provide you relief from these frustrating female symptoms.
It is important you find someone well versed in both prescription bioidentical hormone therapy and herbal medicine, naturopathy and alternative medicine because it is going to “Take a Village” to get many of my perimenopausal women back on track. I love being an integrated women’s health doctor because that means I have all of the tools in my tool box from my eight years of work in traditional family medicine and hormones and over fifteen years of experience as a Women’s Health Naturopathic Doctor.
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
Dsr. Nicole Sundene
Holistic Women's Health Specialist
"What can I use naturally at home to treat a yeast infection without taking medicine? Is it normal to have constant yeast infections?"
~Claire C Scottsdale, AZ
Women with chronic yeast infections need to look at the "Root Cause" or the why behind having constant yeast infections. While it is normal to occasionally have 1-2 yeast infections per year, anything more than that indicates there may be something off with hormones and nutrition. When women come to me complaining of constant yeast infections, especially ones that happen each month around their cycle, we need to test hormones, nutrition, and microbiome.
HOME TREATMENT FOR YEAST INFECTION
Yeast infections for women can easily be treated at home and don't always require a visit to their Naturopathic Doctor unless the symptoms are ongoing. Then we must get together to discover the root cause. Vaginal infections such as yeast infection, bacterial vaginitis, dryness, and chronic recurrent bladder infections are very common at times that women are suffering from hormone imbalance during menopause, perimenopause, and PMS. Menopausal changes to the vaginal mucous, change in pH, and loss of mucous production triggered by estrogen are behind vaginal dryness. These changes directly impact the urethra and surrounding area and can cause a host of recurrent vaginal issues. Additionally, hormonal conditions such as Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis can also cause the skin and mucous membranes to dry are also behind recurrent vaginitis and UTI's.
Vaginal infections have numerous causes. Many women experience a vaginal discharge, and in many cases it is normal and may vary with the menses cycle or pregnancy. If there is a change in the discharge, irritation, burning, itching or inflammation, then you should see your physician. Some women experience cyclical infections, often depending on their stress level or menstrual cycle. Other potential irritants are water, tampons, spermicides, latex and speculums, to name a few.
The frequency and severity of infections can be greatly reduced by education, examination, and application of Natural Medicines while also addressing the Root Cause. Never be embarrassed to speak with your Naturopathic Doctor about these frustrating Female Health problems because we are simply "Auto mechanics for Women" to some degree. We want to tune your system up so you no longer have these problems and must work together to discover the Root Cause.
The following are the most common organisms involved with vaginal infections: Candida albicans (yeast), Gardnerella (bacterial vaginosis), and Trichomonas. These organisms respond to different treatments and so it is important to see your doctor to identify which organism is causing the infection and treat it appropriately. The following are general guidelines to prevent and treat vaginal infections.
PREVENTION
Hygiene:
• Wear cotton underpants. Avoid nylon underwear since they retain moisture and heat which encourages the growth of bacterial and yeast.
• Don’t share washcloths, towels, or bathing suits with others and avoid use of wet or damp towels.
• After urination and bowel movements, wipe front to back to avoid anal-vaginal contamination.
• Avoid chemicals in your personal hygiene regimen (e.g., harsh soaps, perfumes, commercial douches, scented tampons, vaginal sprays, perfumed or colored toilet paper, bubble bath, etc.).
• Don’t douche, especially with commercial douches. Douching has been associated with an increased incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
• After bathing, pat genital area dry and keep dry.
• Take showers instead of baths. Soaps can more easily get into the vagina with baths. The pH of soap and bubble baths are alkaline and the vaginal pH is normally acidic. If you take baths, add a cup of white or apple cider vinegar to the water to maintain the acidity.
• Use tampons only during your menses and avoid leaving tampons in the vagina for long periods of time. Tampons left in the vagina encourage the growth of bacteria and yeast and predispose to other serious conditions such as toxic shock syndrome. Change tampons frequently (4-6 times per day) or use a menstrual pad instead.
Diet:
• Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and lean proteins. Limit carbs in grains and fruit.
• Avoid sugar, sweets, alcohol, aspartame, artificial sweeteners (except stevia) and refined foods.
• Include ample amounts of vitamins A, B, C, and E in your diet.
• Include plain, nonfat yogurt and/or use an acidophilus product after taking antibiotics to maintain healthy GI tract bacteria.
Lifestyle:
• Avoid pants that are tight in the crotch. Expose your vagina to fresh air whenever possible such as during sleep.
• Make sure your sexual partner is clean or take a shower before and after sex.
• Anal-genital intercourse is cautioned against by current public health agencies due to the increased risk of sexually transmitted disease. Vaginal penetration after anal intercourse without first changing the condom or washing of your partner’s genitals/hands can be a significant source of infection.
• Use condoms or dental dams during intercourse to avoid transmission of infection between you and your partner.
• Make sure you have adequate lubrication for intercourse. Poor lubrication can cause irritation and inflammation which can lead to the growth of bacteria which cause infection.
• Avoid vaginal irritants such as unclean diaphragms and cervical caps, aggressive intercourse, and examining instruments.
• Find ways to deal with emotional stress and get an adequate amount of sleep. This helps keep ones immune system working well to fight off infection.
SELF-TREATMENT OPTIONS
Boric Acid and Acidophilus Capsules: Fill 5-7 “00″ capsules with boric acid (available at any drug store). Insert one boric acid capsule and two acidophilus capsules into the vagina every night for 5-7 nights. Some women find the boric acid is irritating. Discontinue use of capsules should irritation develop. Do not use boric acid if you may be pregnant. Do not use boric acid capsules for more than seven nights in any month without first consulting a physician.
Yogurt: Apply two tablespoons of unsweetened nonfat yogurt with live lactobacillus cultures into your vagina each night for seven days. Consult your physician if you are pregnant before application of yogurt. Optional: Add 5-6 drops of Hydrastis(Goldenseal) tincture to two tablespoons of yogurt.
Diet: Eliminate foods with high yeast, mold, or fungus content during an infection, e.g. mushrooms, cheese, alcohol, sweets, and bread. Follow dietary guidelines as above.
Garlic: Wrap a un-nicked clove of garlic in cheesecloth or gauze and insert in the vagina for seven nights.
Bath: Prepare a bath using one cup of white vinegar and soak for 10-15 minutes to decrease vaginal pH.
Dryness: Keep genital area dry and expose to air often. You may use a blow dryer on cool setting to dry genital area during infection.
Menstrual pads: Use menstrual pads instead of tampons if you have your menses during an infection. If cloth pads use bleach with washing.
If symptoms persist for more than one week, consult your Naturopathic Doctor. While it is considered normal for women to occasionally have yeast infections or bladder infections, be sure to seek out an appointment with your doctor if you have recurrent infections as that is often a symptom that something else is imbalanced with your system that we must address such as diabetes, or immunocompromise.
Thank you for your Women's Health and Herbal Medicine questions. Please send them to me on a postcard to the address below as I love to get something in the mail that is not a bill. Remember if your question cannot fit on a postcard then you need to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit with me. Simply pop over to my SCHEDULE page to get set up. I love helping women with their female health issues!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum Depression, Chronic Fatigue, Holistic Psychiatry, Depression, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Autoimmunity, Food Sensitivities, Digestion, Dermatology, Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema, and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best-integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
Are chocolate chips better than Viagra? According to Journal of Nutrition, chocolate has some pretty exciting therapeutic potential for libido.
Since women don't have a “little blue pill” they have the green light from me to consider taking a daily dose of the little brown pill.
That’s right about 50-200 brown pills a day in the form of chocolate chips I often prescribe to my female patients complaining of poor libido. Research shows that flavonol rich chocolate actually can help prevent the cardiovascular damage that is a leading cause of poor libido and inability to orgasm in women, when it is not caused by female hormone imbalance.
According to research studies, the flavonoids in dark chocolate naturally enhanced natural nitric oxide levels. The drug Viagra works mechanistically as a phosphodiesterase inhibitor to enhance nitric oxide. Our bodies also synthesize nitric oxide, and nitric oxide works on our blood vessels to dilate them and increase blood flow. With psychogenic etiologies ruled out, erectile dysfunction is typically an issue of blood flow. Increasing blood flow is how Viagra manufacturers have made a fortune.
The journal of Nutrition published an Italian university study investigating the therapeutic potential of chocolate and found that, “Flavanols from chocolate appear to increase nitric oxide bio-availability, protect vascular endothelium, and decrease cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors….our findings suggest flavanol-rich, low-energy cocoa food products may have a positive impact on [cardiovascular disease] risk factors.”
Now as a women’s health physician, I typically avoid topics such as erectile dysfunction like the plague, so I am going to drop my men’s health commentary today and then run for dear life. Working as a family medicine for over twenty five years I have learned that... most men simply DON’T care about cholesterol, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, diabetes, blood sugar, antioxidants or inflammation.
The second you start to nag about this stuff their eyes just glaze over. You can nag and nag and nag about cholesterol and blood sugar lab values, and still no changes will be implemented.
Eventually I realized the secret to men’s health while working for a Urologist, the only way to get men to care about their health is to hit them below the belt with the facts that matter. Women are typically all about vanity and men are all about virility. These are the motivators I rely on to get patients to comply with my preventive medicine concepts.
Doctors know that all of the aforementioned health issues contribute to erectile dysfunction. But, what most men don’t know is that without a properly functioning cardiovascular system, things below the belt aren’t going to function either.
It’s all about blood flow and elasticity. We would never leave our garden hoses to freeze out in the cold of winter, we instead take the time to properly care for them to insure they don’t harden and become permanently dysfunctional. Although garden hoses cannot auto-repair, our arteries do by making scar tissue, and the similar type of destruction from high blood pressure, cholesterol, inflammation, and diabetes is repaired by the body by throwing down scar tissue and inflammation.
The more scar tissue and inflammation in your arteries the less elastic they are, and thus the narrower their diameter. Blood pressure just continues to escalate and the damage to your arteries continues in a vicious cycle. Viagra and similar medications such as Levitra and Cialis all work to enhance blood flow.
They are designed to promote the elasticity of those frozen old er…stiff garden hoses. Viagra is a phosphodiasterase inhibitor which increases levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide causes our blood vessels to EXPAND. Eventually arteries become damaged and hardened to the point where they will no longer respond to nitric oxide. Keep in mind though that a “garden hose” left out in extreme harsh “winter conditions” will inevitably lose it’s elasticity, and the hose will have to be replaced. How many “winters” have you left your body out in the cold, not caring about diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation? This is why many men with erectile dysfunction don’t find benefit from Viagra. Blood vessel expansion is the premise of which Viagra has made millions.
I am going to instead give away my natural medicine tips for free, and if the Toll House Chocolate Chip Company wants to send me a billion dollar thank you check, they are more than welcome. What is more important to me is that TODAY you feel inspired and motivated to prevent problems that will inevitably occur down the road TOMORROW.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”—right?
If you don’t have low libido now wouldn’t you like to prevent it from happening? Medicine’s used to treat libido are expensive, have multiple side effects and drug interactions, and are not as well tolerated as the commercials on television make them out to be.
When I worked as a Urology assistant the main complaint was always headaches and that “it just didn’t work”. Well after a while when disease has advanced too far, no medication will be able to work. Think back to the garden hose example. You want your arteries to be elastic and healthy, not hardened from the “harsh winter conditions” of sub-optimally controlled high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol.
So why chocolate chips?
Well chocolate chips are fantastic prevention because they are DARK chocolate and the darker the chocolate the more nitric oxide enhancing flavonoids.
A study was done on Italian men and found that Italian men that ate an ounce of dark chocolate had healthier lab markers.
Keep in mind that 50 chocolate chips or roughly an ounce of dark chocolate is the minimum amount needed to prevent disease according to that study.
I weighed them out and found that 48 chocoalte chips= 1oz. But you have my permission to throw in two extra chips for preventive measure!
Another study cited previously, showed therapeutic benefit with 100 grams of dark chocolate which is about 200 chocolate chips! Is this not the best news ever for chocolate lovers?
Remember though that chocolate as a medicine is not free of calories, cocoa butter, or refined sugar. Pure cocoa products are a great alternative as an ounce of chocolate chips have 140 calories. While 200 chocolate chips pack a whopping 500 calories!
But, for those of you that are already eating too much sugar and saturated fat, chocolate chips are a fantastic way to transition to a healthier dessert diet. I know most of you are probably eating fattening desserts anyways (I mean we do have to enjoy life a little bit right?) so dark chocolate chips are a healthier alternative and I like that they conveniently come in little bits that can be savored throughout the day.
But, chocolate chips are not the only foods that contain disease fighting flavonoids. So here is the bait and switch. Most fruits and vegetables are also rich in flavonoids.
Berries are chock full of proanthocyanins, citrus is a fantastic source of hesperidin and rutin, and onions are an excellent source of quercetin. Fruits and vegetables are likely going to prevent the need of Viagra too!
Yes–really this is just a giant strategically planned nag on my part to inspire the consumption of more whole foods, especially those rich in flavonoids. And yes it really was too easy to grab your attention with chocolate chips and Viagra and then turn this in to a fruit and veggie nag. But, my point with this “gotcha” is that preventing disease is where it is at when it comes to poor libido. Winter is coming, and it is time to think about your preventative plan for your “garden hose.”
A healthy dose of fresh fruits, raw or lightly steamed veggies, raw nuts and seeds, and chocolate will work synergistically to prevent the cardiovascular damage that causes disease.
For diabetics that want to gain the flavanol benefits of chocolate chips, simply enjoy them with a small handful of raw almonds to decrease the glycemic load and increase phenolic compounds (anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer). Almonds are also high in fiber, and fiber consumption also is protective to the cardiovascular system. So add about ten raw almonds to your 50 chocolate chips or make a healthy trail mix with your other favorite raw nuts and seeds.
Those in need of weight loss should also benefit from this simple chocolate chip tip as eating a few chocolate bits throughout the day should help you feel satisfied for sweets and prevent those binges brought on by extreme deprivation and yo-yo dieting that sets the stage for binge eating.
Stick with me, and I will teach you how to be healthy while still enjoying life!
Need my help with your hormones and libido? Simply visit my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit!
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
By Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Holistic Psychiatry and Hormones
Over the years I have noticed how different hormonal imbalance patterns in women can translate to anxiety, depression, and mental health issues. My female hormone patients with mental health conditions are a lot like snowflakes. While the mental health condition looks very similar from the outside, we cannot apply a "One size fits all" approach to women struggling with their mental health because the ROOT CAUSE of the mental health condition is often triggered by the many different flavors and types of hormone imbalance. One thing that always amazes me as a hormone doctor is how thyroid and adrenal conditions causing anxiety can look very similar, just like in the picture above, yet they require completely different treatments for the patient to improve. Neither improves with antidepressants.
Anxiety, depression, ADHD and trouble concentrating for women are often the result of unique hormone deficiencies or imbalances. Especially in my women’s health practice. I believe women experience more mental health challenges due to their fluctuating hormones every month with PMS and also throughout life. While men tend to experience a gradual slow decline in testosterone as a natural part of the aging process, women experience a sudden drastic decline in hormones with menopause, perimenopause, and also each month with their menstrual cycle.
The #1 sign that a woman’s depression or anxiety is related to their female hormones is fluctuation. When we see symptoms constantly fluctuating each month then we know there is likely a female hormone imbalance to blame. If a woman suddenly develops anxiety or depression in their 40's or 50's and don't have any situational triggers it is also very likely a hormonal mental health condition.
Just like a snowflake mental health challenges caused by hormone imbalance can look very similar in women from a distance. However, when we zoom in closer we can see the subtle hormonal fluctuations triggering each different type of mental health pattern. As a women’s health doctor, I have noticed many fascinating patterns with mental health and hormone imbalance I would like to share today to educate women on this important topic. Especially while I am seeing so many women, especially moms struggling right now with their mental health! If you are struggling with your mental health, please know you are not alone, and that it is okay to seek professional help.
Thank you for sharing my posts even if you don't have mental health issues. As a doctor I am seeing epidemic levels of Depression and Anxiety in our communities and we need to make it socially acceptable to discuss these issues so patients are receiving enough support whether related to menopause or not. Which is why I have been blogging heavily about mental health.
Imbalance with thyroid, adrenals, and female hormones can cause a variety of annoying mental health symptoms that do not typically respond to standard anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. Leaving both women and their doctors frustrated. Many women with hormone imbalance as the underlying cause tend to only receive the side effects of these medications such as weight gain and stomach aches with little relief of their anxiety and depression.
I am writing this PSA today on Hormone Imbalance and Mental Health for women to read and share so they can become educated about the symptom patterns I see when mental health disorders are being caused by hormone imbalance. With so many women struggling to parent through the Pandemic please keep an eye out for one another….many women are struggling and also are experiencing mood disorders that can be improved by balancing their hormones.
If you are a woman and struggling with anxiety or depression the first line of defense should be having hormones tested. Fluctuating hormones through menopause, perimenopause and the monthly menstrual cycle can negatively impact women’s moods. Hormone testing often can help identify the root cause of depression rather than prescribing medications like zoloft, prozac, amitriptyline, cymbalta, effexor, xanax, clonazepam, wellbutrin or propranol, we should be testing women’s hormones as the first line of defense. With hormonal mood disturbance none of these aforementioned medications work, and women are made even more miserable on an antidepressant or anxiety med.
Next, when the antidepressant does not work, what I commonly hear happens is that the psychiatrist decides that everything wrong with the woman is emotional and sends her to weekly counseling to figure out why she is so unhappy. The counselor then determines there is a lot of turmoil and fighting at home and that she needs additional marriage counseling with her husband to resolve the issues at hand. Meanwhile, the woman's weight just continues to balloon up, she feels more and more bloated, more frustrated, more angry, and the hot flashes and night sweats are getting worse and nobody knows what is wrong with her. Even worse nothing she is doing is helping the situation!
So many women with hormone imbalance get trapped in this vicious mental health cycle!
I have seen many marriages almost end, and completely fail due to untreated hormone imbalance. Women and their husbands deserve better awareness and education around hormonal causes of anxiety, depression, and mental health disorders. Especially when PMDD, a severe form of PMS can potentially result in suicide. I have had many husbands call my office at wits end wanting to know if their wife has a hormone imbalance as I shared in my "#1 PMS Doctor" blog.
Hormonal Depression and Anxiety can present differently than typical forms. When Depression or Anxiety is resulting from a hormone imbalance often standard medications are not helpful and the patient receives little benefit while enduring multiple side effects such as dry mouth, weight gain, stomach upset, poor libido, brain fog, grogginess, not feeling like one's self, and fatigue.
#1 "Menopause Anxiety” Presents with trouble sleeping, hot flashes, and cold flashes with severe levels of anxiety the patient has never experienced before. Oftentimes this accompanies Menopause and patients with Anxiety triggered by Menopause are usually exhausted all day in a fog, battling brain fog and poor concentration from lack of sleep, and unable to sleep at night no matter how tired they feel during the day. The cycle progresses until they feel worse and worse lost in a brain fog of fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia.
#2 "Thyroid Anxiety" can cause anxiety when the thyroid is either too high or too low. Patients with autoimmune conditions such as Hashimotos thyroiditis can exhibit mood swings as they go from a hormonal rush of high hormones to a crash/low of fatigue and exhaustion when their symptoms return to hypothyroidism.
#3 “Thyroid Depression” caused by low thyroid function is characterized as feeling blah and apathetic. I often describe this thyroid depression to women as “Feeling Like a Dead Plant Needing to be Watered” as I describe further in my Thyroid Depression Blog, when we finally give the needed hormone T3 that helps make serotonin in our brains, the mood can quickly restore to normal and all depression is basically gone. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that helps us feel calm, happy, and like everything is okay. If your mood is not good AND you take levothyroxine as T4 monotherapy, it is most likely that your brain is starved of T3 and you need a different medication. It is always fascinating to me as a Hormone Doctor how quickly Thyroid Depression can clear up even with a very low dose of thyroid hormone.
#4 Adrenal Fatigue: Can feel like constant severe anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks, and burnout or depression. Adrenal fatigue is characterized in Naturopathic Medicine as 3 different states with chronic anxiety causing severe burnout or MSS 3= Blah, burnt out, unmotivated, apathetic, and no longer caring about day-to-day life.
This occurs when our adrenal glands have been running on high from constant anxiety or life stressors and then fail to continue to produce high levels of cortisol and adrenal hormones such as DHEA that make us feel perky, happy, and energetic. The early stages of MSS 1 are when our cortisol is high and we are “running from the bear”...as I describe in my "Fight, Flight or Fright" blog. The problem with chronic stress is that after so many days in a row “Running from the bear” our glands cannot continue this high rate of hormone production and shift to MSS 2 which is sputtering. Now the adrenals are making stress responses when we are asleep at night and trying to relax and we are waking up with panic attacks while feeling tired and blah throughout the day. We are “Tired but wired.” All of these scenarios can be tested for via insurance based blood hormone testing, and treated with herbal medicine.
When the adrenals are under constant stress we have a pattern of anxiety that crashes into depression. A classic sign of this with my mental health patients is when something stressful happens, or an uncontrolled bout of anxiety turns into depression after a few days. The patient then crashes with fatigue and depression and feels blah, fatigued, unmotivated, and sometimes achey, inflamed, and in chronic pain.
#5 Insulin Resistance Panic Attacks: Do you have constant low-grade depression, fatigue and anxiety and then get panic attacks that come out of the blue? Do you feel suddenly like you are going to die from a bone crushing level of anxiety yet there is no actual emotional trigger causing the panic attack? Do you feel Hangry aka Hungry + Angry? Do you have emotional meltdowns when you get too hungry? High insulin levels such as in PCOS, translate into frequent low blood sugar. Low blood sugar causes sweating, hot flashes, and frequent panic attacks. The only cure for these panic attacks is to eat more sugar which we appease ourselves with temporarily only to cause more insulin resistance and more panic attacks from low blood sugar.
Yet doctors rarely test for Insulin Resistance despite epidemic levels in the America. A simple insulin test can determine if this is a problem. Normal insulin fasting should be <3-4. If insulin is above that number fasting then women need Naturopathic intervention. Simply telling an Insulin Resistant patient to lose weight without providing them herbs and supplements to address and suppress the high insulin number generally results in failure. Treating Insulin Resistance takes 6-12 months to realistically address and control. The first step for women is to count carbs and ensure you are pairing complex carbohydrates with protein, fiber and good fats. By "Stacking Your Macros" and eating small "Stacked" meals every 3-4 hours in addition to taking supplements and herbs from your Naturopathic Doctor you can take charge of your blood sugar and stop it from running your life.
#6 PMS & PMDD: The most widely accepted women’s hormone imbalance causing mental health disorders. For many women they don’t understand how severely they are being impacted by PMS. The first half of your cycle or “Follicular Phase” you are “Fine” generally days 1-14. But then you ovulate on day 14, the "hormone sprinkler" of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone is released and your system is now raging with hormones that are about to burn off at different rates causing mental health imbalance in the process. The “Luteal Phase” or “Looney Phase” as I call it to help women laugh and understand that this is somewhat normal is when the mental health issues arise. During the Luteal or Looney phase, women feel agitation, anger, rage followed by depression, sadness and severe fatigue. Physical symptoms can accompany the anxiety and depression such as bloating, headaches, migraines and stomach aches are also common with this form of hormone imbalance causing female mood swings.
The best thing I can do to help you as your hormone doctor is order "Biphasic Mental Health Labs." This means I am testing your hormones when you feel "Fine" in your "Follicular Phase," and then I am testing your hormones days 21-25 of your cycle or when you feel the MOST Looney in your Luteal phase. Using a period tracker app can help us pinpoint the best and worst days to test your hormones. When my mental health patients do this and see the HUGE discrepancies in their hormones it always helps them cope better.
When we can laugh and call it the "Looney Phase," this also helps women feel less pressured that there is something wrong with them mentally, and understand it simply hormone imbalance challenging their mental health. This is an especially important point when women truly feel "Fine" in their Follicular phase and experience zero depression or anxiety. Does this patient actually have a mental health disorder? Do they deserve a permanent diagnosis with a mental health diagnosis code? Do they need the social stigma of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder? Or do they need their hormones tested and balanced?
#7 Perimenopause: As I describe in my "Perimenopause is Permanent PMS" blog, when women are in the ten years prior to menopause they are perimenopausal and dealing with hormonal mood swings from imbalanced estrogen and progesterone. Women in their 40's notice they have fewer and fewer "Happy Days" in their cycle and have more PMS days. Often my perimenopausal patients are complaining of constant anxiety, anger, agitation, rage, depression, and mood swings. Hormone imbalance can often easily be corrected via hormone testing and implementation of herbal medicine, Naturopathy and Bioidentical Hormones. Oftentimes in perimenopause women need more nutritional support for their mood and don't actually need Bioidentical Hormones until they are in menopause. However, it is common for low testosterone and low progesterone to impact mood.
Testosterone and progesterone levels naturally decline around 35 as "Nature's Birth Control." When testosterone is low for women it can cause depression, anxiety, lack of self confidence, "Imposter Syndrome," and physical symptoms such as fatigue, poor exercise recovery, achey joints and muscles, and low libido.
When progesterone is low it causes insomnia, anxiety, nightsweats, brain fog, low libido, vision problems, headaches, migraines, increased autoimmune disease, and vaginal dryness.
#8 Anemic Anxiety: Chronic anxiety, fatigue, depression, brain fog, coupled with a constant worry you cannot get everything done due to fatigue is the pattern to iron deficiency causing mental health disorders as I discuss in my "Depression Diet" blog. While iron is not a hormone, I want to take this important opportunity to remind all women how important it is to simply take iron every single day while you are bleeding every month and losing iron. When iron stores or “Ferritin” drop below 75 women are often depressed, anxious and exhausted. By taking a multivitamin with iron every month this is a simple “Mental Health Fix” for many women. Too many times I have taken on a new mental health patient only to realize the underlying issue is anemia. I hate to ever waste anyone's money on something so simple!
So if you are not feeling well and are tired and feeling run down you take a multivitamin for iron and B vitamins and call my office to schedule an appointment so we can get to the root cause of your anxiety and depression. I would be happy to help you with your hormones and mental health.
Female Hormones, Psychiatry & Mental Health
Many OBgyn’s and Family Doctors I know simply do not understand the complexity of these hormones and how they impact mental health. Proper hormone testing for female mental health patients is critical to their long-term optimal function. Many times women think they have had "all their hormones checked" and when I get the actual lab report, then I see that the doctor ordered a TSH, progesterone, and/or estrogen which is about as effective as doing a Mammogram on just one breast every year and assuming the other breast is just fine! Ladies a full hormone panel is not one test or one page of tests. If your hormone lab report is not at least 3-5 pages there is something wrong! You may not actually be "fine" as your doctor said when many tests are likely missing.
While I don't want to sound rude or disrespectful to any of my colleagues that read my blog, I have found from my own experience treating mental health patients as a "Holistic Psychiatrist" for many years that women are lumped in the same mental health categories as men and left judged, misunderstood, under-tested and treated for the wrong issue. Women are labeled as crazy or lazy when they just did not receive the right hormone testing. Neurotransmitters do not always fix depression because they are not always to blame with female mental heatlh!
Women that do not respond to SSRI's, SNRI's, ADHD medications, or anxiety medications need to have their hormones addressed! But who is the doctor to do this? Often my patients are bounced between an Endocrinologist, Psychiatrist and OBgyn to no avail.
The real problem is that many doctors actually don't know how to test hormones, are overwhelmed by the thought of testing hormones, and have limited knowledge on this topic. The reason for this is we are not taught adequate information in medical school and it is of no fault of the doctor. I get text messages every single day from my colleagues not knowing what to do with women's hormones and asking me to help them. So I feel pretty confident in stating that unless you are at an appointment with an official Female Hormone Specialist, such as myself, you likely will not receive the proper hormone testing and help you need. You will not be properly diagnosed and continue to flounder without understanding the exact blueprint for the hormonal triggers for your particular mental health.
I was chosen to work in hormones in 1999 and hand trained by another female hormone specialist as I describe in my blog above. I did not learn what I know about hormones even in Naturopathic school. Although I did learn a great deal about bioidentical hormones and women's health!
So if you are struggling with your mental health and think you have had your hormones tested go check what was done and if it only 1-2 pages it is not sufficient. Especially if you think any of the above scenarios describes your mental health. Please do not go off what your OB said as I usually get a copy of the labs from my patient telling me "My OB just checked all my hormones and they are fine," and instead find grossly inadequate testing done. Also, your hormones can be in the normal range and still not be optimal for mental health.
Most OBgyns I know truly specialize in safely delivering healthy babies and do not always have the training in the complexities of the endocrine system and how it impacts mental health. They lack the time to properly diagnose you, and they lack the time needed to educate you on what you need to do. They also may lack the tools to help you because they don't have herbal medicine and Naturopathy which is superior to just prescribing bioidentical hormones to alleviate hormonal symptoms. Many OBgyn's only know how to correct your hormones via surgery in the form of a hysterectomy removing your uterus and ovaries, or suppressing your cycle with birth control pills that may make your mental health much worse.
Leaving women to feel helpless, hopless and without safe and effective hormone options.
Bioidentical hormone therapy also completely does not work when the anxiety is caused by excessive hormones! There are very few medications that address lowering hormones. This is exactly why as an Integrated Female Hormone Naturopath I am grateful to have herbs in my Toolkit to help mental health patients!
WHAT IS THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO FOR WOMEN'S MENTAL HEALTH?
I recently saw a new mental health patient that was on FIVE psychiatric drugs all because she had low progesterone. She was anxious, suicidal, and unable to concentrate. After testing her hormones I found she was simply progesterone deficient which naturally occurs around age 35 exactly when her symptoms began. I simply gave her progesterone and then gradually she began sleeping no longer requiring Ambien. We began to taper her clonazepam down as she was experiencing less anxiety, and was able to concentrate again without Adderall and Vyvance for her ADHD symptoms.
She was no longer having panic attacks from the ADHD medications and was no longer depressed or suicidal from the anxiety and insomnia. At that point I began to taper her off her antidepressants and replace them with natural antidepressants. Isn't that amazing that just one deficient hormone could cause a woman to need FIVE drugs for their mood? I hope everyone can help me spread awareness for the importance of proper hormone testing for women, especially those challenged by anxiety, depression, and mental health disorders. Thank you for emailing and sharing on social media my mental health blogs to your friends and family that need them right now!
If you need help with your female depression, anxiety, or ADHD I would be happy to help! Simply pop over to my SCHEDULE page to treat yourself to a Naturopathic consultation.
Dr. Nicole Sundene
(480) 837-0900
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum Depression, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 23 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones, she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 28 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones, and Naturopathy!
