The Wellness Witch Podcast Strategies and Solutions for Autoimmunity + Estrogen Dominance + Hormone Testing + Dangers of Progestin-Only Birth Control
Are you someone who’s struggling with an autoimmune disease or know someone who is? If so, then this episode would be really helpful for you! Learn some helpful strategies and solutions for autoimmunity from Dr. Nadia Saleem as she shares her knowledge and expertise on the subject, as well as her own healing journey from Hashimoto’s.
You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode54.
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
- Nadia’s struggle with Hashimoto’s and how she took her health in her own hands
- The steps to healing from Hashimoto’s
- What an actual diagnosis of Hashimoto’s is and what women need to look for in their blood work
- Some of the commonalities among women who have Hashimoto’s
- Progestin vs Progesterone
- The dangers of progestin-only birth control pills
- How to tell if you have estrogen dominance
- Hormone replacement therapy versus bio-identical hormones
- Where to start if you have a hormonal imbalance.
- The impact of fasting on hormonal health
- Why it’s difficult for women to lose weight when they’re in menopause
Key Takeaways:
- Traditionally, what people are testing for when they do their blood work is TSH and maybe T4 if people are lucky. But the things we really need to look at is TSH, T4, T3, reverse T3. And then the two thyroid antibodies that are most commonly looked at anti-TPO and anti-TG. And until we see all of those numbers together, we really can’t make a true diagnosis for Hashimoto’s.
- Some women have actual values of TSH, T3, and T4 that are fine but still have elevated antibodies. We look at that as just an immune system issue.
- A lot of Eastern Europeans tend to have Hashimoto’s because of the radiation.
- There are a lot of hormonal birth control pills and IUDs that have progestin. What people don’t realize is that progestin will increase breast cancer risk and actually make estrogen dominance worse.
- The non-negotiables when it comes to autoimmunity are nutrition, sleep, lifestyle and stress management, and mindset and mental/emotional work. Those have to be in place for you to get anything else under control.
Action Steps:
- Build a healing community around you of people you can trust and who can truly hold you accountable.
- Try to eliminate, or at least minimize, the stress from your life.
- Have your blood work done.
- Test your hormone levels and test for estrogen dominance.
Samantha said:
“Wherever you are on your health, you must do the uncomfortable work. You just have to dive in and begin right where you are because there is no right time to begin and your health doesn’t wait for the right time.”
Nadia said:
““We don’t want to wait until your antibodies are in the thousands to start working on them, because chances are, they will get there, and why wait until they get there?”
“No matter what condition we’re looking at, any type of autoimmune condition, until we get the stress under control, it’s a futile battle… So the stress has to be number one.”
Thanks for listening!
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Links to things we talk about in the show:
DUTCH Test – Advanced Hormone Testing
Where you can find Dr. Nadia Saleem:
Nadia’s Instagram (@dr.nadiasaleemnd)
Recommended Products:
- Matcha green tea
- Spearmint tea
- Calming teas
- Licorice tea
*Shop for these at the Holisticwellness Shop. Enter the coupon code save15 at checkout and get 15% off.
Where you can find me:
Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook
How you can work with me:
- 6 Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
- Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s
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