Support While Coming off the Birth Control Pill

People choose to come off the pill for a number of different reasons. Some have been on it since adolescence and have changed their mind about being on it. Others are thinking about starting a family. Some want to see if the issues that they were put on the pill for are still there. 

Many women start working with me because they are worried about what will happen when they come off the pill. The birth control pill is sometimes prescribed to manage concerns like acne, painful periods, heavy periods, irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis etc. It can bring some much needed relief to women dealing with difficult symptoms related to their cycle. That being said, it’s entirely possible for symptoms to come back after coming off the birth control pill and some women are interested in getting support for these symptoms in other ways. 

There’s a lot that naturopathic medicine has to offer in this area. Dietary changes, herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, lifestyle changes and acupuncture can play a role in managing a multitude of women’s health issues, improving acne and preparing for a healthy pregnancy.    

If you’re worried about your acne or period problems coming back with a vengeance post-pill or you want to start preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy, reach out to me and we can discuss how naturopathic medicine can help you through this transition.

Health Anxiety About Loved Ones

It’s hard to live with worry about the health of people we love. I think most of us are familiar with sleepless nights and sinking hearts after hearing about a health scare about a parent, sibling, spouse, child etc. 

Sometimes, even when the acute health scare has passed, we’re left with the lingering fear that more bad news is right around the corner. How do we deal with this? How do we stay in the present and enjoy our lives with our loved ones without letting fear of illness rob us of that enjoyment? 

It’s normal to worry about the health of people we love. It doesn’t always mean you have an anxiety disorder. With a diagnosis of a health anxiety disorder, the fear of illness becomes so intense that it becomes all that one can focus on. It leads to constant checking of signs and symptoms and may begin to interfere with the ability to function normally.

Treatment 

It’s worth talking to various regulated healthcare providers if you are dealing with health anxiety. A lot of the treatments focus on exploring anxious thoughts in detail. A therapist can then use this information to help a patient reduce the tendency to worry excessively and over-check or over-research symptoms. They can also help with learning how to cope with scary realities in life like illness and death. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can provide a lot of relief for anxious health related thoughts. There are also a number of well loved books on the topic and some new ones being released this year. 

Where does a naturopath fit in?

General approaches to reducing anxiety and promoting relaxation can help to take the edge off of health anxiety symptoms. As a naturopathic doctor, I use nutrition, herbal medicine and lifestyle recommendations to help my patients reduce their anxiety symptoms. Even if we can’t change the situation that your loved one is in, we can support you so that you feel stronger and better able to cope with the situation. 

If you have any questions about whether or not a naturopathic doctor could help you, click the button below to fill out the question form. 

PTSD: Overview and Differences With Other Mental Health Conditions

There are many people globally and right here in North America who have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s not uncommon for someone to think they have a different diagnosis such as anxiety or panic disorder only to find out through further evaluation that they meet the criteria for PTSD. A key difference between something like generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD is that PTSD occurs after a traumatic experience or multiple traumatic experiences. That’s not to say that generalized anxiety can’t develop after trauma, but trauma is not a core part of the diagnosis. 

Another core feature that is unique to PTSD is that the trauma is re-experienced in the form of things like nightmares or intrusive memories. Certain triggers in the present day may remind someone with PTSD of their trauma in some way and lead to emotional or physical reactions. 

What Counts as a Traumatic Event 

The types of stressors that can cause PTSD include: threatened death and actual/threatened injury. This can happen if someone is the direct victim of a threatened death or injury. It can also happen if someone witnesses or learns about a death, threatened death, or injury to someone else. 

When we think of traumatic events that can cause PTSD we may think about war and natural disasters. But other examples of traumatic events can include major car accidents, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, traumatic birthing experiences, dealing with serious illness, witnessing a family member deal with serious illness and traumatic events in the workplace.  

Overlap With Other Mental Health Conditions 

There is overlap in some of the symptoms experienced in PTSD and other conditions like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depression. In GAD it can be hard to control anxious thoughts and this can lead to avoidance of certain situations. In PTSD it can be hard to control intrusive thoughts relating to the past trauma which can also lead to avoidance behaviours. In both major depression and PTSD someone can experience a loss of interest in activities. In GAD, depression, and PTSD, one can experience insomnia, negative mood and issues with focus or memory. This is why it can take a while for people to get a diagnosis of PTSD especially if they are not fully aware of the connection between a traumatic event in their life and their current symptoms. 

Hypervigilance 

Hypervigilance is a symptom that can occur in PTSD and other anxiety disorders but it is a common feature with PTSD. It involves feeling on edge and “revved up” because one feels unsafe and is expecting danger to be just around the corner. This can lead to physical symptoms like increased blood pressure, changes in pupil dilation and a strong startle reflex. When someone slips into a state of hypervigilance it can be hard to function normally because their attention is so consumed by this anticipation of danger as their body is flooded with stress chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. They may find it hard to sit still, have a normal conversation or remember their task at hand.

Treatment 

It’s so important to have good care to manage PTSD. This involves having a compassionate family doctor and specialist and someone to perform psychological therapy such as exposure therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy. As a naturopathic doctor, I often work with people who have PTSD to assess what nutritional, herbal and lifestyle treatments can complement their care to help them manage their symptoms, prevent chronic disease and overall improve their physical and mental health as much as possible.    

If you have questions about PTSD that you think would be relevant to a naturopathic doctor, feel free to contact me through my contact form which you can access by clicking below.

B Vitamins for PMS

Premenstrual syndrome can take over a large portion of your life. If you experience negative symptoms for a week every month, that’s a quarter of your year spent feeling unwell! Some women experience physical symptoms like bloating, fatigue, water retention, headaches, cramps and breast tenderness. Some experience emotional symptoms like irritability, depression and anxiety. Many deal with both.   

It’s not clear what exactly is going on in the body when you experience PMS. It likely has something to do with hormones produced in your ovaries (like estrogen and progesterone) as well as brain chemicals like serotonin.

Research on B Vitamins

B vitamins have so many different functions in our bodies. They help to produce and metabolize neurotransmitters (brain chemicals that govern our mood and behavior). They also affect our hormones. 

An interesting study was published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition about B vitamins and PMS. It found a link between eating more B vitamin rich foods and reduced PMS symptoms. There are many different B vitamins but this study found significant benefits with B1 and B2 in the diet. 

Thiamine and Riboflavin

Vitamin B1 is called thiamine which is high in certain fortified grains, black beans, fish (like trout, tuna and salmon), beans (like black and navy beans), acorn squash, peas, asparagus etc. Vitamin B2 is called riboflavin which can be found in fortified grains, dairy products like yogurt and milk (interestingly, calcium also improves PMS), almonds, chicken, quinoa, spinach, apples, eggs etc. Note: this is not a complete list. 

The study found that foods rich in B1 and B2 needed to be consumed multiple times a day in order to see benefit. So many busy women find it hard to prioritize food. You may be eating some of these foods but it might not be often enough or a large enough quantity to get the benefits you’re hoping for.

Non-Diet Solutions

For those who struggle with diet, B vitamins in supplement form have been shown in other studies to provide some PMS relief, with certain ones being more promising than others.

There are pharmaceutical treatments for PMS like contraceptive pills and antidepressants but many women are interested in learning about how they can change their daily habits to manage PMS. This study is a great example of the power of nutrition for managing women’s health issues. 

If you would like to learn about foods that can help with symptoms of anxiety, be sure to sign up to get my free anxiety-soothing food list emailed to you.

Omega 3s: What You Need to Know

Omega 3s are well known for their health benefits. Evidence shows us that they can help with things like pain, skin health, eye health, mental health and more.

Omega 3s are a healthy fat. Most of the benefits come from EPA, DHA and ALA. These are different types of omega 3s.

When you get your omega 3s from plant based sources (like flax, walnuts, canola oil and chia seeds), you’re mainly taking in ALA. When you get your omega 3s from fish, you’re mainly taking in EPA and DHA. Very little of the plant based omega 3s are converted to the fish oil type of omega 3s so you don’t always get the same benefits from plant based omega 3s and fish oil.

It’s estimated that adults should be getting over 1000 mg of omega 3s daily for general health. Most practitioners who recommended omega 3s for specific conditions will recommend more depending on the case.

Omega 3s are present throughout the body and help various systems of the body stay healthy, like the eyes, brain, heart, blood vessels etc. Their biggest claim to fame is their ability to reduce inflammation in the body.

Generally, the standard North American diet favours fats that increase inflammation so having omega 3s in the diet can help combat that.

Supplements

Plant based omega 3 supplements are usually made from algae. Animal based supplements are usually made from fish. Cod liver oil (an animal based supplement) has additional vitamins like vitamin A because it’s made from cod liver.

The doses available on the market vary widely as well as the amount of ALA, EPA and DHA per supplement. The ratio of EPA to DHA in your supplement matters for things like depression and anxiety.

Certain types of fish oils are more easily absorbed than others. For example, krill oil may be better absorbed but this claim isn’t based on a lot of research. You can likely still get benefit from a variety of different types of fish oil supplements out there.

Sometimes patients are concerned about the mercury in seafood making its way into a fish oil supplement but this not the case.

Side Effects

Side effects are not common with omega 3 supplements but they do happen. If you’ve started taking a supplement and you notice increased diarrhea, heartburn or nausea, you may be experiencing side effects.

What Other Foods Are Good For Mental Health?

Food can be medicine. If you would like a list of foods that can help with anxiety sent right to your inbox, click the button below.

Testing For Anxiety - is it Necessary?

Anxiety can involve a whole bunch of confusing and overwhelming symptoms. For some people, all of the symptoms are thought based - overthinking, catastrophizing, constant worrying etc. For others, physical symptoms are associated with the anxiety like heart palpitations, diarrhea, irregular periods, sweating, nausea and so on.

Whether or not you need testing depends on your signs and symptoms. The type of testing you need will be completely individualized to you. Testing can help us figure out potential root causes that could be contributing to your anxiety.

Here are some tests that can be run for certain cases of anxiety:

Thyroid testing - this is sometimes tested when heart palpitations, jitters, constipation or diarrhea, cold or hot flashes, irregular periods, hair issues or skin changes occur.

Iron deficiency testing - this can be considered when symptoms like weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath and heart palpitations are present.

Blood sugar testing - this is sometimes done when symptoms like lightheadedness, weakness and shaking are present.

Other tests like liver testing, triglycerides, reproductive hormones, vitamin d, B12 and many more may also be considered on a case by case basis.

I often get asked if I offer testing as a naturopathic doctor. I have access to many common tests and I often run tests for my anxiety patients when we feel it’s necessary. If you want to talk more about how I can help you with testing, please book a free 15 minute consultation.

Household Hormone Disrupting Chemicals and Anxiety

We are exposed to many hormone disruptors in our day to day life. This is something that scientists have been talking about for a while now. The commonly used name for these chemicals is “Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals” or EDCs. They include plastics used to line cans, coat store receipts and store food in, chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products, household cleaners and so on. 

EDCs are an issue because they can lead to confusion in our hormonal systems. For example, chemicals that look and behave like estrogen can enter our bodies and trigger all kinds of responses that may not have happened from our own naturally occurring estrogen. 

The impact that these chemicals have on reproductive issues and certain cancers is widely discussed. The impact on mental health is less known. 

Some research shows that EDCs can affect brain function and may impact addictive behaviours and other behaviours in animals. Other research is showing that EDCs can impair memory, learning and focus. Because of this impact on the brain and nervous system, some scientists wonder if these chemicals can worsen anxiety and other mental health disorders. A lot more research needs to be done but many individuals are eager to take action now to reduce EDCs in their life. 

It’s hard to avoid EDCs completely because many persist in our environment in our soil, water and air. That being said, there may be some simple things you can do at home to attempt to reduce your exposure. This includes reducing plastic containers, being cautious about the cosmetics, creams and soaps you use and swapping some common household cleaners for simple DIY ones you can make yourself out of kitchen ingredients. 

If you have more questions about your hormones and what could be impacting them, feel free to contact me about setting up a free 15 minute consultation so we can discuss your hormone health goals. 

Is This Early Menopause or Anxiety?

Heart palpitations, hot flashes, feeling more irritable and frazzled, period getting irregular - these symptoms can all be part of the menopause transition. But they can also be anxiety symptoms as well. It’s often difficult to tell the difference and the two can occur simultaneously. 

Typically, once the period has stopped for a year, menopause is diagnosed. That window of time when the period becomes irregular and menopause symptoms like hot flashes start is called “perimenopause”. This is because “peri” means “around” or “near”. If you’re taking contraceptive or hormone therapy this can sometimes make diagnosis more complicated. 

Sometimes, depending on your age and health history, your naturopathic or family doctor can do blood testing to help determine if you’re near or in menopause. The age you enter into menopause can also be impacted by genetics. Knowing the age that your mother and sisters went into menopause can give you some clues. 

Both menopause and anxiety can be a challenge to face alone. Make sure you’re getting the right medical care and support to help you figure out not only what is going on, but how to manage it.