Hello and welcome to another episode of “WTF Happened to My Body?”. I am your hostess, Natalie Garay, here to talk about all things health because it is basically something that I'm slightly obsessed about, definitely passionate about. And because I'm finding that as I continue to age and have conversations with other moms as they are heading north of 40 and continuing on, that there are things about our body that we just don't understand, that we just don't know.
And all of this came when I started helping my mom through her dementia journey. So my hope with this podcast and with the work that I do and by going back to school is to educate us all on what's going on with our bodies so that we can have the information and find the tools that we need to support ourselves so that we're not “living this shit life feeling like shit”, is the scientific terms for it.
So recently, in this series of podcast episodes and Season Two, what I've been talking about is basically my journey over the last year and a half of diving into what's going on inside my body. And that started with a series of blood tests which showed me what I was deficient in nutrient wise, micronutrient wise, and how I supplemented for those deficiencies.
And to me, that was a no-brainer. To me, that just made so much sense that we take a blood test, we find out what we're deficient in, and then we supplement accordingly. And I discovered this when I started working with the functional medicine doctor. But before that when my mom and my daughter started working with the functional medicine doctor, to me, it just- it was baffling!
Why don't we do this? Why is it hard to get blood tests? The insurance companies aren't covering certain blood tests and we have what they call standard blood labs that they will do and sometimes it just doesn't show the whole picture. And so anyhow, I decided to work with this functional medicine doctor. And then when I moved to San Diego and started my naturopathic doctor journey, pre-naturopathic doctor journey, which is taking prerequisites before getting into the program, I started going to the clinic at the school where I will be attending. And, again, looking deeper into my health because as I shift, things start to shift.
I'm more curious, how do we continue to support this? How do I continue to support myself because obviously, it's not one and done. One blood test to show me what I'm deficient in doesn't mean I'm, you know, set for years to come. Things are starting to shift on a regular basis. So I think I started going to the clinic there probably sometime last spring.
So it's been over a year. Did a couple blood tests there, started to take some supplements to support my hormone shifts, and some other supplements for things that my body was showing I was deficient in. More recently, I have been experiencing some sleeplessness, waking up around the same time each night. Typically it's around that 2 and 3 o'clock hour.
I have noticed some irritability. I also didn't have my period for three months, I think it was. Three or four months. So, you know, I know that I'm in the perimenopausal phase. And I keep asking myself, is this the beginning of the end? Am I done with my periods? Is that it? But apparently not, because as soon as I went in to take these blood tests, here it came.
And so, it was kind of funny, I was like, “Oh, I'm still a woman. I'm still a young woman.” And I'm sure there's a lot to unpack there. But I was surprised, a little bit, and also kind of- I don't know, relieved.
And so I went in, I decided to try this Function Health program that Dr. Mark Hyman has created. He is a co-founder of this lab test platform. I love his work. I follow him. I read his books. I have talked about one of his books multiple times called 'Young Forever’ I believe is the title. I always confuse it between 'Forever Young' and 'Young Forever.'
“Forever Young” was my high school graduation song. So I think it was ‘Young Forever’, and one of my favorite books. I've read it a few times. I recommend it to everybody. And so he created this blood lab panel, this blood panel platform, essentially making it easier for everybody to get the blood work that they need at a fraction of the cost.
Because a lot, like I said, a lot of these blood tests aren't covered by insurance. And so what he says is, you know, $15,000 worth of blood work for $500. It's a yearly membership. Of course, you can start and stop, I think, whenever you want to. You sign up, he sends the blood labs, you make an appointment for your local Quest Diagnostics. And you go in for the first set of biomarkers, and then 10 days later, or less than 10 days later, you go in for the second set.
So last week, I went in on Monday, and then again on Friday, and of course you have to fast, and then you have to stop taking your supplements a few days beforehand. I couldn't drink coffee that morning, which I'm usually an early riser. I get up around 6, sometimes earlier. And to have to wait till nine to have coffee was kind of ridiculously hard.
And so that has made me somewhat question my coffee intake, but not to the point yet where I've stopped. And so I went in and they, you know, took multiple vials of blood on Monday. And then I went again on Friday. I also did a urine test, which I guess I missed. I didn't realize I was going to be doing that.
And anyhow, some of the tests came in and I just wanted to share a few things. Not all of the tests are in. It takes about two to three weeks to get all of them, but 31 biomarkers came in and the first 31 covered things like metabolic health, thyroid, autoimmunity, liver, heavy metals, female health, nutrients, stress and aging, and the pancreas.
And so out of those 31, two of them were out of range. And what it says, so there's a website, you have a whole portal that is designated for you, dedicated to you, and your test results. It'll give you an action plan afterwards. It gives you the clinician notes, their recommendations on supplements that you may need or foods you need to limit or foods to enjoy more and even self care tips.
But out of range, the first one, which I'm still curious about, I don't know what this means, but I thought it would be interesting to share. Again, they'll only start doing the recommendations, start offering the recommendations within my portal, once the rest of my blood work is in- which could take, they said, two to three weeks.
So, totally fine, totally patient. So, one of the thyroid biomarkers has an interesting name called thyroglobulin antibodies. TGAV for short. None of this I am all that familiar with yet. This is not something I've yet studied. However, it'll break it down fairly easily for me to understand and then again once the clinician sends their notes, I'll have a better understanding.
So, it breaks it down. It says why it matters. Why these antibodies matter. It's used to check if my body has made antibodies against my thyroglobulin. If there's a presence of TGAB, it is a sign of autoimmune thyroiditis, meaning thyroid cells are being damaged by the immune system. You know, this is a general overlook of what this means. Doesn't necessarily mean that there's any issues with autoimmunity for me. Just a general outlook. I'm sharing this only because I find it very fascinating and maybe you will too. Like I said, I'm happy to share everything that I learn as I go through to discover what's going on with my body and then as I just learn in general about women's health as I go through my schooling program.
So it says antibodies help fight off bacteria, viruses, and toxins. Normally, the immune system doesn't make significant levels of antibodies against the thyroglobulin because it's not foreign to the body. In people with a thyroid related autoimmune condition, however, the blood level of TGAB is elevated. This means something is causing antibodies to attack the thyroid. So, mine ended up being slightly above range. Again, I don't know what this means. There's no recommendations.
May just yet- optimal range is 0 to 1. I think mine is 2, so it's slightly, slightly above. So it could be producing, I could be producing too much or too little hormones. It could be rippling throughout the body, it says, and triggering something else. So, you know, the whole system works together. And I just, I find it fascinating about hormone balances and how all of these environmental toxins could affect the body.
How food sensitive sensitivities could be the cause of this. It says also nutrient deficiencies, inflammation could be a particular cause for this slight elevation. Stress, bacterial illness, or medical conditions. Lifestyle, poor diet, or family history. So then it goes on to list things. Foods to eat, foods to limit.
It will say some herbal supplements. Herbal remedies could be ginseng, licorice, rhodiola, ashwagandha. Multivitamin with zinc could be good. Iodine, B complex. Again, a general overview. And then some symptoms. Some physical symptoms could be that I'm feeling weak or tired, my hands and feet are cold, or constipation could be one. Brittle hair and nails, slow memory recall, delayed speech, lethargy, excessive sleep- which is not what I'm experiencing- elevated cholesterol, dry skin, recurring infections, unexplained weight gain, fluid retention, dry skin, balance issues, poor stamina. Mental symptoms that are related, which I always find the mental symptoms caused by micronutrient deficiencies extremely interesting.
So it says sadness, depression, moody, gloomy, trouble with memory, focus, and or concentration. Irregular periods, yes, and then it talks about the men's health symptoms. Symptoms related to overactive or a hyperthyroid- goes on to list all those mental symptoms and then offers some self care advice.
So again all of these, and then potentially some additional testing, to see you know what is actually going on. So that's a general overview of all the possibilities. Maybe that scares the shit out of you. For me, I find it fascinating to kind of dig deeper into what's going on. Why am I feeling tired or why am I not sleeping throughout the night and waking up in the middle of the night repeatedly at the same time?
Or, you know, why am I not recalling certain things? With my classes, or forgetting certain things. So, again, that was a general overview of what could be potentially happening with this slightly elevated thyroid biomarker. The other one that was slightly out of range for myself was omegas. Which I also found interesting because I already supplement for this. So this is below range. It says omega check, EPA, DPA, and DHA. So these are different types of fats in the blood, specifically omega 3 fatty acids.
So again, it is slightly below range. And it talks about the three crucial omega 3 acids that are necessary. It gives a breakdown, offers food suggestions. These are hormones, again, so it's not, you know, necessarily uncommon that these would be out of range considering that I am, you know, almost 48 and experiencing hormone shifts as I am perimenopausal and moving toward that menopausal phase.
And I'm loving all of the conversations online lately about menopause and how there's more research being dedicated to it, more money being put into research so that women can understand what's going on with their body as they enter these perimenopausal and menopausal phases.
There's a great book that I just started reading by Dr. Lisa Mosconi called the menopause brain. And there's a part in it where I was like, that's really fucking fascinating. She says, you know, there has not been a whole lot of study about the menopausal phase for women, obviously, but that when women start to feel symptoms, we typically go to our OBGYN to say “What's going on?” and they have no idea how to support us because it's not an ovary issue.
It's a hormone issue and it actually is a brain issue, which I found so very fascinating. And you may have heard me say this before, but my fascination is, of course, with the brain, considering my mom passed from the causes of dementia. And so my extreme passion for this stems from that.
Also, you know, diving deep into my health has helped so that I can either avoid experiencing that or prolong it as long as I can. So learning more about how menopause comes and begins in the brain and how it affects the rest of the body is very, very fascinating to me.
I've mentioned this before too- we go through so many more hormone shifts from puberty to late teens, twenties, and then again in pregnancy, post pregnancy, late thirties, forties, and again in our fifties and all of these hormone shifts are the reason why women are experiencing more and more cognitive decline than men. Again, extremely fascinating to me.
So as I learned this, and as I read Dr. Lisa Mosconi’s book, I'll continue to share because I think that the research that she's doing is phenomenal. And I've been looking into how I can, you know, get into some research later on after school or, you know, work with her or whoever it is, is doing this amazing work for women to support women through these phases so that we don't have to, you know, look at going into our forties and fifties and beyond with dread or fear, knowing that we might lose our mind and lose our cognitive function, body function, all of it, because it all stems from the brain.
So, those were the two biomarkers that were off. 2 out of 31, I guess, I would just assume is great. It looks like a lot of my hormones are in good levels. It's just the omegas so far and this one thyroid biomarker. But in the next episode, I should have more information.
And I will share that with you. Also, I'm looking forward to having an entire podcast dedicated to metabolic health because that plays a huge role in our cognitive function and our energy throughout the day. And it's, again, very fascinating. So thank you again for joining. If there's somebody that you know who's experiencing, you know, sleepless nights or issues with symptoms that are coming up as she enters her “north of 40” phase, send them this podcast episode.
Find me on Instagram @nataliesaysWTF. I've created a special “wellness hub” is what we're calling it, which is going to be dedicated to inviting experts and sharing resources and having these conversations and just being able to really facilitate something that offers you the tools and information that you need so that you can live happy and full of energy and in your right mind.
Until next time, my friends!