Latest / Cortisol Coach / Thyroid, Weight Gain, and Fatigue | Why Your Labs Are Normal But You Feel Terrible with Dr. Amie Hornaman
Transcript
- 0:04Welcome to the Cortisol Coach Podcast. If you're exhausted, gaining weight,
- 0:08losing your hair, your anxiety is through the roof, or the depression and emotional
- 0:12overwhelm have completely consumed your life, or maybe you're not showing up
- 0:16as the wife and mom you want to be.
- 0:17You've spent years never feeling good enough, taking care of everyone else while
- 0:22you quietly fell apart, and your body has been keeping score of every single bit of it.
- 0:28The chronic stress, hormonal shifts, perimenopause, menopause,
- 0:32whatever season you're in, cortisol is making all of it worse.
- 0:35And until you heal the root, nothing changes.
- 0:39But this show here is about to change that.
- 0:41I'm your host, Christine Marie, Holy Spirit-led Biblical Mindset Coach,
- 0:45and I have helped thousands of women heal their hormones and cortisol levels.
- 0:49Every week, I bring you leading experts, doctors, and coaches who will help
- 0:54you heal your body, mind emotions and your spirit so that you can step into
- 0:59every kingdom purpose that god has planned for your life so go grab your cup
- 1:02of coffee and let's jump in.
- 1:05If you have ever walked out of a doctor's office with a piece of paper that
- 1:09says your labs are normal just like i had but you can't get out of bed your hair
- 1:14is falling out you've gained maybe 20 pounds maybe it's 30 maybe it's so much
- 1:19more and you're doing every single thing right today's episode is specifically for you.
- 1:25My guest is Dr. Amy Horniman. She is known as the Thyroid Fixer,
- 1:30and she is a doctor of clinical nutrition, a certified functional medicine practitioner,
- 1:36and the host of the Thyroid Fixer podcast.
- 1:40She founded the Institute for Thyroid and Hormone Optimization.
- 1:43She created the Fixer supplement line, and she treats patients all over,
- 1:49including the UK and Australia. So I know for our global audience,
- 1:52that is going to probably perk your ears up. But here's what I want you to hear.
- 1:58She was competing in fitness and figure mid-contest prep when she gained over
- 2:0420 pounds and she started feeling really bad.
- 2:08Six doctors told her this is normal. The seventh finally said hypothyroidism.
- 2:15Handed her a medication and nothing changed.
- 2:19So she went and fixed it herself. And that is what makes me so excited to bring her to you.
- 2:25She's not going to look at you like you are a number.
- 2:28She is going to help you get to the root, which is what we love here on this
- 2:33Cortisol Coach podcast.
- 2:35Dr. Amy, I am so excited to bring you on the show.
- 2:39Oh my goodness. Well, I'm super excited to be here as well because that was a perfect intro.
- 2:45Everything that you just said, I was nodding my head. I'm like,
- 2:47yeah, yeah, yeah, because I know so many women are going through that.
- 2:51It's frustrating. That's the whole intention of this podcast is to help limit
- 2:56the coulda, woulda, shouldas and collapse time for our listeners.
- 2:59And what makes me most excited is we have not talked about the thyroid yet.
- 3:05And so I couldn't be more excited to bring you on today.
- 3:08So can you take us back, take us back to what began this journey for you and led you here?
- 3:14Well, so just like you said, I was a figure athlete. So what that means just
- 3:19for your audience, it means that my diet was super strict for about 12 weeks.
- 3:23And I mean chicken, broccoli, asparagus. I was going to the gym twice a day, morning and evening.
- 3:30Everything was really regimented to the point where,
- 3:33I would pack meals to go to a restaurant because I couldn't risk having anything
- 3:39else in the food that might throw off my contest preparation diet.
- 3:44So I had about 12 weeks of this really, really strict diet. Now,
- 3:47I had done plenty of these before.
- 3:49I was a pro at this. I knew how my body would respond. I still hired a coach
- 3:54because I believe we all need a coach in all things to guide us through.
- 3:57So I still had a coach. I had to get on the scale every week,
- 4:01send him progress photos, and then he would adjust my diet and my workout as we went along.
- 4:07Well, this particular show that I was getting ready for, I'm getting on the
- 4:10scale every single week and it's going up.
- 4:12I'm like, wait, that biologically doesn't even make sense. Based on what I'm
- 4:18eating, my macros, my calories, my workouts, energy expenditure.
- 4:23Yeah, no, the scale shouldn't be going up. This wasn't computing.
- 4:28So I kept going and my coach thinks that I'm cheating on my diet or eating too many donuts.
- 4:33And I just keep plugging away. So I restrict a little bit more,
- 4:36right? Reduce calories a little bit more. Maybe I'll work out a little bit harder.
- 4:40I'll add 15 more minutes to that hour long cardio session that I'm already doing.
- 4:45And nothing was working. Nothing was working.
- 4:49So I started going to my doctor. I mean, that's where we all start.
- 4:53You go to your doctor and you say, you know, hey, doc, my body is basically like a runaway train.
- 4:59Can we please figure out what's happening?
- 5:02And at the time, I would love to go back and see what tests they ran because,
- 5:05you know, they didn't do everything completely.
- 5:08So at the time they ran some tests. They looked at me. They called me normal.
- 5:11Your labs are normal. Everything is fine. Your labs are normal.
- 5:14There's nothing going on here.
- 5:16So I left that first appointment and, you know, thought, okay,
- 5:19well, I don't feel normal, don't feel fine, so I'm going to keep going.
- 5:23I'm going to do this second opinion thing.
- 5:25And I got a second opinion and a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth.
- 5:28I went to six different doctors, a mix of PCPs, OBGYNs, and endocrinologists.
- 5:35And one of them actually, the name on the building, the name of his practice
- 5:39was Metabolic Disease Associates. I'm like, it has the word metabolism in it.
- 5:44Of course, he's going to know why my body is gaining weight.
- 5:48Now, by that point, I had put on around 25 pounds. I'm 5'2",
- 5:51by the way, so that 25 pounds showed up.
- 5:54Around 25 pounds. However, I truly believe that the scale went up about 40 pounds
- 5:58because after 25, I became so depressed.
- 6:02I was hiding my body in big sweatshirts. I wouldn't go out with my friends.
- 6:06I stopped having sex with my partner because who wants to get naked and look
- 6:10at yourself, let alone let somebody else look at you?
- 6:13So it really started affecting every single area of my life.
- 6:17So I'm pretty sure the scale went up about 40 pounds in total.
- 6:20And during that time of bouncing from doctor to doctor, I mean,
- 6:22I had no relief. So my hair started falling out. My energy went in the toilet.
- 6:28Honestly, those two symptoms I didn't even pay attention to because my clothes
- 6:32were consistently getting tighter and tighter.
- 6:34And that consumed every thought that I had throughout the day.
- 6:39Doctor number seven finally diagnosed me.
- 6:42So she says, you have hypothyroidism, low and slow thyroid function.
- 6:46So at that time, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. I at least have a name
- 6:49for what's going on with me. And then she gave me a pill.
- 6:52And I left her office thinking this was the magic pill. This is it.
- 6:56This is what's going to totally fix me.
- 6:59Now, many of your listeners right now are taking this very pill.
- 7:03It's called levothyroxine or Synthroid. It's T4.
- 7:06It can also fall under Unithroid or Tyrosin or Lavoxel, but it is T4.
- 7:12Now, I took this pill religiously every single morning for about five,
- 7:16six months, and I didn't lose a pound.
- 7:19Didn't feel any better. Didn't grow any more hair. Didn't lose a pound. Scale didn't change.
- 7:23So I start doing some doctor Googling, and I find, wait a minute,
- 7:27this medication that I'm taking is an inactive thyroid hormone.
- 7:31Our body doesn't have a receptor site anywhere on any of our 40 trillion cells
- 7:36that we have in our body, there is not a single receptor site for this T4 thyroid hormone.
- 7:42It has to convert. It has to become T3, the active thyroid hormone.
- 7:48And then it acts like this beautiful lock and key on your cell and it attaches to that receptor site.
- 7:54But as T4, it doesn't do anything and it wasn't helping me whatsoever.
- 8:00So I go back to this doctor who's in the conventional standard of care sick system that we have.
- 8:06And I go back to her and I say, you know, I'm researching here and there's these
- 8:10other thyroid hormones out there that are really impactful and I believe will really help me.
- 8:14Can we try that? Because there is evidence that T4 and T3 work really well together.
- 8:18And she says, no, that's not standard of care. I don't do that.
- 8:23So then I said these two very empowering words. I'm going to encourage all of
- 8:27your listeners to learn and repeat if necessary.
- 8:31You're fired. I said, thank you, but you're fired because I'm going to find
- 8:37a doctor who actually wants to help me and who cares about how I feel and who
- 8:40cares about the fact that I am losing my life here
- 8:44slowly but surely, and I need real help.
- 8:47So at the time, I kept hearing the name of this functional medicine provider.
- 8:51And back then, Christine, I don't even think we used the term functional,
- 8:53and this is 25, 30 years ago.
- 8:55It was more integrative, naturopathic, alternative. So I was still in that like
- 9:01woo category, but I didn't care. I'm like, that's fine.
- 9:05I keep hearing how great this guy is, I'm going to go. And he sat down with
- 9:07me. I always joke about this. He sat down with me for 83 more minutes than any other practitioner.
- 9:13Meaning, no, it wasn't the five to seven minute visit that I got with all the other doctors.
- 9:18He actually spent 90 minutes with me going through my labs, testing everything
- 9:22that needed to be tested. I mean, it was like a small book of labs.
- 9:26And he explained to me everything that was going on in my body.
- 9:29And then he put me on the right thyroid treatment for me based on what he saw
- 9:34on my complete lab panel, and I got better, and I started losing the weight,
- 9:39and I started feeling better.
- 9:40And I was like, wow, it was that simple.
- 9:43It was that simple that just took a knowledgeable person to look at me as a
- 9:47full human being, to actually spend time with me and not worry about their insurance
- 9:51paying for that five-minute visit and getting me out of the office so they can bring in the next one.
- 9:56He actually took the time to get to know what my body needed and practice personalized medicine.
- 10:02And that was absolutely amazing to me. And at the time, I was also,
- 10:06I like saying this because a lot of people think like, well,
- 10:08if I just go to Cleveland Clinic, if I just go to the Mayo Clinic,
- 10:13you know, those are the best of the best hospitals.
- 10:15That's where I'm going to get true thyroid health. No, you're not.
- 10:18I was in a major medical system, and I was misdiagnosed six times and mistreated the seventh.
- 10:23So it doesn't matter where you are. You could be in podunk nowhere or you could
- 10:27be in a major city and go to the best of the best system.
- 10:31And if that doctor or those doctors don't understand the thyroid,
- 10:36like we're going to talk about today, then they're not going to be able to help you properly.
- 10:39So it was really that that changed my career.
- 10:43That's why I do what I do now.
- 10:45I love it. Well, and it's amazing to me because I saw so many doctors myself.
- 10:51And mine is, of course, all yours is thyroid. But ultimately,
- 10:54we were failed because they did not address the root cause.
- 10:59And one of the stories I haven't really gone into detail with yet is I was over-medicated
- 11:05for something I did not have.
- 11:07Wow. And when that happened, there were severe consequences to me personally.
- 11:15And it was, well, let's just try something else.
- 11:19There's no accountability there. And it took a similar journey of going to all
- 11:25of these different doctors.
- 11:26And I was myself in a really fabulous health care system under a major hospital network. Yep.
- 11:36And so I fully trusted I was going to get the best care. Right.
- 11:43And unfortunately, there's too many stories like yours and mine.
- 11:47What happened next? What did you do for your thyroid?
- 11:51So it was actually a little bit of a process. So first, we moved from T4 only, which doesn't work.
- 11:58So any of your listeners that are on T4 only that we just went over,
- 12:02Synthroid, Levo, Levoxyl, Tearsent, it's not going to work.
- 12:06If you remain on T4 only, you will never, ever, ever, ever be optimized or ever, ever feel better.
- 12:11So it's going to affect your longevity, your health, your heart,
- 12:14your brain, your cancer risk. It's also going to affect your weight,
- 12:16your mood, your energy, your hair, your digestion, all the things, and your hormones.
- 12:22So T4 only doesn't work. So he first moved me to armor thyroid,
- 12:26which is natural desiccated thyroid, NDT.
- 12:29So we know that as armor thyroid, NP thyroid.
- 12:31So first I moved to that. And in the beginning, I definitely felt better because
- 12:36armor thyroid is 80% T4 and it's 20% T3.
- 12:39So I was getting a little bit of that T3 active thyroid hormone in the mix,
- 12:44which basically woke up my cells. And then it was like, oh, wow,
- 12:48this is nice. I feel a little bit better.
- 12:51But then over time, because he was on top of things and practiced personalized
- 12:55medicine, we began seeing kind of a step backwards where it's like, all of a sudden.
- 13:02The hypo symptoms are coming back, the scale's going up again.
- 13:05Wait a minute, what's happening?
- 13:07So we caught it early. We did all the testing. And we looked at a very,
- 13:11very important test I know we're going to talk about called reverse T3.
- 13:14This is one of the most important tests that you can get.
- 13:17And what that showed is that I don't convert very well. My body doesn't take
- 13:23that T4 thyroid hormone and properly convert it into T3.
- 13:28And one thing that I say in my book is T4 to T3 conversion is like running 10 Tough Mudders in a row.
- 13:34That's how hard it is for the body to do.
- 13:37So that's why I say T4 only isn't going to work because your body and the world
- 13:42that we live in right now With toxins and stress and EMF exposure and
- 13:48insulin resistance out the wazoo in America, 93% of us are insulin resistant,
- 13:53estrogen dominance, xenoestrogens, DNA snips.
- 13:56I mean, there's all these things that can get in the way. Cortisol can get in
- 13:59the way of T4 to T3 conversion.
- 14:03So with all of that, we found that I really don't convert.
- 14:08So ultimately, as we were moving through that optimization process of me and
- 14:14my thyroid, I am T3 only. So now I only take the active thyroid hormone T3.
- 14:21Now I will say, it's rare that we see people actually needing T3 only.
- 14:26I would say about like maybe 10 to 20 percent of my patients truly are T3 only
- 14:31candidates where they are just not going to convert T4. It doesn't matter how
- 14:35much or how little you give them.
- 14:37Their body is going to go hypo if you give them T4.
- 14:40I would say the rest, 80 percent or so, really do well with a T4, T3 combination.
- 14:48But then that ratio becomes very individualized and personalized to that particular person.
- 14:54So ultimately, that's what optimized me.
- 14:58I know for me, when I went in and I was struggling with so many things,
- 15:00one of the first things they did was check the thyroid.
- 15:04Now, for women who do and are struggling with their thyroid,
- 15:09hypo, hyper, what are the first steps that they would need to take?
- 15:14Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay.
- 15:16So like you said, Christine, you went in, they checked your thyroid.
- 15:19Now, I'm going to get into the minds of a lot of your listeners right now.
- 15:24I'm going to call out what's going through their head.
- 15:26I asked my doctor to check my thyroid, and my doctor said my thyroid was normal.
- 15:30Right. Okay, let's stop there.
- 15:32First of all, your doctor said your thyroid was normal because they checked one marker called TSH.
- 15:38Maybe they checked two markers. Maybe they threw in a free T4.
- 15:43TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone. It is a brain hormone. It's not a thyroid
- 15:48hormone. So think about that for a minute. We're checking your brain in order
- 15:51to check your thyroid. That's like, again, looking at your tires to see if there's an engine problem.
- 15:57So if the tire is flat, the car is not going to go. But if you have an engine
- 16:01that that is blown up, you don't know it unless you look under the hood.
- 16:05So we have to look a little bit deeper to see what the true function of the
- 16:10thyroid gland is by testing, I know this is a novel concept, the thyroid hormones.
- 16:16So let's actually go a little bit further and look at the thyroid hormones.
- 16:20Like I said, you might get free T4 done.
- 16:23Now, T4 is the inactive thyroid hormone. So by testing free T4,
- 16:28we're just testing how much of that inactive hormone is just sitting there ready
- 16:33to be converted, hopefully, over into T3.
- 16:38The two most important markers that you can get on your thyroid test,
- 16:42and these are non-negotiable,
- 16:44and by the way, if you're working with a practitioner, I don't care if you're
- 16:49paying them out of pocket, they're functional, they're integrative, they're naturopathic,
- 16:54if they don't test these two markers every single time you get your labs done,
- 17:00then that's their way of secretly telling you that they don't know what they're doing with the thyroid.
- 17:04First marker is free T3. So that's testing that active, beautiful thyroid hormone
- 17:09that's ready to attach to the receptor set on your cells.
- 17:12And then the second is reverse T3. Reverse T3 is really interesting.
- 17:16Reverse T3 is a hormone that our body produces.
- 17:21If we are in a very traumatic experience, if we're in a car accident,
- 17:26injured, fighting for our life in the ICU or the ER,
- 17:29reverse T3, because our bodies are smart, reverse T3 will go up in order to
- 17:34basically tell our bodies, listen, do this.
- 17:36You need to just heal right now and survive. You don't need to burn fat.
- 17:40You don't need to think. You don't need to balance your checkbook,
- 17:42have sex, poop every day. You just need to lie there and all energy needs to
- 17:47go to healing and survival.
- 17:50That's great when it's used appropriately. The problem is, is that our standard
- 17:55of care system in medicine is to give people T4, T4, T4. You have a thyroid
- 18:00problem, let's give you T4.
- 18:02Oh, you're still symptomatic, let's increase your T4.
- 18:05The only hormone that will convert to reverse T3 is T4. So this is a huge issue,
- 18:11in the treatment protocols of thyroid right now because that's all people are being given.
- 18:17And no one's checking their reverse T3 to see how well they convert.
- 18:22If reverse T3 is elevated, your body, you walking around day to day,
- 18:28your body thinks that you're dying in the hospital.
- 18:30So no, you're not going to lose weight. You're not going to think.
- 18:32You're not going to feel good. You're going to be bloated. You're going to be
- 18:34constipated, all the things.
- 18:36You're going to lose your hair because your body doesn't think that's important.
- 18:39So we have to check reverse T3. And then we have to look at TPO and TGA antibodies.
- 18:44This tells us whether or not your low and slow thyroid function is actually
- 18:49autoimmune. It's Hashimoto's.
- 18:51So that's the full thyroid panel. And not testing that full thyroid panel is
- 18:57the reason why so many people out there,
- 19:00mostly women, are being dismissed, misdiagnosed, and or mistreated.
- 19:07Now, we have 60 million people that are diagnosed with hypothyroidism in America.
- 19:12We have another 60,000 that are walking around undiagnosed because their doctor
- 19:16just tests their TSH and tells them that they're normal.
- 19:19Well, and call me crazy, but I am somebody who believes that when you identify
- 19:22the root cause, you can find the solution to heal your body and live the best
- 19:28life that we're all supposed to live.
- 19:30Talk to us about when somebody is saying, maybe I do need to have more testing
- 19:36done. What is their next step? So this is my rule of thumb.
- 19:39First of all, you go into your doctor with a bulleted list of symptoms.
- 19:44Now, for the thyroid, head to toe, it runs the show.
- 19:48So if you start at the top of your head, if you're sitting there going like,
- 19:51well, what symptoms are actually associated with a thyroid problem?
- 19:54Start at the top of your head.
- 19:56From hair loss, hair thinning, hair breaking, losing the outer corners of your
- 20:01eyebrows, dry skin or aging skin
- 20:04on your face, a swollen neck, difficulty swallowing, if you can palpate any
- 20:09kind of nodules on your thyroid,
- 20:12heart rate low or high.
- 20:14People can have tachycardia, AFib, or a low and slow heart rate,
- 20:18low body temperature, low blood pressure, low metabolism.
- 20:23Low mood, brain fog, memory loss, cognition, frozen shoulder, digestive issues.
- 20:30I mean, it literally goes all the way down to your toes.
- 20:33And yeah, broken toenails and like nails that rip off or rigid or break easily.
- 20:39That's another thyroid symptom. So you bullet list your symptoms first.
- 20:43Then you take all of the labs that we just talked about. You can either replay
- 20:47this episode. You can grab my book. I have them in there.
- 20:49So you put them all down and then And you hand that piece of paper to your doctor
- 20:53and you say, hey, doc, because of all these symptoms that I'm having,
- 20:56because those symptoms, by the way, give your doctor diagnostic codes for the
- 20:59test, all of these symptoms that I'm having over here, I would really like,
- 21:04to look deeper into my thyroid health and get all of these tests done.
- 21:09Now, if a doctor says no to testing, it's time to get a new doctor.
- 21:15You have to use those two words that I taught you earlier. You're fired.
- 21:18Because if you truly think that staying with a medical professional.
- 21:24Who says no to testing, who doesn't care that you just came in with a list of
- 21:28symptoms, who doesn't actually want all of the data about you as the patient,
- 21:35they don't want the information to be able to help you.
- 21:39They just told you no for labs that are covered by insurance or that are really,
- 21:45really cheap to order on your own, even if you don't have insurance.
- 21:49And they just said, no, how are they going to help you?
- 21:51Why are you wasting your time? That's the definition of insanity.
- 21:54You're doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
- 21:57That doctor is not going to be able to help you.
- 21:59So that's how you start. That's how you approach it.
- 22:02And guess what? You're basically testing your doctor by doing that.
- 22:05So good. I wish I would have had this information back then.
- 22:09And it's wild how much the thyroid and cortisol high or low symptoms overlap.
- 22:16And so that's why it's so important, like Dr. Amy was saying,
- 22:20is write down all of the symptoms you are struggling with and then go into your
- 22:26doctor and at least get your thyroid, all of these tests done.
- 22:30And as somebody who saw multiple doctors, and just as you heard Dr.
- 22:33Amy went to six other doctors before she found somebody who would listen,
- 22:39it is okay to say you are fired more than once.
- 22:42Nobody else is going to advocate for you other than you.
- 22:47And truly, as somebody who has done root cause healing with my cortisol,
- 22:52and for you, root cause healing with your thyroid, It is life-impacting and
- 22:57life-changing to heal a broken body.
- 23:02Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Absolutely. Well, and cortisol and thyroid play in the
- 23:06same sandbox. It's like they're brothers and sisters.
- 23:09You know, they just influence each other all the time. So there's overlap and
- 23:13there's influence at the same time.
- 23:16So how do you help and work with women at this point?
- 23:21So we start with full, full testing.
- 23:25And, you know, we go beyond thyroid, of course. We're looking at all of the
- 23:30markers. So we start with blood. We start with full blood testing.
- 23:33And we're doing full thyroid panel, full hormone panel, because hormones and
- 23:37thyroid play in the same sandbox as well.
- 23:39We're obviously looking at your insulin and A1C and IGF-1 and liver function
- 23:45and kidney function, the whole deal. We love data.
- 23:48We want all of that data on you so we can sit there and paint that beautiful
- 23:52picture of what's going on with you.
- 23:55And then we're going to ask you, these are the four most important words that
- 24:00any practitioner can ask you, how do you feel?
- 24:03Because that's important. I need to know how you're feeling and what your symptoms
- 24:08are in order to overlap what we're seeing in black and white on your labs.
- 24:12So then we overlap that.
- 24:15And, of course, if we have to go deeper, if we have to do a four-point saliva
- 24:19cortisol test, if we have to do a Dutch test, if we have to do a GI map test,
- 24:22if we have to do a mold test, then we go down those functional pathways to get
- 24:26the full picture as well.
- 24:27But let's just start with blood because in black and white, that gives us a
- 24:31lot of information right there.
- 24:33And then we personalize the treatment to you, whether it's bioidentical hormones,
- 24:37whether it's bioidentical thyroid hormones, whether it's adjusting your diet
- 24:41and lifestyle, supplementation for foundational support, whatever it is,
- 24:46we're going to do it and implement it because ultimately my goal is to get you feeling better.
- 24:52Yeah, I want your labs to look better, but I want you to tell me this has improved.
- 24:56I'm finally losing weight. My hair is growing back. I have energy.
- 24:59My brain fog cleared. Oh my gosh, I'm pooping every day.
- 25:02Like all of these beautiful symptom relief things that occur when you're optimized,
- 25:07I want that to start happening because exactly what you said,
- 25:10and I'm a firm believer as well.
- 25:12We deserve to, I would say we deserve to be the badass human we're meant to
- 25:16be. We deserve to live these vital, beautiful lives, not schlepping our way
- 25:22through the day, through the week, through the month, through the years and wasting precious time.
- 25:26100%. Where do you work with clients or patients from?
- 25:30So we do all of the U.S., all 50 states we can prescribe to.
- 25:36So that's a no-brainer. It doesn't matter where you are. It's telehealth, comfort of your home.
- 25:42The only time you have to leave your house is to go get your labs drawn.
- 25:45Other than that, you're just sitting there.
- 25:47Everything is literally done for you. All the consultations are virtual.
- 25:51Now for Canadians, for Australians, for the UK, we will work with you.
- 25:59The problem is we can't prescribe there. So the legal prescribing borders are
- 26:03very much limited to the United States only.
- 26:06But what I have found is when we're working one-on-one with individuals in a
- 26:10different country, we can help guide them with their practitioner.
- 26:14We can help them self-source the medication.
- 26:17I mean, there's a variety of different options based on where they live.
- 26:21You know, even people in Mexico, they can walk into the pharmacy and get what
- 26:25they need. They don't even need a doctor's prescription.
- 26:28So it just really depends on where you're at in the world, but all 50 states in the U.S.
- 26:33I love that. And so we will include all of Dr. Amy's information in the show notes.
- 26:40I'm really excited to be able to offer her as a resource for all of you because truly.
- 26:48For me myself, when I went in and I had my lab testing done,
- 26:51especially, and I love that you do the Dutch testing and you have many different,
- 26:56ways that you're testing cortisol.
- 26:57So even if you're looking for cortisol-specific testing.
- 27:01This is a great resource for you because having one moment in a day where they
- 27:07are taking your cortisol testing in a lab is not sufficient at all.
- 27:14They need to see the curve. They need to see multiple points.
- 27:18And so this just makes me so excited because knowledge is power.
- 27:23And having this knowledge is
- 27:24going to help you step into who you are meant to be and feel incredible.
- 27:30And it's wild, probably you the same. Once you actually felt better for the
- 27:35first time, I was sitting there
- 27:38going, I cannot believe I lived my life that way for as long as I did.
- 27:46Yeah, you want to scream it from the rooftops because you want other people,
- 27:50to realize that it's possible.
- 27:52You know, I think too many, and I say people, but really this affects women
- 27:55so much more and affects them harder.
- 27:59I think we, as women, we almost get used to a new normal.
- 28:03Like, we medically gaslight ourselves. Yes. We go, well, you know,
- 28:09I am getting older. Well, you know, I did, you know, eat too much on vacation.
- 28:14Well, I'm a little bit stressed out.
- 28:16No, stop that.
- 28:19Do not drink the Kool-Aid that's already being given to you by the conventional medicine system.
- 28:24Listen to your body. Those symptoms that you have, you do not chalk up to just
- 28:29getting older, because I can show you an 80-year-old that's skiing down the
- 28:31side of a mountain, like, all day long.
- 28:34Like, there's no handbook that we received at the age of 40 that went,
- 28:38yeah, okay, after the age of 40, just throw in the towel. You're going to gain weight.
- 28:42You're you're gonna be really tired, half bald. Like, no, no,
- 28:45there's no memo that was given to us as women at the age of 40.
- 28:48You can live a vibrant, healthy life. You can literally feel your best, I promise you.
- 28:54You can have some treats, a glass of wine, an Oreo cookie, whatever, and not gain weight.
- 29:01You can go on vacation and not gain weight from being on vacation.
- 29:06You can actually look forward to going out with your friends,
- 29:08with your loved ones, with your partner.
- 29:11All the things that life gives us, you can experience to the fullest when you are optimized.
- 29:18Well, and I feel like there's so many women, especially listening or a part
- 29:21of my audience, and maybe yours too, who feel like, well, taking care of me is selfish.
- 29:27Like, it's going to take the time that it's going to take to get all of this
- 29:31stuff done. You guys, this is telehealth.
- 29:34You can get on a video call. You can go out to get your labs done.
- 29:39And I promise you, this is impacting so much more than you realize with how I was as a mom.
- 29:46And I didn't struggle with thyroid, but I imagine you probably struggle with
- 29:50a lot of the same—like, you don't realize how much it's impacting your relationships.
- 29:54And you talked about your sexual health.
- 29:58I mean, I just thought, well, I'm over 40. This is just a normal decline.
- 30:02I'm not interested at all. Right.
- 30:04You guys, like there is so many pieces to this that you can feel your absolute
- 30:14best, better than you ever have over 40. I know I am.
- 30:18Yeah. Yeah. All day. I literally just got a message this morning.
- 30:24I could even bring up her picture on my phone, show it to the camera if you
- 30:26really want to. I just got a text message from a patient this morning.
- 30:30She sent me these jaw-dropping before and after pictures like to where I was
- 30:35like I am speechless right now like this is actually incredible and she leaves
- 30:40me a voice and she's like Dr.
- 30:42Amy I just want you to know like this is how much you've helped me you you totally
- 30:47changed my life around I was doing she literally said she's like I was doing
- 30:50all the things I was counting the macros I was taking the supplements I was
- 30:53doing you know the protocols I was doing hit classes.
- 30:56Nothing was working. Nothing was working. And she said, you know,
- 31:01you saved my life and you saved my marriage.
- 31:04And that just, you know, it was just that reminder about how this affects so much more than just us.
- 31:09And it does affect our family. And it does affect being a mom.
- 31:13And it does affect being a partner, a spouse, an employer, an employee, a friend.
- 31:18Like, this has trickle effects that we don't talk about enough,
- 31:22you know we talk about the symptoms and yes those are life-altering and annoying
- 31:26and frustrating and depressing and all the things but what about how this affects
- 31:32others what about how this affects your job i,
- 31:35i remember last year i got a
- 31:37message from a patient that said i just want you to know i got a promotion.
- 31:41Because she was able to focus and think and she had motivation and drive that she didn't have before.
- 31:48This has been such a pleasure to have you on the show today.
- 31:50What is the one last piece you would like to leave with the audience today?
- 31:55Remember that you are a unique individual. So number one, pay attention to your symptoms.
- 32:02Don't ignore them. Those symptoms are GIFs, G-I-F-T-S, GIFs given to you by
- 32:08your body to say, hey, you know, there's something going on here that you might
- 32:12want to look at a little bit deeper. Don't ignore that gift. Listen to your body.
- 32:17I want you to have hope. I want you to keep going until you find the answer.
- 32:23And that answer has to be personalized. So treating the thyroid and truly getting
- 32:29you as a human optimized is a nuanced art.
- 32:32Now, we can do it blindfolded in our sleep, but it's a nuanced art.
- 32:37So I want you to get personalized treatment for you, because when that happens,
- 32:43that's where everything changes.
- 32:46Everything changes. The symptoms fall away.
- 32:49You become more resilient. You're more stress resilient.
- 32:53You're more protected against diseases of aging. So you have to listen to your body, have hope.
- 32:59You keep pursuing. I don't care if it takes six, seven, 10 doctors.
- 33:03If you need help, you reach out to us, but you find somebody that will personalize
- 33:09your treatment for you and finally get you optimized. I love that.
- 33:14Thank you for being on the show today it's been such a pleasure and if you want to connect with Dr.
- 33:19Amy personally and find out how you can partner with her,
- 33:23to really take control of your personal health as well as take a look at your
- 33:28thyroid and or any of the labs that you mentioned you'll find the information
- 33:33in our show notes and until next time we'll see you guys later.
- 33:39Friend, I am so thankful that you are here today. I pray this episode blessed you big time.
- 33:44And if it did, would you do me a favor and leave me a review on Apple Podcasts?
- 33:47It helps more women just like you find the show. And it may be the very reason
- 33:52that somebody else gets the answers that they need.
- 33:54I would also love to connect with you personally on Instagram.
- 33:56You can find me by searching cortisol underscore coach. That's where I show
- 34:00up every single day. And send me a DM. I would love to connect with you. I'll see you next time.