If you've ever wondered what it actually looks like to work with me — this is the episode.

I take you behind the scenes of a Harmonised Hormones journey from the very first free connection call through to the end of three or six months together. The consultation structure, the questionnaires, the functional hormone testing, the blood test interpretation, the custom herbal formulas, the nervous system work, and the Wholistix BodyWise Assessment that ties it all together.

This is the most thorough look inside my practice I've ever shared publicly. If you've been following me for a while and quietly wondering whether this kind of support is for you — listen to this one.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Welcome + who this episode is for

03:28 — Cycle check-in

08:15 — The free 15-minute connection call

13:28 — The 90-minute initial consultation

16:33 — The questionnaires: nutritional assessment, Dirty Genes, circadian rhythm

26:27 — Blood test interpretation: optimal vs conventional ranges

32:33 — The EndoMAP functional hormone test

38:33 — The food diary, symptom tracker, and cycle tracking setup

43:22 — Nervous system framework: polyvagal theory and parts work

47:20 — Foundations, treatment plans, and custom herbal formulas

52:15 — The Wholistix BodyWise Assessment and your Body Story

55:13 — The Harmonised Hormones Summary + WhatsApp support

58:22 — How to book a free connection call + close

🩸🖤🩸

GET YOUR FREE CYCLE TRACKING GUIDE:

karindawholistix.com.au/cycletracking

GET THE $27 CYCLE POWER BUNDLE:

https://www.karindawholistix.com.au/cyclepower 

REACH OUT!

⁠⁠⁠Email me hello@karindawholistix.com.au

or drop me a line on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠@karinda.wholistix⁠⁠⁠⁠

NEED SOME TAILORED TO YOU HORMONE & PERIOD SUPPORT?

You can⁠⁠⁠ ⁠book a free connection call to map out what working together would look like for you to achieve your health & hormone goals: https://www.karindawholistix.com.au/book-now

🩸🖤🩸

SHOP & DISCOUNTS:

💖 Shop mine & Maddie's ⁠⁠CYCLE TEAS, an organic herbal blend for every phase of your menstrual cycle: https://www.karindawholistix.com.au/cycle-teas

🌡️ I use ⁠TEMPDROP⁠ for reliable basal body temperature & ovulation tracking!: https://tempdrop.refr.cc/default/u/karinda for 5% off

💖 I use ⁠MODIBODI⁠ for the best reusable period undies!: https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=J9IrmGAYKhk&offerid=1738156.9&type=3&subid=0

💦 ⁠⁠SPLASH BLANKET⁠⁠ my favourite blanket for free bleeding: https://bit.ly/4pvkFv0

💖 The root of so many hormone imbalances is a poor circadian rhythm. Optimise your rhythm, protect your body from artificial light & harness the power of red light therapy at ⁠⁠Block Blue Light.⁠⁠ Use code KARINDA at checkout for 10% off: https://www.blockbluelight.com.au/?ref=KARINDAJOHN

🎙️ Podcast recording & editing software I use: ⁠⁠Descript - use my referral link to get 50% off for 2 months of the Creator Plan!⁠⁠: https://descript.cello.so/YelvopN7RVr

I may make a small commission if you purchase from any of the above links. This helps me support myself & my business and I'm grateful if you're happy to use these links/codes and share them if you love the products.

WATCH OR LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST:

💖 On website: http://karindawholistix.com.au/podcasts/oh-my-menses/

💖 Youtube: youtube.com/@karindawholistix

💖 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0SksHGmREZ7waOeGrIXgvw

💖 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oh-my-menses/id1673595367

💖 And be sure to check out my other podcast, The Nuanced Naturopaths with my bestie & colleague Julie Forrester: https://www.karindawholistix.com.au/podcasts/nuanced-naturopaths

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:08] Oh, woo, woo, woo.

[00:00:15] Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Oh My Menses podcast. Thank you for clicking or tapping on my face today. Maybe you tapped because you can tell from the glow of my skin that I am in fact ovulating. And scientifically more attractive at this time of my cycle. Uh, no. I say that in maybe like 60% jest, but nonetheless, thank you for clicking or tapping on this episode today.

[00:00:43] Today is a very special episode and it's different and you might not like it, but I hope you give it a shot. I decided that now has never been a better time to walk you through what it feels like to work with me. [00:01:00] Walking you through my consultation structure, the kind of questions that I ask, the kind of investigations that I do, the kind of test results that I work with, how I interpret test results differently compared to conventional health practitioners, the questionnaires and the tracking templates that I have formulated, with the very blessed help of Ai.

[00:01:24] Claude, shout out. The way I work has gotten a massive upgrade, and the way I work has always been different to the mainstream medical model, but certainly in the last 12 months, I have really intentionally been leveling up what I can bring to the table when a woman chooses to say, "yes, I would like to work with you.

[00:01:47] Yes, I would like you to be my naturopath. Yes, I would like Karinda on my health team" it's an absolute honor

[00:01:55] to work with the women that I do work with. Especially in a world where there's so many different healing [00:02:00] modalities, so many different practitioners that one could work with. And yeah, I just got to a point in my life where I had the space and capacity to really formulate some frameworks and some more, add some more structure into how I work with women and what sort of things I could nail down and solidify that would help the women I work with get

[00:02:27] better, faster, more sustainable results. So if you have been listening to me for a while, many of the people who book in a Connection Call with me have been following me for like, I think the longest has been like five years, like they were following me since like 2020 or 2021. They can't even remember how they found me on Instagram.

[00:02:49] Or I've had some connections that have come from like, really, really old friends or like friends of ex-boyfriends that have been referred to me long, long ago. And they still keep me in [00:03:00] mind when they're ready to like make change in their health. If you are one of those people and maybe you're experiencing some kind of hormone imbalance.

[00:03:09] Maybe you know that there is something up with your menstrual cycles. Maybe you have been on the pill for a long time, you're ready to come off. Maybe you've received a diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome or endometriosis or PMS or PMDD, or maybe there's a few different things going on with your health.

[00:03:28] Most, most often, there are a few different things going on. This is the episode for you because it's a real in-depth, look at exactly the process we would go through together if you chose to say yes to me, to help you as a naturopath. But first off, we, as we always do, we will start with a cycle check-in.

[00:03:50] Now, if you don't already have my free Cycle Tracking Guide, that is also getting an upgrade, um, you can download that using the link below. It's 25 [00:04:00] pages. It's free. It's an in-depth guide in terms of how to holistically track your menstrual cycle, what signs to look for beyond just your period, how to understand and interpret your fertility on a day-to-day

[00:04:12] basis and how to start decoding the language of your body. 'Cause your body's always talking to you. And sometimes the best first step is to actually just start to listen. And the best way to do that is through menstrual cycle tracking, not just jotting down when we got our period in our calendar. Proper thorough menstrual cycle tracking.

[00:04:32] So I've got the guide, it's free for you, download it. And as for the check in itself, like is on the move. Laika, we know what happens when I leave you in here, when, when we've recorded a podcast. So should I leave you in here? You wanna say hi to everyone? Hello. This is becoming a routine now.

[00:04:52] Yes.

[00:04:53] Okay. That's a good thought. [00:05:00] I'll, I might keep that in there.

[00:05:03] As for my actual cycle check-in, I am on cycle day 17, I believe, and I'm somewhere in the mode of ovulation. I suspect I have just ovulated, but I am waiting for the temperature rise. To confirm that if you know, you know. And, the last couple of days I had peak cervical fluid Also, if you know, you know, and if you don't know, check out my blog on cervical fluid, check out my podcast all about cervical fluid and the different kinds.

[00:05:33] Such, such good information and. Yeah, I'm definitely feeling energized. I'm definitely feeling charged. I have more energy than usual. I'm really like in the mood to record. And now, like today has just been a matter of like getting my ducks in a row in terms of prioritizing what needs to be done and then executing.

[00:05:55] Sometimes this is the challenge with ovulation because there are so many [00:06:00] possibilities and options and things that you could start with. And I feel like executive function at this time can take a bit of a hit if you are not grounded enough. So I've been doing lots of physical activity to try and stay grounded in my body.

[00:06:14] And actually, I've gotta say, compared to my last two or three cycles, I think I'm feeling more grounded than usual at this time. But when I've got a list that looks like this of things to do, it can be hard to know where to start. And then I'm kind of also getting that feeling where like I just want to do work and record.

[00:06:35] And so I'm looking at my other obligations and I'm like, everything else go away. Like I'm looking at dishes in the sink and collecting the eggs from the chickens, and I'm just like, go away.

[00:06:48] I have the energy to execute these chores, but it's not my priority. It's not where I wanna direct my energy. Nonetheless,

[00:06:58] the words coming outta my mouth [00:07:00] and the vibe of me right now is very, very ovulatory. So. I would love to know where you're at in your cycle when you're listening to this. Please feel free to, uh, comment on YouTube or Spotify, where you are at in your cycle at the moment. And yeah, if you don't have that cycle tracking guide, it's totally free.

[00:07:15] Highly recommend you download it, especially if you are new to like something going on with your hormones or you are new to tracking your menstrual cycle at all. It's such a good first step, and it's the first step that I offer to all new clients that work with me, just because it's like we can do all the hormone directive treatments in the world.

[00:07:38] We can do all the protocols and implement all the lovely healing tools, but if we are not actually tracking your patterns and tracking your cycle, we are not going on a lot. So it's the easiest way to start identifying your patterns and it puts you back into power.

[00:07:56] It's bringing all the power back to you. You observe your body [00:08:00] signs, you chart them on your menstrual cycle tracking app. You learn how to interpret the biomarkers and what they're telling you about your fertility. On any given day, you learn to count your whole cycle and not just rely on the calendar date, you learn to interpret your cervical fluid.

[00:08:15] So much good stuff. Anyway, I'll leave it there for the cycle tracking guide 'cause we're already 10 minutes in. Okay? So the process of working with me. Now, if you don't know, I would love you to know that if you are a new patient, you are not obligated to book in and pay money before ever meeting me. For all new patients, I offer a free 15 minute connection call and this is the first step for everyone,

[00:08:42] pretty much everyone who I have worked with, some people do just like to dive in straight away and they're, they're like, yep, no, I get you. I've been following you on Instagram for ages, or I get your newsletters, I know what I'm in for... book. And other people are like, yeah, let me start with this free chat.

[00:08:57] And that's why I offer it. So [00:09:00] that free chat is chill. It's us on Zoom. I'm me. I'm not scary. I have some questions to ask you, and that's because I wanna understand your health story. I want to understand your context and where you are coming from at the time that you made that booking and what that was, what was that final trigger that made you go, I need to book an appointment.

[00:09:23] I need some help with this. Because I find that interesting because we can experience health issues for so long, but there's usually something that pushes us to seek help, seek support, and whatever that thing was for you, is probably gonna be really important to helping you stay motivated and create sustainable change throughout the rest of the journey.

[00:09:46] So I'm really interested in that. So people share with me what's going on for them currently and usually when I say, so what made you book the call now? Like most women say, okay, I look, I do have to [00:10:00] rewind a bit, and here's the context, and that's very, very welcome. And after you've shared a bit about what's going on for you, I will say, cool.

[00:10:08] Let me give you a look inside my naturopathic brain at the moment and all the holistic threads that I'm drawing together based on everything you're telling me. Here's how I would go about working with you and moving through your case. Here are some examples of the investigations that I would recommend.

[00:10:24] The, prescriptions that I would formulate for you. Here are some of the healing tools that I have in my toolbox that I can see are directly applicable to a case like yours. Here's my experience working with women similar to you, presenting similar things or having a similar history. And then it's all in your hands.

[00:10:42] I say, do you have any questions for me? What do you want to know about the journey? We usually discuss payment plans and what that looks like and different package options to meet them based on their needs and their budget and everything, everything gets considered. And before the actual call, there [00:11:00] is a little bit of a questionnaire that I get women to fill out just so I have more context going into the call.

[00:11:06] So you can feel also assured knowing that I've got some background on you and we're not just diving into a cold call and you have to tell me everything from the start.

[00:11:14] I usually email you the details of whatever we discussed and the package options that I think would be best for you. And I check in with you a couple of times throughout the next couple of weeks if you don't book on the spot. My big thing is, is that the call is free, and it's not just to get you to eventually pay me money.

[00:11:34] The call is genuinely free, and it's not just free cost, it's obligation free. You do not have to book in anything. I don't think I've ever pressured anyone into making a booking, and I have had connection calls where I have identified that the case is out of my depth, or someone is working with too many practitioners [00:12:00] and I'm, I'm honest with them.

[00:12:01] And I say, look, I would love to be on your health team and I can, I can see like what I would do for your case and how I could help you, but there's a lot of noise right now. There's a lot of probably conflicting bits of advice that you're getting and it would be better to streamline treatment. But otherwise, I think this would overwhelm you and I would rather avoid that same thing if people are in a really, frantic nervous system state. I'm honest with them about, you know, nervous system work would be really, really important for your healing journey. Now

[00:12:34] might not be the best time to start intense journey of working together and getting really deep with your health. It could be entirely overwhelming, and we know we have the science that, to be able to make new habits and implement change, your nervous system needs to be in enough of a baseline safety state to be able to make those changes, start those new habits and to [00:13:00] actually properly receive and digest information.

[00:13:03] And a lot of our sessions are education based. People are asking me questions. People wanna understand what's actually going on with their bodies, and that's. I'm hugely passionate about that. My sessions are not just about telling you what to do, come back in two weeks and we'll go from there. It's about making sure that you understand what's going on.

[00:13:22] It's wanting you to have clarity about what your body is communicating through the symptoms that are relevant to you. So if we do go ahead with starting the journey and at the moment, the main way to work with me, if we haven't worked together before is my Harmonized Hormones package.

[00:13:39] It's three or six months. All of my appointments start off with a thorough 90 minute initial appointment. Yes, 90 minutes. There is no rush. There is no rush. I hate, hate, hate the feeling [00:14:00] of going to a health appointment, sometimes with a holistic practitioner even, and maybe it's a half an hour appointment, and to the mainstream medical model, they would look at that and go, whoa, that's, that's an extended appointment.

[00:14:13] And there can still be a sense of feeling rushed, especially if you haven't met that practitioner before. But certainly with seeing a gp, I hate the feeling of having to like mentally rehearse all the things I'm gonna say because I need to make sure they get all this information in seven minutes and I need to be able to justify myself.

[00:14:32] And I don't know if they're gonna ask me questions or if they're just gonna like, let me talk and then, and then you're on the spot. When you consider how medicine started. The way we conduct general practitioner consultations now is, is the opposite of healing. And I get it's an overburdened medical system that we have.

[00:14:53] And look, that's where I step in, as someone who isn't directly a part of that medical system, I want [00:15:00] to offer an alternative. And I know that the best healing happens when you have the space to relax and you don't have to have all the answers on the spot. You don't have to rush your health story. You don't have to explain everything to me in 10 minutes.

[00:15:22] We get 90 minutes and that 90 minutes is spent mostly going through, okay, what are the main concerns for you? And it's not just like, what's your first concern? What's your second concern? Okay, cool. Here are some other questions. We go in depth in those things because I wanna understand when those symptoms started for you, how the exactly they present to you, how their timing changes based on the day, based on the seasons, based on the menstrual cycle.

[00:15:53] I wanna understand your health history leading up to these diagnoses or these symptoms starting. [00:16:00] Everything is really in depth.

[00:16:03] And this is a part of the investigation step of my Harmonized Hormones method. So investigation is not just like the testing we can get done, it's also the qualitative, the subjective investigation of question and answer and conversation, that dialogue that we are having about your health. The investigation also includes how you answer questions, how settled you feel during the consult, what beliefs or thoughts or emotions are coming up for you as we discuss certain things.

[00:16:33] All of these are relevant and all of these are taken into account, um, in all of our sessions together, but especially that first session, also as part of my investigation step. You have access to a few different questionnaires that help us get data quickly. So I still, we still have the 90 minutes to talk through everything, but sometimes these questionnaires that you can do in your own time and I get to have a look at them, it [00:17:00] just gives me a great holistic snapshot of what's going on and certain areas in your body that need a bit more support.

[00:17:06] And I can actually give you a little behind the scenes peek at what some of those questionnaires look like.

[00:17:12] Karinda John-1: So this is a format of what I'm looking at, where I'm taking my notes during consultations. So this is like full on, full on behind the scenes. So in terms of presenting complaint. This is all the depth that we look into it. So this, LO QRST framework is pretty common among holistic health practitioners, and it makes sure that we get all the information we need to know about the thing that is bugging you the most about your health.

[00:17:41] That we are not leaving a stone unturned as far as questioning that specific symptom. We look at these questionnaires and let me pull up one for you. So my favorite one is actually adapted from a book by, uh, Dr. [00:18:00] Dicken Weatherby. He, I believe is the founder of Optimal dx, which is one of my sources for when I look at, functional optimal reference ranges

[00:18:10] for blood test results. So when I wanna not focus on the conventional ranges that only measure frank disease, I wanna look at what's actually optimal and indicative of health. Not just not being sick, that's one of the resources I use. And he had this thing called a nutritional assessment questionnaire, and it was like a very, very old like paper questionnaire.

[00:18:32] And I reckon maybe three years ago I converted it into a spreadsheet. And I changed some of the questions and made it a bit more specific to my practice. If you are a past client and you're listening, you may remember that as the holistic health questionnaire. So now it's just, yeah, my adapted version of the nutritional assessment questionnaire.

[00:18:52] And this is something that I might get you to do before our first appointment. It might be something that I get you to do after our first appointment, but in any case. [00:19:00] We get just a basic look at diet and things that you use, pretty much everything that is coming into contact with your body.

[00:19:09] And some of the things that are listed, like we've got, you know, milk, dairy products, margarine, deli meats. These are things that are associated with crap health and poor health outcomes and have a role in a lot of different conditions and symptoms. So we are kind of measuring how much of a burden you currently have in terms of what you're putting into your body.

[00:19:31] Then we have a look at lifestyle, exercise, change jobs, relationship breakdowns. 'cause they have a huge influence on health, how much you work. We take a look at medications and supplements because they will also be putting on some level, some extra burden on your body, whether it's just on the liver and kidneys to process something or whether it's influencing your gut microbiome if you've taken antibiotics.

[00:19:54] So we're considering all those things. And then we get into part two, nutritional needs broken [00:20:00] down into mineral needs, essential fatty acids, sugar handling, and vitamin needs. And essentially these questions are going to help us ascertain if there are any major signs that are pointing towards nutritional deficiencies, whether it's for a mineral, whether it's for essential fatty acids, which has a huge role to play in inflammation.

[00:20:21] So conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, that's really relevant, how you handle your sugar, which plays a huge role in P and energy dysfunction. And then we look at vitamin needs, because sometimes, doctors won't always catch this, but sometimes the thing that is bothering you the most about your health is actually being

[00:20:43] caused by, or at least aggravated by a simple nutritional deficiency. And we can't just test for all nutrients on a blood test result. So sometimes we do need to rely on this kind of, subjective data, subjective assessment. Help us get a holistic understanding of [00:21:00] what's going on for you and what's pointing towards certain deficiencies or excesses.

[00:21:05] And then I love the third part of the quiz where we go organ system by organ system. Something I say to clients a lot, usually in connection calls, is that if you come to me with a period problem, we don't just spend the whole three or six months talking about your periods or talking about your hormones.

[00:21:23] We look at every aspect of your body, every other system in your body, digestion, your liver, your brain and nervous system, your gut microbiome, your immune system. Because they're all interacting with each other, and if I was just laser focused on the issue, that was the biggest issue for you. I wouldn't be able to see the zoomed out bigger picture.

[00:21:51] And I wouldn't be able to see what other areas of your life and your body are interacting with and maybe causing or amplifying [00:22:00] that main thing that's annoying you, whether it's period pain or irregular cycles, hormonal acne, or mood swings before your period, whatever it is. All of these questions are aimed at understanding what's having the biggest impact on the thing that's bothering you the most. So we go through the digestive system, the endocrine system. Adrenal glands are a really important one. And the thing I love about this is that it's an interactive HTML. So you click the answers that you want and it's doing the calculations for me.

[00:22:34] And it's telling me how much of a priority area a certain organ system is based on how you are answering. Then we go specific into reproductive health, cardiovascular, kidney, and immune. And then we get a nice summary of your results. And that's just one questionnaire. While I'm on the questionnaire roll, let me show you some other things.

[00:22:52] And again, you're not gonna be, I'm not just gonna dump this on you at the first session, we can weave these in throughout the journey, although [00:23:00] most of my clients get really excited about seeing what the results say. So they're very excited to like, answer questions about themselves, which I love. So this is adapted from a book called Dirty Genes by Dr.

[00:23:12] Ben Lynch. He is a really important player when it comes to functional health and holistic medicine, and I'm really, really grateful for his work. So he has a Dirty Genes quiz that, is in his book and is also available in many people have adapted it in their own format online.

[00:23:29] So this pretty much goes through some of the major genes that have, I would almost argue the biggest roles in some of the most common symptoms that I see in clinic, so you may have heard of it.

[00:23:45] Um, M-T-H-F-R also sometimes colloquially referred to as the "motherfucker" gene. And that comes up a lot in people's liver health, if they've got fatigue, if they're trying to conceive, if they've [00:24:00] experienced pregnancy loss or depression. We've got DAO function, which plays a huge role in how histamine is cleared and processed in your body.

[00:24:09] We've got the COMT gene, which plays a huge role in hormonal clearance. We've got the MAO gene, which plays a big role in neurotransmitter functions, so like your brain chemicals, dopamine, mood, motivation, all of that. GST and GPX, which relates to like how well your system is able to like, detoxify from the chemicals that we're exposed to on a regular basis.

[00:24:35] How much oxidative stress there currently is in your body or how significant that burden could be. The NOS three gene, which relates to nitric oxide and cardiovascular health, and the, the PEMT or PEMT gene, which tells us a bit more about liver and gallbladder stuff. And the cool thing about this, so there's only five questions for each gene.

[00:24:56] And let's say I go, boom, boom, boom, boom, [00:25:00] boom, boom. Sorry. If you're not watching the video, that audio is not helpful. If I select three or more answers for any of those, categories of questions for any of the gene genetic presentations, I'll get this prompt that says, your score suggests completing the comp section in part two below.

[00:25:17] So then you scroll down below, and then we have an in-depth analysis. So the genes that were flagged in the simple questions, there's now some more questions that you can answer that helps us get a bit more of an idea of your specific symptom presentation and how much that gene could be playing a role in your health, in your symptoms.

[00:25:39] The reason why this is useful is that if we know there are a burden on certain genes, these, this approach to genetic work is underpinned by the idea that we can have dirty genes that aren't running or functioning optimally based on how we are living, what we're [00:26:00] eating, what we're exposed to. So. There are ways that we can clean up, so to speak.

[00:26:05] I'm using quotation marks, clean up these genes to have an impact, a positive impact on your symptoms and how you're experiencing your health. Really, really powerful work. And I'm really, really excited that I've now sort of incorporated, incorporated that as a bit of a standard assessment rather than just like a bonus assessment if I feel like it's relevant.

[00:26:26] And then I also want to briefly show you this circadian rhythm questionnaire. This is the most recent one that I've developed because so much of my work and so much of my recommended treatments are now around circadian rhythm because your circadian rhythm, your relationship with light and darkness.

[00:26:48] Determines every function in your body. And the research is only getting stronger and stronger. And so I've got this built into my, I've got this built [00:27:00] into my consultation notes, so we might have a session where I hone in on circadian rhythm stuff, but, until we get that opportunity, I have this as a questionnaire just so I can understand what your baseline is.

[00:27:12] So we look at morning light exposure, your daytime environment. Do you get outside during the day? Are you exposed to artificial light during the day? Do you work in a space where there's no windows? What your evenings look like in terms of light and screen use? What your sleep is like, 'cause I think when we think about circadian rhythm, the thing we think of immediately is sleep.

[00:27:35] And yes, of course your circadian rhythm because of how much of an interplay has with cortisol and melatonin, it's absolutely gonna affect your sleep. But the big thing that we are learning, especially when it comes to hormones, is that this rhythm has a runoff effect or a direct effect on every organ system in your body.

[00:27:54] So many genes in your body and every, almost every function I would say. So it [00:28:00] goes way beyond sleep, although sleep is very, very important. Looking at your eating timing, and movement throughout the day. Cause eating at certain times can put more of a burden on your body compared to other times.

[00:28:12] And how you feel sort of in the morning throughout the day of what your energy pattern is like. So that will give me a nice little assessment there. But I'll go back to my main consultation notes, so throughout various sessions. So we start off with the 90 minute initial session.

[00:28:28] And I'll explore all of these different areas. If you've given me blood tests before our first session, that interpretation will be included either in the first or second appointment. And actually, I will detour there to show you that. To show you my reference range, master comparison list, so I have a few resources that I trust that, I refer to when it comes to holistic, optimal reference ranges for your blood test results.

[00:28:59] [00:29:00] The results that you get on the paper that has your results that you usually get from the doctor or the specialist, whoever's referred you for the testing. Those results are based on average population data, and they're based on disease data. So if you are in range from the conventional medical perspective, they're like, oh yeah, cool.

[00:29:20] You don't have a disease. And sometimes that's not even the case, but they might see that everything's in range. And I've seen it time and time again that things will be so out of range, even by conventional standards, and a doctor will not say anything to my client about it.

[00:29:37] They will say, everything looks fine, and let me tell you. 99% of the women I work with do not wanna hear that everything's fine, because they are feeling anything but fine. And this master reference range comparison chart that I have is the thing that I refer to when I look at your blood test results.

[00:29:57] And I look at the standard range and I go, I go, [00:30:00] okay, cool. She falls within normal range conventionally, but how does her result rank? When we are looking at optimal functioning, optimal range is referring to where we would like certain markers for you to be in a state of optimal health. Not just getting by, not just not having an active disease.

[00:30:21] We want to know where you are on the scale of survival to thriving right? Frank disease, to being absolutely well. We are raising the bar because this is what I'm noticing needs to happen when it comes to health in general, and especially women's health. We can't keep settling for answers that aren't really answers or don't tell us much about what's actually happening in our body.

[00:30:47] So I promise you, if you have test results and you have been told that everything's fine. Share them with me ahead of our first session. I will interpret them thoroughly [00:31:00] and you will be like, oh, oh, okay. I see the difference in perspective, and you will not be made to feel like nothing's wrong with you because all your results are normal.

[00:31:10] I will find the things that are either telling us that something is out of balance. But it just didn't get picked up by the conventional reference ranges. Or we can also start to track patterns. We can see how things are shifting, especially if you have historical blood test results that I can compare to like more recent results.

[00:31:30] We look at the patterns. We're not just wanting to see if you fall within range at these individual snapshots in time. We wanna see how your body is managing homeostasis, how it's managing, staying balanced. And so I might pick up on something like, Hey, this result is in range, but over the last three years it's been trending upwards and we want to keep an eye on that.

[00:31:51] And here are some other investigations that we can do to see if this is reflecting like this organ system not [00:32:00] functioning as well as it could be. Let's explore these symptoms like it gives us clues, it gives us hints as to further things to look into, further testing to do. It helps us confirm nutritional deficiencies, so this is how in depth it gets.

[00:32:16] Now I wanna draw your attention to this. If you've ever been told you have an iron deficiency,

[00:32:20] I don't really care about serum iron levels. I want all the iron studies transferrin transferrin saturation ferritin. And then look at this chart that goes through the difference between children, teenagers, menstruating women, menstruating who are taking combined oral contraceptive medications, women who are trying to conceive, women in their first trimester of pregnancy, second trimester, third trimester of pregnancy.

[00:32:46] Women who are postmenopausal without HRT, women who are postmenopausal on HRT and men. Now, I don't know if you've noticed if you've ever got your iron results back, but there are not reference ranges for all those different [00:33:00] categories of human. This is how specifically I look at things because your test results will be totally different to a male bodybuilder in his thirties,

[00:33:13] and it's just how it is. But we are using the same references for vastly different demographics and it just doesn't make sense and it's unscientific. And so people can call me woo woo all they want, but I'm actually just trying to be a bit more scientific, at least when it comes to interpreting your blood test results.

[00:33:32] So I'm gonna also show you, this is an a real life example of me. This is new as part of my consultation style. I now give people a really thorough results interpretation. I always gave people an interpretation table, and some people would argue that it was very thorough, but I've just streamlined the process a bit.

[00:33:53] So it's easier for me to get historical data, recent results, your questionnaire results as well, [00:34:00] and combine them all in the one interpretation, drawing all the threads together. It makes the answers so much more clearer and it helps shine a brighter light on the areas that we need to prioritize in your health first.

[00:34:15] So really, really exciting. So this is me using me as an example and my recent blood test results. You get a comment for each thing telling you about where you fall in the standard range and where you fall in the conventional range. We get comments on trends as well if you have more than one set of results.

[00:34:35] And then down the bottom here. I've got the results for my endo map, which is a kind of, , comprehensive urine testing that measures your hormones, but not just your hormone hormones. 'cause again, if you've had your hormones tested on blood, you'll probably see estradiol E two, you'll see progesterone, you'll see Lh, FSH, maybe DHEA, maybe testosterone, maybe [00:35:00] free androgen index.

[00:35:01] Maybe sex hormone binding globulin. This endo map, which the testing I'm now including in all Harmonized Hormones packages, three or six months. Very, very excited about this change. I get all my three, my three different kinds of estrogen. I get the ratios across my different kinds of estrogen, because there's a specific healthy ratio that we would like those three kinds of estrogen to fall into.

[00:35:30] Then we get how our estrogen is being metabolized through our liver through this process called hydroxylation in our liver, and we get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 metabolites, and again, a ratio calculation. And then we look at how those metabolites are being processed in what we call methylation, which is surprise surprise, influenced by your genetics, and that's where that genetic questionnaire comes in handy as well.

[00:35:58] Then we look at all the [00:36:00] androgens that come from my ovaries and adrenal glands, DHEA, testosterone, DHT, the kind of active form of testosterone. 5 alpha androstanediol. We've got progesterone, not just progesterone, but progesterone metabolites. So we can see there's specific metabolites of progesterone. We measure where if one is higher than the other, we can say, oh yeah, it's more likely that this is influencing your PMDD because you don't have enough of the metabolite

[00:36:30] that protects your brain tissue and that has the calming effect on your mood and your nervous system that progesterone should have because this other metabolite is, throwing off the balance. And guess what? There's pathways that we can target with nutritional medicine, with herbal medicine, with lifestyle practices to shift the balance of how your hormones are being metabolized.

[00:36:54] It's so, so fun. So, so fun. And then we measure cortisol and [00:37:00] your adrenal markers and not just cortisol. We get cortisol across four time points through the day. And we don't just get cortisol, we get cortisone, which tells us about how your cortisol is being metabolized in your body, which gives us a whole different picture beyond just maybe you've gotten cortisol done on a blood test before and it's fasted and it's morning cortisol.

[00:37:25] That does not tell us much compared to this picture of like your cortisol pattern mapped throughout a day. That is telling us how your adrenal glands are working throughout the day, not just like one snapshot in time that we sort of like have to then make inferences about or make some guesswork about.

[00:37:43] We get melatonin. We also get BPA and different plastics and forever chemicals that get measured 'cause they're gonna have a massive impact on your hormone health and your fertility. That endo map test also tests for heavy metals. So cool and this interpretation, as you can see, it's [00:38:00] also, incorporated my genetic assessment results in, and it it's explaining how some of the genetic results are directly related to the hormone results that I got on the en endo map or something that's going on with a blood marker that was tested.

[00:38:17] So excited about this. So excited about this level of interpretation. And again, it's a lot of information and you might be like, okay, cool. That's a lot of information. And for some people you might be like, oh my God, that's a lot of information and I love it. And others might be like, that's a lot of information.

[00:38:33] Like what do I do with it? And let me tell you, this degree of interpretation makes the next steps and the bigger picture so much clearer. So much clearer. I promise you we will get concrete action steps out of this degree of interpretation. And I think having this degree of interpretation, certainly we can start treatment and stuff without getting hormone results, without blood tests.

[00:38:58] There's usually a lot of things we [00:39:00] can do before even getting results. But having these results gives, I've noticed, gives my clients and myself a whole new level of confidence that I didn't even know was available to me. Because it's just like, yeah, this is what your body is showing us. And we knew all of this based on your questionnaires and all of this based on your symptoms and the chats we've had, but now we have this really high quality data correlated with those symptoms correlated with that, those conversations we've had, and now we can see the through lines and we can see the really clear priority areas that are asking for attention.

[00:39:40] It makes my job easier. My clients have been loving it and I'm really excited to share it with more of you. So, back to the consultation form here. I do an assessment of inflammation. I do an assessment of mitochondrial health immune system, including, your immune history digestive system is a big one.

[00:39:59] I'll always [00:40:00] be asking about what your digestion is like. Usually after the first session. If I haven't had a chance to go through like your general diet, I will get you to fill out a food and lifestyle diary. So the food and lifestyle diary has also gotten an update. It used to be like a double-sided PDF form and half of my patient's printed it out and you can still, you're very welcome to do that. And it was fillable, but. It just, there were tight lines, people weren't able to put in detail.

[00:40:29] It, it was a little bit clunky. So this, I have made a fully editable HTML file. It saves your progress as you go. So you can keep it open in your browser, on your phone or your laptop computer. And keep it rolling throughout the week or two weeks, however long I've got on you to track for. And then you can save it as a PDF when you're finished and send it to me.

[00:40:49] So it breaks it down day by day and you can collapse and expand the days just to look at it properly. I want to know like your cycle, the cycle day that you're on as well. The date that [00:41:00] it is, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, what time you had them, how much water you had, what other drinks you had throughout the day, what digestive symptoms you had that day, any supplements you've had, and then we get

[00:41:16] a week at a glance snapshot and when you've done a week, you can just open, a new file again and fill out another week if you want to keep tracking. So that's a way that I've sort of streamlined and made things a little bit less clunky.

[00:41:29] And because tracking is so important now, usually I get most clients set up on either Read Your Body or Kindara. They are pretty much the only two menstrual cycle tracking apps that I recommend. I don't trust Flo. Some people like Fertility Friend, but the interface is, is just feels old and clunky and limited.

[00:41:50] So yeah, love Read Your Body. And so I will guide most clients to get started on that. But for people who wanna do it a little bit differently, I have made [00:42:00] this cycle and symptom tracker again as an editable, HTML file that you can save as a PDF. I've got an overview of the main things we are looking at, so your period, cervical fluid, vulva sensation, physical symptoms that you can rate on a scale of one to 10 every day of your cycle.

[00:42:16] Mood symptoms, other notes, and you can also add your own symptoms in there. And then we'll get a symptom pattern overview. Guys. Oh my God, I didn't think I would ever love technology this much. So in terms of pattern recognition and in terms of understanding what your body's telling us, but also seeing the patterns of like, oh, when you're in this phase of your cycle, you have more of this symptom that tells us that this hormone is out of balance, or that your gut isn't handling this well, or that your liver isn't clearing this hormone in this way in such incredible data that we can take so much good action from.

[00:42:57] Guys, no effing joke.

[00:42:59] We [00:43:00] also look in depth at VUL vaginal health. again, the gene assessment and toxic load sleep, mental health is a really big one that comes up a lot. Now speaking of mental health, something that is also new, so. For many years now, I've incorporated different, I would say, nervous system centered modalities into my practice because it was just needed.

[00:43:23] Most of my clients are experiencing some degree of stress, anxiety, depression, mood, mood instability. And usually these things go quite deep. And while I'm not a counselor, I'm trained in counseling. I'm not a psychologist, but I have psychology training and I have done a lot of, self-study and further training beyond uni, to understand different theories of nervous system and mental health a little bit more.

[00:43:49] So I created a specific consultation framework for the nervous system that we can do as a session or as many times as we need [00:44:00] throughout the three or six month journey, where we really deeply get to understand your nervous system. This is based on polyvagal theory and also parts work, stemming from internal family systems and

[00:44:17] this is what we go to when we're like, okay, the nervous system is having a huge role in your whole health picture. Let's understand what your nervous system is trying to tell us. Let's understand your baseline. Are you in rest digest? Are you feeling safe? Does your body quickly mobilize into fight or flight, or are you more in shutdown and freeze?

[00:44:43] So I've got all these questions that help us determine that. I've got more questions to help us understand how your body experiences fight and flight, what your stress response is, and how you recover from that. We go through your safety [00:45:00] cues, your lived experience of what feels safe to you, because it's gonna be anchoring into that safety and cultivating that sense of safety, that it's gonna have a huge role in your hormone healing journey.

[00:45:12] And so we look at that and then incorporating more of the internal family systems parts work. Highly recommend the book if, if you're not familiar with it, No bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. Really, really powerful modality that I'm sure is wonderful to be directly guided in, but even from a self-help perspective, I think it's a really, really great and easy framework to to work with on your own.

[00:45:36] So going into the parts work we look at to see if there's any protective parts, what protective parts of you are is sort of keeping keeping the show together. This also becomes super relevant when I find some clients are resistant to certain treatments. Or experience self-sabotage. And they're like, oh look, I know like I really love the treatment plan, but I'm just finding it so hard to do [00:46:00] this and it gets to this time, and then I feel this way and then I just wanna stay up late and da da da.

[00:46:06] And I spent the day feeling so activated and we go through all of that. 'cause likely there's gonna be a part of you that is trying to protect you and that is causing that kind of behavior and. The work is not designed to, okay, let's get, let's find out the part that's causing the self-sabotage and kill it off.

[00:46:25] Cut it off. That is not the work. The work is understanding what drives these behaviors and really hearing all of you and integrating those parts of you back into your whole self so you can, you can take aligned action that is actually in congruence, in alignment with what you want for yourself and your life.

[00:46:48] We go through exiled emotions and carried burdens. Again, this is internal family systems language. And then we look at your self energy, inner resources, and capacity for change, because at the end of [00:47:00] the day, I can give you the best treatment plans and the best recommendations and let you know all the steps that are ahead and exactly how the healing journey's gonna go.

[00:47:10] But if you are not feeling safe, if you have low inner resources or low capacity for change, that is what we need to work on first. So we've got some questions to help us ascertain that.

[00:47:20] So super in-depth investigation. And I've spoken a little bit about the te the testing. The other component, the really the first step of the Harmonized Hormones Method in terms of the first treatment plan that you'll get is about the foundations. And this is what I really focus on early on, although we'll be focusing on foundations for the first three months, the first six months, and I promise you years to come because you can always, always, always strengthen these foundations.

[00:47:51] And the foundations as I see them, are diet and food as medicine, movement, circadian rhythm, and nervous system regulation. So things that [00:48:00] I've touched on anyway, but these will be, at least one of these four components is gonna be a major part of your first treatment plan. Now, I always tell this is like the line that I have, and I say at the start of every consult, I'm like, cool, we've got 90 minutes together.

[00:48:17] Now by the end of the session, I may know exactly what I wanna prescribe and exactly what I wanna start you off with, and I will let you know. Sometimes, I need a little bit more time to research your case a little bit more and just make sure that I'm getting the formulations correct and the recommendations as specific and relevant to you as possible.

[00:48:36] In both cases, I will email you within 48 hours with a comprehensive treatment plan, clearly laying out what your next steps to take are, and the first initial action steps that we're gonna be focusing on for the next couple of weeks. And that's how it works. So we have the 90 minutes. It's very in depth, it's very comprehensive.

[00:48:56] But the treatment plan, the initial treatment plan [00:49:00] especially, will be no more than two or three action steps. And even then I say, if that feels overwhelming, I want you to pick the one that feels the most exciting or the easiest to do. And we work on that. And we hone that in and we drill that in and we make that as easy and consistent as possible.

[00:49:20] And then we build upon that foundation.

[00:49:22] And initially there may, they may just be one or two supplements to start off with. Now in the Harmonized Hormones packages, the three months option includes one custom powder and the six month option, comes with two customized powders. So they are prescriptions that you are not paying extra money for.

[00:49:39] They are included in the package. Which always excites me to make like a custom compound for you, whether that's like a nutritional compound using a few different things. Maybe probiotics, maybe certain nutrients, maybe different like fibers that can play a huge role in your gut microbiome and digestion.

[00:49:56] Or I can make a, a custom herbal formula just using the [00:50:00] beautiful array of herbs that I have access to, that I've been working with for. 12 years now, oh my gosh, since 2014. Herbs that I see most relevant to you and your case, not just based on your symptoms, but also based on your constitution, your energy.

[00:50:18] Do you run hot or cold? Do you have a large reserve of energy or a shorter reserve or of energy? Are you more moist or dry? I take in all those energetic qualities, into formulating your custom prescription. So that's one of my favorite things. Those treatments come under the Restoration phase of the Harmonized Hormones Method.

[00:50:38] And then we have integration, which is like a long-term thing. So the thing about Harmonized Hormones is that it is not a step by step protocol, and everyone goes through the same protocol and the same step. Healing is not linear. My style of naturopathy, my style of working with women is also not linear.

[00:50:59] We can return to [00:51:00] the first or second or third step or whatever it is, as many times as we need in your first treatment plan, in your first session, you'll have things that cover the first step of foundations and step four restoration, and there might be steps to take for investigating further or getting testing done.

[00:51:16] Steps two or three. Maybe by the sixth session we are like, okay, let's return to this foundation, step one. Let's add in a new level of restoration, maybe a new herbal mix based on how your body's responding to the first set of treatments, you know, so it's not just like you do this, then you do this, then you do this, then you do this, and then you're done.

[00:51:35] And the final step is integration. How are you able to integrate everything we've discussed and everything we've explored in the long term? How are you able to track your cycles and learn about what your body is telling you in a way that allows you to not have to rely on me for interpreting your charts every time?

[00:51:58] And side note interpreting [00:52:00] the, your cycle charts is one of my favorite things to do. So we do a lot of that in Harmonized Hormones as well. Now, all of this assessment, so that's the five step framework of the Harmonized Hormones method. Within that framework in the investigation phase,

[00:52:15] this is what I've called my Wholistix Body Wise assessment, and I've called it that because it's very holistic. It's leaving no stone unturned. It's looking at all the possible factors that could be playing a role in your health story, and it it's also lies in the wisdom that your body is wise. And your body isn't sending off flares and setting off signals for no reason.

[00:52:35] Your body is intelligent, your body has wisdom. And by doing this assessment, by doing this Wholistix Body-wise assessment and investigation, we are understanding what that wisdom is that your body's communicating to us. From this assessment, what we get is your body story, I take all of your information together, everything that you've shared at, at each [00:53:00] stage of the three or six month journey. And I go, what is the story that her body is telling us? Because you are living, you're breathing and your body is telling us a story, and it changes and it's dynamic.

[00:53:16] But whatever presentation you have today. Your historical presentation that you can recall and recount is telling us a story, and that is the thing that I see getting missed in so many different health practices. We are not actually listening. We are learning that like, oh, this thing is good for this symptom, so I'm just gonna take this thing to get rid of that symptom.

[00:53:41] Rather than going, what is this symptom telling me? What is setting this symptom off? What is this symptom a response to? What part of my body is on alert and responding and producing this symptom? And what are the triggers and the [00:54:00] drivers? What are the root drivers that are creating those symptoms?

[00:54:05] And that is the thing session by session that we work closer and closer towards. Now after the first session, your root drivers might be really, really obvious, which can sometimes be really nice. But if you've been experiencing a certain pattern for years, it's totally normal and it's okay, and it's actually really common that the process can take a little bit longer to get closer and closer to the root.

[00:54:29] Like we need to peel back the layers to understand what, what is driving the whole picture. But we keep checking back in with your Wholistix body story. We keep returning, we keep returning to the assessments. It's not just like a one and done. You are living, breathing, changing. And my consultation style is aligned with that.

[00:54:51] And so after the three or six months, there is likely so much information we've covered so much change that we've made, and there will be steps [00:55:00] to carry forward with you and there might be a a little bit of a plan of like, okay, do this for one more month or two more months, and then switch over to this thing that we discussed, or weave more of this into your diet or your lifestyle, your routine.

[00:55:13] And I've also started creating, Harmonized Hormones Summaries for my patients. So these are usually 15 to 30 page documents that outlines everything that we've discussed over the three or six months. Every recommendation we've discussed, every recipe or meal idea I've referred you for, every circadian rhythm optimizing strategy, every cycle aligned

[00:55:39] uh, practice that I've suggested. In fact, it's got a whole section in there of the food as medicine advice, the lifestyle advice, the prescription advice, just based on the menstrual cycle. So like, okay, when you're menstruating, here's the plan. When you're in your follicular phase, here's the plan. When you're closer to ovulation, here's the plan.

[00:55:59] When you're in your [00:56:00] luteal phase, here's the plan. Here are questions and answers based on what came up the most in our sessions together, and here are the next steps going forward. So it's not just like we do the three or six months and then it's like, cool. Keep figuring it out. You get a whole guide to carry you forward beyond the three months, beyond the six months.

[00:56:21] Also, throughout this whole time you have WhatsApp access to me and my support, so that's like as soon as a new symptom comes up or something changes, or you have a good response to one of the treatments, you have a win to celebrate or you have a question about an ingredient or a recipe or something that you heard or something that your body is doing.

[00:56:43] You ask me and you get a pretty quick answer. You don't have to wait weeks or months to see your practitioner to get the answer for that thing. If something happens with your cycle, we can talk about it there. And then if you're interpreting your cervical fluid on the spot, you can send me [00:57:00] photos and I can help you interpret it there, and then send me your charts.

[00:57:02] I can help you interpret it on the spot. So it's a really high level of direct support that you have with me. This is not a group program. It's all one-on-one. You get access to all the resources that I've ever made, that mostly live in the Cycle Power Bundle.

[00:57:19] Throughout the three or six months, any new results that you have come in, I will interpret. That's all included in the package. You've got the custom formulas that are included in there. You've got treatment plans that are included after every session we have. You'll get an updated treatment plan or an updated set of next steps.

[00:57:37] And that's how it goes. And it's a beautiful journey. And it's complex. It's complex and it's colorful because that's exactly how we are. We are complex and colorful and it, it really breaks my heart that we have been pushed and nudged into a system that cannot meet us in our complexity and our

[00:57:59] [00:58:00] colorfulness in our vibrancy, vibrance? Vibrancy? Both. So I wanted to fill that gap that I saw. I wanted to fill that gap that I experienced myself, in the mainstream medical model of health.

[00:58:15] And that's why I created Harmonized Hormones, and that's why I've put in all this work to take it to a whole new level.

[00:58:22] So if this sparked up anything in you, I would really, really love to hear from you and remember that like all it takes, you just need to start with a free chat. No obligations to book anything in. No obligations for any payment that's needed upfront. Yeah. If you're kind of sick of being like, tossed around in the medical sy system and not getting the answers that you deserve, let me in, let me help you, let me be on your health team.

[00:58:47] I would love to help you get to the bottom of whatever's going on for you. I don't just work with one thing, you don't need a diagnosis to work with me. Because my practice isn't really based, as you've seen the questions that I ask they're not based [00:59:00] on diagnoses. We do a lot of assessments and a lot of questions, but you don't need a formal diagnosis.

[00:59:08] What I'm interested in is understanding the story that your body's telling us and helping you learn to decode those signals from your body on your own in the long run. And throughout that journey I want to use natural medicine. I wanna give you access to really high quality natural medicines that I have to help your body return to balance naturally, without forcing or suppressing anything like so many prescription medications do.

[00:59:36] We are taking a more sustainable, gentle, natural approach. And I know that if you're listening to this part. That appeals to you. You are not here for like a quick, fast food answer. You're not here for the fast food seven minute consultation. You are ready for the depth. And maybe it's taken you some time, some time, but you've come to accept that [01:00:00] yeah, you've maybe had these issues for months or years, and so it's not gonna be a quick seven minute consultation with your GP or your gyno that

[01:00:10] sorts things out. It's probably gonna take a lot more work and a bit more of an investment of your time and energy and money, but it is going to be so worthwhile. If you think about the tools and the guidance and the support that you could have three or six months from now. And what that version of you looks like and feels like and how resourced she is and how much more understanding she's of what's going on in her body and why it's happening.

[01:00:40] And she's got the tools. She knows what to do about it. She knows her how to support herself in the long run. And all it took was three or six months of working with me. I say all it took, it's a big journey, but. So I'd really love to hear from you. If you feel like you're ready for this kind of support, [01:01:00] no matter what hormonal symptom you're experiencing, no matter what period problem you're experiencing.

[01:01:05] I would really, really love to hear from you. So you can book in for that free 15 minute connection call with me. The link will be below. If you would like to read more about what's included in Harmonized Hormones, and read some words from people who have experienced the journey themselves, also check out the Harmonized Hormones

[01:01:22] link in the description wherever you're watching or listening to this, and you can learn more there. Thank you for sticking with me for this initial session equivalent podcast, and I will catch you in the next episode. Take care.