I recently had the pleasure
of treating a 16 year old woman with Chinese Medicine for the first
time. After initially stating her health was 'fine,' I soon learned she
was under a lot of stress, and her cycle had been heavy and painful for a few
years.
I was so delighted to teach her
about her estrogen and progesterone, how stress effects our hormones, and how
exposure to xeno-estrogens can effect our cycles. I learned that she
had gotten her first cycle quite young, and was soon due to visit a
gynecologist who, her mom suspected, would put her on birth control to 'fix'
her heavy cycle. Her mom had had the same experience as a teenager.
It made me think about how we now
having two generations of women being offered the Pill at an early age.
It also made me think about how this well-meaning mom wanted to help her
daughter, but didn't know much herself about the menstrual cycle worked, or how
to fix it naturally.
On the podcast recently, we talked
about perimenopause with Andrea Thorpe.
The next week we heard from Dr. Joleen Fuller, who
walked us through thyroid disorder, from fertility to
post-partum.
What do all these various stages
from first periods to births to waning periods have in common? They are
all on a continuum of our reproductive years.
Linking these stages is something
I'm very passionate about as an educator and practitioner. This first came to
the forefront for me as I suffered through some post-partum depression.
Coming out of it, I knew I wanted to help prevent suffering for other
women!
The lightbulb went off again as I
began to specialize in fertility. I met so many wonderful women, who were
suffering so much. Sure, they were suffering because of an unrealized
goal of becoming pregnant. But there was something else going on, and I
think that was a lack of understanding and trust in their bodies, sometimes
coupled with an inability to find meaning in their lives sans the baby they
expected.
This is when I took a step back to
approach women's health as a whole.
- How can I prevent a women from getting into post-partum depression?
- How can I educate a woman about her cycle, so that her teenage daughter can learn from her?
- How can I inspire a woman to eat healthfully, whether she's trying to conceive or not?
- How can I help break stereotypes of what a woman needs to be in our culture, so a woman can be whatever bad ass way she wants?
It's been about one year this I took
this step back, and it feels good to finally be stepping forward with a clearer
mission in how I can serve you.
Another thing I really value is
collaboration, and thank goodness, because I'm not sure how I'd reach the lofty
goal about educating as many women as possible about their health without
some help!
I love interviewing experts on the
podcasts, hosting guest bloggers, and hosting online summits.
Look for
more of that to come in the coming year. I've even grabbed a new url (not
yet constructed), Women's Wellness Collaborative, to further grow that
community vibe.
Thank you for being a part of this
community, as we grow and learn together!
For more info: http://www.bridgitdanner.com
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