Sex With Emily - Trust Your Gut & Not the Pill with Dr. Jolene Brighten

Episode Date: April 13, 2019

On today’s show, Emily is joined by a naturopath & medical doctor who specializes in women’s health and author of “Beyond the Pill,” Dr. Jolene Brighten to talk about the truth behind birth control, as well as other ways to be your healthiest, sexiest self. They discuss all the things you haven’t been told about hormonal birth control, but need to know, steps you can take to raise your low libido, why you need to be listening to more than just your “metaphorical” gut, and how you can get your body into amazing shape – from hormones to your mind. Thank you for supporting our sponsors who help keep the show FREE: Promescent, Boston Scientific, SiriusXM, We-Vibe Follow Emily on all social: @sexwithemily For more info on Dr. Brighten, click HERE. For even more sex advice, tips & tricks, visit sexwithemily.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks for listening to Sex with Emily. On today's show, I'm joined by a natural path and medical doctor who specializes in women's health and author of Beyond the Pill, Dr. Jolyne Brighton, to talk about the truth behind birth control, as well as other ways to be your healthiest, sexiest, self. Topics include hormonal birth control, all the things you haven't been told, but need to know. Low libido. Here's how you can take steps to getting it up. Why you need to be listening to more than just your metaphorical gut and how you can get your body into amazing shape from hormones to your mind. All this and more, thanks for listening. They're the eyes of a man obsessed by sex. Eyes that mock our sacred institutions. Bit-roof eyes, they call them in a bag on day.

Hey, Evelyn, you got a boyfriend? Because my man E here, he just got his heart broken. He thinks you're kind of cute. The world's got a hair standard. Oh my! The women know about shrinkage. Isn't it common, what do you mean, like laundry? It's shrink?

Can we not talk about sex so much? Are you kidding me? Oh my god, I'm on, so, so, so. Being bad feels pretty good. But you know, Emily's not the kind of girl you just play with. You're listening to Sex with Emily. We're talking about sex, relationships, and everything in between for more information.

Go to sexwithm.com. Do that now. Have you not been there lately? It is awesome. We've got posts and blogs and all the things to help you have better sex and relationships, which I know what you're all about. So thanks everyone for listening. You can also catch me Monday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. on SiriusXM channel stars 109 for more sex talk, which is really cool. If you want a free subscription, you can go to sexwithemle.com slash SXM.

And here's the cool thing. You don't even have to get a subscription as serious. I mean, they would like it. But if you want, you could call us, Triple 8, 947, 827, 7. I can still answer your calls that way. As always, follow me at Sex with Emily across the board on all social media. But I'm so excited to welcome my guest, Dr. Jolyne Brighton. Hello. She wrote them beyond the pale, Dr. Jolene Brighton. Hello.

She wrote a beyond the pale, a 30-day program to balance your hormones, reclaim your body, and reverse the dangerous side effects of the birth control pale. And she's a functional naturopathic medical doctor on a mission to give women's health the respective deserves, which it does deserve. And there is something called post birth control syndrome. And I I bring in we all kind of know this, right? Like, of course there is. You can get your period back.

You can resolve acting. You can enhance fertility. You can get your moods back. Maybe you're not depressed. You didn't need an antidepressant. Jolene, Dr. Brighton, Dr. Brighton. You can call me Jolene. Jolene.

We're besties now. I feel like I heard you at Oregon. You had me in Oregon. I did, but really this is such an important book because this is a movement, because in reading your book, it's like, first of all, men and women, everyone needs this information.

First of all, just so you can find her, it's at Dr. Jolene Brighton, B-R-I-G-H-T-E-N, everywhere, right? And Twitter and website on your website is Dr. Brighton. We'll put this all on the everywhere. You're listening to this. Let's just start with the pill. Is that it kind of reminded me of like Vietnam, right?

When they came back in like Agent Orange and all the, and then they were finding out. I mean, I know it's very extreme, but as a woman who took birth control pill, I'm not taking it now in my 40s, but in my 20s, and all these side effects and things that can happen as a result of it, like depression or anxiety, you're the only one speaking about this in this way.

I believe this side effects, and that the impact it has, whether you run it for a month or 10 years, or the impact it can have when you go off of it, how do you regulate hormones, which are not very, we don't understand them, boom. Our doctors feel like they don't understand. We don't have a lot of information. And this book is just, it's just a wealth of knowledge that I think everybody needs to

read and understand. And we're going to explain a lot to you today. But does it feel that way? Do you, like, we've kind of been duped? Oh, yeah. I feel like, you know, there's just so much that it was like, we've kind of been duped. Oh yeah, I feel like there's just so much that it was like, we don't even have the right to question or talk about.

And I did the pill for 10 years. And there was so much that I never knew about hormonal birth control, so much about, I didn't know about my body either. And I was just past the pill, is almost like, in a way as I look back at my own journey, and from what I've heard from so many patients, it's almost like we're past the pill

to shut us up as quick as possible, and what shutting us up looks like is shutting down your symptoms, and that's your body's way of communicating. So that was your body literally speaking to you, and yet you were past a medication with no discussion about side effects or what would be taking place. Most doctors and women and clinicians,

like we're not thinking about the pill as a medication as much as like, oh no, this is like a tool of women's empowerment and like there's all these kind of spins on it. And yes, it is. And we have to remember it's also a medication. It is a medication. You want any medications and you'd say, oh just the pill. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no the pill. Like, no, totally totally. We don't even think about it, but what we didn't realize was that,

even if you've been on the pill or not on the pill, what I think is so fascinating here is that women are like never given any information about what it actually means when you get your period and how your body changes and what. We all hear about the cycle, and we know it's about 28 days or 28 to 32 days, but the fact that day by day,

that there's so much information that our body's telling us in our cycle, they went to seven and what day nine means in day 12 is information that we really need to have. And is it because do we not know this stuff because people really didn't know this before? Or is it, is it because we didn't really care of the information out there? Like why don't we know this? I think that there's two big reasons and it's, you know, and this is very reductionistic, so I can admit that, but I think it's shame, and I think it's a lack of respect. I think that there's a lot of shame about the female body.

I think that we are supposed to, I mean, look at what they do on commercials. Let's pour some blue windex to represent a menstrual site like you're having your period, and it's like, that is a very covert way of telling us this is something You should be ashamed of and like how many of us and you're probably gonna nod your head right now and I'm no better Heighted tampon before we go to the bathroom like we sneak it up our sleeve. Yeah, right? Like totally do that and you know, it's only things of like we're supposed to be ashamed of our body

And we get the narrative that our bodies betraying us and that being a woman's just awful, your period makes you the lesser. Like that is all old, old story. It's a narrative that's not true. Totally, but this lack of respect, you know, is something that we didn't even start like studying women's bodies, like until like a couple decades ago,

like we were studying men and then saying it's the same for a woman, which makes zero sense. Like to be like, you're a man and you have ejaculate, but you're a woman and you just state an entire human within your body. Like you have this potential and you go through these life cycles and all this stuff that goes on and like to just say we're the same, it makes zero sense on a physiological level. But I also think that there is, when you look at, you know, a lot of how we approach the female body, it's a lack of respect.

What other system is it okay to just shut it down and act like it's a frivolous system to exist in the first place except for the female reproductive system. And I think this lack of respect is also that we're not even gonna take the time to really understand and study the complex pathways of a woman. I'm doing air quotes for people who can't see me because it's just too much. It's too complicated for a woman to understand.

Doctors shouldn't be burdened with this. We have these interventions and we just do that. If we had more respect, I think we'd see more solutions for women beyond birth control. Beyond the pill, beyond hysterectomy, is beyond IVF. We would be looking at other ways to really support a woman's body. And so this book, when I set out to write it, I mean, it's called Beyond the Pill

because I wanted to give women root cause solutions to their hormone imbalance, to what they experience as women, beyond passing them birth control. And if they chose to use that, totally they're right, whether it's for symptom management or for pregnancy prevention,

but they should also know what they're getting into, how to monitor their body and how to stay safe. Well, let's talk about that, because whether you're on the pill or not, I'm not telling you, we'll just go off the pill right now, although I think that's the direction we're heading in. Yeah, I know, I know about that.

Well, it was like, like, are motorbores controlled pills? Well, I love non-hormonal birth control options, but like, it's something that I'm really careful to walk a line of, like, we don't know. I walk a line of safety then. I'm just angry right now. Yeah, I mean, it's like, understandably so, right? But like, you know, part of my background is that I worked in a homeless youth clinic

for two years. And these are women who, you know, they're at high risk for sexual assault. So the ability to control reproductive health is a health issue. It's not just a women's rights issue. It's a health issue. But in addition, there's something that we are only now seeing to get more play and more people

talking about menstrual inequality. Like how freaking expensive is it to buy tampons? And then if you buy the cheap ones that are full of chlorine and all these other things and it's an assault on your cervix, but like never mind whatever, just like I like they're at the dollar store. Did you see this Joe Rogan this stand up when he was like tampons were obviously invented by men because they're just like you're bleeding to shove something up there and I I died laughing. I like still go back to that and I cry laughing because I love so hard.

But with that, it's like these women who are living on the street, they can't afford tampons, they can't afford pants, they can't afford these things that like men definitely take for granted. But like many of us have. And with that, being able to administer a depot shot so that they shut down their period, like that's an amazing tool for them to have.

And so I walked the line with it because we never really know what happens behind closed doors in a woman's life. And we really, we know what's happening in our life. And we try to understand people from that position, but we can't really understand what does it look like for her. And so, you know, no, you're right. That's true. Okay.

I hear what you're saying because we have to because we still have to take care of being safe and having safe sex and making sure we don't get pregnant, we don't want to get pregnant. I understand that. What do we not know about our period, about our hormones? Like, what are the main things that we just don't get? Yeah, well, in 2015, ACOG, who governs obstetricians and gynecologists, they arrived at the place

where they recognize that your period is the fifth vital sign. 2015. How long would it bleed for? I'm freaking ever. I know. It's still something where I'm like, when people are like,

there's no more women's movement. We got everything we need. Like there are people who spend this story. And I'm like, yeah, they just recognized our period as like essential like as of three years ago. Like, well now four years ago, I don't even know what day it is apparently.

But with that, this is something where I take you through the book of like, okay, firstly, we go into the low down of your hormones. So that you can understand key players in your menstrual cycle, but also your overall hormonal health. I set out to basically heal everything that sex act teachers had, like, you know, basically wreak havoc on in women's lives. Like, I walked away when I finally got sex ed,

and that wasn't until high school, and I was like, great, I know I had to put a condom on a banana, but I'm not sure what my body's doing every day. No idea. And that's really what I wanted to do for women is say, okay, here's what you need to know about your hormones. Here's how a natural menstrual cycle works. If you understand, hey, this is when estrogen rises, when testosterone rises, when progesterone

rises, you can start to identify when things are not operating correctly. And then we go into the take back your period chapter, which is where every major period problem we face that women are past birth control for, I actually go into, this is what might be going on, this is what your doctor should test, and this is what you can do right now. So give me an example. Heavy periods, this is one. The other thing is that, this book is helping women know what's normal and what's not normal. It's not normal to bleed for more than seven days.

It's not normal to bleed through a tampon and pad. It's not normal to have to wake up and, what I mean, tampon and pad, I mean, you're simultaneously using a tampon and pad. And they fail. They've been bleeding through it. Yeah, it's not normal to wake up in up and when I mean tamp on a pad, I mean, you're simultaneously using a tamp on a pad. And they have failed. And they have failed. Yeah, it's not normal to wake up in the middle of the night and need to change whatever period of products you're using. Like, these things are not normal,

even if you're on the pillar off the pill. Even if you're on a part of a wood pill. And if you're on the pill, your period is usually like three days a month. That's right, exactly. So yeah, so this is not normal. Well, you're saying that the way back out because people will go on the pill to suppress these symptoms.

Yes, it's like, oh my God. It's talking about what's going on. Yeah, but like, wait, but instead of doing that, they're having a band-aid solution of a pill, you can actually, you don't have to live with it. Like, we just think that's our lot in life. I'm going to have cramps, I'm going to bleed through the bed. Totally.

So then you could say that could be a symptom of auto-wack. Well, I love that you say a band bandaid because it's exactly what it is. It's a hormonal bandaid. So, it's like you're not seeing the symptoms anymore, but just like a bandaid does not heal the underlying issue. Like, if you've got a wound, your body's going to heal that. And, you know, with the hormonal birth control, it will mask it, but you won't actually heal.

So, let's say it's iron deficiency anemia. Iron deficiency anemia can lead to heavy periods, hypothyroidism can lead to heavy periods. Like it could be fibroids going on. So there's reasons that we have this. There's lab testing your doctorate can do simple blood tests. I mean, a CBC out of pocket, that's a complete blood count,

just a really quick dirty screen for, you know, anemia, like $10. Like that we could do and check rather than putting her on birth control and understand if that's what's going on. And then there's things that you need to do at home. Like, if you have heavy periods, it doesn't matter whether or not you are overtly,

you've got the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia. You have to eat iron, you have to eat B12, B6, and you have to get full aid in. We need those things to grow and build red blood cells and make them healthy. If you're bleeding that much, you are losing red blood cells. You need to up your stores. I take women through what do you need to do in terms of food, lifestyle, and supplementation to make sure that you're protected.

As you mention with acne, that's a big one. What could acne be due to? It could be due to maybe you have depletions in vitamin A and zinc. Maybe your microbiome, the good gut bugs are skewed in your gut, maybe of food sensitivities, maybe of poor liver detoxification or poor bowel movements. Now you're putting things, your toxins out through your skin. Guess what? The pill actually makes all of those things worse, but it may shut down the androgen

production, which might be what's going on with your acne. Acne is rarely just one thing, just for everybody listening. That's why, like, you get on a pharmaceutical and you're like, why didn't it fix all the things? Because there's usually multiple things going on. But so you might get put on the pill. But what if you have this acne going on because you've

polycystic ovarian syndrome? Exactly. You have PCOS, you're already at higher risk for stroke, heart attack, cardiovascular issues, diabetes, hormonal birth control also raises the risk of those. And so, given you might have a specific genetic mutation, so now you're trading acne for a blood clot, you should know that. You should have the informed consent. But how are we going to get this out?

I'm thinking about young Emily, so me and my 20s, like I can barely like pay my rent on time or figure out how to make my bed, or you know, like I'm at three jobs, I'm trying to make my way in adult, and I still sometimes have, you know, adulting is challenge. So I'm just thinking about being a young girl and knowing like, well, what would I,

maybe there'll be more resources now, but would I have known to get vitamin A in full late and how I gotta book for that? People would say, I love all of your recipes. I guess I'm just thinking people are probably more resourceful than I would. I have cooked it, but these recipes are amazing and that you have a solution, like you have a plan. Oh, yeah.

You have supplements and plans and things that people can take now, which I think is genius. I took all your tests. That's awesome. She's got amazing tests in the book. I have a big fan of quizzes. I love quizzes. I mean, of course, we grew up with Cosmo, right? Cosmo. Honestly.

I swear I only went to the gym in my 20s to get the Cosmo. I did the pink marker. I did the quizzes and I was like, oh, this is, and it's just kind of like a, it's just, it's like every single thing that we were, it's the, we were there. You know, I saw someone really brilliant.

I wish I could take credit for this brilliance, but they actually screenshot, so on their phone, they took a picture, and then they filled it out on their phone. And that's like smart. People are doing it with their iPad as well, and then they're archiving the file, and then they're coming back 30 days later,

doing the same thing, and there are women now, because the book's been out for two months. So they're like, I have my before and after, and then I'm refining with the second one. And so on that, I'm gonna have like three months out. I'm like, it's okay. I need them. They get you an app or something.

Oh my God. Yeah. Why haven't I thought of that? I don't know. You need an app. That's why I'm here. I'm thinking, okay, you're handy. We need to take out more.

I already know we will. But yeah, though, that's smart. Because you guys should be the quiz. You're like, oh yeah, I got excited. I was like, I'll take the quiz and then you realize it like, you know, all the different categories tells you where you might have it like a, for me, it was like low estrogen and you go to the last. And this is what I need.

So you could even skip around and be like, these are the things I need to be taking. Oh, yeah, design. You're really getting it out. Yeah, they can get out because it was time, but like I want to send this to every single, uh, woman I know, but it's also important for men too. I think you're so right, this shame around the period, I do, I even hear,

well, not with the girls, maybe. I'm like, yup, you put your tampon, you put your tampon up your sleeve or on the airpins the other day. I don't want people to know, but I just, and I even on the show, I'm gonna admit it, it's been maybe like five, 10 years ago when I was like,

oh, I never wanna talk to a guy about my period. It's not sexy. It's not. But it's something that happens. And I think the more that we normalize it and we talk about it, we could all so much help each other. Women just have to really, this information, if you're hearing this right now, I mean, share this with your friends. I mean, share this information about taking control of your health because I've got to be honest

with you. And I say this on the, on the series show that people calling in, they're going to their gynecologists and they're not getting these kind of answers. Women, for example, who are going through low libido, fertility challenges, it's more like, or even acne, they're just getting pills and told to go home, and it's not that gynecologist aren't like, didn't go to school,

and they're not working hard, and they just don't have all of these answers, which are new, right? Newer. It's different tools. And that's what we have to look at as. It's like, your gynecologist isn't bad. I mean, they believe what they learned in school, which is this is the pill for every female ill,

and it will fix you, and it will cure your symptoms. And like, if you believe it can help, why wouldn't you prescribe it? But it's a lack of tools. Like, that's their tools. And that's not because they're a bad doctor. It's just, it's a different philosophy, and it's an important approach

But more you know, alopathic medicine is more of acute care and what we're facing with hormone imbalances They didn't happen yesterday. It didn't happen today. It's something that's taken place Quantically, it's been over decades. So what we're facing now You know here I am in my 30s and I look back at like, whoa, yeah, those times where you were like, you know, metabolic obscenities is what I call it. Where you eat in a way that literally cusses out your body. That's what I did through my teenage years. And I'm like, oh my goodness,

like I hope everything I'm doing now takes care of my bones because I didn't know that and that like, oh, you know, what you're eating, how you're feeling yourself that has everything to do with bone health. I, you know, 14 year old me was like, that's an old person thing. What are you talking about?

And fine. Bones. I have bones, but like, yeah, no, but like you think back of like, wow, what we arrive in our 60s, our 70s, our 90s, like experiencing is that we set that foundation ahead of time. And so with your kind of colleges, like, they're great for doing a screening exam.

Please don't mistake a screening exam for preventative medicine. Having an annual exam and a PAP every three years is screening. It's a screening tool. We get in our head like, oh, I'll just wait and go to the doctor and then I'll get that preventative medicine. Preventative medicine is what you put at the end of your fork, how you talk to yourself, how much time are you sleeping and spending in bed and like all of these kinds of things that they really, they're not sexy and they're not like, they're the, honestly, they're everything your mom told you to do and she was right and I know come on, we all want to eye roll right now, right?

Exactly, right, right, right, be nice to yourself, sleep, rest, eat, eat vegetables, all the things. Let's talk about the pill and the impact it has on your libido. Because I, I mean, until I started studying sex, I didn't realize that the pill was one of the culprits. Yeah. And I just remember my experience going on the pill. It was so unfortunate because I went on the pill literally the day I went off to college.

So I just kept thinking it was fresh when, it's stress, it's anxiety. I no longer wanted to have sex with my boyfriend anymore. I no longer, I mean, there was a million different problems I had. And then it's, oh, because you're just going to college and it's all these changes, even when you go to your doctor. And it's a very common prescription of like, oh, you're going to college, here's your pill, study hard, see you later, and no discussion about the fact of like, oh, you're going to college, here's your pill, study hard, see you later,

and no discussion about the fact that like, I was away from home. Things could go wrong with this, and what should you look out for? Right, so how many cases of women, what percentage have an impact on their sex drive, what they want, their desire? Yeah, well, we don't have great data on like,

how many women are reporting, because it takes a woman reporting and talking about this. On how many women can we say conclusively that the pill is the reason for their low libido? Because as you know, a low libido is usually multifactorial. And we can get ourselves into a place where it's like, you start the pill. Now you have pelvic pain.

You have been pain within her course. You're having vaginal dryness. I've talked with physical therapists who are helping women with vaginismus and various conditions. And they have said to me, women on the pill, I've seen women in their 20s have vaginas look like they're in their 50s because they're being deprived of these natural hormones. And their tissue can start to atrophy, to shrink.

They don't have healthy pink tissue and healthy mucosa making secretions. And so why this is important, we're gonna talk about what the pills does specifically to your libido and your hormones, but why this is important is because maybe you got on the pill, you still had a bit of a libido. You weren't one of those women that crashed your libido. They started having pain with sex.

You weren't, you were having inability to orgasm. What organism in the world is going to continue crashed your libido, they started having pain with sex. You weren't, you were having inability to orgasm. What organism in the world is going to continue to participate in something that causes pain? So now we've got pain and avoidance, nervous system gets set and hardwired where it's like, oh my God, stay away. Like that is painful.

There's a penis coming at me. I don't want anything to do with that. And like now either your communication starts to break down with your partner, you think you're broken. Something's wrong with you. Your doctor's really good at being like, yeah, libidos and all this business, that's normal, that's part of being a woman and maybe you'll get some solutions. I mean, this was my story for my 20s and my doctor recommended I cut off my nerve, like

just cut your pedundal nerve and that was a female doctor. And I was married at the time, this is not my husband now. This is, you know, you guys, I'll be honest, I've been divorced because don't get married in your early 20s, and Jolene, that was bad. So it's just not a good decision for me. I'm married to your 30s. Yeah, no, that's actually with my son.

I'm like, just wait until you're 30. That's why I say, I will actually, if you wait until you're 30, I will pay for you guys to live together. Yes, please. Just wait until your brain is developed. Please wait until you understand life. But with all of that, this is something where,

when it comes to sexual dysfunction, and it's really sexual adaptation. We need to change that with women, because we say you have sexual dysfunction, but it's not that you're dysfunctional, it's that you're having a physiological adaptation, which is completely appropriate in your survival. You're not broken, things are's not that you're dysfunctional, it's that you're having a physiological adaptation, which is completely appropriate in your survival. You're not broken, things are not wrong with you.

We just have to go to the root of what is making your body adapt in that way. And that's something that's very much part of my message is like you're not broke. We're not broke. Well, we all blame ourselves, women, we normalize pain, we normalize inability to orgasm, we normalize so much. So we blame ourselves for everything. Oh, totally. And we've nowhere else, we normalize inability to orgasm, we normalize so much, so we flame ourselves for everything. Oh, totally.

And we've nowhere else to go for it. And we all commiserate, I got my period, and we just, yeah, we don't realize that painful sex inability to orgasm like all that we can get through. Totally. And so with the pill specifically, we know that the pill alters the genetic expression in your liver. So yes, people listening. Yes. I just said this medication alters genetic expression in your liver. So yes, people listening. I just said this

medication alters your genetics in your liver. So you express higher amounts of the protein sex hormone binding globulin. Now it does this. This is a physiological adaptation to keep you safe because yes, the pill is low dose comparatively speaking. It is not low dose. It is comparatively speaking to the first iterations in the 50s and 60s that were killing a lot of women and causing a lot of issues and they lowered the dose over time. However, it is still a high enough dose that you take it and it passes through your liver. Your liver gets a shot at detoxifying it and trying to break it down, but it's still high enough that it shuts down brain ovarian communication.

So it's a low dose relative, but in reality, it's a one that was, you know, harmful. Very harmful to women. Yeah, so with that, if sex hormone binding lovelin goes high, it goes high so it can protect you. It's grabbing onto these excess hormones because over stimulation of any hormone on the receptors is bad news, but with that, it's also gonna grab onto testosterone. So the pill can specifically shut down ovarian production of testosterone by up to 50%.

And, you know, it might be higher in some women given, you know, their genetic makeup. And then we've got elevated sex hormone binding glabulin. Now it's grabbing onto any testosterone that you do manage to make. Cause testosterone's also important for women. Absolutely. Oh God, it important for women. Absolutely. Oh, God, it's so overlooked.

And it's not just about libido. I mean, if you take the pill and you feel like I woke up, I kicked ass and I repeated every single day. And then I start hormonal birth control. And my kick ass is gone. Where did it go? Testosterone. It could be testosterone.

Testosterone's, if you are, I start hormonal birth control and I'm crying throughout the day and I have no energy, that could be testosterone. That can be, I start a hormonal birth control and I'm crying throughout the day and I have no energy, that could be testosterone. That can be one of those reasons. So testosterone is super important in women's health and it's just like progesterone is super important in men's health. We just have different variations of it. You know, that's a thing about getting also your hormones tested too because I've tried

different weight like is it blood tests? Is I've done the Dutch test? I love the Dutch test. You like it, you don't stick like seven times, I was like, I wasn't sure, yeah. Yeah, so that is a good way to do it. People are like, oh, everyone's got all these different thoughts.

I thought the Dutch test was good too, so people haven't heard of it. But anyway, getting them tested, would you recommend that? Would you, young people should get them tested? They're hormones are just kind of, you're talking about regulating them. Oh, I think we should get, we should get lab testing done while we're healthy.

I mean, I think that's a big short-sighted approach in modern medicine, is that we wait until you have symptoms and then the symptoms justify lab testing. And like, where does this come from? It comes from hospital administrators and insurance companies and all of that. I'm not hating on doctors here. But with that, it's like you have symptoms now that justifies me ordering the lab tests

and now your labs come back and they say, well, they're normal. Normal for who? Normal for who? In this range, that's like, in this range. So if you take thyroid, for example, thyroid reference ranges are set on a, you know, basically they take the collection of the population that is getting thyroid testing, they average it out and they say, that's the normal. That must be normal. Of the population that actually getting tested. Yeah. They have access to the data. And why do we order? What did I just say? Why do we order

testing? You have symptoms. Oh, so likely you're hypothyroid. We also see elderly people get this test. So are we comparing a 60 year old to a 20 year old and saying that should be the same? Like completely different life cycles that you're at. So it's a big issue and I think this is why I advocate for people to get their lab testing while they're healthy. You have your baseline. You know you're normal. When you are doing the waking up, kicking ass, you know where you're at.

And then when something changes, now you can actually compare it and say, this is where I was, this is where I am now. Although my doctor may have said this is normal, when they see a significant change from where you were, it gives a little pause and makes you look at things differently. But you know, so it's, you talked about like this book being a movement. I don't think I didn't set out for it to be a movement, but there's so many themes that have come out of it. I feel like it's, I get angry. I read it. I'm like, yeah, no, I said, I think this is a movement because I, even if it's just a movement that I want it's just a movement

that I want women to take control of everything they put in their body and to understand their cycle, there's so much you can know about like the color of the blood, which days you're menstruating on, right? Like, are your, your schools? Like what they, what it looks like when you go to the bathroom, I was all part of it. Yeah, all of this, we're not supposed to talk about it. We're not talking about, but that stuff, it's such a relief

when you understand it. And so I do think it's a movement just for women to take control of their sexual health, just whatever it is. Their periods, when you're going to a doctor and you don't just take the pill and go to sleep, think about these things, read these things, understand it because the whole other thing is that when women are on the pill for so long and they go off the pill and they try to get pregnant and we've been told, oh, that's just easy to go off the pill, but it's not. So if you...

My goodness. Right? That's the whole, I mean, that's the thing I literally could have you over 10, like a 10 part series. Because everything I read, I came in like, Jamie, I don't know before I do this show. I want to talk to her about everything.

Okay, we're gonna take quick break and we come back even more, Dr. Jolyn. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ even more Dr. Jolyne. So let's talk about something lighter here. Because you say women have four different types of orgasms throughout their monthly cycle. What are the four different ones we can have? Yeah, so I am not an expert in this arena. Right.

But this is something that there is an actual sexual device called lioness. Have you heard of this? Yes, I have heard it. And did they use Bay? They're doing it. I believe they are. I met them in LA at an event.

And so they have recorded data of women not on hormonal birth control and found that there are four different orgasms that can happen throughout the cycle. And they have ones where they're like the mountains and the peaks and they actually can measure this. Now what's fascinating about this though is that I want to work with them more to be like,

is it where they're at in their menstrual cycle that gives them and it seems to be like where you are in your menstrual cycle, you can have different types of orgasms. So this is something where it's like, if you're on hormonal birth control, you're missing out on the schmorgasborg of orgasms, you're missing out on the fact that you have all this data

that you walk around within your body, like the data of living in your body, whenever a patient comes to me, I pass them a journal, and like you have to start charting all of this information, they're like what, I thought you're doing lab testing, right? Lab testing only is one snapshot in time. It only has value. If I through, like view it through the lens of your story, when it comes to lab testing, there also has to be certain days that you test. So I just had a woman who wrote to me and she's like, my doctor said

that my progesterone's fine, but it's super low. And I feel so confused. And he's like, my doctor said that my progesterone's fine, but it's super low. And I feel so confused. And he's like, there's no problem here with ovulation. I'm like, well, when did you test progesterone? Day 11 on my cycle. Did you ovulate? No, I ovulated like later. Okay. You only get progesterone falling ovulation because you need the corpus luteum in the ovary to actually secrete that.

And she's like, she wrote me back and said, I went to my doctor and he was like, I don't know where you learned any of that. That's not true. You said, I went to my doctor and he was like, I don't know where you learned any of that. That's not true. You can test hormones any day of a cycle. And I was like, you learned it in physiology. I don't understand. You've got to be the progesterate.

I even know that, because I've been talking to different doctors, trying to figure out this whole journey for myself of what I'm supposed to do with how I'm supposed to test it. And a lot of them are like, the Dutch test isn't great. Or you have to, would have to test it. And a lot of them are like, the Dutch test isn't great or you have to saliva the testers. Well, it just depends. Cause like the Dutch test is indirect measurement of progesterone. But with the Dutch test,

you get something you don't get in typical blood, which is estrogen metabolites. And I don't really care what your total estrogen is if I don't also know what you're doing with it. You can take the quiz and women will get confused sometimes cause they're like, my quiz says I have low estrogen, but then it says I have high estrogen and how is this a thing? Well, you may have low estrogen in the follicular phase and then you may have estrogen dominance in the luteal phase or you

might have lower estrogen levels, but you're making potent 16 hydroxy-estrone and that is stimulating all the bad things to happen, like growths in your uterus, growth in your breasts, heavy periods, lots of clots, all of that. And so that's what's nice about the duches, you can see them at tablets. I also really value knowing where your adrenal glands are at when I explain hormones.

To explain that. Yeah, well, we want to talk about hormones. When I talk about it, it's like a pyramid. And the foundation of that is that's going to be your adrenal glands. Blood sugar comes into play with that. Insulin is in the mix with that as well. Right above that is thyroid hormone. At the very tipy top is your estrogen-progesterone and testosterone.

Your sex hormones. Everybody wants to chase the sex hormones because those are the symptoms that make them feel like they're crazy in their own body. Why would you keep addressing the tip of the pyramid, trying to build it up, make it strong when the foundation just keeps crumbling? And so we need to look at what is going on with the adrenal function.

In the conventional paradigm, you look at ACTA, which is a brain hormone that says to the adrenal glands make cortisol, and they measure cortisol one and done. That doesn't really work, because cortisol, it has, so with the dutch test, you going to take at least four points throughout the day because cortisol has rhythm throughout the day and you need to see when is cortisol high, when is it low, but in addition, are you making cortisol? Because maybe that's

like the 10-pager. I didn't know what to do with that. I know, I remember. Yeah. But you might get the standard test. You might get the standard blood test and it says your cortisol's, you know, oh, it's like low normal. But then when you look on a Dutch test, it might be that actually your cortisol, the inactive one is through the roof. That is something that's telling us you don't have an inability to make cortisol. Your enzymes are breaking it down. They're trying to make it inactive.

Why are they doing that? Well, too much cortisol will aid you at the cellular level. Yes, women, that will be like gray hair and wrinkles, but it's also like death of your tissues. It's not a good thing. So your body protects you. It breaks it down, but it might also be because you've got infections going on or you've got thyroid issues. And so you have to dig deeper and look at that. And so that's something I love about the Dutch. I mean, I mean, I went to a natural path and he did it, but I don't think a lot of you will know about it. You talk about't think a lot of people know about it.

You talk about your book too. I don't know. I do talk about it in my book. The other thing is I talk about melatonin. Yeah. And that's something where everyone's like, oh, melatonin helps you sleep. And it's like, yeah, and if you don't have it,

like night shift workers, you're at higher risk for breast cancer. So this is something where when the doctor says, oh, you have a family history of ovarian cancer, the only way to prevent it is the pill. There's actually a lot of ways to prevent it. Well, that's tough on melatonin. It's one of those. Well, so there's family history of ovarian cancer. The only way to prevent it is the pill. There's actually a lot of ways to prevent it. And melatonin is one of those. Well, so there's a lot of things to say.

What about PMS, for example? I think that that's the other thing that women just assumed. Well, that's our lot in light. I'm not wearing my own PMS. I'm going to want it. Because wait for it. So I was thinking about this. So I went on the pill when I was 18.

I hadn't had orgasm yet. And still, as always, been like, I had to learn. I never thought about masturbating. It was more challenging. And then I started having this PMS that I was 18, I had an orgasm yet. And still, as always been like, I had to learn. I never thought about masturbating. It was more challenging. And then I started having this PMS that I was like, so I felt like, for a week of the month, I was going to, like my whole life, I wanna, you wanna kill everyone, you're crying,

you're sad. And then I feel like, finally I get a period. And like literally that day, I'd be like, oh, thank God, I feel better. But then I felt like for a while, I was spending the next three weeks cleaning up for that week that I was a period and literally that day, I'd be like, oh, thank God, I feel better. But then I felt like for a while, I was spending the next three weeks cleaning up for that week that I was a disaster. Totally.

And I dad had died when I was 20. So I always tried to, or 19. So it's so hard to tell my 20s, it was very hard time. But then I went to a doctor when I was like 26, 27. I was like, I think I'm depressed. Like, well, you could take the, what was the purple pill then? It was like, zole off, off But it was it was for PMS

Sorry, I just went to Prylisak Then it was called something but it was like for PMS It was a pill was like I was at but once it was great And then it helped it helped me with those symptoms and I was like oh, maybe I'm not depressed How do we naturally then without going on the pale if we are PMS, because what can we do in a base level? Oh, there, pages and pages of that. In the butt, because PMS is not normal. I thought it was.

You guys just buy this book because when I read it in a day, it is fascinating to me and it just makes me like, it just makes me feel like I finally got the keys to this body of mine that I didn't really understand before, even though I do a lot of work and it's my job. But I even went to a doctor for years or he's like, well, hormones, we just don't know a lot.

Everybody looked at me and I was like, yeah. No, there's this thing called PubMed. And if you're a doctor, hormones, it'll come out. That information, it's, so. Well, doctors aren't learning a lot. They are. They are learning a lot.

We know a lot more, and that's why we have a lot more specialists and a lot more people focus on things. And with PMS, you know, people, they make all these jokes. There's so many jokes out there about women and about how our periods make us the lesser and how PMS is like the weird is and she's just a bitch and all these things. And in reality, it's a sign that some things off and a lot of the times it can come down to estrogen dominance. And so I'm going to go, is it okay that I go there with your dad dying and what happened? Okay, so likely you have this incredibly stressful event, like take place. And what happened is that as you're coping with that, your body's like, I have not evolved

to know whether this is a lion or this is like an acute stressor of a loss of a loved one. Like your body doesn't know what is sending the fear and the danger signal. It's a pathetic and parasitic. Exactly. The nervous system is right. Yeah. Okay. And so your body loving youitic. Exactly. Narva system is right. Yeah. And so your body loving you, keeping you safe, wanting you to survive, shifts you into

that cortisol production. And like, let's put our energy into cortisol. So the brain is signaling survival at the expense of reproductive health because why on earth would you want to get pregnant when you can't run from a lion very easily? There might be, what if you're not not eating because that usually happens when someone passes we you know Chlorically restri- I was an email. Yeah, I was like yeah, and so with that your body doesn't know if there's a famine or not You can't support a whole another life in your body babies are really noisy if there's predators around that's a problem And so your body protecting you will shift you into this state of survival and the

expense of you maybe ovulating or producing your progesterone. And so when you don't get those progesterone levels up, so you have to ovulate everybody listening whether or not you want a baby ovulation that we focus on the menstrual cycle as if like the period is the main event. Yeah, really the period event. No, the periods that want. Wow. if like the period is the main event. Yeah, really the period event. No, the periods that want to take in pregnant. Right, and the main event is really ovulation. And so with that, if you ovulate, and we all want to ovulate

through our fertile years, because what is left behind is the corpus luteum. It is the only way for you to get significant substantial progesterone up to challenge that estrogen. So that can be a relative estrogen dominance. Now, you're in your 20s, you're in college, you're at the mercy of dorm food, food, you know, you said, like remembering back.

Right. So bad. Like how much broccoli did you really eat? But with that, now we've got how are you feeding your microbiome, were you feeling liver detoxification, which is packaging up the estrogen? And are you pooping every day? Like, I don't know if I was even pooping every day. I wasn't healthy at all. No, I wasn't healthy. I was studying. And it was like that whole, know if I was even pooping every day in my toilet. I wasn't healthy at all, no. I wasn't healthy. I was studying and it was like that whole, like,

I was a marathon runner. Oh yeah, so you were like, I was like, I'm tired. I was like, my jam. I was like running, I was like, you know, just survival mode. Yeah, for sure. And not healthy and not eating a lot of protein and not, you know, oh God, it was just the whole low fat thing.

Oh totally, I did that too. It's the worst. The stupidest thing, no. No, the stupidest thing this one of the stupidest things I've done in my life is like let's take the pill and be on a low-fat Vegetarian diet and I'm like, oh, I did that too double up the no libido action right there because without fat You don't build your sex hormones. I didn't know fat. Yeah, I had no fat in my 20s. Oh, no I didn't know I was like I convinced myself I hated butter and cheese. Yeah, say nobody hates butter and cheese. Nobody hates butter and cheese. That's a lie.

Exactly. And then today I'm at Bulletproof Conference, like putting back like Bulletproof buttered coffee. Exactly. You're not getting the time to change. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. It's true. So that's, yeah, that's what probably, there was a lot of things going on, but there

wasn't, but now I guess there's more information about how I would have solved that. Now, what about gut health? That's a whole thing, too, that's... How come we're just learning now that the gut, second brain, like, what? We've been around for a long time. Totally. We just not doing the work, are we not? What are we lacking in medicine, like humility and curiosity?

We think we conquer something, we put a flag in it, we're like next moving on and like we think we think we know more than we actually do and Nobody wants to hear a doctor say like we don't know that much But we really don't know that much about the human body. We're still discovering anatomical structures There was just a study that came out last year showing in the rodent model that if you remove the uterus of a rodent They can't navigate a maze. Oh snap, are you saying that our uterus is not just a baby container that's expendable, that you just cut out like that willy nilly, because it might actually be interacting with our brain and yet about 66% of us are Alzheimer's patients are women.

Like should we be maybe looking at these like puzzle pieces so to speak and putting them together, but you know, I have been in the medical and health arena for over 20 years now. And I remember when the microbiome was taught as just a bunch of free loaders who lived in your gut. They made a little bit of B12 vitamin K, but other than that, they didn't really do much. It was very much glazed over.

And I'm a bit of a hoarder with my school stuff and I just like two years ago cleaned out all my binders from undergrad. I should have screen-chotted all of them where it was like microbiome, a bunch of free loaders. It was in there. I was like, oh my god. But with all of that, you know, that was the dogma. We have to recognize that like, there is this dogma in medicine, it is belief, which belief is not part of science. Like, we do have our belief, but it turns into a hypothesis, and then we test it, and then we ask, is it true? Is it not true? And so, you know, with the microbiome, I think that part of it is that there's been this open-mindedness to it, but it's also been that our technologies are advancing.

So we can recognize that we didn't have the ability to do a lot of what we do now 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And so there is technology catching up, but look at what we were doing before then. Appendix. No one needs an appendix just to get out. And now we're like, wait a minute. Your appendix is actually a little storehouse of these good guys who come out and they throw down against bad guys.

Like when you need them, like, that's what I've heard about the appendix too. Like no, we need that. That's what's happening. We're just getting rid of body parts. You know, a tried and true rule is that if your body continued to evolve and it retained these things, it wasn't for funsies, okay?

And just because like you didn't figure it out, like we haven't figured it out yet, doesn't mean that it's frivolous or expendable. And that's a bit of like what we've seen in women's medicine, like why have we not seen advances in reproductive technology, why have we not seen advances in treatments and therapies, because we passed you the pill, it ain't broke, don't fix it. Exactly.

And you'll just take it, because you're the one who will get pregnant. Like, this is my thing. It's wrong. It has not evolved, that's a thing. There hasn't been innovation, there hasn't, well now I guess there are more technologies, but as far as so but that's like in the last handful of years in terms of I your book is the first I confirm me

But there's been things that have said the pills bad and I kind of knew it I'm like I'm glad I'm past that age, but I didn't realize that you could be taking it and go off And you could never get back on track to how you were like there's some work to do tell me about the results that you've had Or the the feedback you've had or the feedback. You've had the books been out for two months. I want everyone to read this. But have you gotten people follow this the 30 days plan, which I want to do?

What kind of results have you gotten for people? Some of you, it has been a lot of my blowing. Yeah, I mean, so much of it is like you put a book out into the world. I actually was like having panic before the book came out. I was like, I know that. What if it's not great? What if it's dumb? What if I put too much into it? What if I'm just being a woman and I'm going through the thing women do? By the way, don't shame yourself for

the entire human species is here and exists because we do this. We put other people first and we like question everything. That's what this woman do. We do that. We are so hard on ourselves. Yeah. But we're warriors. Yeah. But we have to get out of our heads, get out of our own way. But yeah, okay, so you put it out there, of course. It's really, I don't know. Well, it's just been, like the things that I thought, well, like this is gonna be really key takeaways. Like when I talk about menstrual blood being full of stem cells

and how they're actually using it in some studies for like to regenerate tissues, I thought people would bounce on that and be like, whoa, that's amazing. And like, no, no, that's not the thing. And the things have, like, what has it been? What have you been? The biggest thing has been, I knew it.

All this time, I knew I wasn't crazy. I knew I wasn't alone. I knew I wasn't the only one. I knew it wasn't in my head. And I've had women in their 60s and 70s writing me saying, I read your book and it literally hilt my, my fertile self. Like through those years, like that I thought all these things were wrong with me. My doctor never believed me. I didn't realize I was still

carrying that wound forward and thinking I was this really messed up like person and yet I read your book and I finally feel like I know I know what was going on. I hate like killed my body. There have been women who so acne I will say acne is acne is usually like acne too, because I have a friend who are 40 still taking the pale for acne. I'm like, dude, get lost. That's what happens when you stop. Your acne comes back. So it's not fixing it.

But with that, you know, acne is usually the last thing to heal. So with acne, it's something that we see. And I say to people like, you know, if you, if you have acne, think about would you want that acne on your heart, would you want that acne, would you want like, think about would you want that acne on your heart? Would you want that acne? Would you want like these, put your little infections on your heart, your liver,

your kidneys, your gut, like no, you wouldn't. And so your body is putting it on your skin instead because that's a safe or more benign place. And the healing it takes to heal acne, for good, it's internal. So your body's gonna prioritize healing your gut, healing your liver, healing all of these organs first and you can't see that.

So it's very frustrating. You also feel like maybe you're doing something wrong and there's people out there promising like, you can heal your hormones in a matter of weeks. And it's like, well, you can start to feel better, but your menstrual cycle is more than a couple of weeks. So like, we can use a little common sense to know that like, it's not you that did anything wrong. It's just that you need to work with your body and it takes time.

But with acne, I've been kind of blown away by some of the results women have been getting because usually acne is something that's going to be like three months, six months, sometimes even longer for some women to really get resolution. And there was a gal on Instagram who posted a photo of before and after her skin in two weeks and then again at 30 days. And I was like, oh my gosh, I couldn't even believe it. Was she just felling your diet and your plan and stuff? She like, she bought all the supplements, she did everything and there were other women who were like, you know, I had,

I had thought I was doing everything right for my acne. When I got into your book and I started to figure it out, like I was doing all of these things, but I really only had to do like these five things and my skin healed and women who are writing me and they're like, I didn't even, like I didn't even ever think that I would be able to be off of hormonal birth control and not have acne. Women who are on the pill right now,

so you can get on the pill and it can make your skin worse. So I actually, of all places, I was doing an interview and it happened to be in the Refinery 29 building. I get to talking with the receptionist. She pulls out her camera and is showing me photos of her skin of when she, like her skin before, she got an IUD placed and how bad she has cystic acne. She developed after getting her IUD.

And then she's like, and then I got the IUD removed and look at my skin, like it started to heal, but it's still as persisted. And I was talking to her about my book and talking about all these things. She removed and look at my skin. Like it started to heal, but it still is persisted. And I was talking to her about my book and talking about all these things. She's like, oh my god, like, because I'm just being told I have to take acutane or take this or take that.

I'm like, but there's a root cause to this. Then you have an opportunity here to be able to heal it. You have to be patient and it sucks. Because nobody likes that. That's the thing about the supplements too. It's all, you just gotta keep doing it and you gotta be patient. And you can't heal it though.

So most acne because of hormonal it can be hormonal it can be triggered so Darry is a big one and I talk about in the book that you've got to be off of it for at least Six weeks. That's how long it takes the antibodies in your immune system to die down and give you a break there There's an area that we really haven't explored in depth enough Which is the skin microbiome. We know that if you alter the gut microbiome, you alter the vagina, you alter the mouth. You start altering flora so your skin can totally be on par for that as well. There's usually a gut component to it, liver detoxification, there's usually foods that

are triggers, which is great when you can figure out. No gluten for women, right? Yeah, gluten's one, I will will say what's interesting about it so I've had so many patients who go to Europe and have no issue with gluten. And siliac is different, siliac is very very different but with people with gluten sensitivities it's looking more you know back I don't know I think there's probably I don't know how long ago was that glyphosate was coming up. People were questioning the pesticides and is gluten really the issue.

And they were called crazy and now we're starting to see. And it's like, it was clinicians like me who were like, why can a patient go to France, for example, and eat a baguette, eat a whole baguette. I have no problems. But they get a crouton on their salad and their body goes crazy. And if you look on, so I had the privilege of recently living in France and they are strict about their food. They are like, okay, like if you are a ballon jury, you can only use certain ingredients.

None of this like modifiable junk, nothing, no fillers, none of this like artificial stuff that we put in. And so I think that's a piece of it as well, but it's a lot more respect for food, whereas in the United States, like I'm a foodie, I live in Portland, I got mad respect for food and for my farmers and the way it gets to me. But it's also that like there was this trend that really, you know, pushed the food industry.

We all have to recognize that like, what we want to vilify corporations, they do match and meet the needs of what the consumers are asking for so we're all playing a role in this Which gives you power let's not blame that's power, but yeah, we started wanting convenience We want a cheap food you can't make cheap food like you can't make it You can't make a hamburger for 29 cents. I'd be a legit hamburger like that doesn't have exactly and so you know That's part of what's happened in the food supply in the US. And we've certainly seen that in other countries

when you go, so I remember when I was in Costa Rica, small remote mountain town, how different people looked there. And I go back a decade later. And here is KFC and McDonald's. And all these places now in this obscure rural town, I thought it was, and how much larger the population was, like how their adiposity had increased. And it's like, this is in a question of like,

oh, is this body image issues? No, this is a question of like, whoa, if that fat is around their organs, then they're at higher risk for these other issues. So it is something that gluten tends to be really problematic for a lot of people in the United States I talk about it in the book of like this probably gonna be the one you can't bring back if you have acne You probably can't bring back dairy, but you may be able to figure out like well if I'm at a party

I can have a piece of cheese if I want to or you know I can like have like you know that that's salad with some cheese on it But if I do that three days in a row, okay, I'm gonna be in trouble I said I have discipline too and there's so many alternatives now. Like, if it kind of cheese is like the vegan cheese, it's like, they're good. There are so many alternatives. You know what's really good?

Are the cashew cheese and the nut cheeses and the nut yogurts, like I just, my son has a dairy sensitivity, and my husband just came home with like cashew yogurt, and I was like, shut up, what is that? I actually just spent a Sunday making homemade granola at home just so I could have it with that yogurt. It was that good.

It's my gosh, I'm writing this down. I don't even know. That's a thing you gotta make modifications here. But hopefully, I do think that people, they read your book and they understand that this is really empowering. Yeah. And that it's really like we,

you might even be ahead of what your doctors tell you. They might not even agree with you, right? Because we're not saying for women, like if you had just, you know, they don't, we don't need to go off the pill. Because I always say to women before I've, you know, last few years or whenever when they call in, it's like, well, go to your doctor if you're having a side effects.

There might be a different kind of pill you can take. It might not be work just because your friends take in the same pill. There's other ones for you. So what would you suggest for women who are kind of going, ah take. It might not be worked just because your friends take in the same pill. There's other ones for you. So what would you suggest for women who are kind of going, ah, it's on the book? Yeah, well, and this is the thing. If I did my job right in the book, and a lot of women have told me I have,

is that I wanted to spell the fear in women's medicine. We make a lot of fear-based decisions, which serves no one ever. And some of that fear is, I'm afraid of this, so I'm gonna go on birth control. I'm afraid of having that. I'm a start birth control is, I'm afraid of this, so I'm gonna go on birth control. I'm afraid of having that, I'm gonna start birth control. Now I'm afraid of coming off of birth control because of X, Y, and Z.

And we're like, just completely reactive. And so I really wanted to spell that fear, lay it out there for you, help you understand your body. So this book is designed to help you build a user manual to your body. It is, and it's so well done. It's so, I think it's just, so much information there, you'll know what to do.

You will know what to do. You're writing this book. And I'm so glad that you are out there because I think that every woman share it with your partner, share it with everybody because I think that it's time that we get the manual, we get the instruction manual, we start to figure out why our bodies are doing what they're doing and you're going to realize it's so much, but it has to do with the foods we eat, the hormones, the pills were taking all the things, and then all that has a,

could have an impact on your sex drive too, which is such a- Oh absolutely. So what have you seen a lot with people sex drive coming back and talking stories? Oh yeah, so this is something that the research says that the sex hormone binding globulin, and if you guys are like, wait, what's she talk about? Rewind, go listen again. With that that being elevated researchers went and looked at women like five years

out and they said, okay, hold up. That protein stays elevated above what a non-pill user ever was. So they what they concluded is it's unlikely it ever returns to the pre-pill state. And so, you know, this has been something where doctors are like, libido is gone. It's gone. But epigenetics ep epigenetics, epigenetics. Exactly. And that is something that clinically with the protocols that are in the book. So the protocols are in the book are actually developed from working one-on-one with my patients. So thank my patients for trusting me and for keeping their data and reporting back to me so we could test the hypothesis. And then we tested it, they report their data,

we figure it out. And what we found is you can lower that sex hormone binding lovelin. You can get your hormones back on track. You can reverse everything that's gone to on with your gut. Even if you went on to develop an autoimmune disease in your gut, it might take you five to 10 years to reverse that. But these things are possible. And I've seen this with real life patients.

And I have heard the stories online. And what I think is super cool about this book is that I never set out to give women permission. I don't think we need permission for anything. But in a way, what women have said to me is it gave me permission to talk about this. Now I talk about my period. Now I talk about it.

And women are saying, like, I don't hide my tampon. I talk with my friends about what's going on and they're coming out and talking about their sex drive, talking about their libido. And last time when we were recording the radio, we were talking about how medicine thought it had us all figured out and right now, like we said, how cocky medicine can be about our bodies.

And yet we just figured out the clitoris is this giant massive and structure. It is like a space alien inside our bodies. How did we miss it? How did we, I don't even know that it's in manuals right now. And in science, it just got into their manuals. Like, what was it this year? Last year, they've included the clitoris

and some teaching manuals. It's like, oh really, that's what it is. It has legs people. So this day is a clitoris, some teaching manuals. It's like, oh really, that's what it is. It has legs, people everywhere. So this day, it's a clitoris, it has legs. There's so much to know, and I just want everyone to be, to be knowledgeable. It's your body, it's your life, and all the things

that you're dealing with, a lot of the symptoms that you're dealing with, that you don't even know might have to do with your hormones. They probably do, first of all, and you can do something about it. So everybody should read this book, beyond the pale, Dr. Julie Brighton. She's very entertaining too. You know, everybody loves her, and you can do something about it. So everybody should read this book, be on the pale, Dr. Joline Brighton. She's very entertaining too.

You know what? Everybody, like, love her. And let's second, I met her. But she's on Instagram all the time at Dr. Joline Brighton, beer, beer, IGHT, and Salsa on our show notes. I love that you're doing the live. So you can just watch. She's walking through the book.

It's like a book club. Yeah. No, that's what I said already. It's like a bar to do. It was do a little virtual book club and take people chapter by chapter through it. And I just had I do. It was do a little virtual book club and take people chapter by chapter through it. And I just had this idea. I was like, laying a bed and I was like, I'm going to do that. So I can like help answer, you know, I put this in the moment. Well, I put this book out

into the world. And it's very much something that like I said, I intended to put the medicine in women's hands. And I did want to create change in women's medicine by supporting women. Like, and it's not going to come by me yelling at doctors. You need to change this, but I do call them out in the book and I challenge them. But it really was going to come by putting the medicine in women's hands and women being the walking, living proof, showing everybody what is possible and all of that.

And then women started saying, like, this is a movement. And here's all the things that have changed. And women using hashtags and being like, I'm one of like Dr. Brighton's defenders. And I'm like, wait, what are we talking about here? And like, but with that, I'm like, wow, we did start a movement. And I don't like, and that's why I'm here in doing what I'm doing is I'm like,

I need to be on the ground with these women supporting them. Sometimes authors, they put a book out there and that's it, and it just goes. And it's like, I wanted to find a way, like like how do I keep supporting women to move through this book to understand how to use this book to answer any questions because you write the book as a clinician and you're like, this makes total sense and you have all these editors, but maybe it doesn't. And how can I help answer it? And so, yeah, you're like challenge you too. You said, you're like, last time, you're like, yeah, you don't believe, like ask me ask the question. So I love that you're so

available because it is a lot to take in. And so wherever you're at, yeah, you don't believe in like, ask me. Ask the question. So I love that you're so available because it is a lot taken. And so wherever you're at, it's important to learn. There's a mom right now who I like seriously, I cried when she sent this to me. She bought the book. She read it for herself. She is nearing Perry, Manipause. She's like, after 30 days, she felt the best she ever felt.

Her husband was like, you look amazing. Our sex is amazing. Like every energy is up. All this stuff that she wrote off as she was just getting older and it was going to be impossible for her to ever feel well again. She passed the book to her 19 year old daughter and because she's like, my 19 year old needs to do this. Like, read this because she's thinking about using birth control.

And every night her 19 year old is reading and allowed to her 16 year old. I'm like, oh, that's my God. That's the dream. I want kids in school. I want teachers to be reading this. I want, I see groups of women everywhere getting together and reading. There are all kinds of virtual book clubs popping up

all over the internet. Women are starting book clubs, like in starting communities to support each other. It is phenomenal. But women, that is a big thing that women need women. It's not just like, oh, I should have a lot of friends. This, you know, since we are so isolated and lonely now in the phones, we don't leave our house,

but like women need to be supportive of women. Your friends are your fuel, they're your life force. Like it's just, I want to possess them. I see them. Exactly. No, it's true. They do. They spike your progesterone, but like,

and I've known that like my friends have always been, I feel like what days when I get down, and Jamie's seen this in the office, I'm like, oh, now come back, I like, I'd let my friends. I just, I forget it, you need that hate, you need that rush from women, and you could be that person, you could be that friend in your group, it's like, let's get together and do this together

and figure out our health. We don't have to suffer every month, and just bitch about your period, and bitch about all the cramps, and all the things you're going through in your life. But you do get to bitch, okay? You get bitch too. No, you can fucking bitch and eat ice cream.

You shouldn't feel like you have to. Exactly. And you shouldn't feel like you're at the mercy of your cravings or any of this stuff. We don't have to live with it. That's the thing. We don't have to live with it no matter where we are at. So thank you for this. Well, thank you for coming in.

I'm so happy you wrote this book. Dr. Julie Brighton, should we give her the five questions? Ooh. Quick five questions. We did it last time. I don't think we did. I don't think so, because I've never heard of this. Okay, ready?

We're going to give you five questions. Oh, God. All of our guests answer. What's your biggest turn on? Ooh, my biggest turn on besides doing the dishes. No. Wow. I have, man, I'm like, I love the way my husband smells when he gets really sweaty. Are we talking about physical things?

Anything, anything, I guess. Yeah, physical or what turned you on, but that's good, I said. Yeah, no, the way he smells is so incredible, which I never noticed him until I got off the pill. Right. And then I noticed him and I like can't get enough. And so yeah, that's definitely one of those things. He's like, I got really lucky and my husband's one of those people that his pleasure is derived

from pleasuring people. Like he's one of those people. Yeah, so it's just like people. I know. I know. You want to go down on me and get pleasure all day, that is fine. Yeah, right. And you're happy. We're all happy. Okay. Biggest turn off.

Biggest turn off. Neatiness, cleanliness. What's something you like tell your younger self about sex and relationships? Oh, that like you should definitely be having orgasms and that your sexual needs are just as important and don't fake it. Don't never fake it. I love that you prescribe orgasms and that your sexual needs are just important and don't fake it. Never fake it. A lot that you prescribe orgasms in here too.

Number one, sex or dating or relationship tip. Well, I don't know that I'm a dating expert, sex relationship tip, all of that communication. You need to talk about it and explore your own terrain. Like if you don't know your own body, how can you communicate to someone talk about it and explore your own terrain. Like, if you don't know your own body, how can you communicate to someone else about it? Exactly, that's why we only do masturbate. And then communicate.

Master-bate communicate. What's the hashtag yet? No, it should be. We've got so many of them. My new one is Meditate Master-Bate Manifest. Oh my god. That's why I'm making t-shirts. Say that again.

Meditate Master-Bate Manifest. That's the perfect order. Right? Because you want to meditate first thing, because I'm going to distract yourself. Well, yeah, and you'll be in the right brain waves and you'll be super calm, it'll be easier to orgasm when you orgasm, you're naturally in a state of gratitude

swimming with endorphins. Like, you've already accessed the higher ups in all the ways. It's such a brilliant. Why have I not been doing that? This is like mind-bottied. And the manifest alignment, we should be at the biohacking. We should be talking about this right now.

I think you're right. I think you're absolutely right. Oh my god. Something random that gets you in the mood. Something random that gets me in the mood. Oh, you know, you really should be asking my husband these questions. I can't get him in the mood.

What gets him in the mood? Looking at me. Like, I'm not even getting. I love your husband. I will actually hide sometimes to change my clothes. If I know I have to be out of the house on a period of time, because if I am like, I'm just like, you know, going to change my shirt and then there he is.

I'm like, where were you? You weren't even in the room. Like, adorable. I love your relationship. Oh, but what was the question? I know, Brandon, they get you in the mood. It's something Brandon, I'm gonna get you in the mood. Random thing that gets me in the mood. Uh, gets you the mood random thing that gets me in the mood

Yeah, oh my god. I will say nerdy talk. Yeah, like if there is something like really like mind-blowing nerdy Like new epiphany like it's seriously like the the oh my god You should meditate and then have an orgasm that kind of gets me in the mood right there. I just turn her on That's something a little bit random though, but like that's uh. Yeah, No, it's a piossexual. Someone's get turned down by words. Totally. It's a brain. I have the same way actually. Yeah, yeah. It's a bit nerdy to me, right? Top nerdy to me. Yes, that's a good dessert too. Okay, thank you for being here Dr. Dullian. You're doing great work. I appreciate it. Thank you and I wish I answered those questions a lot better. That was fun. No, we were awesome. No, thank you so much. Thank you so much.

So fun. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed the show. Wow, I did. That was good work, you guys. Good information. Thank you for listening. I love you all. Thanks to my amazing team. Ken, Michelle, producer, Jamie, and Michael.

Was it good for you? Email me. Feedback at sexwithamleeve.com. you