Wednesdays - 145. Understanding Your Menstrual Cycle & Hormones ft. Pippa Campbell

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Heyyyy Tinies! This week, we’re joined by Functional Hormone Nutritionist Pippa Campbell for a fascinating conversation about all things women’s health: from hormones and DNA testing, to PMS and endometriosis. Melissa opens up about her own DNA results and what they revealed about her body and health, as well as sharing her experience with the pill. Pippa explains why the week before your period can feel like such an emotional rollercoaster and dives into everything from liver health and bloating to supplement quality, thyroid function and herbs.Plus, we answer two of your dilemmas on navigating emotions throughout your cycle and rebuilding confidence in your skin.Enjoy the episode xDisclaimer: This episode is for general information and discussion only. The views expressed by the guest are their own and should not be taken as personalised medical advice. If you have any concerns about your hormones or health, or are considering changes to your diet, supplements or treatment, please speak to your GP or another qualified healthcare professional.#WEDNESDAYS #MELISSATATTAM #PIPPACAMPBELL #HORMONES #WOMENSHEALTHGot a dilemma, some personal advice for a fellow Tiny, or a follow-up to a previous one? Send us a voice note or message on Instagram @wednesdayspodcast, or drop us an email at [e-mail] | @wednesdayspodcastTikTok | @wednesdayspodcastEmail | [e-mail] CREDITSProducer: Magda CassidyEdit Producer: Rema Mukena & Magda CassidyAssistant Producer: Issy Weeks-HankinsVideo: Lizzie McCarthySocial: Amber HouriganSenior Producer: Helen Burke Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode, we talk about all things women's health. From hormones and supplements to PMS and Endo, it's a really interesting episode. But of course, please do seek your own medical advice. Hi, Tiny's, we've got the amazing Pippa Campbell on today, and we're going to get into all of this. Periods aren't that pleasant, but it's when they're really painful, they shouldn't be. Before I was put on the pill, I was like 15. The periods were really bad, so painful. So what we do is we focus on things like Eastern detoxification, because,

endo-adone fibroids, all these sort of things are estrogen-dependent. So we make sure that we help them detox their estrogen because you have to detox it through the liver. And that's really connected with things like PMS, any menstrual irregularities. This week, we have gorgeous Piper Campbell joining us. My absolute icon. So you've been on the pod before a few times? Yes. I'm Pippa Campbell. I'm a functional hormone nutritionist and, well, I'm lots of things actually. I have various hats. Functional medicine practitioner, a naturopath. And what I do in clinic and what I've been doing for 20 years is naturopathic endocrinology. So that's hormones in a naturopathic way.

PIPA has been my doctor for the last maybe five years. Gosh, you know, I think it's even longer. I reckon it's seven now. God. And Pippa's helped me tremendously with so many different things, mainly, I guess, the girly stuff, the hormone stuff, but really my overall health. And today, I guess we're just going to talk about like hormones, Mainly? Well, hormones is my specialty, so I definitely want to talk about hormones.

I think I started with you just doing some baseline testing to see what was going on because I felt, I felt tired all the time. That was my main thing. I was like, I don't feel like I wake up feeling 100%. And I had reoccurrant UTIs, like on and off. Those are like my things. And I had loads wrong. I had candida overgrowth quite a lot. Yeah, you did, but the funny thing is, we did DNA testing.

Oh, yes. That's how we started. And the funny thing is you said, no, no, I'm fine. It's not really a lot of, you know, wrong with me. A bit tired, but no, I'm fine. You didn't even mention, like, within the first half an hour, the UTIs. I forgot about it. I forgot. You'd been on a lot of antibiotics. I know. I've been on a shitload of antibiotics in my life. And I think when you don't have a UTI in that moment, you forget about it. So, we're interesting how quickly you get over the trauma of the UTI.

And then I think I emailed after like, oh no, it was in the last five minutes. It's like, oh, shit. I think UTIs all the time. Yeah, like you'd had six in the last year. Like, oh, that's relevant. And then we found that actually candida overgrowth was probably the cause of it at the time. And I think we dealt with that. and it did put those UTIs into a mission.

And I stopped feeling tired all the time. I couldn't believe. You don't understand what feeling normal and optimal, I guess, as such, feels like until you've had it, because when I've just been feeling tired, virtually my whole teenage and early 20s, I just thought that was normal. I know, you get used to the new normal.

But then I'm like, no one else seems to be as tired as I am, so is it normal? Yeah. And I think part of that was the candidate, which is a yeast overgrowth. So we all have it, but it's when it's overgrowth. and it can make you have brain fog as well, feel tired and foggy. And the candida feeds on sugar and carbs. Now, I'm not saying it's always diet's fault at all.

But again, I think it was probably that, those constant antibiotics as well. And that can cause an overgrowth. So then it's this spiral of them feeling tired and UTIs and antibiotics. But we got there. We got there. And now I'm feeling fantastic. And the DNA testing was so useful because that aligned up with so many other things I was like feeling and family history and things like that.

And my brother and I actually did it at the same time. And I think our DNA was quite similar. Detox genes. But he had the glutathione gene and I didn't. I got very jealous of that. So you're missing, you're missing the glutathione gene. So that means it's a powerful antioxidant. And that helps us detox so many things, including our hormones as well.

And we make it. But if you're missing the glutathione gene, then that's something that means you're going to be deficient in. And then I think we saw in Dutch testing that confirmed that you were. So it means that you do need to supplement with it. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's literally, it does so many things. And it's so important. Yeah.

I've learned so much from you. I feel like I read now, well, your Instagram is so useful and insightful anyway. And your supplements that you sell, anyone can buy those, right? You don't have to be their retail. So anyone can buy them. I think the best thing to do when people are considering supplements, because let's face it, there's like overwhelm in the supplement world. People say, I don't know what's right for me.

and then they end up just buying everything or buying nothing. So I developed my metabolics type quiz, which is from my first book. So you do a quiz to find out your metabolic type. Could be cortisol type, insulin, thyroid, etc. So you do the quiz, various questions, and then you get your answer which type you are. And then we give you supplements, lifestyle, diet as well. But then it means that you know which supplements to take. And that can change.

So I think people should do it every few months. But the metabolic types quiz is a really good place to start. Okay, that's such good advice for people. And you do have a 15 minute phone call thing on the bottom of your page too. And is that for people that are really unsure and they just want to whiz through? Yeah, it's for anyone. It's free. That's with Rachel on my team.

And then you can talk about the various symptoms that you're getting and she will advise the supplements in my range. It's fantastic. Also, the quality of supplements I have now learnt from you and over the years is so important. Like you can take really crap supplements that have all these fillers and bad things. Obviously yours are like top, top tier. So they're made in the UK. Of course we source ingredients. My saffron in my chill supplements, organic.

I love saffron. So most of the herbs, where possible, I get organic. We test for heavy metals and other contaminants. So my creatine supplement that's coming out soon, we've tested that because that has been shown so many, you know, creatine supplements have been shown to be contaminated. So we test for that as well. Look, people might say they're more expensive. Yes, they are more expensive than boots. I mean, I'm a functional medicine practitioner.

I'm not going to produce supplements of inferior quality. You know, I want to take them. I want my family to take them as well. So we test for all the heavy metals. I make sure the ingredients are really pure as well. So it's just something I feel very strongly about. I mean, I love them when I see such a big difference when, especially with the detox tablet.

Yeah, do you like the detox. Oh my gosh. When I don't take it, I see such a difference in, I feel like the way I feel. And also, I don't know if it's in my head, but I feel like my digestion and stuff changes. Less bloated. Yeah. Yeah, lots of people say that. And I don't know, because it's obviously not a probiotic, but I still feel like it makes a difference. Yeah, but the liver, so the liver is so important, it even plays a part in digestion. Now, if your liver is sluggish, if it's not functioning properly, you have a snip on any of your... I have one of those, don't worry, guys.

A little snip on your gene. and just, you know, exposed to so many things, then it can be really sluggish. And that can cause bloating because you're just exposed to all these toxins. The liver is sluggish slows down. You don't produce as much bile, which is like I call it the liver's liquid gold. And it helps with digestion, digest fats and forms a nice, a nice soft poo. So, and then therefore everything's backing up and you just feel really bloated. So lots of people say they feel less bloated on it.

Interesting that that's common. I feel like the thing with supplements, functional medicine and all these extra-curricular things that kind of fall into this biohacking bracket, but I feel like that's maybe too far in one way sometimes. We're trying to counteract the shit that we put and deal with our bodies every day from the modern world with like pollution and toxins from clothes and makeup

and the list goes on and on and on. We are living in a different world. So when I look back to when I was in my teens and 20s, I was one of the few people that had menstrual problems. I had severely chronic PMS, which is why I do what I do today. But not many people did. There weren't many of my friends that had low thyroid period problems. And we are living in a different world now.

So we're seeing so many more clients in their teens and 20s with all sorts of hormonal problems. But look, I think there are some simple things that we can do. We can't avoid everything. No. So we need to make sure we are. supporting our liver, eating the right foods, you know, good quality protein, lots of cruciferous vegetables, herbs and spices are fantastic turmeric, for example. Take my detox supplement, of course.

But I think, you know, we can avoid some things without people sort of worrying about everything. So don't put plastic in the microwave. Don't put oily or acidic foods in plastic. So think about things like tin tomatoes, for example. I'm not saying you never eat them, but try and you can get like passartre and gloss. for example. Yes, that's what I was trying to. Because tins are lined with plastic and that tomato is acidic and reacts with the plastic and that's when it leaches the BPA and everything. Even if you're buying an organic can of tomatoes, like I remember I was doing Spag Bowl and something else like twice a week. I was eating quite a lot of canned chopped tomatoes.

And I was thinking they're fine because they're organic. Then I was like, learn about the leaching of the BPA. So now I just stop out for glass, passata and then I chop up my own tomatoes. Brilliant. Yeah. And those things are just becoming, they're just automatic now. I don't have to think twice about them. I think it's just those small little smart changes that are really easy to do and they're not overwhelming. And they're not like expensive.

Like it's not like a... No, they're alternatives. So if you look at, I don't know, sardines in oil, for example, in a tin. So there's the oil. So the same problem again, whether it's the BPA, BPS, BPS, the other toxins in that plastic that lines the tin, you could go for brine. So there are other options. Okay. And is brine...

That's water. I know, but you mix up with a nice little... Oil. Then you put the olive oil. Exactly. I know. Then get the taste that way. Okay.

So, and do you think this is why... So you mentioned like infatility and irregular periods and things like that. And it feels like every person in their dog has endo or PMOS something. I recently was diagnosed with PMS, endometriosis and edamyosis. Yes. Yeah, admiosis, yeah. I didn't have any symptoms.

So I think classic symptoms for all of those things is really, really awful periods, really heavy periods, bloating. I think you can get really bad acne, brain. I think it is so debilitating what I see on the internet of people that have it. And I know people that have it too. And this takes me to my next point. I had an MRI scan, which I spoke about on the podcast when I had it. It must have been, it was like November time. and they were like, oh, you've got a little cyst on your right ovary.

Nothing to worry about, but just get that checked again in a couple months. This is, and I went for this scan with Prunovo. They were fantastic. I kind of forgot about it. And then some things were going on with my sister had endo, and we've known about that for a while. And I watched the Haley Bieber birth story. And she was talking all about how she had had this 3D scan

internal and they found this gap in her cervix which meant that before she got pregnant she'd have to get that fixed to prevent miscarriage because her chance of miscarriage was very high so it was a fantastic piece of knowledge for her to have pre. So a weak service that's what I had. I had a weak cervix and my daughter was born six weeks early nearly eight weeks early. I couldn't keep her in. Did they not do the stitch? But I didn't know, you see.

So yes, if I had known. But back then I mean I wasn't having you know, ultrasounds for that sort of thing. I mean, I literally wasn't, no one was. I wouldn't have even thought of it. So for some reason, part of my cervix was weak. And so she was born early. She was all fine, thank goodness.

But I know my waters were leaking. Gosh, I mean, literally, I was out on a girl's Christmas lunch. And I thought, oh, things are feeling a bit uncomfortable. This was eight weeks before my due date. And it's a bit painful. And I had been, But I've been leaking for weeks, and this is awful. I've been leaking a little bit for weeks, and I've been to the doctor, and they just said it's your bladder.

Oh, they thought you were just really. Yeah, no, I know. I mean, completely, honestly, it's awful. It's awful. Just wear a nappy laugh in your beef. Yeah, that was awful. It wasn't my bladder. I was leaking hindwaters. I mean, I was leaking.

Oh, my God. Exactly. So it's amniotic fluid. Yes. And so for my son, I had a stitch put in. And it was okay. Well, they took the stitch out, and I was like, and they said stay in hospital tonight, because they, I think they thought I'd have the stitch taken out and he would drop out. So the stitch is taken

out of my cervix. I'm waiting. Didn't happen. Waiting. Is he coming? Is he dropping out? Nothing. And then I sent home a week later he came along. So obviously wasn't that week. No. Gosh, that's so strange that they can just put a stitch in there and it holds everything together. So yeah, so Haley Bieber had this. So then that prompted me to think, shit, I need to do that other scan. I'm to do this 3D scan, this sounds fantastic, booked in, really didn't think anything of it. I also thought it was quite good to know what's going on with the old reproductive area. And on my way to this clinic, I was thinking, right, before I was put on the pill, I was like 15, the periods were really bad, so painful, so, so, so, so painful. And that's what I was put on the pill. But the last

four years, they've been fine. So I was thinking, well, it's probably just like the first couple periods were shit. I don't know how it works. Anyway, so I'm in this clinic, the one's up inside, and the screen's there. Yeah, endometrioma, endometriosis, edamiosis and PCOS. I'm like, this fucking sticks inside me and I'm like, what are you saying? And apparently it's really hard to get a diagnosis for all these things, like these poor girls that suffer for years being turned away by doctors. And I just get told with no symptoms at all you've got all this shit wrong with you. I was like, oh my God, I'm never going to be able to have a bait. All these racing thoughts. Sort of shell-shocks leave this office and have to drive home.

And I'm still, I'm now in this limbo stage of going to see this specialist for Endo because my first period after that scan was horrendous. What we have to go through is like really quite shitty. But after the MRI, did they refer you to a specialist? They said we urge because they knew I had private health insurance. They were like, go and get another scan. Okay, but did they say who to go to or anything? Okay. Look, I think everyone has their own views on whether to go with these things. I'm slightly on the fence and look, you've discovered Endo.

But the fact they didn't sort of immediately, because imagine if there was somebody who was really, you were scared. I think they could have referred me. Okay. I wasn't scared off the MRI because the girl was like, it's just a cyst. It's probably going to pass through with your next period. However, I would like you to go and get that checked again in another couple months with an ultrasound.

but she was like, I'm not worried. So I wasn't worried at all from that. But when I went to this other scan, you know, the 3D ultrasound scan, I went to this fertility clinic for this, that fucking scared me. She was quite reassuring, but then she was like, you should think about freezing your eggs if you're not going to have a baby like soon. And I was like, oh, I don't want to raise my eggs. I don't want to.

And this is you with no symptoms before you even had the MRI. So this is my point, is that I think knowledge is used for. And you're right about the cis. So simple cis, I've had two. And I just, you know, make sure I take some estrogen detox things because cis are often estrogen sort of related. And so many girls would have it and women and don't even know. But yes, you know, they should pass.

There are different types of cis. Mine's an endometrioma. Exactly. So it's different from a simple cis, which I've had a couple of times. But I think with these MRIs, I think they can be really useful. I also think for some women, and you were fine, I think for some girls, women, it could feed their health anxieties or even thinking about it. It's a big thing in that moment on social media, on Instagram.

I'm seeing everyone going for MRIs. I think it's probably freaking some women out because they're thinking, if I don't go for it, if I don't spend this money, what are they going to find? What about if I don't go and then something happens in a few years' time and I could have prevented it? I think it's feeding health anxieties. But then on the flip side, they could find something. and then fantastic look what we've caught before it's even a problem. Yes. So it's difficult.

And these things are fucking expensive. They are. I mean, I think, look, I wish that I had gone for breast ultrasounds when I was younger. Because by the time I did sort of late 40s, that was the first time I found out that I had lumpy, bumpy breasts. I couldn't feel it. You know, it was like normal for me. And, you know, that sort of freaked me out. I said, oh, my goodness, I've got all these cysts in my breasts, you know.

And I think it would have been nice to know what type of breasts I have. If I have dense breasts, ultrasounds are good for that. I had done since I was 40 vaginal ultrasounds. So that was quite normal for me. And I think I wish that there are certain countries that offer this sort of thing in Europe. So you've got vaginal ultrasound, breast ultrasound, thyroid. And I think that, you know, those would be good. So rather than, I mean, I think a full body MRI for somebody who wants it, but certainly for certain areas.

Yeah, so if you want to cut down on cost, just do an ultrasound breast. Yeah. When you say vagina, would that be, when you say vagina, would that be the full one thing that I heard? Yeah, it's the big sausage. That goes up. Yeah. And then check the thyroid. Yeah, I think so. I mean, not necessarily all of them. I would say vaginal ultrasound is useful. I think breast is a really good one. I do a breast one every year. I think the breast is a good one. I think it's like, I think it's like 200 quid I pay every year. Yes. And all of these issues that are now it's probably my algorithm, but the amount of people that have one of these three things is crazy. And I do also think since this endometriosis documentary has come out as well, which is

obviously fantastic for raising awareness. And those things can do one of two things. It can make you feel better and seen, or it can make you feel fucking petrified, which is what it did to me. It's just, it triggers me and it scared me because I feel like I haven't quite come to terms with what I've got yet. So me seeing that and these poor girls going, you know, eight rounds of IVF and still no luck and I'm like, oh my God, I don't want to see that either. And you didn't even have symptoms. No. You see most girls who have end or, I don't know, a lot of them, they've already got really painful periods, so they know about it. And when we talk about pain, I mean, look, I mean, for a lot of

women, periods aren't that pleasant, but it's when there's, when they're really painful, they shouldn't be. They shouldn't be that painful. I've got honestly loads wrong with me, guys. No one would think you're living in fight or flight, but your sort of system, temperature, you know, results sort of say you are. But it's been hard. Like when I look back, like I think, I don't know if it's my mind isn't that sort of anxious about anything, but my body clearly really struggles. But the week before my period, the social anxiety that I would have was horrendous. I would be sat, even with my family with Toby, like, and my best friends, so I see you all the time, what are you going to say next? What can you say that's interesting?

What can you say that's funny? Actually, you shouldn't say that because it's not funny and they're going to think that you're weird and it was like, I guess, you see. see girls talking about this all the time, right? Like in their luteal phase that they just hate themselves. Yeah. It was like never that bad before and it was progressively getting worse and worse and worse and words. Since I've been on all of these things, and I don't know if it's dim, I don't know what it is that's been clearly balancing things. I haven't felt that in a while. Are you doing the progester and cream? No. No, so it's the thyroid and the estrogen detox support then. Interesting. So, you know, no one would know that about you, that that's how you felt. I was starting to say it to people. Okay.

Because it was getting really bad. And I was getting to the point where I was like, I don't want to book a dinner for that week. Because I'll be on really bad form. But it's really specific what you were feeling. So for me, I mean, my PMS was literally from the minute I ovulated. Oh. I was put on the pill as well because I was getting, I was getting chronic PMS. So I was put on the pill in my teens. We didn't know anything else back then. You know, I'm 53 now. So this is like in my teens. And I was put on the pill. but it was literally just sticky tape. And then I came off the pill a few years later.

I am telling you, the rebound was horrific. My PMS destroyed two weeks of my cycle. I mean, I just couldn't go out, couldn't do anything. I had brain fog, achy, neck. I mean, literally, I felt like I was like in, like, just felt really spacey and achy. And so once my period came, so my period was not my problem, once my period came, I was like, much better. I was like, oh, my periods come.

you know, but the PMS was horrific for two weeks from the minute. And then my cycle was 26 days. That's a classic Eastern dominance thing. So it would come round again. Oh, fuck. I know. I know. And chill.

And so I went to, eventually, I came off the pill. The rebound was horrific and that can happen. Unfortunately, girls listening will know that when they come off the pill, which is why often they're scared to come off. So this happened to me. And then my mother took me to what she called was, I mean, she could not understand. She'd never had problems. She could not understand what this.

PMS. Well, she thought I was making up. I'm telling you, you don't make up this stuff. So we went to what she called was a quack, a doctor. She's actually very famous and pioneered the use of progesterone called Dr. Katerina Dalton. She took me to her and I was prescribed 400 milligram peseries of vaginal pesseries for progesterone. Didn't work. Because back in the day, anyone that sort of did know a little bit about Eastern dominance thought it was just low progesterone. No one was talking about, you know, high estrogen or not clearing your estrogen. And it wasn't until I discovered that a few years later and I went to a functional medicine practitioner. And I got on liver detox support. I got on dim. I changed my diet. I had candor as well. So I had to

cut out all like sugars and lower carbohydrate, which wasn't great because I lost about half a stone, which I couldn't do, couldn't afford to do really. But within three cycles and I've been struggling four years, within three cycles, I no longer had PMS. My God. I know. That's not normal, as you say. No, it's not. I mean, for most girls that come to us, they have got, they might have heavy period,

slightly painful, but nothing, nothing that, you know, so extreme. It shouldn't be that extreme. So what we do is we focus on things like Eastern detoxification because endo, I don't know, fibos, all these sort of things are estrogen dependent. So we make sure that we help them detox their estrogen because you have to detox it through the liver. and that's really connected with things like PMS, any menstrual irregularities. Look at progesterone as well levels and check thyroid.

Thyroid's so important. I'm seeing more and more girls with low thyroid. And a big sign and a big symptom of low thyroid is fatigue. And I think, again, like you said, you put up with it and you think, oh no, I'm fine. Another symptom is low ferretin and low iron. And they're getting iron infusions, but no one's getting to the root cause. It's crazy. It's gone crazy, these, like, iron tablets or iron infusions.

But why? So, why? Why are, was everyone getting thyroid? So I've got low thyroid, which Pepper discovered. Well, I obviously had tests and we discovered it. The frustrating thing with that is, is the doctor said to me, no, your thyroid's absolutely fine and sent me on my merry way. And then Pipa literally was actually saying, no, no, no, low thyroid, hypo thyroid.

We need to sort that out. It drives me nuts, actually. Honestly, the amount of women I get DMs every day, comments on my Instagram from women saying, you know, my doctor, these are my results, my doctors turn me away, says I'm absolutely fine. You know, they're in tears. They're absolutely tears. I mean, it's just, quite frankly, it's a shit show. The thyroid care. And that's then linking on to all of these other bits and robes that we have going on. Thyroid is everything. So fatigue, low thyroid, the cold hand and feet as well. People feel. Which is something that I have had. that's a classic one. This brainards thing and people, I did have one person say to me

a few years ago, go get your thyroid checked. It was a girl called Ella Ross I went to school with this. She applied to, she was like, babe, I think you've got a thyroid problem. Really? My mum has the same thing and they found that she has low thyroid. And I just ignored that. And I know you've been trying to get me to do a thyroid test for years and I've just not bothered to go to the clinic.

I don't know why. You had a piece of paper for years. It saved me so many fucking problems. I know. Oh, at hair loss as well. That's so distressing. Honestly, so, the women who come and see in clinic who are losing hair are so distressed. It's so upsetting. That's horrible. Because, I mean, so they will be, it might be they're washing their hair every other day and they're

like just pulling out clumps. Some women obviously have thick hair. They might not notice it, but they're washing their hair every other day and they just feel, oh, there's more coming out. Well, you can see it in the plug hole in the shower. Yeah, you would notice. And then out a third of eyebrow. I mean, gosh, my eyebrow, my eye, have you noticed my eyebrows have come back. No, you've been, anyway, they're looking thicker. My thyroid crashed a bit. in the winter. And oh my goodness, another thyroid symptom I haven't, low thyroid symptom, I haven't mentioned, puffy face and under the eyes. I mean, literally, puffy and fat. And poppy my daughter, she didn't want to say anything. I wish she had, because honestly, I was just

thinking, I've got to go for my thyroid test and I was busy, I hadn't really noticed. It happened really quickly. And she didn't want to say anything because she just thought my fat face was to do with perimenopause. And she was thinking, oh God, this is what's going to happen to me. I'm going to No, stop. Yes, she did. I can't believe it happened that fast. It was really fast because I was getting to later perimenopause. My estrogen was declining and these things quite often happen together.

And I kept thinking, I'm going to test my bloods in, you know, and I'd stop taking my body temperature. I was just busy. And then it was the last episode of my podcast that I do with Victoria Woodall. And we did it in person. This is just before I tested my thyroid. I was testing it the next day. We did it in person. I'm so embarrassed, honestly.

because it's the only in-person we did. Only in-person when we did, and it was Zoom. Sorry, we normally do Zoom. And this one was actually sort of in-person. My face was just so puffy and fat. I literally don't want to, like, I don't want to repost any of the clips. It's just like, but there is one pinned actually on my Instagram, how puffy it was. And no joke, when I got to the right, we used thyroid glandulas in clinic which you're on.

So it's whole desiccated thyroid. It's what they used to use before every thyroid. So we've got fluoride and chlorine bromides. They all sort of compete with iodine. So we need iodine for good thyroid function. Actually, it's good for the ovaries as well. And breast tissue. So we need iodine. Oh, I think actually aligned perfectly where my Dutch results came back within two days of me having this endo diagnosis. Yeah. And then it literally like married up perfectly, didn't it? And then my thyroid results married up perfectly. So what we're seeing is we're measuring your hormones and then the metabolites. That's once they've gone through the liver. So we're seeing the whole journey.

So what's got to tissue level rather than a blood test, which is just serum. So it's a dry urine test. So we're seeing what you've actually used and got rid of. And we're measuring as well, cortisol. And then we've got organic acids like B vitamins, melatonin, various neurotransmitters as well. I mean, herbs are lovely, like herbal teas. Yeah. I think things like that.

Would you say herbal teas? Because I know there's this whole thing, like you can get the plastic-free tea bag, but then the plastic-free tea bag is sealed with glue, which is also toxins. The best thing to do is loose-leave tea. Go back to the basics. I buy, so I have all these lovely pots, like little apothecary, because I know my sort of herbs, I've studied herbs. And in my kitchen of all the different herbs. And actually in my hormones book at the back, we have a lot of herbal teas. But it's all fresh, well, dried herbs, should I say. It's all dried herbs. And it's like teaspoon of this, teaspoon of that. So you can buy on Amazon these cute little glass teapots which have a strain like a stainless steel strainer in it and I just use those. We have all different pots. I love a loose leaf. So I think people can start on things like, you know, sleepy ones.

You've got Valerian, you've got chamomile, passion flour. So there are some lovely, lovely herbs. And then detox tea dandelion, milk this or. And that helps the liver. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's interesting because you'll never know that if you didn't know, if you didn't have the MRI, didn't then have the ultrasound. Imagine if you hadn't and you didn't know all these things and you just went on and to have a baby.

That would be fantastic. But what if since doing all the dim, upping the NAC, that might prevent it from growing further? It is growing quite fast when endometrioma. So dim is from cruciferous vegetables, which is why I'm always saying. to eat cruciferous vegetables. It's a compound. It's taken from there. It helps detoxify estrogen. I didn't know that. I thought it was some funky pink because it's like a sort of pale, pale, peachy pink. I don't know what I imagined it being. No, you know. And then NAC is the precursor to glutath iron, which is our body's master antioxidant that we can make, or you less so. knowledge is power and it's not it's upset me that it's there it's not really upset me that I found out

about it because I'm so optimistic and I know there's so much like I believe so much in like what you do and I think it's so powerful so I think it's just how if anything I'm relieved that I know because I'm like at least I'm doing everything I can now to combat it whereas I might have just left it for another four years and just thought I'll be fine to have a baby and then it might be too late see I think what we would have done is and look I'm not saying you should or you shouldn't I don't know the other answer here, but I think we would have, what we would have done is just focused on your cycle. We would have seen, right, your 30 to 35 days, what's happening here? We've done your Dutch test, your lower progesterone. We would have just, that's what we would have done. Anyway, we would have

focused on that. So we would have got there. Shall we get into the dilemmas? Hi, girls, I'm writing in because I'm hoping I'm not the only one who feels like this. For about a week before my period, every single month, I genuinely feel like a different person. I can go from being completely fine to crying because someone looked at me the wrong way, getting irrationally annoyed at things that normally wouldn't bother me, and feeling so exhausted that I could sleep for a week. The frustrating thing is that I know it's hormonal, but in the moment it feels so real.

I'll convince myself my friends are annoyed at me, that my relationship is doomed and that I'm failing at work, and then a few days later in my period arrives, and suddenly everything seems normal again. It's like spending one week every month battling my own brain. I've tried all the obvious things, eating better, drinking more water, exercise, getting more sleep, but I still seem to get hit by the same emotional roller coaster every month.

Some months are more manageable, but other months I honestly wonder how women are expected to just carry on as normal. I'd love to know if either of you have experienced this and also what you or any of the tinies have found helpful. Have supplements, lifestyle changes, hormone tests or treatments genuinely made a difference? Or is this just something that we all secretly struggle with every month? Please tell me I'm not the only one feeling personally victimized by my own hormones. Oh, poor thing. I mean, it's horrific. And no, people shouldn't be silently suffering, and this is not normal. So the first thing, she said she's made dietary changes, which is really good. But I would focus on cruciferous vegetables, particularly during that time. Broccoli, broccoli sprouts is like, they're like a superpower. Two tablespoons of broccoli sprouts. You can grow them. I don't have green fingers. So I buy them from my local organic delivery. I buy them and every time there's mould on them.

That's awful. Every single time they're within date, but there's little white bits of growth, always on them. Yeah, to see if it is definitely mould on them, do you think? The internet, I don't know who to ask, but the internet said very common to get mould on it, so I struggle with that. They can, yeah. I mean, the ones I get actually are fine, but I'm not sure where you get it from and how, if they're keeping it a bit warm. You can, honestly, you can grow them. I see people growing them on internet.

I just, because I get them so easily locally, but you can. You can get grow kits. So I think, but you've got rocket, watercress, cabbage, cauliflower, all these cruciferous vegetables are very powerful for detoxing estrogen. And this is what I think is going on with her. And we see this in cleaning all the time. So focus on those. Also then blood sugar during this time.

So make sure that you're having 20 to 30 grams of protein at each meal. It could be like a chicken breast or a fish fillet or something like that, eggs for breakfast. So that's really important to balance blood sugar during that time. Also, I have blogs on my website. You can read more and do the metabolic types quiz, which gives more information there as well and the right supplements to take. So my detox supplement would be really good.

And I think try seed cycling as well. I would. I'd really try that. I do think most people don't feel fat the week before their period, but feeling this shit is not normal. When you feel that bad, that's not normal. And she's right. You know when you're right.

Yeah. You know when you're right, that it is hormonal. So she's right. But just remember to also tell yourself, this is hormonal, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it, and you're going to be doing everything you can, and that's fine. Okay, love you so much. Good luck. Dilemma 2.

Hi, girls. I need some advice lately. I've completely lost my confidence when it comes to my skin. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get on top of it. Some weeks it's painful breakouts, other weeks it's redness, oily patches, or just looking tired all the time. The thing is, I'm convinced it's linked to my hormones, because it seems to flare up at certain points in my cycle and then settle down again. You see, she knows her hormones, only to come back the following month.

I've fallen down the skincare rabbit hole trying to fix it, but serums, creams, masks, and every product social media has promised would transform my skin, but nothing works. The more I've looked into it, the more I've started wondering whether the problem isn't actually my skincare routine at all. I've heard people talk about hormonal acne and hormone imbalances. I'd love to know if either of you have experienced anything similar and what has helped. Is this something lots of women go through? They do, but again, it's not normal.

She knows it's hormonal. It is hormonal because she says it's linked to her cycle. So two things with skin issues and hormonal acne. We've got androgens, so that's like testosterone. So you've got excess androgens and excess estrogen. So again, same advice for her in terms of if it's estrogen dominance, then all those cruciferous vegetables that I've talked about and the broccoli sprouts, eating lots of those to help with that estrogen detoxification, protein as well to balance

blood sugar. She's already tried the skincare. And again, that's what people do. They end up buying loads, spending a fortune on skin care. And that's not the problem. Supporting liver, again, detox tea, because you've got to detox your antigens. You've got to detox your estrogen. Ground flak seeds.

So seed cycling or just using ground flax seeds, great for antigens. Then a nice liver detox tea with dandelion and milk thistle in really good as well. So I would start there. But to me, it sounds like she knows it's hormonal. It's definitely linked with her cycle. Okay. And then in terms of what you're putting on your skin, definitely stop all those million different products. I see something called a corneotherapist, which is someone who studies all of the layers of the skin. It's not like a dermatologist, which is just like top layer. And it's very holistic. And they normally, use products that are they're normally like from Germany for example so I have these products called dermavigils that come from Germany there's like three or four ingredients per product they're incredible just get on Google wherever you live

and type in corneotherapist near me do some research and I would find someone that can help you with the outer bit as well because you've probably got a bit of a damaged barrier as well if you're using all these different products that would be a good place to start in terms of skincare I would say as well okay thank you so much pepper that was amazing and so

interesting. And if anyone wants to find Pippa, there's a website. Pippa Campbell Health.com. And yes.com. And then I have my two Instagram accounts, Pippa Campbell underscore health, and buy Pippa Campbell, my newly branded supplements. Yes, I did see that, because that used to be beauty. Well, it was ages ago. And then it was Pippa Campbell supplements. But the thing is, it's more than supplements I'm doing. So we're doing a full rebrand. We're having beautiful pots made, refill packs. Like, we're going for the whole thing. I've got this amazing agency that are doing it all for me, spatial. Yeah, and my daughter works with them, so she's

doing my account as well. That's fantastic. Well, she is great because she just knows it all, so I don't have to do an awful lot. The pots are going to it beautiful, but because it's more than that, you know, we're doing the cast roll pack, we've got a body brush. So I want to expand. I want to do some nice teas as well. Gorgeous. I do a little wobble board every morning with my red light. Look, get you. I know. I'm honestly such a, I mean, I've always been so into it. I'm like, if anyone could see my morning reading is so weird. You've got the face mask on, you've got the red light, you're on the wobble board.

I've got the panel of the red light and I stand in front of it with like every morning. It's amazing. Anyway, yeah, thank you so, so much. Bye. Thank you. Bye. That's it for this week, Wednesdays. But, God, don't you just fancy some more, Melissa?

Yeah, I'd really love a follow-up to some of those dilemmas. I want to know what happens. Well, then, tiniies, we have got some news for you. We have launched a premium version of Wednesdays. Now listen, subscribers get access to the podcast ad free with bonus episodes. It's pretty amazing. It's also packed full of dilemma follow-ups, which we love, and some of our more personal stories and recommendations. And it's super easy.

You just listen on your favourite app. How cool is that? Amazing. And all the info is in the episode description and in our Instabio.