Pod Insights Dumb Blonde Dr. Cordovez: Bunnie's Dr. on Sleep, Obesity, & Medicine About this episode This week, Bunnie brings on her personal doctor and friend, Dr. Leah Cordovez - a calm, no-BS physician who blends science and nature to actually know her patients. They talk about Dr. C’s wild journey from Panama to private practice, what it’s like treating Bunnie’s weekly “emergencies,” and why the bond between doctor and patient matters more than we think. Dr. C also answers your questions about sleep, endometriosis, weight, poop (yes, really), and how to actually feel better without shame, shortcuts, or guesswork.
Dr. Cordovez: Be Well https://bewellihp.com/who-we-are/
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Transcript 10,940 words · 5 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Bunnie XO? Listen, nobody wants to give their money away to ridiculous bank fees. It's your money. You shouldn't have to pay somebody just to keep it in an account. That's why I like what Chime is doing. There are no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, and no minimum balance fees. You can also get 5% cash back on your Chime card in a category you choose, like gas or groceries, while building credit through your everyday spending with no credit check. And if you're ever in a pinch, SpotMe lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. To me, banking should make managing your money easier, not nickel and dime you every chance it gets. So if you're tired of ridiculous fees, Chime is definitely worth checking out. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number one choice for banking.
0:42 Bunnie XO? Head to chime.com/bunny. That's chime.com/b-u-n-n-i-e. Sign up now. It only takes a few minutes.
0:49 Speaker 01 Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Qualifying direct deposits required. Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com/disclosures for details.
1:01 Bunnie XO? We use Shopify for our storefront at bunnyxo.com. And one thing I've learned from running an online store is that you definitely don't have to be an e-commerce expert to get started. I think a lot of people get intimidated by the website side of starting a business, but Shopify makes that part so much easier. One of my favorite things is having everything in one place when you're running a business. You already have a million things going on, so the last thing you want is for managing your storefront to be one more thing to stress about. Shopify makes it easy to get your store launched, manage it, and actually focus on selling. They also have pre-built themes and an AI site builder that can help you create a professional-looking storefront without having to build a website from scratch. And if a friend asks me about starting a store before the holidays,
1:44 Bunnie XO? I tell them, "Don't wait until Black Friday. Get it launched. Learn what works for you and have everything ready before that holiday traffic starts coming in." If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com/bunny to start your free trial. That's Shopify.com/b-u-n-n-i-e. Go to Shopify.com/bunny today to hear your first
2:06 Bunnie XO? Hey guys, I need to ask you a question. I want to know why in the hell are you not on Patreon? I don't think you guys even realize how much content we have on Patreon. Let me break it down for you. We have the Bunny XO Show, we have Meet the D-Fords, we have Popaganda, we have more shows that we're adding, and not to mention, we have the visuals of the podcast. Head over to www.patreon.com backslash dumb blonde podcast and sign up. Bunny XO.
2:45 Bunnie XO? Is this thing on?
2:46 Speaker 02 Um, we can totally keep our relationship private.
2:50 Bunnie XO? No, do you want to or no?
2:51 Speaker 02 No, no, I'm fine.
2:52 Bunnie XO? Okay.
2:52 Speaker 02 Yeah, but I don't want to like out you two.
2:54 Bunnie XO? No, I wanted to brag to everybody. What are you kidding? You fucking put up with my shit all the time. Like.
3:00 Speaker 02 What shit? No, there's no shit.
3:02 Bunnie XO? I literally have a crisis every fucking week.
3:05 Speaker 02 Oh my god.
3:06 Bunnie XO? Every week I'm texting this woman. I'm like, what is happening? I have a new one. I have a new one I haven't even texted you about. I freaking have like this pain in my left side. This is gonna get graphic, I'm sorry, but.
3:20 Speaker 02 Hi, are you recording? Yep.
3:21 Bunnie XO? Oh, are you? Okay. Okay.
3:23 Speaker 02 No, no, do it.
3:24 Bunnie XO? We can do it on, no, we can do it on the podcast, because I have no shame. Alright, so I was just about to tell you guys my ailment, but let me welcome my favorite human in the world, Dr. Leah Cordovez, but I call her Dr. C, and this woman I'm telling you is just a gift from God. And I, once you guys hear her story and actually get to like hear her speak today on the podcast, you guys are gonna fall in love with her just as much as I am. Dr. C, thank you for being here.
3:50 Speaker 02 Thank you for having me. It's so cool.
3:52 Bunnie XO? Dude, I'm happy to have you here. You just have always had the best energy.
3:56 Speaker 02 Thank you.
3:56 Bunnie XO? It's, it's amazing. So I was just going into why I love you so much too is because I literally call you every week with a crisis. You're, you're like my personal doctor. So anytime I have an ailment, which is every day, I literally text this woman freaking out. I'm like, do I need a CAT scan? Do I need to do this? What's happened? Like last week, my eye, that was a crazy thing that was going on with my eye and. She healed it. It was fine. And she always is so calm. You're so calm. Like when I call you freaking out, you're just like, no, this is how you gotta do it. Let's do this. Don't freak out. Everything's fine. So, yeah.
4:35 Speaker 02 Well, calm, it doesn't come easy, but it comes with time. And all of the things that you send me are super easy. It's so much better to just call me. Don't, don't even worry about freaking out. I've seen everything at least 10 times. So it makes it easy.
4:49 Bunnie XO? Yeah. So I was just telling you about my new ailment. So while you're here, let's talk about it.
4:53 Speaker 02 What you got?
4:54 Bunnie XO? I keep having this pain on my left hand side when I orgasm, when I poop, and sometimes when I pee. It like, and I, I've Googled it and they said it's diverticulitis.
5:06 Speaker 02 Okay.
5:07 Bunnie XO? And I'm like freaking out now. Cause you know how I am. I try to fix things.
5:12 Speaker 02 So just at rest, it doesn't hurt?
5:14 Bunnie XO? No, at rest, it doesn't hurt. But if I'm pushing out, or if my muscles are spasming, it hurts.
5:20 Speaker 02 So that means that something moving in there has to, has to move to, so something has to move in there to irritate it. Which means it's probably something that's inflamed. A ligament, a muscle, it might be a little bit of an ovarian cyst, but something is irritated in there.
5:36 Bunnie XO? Up here this high?
5:37 Speaker 02 It could be. Your hip flexor can be up that high. But if it's something that comes and goes, and I tell everybody this, the bad, bad things come and stay. Yeah, they're not gonna come, say hi, I'll be back next week. If it's really bad, it's gonna come and stay. Diverticulitis doesn't let you go until you do something about it. So.
5:59 Bunnie XO? See what I'm saying? She always calms me down.
6:01 Speaker 02 I would say, I would say it's something inflamed. And if it persists a long, long time, or it gets worse, or it lasts longer, or it starts happening at rest, then that's when I'd, I'd wanna see you and maybe think about an ultrasound or a scan. But nothing is as good as somebody who knows you. And I think that helps it be calm. I know you, I know how healthy you are, and it's easy for me to. No, it's not that, but it's not that particular life. It ain't.
6:28 Bunnie XO? I love it. She looks at my blood work, too. This woman knows the roadmap to my soul. So.
6:33 Speaker 02 Well, it's easy to work with Danny, right?
6:35 Bunnie XO? Yeah. And so you, how do you and Danny know each other? Because all of you guys know Danny, who comes on the podcast. You guys absolutely love her. She is friends with Danny also. How do you guys know each other?
6:46 Speaker 02 Well, we're colleagues. So she's an integrative nurse practitioner and I am a doctor who did internal medicine. So I trained in the Western Internal Medicine System and I did a two-year fellowship in integrative medicine. So what that means is I can, I can bring the science and the nature into whatever needs to be done to make you better. So Danny does a lot of integrative and I do a mixture of both. So we're similar, but just a little different.
7:16 Bunnie XO? I love that. It's like, yeah, it's like your own little flair on it. I dig it so much. So my husband was telling me that you have a really cool story and I told him I wanted to be wowed on the podcast. So he gave me like little bits and pieces of it, but I want to hear your story. Like where did you come from? Why did you get into medicine? All that jazz.
7:35 Speaker 02 Yeah. So I'm from Panama.
7:38 Bunnie XO? Okay.
7:39 Speaker 02 And I don't think I've ever known anything else. It's always been, I've always known that I was going to be a doctor, but life in Panama was not easy. There was, there was not a lot of opportunities. So I had to keep taking turns and, and changing directions to do what I needed to do. We ended up in, we moved from Panama to a little town called Mount Pleasant, which is about 30 or 40 miles from here. And, and then I went to Vanderbilt for school. After that, I decided I'm going to go back home and, and practice. Anybody who knows me knows, I've said this a million times, I was going to practice on a mountain
8:20 Speaker 02 and get paid in mangoes. But then I got married and I ended up here in Nashville. It just has always felt like.
8:29 Speaker 02 The thing that I had to do, it was never easy, but whatever direction life took me, I I went with it until I could get back on track.
8:41 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
8:41 Speaker 02 And so I ended up working at St. Thomas for a lot of years and it just, just, I just couldn't figure out what was missing from my practice. And it ends up that it's the time and the relationship with your patient. It's not possible for someone to call you and say, hey, my right side or my left side hurts and and then be able to think through what it could be unless you know that patient. So then I I decided to leave the practice of medicine at St. Thomas and I opened up my little practice where I can spend as much time as I need to, to get to know my patient. And that is that practicing medicine calmly is so cool.
9:24 Bunnie XO? I love that. So let's circle back because you breeze over so much. So you grew up in Panama and you even as a child, you just knew that you wanted to help people.
9:33 Speaker 02 Always, always. While all the other little girls were playing with Barbies.
9:39 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
9:39 Speaker 02 Um, I had a little box of Band-Aids and I would,
9:45 Speaker 02 I would go to watch the boys play soccer, just waiting for one of them to fall. And then I'd, I'd put Band-Aids and hydrogen peroxide. And that was my thing, always, always, always.
9:58 Bunnie XO? So like a nurturer from the start. Was there anything that happened to you in your childhood that maybe pushed you in that direction? Or do you think maybe it was like from a past life that you were like a medicine woman or something?
10:08 Speaker 02 You know, I want to believe in in a past life, I I had some sort of magic.
10:16 Bunnie XO? I believe you did for sure. I'm I'm so into that. And listen, I just did, you can do your past lives. I don't know if you guys know this, but you can do your past lives and your soul contracts on ChatGPT now.
10:27 Speaker 02 Are you kidding?
10:28 Bunnie XO? Yes, we need to do yours. And I would love to see it because I was, I was a healer in a lot of my past lives. I was also a hooker in one. I was also like a military person. Like it's. Crazy, but when you go back in your past lives, you start seeing this and you're just like, this makes so much sense as to why I have been the way I've been my entire life.
10:48 Speaker 02 Yeah.
10:48 Bunnie XO? So I would be curious to see if maybe you were like a medicine woman and maybe one of your past lives.
10:53 Speaker 02 I hope so.
10:54 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
10:54 Speaker 02 I hope so.
10:55 Bunnie XO? Cause you're like a medicine woman now.
10:56 Speaker 02 It feels so natural.
10:58 Bunnie XO? Hmm.
10:58 Speaker 02 It feels so natural. Yeah. I love it.
11:02 Bunnie XO? I love it. So how do you get, how do you go to school, medical school in Panama? How does that happen?
11:09 Speaker 02 Well, it wasn't easy.
11:10 Bunnie XO? Okay.
11:10 Speaker 02 It wasn't easy. Um, I remember I was a little bit lost. So, so it was, there was a,
11:18 Speaker 02 a big event, uh, that happened my senior year in college and just didn't have the money to, to re-enroll. And I was kind of rolling around, what am I going to do? I'm never going to get this done. This is going to be horrible. I did that, uh, for a while, just trying to find my way. I audited classes while I took the MCATs and I just kept spinning my wheels. Um,
11:43 Speaker 02 but somebody I met in Miami when I was 21 years old, which by the way, is a whole nother story.
11:50 Bunnie XO? Oh yeah. Miami back in the days was lit, dude.
11:53 Speaker 02 Oh my God. It was lit. So good. Um, somebody in Miami said, why don't you just go to medical school in Panama? And I said, what? Okay. So I found the number. I called and I said, how much does it cost to go to medical school? And they said $19. A what? $19 a semester. Seriously? Can I, like, can it, where do I apply? Sign me up. So, uh,
12:15 Bunnie XO? Is it the same type of medical school that you would have in the US?
12:19 Speaker 02 It's a little bit harder.
12:21 Bunnie XO? Wow.
12:21 Speaker 02 Yes. So it's six years instead of four years.
12:24 Bunnie XO? Wow.
12:25 Speaker 02 And, um, and 2,500 people, at least the year that I applied, 2,500 people took the psychological aptitude test. And if you pass that, then you could take the, uh, the entrance exam. So 2,500 people applied, 130 people got in and 30 of us graduated. So it's no fricking joke.
12:49 Speaker 02 But I applied, I applied, I got in, I moved to Panama and I lived with a friend. And of course, everybody said, it's not going to work, you're not going to be able to do it. It's, it's, you're wasting your time going there. But I knew that that's what I had to do and nothing, nothing, this distracted me for sure. But nothing could take that, it wasn't okay to do anything else.
13:20 Bunnie XO? Yeah, it was just etched in your soul.
13:22 Speaker 02 Etched in my soul.
13:24 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
13:24 Speaker 02 So I lived wherever I had to live.
13:28 Bunnie XO? Yes, survival mode.
13:30 Speaker 02 Survival mode for six years and, and, and finished.
13:37 Bunnie XO? Wow.
13:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:38 Bunnie XO? So all six years, just
13:41 Speaker 02 Trying to make it.
13:42 Bunnie XO? Grueling.
13:43 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:43 Bunnie XO? Finally graduate.
13:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:45 Bunnie XO? What happens after you graduate? Do you just instantly get into a practice? Cause I heard you say that you were going to get paid by mangoes.
13:51 Speaker 02 That's what I wanted.
13:52 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
13:52 Speaker 02 That's what, mangoes and chickens, yeah.
13:54 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
13:54 Speaker 02 Um, so
13:56 Bunnie XO? I love that. You're like, I'm a doctor, just pay me a mangoes and chicken.
13:59 Speaker 02 Greenies and mangoes.
14:00 Bunnie XO? I love that.
14:00 Speaker 02 Yeah, not the green ones. The, the space between my first and second semester of the last year of medical school, I came to visit my mother here and I met the man who would be my husband and
14:18 Bunnie XO? Is your family from Panama?
14:20 Speaker 02 Yes.
14:20 Bunnie XO? And then your mom moved here?
14:22 Speaker 02 Yes.
14:22 Bunnie XO? Okay, gotcha.
14:22 Speaker 02 Yes. My father's still there. I have siblings there, aunts and uncles. I have a brother and sister here, but it was, it was love. And he tried living there, didn't work, we moved back and
14:42 Speaker 02 That lasted 11 years.
14:44 Bunnie XO? Oh.
14:45 Speaker 02 Yeah, no, it's great.
14:46 Bunnie XO? No, I love that. 11 years is a good run, man.
14:49 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:50 Bunnie XO? It's a good run.
14:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
14:51 Bunnie XO? So was he a doctor too?
14:52 Speaker 02 No.
14:53 Bunnie XO? No, okay. So you moved to the US. What was it like doing medicine in Panama and then coming here to do medicine? Was it kind of like a culture shock a little bit?
15:02 Speaker 02 It was a little bit of a culture shock. I was amazed at how much sooner things get taken care of here. So by the time a patient comes to the doctor in Panama, it is super far gone.
15:16 Bunnie XO? Oh, no.
15:17 Speaker 02 So, yeah, breast cancers were, yeah, were super advanced. It's, it's just on a culture where, where self-care
15:27 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
15:28 Speaker 02 is a priority, maybe because there's just not that, not the, not the availability, not the money. I worked at the, at the public hospital, so it was, it was pretty rough. So when I came here, I thought, girl, that's nothing.
15:42 Bunnie XO? Right.
15:43 Speaker 02 I've seen it so many times. Yeah, so, but we also had stuff that, that you don't see here, right? So pancreatitis here is usually from alcohol use and pancreatitis there is from a scorpion bite. So, yeah, so I was always just a little off on my, on my diagnostic skills and we couldn't.
16:03 Bunnie XO? You're like, you've been bit by a scorpion.
16:05 Speaker 02 Right, exactly. Exactly. And, yeah, I was off for about six months until I, until I caught on that we had changed latitudes. That, yeah, the, the tropical diseases that didn't exist here, that was a, that was a switch. And parasites are, are so, so common there, not so common here. Just big differences like that. But in a third world country, in a, in a, a system where medicine is taught.
16:37 Speaker 02 Clinically, you have to put your hands on the patient, listen, feel, percuss. You have to figure out what's going on before you order any imaging. So that was incredibly valuable. That was really cool to bring with me.
16:55 Bunnie XO? Wow.
16:56 Speaker 02 Yeah. Before we could order an x-ray, you had to know how high up the fluid was in what lung.
17:01 Bunnie XO? Wow.
17:01 Speaker 02 Yeah. Yeah.
17:03 Bunnie XO? So that just made you like precision sharp whenever you got here.
17:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
17:06 Bunnie XO? Yeah. Because you just know what to look for.
17:08 Speaker 02 Yeah. That helps a lot.
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18:17 Speaker 03 Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, board certified OB-GYN and menopause specialist. My podcast, UnPaused, is the place for bold, unfiltered conversations about what it really takes for women to thrive in the second half of life. Every week, I sit down with medical experts and leading voices to talk about the health issues that matter most. Because UnPaused isn't just about the years you live, but how well you live them. Listen and follow UnPaused with me, Dr. Mary Claire Haver, wherever you get your podcasts.
18:47 Bunnie XO? So, um, take me on this journey of starting your own practice, because you said that you worked at St. Thomas, which is actually a great hospital.
18:56 Speaker 02 Super good.
18:56 Bunnie XO? Anytime I had like heart problems or anything like that, I would always go to St. Thomas. And they always did such a great, when I, they misdiagnosed me with a freaking brain aneurysm last year.
19:05 Speaker 02 Yeah.
19:06 Bunnie XO? Yeah, it was wild. St. Thomas is actually, aren't they the ones who the, the, the, what is it called vascular surgeon there was like, you do not have a brain aneurysm. And then I got a second opinion too. And he was like, you do not have a brain aneurysm. And I was just like, oh my God, thank you. But yeah, St. Thomas is like a prestigious hospital. And what did you do there? So were you like emergency medicine?
19:27 Speaker 02 So I, when I came from Panama, so even if you've done a residency in another country, you have to do another one here.
19:35 Bunnie XO? Yikes.
19:36 Speaker 02 So when I came from Panama, I applied to several residencies and, and, and the one at Baptist, it used to be Baptist St. Thomas, was the, was the best fit for me. So I did a residency there and residencies are generally July 1st through June 30th. At the end of my residency year, I didn't feel like I knew enough. So I did a chief residency year and, and by the time that year was over, on June 30th was my last days chief. July 1st at nine o'clock, I was in the office, ready to see a patient.
20:14 Bunnie XO? So during a residency, you can't have patients or you, or you're under somebody?
20:18 Speaker 02 You're under somebody. So it's the residency, the clinic at the, with the residents. But once you go from being a resident to being an attending, you get paid three or four times more.
20:30 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
20:31 Speaker 02 And
20:32 Bunnie XO? Not mangoes and chicken.
20:33 Speaker 02 All you. That's right. That's a lot of freaking mangoes. Yeah, that's a lot. You get a lot more mangoes.
20:40 Speaker 02 But it's all you. It's all, you can't turn around and go, what do you think this is? So it's all you and I could not wait. So yeah.
20:49 Bunnie XO? I love the tenacity that you have.
20:51 Speaker 02 Yeah. Yeah. It always had to happen, Bunny. Like it always had to happen. There was no,
20:59 Speaker 02 there was no compromising. It just had to happen.
21:01 Bunnie XO? I love that. Yeah. So when you finally get to see your first patient, what's the diagnosis? What, what happened?
21:07 Speaker 02 Listen, I still, like, I feel like if I could look that chart up and apologize to him.
21:15 Bunnie XO? No.
21:16 Speaker 02 This is a horrible story. I don't think I should say it.
21:19 Bunnie XO? We can always cut it.
21:19 Speaker 02 Okay, listen.
21:21 Bunnie XO? Because you gotta tell it now.
21:22 Speaker 02 Okay, I gotta tell it. Okay. So internist, so internal medicine is everything you can't cut out. Right? So blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid.
21:32 Speaker 02 Anything you can't cut out is what I take care of. So, most of my patients are either high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart. On the first day of my, of my first gig,
21:48 Speaker 02 I was seeing other doctors' patients that were being put on my schedule just overflow.
21:53 Bunnie XO? Right.
21:53 Speaker 02 While I built up my clinic. Notoriously, internists are horrible at rashes.
22:00 Bunnie XO? Oh.
22:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, horrible at rashes. So, the very first patient, bless his sweet soul.
22:07 Bunnie XO? No.
22:07 Speaker 02 Was a rash.
22:09 Bunnie XO? Oh.
22:09 Speaker 02 And where's the rash? Right. My very first patient with his sweet wife.
22:17 Bunnie XO? Oh, no.
22:17 Speaker 02 Came for help with a rash on his, on his glands. And I remember thinking-
22:27 Bunnie XO? His what? His glands?
22:28 Speaker 02 It's the, you know, the, his penis.
22:30 Bunnie XO? Okay.
22:31 Speaker 02 His penis.
22:31 Bunnie XO? Okay, gotcha. I didn't know. I thought it was butthole. I instantly went for, I instantly went for butthole.
22:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah. No, I wish it was the butthole. It would have felt better, like, with him facing the other way.
22:40 Bunnie XO? Right.
22:41 Speaker 02 You know?
22:42 Bunnie XO? I don't gotta look you in the eye, buddy.
22:44 Speaker 02 I know that he could see it in my face when I went, ah, uh, yeah. And today, I have the maturity to say, eh? I don't know. But that day, I just, um...
23:04 Bunnie XO? Did we ever figure out what the rash was?
23:07 Speaker 02 Well, I gave him a little cream.
23:09 Bunnie XO? Oh, I love cream.
23:09 Speaker 02 And it got better.
23:11 Bunnie XO? Oh, good.
23:11 Speaker 02 So, I can't, I cannot say that I knew exactly what that was.
23:15 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
23:15 Speaker 02 Uh, but it was the most, it was the hardest.
23:21 Bunnie XO? God's got a sense of humor, right?
23:22 Speaker 02 Yes, yes. It was, it was the one thing I probably could never have solved.
23:26 Bunnie XO? Oh.
23:26 Speaker 02 On the first day of my first job.
23:28 Bunnie XO? Why was it? Was it, can I, can I ask? Was it like herpes? Or was it like a heat rash? Or was it like, you just, it was like, fell under an umbrella of just rash?
23:36 Speaker 02 It was, it was, it was, listen, I would not have even, if I had that somewhere on my body, I would probably not have gone to the doctor.
23:46 Bunnie XO? Oh, okay.
23:46 Speaker 02 It was such a subtle, tiny little rash.
23:50 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
23:50 Speaker 02 That, I mean, I, I cannot imagine what my face was like when I was like-
23:54 Bunnie XO? His wife probably made him go. She's probably like, you're fucking around. We're going to the doctor. You know what I'm saying? That's why she was there with him.
24:01 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah. Maybe they, they, they both seemed super sweet.
24:04 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
24:05 Speaker 02 They were a super sweet couple, but it, I don't know.
24:08 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
24:09 Speaker 02 Uh, I still don't know. I've never seen anything like it again and, uh, and it got better. Yeah.
24:14 Bunnie XO? I love that. She's like, I gave him cream, it cleared up.
24:17 Speaker 02 Cleared up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
24:19 Bunnie XO? So take me on the journey of leaving St. Thomas and opening your own practice. Is that's gotta be a scary job.
24:26 Speaker 02 It was. Well, I didn't not know. I didn't know how hard it was gonna be or else I wouldn't have done it.
24:31 Bunnie XO? Oh shit.
24:32 Speaker 02 It was so, so complicated. So it started because every patient became really important to me. And, and I find myself, I found myself, no, hold on, you're too complicated. You get the spot right before lunch. Or you're too complicated. You get the spot the last one of the day. And I ended up working through lunch, staying an extra hour. So my difficult patients, I would take time away from myself or my kids to take care of. And so it started rumbling in my mind, how can I, how can I deliver this differently? Because what I need to do is form that bond. I think the bond is so therapeutic.
25:16 Speaker 02 I cannot practice medicine unless we have established that I love you, I respect you, I'm gonna take care of you and you're safe.
25:22 Bunnie XO? No.
25:24 Speaker 02 It was hard. It was really hard to do. And so that it's another point in my life where I couldn't not do it.
25:34 Bunnie XO? Right. It was just something inside of you was like, you have to do this.
25:37 Speaker 02 You have to do it. You have to do it. So, um, I don't remember. It took a lot of years to finally be okay with saying to the ton of patients that I was taking care of that I had to go. It, it kept me a long time.
25:55 Bunnie XO? And did some of them follow you?
25:57 Speaker 02 Yes.
25:57 Bunnie XO? Okay.
25:58 Speaker 02 Yes.
25:58 Bunnie XO? Good.
25:59 Speaker 02 Yes. It's wonderful that, that some of them could. And the ones that didn't, I still truly love. And I, and I recently realized that I don't think that they know how important they are to me. Because when somebody says, hey, remember me? Of course, like of course, how's your mom? How's your grandma? What happened to your son? So of course, it was just too much. So we went into private practice the year that COVID hit.
26:29 Bunnie XO? Oh goodness.
26:31 Speaker 02 And thank goodness that we were able to see COVID athletes because that kind of carried us. For a while there, every athlete that had COVID had to be, had to have a cardiac clearance.
26:44 Bunnie XO? Right.
26:44 Speaker 02 So that kept us alive.
26:47 Bunnie XO? Wow.
26:48 Speaker 02 Yeah, for a while.
26:49 Bunnie XO? But it's because you're following your heart and you're leading with love that God always takes care of you every jump that you take.
26:54 Speaker 02 100%.
26:57 Bunnie XO? Yeah, you can see it.
26:57 Speaker 02 100%. Even on the days that are so dark and scary, I know that something good will come with the dawn. I know that something good will come. Yeah. I, I know it, I feel it. I know that my days are just trying to spread that love and, and, and create those bonds that we're supposed to have. I think that this time on earth is for us to be able to touch each other, smell each other, taste really good food, drink really good drinks and, and have fun in a physical way. But fundamentally, we are here to love one another.
27:42 Bunnie XO? Yep.
27:42 Speaker 02 So why people would waste any time being assholes?
27:45 Bunnie XO? Yeah, I don't understand.
27:46 Speaker 02 Yeah, I don't understand that.
27:47 Bunnie XO? I literally was just lecturing one of my friends the other day because she just, every time she texts me, it's about some drama. And I'm like, stop polluting your life. You have this life to live and not forever. Like just.
27:58 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:59 Bunnie XO? Fucking have fun.
28:01 Speaker 02 Correct.
28:01 Bunnie XO? Spread joy.
28:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:02 Bunnie XO? Be fucking happy. Like it's, it's not that hard to choose happiness every day.
28:07 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:07 Bunnie XO? So tell me what your practice does now? Because you said that you take, you know, modern medicine and mix it with integrative medicine.
28:15 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:16 Bunnie XO? For the listeners at home, what exactly does that entail?
28:20 Speaker 02 Yeah, so really you cannot practice medicine.
28:25 Speaker 02 Or at least my type of medicine without truly knowing the patient. So we sit down and we talk about, how are you sleeping? What are you eating? How do you feel? And we get beyond just the basic labs. So I have a wonderful, wonderful new patient that he was having trouble controlling his cholesterol. He had been everywhere on every medicine, was getting energy treatments for it and cholesterol and triglycerides were still super high. Well, we talked, we talked about his family history, we did some investigating, I put a glucose monitor on him. He's got insulin resistance, which was driving high cholesterol. Fixing
29:07 Speaker 02 that, fix the cholesterol. So I've heard Denny say, and everyone has heard Denny say, things that are caused by lifestyle can be solved by lifestyle. Every once in a while, you need medicine, but most of the time, if you can fix it with changing your life, change your life.
29:24 Bunnie XO? Yes. I fully 100% believe in that. Yeah. Any ailment I've ever had has been from a food I was eating, or not working out enough, or not sleeping. So you know me, I'm like, I will not take medicine unless I have to. She prescribed me some eye drops the other day, and I fricking found some Reddit group that like, was dedicated, it's called the Flocksies. It was dedicated to fricking this type of, and I was like, I love you, I'm not putting this in my eye. And she's like, it's fine, don't do it.
29:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, no problem. That's the other thing that I, without a relationship, a two-way relationship, you would not have been able to tell me, hey, let's do erythromycin instead of Cipro. Because it doesn't bother me, we could have used either one. But for you to say, let's do that, fine. It's not me, it's you.
30:15 Bunnie XO? Oh yeah. One thing I'm gonna do is advocate.
30:18 Speaker 02 Yeah. Yes, yes. And you should. Everyone should. Everyone should.
30:23 Bunnie XO? I preach that from the mountaintops on this podcast, is anything, doesn't matter if it's medical, lifestyle, anything, always advocate for yourself, always speak up.
30:34 Speaker 02 Always, always, always.
30:36 Bunnie XO? Because you're gonna find your people, you'll find your tribe, and they'll listen to you.
30:38 Speaker 02 Yes, that's right. That's right. So, so once you get down to what, what is going on with this person, somebody whose asthma I couldn't get under control, I would not have known. She's exposed to car fumes because in the mornings she worked at the, at the daycare, greeting the children. So she was out there under the carport.
30:59 Bunnie XO? Wow.
31:00 Speaker 02 So fixing that fixed her asthma and so much, so much easier. So that's integrative medicine is not just jumping to the medicine, although you did need a little bit.
31:11 Bunnie XO? I did. Something was really wrong with my damn life.
31:14 Speaker 02 For your eye. But fixing what's causing it is, is just as important as giving a medicine.
31:22 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
31:22 Speaker 02 Yeah.
31:22 Bunnie XO? Absolutely.
31:23 Speaker 02 Yeah. So that's my flavor is mixing, um, what can we do with what can I give you? Or what other supplements can we use and, and that works. But I now have obesity medicine.
31:35 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
31:36 Speaker 02 That I love.
31:37 Bunnie XO? Which is, is it like a peptide or what is it?
31:40 Speaker 02 No, it's medicine for, for obesity.
31:43 Bunnie XO? Okay.
31:43 Speaker 02 So being fat is not fun, right?
31:47 Bunnie XO? Right.
31:47 Speaker 02 Um, and it's not easy to change your weight or your metabolic set point. Um, that unlocking that is key. If I could, if I could shout something from the mountaintops, it's start with loving where you are, what you've got. Because if you hate it, you're not going to take care of it.
32:09 Bunnie XO? Well, and that, and you also feed your mind negative, you know, what your mind feels the body will follow. And I truly am a huge believer in that.
32:17 Speaker 02 Percent. 100%, 100%.
32:19 Bunnie XO? So what is this obesity medicine called?
32:22 Speaker 02 So, so I wish I could do more of it, but it is basically people come in and say, I'm having trouble losing weight.
32:28 Bunnie XO? Right.
32:28 Speaker 02 Then we sit down and we talk, what's going on? How are you eating? How are you sleeping? How are you moving? And I, I really enjoyed doing, studying for the, for obesity medicine because.
32:42 Speaker 02 There were so many things that I did not know were caused by just how much adipose tissue, just how much fat is around. So, things like exchanging oxygen in your lungs is a little bit more complicated when there's, when there's more fat than lean muscle. Capillaries don't get good blood flow when there's more fat than muscle. So, I remember telling my trainers, "Man, I feel like I'm gonna pass out."
33:06 Bunnie XO? Oh.
33:07 Speaker 02 And, and my trainers would say, "Keep on going."
33:10 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
33:10 Speaker 02 Uh, but it is 2025 and it's time for people to know that you don't have to suffer to make changes that will make you healthier and leaner.
33:21 Bunnie XO? Right.
33:22 Speaker 02 Because strong is fucking beautiful.
33:25 Bunnie XO? Yeah, absolutely.
33:26 Speaker 02 It's not thin, it's not a size of pants, it is strength, um, emotional strength and physical strength. And that, that's what I want to create more of before I leave this world.
33:39 Bunnie XO? Yes. So, the obesity thing that you have, is it just like food counseling or does it, and then you figure out for each patient, it's different, like, one patient you would give like trisapetide, another patient, what's something else, like what's a protocol that you would give three different patients?
33:55 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's such a great question. I don't think we have a protocol because everybody gets their own, uh, their own thing. But, there's something for everybody.
34:06 Bunnie XO? Okay, what about like a, like a 45-year-old peri-menopausal woman who can't lose the last five pounds?
34:13 Speaker 02 Oh, my God.
34:14 Bunnie XO? She's been trying to lose.
34:15 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah. First of all, the, um, practicing obesity medicine in 2025, I said before, is unlike anything we have ever seen. So, these injections, whatever your thoughts are about them, they are potent in the, in the gut, in the brain, and in those areas that control hunger, cravings, and satiety. We have never had a medicine that shuts off those messages like, like, like these do.
34:47 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
34:47 Speaker 02 Um, there's a lot of genetics and a lot of hormones involved in, in, in what you crave and how much you eat and how much calories you burn. It is not calories in, calories out. So, a 45-year-old, and even-
35:04 Speaker 02 From 40 to 50, that peri-menopause, your brain starts getting messages that your ovaries, the hormones that your ovaries produce, your brain starts getting messages about storing adipose tissue in your midsection. So as our estrogen sputters, we tend to create a little bit more fat deposits in the midsection. Have you noticed?
35:29 Bunnie XO? Hmm.
35:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
35:30 Bunnie XO? Yes.
35:30 Speaker 02 Um, so with that, uh, with that type of person, we would probably track macros, keep the, um, the estrogen testosterone as, as stable as possible, um, not over exercise, because what we want to do is tell your body that it's safe to release those fat stores. So your body will protect you by, by hanging on to them, but it's safe to release. So kind, gentle exercise and don't poke the insulin bear with carbs.
36:04 Bunnie XO? How do you feel about weightlifting?
36:07 Speaker 02 I feel amazing.
36:08 Bunnie XO? Yeah. Cause doesn't weightlifting spike insulin also though, too?
36:13 Speaker 02 So weightlifting, it can do different things to different people, but the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn just sleeping.
36:21 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
36:22 Speaker 02 So, and the more muscle you have, the more muscle you will have as you get older. So,
36:30 Speaker 02 by the time you're 50, you start losing 2% of muscle mass a year unless you're doing something about it. So I feel amazing about weightlifting.
36:38 Bunnie XO? Right.
36:39 Speaker 02 And if there's an excuse why you're not doing it, get over it.
36:44 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
36:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:45 Bunnie XO? Do it. No, I love it. I weightlift, I weightlift five times a week now. Like I'm on it. So I have a Patreon community that is obsessed with all things medical. Lay down, son. And we're gonna go over there and take some questions from them, if that's okay with you.
37:03 Speaker 02 Let's do it.
37:03 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
37:04 Speaker 02 Let's go.
37:05 Bunnie XO? Let's do it. All right. So the first question that we have for you is from Shannon. And she said, I struggle so much with my stage four endometriosis to where I'm worried I'll not be able to continue working. Do you have any advice at this point would be great as many of us women struggle with endo and it seems no one is talking about it. Y'all know I love being comfortable, especially when it gets cold. That's why I'm loving Bombas this time of year. They make the absolute best socks, slippers and winter footwear to keep you warm and cozy all season long. I love their plush gripper socks and cushy sundae slippers for lounging around the house. And when I'm running errands, their water resistant suede booties are just as comfortable.
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38:23 Speaker 02 Yeah, this is, this is, endometriosis is an inflammatory. What's causing pain is inflammation of these little tiny deposits. So every time a woman menstrua- has a period, the ovule should go into the fallopian tube and drop through the vagina as part of your period. In people that have endometriosis, the ovule has fallen outside so that there's little pieces of tissue that are hormone receptive. Just either stuck to your colon or to your bladder, somewhere they've landed in your pelvis. Every single month, when they get the trigger from the estrogen and progesterone surges,
39:07 Speaker 02 they start swelling up and getting inflamed.
39:11 Speaker 02 So the pain from endometriosis comes from inflammation. Anything you can do, there's medicines, there's surgery, and I'm not a GYN, but anything you can do to decrease the inflammation will help with the pain. Calcium and magnesium before periods help with the inflammation of the endometriosis. And sugar is no good.
39:33 Bunnie XO? Yes.
39:33 Speaker 02 Sugar is the devil. So it goes, I love it. I love that devil. But it doesn't serve us well when it increases inflammation. So gluten is super inflammatory. Sugar is super inflammatory. Alcohol, because it's mostly, sugars are super inflammatory. So if you wanted to try to mitigate that pain, just for shits and giggles, see what happens when you decrease your sugar, just maybe the two weeks before your period.
40:00 Bunnie XO? I haven't had sugar in two and a half years. And it's been a game changer for my body. Game changer for my body and for my mental health.
40:09 Speaker 02 Yep.
40:09 Bunnie XO? My anxiety used to be at a 22. My anxiety is at a 2 now. If I start having a panic attack, I can control it. Like it's, it's been a godsend. I don't think people realize how bad sugar just wreaks havoc on your body.
40:23 Speaker 02 For sure. Because when you don't have, when you, when you have it a lot and you don't have it, you go into withdrawals and it feels horrible.
40:30 Bunnie XO? It's like a drug addiction.
40:31 Speaker 02 Horrible, awful. But once you get through those first three days and you become a, I really don't eat sugar. How long has it been since I've eaten? So I'm, I'm not at a year yet.
40:43 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
40:43 Speaker 02 But I decided, okay, sugar is, is just not my friend. And you're totally right. My mood is a lot more steady. Things don't hurt like they used to. I can sleep so much better. Yeah.
40:56 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
40:57 Speaker 02 And sugar, everything has sugar.
40:58 Bunnie XO? Let's talk about sleep for a second.
41:00 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
41:00 Bunnie XO? So I know a lot of people like love to sleep. And I mean, as a teenager, you can sleep like the dead. As you get older, that sleep pattern changes. Why does that sleep pattern change? Why are some women waking up at four o'clock in the morning, not being able to go back to bed at, until 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM again? Having that broken sleep and how can we fix that?
41:25 Speaker 02 Well, we were designed to be, to sleep kind of in two stages. So, um, so as teenagers, we would wake up a little bit and then go right back to sleep. And then as we get older, we wake up and we start thinking, that plant.
41:41 Speaker 02 Planet in the front, man. She's getting too much sun. And then you start going through the Rolodex of all the things to worry about. That's number one is get a hold of that train that wants to take you to worrying about stuff in the middle of the night that you can't do anything about.
41:57 Bunnie XO? Right.
41:59 Speaker 02 Number one. Number two, it's a lot, a lot of it's related to hormones. And then as we age, you just don't need as much sleep. And it's related to how many cycles of REM. But.
42:11 Bunnie XO? So you don't need as much.
42:13 Speaker 02 You don't need as much sleep. Correct.
42:14 Bunnie XO? Okay.
42:15 Speaker 02 That's why your grandma gets up at four.
42:17 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
42:18 Speaker 02 Yeah. But she's asleep by six.
42:20 Bunnie XO? Right. But is grandma still getting eight hours in though?
42:25 Speaker 02 No, no. Her body simply doesn't need eight hours.
42:28 Bunnie XO? So as we get older, how much sleep do you think we need?
42:31 Speaker 02 About five. I like, I think the magic, and this, this is individual. But the magic number is five because you can go into enough REM cycles to reset your brain. And it's only during sleep that you can erase everything from the day before.
42:50 Bunnie XO? Wow.
42:51 Speaker 02 Otherwise, if you're, if you're not sleeping and you're not resting, your brain remembers the car that almost hit you at the Kroger parking lot. And things that have no, no business in today are still in there. So rest, especially, especially really good, deep sleep clears your brain, prepares you for learning, and that's when you heal wounds.
43:16 Bunnie XO? Yeah, that's amazing way to look at it. I'm like absorbing it because it's so real. Because I get probably about six hours of sleep a night. And I've, there's some days that I wake up at five hours and I'm like ready to rock and roll.
43:27 Speaker 02 Great.
43:28 Bunnie XO? But then I tell myself, I'm like, should I get three more hours? You know, because everybody says you need to get eight to 10 hours of sleep. And I'm like, who has, first of all, who has the time? Secondly, like, sometimes I don't want to sleep eight to 10 hours.
43:38 Speaker 02 Yeah. And if you could give yourself a gift, it's, if you, if you could give yourself the gift of sleep. Give it to yourself on the front end. So go to sleep early.
43:46 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
43:47 Speaker 02 Uh, rather than staying asleep longer because the quality, quality stuff that heals you is at the beginning of the night.
43:54 Bunnie XO? Yeah. Wow. Okay. I didn't know that. And I have been trying to make myself go to sleep early and I just can't do it. But, okay. So here's another question from Gina.
44:03 Speaker 02 Okay.
44:04 Bunnie XO? She said, do you have any home remedies for H. pylori when antibiotics don't work?
44:10 Speaker 02 Hmm. What a great question. So I do not. I do not. That's, that's the short answer. But H. pylori is a bacteria. And then there's a little bit of, um, of controversy about this, whether it's a bacteria that's always in your gut, that doesn't cause any problems and it lives happily with the others. But the, the general consensus in medicine is H. pylori can cause ulcers and those ulcers can cause gastric cancer. So in general, we want to get rid of H. pylori. The gold standard for diagnosing H. pylori is either a stool antigen or a breath test. If you're diagnosing H. pylori in blood, then you're getting a false positive
44:53 Speaker 02 because once you've had it and you treat it, you will always have the antibodies. So if you took the medicine for H. pylori, you eradicated it, but you're checking your blood to see if it's still there, then you're always going to be positive, but the H. pylori is not actually there.
45:11 Bunnie XO? Wow.
45:12 Speaker 02 So before you do any, any home remedies, make sure that what you're, what you're seeing is not just the antibodies because just like anybody who's ever had mono, you're going to see mono antibodies and not necessarily the mono infection.
45:26 Bunnie XO? So they would need to take a stool sample?
45:28 Speaker 02 Yes. A stool sample or a breath test.
45:30 Bunnie XO? Okay.
45:30 Speaker 02 And advocate for yourself.
45:32 Bunnie XO? Yes.
45:32 Speaker 02 Tell your doctor, hey, I really want to know whether it's just the antibody or, uh, whether I have a reinfection.
45:39 Bunnie XO? Hmm. I'm telling you, there's nothing more humbling than pooping in a lunch cart.
45:44 Speaker 02 Correct.
45:45 Bunnie XO? In the hot dog. The hot dog container. You never just feel so humbled when to just stand in a bathroom holding a log.
45:54 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:54 Bunnie XO? Yeah. It's crazy.
45:55 Speaker 02 There's few things.
45:56 Bunnie XO? Yeah, few things. I don't, and everybody always wants to do those. And I'm like, can we not? I'm like, I just don't. But you know what? They're necessary. So you guys, please do it.
46:04 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:04 Bunnie XO? Um, Brandy wants to know, how do you stop perimenopause itching?
46:11 Bunnie XO? I've heard this so much from women that say that
46:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:15 Bunnie XO? they get like the worst itching.
46:17 Speaker 02 You mean vaginal itching?
46:18 Bunnie XO? I'm not sure. I've heard people say that it's on their skin and their ears. Like, but does it happen in the vagina too?
46:25 Speaker 02 Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's where I mostly, that's where, that's where most of the itching occurs.
46:31 Bunnie XO? New fear unlocked.
46:33 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:34 Bunnie XO? Holy fucking shitballs.
46:35 Speaker 02 I'm here for you.
46:36 Bunnie XO? Okay.
46:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, no.
46:37 Bunnie XO? I'm gonna be dragging my hoot and hatty on the fucking carpet like a dog.
46:39 Speaker 02 Yeah. So.
46:42 Bunnie XO? It's gotta be wrong.
46:44 Speaker 02 During perimenopause, there's so many estrogen and progesterone surges. It can, there's receptors for estrogen everywhere, your skin, your brain, your, your organs and your vagina. So when your levels are sputtering, things change. So in that case, I would, and there's not a real easy way to diagnose perimenopause, except to look at the constellation of symptoms. And they're super, super quiet. So you don't really know you're perimenopausal until you've felt crazy for two years.
47:24 Bunnie XO? Wow.
47:25 Speaker 02 Yeah. Yeah. Or one of your kids says, Mom.
47:28 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
47:29 Speaker 02 Or a Keith Sweat song didn't hit like it used to.
47:32 Bunnie XO? Right.
47:32 Speaker 02 You lose, you lose, you lose patience, you lose libido, you lose motivation. And you don't really know that this is happening. So if you're itching and, and anything else is happening, then be on the lookout for menopause symptoms that you can control. And go talk to somebody about it. You could do things like Black Kohosh, you could do, you could try plant sterols that could, that could mimic, or you could just get on a hormone.
48:08 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
48:08 Speaker 02 Which we know are safe.
48:10 Bunnie XO? Yeah. Do you suggest HRT for women who are perimenopausal and menopausal?
48:17 Speaker 02 If that's right for you.
48:19 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
48:20 Speaker 02 If that's right for the patient, then I don't, I don't have a single solitary problem. And when I go.
48:29 Bunnie XO? I want a little bit of Jill.
48:30 Speaker 02 Yeah. Make sure I have some on.
48:32 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
48:33 Speaker 02 It just, there's just so many receptors that estrogen is so important for.
48:38 Bunnie XO? I love estrogen.
48:39 Speaker 02 I love estrogen.
48:39 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
48:40 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:40 Bunnie XO? When I was going through my IVF stems, my body was loving the estrogen. Hated the progesterone, loved the estrogen though.
48:47 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:47 Bunnie XO? Like, my estrogen levels were like over like 1500, I think. And I was, I felt great.
48:53 Speaker 02 Yeah.
48:53 Bunnie XO? I was fucking thriving.
48:55 Speaker 02 Yeah. No itching?
48:56 Bunnie XO? No itching.
48:56 Speaker 02 No itching.
48:57 Bunnie XO? No itching. I don't ever have any itching. I haven't had itching yet, thank God. But, you know, listen, I've heard, I sympathize with these women who have to go through all of that.
49:05 Speaker 02 Yeah.
49:06 Bunnie XO? Um, so another one of our Patreon members wants to know, pooping. How to poop? I eat fruits and veggies all the time and I still cannot poop. I'm, is it because I don't eat meat? Help. Constipated from Missouri.
49:24 Speaker 02 Um, no, it is not because you don't eat meat.
49:28 Bunnie XO? Yeah, meat clogs some people up.
49:30 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah. Meat can slow transit. You would be surprised at how much fiber fruit doesn't have.
49:36 Bunnie XO? Right, right. Lot of sugar.
49:38 Speaker 02 Right, exactly. And you think, oh my God, this apple, I'm eating fiber. It's got three grams of fiber. You need about 35 to 40.
49:45 Bunnie XO? And 30 grams of carbs.
49:47 Speaker 02 Right, exactly. Fucking delicious.
49:49 Bunnie XO? Trust me, I know.
49:50 Speaker 02 Yeah, exactly. But it's, so I would say, maybe do, um, maybe do an audit of how much fiber you're actually getting and see if you can work up to 35 grams slowly, slowly. Because if you do it all at once, it's going to cause horrible bloating and cramping. But I bet you're not getting as much as you think you are, number one. Number two, make sure you're drinking plenty of water because all of that stuff has to be. Has to be liquid. Your colon will continue to draw water from whatever is in it if you are in an under hydrated state. So if you're not well hydrated, you're going to be constipated.
50:31 Speaker 02 And you can add stuff like psyllium husk to your salad. Add extra fiber when you can. I would do a lot of things. Exercise helps.
50:44 Bunnie XO? Magnesium.
50:45 Speaker 02 Magnesium.
50:46 Bunnie XO? Magnesium glycinate. Man, if you ever have an issue with it, just pile that stuff on as much as you can take it, I think.
50:52 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you, and if glycinate doesn't work, citrate or oxide will make you go.
50:59 Bunnie XO? Really?
51:00 Speaker 02 For sure. Yeah.
51:01 Bunnie XO? Okay.
51:01 Speaker 02 And if you take it at night.
51:02 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
51:03 Speaker 02 It helps your brain relax. And in the morning, the first thing you do is go to the bathroom.
51:06 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
51:06 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:07 Bunnie XO? I love that.
51:07 Speaker 02 I love it.
51:08 Bunnie XO? Yeah, we're all gonna be pooping, ladies and gentlemen.
51:10 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:10 Bunnie XO? Although my pooping has gotten so much better.
51:12 Speaker 02 Good.
51:13 Bunnie XO? But I'm also, I've also prioritized fiber. I'm getting like 10 to 20 grams of fiber a meal.
51:18 Speaker 02 It keeps you full.
51:19 Bunnie XO? Oh, yeah. It keeps you full and the bloating is real. Like there was, the other day I was like, I can't eat another one of my meals because I just feel like a freaking hot air balloon. Like your tummy just gets so freaking swollen. I hate it. What are your thoughts on stem cells and stem cell therapy?
51:35 Speaker 02 Okay, I love.
51:36 Bunnie XO? Yeah?
51:37 Speaker 02 I love.
51:37 Bunnie XO? My husband does it and I'm scared.
51:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
51:39 Bunnie XO? You know me, I'm scared to put anything in my body.
51:41 Speaker 02 Well, again, it's, it's gotta be the right person for the right reason. So there's things that stem cells are amazing at. So stem cells are baby cells that don't know what they want to be when they grow up.
51:54 Bunnie XO? Ah.
51:54 Speaker 02 Right. So, and when you get them from umbilical cord, they really have no idea what they want to be. So if you put those cells into a spinal cord, or if you put those cells into a place where the other cells around it say, hey, let's be muscle cells. Or hey, let's be, turn into this kind of cell. Or why don't you turn into one of the cells that makes fluid for this joint?
52:20 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
52:22 Speaker 02 Baby stem cells can do anything, but the stem cells that we're, that are legal right now in the United States are stem cells that are drawn from, from our body and my stem cells are 56 years old. So they already know what they want to be. It doesn't matter what you want me to be. You know, it's harder for, it's harder for older or, or my own stem cells to want to turn into what we want them to be. So I love stem cells, but I really love stem cells from umbilical cord.
52:53 Bunnie XO? Right. Is that like adrenina? Is that like adrenochrome? What is adrenochrome?
52:59 Speaker 02 I don't know.
53:00 Bunnie XO? Is that baby blood that everybody talks about taking is like the fountain of youth?
53:04 Speaker 02 Oh, I don't know. Is that the placenta stuff that they?
53:06 Bunnie XO? I'm not sure. I don't know. I hear people talk about it all the time. So how do you get all these baby stem cells? So are all stem cells baby or are they a mixture?
53:16 Speaker 02 So the stem cells here in the States are, I think they're harvested from your, from your own, but in order to get the umbilical cord stem cells, you have to go out of the country. So places like Panama, Mexico.
53:33 Bunnie XO? I feel like all the good shit is not allowed in the US.
53:35 Speaker 02 For, yes, for a while.
53:38 Bunnie XO? Yeah. It's like they don't want us to be our best versions of ourselves.
53:42 Speaker 02 And they, and they don't make it affordable.
53:44 Bunnie XO? Yeah. And then, yeah, exactly. And then if it does come, it's frigging astronomical.
54:23 Speaker 04 Gambling problem? Call 1-800-MYRESSET. See betmgm.com for terms. 21+ only. Virginia only.
54:30 Bunnie XO? Jen wants to know, is there a way to lower your blood pressure without prescription medicine?
54:34 Speaker 02 Oh my gosh, yes. Yes, there's a million ways to lower your blood pressure. First of all, look at what's going on in your life. Smoking, alcohol, bad sleep, horrible diet. So please remember that. Frito Lay has a neuroscientist that helps come up with these recipes. These things are meant to be addicting. That's why you can't eat just one chip. A can of Lipton soup has your day's supply of sodium. Sodium will raise your blood pressure. So if you have a tendency towards hypertension or family history, especially African American and Latinos,
55:20 Speaker 02 who are super salt sensitive, so cutting out the salt is number one. Secondly, magnesium. Magnesium lowers blood pressure like a champ. So a little bit of magnesium at night, you'll go to the bathroom in the morning.
55:33 Bunnie XO? Yes.
55:33 Speaker 02 And your blood pressure.
55:34 Bunnie XO? It's a win-win.
55:36 Speaker 02 It is. It is a super win. Magnesium also decreases stress. So holding, like holding in tension all day long.
55:45 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
55:46 Speaker 02 Is bound to.
55:47 Bunnie XO? That'll raise your blood pressure.
55:48 Speaker 02 Absolutely.
55:49 Bunnie XO? Just even like having a stress on your mind can raise your blood pressure.
55:52 Speaker 02 Beats decrease blood pressure. Exercise decreases blood pressure and meditating, even if it's five minutes at a time, decreases blood pressure. There's a lot you can do to decrease blood pressure, but you have to want to do it. It's not something that anybody else is going to want for you.
56:13 Bunnie XO? I would, I would just say first and foremost, diet change. Cause that a ten, nine times out of ten, it's something you're eating that's triggering it.
56:20 Speaker 02 Yep.
56:20 Bunnie XO? Yeah. Cause there was a time where I went through where my blood pressure was skyrocketing. And then it would tank and it was from eating fucking rice.
56:29 Speaker 02 Mm hmm.
56:29 Bunnie XO? Rice would send me into like these, I still can't eat rice to this day because it does that to me. Friggin insane, right?
56:36 Speaker 02 Yeah, that's so great that you found that.
56:37 Bunnie XO? I know. And nobody else could find it.
56:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
56:39 Bunnie XO? Not even Danny. And I literally had to just sit there and be like, what is happening? Me, he had to drive me to the hospital so many fucking times because we didn't know what was happening. Like my fingers would turn blue. Like it was crazy. And it was all from fucking rice. Jasmine rice. Like who would have thought?
56:55 Speaker 02 I would not have thought that.
56:56 Bunnie XO? Um, Tiffany says, thank you for the opportunity to ask questions. I had a hysterectomy nine years ago, but kept one ovary because I didn't want to go on hormones. Recently I had a little blood after urinating, but there wasn't any pain at all. It was fresh blood. So I called and went to the doctor. She did a urine test. It was positive for trace. I just went back today and another urine test. What can cause small amounts of blood in the urine without any infection or pain after a hysterectomy?
57:27 Speaker 02 Um, the hysterectomy was nine years ago.
57:30 Bunnie XO? Yes.
57:30 Speaker 02 And, um, and there's one ovary. Do we know how old?
57:35 Bunnie XO? Uh, no.
57:36 Speaker 02 It's okay. It's okay. Um, so your uterus and your ovary are unrelated to your bladder. It sounds like, so the urinary tract and the, and the, and the parts that make the baby are not connected at all. So this would be completely unrelated to your hysterectomy unless, unless your ovary has stopped producing hormones and now you're in a perimenopausal state and you've got vaginal dryness. Um, and that can bleed a little bit just because it becomes so delicate and friable. But it's, if I had to guess, um, I think she had a little bit of cystitis
58:20 Speaker 02 or a little bit of inflammation of that, of the, that little. Sphincter where the urine comes out. And that could cause it. Just a little irritation of the urethra or a little bit of cystitis. And if you drink too much water before a urinating, before a urinalysis, it's gonna look like it's clean.
58:39 Bunnie XO? Right.
58:40 Speaker 02 Cause you're gonna dilute that.
58:41 Bunnie XO? Wow. So maybe next time she gets tested, don't drink a ton of water.
58:44 Speaker 02 That's right.
58:44 Bunnie XO? Just to be sure.
58:46 Speaker 02 That's right.
58:46 Bunnie XO? Perfect. Can we talk about mammograms?
58:49 Speaker 02 Yes.
58:49 Bunnie XO? Because I got my first mammogram about two years ago, but I have been reading all of these horror stories about mammograms and what they do to you and what they do to the breast tissue. Do, what are your thoughts on mammograms?
59:06 Speaker 02 So, um, generally good.
59:09 Bunnie XO? Yes.
59:11 Speaker 02 Generally good. I, um, you know, it's recommended that we have mammograms three to five years. And the reason why they recommended that is because by the time you find a breast cancer, even if it's this size, we can still take care of it and you have the same. The mortality rate is about the same, but I want to find it when it's super small. So my personal preference is 12 to 18 months. The technology that we're using for mammograms is so much better. You don't have to do the squeeze. You know, it used to be like, put your breast in the door. Yeah. Put your breast in the door and squeeze it. Right. Yeah. Now the squeeze is not as bad.
59:55 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
59:55 Speaker 02 Because the, because the images are so much better, but.
59:59 Bunnie XO? I, I've seen the lay down ones too, that you can do.
1:00:02 Speaker 02 The ones where you.
1:00:03 Bunnie XO? Lay down and you can like, yeah, I want to find one of those out here.
1:00:05 Speaker 02 Those are, are you talking about an MRI?
1:00:07 Bunnie XO? No, it's a mammogram.
1:00:09 Speaker 02 Oh, so cool. I haven't done that yet.
1:00:11 Bunnie XO? Yeah, I'll have to send it to you.
1:00:12 Speaker 02 Um, but I would say unless you have a super compelling reason not to, and I can't think of one.
1:00:20 Bunnie XO? Right.
1:00:22 Speaker 02 Do it if not for yourself, for the people that you love, because breast cancer is.
1:00:29 Speaker 02 Something people shouldn't die of.
1:00:30 Bunnie XO? Right.
1:00:31 Speaker 02 We can find it so easy. So if you, if you're gonna squish your breasts and there's other times in your lives when your breasts get squished.
1:00:38 Bunnie XO? Right.
1:00:39 Speaker 02 If you're gonna squish your breasts for 15 seconds.
1:00:42 Bunnie XO? Yeah.
1:00:42 Speaker 02 Let it be for something useful.
1:00:44 Bunnie XO? For sure. I think that, I think a lot of people are saying that the radiation is what's bad.
1:00:49 Speaker 02 The jury is out on that too.
1:00:51 Bunnie XO? Right.
1:00:52 Speaker 02 I, I'm okay with taking my chances about the radiation. It's not that much, long transatlantic flights get some radiation too, and you don't see people not doing those. So in this case, I just kind of leave it to, to God that I'm gonna give myself a little bit of radiation so that I can be here for my daughters and their kids.
1:01:16 Bunnie XO? All right, fine. I'll go get my mammogram next week.
1:01:18 Speaker 02 Do it.
1:01:19 Bunnie XO? Yeah. I've been putting it off and I try to have every excuse, but I'll do it for sure. All right, let's do one more question. Um, let's see. Elizabeth said, "I had shingles really bad almost two years ago. I've had high anxiety, dreams and nightmares every single night since. Seriously, every night. Cortisol levels have been tested and we're fine. Help."
1:01:42 Speaker 02 Wow, that is, that is super interesting. If the shingles were bad enough that you had a PTSD reaction to, to the shingles, then that's something that is, that, and listen, we're getting out there, but that's why my practice is fun, right? Because I can incorporate this.
1:02:02 Bunnie XO? But it's so real, because I was gonna say the same thing. Maybe it was traumatizing for you.
1:02:06 Speaker 02 100%. If that pain took you to a place that you had never been before, then perhaps it keeps trying to get out and it's during sleep that you, that you take things that you experienced and put them in the spot where you, you, you just remember them. So that's why EMDR is so good for soldiers, because it takes reliving an experience and it tosses it over to the side of the brain where you just remember it. I would be super curious to hear more about that shingles experience and see if that's something that we can, that we can help process. I can't help wondering that her body doesn't feel safe.
1:02:49 Bunnie XO? Right, yeah.
1:02:50 Speaker 02 Because shingles is no joke.
1:02:52 Bunnie XO? Yeah, absolutely. I believe that 100%.
1:02:55 Speaker 02 Yeah.
1:02:55 Bunnie XO? Dr. C, thank you so much for coming. Why don't you tell everybody where your practice is and what your website is and if they want to book with you and come and meet you and, you know, just join your practice like I have. I literally am never letting you go. Tell them where to go.
1:03:10 Speaker 02 Well, I'm in Franklin. I'm right on the corner of Brentwood and Franklin. It's called Be Well Integrative Health and our website is bewellihp.com.
1:03:22 Bunnie XO? Okay.
1:03:22 Speaker 02 And if I am not the right fit, if my model of practice isn't the right thing for you, drop me a line. Let us help you get you to the right person because you deserve to be cared for by someone who cares about you. Yes.
1:03:40 Bunnie XO? I just love your spirit. You're just literally, you're like my husband. You guys are just earth angels.
1:03:45 Speaker 02 Oh, thank you.
1:03:46 Bunnie XO? We're lucky to have you.
1:03:47 Speaker 02 Thank you, thank you.
1:03:48 Bunnie XO? I appreciate you and thank you so much for coming.
1:03:50 Speaker 02 Yeah, thanks. Thank you so much.
1:03:52 Bunnie XO? Yay. Thank you guys for tuning into another episode of Don't Blunt. I'll see you guys next week. Bye.
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