I started this clinic in 2020 because I never want any woman to go through what I have been through in my life sofar. Back then I didn’t know about the gut-brain connection and that if you have an anxious mind that the digestive system lends energy to your brain to help manage the stress. This is turn can reduce the amount of stomach acid you are producing or turn it off making digestive flow very slow and making the intestines very dry so pathogens can take hold causing an overgrowth called SIBO. I was never diagnosed with anxiety or depression although i went looking for help at age 29 because I was the high functioning, spinning all the balls, great career, managing person etc. So i was given CBT and breathing exercises. But i needed medication. I also needed HRT hormone replacement therapy. I had unbalanced hormones partially from long term undiagnosed gut issues. 2 weeks a month of every cycle i had great days then the bad days in the last week or 10 days .As I got into my 30s the intensity and the duration of these bad days lengthened. I didnt know back them because of the gut-brain connection that the way my body felt stress was making my gut worse and vice versa.
But I also knew until I found a doctor or alternative therapist who could treat the anxiety, I knew my digestion wasn’t going to get better. Over a space of 10 years I must have tried a hundred therapies- shaitsu, massage, acupuncture, yoga, pilates, meditation, psychotherapy, mindfullness, cupping, CBT, biodynamic energy. You name it id tried. I tried 6 SSRIs the regular medications the GP gives for anxiety and depression Lexapro, Lustral, Prozac, Valdoxan, Effexor between ages of 32 and 37 but they stopped me sleeping and didn’t help me cope at all. In facet they made me worse. i felt weak dizzy and faint. I gave up on the meds then. I should have asked for a referral to psychiatry but I didn’t know that then. Id also was taking heaps of vitamins, probiotics and herbs, for my anxiety, my digestion. I must have spent thousands..BUT Nothing was working and I was getting sicker.. Id spent a fortune and that was also taking its tolls adding stress our family life and my husband.
Through my own reading, heaps of womens health books for my MSc and seeing 7 different doctors over 7 years and a lot of tests I got diagnosed with low stomach acid, SIBO and Mould Toxicity in my gut. But because of the years of chronic stress I endured prior to it being diagnosed, the supplements etc had effected my liver and my adrenals. My body was burnt out. I was making so much stress hormones I was an insomniac. I didn’t make much female hormones after I had my kids. I was so stiff and in pain all over that I couldn’t exercise, I wasnt sleeping at all, I was very anxious and likely started the perimenopause phase age 36. At age 40 I started HRT and meds for the insomnia Zopiclone, for anxiety Seroquel and for my gut Amitriptaline and my gut started to get better once I started sleeping from the meds and hormones, as did my energy to keep looking into it all. Long term i need to address the childhood traumas, the family trauma and the long term reasons my gut health, and mental health was so poor. This starts with improving my awareness of my needs, my reactions, my limits. I am able to be mindful so much now i am taking the medication and my ability to read my bodies IBS food triggers has improved which has helped me figure out my ideal diet. It takes many years and alot of work to figure out ones self. Its a different route for everyone. Most people need a multifactorial approach. Bio Identical Hormone patches and gel have been key in my recovery from Depression particularly using testosterone cream on my leg. Taking medication has been once of the best things I have ever done for myself or my family. It bought me calm and time to figure out the root cause which was early hormone loss, i really only go t my energy, joy for life, motivation back using HRT.
Watching what my mum go through dementia, together with all I had gone through and the lack of knowledge about our conditions led me to start a womens health business. To help women filter the medical jargon and understand why the gut liver, hormone and adrenal system is so important to your mental health and why clinical depression cant properly be treated with vitamins probiotics or supplements. I started gowithyourgut.ie during 2020 and it is a continuous success story for me over the last 2 years and I have seen so many empowered women. Someday I hope to go on to pursue more functional medicine and trauma training when my kids are older. Everyday I get up knowing I make a difference in a woman’s life fills me with joy. Eternally indebted to you who trust me with your health.
For more on gut health and tips see Blog – Go With Your Gut (polished.ie)
