I'm Hormonal | PCOS, periods, gut + hormone health insights

Navigating PMDD with Ashley Rocha, founder of Ladywell | Ep. 66

• Bridget Walton, Functional Hormone Specialist & Menstrual Cycle Coach • Episode 66

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Today we're talking about PMDD with Ashley Rocha, the founder of Ladywell. Ashley opens up about her personal battle with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and how it inspired her journey into hormonal health advocacy. You'll hear her recommendations for supporting your hormonal health, understand the difference between PMS and PMDD, and will learn about how Ladywell products can support your hormone balance.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey, ladies, welcome to this week's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and today I'm really excited to bring you a conversation that I had with Ashley Rocha. She is the founder of Ladywell, which is a hormonal health supplement brand for women that gives women the tools to really care for their hormones and well-being. We're going to talk about PMDD today, what it is, what Ashley's experience with PMDD was, and what you can do to support your hormone health and your overall well-being if you find yourself with PMDD Now.

Speaker 1:

Pmdd is premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It impacts up to 5% of gals worldwide. But really it's like and like Ashley says you'll hear her it's kind of PMS on steroids. So PMS and PMDD what they have in common are symptoms like bloating, breast. Tenderness fatigue also changes in sleep and eating habits. Tenderness fatigue also changes in sleep and eating habits. However, pmdd again that's premenstrual dysphoric disorder has at least one of the following symptoms that really stands out. So one of those symptoms could be sadness or hopelessness, anxiety or tension. Also extreme moodiness or marked irritability or anger. So if you have these mood changes each month before your cycle, or rather before your period begins, so at the end of your cycle or in your luteal phase and if these symptoms are really interfering with your daily activities and responsibilities, then this could be a good opportunity to have a deeper conversation with your provider about what some solutions are to support you and help you feel your best.

Speaker 1:

As always, the information that I share with you today is for educational purposes only, should not be used as a replacement for any sort of medical advice or diagnosis. If you are looking for support, one-on-one from a practitioner, then just remember that I'm a women's hormone coach, and so if you need some accountability, you need some more expertise in what's going on with you, because you've tried a million things and you still haven't gotten to the root cause of what's going on with your hormones, then take me up on the free consult calls that I offer. You can do that by checking out the link in the show notes, or connect with me on Instagram at Bridget Walton, and you'll see the link there, or just shoot me a DM. Now I got a little bit out of my usual order because I didn't say welcome to those of you who are listening to I'm Hormonal for the first time today. I'm so glad that you found me.

Speaker 1:

I started this podcast last year because I think it's so important to share what we know about hormones, what you can do to support your hormones and, overall, feel your best and understand what's going on with your body. So that's what we're here to do, as well as kind of de-stigmatize this whole hormonal thing. Right, that's why the podcast is called I'm Hormonal, because we all have hormones. We need hormones, we love hormones. They help us survive and do all the things that our bodies need to do. So I don't think that being hormonal is a bad thing at all. I actually think it's a great thing, and I think that being able to understand your hormones, how they change, how you might change as they do, then that can be a really great tool as you navigate your life. I'll go ahead and introduce our girl, ashley, in just a second here. But if you already have somebody top of mind a friend or coworker, who has mentioned to you that they have PMDD or think they might have PMDD, would you go ahead and send this episode with them so they can listen to it too? I would really appreciate you helping me to expand the I Am Hormonal community and I know that your friend or coworker or sister or enemy would appreciate it as well.

Speaker 1:

All right, refocusing on Ashley, I mentioned she's the founder of Lady Well. So we're talking about hormonal health supplements that are focused on supporting women's hormone health and well-being. Lady Well was really created to make hormonal health solutions accessible to women and close the knowledge gap around hormone health solutions accessible to women and close the knowledge gap around hormone health. Our culture is so hyper-focused on quick symptom relief, but Ladywell aims to really treat the root cause and reestablish what it feels like to have a kind of normal cycle. So if you've been here before, you know that's totally my jam getting to the root cause of what's going on. My jam getting to the root cause of what's going on.

Speaker 1:

Now Ashley is going to talk about her own experience with PMDD and what she knows about it. But she is also an herbalist. She studied at the California School of Herbal Studies where she really formed her understanding and deep love for plant medicine. Now you can check out Lady Well on Instagram or TikTok at getladywell their website is getladywellcom and Ashley was really generous to extend a 20% off discount. You can use code Bridget20 or Bridget20 at checkout to save 20%. Now, if you have any questions, you know that you can always send them my way via DM, but in the meantime, enjoy this conversation with Ashley and I will see you on the other side.

Speaker 2:

For listeners who don't know much about PMDD can, and the way I like to describe PMDD is just think about PMS on steroids. So PMS has many symptoms like bloating, mood swings, fatigue, mild irritability, cravings. Up to 75% of women have it, or people who menstruate have it, and the symptoms really can range from mild to moderate. But they shouldn't impact your life in a significant way. They shouldn't get in the way of you going to work or going to social activities. Pmdd, on the other hand, your symptoms, could get in the way of those things. It will significantly impact your life and it has an emotional piece to it that's far worse than PMS has. So PMS, you do get mood swings, but with PMDD you'll have extreme mood swings. There'll be depression, intense irritability, anxiety. You'll have a hard time concentrating. So when I had PMDD it was like I was a whole different person. The week or the two weeks leading up to my period, the emotional, the emotional symptoms really can take over your life.

Speaker 2:

You also have physical symptoms of PMS. They can be worse. With PMDD, for example, I had like, just like the worst cramps. They were so debilitating I couldn't get a bed. My doctor was telling me you know, take more Advil. That was just like their solution. So I was taking up to 20 Advil a day sometimes, which was just like not the way you should be treating your body and your gut health. So with PMDD, it's just like a lot of PMS symptoms, but way worse. I would describe it as.

Speaker 1:

Wow, my eyes just bugged out of my head for 20 Advil a day. Yeah, yeah, and I was doing that for years and years and years.

Speaker 2:

So I mean, I really I'm really hoping that there is not some health consequences at the end of this. But yeah, when I went to the doctor, that's what they told me. They like just take more Advil, which was just, you know, a bandaid solution to the root cause. Really there the whole time.

Speaker 1:

Totally. You mentioned that 75% of menstruators will experience PMS and I was looking just before we hopped on here to see what is the prevalence of PMDD. I was surprised. I found some studies that show between 1, like 1.8 and 5.5%, so I just wanted to throw that out there too. Or do you have?

Speaker 2:

a. Those are the stats I have too, between between like 3% and 8%. So it seems I think that's really low. I don't think that's accurate because PMDD is it's a new. It's not a new condition, but it's been established as a condition starting in 2013. So it's really only something that's new to the world and we're identifying. So I think it's just underrepresented. I think a lot of people with PMDD A don't know they have it, haven't gone to their doctor, so those stats are just not there. I think there's a lot more women with PMDD that are suffering, like I was, who just haven't gotten treatment. So those stats are probably lower in my opinion. But it does take an average of 12 years to get a diagnosis for PMDD, and that's the average is six to seven visits to your doctor. So you know, it's just something that I think in the future is going to improve vastly with the recognition of PMDD as a real diagnosis. But it's just going to take time.

Speaker 1:

PMDD as a real diagnosis, but it's just going to take time. That's a good point on the diagnosis note, because you don't need a diagnosis to have PMS and not that you need a diagnosis to have PMDD either but that is something that is diagnosable that you would go, that you know a listener would go see the doctor about and that they would give you some feedback on hopefully in fewer than five or six times.

Speaker 2:

Definitely, and it's a good thing that we've described it or classified it as a mood disorder or depressive disorder, because that just means that we can get more help for it. It doesn't mean that if you are diagnosed with PMDD, you're always going to have it. It just means that there's going to be more resources and more medical attention given to it by the medical community and the community at large.

Speaker 1:

I think that's really important because that's something I like to mention, not just with PMDD but with anything. And when you identify with something not inherently bad to identify as somebody who has PMDD, of course, but for some people bad to identify as somebody who has PMDD, of course, but for some people, having a different mindset about, like having really identifying with this disorder can be impactful on their ability to improve their symptoms and improve their experience with it.

Speaker 2:

So Definitely, and I think once you, once you understand if you have PMDD, it was a game changer for me because then I could treat myself with a little bit more softness and care. You know, there is something that I I knew what it was now so I could take steps to help fix it. I could talk to people that are my loved ones my husband or my boyfriend or whoever it was and let them know what PMDD is so it can help our relationship, and let them know what PMDD is so it can help our relationship. So I think knowing that you have something really gives you tools to help solve some issues you might be having with it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I want to touch on that in just a second about what did you start doing or changing implementing that helps you. But I want to come back to something you said earlier about. You won't always have PMDD necessarily. So I'm curious, like what is the root cause of PMDD? Or are there potentially multiple root causes, depending on the person? And I'm also curious about do certain life events, like pregnancy, make it more or less likely that it might follow those kinds of things?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I'll start the second one. So people can tend to have more PMDD if they had trauma as a little girl growing up. If you do have PMDD and then you get pregnant in your postpartum years, you're more likely to have PMDD again. In people, neurodivergent people tend to have more PMDD and then you own. Oh, and then sorry for the root cause of PMDD. Yes, it's a hormone imbalance cause and sorry, can you just repeat the first question again? Yeah, totally.

Speaker 1:

I'm just curious what are? What's the root cause for most people when it comes to PMDD? Actually, let me ask that question again better when it comes to PMDD, what is the root cause? What are people commonly trying to address when they go to the source of it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so with PMDD it can be a hormone imbalance issue. There is a lot of unknowns when it comes to PMS and PMDD because there hasn't been a lot of research attention. It's been dismissed, unfortunately. Those things are, I think, are changing a little bit, which is great, but the underlying symptoms are usually in form of a hormone imbalance disorder. For me in particular, I had something called estrogen dominance, and this was one that's incredibly common and that you should look at if you experience PMDD or PMS. That as well. It's when you have too much estrogen in your body. So it relates to your gut health. So estrogen really is pushed down through your body and eliminated through your stool, so it goes through your gut and if your gut health isn't functioning properly, your estrobilone will become imbalanced and the estrogen will be recirculated into your body, creating estrogen dominance. So to solve that, you really want to look at your gut health and make sure that you're eliminating your hormones correctly and once again, that leads back to hormone balance. So looking at your whole hormonal system, Totally yeah.

Speaker 1:

Listeners who have been here listening to I'm Hormonal before will be familiar with the. You know a poop a day keeps the doctor away. I've never actually said that before, but anyway, yeah, daily bowel movements are important and being regular in that you're having a bowel movement every day, you know that's the cadence that you want to go for when it comes to what is regular, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, and you know, once again, like everything in your body is connected, so it's like some people won't. You don't necessarily think of gut health when you think of hormone health, um, but you really just like can't separate your whole entire body. It's so true, so true.

Speaker 1:

Um, one other thing I'm thinking, because what I've heard about PMDD too, is that for some people at least, it can be a sensitivity to a certain progesterone metabolite. So I'm curious if you could elaborate on that at all in your familiarity with it, or how that maybe ties to estrogen dominance.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, with the PMDD, a lot of the times why that's happening, it's that person's reaction to the hormones, the natural hormone balance in a person's cycle. So people without PMDD, they'll have the same cycle and they won't have this negative reaction within their brain to this normal cycle of a woman. But people with PMDD, there's something that's triggered within their brain and cortex that causes that. So it's um, it can be estro boulom. Yes, Well, that's one thing, but it's also the cortex in your brain and how that works. It's functioning incorrectly.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right, that makes sense. Um, let's pivot now to what are some things that you did when you first started, when you first found out that you had PMDD, and what helped you. What did you see differences in?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I think the first thing that I was recommended to do I worked with.

Speaker 2:

So I'm an herbalist, I studied plant-based medicine and I went deep into that world to help solve my own issues with different herbs and different plants, and I also worked with a naturopathic doctor, um, and a few practitioners, and one of the first things I did was start eating more protein, and this is like a really low level thing that you can do that pretty easily, um, but it really had a big impact on my life. Um, I think you know I was growing up in the time where we were had that like low fat diet craze, so there wasn't a lot of protein being pushed to us. Like education about eating protein wasn't there. So I started eating a lot more eggs eggs are great for your hormonal health. I started eating complex carbohydrates rich in fiber, like legumes and whole grains, and then reducing sugar. Caffeine and alcohol, like those things are all bad for your hormones and I'm sure you've talked about this a million times yeah um, and we all like, we all like know this on some level but changing your diet really can impact your hormonal health.

Speaker 2:

Um, I changed my gut health, like we just talked about the estrobilone. I really made sure that was working correctly and then I started taking supplements and the combination of those three things really made it vast different. And it took, you know, it took me about, I would say, three to six months, but that was after like 20 years of having PMDD. So you know, when you look at those two numbers, it's pretty quickly.

Speaker 1:

What was your experience like at the beginning of those three to six months and then? How did your symptoms change by the end of it or presumably continued on beyond that right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So you know, the most important thing when I was trying to solve my PMDD was the emotional piece and of course the physical piece of the cramps. But what I did notice right away is the mood swings became a little bit less and a little bit less. And my period it was just a gradual thing for all the symptoms of the period pain become a little bit less tolerant or, sorry, more tolerable over time. So I would say by six months. None of those things were completely gone, but it was just a slow, gradual movement of them dissipating and eventually going away, because now I don't have any of those symptoms. I might have a period cramp every once in a while, but that's it.

Speaker 1:

So good, where do you think somebody should start? We mentioned a couple things right, which are all good foundational places to start, but if you could encourage folks with PMDD, or who suspect they have it, to just make one change, what would that first change be, you think?

Speaker 2:

Once I started tracking my cycle, things really changed, and I'm saying this didn't improve my PMDD. It improved the way I looked at myself and acknowledged my symptoms, because I didn't really know about cycle tracking or understand the importance of it, and so every cycle my PMDD would just sneak up on me and I become a whole different person, and then it would go away Once my period started. In hindsight I was like, oh yeah, that's that was, you know, my PMDD. Um, not me, you know, that wasn't me. That week, that was the other girl. Um, and then I'd hate myself, right, like so I would hate who I just was.

Speaker 2:

But once I started tracking my cycle, I was like, okay, I know that it's a week before my period, I know that these symptoms are going to happen. I can better plan my days. I can better manage myself, manage my symptoms. I can tell like my boyfriend, hey, my period is going to start in a week, like if I'm, you know, acting this way. That's why I was just more empowered with the knowledge that my period was coming and therefore I was able to prepare or organize my schedule around that. So I would say, before you do anything else, start tracking your cycle. So you, you know where you are in your cycle. You know how to better plan your life and be kind to yourself. You know, in the beginning of your cycle you'll have more energy. So you know, plan those social gatherings, but don't plan it, you know, right before your period or on your period. So that's the first thing I would definitely do for any woman.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love this recommendation because, well, yeah, double-clicking everything that you just said but also when you want to make changes in any area of your health or life or whatever it is you, it can be really helpful to understand where you are now too, and like growing that awareness of what is is so important when you want to make change in any facet of your life.

Speaker 2:

So I really like that and you can also start tracking your symptoms and so if you do want to go see your doctor, then you're just empowered with that knowledge, because it's so easy to forget, like a week ago, like yesterday. If you start tracking your symptoms, you can go to the doctor and they can help you out significantly more if you have that information on hand.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's so important to, even if you don't have a quote unquote problem, right Cause it can help you compile those data points to recognize when something has changed. So anyway, yeah, totally agree with you. I love this recommendation that the best time to start tracking your cycle is probably yesterday.

Speaker 2:

I know, and there's so many cycle tracking apps now. It was just we're so lucky the time that we live in now, when I was a girl a little girl, like a teenage girl in college these things did not exist. There wasn't even Instagram then. So it's just great that we have these tools.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know what that made me think of? I'm thinking of college and I was like, well, when I was in college, I was taking birth control, so I didn't even realize that I wasn't cycling. I was taking hormonal birth control, so I didn't even realize that I wasn't cycling, I was taking hormonal birth control. I'm wondering if so probably some gals who have PMDD take birth control in order to kind, of quote unquote fix it or, like be relieved from the symptoms. Once you come off of birth control, does PMDD generally like flare back up worse than it was before? Do you have any insight into that?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I heard that it does flare back up worse than before, but you can also have PMDD when you're on birth control. Doctors do prescribe birth control to help with PMDD, but some hormonal birth controls can actually make symptoms of PMDD worse. So while that's something that doctors use as a tool to help you control your PMS or PMDD, it's not always the case for every woman that that's going to be the solution and that it's going to help you with that. So you do have to, you know, figure out what works for your body. Um, I was on birth control my whole entire life as well. Um, I experimented with like every type of birth control. So I like a dabbled here, dabbled there, um, so I can't say like which one was the best for me, but I, I had it with every single one.

Speaker 1:

So oh wait, that is so interesting. Okay, I have 80,000 questions on this, but not really Um, so question number one though. So how does that work? Maybe or maybe we don't need to get too much into the mechanics of it, but if your body's estrogen levels like natural estrogen levels are kind of flatlined when you're taking most forms of hormonal birth control, then what is the PMDD responding to if you're not cycling?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's said that the emotional symptoms of PMDD become worse, and I'm not quite sure on the science behind why that's true. But the physical symptoms can be potentially relieved with hormonal birth control, but the emotional ones can be increased.

Speaker 1:

Hmm, okay, all right, interesting.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know that I'm the doctor also prescribes you SSRIs If you so. If you do take the doctor route and you want to go get prescriptions or do more conventional medicine and antidepressants, ssris are all options that they'll most likely recommend to you, along with hormonal birth control. And, like with the SSRI, you'll take that mid cycle to the start of your period. So that will help ideally help with, like, the emotional symptoms. So the combination of maybe the SSRI and hormone birth control could be a good weapon to use if you choose to go that route.

Speaker 1:

Okay, as one kind of fun fact. I have a friend who had PMDD for years and she did a kind of hypnotherapy series and she's like feeling good. Now I don't know how that works, um, like I can't explain it or elaborate more on it.

Speaker 2:

I wish I could, but I just wanted to throw that out there too, that that seems to work for some gals oh yeah, they always recommend like cognitive therapy, which is different, because I think um, with hypnotherapy you're asleep, right?

Speaker 1:

you're hypnotized?

Speaker 2:

I guess yeah different state than sleeping. Um, but yeah, I always want to try hypnotherapy. Like that is like a bucket list item of mine.

Speaker 1:

I might move that up my list today after talking to you yeah, if you do, then, um, you'll have to come back and we can talk about, uh, how you liked that experience.

Speaker 2:

It's such such an interesting, such an interesting thing, you need to get that person on your podcast. Yeah, honestly, I do.

Speaker 1:

I do, hey friend, if you can hear this. So let's come back to what gals can do. If they're like, okay, I have PMDD or I think I have PMDD, they've already maybe dialed in some of those foundations that you mentioned, what is kind of the next step that you would recommend to them for, like, advanced troubleshooting?

Speaker 2:

Okay. So this person is tracking her cycle, she's eating a good diet, she's exercising, her gut health is in check, she's managing her stress let's just say that and getting enough sleep. I would also encourage her to integrate supplements into her diet. So that's why I began, lady. Well, we have a daily hormone balance that's perfect for PMDD. So it brings in herbs and adaptogens, vitamins and amino acids that help greatly with PMS and PMDD. So things like Chastberry, which I think is one that a lot of women are familiar with. Some studies suggest that Chastberry can be as effective as an SSRI and influences hormone balance by promoting more stable hormone levels throughout the cycle and potentially lowers levels of prolactin and regulating the balance between estrogen and progesterone. So it's just a really powerful herb that's great for hormone balance.

Speaker 2:

Saffron is a really good one. Saffron's in the daily hormone balance as well. This is really efficacious, studied herb that helps with PMDD. So what's nice about saffron is it's really targeting the emotional symptoms and mood swings and it's a proven ingredient to use. So definitely recommend taking saffron. Vitamin B6 is also one that's been studied and proven to help with PMS, so you want to make sure that that's integrated. And then magnesium is something that so many women or and men really are deficient in and helps. It really helps with all life stages, like it can help with perimenopause and fertility and pregnancy, but it's really great with pms in general and helps with cramps. So I would definitely recommend taking some magnesium as well, and this magnesium goes for everybody on planet earth, I'd say.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, everybody on planet earth. I say that too. I'm like it's a well not low hanging fruit, but it's like it's hard to mess up magnesium. Um well, I guess one thing that I do talk about that with magnesium is that there are different kinds that are like good for different functions. Um, the magnesium in the daily hormone balance mix is that like a particular type of magnesium?

Speaker 2:

Well, our daily hormone balance doesn't have the magnesium in it. We have a magnesium top of the spray.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, I saw that You're right. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So you want to pair those two things together and that's like the secret sauce, I'd say. And I use the magnesium spray every night before bed and it's just like really helps you sleep, it helps you relax. You can pour it in your bathtub, it's just really great, just in general for chilling out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I have been using a magnesium spray that also I spray on the bottom of my feet before I go to sleep, and I've just been sleeping like a little tiny baby.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I do notice a huge difference when I don't use it and I don't get great sleep because I have a one-year-old and a three-year-old, so like I'm just like barely hanging on if I don't use magnesium spray.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, do you put the magnesium spray on the kiddos' feets? Does it help them snooze too? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean they, you know, babies just don't sleep well in general but, that does help yeah.

Speaker 1:

Okay, lady, well for the whole fam.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So this daily hormone balance drink mix looks great. Is this the top one that you recommend for PMDD or is there like one or two other products? Of course you mentioned the magnesium. I'm just curious if there's anything else you would direct a PMDD gal towards.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we have the daily hormone balance in a drink mix and then we have in a capsule version. So it really depends on how you prefer to take a supplement. The balance, the powder, is really great because it almost acts as a creamer for your coffee and it has more potency because you can just take more powder with a scoop of powder that you can fit into capsules. So it's just different ways to take your supplements. So that's the one I really suggest taking for PMDD, either one of those. You can do a combination.

Speaker 2:

I switch off daily depending on the mood I'm in and the time I have. And I mentioned the magnesium. And then I also have this on my website called an inflow planner, and it's a planner that helps you optimize your schedule around your cycle and it gives you suggestions for what to do that day on your energy level. And we're talking about cycle planning. So I think that's also like a really kind of a fun way to have some education in there and just like connect more to your cycle and track your cycle as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know you have a kit there for and I'm trying to find it right now, but anyway for like young ladies who are just a little lady, little lady well, bundle yeah. I just add that, so cute.

Speaker 2:

I just, you know, connecting with women going or young girls going through puberty is a really big goal of mine. There's just so little education about your cycle and understanding how your body is changing and how to just live in that new life you're going to be. So, yes, having a puberty specific bundle is a really big goal of mine. Specific bundle is a really a big goal of mine and it includes the daily home balance which we just talked about and that cycle planner because you know we, that's when you really need to start planning your or understanding your cycle and tracking all that and just like being connected to who you are as a woman. So it's a good foundational start totally um.

Speaker 1:

The other thing I saw on your site here is the big vaginaagina Energy shirt, which I love. I really wanted to mention that too.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, I love that too.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to ask so for somebody listening who is like, okay, I don't have PMDD or I don't have like crazy PMS, what other life stages or like what other kind of folks would be good fits to check out what you have at Ladywell?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think that everybody should take care of their hormones. Whether or not you feel like you have PMS or PMDD, a lot of the ingredients in the daily hormone balance help you with just general wellness as well. So stress, you know, stress, immunity, sleep a lot of these things are underlying what contributes to our hormone balance and that's why we look at stress and look at our sleep, look at our immunity and try to optimize those things Because in the end, those affect hormones and that's what leads to hormonal issues.

Speaker 2:

So for somebody who's just say they don't have any problems with their cycle, the daily hormone balance is still a great thing to take, just to create general wellness and protect your cycle and protect your fertility.

Speaker 2:

You know, a lot of the times, women who want to get pregnant one day which is a lot of women they don't think about their fertility until like one second before they want to have their baby, and that's really not what you should be doing. You should be looking at, like, the 20 year old, you should be thinking about the 30 year old, you and the 40 year old. You like where do you want to be? You got to be protecting your fertility. You got to be protecting your hormones because when the time comes, it isn't as easy to get pregnant as you think it is, as they told you in school.

Speaker 2:

It's not just going to happen in one cycle. Most likely. Some women are lucky, you know, but make sure that you're. You know, protecting that, that area of your body is a really smart thing to have. And then if you do want to get pregnant, you should really think a year in advance, I'd say, and start taking the right supplements to help you build up your nutrient stores around the things that you will need to carry a healthy pregnancy and get pregnant in the first place.

Speaker 2:

So it's really important for fertility. And then you know people going through perimenopause. I think when we're in perimenopause it's really hard to know you're there. You might just feel like, okay, I'm like really irritable, I'm really tired, but that's just because I have kids and I have a hard job. You know you, you kind of can easily ignore that these are your hormones at play. Uh, so it's really, I think, important thing for us to like really look and dig deep, like is this who I am, or is this my hormones?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so important. And that makes me think too of how we look at hormones in this, like kind of in a silo, but it's like, oh, I don't have hormone problems, but like we are hormones Like everything we do depends on good hormone.

Speaker 2:

health Related.

Speaker 1:

And it's just yeah, shouldn't be an afterthought, or hopefully isn't an afterthought, but I guess the good thing is that people listening to this podcast have it at the forefront of their mind. So, yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2:

Your listeners care about their hormones. They know how important their hormones are. You know, I think it's like this is a new concept to a lot of people. We, our society, hasn't talked about hormones very much at all. We don't know the role that they play in their body and how they're interconnected to every function of our body. So they're just, they're kind of made fun of before you know, they're stigmatized. But now that there's more conversation around hormones, we can start to kind of give them the credit they deserve.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's so important and so important to, like you mentioned, talk about PMDD, which has only in the last quick math in public what 11 years? Really been a part of the conversation. So I'm really glad that we're having this conversation and love hearing about your experience. On that note, is there anything more about your experience with PMDD that you think listeners could benefit from hearing about?

Speaker 2:

Let me think I would say that with PMDD, I think there's a lot of shame that comes with it and I have definitely felt shame throughout my whole life because it turns you into a person that you feel like you're not and you're that person for a week and of every month and that's a significant amount of time if you add that up, and it built a lot of shame and regret in my life of how I treated somebody or how I treated myself, and I think that's hard to kind of come to grips with. But I think once, if you take the time to really figure out, you know, is it my hormones? Is it? Is there a PMDD at play? Is it PMS? Pms is also like. I know we're talking about PMDD, but PMS is also debilitating for many people. So I think you know coming to a conclusion that maybe this is a hormonal issue I think is really helpful and can help alleviate some of that shame that these symptoms and these disorders have brought upon us.

Speaker 1:

I think that's a really great spot to wrap up for the day.

Speaker 2:

And.

Speaker 1:

I'm really grateful for you joining me and hanging out for this conversation. Where can listeners connect with you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can find Ladywell products on our website at getladywellcom. You can find us on TikTok, instagram our handle is getladywell and I post a lot of tips, tricks, content around our cycles, around PMDD, around fertility, perimenopause, really any life stage you're at as a woman. So follow us there.

Speaker 1:

Ashley, thanks so much for joining me on I'm Hormonal today and also big thanks for extending a special 20% off discount for listeners of the podcast. So if you're listening right now and you want to check out Ladywell, you can go to getladywellcom to check out all of their offerings and at checkout, go ahead and use code Bridget20. So Bridget20 to save 20% off. All right, gang, that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you on the next one.