Why Your Supplement Cabinet Isn't Fixing Your Periods | Ep. 134

The 100-Day Blueprint to Becoming Fertility-Ready, Bloat-Free & Period-Perfect (9/23, 5pm PT)
👉 Save your seat at www.imhormonal.com/training or CLICK HERE
👉 The first 20 podcast listeners to register will receive personalized feedback from me using the same assessment tools I use with my 1:1 clients. You must join the training live to be eligible for this bonus.

I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.

If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.

On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.

This mini episode reveals the 3 biggest supplement mistakes that keep women stuck with irregular periods and bloating - even when they're spending hundreds on "hormone support." Learn why relying on supplements alone backfires, how to spot quality vs. junk products, and the 3 foundational supplements worth researching if you want to start somewhere strategic. Plus why your friend's miracle supplement might be making YOUR symptoms worse.

👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway
👉 Ready to fix your hormones for good? Start at imhormonal.com/goals
👉 See real client transformations and results at imhormonal.com

The 100-Day Blueprint to Becoming Fertility-Ready, Bloat-Free & Period-Perfect (9/23, 5pm PT)
👉 Save your seat at www.imhormonal.com/training or CLICK HERE
👉 The first 20 podcast listeners to register will receive personalized feedback from me using the same assessment tools I use with my 1:1 clients. You must join the training live to be eligible for this bonus.

Chapters

• 0:00 Supplements Aren't Complete Solutions
• 2:42 Common Supplement Mistakes
• 6:34 Supplements for Irregular Periods
• 11:02 Addressing Root Causes
• 14:41 Episode Closing and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

One thing that I have found to be true with all of my client work is that taking supplements is a great way to feel like you are doing things to change your health. It's a great way to feel like you're going in the right direction, but a lot of the times that's not actually creating the results that you want. We have to change our mindset about supplements as being a 100% all-in solution. It's not. 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 friend, welcome to today's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm so excited that you are here with me. Today. We are going to be talking about supplements, because supplements are a tool that can be very instrumental in bringing back a regular cycle, in overcoming dysbiosis in the digestive system, in supporting your adrenal glands and your overall stress and resilience in the face of stress. Yes, don't get me wrong. At the same time, though, something that I see time and time again when I have new clients coming to me, is that it's so easy to, you know, use this crutch, this crutch of supplements to feel like, okay, well, I'm taking A, b, c and D, and my friend recommended this other supplement, so I'm taking that too. And then I saw this other person taking a supplement, and so I'm taking that too. And now that I'm taking all of these supplements, it should just, you know, fix my problem, like why am I still having unpredictable periods? Because you're listening to this episode, I know that you want to come to a solution. You want to restore balance with your hormone health, with your digestive health, and so that's why we're going into this topic today, because you need to extend your actions beyond just taking supplements.

Speaker 1: 3:21

In today's episode, I'm going to talk a little bit about what are the top three mistakes that I see women making with supplements. I'm going to talk a little bit about the specific supplements that are taken most often for certain hormonal imbalances, or, specifically, we'll look at missing and irregular periods. We'll talk about bloating and PMS as well, but what are some other things that you might want to consider, and then we'll wrap it up by talking about the three supplements that you know. If you do want to start somewhere, like, where might you want to do some research and figure out what's right for you? I always give this disclaimer at the end of the podcast that I'm not giving medical advice. This is for your education. Everything that I talk about today, and always as it relates to supplements, is so personal to your own body, so please take anything that you hear me talk about and make sure that you are applying this to your body. Or, if you aren't in a position to do that type of research and go through that thought process, then find the right practitioner for you and get that sort of support, because we've all got different ish going on and what's right for me might not be right for you.

Speaker 1: 4:37

All of that being said, let's jump into the three common mistakes I see women make with supplements, and I kind of spoiled the first one already, because the most common issue that I see is women who just rely 100% on the supplements. What I mean by that is by saying, okay, I'm going to, like, put on my armor, I'm going to put on my, I'm going to get my sword, I'm going to get my shield, which is my. You know concoction of magnesium or AG1 or berberine. It's not that any one of those things is not good. Right, there is a time and place for all of those, but hopefully you're catching my drift that normally you need to do some other work outside of just the supplements. I regret saying normally, because in 100% of situations you'll want to take a step back and say okay, why is this happening in the first place? What is the underlying cause here that led to my irregular periods or bloating or PMS, and address that.

Speaker 1: 5:49

The second mistake that I see gals making with supplements is sometimes opting for low quality supplements. Unfortunately, in the US, there is not a really rigid set of standards around supplements. I did another episode on this. If you want a deeper dive, but suffice it today to you want to make sure that whatever supplement brand you're using, that they have third-party testing or that they do some sort of testing on their own. If you are ordering your supplements from Amazon while of course, you can get like reputable, you know, properly labeled supplements sent to you, there are some, you know trash folks out there that are just relabeling supplements and they're not actually sending you what you're getting, so you're not even really getting the brand that you think you're buying. So I would always caution everybody to avoid buying from Amazon or other similar places where you just don't know what's in them sometimes. So taking that extra five minutes to do some research into what is reputable, how good is the quality of the product, that's going to save you time and money and just make sure you're not putting something chaotic into your body that could be exacerbating whatever challenge you're already experiencing.

Speaker 1: 7:17

The third mistake that I see gals making when it comes to supplements is really just being unsure why they're taking something. If you're going to be again spending money on this supplement, if you're going to be putting this thing into your body every day, I personally think that's pretty important to be able to understand and explain, however briefly. You know we're not writing a thesis on why magnesium is good for us, but being able to understand why that's something that you've decided to put into your daily routine is going to be really helpful. And again, I'll just take this opportunity to say that even if something worked for your friend when it came to. You know, maybe you have recently come off of hormonal birth control and your cycles are erratic. You're working on bringing them back into some type of regularity and maybe something worked for your friend that isn't quite working for your body, and that happens because there are a kajillion different reasons why your cycle might be irregular. It might look the same on the outside, that you don't know when your period's going to start, or maybe that it starts every six weeks, but the actual landscape of what's happening inside your body could be different, despite the seemingly identical outward presentation. So just keep those things in mind.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Make sure that you're not only relying on the supplements. Make sure that when you are taking supplements, you know why and you're sourcing them from a good, repeatable brand Not even brand, but like, you know who is the manufacturer, who is the lab that's testing these products. So noodle on that. Probably about half of the women that I work with one-on-one when they have irregular or missing periods and they come to me, of course we'll start going through what are the supplements that they take, and a lot of the time, or half the time probably, these gals are taking Vitex. Vitex is also known as Chase Treeberry, if you are familiar with that, and it is supportive of supporting normal sex hormone balance, which is like the broadest way to say it. Now, this can be helpful for a swath of women out there, but it's also worth mentioning that for some gals with PCOS, or some gals who have an imbalance in their luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, vitex can actually exacerbate that imbalance. So this is just one example of you know could be helpful for the masses but might not be what your body needs, and that's why, when you start to take a supplement, that extra level of discernment can be really helpful.

Speaker 1: 10:15

When it comes to bloating, something that I hear a lot and that I see a lot is consumption of berberine, because berberine is another botanical that has certain antimicrobial, antifungal properties to it, and so that could be helpful in regulating the bacteria levels in your gut microbiome. So, again, not inherently bad, but if you're taking berberine for too long, it could have a negative effect on the good bacteria that are in your digestive system. It's also not going to be one that you want to take. When it comes to you know, are you taking some type of birth control? Are you taking? Actually, I don't. Okay, I pulled up the list, I'm back. That's why you have to A work with somebody who has more experience working with these supplements, like myself or another practitioner, or spend some time doing that research yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:37

Next, I want to mention, when it comes to PMS, a lot of the times what I see gals coming to me with is taking some combination or one of the following, so DIM, glutathione or another sort of liver support. These, I think, are actually great starts, because this is helping you to break down and eliminate estrogens better than you otherwise would be. So that's important, because a lot of the times, pms can be caused by a recirculation of estrogen and, ultimately, when estrogen levels are higher relative to progesterone in your luteal phase, like bada bing, bada boom, that is your recipe for PMS. All of these examples being said, though, I just need to bring it back to this question of what is the underlying driving cause of what's happening, because if you are taking all these supplements and more, that still isn't going to be eliminating that original stressor that's causing your cortisol to be high and causing your periods to be irregular. It's probably not fully addressing if it's addressing at all, maybe allergies or other gut issues that you're ignoring. Your gut is so closely linked, I should say your gut health is so closely linked to your hormone health. If one is wonky, the other can be wonky. Also, honorable mentions here, you know. Getting better sleep, getting more sleep that's going to move the needle. More Also is free, you know, then figuring out like what is the right multivitamin for you.

Speaker 1: 13:22

If this episode piques your interest, if you want to learn more about potential root causes and about the process that I walk through with all of my one-on-one clients, go ahead and register now to join class. We are doing training. It's Fertility Ready Hormone Health coming up here on September 23rd. The first 20 podcast listeners to register are going to get personalized feedback from me. But you've got to join the class live to get that bonus. I would love to see you there. You can send me a message on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal if you have any questions. But that's it for today. Gang, find out what is going to move the needle and do not rely just on supplements, because that is a band-aid approach that's not going to get you where you need to go.

Speaker 1: 14:13

If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed. No work needed on your side. Let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes. All right, we'll see you on the next one.