have you lost your period? w/ Anna Herberger, PA-C

Today’s guest Anna shares about having missed her period for 6 years and her journey to recovering it. Because of her personal experience with amenorrhea and her professional experience as a physician's assistant, she is able to share vulnerably AND comprehensively about the mechanisms behind why this happens and what’s actually going on in the body to allow for a missing period. This episode is full of wisdom and relatable practical advice regarding women's hormonal health that you don't want to miss.  

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Transcript

Alina: 0:08

Hello everyone and welcome back to the stellar cycles podcast, your hot girl database for all the things that we wish we were taught, we get to learn together now, everything pertaining to your femininity, your cycle and wellness and your walk in life as a woman. I'm your host Alina and today we are talking about a thing called hypothalamic amenorrhea, which can also be translated to the absence of a period. The goal of today's episode is for us to all gain a better understanding behind why a woman can sometimes lose her period. Today's guest Anna comes from a pretty deep medical background herself. So not only is she going to share with us her personal story of having missed her period for six years, she's also going to give us more clarity on the mechanisms behind why this happens and what's actually going on in the body to allow for a missing period. Just gonna give you guys a couple of updates. We had a pretty big weekend we were hosting some friends literally had people over three days in a row here to lay hanging out. And it was a lot a lot of fun. On Saturday evening, we went to this 70s party called the mustache bash, I would say the most interesting part of it was just sitting back and just watching people parade by in their outfits. Everyone got so creative. And yeah, definitely took me back to the 70s decade for a moment there, which I don't like get into that much into like the retro stuff. But it was fun. It was fun. We got to see friends, everyone had a good time, everyone was a vibe. So this week, I don't know about you guys. But this whole entire past week, I just have felt kind of out of commission Monday was just a Okay, spring cleaning day, we finally had the gathering. Let me now just wipe every inch of the house. So I did that Monday. And then just over this past week, I've been resting so it's time to get back into it, it's time to get to crushing again. But I'm really excited to tackle the next three months and see where the 12 straight week of hard work gets me I'm just excited to see where I'm going to be at in June. So yeah, let's get into today's episode, our guest is Anna Herberger. She is a surgical oncology physician's assistant at UCSD health originating from the East Coast to New York. And I was drawn to San Diego by the beauty and climate and all that the city offers in terms of the health and wellness scene. Anna loves fitness and food and she loves what she does for work in the setting of cancer care. Today we welcome Anna to the show to talk to us about the time in her life where she lost her period for six years and the hurdles that she had to identify and overcome to get back her cycle. welcome Anna.

Unknown: 3:00

They Selena we met about a year ago, I think it has been and when we met at book club, you mentioned that you had this podcast called solar cycles. And it was right around the time that I was starting to learn about my missing Period and Period recovery. And I was kind of already a few months into the process. And I knew that I wanted to, you know be on your podcast, I was really inspired by you. So I can't believe that we're here today, your daughter has a violin, he's super excited to be here. So I hope that you know by sharing my story and maybe talking a little bit about the root cause as to why my period went missing. I can help to inspire other women who may be going through not just a missing period, but also a regular cycles, or maybe some sort of hormone imbalance that might be isolating, especially if you're not getting those answers from the doctors. Yeah,

Alina: 3:55

I think this is so incredible, because not only are you a medical professional you work, you know, for doctors, you're basically like the in between between a nurse and a doctor, right. And on top of that you've just done so much of your own research and had your own situation that I think you can really speak to this and really help other people who are going through the same thing, because it's a lot more common than we would even expect. Exactly,

Unknown: 4:22

yeah, yes. And I do want to highlight like, if you're going through a healing journey, just know that you're not alone. There is probably some other women or people out there that are also struggling with something very similar. And so I hope that my story can help to inspire you. Yeah, yeah. So

Alina: 4:40

what we're going to touch on today with Anna is what led her to lose her period in the first place, the journey to her recovery and what she learned in the process. And also we're going to touch on some of those effects of chronic stress on like thyroid and sex hormones, things like body image, self identity and also like we always talk about on The show masculine versus feminine energy. So I always like to ask my guests isn't just start off, what was it like when you started your period? Were you prepared? Were you not prepared? Did it? Was it bad from the star? Or how did it go for you now.

Unknown: 5:16

So right period started when I was in middle school, I think I was around 12 or 13. That age, I used to have really heavy periods. Or, you know, I'd be using feminine products every hour, like it was almost to a point where they were almost unbearable, like, I would have really heavy periods painful in high school, oftentimes, I was on the swim team, I would have to skip practice, because, you know, my cramps were just too painful in and around that time, I was, you know, dealing with acne. And I knew that this wasn't normal. I had a lot of friends that went on the birth control pill in high school. It was like my wife, maybe my first year of college when I went to the gynecologist and you know, she decided to put me on birth control. So that's kind of how, you know that went. So what

Alina: 6:06

led you to choosing that path in school like wanting to be physicians? Yeah, those steps. I've always been

Unknown: 6:11

fascinated by science and human body and anatomy, and physiology, just the study of how the body function is just something that has always piqued my interest in high school. And in high school, one of my very close family members passed away. And he was in the hospital for about a week before he passed. So during that time, I'm surrounded by nurses, doctors, physician assistants, primarily his care team who took amazing care of him. And that really inspired me to want to help other people, other patients and their families during a difficult time in their life. So I applied to different Physician Assistant schools. And also I was thinking about going to nursing school. But I got into a five year didactic program at Gannon. And that's very impressive. Yeah, so I was out of school by 22. And I started my first job, or I'm at time as well. And I, I, I loved how physician assistants, they have a lot of autonomy, and you're very independent in your practice, yet, you do have that comfort of having supervising physician there, and you can also switch around specialties. So I went from starting off in the emergency room pain to what I'm doing now in oncology. Yeah.

Alina: 7:36

And oncology just so I'm getting it right. That's everything to do with cancer. Yeah,

Unknown: 7:41

exactly. So I was with Piazza pay should really have to have a field for sure. Right? Yeah, it did. But it's very rewarding. At the end of the day, I know that I'm helping people through a really difficult time in their life. So you mean, and that's kind of the reason why I love to wake up and do what I do every day.

Alina: 7:58

That's awesome. I'm so grateful that you have you know, such a drive for what you do. And and you found it so young to you know, like a lot of people they go through multiple career junglers Yeah, you're getting to do really what you love.

Unknown: 8:10

I'm really fortunate for that. Like, I feel like I have my career. And I was able to also like live, you know, a good portion of my 20s outside of school and with a job already. So I'm really great. All

Alina: 8:25

the awesome while you're killing it, girl, you're doing really amazing. So our main topic today is what we call a memory. So that's the medical term for the absence of a period. And this happens for a variety of reasons. It happens to a lot of different people. I even had some friends in high school to who and an early college that they were very fitness oriented, right. And they were training super, super hard. And it was normal for them to be like, oh, yeah, I just stopped getting my period. But it didn't seem to concern concern them that much. Right. So I just want to ask you, where does your history of missing your period begin? Like what age were you kind of give us set the scene for us? Yeah,

Unknown: 9:08

that yeah, that's a great question. This is honestly, a question that I've been trying to think about and understand because there was a huge gray area for me, especially when I was on hormonal birth control. And then I was taking oral contraceptive pill ever since I was 19. And when I was 21, I developed an Orthorexic eating disorder. What are though I did drop a significant amount of weight in a short period of time just from over exercising under fueling. So not eating enough calories to support a healthy menstrual cycle, or all the exertion that you were doing exactly. Yeah, my body was basically in a fight or flight mode, and I can get into that a little bit. So I'm not exactly sure When I lost my period, because I was on birth control, but I know it was missing for several, several years. And I can say, it's been at least six years of missing a period for me, and maybe I would have periods of spotting every month, but it was never really a regular period.

Alina: 10:20

Did this concern you at all? Or were you excited to not have a period?

Unknown: 10:24

At this point, it was like the least of my concern. Unfortunately, I did not understand the extreme health consequences of not having a period we're in the time in bands, you know, by my doctors are just like, well, when it's time to get pregnant, you know, just let us know, let me can help you with fertility, and, and treatments. And, you know, that wasn't even really brought to my attention until more recently, men, essentially, they just said to stay on the pill, and they were encouraging me to gain some weight. So that's exactly what I did, I did gain some weight back, I did find help during that time. And I was able to get myself back to normal weight. But I was still restricted by extreme. This is kind of hard to explain for me. But during this time, I was able to gain some more weight back. But I was still struggling with the need for continuous exercise, and extreme calorie restriction and a need for control in my life. So I was basically living a very oriented and masculine life. And I felt controlled by the need to stay small, and my body and I was not embracing my feminine at all. And so it wasn't until I moved to San Diego about two years ago, two and a half years ago, around that time, I went off the hormonal birth control, there was just a decision that I wanted to make. And I did not get a period and after calling out for a control, if anything, my anxiety got worse. And I didn't really make the connection with my anxiety, irritability, impatient personality, that's just the mental and I thought of it sadly, that's just how I thought I was, the only thing I was really going to see a doctor for was my anxiety. And at that time, it was really debilitating. I attributed some of it to moving to San Diego. But it was really kind of taking over my life, I would wake up every morning with really bad anxiety. And another thing, another sign that I probably should have listed more to was the fact that my hair was starting to fall out. And it was starting to thin and I didn't grow. And although I have the body that I wanted, and my hair was my biggest insecurity. And so I went down which is really tough for a woman it's really tough for women Yeah, to be losing your hair and not really have any answers as to why and

Alina: 13:17

just so I'm understanding so your lifestyle like you were saying when around the time that your period went missing. It sounds like you were really busy. You were really in your masculine energy you were like very much a go getter. Were you still the president of your sorority at

Unknown: 13:29

school? Yeah, that was for about a year and then I realized it was too much at me. So I was definitely a type A personality from the beginning and, and it was a sense of like a need for control over something. And I became very disciplined with my fitness and my health and I I almost felt like that was a part of who I was, like it became a part of my identity. And I didn't know how to change that.

Alina: 14:03

Can I ask you kind of a deep question, but you don't answer it began. Sorry. Where do you think this need for control stemmed from? Because I think we all have that in one sense or another right? But maybe where in your life did you feel like you didn't have control? So you were seeking for it in like fitness and regimen?

Unknown: 14:22

Yeah, that's, that's a really good topic. It probably has to do with like, the need to please others. Honestly. I was never really I'd say that I was like this to myself, but I think it was honestly the need to please other people, but and we can touch on that. Yes, we

Alina: 14:40

will return something up every winter for sure. So now you're living in San Diego, you want off the birth control pill, right? You're experiencing anxiety and I'm just wondering, what kind of steps did you begin to take to try to figure out what was happening with you and what kind of frustrations were you running into?

Unknown: 14:59

Yeah, Of course, it was around the time when I first met my gynecologist here, and you're going to ecologist in San Diego, I was just there for a routine screening. And he was like, So when was your last period? And I was like, Well, I haven't had one for like a very long time. And he's like, Well, that's not normal. Let's investigate further, let's draw some labs. And so I'm very grateful for this doctor that came into my life when he did, because he did not take this as something that was normal, and was just like, oh, just continue birth control or just go back on the pill, which is so rare to happen did is there and here, he didn't pay, he told me to go out of patch. So it wasn't that much better than the pill. Yeah, so but I didn't want to take that as a solution to my issue. He drew labs, and my estrogen and progesterone were essentially flatlines while like a postmenopausal woman. And that inspired me to just do a ton of research on what hypothalamic amenorrhea was, I loved with that diagnosis. And, and we did a ton of other testing to make sure I didn't have PCOS. Any other cause or missing period, I knew my history. So I, I knew that what I had to do to change. I just needed the support and the guidance to go through that. And I knew it was I wasn't gonna get it at that doctor's appointment, I needed to seek alternative means. So I started to dive into podcasts while I was at the gym, instead

Alina: 16:48

of which is the number one resource for you guys, if you like let's say you don't have the money to go to a doctor. Yeah, or you're working on getting your insurance like podcasts will give you so much information. It'll be like you're having a one on one with that doctor.

Unknown: 17:03

Exactly. Right. Right. So when I heard the term, hypothalamic amenorrhea, that's a long word, essentially, hypothalamic amenorrhea. The hypothalamus is this master gland in your brain, that is a control center for secreting, producing, inhibiting and releasing hormones that target your pituitary, which is another gland in your brain that sends hormone to target organs in your body, such as your adrenals, your thyroid, your ovaries, there's so many different target organs that these hormones have an effect on. Your endocrine system is such an important part of your body, very complex, your body has hundreds of hormones. And these hormone essentially can control so many different aspects of your life like digestion, mood, and slave immunity, sleep regulation.

Alina: 18:03

So they all like interplay with each other, right? If they don't want to, you're going on the pill or something that suppresses your natural hormones, it's not just going to affect your reproductive organs, it's going to affect all of your

Unknown: 18:16

organs. Exactly. So if one hormone is off balance, such as cortisol, which cortisol often gets a bad rap, like off, like reduce cortisol, cortisol is essential for life. Like essentially, if you have a stressing situation, cortisol helps your body survive. But it's when we have these elevated cortisol levels. Every day, chronic stress, wreaks havoc on your hormone health, it can start to suppress your thyroid, it can start to suppress your sex hormones. And sometimes this results in symptoms that can be vague and dismissed by doctors. And it can be very isolating. And so some of the symptoms that can develop from from this high cortisol, suppressed sex hormones suppress thyroid can be anything between like fatigue, hair loss, hair thinning, acne, brain

Alina: 19:22

fog,

Unknown: 19:24

you know, insomnia, weight gain, weight loss,

Alina: 19:28

are these manifestations of what your body considers to be burned? No, exactly.

Unknown: 19:33

Yeah, at a point your body starts to burn out. And it's like, I can't do this any longer. And you know, we can either listen to our body, or we can start to fight it. And what I was doing, I was fighting my body for several years. Unfortunately, I, I didn't start to list my body sooner. But we can't go back to the past. We can only move forward. Absolutely. So as you

Alina: 19:58

were now trying to figure out What was going on with you? What was there anything that was frustrating you? When were you just really kind of stacking up on tools to start helping you? And what kind of tools did you have in your arsenal as in work to get your period back? So you mentioned podcasts. What else were you starting to do differently?

Unknown: 20:16

Yeah, exactly. So I started to dive into podcasts, every recovery podcasts or podcasts on paper, fabric amenorrhea. And what I've learned is that I needed to start to rest more, and focus on

Alina: 20:31

eating more, which was still the opposite of what you've been doing for a year. Yeah,

Unknown: 20:35

why did get stuck into the diet culture, and once you're in it, it's really hard to get it out of your head. So going against diet culture, in today's society, I'd say is a pretty tough thing to do when everyone is losing weight, and you know,

Alina: 20:53

going keto, or not keto or vegan, that intermittent

Unknown: 20:57

fasting and waking up early and getting your workout in, it's really hard to go against that in order to get your health back in order. So I knew I was going to need support, but I wasn't going to get support from the just the general population, I sought out a health coach who was really experiencing getting women recovering their periods from over exercising and under nourishing. So I started working with her on a scene, it was right away. And what's really, if you can share it with Danny Sheriff, she's from the HA society, okay, she's been wonderful, I would highly recommend knowing the root cause to irregular missing period. And working with a practitioner who can give you the step by step instructions, and that it is better to you tailored to meet individualize approach. And also just that reassurance that what you're doing is, is the right way, is the right thing. And following with you and like being there every step of the way, whether through email support, and just check in every once a while, was really what I needed. Even.

Alina: 22:12

That's amazing. I also want to ask you this, the first thing you said is that you really needed to learn how to rest. So how did that look like in your really busy life as a PA Yeah.

Unknown: 22:24

Right. So every morning, I used to go to the gym every day, and lift and do some sort of activity, something actives, where I got my body moving, and so I needed to scale this, I knew I needed to scale this back somewhat. So I started to like, give myself more rest days, and being be comfortable with just waking up and like just going on with my day without doing something active. So anything between walking, I started going on more walks, we love hot girl wash, Sankara was heading team, the best thing ever, then I love my walks every day, just getting outside getting fresh air sunshine on my face, and moving my body in a very healthy and restorative way. I also picked up yoga, and I started to do Pilates. But at that time, like I just took a complete break from exercise honestly just walking and yoga.

Alina: 23:19

Yeah, because Pilates can be an intense and a different way than weight training is and you know, it definitely is not as strenuous but it can also be like, okay, you know, like, you know, a stress to the body but a good stress, right? Yeah, there's different muscle groups. I also want to know, how did your eating change? And did they put you this doctor that you were now working with? She's more holistic, I'm guessing what kind of supplements or kind of things did she add into your life to kind of help boost you

Unknown: 23:50

so what I learned from working with this health coach was that my my nutrients were very depleted. So the birth control pill can cause nutrient deficiencies. And some of these can just you're just not aware of that you know, I eat healthy ate organic, but if you're not eating enough and have the rights to this, then you can definitely be having nutrient deficiencies so I recommend testing no test don't guess. So we did a comprehensive like hair mineral analysis testing and she started me off on a beef liver supplement which is focused on B vitamins and magnesium iron all these nutrients that the pill was previously depleting me from and it focused on just eating more like being I was eating you know, good foods but I started incorporating more animal protein and actually like higher fat dairy so before I was eating very low fat and like non that protein heavy. I started eating more carbs and then focus more on animal so now clearly helps. All that sounds

Alina: 24:59

super great. like what were now a lot of doctors and a lot of people on podcasts are in the wellness space in the bio active space are now talking about like, No, we actually really need these nutrients is just the source of where you get that. And that's what matters, right? If you're, you shouldn't be having a balance. And of course, everything works differently for everybody. I know for some people, carnivore diet can work really well, for another person, that won't work at all. But I do think at the end of the day, you should just have a balanced meal with both veggies, plant products, animal products, if that's something that you eat, but it's like the store saying that matter

Unknown: 25:33

where it comes from. Yeah, yeah. And also, what was the biggest challenge for me during this time, it was like realizing I wasn't eating enough, she helped me understand that I needed to eat every few hours, and a significant amount more calories, and I thought it was even possible for me has been eaten. And this was hard for me to understand. But I, I mean, just going back to just understanding that my body was in this starvation mode for years, it just wasn't getting the nutrients needed to sustain a reproductive menstrual cycle. And my body essentially shut down that non essential functions. And it's needed to know that it was fate it to that and again, exactly,

Alina: 26:21

because like I think at the root of our cycle, right, like biology wants us to get pregnant, right. And if your body doesn't feel safe to get pregnant, you will probably like lose your ovulation moves your cycle. So that's really, really interesting. Yeah.

Unknown: 26:35

And another thing I wanted to touch on is, during this time, every day was very similar to meat. Like, for me, I felt like every day I was living in the same routine, because my hormones were so off balance, so low, and I didn't have that cyclical pattern that women are supposed to have. And so that was something that was just so foreign to me, and was probably a huge reason of why I had so much anxiety built up. And I bet

Alina: 27:10

that's how men feel every day. But they're equipped to feel that way. Because that's how their hormones work every single day, day after day, month after month, year after year, their hormones are pretty much doing the same thing every day. Like I look at my husband right and I'm like, you do the same literal thing every single day. And you just you just do it wonderfully and you don't get tired of it and that's just you know, the that what you're in, but if that was me, it would drive me nuts. I you know, we as women, we get to have variety. Like I had my other podcast episode about one month four personalities we do get to go through four phases and feel different things and be able to attend to different parts of our lives. I wanted to also ask you because you said that your identity was tied up so much in how you've worked and being smaller. So as you were going through you know, you're you're incorporating a lot of physically different things like resting more going on hot roll walks, changing how you eat, but how did you work on your identity and learning to accept that even if you do look different it's better for your health and did that help your anxiety depression all those other things so

Unknown: 28:15

really good topic and we're gonna dive right in this was one of the the hardest parts of period recovery was realizing that I was no longer gonna be that fit girl like I needed to change who I was in order to get my health back. So I had to you know, be comfortable getting uncomfortable. I I start my clothes start does not fit me anymore. And getting out of bed sometimes was difficult because I my whole routine was changed. Now I didn't but I stayed pretty consistent, at least for a few months towards the beginning, because I knew I was on the right path. And how I knew that was I started to feel better, my anxiety started to go away. That was the first sign that things were starting to get better was my anxiety was actually improving as my body was changing. So as my estrogen levels were starting to go up, I started to also actually produce what we like to call cervical mucus. Which I was dry for years while so the first sign of that was like oh my god, this is working. Wow. So that helped me push past this fear of weight gain. For me, it's like wow, I'm starting to get my femininity back. This is exciting. Astrid scary at the same time.

Alina: 29:48

An estrogen is responsible for a lot of like the things that do make us female like our breasts, our cervical mucus aisle, along with many other things of course, but continue on. Even yes

Unknown: 30:00

So during this time, I realized that health coach, she was absolutely wonderful. But there were other issues going on my thyroid was also so low, and it was causing me significant symptoms that I needed to be addressed. Can

Alina: 30:18

you talk a little bit more about the importance of thyroid health for women, because when I was working in ultrasound, I was starting to see younger and younger and younger women coming in with thyroid issues.

Unknown: 30:29

Exactly. I think it's so important to find a practitioner who dives in and look at you as if old whole human, everything is interconnected. And for a while, my TSH was just being checked. And my TSH was normal.

Alina: 30:48

Oh, and real quick. And because we're in the medical field, and we know what all this stuff means help for people who don't know what is the thyroid responsible for.

Unknown: 30:56

So the thyroid, this is gland, it sits like kind of in your neck area, and it's responsible for the body's metabolism. And so your digestion, your mood, your just the way that your body function, it's just such an important organ,

Alina: 31:15

is it have something to do with hair too? Yeah.

Unknown: 31:19

So basically, if your thyroid hormone is suppressed, then it can shut down non essential functions. So your it slows down your digestion. So if you have low thyroid hormone, it can shut down your digestion, it can start to slow things down the motility, it can cause suppression of your sex hormone, your body temperature can slow your hair grow else. And then on the reverse paper, thyroid, so if your metabolism is working in overdrive, it can have the reverse symptoms as well. So I, so my evening TSH, which is the stimulating hormone, which is produced by your pituitary gland, that was normal. And so my pituitary was essentially working normal. But my T four and T three were actually low, and these weren't being tested right away. So when I found out that those were low, I knew I needed to address that as well. But it's something that I'm still struggling with, honestly, to this point, it's not an easy solution. It takes a lot of time and consistency. And working with an experienced, holistic doctor can be really helpful with understanding the root cause as to why you're having those hormone imbalances.

Alina: 32:48

I've always been a very strong believer that our body is able to heal itself faster than how long it takes it to get messed up. Right. But I would assume and correct me if I'm wrong, that since your body was in a survival mode for such a long time, physically, just because of what you were pushing yourself to do. For years and years at a time that probably the thyroid would take a little bit of time to recalibrate. Definitely not as long as you know how long it took for things to get mad. But it also doesn't happen and stuff.

Unknown: 33:20

Exactly. And I'd say that changing your lifestyle, and changing your diet, being consistent over time can really help with with healing yourself with healing your body healing your hormones school, what I've learned is that your gut health plays a really important role in also your hormone health, thyroid conversion of T four to active T three of what the body can actually utilize for your metabolism for your energy stores, as it happens in the gut. So if there's not enough nutrients there, if there's a lot of inflammation for whatever reason, there's environmental toxins, it can really play a role in in that.

Alina: 34:02

So let's see. I see. So did you end up getting your period back? And

Unknown: 34:07

how did that feel? i Yes. So after about 15 months of patience, and consistency, I did end up getting my first recovery period in January, so just a couple of months ago. And that was I have to say one of the most exciting and exhilarating days of my life. All your hard work cocking up

Alina: 34:36

like went toward a Saturday this

Unknown: 34:37

past week. 15 months was just really dedicated towards me and and focusing on my recovery. And I knew my body was capable of having another bleed. I was just it was just very uncertain as to when that would be me so I have to say it was this entire journey has been really humbling for me and I would not have been able to to do it without the, you know, the support from my family and friends. And also just, you know, just knowing that my body is capable of doing it again.

Alina: 35:13

100% There has to be, along with all the physical stuff that you're doing there also has to be that core belief, right, like the Psycho Cybernetics of it all. Were you there when we read that

Unknown: 35:22

book? Exactly, right. Yeah. So, you know, there is something

Alina: 35:26

to do with the mental and spiritual aspect of it right, that you believe that your body can and then it will support you in the US.

Unknown: 35:33

Yeah, I mean, along this journey, I did turn more inward, I did become more spiritual and, and start to actually focus more on myself and I started to acupuncture looking and I started working with a Chinese herbalist as well. And through that, I've learned the power of healing,

Alina: 35:53

I would imagine you had to relinquish some of that need to control?

Unknown: 35:57

Exactly. Yeah, I definitely did. And

Alina: 36:01

then I think you mentioned before that you did get into acupuncture and some Chinese herbs, and how did that go for you? Yeah,

Unknown: 36:07

I'd say this was a huge part of my recovery in was learning, not just learning how to slow down and cut out exercise and, you know, start eating more. But I started to dive into Chinese medicine, I would go to acupuncture, maybe every week or every other week. And I worked with a Chinese herbalist who kind of came up with a formula that helped to support my body throughout these hormone changes, and kind of remind it how to cycle again. And

Alina: 36:41

I want to remind you guys, she is a physician's assistant. And, like us health care as Western medicine, as it gets to the fact that you are going and looking at alternative things and not resistant to any one type or the other and be like no Western medicine is going to fix me or No, only Eastern medicine is going to fix me, what I'm understanding is, you could appreciate what was good at each exactly

Unknown: 37:06

spread out, I knew that I had the western medicine and the baton in my pocket, if I really needed it, you know, I mean, the effects of low estrogen on a woman's body is really detrimental. It can not just have short term consequences, like all those symptoms I talked about before, but it can lead to osteoporosis, it can lead to cardiovascular disease, or, you know, neurodegenerative disorders and infertility. So I didn't want that for myself. Of course I didn't. So, you know, that was a driving factor as to why I wanted to get my period back naturally, and know that I'm capable of rebalancing my hormones and getting a cycle again, I didn't want to resort to hormonal birth control, as as you know that the band aid is the band aid and row and snap, but I knew it was available. But I did want to seek alternative means that we're going to support my body throughout the process rather than make it happen. synthetically,

Alina: 38:08

synthetically, exactly. So that actually perfectly leads me to the next question. So as a woman in western medicine, what really stands out to you about the holistic aspect of own? Yeah,

Unknown: 38:18

I'd say that one of the biggest things that we people go to the doctor for is chronic stress, and the symptoms and diseases, dis ease that results from chronic stress may can come in so many different forms. Mine was happened to be a missing period. But it wasn't just a missing period, it was so many other Mirada symptoms that I was having. And a lot of these can be dismissed in western medicine. You know, when I went to the doctor, everything was compartmentalized. To a point where I was seeing a dermatologist for my hair, I was seeing an endocrinologist with my thyroid, I was seeing a psychiatrist for my anxiety. And none of it was really getting to the root cause of anything, and which

Alina: 39:08

is there's normally like one root cause for all of these problems, right?

Unknown: 39:12

I've learned that really just changing your lifestyle around and learning to slow down and understand why this is happening. I was able to really heal myself.

Alina: 39:29

That's amazing. What would be your goals for your future like in medicine and as well as your personal health? What are you hoping to do? And yeah,

Unknown: 39:37

so I mean, I love my job right now. I love working with cancer patients. And I love you know that just every day what I do, but I do you have this real passion for helping other women and going through their own hormonal struggles, especially through irregular missing periods. Just from my personal experience. As I feel like I have a lot of knowledge shows just what I've learned throughout the entire process that I would love to help other women who are going through this. So I couldn't see myself getting into like functional nutrition, and maybe somebody that helped coach resell. And you know, that may be a couple years down the road, I don't know. But I know that this is something that the things that I've learned from this experience I will take with me for the rest of my life. And it definitely everything happens for a reason. And one of the quotes that have gotten me through this whole year was, instead of focusing on, you know, why is this happening to me, is, I started to reflect more and and think why is this happening for me, really changed your perspective and on any situation and helps you actually express my gratitude for any situation, whether it's positive or negative, and help you kind of stick in that direction of where you want to go?

Alina: 41:01

I really agree with that. And I'm a huge believer in were given these certain trials and tribulations so that for one part, we can learn how to get through them, then for the other part, we can help other people who are going through them, so it's never for no reason. That's that's just what I think. So are you willing to leave our listeners with any sort of tips, suggestions, books, just for girls who are women who are also going through the same thing if your future self could come down from the sky and tell Anna that was going through that? Yeah. What do you know now what would she tell her?

Unknown: 41:34

Okay, well, I can group this into categories, because for women who are actually struggling with a missing period due to hypothalamic amenorrhea, I recommend reading the book. It's more of a novel it's like a Bible. It's called the no period. Now what book adenine by Dr. Nicola psych, it's a guide to regaining your cycles and improving your fertility. I read this book from start to finish and it was extremely helpful in in just validating everything that I was going through. For women who are struggling maybe with regular cycles, or learning how to rebalance their hormones. They might be struggling with symptoms, but maybe not having a missing period altogether. I recommend the in the flow book, and that is by Alisa Vitti.

Alina: 42:24

We love Alisa Vitti on the show. Wonderful. She

Unknown: 42:27

dives into this like biohacking protocols for optimizing your hormone, your time and your relationships, digestion mood, all just by linking with your cycle. And then just from sharing with my friends about my experience, I have a lot of questions about oh my gosh, like I want to go out the birthday child but I'm scared or I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to support my body throughout these changes. I wished I knew the effects of birth control when I went off of it. So I feel better supported my body during that process. Beyond the pill, by Dr. Jolene, Brighton and Jolene Brighton. She's a glacier utility doctor. She's wonderful. She's an expert, and functional doctor and understanding post birth control syndrome. And this book, it gives you a step by step plan on how to take yourself off the birth to support your body through the changes that it's going through when going off birth control. Whether it's you reading it before, after, during going off birth control, I highly recommend giving this one to read.

Alina: 43:40

Awesome, awesome. And then I saw on your story, you've posted this book that really caught my attention biohack like a woman?

Unknown: 43:48

Yes. Do you want to tell us about that one? Yeah, this is a good one. So now that I have recovered a period before I was really focused on getting it back. I'm still interested on the science behind the menstrual cycle. And in how all of these biohacking tips and tricks that we're getting in, in our feeds, is actually affecting woman's hormones. Because we hear about cold plunging and intermittent fasting and sloth

Alina: 44:21

most of the stuff is still very much geared towards men and their ability to

Unknown: 44:26

handle these stresses, right. There's most of the studies out there done on men. So what I really enjoyed about this book in particular, everything that Agen stands for is understanding the woman biology and how it works. And so if you're really interested in diving in to biohacking and optimizing your hormones, metabolism and just health in general, and maybe you're struggling with irregular periods or the symptoms that come from PMS, this I really dive deep into how to best support yourself. And she goes between going from talking about blood sugar balance, elevated cortisol levels, cycle thinking. So each phase of your menstrual cycle, whether you're in the menstrual follicular articulatory, luteal phase, how to eat and nourish your body. And also what types of movements and activity are, are best to support your body throughout those cycles. So I don't

Alina: 45:37

know any woman that cycles thinking has not worked for, it's almost like when you do start aligning with okay, like this week, I'm supposed to be eating this and doing these exercises, next week, I'm doing something a little bit different, your body catches on and things do seem to flow a little bit easier, you know, you're not boxed into this every day is the same level of IV. Yeah, and I'd say

Unknown: 45:58

it would apply to all menstruating woman, even if you're not straining, even if you're on the birth control pill, it's good to get into that cyclical rhythm. So that you're just not doing the same thing every day, and having those same expectations for yourself. And that same gogogo mindset every single day, and then just getting defeated when you're not able to, you know, meet the same marks meet those Yeah, those same standards every single day, we can better understand your body where it's at.

Alina: 46:26

So Anna, it was really amazing to have you on and give us such a comprehensive look. And kind of give us also, you know, the Western medicine side of things simplistic side of things and how neither is raw or completely right, we just have to pick and choose different aspects of each of them to help us on our journey, right? Like the lab testing versus the acupuncture and the herbs and stuff. So is there anything else you'd like

Unknown: 46:53

to leave our listeners with? No, I love that. Thank you so much for having me today. I would love to just say that having a positive outlook on even a set piece situation, if you're, if you're in whenever you're going through a challenge. That was really like a key to, you know, healing, my healing journey was just focusing on like having a positive outlook on it, that things will get better. And like starting every day with gratitude, like what do I have to be grateful for appreciating my body for how it is and everything that it does to function to let me enjoy and experience life was like a huge drive for me wanting to improve my health. And I practice gratitude every day. And that is how I start my day every day. So if you're going through any sort of struggle, if you're going through any sort of challenge, whether it's with your own health, or maybe a friends how just know that there is a way through it, and don't be afraid to reach out for support. And I've been very honest and open about my whole story. And I don't think that I wouldn't be in my shoes right now if I wasn't so yeah,

Alina: 48:10

well, that's awesome. Anna, thank you. Where can our listeners find you if they want to follow along?

Unknown: 48:15

You know, yeah, so right now you can follow me on my instagram. It's Anna underscore Herberger. If you want to DM me and message me if you have any questions. If you want any support or guidance or any other, you know, tips or tricks on how I recovered my period, then I'm happy to talk with you more detail.

Alina: 48:34

Thank you so much. That's gonna be really awesome. So yeah, you guys follow and on Instagram, Anna underscore Herberger. We'll have that linked in the show notes too. But for now, I can't wait to see you again and talk some more. Obviously, this is going to be an ongoing journey for you. It's, you know, it's definitely not done. You're still working on it. But you've made such incredible strides in the past 15 months starting off with really relinquishing that need for control, right and just accepting your body as it needs to operate and what you need as a woman how you need to eat differently, rest more workout differently. And it's just it just seems like a big experiment and surrender, which I think is a very feminine energy thing is surrender.

Unknown: 49:15

Yes, yes. I totally agree with him on that surrendering to the process, trusting the process, trusting yourself and knowing that and it's all going to be just the right well, I

Alina: 49:28

love you girl. Thank you for coming on the show. And you guys follow her on Instagram and we will talk to you later. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at stellar cycles pod. You'll be able to download the free grocery guide in the link in the bio. Please give our podcast a rating and review if you enjoy it. If you'd like to share it and get the word out please spread the good word about stellar cycles to your fellow women. And let's all elevate our lives together till next time stellar cycles out