Perimenopause, Pain & the Power of Paying Attention With Dr. Jen Auchter DC!

In this raw and powerful episode of the Inner Spark Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Jen  Auchter —a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner—to talk about what happens when we don't listen to our bodies... until they scream.

Together, we unpack the hidden connections between frozen shoulder, stress, perimenopause, back pain, and hormone imbalance. Dr. Auchter shares her personal journey through debilitating injuries, misdiagnoses, and high-performance burnout, and how it sparked her mission to help women heal from the inside out.

This isn’t just about pain—it's about the patterns that led there, the hormones that influence recovery, and the ways we override our own needs in the name of productivity and perfectionism. You’ll walk away with deeper awareness and practical insights into functional medicine, cortisol, the power of rest, and how to navigate life’s forced pauses with compassion and curiosity.

If you’re feeling off, burnt out, or wondering if it’s "just your age"—this conversation is for you.

You can find Dr Jen Auchter DC at:

Podcast-https: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gut-feelings-life-unfiltered/id1815588235

 Website- https://healthinmotion-wellness.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaddvM4jaBu824WYpQy6LPeMSorgS9AIXOepDxuQi8J11QysUor6XNnveeNrig_aem_IGJDj31b461Cj8Nr1wMCtw

IG- https://www.instagram.com/dr_auchter/

You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/

You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/

Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by: https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/

Transcript

0:04

Hey friends. Welcome to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Caton. If you're looking to hear stories of transformation and personal growth, this podcast is for you. My guest and I will be sharing those sparking moments that has changed the mental living a more fulfilling authentic life. I'm so excited for you to hear each unique story. So sit back, relax, and let's get started. Hey friend. Welcome back to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Taton. Today I have a very special guest with me. I promise you guys, I would bring someone on to talk about frozen shoulder and all the fun things I'm going through. And I have Dr. Jeanette Ter. Yes, she is a chiropractor and a functional medicine practitioner. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. This is so fun. Fun. Thanks for coming. Just a little backstory for my guest listening. Um, we are both in our mentor Kathy Heller's world, and that is how I'm, I met her if you don't mind, will you share a little bit about yourself? Absolutely. Yeah. So I was actually listening to one of your podcasts on, if you don't listen to your body when it whispers, you're gonna have to listen to it when it screams. And that is actually a big part of my life. I am a type A people pleaser, perfectionist. Go, go, go. And that's how I lived my whole life, um, which did not serve me well. So when I opened my own practice, it was just a lot of stress. I kind of thought about worst case scenario all the time, you know, like. My mind, just like, you're gonna fail and you'll be living on the streets. So that added a lot to my stress. And, I had pretty bad back pain for about a year and I ignored it. I just kept pushing, kept going, addicted to the cortisol and my body spoke to me very loudly where I woke up one morning with severe. Crazy pain. Like I have never had pain like this. Um, and it was from a disc extrusion in my back that was pressing on my sciatic nerve and it was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I told my husband I was dying multiple times'cause that's what it felt like. I felt like somebody was just ripping my sciatic nerve out of my leg. And so from that, I actually had loss of strength and sensation in my leg. So I walked with a limp for four months. And I still didn't slow down. Like even then my body was like try, physically trying to slow me down and I would not listen. But thinking back now, the stress that injury had added to my life in terms of again, thinking like, oh my gosh, I'm not gonna be able to do my job. Um, and so it's crazy'cause six months after that. Initial injury, I had a second disc extrusion with the same severe leg pain, and this time it was in the front of my leg, so I had foot drop the first time. I couldn't go up onto my tippy toe. So I then again walked with another limp, um, with my foot dropping. And these were all things that as a chiropractor, we would think of as kind of a red flag, where we would send you out to a neurosurgeon. Yep. I was terrified of surgery. I, um, had spent some time since I couldn't do many activities watching this crazy show on Netflix called, uh, Dr. Death, and it was about a neurosurgeon who killed multiple patients doing surgery. So I was like, I'm not getting surgery. I'm gonna figure this out on my own. So. It's interesting going through all of this.'cause now I can completely relate to a lot of my patients that have had severe back pain, but also going through it myself, I can see how there's multiple other issues that you can develop from a severe physical injury, and that is the stress response because it. Really creates high cortisol for such a long period of time that then depletes your cortisol. So then I. Felt it. Um, I felt like I had nothing left inside me to give my stress. Resilience was gone. People would complain about stuff and I just couldn't even take any stress. Like TV shows. I was like, I need happy stuff all the time. I can't take anything stressful. So, um, from that I actually started having severe, pelvic pain too. So. Every time. It was interesting'cause every month of my cycle, the back and the leg pain got worse. So I knew that there was some, correlation with hormones and endometriosis into the whole back injury. It was such a, a mess of everything. But that dug me deeper into the hormone path. And has led me where I am now because I love to help women with hormone issues and as well as the body and the stress response because it's just all so connected as you already know. Yeah. So were you doing all this? Were you still working, running your own business? Like that's a lot. Yes. Let's just like recognize that. Oh my gosh. It, it was. I, yeah, I don't know. I guess it would've been nice to give myself time to slow down and stop, but uh, my brain wouldn't let me do that. Totally off topic, but were you an athlete? I. Are you a um, I played tennis in undergrad and did cross country until I got chin splints. And then I played tennis in college too. But yeah, those were my sports. The reason I was asking is because it seems like, so many people that play sports, I was a soccer player and I was a figure artistic figure skater like growing up. Oh, wow. And it's interesting that I think there's like some competitiveness in this. Yes, I agree. Yeah. And it doesn't ever let go. Like I still play coed soccer and I do CrossFit now as an adult and Oh wow. I try to give myself a break, but I am like addicted to the movement, yes, you know, working out and moving my body. I agree, and I agree with the working out too because I feel like when I work out, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Like I've, I feel like, oh, I did my task for the day, so that whole year that I couldn't work out because of my back injury. It, it, well, like, make, made me depressed. I, I felt. Like a different person and I could feel it inside my body. So I totally get the working out and physical activity and how important it is. It's so funny that you said that about surgery too. Because I'm a former operating surgical technician, I. Oh wow. Yeah. And so I used to work in the operating room. I like, that was my dream growing up is my family was medical filled and I started working at doctor's office, went through all those schools, you know, didn't know what I wanted to do. Ended up doing that and that's when I got sick, um, with my first condition myself. Oh my gosh. I got just completely stopped. Wow. Yeah, that's been. Years now, I've had big surgeries. I still have a porta cath and oh my gosh. Um, but now I'm, I'm able to eat and drink again and. It forced stopped me. Of course, I wasn't able to eat, drink, and do all things, and so I had to travel for Oh, wow. A diagnosis, because it was like, you're crazy. You know? Yeah. I'm not crazy. How does your gut stop That? Doesn't work like that. Yeah. No, but then, so now I've, I've gotten better and, I feel like they killed my immune system and I'm, and I still have a team of doctors, so I'm not anti-D doctor. I think there's, yeah, there's reasons you still need to see doctors and reasons still. You still need to see surgeons, but I also, it definitely changed the way I look at life and um, how we can things more naturally. And the things that aren't talked about. Yeah. And I think, you, you mentioned those and I was like, yes. Like bring it on. I'm so excited. So first of all, what brought you into this career path? I. Oh gosh. I always loved health. And I didn't know which route to go in undergrad, so I was going the biology route. And then since I played tennis competitively in college, I had a lot of knee issues. So I saw a chiropractor during that time and he was just. Such a great influence and he wrote my letter to get into school for me. And I am very glad I did go this path because there's so many avenues and specialties that you can do with chiropractic. I do feel like I. My love definitely is functional medicine and hormones and women's health. So I'm glad that I found this path too because it allows me to take it in both directions and deal with the body, physically and inside and out and all aspects of it. Yeah, that's amazing. And. It's not, nothing bad about like western medicine, but they're only taught one thing. Yeah. And so like, then they send you to specialist after specialist and it's kind of a guessing game of you chasing doctor after doctor. And it feels like no one ever can communicate with each other. And, and so like, if you don't know medical terms, you're stuck, like trying to figure it out. I mean, I'm thankful that I learned a lot of medical. Stuff so I could tell them and explain from one doctor to another, but yeah. Um, yeah, I don't, I don't know how people do it if they don't have experience. I know every, I feel like everyone needs an advocate, like a health advocate because you can just get lost in the medical system and you don't get the care that you need or deserve because you might not have somebody that can be there to support you. Yeah. Yeah. So what really sparked you to kind of like dig more? Was it your injuries or was there something else that was like, I'm gonna pivot this way. Into the function. Yeah, I think it was, um, I had always really, you know, tons of podcasts just listening to all those on functional medicine and just loved that stuff. I went through the whole Institute for Functional Medicine courses. This was like 10 years ago, but I was practicing as an associate, so I couldn't implement it. Into practice then, which was kind of sad because I feel like I would've retained more of the information if I could have implemented it right away. So then when I opened my own practice, I was like, I am gonna be adding this into my practice. So then I did another recertification, Through functional medicine and just always doing webinars and a podcast junkie. And sometimes I need to like stop with the learning stuff. I do love to learn, but sometimes I'm like, man, I need to listen to some music and like de-stress and not just always learn to listen to learning things all the time, but I need, I need to work on my balance of life here. But yeah, I could see it. In myself every year, I would say to myself, I'm gonna start meditating this year. That's my goal for the year, and I just ignored it every year. I would ignore all the stress stuff, all the self-care stuff, until my body stopped me and forced me to actually look at all of that. That's so good. I hate that we have to go through something and that we're like forced to stop, but that's, the same with me. I love to learn. Yeah. I'm always listening to a podcast. People are like, don't you listen to the radio? Don't you do that? And I'm like, I, I just like to learn. I just wanna know it all. Yeah. Like, I just, you know, I just keep going and so it's just so much fun. Yeah. Um, so tell. What I wanna talk about frozen shoulder, but is there anything else you wanna talk about? Like leading up to, like digging into hormones? Digging into, because it is something that people, I don't know how we make it real that I'm 41 and how do we make it okay for people to talk about hormones and all the things that we're gonna face without being embarrassed or like, it's just, I feel like it's not talked about enough. It's definitely not, I think luckily now it's being talked about a little bit more. And I do think a lot of this stress stuff, the stress response are, you know, type A personalities that's causing us to go into perimenopause earlier. I know that I started into perimenopause in my late. Thirties, which is insane. Like when I used to think about menopause stuff, I'd be like, oh, I'd I'd be like 60 years old. No. Yeah. Like it's crazy to think how long you're in a perimenopause and some of these symptoms that we have, like you're like, I'm gonna have this for 15 years. That's insane. Like that's why it's so important to like do something about it now and help yourself through these 15 year transition period. Because you could be miserable and it's not, not okay. Not okay to live that way. Because when I started looking at my connection with my back pain and the endometriosis, I. I, a lot of it came down because I was, the stress stuff that I never dealt with. I was not making progesterone, which made me estrogen dominant, which fed the endometriosis, which then exacerbated a lot of my back and leg symptoms. So it's like I could, if I had actually listened to myself five years ago when I said I'm gonna start meditating and dealing with my stress. Then I could have helped myself, but I didn't. So ladies, just like Casey says, listen to your body whisper before it screams at you. Yeah. And it's so easy to say that, but really to be intentional and like set out a daily plan because. Our world sped up after Covid. You know, it was like, yeah. Things kind of, people kind of shifted their minds and I think people are turning more towards like natural medicine, looking at chiropractors different, looking at everybody a little bit differently. But then it also, like we just shifted into like fast pace again. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, oh, okay, we're going. And it's so hard when you're someone who's gone to stop and recognize like. I'm doing too much. Mm-hmm. And even like, I do a meditation every night. I know. And just because I'm doing a five minute meditation at night, that doesn't mean that I'm still giving my body enough. I need to stop during the day and meditate more, or just sit in, sit silence. I'm working on that one. Yeah. So good. That's what it takes is being aware of it and doing what you can. Yeah. Yeah. So how are you normalizing this? Because when they first told me, I mean, I joked around with about frozen shoulder, before it actually happened. I was like joking at the gym. I was like, I can't, I had a barbell over my head and I was like, I can't keep my shoulder down. And my coach was like, everybody's laughing. They're like, put your arm down. And I was like, no. Like I can't get it. Like, do you see how my shoulder's like sticking up? Oh my gosh. And so I actually, So it was like a joke, like, oh, Casey's arms are stuck in the air. And I mean, I was able to move it down, but I was like trying to show him like, look, this one up, one shoulder's going up and one won't go down. And so, yeah, and then all of a sudden it just like happened. And it didn't even happen. Like, I think it was probably like a month before that, so I wasn't paying attention, I wasn't listening. And then now I'm like, okay, well what do I do now? And when they said. Oh, well, you're in perimenopause. I'm like, what? Wait, what? Yeah. And I'm like, well, what do I do about it? And they're like, oh, it'll, well, frozen shoulder will go away. And like, do you have night sweats? They're like, you're kind of young. And I was like, no. And they're like, yeah, well I don't, like no one had any advice for me. Oh my gosh. I was just like, they're like, frozen shoulder will go away. I am like. Okay, but what's next? Like what about the hormones? Yeah. What about everything else that's connect to this? Like how do we get other people from having issues like frozen shoulder? That's, I mean, I had never heard of anybody having frozen shoulder. Yeah. And then all of a sudden everybody's like, oh yeah, I had that when I turned 40. They call it like the 40 shoulder. And I was like, what? I'm like is happening and no one's talking about it. Yes. Yeah, it's not just a mechanical issue. It's crazy'cause I am seeing it a lot in a lot of my female patients starting into perimenopause. Because it has to do with hormones as well as being a mechanical issue. So that's why I like to address. Both sides of it. As a chiropractor, you know, I love to get in there and do my stuff with the adjustments and mobilize the shoulder, adjust the neck and the ribs, and make sure everything's moving properly. And then I just added in. A new therapy this past year actually for my back. I was looking up what other therapies can I do to prevent surgery? And I found the focused shockwave device, which has been amazing and is great for shoulder stuff. So, um, this sends sound waves very deep into the tissue, so it gets much deeper than I can get with my hands and. Those sound waves actually stimulate your own growth factors and cytokines and stem cells to come to the area to regenerate the tissue, as well as helping with the inflammation. We've had amazing results with this, so I'm super excited to have that in the office. Then I also have an. Nurse practitioner who helps me with regenerative medicine so she can do, like a PRP injection. That's where we take blood, draw, we centrifuge your platelets, and then inject those platelets back into the injured area. So that's been helpful for frozen shoulder or bursitis in the shoulder. And then I most recently got certified in dry needling, which is where I use an acupuncture needle and I put it into the tissue that's causing the problem and move it around a little bit. It sounds kind of crazy, but I used to hate needles. I was terrified, but now it's like I. I love to do dry needling because I've been doing it on my leg. The one that, stopped working for me and it's been so beneficial. I used to get severe, calf cramps at night, only in the leg that lost strength and sensation, and after doing the dry needling in there, it's. Stopped and I was like, this is amazing. So the dry needling is also a great option. So there's lots of things that I can do, kind of when we wanna look at the structure part, but if we're not addressing the hormone part, we're not treating the whole picture. So a lot of times that part is missed. And. People don't realize that when we have these huge fluctuations in hormones during perimenopause, that creates changes in our collagen. And that creates more, um, there's less elasticity in the tendons, so there's more rubbing. And when we have more rubbing and normal movements that you should be able to do. Like if you're reaching for things or you're playing with your kids or working out, God forbid we wanna work out. But. A lot of those repetitive movements just create friction because of the ligaments not being as supple as they should be because we're having those changes in the hormones. So addressing that and looking at your progesterone and estrogen and seeing kind of what levels, yes, they're gonna be changing through perimenopause, but we can get a good idea at what they're doing, how you're detoxing your hormones, kind of the pathways that they're going. And usually when we get into our early forties. Starting with some progesterone can be so helpful, as we kind of work our way towards the menopause side of things. Oh, that's so much and so good. And I really love that you connect the whole body. Yeah. Especially, like even in Kathy's world, we talk about coming home to ourself and like being in alignment and it's truly your body like. Everything being in alignment, your bones, your joints, like everything has to be in alignment for your body to physically work. Yeah. And so, I mean, there's like two sides when you say like, come home to yourself and be in alignment. It's like yeah, you wanna be in alignment with everything all around. Yeah. And we wanna look at all the hormones. So that's even the adrenals, because that cortisol creates more inflammation. So we wanna look at what that cortisol curve is doing throughout the day, and that's when we test your cortisol four times throughout the day. So we can see it should be higher in the morning and lower at night. So sometimes people, their curve is all outta whack because of their stress response, with life. And then those thoughts that we tell ourselves. But that's gonna downstream affect your thyroid, which can also lead to frozen shoulder. There's correlation with that, and then your sex hormones too. It's so, it all starts with kind of that whole stress response. Uh, it's so crazy. I know it's such good information, but it's just something that we, I don't think we learn about. Mm-hmm. When you're 40, people don't talk about it. I know. It's like, oh, that'll happen when I'm like 60. Those things will happen later, you know? Yeah. And now I'm like, okay, well they're happening. And yeah, like this isn't fun and it's stopping my life, so what do I do now? I know. Yeah. There now is the time to address these things because I, my office manager, she's been going through a really hard perimenopause and it's been a long time and, um, I, I just came and we've been trying to work on things the best we can, but yeah, her stress response and her cortisol is way outta whack. So it's like going back to the foundation and. Again, like that's why I love the Kathy stuff because a lot of it is changing your thoughts and the codependency that I realized I had with, family and friends, wanting the best for everyone and just taking on all of their stress and their life stuff that was not mine to carry. So I'm working on that daily, putting that stuff down. But it is, it's a work in progress and you have to constantly. Be added and willing and open to change and try new things.'cause it, it takes time to figure it all out. That's the words right there. It takes time. I, I looked at my doctor and I was like, what's the instant here? And he looked at me and he said. What's has there, have there ever been a fast cure with anything in your life? And I, and I just started laughing and I was like, okay, you got me there. I shouldn't have asked that question. You're right. I know. No, the answer is no. I'm, this is a life lesson. And I was like, but I'm going to speak it into my podcast because a, um, you know, I talk about what sparks people to do things and you've been through your own journey. Yeah. Of pain. And I think, not that I ever wish pain on anybody, but I think that once you've been through something, you are so much more compassionate. Yes.'cause you understand the level of pain. How are you now? Can I ask that? Yeah. Yeah. I am so much better now. I started doing yoga last year and it's a very slow, like, methodical restorative yoga, and I felt like it was. Physical therapy for my brain and stress and body, and I had tremendous improvement just in the first month of starting that. So it is a multi approach. And I know even with my patients, like some of them say, well, I don't wanna do too many things because then I won't know what one thing fixed the problem. But you have to do multiple things because there's so many different causes, especially as we get older. Like there's many different causes to the problem. Like even with my back injury, it wasn't just one thing that caused it because everyone's like, if I knew what caused it, I would never do that one thing again. But it was multiple things like, and it started with my, me as a child, how my spine was shaped. I actually didn't crawl. I scooted everywhere. I just scooted. I never crawled. Wow. And crawling is so critical for the development of your spinal curves and. If you can imagine what your spine would look like if you just scooted along, it was, um, a little messed up. So when I did imaging back when I was in chiropractic school, I was like, I look like I have a 60-year-old spine and I was in my twenties. So that definitely added to the problem. But then there was, you know, so many other issues and hormones and stress and. I did CrossFit as well, and I loved it at the time. I don't regret it, but with the shape of my spine, I don't know if I should have done some of the things, but it's awesome to feel strong, like I love to feel strong too, so I just had to modify how I'm working out now and still lift some weights, but do things a little differently. Yeah. Oh, that's funny that you said yoga. I went to yoga. I started yoga before this happened. I was like, you know, I'm gonna take one day off a week and go to yoga because I'm not flexible. Yes. I've never been flexible. Even as a figure skater, I wasn't flexible. And they were like, touch your toes. And I was like, I can't touch my toes like I've never been able to. And they're like, if you stretch every day, I'm like, I'm stretching every day and I still can't touch my toes. So, I went to yoga and let's talk about mind game. Like, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Totally. I'm like, Ooh. I go through all the thoughts and Yeah. Now this is like making me really stop and focus and be intentional and Yes, it was, it's, it's hard. Yeah. Especially for us, like type A go, go, go. You know, we did CrossFit, we love that like ghost stuff. So to stop and slowly move and do yoga, it is hard to mentally do that. Yeah. I was like, people do this for fun. I had a look around the first time when they were doing a pose and I was like, people are enjoying this and they can breathe while they're doing this. Like, oh my gosh. I was like, am I the only one in here that, that feels this way? And I know, um, yeah. I, it is one thing I'm gonna get back to on my shoulder. Yeah. Feels I'm gonna get back into yoga because I do think that. There's something intentional about slowing everything down your mind. Yeah. Your thoughts. So powerful. I agree. Aging our thoughts. Yes. Um, I, I mean, I'm in Kansas. I wish I was, I could come. Just fly and see you. Oh, I know. Um, I'm trying to think if I actually, I am part of a group on Facebook and I could see if anybody, I do feel like the shockwave would be really helpful for you. Yeah. So let me reach out and see if there's anybody that I know in your area that has one. Yeah, I would be totally open to that. I've done dry needling. It's so funny because people are like, you do dry needling, you can needle, and I'm like. It is like the weirdest pain, but like the most relieving pain. Yes. It's good stuff. It's, yeah, it is weird to think that you're. Putting a needle and moving it around in there, but it changes also your brain connection to that muscle to let go, because if you're only just working on that area, your brain still is not telling that muscle to let go. So it helps with the neurology as well at that brain connection to the muscle. So it's pretty cool. That is, yeah. So interesting. Yeah. Um, do you, what do you tell people about their diet? Do you address that at all, or, oh, yeah. That's one I am very passionate about. I always read my patients and what they're open to, um, but go doing a more anti-inflammatory diet. It's hard for me if somebody is a vegan, because I feel like. A vegan diet is a little more inflammatory, but people are vegans for reasons. You know, if they, if they're a vegan because they think that's a healthy diet, I don't feel that way. So I encourage my patients, unless it's something they're completely against to eat good quality, animal protein because that's where we get the proteins that we need to balance our hormones and to restore our muscles and help with things like frozen shoulder or back injuries. Um, and I used to try to be low carb, but to be honest, the more I learn. Women do need some good healthy carbohydrates. I personally did not do well on a ketogenic diet. So I do encourage, you know, good quality complex carbohydrates, as well as the proteins and healthy fats are so important again, in making your hormones too. So, it is something that you intentionally have to focus on every day.'cause we just live in this world of processed food like crazy. Yeah. So if you can eat whole Foods, you are winning because it's hard to get away from these processed foods. And that's what we do need to stay away from. Yeah. And the fast paced world, that's what we do is just Yes. Have the, the easy stuff. Um, I know I should say my boyfriend meal preps for me. Nice. And so, um, we were doing different meal prepping and so I, I kind of switched to, um, like red meats. Mm-hmm. And so I was like, I hope this is the right thing to do, like Yeah. With meat. So that's what I've been trying, I was like, it's not gonna hurt either it's gonna work or it's not gonna work, but yeah. It's easy because I go so much, I would, just grab whatever I could. Mm-hmm. Or I just wouldn't eat because I'm like, I don't want to eat junk. Mm. Yeah. And so a lot of times I'd be like, oh, well I didn't get in all my protein, all my, you know, if you do macros, I didn't, I did not hit that today because I was on the go. So if I intentionally set myself up for the week, then usually I do better than grabbing things. Yeah. Yeah, it's so important to plan it out because we're seeing now two people with hypoglycemia. So if you don't eat it is really going to impact things. So making sure you get up and you get that good breakfast, the protein, the healthy fats to set yourself up for the day is just critical. Yeah, that's, thank you. Yeah. I. I'm just fascinated by everything you do and that you work on the whole body. Mm-hmm. I don't think enough people talk about it. Thank you. I think that there's so much, I feel like you could offer a hundred courses not to just like, I'm like, Hey, let me add a little more stress to your plate of like, can you just offer some courses to women because we need to make this more normalized that we can talk about it. It's okay to talk about and. There's people that you can see for these things? Yes, because I had no idea what, like where do you start? Where do you go? And I still ask my friends, I was like, where would you go? And they were like. I don't know. I never thought that when I was 40 I would have to think about these things. Mm-hmm. I know. Yeah, it's tough. Definitely finding a functional medicine practitioner so they can take a deeper dive and set you up for, I'm so big into prevention and making your life easier in, in the future. Because when people don't do things like myself, my back then things are 10 times worse. If we can at least help that transition into menopause because it's a long time, ladies, a long time that we go through this. Yeah. Thanks for just being real and sharing about it. I know this is your daily work, but it's not real in the world. Like my goal is to let everybody know like there are people out there. Yes, and it's okay to talk about it, and it's okay to start thinking about it now instead of, Hey, even if you're in your thirties, you should probably start thinking about these things. Absolutely. Yeah., If we all, I mean, obviously diet for every age because there's so much thrown out in the world of. Just bad information. Yeah, yeah. And some of the patients I'm working with right now, they're in their teens and they're having hormone issues and it's like, oh my gosh. But luckily, we're addressing it now because it's gonna help them throughout their whole life. So even if you're in your teens, it's not too early to address it now because it's gonna help you so much in the future. Yeah. Uh, thank you for saying that and just, yeah, I think there's so much, even as a teen, I can't man those, I don't wanna go back to those years. Those were weird word years. And then when you think about it and it's like, oh, okay, I got through those years and now I'm going into these years. I know. Uh, we should just make it all normalized and Okay to talk about it all. Yes. Absolutely. Like I had no idea too with how many tampons is normal to go through during a cycle. Like, we need to be talking about these things. I was like, oh my gosh. I was like three times that amount. That was not normal. Like what's happening? That's the thing. And unless you're like in a family that talks about it or your friends, like at that age, we didn't talk about it in my family. Like, yeah, no, neither did I, so, and it wasn't like a shameful thing. It was just like something you didn't talk about, like, yeah. Yeah. So Yeah, I know, I think that the kids nowadays, um, are becoming more open about it. Well, they're starting it earlier. Yeah. Everything is changing earlier, and I think that they have to become more open and I hope that we can make this world where. Women can talk about these things and they can talk about these things. If you have children, talk about your kids or tell them about it and let it be normalized. That especially, you know, there's things, all the foods, everything like that, those things that we can control, let's control those to make, um, absolutely life better. Yes, definitely. Do you wanna talk about anything else? You, I, you're just, so, let's see. So full of knowledge. So full of knowledge. Let me get my words out. I mean, I would love to, I think it is one of my goals to have a course, an online course. I'm gonna add more educational stuff to my functional medicine program where we're dealing with the stress response, um, and resetting that cortisol rhythm and. Addressing root cause. But I do feel like a lot of the educational stuff is so important. Um, so yeah, that, that's one of my things I'm gonna be working on. I was like, not to throw more stress at you, but pile it on. And then my own podcast, I'm starting too. That is supposed to be launching on June 5th, now that I put that out there into the world. That is happening. It is happening, yes. Yeah. So, um, whatcha are gonna talk about on your podcast? Yeah, I'm gonna be talking about all this stuff. So me and my very good friend from chiropractic school, she also has gone through the functional medicine program with me, and we just called each other on the phone talking about health stuff all the time, and we're like, you know what? We need a podcast to talk about all this stuff. We're gonna. Let's talk about the health stuff, but then we're talking about, she actually went through quite a bit of grief, uh, with her husband passing while she was pregnant with their son. So she's gonna be bringing that into the mix.'cause that's a big passion of hers is dealing with grief. And then I'm gonna be adding in some of the stuff of the stress response and the codependency and the people pleasing and how that affects your health and your life. And so we're gonna be talking about everything. You're getting into all the fills. Yes. Oh yes. Yeah. I thank her for normalizing that and talking about it.'cause those are just a ton of feelings right there. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And that's something else that I think that we don't talk about is our feelings enough. Mm-hmm. I totally agree. So I'm excited and it's all connected, even gut problems, everything. Our whole body is, it's real. And so is your, do you have a trailer out um, we should have a trailer out probably in the next two weeks. Okay. Yes. Working on that. So I will drop that in the. Things. I'm excited to listen for myself because here I am, like gimme all the knowledge, like, I'm just like, thank you. We're podcast junkies over here. Yeah. Yeah. I will share all your information where people can find you. Oh, thank you. If you could leave people with some advice, what do you wanna leave people with? Yeah, if they like couple things today. One thing, definitely educating yourself because it's unfortunate that doctors. I don't really know everything they should know to help you. I just have a lot of my patients that want to run a lot of the blood work through their insurance and they talk to their doctor and I think their doctor doesn't know, so they brush them off, which is not okay.'cause guys, you trust your gut. You are on the right path. You know what you need. And if your doctor can't help you, then find another doctor. You have to be strong. An advocate for yourself because it is important to get the answers that you deserve. Like if you feel like crap and your doctor just does the basic blood panels and says you're normal, but you still feel like crap, keep searching. You are correct. You need to find the answer and find a different doctor if the one you have is not gonna work with you. Oh, that's so good. maybe I should have said this at the beginning. As far as functional medicine doctor, what is the best way you would describe that so people can, if they're looking that up and they're thinking, yeah. Doctor versus functional medicine, doctor I. I would say we are like a root cause, like what's causing your symptoms. We don't just treat your symptoms like if you have a headache, we're not like, take an Advil or you know, we wanna find out why you have that headache or why you have high blood pressure. And I'm such a like, well why? Like, you know, that kid in school? Like why, why is that? And it's fun to be a health detective and find out why, and then address that, which is, it's such a better way to do medicine because you're addressing your current symptoms, but then you're also preventing so much future crap from happening because you've addressed the cause now. So if your body has a symptom, it's a loud sign that you need to dig deep and find out why you have that symptom. Thank you for saying all that. You're so full of knowledge. I could talk to you all day and just be like, just give it to me, gimme more because there's so much with, you know, I faced gut issues. I faced it all, and I wish at an earlier age people would've been like. You can, like, it's all connected. You know, when I was a baby, I had spinal meningitis. Yeah. And if I tell a medical doctor that they look at me and they're like, oh, you're how old. And you had it when you were a baby. You had spinal meningitis when you baby. That has nothing to do with anything now. And Oh my gosh. And I'm just like, really? Like your body's connected and it remembers like, I don't remember exactly. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, the things that I've been through, you know, the different things and no one wants to talk about any of that, so I'm so grateful that you are normalizing all of this and hormones as well. Yes, it's so fun and. I feel like functional medicine is the medicine of the future. It's what lots of patients want, but they don't realize it's something that exists that's out there. Unfortunately. I'm so sorry guys. Your insurance does not cover functional medicine. But it allows us to treat you like we are able to spend as much time as we need. We're not rushed. We're able to order what tests you actually need. It's not what the insurance tells us we can do. And it's frustrating to take insurance, which I do for chiropractic, and they try to control what I do for the patient. And it's like you, you're not here, you're not treating the patient. So. It's honestly so freeing to not take insurance with the functional medicine because I can just look at you and that's the only person I care about. And that's what we're gonna do is to help you. So, um, find a functional medicine doctor. I really think that you guys will not, not regret it. It's gonna be what you need. Thank you for sharing that. It's. I mean, if you guys saw her face when she talks about this, she just lights up and she has this big, beautiful smile. And so I can only imagine being your patient and really just sitting down with you and feeling heard and seen. And I think those things of getting to like just lay it all out, just somebody is one of the most important things. Yes. I agree. Yeah. I wanna thank you. Do you wanna tell everybody where they can find you? Yes. So I have a website, which is dr ter.com. That's D-R-A-U-C-H-T-E r.com. And then I have two social medias, which is Health in Motion Chiropractic, and then also Health in Motion Wellness, which is the functional medicine side. I will leave those in the show notes so you guys don't have to remember that. I do have another question though. Do you treat Yeah. Just in person, or do you treat over. Do you do Zoom calls? Yeah, I do do Zoom calls. Um, I am a little restricted, so if you live in Florida we can do so much more. But I can do consultations and stuff like that if you live in a different state. Or find somebody in my network that could definitely help you, if you are in a different state. Uh, I appreciate all that. Yes, I wish I was in Florida right now. Well, thanks for letting me like, just pick your brain and just being so honest and making everything so real. Aw, thanks for having me. Thank you. It's an honor to have you on here and it's, the best thing about podcasting is just being able to talk to someone and connect that you get to see what lights him up and you're so passionate about what you do. Oh, thank you. And, and you're helping so many. So I can't thank you enough for coming on. Thank you so much. I will leave everything in the show notes so you guys can go find her. I hope you enjoyed this episode and go follow her. And don't forget, on June 5th, her podcast is coming out. Yay. So you can go take a listen to that as well. Yes, coming. Thank you. Thank you for tuning into another episode. I hope today's story inspired you to embrace your own journey of growth and change. Remember, transformation isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. Share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you found something that sparked you in this episode and may spark a friend, I encourage you to go share with them. If you have your own story you would like to share, I would love to hear it. So please reach out to me. Until next time, friends, go have some fun and let those sparks lie.