Navigating Infertility and PCOS - Karlie's Story

Karlie, a holistic nutritionist and health coach, shares her journey into parenthood and her struggles with infertility and PCOS. Despite being told she would never conceive without IVF, Karlie was able to get pregnant naturally and now has two boys. She discusses the emotional toll of infertility, the lack of support from others, and the impact of childhood trauma on her health. Karlie stresses the significance of mental health and self-care in the fertility journey and the necessity of having a solid support system.
 

Takeaways

• Infertility and PCOS can have a significant emotional toll on individuals and couples.
• Having a support system is crucial during the fertility journey.
• Childhood trauma can impact hormonal health and increase the risk of conditions like PCOS.
• Mental health and self-care are essential during the fertility journey.
• Coping mechanisms such as aromatherapy and essential oils can provide comfort and relaxation. Addressing the root cause of PCOS is crucial for managing symptoms and improving fertility.
• Making lifestyle changes, such as focusing on nutrition and reducing stress, can have a significant impact on PCOS.
• Finding support from others who have gone through similar experiences can provide comfort and guidance.
• Self-care is essential during the fertility journey and motherhood to maintain physical and mental well-being.
• It's important to approach fertility treatments and medication with an informed and educated perspective.
• Every journey is unique, and what works for one person may not work for another.

To learn more about Karlie, visit her Instagram  

Transcript

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Chelsea (00:01)
Hi, welcome to Quiet Connection, a podcast dedicated to ending the stigma around postpartum mental health. I'm Chelsea. Today I'm chatting with Karlie, a holistic nutritionist and health coach. She shares her journey into parenthood and her struggles with infertility and PCOS. Despite being told she would never conceive without IVF, Karlie was able to make lifestyle changes and get pregnant naturally. She discusses the emotional toll of infertility,

the lack of support from others, and the impact of childhood trauma on her health. Through it all, she offers hope and encouragement to women facing similar challenges. Let's hear from Karlie.

Chelsea (00:43)
Hello! Today I'm here with Karlie Hi Karlie, how are you?

Karlie Henderson (00:49)
Good, thanks. How are you, Chelsea?

Chelsea (00:51)
I'm so glad that we were able to connect Karlie, you wear many hats. You are a holistic nutritionist. You're a health coach. You're a mom. I guess we will jump right in with my question that I ask all of my guests. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and who you were before you became a mom?

Karlie Henderson (01:14)
Yeah, absolutely. So now, like you said, I'm a certified holistic nutritionist, a health coach, and the founder of Karisma Nutrition. I specialize in helping women with PCOS get pregnant, lose weight, and get rid of their symptoms naturally. And now I'm a mom to two busy boys. Bennett is almost four and Brody is already 14 months. And all of this, even though I was told I would never be able to conceive without IVF.

Chelsea (01:32)
I'm sorry.

Karlie Henderson (01:42)
And before I was a mom, my God, it's hard to even remember all the free time that I took for granted. used to be a financial advisor actually, and then my life really switched gears after I went through my fertility journey and started learning about hormones and nutrition and my life just completely changed.

Chelsea (02:02)
Isn't it crazy how the journey into parenthood alters so much of our lives? Let's just dive right in. What was your journey into parenthood like? Where did that begin?

Karlie Henderson (02:07)
huh.

Yeah, so back when I was about 26, I'm 32 now, so if that gives you some perspective. When I was 26 years old, my husband and I just got married. We bought this two story, three bedroom home. You know, the plan was always to fill all these extra bedrooms with babies right away. We'd already been together for about seven years. We had a dog, we had two cats, we had stable jobs. I mean, no one's ever 100 % ready, but we were about as ready as you can be.

Chelsea (02:48)
gonna go.

Karlie Henderson (02:47)
So I came off birth control, of course, and nothing happened. And went to the doctor, went to an OB, then another OB. No one was really taking me seriously. No tests were done. I was having all these symptoms like weight gain and anxiety, getting acne where I'd never really had acne before. My period really just disappeared. So...

Chelsea (02:52)
Mm.

Karlie Henderson (03:16)
Basically I was just stressed. I was depressed. My weight was climbing. I actually gained like 50 pounds and I took a leave of absence from work. That's how like brutal this was. And I was somebody who never would even call in sick, but, and then I had to literally take a stress leave. So finally I found a fertility specialist about an hour away. I'm in Ontario, Canada, so it was a bit of a and right away, like she told me I had PCOS. So.

I mean, that's not great news, but I did feel validated. I mean, I'd been looking up on Dr. Google and had an idea of what was going on, but it was just so frustrating that no one would even listen to me. Right. So I took all the medications, you know, I did the metformin and the provera to bring on a period. She told me to lose some weight and come back if I don't get a cycle. So fast forward through several failed rounds of letrasol, which

I didn't even know at the time, nobody explained to me that this was actually a pill that was designed for breast cancer patients. She told me, yeah, yeah, basically what they found was they were giving these pills to women with breast cancer because it does help with your hormones and they were getting pregnant because it induces ovulation, right? So yeah, it's kind of like an off level. It's very, very popular. It's kind of like the first step before anybody does IUI or IVF. So I did the few rounds of that.

Chelsea (04:17)
Yeah, I've never heard of it.

Wow!

Karlie Henderson (04:41)
but it also increases chances of multiples like if having twins or triplets or things like that because it really it's supposed to induce ovulation. But anyway, it didn't work for me. Now I understand that's because that's not what my problem was. And basically we got on the IVF waiting list. So in Canada, you get one round of IVF for free as long as you don't have any you or your partner don't have any kids yet. But that list is a long waiting list, right?

I just was so frustrated. I didn't recognize myself in my own body. My career was like going sideways because I just couldn't even function anymore. My husband didn't even know what to do. Like he just felt so bad. He got me a puppy because we're like, wow, we're not going to have kids. So then we got this little dog, Josie, like my little fluffy dog, and we already had a lab. So it was like, okay, well, I guess we're just going to be pet parents.

but then I just started learning about hormones and nutrition and insulin resistance and you know, why your hormones are out of whack and what to do about it without medications that I realize are now just kind of a band -aid fix, right? There's no shortcuts and long story short, I mean, now I have my two boys all naturally, right? I didn't need medication at all. And that's, you know, the clients that I work with, I actually had one message me last night and I'm like,

Chelsea (05:50)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (06:04)
Normally I don't message people back on a Sunday night, but I was just so rattled. I'm like, no, like she went to her fertility doctor and like, yeah, like you should look into surrogacy. And I'm like, my God, no, like you've got your cycle back. You like knock on wood, you're not going to need that. Like, why are they even talking about that? When you, you know, you're down 40 pounds, you have your energy back in your cycle is regular now. Like, why would they even mention that?

Chelsea (06:21)
Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (06:30)
PCOS does not equal infertility and people don't understand that. So it's really frustrating.

Chelsea (06:36)
we had sort of chatted about this a little bit before we started recording, but had you even heard of the term PCOS before being diagnosed?

Karlie Henderson (06:45)
not really. Like a friend of mine thought she had it. So I kind of had heard the term, but I didn't really know what it was. Like I thought, okay, polycystic ovarian syndrome. I thought that meant that I had a bunch of cysts on my ovaries, which is not the case. Right. Like they're actually just your body trying to ovulate and those enlarged follicles or eggs are just sitting there. Right. Like your body gives up and tries again. So they look like cysts on an ultrasound, but now we know that they're not.

Chelsea (07:00)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (07:15)
actually cysts at all. There are such things as ovarian cysts, but that's a completely different condition.

Chelsea (07:21)
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's, that's crazy. So yes, you said you had to use Dr. Google, which should avoid at all costs. we we sort of touched on it a tiny bit, but how did that process affect your relationship with your partner going through? Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (07:29)
Mm -hmm.

It was so hard. Honestly, it was like I was using couple different apps to try to track my cycle. I was, you know, peeing on the little ovulation predictor kit sticks and you know, no one explained to me that these are not accurate for PCOS at all. Like they're picking up hormones that are already out of whack. Like you kind of get a false positive of your body trying to ovulate, but it's not actually ovulating.

you know, sex is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. And it honestly just started becoming a chore, right? Like the doctors were saying, yeah, if you just have sex that, you know, every other day or whatever, like nobody went into how to know when you're ovulating, how to check your cervical fluid, how to track your body temperature and all these ways that are accurate, just as accurate as blood work to find out when you're ovulating. Nobody explained that to us. So I was literally just learning on my own. Luckily he was on board with all of

But no, it was really, really hard. Like, especially because I was off work and like he understood and knew I was going through stuff and I started seeing a therapist and everything, but like they can only relate so much. And I don't have anybody else in my life that's gone through anything like this. Like I have friends that, you know, my younger sister has two kids, right? And my best friend had two kids and like, yeah, nobody.

Chelsea (08:37)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (09:01)
Nobody that I knew, nobody speaks about it publicly anyway, was having any issues getting pregnant. And nobody understood like why we weren't pregnant yet. And you get the old, just stop trying or just go on a vacation. And it's like, they don't think it's a real thing. Like they just don't understand that it's something physiologically wrong with your hormones.

Chelsea (09:14)
Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah, and that was that was beautiful because that was actually going to be my next question about what kind of support system you It sounds like you didn't have anyone that you could relate to at all. No. therapy helpful to you?

Karlie Henderson (09:33)
No, no, And then I had, it was, I was very lucky to find a therapist who specialized in this because she had gone through it, which was crazy. Cause I'm in a teeny tiny little town of like maybe 40 ,000 people here.

Chelsea (09:45)
Okay.

Karlie Henderson (09:51)
But no, it was really difficult. Like we didn't anybody really to talk to, right? Like our parents never had any issues, right? Like none of my friends had any issues and my husband wasn't really, I think he struggled with it a lot because at least like being a woman, it's a bit more acceptable to at least talk to your friends about, you know, deep things like that, just in general. Whereas him, he literally had no, I mean, I'm,

Chelsea (09:57)
Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (10:17)
He has really great friends, but like he didn't feel comfortable opening up and like talking to them about it. So it's like, I'm sure he felt very isolated as well. So you're just stuck in a funk, like it sucked, but we were focused on, you know, getting healthy and like following all the stuff that I was learning in my courses and the books that I was reading. So we were feeling better physically, right? But yeah, I mean, and then going through, so I had, I actually had a copper IUD as well.

Chelsea (10:22)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (10:46)
And this is way back before we were ever even trying to get I didn't know it had moved. Like I didn't have any cramping or bleeding or anything. And this is actually before we were going away to get married. I just felt off and I took a pregnancy test and it said positive. And I'm like, what the hell? And so I go to emerge cause I'm like, I have an IUD, like this isn't supposed to happen. So they removed it.

Chelsea (11:05)
Mmm.

Right.

Karlie Henderson (11:14)
and lost the baby, right? It's kind of like a 50 -50 chance of whether it sticks or not, and it didn't. So that really like, that was right before we got married. So that was devastating. Like it was kind of a baby that we didn't even know that we wanted, right? Like we were still pretty young, but that just showed as soon as we got married, like we were really ready to start trying right away. And then we had, first I had a molar pregnancy. Do you know what that is? Like some people...

Chelsea (11:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm. I was going to say, I do know what it is, but for listeners, can you explain a little bit what that is? Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (11:44)
Yeah, I had never heard of it. I was like, what? But basically, there's some sort of abnormality. It could be with the egg, it could be with the sperm. So instead of growing a basically turns into a tumor. That's the best way to explain it. So your blood work and everything will look normal. Like when you go and you get tested for pregnancy, they check to make sure that your HCG is doubling every 48 hours or so. And my blood work was perfect.

Chelsea (11:57)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (12:10)
Everything was great because that comes from the placenta, right? Which are two different things when you're pregnant. So I went in and this is like during the pandemic. So I was alone, going into this ultrasound room, thinking that I'm going to see my baby's heartbeat for the first time, this baby that I wanted so bad. And they told me there's nothing there. And I'm like, what? Like, what do you mean? Like I have my blood work. Like I'm pregnant. Like, you know, I've had blood work several times. What's going on. And.

Chelsea (12:10)
Mm -hmm.

Mm.

Karlie Henderson (12:37)
They had to do some more investigating and yeah, so then I had to go and have a DNC to have that removed. And then you're at risk for uterine cancer later because it can come And then, then I had an ectopic pregnancy that almost killed me and I knew something was wrong. Like I felt like I was having spotting and cramping and just didn't feel right again. And my blood work still was showing.

Chelsea (12:44)
Mm.

my gosh.

Karlie Henderson (13:03)
like borderline progressing, like they were watching it, but first they gave me medication to try to dissolve it. It's basically, again, another cancer medication that stops growth. So took that and they're like, yep, the stage that you're in, there's like a 98 % chance of that working. Didn't work, ruptured, almost killed me. It was...

Chelsea (13:16)
Mm -hmm.

Mm.

Karlie Henderson (13:28)
awful. Like at this time, like I'd had so many miscarriages that like I didn't even tell my family that I was pregnant at this point because I just didn't want to tell them that I was, you know, I had another miscarriage, right? So that's how they all found out I was pregnant is because I was in the hospital then finally fast forward pregnant I had like, this was like a beautiful day. My husband and I went for a walk.

Chelsea (13:39)
Yeah, yeah.

Karlie Henderson (13:52)
just we live on a creek with a nice walking path around it. So we're out on our lunch breaks, out for a walk, beautiful day. Come home, use the washroom and I go to wipe and all of a sudden it's like a murder scene. Like blood, like, my God. And I'm like, well, there goes that one. Like, to the point where this is a little bit graphic, but like I felt something come out and like, I'm like.

Chelsea (14:06)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (14:19)
digging in the toilet and crying and it's like blood and I don't even know what it was, but I like picked it up. Obviously we went to emerge. And then I'm sitting on the ultrasound table and they're like, well, there's your baby. And I'm like, what? And I'm like, are you, I swore at the girl. I was like, are you fucking crazy? And she was like, no, look right there. And she, they're not supposed to show you the screen, right?

Chelsea (14:28)
Mm -hmm.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (14:46)
But she's like, no, look, like she turned the screen around and there it is. I could see the heartbeat. And I'm like, well, what the hell is in that bag that I gave to the doctor that I took out of my toilet? And she's like, it could be a blood clot. You have a sub -chorionic hematoma. And I'm like, a what? It's basically like a blood clot in the lining of your uterus. And she's like, I can't go into this. I'm not even supposed to say that. You'll have to wait to hear from the doctor. I'm like, well, can you just tell me like, am I doomed? And she's like,

Not necessarily. I see lots of pregnancies, you know, be successful. And luckily, finally, mine was you know, I had gestational diabetes and I had this hematoma to deal with and just trauma of like, every time I go to the bathroom, I'm waiting to see blood, right? Like just, but if anybody takes anything away from this, that after all of that awful, awful,

Chelsea (15:26)
Mm.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (15:40)
everything that happened, it's 100 % worth it. I'm so glad that I didn't give up.

Chelsea (15:44)
I mean, I can't, I cannot imagine the anxiety, the level of anxiety for both of your pregnancies after experiencing everything that you experienced. And it is wild and your journey started before you intended it to. And, and even then it, I don't even know how to word it. Like it.

Karlie Henderson (15:58)
It's wild.

Chelsea (16:11)
It started with heartbreak that you didn't even ask. Well, nobody asks for it. Like, I don't even know how to word this. It started with disappointment before you'd even had a plan.

Karlie Henderson (16:27)
Mm -hmm. And we were so happy. Like my husband was not home at the time. He was at a poker game. This is like when I first originally found out I was pregnant when I had the IUD. He came home in the bathroom and I'll never forget this. He was wearing like these like Timberland boots, like and he wears them really loose, like the never ties his laces up, but he literally jumped out of his boots. He was so happy.

Chelsea (16:37)
Yeah.

You

Karlie Henderson (16:50)
Like we didn't, we were not trying. We were like, my God, like we're getting married soon. Like, shit, what are we going to do? We're having like this destination wedding coming up. Like, right. Like, is my wedding dress going to fit? Like it was, you know, we were so happy and then we had no idea what was to come. But now we have two beautiful boys that are a hundred percent worth it. I'm not going to try for a girl. I'm done. I'm tired. But, but.

Chelsea (17:01)
Yeah!

Yeah.

also hate it when people ask that question. invalidates what you have. Are you going to try for a girl? No, I have two beautiful children. What?

Karlie Henderson (17:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, I'd love to have a little girl. I always thought I would have a little girl, but I guess I'm a boy mom, so that's okay.

Chelsea (17:37)
And that's ironic because I always thought I was going to be a boy mom and I've got two girls. So I don't know. The universe works in funny ways, I guess.

Karlie Henderson (17:42)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

a lot. I'm like, my God, like, most people are like, you've had a molar part, like, what is a molar pregnancy and an ectopic pregnancy. It was like literally the night we were out for dinner for our wedding anniversary that I ended up in emerge. the ectopic, which is April 3rd. So it was about a month ago. And now I can't even think of our wedding anniversary without thinking of like,

Chelsea (18:06)
Oof.

Karlie Henderson (18:10)
laying in emerge, like that was awful.

Chelsea (18:12)
How do you navigate that? Have you and your partner done something to make sure that on your wedding anniversary, your mental health is protected?

Karlie Henderson (18:21)
Not really. I don't think he really realized how much like it still haunts me until this year I told him I was like, I feel so bad because I want to think about our wedding. But like the only thing I can think about is that. And he just, you know, said, you know, that's okay. And he gets it. And, you know, we're gonna make some new memories. And, you know, he's really supportive and sweet that way. But I have been thinking about talking to another therapist it's just a lot to go through.

Chelsea (18:33)
Yeah. Yeah.

It is a lot with no support system. And I guess...

Karlie Henderson (18:53)
Yeah, like don't get me wrong. I have family, my family loves me, but not having somebody to relate to. And people are like, that was, you know, like years ago now, like, why are you still talking about this? And it's like, yeah.

Chelsea (19:00)
Yeah.

Mm.

It doesn't go away. It doesn't go away. It happened. And you can be both thankful for your boys and love that part of your life and still grieve everything that you went through. Like, you don't have to specify, but like the amount of losses that you went through,

Karlie Henderson (19:09)
No.

Mm -hmm.

Chelsea (19:34)
They happened and it's valid for you to feel something about sounds like you were doing therapy, but you're not currently doing therapy. Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (19:35)
Mm -hmm.

where I, yeah, I stopped. So the last time I was in therapy was during my second pregnancy, the one with the sub -chorionic hematoma, because I had such anxiety. Like I found myself not wanting to drink water because I didn't want to go pee because I didn't want to wipe. And that's not good. Like you can't be dehydrated when you're pregnant, right? Like, so after, like after I kind of got over the hump in that

Chelsea (20:02)
my gosh. Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (20:12)
I ended my therapy and I felt like I was in a really good place, but in the line of work that I'm in, I mean, on one hand, you know, number one, I'm grateful for my boys, but number two, I'm also grateful that I went through all of that because now I can relate to other women who are going through all of this with PCOS and going through their fertility struggles. you know, it really opened path in my career and in my life that I'm one of those lucky people where,

it doesn't feel like work for me, right? It feels like this is something that I meant to do. But then on the other hand, it's also, it's hard to talk about it all day, every day. So lately, I haven't been taking so many one on one clients because it's for my own mental health, right? I almost need to just either go through therapy again, or like continuously to deal with all of

Chelsea (20:40)
Mm.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (21:03)
or take a step back from it. So it's just, it's kind of a fine balance, right? Like I really wanna be able to talk to people and help them, but people don't see that it brings up a lot for me too.

Chelsea (21:14)
it's like constantly triggering yourself like every day.

Karlie Henderson (21:16)
Yeah. And some days I'm great. Some days it's like, you know, doesn't bother me. And then other days, you know, the one that really set me off was like talking to a woman and she told a story about how she was digging through the toilet to get what the, and it's like that happened to me, right? And it's like, my God, that's not something you hear every day. And that was like, that was very triggering. So that's what I'm like, okay, like I need to.

Chelsea (21:31)
Mm.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (21:43)
take a step back from one -on -one stuff. And I still have my course and I still have the detox program and everything, but working with people one -on -one, I need to support myself first for a little while.

Chelsea (21:58)
Yeah, that's so good. I'm so glad that you're protecting your own mental health. yeah. No, no, they do not give you a break. Your youngest is, well, a little bit younger than mine. Mine's about to be two. My youngest is about to be two.

Karlie Henderson (22:03)
Because after work, I mean, I've got to chase these rugrats around. We don't give you a break. You're just go, go, go.

Aww.

Chelsea (22:21)
Yeah, but there's no slowing down and those second children again. I don't like to subscribe to stereotypes, but There's something special in those second kids. my god

Karlie Henderson (22:30)
They're made different. Yeah. He is wild. Right now he's in a phase where when he gets mad and doesn't get his way, he plops down on his butt on the floor. Doesn't matter what the floor is made of and slammed his head backwards on the floor. And my oldest used to go on his hands and knees and smash his head on the floor, like on his forehead. Like, I don't know what their problem is, but.

Chelsea (22:55)
It's a thing, it's a thing. not the first person to tell me that. My kiddos didn't do that, and my little one isn't doing that right now, but that's not the first time I've heard that. And then you're like, you're hurting yourself! Like, stop!

Karlie Henderson (23:12)
Yeah. And then you feel like such a jerk when you're like, okay, you did that to yourself.

Chelsea (23:18)
Yeah, like natural consequences. But then you're like, okay, let me kiss it better. Yeah, it's crazy. So yes, I completely understand doing that all day and then coming home and having to parent. That's a lot to take on. That's a lot of mental load.

Karlie Henderson (23:25)
Yeah, man.

Mm -hmm.

Chelsea (23:39)
So through your pregnancies, I can imagine there was a certain level of anxiety. Was that something that you had experienced in the past? Did you have any experience with mental health?

beforehand?

Karlie Henderson (23:55)
I did actually, yes. So growing up, I went through a lot of different things family -wise, like, you know, my parents split up when I was maybe nine months old, then my dad married my stepmom and had my brother, then they split up when I was then I lived with my dad, like my mom has some major mental health issues in and out of like psych wards and all kinds. So I didn't really have.

like a very good childhood. I don't think I've ever, this is probably the most normal, quote unquote, that I've ever been in my life, right? Like growing up, it was like, you know, none of my other friends were visiting their mom in the hospital. Like, you know, I don't think I ever knew what normal was until now. I'm like, okay.

Chelsea (24:37)
Yeah,

Karlie Henderson (24:45)
I'm 32 and like, yeah, life is stressful and busy and stuff, but you know, I feel like, you know, besides getting triggered from clients and stuff, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place, right? As sad as that is, I mean, I still need to go to therapy, but I feel this is probably as normal as I felt because growing never really had a regular childhood. Like it was just kind of constant, which actually a lot of studies have come out recently to show that.

Chelsea (24:57)
Yeah.

It was kinda chaotic.

Karlie Henderson (25:13)
childhood trauma can trigger PCOS later in life. It depends on your genetics and there's a lot of different variables. But yeah, if you have early trauma, you're a lot more likely to develop PCOS if you're predisposed to it because, you know, the HPA axis that you know all about, right? It really messes with your stress hormones and your level, like your threshold for stress, you know, like a bad day at work.

Chelsea (25:19)
Wow.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (25:42)
know, might be a four out of 10 for somebody, but for you, that's the same day is going to be like a 10 out of 10 because your threshold is so much lower. Like you're already living in that fight or flight mode all the time with chronic stress. So that can really impact your hormones.

Chelsea (25:58)
Yeah, it's crazy and it's a good reminder of how much your mental health makes an impact on your physical health. Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (26:08)
Yeah, yeah, that's something that I didn't really realize until I got into this line of work was, wow, like stress. And this sounds silly now saying it out loud, like with everything I know now, but it's like, wow, stress isn't just like in your head, right? Like it's, you know, the things that you're feeling in your head mentally and emotionally are there because there are physiological processes that are happening, right? And that triggers down and it trickles down to the rest of your body and it affects you.

Chelsea (26:23)
Mm -mm.

And I think for a lot parents, it can be confusing, especially if you don't have a history of mental health or have any knowledge of mental health, you're like, what the heck, why am I feeling this way? And it's like, no, mental health and physical health are really closely tied.

Karlie Henderson (26:52)
Yeah.

I was just going to say, I can't imagine coming out of pregnancy one, you're already just done, right? Like you have this baby and you're just like so tired and so done. And then to navigate something like postpartum depression, if you had no idea what that felt like before, what depression or anxiety felt like before, like, and you just, you probably just feel like,

Chelsea (27:02)
Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (27:21)
an imposter in your own skin and you probably just feel like, what kind of parent am I? Like, I can't even imagine what that's like to go through.

Chelsea (27:30)
and that's why we're talking about it. And that's why we're talking about all of these experiences, because there's someone out there right now that's probably going through a lot of the same things that you went through. And it's like, why can't I get pregnant? Or like, why am I feeling this way? And your stories might not be identical, but it gives them a jumping off point and it lets them know that they're not alone.

Karlie Henderson (27:54)
Yeah. And then it can have a happy ending, right? You might be in the thick of it and it might really feel like your world is crashing down and it is, but you can come back from that.

Chelsea (27:54)
So yeah, that's why we're talking about it. It can, yep.

And the thing that I like to remind myself is that nothing's permanent. I mean, you don't take that too literally, because there are some things that are permanent, but like, in your life, life is ever changing. And this is just a chapter. It's not the whole story. So like, keep leads me to my next question, which is,

Karlie Henderson (28:13)
Okay.

Chelsea (28:31)
what were some of your coping skills? Did you even know that you had coping when you were navigating those challenges in your fertility journey?

Karlie Henderson (28:42)
I had a few different things that I learned in therapy that I would do. So falling asleep was really, really hard. Like I couldn't turn off my brain. So I really got into aromatherapy and using a diffuser. So I'm a huge fan of essential oils and using them. I mean, they're not a magic cure, but they can help. And then the more you get in the habit of it,

Chelsea (28:51)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (29:10)
your brain actually, I mean, have you ever had a memory smell, right? Like you smell something and it takes you back somewhere. Like that's a real thing, right? So that the more you get into the habit of, okay, like this is rest time. This scent means that we're in a safe place. And then I actually have a TV in my bedroom and I started going on YouTube and I would look up bedtime stories for grownups. And it was, it literally, there's this guy, Steven Dalton.

Chelsea (29:13)
Yeah, right.

I do that too!

Karlie Henderson (29:37)
And he, he's like an Irish guy or something. And I don't know if it's the accent or what it is, but he like tells these random stories. And I don't think I ever make it 10 minutes in between like, and then I, it's set up to that. It's just like a black screen and my TV shuts off after. but yeah, like just, if I can listen to that and do my aromatherapy, like I can get to sleep and I sleep solid, like basically until my son wakes up because he still doesn't sleep through the night.

Chelsea (29:40)
Mmm.

No?

hahahaha

Karlie Henderson (30:07)
But yeah, so that really helped at least get me into sleep. And then when I was having anxiety about going to the bathroom and therapist said, you know, think of three things that remind you that you are still pregnant, right? So it's like, you know, my boobs were still really sore. I was still really tired and I did still have like a little bit of food aversion. Like there were still some things that reminded me that, you know, you are still pregnant and it's going to be okay. And.

I'm one of the people where the more I know about something, the better I feel about it. So learning everything that I could about sub -chorionic hematomas, and I even joined a Facebook group about it and started talking to other women who success stories, like their babies were okay, that helped. But on the other hand, some people, there were

Chelsea (30:40)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (30:58)
not happy stories there either, right? So you kind of have to be really careful about that. And then there's people like my husband where it's like the less he knows, the better. So like, I would learn all this stuff, and then I'd want to tell him about it. He didn't want to know. So I guess, yeah. I just feel like the more I understand something, it's not and it's not even like you can control it more. I just feel better about it.

Chelsea (31:03)
Yeah.

Yeah.

He's like, la la la la la la, don't tell

Mm hmm. It's really interesting too that you mentioned the Facebook group. I literally was just talking else just a couple of days ago, Friday, and we were talking about how the Facebook groups or the support, the online support groups can either be really helpful or really hurtful and you have to really protect yourself. Because like you said, like,

Karlie Henderson (31:45)
Yeah.

Chelsea (31:49)
there are those success stories and that's wonderful and it feels good to like cling to them. But then there are the people that can just deepen the spiral and you look at it and you're like, my God, that's going to happen to me too. So yeah, and it doesn't mean don't seek out like solidarity and support from others, but like you said, just like protect yourself, guard yourself, know your limits. Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (31:58)
Yeah.

Yeah, it can be really scary.

Yeah. Yeah. And now that I have my own success story, like I made a point of going in there and being like, look, here he is. He's healthy. Like he's good. Right. I mean, I can't guarantee that's going to happen to you, but if this gives you some hope, like it can happen, like, you know, there's a good chance that you'll be

Chelsea (32:26)
Yeah.

Yeah. So you've touched on it a few different times, but let's like really dive into it. When did the transformation happen for you? And how did it happen to where you really put your all into what you're doing

Karlie Henderson (32:51)
I think it was after that appointment where my OB basically said like, okay, we need to get you on the IVF list. She's like, you know, it's an 18 month list and you know, we can keep trying all these medications, but I think it's smart to get on it rather at your wit's end and then get on the list. If that makes sense, like we might as well start now. And I just didn't want to do that.

Chelsea (33:13)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (33:17)
Like I got on the list, I listened, whatever, but like, I did not want to have to go through that. There's nothing against it. It's just a lot to go through. And I'm like, I've been healthy my entire life. Like why? Like I just refused to accept that I needed that. Right? Like I got pregnant with a copper IUD in, right? Like I know that so I just started reading books. I started learning about PCOS and then I was learning specifically about insulin resistance.

Chelsea (33:34)
Right.

Karlie Henderson (33:45)
And then I found this book by this author, Dr. Jason Fung, he's from Toronto and he specializes in, he's actually a kidney doctor, but then he specialized in type two diabetes, which is basically what insulin resistance can lead to. It's kind of like pre pre diabetes, if you I didn't follow all of his advice. He's a lot about like keto and fasting and things like that. So I didn't go to that extreme, but really just focusing on.

Chelsea (34:01)
Mm -hmm.

Mm.

Karlie Henderson (34:13)
my blood sugar, for example, and not eating late at night all the time and, you know, trying to eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can and building like a PCOS plate where, you know, really just focusing on my food and sleep. And then I just started having all of this energy. Like I just started losing weight like crazy without really like, you know, I had done Weight Watchers. I had

my fitness pal and counting calories and counting macros and I'd done the personal training and I'd done kickboxing and, and, and, and like, I did all the things to try to lose weight my whole I wasn't ever huge, but like, you know, I always just wanted to lose that, you know, 15 or 20 extra pounds. And then I was going in the opposite direction when all this got out of control, but no, like really listening to my body. And then it just kind of snowballed.

Chelsea (34:56)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (35:05)
And it was like, my God. And then people started noticing. They're like, wow, like what are you doing? And like, you look so great. Like your skin looks beautiful. And like, I, you know, the weight loss was really noticeable. And that's why I named my company Karisma because I felt like I got my charisma back, right? I was always that loud, outspoken, person. And I had just, you know, going through all of this kind of felt like a shell.

Chelsea (35:05)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (35:31)
in my own body, like, or I would look at pictures of myself and I just didn't like what I saw. Like, I just felt like I looked so big and just, I almost felt like I was in a fat suit, right? Like you ever watch Friends and like there's the flashbacks of Monica. I felt like that, right? And like, there's a health and beauty in every size, but I did not feel like myself, right? Like even now, like I'm not, know,

Chelsea (35:31)
Hmm.

Mm -hmm. Yeah, the Monica. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (35:57)
I don't look like Jessica Alba or whoever like the fit person is now, but like I at least I can keep up with my kids right now. You know what I mean? Like I still I'm healthy. I have a cycle. I'm good. So that's kind of where I get my clients at, but it's like, it just started a snowball effect and then people started noticing. And then I started giving out all this free advice and I was like, well, maybe I should stop giving all this away for free. Like I spent thousands of dollars in like,

Chelsea (36:05)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Ha ha ha!

Karlie Henderson (36:25)
hundreds and thousands of hours of my time, like maybe I should make something of this. And then when I had my success stories, when I was like, okay, right, I think I can really help people here. So it was both. It was like I was doing it for other people and doing it for myself and it just worked out.

Chelsea (36:37)
Yeah.

Yeah, you got to pursue your passion.

Karlie Henderson (36:45)
Yeah, exactly.

Chelsea (36:48)
How do you go about becoming a health coach? Is there like, do you have to like go through a training or do you have to, I don't know, take courses? How do you go about doing what you do now?

Karlie Henderson (37:01)
Yeah, so I went back to school for nutrition. I just went online and got my nutrition certification for holistic nutrition. I highly recommend FDN. It's like functional diagnostic nutrition. That program is And then I specialized in hormones. So there is a college here in Canada called Pacific Rim. It's in British Columbia on the West Coast. And they have different programs as well where you can do like,

Chelsea (37:14)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (37:28)
you know, functional lab testing and hormone panels. And I just kind of layered on that way. And then I've done actual coaching, like specific coaching method courses. And then I've read a million books and practicing. So there are other programs out there where it's kind of all in one, but I couldn't find one that really aligned with.

Chelsea (37:34)
Mm -hmm.

I'm sorry.

Karlie Henderson (37:52)
Just, I guess what aligned with me and like what I thought was going to be the best nutrition plan specifically for somebody with PCOS, right? you know, there's some out there that will focus on keto and some that will focus on, you know, just whole foods in general, but there is a specific way that you need to eat when you have PCOS. And it's not the same for everybody. but there is a specific way that you should eat for PCOS and none of those programs really covered that a hundred percent. So.

Chelsea (38:00)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (38:21)
That's kind of why mine is a mismatch.

Chelsea (38:23)
You created your own, which I love. I think that's awesome.

Karlie Henderson (38:26)
Yeah. And it's what interested me too, right? Like, yeah, at the time I was doing it for myself really just to have the information so that I could get pregnant and lose weight. But

Chelsea (38:40)
I love it. I love it. And you're doing what you're passionate about, which is amazing. So tell me about...

Karlie Henderson (38:43)
Mm -hmm.

Chelsea (38:48)
motherhood. What do you, what are you loving? What are you finding challenging? that's where you're at right now.

Karlie Henderson (38:54)
man. Yeah, so right now I honestly am a hot mess express. Like I'm outside of my job. So I'm really honestly struggling. Like going from no kids to one kid was obviously life -changing, but it was like, okay. I mean, after four months, like he slept pretty good.

Chelsea (39:02)
Hahaha!

Karlie Henderson (39:18)
They called him a happy sitter. Like he wasn't super busy. He actually, I mean, I didn't let him watch TV all the time, but I definitely would put on Cocomelon so I could fold some laundry or whatever. Right? Like, right. I mean, some people are very against that. So, you know, no hate, you know, to each their own, but no, like I definitely had some help with that. And he didn't walk until he was like 15 months. So he was like, you know, not an easy baby, but like, you know,

Chelsea (39:28)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (39:48)
pretty chill. And then I took about 16 months off of work with him. And then he went to daycare. And then having Brody now 14 months and he's been in daycare since he was 12 months, but he started walking at like 11 months and he was crawling at eight months and he's what's that? Like you might look at it for one second and then run the other way. Like he's everywhere. Like you can't fold laundry with him no matter what.

Chelsea (39:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

He's busy.

I'm sorry.

Karlie Henderson (40:16)
like at all. You can't do anything. And then if he's in his, you know, there's the exersaucer or, you know, just his high chair with some snacks or some whatever little craft he wants to play with, like he's only good for about five minutes. And then he wants to go do something It's just like, I can't do it. Like my house is a half the time I fall asleep, putting them to bed, like Brody goes to bed at seven, then Bennett, we start his routine at eight.

Chelsea (40:39)
Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (40:43)
bedtime stories and all of that. And half the time I passed out in the bed with him now. So I'm like, how, how do people do this?

Chelsea (40:54)
That's real life. That is real life.

Karlie Henderson (40:56)
Yeah, like I don't get it, right? Like I just don't understand.

Chelsea (41:00)
No, and I think that's where we all are, especially when they're this little. Although I've talked to a lot of parents who have older children now and they're like, it doesn't necessarily get easier. It just changes. Your challenges change. And it doesn't mean that you don't love your kids. And it doesn't mean that...

Karlie Henderson (41:18)
Yeah.

Chelsea (41:27)
You're a horrible parent because neither of those things are true. It's just, this is life, man. We're just along for the ride now.

Karlie Henderson (41:32)
Yeah. Yeah. Now, like I say to people, if you are not 100 % sure that you want kids, like it is a lot, right? They're amazing. They are the best thing ever. I love them so much. They're hilarious. They're so cute. And now seeing them play together and hug each other and like Brody just wants to give his older brother kisses all the time, which his kiss is like a big, goobery open mouth. Right? Like so precious, but like,

Chelsea (41:42)
It is a lot.

Hahaha

Yeah, yeah.

Karlie Henderson (42:02)
If you don't, if you're not sure, then don't do it. You got to really want this.

Chelsea (42:05)
Yeah, no.

It's so true. And like you said earlier, like, I don't know if you're ever going to be a hundred percent ready, but definitely, definitely be a hundred percent sure.

Karlie Henderson (42:15)
No, no.

Yeah, no, you'll never be 100 % ready, but you got to be sure you want kids because and they're amazing. Like they're just watching them grow and watching them learn. Like Brody yesterday just gave his first high five and it's like that sounds so trivial, but it's like, yay. So exciting, right? Like it was so, so cute. And he's a.

Chelsea (42:25)
Yeah.

Yeah!

I love that.

Karlie Henderson (42:43)
He really likes to bring everybody their shoes. Like for some reason he goes to the T -rack, like we'll just all be doing whatever. And all of a sudden there's Brody behind you and he's got shoes for you because they're yours. And he knows that. And it's so funny. Like just little things like that. It's just hilarious. But no, otherwise it's know, we end the day kind of at four thirty five o 'clock and then it's, you know, dinner, maybe go for a walk or to the park, come home.

Chelsea (42:47)
I'm sorry.

Karlie Henderson (43:11)
bath time, bedtime, then finally after they're in bed, my husband and I clean up the kitchen, maybe fold a load of laundry and it's like, just collapse. Like, a lot.

Chelsea (43:23)
Well, I was gonna ask you what you do to fill your cup. Like what do you, that sounds like right now there may not be a lot of time for that.

Karlie Henderson (43:32)
No, like I don't understand. So yeah, if anybody wants to send me a DM on Instagram at charisma underscore nutrition, if you have some tips here, like when am I going to have a social life again? Like I used to like to play beach volleyball and like, I don't know when, cause now Bennett even starts soccer soon too. So it's, I don't know.

Chelsea (43:48)
It'll happen.

It'll happen. I think challenge is making the time, which also sounds so judgmental. I mean, I really don't like it. I don't like having to say it, My oldest is eight and my youngest is about to be my oldest, when she was...

like two or three is when I finally started feeling like I could do things again. Yeah, like I felt like if I had to take her with me, she could kind of entertain herself and I didn't have to worry so much. Or if I had to leave her at home with my partner, like that wasn't a big deal. It wasn't a total, like he didn't have to be carrying a crying baby all the time. So I don't know. Personally, for me,

Karlie Henderson (44:21)
Yeah.

Hmm.

Chelsea (44:44)
Like between two and three is, but that was with my first. My second is wild. So yeah.

Karlie Henderson (44:49)
Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Like Bennett, he'll be four in July. So just like two months shy of four years old now. And it's like the last year has been like, you know, he can go to the bathroom by himself. Now he's starting to like, you know, put his shoes and coat on by himself. Like he blew me away that he could do his own zipper. And now he wants to like open the front door with the key. And like, he's really, really taken off for.

Chelsea (45:14)
Ha ha ha ha!

Karlie Henderson (45:17)
you know, if I need to run downstairs and get a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher or something, I don't have to worry that if he's in the next room playing with the toy that he's going to die. Like, right? With Brody, it's like, my God, like he, you turn around and he's in the dog water and the dog eating dog food. He's ripping the dirt out of my yeah.

Chelsea (45:24)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel you. Avery is, Avery's got a thing for shoes too. I don't know if it's just toddlers, but Avery wants to give everybody their shoes. they, they are wild. There's something about second children and parents let us know about subsequent kids. Cause I've heard after you have two, it's just like, it's not as big of a deal. Three is fine. Four is, but I can't imagine that. But,

Karlie Henderson (45:47)
They're wild, man. Like they are wild animals.

my God, no, I used to want four kids and now I'm like, no.

Chelsea (46:06)
No, I was going to be a one and done. And then I was like, no, we can have two. But those second kids, man,

What do you hope my listeners take away from your journey and your story?

Karlie Henderson (46:23)
I guess I would really like people to know that, you know, I'm not anti -doctor anti -medication or anything like that, but I feel like women, especially with PCOS should know that it should be kind of a last resort. I mean,

Chelsea (46:41)
Mm.

like.

Karlie Henderson (46:41)
like I just want people to know that like, just because you have PCOS doesn't mean you need to start off with a bunch of medication. Like there's probably something going on in your life or your lifestyle that you should address first. And even if you do decide to go with medication, no shame, but all these changes that you're going to make, you know, first are going to help that medication be even more effective.

Chelsea (46:54)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (47:04)
Like I tried the medications, right? I mean, that's before I knew what I knew now, but even, you know, people that I work with now, I'm like, you know, if you feel having all of the proper information, like if you are able to make that a hundred percent informed and educated decision and you still choose to do the medication, then that's totally fine. Right? You can't expect it to be a magic bandaid. Like there's still a bunch of other things that you should do because your body's crying for help, but.

Chelsea (47:25)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Karlie Henderson (47:33)
don't feel shame in doing that, right?

Chelsea (47:37)
Yeah, I love that. I love that you're so honest and that you're so transparent about your journey and about what worked for you and what didn't work for you. And then.

We are such a no shame, no judgment zone. I love that you're reiterating that, like, whatever is going to work for you is going to work for you, but just know there are natural things that you can do and there are things that you can do beyond medication that will help you along with your PCOS journey. Yeah, just keeping an open mind.

Karlie Henderson (48:07)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, and a lot of times the things that you do naturally are gonna be even more effective and you probably, I mean, nine times out of 10, I see women don't need medication after all, right? Which is really great. And it's really hopeful because not only, I mean, your goal shouldn't be to just get pregnant, it should be to have a healthy pregnancy and still be a healthy version of yourself at the end of it. Because as you've heard, it doesn't get easier once they come out. Like you need to be...

Chelsea (48:22)
Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Karlie Henderson (48:40)
You need to have your full self to take care of these little humans when they exit your body. It's a lot. So, I mean, we don't want to just get pregnant and put a bandaid or play whack -a -mole with all these symptoms, right? Like we want to figure out why is my body screaming for help? Like what is going on? Why am I having these symptoms? I mean, our next most basic instinct after survival as humans is to reproduce.

Chelsea (48:45)
Yeah.

Karlie Henderson (49:08)
So if you can't reproduce or your cycle is not regular or you're having all of these different symptoms, I mean, that's your body protecting itself. It doesn't want to bring offspring into a world or into a body that it's deeming unsafe, right? For the next generation. So that's a huge red flag that you should address. You know, it could be what you're eating. It could be your stress. It could be inflammation. It could be your toxic load. Like there's so many different things that it could be.

So in my program, we address all of that, but it's usually a combination of things and also your genetics, right? I mean, maybe your threshold for toxins is different than somebody who can handle stress really well, right? Like it's all different for different people and there's no one size fits all solution, at the end of the there's a bigger problem that you need to solve.

Chelsea (49:44)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's not gonna be, it's not just take this pill and everything's gonna be better. It's, yeah, yeah. Keeping an open mind and trying, trying these things until you find what fits for you.

Karlie Henderson (50:05)
Exactly, exactly.

Yeah, like in my program, we call it finding your charisma you start with a quiz, and it like basically assesses different areas of your life. And you come out with a nice little pie chart. And it tells you, okay, like, where should you focus first, because it can be a lot to take all of this on at once, right? And I don't recommend doing that.

Chelsea (50:19)
I love that!

Yeah.

Yeah, that's, I love that. I love that Karisma Compass thing.

Karlie Henderson (50:36)
So if somebody, if somebody could make those for like being a mom now, like, that'd be really cool. Like, like when am I supposed to vacuum and like get groceries? Like, I don't know.

Chelsea (50:42)
Yeah, I'm sure they exist. I'm sure they exist somewhere.

I mean, I wish I could help you. I try.

Karlie Henderson (50:56)
The weekends are like the hardest part. Everyone's like, yay, it's Friday. And I'm like, yeah, yay. I'm like, wait for Monday.

Chelsea (51:04)
it's yeah, coming from a stay at home mom who never pictured themselves being a stay at home mom, like days, they're not real. It's all made up. Like it, they're like, it's Friday. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, Friday's the same as Thursday's the same as Wednesday. The same. Yeah. It's craziness. My two big suggestions. I don't know if they do it in Canada, pickup or delivery.

Karlie Henderson (51:15)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

Chelsea (51:32)
So order your groceries. That has saved me insane amounts of just getting out of the house. You just have to get out of the house.

Karlie Henderson (51:41)
Yeah.

So now Brody's 14 months, right? And our family helps a little bit, but they help a little bit more with the older one now that he's like potty trained and all of that. And you know what he wants, he'll tell you very directly actually. But no, we're like open now to getting a babysitter. So I have a couple of friends who have some teenage daughters that I think I'm gonna hire here, because we need a date night.

Chelsea (51:55)
Yeah.

hahahaha

good. Yeah, you deserve a date night for sure. so you've taken us through your journey so beautifully. And I've learned a whole heck of a lot about

PCOS and other things that I mean, I had just started learning about them myself and I've already learned more. So thank you. And I think I'm going to wrap up our session with this question. If you could go back in time before your fertility journey and journey into parenthood,

and you could instill something within yourself that would help you get through it. You can't tell yourself what's gonna happen. You can't tell yourself what the outcome's gonna be, but you could instill something. For some people, that's a word. For some people, it's a feeling. For some people, it's just like a little nugget of wisdom. What would you instill within yourself?

Karlie Henderson (53:06)
Something that would, I think, save me a lot of time and a lot of the heartache and a lot of the stuff that I went through. I'm kind of torn between two different things. Like one is it will all be worth it. But the other one is find the root cause, right? I mean, because if you just focus on the root cause and ask yourself, you know, why is this happening? Like what's going on in my body? Then...

Chelsea (53:20)
Mm -hmm.

Mm.

Karlie Henderson (53:33)
I would be willing to bet a large amount of money that I wouldn't even have to go through all of that. Like I'm not saying all of that can be prevented. Like I don't know how you prevent a molar or an ectopic pregnancy or anything like that, but getting my PCOS under control and avoiding a lot of those other miscarriages and you know, boosting your egg quality and switching away from toxic products and all the other things that I've done by focusing on the root cause, I feel like.

Chelsea (53:43)
Right.

Karlie Henderson (54:01)
I probably could have avoided a lot of this drama.

Chelsea (54:05)
Yeah. Yeah. The thing that I love about that question is that I get a different response every time. So I love and I love that you know that about yourself, that like putting that in you just find the root, find the root cause. Well, Karlie, thank you so much for coming on, for sharing your journey, for the work that you're doing to help others in their journey.

Karlie Henderson (54:11)
Hmm.

Chelsea (54:29)
Where can my listeners find you if they would like to learn more?

Karlie Henderson (54:34)
Yeah, I am mostly on Instagram. So at Karisma underscore nutrition, charisma spelled wrong. It's kind of like a play on my name, K A R I S A or my website www .Karismanutrition .com.

Chelsea (54:51)
I will make sure to put those in the show notes as well. But yeah, thank you so much.

Karlie Henderson (54:58)
Thanks, Chelsea.

Chelsea (55:00)
Thank you Karlie for being so open, honest, and vulnerable in sharing your story. I actually learned a lot more about

as well. You can keep up with us on Quiet Connection by following us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and threads at Quiet Connection Podcast.

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