EP 71: THE HEALTHCARE SURVIVAL GUIDE NOBODY EVER GAVE YOU

Breathing To Settle In

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So before we get started, like always, I like to start with a few breaths together. So if we place one hand on our heart, one hand on our belly, and close your eyes. We're gonna start by a slow inhale through the nose.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

And a long exhale. Just to quiet the mind. Take another inhale. And a long exhale.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Now we're gonna take two, we're gonna slowly breathe in through the nose and out through the nose.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Inhale. And a long exhale through the nose. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

I always like to start this way with guests, just because I feel it really brings us in heart coherence. And just it's going to be just a real conversation. Like we're together on the couch, and I want people to feel that. I want them to know that each guest were handpicked for me. And I truly do, especially with you. We have to share, I mean,

How A Clip Found Her

SPEAKER_01 1:20

how even you came to me. We I met you to Dr. Daisy Clark, which is such an honor to have you here. And I talk about how you found me to everybody now. Yes. Because it redefined my knowing, my how I lead my life where I'm guided. And I was guided to go to Cons to the Shield documentary. I felt it. When Anthony and Teresa invited me three weeks prior, I just knew in my gut, and everybody's like, oh my gosh, the timing is wrong. It's all everything so fast. But I just knew I had to be there. And meeting you there confirmed that 100% for me. I mean, so many other things. Yes. But you alone. And I want you to share when you saw me, I want you to understand how you first got to know me. And then when you saw me and cons. I just love this story.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah. So I was in a period through dental school where I had a really low season. You know, there's very demanding work. I had to do clinics, I had to do study, and physically I was just depleted. Um, so I had uh maybe a few months where I just felt like I wasn't getting enough, like I wasn't given enough. And I was in a very low point through dental school. I started doing, like I'm a doer, I do stuff. So I started watching videos and trying to do as much as I could to get better. And throughout one of those days, I just had a really, really low day at uh school and with the clinic and stuff. And I was browsing at night, just watching YouTube videos, trying to like comfort myself and feel a little bit better. And I ran into a little short uh of you on a podcast, and you were talking about how you overcome your situation with with your husband and what you were doing. So I just decided to watch the full episode, and I did, and I thought it was a really good story. I felt like you know, really good about keep trying and keep doing. So that probably wasn't my last year of dental school, and I forgot about it. Um cans came around, and I was not sure I was gonna go. So they also invited me maybe two months prior. Um, and I was not sure. We had a lot of stuff going on at the moment. Because it's a big deal to fly all politics for a film. It was a short notice. We were not prepared, and we had a lot of stuff going on, um, other events, other meetings, uh stuff with I work at a university, so I I was working and I had a lot of stuff to do. And I was like, no, it looks really good and pretty cool, and but I'm not gonna do it. So maybe a few days before it happened, I looked at the SHIEL invitation, and I see all the documentary stuff, and I have always been an advocate for women's health. Uh, and I was like, this is a great opportunity for me just to go and learn about women's health and to get to know other people and the biohackers. And I was like, I have to do it. And it was probably three days before I had to go. So I had to call my girls and be like, hey, I got invited to this is very short notice, but I feel like I have to go. And are you in? And my team was like, Yes, let's go, let's do it, let's find flights, we find the flights, accommodations, and then we're in France. And we get there, we have the networking event, which was the first day. Um, we get there, I'm talking to people. I have add ratios like telling me, you know, this person does this and all that. And I was just walking and I saw you. I saw you there, and I was like, I have to go say hi to Melissa because I remember that time where I had that very low point in my life, and I watched your um podcast. So I just went to you and I say, Hey, I just want to let you know that I watched your video in the darkest season of my dental school journey, and you helped me a lot. Just by hearing how you were able to push forward, I felt like it was a sign that I needed to keep going. And maybe I didn't think about it after that a lot, but it was like a little of hope that I can keep doing this.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Well, and that for me, I just felt it. And when you came to me, you know, I the the the rawness of the shock that I was there. And and for me to see that I had that impact, because sometimes I don't know who I'm gonna reach. I really don't. And this is proof that I'm not doing this for all the the the film, being in front of the camera. It's like, no, I can reach so many that are in the lows and lows, maybe in the middle of the night, and they are strolling, and it could be anywhere in the world. And hopefully, my video will be that beacon of light that keep trying. Yes. That it's gonna be okay, and you're gonna be aligned with the resources and you joining this movement with biohack yourself media and what they're doing. This is a huge resource to help women, to help others in the lows as to the tools, the tools and that hope and that light. And so I was so moved by that because sometimes I don't, I'm like, oh, that video, I forgot about that video or that podcast, and that it still reaches people and it's doing exactly what I prayed for. Yes. It's providing that light and that beacon. And especially, I love that you mention, you know, dental school, dental school being so heavy and so hard. And I don't think a lot of dental students understand that when they even apply and the toll that it will have on their bodies, on their mind, and how that profession continues to be that. Yes, that constant pressure, that constant where you have to be perfect and it's never enough, and you've got to do more. And it's also in your mind, in your thoughts start spiraling. I I'm not doing this well. I'm not as good as maybe this, you know, whatever was going on in your mind there in in dental school. And I'd love for you to maybe share, like what kind of thoughts were were you spiraling into this is too hard, or I don't know if I can do this, or was it you can never, it seems to me it's such a perfectionism type of profession that there's you can never achieve that in your mind, right? You create these these thought patterns. It has a high standard.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

So, first of all, to get in, you have to work really hard. And I think you work really hard, you get accepted into dental school, and you feel like

The Hidden Pressure Of Dental School

SPEAKER_02 9:05

I can do everything. And then it's a high-paced environment, you're learning a lot, you have very little time. So you leave aside your needs to like resting, uh maybe mental health, and it has a lot of expectations. So once you enter dental school, you have expectations of what to do. And and I think I told you this when I met you that we have to perform at a high level during dental school. You have to have good grades, you have to see your patients, you have your clinics, and you have the expectation of I have to graduate, I have to do my specialty, I have to open my own practice, I have to make a lot of money. And you don't really stop. So you enter study, study, study, then you go specialty, and there's always a lot more because it has a high uh level of like expectations. You are expected to succeed, you're expected to make a lot of money, you're expected to just be wonderful at what you do. And I think we don't stop to look at ourselves. Like I started, I went studying and doing my clinical work, and it didn't matter if I was tired or if I was sleepy, I had to do it. So I had to find ways to keep going. Maybe drink more coffee, maybe stay more hours, maybe study at the library so I don't get sleepy. But I had that so you override your system constantly, constantly, and you're not listening to your body because you have to get it done. And I think that's something that I have experienced not only with myself, but with my peers that we're in the same situation, that we have to keep going. There is no option.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yeah. Did you see a lot of other did other peers talk about their mental health as well? Did you see the decline in so many? I think a lot of us do a really good job hiding it, but I'm just curious now, if you look back, whether others I think there is a lot of um lack of communication and awareness with mental health.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

There is not a lot of people that is talking about it. You don't hear your professor tell you that you need to take care of your body or your mind. You're expected to do what you need to do, but there is not a lot of talk about mental health. And I did experience it with my closest friends through dental school. Like they were also going through depression, some of them have anxiety, and they keep going.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, because you're you've invested now, which now is almost like half a million dollars, you know, when you're done with dental school. So that constant pressure of you just got to grind through the four, five years, but what it does to your body, that toll over time, and then you jump into, like you said, private practice or owning and the pressure of paying that back. So you'd really never stop. So think of a decade of that and what it's doing for dentists. And that's why I'm so glad you're talking about that because I do feel this conversation needs to happen in dental school, even before you're applying, and it should be part of the program because there's so many of them struggling. And we're not, we we need dentists. I feel it's the first front line of defense for so many diseases. I think the mouth should be the first place that we look at. But we're not helping the providers, you know, from day one. And it needs to start in school and advocating for taking care of themselves first, noticing what's affecting their nervous system, the slowing down, normalizing that and showing them that they need to take care of their body first before they're gonna heal, you know, thousands of patients. Yes, and go out there. They need to start with them first. And I think you having a voice to sharing the struggles of dental school and where they're not addressing the constant pressures. And I know it's not the only school program. There's other other hard medical, but there's a difference with dentistry. You're working in millimeters, you know, and it's it's there is a pressure of perfectionism, and it's never enough. And there is a heaviness of the financial pressures that we're not talking about. And there is a closeness, the patient that you're working with a constant basis, and that they're not talking about that's affecting your nervous system, which in fact will affect your gut issues, your hormones, your anxiety, and maybe you know, not sleeping. And so for you, do you do you remember when you started having those body whispers uh starting school? Like, did it start in your gut? Did you have gut issues, sleep issues? Where do you find that you had your first little signs, little whispers?

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I actually have an interesting story. Okay, because in my first year I got diagnosed with ADHD.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

So I was having trouble concentrating, doing my schoolwork. And it put a name of what I was like struggling with, but uh it didn't give me a solution. So I just kept going. And I remember you study, you study, and then sooner or later you're having a harder time getting up in the morning, and then you're missing your meals, and then now you miss the gym. And it goes by layers, it accumulates as you go. So it wasn't on a day that I woke up and I was like, I feel different. It was more of I'm struggling a little bit more to get up in the morning, or I am more tired, and now I'm picking maybe sleep instead of studying. And everything just goes from there because the minute you're not sleeping and you're not eating your hormones, uh, I remember through my last year I had a lot of inflammation because my cortisol levels were so high. Yes. So it I didn't think of my body in a way that I needed to fuel it and and support it throughout school. I was just performing and I wasn't supplying my body with the energy that it needed or the rest that it needed. So in my last year, I remember I was so inflamed that when I graduated within two months, my face looked different. And I never thought about it, but I had to see myself out of dental school to actually know that something was wrong with my body.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Wow. I'm so glad you mentioned inflammation because yes, the body in that sympathetic, the fight in flight causes inflammation, which is the root cause of any disease, you know, any cellular change, mutation, more inflammation in the body. And that is the first sign that you'll see, and it causes more pain. Probably, did you have more like aches and pain? Did you notice that? I did.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Um, mostly I feel like I was getting tired, like not getting enough rest, and I was not performing like I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

But so your cells were kind of depleted,

Perfectionism And Silent Mental Health Struggles

SPEAKER_01 16:35

like oxygen to the cells and not getting a repair.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Since I am a doer, I was doing more stuff. I thought I have to eat maybe cleaner, I have to work out more, I need more motivational videos, but I never stopped to say my body needs those rest or my mind needs to have a couple of days where I'm just not doing anything.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Anything. So now if you can create a shift for dental school, what do you think? Do you think it's like a course, a mindfulness course, or a way where they can under be given the tools to take care of themselves throughout dental school? Do you think that'd be a solution? I think it goes beyond that.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

I I feel like you need more awareness of the connection between your physical body, your emotions, your your brain. So from before you start dental school, you can take care of your body, your mind, your emotions. Because in dental school, there is no time to implement a nutrition plan or a new gym workout, you have a very tight schedule. So you have to get up, go to your class, and you go to the clinic, then you come back, you have to eat dinner, and you have to study. And the next day you have to do the same. But if you uh come into dental school and you know already your body and you have a routine, then it will be a lot easier to prepare, uh do your meals right, maybe book your studies in certain hours and schedule your sleep. I feel like at class will be helpful and people talking about it will be helpful, but also having more awareness before going into dental school. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah, prepping your body beforehand and mental almost physically prepare your body for what the load will be, the stress load. But also, you're you've already incorporated these tools that you've learned, so now it's gonna be much easier to integrate them through the program.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

And having access to the tools that you need, maybe, will make everything easier. Sometimes we don't speak about it, we have expectations, we have to finish that with a good grade, because then you have specialties coming, and then you have to perform. But if there is a space where you can actually leave this aside and focus on your mental health or your body without being like feeling guilty about not doing it for a couple of days, because that you see a lot feeling guilty when I'm not studying, or I have to be there, I have to do this. And if you have a space where you can go and relax, and this is the time for myself, I think that could be useful too.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

I like that. I think that's a huge tool for anyone thinking about applying for dental school and having the preparation. I even talk about that even for in my book about preparing if you want to have children, right? To prepare mom and dad, do detox, prepare your bodies because it's epigenetic what you pass down. So you're saying now for school, prepare your body, learn these tools before so you don't feel guilty when you're taking that time, which I think this is a very, very smart um yeah, solution to a very big program. Because right now, to create a shift in the educational system would take a lot of time, right? You'd have to go through so many like so many people. It would be so hard, right? It's kind of like us trying to change the whole entire dental profession right now. Okay, we we start by education of the patients, supply and demand, and um for dentists that are interested in switching. There's some biological training that you can do, right? Certifications. So you now I love this. So are you are you creating that program? We are. You are okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

I love we're working with a lot of tools. Um, we have a fitness app and we have supplements, clean supplements that help uh perform better. That's how we ended up with the biohacking uh people. But I think more than anything, it's bringing awareness to the things that are happening, things that we don't really speak about. Yes, because I felt alone throughout all of dental school. I was trying to do and find solutions, finding videos, but I didn't hurt my professors of my classmates.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

And the peers are probably competitive too, right? A little bit, right? Very competitive. So nobody wants to say that they're struggling, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

And especially when like when I got diagnosed with ADHD on my first year, I was really struggling to accept that I needed to change the way I was studying and the way I was doing things, but I felt alone because. Because none of my classmates wait of saying like we're struggling to or you

ADHD Diagnosis And Body Warning Signs

SPEAKER_02 22:05

don't even think about it. You have to do what you have to do, you go perform, and then you go and maybe think about it on your free time, and then the next day you have to come back to that high performance and do what you have to do.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yeah, so you feel very much alone, which you probably were not alone, and there's probably very much so many that were struggling to, but everyone feels okay, a little bit that competitive or don't want to be a burden, and you have to do it. But you know, you having a program that preps the dental student, health what, but whole body, right? Which is biological dentistry.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

We don't look at okay, you going into dental school as just one, we only focus on the mind, but let's focus on, you know, your gut health, the rest of your body, your hormones, your stress levels.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

And one of the things I I decided to go into dentistry is because I I work as a dental assistant before and we were doing implants, and I saw the difference that it made in a person that had no teeth, and then after getting the implants, how their glow on their skin and their health got a lot better. And that was like one of my first motivators to try to go into dental school. But just like we educate the patients about taking care of their teeth and taking care of their health, controlling their glucose, all these steps. If we start with the students by saying before you go to dental school, it's good if you have a routine, a support system, something that is gonna keep you your body throughout the hardest times because it's really hard to study so many hours and skipping lunch. But if you have a routine, I feel like that could smooth out a lot of the complications that we we have through.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

I think that's a very smart program, and I think it's very needed. And uh I think so many dental students and now it's bringing this program in an awareness, and that's why we're doing this today because I know I hear from other dental students, and and it's hard, it they're struggling, and so to be able to prep them. And so, how can people find you if they wanted to work with you and they say, I will need this, I am applying, or even if they're just in in the middle of it too, this would be so beneficial, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:31

So we're in the baby steps right now. Um, I have a platform where I share the stories of people in mental like having mental struggles in either medical school, dental school, and any healthcare profession because we don't speak enough about it. I have friends who have gone through really hard situations when they were in dental school, and I didn't know. So, my first step is to bring awareness to the situations that they are happening behind everything we're doing and all the classes and all the clinical stuff. You have people who is going through a lot in their personality. Maybe that'd be your podcast.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

You have so many of them, and that could be your niche and sharing those stories, so then maybe somebody will find that real that podcast.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And so sharing is a first step. We're sharing the stories of the people that is behind healthcare because sometimes we see my provider and I get angry at you because you're not treating me the right way, or I am not getting any better, but I am not seeing the human that is actually leaving everything to come and take care of myself or to come and give me my help back. So we're bringing awareness to mental health. And then we're gonna start with taking care of your body and establishing programs that will keep your body going even in these situations like dental and medical school.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

I love it. I love it. And that's it. It's that one step, right? The one step you're following that calling, you have your own story, and now you've opened once you share your story, you've had others be comfortable sharing theirs. And you're right, it's by sharing more about the stories that you have. It might be just having the podcast platform and sharing their stories or having little reels about them and explain the hard because you'll know another either medical or dental student will see that and bring that awareness, and then your program will evolve by each client that you'll have and their needs, because it's everyone will be at a different place, right? And I think incorporating where they learn the tools for nervous system regulation and being okay to uh because you're so programmed, especially in dental school, that you gotta stay so busy, you never slow down. So even incorporating those first three, four minutes, you know, during the day and on what's gonna help them incorporate that later on.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Yeah, and I think having systems is something that will keep you performing at that level. So if I start and I already have my nutrition dialed in, if I am aware of the changes that my body will have if I am not eating well, if my hormones are out of whack, I think that will give me like, okay, I need to dial my nutrition right now. Yeah, give it the signs, like the inflammation.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Well, why my uh inflammation? Like that can just that awareness when that happens, okay. Where do I need to balance a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Yeah, so we have we started with the a pure fitness app. We have nutrition included in the app, we have um tools that can help you cook, that will help you meal prep. We have all these tools in there. We're trying to incorporate also like mental health into the app. We're making like baby steps, like I said, but having a system before you go into dental, medical, nursing school, I think it's gonna be better than trying to implement it when you're already burn out because it's most likely that you're gonna get burnout. But if you already have a system in place and you're doing your nutrition, your workouts, and you have a good support system, yeah, it's gonna change.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Yeah, it's like a healthy container, right? So then you can be prepared for all the challenges that come around. And a nutrition plays a big role. And I know nutrition and dental field,

Building Systems Before Burnout

SPEAKER_01 28:55

uh, we don't eat very well usually, and we don't eat at all.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

I know that's just keep blanch. You have your patient on the chair, and sometimes you have cookies in the oh yeah, there's always a back room, always has a and then you just go from patient to patient, and then you didn't finish, and now there's a cookie looking at you, and you eat the cookie and you keep going.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

So it's so true. It's so true. And and uh I saw it day-to-day in our office, and nutrition puts us a sideline, and it's so imperative to have that sustainability. And I think you truly believe in your program, your passion, and I think this is needed, and whatever I can do to kind of help bring that awareness. And because even for me, starting the calm chair system was exactly for that for the provider and for the patient. And I can't help but see it in a nervous system lens, you know, incorporating breath work for the provider uh in between patients before they start at the end of their day. This will help their nervous system just slow down and learn and be comfortable in that, and normalizing these tools. And it's almost coming back to simplicity, like you said, diet, sleep, uh, breath. Those are simple, you know, but we've moved far, far away from all of those. And that's what we've been programmed to do. And also now we have more environmental factors. So I do believe that for dentists to be aware of their environmental factors on a daily basis, the the patients with anxiety, uh, the sonic sounds, the uh if they're still working at, I mean, I don't know now, probably not as much as back then, but they used to work with mercury at school, right? Uh with with um amalgam, sorry. Yeah, that has mercury in it. And but a lot of them might still be removing them. So, what are the risks there for them as a provider as they're breathing that in, you know?

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yes. And I think also being in close contact with the patient sometimes can affect you. Oh, yes, it's called mirror neurons. That's your nervous system in a way that you want to help more, or maybe you hear the patient's story and and you feel like you need to do something. I feel like you're very connected to your patients in that way because everybody comes with a different story, and they want you to hear them and help them with their own.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

They want you to take you want and you want to take away their pain, right? You want to take that on, but realizing as you keep taking that on from every patient, never release it, it stays in your body. It's called mirror neurons. You're gonna mirror their nervous system. So uh the last actually guest that I had on, Dr. Liu, Diane Lu, she works in the nervous system with uh dental professions, and she was saying that for her, when she goes into the room, now she makes sure that she takes a few breath and she had a meditation kind of technique so then she could be so present and grounded. So when she shows up for the patient, her nervous system is in the parasympathetic, and so the patient can feel that safety, that presence, and maybe schedule a bit longer time to connect with your patient so they can feel safe and you're not having to feel like you just take on all their pain and their anxieties because that will impact you over time if you never release those emotions in the pickup.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Being at a dental office is really fast-paced. Also, you have one patient, and by the time you finish with this patient, your next patient is already in the chair. So I feel like very little time in between can also affect you how you're yeah, the way they build their schedules.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

I know my husband had three columns plus two of two to three sometimes hygiene. And I don't know, I don't know how they can just pivot and time it, you know, and it's it's very stressful. You know, you're needed everywhere and you got to keep showing up just as much for each patient. And um, and but again, it's because of the financial pressures, right? Of owning a dental practice and staying afloat. So they feel that they need to have that type of schedule.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

And just having that system or the tools, you know, like you said, like breath work, implementing that before going into in the day or maybe on your breaks, and then also implementing it with your team and knowing that they have more resources that maybe we're behind, but it's gonna be okay. Or let's give this patient a little bit more time. Like having those systems, I think, is what's gonna change how we perform.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I think so. And I think it's gonna be that sustainability for the clinician, right? And burnouts, as we know in dentistry, is really high. Pain is really high, as far as I know, so many dentists have had necks fuse, back fuse, and they never feel that they can stop working because they feel stuck. There's the financial there, it provides for their family. So they need help. They need help. And so for you, I don't see anyone working with uh the students going into dental school. So I think uh this is needed. This program, uh yeah, there's I want to help so much and help students that are thinking about going to dental school. People that are in dental school right now have your type of program and your story. So I you don't give up on that project. And you are in the right realm now, you know, with Anthony and Teresa, where they're doing the next documentary, and you have the resource there, and and they can try and help you get the word.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

It certainly has been a blessing just knowing that there is people out there working and trying to do more than what everybody is doing. Because, especially in the medical field and dentistry, there is these recipes of what we have to do. We go to dental school, we learn that we need to have a protocol. Patient gets there, we get the information, we make sure they don't have any complications, and we follow a protocol. But we have these protocols that have been since I don't know when they implemented them, and they haven't changed for so many years. And having just people that is stopping and saying, hey, there might be a different route to this, I think that is a huge blessing. Just knowing that there is people advocating for women's health, people advocating for like dentistry now with the new documentary, that's a huge step. Just bringing that into the new systems, you know, like we do protocols, but it's not the only protocol.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

No, and then people are so resistant to change, right? But some of us with our own personal stories, we're like, no, this change needs to happen now, and how can I help? And for me, it's great. I have this platform of having a podcast, I can share a storage, it knowledge is power, right? And the more I educate uh patients, healthcare providers about this, they can start, oh, you plant that

Nutrition Breathwork And Nervous System Care

SPEAKER_01 36:20

seed, noticing, oh yeah, I'm not sleeping very well. I've got a lot of inflammation. So instead of saying, oh, I have a lot of inflammation, well, I'm just getting older, or I'm really stressed. Well, I haven't young kids at home. You get used to it. You normalize.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

And I think that's something that happened to me. I was used to it. I was used to not feeling well, not having energy, not performing to the same level that I was in the first year. I got so used to it that I didn't even know that I was struggling, that I didn't know that my skin was different, that my body looked different. When I graduated, I think my nervous system kind of said, we're done, and we're not gonna do anything from here. And I remember going through the first weeks that I was very low in energy, I was struggling to even get up from bed, and I went into a rabbit hole of like finding things to help me get out of bed in the morning. So I started researching what do I do? Why is this happening? And that's when I came to the vitamin deficiencies and how the cortisol, after you have been stuck in fight or flight, your cortisol levels stay that way. And I didn't know, I was used to it. But after finding all this information, and when I started actually looking into my body, trying to heal my body from the cortisol craziness that I had through dental school, having my body, my nutrition dial in, maybe clean up my diet a little bit more, exercising, going on walks, that's when I saw the difference. But if you start dental school with this mindset of my body needs certain things and I know my body, the minute that you start to feel different, you already know, or you won't even need to get to that point because you will be giving your body what it needs, which is the sleep, the nutrition, and I think the support that you need through dental school more than a class, it will be a system that will be open for you at all times. Like having this, I'm not sure if it would be like a support group or a line, yeah, something that can be accessible for you because we go through the stages at different rates. You know, maybe I went through it on my last year. I know some of my peers, they were struggling the first year. I know people who dropped out because they cannot do it anymore. Um, but if we had these tools from the beginning, your body will be performing better, your mind will be better, your workload maybe not be easier, but you will be able to perform.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

To perform, I love that. And that's almost you're getting people to listen to their body as they're whispering things. And that's my book, The Gut God Connection is bringing them back. We've moved so far from not listening to our intuition and those little signs. Because oftentimes now I can help. Oh, why did I get sick? Because I know you don't get sick for no reason. So it was it my thought. Was I spiraling into something? Because I know thoughts affect the body as well. It's very much emotional. I say suppression is the silent killer, right? And I see that in my own kids still dealing with their traumas in their early lives and how the mind affects their gut, and then they put themselves to being sick. So it's it's so important to start teaching people back to how to listen and to notice, notice these little whispers so you don't wait. I've had so many guests on. I've had cancer and all these things. It's like, and I always ask, okay, what was happening decades prior? And that's it. We we're not listening to the early whispers. We're not in it.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

We're here to say, come back to your body, listen, listen to the skin changes, and and stop normalizing, especially in women's health, because you go to your doctor, yes, and you have your laughs, and your labs are normal.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yes, yeah, that's happened to me. Oh yeah, in my mid-30s.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Yeah, I was really clear. Yes. So having to break this of yes, your laughs might be normal, but you need to optimize this level to perform even better. And I I liked what they're doing with their documentaries, especially Shield, because it breaks this norm normal.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Yeah, it's not normal. Like you're like I loved how the the because that's why I brought my kids. I wanted them to see it, to learn so young what's affecting them. And and I loved in the first uh part series where they say your periods, right? Women's periods. Oh, it's normalized. Oh, you might be, you know, so much pain and all this stuff. That's not normal. And I love that they shine that because I I don't get any pain, but at a certain point, it was, you know, maybe it's too much info, but really have all stuff, but it was my at the time my body was speaking, the stress, the the constant fatigue, the losing the hair. Those were all my body speaking. And I went to a gynecology. I remember going, oh, okay, this is happening during my period. And it was like, well, you know what was the protocol for me? Take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen. That was the solution. And then of course, me being more on the natural side, I was like, uh, no, I'm not going to take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen every time I have my period now. And so I kept digging and asking. And but unfortunately, every provider that I saw, no one ever asked, how's your stress level? Yes. How's your what's going on in your personal personal life?

SPEAKER_02 42:19

And it happens a lot that we like. I told you in school, you go and you learn how to do a feeling, how to do a surgery, you learn the the maybe like the medical terms, you learn how to explore the medications and if they're gonna have any complications after, you learn everything by a recipe. And it's the same thing with medicine that we have a prescription for everything. Yes. And you go to the doctor and you get your prescription and you're out of there. And I still don't feel well, but you come back and tell your doctor you don't feel well, and what they do is either increase your medicine or change it. And I went through that when I was going through depression in dental school. I was doing a lot of work on myself, I was going through therapy, I I changed medications two or three times, and I was not getting any better. And I thought something is seriously wrong with me. Why can I get better if I'm doing everything I supposed to be doing? But there is a deeper connection of how your body is working. If your body is not working, why your mind will be working at an optimal level? I had to stop that like everything I was doing and accept that I need to rest, I need to supply my body with the nutrition, the exercise, and I need to slow down and give my body the time that it needs to heal because doing wasn't taking me anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

But I love, I'm so proud of you though. Thank you that so many people would do that and come to that realization. So I do feel there's a reason why it you came to that realization that God has a big purpose for you, and this is gonna be huge, and you're gonna be saving so many lives. And I'm so I'm so honored that I have met you and we've met because I'm so excited that you're you're creating this, and there's a need. So I, you know, however, I can help you, and and then we find out that we live this locally in Arizona too. Yeah. So I'd love to be a part of it however I can and share as this grows for you. And I'm so honored. And how can people find you right now?

SPEAKER_02 44:43

So we have a

Stories Platform App And Closing

SPEAKER_02 44:45

platform online where we post the stories every week. Every week I share a story of a student, a nurse, a doctor that I know personally that have struggled with the same depression, anxiety, maybe feeling like they're not doing enough. So we're sharing the stories, and then you can actually share your story if you feel like you have something to share. You can submit a forum and we'll get in contact and share your story too. And then we have the fitness app where you can do your nutrition, your workouts. There are so many tools in there. Some of the things that I was struggling with was meal prepping. So I we incorporate in a way that you can just add your recipe and then it will tell you what to do, and then you can cook for the week and you're good to go. So we we started incorporating all these uh little things that make a big difference that uh smooth the process. You don't have two hours a day to uh cook a meal, but you have maybe an hour on the weekend where you can prep ahead. So we are trying to incorporate everything into this system, but we call it a system because it's not just one part, it's not just the exercise, not just the nutrition, not just your mental health. I think it's a huge part, is just like everything is a system. Yes, you have to look at all the aspects, and it's something that I missed a lot during my journey. I think I was looking at things separate. I was looking at my mental health with my psychiatrist and taking my medications, and but I was not looking at my body, I was not looking at how many months I had been with my cortisol so high that I wouldn't even notice it anymore. So this is why we started like trying to implement little by little. We're working towards making it uh a bigger, more complete app. But we so far we have the workouts, we have the nutrition, we have a lot of tools for learning in there, and we're incorporating more and more every day.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Oh, that's fantastic. Well, thank you so much for sharing today. I know this will reach many, and I cannot wait to share this episode. And I'm so proud of you, and thank you for the connection. Likewise.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

Likewise, thank you.