April 22, 2024 • 33 mins
In this empowering episode, Gia has an important conversation with Dr. Paige Gutheil, a holistic healthcare expert, as they delve into the transformative world of women's health and the concept of whole health. Dr. Paige shares her journey from traditional medicine to a holistic approach, emphasizing the importance of addressing the mind, body, spirit, and life in health care.
Discover the signs and symptoms of perimenopause, the importance of insourcing your health journey, and how to be your own best advocate for wellness. Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical tips to navigate your unique health path with confidence and authenticity.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Your Future Starts Now, the go-to podcast for
extraordinary women who are ready to step into their next chapter with
authentic confidence. I'm your host, Gia Lacqua, empowerment coach,
motivational speaker, children's book author, and girl mom. Whether
you're a corporate powerhouse or an entrepreneur, this show is
designed for you. Your Future Starts Now is more than
(00:20):
just a podcast. It's a movement, a movement towards rewriting
the rules of success for high-achieving women. Are you ready
to get unstuck and step into your next chapter? If
so, you are exactly where you need to be. Your future starts
now. Welcome to Your Future Starts
Now. I'm your host, Gia Lacqua. I want to thank you for being with us
(00:43):
today. I am thrilled to introduce you to Dr. Paige
Gutheil Dr. Paige is an osteopathic family physician,
teacher, speaker, and founder of the industry disrupting holistic
healthcare collaborative, Signature Primary Care and Wellness. She's
empowered and equipped thousands of women to stop feeling sick and tired of
being sick and tired with her signature whole health tools
(01:04):
and support systems. Focusing on those oh-so-tricky transition phases
of life, she brings the best of modern science and the most natural and
functional approaches to help women navigate bumps in their health path
that are frustrating them. Whether it's teaching medical students to
better care for all of us in the future, educating employers on what meaningful
workplace wellness looks like for women, or sharing her own
(01:26):
health hiccups to inspire her virtual community, Dr. Paige
is known for her down-to-earth wisdom and even adding a little fun
to medicine. Dr. Paige, so happy to have you. Welcome to
Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is going to be a fun conversation. I know it.
Absolutely. So today we are talking about women's health.
We're talking about the concept of whole health. Before we dive into
(01:48):
that, I would love to know a little bit about your backstory. Dr.
Yes, thank you. So, like a lot of
physicians, I went to medical
school just bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and just so excited to
take care of patients. And I found
myself training at an osteopathic medical school, and it
(02:11):
just was so fun for me. In osteopathic training,
program is known to be more holistic and really encompassed mind,
body, spirit. And then, you know, like a lot of us,
we end up in jobs that are more system based
and we could talk all day about the health care system. But
suffice it to say that it was just frustrating. It was frustrating not
(02:34):
to be able to think about really holistic medicine. It
was frustrating to only have 10 or 15 minutes with patients
and have to deal with one thing at a time. And
so over the course of a lot of decisions and
getting married and having babies and just trying to design a life
that worked for me in a fulfilling career and having time
(02:56):
for babies and all of that, I found myself splitting
my time teaching primary care medical
students, so I get my fix of those bright-eyed, bushy-tailed
medical students and try to send them off on the right path. And
then I have a private practice that works
(03:16):
on what's called a direct primary care model. So rather than
being sucked into the craziness of the healthcare system, I
am so fortunate to get to spend more time with
my patients and sit with them in counseling
and talking about nutrition and fitness and mental health and
life because one of the principles that's
(03:39):
formed my healthcare philosophy the most is that,
you know, we can talk a lot about all the fancy stuff,
the biochemistry and our nerves and muscles and
all of that, but it's really our life, our relationships
and our physical environment and our resources that has the
opportunity to either be very uplifting to
(04:00):
our health or, frankly, oppressive to our health. And
so I found myself doing more health
coach training and functional medicine training and even life coach
training So that I could lean more into guiding patients
on both internal and external factors that
(04:21):
Wow. And I want to just take a moment to recognize the shift
that you made because that's huge, right? Like you go to school, you study.
to become a doctor thinking one thing, right?
And then you get there and you realize, maybe this isn't what
I thought it was. And so I think it's so important to
recognize that you saw that and you
(04:43):
were able to pivot, right? You were able to sort of pivot and create a
new path and figure out what worked well, not
just for you, but for the patients that you want to serve is so
powerful. Cause I think oftentimes we get stuck there. We get
stuck in the, well, this is just the way it is. This is how it's
supposed to be. Right. Rather than saying, no, there's, there's another path here
that I can take. So I think that's so incredibly powerful.
(05:07):
It's not the traditional PCP practice. So I love
Yeah, it's not the traditional PCP practice and
you're right. I can now look
back and tell the story in 90 seconds, but
as you look back and you may have encountered, I think we've all
encountered similar situations where it's like you kind of
(05:28):
know that you're meant to go in a certain way or
that something is feeling uncomfortable. But it
takes some time to kind of wrap your head around that and get the courage
around that. And I got to the point when
I was working in my previous practice, and
I should add, you know, my previous practice, there
(05:49):
were so many things that I loved about it. It honestly was a
family business and it was kind of the old fashioned doctor's
office where I worked with my dad and my mom ran the show and
I got to bring my young kids to work with me. So there's so many beautiful
things. Of course that adds a layer of complexity when
you're leaving a beautiful thing. But I got to
(06:09):
the point where I just, I honestly was
very inspired by my wedding. And I felt like,
you know what, I'm just throwing a party. And I'm creating this fun
thing. I am creating this new thing. I sent
out announcements to all my patients that
were inspired by the wedding invitation. I won't go into all the details, but
(06:31):
I was into it. just knowing that I'm
expecting people to jump outside the box with me. Like
every venture, it's had its bumps and bruises along
the way, but keeping some
of those core principles of medicine can
(06:52):
be fun, wellness can be fun. We shouldn't feel like we're restricting
ourselves left and right or just you know, suffering
our way through life. We can always, frequently what I tell my
patients is we want to work in two lanes. And so
we can always be growing and
investigating and what could be better and, you
(07:16):
know, what's wrong and doing all those fancy investigations. But
at the same time, we have to fight for the positive. not
to sound too frou-frou, but it's like we can be
perfectly content and self-loving and gracious
with our bodies and know that they're doing the best they can while
(07:36):
we also know that we're meant to grow. And I think of that
all the time, both from a biochemical perspective and even just
from a life lesson perspective, right? Like we can be content with
wherever we are in life, but also know, hey, there's newer
Yeah, that's a powerful, powerful life lesson,
(07:56):
right? It's both can be true. You can hold space for
both, you can be happy and grateful and content for where you are, but recognize that
there's always opportunity and room to grow and evolve,
So it's kind of a mind bender, right? Like, yeah, you know, but
Yeah, for sure. And I love the way you talk about women
(08:17):
who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. It is so
relatable. So I know you see it all in in,
you know, the work that you do. But I want to focus a little bit on
women's health and specifically, what are
the most common challenges you see for
(08:38):
Yeah, for a long time, you know, as a primary care doctor, I really
pride myself in like covering, helping all people and
covering, you know, being an expert in a
lot of things. And frequently people, you know, make even
just making conversations like, you know, what kind of things do you see or what kind
of things are most common? really kind of made
(08:59):
me reflect and, you know, tailor my practice in
some ways because there are really common things that
we see in our culture, specifically with
women. And I've taken to, you know, if
usually what I tell people is, you know, yeah, there's a syndrome out there. It's
called being stressed, tired, overwhelmed, overweight, and feeling
(09:20):
older than we should. We haven't quite got
the catchy name for that syndrome. But I think, you
know, all of us at some point can relate to those feelings. And
I think that's when we're in that situation. Oftentimes,
that's where the frustration with our health care philosophies
come in. Because what I hear from women that are experiencing
(09:43):
these symptoms, Whether they're previously very
healthy women or have dealt with chronic health issues, we
can be at different stages. But they frequently
hear things like, oh, everything's normal. Your lab work
looks good. And we just kind
of have that knowing that something's off. And
(10:04):
so most of the time, women come
to me having experienced some level of frustration
whether everything's normal
or they have some diagnoses
and some issues that they know they need to work on and
traditional medicine doesn't feel right to
(10:27):
them or they don't want to be taking 5-10 pills a day and so
I really love kind of bringing together the both of best
of both worlds. Like you can probably tell,
I just, our brains can be so black and
white and I just constantly find myself like, hey, let's
(10:48):
play in the gray, you know, as uncomfortable as it is. That's where the magic
It's an incredible skill to have. And you're right, not everybody has that
skill, right? A lot of us do see in that sort of black and white world.
So I think it's very relatable. And I
love what you said about knowing, sort of when something feels
off, right? Because our baseline might
(11:11):
not be an average baseline. I
think it's hard for us to know that, right? It's kind of like
you grew up seeing the world the way you experienced the world, not realizing that
not everybody experiences the world that way. So I think it's the same thing, right?
You think, well, maybe this is just the way I'm supposed to feel. This is just
the way it is. And that might not be true. And so I think it
(11:32):
is getting curious and tapping into what doesn't feel right, because you
are the expert on your body. And I can share from personal
experience I did go
down the holistic medicine route. And I
will admit in the beginning, I was a little hesitant because I
was like, this is a little woo-woo, I don't know much about it, right? And
(11:54):
I'm very much rooted in science. But
what I realized is it's just a different way of practicing medicine.
It's a different philosophy, it's a different approach. And found
out that I had adrenal fatigue, which is not something that typical,
you know, primary care offices will, will get into. And
so it's interesting. And so, you
(12:15):
know, learning that I had, I wouldn't have known that otherwise,
right? Because there's a certain level of testing and treatment
that goes into it. But it is, it is good to know that, like,
when you have that intuition, or that feeling, like, maybe something's off, maybe,
you know, something seems like it's not right, exploring that, and
not necessarily just accepting, oh, your labs are fine at
(12:38):
Yeah, and there are a lot of conditions and
words that we use that traditional medicine is
maybe a little bit behind on, or quite frankly, we just get caught
up in semantics. The ones that come to mind are things like adrenal
fatigue, nervous system regulation, hormone
(12:58):
balance, you know, estrogen dominance.
There are so many words that when you approach a
traditional physician with those words, they
get uncomfortable, right? And I, you
know, going back to my osteopathic medical training, like that
was first and foremost, I can explain all of those terms in very
(13:19):
science-based ways. They are real things. Yeah.
It just so happens that sometimes we're not speaking the same language. But
we really do want to bring the two worlds together, right? We're not going to
rub lavender on a bone sticking out of our skin, right? But we're
not going to take a pharmaceutical medicine to treat the
side effects of five other pharmaceutical medicine and go down that rabbit
(13:42):
hole. Yeah, we can play together. Absolutely.
I love that. Great point. So a hot
topic in women's health these days, especially for middle
aged women, and we hear a lot about is perimenopause. So I
would love to know from your perspective, just sort of
baseline, like, what is it? And what's your take on this trend?
(14:03):
Oh, I love that. Someone
actually told me like, oh, you're kind of hopping on the perimenopause trend.
I'm like, oh my heavens, like perimenopause trend. We've been talking about
this in medical school for one thing. And do we call it
a trend or do we call it a movement, ladies? Like, come on
now. When you really dive into
(14:23):
the science and studies, from decades ago that
really influenced female health and hormone usage
and how we approach perimenopause and menopause years. You
can go down a rabbit hole, but there's a lot of,
I mean, there's a lot of inequality there, quite frankly. You know, the studies
(14:46):
related to female health are lagging behind. And
so thankfully, I think We are at a point
where science is catching up with what a lot
of women have been telling us for years and years and years related
to menstrual health, perimenopause health, and
menopause times. And so it's a
(15:08):
movement that has been well overdue. But to
get back to your question, you know, just kind of what is perimenopause? There's
a lot of terms that are thrown out there. Menopause, perimenopause,
postmenopausal, premenopausal, you know, all those
things. Menopause, like a lot of
you may know, is kind of a date on the calendar. Once
(15:32):
you have not had a menstrual cycle for 12 months, you
can wave the menopause flag and say, okay, I'm in menopause.
I tend to use the terms menopause and postmenopausal pretty
interchangeably. That's just simply that date
and time and after. Perimenopause, which
(15:52):
really in a lot of ways is kind of governing the conversation
quite a bit, is that somewhat rocky
time seven to 10 years on
average before that menopause date where
we know our hormone fluctuations are
really changing. And I mentioned before
(16:15):
balancing hormones, there's a lot of emphasis on
how do we balance our hormones, how do we balance our hormones? And that
is one of those terms where I think, well, I know
what we mean, but I also always think
about this graph that they arguably
torture us with in medical school that plots out the
(16:37):
four main hormones that are involved in the menstrual cycle, estrogen,
progesterone, FSH, LH. And if you look
at that graph of the four hormones across
about a month's time, right, it looks like four roller
coasters superimposed on each other. So nothing is balanced about
that picture. But I think the important conversation is
(17:01):
If we are cycling normally, we rock that roller
coaster. We are very accustomed to that roller coaster. And
then we enter this 10-ish years before
menopause and things start getting rocky. Very
analogous to when things were just starting out in puberty and
things were like kind of revving up a
(17:22):
little rockily, right? And so during
that time, the roller coaster feels very different. It feels like
it's stopping and starting. Sometimes we're stalled out at the top. It's
not smooth. It's a little rusty. And so those erratic
hormone fluctuations can cause symptoms and really every
system in your body. There's estrogen receptors in every system in
(17:43):
our body. So that's why the conversation is so
broad because estrogen is not just about
how we feel or our breasts or our menstrual cycle. We're talking every
Wow. So interesting. And I know there's a big range
in terms of ages, but on average, what would you say?
(18:04):
And I know you said seven to 10 years prior to it. to menopause, what
would you say is typical in terms of perimenopause symptoms?
The average menopause age right now is around 52, 53. So
just doing the math, we're talking going
into our early 40s. I
was talking with a lady the other day, and we're kind
(18:27):
of highlighting this conversation, and she goes, yes, oh
my gosh, everybody told me, oh, just wait till you're 40. This and
this is gonna happen. And I turned 40, and I felt
everything's cool. I'm rocking the 40s,
right? And then I turned 43, and then everything started
changing. And so truthfully, it can be frustrating because
(18:49):
within that 10 years, there's really
a bell curve related to when you'll start noticing
symptoms. Some women start very early. I think
a more common average would be around 46, 47, where those symptoms become
noticeable. But
(19:10):
I have to put like a big disclaimer there, quite frankly,
because think about all we're going through at this
phase in life, right? And all of the symptoms associated
with perimenopause that can be attributed to
other things. and that sometimes can
happen very gradually or they happen one
(19:32):
month and then we're fine for a few months and they happen another
month. And so it's very hard to kind
of connect the dots. So many women, after
it reaches a certain level and we're having a conversation and
working on all of our health factors and maybe considering using
(19:52):
hormone therapy, It's only after that
you look back and say, oh my goodness, now I can see
the changes in energy. Now I can see the brain fog
and trouble with focus. Now I can see even
the changes in dizziness and ear itching and
palpitations and digestive health and
(20:15):
achiness all over my body, not to mention night sweats. We
could go down the whole list. There are a lot, it
really is a syndrome. We use the term syndrome of like this collection of
symptoms that can affect every system in
our bodies. And so we really need to be super intentional about connecting the
It's a great point because I think you're
(20:38):
right. We are struggling with so many things simultaneously.
And so sometimes it is hard to tease that apart. So
I know you mentioned you know, a bunch of different things, but I would love to
really touch upon what are the most common signs and symptoms. I
think we typically, you know, probably based on
media and sort of movies we saw,
(21:01):
like we think about, you know, the hot flashes and the
sweats, but tell us about what are the common
Yeah, I think I sometimes say when
I'm talking with women kind of like the stereotypical menopause symptoms and
then there's like the sneaky menopause symptoms, right? So you're right.
(21:21):
Some of those stereotypical menopause symptoms of hot flashes
and night sweats, And we see those depicted as
very extreme. I remember walking into
my office and telling the gals that I
work with, like, ladies, I think I'm having my first hot flush.
And I just felt flushed. I just felt like, I don't
(21:43):
know, probably like I did in first grade when I was embarrassed and my cheeks got red.
And so it doesn't have to be super extreme. Sometimes
we do notice them more at night with the night sweats. So
that's a very kind of stereotypical picture that honestly
sometimes comes fairly later. Some of the earlier symptoms,
(22:03):
and again it's different for everyone, but some of the earlier symptoms can
be changes in the menstrual cycle, maybe it shortens, maybe
it becomes longer, maybe it becomes heavier or more painful.
I think we underestimate the
early brain-related symptoms for a lot of women. It's
feeling more anxious, unable to wind down at night,
(22:27):
trouble with their sleep pattern, trouble
focusing, that brain fog term that you hear a lot,
just trouble with word finding or just not feeling
like you're as motivated or focused as
you're accustomed to, which is really disconcerting, right?
And a lot of women take that very personally
(22:49):
and carry a lot of shame with that. Women
with headaches can experience a difference in their headache pattern,
whether migraine or other headache related. A
lot of women start experiencing musculoskeletal symptoms,
whether that's hip, frozen shoulder, or just achiness
(23:10):
over all of our body that maybe we start thinking, oh
gosh, maybe Aunt Betsy was right. It's just
normal to get creaky when you get older. No, it does
not have to be that way. Gosh, what else? There's
just so many symptoms that we come across. Skin-related symptoms,
skin drying, itchiness,
(23:32):
itchy ears, vertigo, more
heartburn is associated with lower estrogen, palpitations.
A lot of women end up in the cardiologist's office very
fearful because all of a sudden they're having palpitations out of the blue. And
then that doesn't even touch on sexual health, decrease in
(23:53):
libido, vaginal dryness, pain with sex, trouble
reaching orgasm that you haven't encountered in the past.
That all tends to be something that
is very common and something that we don't talk enough about for
Yeah, it's a good point. And so it really is
a very broad to your spectrum of
(24:15):
symptoms, but I guess it's important, right, to look for those changes, right?
Changes. And I think, you know, like I mentioned before,
I used to function in a practice and in a healthcare system
where we thought in terms of, okay, we only
have so much time, so we're going to handle like one or two things at one time.
(24:36):
Now the beauty of what I do, which
is so fun is I get to usher women
through self-reflection and really dive into
every symptom and say, let's dump everything on the
table. Even if it seems like, I don't know if this related, I
don't know if this is a big deal. Everything is a big deal. Put
(24:56):
it out on the table. And then I get to kind of sort things out
and say, okay, you know, this could run together. We need
to look into various things here. And so don't feel
like you're alone to sort all
of that out, right? Because it can be confusing. But
also, you know, know the limitations of
(25:19):
your health care system and your, you
know, local PCP to say, hey, this is
probably not going to be tackled in one visit, and it's not going to
be one of those, you know, where we're going in
for a cold. And by the way, I want to talk about menopause, too. You
know, it's going to take some time dedicated to sorting everything out.
(25:39):
I love the concept and the visual that I got as you were talking is
like me taking my giant purse and dumping it on
the table. It's like dirty tissues, there's
some lipstick, there's some fruit snacks in there,
a bottle of water, right? Like my wallet. So I
love that of taking like your all the symptoms you're feeling as opposed to
(26:01):
compartmentalizing it and say, okay, I'm going to save this for you
know, my primary care and this for my OBGYN, right, looking at
holistically, I think that's so incredibly powerful. So
along those lines, talk to us about this concept of whole health and
Yeah, I tend to use the term whole health a
(26:21):
lot. And I In
broad terms, you know, we hear a lot about mind, body,
spirit, and definitely whole health encompasses that. I think
of our emotional health, our intellectual health. I
think of our body structure and fitness. I think about our
body, you know, fancy biochemistry, what's our
(26:43):
inflammation markers and enzymes and hormones and
all of that. And then, In
terms of, but I've always honestly been frustrated by
kind of like, oh, mind, body, spirit. Yes, mind, body, spirit, but
what about your life? So I really call whole
health like mind, body, spirit, and life. Because like
(27:04):
I mentioned before, oftentimes our first step to
improve someone's health is not as internal
as designing their environment and their time and
conversations within relationships and resources to
say, we need some wiggle room here. We need
some space to focus on our health first. So
(27:27):
that's one of the things I love ushering women through because I think
I've personally, you know, had struggles with health and
struggles with weight and perimenopause surprised the
hell out of me, even though I'm an expert in it. You know, it's, you're
not immune to, you know, struggles, even though you're an expert in a
certain area. And I found myself kind
(27:48):
of traversing that path of like, Okay, I need to do
this this and this and the diet industry tells me this and
my you know Physician brain tells me this and I'm thinking
this is a whole project like multi-layered
project where am I gonna fit that in my life and I don't need
to be counting and micromanaging a
(28:09):
whole separate project. Can it be easier than that? And
can it flow within my life
better than that? And that's what I personally found, and that's
what I find with my patients. Our first step, honestly, is like,
Let's create some space here. Let's, you know, take a deep
breath and let's be really strategic about how
(28:30):
we tackle things. Because, you
know, there are every aspect of whole health is important, but
there are some very foundational aspects
of health that when we take care of those and we
put our efforts there, then the snowball can
(28:53):
That's great. And I love the concept of that holistic perspective,
right? Mind, body, spirit and life, right?
Like everything else, incorporating all of that. Dr.
Paige, we talk a lot about redefining success on this podcast.
So I would love to know from your perspective, how do you define success and
how has that definition shifted or evolved for you over
(29:17):
I love that question. And the first thing that comes to
my mind when it comes to success is this idea
of really insourcing our life.
When we kind of stop looking to
experts as the cure-all and say, oh, I'm going to try this
and I'm going to try that, I'm going to try this, but really stopping to
(29:39):
self-reflect and take a survey of
what we want. And yes, we need, you know, wise experts.
That's my area of, you know, expertise. I
don't want people feeling like they have to be an expert in medicine. But
there's a subtle but profound difference in, you
know, having the confidence and ability
(30:01):
to ensource that wisdom and
accept wise counsel, but feel like you're navigating your
own unique path. than feeling like you're grasping for
external sources. So my definition of
success really has moved from that. Let me try this. Let me
try that. Let me try this to like, let me just sit for a minute and
(30:24):
feel what alignment looks like for me and
be confident and not keeping up with everybody else, but
your own unique journey. I love the concept of insourcing. That
is such a beautiful way to consider it. And then being
able to tap into the right experts to support you
(30:46):
along that journey is so super powerful. And I can definitely relate to that because
I feel like I have had the tendency of chasing
Oh yeah, it's so tempting. Whatever the
case may be, the new tech, the new diet, it's so tempting.
What is one thing that you want our listeners to take away
(31:08):
from today's episode or consider doing differently after listening to
I would say kind of along the same lines, know that
you truly are your own best doctor. And you will
know if you are working with someone who
is in alignment with what
(31:28):
health means to you and is willing to support that. And
every relationship is, you know, a give and take. You're
not always going to find, you know, the perfect marriage in a doctor-physician relationship.
But just know that you are your own best advocate for
your health and make sure that you have
(31:48):
a healthcare team that feels supportive. and
that you're not, for lack
of a better term, allowing those external pressures
Dr. Paige, I want to thank you for being here. Your expertise, your
(32:11):
insights are so incredibly valuable, and I appreciate you taking the
time to speak with us today. Where can our listeners learn more about you
Oh, thank you so much. So you can go to drpage.com, d-r-p-a-i-g-e
dot com. That has a lot of information. It's linked to
my practice website as well. I'm not the best at
(32:31):
social. I love it, but I would love for you to
hit me up on social. So on Instagram, I'm Dr.
Perfect. And of course, you can visit my website at GiaLacqua.com reach
out on Instagram. On the homepage of my website, you can
download your complimentary copy of from chaos to clarity a 30 day journal
(32:54):
for self discovery and healing. This is Gia signing off with
gratitude for your time and energy our mic drops but the movement continues
until next time your next chapter is waiting. Take care That
concludes another empowering episode of Your Future Starts Now.
Before we wrap up, I want to thank this incredible community of high-achieving women.
Your energy, resilience, and commitment to growth are the driving force
(33:17):
behind what we do. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate
it, leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your
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(33:38):
explore in future episodes. Stay connected on Instagram at
GiaLacqua. I encourage you to carry the energy of this conversation
into your day and keep on supporting the incredible women around you.
Welcome to Your Future Starts Now, the go-to podcast for
extraordinary women who are ready to step into their next chapter with
authentic confidence. I'm your host, Gia Lacqua, empowerment coach,
motivational speaker, children's book author, and girl mom. Whether
you're a corporate powerhouse or an entrepreneur, this show is
designed for you. Your Future Starts Now is more than
(00:20):
just a podcast. It's a movement, a movement towards rewriting
the rules of success for high-achieving women. Are you ready
to get unstuck and step into your next chapter? If
so, you are exactly where you need to be. Your future starts
now. Welcome to Your Future Starts
Now. I'm your host, Gia Lacqua. I want to thank you for being with us
(00:43):
today. I am thrilled to introduce you to Dr. Paige
Gutheil Dr. Paige is an osteopathic family physician,
teacher, speaker, and founder of the industry disrupting holistic
healthcare collaborative, Signature Primary Care and Wellness. She's
empowered and equipped thousands of women to stop feeling sick and tired of
being sick and tired with her signature whole health tools
(01:04):
and support systems. Focusing on those oh-so-tricky transition phases
of life, she brings the best of modern science and the most natural and
functional approaches to help women navigate bumps in their health path
that are frustrating them. Whether it's teaching medical students to
better care for all of us in the future, educating employers on what meaningful
workplace wellness looks like for women, or sharing her own
(01:26):
health hiccups to inspire her virtual community, Dr. Paige
is known for her down-to-earth wisdom and even adding a little fun
to medicine. Dr. Paige, so happy to have you. Welcome to
Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is going to be a fun conversation. I know it.
Absolutely. So today we are talking about women's health.
We're talking about the concept of whole health. Before we dive into
(01:48):
that, I would love to know a little bit about your backstory. Dr.
Yes, thank you. So, like a lot of
physicians, I went to medical
school just bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and just so excited to
take care of patients. And I found
myself training at an osteopathic medical school, and it
(02:11):
just was so fun for me. In osteopathic training,
program is known to be more holistic and really encompassed mind,
body, spirit. And then, you know, like a lot of us,
we end up in jobs that are more system based
and we could talk all day about the health care system. But
suffice it to say that it was just frustrating. It was frustrating not
(02:34):
to be able to think about really holistic medicine. It
was frustrating to only have 10 or 15 minutes with patients
and have to deal with one thing at a time. And
so over the course of a lot of decisions and
getting married and having babies and just trying to design a life
that worked for me in a fulfilling career and having time
(02:56):
for babies and all of that, I found myself splitting
my time teaching primary care medical
students, so I get my fix of those bright-eyed, bushy-tailed
medical students and try to send them off on the right path. And
then I have a private practice that works
(03:16):
on what's called a direct primary care model. So rather than
being sucked into the craziness of the healthcare system, I
am so fortunate to get to spend more time with
my patients and sit with them in counseling
and talking about nutrition and fitness and mental health and
life because one of the principles that's
(03:39):
formed my healthcare philosophy the most is that,
you know, we can talk a lot about all the fancy stuff,
the biochemistry and our nerves and muscles and
all of that, but it's really our life, our relationships
and our physical environment and our resources that has the
opportunity to either be very uplifting to
(04:00):
our health or, frankly, oppressive to our health. And
so I found myself doing more health
coach training and functional medicine training and even life coach
training So that I could lean more into guiding patients
on both internal and external factors that
(04:21):
Wow. And I want to just take a moment to recognize the shift
that you made because that's huge, right? Like you go to school, you study.
to become a doctor thinking one thing, right?
And then you get there and you realize, maybe this isn't what
I thought it was. And so I think it's so important to
recognize that you saw that and you
(04:43):
were able to pivot, right? You were able to sort of pivot and create a
new path and figure out what worked well, not
just for you, but for the patients that you want to serve is so
powerful. Cause I think oftentimes we get stuck there. We get
stuck in the, well, this is just the way it is. This is how it's
supposed to be. Right. Rather than saying, no, there's, there's another path here
that I can take. So I think that's so incredibly powerful.
(05:07):
It's not the traditional PCP practice. So I love
Yeah, it's not the traditional PCP practice and
you're right. I can now look
back and tell the story in 90 seconds, but
as you look back and you may have encountered, I think we've all
encountered similar situations where it's like you kind of
(05:28):
know that you're meant to go in a certain way or
that something is feeling uncomfortable. But it
takes some time to kind of wrap your head around that and get the courage
around that. And I got to the point when
I was working in my previous practice, and
I should add, you know, my previous practice, there
(05:49):
were so many things that I loved about it. It honestly was a
family business and it was kind of the old fashioned doctor's
office where I worked with my dad and my mom ran the show and
I got to bring my young kids to work with me. So there's so many beautiful
things. Of course that adds a layer of complexity when
you're leaving a beautiful thing. But I got to
(06:09):
the point where I just, I honestly was
very inspired by my wedding. And I felt like,
you know what, I'm just throwing a party. And I'm creating this fun
thing. I am creating this new thing. I sent
out announcements to all my patients that
were inspired by the wedding invitation. I won't go into all the details, but
(06:31):
I was into it. just knowing that I'm
expecting people to jump outside the box with me. Like
every venture, it's had its bumps and bruises along
the way, but keeping some
of those core principles of medicine can
(06:52):
be fun, wellness can be fun. We shouldn't feel like we're restricting
ourselves left and right or just you know, suffering
our way through life. We can always, frequently what I tell my
patients is we want to work in two lanes. And so
we can always be growing and
investigating and what could be better and, you
(07:16):
know, what's wrong and doing all those fancy investigations. But
at the same time, we have to fight for the positive. not
to sound too frou-frou, but it's like we can be
perfectly content and self-loving and gracious
with our bodies and know that they're doing the best they can while
(07:36):
we also know that we're meant to grow. And I think of that
all the time, both from a biochemical perspective and even just
from a life lesson perspective, right? Like we can be content with
wherever we are in life, but also know, hey, there's newer
Yeah, that's a powerful, powerful life lesson,
(07:56):
right? It's both can be true. You can hold space for
both, you can be happy and grateful and content for where you are, but recognize that
there's always opportunity and room to grow and evolve,
So it's kind of a mind bender, right? Like, yeah, you know, but
Yeah, for sure. And I love the way you talk about women
(08:17):
who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. It is so
relatable. So I know you see it all in in,
you know, the work that you do. But I want to focus a little bit on
women's health and specifically, what are
the most common challenges you see for
(08:38):
Yeah, for a long time, you know, as a primary care doctor, I really
pride myself in like covering, helping all people and
covering, you know, being an expert in a
lot of things. And frequently people, you know, make even
just making conversations like, you know, what kind of things do you see or what kind
of things are most common? really kind of made
(08:59):
me reflect and, you know, tailor my practice in
some ways because there are really common things that
we see in our culture, specifically with
women. And I've taken to, you know, if
usually what I tell people is, you know, yeah, there's a syndrome out there. It's
called being stressed, tired, overwhelmed, overweight, and feeling
(09:20):
older than we should. We haven't quite got
the catchy name for that syndrome. But I think, you
know, all of us at some point can relate to those feelings. And
I think that's when we're in that situation. Oftentimes,
that's where the frustration with our health care philosophies
come in. Because what I hear from women that are experiencing
(09:43):
these symptoms, Whether they're previously very
healthy women or have dealt with chronic health issues, we
can be at different stages. But they frequently
hear things like, oh, everything's normal. Your lab work
looks good. And we just kind
of have that knowing that something's off. And
(10:04):
so most of the time, women come
to me having experienced some level of frustration
whether everything's normal
or they have some diagnoses
and some issues that they know they need to work on and
traditional medicine doesn't feel right to
(10:27):
them or they don't want to be taking 5-10 pills a day and so
I really love kind of bringing together the both of best
of both worlds. Like you can probably tell,
I just, our brains can be so black and
white and I just constantly find myself like, hey, let's
(10:48):
play in the gray, you know, as uncomfortable as it is. That's where the magic
It's an incredible skill to have. And you're right, not everybody has that
skill, right? A lot of us do see in that sort of black and white world.
So I think it's very relatable. And I
love what you said about knowing, sort of when something feels
off, right? Because our baseline might
(11:11):
not be an average baseline. I
think it's hard for us to know that, right? It's kind of like
you grew up seeing the world the way you experienced the world, not realizing that
not everybody experiences the world that way. So I think it's the same thing, right?
You think, well, maybe this is just the way I'm supposed to feel. This is just
the way it is. And that might not be true. And so I think it
(11:32):
is getting curious and tapping into what doesn't feel right, because you
are the expert on your body. And I can share from personal
experience I did go
down the holistic medicine route. And I
will admit in the beginning, I was a little hesitant because I
was like, this is a little woo-woo, I don't know much about it, right? And
(11:54):
I'm very much rooted in science. But
what I realized is it's just a different way of practicing medicine.
It's a different philosophy, it's a different approach. And found
out that I had adrenal fatigue, which is not something that typical,
you know, primary care offices will, will get into. And
so it's interesting. And so, you
(12:15):
know, learning that I had, I wouldn't have known that otherwise,
right? Because there's a certain level of testing and treatment
that goes into it. But it is, it is good to know that, like,
when you have that intuition, or that feeling, like, maybe something's off, maybe,
you know, something seems like it's not right, exploring that, and
not necessarily just accepting, oh, your labs are fine at
(12:38):
Yeah, and there are a lot of conditions and
words that we use that traditional medicine is
maybe a little bit behind on, or quite frankly, we just get caught
up in semantics. The ones that come to mind are things like adrenal
fatigue, nervous system regulation, hormone
(12:58):
balance, you know, estrogen dominance.
There are so many words that when you approach a
traditional physician with those words, they
get uncomfortable, right? And I, you
know, going back to my osteopathic medical training, like that
was first and foremost, I can explain all of those terms in very
(13:19):
science-based ways. They are real things. Yeah.
It just so happens that sometimes we're not speaking the same language. But
we really do want to bring the two worlds together, right? We're not going to
rub lavender on a bone sticking out of our skin, right? But we're
not going to take a pharmaceutical medicine to treat the
side effects of five other pharmaceutical medicine and go down that rabbit
(13:42):
hole. Yeah, we can play together. Absolutely.
I love that. Great point. So a hot
topic in women's health these days, especially for middle
aged women, and we hear a lot about is perimenopause. So I
would love to know from your perspective, just sort of
baseline, like, what is it? And what's your take on this trend?
(14:03):
Oh, I love that. Someone
actually told me like, oh, you're kind of hopping on the perimenopause trend.
I'm like, oh my heavens, like perimenopause trend. We've been talking about
this in medical school for one thing. And do we call it
a trend or do we call it a movement, ladies? Like, come on
now. When you really dive into
(14:23):
the science and studies, from decades ago that
really influenced female health and hormone usage
and how we approach perimenopause and menopause years. You
can go down a rabbit hole, but there's a lot of,
I mean, there's a lot of inequality there, quite frankly. You know, the studies
(14:46):
related to female health are lagging behind. And
so thankfully, I think We are at a point
where science is catching up with what a lot
of women have been telling us for years and years and years related
to menstrual health, perimenopause health, and
menopause times. And so it's a
(15:08):
movement that has been well overdue. But to
get back to your question, you know, just kind of what is perimenopause? There's
a lot of terms that are thrown out there. Menopause, perimenopause,
postmenopausal, premenopausal, you know, all those
things. Menopause, like a lot of
you may know, is kind of a date on the calendar. Once
(15:32):
you have not had a menstrual cycle for 12 months, you
can wave the menopause flag and say, okay, I'm in menopause.
I tend to use the terms menopause and postmenopausal pretty
interchangeably. That's just simply that date
and time and after. Perimenopause, which
(15:52):
really in a lot of ways is kind of governing the conversation
quite a bit, is that somewhat rocky
time seven to 10 years on
average before that menopause date where
we know our hormone fluctuations are
really changing. And I mentioned before
(16:15):
balancing hormones, there's a lot of emphasis on
how do we balance our hormones, how do we balance our hormones? And that
is one of those terms where I think, well, I know
what we mean, but I also always think
about this graph that they arguably
torture us with in medical school that plots out the
(16:37):
four main hormones that are involved in the menstrual cycle, estrogen,
progesterone, FSH, LH. And if you look
at that graph of the four hormones across
about a month's time, right, it looks like four roller
coasters superimposed on each other. So nothing is balanced about
that picture. But I think the important conversation is
(17:01):
If we are cycling normally, we rock that roller
coaster. We are very accustomed to that roller coaster. And
then we enter this 10-ish years before
menopause and things start getting rocky. Very
analogous to when things were just starting out in puberty and
things were like kind of revving up a
(17:22):
little rockily, right? And so during
that time, the roller coaster feels very different. It feels like
it's stopping and starting. Sometimes we're stalled out at the top. It's
not smooth. It's a little rusty. And so those erratic
hormone fluctuations can cause symptoms and really every
system in your body. There's estrogen receptors in every system in
(17:43):
our body. So that's why the conversation is so
broad because estrogen is not just about
how we feel or our breasts or our menstrual cycle. We're talking every
Wow. So interesting. And I know there's a big range
in terms of ages, but on average, what would you say?
(18:04):
And I know you said seven to 10 years prior to it. to menopause, what
would you say is typical in terms of perimenopause symptoms?
The average menopause age right now is around 52, 53. So
just doing the math, we're talking going
into our early 40s. I
was talking with a lady the other day, and we're kind
(18:27):
of highlighting this conversation, and she goes, yes, oh
my gosh, everybody told me, oh, just wait till you're 40. This and
this is gonna happen. And I turned 40, and I felt
everything's cool. I'm rocking the 40s,
right? And then I turned 43, and then everything started
changing. And so truthfully, it can be frustrating because
(18:49):
within that 10 years, there's really
a bell curve related to when you'll start noticing
symptoms. Some women start very early. I think
a more common average would be around 46, 47, where those symptoms become
noticeable. But
(19:10):
I have to put like a big disclaimer there, quite frankly,
because think about all we're going through at this
phase in life, right? And all of the symptoms associated
with perimenopause that can be attributed to
other things. and that sometimes can
happen very gradually or they happen one
(19:32):
month and then we're fine for a few months and they happen another
month. And so it's very hard to kind
of connect the dots. So many women, after
it reaches a certain level and we're having a conversation and
working on all of our health factors and maybe considering using
(19:52):
hormone therapy, It's only after that
you look back and say, oh my goodness, now I can see
the changes in energy. Now I can see the brain fog
and trouble with focus. Now I can see even
the changes in dizziness and ear itching and
palpitations and digestive health and
(20:15):
achiness all over my body, not to mention night sweats. We
could go down the whole list. There are a lot, it
really is a syndrome. We use the term syndrome of like this collection of
symptoms that can affect every system in
our bodies. And so we really need to be super intentional about connecting the
It's a great point because I think you're
(20:38):
right. We are struggling with so many things simultaneously.
And so sometimes it is hard to tease that apart. So
I know you mentioned you know, a bunch of different things, but I would love to
really touch upon what are the most common signs and symptoms. I
think we typically, you know, probably based on
media and sort of movies we saw,
(21:01):
like we think about, you know, the hot flashes and the
sweats, but tell us about what are the common
Yeah, I think I sometimes say when
I'm talking with women kind of like the stereotypical menopause symptoms and
then there's like the sneaky menopause symptoms, right? So you're right.
(21:21):
Some of those stereotypical menopause symptoms of hot flashes
and night sweats, And we see those depicted as
very extreme. I remember walking into
my office and telling the gals that I
work with, like, ladies, I think I'm having my first hot flush.
And I just felt flushed. I just felt like, I don't
(21:43):
know, probably like I did in first grade when I was embarrassed and my cheeks got red.
And so it doesn't have to be super extreme. Sometimes
we do notice them more at night with the night sweats. So
that's a very kind of stereotypical picture that honestly
sometimes comes fairly later. Some of the earlier symptoms,
(22:03):
and again it's different for everyone, but some of the earlier symptoms can
be changes in the menstrual cycle, maybe it shortens, maybe
it becomes longer, maybe it becomes heavier or more painful.
I think we underestimate the
early brain-related symptoms for a lot of women. It's
feeling more anxious, unable to wind down at night,
(22:27):
trouble with their sleep pattern, trouble
focusing, that brain fog term that you hear a lot,
just trouble with word finding or just not feeling
like you're as motivated or focused as
you're accustomed to, which is really disconcerting, right?
And a lot of women take that very personally
(22:49):
and carry a lot of shame with that. Women
with headaches can experience a difference in their headache pattern,
whether migraine or other headache related. A
lot of women start experiencing musculoskeletal symptoms,
whether that's hip, frozen shoulder, or just achiness
(23:10):
over all of our body that maybe we start thinking, oh
gosh, maybe Aunt Betsy was right. It's just
normal to get creaky when you get older. No, it does
not have to be that way. Gosh, what else? There's
just so many symptoms that we come across. Skin-related symptoms,
skin drying, itchiness,
(23:32):
itchy ears, vertigo, more
heartburn is associated with lower estrogen, palpitations.
A lot of women end up in the cardiologist's office very
fearful because all of a sudden they're having palpitations out of the blue. And
then that doesn't even touch on sexual health, decrease in
(23:53):
libido, vaginal dryness, pain with sex, trouble
reaching orgasm that you haven't encountered in the past.
That all tends to be something that
is very common and something that we don't talk enough about for
Yeah, it's a good point. And so it really is
a very broad to your spectrum of
(24:15):
symptoms, but I guess it's important, right, to look for those changes, right?
Changes. And I think, you know, like I mentioned before,
I used to function in a practice and in a healthcare system
where we thought in terms of, okay, we only
have so much time, so we're going to handle like one or two things at one time.
(24:36):
Now the beauty of what I do, which
is so fun is I get to usher women
through self-reflection and really dive into
every symptom and say, let's dump everything on the
table. Even if it seems like, I don't know if this related, I
don't know if this is a big deal. Everything is a big deal. Put
(24:56):
it out on the table. And then I get to kind of sort things out
and say, okay, you know, this could run together. We need
to look into various things here. And so don't feel
like you're alone to sort all
of that out, right? Because it can be confusing. But
also, you know, know the limitations of
(25:19):
your health care system and your, you
know, local PCP to say, hey, this is
probably not going to be tackled in one visit, and it's not going to
be one of those, you know, where we're going in
for a cold. And by the way, I want to talk about menopause, too. You
know, it's going to take some time dedicated to sorting everything out.
(25:39):
I love the concept and the visual that I got as you were talking is
like me taking my giant purse and dumping it on
the table. It's like dirty tissues, there's
some lipstick, there's some fruit snacks in there,
a bottle of water, right? Like my wallet. So I
love that of taking like your all the symptoms you're feeling as opposed to
(26:01):
compartmentalizing it and say, okay, I'm going to save this for you
know, my primary care and this for my OBGYN, right, looking at
holistically, I think that's so incredibly powerful. So
along those lines, talk to us about this concept of whole health and
Yeah, I tend to use the term whole health a
(26:21):
lot. And I In
broad terms, you know, we hear a lot about mind, body,
spirit, and definitely whole health encompasses that. I think
of our emotional health, our intellectual health. I
think of our body structure and fitness. I think about our
body, you know, fancy biochemistry, what's our
(26:43):
inflammation markers and enzymes and hormones and
all of that. And then, In
terms of, but I've always honestly been frustrated by
kind of like, oh, mind, body, spirit. Yes, mind, body, spirit, but
what about your life? So I really call whole
health like mind, body, spirit, and life. Because like
(27:04):
I mentioned before, oftentimes our first step to
improve someone's health is not as internal
as designing their environment and their time and
conversations within relationships and resources to
say, we need some wiggle room here. We need
some space to focus on our health first. So
(27:27):
that's one of the things I love ushering women through because I think
I've personally, you know, had struggles with health and
struggles with weight and perimenopause surprised the
hell out of me, even though I'm an expert in it. You know, it's, you're
not immune to, you know, struggles, even though you're an expert in a
certain area. And I found myself kind
(27:48):
of traversing that path of like, Okay, I need to do
this this and this and the diet industry tells me this and
my you know Physician brain tells me this and I'm thinking
this is a whole project like multi-layered
project where am I gonna fit that in my life and I don't need
to be counting and micromanaging a
(28:09):
whole separate project. Can it be easier than that? And
can it flow within my life
better than that? And that's what I personally found, and that's
what I find with my patients. Our first step, honestly, is like,
Let's create some space here. Let's, you know, take a deep
breath and let's be really strategic about how
(28:30):
we tackle things. Because, you
know, there are every aspect of whole health is important, but
there are some very foundational aspects
of health that when we take care of those and we
put our efforts there, then the snowball can
(28:53):
That's great. And I love the concept of that holistic perspective,
right? Mind, body, spirit and life, right?
Like everything else, incorporating all of that. Dr.
Paige, we talk a lot about redefining success on this podcast.
So I would love to know from your perspective, how do you define success and
how has that definition shifted or evolved for you over
(29:17):
I love that question. And the first thing that comes to
my mind when it comes to success is this idea
of really insourcing our life.
When we kind of stop looking to
experts as the cure-all and say, oh, I'm going to try this
and I'm going to try that, I'm going to try this, but really stopping to
(29:39):
self-reflect and take a survey of
what we want. And yes, we need, you know, wise experts.
That's my area of, you know, expertise. I
don't want people feeling like they have to be an expert in medicine. But
there's a subtle but profound difference in, you
know, having the confidence and ability
(30:01):
to ensource that wisdom and
accept wise counsel, but feel like you're navigating your
own unique path. than feeling like you're grasping for
external sources. So my definition of
success really has moved from that. Let me try this. Let me
try that. Let me try this to like, let me just sit for a minute and
(30:24):
feel what alignment looks like for me and
be confident and not keeping up with everybody else, but
your own unique journey. I love the concept of insourcing. That
is such a beautiful way to consider it. And then being
able to tap into the right experts to support you
(30:46):
along that journey is so super powerful. And I can definitely relate to that because
I feel like I have had the tendency of chasing
Oh yeah, it's so tempting. Whatever the
case may be, the new tech, the new diet, it's so tempting.
What is one thing that you want our listeners to take away
(31:08):
from today's episode or consider doing differently after listening to
I would say kind of along the same lines, know that
you truly are your own best doctor. And you will
know if you are working with someone who
is in alignment with what
(31:28):
health means to you and is willing to support that. And
every relationship is, you know, a give and take. You're
not always going to find, you know, the perfect marriage in a doctor-physician relationship.
But just know that you are your own best advocate for
your health and make sure that you have
(31:48):
a healthcare team that feels supportive. and
that you're not, for lack
of a better term, allowing those external pressures
Dr. Paige, I want to thank you for being here. Your expertise, your
(32:11):
insights are so incredibly valuable, and I appreciate you taking the
time to speak with us today. Where can our listeners learn more about you
Oh, thank you so much. So you can go to drpage.com, d-r-p-a-i-g-e
dot com. That has a lot of information. It's linked to
my practice website as well. I'm not the best at
(32:31):
social. I love it, but I would love for you to
hit me up on social. So on Instagram, I'm Dr.
Perfect. And of course, you can visit my website at GiaLacqua.com reach
out on Instagram. On the homepage of my website, you can
download your complimentary copy of from chaos to clarity a 30 day journal
(32:54):
for self discovery and healing. This is Gia signing off with
gratitude for your time and energy our mic drops but the movement continues
until next time your next chapter is waiting. Take care That
concludes another empowering episode of Your Future Starts Now.
Before we wrap up, I want to thank this incredible community of high-achieving women.
Your energy, resilience, and commitment to growth are the driving force
(33:17):
behind what we do. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate
it, leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your
feedback fuels our mission to empower high-achieving women just like
you. And of course, share Your Future Starts Now with the extraordinary women
in your life who are also on a journey of healing and empowerment. Connect
with us on social media, share your thoughts, let us know what topics you'd like to
(33:38):
explore in future episodes. Stay connected on Instagram at
GiaLacqua. I encourage you to carry the energy of this conversation
into your day and keep on supporting the incredible women around you.
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