What to Ask When Your Doctor Dismisses Your Period Problems | Ep. 133

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I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.

If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.

On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.

This mini episode gives you concrete ways to advocate for yourself when doctors dismiss your period or gut problems. Learn the specific questions to ask for comprehensive hormone testing (including progesterone timing), what tests can rule out underlying conditions, and how to request specialist referrals. Plus actionable tips for tracking your cycle and symptoms to come prepared with data that gets you taken seriously.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello, you are listening to.
I'm Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton.
This is episode number 133, amini episode.
If you're new to the podcast.
I do a kind of full-lengthepisode earlier in the week and
then we follow it up with a cute, sweet, tiny mini little
bite-sized version later in theweek, because you know, we're

(00:21):
adults and sometimes we need tohear the same idea twice or in a
slightly different way.
So that's a little bit aboutthe podcast here this month.
We are two years old.
We're like are two-year-oldspotty training?
They probably are right, sowe're potty training right now.
I think that's where we're at.
But more relevant and moreimportant than that is what

(00:43):
we're going to be talking abouttoday, which is what you want to
ask your doctor.
I mean, I hope that your doctordoesn't dismiss your period
problems, but it happens toooften.
So what to ask when your doctordismisses your period problems
or your gut health problems?
This is something that is justyeah, unfortunately.
This is something that is justyeah, unfortunately, all too

(01:04):
common of an experience.
But let me reiterate for youthat your instincts about your
body are valid.
You know, when something feelsoff, it is really frustrating to
be dismissed, but there areways that you can advocate for
yourself.
So my hope for you is that,from this episode, you have a
couple of specific actions youcan take, or questions that you

(01:28):
can ask, to do just that andadvocate for yourself and get
closer to your optimal health,your optimal fertility, your
optimal gut health whatever itis that is in the near future
than you think for you.
So where I want to start withthis is talking about the data.
I would really encourage you totrack your cycle.

(01:51):
So, whether you want to use anapp, personally I use Flow.
It works great for me.
I love the data, the graphsthat it can pull up for me with
all of the data.
So, track your cycle data ortrack your gut data, whatever is
there for you.
Do this for probably two tothree months or two to three

(02:11):
menstrual cycles at least, sothat you can see what are some
of the trends and patterns.
That's the first thing that isgoing to be helpful, because and
check out a previous episode, Ithink last week's episodes, or
two weeks ago I talked aboutwhat different cycle lengths
kind of mean.
Is your cycle really short, isit longer, and what information

(02:32):
that can help you glean.
So, along with this, make anote of any potential food
reactions.
Or if you have bloating, whattime of day do you feel bloated
by?
Is there anything that makes itworse or that makes it better?
That will be helpfulinformation to go into that
conversation with your providerwith, or just for you to have,

(02:55):
so you can observe what helpsand what doesn't help.
Okay, so, data aside, here are acouple of questions that may be
well-suited for you to ask.
If you're talking with yourdoctor about hormones and you're
talking about doing a hormonepanel, I want you to ask them

(03:15):
this specifically say, hey, canwe run a comprehensive hormone
panel that includes progesteroneon cycle day 21 or 22?
The reason why I'm calling thisout specifically is because
sometimes your provider may notspecify what day of your cycle
you need to go to the lab on,and if you want to test

(03:39):
progesterone, which is thehormone that's released after
you ovulate ie this is a goodindicator of whether or not you
ovulated and how kind of strongwas that ovulation you're going
to need to do that at a certainpoint in your cycle, which is
approximately seven days afteryou ovulate.

(03:59):
So there's a little bit ofvariability there, depending on
how long your cycle is?
At what point in your cycle youovulate?
But for the most part thatwould be around cycle day 21.
So again, that question wouldbe hey, can we run a
comprehensive hormone panel thatincludes progesterone on or

(04:19):
around cycle day 21.
Something else that you couldask is okay, so what could be
causing insert specific symptom,what could be causing really
heavy periods and what tests canrule out underlying conditions?
So, because we know thatwhether or not you ovulate can

(04:41):
impact how heavy your cycle is,let's continue with this example
.
Well, maybe you want to ruleout there being something
unusual with your thyroidhormone.
Actually, probably a good ideato check your iron if you have
really heavy periods too.
But that aside, the questionhere is around what can we do to

(05:04):
rule out other underlyingconditions or anything that
might contribute to this?
I would say too anotherhonorable mention, prolactin.
If you have irregular orunpredictable cycles, prolactin
is one that, when elevated, it'sgoing to throw a wrench in your

(05:24):
cycles regularity.
So that's the second question Ihave for you.
The third one would potentiallybe could you refer me to a
reproductive endocrinologist orgastroenterologist, somebody who
can get more specific and clearon your hormones and your gut
health.
Now, all of this being said, too, is that a lot of people out

(05:47):
there, right here in theseUnited States, want to use
insurance.
So if you are somebody whofalls within that majority, who
wants to use insurance and getthe most bang for your buck out
of your plan, like that's wherethese questions, these prompts,
might be most bang for your buckout of your plan, like that's
where these questions, theseprompts, might be most helpful
for you, and, believe me, Itotally get it.

(06:08):
Like, if you're paying for yourinsurance plan and they can
help you to, or you can use yourHSA, like, yes, that makes a
lot of sense.
Now, at the same time, I dolike to mention from time to
time here on the pod, like Idon't use insurance in my
practice.
Well, because I'm not alicensed medical provider, so

(06:28):
that would not be suitable, butthat's all to say.
I know that a lot of you outthere want to take advantage of
that, want to, of course, stilllearn about your cycle, and so
that's kind of where I'm gearingthis episode, because these
strategies can help you tomaximize that relationship.
All of that being said, if youhave tried these approaches and

(06:52):
you still feel unheard, you'renot getting the answers that you
need, then that could be apoint where you would want to
consider working with apractitioner who focuses in root
causes, right, that's when it'sgoing to become really valuable
, so that again you're notfocusing on just the symptoms
and listen to this week'searlier episode where I talked

(07:14):
about this at a bit more lengthbut you're going to really want
to focus on the root cause ofyour imbalance.
Is it with your gut health?
Is it with your stress?
Is it, you know, are you undereating, under nourishing, and
that's contributing to it?
Is there something else, maybewith your blood sugar, that you
can focus on that one cause,foundational area and see so

(07:40):
much progress, so much change inthe other areas, because it's
that one block that knocks allthe other blocks down, if you're
following me so that's all tosay if you are in that situation
, then working with, like anaturopathic doctor or a
functional medicine practitioneror a hormone coach and holistic

(08:02):
nutritionist like myself, whocan dig deeper into the why
behind your symptoms, that mightbe what is going to best serve
you in the next phase of yourhormone balancing or your gut
balancing journey.
So I hope that was helpful.
I hope that gave you a coupleof good recommendations.
If you put any of these intoaction and they like worked out

(08:25):
really well for you, or if youhave questions, then send me a
DM on Instagram.
You can find me at.
I'm underscore hormonal, andthat actually reminded me I had
one other thing for you, becausethere's a resource that I want
you to keep in mind, if you'relike.
Okay, bridget, you gave methree questions to ask.
I have a million more questions.
Check out Laura Bryden's book,the Period Repair Manual At the

(08:50):
end of her book there.
Maybe it's available at yourlocal library.
Check that out, but she has aton of pages of questions that
you can use as a framework toask your doctor about whatever
it is that you are up against orchallenged by.
So I think that is a reallyexcellent resource to look into

(09:11):
if you want to get a layerdeeper than what I've gone
through in the last.
What nine minutes here.
With all of that being said, mylast kind of note for you.
Today I have an upcomingexclusive training that I want
to invite you to, especially ifthis resonated with you,
especially especially if you areinterested in getting to the

(09:31):
root cause of your imbalance.
One of the things that I'mgoing to be covering during this
training are some of thehormone panels that I use with
my clients, which are different,for the most part, from what is
going to be available to youthrough your conventional doctor
or through your insurance, andso, if that's something that you
have interest in learning about, too, this is going to be a

(09:54):
great training for you to attendit.
You can go ahead right now.
Click the link in the shownotes.
That'll be either for the waitlist or for registration.
Registration opens on Saturday,september 13th, and I would
love for you to join me If youhave been a longtime listener of
the podcast and you want someQ&A time with me.

(10:15):
There will be live Q&A time.
Even if you're new to thepodcast.
I would love to hear yourquestions too, and I have a
special offer for those of you,specifically those of you who
are listeners of the podcast.
This isn't something that'sgoing out on my email list or
anywhere else, but if you areone of the first 20 people to

(10:36):
hop on the wait list or registerfor the event, if registration
is open, then you will have theopportunity to get personalized
feedback from me.
What I'm going to do is sendyou the nutritional assessment,
the tool that I use with all ofmy one-on-one clients, so I can
get some context on what isgoing on with you, and I will

(10:58):
send you that personalizedfeedback so you can have that to
have a more like root causefocus and say, okay, what are
these foundational aspects thatwill move the needle the most?
So go to the link in the shownotes for that, or you can hop
on over to my Instagram, whichis again at I'm underscore

(11:18):
hormonal, to learn more, andagain, I would love to see you
there.
All right, that's it for today.
Again, I'm Bridget Walton, andthank you for listening.
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
automatically in your feed.
No work needed on your side,let's put it on autopilot.

(11:41):
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.

(12:04):
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.