Why Your Supplement Cabinet Isn't Fixing Your Periods | Ep. 134

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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 reveals the 3 biggest supplement mistakes that keep women stuck with irregular periods and bloating - even when they're spending hundreds on "hormone support." Learn why relying on supplements alone backfires, how to spot quality vs. junk products, and the 3 foundational supplements worth researching if you want to start somewhere strategic. Plus why your friend's miracle supplement might be making YOUR symptoms worse.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One thing that I have found to be true with all of my
client work is that takingsupplements is a great way to
feel like you are doing thingsto change your health.
It's a great way to feel likeyou're going in the right
direction, but a lot of thetimes that's not actually
creating the results that youwant.
We have to change our mindsetabout supplements as being a

(00:25):
100% all-in solution.
It's not.
Welcome to I'm Hormonal, yoursource of information about
women's hormone health and howto support your body.
Naturally, I'm your host,bridget Walton, and I'm a
certified functional hormonespecialist and menstrual cycle
coach.
I am on a mission to hold thesehormone conversations with as

(00:45):
many menstruators as possible,because you deserve easier
access to accurate informationabout what's up with your unruly
menstrual cycle and with yourfertility mysteries.
Don't you think it's time thatwe figure this out once and for
all?
Hey friend, welcome to today'sepisode of I'm Hormonal.

(01:07):
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I'm so excited that you are
here with me.
Today.
We are going to be talkingabout supplements, because
supplements are a tool that canbe very instrumental in bringing
back a regular cycle, inovercoming dysbiosis in the
digestive system, in supportingyour adrenal glands and your

(01:30):
overall stress and resilience inthe face of stress.
Yes, don't get me wrong.
At the same time, though,something that I see time and
time again when I have newclients coming to me, is that
it's so easy to, you know, usethis crutch, this crutch of
supplements to feel like, okay,well, I'm taking A, b, c and D,

(01:55):
and my friend recommended thisother supplement, so I'm taking
that too.
And then I saw this otherperson taking a supplement, and
so I'm taking that too.
And now that I'm taking all ofthese supplements, it should
just, you know, fix my problem,like why am I still having
unpredictable periods?
Because you're listening tothis episode, I know that you

(02:15):
want to come to a solution.
You want to restore balancewith your hormone health, with
your digestive health, and sothat's why we're going into this
topic today, because you needto extend your actions beyond
just taking supplements.
In today's episode, I'm going totalk a little bit about what

(02:36):
are the top three mistakes thatI see women making with
supplements.
I'm going to talk a little bitabout the specific supplements
that are taken most often forcertain hormonal imbalances, or,
specifically, we'll look atmissing and irregular periods.
We'll talk about bloating andPMS as well, but what are some

(02:57):
other things that you might wantto consider, and then we'll
wrap it up by talking about thethree supplements that you know.
If you do want to startsomewhere, like, where might you
want to do some research andfigure out what's right for you?
I always give this disclaimerat the end of the podcast that
I'm not giving medical advice.
This is for your education.

(03:18):
Everything that I talk abouttoday, and always as it relates
to supplements, is so personalto your own body, so please take
anything that you hear me talkabout and make sure that you are
applying this to your body.
Or, if you aren't in a positionto do that type of research and
go through that thought process, then find the right

(03:41):
practitioner for you and getthat sort of support, because
we've all got different ishgoing on and what's right for me
might not be right for you.
All of that being said, let'sjump into the three common
mistakes I see women make withsupplements, and I kind of
spoiled the first one already,because the most common issue
that I see is women who justrely 100% on the supplements.

(04:06):
What I mean by that is bysaying, okay, I'm going to, like
, put on my armor, I'm going toput on my, I'm going to get my
sword, I'm going to get myshield, which is my.
You know concoction ofmagnesium or AG1 or berberine.
It's not that any one of thosethings is not good.

(04:29):
Right, there is a time andplace for all of those, but
hopefully you're catching mydrift that normally you need to
do some other work outside ofjust the supplements.
I regret saying normally,because in 100% of situations
you'll want to take a step backand say okay, why is this

(04:51):
happening in the first place?
What is the underlying causehere that led to my irregular
periods or bloating or PMS, andaddress that.
The second mistake that I seegals making with supplements is
sometimes opting for low qualitysupplements.
Unfortunately, in the US, thereis not a really rigid set of

(05:15):
standards around supplements.
I did another episode on this.
If you want a deeper dive, butsuffice it today to you want to
make sure that whateversupplement brand you're using,
that they have third-partytesting or that they do some
sort of testing on their own.
If you are ordering yoursupplements from Amazon while of

(05:36):
course, you can get likereputable, you know, properly
labeled supplements sent to you,there are some, you know trash
folks out there that are justrelabeling supplements and
they're not actually sending youwhat you're getting, so you're
not even really getting thebrand that you think you're
buying.
So I would always cautioneverybody to avoid buying from

(06:01):
Amazon or other similar placeswhere you just don't know what's
in them sometimes.
So taking that extra fiveminutes to do some research into
what is reputable, how good isthe quality of the product,
that's going to save you timeand money and just make sure

(06:22):
you're not putting somethingchaotic into your body that
could be exacerbating whateverchallenge you're already
experiencing.
The third mistake that I seegals making when it comes to
supplements is really just beingunsure why they're taking
something.
If you're going to be againspending money on this
supplement, if you're going tobe putting this thing into your

(06:44):
body every day, I personallythink that's pretty important to
be able to understand andexplain, however briefly.
You know we're not writing athesis on why magnesium is good
for us, but being able tounderstand why that's something
that you've decided to put intoyour daily routine is going to

(07:05):
be really helpful.
And again, I'll just take thisopportunity to say that even if
something worked for your friendwhen it came to.
You know, maybe you haverecently come off of hormonal
birth control and your cyclesare erratic.
You're working on bringing themback into some type of
regularity and maybe somethingworked for your friend that

(07:28):
isn't quite working for yourbody, and that happens because
there are a kajillion differentreasons why your cycle might be
irregular.
It might look the same on theoutside, that you don't know
when your period's going tostart, or maybe that it starts
every six weeks, but the actuallandscape of what's happening

(07:51):
inside your body could bedifferent, despite the seemingly
identical outward presentation.
So just keep those things inmind.
Make sure that you're not onlyrelying on the supplements.
Make sure that when you aretaking supplements, you know why
and you're sourcing them from agood, repeatable brand Not even

(08:14):
brand, but like, you know whois the manufacturer, who is the
lab that's testing theseproducts.
So noodle on that.
Probably about half of thewomen that I work with
one-on-one when they haveirregular or missing periods and
they come to me, of coursewe'll start going through what
are the supplements that theytake, and a lot of the time, or

(08:34):
half the time probably, thesegals are taking Vitex.
Vitex is also known as ChaseTreeberry, if you are familiar
with that, and it is supportiveof supporting normal sex hormone
balance, which is like thebroadest way to say it.
Now, this can be helpful for aswath of women out there, but

(08:56):
it's also worth mentioning thatfor some gals with PCOS, or some
gals who have an imbalance intheir luteinizing hormone and
follicle-stimulating hormone,vitex can actually exacerbate
that imbalance.
So this is just one example ofyou know could be helpful for

(09:16):
the masses but might not be whatyour body needs, and that's why
, when you start to take asupplement, that extra level of
discernment can be reallyhelpful.
When it comes to bloating,something that I hear a lot and
that I see a lot is consumptionof berberine, because berberine
is another botanical that hascertain antimicrobial,

(09:39):
antifungal properties to it, andso that could be helpful in
regulating the bacteria levelsin your gut microbiome.
So, again, not inherently bad,but if you're taking berberine
for too long, it could have anegative effect on the good

(09:59):
bacteria that are in yourdigestive system.
It's also not going to be onethat you want to take.
When it comes to you know, areyou taking some type of birth
control?
Are you taking?
Actually, I don't.
Okay, I pulled up the list, I'mback.
That's why you have to A workwith somebody who has more

(10:40):
experience working with thesesupplements, like myself or
another practitioner, or spendsome time doing that research
yourself.
Next, I want to mention, when itcomes to PMS, a lot of the
times what I see gals coming tome with is taking some
combination or one of thefollowing, so DIM, glutathione

(11:01):
or another sort of liver support.
These, I think, are actuallygreat starts, because this is
helping you to break down andeliminate estrogens better than
you otherwise would be.
So that's important, because alot of the times, pms can be
caused by a recirculation ofestrogen and, ultimately, when

(11:24):
estrogen levels are higherrelative to progesterone in your
luteal phase, like bada bing,bada boom, that is your recipe
for PMS.
All of these examples beingsaid, though, I just need to
bring it back to this questionof what is the underlying
driving cause of what'shappening, because if you are

(11:47):
taking all these supplements andmore, that still isn't going to
be eliminating that originalstressor that's causing your
cortisol to be high and causingyour periods to be irregular.
It's probably not fullyaddressing if it's addressing at
all, maybe allergies or othergut issues that you're ignoring.
Your gut is so closely linked,I should say your gut health is

(12:12):
so closely linked to yourhormone health.
If one is wonky, the other canbe wonky.
Also, honorable mentions here,you know.
Getting better sleep, gettingmore sleep that's going to move
the needle.
More Also is free, you know,then figuring out like what is

(12:32):
the right multivitamin for you.
If this episode piques yourinterest, if you want to learn
more about potential root causesand about the process that I
walk through with all of myone-on-one clients, go ahead and
register now to join class.
We are doing training.
It's Fertility Ready HormoneHealth coming up here on

(12:52):
September 23rd.
The first 20 podcast listenersto register are going to get
personalized feedback from me.
But you've got to join theclass live to get that bonus.
I would love to see you there.
You can send me a message onInstagram at I'm underscore
hormonal if you have anyquestions.
But that's it for today.
Gang, find out what is going tomove the needle and do not rely

(13:16):
just on supplements, becausethat is a band-aid approach
that's not going to get youwhere you need to go.
If you loved today's episode andgot something good out of it,
make sure you subscribe so thatthese episodes show up
automatically in your feed.
No work needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information

(13:39):
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.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.