193 – How PCOS Affects Menopause & Fertility [Podcast with Dr. Poppy Daniels]
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Dr. Poppy Daniels is a gynecologist who attended undergraduate and medical school at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She completed a residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Drexel University/Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has been in private practice since 2003. Dr. Poppy Daniels is an obstetrician/gynecologist and hormone specialist. In addition to traditional OB/GYN services, she has undertaken many specialized hours of training in bioidentical hormone therapy, integrative thyroid treatment, and holistic health. She and her husband, Dr. Dennis Daniels, who practices Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, live in Ozark, MO. They have five sons and one daughter.
Resources mentioned:
Previous Podcasts with Dr. Poppy Daniels:
The Progesterone & PCOS Connection [Podcast with Dr. Poppy Daniels]
The Dangers of Depo Podcast with [Podcast with Dr. Poppy Daniels]
Dr. Poppy Daniels Book:
The Dangers of Depo: The World’s Most Dangerous Birth Control
Dr Poppy’s Fertility 101 Guidelines
Connect with Dr. Poppy Daniels
Research:
Transcript:
Amy Medling:
On today’s episode of the PCOS diva podcast, we are putting one of our favorite OB/GYN in the hot seat. Dr. Poppy Daniels has agreed to come on to the podcast and ask some of your burning questions. But before we get to that, I just wanted to introduce my co-host, Dr. Vinu Jyothi, MD. After finishing medical school, she did her Master’s in Public Health at the University of Texas at Houston. Because of her passion for preventative health, especially women’s health, along with her passion, she also brings her expertise and 10 plus years of experience in clinical research and preventative medicine. And Dr. Vinu who has her own personal journey with PCOS. And she like me for you believes that holistic strategies can be the best teaching strategy. So thanks for being here with me, Dr. Vinu as we interview Dr. Poppy.
Dr. Vinu:
I’m really happy to be here and I look forward to hearing from Dr. Poppy Daniels as well. So before we begin, here’s a little bio about that Dr. Poppy Daniels is a gynecologist who attended undergraduate and medical school at the University of Missouri Columbia. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and she has been in private practice since 2003. She is also a hormone specialist. And in addition to traditional OB/GYN services, she has undertaken many specialized hours of training in Bioidentical Hormone Therapy, Integrative Thyroid treatment and Holistic Health. We are very happy to welcome you Dr. Poppy Daniels.
Dr. Poppy:
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Vinu:
I know you’ve been on previous episodes of this podcast where you talked about progesterone therapy and PCOS, and also about your book The Dangers of Depo. That talked about the dangers of the Depo shot. For our viewers who are new, the show notes do have recordings of the previous podcasts which you could go back and listen to. And Dr. Poppy, we did open up to our viewers, you know, we asked them what questions you’d like to ask Dr. Daniels, and they had some questions for us. So I’m gonna start with one question that a lot of our viewers have. And that was how to address hormone changes at menopause, when you’ve already dealt with your PCOS issues.
Dr. Poppy:
Yes, and I think that there’s kind of this idea that if you reach menopause, you won’t have to deal with PCOS anymore, because you don’t have periods anymore. But that’s actually not the case. And so whenever a woman transitions to not having periods be the issue, but having more sort of hormonal system. Honestly, my approach is the same whether you have PCOS or not and that is that I like to test hormones. And I prefer a saliva hormone testing, it is more accurate than blood work when it comes to the sex hormones and the adrenal function. Amy mentioned adrenal fatigue and or adrenal insufficiency or hypo function. It that is a huge problem in our stressful world. And most of us, you know, are doing a lot of things being productive and have lots of our multitasking things that we’re doing. But with stress and lack of sleep and dietary, you know, variability, that our adrenals can really be affected by all of those things. So the reason I really enjoy saliva hormone testing is because it includes adrenal testing. And so you’re looking at your female hormones, your male hormones or your androgens, which obviously is a big issue for women with PCOS and then your adrenals and so androgens you know, with PCOS can be produced in the ovary or in the adrenal gland. And so it is good to sort of track those levels as you’re going in transitioning into menopause. I of course, use natural or bioidentical hormone therapy for women of all ages. So that certainly doesn’t change going into menopause transition. But it’s interesting because even women who don’t have PCOS and are used to having regular cycles as they enter their 40s and then turn the peri-menopause. They’re often often experiencing irregular periods. And so they’re like, what’s going on here? And of course, PCOS women are very familiar with that issue. And so a lot of women are just like, am I menopausal? am I Perimenopausal? Or do I just have PCOS? And so we can utilize using FSH or LH testing, to see if it looks like you know, you are sort of in the transition, or it looks like you have kind of moved through that, as opposed to this is just a long period of an ovulation. And of course, that is common with PCOS patients.
Amy:
You mentioned saliva hormone testing. I was just curious what your opinion is on the DUTCH test or the dried urine sampling for your hormones?
Dr. Poppy:
Yeah, I am not a huge fan of the DUTCH test. I know it’s kind of the new kid on the block, and everybody is talking about it. First of all, I don’t think it makes sense to look at urinary metabolites, when you aren’t able to directly measure hormone levels. So to me, it’s like I don’t really want to know what the downstream hormone levels are. I want to know what the actual hormone levels are. I also think it’s very expensive.
Amy:
I just looked at the price today, I think was $499
Dr. Poppy
My saliva tests are usually under $200. They’re very reasonable for patients. I use two different companies; CRT lab and diagnos test. I don’t get any kind of reimbursement from the for them. So this is not advertising. But I just have used both of those companies through the years. And I’m very comfortable sort of reading and interpreting those reports. And so lots of women will come in and say, Okay, this was what was going off my hormones a year ago. This is what was going on with my periods a year ago. Here’s what’s going on now. And so usually we use a combination of blood work, and saliva hormone testing to kind of figure out where that woman’s hormones are at currently.
Amy
And you really need that baseline to do, you know, move forward with any type of therapies.
Dr. Poppy
Absolutely. And I like to show the patients their levels and say, Here’s where you were, here’s what your level shows. This looks like you are ovulating. This looks like you weren’t ovulating. And this is what’s going on plus, you know, they’re telling me what their symptoms are. They’re having hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, mood swings, vaginal dryness, you know all of the hormonal type symptoms, and that helps us to develop a treatment plan from there.
Amy:
So what happens when your doctor tells you that a hysterectomy will make all of your PCOS symptoms go away? At this point?
Dr. Poppy:
Well, the reason that’s not true is that we continue to produce androgens and the adrenal glands. And so you’re not going to have your adrenal glands removed when even if you have your ovaries removed. So on and I have definitely documented this on women who had her post hysterectomy, with bilateral removal of the ovaries, that they are still producing excess androgens and the adrenal gland. So they could still be dealing with PCOS type issues, even if they’re not having a period.
Amy:
What are some of the key treatments I guess for women with PCOS in menopause, that you suggest to your patients? Is there kind of like overarching first line therapy?
Dr. Poppy
You know, I think it just really depends on their symptoms. And so it’s just like anything else with PCOS. It’s a very individualized treatment plan. Obviously, you Amy for a long time have focused on dietary issues, supplements, sleep, stress management. All of these things are super important for everyone, but especially PCOS patients. You know, of course, with the metabolic side of PCOS, we always want to see is that getting worse now that I’m getting older, as you guys probably know, metabolic changes increase as you get older, your metabolic rate goes down. So insulin resistance can start to be more of an issue as you get older. Obviously, your activity levels may change and that you know, can affect your metabolism as well. But it’s just sort of a coordinated look at your actual symptoms, how you look on paper as far as your blood work, and how you feel, you know, physically and emotionally.
Amy:
Right, What’s our second question?
Dr. Vinu:
With the last couple of years, you know, all everyone’s been dealing with has been COVID. that’s where we’re going next. So how does COVID impact women with PCOS? are, you know, PCOS women with PCOS? More likely to have the long haul symptoms due to COVID?
Dr. Poppy:
That’s, you know, that’s hard to say. I would say that long haulers. You know, we do know that long haulers do tend to be more predominantly female. Um, and I would say a lot of long haulers to sort of have some similarities with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic epstein barr virus, and they can be dealing with nutritional or vitamin deficiencies. So but we do see that something with COVID affects the mitochondria. And that is why there’s so much fatigue with COVID infections. So the mitochondria, you know, I always say that remember from high school biology, your mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, everyone remembers that. They have no science interest at all, everyone remembers that. If you’re trying to make ATP and you’re trying to make energy, if your mitochondria are negatively affected by this virus, then you’re going to be extremely tired. And of course, that is, I would say, almost universal symptom that people have with COVID infections as just extreme fatigue, even above and beyond normal respiratory stuff, you know, like I am dealing, I’m getting over a cold right now. I’ve got some post nasal drainage down the back of my throat. And I sound terrible, but I feel fine. So I can go to work, I can function. I’m not like debilitated, like I was when I had COVID. And so you know, some people are already dealing with mitochondria issues, you know. And so adding COVID back on to that, I think sometimes it ends up sending on some people on a path of chronic fatigue syndrome, and having a really, really hard time recovering for them. So I really believe that a holistic approach to for long haulers has to involve Nutrition has to involve treating vitamin deficiencies, and giving supplements for mitochondria support, trying to deal with this sort of chronic reactivation syndrome that we became familiar with with Epstein Barr Virus. So you know, you have mono when you’re 15. And then when you’re 30 or 40, you’re like, going through these bouts of fatigue and achiness and flu like symptoms, and you know, you go to the doctor and they say you’re fine. And of course people love to tell women it’s in their head and you know, you’re making this up and you just getting older or you have kids, you know, the usual stuff women are told when I’ve heard a medical issues that they don’t ever tell men that they never say to a 50 year old man, you know why you’re getting older and you have children? That’s why you don’t feel well. Oh, I think that’s a big part of the long haul or part.
Do I think that PCOS women are necessarily more susceptible to COVID? I mean, all of that. There’s so many factors that play into that, you know, whether you have other medical problems, whether you do have diabetes, whether you have you know, your immune system is down or you have autoimmune disease, or your vitamin D is really low. You know, we know the data is it really good to show that people who have vitamin D deficiency do much worse with coke. That’s, you know, something most most PCOS patients know that vitamin D is very important and keeping their levels up are important. So if your level is low, then you are going to be more susceptible to COVID and other you know, respiratory infections.
Amy:
It’s so frustrating to right now, because I know I went to have my fists To call, and I asked for a vitamin D test. And they said, you know, unless you were low previously, your your insurance won’t, won’t pay for that. So it shouldn’t even they make it very difficult for us to find out what our vitamin D level is. And I think that you need, just like you need a baseline hormone test, you need a baseline vitamin D, because, you know, some, if you go to your store, you’ll see vitamin D, like 10,000 units, you can see it, you know, 2000 units seems to be sort of the standard, but you wouldn’t know how much to take unless you have going on a rant here. But yeah, if they don’t make it easy for us is my point.
Dr. Vinu:
Yes, you’re right. I mean, every every physical like the out of pocket to get my vitamin D tested. And then it’s low enough that I need to get prescription strength vitamin D, like you said, it’s not just enough, it’s over the counter, sometimes.
Dr. Vinu:
The next question on that is, is there actually a correlation between infertility and the vaccine, therefore making it a double whammy to women with PCOS?
Dr. Poppy:
Yeah, so I mean, it’s too bad. We don’t have like three hours to talk, because we could probably talk for three hours about this issue. I mean, there, there are a lot of problems with the rollout of the vaccine in regards to women who are of childbearing age, and potential, and men of childbearing age. This was brand new technology, we had no prior mRNA vaccines or medications that were being used. And on top of that, it was obviously fast tracked. And so unfortunately, there really was very minimal. I’m looking at fertility effects. And honestly, you can’t really tell fertility effects. For years, you cannot tell in one year or two years, I mean, really, you need three to five years with ongoing assessment to identify fertility concerns. And so I think that my concern, all along with the pandemic was a lack of informed consent. And as a physician for 20 years, I have always been very dedicated to the concept of informed consent, because otherwise, then, patients can feel coerced. Patients can feel pressured, patients can feel that they don’t have adequate information to make a decision, but they feel rushed. And all of that took place over the last three years. And it’s appalling because that approach was really supported by our national organizations. And, and I can I give you some, I have some statements that were issued by the American College of Obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYNs), of course, that’s my national organization. I don’t really identify with them anymore, because they don’t represent me well. So I stopped paying dues to them a long time ago. But a lot of obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYNs) and a lot of doctors in general, are very busy. And they’re seeing patients and they’re busy. And they rely on these national organizations to guide their clinical practice. And it’s a, it’s a shame to say that many of the doctors are actually not reading the literature, they’re not reading studies. They’re just saying, Well, my national organization wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t good. Or if they’re not expressing caution, then it must be fun. Okay. Because, you know, it. It’s sort of one of those things we can’t fathom, that they would take a risk with our health. When, you know, they’re, they’re sort of, it’s sort of all of our public health. I’m sure you know, this mean, that, you know, we would expect that they wouldn’t be representing our best interests and preserving our health.
When it seemed to come out that there was this immense pressure to go ahead and accept this technology. Without question, I think that I was immediately concerned about that. I obviously have a very large fertility practice. Because, you know, I see a lot of PCOS patients to horses, PCOS is the number one cause of hormone related infertility. And so I see lots and lots of PCOS patients, but lots of patients who are just dealing with infertility in general. And so, to me, it was extremely concerning that there seemed to be no level of caution whatsoever on the part of our national organizations. And the concern with COVID, of course, is obvious to nobody is not concerned about COVID. And, of course, it was very scary. It was very concerning. It was very, you know, nobody really understood what was happening. This is the first time something this, this global scale, in our lifetimes has happened. And so I don’t know about you, but I was reading and reading and reading as much as I could do, trying to understand, you know, the process of what was happening. It really bothered me with the American College of Obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYNs) and I’ll see if I can pull up the exact statement that they made. I have it right here. And it wasn’t just the American College of Obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYNs), but it was also the male society. So the neurological, the neurological institutions, were basically doing the same thing, which was they were saying, you know, it’s, it’s not a big deal. So, let me just read you. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine is the national one of the national fertility organizations. And they made a joint statement. The vaccine rollout was December 2020, and in January 2021 we have recommended that the COVID-19 vaccine should not being withheld from men desiring fertility to meet criteria for vaccination. COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to men desiring fertility similar to men not desiring fertility when they meet criteria for vaccination. The only thing that they said was that it should be noted that about 16% of men and the Pfizer bio and tech COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial experienced fever after the second dose, and fevers can cause temporary decline to sperm production. So because of the fever, you might have a change in your, you know, sperm production. And obviously, you know, that’s true. Yes, fever can cause a change in your sperm. Production. But saying that and saying, you know, well, there’s no way it’s actually the vaccine that’s affecting your sperm production, that that’s a problem. The American College of Obstetricians/gynecologists (OB/GYNs) and the society of maternal fetal medicine, recommended the COVID vaccine for pregnancy. And, you know, I just think it’s completely ethical to offer a new technology to women who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant when you have no safety data. You certainly don’t have any long term safety data, but even immediate safety data. You can’t even I mean, if you’re recommending it, you know, a month after rollout you have no idea what’s going on. So I found this hugely irresponsible. And I thought that that was a terrible idea.
At this point. We didn’t even know the effect of COVID on fertility. So if you don’t even know what the infection is doing, how do you know what the new technology vaccination is doing? So I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic in general. I am someone that works for myself. I’m independent, so I did not work for a hospital. I’m sure it would have been much more difficult for me to it was still difficult for me to voice these concerns. I’ve been majorly censored on social media, or so
Dr. Vinu:
Dr. Poppy when I was researching for this podcast, right, I looked up articles about menstruation and how it’s been impacted by the vaccine. And a couple of articles that I looked at talked about you know, the menstrual cycle is delayed, you know, there is definitely a delay. They say and all of them both, both of the articles. Let’s say there was not enough information or not enough research done. And in fact before the rollout of the vaccine when they even in the testing phase of menstrual cycle or you know, if it’s impacting wasn’t even in the questionnaire, or wasn’t even one of the concerns for the vaccine. If that wasn’t a concern, fertility is like so far off, I would think right
Dr. Poppy:
I want to point your listeners and you all to a systematic review that was published in the journal called “Vacunas”, the lead author is Maheen Nazir and article title is “Menstrual abnormalities after COVID-19 vaccines: A systematic review”. This is a very large systematic review 78,138 patients and 52% So more than half of the women who took the COVID vaccines experienced menstrual abnormalities. This is a very high level I mean, more than half that’s one and two, basically, we’re experiencing menstrual abnormalities, and so the variation with that is great. So there were a lot of women experiencing heavier periods, more frequent periods, passing clots, having really, you know, went from being very regular to being very abnormal. Then on the flip side, you have women that were not having their period at all. In fact, there is a national there is an international group called Where is my cycle, or in French? It is collecting data in France and other European countries, about women who are not having their period, for lack of a period after vaccination. Of course, many of those women were wanting to conceive and not having your period is obviously evidence of not ovulating. So this group has, it’s more of a grassroots effort. That has come forth and they are started demanding public hearings about the menstrual abnormalities that are happening because of vaccination. So obviously, you know, if you take someone with PCOS who already has irregular periods, and then they have worsening of that, that is just a terrible situation for PCOS patients.
Amy:
Have you seen in your practice, kind of anecdotally, any correlation and and also, you there’s sort of talk about miscarriage rates potentially rising? I mean, are you seeing any evidence of that correlate and I know it just like asking in your private practice?
Dr. Poppy:
The answer to that is yes. The answer to that is yes. miscarriages, premature birth, stillbirth, a large amount of placental abnormalities. So we’re seeing a very strange phenomenon of irregular or misshapen placentas. Now the interesting thing is not all of these women were vaccinated. And so there’s a concept that’s talked about shedding. So in shedding is kind of a weird term to use because whenever we think of shedding, we think of viral shedding, right? So if you have a viral infection, and it’s active, that virus can be in your body fluids. And if you’re exposed to someone, probably the easiest one to understand would be the herpes virus. So if you have a herpes infection, you have a herpes lesion on your mouth. You have herpes virus in your saliva, and you kiss someone, then you can transfer that virus. So a lot of people were like, shedding their thinking, you know, viral shedding, but when it comes to vaccination, the problem that you have is a massive production of Spike protein. That is actually the nature of the vaccine.
People can relate to the concept of shedding from viral shedding if you have an infection. And so whenever people say shedding, it’s kind of a weird concept to them when it comes to the vaccine. But the idea with the vaccine is that the intention of the vaccine is to produce five core protein in your body. So the mRNA is programmed to produce spike protein. And that spike protein is produced in actually great quantity and the ribosomes in the cells and then are distributed throughout the body. So this is a big area of controversy because when the vaccines were first rolled out, the implication was this is just happening in the deltoid after injection, that is not going anywhere else in the body. And actually we know that to be false because of Pfizer’s own data of biodistribution. So it’s actually Japanese data of bio distribution of Spike protein in the body after injection. And it goes everywhere in the body and can Concerningly it actually goes and is concentrated in the ovaries and in the adrenal glands, and many other organs. And so basically your body is turned into a spike protein factory, and as churning out tons and tons of quantity of spike protein. The objective was to produce spike protein to initiate an antibody response. So then you would be a meal to the spike protein. But unfortunately, if you’re mass producing spike protein, then you’re going to have that spike protein be all over your body and then in your body fluids. So the concern is that if you were near someone who was recently vaccinated, and I would say it is more likely to have an effect, if it was within a week, but maybe probably up to a month, maybe even longer than that. That you could just be exposed to their body fluids or even just, you know, through touching through breathing. You don’t necessarily have to be kissing this person to be getting an effect from them. So lots of women were experiencing menstrual abnormalities being around recently vaccinated people, even if they themselves were not vaccinated. It sounds crazy. Because of that, this whole conversation that we’re having if we had this conversation a year ago, it would have certainly been labeled misinformation, fake news. Disinformation, and instead of what it should be, which is just a discussion about what people are experiencing, and about the technology in general. And so the menstrual abnormalities makes you say, Okay, if there are a period problems, then there are hormone problems. And then if there are hormone problems, then there are potentially fertility problems. And this sort of concern that we’re discussing and talking about here, was very actively dismissed, if not suppressed. From general discussion, especially in social media. So if you sort of brought up any concerns about this, then they would censor you, even me as a physician. It didn’t matter. Because if you have your social media groups employing fact checkers, these fact checkers will say, you know, this person is a poor source of information. This person posts misinformation about COVID instead of us just being able to have an educated discussion about what is being seen. And so that’s kind of a long winded answer, but it is a very complex topic. And the fact that we were really not allowed to discuss it publicly, is very concerning as well.
Amy:
Thank you so much for giving us your insights. I can absolutely tell you firsthand that I experienced a lot of what you were talking about. With PCOS Diva, and I’m glad you know, I’m hoping that we can finally have this conversation and not be censored. Just you know, I wanted to just follow up with what are your thoughts on on some of these detox protocols? I know, pine needle extract is one of those things that I keep seeing is a way to kind of detox spike proteins. I mean, I know there there isn’t a lot of research done but anything that you have found might be promising.
Dr. Poppy:
Yeah, this is a really difficult thing. Because I’m, a holistic sort of functional minded practitioner. I am very interested in detoxification for many different reasons, you know, and I do employ it with my patients. But this this is concerning because what you’re doing, at least with the Pfizer and the moderna vaccine, the mRNA you’re literally programming your body to make a protein. And it’s really hard to say how we can eliminate that from your body. The other problem that you have is the mRNA is very fragile. And so they encased the mRNA in what’s called lipid nanoparticles. And this is basically like a little fatty ball that helps the mRNA to get into the cells because otherwise, because it’s so fragile, it would be degraded. So they wrapped it in this lipid nanoparticle that also contains polyethylene glycol or peg, then polyethylene glycol is very allergenic. It there are people that are allergic to peg, but it it can cause anaphylaxis and those patients. And so, peg is concerning, in general, because it is a known allergen that can trigger the immune system just from that. But there is literature that shows the look that the lipid nanoparticles themselves are actually dangerous and harmful to the reproductive system. And this is this is actually data that was out way before the vaccine. And I have an article site you hear that? This is an article by lead author Wang, W A and G. And it’s published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine and the title is potential adverse effects of nanoparticles on the reproductive system. And so, this article basically says that there’s evidence that these named lipid nanoparticles, they can pass the blood testicle barrier, they can pass the placental barrier, and they can accumulate in the reproductive organs so that can be in the testes and the ovaries and the uterus. And it also showed that there’s evidence that these nanoparticles can disrupt hormone secretions and so it can actually affect your production of LH FSH and that is your brain trying to communicate with your ovary about ovulation. So these these, these nanoparticles these lipid nanoparticles are themselves inflammatory, and they cause oxidative stress and they basically cause cytokine release in your body. And as you probably have heard about just from regular COVID infections cytokine storm is part of the phase the second phase of an active COVID infection and when you have cytokine storm going on in the body, you basically have a massive release of chemicals or cytokines that cause you to become very ill. And so it’s sort of a very dangerous phase of the COVID infection because a lot of people especially if they have underlying health issues, or they’re older, they can’t tolerate that they become very, very ill and you know, that release of cytokines intentionally by taking something into your body intentionally, is a whole another ballgame. And so it’s not just the spike protein that we have to worry about. It’s the lipid nanoparticles we do have some autopsy data of people who died, who had had the COVID and COVID vaccine, who had massive amounts of Spike protein in their organs at autopsy. So we really honestly don’t know how long this can go on in your body. And we don’t honestly we don’t know how to remove spike protein and we don’t know how to remove lipid nanoparticles, normal detoxification things that you what you mentioned Amy, pine needle of course, people use a lot of different things for detoxification, they use glutathione or NAC and acetyl cysteine. This is your body’s main target against toxins. So taking those things in addition to you know, anti inflammatory or or anti oxidants like Tumeric like vitamin C, resveratrol, these kinds of things are very important to try to maintain your body’s hold on these things that are causing oxidative stress. But the truth is, we don’t honestly know if we can get rid of these things or not.
Amy:
So I’m hoping that you could send us some links to some of the studies that you’re mentioning so people and Dr. Vinu will post the links that she was talking about as well put those in the show notes so people can, you know, do your own investigation and research to follow up on this question, but I was wondering if you had time for one more question. Sure. So I thought I would kind of bring it full circle from the menopause. Back to PCOS and adolescents. And I’m asking this for kind of a selfish reason because now I have a 14 year old whose mother has PCOS and grandmother and odd and you she’s had one period at 13 and a half and she’s 14 Now she hasn’t had another at what point? You know, do adolescents are they diagnosed with PCOS and how can you go in empowered to your doctor’s office to refuse the birth control pill because I know that if I go to her pediatrician, that the first thing they’re gonna say is Oh, we’ll just put her on the pill and it’ll regulate the cycle.
Dr. Poppy:
Absolutely, Amy that could probably do a whole show in itself, how to add how to advocate for yourself and the doctor’s office. You know, the question of is this PCOS or is this normal puberty? That is a very big question. Okay. Because you have excess androgen production during puberty. You have irregular periods during puberty. You know, a lot of times we say okay, it takes up to three years for the pituitary, the natural access to really mature and start operating normally. And so you don’t want to label someone with PCOS who just has normal sort of delayed puberty or you know, things like that. But if someone has had a period and then not had another period for a year and has a family history of PCOS, I would certainly have that very high on my radar. And I would certainly do testing for you know, LH, FSH, prolactin, I would look at their sort of metabolic side, their lipids, their insulin, their a one C. They’re a EMH level. They’re FSH LH ratio, and I would be trying to ascertain Is this someone that I need to try to get to have their period and I probably wouldn’t be giving them a trial progesterone to see if I could bring the period on. Because you need to know is this just someone who is just kind of slow to get into puberty and you need to look at their secondary sex characteristics, their breast development, their hair development, and take all of that into account when you’re trying to determine the best route? But unfortunately, Amy, you and I both know very well. You know, my saying birth control has dumbed down doctors, and honestly and nurse practitioners and PAs and midwives. And honestly, they just want to give birth control for everything. They don’t want to use their brain. They don’t want to do a workup. Well, let’s just start you on birth control. And that is really difficult when you have as much knowledge of the process of these hormonal imbalances. And so what my main advice is really seek out a holistic gynecologist if possible. The other source is a doctor that’s trained in naprotechnology which is actually an offshoot of the Catholic Church and they don’t use birth control. So they use a lot of natural hormones and much more of a comprehensive approach to women’s health. So you can look at fertility care or to find a medical consultant who is trained in a pro who does not use birth control. You can look at the Society for Reproductive professionals, which is not the one that I mentioned is not the mainstream group that is also focused on getting to the bottom of these gynecological issues with patients. And then finally, if you go to the saliva testing websites, many of them will have practitioners on there that utilize saliva hormone testing. Those are the ones who want to seek out who are more holistic who use Bioidentical Hormones, who are less likely to just knee jerk prescribed birth control.
Amy:
All excellent resources. And I’m going to be checking those out. Thank you so much.
Dr. Poppy:
You’re welcome.
Amy:
Thank you so much for coming on and answering these you know, some difficult questions.
Dr. Poppy:
It’s not an easy topic, but you know, what, if we don’t talk about it, we’re not going to move forward. So you know, it should be the free exchange of ideas and information so that people can start to develop questions, to start to understand science start to apply critical thinking to the things that are going on around him and I mean, that’s a good thing. That’s not a bad thing. So we need to do more of this kind of thing.
Amy:
Yeah, and I appreciate you taking the time to do that with us today.
Dr. Poppy:
It is my pleasure, Amy.
Amy:
And and Dr. Poppy How can we learn more about your, your work and your practice and tell us again about your book?
Dr. Poppy:
Okay, so I have a website, Dr. Poppy.com. On that website, I actually have an e book. That is fertility ebook that I put my lots of fertility pearls in and it’s very low cost, especially compared to an office visit or especially compared to going to see a fertility doctor specialist usually.
It’s a great starting place for people who are just trying to figure out their fertility workup and questions to ask. I have a book called The The Dangers of Depo that is available on Amazon. I am my co-author who was actually a patient who was not my patient, but a patient that was impacted by the Depo shot. She and I co-wrote the book together and it’s a lot about the side effects of depo and how to recover from that. I am on Facebook Dr. Poppy, I am on Instagram and Twitter at Dr. PoppyBHRT I am on telegram and telegram is dr_Poppy and I’m happy to connect with anyone who has questions on those platforms.
Dr. Vinu and Amy:
Thank you so much Dr. Poppy. It was a real pleasure talking with you today, and thanks to all listeners.
The end.
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