204 – PCOS and Pregnancy (Podcast with Dr. Kela Smith)

We’re so excited to have Dr. Kela Smith on the PCOS Diva Podcast to discuss PCOS and pregnancy. Dr. Vinu and Dr. Smith discuss everything from things to do to prep your body to help you get pregnant to how to nourish your body postpartum. Dr. Smith also breaks down which lab tests are the most helpful for women with PCOS.

Dr. Kela Smith is a Holistic-Integrative Fertility and Hormone Doctor. She founded The Hormone Puzzle Society and the Hormone Puzzle Society Educational Institute for Coaches. The Hormone Puzzle Society is a health hub for fertility, hormones, and pregnancy and through this platform Dr. Smith and her team work with women/couples coaching them on how to optimize their body/mind/spirit so they can get and stay pregnant, bring home a healthy baby, have an easy postpartum as well as eliminate symptoms of hormone imbalance.

 

Tune in as they discuss:

 

 

 

Resources Mentioned:

Dr. Kela Smith Website

The Hormone P.U.Z.Z.E.L Podcast

 

Dr. Kela Smith is a Holistic-Integrative Fertility and Hormone Doctor. She holds a Ph.D. in Natural and Holistic Medicine as well as Double Board Certification as a Doctor of Natural Medicine (DNM) and Doctor of Humanitarian Medicine (DHM). Dr. Kela is also a Board-Certified Functional Nutritionist (BCFN) and a 5x Board-Certified Health Coach (BCHC). She founded The Hormone Puzzle Society and the Hormone Puzzle Society Educational Institute for Coaches.

 

 

 

 

 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:
Welcome to the PCOS diva podcast. Today’s PCOS diva podcast is sponsored by the seven day discover your PCOS diva jumpstart program. Jumpstart is the place to begin when you’re ready to commit to yourself and jump into your healing journey. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out PCOS diva.com There I offer tons of great free information about PCOS and how to develop your PCOS Diet and lifestyle plan. So you can begin to thrive like a PCOS diva.

Hello everyone and welcome to another PCOS diva podcast. This is your host Vinod Jyoti. I am a preventive medicine specialist and a member of PCOS Diva with Team and

today I have with me Dr. Kela Smith, who is a holistic integrative fertility and hormonal doctor, functional nutritionist and the CEO of The Hormone puzzle society, a women’s health hub for fertility hormones and pregnancy. She works with women or couples who are struggling with infertility and hormone imbalance and teaches them how to optimize their bodies and hormones to get pregnant, stay pregnant and easy postpartum, as well as eliminate symptoms of hormonal imbalance from from menarche through menopause. She’s also the host of The Hormone puzzle podcast solving infertility Summit, and the healthy happy pregnancy Summit. She has over 25 years of experience in integrative health. And Dr. Caylor has created seven online courses and published multiple books on fertility, hormones, pregnancy, and total body events. I’m really excited to have Dr. Kayla Smith with us today.

 

Dr. Kela Smith

Welcome. Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

So you know, let’s dive right in. And you know, our listeners and you will probably agree, PCOS and hormone imbalance kind of go hand in hand. So, you know, many women with PCOS irregular cycles is one of the first symptoms. So let’s dive right in. And I wanted to ask that to Kayla Smith. You know how PCOS and hormone imbalance always go hand in hand. And most of the women are first diagnose PCOS when they have irregular cycles. And the conventional treatment is usually with birth control pills. You know, so what are your thoughts on that and wounded some, you know, holistic methods that women could try if they are locked in to go on the pill?

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

For sure, yeah. So birth control what it does when most practitioners in the western world will put a woman on birth control because they say that it’ll help balance their hormones and regulate their cycle. But what’s actually happening is it’s pausing all the hormones, so almost putting a block, so it’s preventing the woman from ovulating, it’s messing with all the hormones. And so it’s it’s almost like a band aid. It’s not actually fixing anything, it’s just putting a bandaid over these to make the symptoms go away. So what I recommend is instead of doing birth control, I recommend a more holistic approach supporting the body holistically to balance the hormones through targeted nutrients, targeted supplements, lifestyle pieces, even a big driver of PCOS and all hormone related conditions is stress and finding out what’s causing the stress and then addressing that, and a lot of people roll their eyes when I say stress, but it’s not just mental and emotional stress and the busyness of our world, but it can be things like internal toxicities, deficiencies, imbalances, things where the internal body is stressed and it’s causing an external body to to manifest symptoms. So figuring out what’s causing the stress and then addressing that getting that stress to be minimal or to go away even will help the body to balance out it helps the cycles get back on track manages those low, you know, the high androgens, so it helps to lower them. And it helps the patients feel better. All the way around man whose body and spirits.

 

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, no, that sounds right. And, you know, you talked about stress, and you talked about how it’s not just external stress, which as women, you know, all of us are juggling careers and family and, you know, we do have that, but you also talk about, you know, internal stress, you know, where you have, you know, a disarray maybe or other things that’s impacting you. So are they stress, or are there like lab tests that you would recommend or other ways that did women can find out, you know, what is going on with them?

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

Yes, for sure. And that’s one of my specialties as a functional medicine doctor, I like to look functionally. And I like to look for the roots that are driving these issues. And I do that through functional labs. And three main ones I like to run the most are the dried urine hormone test. And I like to run this test because instead of checking hormones and blood, I like to look in urine. Because what I can see in urine, it’s going to show me not just what the levels are, but how the body’s actually using the hormones how they’re being methylated detoxed and excreted. So an example of this, I’ll have a patient and she’ll come to me and she’ll say, Well, I did bloodwork at the doctor, they checked my estrogen and progesterone, they told me everything was normal. And then but she’s still having a lot of symptoms of maybe estrogen dominance, or, you know, having a lot of symptoms around PCOS. So we look in the blood, we look in the urine, and that’ll show that she’s not detoxing your estrogen appropriately, it’s being recirculated back through the body, and that’s causing the symptoms that she’s experiencing. So that’s just one example that we can find through that dried urine hormone test. It also will show your your stress hormones we were talking stress earlier. So this will also show if you’re in adrenal fatigue, if you have you know if your your androgens being too high because of PCOS is causing some adrenal dysfunction. And so we can look a little deeper and find out, okay, this the issue, we can look there and fix that holistically. So that’s kind of the first place I’ll look is that the endocrine system, then I also like to look in the microbiome, I find so many things are happening with our gut and with our microbiome, and a lot of people don’t look here, they don’t realize the importance of the microbiome. So I’ll run a full microbiome analysis on most of my patients. And what that’ll show me is, are there any fungus, bacteria, opportunistic bacteria, even parasites that can be causing some internal stress, which is going to cause the body again to be out of balance, and then it’s going to call the symptoms that we were saying earlier.

So that’s kind of the second test. And then the third thing I like to do is look at minerals, I find minerals are so undervalued. Again, a lot of practitioners will look in blood and bloodwork for minerals is just a transportation mechanism. So it doesn’t show us inside the cell what’s actually happening. So take magnesium for an example. A lot of times practitioners will look at magnesium and blood and say everything’s normal, your magnesium is fine. But magnesium is an intracellular mineral. And so if you don’t look inside the cells, then it’s a lot harder to see your true the representation of what your magnesium levels are in the body. So I like to do that through hair, which it’s the most the most non invasive tissue that we can look at cellular health through. So those were kind of the three tests, I like to run the most and I look for those things I said earlier toxicities, deficiencies, imbalances,

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

That’s awesome. That is a pretty comprehensive list, you know, so that’s, that’s awesome that you share that with us. And and you know, in addition to all of the testing you did mention, you know, a holistic approach and I’m assuming that means you know, nutrition and you know, movement and   other ways to reduce stress. So is that something you also talk to you know your patients about people who come in with and are looking for ways or you know, holistically treat the PCOS or hormone imbalance for sure.

 

Dr . Kela Smith:

So that’s where we start first is through the foundational pieces, and I created something called the hormone puzzle method, which is all the foundations you need for holistic health to help manage and eliminate your PCOS symptoms. And so I can go through that briefly now. And once I lay these foundations for my patients, then I look at the labs and I dig in even deeper and so then that’s when we get more customized with certain nutrients and certain supplements and so you know, it’s a little bit more customized approach, but everybody can benefit from these foundational pieces and the hormone health funded. So what that is and I’ll go through it briefly now is the so puzzle is an acronym and it’s P proper whole food nutrition. You understanding supplements Z zapping stress Z or z’s, sleep l is loving encouragement II, resizing rent, so these are kind of all the pieces of that foundational health that I dive into for, you know, just holistic health and full body wellness.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

That’s awesome. You know, this is going to be specially beneficial to a lot of women because not everyone has access to functional medicine doctor such as you, you know, so if they have to go to a traditional doctor, Are they kind of have to advocate for themselves? Because, you know, they don’t have someone who knows the intricacies like you do. So just knowing you know, what tests to look for, and you know, just accumulatively, where you put in the basic things that they have to take care of, it’s going to be really helpful, I’m sure.

 

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

I was just gonna say what a lot of people don’t realize as well as most Western doctors are not trained in nutrition or holistic supplements. So you can ask your western Doctor all day long about this stuff. But if they’re not trained like this, and they’re not trained Functionally, they’re not going to know. So having somebody in your corner that’s trained in this way that can speak nutrition and supplements and herbs and minerals, and all the things is really beneficial, right? Yes. So would you also recommend, you know, supplements? And would that depend on what your tests show? Or would you recommend supplements, you know, either way across the board, because most of the people, this is where you know, you have a deficiency, and you’re better off taking them. Yeah, so I recommend Food First, always. But sometimes we can’t get what we need from food, because of the quality or the quantity that we have to eat to get what we need through a supplement. I do think before you start a supplement, any supplement, you need to talk to your health care provider. So I always put that caveat in. And I like to customize my supplements based on what I see on the lab tests. So this will tell me what a person’s specific body needs. Based on what I said earlier, do they have toxins that we need to detox to they have deficiencies, mineral imbalances. That being said, there is probably three supplements that I feel like pretty much everybody in the world should be on. And so those three are a really good whole food, either a multivitamin if you’re not trying to get pregnant, or a prenatal if you are, and I would start that three to six months before you are trying to get pregnant if possible, if you have that time, because it takes the body 90 days for the the dormant follicle to grow into the full follicle and release the egg that you’re going to ovulate with. So we want to give the body time and those nutrients to work. So definitely everybody whole food multivitamin or prenatal, then also I recommend a fish oil. Fish oil is so important. DHA and EPA are the fatty acids, and they’re the building blocks for hormones, we need cholesterol, we need fatty acids. So getting on a really high quality fish oil is going to be super important for just hormone balance for inflammation, lowering of inflammation, which is one of the key drivers of PCOS. And just for holistic health in general. And then the third thing I recommend, and I usually like to do this with a lab test just to make sure we get the right one. But if you’re somebody who maybe you’re not working with a functional doc yet, or you just really want to start something for foundation, most people need to be on a probiotic. But again, sometimes if your gut is not ready for a probiotic, it can cause it to be too strong. And it can cause a reverse reaction or, you know, it can cause a bad reaction that we don’t want. So if you start taking a probiotic, and you get bloating, diarrhea, stomach pains, constipation, any of those things, and that’s probably saying that probiotic is too strong. Or if you take one and you’re like, I don’t feel any different. I feel nothing. Nothing’s better. Nothing’s worse than your body’s probably not ready for that probiotic. But most people need a probiotic. So making sure that your gut is ready, and then adding it is going to be beneficial.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

Yep, that’s awesome. Yeah. So yeah, so now I get it tailoring according to what your labs show, but in addition, you did mention ones that most people might need right across the board. That’s great. So, you know, you deal a lot with, you know, infertility, hormone imbalance and, you know, helping women. So do you specifically deal with women with PCOS? Because I, you know, I believe there would be a higher number of women with PCOS who could also have infertility, you know, and is there anything specific that these women would need to do in addition to um, you know, things you mentioned?

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

Yeah, I work with a lot of women that have PCOS and we really look to find out what’s driving the PCOS first, is it post birth control PCOS is it an inflammatory PCOS? Is it the high androgens? Most women with PCOS do have high androgens. We’ll see that one a lot. But then again, is it you know what’s driving those high androgens, so figuring out what the type is I feel is very important. And then I also look at doing things to holistically balanced those hormones, especially the androgens. So some things that I like to do in addition to the foundations is One makes sure there’s a lot of anti inflammatory diet definitely but even adding in some herbs to help with inflammation, you know, inflammation again is a key driver for every disease in the body, but definitely PCOS, so having things like tumeric and rosemary and ginger and cinnamon and those type of anti inflammatory herbs are going to help with that inflammation story, even adding a little bit of that into a supplement. You know, a curcumin supplement or something like that to lower inflammation can be helpful. I also recommend zinc rich foods. Zinc is a great mineral for androgen balance and helping to kind of lower the androgens naturally. So this is going to be shellfish. So lobster and shrimp and all the different kinds of wild calls organic shellfish, and then also eating poly phenols. So papers and cucumbers and sesame seeds, those kinds of things will help with zinc production. And then things like walnuts, cashews, what else almonds, some of these nuts and seeds are going to be really helpful there. And then obviously stress is a key driver for inflammation. It’s a key driver for androgen production. So making sure you’re you’re managing the mental and emotional stress but also the things we said earlier. So those are kind of the key things I say for people with PCOS that have have high androgens to help lower those and help minimize the symptoms with PCOS. And, and you know, you kind of mentioned the type of PCOS which in itself, not you know, a lot of practitioners are aware of or and you know, so they consider PCOS just like one thing fits all. So, I, you know, do you treat then you because you didn’t mention, you know, supplements and food that would kind of balance and virgins. So it would it be right to assume that you would kind of customize the plan based on the type of PCOS a person has and then kind of go from there? Yes, definitely. Definitely. And one supplement I forgot to mention that I always use for PCOS, which is kind of a substitute for Metformin would be my own eyes to tall, I feel so many women with PCOS are deficient in my own eyes at all. And it’s just a sugar molecule that helps balance out those hormones. And so I recommend a 401 ratio of my O to D Cairo. So just make sure the one you get is from a reputable brand. And that it has that reference that range of four to one. Yes, no, that’s a good point. Because this is something that PCOS Diva does have. And a lot of women, you know, prefer that over taking Metformin, and they’ve had excellent results with it. So,  has their own supplements.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:
That’s right. Yes.  you know, so for some women, you know, they try all of this, but they still have to proceed with, say,  artificial methods of conception and IVF. For you. So is there specific things that you would get advice that guarantees success with these procedures?

 

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

Yes. So I would say what I said earlier, whether you’re trying naturally, or you’re trying through artificial IVF IUI, you want to give your body time to be ready for these procedures to actually work. And so doing laying the foundation, doing the things that I mentioned earlier, anti inflammatory diet, managing stress, making sure you’re adequately hydrated, you know, you’re taking the right supplements, if you have three to six months, that’s going to be the most beneficial. If you don’t start as soon as you know, you’re going to go into that procedure. And I always tell people, even if you I know a lot of times in western medicine, they’ll say, Well, you’re 35, your advanced maternal age. But really, I’ve worked with patients all the way up to 45. So if you can take three months, even if you’re in your 40s, that’s not going to be a huge deal compared to the grand scheme of things. And your body really needs that time to get into optimal state for that IVF to work. So definitely do all the things that I mentioned. And that’s that’s going to be a great game plan for IVF.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

, that’s great. And, you know, once once a woman is pregnant, especially when you have PCOS, you know, there’s a lot of hormonal fluctuations, and there’s a lot of anxiety associated with that. So do you have any steps or anything that you would consider that would help mitigate these symptoms? Yeah, so once pregnant, it’s going to be similar as far as diet and lifestyle to pre pregnancy, you know, anti inflammatory diet, stress management, all of those things. A few other things that we didn’t talk about as far as stress, especially when pregnant is doing things

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

To nourish your nervous system. So deep breathing, meditations, hypnotherapy even I’m a trained Hypnotherapist. So my patients get hypnotherapy preconception while they’re pregnant and postpartum. And it really helps to calm the nervous system. It realigns the brain. So the brain function is you know, where it needs to be in its optimal. And it really calms all the all the nervous system, neurotransmitters, all of those things. So doing what you do before you get pregnant is going to be important while you’re pregnant. And after you’re pregnant, especially when you have PCOS, right, yeah, you kind of touched on it, you know, because I was gonna go to postpartum next because that is a very challenging time, even otherwise. And you know, Is there things that women with PCOS should be aware of, or you know, things that they should do, that would be helpful in the postpartum period. Yeah, so similar to what I said before, and preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, doing all the things that I said. And then I also feel like you should honor your body and what it just went through and giving birth and being a new mom. So try to rest I know, that’s really hard, it was hard for me, it’s hard for Type A personalities, but really rest and spend at least the first 30 days with your baby, and, you know, just nourishing yourself your nervous system or new baby and getting into that new realm of, of motherhood. But on the other side of that, I know a lot of doctors will say, you know, we’ll lay in bed for the first two weeks and really don’t do anything. And that’s not necessarily what’s most beneficial. Listen to your body, get up and walk, even if it’s walking around your bed for a minute, or walk to your baby’s room. And, you know, do something where you’re still moving a little bit you’re breathing or getting your muscles working. But don’t do anything too strenuous, too stressful, nothing that’s going to jar your nervous system, really spend that time resting and recovering bonding with your baby. And then you know, just really supporting yourself mind body and spirit.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

That’s awesome.  you know, women, women with PCOS, and,  we’re trying to conceive the they are in a very emotional   state? And what kind of message do you have for them, because it’s a very anxious time. And, you know, they’re trying to kind of manage their own symptoms, but also trying to get pregnant. And you know, overall, it’s a very, very anxious time for women. So do you have any words of wisdom or any kind of advice that you have them?

 

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

Yeah, I think, you know, I feel that pain I’ve been there I was, you know, I struggle with infertility myself. And it is a very anxious time, especially when you have PCOS. But just really nourish yourself and advocate for yourself and know that you will get pregnant, you just have to put some of these pieces in place first. But I feel like trusting yourself trusting your body in this process that kind of alleviate some of that anxiety and that stress, and just knowing that it’s going to happen, and it will build trust in that process.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

have you noticed any misconceptions or any frustrations are surrounding PCOS, in general, or associated with fertility, that you think, you know, oh, this needs to be addressed. But this is something people should be aware of?

 

Dr. Kela Smith:

Yeah, I think there’s so many things, but the one thing I say a lot is that you there’s nothing you can do holistically to change your body, like you’re born with your genes, and you can’t change your genes. And so you know, you can’t do anything with diet and lifestyle and, and supplements, they just don’t work. And I find that so untrue. I mean, I see it in my own life, but in the lives of my patients day in and day out how much a difference it makes, when you’re on the right nutrition, you’re on the right supplements, you’re managing your stress, you’re trusting your body. So it definitely works. And it’s a life change. It’s a lifestyle change. And the other thing that I like to tell my patients is, this isn’t just a quick fix that you’re going to do and get pregnant and have the baby and then you’re done. This is something you’re going to do for the rest of your life to be as healthy as possible for your whole life. So we’re going for healthspan we want to live as long as we can and be optimal for as long as we can. So all of these things are going to help with that as well. So think that’s one misconception I hear a lot is that none of this stuff we’re talking about actually works. So the other misconception, let me think what’s some other misconceptions? There’s nothing you can do to fix your hormones. They are what they are. So I see that again. Every day. I see people that do these things and they fixed her hormones and their symptoms go away. Even putting PCOS into remission where they have no symptoms of it and they don’t even know

 

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:
so that they have it. So there’s a lot you can do and the power is in your hands. So I love what you said at the beginning, you really need to be your own advocate. And if you’re, you know, your doctor, your practitioner is saying, like, this can’t be done, you know, your only choices IVF you can’t get pregnant because your advanced maternal age, I think you are your own advocate, and you know, your body, and there’s a lot that you can do to support that holistically. So listen to yourself and your intuition and not really taking no for an answer on that. Yeah. Yeah, that’s awesome. You know, that’s great advice. And it’s really very reassuring to hear that, you know, you have control, instead of just accepting, okay, this is what I’m given, you know, but there’s ways you could change that. And I agree with you that it’s a lifestyle change, right? It’s not just a one and done. It’s something that you you see it nourishes your body and makes you feel better, and then we just continue that, you know, as a livestock.

Dr. Smith, if our listeners wanted to know more about you, or you know, find out more information, where can they reach you about?

Dr.Kela Smith:

Sure. So the best place is my website, and that’s that hormone puzzle. society.com. And there I have many different freebies, I have a fertility meal plan, a pregnancy meal plan, and a hormone optimizing guide. So you can grab all of that there. And then I also have my own podcast. As you said earlier, the hormone puzzle podcast, we’ve done almost 300 episodes. So look at those as everywhere podcasts are heard. And then I am on social media. My favorite place to hang out is Instagram. And my account there is Kayla underscore health coach, and hormone puzzle method. So I’ve been on a couple different accounts on Instagram. So yeah, find me there. And then one of the things I wanted to say is that I am hosting a huge event. It’s our third annual solving infertility summit that will be airing on January 22. And we have over 45 different practitioners, doctors, nutritionists, health coaches, all talking about holistic health, fertility hormones, we have some experts on PCOS and Endo. And so definitely check that out. And you can do that at solving Dash and fertility.com. And you can register for free and get all the videos and all of that will be released on January 22. So yeah, check out any of those places.

 

Dr. Vinu Jyothi:

That’s awesome. Thank you for joining us today. Dr. Smith. This was really great information. Cuz I’m sure it’s going to be very helpful to our listeners, about you know, all of the things you’ve talked about, you know, the comprehensive lab tests to look for nutrition and everything.

 

Thank you so much.

Well, that wraps up our podcast today. Thank you so much for joining us on The PCOS diva podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you liked this episode, remember to subscribe to PCOS diva on iTunes, or wherever else you may be listening to this show. And if you have a minute, please leave me a quick review on iTunes because I love to hear from you.