"I have daily practices now that are so different in how I think, respond, set boundaries, communicate, take care of myself, listen, react. Everything is different. And I think it's these consistent daily changes that I am carefully curating, experimenting what's working, what's not working over time that has led each subsequent cycle to be better and better and better." - Dr. Tonia Winchester

Do you look at others and think, “That’s easy for you to say, or do.” And then you fill in the reason why you think that thing is easy for them?

Over the years certain patients have expressed something similar to me. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a naturopathic doctor.” As if that excludes me from being a mortal human with pain, struggles, vulnerabilities, and susceptibilities. The truth is you never fully know someone’s struggles. You never know what someone has overcome to get where they are and have what they have.

In this personal expose I share how it took decades to overcome my biggest health struggle in my life. I carried a lot of shame about this for a long time and I’m finally ready to speak calmly and publicly about it.

This episode is a bit longer than usual and I still don’t feel like I’ve fully expressed all the nuances. But it's a start, and I’m sharing it because if you’re struggling with health challenges, I hope you can find some hope from my story. Maybe there is medicine here for you.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute a therapeutic relationship and is not in any way, shape, or form designed or intended  to be therapeutic, clinical, or medical advice.

LISTEN IN HERE:

OR CLICK HERE TO LISTEN IN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLATFORM

PREFER TO READ?

If you'd prefer to read an approximate transcript scroll to the bottom of this post.

SHOW NOTES-

Do you look at others and think, “That’s easy for you to say, or do.” And then you fill in the reason why you think that thing is easy for them? Over the years certain patients have expressed something similar to me. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a naturopathic doctor.” As if that excludes me from being a mortal human with pain, struggles, vulnerabilities, and susceptibilities. The truth is you never fully know someone’s struggles. You never know what someone has overcome to get where they are and have what they have. In this personal expose I share how it took decades to overcome my biggest health struggle in my life. I carried a lot of shame about this for a long time and I’m finally ready to speak calmly and publicly about it. This episode is a bit longer than usual and I still don’t feel like I’ve fully expressed all the nuances. But it's a start, and I’m sharing it because if you’re struggling with health challenges, I hope you can find some hope from my story. Maybe there is medicine here for you. 

************************************************ 

FROM DR. TONIA: 

EPISODE #45 - Who are you?

EPISODE #25 - #DADRULES

IG POST - Lucky for you

FORMULA FOR HEALTH

POST: Why it’s best to start small

POST: Considering Meditation? My Surprising Secret About Where to Start Your Practice 

Dr. Tonia’s OG posts

FREE AUDIO: LISTENERS

WORK TOGETHER

SHIFT session

LIFT session

3 month Breakthrough

Your Delightful Life

FROM OTHERS: 

Sarah Explains It All - Self-Worth Journey

Dr. Gabor Mate - The Myth of Normal

************************************************ 

🧠💗💫Thanks for wondering with me today. If you got something good out of this then please forward this episode to people who you know could benefit.

Be sure to subscribe, and if you're really keen when you leave us a rating and review, that helps us help more people.

🙏Thank you in advance for that. If you're wanting more insights about how you can leverage the power of your unconscious mind to go back into healing mode head on over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠toniawinchester.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ where you can find my book: Break Through The Insomnia Cycle and other helpful ideas.

👏Thanks again and we'll connect on the next episode of the Wonder With Me.

In the mean time may you choose to make all your dreams come true.

🧠💗💫 Dr. Tonia Winchester, ND, NLP

Naturopathic Doctor Mind-Body Healing Coach

Author: ⁠Break Through The Insomnia Cycle⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Author: ⁠⁠Thinking Kindly⁠

⁠⁠⁠

➕For more post and podcasts head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠coach.toniawinchster.com/posts⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🙋‍♀️What to get in touch? Leave me a voice message right here on Spotify. I love hearing from listeners!

🎵INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC: West My Friend   

APPROXIMATE TRANSCRIPT (AI generated summary)

This isn't the first time I've recorded this episode. I've been facing some resistance about sharing this story, but I promised I would in episode 45. Integrity is important to me—doing what I said I would do and keeping my promises. So, I'm going to keep my promise and share this story because I think it might help others. Turning my mess into a message.

I was going to script an apology for the subject matter I'm about to share, but then a fierce voice inside me said, “Oh, no! You are not going to apologize for this.”

What's coming up is a personal account of my biggest health challenge related to women's health. We're talking about periods and things that go along with that.

I mentioned in Episode 45 that I've only shared this story publicly once before on another podcast several years ago. Over the years, after several conversations with patients who have said things like,

“That's easy for you to say, you're a naturopathic doctor,”

I felt ready to share it with my audience. As if being a naturopathic doctor excludes me from being human and having struggles, vulnerabilities, and susceptibilities.

I am human like anyone else. Just because health is my highest value and just because I've spent two decades figuring out what works for my body doesn't mean anyone can't do these things too. I am not without flaws or hardship. I've overcome a lot, and in that overcoming, I hope there's some information you can incorporate into your own mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

When I was a kid, I was really sick. As an infant, I had some sort of pseudomeningitis that wasn't figured out. I had seizures that eventually resolved without explanation. As a child, I was on countless rounds of antibiotics for ear infections and skin infections like staph infections, one of which landed me in the hospital, in an isolated room, on IV antibiotics. Oh yeah, and I was covered in eczema.

I've had shingles twice—once at 22 and again at 32. My immune system was a mess from birth, and I've spent a long time getting it back into balance.

In our province's online health database, I looked back at my health history starting from 1995 and saw all the medications I was on: steroid creams, prednisone, birth control pills for terrible menstrual cramps—which is really what this episode focuses on—and rounds of antibiotics.

My biggest health challenge has been my menstrual cycles. From the moment I started menstruating at age 11 (menarche), I had incredibly painful periods. Believing in mind-body medicine and the top-down approach of thinking, feeling, doing, then changing our cellular health in that order (mental body, emotional body, physical body), I've reflected on interesting moments from my biography.

I got my period on Christmas Eve just before turning 12. When I told my mom, she reacted as if I'd been doomed to a life of misery, “Oh great!”

Throughout high school, my periods were so intense I'd often pass out—a great excuse to get out of gym class.

Towards the end of high school, my doctor suggested birth control pills to control my cycles as I was about to become sexually active. For five years on the pill, I didn't have any problems because it masked what was happening with my body.

When I came off the pill at 22, things got worse. Each period brought vomiting for two to three days along with diarrhea—fluids projecting out of both ends while writhing in pain in bed. This led me to cancel plans often.

Only those closest to me knew about this as I carried shame around it—shame about being a naturopathic doctor unable to manage such horrendous symptoms every month on a short cycle of 23-24 days.

I tried everything: herbal medicines, acupuncture, pelvic floor physiotherapy, homeopathic remedies, counseling—nothing worked consistently.

At times I'd be proactive about solving it but would get frustrated when nothing worked until menopause seemed like the only end in sight.

Medical doctors often dismissed me saying you're fine, which happens frequently as patients tell me they feel perfect on paper but still feel awful.

I called these menstrual migraines—they were like migraines but in my uterus.

I never talked about this due to shame until recently finding an old blog draft titled “How I Healed My Period” from 2014. I read it aloud in this podcast episode.

My relationship with cycles changed one day after breaking up with someone not right for me; symptoms disappeared for an entire year.

But dating again brought mild symptoms back until meeting now-husband intensified them despite loving him dearly; new relationship shifts affected self-care balance leading cycles worsening again temporarily until self-prioritization returned through meditation/yoga/self-care courses improving gradually over time.

Fast forward to 2021 when an MD took my symptoms seriously and triaged me in for an ultrasound where they round fibroids and I was triaged in for surgery. At the same time I was studying to become an Neurolinguistic Programming Practitioner and had my first mind-body healing breakthrough as a client. Both the surgery and the breakthrough happened within 2 weeks of each other. I had both a physical surgery and a mental / emotional one.

Both were a catalyst for my healing. The surgery was a moment in time, and the breakthrough was a jumping off platform for a new way of being in the world. Since that time I’ve created helpful and sustainable habits, both on the inside and outside. I’ve changed how I see myself, think, respond, communicate, set boundaries, take care of myself, etc.

Each cycle since those two surgeries 3.5 years ago has been better and better because of the healing work I continue to do for myself each and every day. My internal and external daily work is what over time has changed things to this point where I blink and my period is over. Mind-Body healing medicine at it’s best.