Functional Medicine | Women's Health
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND You may have heard of a condition called PMDD, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder which is a more severe form of PMS impacting the mood. PMDD has a diagnostic criteria according to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), with symptoms appearing the week before menstruation, and lifting within a …
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By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Having optimal progesterone levels is very important for women’s health for many reasons, the most significant one being to balance out estrogen. Low progesterone can be associated with PMS, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, early miscarriage, PCOS, heavy periods and perimenopause. Having low progesterone is …
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By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND As a continuation from last week's article about empowered cycle tracking, we'll be going through the four phases of your monthly cycle and the typical patterns that occur. Remember that the goal of track your cycle is to map out both the gifts and the struggles through the month, so we can work with, rather than against …
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Are you hard on yourself for being inconsistent through the month? Do you feel that some days you're confident and productive, and other days you're spacey or introverted. The reality is that women are not the same every day of the month... and that's a good thing! I've worked for over 15 years in women's health, and …
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By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND As an ND with a main clinical focus on hormone balance, most people find it very interesting that we don’t dive right into supplements and support for hormones first. In fact, we get MUCH better and lasting results when we take a look at your overall health, and start upstream - stress levels, gut function, toxin …
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND Working with women’s hormones, there is a lot of talk about estrogen and a term that we use commonly is ‘estrogen dominance.’ There are four scenarios that create estrogen dominance: High production of estrogen - from ovaries, fat cells, adrenal glands Low progesterone production, creating a relative estrogen …
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By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I’m always so excited to speak with people who are on the same wavelength, and also on a mission to reframe negative cultural connotations about our menstrual cycles. I truly believe that tracking your cycles and understanding your own patterns through the month is an incredibly empowering practice. Earlier this week, …
By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND One surprising fact that you may not know is that your hormones and your menstrual cycle are influenced by your gut, specifically the balance of bacteria called the microbiome. In this article we will be speaking specifically about estrogen, although the gut microbiome also impacts thyroid hormones, testosterone, …
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By Dr. Shawna Darou, ND I recently interviewed an amazing colleague Dr. Sat Dharam Kaur, creator of the Healthy Breast Program and the Mammalive foundation, with over 20 years focusing on breast cancer awareness. I wanted wanted to share with you some of the really important tips for breast cancer prevention that we discussed during one of my …
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