Integrative Women's Health Podcast

“We have to hold two things gently together: working on optimizing your health while being mindful not to limit the key priorities of your life.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond With endometriosis - even in cases where it’s very stable and well-managed - symptoms can change and even worsen when circumstances shift. This can be a result of stressful life events but also because of the hormonal shifts that c...

“My passion is to be able to change things for women. No one should be dismissed; no one should be told it's all in their head. We have so much catching up to do in women's health care.” - Heather Florio When we work with complex chronic conditions, we have to become very integrative. In our practice, we take a multidisciplinary approach to helping women with bladder pain heal from the root causes...

“In the last ten years, I really began to appreciate the gap between sports medicine and pelvic health.” - Dr. Ginger Garner When you’re living with chronic pain and acute conditions, it’s easy to miss the potential interconnectedness of your symptoms. An appendix issue leads to appendix surgery, a gallbladder issue leads to gallbladder removal, and the list goes on. But what happens when there’s...

"It's really important to know that endometriosis is not always progressive." - Katie Edmonds A healing journey can be a nourishing experience. When we stop thinking of food as medicine but instead as part of a bigger lifestyle shift with social connection and emotional support, we can see the transformative potential of a truly holistic approach to optimizing our health. It’s not about finding th...

“How can we better help ourselves and our clients with endometriosis or other complex conditions navigate perimenopause and menopause?” Given some of the pervasive myths around perimenopause and menopause in the endometriosis community, many people are confused about the core challenges they may experience while navigating this transition. As with everything when it comes to our health, what is ne...

“Good surgery matters, but a lot of other things matter too.” - Dr. Sallie Sarrel At the Integrative Women’s Health Institute, we take a multidisciplinary approach to endometriosis care. From balancing the gut and uterine microbiomes to utilizing tools like hormone therapy and GLP-1 agonists, there are many more options available today for women with endometriosis. A big part of this shift resulte...

“Filmmaking storytelling narratives can create large-scale social change.” - Shannon Cohn Like many conditions that primarily affect women, endometriosis is a condition that still has more questions than answers. Conventional medicine tries hard to fit it into a one-size-fits-all box that can be treated with birth control pills and surgery, but in truth, it’s highly individual. What works for one...

“Don't chase symptoms, optimize systems.” - Dr. Jessica Drummond For over ten years, Federica Torri dealt with chronic GI symptoms and sometimes debilitating period pain without any answers about why it was happening. Finally, in late 2023, she received excision surgery and an endometriosis diagnosis. Since then, things have improved, but Federica still isn’t where she wants to be in terms of her...

“Health coaching is an opportunity for us to not just serve other women in creating healthier lives but also for us as women as well.” - Lesley Waldron The decision to become a health coach creates a significant ripple effect. As coaches, we facilitate individual transformations that empower our clients and help them develop healthier relationships with their families and communities. In addition,...

A lot of nuance is involved in a woman’s birth control decisions. From the type that makes sense for her to whether or not she wants to use birth control at all, there’s no single best solution for everyone. Unfortunately, that position doesn’t get much attention in the current media landscape, where sensationalism outperforms accuracy and extreme views overshadow everything else. As educators and...

“To be able to serve women and bridge that gap so you don't have to access the healthcare system if you don't need to has been a beautiful transition for me.” - Anna Olchowecki Have you ever felt like you wanted to do more in your career? There are many factors to consider when making the decision to change your career, follow your passion, and embrace new beginnings. That’s why it’s so valuable t...

“Never stop believing in yourself and your ability to heal. Find that healing mindset and be your own best advocate.” - Vashti Kanahele Productivity culture in the Western world continues to gain traction, making regulating the nervous system and finding community more foundational than sleep, nourishment, and mindfulness. Without that foundation, our tools simply are not as effective. Many people...

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” - Carl Jung Working with trauma and the nervous system is a crucial part of addressing chronic disease. In recent years, functional medicine and conventional medicine are getting better at acknowledging that mental and physical health are not separate issues. They're the same thing. For many people, de...

“Take your time, decide on one thing that you're going to focus on, and keep coming back.” - Pamela Windle The workplace is where women spend most of their time, and far too often, they’re leaving because they’ve lost sight of themselves due to the transition into menopause. Seeing this trend, workplaces are increasingly investing in ensuring their staff have the right tools and resources to remai...

Finding an hour for yourself each day can be tricky. Between managing clients, dealing with kids and aging parents, job changes, and life transitions, most of us aren’t prioritizing our sleep foundation. As practitioners, despite being equipped to support people through difficult situations, we are not immune to them. We’re human, and we have to be sensitive to ourselves and recognize when it’s ti...

All our clients are looking for a golden pill to help with sleep. It’s the number one complaint we hear from our clients, but the reality is that it just doesn’t exist. There’s no super supplement that’s going to fix our sleep overnight. What works is creating healthy foundations to optimize sleep. In today’s episode, I’m exploring exercise and supplement strategies for optimal sleep in perimenopa...

Welcome to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast! Join me, Dr. Jessica Drummond, DCN, CNS, PT, NBC-HWC, and true innovators in the field of women's health for weekly conversations on topics including conventional medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, lifestyle medicine, traditional medicines, and innovative technologies in women's health that you’re not going to find anywhere else. I...