Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here.
Thanks for listening to another episode
of Hey, Human podcast.
This is episode 443,
and my guest is doctor Heather Stone.
Doctor Stone has treated thousands of women with
persistent low thyroid symptoms for the last nineteen
years.
She supports functional medicine and getting to the
root cause of disease.
She is one of the most experienced clinicians
in the space of hypothyroidism
and Hashimoto's.
And we spoke last April and excited to
get her
episode on the air. And if anyone out
there is in need of this sort of
medicine,
she's definitely the person to reach out to.
And I'll put all that info in the
links of the
of the links page on the website of
my website, heyhumanpodcast.com.
Otherwise,
check out heyhumanpodcast.com
for those links so to learn about my
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And thank you for listening. Be well,
be kind, stay healthy, and be loved. Here
we go.
Doctor Heather Stone, welcome to Hey Human.
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Nice to see you. Let's jump in. Tell
me your upbringing and how it may have
shaped
you into your work.
That's a new one. I haven't been asked
about my upbringing. So just kind of Middle
America. Well, I'm from South Texas, so it's
not necessarily Middle America, but middle class.
Texas is its own country. We all know
that. Yeah. Texas is its own country.
I would say that I've I had a
great childhood. It's pretty unremarkable,
just, you know, a typical American childhood.
And I think I'm an oldest child, so
that's kind of, I think, where I get
my tenacity,
for being an oldest child. But, you know,
growing up, my mom and dad were married.
They're still married. So,
my mom, for the most part, was a
stay at home mom.
And I think that's probably
what kind of pushed me down this path
interestingly
enough. I thought I wasn't gonna do that.
I thought that although I think that she
was she is an amazing mom, I wanted
something different for my family, and I wanted
to have a career, and I wanted to
go to college. And, I was the first
one to go to college in my immediate
family. So for me, I had big aspirations,
and that's kind of what pushed me down
this path. And I knew that I always
wanted to be a doctor,
but I never really knew what kind of
doctor. And I think with my own
health struggles, it pushed me down the exact
right path that I was supposed to go
down, which I am, super thankful about that.
That was gonna be my next question is
as a kid growing up, did you have
health issues that
were frustrating at best and maybe some doctors
listened?
Did you have that experience?
Yeah. I would say in whenever I was
in high school, I had issues with hormones
and menstrual cycle and,
you know, it was the, well, here, just
put her on birth control. And my mom
did not want me to go on birth
control. They so they said, okay. Well, she
should just go on progesterone. So she said,
okay. Well, she can go on progesterone
to regulate cycles. Right? And I think that
that is
essentially the extent of how, unfortunately,
how most women's hormones are managed is they're
managed by symptoms and nobody did any testing
to see did I actually have low progesterone
or what was actually going on with my
hormones or maybe we should do some blood
work or anything.
So nothing was done, and they put me
on progesterone.
So
then I started having weight issues, and I
had issues with my complexion and acne.
Again, the solution when I was in college
was, well, just go on birth control pills.
So I was on birth control in college,
and then, like, man, I am really struggling.
I am super tired. I cannot lose weight.
I was about fifty pounds heavier than I
am now.
And so I'm like,
as I was in school, I was in
pre med. I'm like, you know, maybe it's
my thyroid. And this was pre doctor Google,
so you can just, like, Google it. It
was literally looking in textbooks. I go to,
an OB GYN and I'm like, I think
I got low thyroid. I have all these
symptoms. Like, I'm tired. I can't lose weight.
My menstrual cycles are a mess.
And I don't have a menstrual cycle unless
I'm on the pill.
And he said, alright. Well, let's run labs
for your thyroid. And so I come back
a week later, and he's like, yep. Nope.
Not your thyroid.
So everything's fine.
Nothing's wrong.
You know, I think maybe you exercise too
much. That's why you don't have a period.
I'm like, wait. I was thankful for that
at that time because I knew what he
was saying.
He was saying to me that you exercise
too much and sometimes women who exercise too
much, they,
they lose their period or their cycle.
But
luckily, I knew that what he was trying
to say was when women exercise so much
and their body fat goes down, then they
stop menstruating. And I just knew whatever he
was saying was not what I was dealing
with.
So for that moment, I'm like, okay. I'm
not believing what he's saying. So therefore, I
didn't buy that story. And then as I
was walking out,
he says to me, oh, by the way,
you're probably not gonna be able to have
kids without fertility treatment. So, you know, we'll
we'll handle that when it gets here. And
I'm like,
thank you very much. Well, so first of
all, he's saying that there's nothing wrong with
you that their tusks can tell, which is
so dismissive.
It makes me insane
in the health care system.
Yep.
And secondly, you know your body.
Yeah. So I I'll I look back at
that and I was like, I'm so glad
that, first of all, I knew enough
to know that he did not know what
he was talking about, or we could just
say he was dismissive or he wasn't really
interested in truly figuring out what was wrong
with me. He just said, oh, by the
way, I'll see you back here when you're
trying to have kids.
So I was like, you know what? I
am not gonna live my life this way.
This is not how my life is gonna
be. So I'm gonna have to just figure
this out. And so then that kind of
pushed me down the road of what kind
of doctor do I wanna be? What what
it what do I need to do? And
where do I need what path do I
need to go down to just figure it
out for myself?
And then once I figured it out for
myself, I'm like, holy cow, do you know
how many women are dealing with this same
issue that really need my help? And as,
you know, I've gone through different phases of
life through having children naturally
without without fertility treatments and weight loss. And
then, you know, moving into perimenopause, you you
going through these different phases.
I've been able to help women
understand that each phase is not a disease
And that if you can figure out if
you have a symptom, it's actually a blessing
with your body just trying to tell you
that something's not quite right. And you just
have to search and figure out
where the underlying imbalance is because your body
is born to heal. Like, you are a
self healing mechanism
or organism,
and the body knows how to heal, but
sometimes it just needs a little bit of,
assistance or we need to remove a little
bit of interference.
It's hard enough to be a teenager. And
then you're going through weight gain and acne
and all of that. Did did that take
some time to get to the other side
of?
Oh, yeah. A lot. And and when I
was struggling with all of that,
I went I was did every diet known
to man. I mean, I have done the,
cabbage soup diet and the don't eat anything
diet,
slim fast, and you name it. I've done
every diet known to man, and I started
that in high school.
So, of course, you know, it it shapes
your body image and you have these struggles
and these ups and downs. But I will
tell you
that
it allowed me to be in a position
where I was like, I don't, I will
do whatever it takes. I just need someone
to tell me what to do. And it
needed to be the right thing. I mean,
I had taken diet pills and done everything
that was available just to try, you know,
to lose the weight.
But it wasn't until I shifted off of
the weight and somebody told me what to
do to improve my health. And I wanted
my health and my function to be as
optimal as possible, and then the weight started
coming off. And it shift it helped me
shift from
stopping all these fad diets to what do
I need to do to be healthy and
to eat and and look at food as
nutrition instead of, you know, looking at food
as the enemy.
It allowed me to be in a place
where I was open to receiving that. And
it allowed me to also be in a
place where I can empathize and understand where
other women are coming from and the struggles
that they have.
What would you say to
women especially, and I'm sure it happens to
men as well and people that identify everywhere
in between that when the doctor says nothing's
wrong, we can't find anything to test. How
did they advocate for themselves and find the
right
person without making themselves insane on Google?
Yeah. And I think that's pretty much where
I catch most women
or I work mostly with women, so that's
why I say most women. But men men
deal with this as well.
But I think,
just having that inner knowing
that if some if you have a symptom,
that means there is some kind of imbalance.
And it doesn't mean that you have a
disease.
Right? So it doesn't mean you have a
disease or a label or some kind of
ICD 10 code that they can bill an
insurance company for. But no, it's just the
way that your body communicates. And you need
to search for a doctor
that is gonna be on your team and
help you,
go beyond the label, help you go beyond
what insurance will allow them to order.
Right? So, you know, it's it's
we're stuck in the drug therapy model. Right?
And if we want something different than drug
therapy, we have to go outside of that
model. Right? When when we're in a drug
therapy model, the most frustrating thing is to
be in that model that expects something different
when there isn't anything different in that model.
Right? Like, they are
drug therapy is diagnosed a disease, and they're
gonna either drug it out, cut it out,
or burn it out. Like, Like that is
their solution and that is what they're trained
and that is what insurance, the umbrella, pays
for.
And so I think the biggest frustration is
trying to keep going to that model and
try and expecting something different.
But if you were for a moment say,
alright. That has a place in my health
care. Right? I may need that at some
time. But that's not what I'm looking for
right now. I need to find something outside
of that system that can work with what
I'm trying to do to optimize health. We
have to remember that the drug therapy model
is to,
manage diseases.
It is not to optimize your health. Like,
so as long as we understand what traditional
medicine is for and what it's not for,
then we can decrease the frustration level, find
somebody that might be working outside of that
model and keep people who are in that
model that might, you know, might really help
you when it's appropriate.
Hormones are a mother bleeper.
Yes. I just did a five day,
mastering
your hormones and menopause with low thyroid,
master class. And
it is I think it's a deep we
did a deep dive and there's so much
information. I think I just caused even more
confusion.
But anyway, it's, it's a huge subject and
I could talk for hours on that. When
was your moment for what was going on
with your body?
The moment wasn't until I started to feel
better. The moment wasn't until I'm like, oh,
because I had to trust that the information
that I was, that I was implementing was
gonna be right.
Right. So I had to trust and get
some education behind why I was doing what
I was doing.
But then once I was implementing it, and
I gave it time, not thirty days, but
I stuck with it knowing that
the,
intention
was to optimize my health,
then I, my body started to change. And
then I'm like, okay, this is, you know,
I'm on the right path. My body can
do this. I can heal.
Another
moment for me was interesting.
I was in line at Starbucks, and I
was having a conversation with myself,
like, yeah, you can just have a scone
and a terrible coffee with loads of sugar.
It's not gonna hurt this one time. And
then my other part of myself was, why
would you do that? You don't do that
anymore.
And then I'm like, if I do it,
I'm gonna feel bad. And I and I
I noticed that I
had such negative emotion about the food. I'm
like, wait a second.
Food is not the enemy. I can choose
to eat that if I wanna choose to
eat that.
And if you have good energy around eating
it, it's less harmful for you than if
you beat yourself up after you eat it.
I believe that wholeheartedly. Yeah. Totally. And then
then I'm like, wait, it's just really what
am I choosing and what are my what
is my motivation behind what I'm choosing? What
am I trying to accomplish?
And if I choose to have it, I'm
gonna choose to have it and not feel
bad. Or I could choose not to do
it and keep moving forward on my goals,
but the food is not the enemy. I'm
like, oh, this was an oh my gosh.
I have hated food for so long because
I felt like food was making me fat.
Food was
making me ill, and it might have been,
but food can also be your nutrition and
food can also be very healing.
And it's it's all about, you know, sticking
to what you,
what your goals and motivations are. Also, if
you do choose to eat something that's not
unplanned, don't feel bad about it. Yeah. I
look at food and nutrition systems the way
I look at the education system
that no child is the same for educators
to educate. You can't have a rote
plan and expect every child to flourish in
that plan just like everybody is different
and you can't expect everybody to adhere to
whichever diet
and expect it to flourish.
Especially Yeah. That's not even including allergies or
celiac disease or thyroid problems or just in
general.
Humans are
unique and beautiful creatures. I agree. I mean,
for us, you know, in our in my
practice, we have a baseline of recommendations
for how someone should start, how they should
be eating, but then all along the way,
we're tweaking, okay, your your body is not
responding as responding as well to that. Let's
tweak it with this. Or maybe you need
more fat. Maybe you need less like, everybody
is so different. That's why there is I
constantly am saying there is not one diet.
Like if there was one diet, then I
would be on the beach somewhere with millions
of dollars. But there's not one diet for
every single person and you have to really
customize,
you know, based on,
how the person's functioning.
Do you do that with blood and fecal
tests? How do you find what works for
the bodies? We do a lot of it
with blood work. So managing blood sugar is
absolutely huge. And you can see how the
body responds, how it digest,
you know, the foods that you're eating and
how efficient it is with extracting calories. You
can look at blood sugar. So we do
continuous glucose monitoring. We look at insulin resistance,
lots of different markers based on blood sugar.
Also, some blood tests with food sensitivities
and things like that. But you can really
look at,
how much protein somebody needs, how well they
digest and utilize carbohydrates.
You can look at their gut testing too
with all of their microbiome
and see how your microbiome is managing all
of the food that you're eating. That's why
we start with basics and then tweak from
there because usually if you start with the
basics then you it doesn't have to get
too complicated.
If somebody had a camp that I could
go to, personally me, Susan,
could go to
where for let's say it's seven to ten
days where the food is nutritious, healthy food,
you know, good food, maybe an occasional yummy
not not that good food isn't yummy, but
you know what I mean? Like, occasional quote
unquote treat
that there was doctors
or or health care workers there testing my
blood after every meal and monitoring me twenty
four basically
a day for that whole time
for I would I can't even tell you
the amount of money I would pay to
go to that camp.
For real.
Yeah.
It would I do have a retreat space
where we we do teach people. Right now,
the retreat is for only for patients that
have been through the program for six months,
but that's kind of going to the next
level,
going even deeper there. But we we do
something very similar, and we are checking we
with all of our patients, not just at
the retreat, we have implemented continuous glucose monitoring
so that we can see how food is
impacting your blood sugar.
But also you can see how, like, your
adrenal glands are stabilizing your blood sugar through
the night. We can see how stress is
impacting your blood sugar.
I went to a meditation retreat for seven
days,
about a month ago.
My blood sugar has never been so stable
ever. And I even was, like, eating loads
of fresh, amazing fruit and papaya and dragon
fruit. I'm like, oh, my blood sugar is
not changing. This is amazing.
And I'm like, it just goes to show
you, it's not only about the food,
it's about your stress level. It's about being
in fight or flight. I mean, I was
literally
not, not really in a monastery,
but it was kind of like that. You're
out of your environment,
meditating most of the day, eating amazing food,
not worried about, you know, anything else.
And you know, what's interesting is maintaining,
meditation practices. Even when I've been back, I
can still eat fruit even when I'm here
and my blood sugar doesn't go crazy like
it used to. So it's just amazing to
me how we look at environment, lifestyle, and
how that really impacts our health too.
Yeah. I mean, the adrenals will pack weight
on your belly like nobody's business.
Yeah. Absolutely. And the crazy thing is we
get addicted to those fight or flight hormones.
Right? So because we're addicted to those fight
or flight hormones, a lot of times, we
don't even notice that we're in fight or
flight, but we start worrying about what's happened
in the past. Right? We start thinking about
the past, and then we bring up all
of those emotions. So then we're pushing out
those stress hormones, or we're worried about the
future about something that hasn't even happened yet.
So now we're really stressed out, and we're
just in this constant state of stress. And
I'll, I'll measure some of my patients' cortisol
levels. And I'm like, okay, your cortisol is
litter is through the roof. And they're like,
I'm not stressed at all. I'm retired.
Finances are good. I'm like,
what are you worried about?
Oh my gosh. I am such a worrier.
You know, my mom was a worrier and
my sisters are worriers. I'm like, what are
you worried about? Well, my son's
my son's new wife, you know, she's not
as nice as I would like her to
be and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay.
You're not stressed about money and you're not
going to work. That you're stressing about every
other thing in your life that you probably
can't change. So that is not helping you
on this weight loss and health journey. So
working to get into the present moment makes
a huge difference.
Oh, for sure.
For sure. I started wearing a monitor
that
tells you your stress levels during the day,
among other things. I mean, it tells you
all sorts of things. And
the thing that I found really fascinating at
the end of the day when I went
to look at
the levels of stress I had during the
day,
I saw these odd spikes and I thought,
what in the world am I doing when
these stress levels are spiking? And I went
and looked and they were phone calls to
people who demanded a lot of attention from
me and required a lot of and had
a lot of drama around them or or
whatever.
And when you're in the moment, you don't
even realize
what that's doing to you when you're just
being a vessel for other people's pain or
suffering or drama or
tea or whatever you wanna call it. It's
still
making you spike.
And I found that really fascinating. It never
really occurred to me that that was going
to be the case.
But isn't it interesting now that you know
that?
You have
the knowledge
that when you are in those calls,
you can choose to respond to the stress
instead of your body reacting.
Right? Like you can say, okay, you can
do get yourself ready before you go into
it and be conscious about how you're feeling
as you're going through those moments. Because a
lot
of people will say,
you know, I have a stressful life. There's
nothing I can do about it.
Like, I'm just gonna be stressed. And so
I I am at effect, like, I have
no control over
my life. As a practitioner
working with patients who struggle and have problems
all day long, and I'm sitting here solving
problems for people all day long,
I have to be
conscious
of the way that I am feeling and
how I'm being affected.
And so we have the we have the
ability
to respond
instead of react,
But it it takes a conscious awareness of
that happening
instead of us just going through our day
like a pinball machine. Right? Like a pinball
in a pinball machine just reacting and feeling
like we have no control over our lives
and our stress levels. But the way that
we respond to stress
and then the things that we do outside
of those moments to bring your body back
into the present time is what really matters.
Yeah. I think too, it teaches us a
lot about boundaries. It's a big b word.
Yes. Boundaries are a big deal. And even
I mean, I think the thing that's hard
to hammer into people as well
is that even something that is quote unquote
good for you
can be bad for you if you're not
treating it with the respect it requires.
Like, if I'm starving myself and then working
out for two hours, or if I'm
eating a pretty normal diet but not paying
attention to what my body needs in order
to work out for two hours,
Both those things can do their own kind
of damage.
Yeah. I have a a prime example of
that intermittent fasting is a huge deal. Right?
And
all the research shows intermittent fasting is amazing.
Although it's not most of the research isn't
done on women.
I'm like, I always try everything before I
ever implement it with a patient. I wanna
see if can I do what I'm asking
patients to do?
So I started intermittent fasting. And I can
intermittent fast because I mean, I don't have
to eat. It's less time. I got so
much stuff to do.
It's easier for me. I'm good to go.
No, I can intermittent fast. So
I'm intermittent fasting.
I'm mostly feeling good, but I don't really
notice a change in weight or anything like
that. So I go get my blood work
done,
and my a one c is a 5.7.
It is like one it's in the prediabetic
range, and I totally freaked out because I
teach people how to lower their A1C. I'm
like, what is going how could this possibly
be? Is that a blood sugar monitor, A1C?
Okay. So a hemoglobin A1C is a ninety
day average of your blood sugar. Okay? So
it's it's the way that they measure,
how in control your blood sugar is if
you're a diabetic.
Right? So 5.7
to 6.4
is considered prediabetic.
Anything over 6.4 is diabetic.
So I was at 5.7.
And I was like,
how is this possible? So
I'm like, maybe the test was bad. Maybe
it was a false test. So I get
a glucometer, which is, you prick your finger
to test your blood sugar.
And I'm taking my blood sugar every thirty
minutes. This was before a continuous glucose monitor,
so we couldn't, like, just stick it on.
So every 30 minutes, I'm, like, seeing patients
and and checking my blood sugar here on
the side.
My blood sugar is really high, but what
I noticed is if I fasted beyond 10:00,
my blood sugar started rising
and my blood sugar would go up to
one twenty one twenty five one thirty before
I ever ate anything
and so
I was I I knew this. I mean,
we're not supposed to starve ourselves and we're
supposed to eat, but then you got all
the other research that really supports intermittent fasting.
But for me, it was too stressful on
my body. My, my adrenal glands,
I was taxing my adrenal glands too much
in addition to all the work I was
doing. And I was exercising and, of course,
working out fasting. And, you know, I've got
two kids and baseball
you know, all of those things. My body
was like, hey,
this is not you don't have enough fuel
to keep me going and you're tack you're
I'm can't keep up with the stress.
So then I'm like, okay, what is the
tolerance?
And so then I was like, okay, if
I eat by 10:00,
then I'm pretty good.
And now that I have a continuous glucose
monitor, what I've noticed is my blood sugar
is absolutely perfect as long as I eat
protein within thirty minutes of waking up. Now
my a one c goes between five point
three and five point four, which is perfect.
That's right where you want it. But I
think that
we get on these fads of what we
think is healthy for us. Right? Especially intermittent
fasting right now. And I'm not saying intermittent
fasting is bad for everybody. I'm saying for
me, what I was doing was a good
thing way too much, and my body couldn't
tolerate it with all the other stress demands.
And I do find that for most of
my patients, like most of my patients who
have low thyroid or they have autoimmune issues
or they have other, you know, cardiovascular
disease, intermittent fasting
essentially is just pushing them over. It's too
stressful.
When we have blood sugar issues in the
first place,
we're losing our ability to adapt, which is
essentially
what we look at to measure longevity and
disease processes. And so when you lose your
ability to adapt,
essentially, your adrenal glands are struggling to keep
up. And with women, we push through. We
got so much stuff to do. We don't
have time to be tired. And most of
us, if we're tired and taking a nap,
I mean, it is like the end of
the world's coming or something.
So we push through until we're like dragging
our bodies around,
just to get through the day. We're, we're
dreaming about going to sleep again, as soon
as we wake up. And it's like, but
I gotta lose this weight. So I'm gonna
intermittent fast and I'm gonna work out and
I'm gonna do all these things. And it's
like, we're just driving ourselves further and further
into dysfunction.
Mhmm.
Yeah. Where do you where are you so
I could come see you?
I'm in Texas, but we, we do have
a virtual practice.
Yeah. I mean,
it's so frustrating.
Until we get to a place we're no
we're no longer willing to tolerate where we're
at, that's when we actually make changes. And
it's unfortunate that we have to get there,
but a lot of times we do have
to get there until we're ready to make
change. Have you seen that COVID has
put a wallop on a lot of people
health wise post COVID?
I think that we are dealing with some
unique challenges post COVID,
but I would say it's a handful of
people, not like a a big majority.
I've seen some things that were very unusual.
I mean, I was thankful I've been in
practice for twenty years before COVID even started.
So when things were really unusual, like liver
enzymes jumping into the hundreds when someone had
been completely normal before,
you know, I've seen I have seen things.
I've seen patients, you know, have weird stuff
with their cardiovascular
system that we really didn't see before.
But for the most part, I would say
you can work to restore function.
Sometimes,
you know, I have seen, like, a handful
of autoimmune patients that I have not been
able to get back to pre COVID status.
But that's that's certainly not the vast majority.
Autoimmune disease
is is cruel because it doesn't really have
a rhyme or reason and it can just
happen one day.
Yeah. And I think, you know, when we're
dealing with autoimmunity,
you know, it's usually genetic.
But that doesn't mean that you don't have
control over it. Right? So when we when
we study epigenetics,
we know that our genes are turned on
and turned off by the environment that they're
exposed to. Now,
when I first learned that, when I think
about environment, I think about outside. I think
about the toxins. I think about maybe the
food that we eat. I think about water,
air,
those kinds of things.
But the more you dig in, yes, all
of that is accurate. But also the environment
is the emotional environment that your genes are
also exposed to. The false beliefs or the
beliefs that we have also is what our
genes are exposed to that turns them on
and off.
But if we look at autoimmunity
and we look at what causes or triggers
the immune system to attack the body,
There's there's all kinds of things that you
have to consider. So first of all, like,
when we have insulin surges, right, so when
we eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cookies, cakes,
candy, soda, or when we don't eat at
all,
We cause insulin surges. Right? So then that
will trigger your immune system to attack the
body.
Also, insulin surges will make you gain weight.
It's almost impossible to have a weight issue
if you don't have a blood sugar problem.
I see and that includes not just diabetes
or prediabetes.
That is,
the
metabolic resistance
that is or metabolic syndrome that is,
hypoglycemia.
That's,
blood sugar that oscillates or has a lot
of variability.
So blood sugar is huge. We look at
adrenal function, stress hormones. We look at your
sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone surges will
trigger the immune system to attack the body.
Or help it. They say orgasms.
Right? That's a that's probably a nice surge.
It's supposed to be good for you. Yeah.
It's supposed to be good for you, but
you do have to consider,
right, like a surge. We don't really want
to have hormonal surges. Now when we're menstruating,
we do have peaks and valleys. Right? That's
what creates our our cycle.
But we're not really supposed to have big
surges.
You wanna have healthy levels of testosterone so
that you have a good libido, sex drive,
orgasms, all that stuff. But you don't wanna
really have these big surges because that will
is what causes the immune system to attack
the body. But that's not what happens in
normal life either. Like, you're not supposed, like,
even as a menstruating female, we don't have
necessarily big surges of testosterone.
We have rolling
cycles of testosterone.
And especially when we're postmenopausal,
we're supposed to have healthy levels of hormones,
not big surges. Right?
So
healthy levels is really important, but it's the
surging of those that will cause the immune
system to attack the body.
And food sensitivities,
underlying infections, like I see bacterial,
viral,
parasitic infections all the time. And there's no
symptoms, but it's causing the immune system to
attack the body. We can look at biotoxins
or mold toxins or lime or heavy metals.
All of those things
trigger the immune system. So what it might
seem as though
when you have an autoimmune condition,
you don't have a lot of control over
what happens or you don't have control over
the flare ups or even of it turning
on.
You actually do have a lot of control
over that, and you can put autoimmune conditions
in remission. But you have to do the
appropriate testing
to figure out what is the what are
the triggers you're dealing with. Right? So you
said you have celiac. I've got Hashimoto's. We
both have autoimmune conditions
both have the same triggers,
but what are what triggers you might be
dealing with are gonna be different than the
triggers that I might be dealing with so
you've gotta test all of them and work
simultaneously
to address them. A lot of frustration comes
with autoimmune patients because we might work on
one or two triggers that we leave, like,
10 over here that aren't handled. And so
then we we feel like we're not getting
anywhere.
And so really looking at you as a
global person instead of
picking one thing or another thing and then,
feeling like we're not getting anywhere is what
what were the challenges.
Also, I feel like autoimmune just isn't sexy
to medical
world.
Well, think about this, Susan. It's a drug
it out, burn it out, or cut it
out. So
they can't cut out your immune system and
they can't burn out your immune system, but
they can suppress it with drugs. But a
lot of times,
you know, it's like, well, are we creating
worse problems than what they are dealing with
anyway?
And so when they look in their toolbox,
there's nothing there. And so, yeah, they're gonna
be like, yeah, I don't I don't know
what to do with you. I can just
give you a biologic, and we can shut
down your immune system. Other than that, I
don't know. So they're really not trained to
help
optimize function. They're not trained to balance and
work with the body to improve symptoms. They're
gonna drug it out, burn it out, or
cut it out. And so,
that doesn't really fit with autoimmune patients very
well, which is why it is a a
huge disservice or a big missing piece in
traditional medicine.
Does big pharma and
insurance companies, do you wake up with horse
heads in your bed or anything like that?
Or
are they letting you do your thing?
Well, you know, I have had my challenges,
but I would say this. I think that,
you know, traditional medicine has its place.
And I think that for some people, they
want that because it is an an easy,
quote, unquote, solution.
And they're not ready to make big changes.
They they would never be a good fit
for what I do because they want the
easy, simple solution.
And some people never
move into a place where I'll do whatever
it takes to get better. They they just
are this is life. This is how it's
gonna be, and that's how they go. And
then, you know, I truly like for people
who have low thyroid and when your thyroid
is not producing
thyroid hormones, you need thyroid replacement hormone.
Because
there if you don't get your thyroid hormones
balanced, then it's a trigger for the immune
system, right? Like it'll keep you'll keep being
in this vicious cycle.
So I do think that there's a time
and place,
for that system.
But it doesn't really fit the mold for
people who are trying to optimize their health.
Right? And so I think that they they
both serve a purpose.
Do you feel that autoimmune diseases can be
reversed in some cases? Not all, but some
of them.
Yeah. So we don't necessarily say the word
reverse, but we say put into remission. And
I would say that many, many, many can
be put into remission
as long as you're handling the underlying,
root causes or the triggers.
Now, no, autoimmune diseases
the reason we say remission is because they
can come back pretty easily. Meaning, like, if
you like
well, Hashimoto's, we can't eat gluten either because
gluten triggers the immune system to attack the
thyroid and the cerebellum
and mostly your gut too. So the studies
with Hashimoto's is mostly to the thyroid and
cerebellum.
But, like, let's say my antibodies were completely
negative.
But if I went and I splurged
on, you know, a piece of cake, well,
those antibodies are gonna come right back. So
we have to be very careful about maintaining
balance, main making sure that we're always checking
triggers.
Right? So even though I don't have any
symptoms,
my diet is still right. I I play
around with it, but I'm always checking my
labs to make sure that
my labs are in the optimal range. And
and am I doing what I need to
do? What how's my thinking? How's my meditation?
How's my
stress,
to keep it where I don't have any
symptoms and my immune system is not attacking
anymore.
And it's it's crazy because when you have
an autoimmune condition, any autoimmune condition,
you're at risk for developing multiple autoimmune diseases.
And so in order to stop yourself from
collecting these labels and these diseases,
you've got to work to stabilize the immune
system and get it balanced. And it has
to be a lifelong thing. And I think
a lot of people who have autoimmunity,
once they get to a place where they're
good,
they think, okay, I'm good. I don't have
Hashimoto's anymore. So I'm gonna go back and
eat gluten.
And so it's like, okay, that that you
missed the point.
Or whoever gave you the information
didn't give you the right information to allow
you to maintain where you were at. So
this has to be a lifestyle.
The goal is no symptoms. The goal is
optimal function and optimal labs. The goal is
to not develop all these other autoimmunity
autoimmune issues.
And I think it's interesting because
with autoimmune conditions,
sometimes we can go down the path of
why me,
and we feel like we are
something's wrong with us, or why do I
have to be this way and nobody else
has to eat this way and you know?
But this is one thing I will tell
you,
is that I have had patients say, my
husband can eat anything he wants, and he
is totally fine. And I I just say,
how many medications is your husband on? Oh,
he's like on four or five medications.
Like,
you're saying he doesn't have a weight problem,
but he's not fine.
So our perception that other people don't have
to eat healthy to be healthy, that is
not true. So what you might see on
the outside,
a lot of times, we have this stigma
that if you're thin, you're healthy, but that
is is absolutely not the case. And and
most people
in The United States have some autoimmune disease
or another. They have major blood sugar issues.
And so don't let people say that they
don't have a gluten sensitivity because I'm telling
you that the study show that most do
or they have their own food sensitivities, Everybody
should
be
doing it. They're just choosing not to do
it. That
to do this. Everybody should be doing it.
They're just choosing not to do it. That
makes complete sense. Do most of the people
that work with you then wear, like, the
continuous
monitors and do those sorts of things to
to in the beginning? And if that's the
case, how does insurance
come along for the ride with you? Or
is this all people have to come to
you on their own?
Most patients that we accept, yes, they do
wear a continuous glucose monitor in the beginning.
So we can see, like, how they're doing,
how stable is their blood sugar, how's food
impacting. And then as we start to implement
solutions, do we have their blood sugar regulated?
And then we keep up with them just
through blood work after that. Insurance does not
pay for continuous glucose monitors unless you're on
insulin.
We have a way to get these glucose
monitors that, you know, even if insurance was
paying for them, they're not that much more
expensive even if insurance was paying. We get
discounted prices for, patients that go outside of
insurance.
Okay. I think that's important to note just
since insurance is a tricky business.
When you work with a practitioner,
like I'm a member of a a co
op. So a bunch of, doctors get together
and we buy down the cost of the
blood work. So the blood work that I
do with my patients, it like, if you
went through insurance, it's about $3,500.
But for a cash paying patient, it's only
$2.29.
So $229.
That's the difference in the markup? Mort.
Yeah. So it makes it easier. It's about
10%.
And the crazy thing is that these lab
companies are still making money even on the
$2.29,
you know, that that we do. And it's
it's it's absolutely crazy the markup
that happens between the lab and in the
insurance company, and then it falls back on
the patient. And it's hard to
do a lot of testing because it can
be fight a financial burden, but not if
you're working, you know, with someone that understands
that and is outside
of the that. And for us, we don't
mark up our test at all. We just
give it to our patients for wholesale because
it's more important for us to have the
data so that we can apply the treatment.
Patient
not be able to do that. I I
just
I see it differently.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Well, thank you. I appreciate your time and
I hope anyone listening that's got some issues
will will reach out or at least
maybe start to think about the journey toward
health and feeling better.
The the truth of the matter is we
don't have to feel awful all the time.
Yeah. I think that's really important because
as we age,
the excuse that we get is that it
you feel this way because it's your age.
And that doesn't allow us to to do
anything about it like what are you gonna
do that you're I don't know how old
you are. What am I gonna do that?
I am 46 years old or 47.
Well, there's nothing you can do about your
age, but there is stuff you can do
about your physiology. And so,
it's never normal to have a symptom. I
don't care what age you are.
And if you think about that, like, if
it was because of your age, then every
single person at that age would have that
ailment.
I was talking to a patient earlier today,
and she said that she,
talked to her doctor. She gets these little
blisters on her hands, and then they pop
and their hands peel and then they itch
and they start bleeding.
And I'm like, oh, I know exactly what
that is. But then her doctor said the
reason you have that is because you're 48.
And she goes,
doctor Heather says it's not because of my
age.
And I'm like, okay. It's not just because
I say that. Why do you think that?
She She goes, because not every 48 year
old has this stuff on their hands. I
said, exactly. So it's just your body trying
to communicate with you that something's not right.
Now let's go about fixing that. Right? But
if she thought, well, it was just her
age, then she would say, well, this is
a symptom that I have to live with
for the rest of my life.
And it's important for us to remember that
our bodies are born to heal.
We are a self healing organism.
The body can heal and you're not supposed
to be sick and you're not supposed to
have symptoms.
I have a guide friend that has that
same thing and it usually flares up in
his
deep stress times. And I when it first
started happening, he went to the doctor and
the doctor said,
oh, this is just a skin rash. It's
fine. I said I don't I think it's,
some sort of an auto immune. I think
your body's attacking you with stress.
Yeah. But doc,
guys, just so frustrating. So frustrating.
Anyway. So if for somebody listening that has
that, one of my best friends, when she
eats gluten, it happens. And my niece and
my sister, if they eat any dairy or
gluten, it happens.
And as soon as they get that out
and then clean up their gut, then, you
know, it it all clears up. So it
could be a food sensitivity, but you're right.
Any
stress just adds it's a load. Right? Food
sensitivities are a stress too. So it's the
the load of stress that the body can
tolerate.
So fascinating.
And
the food in The United States, at least,
lot different than the food elsewhere. Because
I know that when I was in Europe
eating, when I was in Italy eating, when
I was in Greece eating,
I felt awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, it it is the way
that we process our food here. Right? You
know, especially when it comes to gluten. But
even even a clean diet, because I've stayed
away from gluten this, the minute I was
diagnosed. I might get it by accident occasionally
because it's a micro
thing that happens just in kitchens.
But I'm talking about the fruits and vegetables,
the
thing, yogurt, all those things.
Yes, it is everything, unfortunately
in our food system. And it is a
pretty eye opening when you look at the
ingredients of the food that's sold here versus
the food that's sold in Europe. Like
they put poisons and toxins in our food
here that they don't allow in Europe. So
they alter the ingredients and so they can
sell it over there. Like,
what is going on? So but it is
pretty crazy, our food system here. It's sometimes
heartbreaking.
Yeah.
Dangerous. It's dangerous to eat. Tell people how
they can find you. They can find me
in two places. I wrote a book called
The Thyroid Transformation Blueprint,
and they can get that on Amazon.
Or I have a Facebook group called Happy,
Healthy, and
Lean. At the moment, I think we're at
27,000
ladies in that group, and it's such a
great support system. And that's where I typically
do a monthly master class, and I do
thyroid Thursday. So I deliver loads of content
there. Is it just is that an all
female group? Or is Yep. It is an
all female group. Do you have a male
oriented one as well? No. Not at this
time. I really for the moment,
I am just focusing on women. Do you
have a you have a website, yes, aside
from that group? I have a practice website.
The the best way to get to me
is is happy, healthy, and lean on Facebook.
Okay. Perfect.
Thank you so much for all of this
information.
You're welcome. You're welcome. It's been a pleasure.
I really appreciate your time. I, thank you,
doctor Stone. I really appreciate it. Thank you
for listening, everyone.
I it's get healthy, be healthy, stay well.
Love your body, love the food you put
in them into your mouth, all the good
things. Thank you for being in the world
and helping people.
Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. I really
appreciate that of you and,
more power to you and I wish you
you already have great success, but
I'm just really glad that you're out there
doing what you do. So You're welcome. Thank
you for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Bye bye. Bye.
Rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human on
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