Dr. Martha Reid Podcast

Today, I would like to talk to you about something called the DRA. Not at all to be confused with DRE. So, a DRA is a diastasis rectus abdominis, versus the DRE, which is a digital rectal exam. Completely different things. So a DRA – diastasis rectus abdominis – this is something that occurs for human beings that go through a pregnancy.

So today, a patient came into my practice and asked me a question about bladder health. This particular patient identifies as a woman and uses the pronoun she and her. And so she said to me, I think I just have a really small bladder. I’ve always thought that’s normal for me, but it kind of bugs me. Is it a problem?

We were doing a pelvic exam, which for many of you, you may know of it as the pap test. And it’s just a standard medical procedure to assess the health of the cervix and to ensure that we’re preventing deleterious conditions like cervical cancer. So this particular patient of mine had the question: why do I bleed after vaginal intercourse? This has always happened and I don’t understand why. Can you tell me if it’s normal? Is there anything you can see while doing my pelvic exam that might give hints if this is OK or not?

I had a conversation yesterday with one of my young patients, (and in this case, young… I mean young). Young, like mid twenties. And this patient came in complaining of heartburn and reflux. She’s not the first person in this age category that I have met that has dealt with this. And I started to think like, oh, my goodness gracious! How many people your age are struggling with heartburn and reflux? It can be so debilitating.

The other day I had a patient of mine come in, who I’ve been working with for years, and years, and years ( I’m just so grateful for her presence in my practice). And what she brought to my table was fertility. And I don’t think she’s the only woman out there struggling with fertility concerns.
She’s like, “Well, I’m a night owl, and I get most of my juice and creative activity at night. So I can, like, get really lit up and get so much done at night. And I love it. And so I go to bed at around three or four.”

So, I was going over some blood work with one of my patients yesterday afternoon and, you know, young woman (in this case, young being in her mid thirties) and this young woman… we were going over her blood work and I noticed that her iron was low. And she said, “oh, yeah, yeah. But that’s totally normal for me. I’ve always had low iron.”.

So the question this episode is going to answer has less to do with health per say, and a little more to do with the foundations of my clinic. So, a patient asked me earlier this week, they said, “Hey, Dr. Reid, I noticed on virtually everything you put out into the world, there are these three words written below: Passion, Inspiration, and Nourishment.”

So one of the things I see on a regular basis in my nathropathic practice is digestive concerns, all sorts of digestive concerns, bloating, gas, soft serve stool, I like to call it. It’s like mushy ice cream that’s just kind of melted, not properly formed. Constipation, full on diarrhoea, bloating, burping, a sense of heaviness and fullness, a sense of incomplete evacuation when we move our waste, I see all sorts of things.

So at the time of recording this episode, we are in cold, wet, rainy November here in Vancouver, and Wednesday night was a particularly brisk, rainy, wet night. The last patient of the day to visit the naturopathic clinic had a really great question: “How bad should my PMS be? Is what I’m dealing with normal? ls this just the way it is?”

So one of the questions I’d like to speak to is around probiotics. I get this a lot from my patient base: “Are probiotics even a thing? Do they even work in your clinical experience?”  Absolutely! Probiotics work, but you need the right probiotic for you at the right time, at the right dose and for the right condition that you’re trying to treat. Because you see, not all probiotics are the same. Not all of the strains in a probiotic are the same…

As I was leaving the clinic for lunch yesterday, I stepped out onto our porch. And for those who have you never been to our Vancouver Naturopathic Clinic, we are in this incredibly beautiful heritage style house in the West End of Vancouver. You step out onto the porch and there’s this lovely little picket fence and all of this greenery and wisteria vines, and it just feels like it belongs in a different time. Step forward a few feet and you’re in the bustle of Downtown Westend Vancouver in Davie Village.

Today, I got a call from a patient of mine saying “Doctor Reid, my periods are terrible. They always have been. I’m on the pill, which helps. But my PMS remains so horrendous that for at least a week out of every month, I want to quit my job, divorce my partner and move to the other side of the world. And none of those things are sustainable. And so what can I do?”

Today, I got a call from a patient of mine saying “Doctor Reid, my periods are terrible. They always have been. I’m on the pill, which helps. But my PMS remains so horrendous that for at least a week out of every month, I want to quit my job, divorce my partner and move to the other side of the world. And none of those things are sustainable. And so what can I do?”

One of my patients came the other day and said to me, “You know, Dr. Reid, I’m not feeling well at all. And I got a whole bunch of tests run and they’ve all come back completely normal. But I don’t feel normal and I don’t know what to do.” And I said, “Yeah, you know what? I totally I hear you, I hear you. And that’s a really difficult spot to be in knowing that what’s going on inside of our bodies doesn’t feel OK.”