 Hey everyone, this is Dr. Ruscio. Today I'm here with Daphne, who's had some good results with the Healthy Gut Healthy Ute Protocol, and she was nice enough to share her story with us. So Daphne, thanks for being here. Of course. And I know Daphne pretty well. Daphne works in the Ruscio Institute with me, and so we talk like every week, and I probably haunt you with text and email and just permeate into your dreams probably at this point. That's high communication. But one of the things that you had said to me I thought was kind of funny, which was you were having some of your symptoms creep on. And one of the things that we talk about, people have all different types of symptoms, and we always encourage them to go through the book protocol because the book protocol can help with so many different symptoms. And you kind of called yourself out. You said, well, should I just, you know, am I different or do I fit into that same mold of all these different symptoms that can be helped by the book protocol? Or should I, you know, should I just go through it? And you did and you had some good results, which is great, especially because, you know, your work is near and dear to my heart. But can you tell people a little bit about, you know, what led up? Because you were really, I mean, you are generally really healthy. And I know you crossfit. And so you're at a pretty high level of physical performance. But all of a sudden, symptoms started occurring. And then I know you were saying you went to your conventional doctor. You didn't like it. So give us some of the background. Sure. Yeah. So I think it's important to point out, because I, you know, I think that there's two types of people, right? There's people who kind of have maybe had longstanding issues or maybe have issues often. And I'm not that person. So I fit into that kind of other mold. And I know, because I'm working in your space, I see a lot of people who are like, Hey, I've always been healthy. I do all the right things. And I am that person, you know, I have I'm diagnosed with celiac. I'm diagnosed with IBS been completely under control for years. Like I would consider myself. I don't even consider myself to really have those things because I don't have symptoms. And then it was really just a slow progression of those symptoms kind of creeping back. You know, having a lot of discomfort after eating, I'd wake up in the middle of the night after eating what I would normally eat and just be super, super sick, bloating and brain fog and tired and up and down in my moods. And just really not, I mean, just not normal for me at all. And when it kept happening and more often, so it was, you know, it would happen once and then I'd have a few weeks go by and it happened again. But then that gap started to get smaller and smaller. And I of course started kind of freaking out. And instead of going straight to the gut doctor expert, which it was I have at my at my fingertips, I went to the conventional doctor, which was obviously really smart. And you know, and they, you know, of course, they didn't tell me exactly what I wanted to hear. And they don't think that they really took into consideration all of the factors that I know to be important in functional and integrative medicine. So that didn't really get me anywhere. And that's when I went to you and I was like, Hey, I don't want to read the entire book start to finish, but like tell me what I can do. And I feel like I'm eating all the right things. And I sleep well and all of that. And I think the end of the day, one, it obviously you should read the whole book, anyone who's watching this because it's it's that helpful. But if you feel like you're already doing a lot of those steps, and you've already incorporated them into your life, the protocol itself pretty much changed my life, which is I never thought I would say because I already considered myself to be really healthy. But, you know, at the end of the day, I don't think it matters. I mean, you know, having those types of symptoms, I don't think it matters if you're doing all the right things sometimes because I think to your, you know, and obviously you're the expert here, but I was just out of line, you know, I think my my gut wasn't as healthy as I thought it was. And it needed help, it needed support. And it wasn't going to just happen because I ate a lot of broccoli or slept eight hours, you know what I mean? So some people, the lot of broccoli actually isn't a good maneuver for them. For some people, the healthy diet, and that's what's so paradoxical about the low FODMAP diet. Right, exactly. And it's one of those things too. I mean, that's why I think the rest of the book is so important, because there's certain things that are super healthy that I can't eat. I just I can't eat them and I avoid them. And everyone needs to kind of know and get a feel for what's good for them. But, you know, I just, I wasn't really great about taking my probiotics. And I think that in terms of like my adrenals, I mean, I crossfit competitively seven days a week, I teach Zumba five times a week, I do a lot of fitness, and I think just wasn't taking care of myself the way that I needed to. So it was funny, because when I started doing that night, you know, I went on the store that I manage with you. And I was like, I'm gonna buy all the supplements. And I was really excited to do it because I'd never really been on this side of it before. And I can honestly say, completely unbiased from who I am to you, I felt different within 24 hours, like 24 hours of starting a protocol two days in, I was like, Oh, my I was screaming it from the rooftops, like I told my whole family, I told my husband, I told my friends, I'm like, you guys need to order these supplements yesterday. I mean, they just completely changed how I felt. And the thing is, and I know that this is something you've said before is you don't always know how sick you are until you're better. So I'm over here thinking like, I'm so healthy, I feel good, I'm you know, I do this, I do all the right things. Oh my gosh, my gut was a mess, you know, so all of a sudden, all my symptoms went away. I mean, and really it was within days. I felt like I was eating better and feeling better after eating, sleeping better. My mind like the focus stuff was, there's just no comparison. So like, hid my vitamins from everybody. And I was like, don't touch these. That's that's a big one that I think people don't often appreciate is the impact that your gut has on your cognition and your mood, right? How sharp you are, how fast you process, how quickly you can recall important information or certain vocabulary words, and just your, your mental, your mentality and your vigor, people are just brighter. And they're turned up oftentimes when you improve their gut health. I felt at this gonna sound super cheesy, but legitimately felt like the world looked a little bit different to me. Like I my mood and I'm already a pretty positive outgoing person. But my mood was, I mean, I felt like I was high on something. It was, I still do. I mean, I feel amazing. And just with the work that we do, I mean, everything I felt like it was just easier to remember things, easier to recall things like more creative. I mean, it's how do you know, if you're a working person or not, even if you know, your stay at home mom, I don't think it really matters. You have to be sharp to be able to get through your day. So happy and engaged. Yeah, absolutely. My husband's happier than I'm happy. Crazy person. So where did you launch into the protocol? Because I know you're already on on paleo. And I think you were taking probiotics. So, you know, what were kind of some of the key things that you change just to give people some more particulars in terms of what really are for you? Sure. So one, all probiotics are not created equally. And I know that you would agree with that. I don't think that I was, I think I just did that thing where I was like, let me just pop these off the shelf and take them. I don't think I really looked into like what I was taking. I, which is silly for me considering the space that I work in. But, you know, again, I was healthy. So I was like, these will do the trick. So one, I feel like if you're not taking the right kind of probiotic, you know, that's a huge deal. The other thing is I wasn't take, I mean, a lot of the supplements in the protocol for the adrenal stuff, the digestive enzymes, you know, I would I'd never taken any of that before. And I think, you know, to your point, it's not something that I have to take for the rest of my life, but I needed to give my body that reset, you know, and to help it get back to where it needed to be. So I think the combination of those things. And again, I, you know, I, the diet stuff for me is pretty much always been 100%. I'm pretty strict about that. The exercise and the sleep for me sleep is a huge deal too. So between all of those things, I felt like the the protocol, the combination and what the research that you've done to be able to say, Hey, here, do this. That was the missing piece for me. And it was really incredible. And so your mental cognition got or your mood mainly got brighter. And your recall and all GI symptoms went away. There was something else that you had said, which was you were also at the same time coming off birth control and really kind of concerned about that. And you asked me, is it normal for improving one's gut health to improve someone's female hormones? And I said, Absolutely. And that's why there's a breakout section about that in the book. So do you want to talk a little bit about that? Yes, absolutely. So a little bit of background. I started birth control almost seven years ago. I was on the lowest dose of hormones because just, you know, in relation to the lifestyle I lead, I didn't feel good about taking it, but felt like I needed to take it. And I never missed a day. So seven years straight of taking hormones every day. And, you know, it is one of those things that it doesn't happen overnight. And it was over a really long period of time where I didn't realize how it was affecting my mood and how it was affecting really, I think, my health overall. And when I decided to get off of birth control, which I would have done sooner, had I not been so worried about it. And this is something that I know I see left and right on Instagram, social media. You know, a lot of women are talking about this now because hormones are a big deal. People are scared to get off of their birth control and it's understandable. I was terrified the stuff I had read. I was confident that I was going to experience all kinds of miserable things. You know, pain, really crazy periods, trouble sleeping, the mood swings, anxiety, depression. I mean, all of these things that I have never really had to experience, I was really scared, really, really scared. So luckily, I mean, it's almost a blessing that all of my GI symptoms kind of happened right at the time that I was going to get off my birth control. Because I was on the protocol for, I mean, really a month before I got officially stopped taking the pill. And it's so ironic and I, you know, I feel very fortunate that this happened to me and that I had a good experience. And this is, I think, important for people to read. Any woman who's going to get off their birth control, that the gut is correlated to your hormones. So I had a whole month of doing this amazing protocol. I felt like a million bucks and I was like, you know, like, I'm gonna get off my birth control and I'm gonna feel so good. And I got off my birth control and I felt even better. I mean, I didn't have one symptom, not even one. I didn't get crazy. I slept just as great. I know no symptoms. I mean everything was so much better than before. I got off of it and I was like astounded. And I, you know, I was talking to my mom about it and I was like super nervous about it and she, she was like, yeah, you're probably gonna have this and you're probably gonna feel that. My OBGYN, it's like, well, there's no really avoiding it. Like, you're gonna just, you know, this is what you're gonna feel. And I'm a million bucks, like a million bucks. And I'm like, yes, this is awesome. So I mean, I just, I can't emphasize enough to any woman, whether it's been a year or 10 years. I mean, I have girlfriends that have been on it for 10 plus years who won't get off because of that reason. They're scared. This, you have to take care of your gut first. And I, it's just such a blessing the way that it all worked out for me. Yeah. And, you know, we're, we're developing some educational materials right now to talk about this more because, you know, it does appear that this is underserved in kind of like the female health community. And I have this conversation at least a few times a week with women essentially saying you have gut symptoms, you have female hormone symptoms, those tend to occur together. Excuse me. And the good news is, is that when we support those, they tend to respond really well together. And it's, it's gut brain and it's gut hormone, right? You know, what, what, what are we typically talking about when a woman is describing PMS? So we, we see this manifestation of, of gut brain and, and how these hormones affect your brain. And then we also see the ability of gut bacteria to help detoxify female hormones. So I think it's actually those two mechanisms where the gut affects the brain directly. The gut affects the female hormones in terms of their detoxification. And then thirdly, if someone's gut isn't healthy, that's stressful to their body internally. And stress will perturb and imbalance hormones. And so we can get rid of this internal stress response. Just like you said, you need enough sleep. Well, not enough sleep is a stressor. And an inflamed gut is also a stressor. So if we can get rid of as many internal stressors as possible, we get rid of this heavy load in the system that tends to lead to eschewing of the female hormones. Absolutely. I believe it. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Was there anything else you want to share with people? Um, I would just say if I had one thing to add, and I actually recently had a doctor appointment and we brought up something about probiotics in my, you know, while I love my doctor for a lot of things, he's a mainstream MD. He actually said to me, he goes, I don't believe in probiotics. You know, I don't, I don't think that they're like a real thing. And I'm like, and, you know, of course, I don't, it doesn't matter to me because I have my own, I'm doing my own thing here. But I would encourage people because I know that that's a huge thing that we hear in the functional integrative space is that the mainstream side doesn't support necessarily what people are trying to do. And I would just say, one, if you haven't read the book, obviously read the book and try it for yourself because at the end of the day, your doctor isn't you. So, you know, if you can do something that's going to help alleviate symptoms or make you feel better, I think it's worth it. And the book is, you know, even if every single symptom doesn't go away, there's so much to be learned about your gut and how it affects everything really for the rest of your life. So, the reading the book is an investment for your health forever. It's not about right this second alone. And I think, too, how you can help your family be healthy. So, I would just say don't be frustrated by those things, but definitely start with the book. Yeah, I think that's a good point, which is, can I tell people it's good to have a doctor on each side of the fence. Have your conventional doctor, make sure you have the conventional diseases checked off and you're going through your follow-ups there. And they typically do that job well. And then on the other side of the fence, you want an integrative doctor who's familiar with things like probiotics and what the research says and how to use those. You know, you don't necessarily come to our office or the book protocol because you want a screening for colorectal cancer, right? Right. The conventional doctor will do, we should do, and, you know, if the appropriate flags are there, and that's great. But just like we wouldn't want the integrative doctor to do everything, I don't think it's fair to ask a conventional doctor to do everything. So they have their thing that they do. That's all fine and good, but it's certainly not going to be everything. So if you could have each side at the same time, like you do, I think that's a really nice combination. So, agreed. And I'm really happy that you're feeling better and thank you for kind of sharing with us. Of course. I hope it helps somebody. Yeah, I think it will. I think it will. Thank you again, Stephanie. Great. Thanks.