104. Endometriosis & Oral Health

In this episode of BrushWithBritt, I sit down with fellow dental hygienist Dana Paladino to discuss her personal journey with endometriosis, a condition that affects millions yet is often misunderstood and frequently overlooked.

She shares the challenges of living with chronic pain, navigating the healthcare system, and balancing the demands of a clinical career while managing symptoms that can impact every aspect of daily life. Together, we explore how endometriosis can influence overall well-being, workplace wellness, and the empathy we bring to our operatories.

Whether you're a dental professional living with a chronic health condition, caring for patients who may be struggling silently, or simply looking to better understand the connection between systemic and oral health, this conversation offers valuable insight, education, and perspective.

Join us as we discuss advocacy, awareness, and what every dental professional should know about supporting patients—and colleagues—affected by endometriosis.

🎙️ Key Topics Discussed:

•  What endometriosis is and common symptoms 
•  The diagnostic journey and barriers to care 
•  Managing symptoms while working in dentistry 
•  The impact of chronic inflammation and systemic health on daily life 
•  Building empathy for patients with chronic conditions 
•  Practical considerations for dental professionals 

Disclaimer: This podcast episode is intended for educational and informational purposes only and reflects the personal experiences and opinions of the host and guest. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease and should not be considered medical, dental, or professional advice. Listeners should consult their own healthcare providers regarding any medical concerns, diagnoses, or treatment decisions. Any discussion of oral-systemic health connections is meant to provide general information and should not replace individualized care recommendations from qualified healthcare professionals.

Dana Paladino is the owner of Dental Hygiene Basics, an educational consulting company dedicated to helping students get into and succeed in dental hygiene school. Through her business, Dana aims to award $100,000 in dental hygiene scholarships by 2035. She is also the host of the Dental Hygiene Basics Podcast, an NBDHE tutor, ADEX examiner, StudentRDH faculty member, and public health hygienist. Both personally and professionally, she is committed to building a strong, supportive community where current and future dental hygienists uplift one another and advance the profession together.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hey Bristles, welcome back to the Brush with Brit Podcast where we make prevention actually make sense. Dana, welcome to the Brush with Brit Podcast. Thank you so much for being here today. Yeah, thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I'm happy to have you here. I know that we just recorded your podcast the other day and you brought this topic up. And I think there's going to be a lot of people that can relate and take away some information from today's episode. And yeah, I would love for you to kind of share your story if you want and just share some of the things that you mentioned to me the other day.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So my name is Dana Paladino. I'm a dental hygienist. I've been a hygienist for 10 years. I own Dental Hygiene Basics, which is basically a company that helps students get into and succeed in hygiene school. And one thing that kind of brought me to this life of an entrepreneur was partially because of my passions with helping students and education, but also because of something I've been dealing with for many, many years. I would say at least 20 years, maybe more. And that is endometriosis. Now, I did not know that I had endometriosis. I actually just got the diagnosis this summer. So, you know, when we're recording this, it's only been a few months since I actually got the formal diagnosis. And it actually took, you know, over probably 20 years, the first time I saw the first doctor to where I actually got the word endometriosis as a formal diagnosis. So uh throughout that time, it was difficult practicing as a dental hygienist, struggling with the things that people with endometriosis have to deal with, um, which I know we're gonna get into symptoms and all of that as we go along. Uh, but it did make practicing clinically a challenge and it made my personal life a challenge. Um, it still is a challenge for me, but as we'll probably talk about, I uh ended up having a full hysterectomy at, well, I say full, it wasn't a full. They took out my uterus, but my ovaries, thankfully, they were able to save. But um that was at the age of 37 years old, so kind of young to make that choice. But I'm glad I did because I finally got the answers that I needed. And now I kind of can set a new path, you know, moving forward and learn more about this disease. And uh every time I experience something, I like to share it with others because if it took me 20 years to get diagnosed, I just think of all the people out there who are dealing with the same symptoms and don't know what's going on. So excited to share my journey and a little bit of knowledge on this disease.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

And thank you for sharing and being vulnerable and being open to sharing the information, just because I know that for some people it can be uncomfortable. And I think like as women, it's a really good thing to just be open and share information because, like you said, like it took so long for you to get diagnosed, and there are probably other people out there that are also um struggling. And for those of um for the people that aren't are listening and aren't familiar with endometriosis, um, can you just explain a little bit about what it is?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah, absolutely. So endometriosis is where you have endometrial-like, I'm gonna say like in parentheses, it's endometrial-like tissue growing outside of the uterus. So the endometrium is the lining of the uterus, and that's what thickens in preparation for pregnancy. Whenever we have a period, that's what's being shed, is the endometrium. And so this endometrial-like tissue is growing outside of the uterus where it should be. And the problem with that is that it can be found outside of the pelvic cavity. It's often found in the pelvic cavity. So it can be in your ovaries, your fallopian tubes, it can be um in your bowel and your bladder, uh, but they've also found it up in the lungs, the pleural spaces, thoracic cavity, and um, in rare cases, even in the brain. So they actually, I've heard this described as a benign cancer because the lesions can spread. They don't just stay in the pelvic cavity. And I think that's one thing that a lot of people don't understand about endometriosis. Um, as these lesions are growing, they can kind of infiltrate into tissues. So they can get deep into your bowels, deep into your bladder, um, of course, causing a lot of pain. And then they also can create scarring and adhesion. So these adhesions, the the difficult part with them is that they start to bind your organs together as well. Um, so just a little bit of personal what happened to me. Um, I ended up having a laparoscopic surgery. They saw these adhesions connecting my uterus to my left ovary and to my bowel. And uh, so they knew that I was, you know, they said you can have surgery, but during that laparoscopic surgery, they actually didn't see endometriosis. So we didn't know what was causing the scarring. And looking back on it now, I'm like, how did you not know? Like these are all the signs of endometriosis. It's just super strange. Um, but yeah, so that's basically in a nutshell what endometriosis is. Um, it's estrogen dependent, it's cyclical. So a lot of symptoms can happen on a cycle. Uh, they may get worse around ovulation or the menstrual cycle. Uh, but of course, some of the pain and things that come from the scarring and adhesions can be not just during that time. You know, you may a lot of people with endometriosis really suffer most days. Um, but yeah, so that's just a little bit about that. And uh it also can release its own estrogen as well. So many people who have endometriosis, they have an excess of estrogen, which leads to more symptoms uh that aren't always fun to deal with as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

What are some of those symptoms that maybe you experienced?

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, so for me, I mean, the hallmark sign, what people think of when they think of endometriosis, because most people think, oh, it's just a uterus problem, uh, but heavy periods. So that is one of the main signs and significant period pain and pelvic pain. Um, this isn't just your run-of-the-mill, like, I'm uncomfortable, bad period. These are passing out, vomiting, you know, like um I was taking four ibuprofen every three hours to manage the pain, which is not healthy for reasons. And that's why I ultimately I told my doctor, I said, I really want to have surgery. I said, Do I either burn a hole in my stomach lining taking all of this uh ibuprofen, or do I just get rid of the uterus? So um that's those are some of the kind of pelvic related symptoms. Uh, but also many people with endometriosis struggle with chronic pain in general, um, also significant fatigue, and then bowel ladder symptoms. Uh so urinary frequency, recurrent urinary tract infections, uh, you know, difficulty uh with bowel movements or bowel pain, um, pain during sex. And then there was one more I was gonna say, and I totally lost it. What was it? Um, oh, this one, um sciatic of pain. Uh so this is pain in the sciatic nerve. And so it's it tends to create this kind of shooting pain through the hip and down the leg. I checked every single box, and it still took me 20 years to get a diagnosis. But the problem is when, you know, I saw a urologist for my urinary issues, I saw a gastrologist for my GI issues, I saw um, you know, physical therapist for my sciatic issues, but no one pieced it all together that it was all related to one diagnosis.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

I can't imagine working as a dental hygienist with all of those things going on. How did you do that?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

It was really hard. I I don't want to get emotional, but this is the first time I've really kind of shared the story. But um, it was really hard. I mean, some days I felt like I was gaslighting myself, you know. Uh I don't know, I don't want to get too like deep in the weeds of like some of the things, but like just the levels of protection I had to wear for my heavy periods. Um, and and even still, you know, I I look back on it now and I'm like, I still had that hygienist mentality of I I'm gonna get through this patient and then I'll go to the restroom and deal with maybe whatever is happening. And uh and like I said, just all of the um, all of the ibuprofen that I had to take. And uh, you know, there was a time where I was prescribed opioids and I I couldn't take that obviously at work because you can't treat patients while you're on opioids. Um, but then that would really, I would only take them on the weekends and I would only allow myself to take one, and it would be to get one good night of sleep on my period. So um with that, you know, your sleep is affected, you have pain. Um, I would have hot flashes drenched in sweat. It was so wild. Uh, but really managing it for me at work looked like staying on a, you know, a regimen of taking ibuprofen um heating pads. So on my lunch break, I would like, you know, have a heating pad or I would go out to my car and I would lay down in the back seat and like take a nap and try and recover. And I I pretty much took a nap every single day uh when I work clinically in my car. So it's difficult. Um, yeah, it was really hard and you can't talk about it. I mean, you can, you should be able to. Um, but I never once called into work. It just thinking about all the pain I was going through, I'm like, I never once called into work. And uh I just think it's something to think about, being that we are in such a female dominated profession that if I'm going through this, and and we haven't really talked about even the amount of people that are going through this, but it's an estimated 10% of reproductive age women. I'll also say uh if you were female assigned at birth, so if you have uterus ovaries, um, the risk is there. And so they think about 10% of reproductive age women and girls uh have it. And they say 50 to 70% of those evaluated for chronic pelvic pain or infertility uh find endometriosis. So it's more prevalent just to kind of connect with diabetes, 11.6% of people have diabetes. So the numbers are very similar in that regard. Now, diabetes affects men and women. Endometriosis can actually occur in men too. It's just much more rare, uh, which is a whole nother like interesting, you know, thought process. How does that happen? But with that being said, um, yeah, it was very challenging. And I just think if I was going through that, I know someone else is going through that, or your patients are going through that. You know, for me, there have been times where I did actually cancel a dental hygiene appointment because of what I was experiencing. And I just told them I had an upset stomach. You know, how do you tell someone what's really going on uh when you're dealing with that? It's it's very hard. And so I think a lot of people leave these things off the medical history. They may no-show, you know, they may uh may be uncomfortable in the chair. So there's something known as central desensitization that people with chronic pain have, and it's where your pain response actually goes up over time. So I remember when I was younger, I had a very high pain tolerance. And I remember over time it felt like my pain tolerance was getting lower. And it was kind of frustrating because I was like, I deal with pain all the time. I should be able to tolerate this. Uh, but this central desensitization makes people with chronic pain, they become more responsive to pain. So they may not tell you, I have endometriosis, but you're touching them, and they're like, that hurts, that hurts, you know. So we just really don't always know what's going on behind the scenes. And I think it's a good idea to have a conversation about hormones and reproductive health with your uh patients.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

I can think back to like some of the medical history forms that I've seen. And I I think the good majority of them do not have that endometriosis listed on there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

If a patient, oh, sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead, go ahead. I was just gonna say if a patient has oral contraceptives on their medical history, I always ask them, why are you taking that? Because it could just be to prevent pregnancy, but nowadays it could be for endometriosis, PCOS. You know, there's so many different reasons why someone might be taking hormones. And uh it's a good, it's a good opportunity to ask that question if you see that on the health history.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

I know that you mentioned it took you quite some time to get diagnosed. What are some of the reasons why it takes so long?

SPEAKER_00 12:37

There's a few different reasons. One, I think, is because it hits on so many different systems, like the bowel, the bladder, pain, you know, uh pelvic pain. So you're going to all these different specialties and they aren't piecing together what it is. I think another reason, too, is there's not one hallmark test that really diagnoses you. The gold standard right now is surgery, uh laparoscopic surgery to explore. And in my case, that didn't even diagnose me. They didn't see it on the laparoscopic surgery. They didn't see it until they actually went in and were removing the tissue. So it's very challenging. Um, it's often missed on, you know, like uh ultrasound MRI, unless it's significant, um, or depending on the people who, if they've been trained to look for it and where to find it. And unfortunately, a lot of doctors really don't know or understand endometriosis and they don't have a lot of training on it. Even, even maybe in the gynecological world, I've seen a lot of gynecologists, and you know, I've probably seen six or seven. And yeah, and nobody, you know, I was the one that said, could it be endometriosis? No one else asked me all of these other questions. So I think that there is a lack of knowledge surrounding it, but we are seeing an increase in research and funding for research because it is an issue. Um, it affects fertility, which so many people are struggling with. So I really think we're gonna start to see a shift and people are gonna learn more about it. And uh I hope to encourage that shift a little bit in the dental world.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

In what ways does it affect uh infertility?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, so that's a really good question. I don't know the weeds on it, but it makes it more difficult to become pregnant. Uh, I think some of it is just how it infiltrates the tissues in general. Also, I think some of it is the effect on the hormones that we see, and then also the pain and the stress. Uh, when we are more stressed and inflamed and in pain, your body does not want to have a baby. You know, it's it's like protect the asset. It's like protect the body. Um, and it makes it much more difficult. Actually, some people have endometriosis and they don't even know they have it. They're symptom-free, which is the weird thing about endo. Some people have really severe symptoms and they may have one tiny patch of endo. And then another person could have it all over and they didn't even know they had it until they couldn't get pregnant. So a lot of times people don't even know they have it until infertility is an issue. So very interesting kind of just the nuances that go into the disease, but it definitely does have an impact on fertility.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Are there any like oral manifestations?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

In terms of oral manifestations, I would say directly, no. Um, you know, everything nowadays in research is like there's an association. And we have to be very careful with associations because you could say people with brown hair are more likely to have endometriosis, right? That could be a very like that could be true. Um, but it's based on, you know, who we're looking at, all these things. Um, but when it comes to connections between, you know, maybe periodontal disease and endometriosis, they both trigger inflammatory pathways and they both have similar mechanisms. Actually, it's it's really funny. If you think about endometriosis, really the gold standard for management after trying like hormones, if that doesn't work, is excision surgery to go in and excise it. And I think, what do we do in the mouth? We go in and we excise the bacteria. We we know actually remove it. And that is how you get the person back to health. And it's the same. And the other thing that's really interesting, these uh biochemical mediators that trigger inflammation, which not to get too technical, but like interleukin six and interleukin eight, and you know, uh, what is it, tumor necrosis or tissue necrosis factor. No, tumor necrosis factor, I always say tissue, but TNF, alpha, all of those are prevalent in perio. And they're also prevalent in patients with endometriosis. So while they may not be connected, and there's no direct research saying if you have endo, you're gonna have perio. If you have perio, you're gonna have endo. They both are creating inflammation in the body. And our, as we know, our bodies are fully connected from top to bottom. So if you have one, it's I think it can directly make the other one worse, or vice versa. Um, because I'm a dental hygienist and I don't have period, I can't say, oh, I, you know, I started taking better care of my teeth and my symptoms improved. Uh, but inflammation comes from a lot of sources. It's not just biofilm, it's diet, it's hormones, it's sleep, you know, uh pain. And I even think about just life as a dental hygienist, you know, dehydration, you know, you're not drinking as much, maybe, or blood sugar management because you can't you're hungry, but you've got a patient, you can't stop to take a snack break. And all of those things put little tiny stresses on the body that increase inflammation. So while there's not a direct connection between the two, at least that's not been researched yet, there is, you know, I just think of it like an interweaving of inflammatory conditions, I'll say.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah. And I think too, just like seeing all the research behind all the connections that we keep seeing, you know, build and build and build, it just makes you wonder. You're like, there's probably some sort of something going on there.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yes, exactly, exactly. And uh, you know, that's where we have to be a little careful with research too, because you sent me an Instagram post, you know, that mentioned um, what was it? I I actually wrote it down. It was 57% of patients with endometriosis basically have an increased risk, a significantly increased risk for periodontitis. And I went, I looked it up. It is an association study. So again, it was women who self-reported they had endo, and then they also had gingivival diseases, either gingivitis or periodontitis. But again, we're seeing those connected pathways of inflammation. It makes sense to me that you you could see one or both, or that they're worse. Um, but we always have to kind of take some research with a grain of salt too.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah, absolutely. And what about treatment for this? Like, what are some of the options? I know you mentioned like some people will try birth control. Um, if you want to just go through some of those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

The first thing, you know, they kind of have to walk through a process. Uh, for me, by the time I got to my fifth doctor, I was like, let's get this uterus out. She's like, there's a process. I was like, I know there's a process. So there's um birth control, like you mentioned, different, and there's different types of hormonal birth controls. You know, there's more like there's estrogen progestion, there's progestin only. So there's different ones out there. Um, but then there's also drugs that can help just with pain. So opioids, which is not ideal because of the opioid addiction. Um, there are certain medications that are designed to help decrease bleeding. Um, and so they'll usually run you through these different medications. There are some newer ones on the market, aromatase inhibitors that um I think some people are seeing, you know, promising results with to help manage it. Um, but then beyond that, it's excision surgery. So removing the actual tissue and uh, you know, taking away that inflammation. There's always downsides to surgery because you get scarring and you know, you have the healing and the downtime. Uh, so they want to make sure that you roll through that process with start trying the medications first and kind of failing out of medication before you go down the surgery route.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, I feel like any type of surgery always makes me like, gives me the chills, thinking like, oh, you know, it's a lot. But um, it's good to know that there are options. And I mean, are there any like myths or misconceptions about endometriosis that you would wish more people understood?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

I think for me, most people think it's related just to periods, and they think, oh, you just have bad periods. I wish it was just a bad period. I probably could have gotten through that way better, right? So um I think just factoring in the other aspects that, you know, chronic pain, significant fatigue, just feeling very, very tired. Um, those, those other aspects, the bowel, the bladder pain that we kind of touched on. Um, I was trying to think what else, uh, other myths. It can affect men, which is kind of what we talked about earlier, which is unusual. It's more rare. And then um, sorry, I had a little list of things I wrote down and now it just disappeared. Oh, okay. Um, if your periods aren't painful, you can't have endo. And that's not true because people can have endometriosis without symptoms. They usually just discover it when they end up trying to get pregnant. Um, this is actually a good one. Hysterectomy cures it. Uh so a lot of people think they're like, oh, you had endometriosis, and now that you've had a hysterectomy, like your life is amazing. I'm like, my life is a lot better now that I've had the hysterectomy, but it's not a cure because those lesions can grow outside of the pelvis, right? And uh, if there's even a tiny dot left somewhere, it could lead to consistent pain in that region. So a lot of people who have endometriosis surgery, they end up going in for multiple excision surgeries. Like it's kind of like as As you find more, I guess. Um, I'm kind of hoping fingers crossed, I don't have to experience that. But yeah, I do feel significantly better. I mean, I really do, I feel like I'm starting my life over. It's very interesting to be like, like, what? I have energy and I have, you know, um, but I still do have pain and I have, you know, some other things going on, but uh especially because it was connected to the bowel. So there's been healing related to that. But um, I I'm very positive for where things will go in the future.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Oh my gosh, it makes me emotional. It makes me feel like I'm well, obviously, like I'm I'm very privileged in this in the symptoms that I have with, you know, my menstrual cycle and stuff like that. I just can't, I cannot imagine going through that. Like I get one little, I I got um, I have vertigo, and that started when I like turned like 30. And that little, you know, just that alone is a lot, you know. So I can't imagine going through all this pain, seeing patients. Like, it just seems so difficult to manage.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah. And there's, I I think we were gonna talk a little bit about this. There's a lot of psychological distress that goes into it. Um, thankfully, I have a very positive mindset, but you start to see the dark and twisty thoughts when you're in pain all the time. You know, you're like, am I gonna be like this forever? Like, is it even worth trying to eat healthy because or, you know, or to exercise? Like I'd exercise for a week. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm back on exercising. And then I'd be in pain or, you know, having all these symptoms. I'm like, it was like I couldn't get a foothold on getting healthy, you know, and that was really uh took a real toll on my mental health as well. And that's one thing that a lot of endometriosis, endometriosis patients have is um anxiety, depression, psychological distress, because this was actually very interesting. I saw this on somewhere online, but someone said they were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but they had endometriosis. And it was because it's some of the symptoms are cyclical. You have good days and you have bad days. Um, you know, and they tend to be worse around your cycle. And so it's hard if you're not tracking those things to kind of see what what where does this lie, what's happening, why does it happen on some days more than others? Um, a lot of things that go into it, but it is a struggle. Um, but you know what? We keep moving forward, right? Um that's all you can do.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah, we we do. Um, you if there are people out there that think like maybe they might have this, like knowing all the things that you know now, what would you recommend them do as far as like going about that process of trying to figure out if they have endometriosis?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Great question. Honestly, the biggest lesson I've learned through all of this is that you have to advocate for yourself, especially as a female in the world of healthcare. It's frustrating. Um if you heard yourself in my story at all, and let's just say you think, because if you're anything like me, you're downplaying your symptoms. You may not realize it right now, but my symptoms continue to progress and progress and progress until they were staring me in the eye to the point where I was like, I get rid of like literally take my uterus. Like, I don't care, I don't need it anymore. And everyone's like, Are you sure you're 37, you don't have kids? Like, is this the right decision for you? I could not fathom one more day dealing with that. And so, but it didn't start there. You know what I mean? It it took time to get to that point, but I started having these symptoms, you know, when I was in my early teens. And and it through, if you're going to see all these different doctors, or if you're like, today my stomach hurts, tomorrow my, you know, my hip hurts, you know, the next day I have a heavy period, then I'm throwing up and vomiting. I have cramps, you know. If you see it progressing, especially over time, it's affecting more systems. Again, if you hear yourself in my story, I really want you to consider it could be endometriosis and you have to advocate for yourself. Um, the best thing I did was, I mean, I searched endometriosis, endometriosis doctors, right? And I found an OBGYN who specializes in the robotic surgery and all that. She actually couldn't do my surgery in the long run because um, because of how it was attached to my bowel. I had to have an oncologist surgeon remove it. So a cancer surgeon had to remove it. That's how like wild it was in my body. Yeah. But um look up those resources, even if you have to travel somewhere uh to the next big city to find somebody. And there's lots of good resources on social media now, you know, pe groups of people who are really putting this kind of information out there. But like there's an endometriosis society. Um, you know, look up doctors that know how to do excision surgery and interview your doctors, you know, and if they're not the right fit for you, it's okay. It's not on them. That's just not their specialty. But I I would say uh don't stop until you get answers. Uh that's, I mean, it took me 20 years to get an answer. And now I'm like ready, I can finally move beyond that. But it took so long. And that's why I say you have to really advocate for yourself and you know, don't be, don't be shy to say, well, this is what I read about this, and this is what I've seen here. Could that be what it is? Uh, because they're so busy. We know doctors are so busy, and and if they don't see the links between all of your symptoms, it's very easy to miss what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Just kind of a little bit of a side note, did you ever use anything like to track like an aura ring or like natural cycles or anything like that for your mental cycle?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

So I never wore an aura ring or anything like that, but I did. I mean, I'm you probably know or recognize in me, like type AIDS and all hygienists. Uh, I do, I track a lot of stuff, you know, like my symptoms related to this and that. And doing that was very helpful because I recognized when I would get a migraine, I'd recognize when like my sciatica might be worse. I'd recognize when I was ovulating and what that would feel like. I would have ovulation pain. And I knew that during ovulation I was gonna have spotting. And then I knew that usually my period would start on this day, but I would maybe my period might last for nine or 10 days, and then I could kind of chart which ones I knew would be the heaviest, right? And so I really planned my life around my menstrual cycle, like when I was going on vacation. Um, sometimes, like if there was a volunteer event, I'd be like really hesitant to, you know, sign up for it. So I do think tracking your cycle, some people refer to it as the fifth vital sign. There's some really good books out there. Um, the period repair manual, highly recommend if you're wherever you are, even if you're um getting like perimenopause, it's a great book to read. Uh, great to read if you're young and you're wanting to kind of cultivate like healthy hormone patterns. Um, I think there is a book, The Fifth Vital Sign. I haven't read it yet, but I've I've heard about it. Um, and that's where I kind of heard that process that they say the period is the fifth vital sign because it gives you so many clues into if your hormones are working the way they're supposed to. Um, the hormones, it's it's a small amount that's released, right? It's not a very much, but if they're off by just a little bit, they're supposed to work in tandem. And if anything gets a little bit off, um it can show up in a big way in your body. So I think it's it's good for people to know more, for women, especially to know more about their menstrual cycle. So, yes, definitely highly uh a big fan of tracking.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Yeah, I agree. I have never been more familiar with my cycle than I am now. And it was honestly just like it used to just be like something that, you know, I was going through and I had no clue like what was happening. It's just like it's part of life. But now it's like I wear an aura ring, I use natural cycles, like I am so on top of tracking. And it has just really helped me to understand what's going on, what phase I'm in, what hormones are are going on. Like it's a lot. And I just didn't have that knowledge like growing up. And so I feel like if we can encourage young women to do it early and kind of like get a hold of that, it can really help you just understand what's happening to your body. Because we go through a lot as women.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

We do. I could not agree more. And, you know, when you start to learn more about it, the more interesting it becomes, which is obviously why I'm all like fired up right now. I'm like, this is so interesting to me. Uh, because we don't, we do there's so much we don't know about our own bodies and we're the ones experiencing them. And uh, how do you know what's normal if you don't know, or how do you know what's abnormal if you don't know what's normal for you, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yeah, a hundred percent. Like I the more that I've been like digging into it, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. Like my brain releases what? And like it does this. Like, how is this possible?

SPEAKER_00 30:44

It does this every month. Yeah, I know. And it's a very um, your menstrual cycle is an exhaustive process. It's very, uh, very tiring for your body. It requires a lot of energy. Um, and yeah, it's it's pretty well, it's also an inflammatory process as well. Like there's inflammation involved in breaking down your uterus lining to get rid of it each month.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I know I feel like since I'm I'm almost gonna be what, like 34. And I honestly I feel like my gums have been like been, this is so random. Like they've been becoming more sensitive, like around when my mental cycle, and I don't know if they're connected, but the past few months, I'm like, oh, I noticed like this spot. And then like next thing you know, I'm like, what the heck is that related?

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Oh, it is, yeah, yeah. I bet it is too. Yeah, you've probably had experiences. I mean, I've had patients who were trying to conceive, and then they come in and their gums are all red, and you're like, I'm not saying you're pregnant, but I'm just saying when you leave here, just take a test for me, okay?

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Yeah, they're like, I got a hunch. I got a hunch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

And even like when people switch hormones or switch um, you know, oral contraceptives, and we do we see that change. And uh, I had a patient who she she kept coming in, she's like, This one air is bothering me. It's bothering me to the point where my doctor did a biopsy on it and it just came back as like I think it's just regular tissue. And I was like, Does it bother you all the time? And she's like, I don't know. I'm like, do you have hormone issues? She's like, Yeah, I can't remember because this was probably 10 years ago. Um, and I was like, I think you should start tracking it. It would only, it would start bleeding at certain times. It didn't bleed all the time. And uh, I was like, this has to be hormone related. You know, it's just such a wild thing. But no, yours sounds like like hormone if that's what you notice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah, which is weird because then you're like, okay, have I always experienced this or is this different now that you know I'm getting a little bit older? I don't know. It's just so interesting. The more you pay attention to your body and the more in tune you are with your body, you notice all the little things. And I I'm honestly, I love it. I love tracking all my stuff, and it has helped me just like feel healthier. I also do the same thing like with my sleep too. I I'm adamant about tracking my sleep because I just know how important that is and for brain health and all of that. So yeah, it's it's it's awesome. Um, do you have any last things that you would like to share about endometriosis before we end today's episode?

SPEAKER_00 33:14

I think that really wraps it up. You know, if you're experiencing anything like this and you just need someone to talk to, you can always message me. Um, I'm on Instagram, TikTok, all the socials at Dental Hygiene Basics. Um, you can email me info at dentalhygienebasics.com. Happy to just be a listening ear because I know I felt like I was going through it alone for a really long time. I didn't share it with anyone else. My coworkers didn't know what was going on. Really, I would say the only people that really knew were my husband and my sister. Like those are the only people I ever talked to about. It was really hard. So yeah, if you just need a listening ear or if you just have questions about maybe you've gone through it, you want to know about the hysterectomy process and how that's going, uh, please feel free to reach out. Happy to share and help in any way I can.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

And thank you again for being so open and honest about your experience. It will, you know, only help more people, not only with ourselves, but also like with our patient care. So I just appreciate you being so honest and open about it. Absolutely. Thank you for giving me a space to share my story. I really appreciate that. All right, everybody, until next time, this is the Brush with Brit Podcast.