[00:00:15] Amy: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the holistic health show. As always, I'm really excited to have you here with me today. And we have another fantastic guest episode . Today on the podcast, we are talking to Glenna James, and she is a fertility and pregnancy coach. She's also a holistic health practitioner.
[00:00:34] Amy: And today we're going to talk about hormonal health and how you can balance your hormones naturally. Glenna, thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:00:43] Glenna James: Thank you for having me.
[00:00:44] Amy: It's a really exciting topic and, you know, I think it's going to resonate with a lot of our listeners. Can you tell us, Glenna, a little bit about yourself?
[00:00:53] Glenna James: Yes. As with some health coaches and holistic health practitioners, your own journey starts that. So my own health issues and just having a really good GP at the time, be like, go see a holistic health coach. So I did, and and , he was giving me a little tidbits and I was running with it.
[00:01:09] Glenna James: So, I decided to get a master's in Complementary Integrated Health, and through that, it just made me fall in love with all things holistic health. And, it was already there, because I was already using herbs and all this at the time.
[00:01:23] Amy: It's really interesting. I love that you mentioned that your GP actually referred you to a holistic health [00:01:30] practitioner. You really don't hear of that very often. And I wish there was more of it. So that's, incredible just to start with that you didn't kind of have to start that journey on your own.
[00:01:39] Amy: You were really supported by your GP.
[00:01:41] Amy: Hopefully he inspires others to do the same and hopefully through the conversation that we have today will inspire others to do the same.
[00:01:47] Amy: So balancing, hormonal health and balancing hormones naturally, you don't hear a lot of talk about hormones, you know, outside of kind of women's friends groups or little chats about, you know, my hormones might be off.
[00:02:00] Amy: So can you explain a little bit about that?
[00:02:03] Glenna James: Yeah when it comes to a woman's menstrual cycle, you do have two primary hormones that affect your menstrual cycle. In the first half of it, which is your follicular phase, would be your estrogen. And that's from day one of bleeding. A lot of women think, your period is the end of a cycle. No, it's the beginning of a cycle.
[00:02:23] Glenna James: . It's the estrogen, your estrogen dominance during your molecular phase. Then you have ovulation and the hormone that does that is your LH, which and that goes up about 24 hours before you're going to ovulate.
[00:02:37] Glenna James: That's when you do an LH test. It says positive. It's like, oh, yay time to have And of course,
[00:02:43] Glenna James: if you're trying to have a baby, or sustain if you're not trying to have a baby, and then once ovulation happens, within that 24 to 48 hours, no one really knows, that egg only lasts for like 24 hours, so you can't determine when you're going to ovulate unless you have a push up done, but once [00:03:00] you ovulate, then within a day or so, your progesterone will start taking over, that's the next half of your hormones, which is for your luteal phase, A lot of women's luteal phases, some of them are very short.
[00:03:13] Glenna James: Supposed to have more than 10 days. About 11 to 16 is normal. If you have anything shorter than that, you don't have enough progesterone to continue a pregnancy. So early miscarriage can happen because of that. So those are the two primary forms.
[00:03:26] Amy: Okay.
[00:03:27] Amy: And so I guess then that kind of, you know, if you're not, if you're not getting those 10 days, is that why anyone who's taking IVF or going through IVF would then be given a progesterone supplement? Okay. Okay. Okay.
[00:03:39] Glenna James: lot of them. If you have issues with your literal phase or progesterone, they will then give you a, like you said, a progesterone shot or a pill to extend those progesterone phases
[00:03:53] Amy: enough to support a healthy pregnancy, a viable pregnancy. I mentioned, you know, you have supplements if you're taking IVF, which is all well and good, but you're saying we can do this naturally. Okay,
[00:04:07] Glenna James: are. supportive and what I mean by that is they are not estrogen or progesterone dependent, but they support the body's natural functions of estrogen and progesterone. There's many different tinctures and herbs that I think a couple companies I love personally make their own tinctures
[00:04:24] Glenna James: And they break it into phases. So it's like, take this for your estrogen and take this for your progesterone [00:04:30] because even estrogen dominance is an issue when you have too much estrogen.
[00:04:33] Glenna James: Even too much estrogen can affect your, what they like to say when you get it tested, how many eggs I have. There is a test you can test for that, that tests that hormone. But if you have too much estrogen, that can affect it same as well if you have too little estrogen affects that., and , women who test their own will know what their baseline is.
[00:04:54] Glenna James: Everybody's baseline is different, but they have an average. You should be within that average.
[00:04:59] Amy: so it's almost like You kind of have to be just right. You know, too much, too little. It's not going to support what you need to conceive or carry out a viable pregnancy,
[00:05:08] even birth control will harder to do if you're using the fertility awareness method for birth control, that's going to be off because you won't be able to predict it. There's a difference between fertility awareness and the rhythm method. Rhythm method does not work.
[00:05:22] Glenna James: That's just a calendar based app doing that.
[00:05:25] Amy: can you explain those? The rhythm method and the fertility based method, can you explain what each of those are?
[00:05:30] Glenna James: Yes. The rhythm method looks at a calendar. So the same thing your doctor's doing saying, . All women are 28 day cycles. So you ovulate on day 14. That's what the rhythm method is. The fertility awareness method is a personalized approach to your fertility signs. So when your basal body temperature goes up and down, when your cervical fluid changes, when your cervical position changes.
[00:05:53] Glenna James: , you look at that, if you're just doing basal body temperature, you cannot know when you ovulate because ovulation [00:06:00] cannot be predicted by basal body temperature. The only way to know you ovulated is by a progesterone spike on your chart. So it's an after effect,
[00:06:08] Glenna James: but if you check your cervical fluid with basal body temperature, cervical fluid will tell you when you're fertile, it will change from dry to gummy type of consistency, think of like glue, and then it will become like a lotion y thing, and then become like wet, like I mean, like eggshell wet.
[00:06:27] Glenna James: And that's when ovulation and then it will dry up again before you get a period and right around your period you should Have some cervical fluid or water some type of water because that's going to Indicate you're about to have your period and start the period
[00:06:41] Amy: It means that, you have to really be in tune with your own body. You have to be noticing all these changes. You know, you have to be noticing not only how you feel, but the secretions and things, you have to be paying attention to that.
[00:06:55] Amy: And then how are you noticing your progesterone spike? Is that only by a blood test or are there urine sticks for that as well? How, how do we go about that?
[00:07:03] Glenna James: Some companies offer urine tests, as a help to identify Your fertility window.
[00:07:12] Glenna James: To prevent a pregnancy, there's nothing wrong with taking an LH test because then you can be like, okay, I know I'm not in my six week window here, but this one says I'm positive. Oh my God I had sex yesterday. That's still within that 24 hour fertility window. My cervical [00:07:30] fluid is egg white, so, ooh, sperm can survive that.
[00:07:34] Glenna James: And in fertile quality cervical mucus, sperm can live for five days. If it's not, they're gonna die.
[00:07:41] Amy: With the herbs that you, you mentioned, we're taking these to balance hormones naturally. We're looking out for our cervical fluid and this and that. You're doing all this because you're trying to conceive.
[00:07:53] Amy: But also because you're not trying to conceive?
[00:07:55] Glenna James: Yes, this is a natural form of birth control.
[00:07:58] Glenna James: That's why testing your hormones is important. That
[00:08:01] Amy: Women who are interested in this, , they would see someone like yourself a holistic health coach in infertility and pregnancy and, you know, menstruation. And so you help guide them, you teach them essentially what it is they need to look out for, you provide them with the tools,
[00:08:16] Glenna James: yes. And they can also, if they're coming to me for pregnancy, then I guide them through that. We talk about the hormones. . You might have hormone issue based on what you're telling me about your menstrual cycle or you're coming off the birth control pill to get pregnant or being like, I don't want the birth control pill anymore.
[00:08:35] Glenna James: I want to do something else. Yes. Hormone testing is always important because it takes a while to regulate your cycle and have a natural cycle. And then if they get pregnant, then they go into my pregnancy program where it's a more holistic approach on pregnancy and helping them through understanding births.
[00:08:50] Amy: Excellent. , I want to just touch back to the herbs that you mentioned. You're, doing a blood test to check the hormone levels in the beginning? Is [00:09:00] that correct? And then you're, based on that woman and her hormone levels, you're recommending herbs.
[00:09:06] Glenna James: Tea or tinctures or supplements. Because a lot of women coming off the birth control pill have a lot of nutrition deficiencies. So we also are going to look at that within balancing the hormones as well.
[00:09:18] Amy: Are there other things that you have them do?
[00:09:20] Glenna James: Other than supplements, herbs are really the big thing, but also we're looking at diet. We're looking at your stress levels.
[00:09:29] But basic hormone testing I will do to look at their estrogen, their progesterone, their thyroid, . And testosterone is another thing women need to look at.
[00:09:38] Glenna James: Because a lot of women with high testosterone can have PCOS or other related issues. If your testosterone is too high,
[00:09:45] Amy: I wanted to ask what estrogen dependent is.
[00:09:49] Glenna James: Estrogen dominance. A lot of times, people who are estrogen dominant, it's the plastic, because they're getting too many phytoestrogens that mimic estrogen, like BPA does, like a lot of the hormones within our beef, a lot of steroids that women take. It's basically phytoestrogens, and what it is doing is it's going into the body, or xenoestrogens as they call it, it's going into the body and it's mimicking women's estrogen levels.
[00:10:18] Amy: So, aside from a test, how can a woman identify that maybe I'm estrogen dependent? Dominant.
[00:10:25] Glenna James: Yeah, some of 'em, you know, hormonal issues, P-M-S-P-M-D-D, [00:10:30] sometimes even like acne. I don't have any estrogen issues, but I know my skin that happens when I have my period because the estrogen goes up. So I know my level for that. With PCOS, it can be hair, it can be other issues, but mostly it's how you feel during your first half.
[00:10:47] Glenna James: A lot of PMS is estrogen dependent. Can have issues, but also irregularities in your cycle, like instead of a normal cycle can be 21 days to 35 days. But if you're in regular, like you're going 21 days, 1 31 the other, and it's not within that healthy ratio.
[00:11:09] Amy: And then I guess that's where the irregularity comes in. So by balancing this, you know, women would expect to have more regular periods. And could they expect the flow to be more consistent throughout each? Cycle or can they expect the symptoms to then not be so, you know, because sometimes you'll hear women say, Oh, my period this month was just, I was a mess.
[00:11:30] Amy: I was angry. I hated the world. I was in pain. And then the next one they don't notice. It's a surprise.
[00:11:36] Glenna James: Yeah, you do. And just a little note, your period is not supposed to be painful. And what I mean by painful is just mild discomforts, really bad pain. It's like, okay, then let's look at. Endometriosis, you know, it's like, let's, let's look at that side of it. And that's even sometimes not diagnosed. And if you have really, really, really bad painful periods, it's called manorrhea, [00:12:00] there's an actual term for it.
[00:12:01] Glenna James: And sometimes manorrhea has no cause.
[00:12:04] Glenna James: If it's pain, and it's not normal flow, and you're actually clotting more than the size of a border, and you're bleeding through a tampon, like I was, I, I can tell you right now, I was bleeding through a pad. In an hour, it was considered hemorrhaging, but never knew it was hemorrhaging.
[00:12:20] Glenna James: I was like, this is normal. No, it's not. When my hormones got regulated, and starting to do holistic stuff. I don't bleed like that either and it's like how how is that because of the hormone because of the eatings
[00:12:33] Glenna James:
[00:12:33] Glenna James: I always like to use my own examples because it is important. I think life experience, instead of just having a certification on the wall, it's very important.
[00:12:43] Amy: It's just remarkable, isn't it? I know quite a few women who , I've been trying to fall pregnants and have been for years and couldn't and quit their job and then Miraculously, you know, the stress was gone and so they felt pregnant Naturally, and we just don't realize the impacts that has on our physical health.
[00:13:02] Amy: You know, you see it in the mental health you see How you feel, you know how you feel, you know, you're you're getting outbursts or you're crying, you know You could you're so stressed physically you really often don't pay attention to how that impacts you You
[00:13:15] Amy: To quit your job, and life is stressful at times, and you can't help that, you know, you have to find ways to manage that. But to have life so stressful that you can't fall pregnant, it's a lot of work being a woman.
[00:13:27] Glenna James: Then they go for IVF and then they [00:13:30] realize I don't need IVF. They thousands of dollars for it. And that's why I like to consider myself the middle person in this. If I can save you thousands of dollars, they're going to do hormone I can do the same for you half the price.
[00:13:42] Glenna James: And then if you need IVF, you can go on with all that statistics about your stuff, about your hormones. And you can be like, okay, here's the medicines I need to take and all this. hopefully help IVF be more successful. It's not a guarantee, but you just did all that work that you would have had to pay thousands and thousands of
[00:14:02] Glenna James: dollars informed. You know, you just have the information for yourself. I think there's a lot to be said for that. I really advocate for being informed and asking the questions and having it explained to you until you understand it. You know, because a lot of times we're told something once, especially at the doctors, you know, it's we're told something really and it's kind of brushed to the side, but no, dig a little deeper and really get to the bottom of that and understand what it means for you.
[00:14:28] Amy: And I think that's a really important thing to do, which is difficult when you've only got 15 minute doctor appointments. But if you can find someone, you know, again, like yourself, a holistic health practitioner who can spend the time and getting to know that individual person. I think that's, there's a lot, there's a lot of value in that.
[00:14:44] Amy: I really thank you for doing that.
[00:14:46] Glenna James: And it's a personalized approach. Everything's personalized on my end. It even says it on my website. I. Go at this through a personalized lens. So if somebody comes to me and they don't need all that testing, they don't get all that testing.
[00:14:59] Glenna James: It's not part of [00:15:00] it's not put into my packages. But if you do, there it is.
[00:15:05] Glenna James: So, when you come to me, it's a standard rate. . And I think that's where holistic health coaching and, and alternative medicine and everything needs to go to a personalized patient center.
[00:15:15] Amy: Absolutely. Managing your health can be stressful, and to be poked and prodded unnecessarily, it's, it adds to that stress, so again, that's not even helpful, so to only get what you need, you know, to start exploring in areas that really resonate, or, are, are tuned to your needs.
[00:15:33] Amy: Symptoms rather than, kind of lining up factory style and everybody getting the same it just, it takes away some of the stress and it really makes you feel heard. I think, okay, they're actually listening to what I'm telling them about how I'm feeling and giving me help, you know, medical care based on what I'm saying.
[00:15:53] Amy: not just, ticking boxes.
[00:15:54] Glenna James: Oh yeah.
[00:15:55] Glenna James: I have built this community behind me that I can refer out that I trust and I know they're going to give you service
[00:16:01] Amy: How can people get in touch with you? You've mentioned a couple of times that you have a website. Would you mind sharing with us what that is?
[00:16:06] Glenna James: Yeah, theholisticglen. com and you can find me on facebook and instagram at theholisticglen by Glenna James
[00:16:13] Amy: Perfect. And what I'm going to do as well, for everyone that's listening, all of our resources will be linked in the show notes and I'd also encourage you, if you're listening on YouTube, you can always comment on the episodes.
[00:16:26] Amy: If you have any questions, you can do that there. You can always reach out via [00:16:30] the website, but if you'd like to make a comment, you can do that and I'll make sure that Glenna gets all of those as well. Glenna, I really want to thank you for coming on today and just sharing all of this information with us and just for putting your, you know, your time and your energy and your space to making that available for anyone who has questions
[00:16:49] Amy: so thank you very much for doing this work.
[00:16:51] Amy: Again, everyone who's listening, find all the resources from the show today in the show notes.
[00:16:56] Amy: If you found this episode valuable, please leave us a review. If you're on Again, I'd love for you to leave a comment. I read all the feedback that you give me and I hope you can also share this with a friend,
[00:17:11] Amy: maybe they're struggling with fertility or pregnancy and they just want to reach out to Glenna. So feel free to share this episode with them.
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