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Hi there and welcome to another episode of the Root Cause Clinic Private Podcast. To start things out today, I wanted you to share a quote that was actually brought to me by a client. Her therapist shared with her that the intensity with which a wound is created is the intensity with which it must be healed. I thought this was such an amazing piece of advice that I had to share it. It's such a great way of encapsulating a complex topic into just one short sentence. Oftentimes we get caught in comparison traps of other people's healing journeys. For example, I remember looking at people who healed their acne in three months and thinking, why on earth did it take me two whole years of comprehensive root causework to heal mine? The reason isn't because there was something wrong with me, it's because the wound that catalyzed my acne was much, much bigger than the wound that catalyzed these other people's acne. I had a compromised immune system from the second I was born and spent the first four years of my life on antibiotics. From there, things continued to go downhill year after year until my body completely shut down. So obviously, my severe cystic acne was a result of years of extreme neglect and stress in basically every system of my body. Whereas for other people, their cystic acne may have just been triggered by a bit of gut permeability or a pathogen that was easy enough to eradicate. The reason why you can't compare yourself to others is because the catalyst to your symptoms is completely different to the catalyst to other people's symptoms, and the amount of stress you need to work through in order to heal is vastly different than the next person. Sure, your symptoms might look and sound the same, but the primary drivers of them are ultimately different. So the next time you feel frustrated that it's taking a considerable amount of time to overcome a certain symptom or to heal your nervous system, remember that the intensity with which the wound was created will be the intensity needed to heal it. Or maybe intensity isn't the right word there, but time and effort. It will take more time and effort to heal a bigger wound. Anyways, I just wanted to share that bit of insight before diving into your topics for this week. Let me know if that resonates with you or if it brings anything up that you'd like to chat more about. All right, jumping into the first question for this week, which is, can you share your thoughts on mouth taping at night and clean beauty products? Absolutely. So, mouth taping I love, I myself don't do it every night, but if I find myself mouth breathing throughout the night, I'll grab my handy scotch tape and start wearing it over my mouth again. If you're a persistent mouth breather, it is a good idea to start mouth taping at night. Forced nose breathing will increase your oxygen intake, improve your oral health, and improve your sleep quality. If you find your sinuses are too clogged to do mouth tape, then extra sinus support like nasal rinses can be helpful here, as well as a high quality air filter in your bedroom. In terms of beauty products, I have a few of my favorite brands and products linked in the product recommendation section of the Root Cause Clinic online course. My favorite way to find clean, non-toxic beauty products is with the environmental working group Skin Deep App, which I'll link in the notes below. It ranks beauty products by toxin level and has a great database of certified non-toxic products. Some of my favorite brands are Intersense for hair care, which you can find on Amazon too, Priya Cosmetics for powdered foundation and concealer, and Honest Beauty for mascara and eyeliner. Personally, I don't wear a ton of makeup, but I also know the brand 100% Pure has a lot of great options that are non-toxic as well. And I will link all of these in the notes below if you want to check them out. Okay, the next topic was PCOS and how parasites are related. I have a great Instagram post on this, which I'll also link in the notes below for you to check out. There are so many different ways parasites can cause PCOS, but I'll try to outline some of the more common ways. So first off, parasites disrupt the endocrine system by affecting hormone levels. They do this by releasing toxic substances into the body and also by blocking the liver and bile ducts. This disruption can lead to imbalances in sex hormones, such as androgens, which are usually elevated in women with PCOS. More generally, parasites also cause a lot of inflammation because when they overgrow in the body, your immune system is constantly on alert trying to get rid of them. Chronic inflammation is associated with insulin resistance as well as metabolic issues, both of which are also common in PCOS. Lots of helminth parasites also like to overgrow in the bladder and the uterus, especially flukes, along with toxins like biofilm, yeast, and heavy metals. If you check out the Instagram post I'm linking below, there are lots of studies showing cysts in the reproductive system are actually masses or nests of parasites and other toxins. Your body also creates cysts to protect its vital organs against harm from invaders, so cysts on the ovaries can also be a form of protection against parasites and other toxins. There are so many other connections between parasites and PCOS, but those are a few of them and some of the most common drivers of PCOS I see in my practice every day. That's why I don't do a lot of work with hormones, because we're always looking deeper to see what's driving the hormone imbalances in the first place. And it's always a combination of toxin load, emotional stress, and nutrient deficiencies. So when we work through the correct order of operations over time, we're already going to be addressing those primary drivers of PCOS regardless. OK, next topic suggestion was ways to calm the nervous system. I talk about this a lot more in module two of the root cause clinic online course, but this is such an important topic that I am always happy to share more on. When it comes to healing the nervous system, it's not about enforcing more strict rules or strict routines. It's being able to create more space for joy, presence, and fun in your life. A lot of people are looking for me to give them an exact protocol or routine to do to quote unquote heal their nervous system, but I've done all the programs and routines myself and I can tell you firsthand, they only get you so far. The biggest and most important piece to healing the nervous system is addressing underlying trauma patterns, keeping it in a state of stress. And at this point, a lot of people say, well, I don't have a traumatic past, but everyone has trauma. It's just a part of life. And most of it originates from childhood, it just varies in degree of severity from person to person. If you aren't familiar with the ins and outs of trauma and how it impacts the body long term, I'm going to link my favorite Instagram page, the Trauma Educator below to check out as well. Anyways, like I said, I have done every single limbic system retraining program under the sun, and the only thing that ever moved the needle for me personally was mind-body-spirit release and somatic experiencing therapy. Because with these modalities, not only was I addressing the trauma driving my nervous system stress in the first place, but they both involved a form of connection and trust to another person, which is really important. Healing doesn't happen in a vacuum, and the biggest piece of trauma healing is learning to trust others and accept help again. I'll link resources for both of those modalities I mentioned in the notes below as well. Some great books to learn more about trauma in the nervous system are The Body Keeps the Score and Complex PTSD. I will link both of those below as well if you want to check them out. Obviously, there are physical stressors that drive stress in the nervous system as well, like parasites, toxin load, nutrient deficiencies, especially low magnesium, and sluggish drainage pathways. Our bodies operate as a whole, not isolated parts. So naturally, as we work through your protocol over time, that's going to be healing critical parts of your nervous system as well. We just have to make sure we're looking at the whole picture, which includes potentially working through deeper levels of trauma down the road as well. The next question was about how to support the lymphatic system at home. There are many ways to do this, but I'm going to focus on my favorite one, which I call the poor man's sauna. Essentially, this is just a hot Epsom salt bath, and you can add a thumb of peeled ginger to the bath to stimulate your sweat glands as well. There are so many fancy saunas and lymphatic stimulation products on the market, but in my opinion, a hot bath is still one of the best ways to gently warm up your lymphatic fluid and get it moving. Obviously, hydration, daily movement, and the correct herbal support are important here too, but don't underestimate the power of a bath. Humans have been using them to heal for thousands of years. Alright, that was all of the topics for this week's podcast. I hope you learned something valuable and that I did justice to your questions. If any other questions pop up, as always, feel free to shoot me a chat or email. I hope you have a great rest of your week, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.
