Dear Infertility_S5_Ep9 - Suzie Devine: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Dear Infertility_S5_Ep9 - Suzie Devine: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Hi, I'm Kristyn Hodgdon, an IVF mom, proud women's health advocate, and co-founder of Rescripted. Welcome to Dear (In)fertility. This season, join me along with a variety of women's health experts as we explore holistic approaches to our reproductive, hormonal, sexual, mental, and overall health and wellness. From the practice of cycle syncing to the importance of pelvic floor therapy, We'll address some of the many questions women have about their bodies and share practical tips for improving your day-to-day life. Now, let's dive in and work towards ending the shame and stigma surrounding women's bodies once and for all, from first period to last period.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Dear Infertility. I'm your host, Kristyn, and I'm here with my friend Suzie Devine. Hi, Suzie!

Suzie Devine:
Hey, Kristyn!

Kristyn Hogdon:
So happy to have you here. Some of you may know her as Nurse Suzie, but Suzie Devine is a registered nurse with over a decade of experience in diverse healthcare settings, including fertility care. She's also the founder of BINTO, a reproductive health company dedicated to improving women's health outcomes with personalized supplements and tele-healthcare. Suzie is also an IVF mom and endometriosis warrior. Welcome!

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, I'm excited to be here. I love chatting with you.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, absolutely. So, same here, and we were just saying we could just talk for hours and hours about women's health. So we don't even have super strict agenda here today, but something that I've been thinking about a lot lately is, just on my own personal fertility journey, and just creating content for fertility and women's health, is just like all of the noise that's constantly coming at women every single day on social media and from different healthcare providers about their overall health and fertility. As, the past couple months, I have been on a break from IVF, but I have my fertility doctor in the back of my head, and then I have my OB-GYN telling me one thing, and my GP telling me I should go gluten-free for my Hashimoto's, and my acupuncturist telling me that I should give up dairy, and it's too much, it's too much. You want to get all of the opinions and be your own advocate, that's what we preach, literally constantly, but at the end of the day, like, how do you, how can you personalize your healthcare journey to your unique experience without getting overwhelmed?

Suzie Devine:
That's a great question, and I am still working on personally, with you, Kristyn, and something that we work on every day at BINTO. And I think this is part of why I got into preventative medicine and launching a fintech startup seven years ago, is because our health system doesn't work, it really isn't serving, especially the female community. Like you said, you have to go to five, ten different people, and you're going to hear multiple different opinions. And about the point of medicine, right? You're, while you are working with a practitioner who we have set guidelines, it's also, at the end of the day, their opinion based off of your health picture that they're looking at. It's, it can be very overwhelming, and this is where it helps to have a patient advocate or someone in the driver's seat helping you take control of the full scope. The first thing I always preach is that less is more. So it's great to have a, when it comes to fertility, I don't think you necessarily have to go to them. So, if you're working on your fertility health, your GP might be a great starting point for plugging you into a fertility practice or an OB-GYN, etc., but they can be there for your physicals or whatever you need outside fertility, and that's okay. Because, Kristyn, like you, they help with your Hashimoto's, which is playing into your fertility. So there are, there can be a little bit of overlap, but I think, in terms of fertility status, working primarily with your fertility team is best, and then you can start quiet out those other practitioners in your life and then just use them as needed. But it, I just wish our health system was better, and this is where working with the coach or someone who you can have a consult with to help you map these things out. Who do I go to for this? Should I be listening to this? Do I need to do that? And now, what we can help with at BINTO, with the telehealth consult, or that's what I end up doing a lot of, is just helping guide people through the process and giving you a little bit more of a roadmap when, if you have no background in healthcare, it's very complex to navigate.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Absolutely. How do you navigate the cross between traditional medicine and then like functional medicine? Because that's where I'm at right now. I know I have several diagnoses, like I have PCOS and Hashimoto's, I have irregular periods, and a full-blown autoimmune disease. Like I know I have to have my traditional medical practitioners by my side, but then we scroll TikTok, and okay, you should be eating gluten-free with an autoimmune disease. You should be dry brushing, you should be all of these different things that just add to the mental load, in my opinion, some of them, of course, that they work for you. Regulating your nervous system is always important too; de-stressing, it can, I saw a quote recently that was like, If wellness stresses you out, it's no longer wellness. And so how do you know when someone comes to you with, just feeling like they're stuck in that middle ground? What do you usually tell them?

Suzie Devine:
I would say, you, all you need to do are like a few things. And this is really my view on wellness, is that yes, there are dry brushing, and lymphatic drainage massages, and the saunas, and red light therapy, and all of the things, and castor oil packs, and you name it. It's that's amazing we want to keep pushing the boundaries of finding alternative treatments that can help, but you don't need to be doing everything. No one has time, most of us are working full-time, and we have a lot of obligations, so your self-care routine should be nurturing and giving back to you, not pulling away. So I would say focus on some of the core things, diet and nutrition, and that's something that Western medicine and functional are going to agree on. I really fully believe that if you're working with the right practitioners, they want you to be taking care of yourself and focusing on your diet and nutrition. So that's something that you can build up and work on over time that shouldn't feel like something extra that you're carrying around. And then just pick like a few things that feel good to you, and then you can try them. Maybe massage is something that you really love. Maybe you do really love the sauna, maybe it's acupuncture, but you don't need to be doing all of them, but like, that costs a lot of money, and you're just not going to have time. And then your mental health, so I really believe in therapy or any type sort of meditation calming component, not just the, here I make a line of products, but it's not just stuff like that, you want to incorporate some other things into your wellness routine. So a lot of it's going to be trial and error, like seeing what self-care thing you want to work in, but I do think a lot of Western doctors today really are looking at the full picture, the full scope of East meets West, and trying to look at your body as a whole thing, not just separate units.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, it's interesting, I always saw exercise as my quote-unquote self-care, but I really love strength training and HIIT and all of that, so like intense stuff, and while that's great, I was noticing that my body felt stressed out a lot.

Suzie Devine:
Your cortisol levels.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Right, it was like the thing that I thought was my outlet, which guess it was, or it's like I was doing it to the extreme, to the point where it was actually making my body more stressed. Actually, something that I've been doing for my self-care is, which I always put self-care in like air quotes, right? Because it's so many things that can be self-care. But yeah, I had to take a step back and say, Okay, I love strength training, but I also really love walking with a good podcast. And sometimes I wouldn't do that because I was like trying to follow this intense routine, and when I actually just did an every other day thing, I could actually feel my body going to a calmer state, because it was not a have to, it was a want to.

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, you have to, we're not taught how to be in tune with our bodies, or our generation wasn't, I really don't think, whereas now we're teaching kids at a younger age about their body and their feelings. And that's something that I really had to fill out for myself as well, as I used to be like a crazy exerciser. Now I just, I love to power walk, and I do pilates and yoga, and it feels great. And maybe one day, I'm going to do strength and HIIT training again, but that's just not where I am in this phase of my life. And I've learned how to listen to my body and give it what it needs, if I need rest, just listening to physical cues.

Kristyn Hogdon:
And diet culture is so.

Suzie Devine:
No.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Drives me out of my mind when think about it. I've been working with a nutritionist, registered dietitian, and she was actually on one of the previous episodes this season, but I was under-eating by a lot and just not nourishing my body. And I saw something recently that said, I started thinking about what I could add instead of what I could take away, and that was such a big unlock for me. It was like, Okay, yeah, you're supposed to get X amount of fruits and vegetables a day, and that little bit of extra is working towards that and not adding calories to my overall intake.

Suzie Devine:
Absolutely, and fertility is a, when I was going through infertility, remember, it was like a whole mind game where you want to be nourishing your body and praising it and being positive, but you also hate it at the same time because it's not doing what you want it to do. And there's a lot of layers of complexity there with viewing yourself and your body. So just, reminder to everyone that your body is doing hard things, and it's okay to have complex emotions around it, and yeah, give yourself some grace during this time, especially with food and diet. And that's where I wanted BINTO's products to fit in, to feel like a little gift, so something else that you can do for yourself where it's an additive, you're not taking it away, but it shouldn't feel stressful. It should just feel easy.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, so I was going to ask that next, supplements. I think that's another sort of fine line. It's like you don't want to be taking the kitchen sink of supplements, but where do they fit in?

Suzie Devine:
Such a hot topic today, there's so much going on in the supplement space that we're in. Seven years ago, no one was talking about them. And we really believe, again, that whole thing of personalized medicine. So, your body is unique; how can we look at you and what you need without overdoing it? And that's our whole approach. I think there are some areas of clinics that can really go overboard as the kitchen sink protocols, and you feel very overwhelmed because you're like, I'm taking not only all these medications, but five different herbs, my BINTO pack, this powder, this drink, but we really just don't need to be taking everything. They're based on your fertility diagnosis, there are really only a few things that you would need to add into your daily supplement regimen. And if you have PCOS, you shouldn't be taking DHEA. So make sure you are working with professionals who can help you tailor your supplement routine to make sure you're not also taking something that could be contraindicated.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, I remember recently, because everyone thinks they should be taking CoQ10 for egg quality, and obviously, it's an amazing supplement for that. But I'm also on a lot of NAC, which PCOS, which you can explain what that is in a minute, do it better than me, but I was like, Should I be on both if I'm thinking about doing another egg retrieval? And you're like, No, I think you're okay with just the NAC since you're on a higher dose. And it was just so refreshing to be like, No, you don't need to add yet another thing because yeah, not that they're the same, but like less is sometimes more.

Suzie Devine:
Exactly, we see that a lot, and that's where we like to tailor people's routines so you're getting what you need, you're not dealing with like ten different supplement bottles. But yeah, NAC is a really powerful antioxidant that's a precursor to the antioxidant glutathione and it can help with that ovulation feedback loop, so really great for females with polycystic ovarian syndrome who are not ovulating regularly or getting in periods. So we recommend 600 milligrams to 1200 milligrams a day, depending on your body's needs, but it can help you get a period naturally. And if you're trying naturally, it can also help stem your cervical mucus to help sperm more easily pass through to reach the egg, and it's great for the uterus itself, so uterine health. And then CoQ10 is another antioxidant that has more of a role with egg health egg quality at a cellular level. So we have CoQ10 naturally in the body, and it declines as we age, so that's where the thought process of adding CoQ10 in for fertility.

Kristyn Hogdon:
But yeah, I think that's the problem with certain books that tell you to just throw the kitchen sink.

Suzie Devine:
Yes.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Because it really is overwhelming, and it can feel, like you said, angry. You can feel angry at your body, too, even more when, or at least in my case, when you feel like you're doing all of these things, and then you're still not getting pregnant.

Suzie Devine:
Actually, it's really frustrating. You feel like you're doing everything right and everything in your power, and that's because you are. And we still have so many advances to make in the field of reproductive endocrinology and women's health in general. I hope we only continue to make advances with telehealth and preventative medicine to help women navigate our bodies and the healthcare system better. We're really excited to be on the forefront of that and excited that fertility, excuse me Rescripted, is on the forefront of that as well. That's really great.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, absolutely. So what if someone is trying to conceive and they're having trouble? What would be your first line of defense or first tip?

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, so for me, I, after I worked as a fertility and IVF nurse, so everyone knows, and before that, I worked in postpartum and LND, so women's health is really my wheelhouse. But for fertility, when we first started trying for our first child, I was 30, I think, so below the recommended age of you need to try for a year, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We tried for three months, it wasn't working and I was like, Yep, I know something's wrong. I could just sense it. So listen to your gut, if you feel like you want to see a fertility doctor, if you want to get testing done, do it, advocate for yourself, get a workup, it's okay. That's what I did, and we found out that I have endometriosis and some other things going on. And so it was a long road of IUIs, miscarriages, two rounds of IVF, and then we have our son Pierce, who's a year and a half, so super blessed with that one, but it definitely was not an easy journey, I think. Yeah, just listen to your gut or.

Kristyn Hogdon:
I have a similar story where I wasn't getting my period back after going off pill, and they always say, Wait x amount of time of trying, but if you're not ovulating, you can't get pregnant, right? So it's, but you don't know.

Suzie Devine:
If you don't have sperm, you can't get pregnant, and we don't talk about that.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah.

Suzie Devine:
I didn't know. I was like, is it me, or is it my husband? I'm not going to just keep trying if there's no healthy sperm.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, I did see.

Suzie Devine:
So those are things that you have to think about.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, I did see a post from a fertility doctor recently that said, if you can do one fertility test or if you can only afford one fertility test, do a semen analysis because, and it's literally 50% of the fertility equation.

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, and it's a lot less invasive than what a lot of females have to go through for a workup, way less expensive.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Absolutely. So, yeah, and I don't know if I know it's a guideline to wait a year if you're under 35, six months, over 35. But most clinics that I've been in touch with, you can really advocate for an evaluation.

Suzie Devine:
Yes, nowadays you can. When the fertility clinic eight years ago, it was still a little tricky. We were still really pushing people to wait and I think that narrative has changed, thanks to groups like Rescripted out there sharing information and letting females know that this is not okay. So we're seeing a lot more of that patient advocacy in the office. And then as well, places like ACOG, which is our governing body for OB-GYNs, also relooking at things and saying fertility rates are declining, women are older when they go to have their first child, should we be rethinking what we're telling people here in terms of how long to try before they seek help?

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, and I think, or I hope, that we're also moving in the direction of, I'll never forget I got diagnosed with PCOS. I'm sitting in my very first fertility clinic, was handed a pamphlet about PCOS, and I asked if there were any lifestyle changes I should be making, and I was told no. And I hope that we're moving in the direction of, Yes, there are things you can be doing in addition to the medical intervention, because it can be both and, right? Like it doesn't have ... holistic. That's really what I'm learning on this journey. It's it really can be both and, it doesn't have to just be one or the other.

Suzie Devine:
I 100% agree, and I think that's what's so great about BINTO, is that, yes, we believe in over-the-counter medicine and we look at more of a holistic approach, but we also very much agree in prescription drugs and traditional. You may need treatments, and I have benefited from them, you can join the two together to create a package that works for you. That's really the best thing that you can do.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Even birth control, we posted something yesterday about benefits of birth control because they just think, birth control gets such a bad rep on social media, and it's very necessary for a lot of people. And I'm even coming to the realization, because for a while I was mad at birth control because I had been on it for so long, and then I came off and discovered I had PCOS when, in hindsight, I wish that I had been able to get to the root of the issue sooner, but that's neither here nor there at this point. But now I'm seeing I'm on day 60-something of my cycle, and it's so unpredictable, and my last cycle was like 80-something days, and it's just maddening. And I'm realizing that I was put on the pill for a reason, and it really did help regulate my body and my hormones, and I just don't think that's talked about enough, but there's a time and a place for it.

Suzie Devine:
Yes, totally. And again, this is where there's no one-size-fits-all, where we really look at personalized medicine. So for a lot of people, the pill is really helpful, not just from a symptom management point perspective or for things like Endo or PCOS, but there are a lot of people out there who do really need birth control. And even though we talk a lot about fertility, there are reasons in your life where you may need to be taking a pill to help you with preventing a possible pregnancy, and I don't mean that to sound ..., that's just my opinion, what I've seen as someone who's worked in women's health for a long time. So there's a reason why we have all this. I think the, again, we are, there are a lot of amazing companies out there that are now looking into better solution for females, and I think as long as we keep talking about it, pushing the boundaries, we'll get better. But no, you don't need to, some of that's in this wellness and supplement industry. You don't need to detox from the pill. It doesn't live inside of you, it has a very short half-life, which is why you take it every day at a certain time for it to be effective. So you don't need to detox or cleanse, or a pill detox, it's really like clearing out the liver and that's fine to do, and there are supplements that help with that. But yeah, there's just a lot of marketing stuff at play like we mentioned, like things that you see on TikTok and Instagram that can make you feel a little bit overwhelmed, but if you've taken the pill, it's probably okay and you shouldn't feel shame.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, and I think the bottom line here is just, always know who you're listening to, make sure that people have credentials if you're watching a video on, or social media, because there's a lot of like self-proclaimed health experts out there right now.

Suzie Devine:
Absolutely, and it's terrifying.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Yeah, and always consult with your healthcare provider, or if you're going with a more holistic approach, just make sure that that person has the right education and credentials, and you still may want to run it by your GP or.

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Kristyn Hogdon:
What would you rescript about, like just the way women navigate the healthcare landscape? What would you?

Suzie Devine:
Yeah, I wish it could be more of a one-stop shop. I wish we had a universal health record that connected and talked to one another for alternative care and your health system and hospital that you go to. That would be the dream, right? To have everything connected and where you, where it feels a little bit more seamless in terms of navigation instead of, like you said, where you have ten different opinions, and none of them talk to each other, and it can be overwhelming. So a little bit more streamlined care would be my dream, and oh, so much more, ...

Kristyn Hogdon:
And yeah, and we're trying to streamline like the information, like the, there's so much research out there that is informing healthcare providers care in a lot of cases but then it's not easy to read, it's not as easy to decipher, and when you go on WebMD and it tells you one thing; and so, we're really trying to bring you that like science-backed content in an approachable way that, where it's not overwhelming, and you can take it back to your doctor and say, and ask questions and be your own advocate.

Suzie Devine:
I love that, yeah.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Thank you so much, Suzie. This was wonderful.

Suzie Devine:
Thank you, Kristyn.

Kristyn Hogdon:
I think people will have a really great starting point for figuring out how to balance it all and advocate for their health and fertility.

Suzie Devine:
And you can always book a consult with us. You can go to MyBINTO, B I N T O, .com. You can follow us on Instagram at MyBINTO, and then you can also follow me at NurseSuzie. You'll see it there.

Kristyn Hogdon:
We'll share this and tag you and everyone can follow. But always love chatting with you, and yeah, BINTO is one of my favorite companies. I've been a loyal customer for many years as a ...

Suzie Devine:
Great advocate. We're lucky to have you.

Kristyn Hogdon:
Thanks again.

Kristyn Hogdon:
If this podcast means something to you, be sure to hit Follow or Subscribe. This helps you because you'll never miss an episode and it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. For everything you need to know about women's health and fertility, head to Rescripted.com or follow us on social at Fertility.Rescripted.

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