Today's podcast guest, Dr. Sonya Jensen, is a first-generation immigrant who grew up navigating two very different cultures and the rules imposed on her about how she should look, who she should be friends with, and how she should perform in school. Around age 13, she developed anorexia as a way of gaining control of her own life. 

 

Ultimately, her experiences with anorexia, processing childhood trauma, and working with patients led her to put the pieces together between emotions, trauma, and physical health.

In this episode, we discuss the deep work she does with women, where she focuses on the well-researched links between emotions and physical health.

In this podcast, Dr. Jensen and I discuss:

• A 66,000-woman study over 16 years found every single woman with a fibroid had childhood abuse, whether physical, sexual, or emotional (this is when Dr. Jensen started piecing together trauma and physical health)

• When progesterone is low, GABA is low - so you may feel anxious - when estrogen is low, dopamine and serotonin are low, so you're not accessing joy as quickly

• Constant production of the stress hormone cortisol creates more pronounced estrogen dominance; one woman manifests tender breasts or cysts, another manifests fibroids, but all have low progesterone

• Fibroids can become worse by pseudo-estrogen from environmental toxins (pesticides, phthalates, plastics)...if your body can't detoxify them, they recirculate and create estrogen dominance

• Dr. Jensen was previously against bioidentical hormones, but she then realized women go into midlife very depleted, and physiological dosing helps them feel like themselves again

• Progesterone dosing is nuanced: One of Dr. Jensen's patients went into psychosis on progesterone because her OB-GYN doubled the dose - not everyone can be on the same dose or same kind of hormone

• Holocaust studies show infants born to survivors have adrenal insufficiency; their ability to adapt to stress isn't as optimal due to generational trauma

• If mom was stressed during pregnancy, her preteen will have more anxiety, if mom had really low cortisol, the child's nervous system regulation isn't as efficient

• Women who use hormones along with lifestyle changes and emotional work thrive on minimal doses, and some can even take breaks; women who only do hormones hit plateaus and cycle back