Hey, humans. How's it going? Susan Ruth here. Thanks for listening to another episode of Hey, Human podcast. This is episode 443, and my guest is doctor Heather Stone. Doctor Stone has treated thousands of women with persistent low thyroid symptoms for the last nineteen years. She supports functional medicine and getting to the root cause of disease. She is one of the most experienced clinicians in the space of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's. And we spoke last April and excited to get her
episode on the air. And if anyone out there is in need of this sort of medicine, she's definitely the person to reach out to. And I'll put all that info in the links of the of the links page on the website of my website, heyhumanpodcast.com. Otherwise, check out heyhumanpodcast.com for those links so to learn about my guests in the show. Hey Human Podcast is on YouTube under official Susan Ruth. I'm on Patreon at susan ruthism. My TikTok and Instagram is susanruthism.
You can check out susanruth.com to learn about me and my other artistic endeavors and find my albums, my music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, wherever you get your music. And rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human on Apple. I heart Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. And thank you for listening. Be well, be kind, stay healthy, and be loved. Here we go. Doctor Heather Stone, welcome to Hey Human. Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Nice to see you. Let's jump in. Tell me your upbringing and how it may have shaped you into your work. That's a new one. I haven't been asked about my upbringing. So just kind of Middle America. Well, I'm from South Texas, so it's not necessarily Middle America, but middle class. Texas is its own country. We all know that. Yeah. Texas is its own country. I would say that I've I had a great childhood. It's pretty unremarkable, just, you know, a typical American childhood.
And I think I'm an oldest child, so that's kind of, I think, where I get my tenacity, for being an oldest child. But, you know, growing up, my mom and dad were married. They're still married. So, my mom, for the most part, was a stay at home mom. And I think that's probably what kind of pushed me down this path interestingly enough. I thought I wasn't gonna do that.
I thought that although I think that she was she is an amazing mom, I wanted something different for my family, and I wanted to have a career, and I wanted to go to college. And, I was the first one to go to college in my immediate family. So for me, I had big aspirations, and that's kind of what pushed me down this path. And I knew that I always wanted to be a doctor, but I never really knew what kind of
doctor. And I think with my own health struggles, it pushed me down the exact right path that I was supposed to go down, which I am, super thankful about that. That was gonna be my next question is as a kid growing up, did you have health issues that were frustrating at best and maybe some doctors listened? Did you have that experience? Yeah. I would say in whenever I was in high school, I had issues with hormones and menstrual cycle and, you know, it was the, well, here, just
put her on birth control. And my mom did not want me to go on birth control. They so they said, okay. Well, she should just go on progesterone. So she said, okay. Well, she can go on progesterone
to regulate cycles. Right? And I think that that is essentially the extent of how, unfortunately, how most women's hormones are managed is they're managed by symptoms and nobody did any testing to see did I actually have low progesterone or what was actually going on with my hormones or maybe we should do some blood work or anything. So nothing was done, and they put me on progesterone. So then I started having weight issues, and I had issues with my complexion and acne.
Again, the solution when I was in college was, well, just go on birth control pills. So I was on birth control in college, and then, like, man, I am really struggling. I am super tired. I cannot lose weight. I was about fifty pounds heavier than I am now. And so I'm like, as I was in school, I was in pre med. I'm like, you know, maybe it's my thyroid. And this was pre doctor Google, so you can just, like, Google it. It was literally looking in textbooks. I go to, an OB GYN and I'm like, I think
I got low thyroid. I have all these symptoms. Like, I'm tired. I can't lose weight. My menstrual cycles are a mess. And I don't have a menstrual cycle unless I'm on the pill. And he said, alright. Well, let's run labs for your thyroid. And so I come back a week later, and he's like, yep. Nope. Not your thyroid. So everything's fine. Nothing's wrong. You know, I think maybe you exercise too much. That's why you don't have a period.
I'm like, wait. I was thankful for that at that time because I knew what he was saying. He was saying to me that you exercise too much and sometimes women who exercise too much, they, they lose their period or their cycle. But luckily, I knew that what he was trying to say was when women exercise so much and their body fat goes down, then they stop menstruating. And I just knew whatever he was saying was not what I was dealing with. So for that moment, I'm like, okay. I'm
not believing what he's saying. So therefore, I didn't buy that story. And then as I was walking out, he says to me, oh, by the way, you're probably not gonna be able to have kids without fertility treatment. So, you know, we'll we'll handle that when it gets here. And I'm like, thank you very much. Well, so first of all, he's saying that there's nothing wrong with you that their tusks can tell, which is so dismissive. It makes me insane in the health care system.
Yep. And secondly, you know your body. Yeah. So I I'll I look back at that and I was like, I'm so glad that, first of all, I knew enough to know that he did not know what he was talking about, or we could just say he was dismissive or he wasn't really interested in truly figuring out what was wrong with me. He just said, oh, by the way, I'll see you back here when you're trying to have kids. So I was like, you know what? I am not gonna live my life this way. This is not how my life is gonna
be. So I'm gonna have to just figure this out. And so then that kind of pushed me down the road of what kind of doctor do I wanna be? What what it what do I need to do? And where do I need what path do I need to go down to just figure it out for myself? And then once I figured it out for myself, I'm like, holy cow, do you know how many women are dealing with this same issue that really need my help? And as, you know, I've gone through different phases of life through having children naturally
without without fertility treatments and weight loss. And then, you know, moving into perimenopause, you you going through these different phases. I've been able to help women understand that each phase is not a disease And that if you can figure out if you have a symptom, it's actually a blessing with your body just trying to tell you that something's not quite right. And you just have to search and figure out where the underlying imbalance is because your body
is born to heal. Like, you are a self healing mechanism or organism, and the body knows how to heal, but sometimes it just needs a little bit of, assistance or we need to remove a little bit of interference. It's hard enough to be a teenager. And then you're going through weight gain and acne and all of that. Did did that take some time to get to the other side of? Oh, yeah. A lot. And and when I was struggling with all of that, I went I was did every diet known
to man. I mean, I have done the, cabbage soup diet and the don't eat anything diet, slim fast, and you name it. I've done every diet known to man, and I started that in high school. So, of course, you know, it it shapes your body image and you have these struggles and these ups and downs. But I will tell you that it allowed me to be in a position where I was like, I don't, I will do whatever it takes. I just need someone to tell me what to do. And it
needed to be the right thing. I mean, I had taken diet pills and done everything that was available just to try, you know, to lose the weight. But it wasn't until I shifted off of the weight and somebody told me what to do to improve my health. And I wanted my health and my function to be as optimal as possible, and then the weight started
coming off. And it shift it helped me shift from stopping all these fad diets to what do I need to do to be healthy and to eat and and look at food as nutrition instead of, you know, looking at food as the enemy. It allowed me to be in a place where I was open to receiving that. And it allowed me to also be in a place where I can empathize and understand where other women are coming from and the struggles that they have.
What would you say to women especially, and I'm sure it happens to men as well and people that identify everywhere in between that when the doctor says nothing's wrong, we can't find anything to test. How did they advocate for themselves and find the right person without making themselves insane on Google? Yeah. And I think that's pretty much where I catch most women or I work mostly with women, so that's why I say most women. But men men deal with this as well.
But I think, just having that inner knowing that if some if you have a symptom, that means there is some kind of imbalance. And it doesn't mean that you have a disease. Right? So it doesn't mean you have a disease or a label or some kind of ICD 10 code that they can bill an insurance company for. But no, it's just the
way that your body communicates. And you need to search for a doctor that is gonna be on your team and help you, go beyond the label, help you go beyond what insurance will allow them to order. Right? So, you know, it's it's we're stuck in the drug therapy model. Right? And if we want something different than drug therapy, we have to go outside of that
model. Right? When when we're in a drug therapy model, the most frustrating thing is to be in that model that expects something different when there isn't anything different in that model. Right? Like, they are drug therapy is diagnosed a disease, and they're gonna either drug it out, cut it out, or burn it out. Like, Like that is their solution and that is what they're trained and that is what insurance, the umbrella, pays for.
And so I think the biggest frustration is trying to keep going to that model and try and expecting something different. But if you were for a moment say, alright. That has a place in my health care. Right? I may need that at some time. But that's not what I'm looking for right now. I need to find something outside of that system that can work with what I'm trying to do to optimize health. We have to remember that the drug therapy model is to, manage diseases.
It is not to optimize your health. Like, so as long as we understand what traditional medicine is for and what it's not for, then we can decrease the frustration level, find somebody that might be working outside of that model and keep people who are in that model that might, you know, might really help you when it's appropriate. Hormones are a mother bleeper. Yes. I just did a five day, mastering your hormones and menopause with low thyroid,
master class. And it is I think it's a deep we did a deep dive and there's so much information. I think I just caused even more confusion. But anyway, it's, it's a huge subject and I could talk for hours on that. When was your moment for what was going on with your body? The moment wasn't until I started to feel better. The moment wasn't until I'm like, oh, because I had to trust that the information that I was, that I was implementing was gonna be right.
Right. So I had to trust and get some education behind why I was doing what I was doing. But then once I was implementing it, and I gave it time, not thirty days, but I stuck with it knowing that the, intention was to optimize my health, then I, my body started to change. And then I'm like, okay, this is, you know, I'm on the right path. My body can do this. I can heal. Another moment for me was interesting.
I was in line at Starbucks, and I was having a conversation with myself, like, yeah, you can just have a scone and a terrible coffee with loads of sugar. It's not gonna hurt this one time. And then my other part of myself was, why would you do that? You don't do that anymore. And then I'm like, if I do it, I'm gonna feel bad. And I and I I noticed that I had such negative emotion about the food. I'm like, wait a second.
Food is not the enemy. I can choose to eat that if I wanna choose to eat that. And if you have good energy around eating it, it's less harmful for you than if you beat yourself up after you eat it. I believe that wholeheartedly. Yeah. Totally. And then then I'm like, wait, it's just really what am I choosing and what are my what is my motivation behind what I'm choosing? What am I trying to accomplish? And if I choose to have it, I'm gonna choose to have it and not feel
bad. Or I could choose not to do it and keep moving forward on my goals, but the food is not the enemy. I'm like, oh, this was an oh my gosh. I have hated food for so long because I felt like food was making me fat. Food was making me ill, and it might have been, but food can also be your nutrition and food can also be very healing. And it's it's all about, you know, sticking to what you, what your goals and motivations are. Also, if you do choose to eat something that's not
unplanned, don't feel bad about it. Yeah. I look at food and nutrition systems the way I look at the education system that no child is the same for educators to educate. You can't have a rote plan and expect every child to flourish in that plan just like everybody is different and you can't expect everybody to adhere to whichever diet and expect it to flourish. Especially Yeah. That's not even including allergies or celiac disease or thyroid problems or just in general. Humans are
unique and beautiful creatures. I agree. I mean, for us, you know, in our in my practice, we have a baseline of recommendations for how someone should start, how they should be eating, but then all along the way, we're tweaking, okay, your your body is not responding as responding as well to that. Let's tweak it with this. Or maybe you need more fat. Maybe you need less like, everybody is so different. That's why there is I constantly am saying there is not one diet.
Like if there was one diet, then I would be on the beach somewhere with millions of dollars. But there's not one diet for every single person and you have to really customize, you know, based on, how the person's functioning. Do you do that with blood and fecal tests? How do you find what works for the bodies? We do a lot of it with blood work. So managing blood sugar is absolutely huge. And you can see how the body responds, how it digest, you know, the foods that you're eating and
how efficient it is with extracting calories. You can look at blood sugar. So we do continuous glucose monitoring. We look at insulin resistance, lots of different markers based on blood sugar. Also, some blood tests with food sensitivities and things like that. But you can really look at, how much protein somebody needs, how well they digest and utilize carbohydrates. You can look at their gut testing too with all of their microbiome and see how your microbiome is managing all
of the food that you're eating. That's why we start with basics and then tweak from there because usually if you start with the basics then you it doesn't have to get too complicated. If somebody had a camp that I could go to, personally me, Susan, could go to where for let's say it's seven to ten days where the food is nutritious, healthy food, you know, good food, maybe an occasional yummy not not that good food isn't yummy, but
you know what I mean? Like, occasional quote unquote treat that there was doctors or or health care workers there testing my blood after every meal and monitoring me twenty four basically a day for that whole time for I would I can't even tell you the amount of money I would pay to go to that camp. For real. Yeah. It would I do have a retreat space
where we we do teach people. Right now, the retreat is for only for patients that have been through the program for six months, but that's kind of going to the next level, going even deeper there. But we we do something very similar, and we are checking we with all of our patients, not just at the retreat, we have implemented continuous glucose monitoring so that we can see how food is impacting your blood sugar.
But also you can see how, like, your adrenal glands are stabilizing your blood sugar through the night. We can see how stress is impacting your blood sugar. I went to a meditation retreat for seven days, about a month ago. My blood sugar has never been so stable ever. And I even was, like, eating loads of fresh, amazing fruit and papaya and dragon fruit. I'm like, oh, my blood sugar is not changing. This is amazing. And I'm like, it just goes to show you, it's not only about the food,
it's about your stress level. It's about being in fight or flight. I mean, I was literally not, not really in a monastery, but it was kind of like that. You're out of your environment, meditating most of the day, eating amazing food, not worried about, you know, anything else. And you know, what's interesting is maintaining, meditation practices. Even when I've been back, I can still eat fruit even when I'm here and my blood sugar doesn't go crazy like
it used to. So it's just amazing to me how we look at environment, lifestyle, and how that really impacts our health too. Yeah. I mean, the adrenals will pack weight on your belly like nobody's business. Yeah. Absolutely. And the crazy thing is we get addicted to those fight or flight hormones. Right? So because we're addicted to those fight or flight hormones, a lot of times, we don't even notice that we're in fight or flight, but we start worrying about what's happened
in the past. Right? We start thinking about the past, and then we bring up all of those emotions. So then we're pushing out those stress hormones, or we're worried about the future about something that hasn't even happened yet. So now we're really stressed out, and we're just in this constant state of stress. And I'll, I'll measure some of my patients' cortisol levels. And I'm like, okay, your cortisol is litter is through the roof. And they're like, I'm not stressed at all. I'm retired.
Finances are good. I'm like, what are you worried about? Oh my gosh. I am such a worrier. You know, my mom was a worrier and my sisters are worriers. I'm like, what are you worried about? Well, my son's my son's new wife, you know, she's not as nice as I would like her to be and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay. You're not stressed about money and you're not going to work. That you're stressing about every other thing in your life that you probably can't change. So that is not helping you
on this weight loss and health journey. So working to get into the present moment makes a huge difference. Oh, for sure. For sure. I started wearing a monitor that tells you your stress levels during the day, among other things. I mean, it tells you all sorts of things. And the thing that I found really fascinating at the end of the day when I went to look at the levels of stress I had during the day, I saw these odd spikes and I thought, what in the world am I doing when
these stress levels are spiking? And I went and looked and they were phone calls to people who demanded a lot of attention from me and required a lot of and had a lot of drama around them or or whatever. And when you're in the moment, you don't even realize what that's doing to you when you're just being a vessel for other people's pain or suffering or drama or tea or whatever you wanna call it. It's still making you spike.
And I found that really fascinating. It never really occurred to me that that was going to be the case. But isn't it interesting now that you know that? You have the knowledge that when you are in those calls, you can choose to respond to the stress instead of your body reacting. Right? Like you can say, okay, you can do get yourself ready before you go into it and be conscious about how you're feeling as you're going through those moments. Because a lot of people will say,
you know, I have a stressful life. There's nothing I can do about it. Like, I'm just gonna be stressed. And so I I am at effect, like, I have no control over my life. As a practitioner working with patients who struggle and have problems all day long, and I'm sitting here solving problems for people all day long, I have to be conscious of the way that I am feeling and how I'm being affected.
And so we have the we have the ability to respond instead of react, But it it takes a conscious awareness of that happening instead of us just going through our day like a pinball machine. Right? Like a pinball in a pinball machine just reacting and feeling like we have no control over our lives and our stress levels. But the way that we respond to stress and then the things that we do outside of those moments to bring your body back into the present time is what really matters.
Yeah. I think too, it teaches us a lot about boundaries. It's a big b word. Yes. Boundaries are a big deal. And even I mean, I think the thing that's hard to hammer into people as well is that even something that is quote unquote good for you can be bad for you if you're not treating it with the respect it requires.
Like, if I'm starving myself and then working out for two hours, or if I'm eating a pretty normal diet but not paying attention to what my body needs in order to work out for two hours, Both those things can do their own kind of damage. Yeah. I have a a prime example of that intermittent fasting is a huge deal. Right? And all the research shows intermittent fasting is amazing. Although it's not most of the research isn't done on women. I'm like, I always try everything before I
ever implement it with a patient. I wanna see if can I do what I'm asking patients to do? So I started intermittent fasting. And I can intermittent fast because I mean, I don't have to eat. It's less time. I got so much stuff to do. It's easier for me. I'm good to go. No, I can intermittent fast. So I'm intermittent fasting. I'm mostly feeling good, but I don't really notice a change in weight or anything like that. So I go get my blood work done, and my a one c is a 5.7.
It is like one it's in the prediabetic range, and I totally freaked out because I teach people how to lower their A1C. I'm like, what is going how could this possibly be? Is that a blood sugar monitor, A1C? Okay. So a hemoglobin A1C is a ninety day average of your blood sugar. Okay? So it's it's the way that they measure, how in control your blood sugar is if you're a diabetic. Right? So 5.7 to 6.4 is considered prediabetic. Anything over 6.4 is diabetic. So I was at 5.7. And I was like,
how is this possible? So I'm like, maybe the test was bad. Maybe it was a false test. So I get a glucometer, which is, you prick your finger to test your blood sugar. And I'm taking my blood sugar every thirty minutes. This was before a continuous glucose monitor, so we couldn't, like, just stick it on. So every 30 minutes, I'm, like, seeing patients and and checking my blood sugar here on the side.
My blood sugar is really high, but what I noticed is if I fasted beyond 10:00, my blood sugar started rising and my blood sugar would go up to one twenty one twenty five one thirty before I ever ate anything and so I was I I knew this. I mean, we're not supposed to starve ourselves and we're supposed to eat, but then you got all the other research that really supports intermittent fasting. But for me, it was too stressful on
my body. My, my adrenal glands, I was taxing my adrenal glands too much in addition to all the work I was doing. And I was exercising and, of course, working out fasting. And, you know, I've got two kids and baseball you know, all of those things. My body was like, hey, this is not you don't have enough fuel to keep me going and you're tack you're I'm can't keep up with the stress. So then I'm like, okay, what is the tolerance?
And so then I was like, okay, if I eat by 10:00, then I'm pretty good. And now that I have a continuous glucose monitor, what I've noticed is my blood sugar is absolutely perfect as long as I eat protein within thirty minutes of waking up. Now my a one c goes between five point three and five point four, which is perfect. That's right where you want it. But I think that we get on these fads of what we think is healthy for us. Right? Especially intermittent
fasting right now. And I'm not saying intermittent fasting is bad for everybody. I'm saying for me, what I was doing was a good thing way too much, and my body couldn't tolerate it with all the other stress demands. And I do find that for most of my patients, like most of my patients who have low thyroid or they have autoimmune issues or they have other, you know, cardiovascular disease, intermittent fasting essentially is just pushing them over. It's too stressful.
When we have blood sugar issues in the first place, we're losing our ability to adapt, which is essentially what we look at to measure longevity and disease processes. And so when you lose your ability to adapt, essentially, your adrenal glands are struggling to keep up. And with women, we push through. We got so much stuff to do. We don't have time to be tired. And most of us, if we're tired and taking a nap, I mean, it is like the end of the world's coming or something.
So we push through until we're like dragging our bodies around, just to get through the day. We're, we're dreaming about going to sleep again, as soon as we wake up. And it's like, but I gotta lose this weight. So I'm gonna intermittent fast and I'm gonna work out and I'm gonna do all these things. And it's like, we're just driving ourselves further and further into dysfunction. Mhmm. Yeah. Where do you where are you so I could come see you? I'm in Texas, but we, we do have a virtual practice.
Yeah. I mean, it's so frustrating. Until we get to a place we're no we're no longer willing to tolerate where we're at, that's when we actually make changes. And it's unfortunate that we have to get there, but a lot of times we do have to get there until we're ready to make change. Have you seen that COVID has put a wallop on a lot of people health wise post COVID?
I think that we are dealing with some unique challenges post COVID, but I would say it's a handful of people, not like a a big majority. I've seen some things that were very unusual. I mean, I was thankful I've been in practice for twenty years before COVID even started. So when things were really unusual, like liver enzymes jumping into the hundreds when someone had been completely normal before, you know, I've seen I have seen things.
I've seen patients, you know, have weird stuff with their cardiovascular system that we really didn't see before. But for the most part, I would say you can work to restore function. Sometimes, you know, I have seen, like, a handful of autoimmune patients that I have not been able to get back to pre COVID status. But that's that's certainly not the vast majority. Autoimmune disease is is cruel because it doesn't really have a rhyme or reason and it can just happen one day.
Yeah. And I think, you know, when we're dealing with autoimmunity, you know, it's usually genetic. But that doesn't mean that you don't have control over it. Right? So when we when we study epigenetics, we know that our genes are turned on and turned off by the environment that they're exposed to. Now, when I first learned that, when I think about environment, I think about outside. I think about the toxins. I think about maybe the
food that we eat. I think about water, air, those kinds of things. But the more you dig in, yes, all of that is accurate. But also the environment is the emotional environment that your genes are also exposed to. The false beliefs or the beliefs that we have also is what our genes are exposed to that turns them on and off. But if we look at autoimmunity and we look at what causes or triggers the immune system to attack the body, There's there's all kinds of things that you
have to consider. So first of all, like, when we have insulin surges, right, so when we eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cookies, cakes, candy, soda, or when we don't eat at all, We cause insulin surges. Right? So then that will trigger your immune system to attack the body. Also, insulin surges will make you gain weight. It's almost impossible to have a weight issue if you don't have a blood sugar problem. I see and that includes not just diabetes or prediabetes.
That is, the metabolic resistance that is or metabolic syndrome that is, hypoglycemia. That's, blood sugar that oscillates or has a lot of variability. So blood sugar is huge. We look at adrenal function, stress hormones. We look at your sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone surges will trigger the immune system to attack the body. Or help it. They say orgasms. Right? That's a that's probably a nice surge. It's supposed to be good for you. Yeah.
It's supposed to be good for you, but you do have to consider, right, like a surge. We don't really want to have hormonal surges. Now when we're menstruating, we do have peaks and valleys. Right? That's what creates our our cycle. But we're not really supposed to have big surges. You wanna have healthy levels of testosterone so that you have a good libido, sex drive,
orgasms, all that stuff. But you don't wanna really have these big surges because that will is what causes the immune system to attack the body. But that's not what happens in normal life either. Like, you're not supposed, like, even as a menstruating female, we don't have necessarily big surges of testosterone. We have rolling cycles of testosterone. And especially when we're postmenopausal, we're supposed to have healthy levels of hormones, not big surges. Right?
So healthy levels is really important, but it's the surging of those that will cause the immune system to attack the body. And food sensitivities, underlying infections, like I see bacterial, viral, parasitic infections all the time. And there's no symptoms, but it's causing the immune system to attack the body. We can look at biotoxins or mold toxins or lime or heavy metals. All of those things
trigger the immune system. So what it might seem as though when you have an autoimmune condition, you don't have a lot of control over what happens or you don't have control over the flare ups or even of it turning on. You actually do have a lot of control over that, and you can put autoimmune conditions in remission. But you have to do the appropriate testing to figure out what is the what are the triggers you're dealing with. Right? So you
said you have celiac. I've got Hashimoto's. We both have autoimmune conditions both have the same triggers, but what are what triggers you might be dealing with are gonna be different than the triggers that I might be dealing with so you've gotta test all of them and work simultaneously to address them. A lot of frustration comes with autoimmune patients because we might work on one or two triggers that we leave, like,
10 over here that aren't handled. And so then we we feel like we're not getting anywhere. And so really looking at you as a global person instead of picking one thing or another thing and then, feeling like we're not getting anywhere is what what were the challenges. Also, I feel like autoimmune just isn't sexy to medical world. Well, think about this, Susan. It's a drug it out, burn it out, or cut it out. So they can't cut out your immune system and they can't burn out your immune system, but
they can suppress it with drugs. But a lot of times, you know, it's like, well, are we creating worse problems than what they are dealing with anyway? And so when they look in their toolbox, there's nothing there. And so, yeah, they're gonna be like, yeah, I don't I don't know what to do with you. I can just give you a biologic, and we can shut down your immune system. Other than that, I don't know. So they're really not trained to help optimize function. They're not trained to balance and
work with the body to improve symptoms. They're gonna drug it out, burn it out, or cut it out. And so, that doesn't really fit with autoimmune patients very well, which is why it is a a huge disservice or a big missing piece in traditional medicine. Does big pharma and insurance companies, do you wake up with horse heads in your bed or anything like that? Or are they letting you do your thing? Well, you know, I have had my challenges,
but I would say this. I think that, you know, traditional medicine has its place. And I think that for some people, they want that because it is an an easy, quote, unquote, solution. And they're not ready to make big changes. They they would never be a good fit for what I do because they want the easy, simple solution. And some people never move into a place where I'll do whatever it takes to get better. They they just are this is life. This is how it's
gonna be, and that's how they go. And then, you know, I truly like for people who have low thyroid and when your thyroid is not producing thyroid hormones, you need thyroid replacement hormone. Because there if you don't get your thyroid hormones balanced, then it's a trigger for the immune system, right? Like it'll keep you'll keep being in this vicious cycle. So I do think that there's a time and place, for that system.
But it doesn't really fit the mold for people who are trying to optimize their health. Right? And so I think that they they both serve a purpose. Do you feel that autoimmune diseases can be reversed in some cases? Not all, but some of them. Yeah. So we don't necessarily say the word reverse, but we say put into remission. And I would say that many, many, many can be put into remission as long as you're handling the underlying, root causes or the triggers.
Now, no, autoimmune diseases the reason we say remission is because they can come back pretty easily. Meaning, like, if you like well, Hashimoto's, we can't eat gluten either because gluten triggers the immune system to attack the thyroid and the cerebellum and mostly your gut too. So the studies with Hashimoto's is mostly to the thyroid and cerebellum. But, like, let's say my antibodies were completely negative. But if I went and I splurged on, you know, a piece of cake, well,
those antibodies are gonna come right back. So we have to be very careful about maintaining balance, main making sure that we're always checking triggers. Right? So even though I don't have any symptoms, my diet is still right. I I play around with it, but I'm always checking my labs to make sure that my labs are in the optimal range. And and am I doing what I need to do? What how's my thinking? How's my meditation?
How's my stress, to keep it where I don't have any symptoms and my immune system is not attacking anymore. And it's it's crazy because when you have an autoimmune condition, any autoimmune condition, you're at risk for developing multiple autoimmune diseases. And so in order to stop yourself from collecting these labels and these diseases, you've got to work to stabilize the immune system and get it balanced. And it has
to be a lifelong thing. And I think a lot of people who have autoimmunity, once they get to a place where they're good, they think, okay, I'm good. I don't have Hashimoto's anymore. So I'm gonna go back and eat gluten. And so it's like, okay, that that you missed the point. Or whoever gave you the information didn't give you the right information to allow you to maintain where you were at. So this has to be a lifestyle. The goal is no symptoms. The goal is
optimal function and optimal labs. The goal is to not develop all these other autoimmunity autoimmune issues. And I think it's interesting because with autoimmune conditions, sometimes we can go down the path of why me, and we feel like we are something's wrong with us, or why do I have to be this way and nobody else has to eat this way and you know? But this is one thing I will tell you, is that I have had patients say, my husband can eat anything he wants, and he
is totally fine. And I I just say, how many medications is your husband on? Oh, he's like on four or five medications. Like, you're saying he doesn't have a weight problem, but he's not fine. So our perception that other people don't have to eat healthy to be healthy, that is not true. So what you might see on the outside, a lot of times, we have this stigma that if you're thin, you're healthy, but that
is is absolutely not the case. And and most people in The United States have some autoimmune disease or another. They have major blood sugar issues. And so don't let people say that they don't have a gluten sensitivity because I'm telling you that the study show that most do or they have their own food sensitivities, Everybody should be doing it. They're just choosing not to do it. That to do this. Everybody should be doing it. They're just choosing not to do it. That
makes complete sense. Do most of the people that work with you then wear, like, the continuous monitors and do those sorts of things to to in the beginning? And if that's the case, how does insurance come along for the ride with you? Or is this all people have to come to you on their own? Most patients that we accept, yes, they do wear a continuous glucose monitor in the beginning. So we can see, like, how they're doing, how stable is their blood sugar, how's food
impacting. And then as we start to implement solutions, do we have their blood sugar regulated? And then we keep up with them just through blood work after that. Insurance does not pay for continuous glucose monitors unless you're on insulin. We have a way to get these glucose monitors that, you know, even if insurance was paying for them, they're not that much more expensive even if insurance was paying. We get discounted prices for, patients that go outside of insurance.
Okay. I think that's important to note just since insurance is a tricky business. When you work with a practitioner, like I'm a member of a a co op. So a bunch of, doctors get together and we buy down the cost of the blood work. So the blood work that I do with my patients, it like, if you went through insurance, it's about $3,500. But for a cash paying patient, it's only $2.29. So $229. That's the difference in the markup? Mort. Yeah. So it makes it easier. It's about 10%.
And the crazy thing is that these lab companies are still making money even on the $2.29, you know, that that we do. And it's it's it's absolutely crazy the markup that happens between the lab and in the insurance company, and then it falls back on the patient. And it's hard to do a lot of testing because it can be fight a financial burden, but not if you're working, you know, with someone that understands that and is outside of the that. And for us, we don't
mark up our test at all. We just give it to our patients for wholesale because it's more important for us to have the data so that we can apply the treatment. Patient not be able to do that. I I just I see it differently. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you. I appreciate your time and I hope anyone listening that's got some issues will will reach out or at least maybe start to think about the journey toward health and feeling better.
The the truth of the matter is we don't have to feel awful all the time. Yeah. I think that's really important because as we age, the excuse that we get is that it you feel this way because it's your age. And that doesn't allow us to to do anything about it like what are you gonna do that you're I don't know how old you are. What am I gonna do that? I am 46 years old or 47. Well, there's nothing you can do about your age, but there is stuff you can do about your physiology. And so,
it's never normal to have a symptom. I don't care what age you are. And if you think about that, like, if it was because of your age, then every single person at that age would have that ailment. I was talking to a patient earlier today, and she said that she, talked to her doctor. She gets these little blisters on her hands, and then they pop and their hands peel and then they itch and they start bleeding. And I'm like, oh, I know exactly what
that is. But then her doctor said the reason you have that is because you're 48. And she goes, doctor Heather says it's not because of my age. And I'm like, okay. It's not just because I say that. Why do you think that? She She goes, because not every 48 year old has this stuff on their hands. I said, exactly. So it's just your body trying to communicate with you that something's not right.
Now let's go about fixing that. Right? But if she thought, well, it was just her age, then she would say, well, this is a symptom that I have to live with for the rest of my life. And it's important for us to remember that our bodies are born to heal. We are a self healing organism. The body can heal and you're not supposed to be sick and you're not supposed to have symptoms. I have a guide friend that has that same thing and it usually flares up in his
deep stress times. And I when it first started happening, he went to the doctor and the doctor said, oh, this is just a skin rash. It's fine. I said I don't I think it's, some sort of an auto immune. I think your body's attacking you with stress. Yeah. But doc, guys, just so frustrating. So frustrating. Anyway. So if for somebody listening that has that, one of my best friends, when she eats gluten, it happens. And my niece and my sister, if they eat any dairy or gluten, it happens.
And as soon as they get that out and then clean up their gut, then, you know, it it all clears up. So it could be a food sensitivity, but you're right. Any stress just adds it's a load. Right? Food sensitivities are a stress too. So it's the the load of stress that the body can tolerate. So fascinating. And the food in The United States, at least,
lot different than the food elsewhere. Because I know that when I was in Europe eating, when I was in Italy eating, when I was in Greece eating, I felt awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it is the way that we process our food here. Right? You know, especially when it comes to gluten. But even even a clean diet, because I've stayed away from gluten this, the minute I was diagnosed. I might get it by accident occasionally because it's a micro thing that happens just in kitchens.
But I'm talking about the fruits and vegetables, the thing, yogurt, all those things. Yes, it is everything, unfortunately in our food system. And it is a pretty eye opening when you look at the ingredients of the food that's sold here versus the food that's sold in Europe. Like they put poisons and toxins in our food here that they don't allow in Europe. So they alter the ingredients and so they can sell it over there. Like, what is going on? So but it is
pretty crazy, our food system here. It's sometimes heartbreaking. Yeah. Dangerous. It's dangerous to eat. Tell people how they can find you. They can find me in two places. I wrote a book called The Thyroid Transformation Blueprint, and they can get that on Amazon. Or I have a Facebook group called Happy, Healthy, and Lean. At the moment, I think we're at 27,000 ladies in that group, and it's such a great support system. And that's where I typically do a monthly master class, and I do
thyroid Thursday. So I deliver loads of content there. Is it just is that an all female group? Or is Yep. It is an all female group. Do you have a male oriented one as well? No. Not at this time. I really for the moment, I am just focusing on women. Do you have a you have a website, yes, aside from that group? I have a practice website. The the best way to get to me is is happy, healthy, and lean on Facebook. Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much for all of this information.
You're welcome. You're welcome. It's been a pleasure. I really appreciate your time. I, thank you, doctor Stone. I really appreciate it. Thank you for listening, everyone. I it's get healthy, be healthy, stay well. Love your body, love the food you put in them into your mouth, all the good things. Thank you for being in the world and helping people.
Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. I really appreciate that of you and, more power to you and I wish you you already have great success, but I'm just really glad that you're out there doing what you do. So You're welcome. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Bye bye. Bye. Rate, review, and subscribe to Hey Human on Apple, iHeart, and Spotify podcast places or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks. Bye.