Women’s Health is a Sacred Duty: Overcoming Medical Shaming and Taking Control

Meara (00:00.677)
Have you ever walked into a doctor's office already rehearsing how to defend yourself? There is a multi-billion dollar industry that is banking on us staying sick, quiet, and fearing our own body. We have been told that the pain is just a part of it and that our intuition is all in our head. Well, that silence ends today. We're going to unlearn the medical shame that has kept us disconnected from the very design our creator gave us.

And make sure you listen at the very end because we've been working on something special for you. It's an advocacy toolkit that will help you walk into your next doctor's appointment prepared and ready to be heard. Welcome to Women Folk Revival. I'm Meara

Maggie (00:45.494)
I'm Maggie

Meara (00:47.365)
Before we jump in, just a quick note about how we do things around here. You'll notice that we keep our recordings raw and organic. We don't have any filters. We never edit anything. So if you hear kids in the background or dishes, that's just life happening as we talk. Right? Or cry. We just want you to feel like you're sitting right here with us in our messy homes. Well, my home. I can only speak for myself and have real conversations. That's all.

Maggie (01:02.542)
or he bursts out into laughter. Or cry.

Meara (01:17.261)
Speaking of being in our homes with us, we have some exciting news. In just two weeks, we have already seen women folk joining this revival from 16 countries. I cannot believe it. From right here in Ohio to our women folk in Nigeria, Ireland, Taiwan, we see you and we just wanna give a shout out to everyone. It really humbles us that we are already having this type of impact all over the world.

Now, with our growth comes responsibility, so while we do share our experiences and research around wellness, natural wellness, we're not your doctors. So...

Maggie (02:01.548)
Yeah, we offer the advice that we know and believe is true. The mirror and I also have our own doctors. We do believe in having doctors. We just believe in finding doctors who honor your perception of what's going on with your body and listen to you.

Meara (02:02.449)
You

Maggie (02:25.354)
We love doctors, but doctors were taught to treat symptoms, not to necessarily get to the cause, the root cause of what's going on. So they have been taught how to prescribe you a medication and send you out the door to allow more and more patients to come in. So here we're going to try and give you some.

some help and some options of how to kind of combat that and if you don't have a doctor that listens to you, how to get your doctor to listen to you.

Meara (03:01.221)
Yes, before we get into today's conversation, here's something that most women are never told.

Did you know that our bodies are constantly sending us distress signals long before any results show up on labs? we'll hear women say things like, well, my heart feels like it's racing when I'm just folding laundry. I'm not doing anything to get my heart rate up. Or I keep getting this strange sense of impending doom. I know a lot of people sometimes wake up in the middle of the night anxious, not understanding what's going on around them. And sometimes they feel that something's wrong, but every test

comes back normal and when we go to the doctor we're just told that it's stress or a part of being a mom or just our hormones but you know sometimes our bodies are actually sounding our biological alarm to let us know that hey something's going on ahead of time and it's trying to train us and trying to have us listen to it.

Maggie (04:00.578)
Yes, that and our bodies are being triggered by everything that we're exposed to environmentally. We have toxins in our laundry detergent, in our dish detergent, all these fragrances that they sell for your home. It's all chemicals, all poisons, and that affects your bodies in different ways.

We are exposed to microplastics and they are even finding microplastics in newborn babies. That's how contaminated we are.

you know, the chemicals are sprayed on our food that we eat. you know, and then there's runoff into the water. So if you're not, you know, if you're buying organic, you're still being exposed to those chemicals. 5g, 5g is horrific for you, for everybody. you know, and, and it's coming from everywhere. And even when you go into a hospital, you know, aside from the medications that they're giving you,

Did you know that in hospitals they used to have linen bedsheets because linen helps your body heal faster? They don't do that anymore. Now they have poly cotton blends and those, you know, that's cotton blended with synthetic fabrics that bring down your frequency and delay healing and also causes lots of health issues.

Meara (05:12.465)
So what is it?

Meara (05:22.885)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (05:32.609)
So.

Meara (05:34.789)
Yeah, this to me, this is what leads right into something that has been bothering me for years. We talk a lot about medical shaming, but how does that actually look for women in real life?

Maggie (05:51.332)
Well, absolutely. know, especially women are so intuitive. And I do believe that we've lost our skill of intuition. And I think a lot of that has to do with medical shame. When you go into your doctor and you express how you're feeling and they're writing it off as not a big deal, but you know that something's going on, it's just, you know, and...

Our bodies... Our bodies were designed.

They were designed to heal themselves. And our bodies should not be a mystery to us, and they should not be a mystery to our doctors. So the more we can learn about our bodies, the more we can listen to them, we can make note of when these changes occur, what's going on when these changes happen.

then that can give us a more steady ground to have that conversation with your doctor to alleviate feeling like you're crazy and you just don't know what you're talking about.

Meara (07:01.935)
Right, back in...

2006 actually when I was working as a medical assistant, I was working with these doctors side by side and you know now I've spent years working as a nurse. So I always back then saw firsthand what happened inside of those exam rooms. I watched women describing their symptoms in real time only to be told that everything's fine and their labs are normal. And honestly, I've also seen it happen for other nurses. For example, I have a my supervisor, she's a registered nurse. She herself

knew something was completely off of her body. So she was starting to these, experience these feelings of, know, heart palpitation, brain fog, not understanding what's going on. And she went to her doctor and said, hey, listen, this is what's going on. And they said, okay, we'll do these labs. The labs came back normal and she was essentially brushed off, you know? And I remember thinking that...

For someone who works in healthcare, who understands the system and knows how to advocate for her own self can still be dismissed like that. Just imagine how many women outside of this system are experiencing that exact same thing. So as you said before, the reality is most doctors are only trained to diagnose what show up on lab reports. They're not trained to recognize the patterns that are

Maggie (08:18.83)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (08:31.035)
lying underneath the symptoms before things fully break out into perimenopause itself or menopause. And that's where the shaming starts. So instead of investigating the signals that your body is sending, sometimes the system makes us feel like we're a part of the problem and we have it all in our heads and that's just not how it should be.

So that's why we're having this conversation today. We have to stop thinking of ourselves as passive patients waiting for someone else to fix our problem. And we need to see it as our sacred duty, our health, because it's our responsibility that our creator gave us to care for the body that we were born into. And when we start seeing our health in that way, everything changes. Then you start to really advocate for

Maggie (09:20.152)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (09:28.285)
the design that you were given.

Maggie (09:30.424)
Yes.

Meara (09:36.603)
So how do you see health as a sacred duty, Maggie?

Maggie (09:40.506)
Well, yeah, we were we were giving them these beautiful bodies, you know, that house our souls and, know, especially being the mothers, we are.

We are the role caregiver to our families as well. So it's not just our health that we need to be focused on, but also the health of our bodies. These other beautiful creations from our creator. When we deny ourselves health, when we deny our families health, it's...

It's almost sinful in a way. So I think, you know, along with, along with prayer and, you know, living.

you know treating others with respect also our health is such an important aspect of you know our spirituality and our connection with our creator and respecting what he gave us and I just don't think we're taught to do that even inside of religious organizations I don't think that we're taught to view our bodies as something sacred from our creator and to really develop that

connection with our health, with natural health. Because our Creator provided everything that we need in order to stay healthy. And we have to learn that.

Meara (11:06.736)
Well...

Yeah.

Yeah, we do. I'm going to touch on that real quick. I've learned about four or five different religions throughout my lifespan so far. And I do remember them speaking on how we need to treat our bodies, such as the Creator has...

given us, they don't go into depth like we're going into depth. We're trying to go into depth to help these women understand that, okay, they gave you that base, that basic piece of treat your body as such, treat your body as a temple, treat your body as, know. And so we're gonna give them the rest of that information and we're trying to get the rest of that information for.

Maggie (11:58.978)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (12:00.451)
Living with intention, this goes back to our last episode with living with intention and that's how you start caring for your body. You know, I'm a mother of seven. I have to start filling my cup before I can pour into everybody else's cup, you know? So that's another way you need to start taking care of our bodies because if I'm completely broken down and here I'm trying to take care of all these kids, I'm never gonna get healthy. I have to figure out how to do it on my own first, so yeah.

Maggie (12:24.099)
right.

Maggie (12:28.131)
You know, and that's one thing you bring up having seven children. And what really opened my eyes inside of the aspect of medical shaming was when I became pregnant for the very first time. I was in my mid thirties and, you know, they treated me so differently.

And they told me this, that they were treating me differently because of my age and how, you know, that this was kind of a problem having children at such a late age. And here I remember too, you know, growing up and being told, you know, wait until, you know, wait to get married and figure out my career path first. And I'll have plenty of time later in life, you know, to find a husband and have kids. But realistically, by the time women do this, they'd have their careers.

Meara (13:15.216)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (13:20.561)
Right.

Maggie (13:25.175)
and they find someone that they want to be with and they have children, now they're being told that they're too old and they have all these health issues and they need to be treated so delicately and I just want to say and they got me. They got me the first time, they got me the second time, they got me a bit the third time.

Meara (13:32.635)
But it's

Maggie (13:45.857)
And now I realize we are meant to have bodies or babies as long as our bodies will allow us to. Yes, as you get older, there are other complications that could arise. There are other things to look for. But there's also other ways that we can treat our bodies and prepare our bodies and make up for the fact that we are older that they just don't tell you about. They don't teach you. So.

Meara (13:59.697)
Sure.

Meara (14:06.065)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (14:14.816)
You know, I just want to say to women too, especially, you know, around our age, when you are having babies, you absolutely can do this. Your body was meant to do this. The creator would not have designed our bodies to allow us to get pregnant if it was such.

Meara (14:27.566)
Sure was.

Maggie (14:33.758)
such a horrible thing. So don't let your doctors fear you into not having the birth that you want, to not having the pregnancy that you want, and to not having the life that you want and the health that you want. Demand good health and good care from your doctors. And there's something we spoke about. There's something we spoke about, Meara.

Meara (14:35.793)
You

Meara (14:55.439)
Yes, advocate for yourself for sure.

Maggie (15:03.64)
There was a phrase, you had a phrase to say to your doctor, if they do not, I guess expand further in.

Meara (15:15.343)
Ow.

I know what you're talking about, but I can't remember what that was. that actually is in the advocacy toolkit that we will be talking about for them later. Yeah, it's something along the lines of, no, no, it's fine that you brought it up. Something along the lines of, well, if you're not gonna do that lab testing for me right now.

Maggie (15:29.163)
Okay.

Sorry, I jumped the gun.

Meara (15:42.281)
go ahead and mark it in my chart that you denied testing labs for me or something. I can't remember exactly what it was. There was so much. This is jam-packed full of information today that I can't remember, but it's in there. So yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. So if you are feeling dismissed, you know.

Maggie (15:51.16)
so much.

Meara (16:00.891)
We're not telling you to abandon your medical care, but it might be time to find a better doctor to partner with or get a second opinion. Some of you might not be able to be in that position. And some of you might not be able to be in the position to find another doctor. Maybe you live somewhere where it's scarce and you have to drive an hour already to get there, but definitely look for a second opinion and definitely advocate for yourself. We will have that information as well.

Maggie (16:04.814)
Mm-mm.

Maggie (16:12.204)
Yes, second opinions are huge.

Meara (16:30.835)
There's a few red flags that you should look out for that your provider could be dismissing you with your intuition. Always trust your intuition. So for example, if your labs are coming back normal, obviously, but your body feels wrong, like something's off, like the palpitations and all of that, that's a red flag. If you're told that your exhaustion or your pain is just a part of being a woman, you know, or if your concerns are dismissed as being emotional and dramatic,

I've heard people saying that their doctor said they were just being dramatic and my draw just fell to the floor. You know, or if you feel like a project needing to be fixed instead of a person that needs to be listened to. I'm just gonna say this. I...

I love doctors. They are amazing people. They do amazing things. And I would never dismiss a doctor at all, you know. But there are some doctors out there that just don't know how to listen. And a lot of doctors are out there don't know how to treat the underlying cause. You know, what they just, like Maggie was saying, just give you medications and send you on their way. They have so many other people they have to see.

Maggie (17:43.48)
They are so busy. So, and I think a lot of times too, it's not necessarily that,

Meara (17:45.125)
they are.

Maggie (17:52.054)
Not necessarily that they are trying to dismiss you, but they have so many other people to see. if they truly don't think that anything could be going wrong, they're going to try and send you out so they can see everybody else. But when you know that there's something going on, that is when you need to stop them and you need to make yourself heard.

Meara (18:20.791)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. So, remember at the beginning of the episode when we told you that we had something for you guys, well, we didn't want to just talk about the problem and leave you feeling stuck, so.

Maggie and I created a simple advocacy toolkit that was designed to help you walk into your next doctor's appointment, feeling prepared, confident, and informed. So inside the Women Folk Revival Facebook page group, it's our Women Folk Revival community page, you can find our files, a symptom tracker guide to track your symptoms, and a specialist finder for the United States. And for our women folk outside of the United States, I made sure that there

were international resources, no, we made sure that there were international resources included so that no one was left out. So there's an international symptom tracker guide and an international specialist finder. Some of them are all the same. We wanted you to know something important about these resources.

They aren't just random tools that we pulled off the internet. These trackers include, these trackers included, they are.

based off of clinical symptom tracking methods that the doctors and researchers actually use to identify patterns in women's health. And when you track your symptoms over time, it turns your experience of being at the doctor into real data so that the medical providers can actually evaluate what's going on. So instead of going into your appointment saying something feels wrong, you're able to show them that data and patterns of your cycles, your energy, your mood, and your physical symptoms.

Meara (20:09.363)
Doctors work with patterns. So these trackers will help you be able to bring that evidence into the room and the specialist's finders are just as important.

These are directories to help you locate providers who have additional training in women's health and hormonal health. Because remember, not every doctor receives that education in those areas of hormonal health during medical school, which is why finding the right partner or doctor for your care can make such a huge difference. So everything will be organized in simple files so that you can print them and start tracking and take them with you to your next appointment because your voice matters and your body definitely deserves

to be taken seriously.

Maggie (20:53.099)
Yes, absolutely. So if you've enjoyed what you've heard here today, join us for our next episode where we discuss the rhythm of the home, how to make it a healthy place to live, and how it can be your sanctuary.

You can find us every week, every Wednesday at 5 a.m. with new episodes and be sure to follow us or join our group on Facebook Women Folk Revival Community where you can find all those health goodies and continue on the conversation with us. she did do most of the work. She is the LPN.

Meara (21:29.733)
Health goodies. Sorry, that was funny. Health goodies. I just love researching. Yes, you'll find that link in the, you'll be able to find the link below to our Facebook community page. If you are listening from Spotify or Apple,

Maggie (21:49.025)
Yes.

Meara (21:54.991)
I'm not sure if they give you the link. I'll have to look into that. But if you don't have it, then you can come on our Women Folk Revival page at womenfolkrevival.com and find the link in the episode description below to get to the Facebook community page. I'll look into that. Still new. Want to make sure you get all the information.

Maggie (22:03.447)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (22:13.082)
Yes.

Maggie (22:17.619)
And until then, stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (22:19.121)
Stay wild!

Yay, that was so much better.