Integrative Women's Health Podcast

Jessica Drummond
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to the Integrative Women's Health Podcast with Jessica Drummond, your go-to resource for cutting-edge insights into women's health and wellness. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Drummond, DCN, CNS, PT, NBHWC, a renowned expert with over two decades of experience in pelvic health and clinical nutrition, this podcast is designed for health and wellness professionals specializing in pelvic health, fertility, perinatal, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and overall wellness. The "Integrative Women's Health Podcast" offers a unique blend of content formats to enrich your practice and knowledge. Expect enlightening interviews with innovative professionals in women's health, engaging conversations with students and graduates from The Integrative Women's Health Institute, insightful case studies with actual clients, and Dr. Drummond’s solo episodes on hot topics in integrative women's health practice. Our discussions will focus on the latest tools for supporting women's health, featuring functional nutrition, health coaching, exercise, sleep, and other therapeutic strategies. Through our episodes, you'll learn how to empower your clients to heal from complex health issues using evidence-based approaches. Dr. Drummond, founder and CEO of The Integrative Women's Health Institute, aims to provide practitioners with on-demand, evidence-driven continuing education. Our podcast mirrors this goal by offering valuable, practical information that you can apply in your practice. Stay connected and enhance your expertise in women's health by visiting our website, IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/), and following us on Instagram @IntegrativeWomensHealth (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/). Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and join us on this transformative journey in women's health.

  1. 6d ago

    Bendy Menopause: Strategies for Perimenopause and Menopause Care for Women with hEDS and other Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders with Vanessa Weiland, NP

    “Perimenopause likes to really throw us through a loop, and things that might have previously been stable no longer feel so predictable.” - Vanessa Weiland, NP, HT, MSCP Even with the expanding conversation on perimenopause, our clients and patients with chronic illness are still being left out. The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t address those with hypermobility syndromes, mast cell activation syndrome, dysautonomia, or complex chronic illness. In perimenopause, conditions you’ve dealt with for years can change significantly. Symptoms that were manageable for years suddenly become more intense, pain patterns shift, sleep becomes less reliable, and many women find themselves wondering whether this is "just perimenopause" or something else entirely. What makes this phase especially challenging is that hormones don't operate in isolation. Estrogen, progesterone, connective tissue health, immune function, mast cells, autonomic regulation, sleep, and stress physiology interact simultaneously. Myopically looking at menopause through the lens of hot flashes and hormone replacement therapy makes us miss the much more complex reality facing women who are already navigating chronic health conditions. For these patients, finding stability often requires a more personalized and layered approach. In today’s episode, I'm joined by Vanessa Weiland, a nurse practitioner, menopause specialist, and founder of Phases Clinic, known online as Bendy Menopause. Vanessa shares her journey with hypermobility and chronic pain and explains why perimenopause can be such a pivotal transition for women with connective tissue disorders and related conditions. We discuss the relationship between hormones, mast cells, and the nervous system, why standard menopause protocols don't always work for this population, how progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone can affect symptoms differently, practical strategies for building a supportive clinical team, the overlap between hypermobility, long Covid, trauma, chronic pain, and neurodiversity, why small, individualized changes over time are often the key to helping these patients feel better, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/bendy-menopause-strategies-for-care-with-heds-and-other-hypermobility-spectrum-disorders-with-vanessa-weiland/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    39 min

  2. Jun 2

    Creating a Healing Environment for Integrative Fertility Care and Acupuncture with Emily Marson

    “I wish there was a culture of thinking about preconception before you’re ready to start.” - Emily Marson Too often, fertility conversations don’t start until someone is already struggling to conceive. Unfortunately, by that time, many of our patients are already carrying years of stress, inflammation, disrupted sleep, nutrient depletion, hormone dysregulation, chronic pain, metabolic issues, and the wear and tear of pushing hard for a very long time. That moment of recognition can make the process become intensely stressful almost immediately. To offer our patients the best possible outcome, we have to reframe fertility as a process of creating the healthiest possible environment for conception and pregnancy, not a switch we can flip the moment we want to conceive. Especially for women navigating endometriosis, PCOS, recurrent pregnancy loss, IVF, or perimenopausal fertility, there’s often a deep sense of urgency and pressure around fixing the problem. But properly supporting fertility requires slowing down enough to look at how all our body’s systems interact over time. And while IVF can absolutely be an important and necessary tool, there’s often a huge opportunity to better support the body before and during that process instead of only focusing on stimulation protocols and lab numbers. In this episode, I’m joined by Emily Marson, licensed acupuncturist and founder of Aphrodite Fertility Acupuncture in San Diego, for a conversation about integrative fertility care and how acupuncture can support both natural conception and IVF outcomes. Emily explains the critical three-month preconception window, how acupuncture influences circulation and hormone signaling, why mitochondrial support, inflammation reduction, and nervous system regulation all matter for fertility, specific considerations for those with endometriosis, recurrent pregnancy loss, uterine microbiome health, PCOS, male factor infertility, the importance of collaborative care models, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/creating-a-healing-environment-for-integrative-fertility-care-and-acupuncture-with-emily-marson/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    52 min

  3. May 26

    Advocating for Better PCOS Care + PCOS Resources with Monica Reagor of The PCOS Awareness Association

    “Your body might be acting up right now, but your body is amazing, and it will respond.” - Monica Reagor Up to 1 in 5 women struggle with PCOS, and while it can start with irregular cycles or difficult periods, over time it tends to lead to other symptoms and conditions, from fatigue and insulin resistance to anxiety, fertility struggles, chronic pain, and many more. Unfortunately, many women spend a long time being dismissed by practitioners while their list of symptoms and the impact on their quality of life grows year after year. PCOS is a chronic condition that requires constant adaptation. It’s an ongoing relationship with the body that shifts through different phases of life, from the first menstrual cycle to perimenopause and beyond. Living with PCOS, like with many other chronic conditions, requires women to constantly work to balance life with PCOS with careers, caregiving, productivity, and all the other demands. That’s one of the reasons access to community and long-term support makes such a difference. In this episode, I’m joined by Monica Reagor, co-founder of the PCOS Awareness Association, a community, support group, and resource organization for women living with PCOS. We discuss the lived experience of PCOS, the importance of creating sustainable support systems for women navigating complex hormonal and metabolic conditions, Monica’s delayed diagnosis journey, the emotional impact of trying to keep up with life with chronic illness, the physiological and mental impact of PCOS, the overlap between PCOS and perimenopause, why healing often requires more than protocols, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/advocating-for-better-pcos-care-pcos-resources/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    57 min

  4. May 19

    Cycle Tracking for Mental Health, MCAS, Endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, and More

    “It's very accessible to understand what's happening in the body by looking at the self and how one feels. You just have to learn that language.” So much of cycle tracking is built around prediction. Apps guesstimate ovulation days, wearables collect temperature and sleep data, and algorithms try to tell women about their individual cycles based on averages and patterns. But our bodies don’t work based on averages. They shift in response to stress, illness, travel, sleep, inflammation, recovery, and the realities of everyday life. And for many women, relying on cycle tracking technology ends up creating more disconnection from their body instead of more understanding. The conversation around cycle tracking needs to focus on the specific person living the cycle. We need to move beyond collecting data and actually learn how to interpret symptoms, emotional shifts, pain patterns, cervical fluid changes, energy fluctuations, and nervous system responses in context. That kind of awareness can completely change the way practitioners approach conditions like endometriosis, PMDD, chronic pelvic pain, infertility, PCOS, perimenopause, and even mental health care because patients are empowered and patterns start becoming more visible in a clinically useful way. In this episode, I’m joined by Laura Federico and Morgan Miller, midwife and co-creators of The Cycle Book, a thoughtful pen-and-paper tracking and education tool designed to help people better understand their hormonal and physical patterns over time. We discuss the limitations of cycle-tracking apps, data privacy concerns, why algorithms often misidentify ovulation and cycle phases, how tracking physical and emotional biomarkers can support earlier recognition of many conditions, the relationship between cycle tracking and mental health care, collaborative treatment planning, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/cycle-tracking-for-mental-health-mcas-endometriosis-pcos-pmdd-and-more/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    51 min

  5. May 12

    Getting to The Root Cause of IBS with Izabella Wentz

    “IBS can precede an autoimmune diagnosis by about 5 to 15 years.” - Dr. Izabella Wentz IBS is the ultimate catch-all diagnosis. It doesn't really tell you anything, and so many women spend years with their symptoms expanding way beyond digestion. Bloating turns into fatigue. Food sensitivities become anxiety, skin issues, pelvic pain, brain fog, autoimmune symptoms, cycle changes, or chronic inflammation that no one can ever explain. As practitioners, it’s our job to unravel that IBS diagnosis and help our clients to get to the root cause. Gut health is never only about the gut. The intestinal lining, the microbiome, the immune system, the nervous system, stress physiology, infections, and nutrient status are constantly influencing one another. This is why gut issues often show up with other chronic conditions like endometriosis. Once your gut ecosystem loses resilience, the ripple effects can show up almost anywhere in the body. Today, I’m joined by Dr. Izabella Wentz, pharmacist, thyroid expert, and author of The IBS Solution. Izabella shares how her IBS diagnosis during pharmacy school eventually led to uncovering Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and a much deeper understanding of the gut-immune connection. We talk about intestinal permeability and autoimmunity, the role of stress and nervous system regulation in shaping the microbiome, why IBS can sometimes mask other conditions, how to start thinking more systematically about root causes, functional testing, practical clinical strategies for helping clients move beyond symptom management, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/getting-to-the-root-cause-of-ibs-with-izabella-wentz/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    50 min

  6. May 5

    Aging, Skin, and Aesthetics for Women Over 40 with Dr. Natalya Borakowski

    “We forget the skin is a living organ and we just treat it as a cosmetic surface.” - Dr. Natalia Borkowski There’s a moment many women experience, typically in our 40s or 50s, where something shifts. It might be a photo, a different mirror, or a passing reflection, but suddenly the image looking back doesn’t match the one you’ve been carrying in your mind. For a lot of us, that moment isn’t just physical, it’s emotional. It feels disorienting, especially in a culture that continues to equate youth with value. Hormonal shifts in perimenopause and menopause affect collagen, hydration, circulation, and overall tissue integrity, but we can’t look at the health of our skin in isolation. Skin health is deeply connected to nervous system regulation, sleep, nutrition, movement, and the daily environments we live in. The way we respond to the changes we see in our skin shapes not only how we look, but how we move through this phase of life. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Natalya Borakowski, a licensed naturopathic physician specializing in dermatology and aesthetics, to talk about aging, identity, and skin health. We explore the physiological changes that impact the skin during perimenopause and menopause, the psychological experience of watching your appearance evolve, the role of foundational health practices like sleep, how to think about skincare in a simple and sustainable way, how to approach cosmetic treatments with intention, what it means to age well, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/aging-skin-and-aesthetics-for-women-over-40-with-natalya-borakowski/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    49 min

  7. Apr 28

    Health Intelligence: A Vision for Safe and Healthy Health and Care with AI with Nasim Afsar

    “We have accepted making health decisions with only 20% of the data.” Hospitals can save a life in a crisis. They can stabilize, diagnose, intervene, and provide exceptional care in our most vulnerable moments, but we need more than hospitals can provide. By the time most people need that level of care, they’ve already spent years under the influence of other forces shaping their wellbeing. The future of healthcare can’t be only inside clinics, hospitals, or electronic records. It has to include the realities of daily life. It also has to acknowledge that more data doesn’t automatically mean better care. Information is useful when it’s connected, interpreted thoughtfully, and applied in ways that honor each person’s unique context, values, and capacity for change. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Nasim Afsar, MD, MBA, physician executive and author of Intelligent Health, to explore what it would take to redesign healthcare around prevention, personalization, and true consumer ownership. We talk about why clinical care represents only one piece of the health equation, how AI and predictive tools could help identify risk earlier, why fragmented data limits progress, the true costs of emerging technologies, misaligned financial incentives in healthcare, and why clinicians must have a voice in shaping the systems being built around our patients and communities. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/health-intelligence-a-vision-for-safe-and-healthy-health-and-care-with-ai-with-nasim-afsar/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    42 min

  8. Apr 21

    How Changing Your Environment Can Improve Your Health with ZuZu Armes

    “When you change the environment of the cell, you change the outcome of the body.” - Karen “ZuZu” Ziemer ArmesAs integrative health practitioners, we can get so focused on research, protocols, and diagnostics that we miss something equally important: how healing can happen when we step outside our daily environment and reconnect with nature. For most of us, the reality is that we’re living in an environment where now, more than ever, we have to be mindful of exposure to toxins and viruses. At the same time, part of how we integrate the trauma and the danger and the risk of the last six years is to be in nature with people who are getting healthier and who are positive. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Karen “ZuZu” Ziemer Armes, a dynamic speaker dedicated to empowering people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. ZuZu is a beautiful, embodied example of what it means to live from a place of energy and connectedness. We discuss why stepping away from daily stressors can create profound shifts in energy and resilience, how nature, rest, community, and nourishing food support parasympathetic healing, why small changes at home can influence wellbeing in meaningful ways, how practitioners can help clients create environments that make healing more possible, and more. Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together! --- Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/how-changing-your-environment-can-improve-your-health-with-zuzu-armes/. Connect with me and access our entire platform at IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/). Find and follow us @integrativewomenshealth on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@integrativewomenshealth) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/).

    49 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Integrative Women's Health Podcast with Jessica Drummond, your go-to resource for cutting-edge insights into women's health and wellness. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Drummond, DCN, CNS, PT, NBHWC, a renowned expert with over two decades of experience in pelvic health and clinical nutrition, this podcast is designed for health and wellness professionals specializing in pelvic health, fertility, perinatal, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and overall wellness. The "Integrative Women's Health Podcast" offers a unique blend of content formats to enrich your practice and knowledge. Expect enlightening interviews with innovative professionals in women's health, engaging conversations with students and graduates from The Integrative Women's Health Institute, insightful case studies with actual clients, and Dr. Drummond’s solo episodes on hot topics in integrative women's health practice. Our discussions will focus on the latest tools for supporting women's health, featuring functional nutrition, health coaching, exercise, sleep, and other therapeutic strategies. Through our episodes, you'll learn how to empower your clients to heal from complex health issues using evidence-based approaches. Dr. Drummond, founder and CEO of The Integrative Women's Health Institute, aims to provide practitioners with on-demand, evidence-driven continuing education. Our podcast mirrors this goal by offering valuable, practical information that you can apply in your practice. Stay connected and enhance your expertise in women's health by visiting our website, IntegrativeWomensHealthInstitute.com (https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/), and following us on Instagram @IntegrativeWomensHealth (https://www.instagram.com/integrativewomenshealth/). Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform and join us on this transformative journey in women's health.

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