Lara Briden's Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Symptoms of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar include light-headedness, headaches, and anxiety. Hypoglycemia can even feel like panic attacks. 

In this episode, Lara discusses:

• why young women are more prone to hypoglycemia,
• the importance of the autonomic nervous system and a "blunted glucagon response," and 
• what you can do to feel better. 

Links:

• Prevalence of self-reported symptoms attributed to hypoglycaemia within a general female population of the UK
• Hypoglycemic symptoms in the absence of diabetes: Pilot evidence of clinical hypoglycemia in young women

Do you feel hungry all the time? Abnormally hungry? If so, it’s worth trying to figure out why. Potential drivers of abnormally high hunger include insulin resistance, gut and microbiome issues, low blood sugar, and food addiction—just to name a few.

In this episode, Lara explores food addiction and some of the controversy around the term. She also discusses the next best steps on the road to recovery. 

Links: 

• Lara's new book about metabolic health
• Poll: Addiction to highly processed food among older adults
• Dr. Jen Unwin's Resource page

If you're going to take hormone therapy, it's safer to take hormones that are identical to human hormones. In other words, hormones that are body-identical or bioidentical. The concept of bioidentical used to be controversial but is now conventional and mainstream.

In this episode, Lara discusses hormone therapy including:

• why the concept of bioidentical was controversial when it didn't need to be
• oral micronized progesterone for heavy periods, mood, sleep, and perimenopausal migraines, and
• some facts about body-identical estrogen (four uncontroversial things and one controversial).

Links:

• The crucial difference between progesterone and progestins
• Cyclic progesterone therapy for PCOS
• The central role of ovulatory disturbances in the etiology of androgenic polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—Evidence for treatment with cyclic progesterone
• Blog post with a list of body-identical brand names
• Online workshop: Metabolic health and vitality for women over 40

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease that’s affected by hormones but is not caused by hormones. Instead, endometriosis is, at least in part, a disease of immune dysfunction. 

In this episode, Lara discusses some of the new endometriosis research including:

• the link with genes that increase the risk of autoimmune disease
• the role of a bacterial toxin called lipopolysaccharide or LPS, and
• new targets for natural immune-modulating treatment.

Links to:

• Blog post: Immune treatment for endometriosis 
• Blog post: Why I prescribe iodine for breast pain, ovarian cysts, and PMDD

Were you told you have polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS based on a pelvic ultrasound? That may or may not be an accurate diagnosis because PCOS cannot actually be diagnosed or ruled out with ultrasound.

In this episode, Lara discusses PCOS including:

• why PCOS is an umbrella term
• the difference between polycystic ovaries and ovarian cysts, and
• why some women with undereating and endometriosis are being mistakenly told they have PCOS.

Links to:

• Blog post: PCOS cannot be diagnosed (or ruled out) by ultrasound
• Blog post about the 4 types of PCOS.
• Citation for the quote about polycystic ovaries: Diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Which Criteria to Use and When?
• Lara's forum where you can post a comment or suggest a topic for a future episode. 

In a normal period, you should not lose more than about 80 mL of menstrual fluid over all the days of the bleed. That’s equivalent to about five tablespoons spread over all the days of the bleed. In this episode, Lara discusses heavy periods including:

• the role of hormone imbalance, mast cell activation, and insulin resistance,
• simple period-lightening strategies such as iron, zinc, and a dairy-free diet, and
• using body-identical progesterone to lighten periods. 

Links to:

• Blog post about heavy periods.
• Blog post about testing for insulin resistance.
• Blog post with a list of brand names of body-identical progesterone. 
• Professor Prior's document: Managing menorrhagia without surgery. 
• Lara's forum where you can post a comment or suggest a topic for a future episode. 

The pill is commonly prescribed to "regulate periods," but it can't actually do that because withdrawal bleeds from contraceptive drugs are not real menstrual cycles. 

In episode one of The Lara Briden Podcast, Dr Lara covers:

• what is a real menstrual cycle
• why there's no medical reason to bleed monthly on the pill, and 
• the difference between contraceptive drugs and real hormones. 

Links to:

• Blog post about cyclic progesterone therapy for PCOS.
• Lara's forum where you can post a comment or suggest a topic for a future episode. 

For some women, stopping normal dairy products can relieve period symptoms. But why?

In this episode, Lara discusses:

• the inflammatory effects of A1 casein  
• how a mast cell histamine response can drive period problems such as premenstrual mood symptoms, heavy bleeding, and pain.

Links:

• Successful mast-cell-targeted treatment of chronic dyspareunia, vaginitis, and dysfunctional uterine bleeding
• Childhood asthma, allergies and risk of premenstrual disorders in young adulthood
• Casomorphins and gliadorphins have diverse systemic effects spanning gut, brain and internal organs

Did you know that what’s happening in your gut can affect your periods and hormones? 

In this episode, Lara discusses:

• small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and its role in IBS,
• how SIBO can drive or worsen endometriosis, insulin resistance, premenstrual mood symptoms, and the fibromyalgia of perimenopause, plus
• how to treat SIBO. 

Links:

• The curious link between estrogen, mast cells, and histamine
• Altered intestinal permeability in patients with primary fibromyalgia and in patients with complex regional pain syndrome

Why do antihistamines cause weight gain? And how does hormonal birth control affect metabolism?

In this episode, Lara looks at:

• how common medications affect metabolism
• why birth control that is *androgenic* is more likely to cause weight gain, and
• whether natural progesterone is more likely to cause weight gain or weight loss.

Links:

• The histaminergic system as a target for the prevention of obesity and metabolic syndrome
• High H1-affinity antidepressants and risk of metabolic syndrome in bipolar disorder
• Natural treatment of menstrual migraines
• Weight change among women using intramuscular depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, a copper intrauterine device, or a levonorgestrel implant for contraception
• Impact of micronized progesterone on body weight, body mass index, and glucose metabolism: a systematic review
• Cyclic progesterone therapy for PCOS