Does this sound familiar?

• Having responsibilities that require concentration and focus, but you cannot think clearly due to brain fog
• Feeling overwhelmed all the time because you are too exhausted to get anything done
• Struggling with low energy levels, even after getting a full night’s sleep
• Sleep issues including difficulty falling and staying asleep, that only add to feelings of mental fatigue during the day
• Forgetting things more frequently, impacting your daily tasks
• Struggling with mood swings and changes in your behavior, such as becoming easily irritated or anxious in situations that wouldn’t normally bother you
• Recurring headaches and migraines despite your efforts to manage symptoms

Are you struggling with these things and do not know where to go for support?
If you can relate to these symptoms, we can help!

These concerns are not only distracting and frustrating, they can be scary. You could be experiencing the above signs and symptoms on their own, or you might have received a diagnosis such as being Neuroatypical/Neurodivergent like with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), diagnosed with a mental illness such as depression and anxiety, or you may have experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) such as a concussion.

We are ready to support you whether you have a diagnosis, or simply want to improve your cognitive abilities – we can all use a little more brain power!

At Advanced Women’s Health, we understand that your brain health involves so much more than your thinking and memorization abilities – it has to do with your quality of life, how confident you feel at work, your energy for social engagement, and the stamina to play with your kids after school. Unlike a lot of other brain health programs, we understand that we have to work on so many things other than just your brain. Some examples include your immune system, hormone regulation, digestive system, and mitochondrial function. All of this (and more) needs investigating and if you want to learn about why, then keep reading!

A healthy brain has the ability to process, understand, and use information, as well as the ability to remember, think critically, make decisions, and adapt to changes and challenges in its environment. It encompasses the physical health of the brain, the mental-emotional well being of the individual, and it is impacted by the health of the rest of the body. Our brain is linked to every system and every bodily function, and is the connection between the physical health of our body and how we perceive it. Therefore, it makes sense as to why you could be experiencing symptoms like chronic fatigue and burnout, lack of attention and focus, emotional problems, and memory issues when other biological processes are not working optimally.

Good News and Bad News?

The bad news is that research has shown there are so many things contributing to the health of your brain: dietary and lifestyle habits, environmental factors, digestion and gut bacteria, inflammation, sleep and circadian rhythm, hormones, nutrient levels, blood circulation, chronic illnesses, mitochondrial function…the list is never ending and it all sounds extremely overwhelming. So what’s the good news? This is a list of modifiable contributors with HUGE impacts! Since we know these factors play vital roles in your brain health, there are ways we can help you figure out what is going on with your individual physiology and get you on a personalized path to improvement.

The Advanced Women’s Health
Brain Health Program

At AWH we realize that you are unique and therefore you need a plan that is customized to your individual needs. We also realize that it can be hard to figure out the best first step when so many things could be contributing to your symptoms. That is why we believe in a thorough investigation in order to give you the most customized and effective plan. We are committed to ensuring that you stop relying on temporary “band-aid approaches”! Our goal is to help you identify and understand the cause of your concerns, and address it directly. It is crucial that we build a foundation and fix any core issues that may be contributing, as this will lead to a long-term and sustainable solution. Therefore, we will assess and customize our 3 phase plan to address the factors specific to you. We also work collaboratively with Medical Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, and other healthcare professionals to foster your healthcare team and to support those who are on medications. Your treatments should not be focused on one approach or the other, it is foundationally about you feeling at your best!

This program is offered both through telemedicine to all Ontario Residents, and in person at our Toronto and Mississauga clinics.

Phase 1 – Understand and Customize

In the first appointment you can expect that your Naturopathic Doctor (ND) will take time to get to know you as an individual and thoroughly inquire about your health concerns. We do not just investigate your neurological symptoms though – we take a holistic approach and investigate your immune system, thyroid and liver function, digestion, stress hormones and mental-emotional health, and much more! We will also connect the dots about what is happening in your body so that you can better understand how we are going to address it.

At the end of this appointment you can expect to leave with:

• Basic diet and lifestyle recommendations
• Personalized herbal and nutraceutical supplement recommendations
• Where appropriate, in house testing for your adrenal health, gut health, and/or bio-impedance analysis
• Lab test recommendations which may include a CBC with differentials, full thyroid panel (TSH, free T3, free T4, anti-TPO, anti-TG, reverse T3), liver and kidney panels, hormone testing, cholesterol testing, insulin and glucose testing, gut bacterial testing, vitamin and nutrient testing, and inflammation investigations. We use both functional tests and standard blood tests to come to understand your health better.
• After we receive the results of your testing, your ND will explain all of the findings. No blanket “normal” statements here! We want to ensure you understand what it all means. From that point we will further customize your supplements and tailor nutrition recommendations, lifestyle modifications, and other modalities to fit your specific needs.

Phase 2 – Tweak and Monitor

After thoroughly understanding what is contributing to your symptoms, we get to work! At this stage, it is very common for patients to already leave our office feeling better and on their path towards health. During Phase 2 we are also working on addressing concerns that contribute to health but have less clear (not less impactful!) connections. After we have begun to support the brain, we tackle residual symptoms while offering continuous support. In this phase we will support the following areas, and of course anything else specific to your unique case.

What are the most common concerns we work on in Phase 2?

• Burnout, chronic fatigue, and sleep concerns
• Attention, focus, and concentration difficulties
• Problems with emotion, mood, and behavior
• Inflammation and histamine reactions
• Autoimmune support
• Hormone imbalances
• Gut dysbiosis

Some or all of these concerns may have been taken care of by this phase, but any remaining issues are tackled head on!

Within 3-6 months after embarking on your plan, we will retest to ensure that you have improved from not only a symptom perspective, but using lab data as well. This allows us to make sure that you are improving as expected and making your way into Phase 3.

Phase 3 – Flourish and Maintain

By this stage in the process, you will now have the proper knowledge to maintain a nourishing diet and health-promoting lifestyle, and you will have accumulated many tools to keep in your back pocket. But life happens, right? We all fall off and experience setbacks. It is easy to fall out of good habits when you do not have continued support, so this phase helps to keep you on track – judgment free! For some this is regular acupuncture or manual therapies, a semi annual check-up, or kick-start community program. No matter what this looks like for you, we are here 100% of the way to guide you through the highs and lows!

References

Admin WBHI. (2021). The effects of hormones on Brain Health. Women’s Brain Health Initiative.

American Association of Neurological Surgeons. (2023). Cerebrovascular disease. American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).

Cedars Sinai. (2023). Neurological disorders, diseases & conditions treated. Cedars Sinai.

Cetinkalp S, Simsir IY, Ertek S. (2014). Insulin resistance in brain and possible therapeutic approaches. Curr Vasc Pharmacol. 12(4):553-564.

McDonald WM. (2017). Overview of Neurocognitive Disorders. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 15(1):4-12.

MedlinePlus. (2023). Neurocognitive Disorder: Medlineplus medical encyclopedia. MedlinePlus.

Norat P, Soldozy S, Sokolowski JD, et al. (2020). Mitochondrial dysfunction in neurological disorders: Exploring mitochondrial transplantation. Nature News.

Rutsch A, Kantsjö JB, Ronchi F. (2020) The gut-brain axis: How microbiota and host Inflammasome Influence Brain Physiology and pathology. Frontiers.

World Federation of Neurology. (2021). 2. what happens when brains are not healthy. World Federation of Neurology. 2021.