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3: Episode 3: Dr. Mandi Murtaugh, Physical Therapist and Women's Health Specialist
91 Plays5 years ago
GCW member Dr. Mandi Murtaugh is a physical therapist and women's health specialist in Tacoma. Mandi recently opened her new practice with the mission to empower women to understand their bodies and the benefits of pelvic floor PT that challenge the social patriarchal taboo surrounding women's health.
Dr. Mandi Murtaugh
Moon Calendar
Grit City Women
- Women's Health & Pregnancy
- Moon Cycles & Business
- Networking
Dr. Mandi Murtaugh
Moon Calendar
Grit City Women
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Transcript
Introduction to Grit and Grind Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Grit and Grind, a podcast by Grit City Women, where gritty is the new pretty. This is Grit City Women founder and host Crystal Edwards.
Focus on Pelvic Floor Health
00:00:19
Speaker
In today's podcast, episode three, we have Grit City Women member, Dr. Mandy Murtaugh, physical therapist and women's health specialist. Welcome, Mandy. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Tell us a little bit about your business.
00:00:36
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I'm Dr. Mandy Marta. I'm a doctor of physical therapy and I am a board certified women's health clinical specialist. I'm actually the only one with board certification between Olympia and Seattle.
00:00:51
Speaker
And that means that I treat primarily women and women around pregnancy and postpartum, pelvic floor dysfunction, painful sex, all issues related to pooping and peeing and sex. I always say I have the best job in the world because I get to talk about poopy and sex all day long.
Challenging Stereotypes in Women's Health
00:01:11
Speaker
And I love it. I also have my yoga teaching certification. So I teach some yoga classes at Yoga Wild here in town and
00:01:21
Speaker
kind of weave that into my practice as well. That sounds really interesting. I mean, pooping, peeing, and sex are all very important. They're very important things that we just don't talk about. And people, especially women,
00:01:39
Speaker
you know, have symptoms that they just think they need to live with. I can't tell you how many women that I have met who are like, oh, I pee my pants because I had babies and my doctor told me that's normal and my mom told me that's normal. And I just really want to challenge that stereotype and make it more normal to talk about these things, to talk about sex, to talk about pooping and let people know that they aren't alone and that they don't have to live with it.
Empowering Women's Dignity
00:02:11
Speaker
So what's been the most gratifying thing about your work? Oh, the most gratifying thing about my work.
00:02:21
Speaker
I think in general, just empowering women to take back their lives. I've met women who don't go to family gatherings or don't go on trips because they're not sure where the bathroom's gonna be or because they leak and they're gonna be embarrassed about it. I had a patient once who had three daughters who were all just hilarious and she was like, I don't go to lunch with them because we all laugh so much. And I leak when I laugh, so I don't go laugh with my daughters.
00:02:50
Speaker
And we got her back, like we got her back so she could giggle and laugh all she wanted to without leaking.
00:02:57
Speaker
And yeah, it's like, I've always said like, you know, when I treat people with shoulder issues or knee issues, like, yes, it's rewarding to get them back to the soccer field or, you know, running and things like that. But to get a mom to be able to go and just like let loose and have fun with her children, or to help a woman be able to I've had patients who have never been able to consummate their marriage never been able to actually
00:03:24
Speaker
have sex or have pain-free sex. And to be able to give back those quality of life, like deep, I'm like getting goosebumps talking about this right now. That is by far the most gratifying part of my job. That it's dignity, it's pride, it's just this
Open Conversations on Sex and Body Issues
00:03:44
Speaker
deeper part of a woman's self that I get to help them
00:03:51
Speaker
find for the first time oftentimes. It's a deep, it's a deep work. To not be able to go to lunch with your daughters because it's so great that you laugh so much because of that. That's like an invisible shame thing, you know, and to have that holding you back. It's something that people don't think is a thing. I would have never thought that that was a problem that somebody could be going through.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah. And I think shame, you're totally right. Like, shame is a huge part of it. Especially, I mean, some of the patients that are my favorites to work with is working around sex and there's
00:04:34
Speaker
so much shame around sex, depending on what somebody was raised to believe or what they currently believe or what their partnership is like. I feel like there's so much shame around all of these things. I mean, even just to say the word vagina, how many people listening to this are blushing as I say that? What's that?
Patriarchal Influence in Healthcare
00:05:00
Speaker
These things that we're kind of taught are these, you know, there are private parts or we don't talk about that or we have all these funny names like who who and the JJ like we don't talk about them in a way that's respectful and that's saying like this is a part of your body is a good part of your body an important part of your body and you can talk about it. So it kind of anything that goes wrong, you know, quote unquote down there becomes this shameful thing.
00:05:28
Speaker
that people don't feel comfortable asking their doctor about or oftentimes doctors write them off. I had a friend who is young and has never had babies and had like leaked urine and she went and told her doctor and her doctor told her it couldn't be urine because she's too young and has never had babies. And it's just that's BS. It's not true. What else is it then? Yeah, it's not sweat. Sweat doesn't smell like pee. Right.
00:05:57
Speaker
So it's so frustrating to feel like there's this top down patriarchal thing of like shame around sex. We don't teach people about sex and we.
00:06:08
Speaker
don't tell we tell women not to like complain about their bodies. And then even now, even though we feel like we're in a progressive time, people are still going to their doctors, women are still going to their doctors and being told that they're fine. I had a patient this week who was like, I'm afraid I have some diastasis like my abdominals.
00:06:28
Speaker
aren't coming back together. I think she's a couple months postpartum and the doctor like didn't even touch her didn't assess it. And he just said, I'm sure you're fine. And like sent her off. Are you serious?
Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah. So it's just so frustrating to continue to hear these stories from women who are just going to their doctor who they trust and think is there for their best interest and getting written off as your postpartum deal with it or
00:06:56
Speaker
or your menopausal deal with it. It's just this, they're just being pushed aside and it's frustrating. And it's, it's, I mean, that's a big part of why I love what I do is cause I do get to sit in a room for an hour with a woman and say, tell me all about it. Tell me what's going on. And here's how your body works and here's what we can do about it.
00:07:20
Speaker
It's empowering. I think empowerment is the word that I always come up with of like, this is why I do what I do and this is why it feels so gratifying because it's giving a woman back power that she lost or that she maybe never knew she had. Right. Because the doctors aren't acknowledging that there's something going on down there and you go and you bring up a sensitive topic or situation and they're like, oh yeah, what else? Yeah.
00:07:50
Speaker
which it's brave to even bring it up. The day the doctor writes me off is probably the day I find a new doctor. I have definitely fired providers. Absolutely. Even if I'm irrational and I'm like, I think I'm just being paranoid, but you don't know and they don't know. And it's their job to make sure that we're still healthy when we walk out the door or that if we're not to
00:08:18
Speaker
figure out what's going on and I've been through some of those as well where I'm like I don't trust this doctor or they've given me a ton of they were just giving me samples of meds and um I was like uh this feels weird because I feel like that's not how I should be treated I should be you should be trying to find the problem and
00:08:45
Speaker
helping me get that fixed, not just giving me a bunch of random samples to try. What is that going to do for me? I've been doing a lot of writing and studying and I am prepping to do a class on bladder training and that's one of
Social Media and Pelvic Health Education
00:09:01
Speaker
the
00:09:01
Speaker
main things that, you know, there's whenever you see like the commercials for bladder medications, like that's what it's for. It's for this overactive bladder. And some new guidelines came out a couple years ago. And it's like bladder training, physical therapy, educating you about your bladder is the first line of treatment before medications. So when so many providers are still like, Oh, you're leaking or you've got urgency, like here's a pill, try that.
00:09:27
Speaker
And then most people don't continue taking the pill because it causes constipation and dry mouth and whatever other side effects. And then they're just kind of left like, well, that didn't work. There must not be anything else for me. But there's this whole first line of treatment that they're.
00:09:43
Speaker
not being told about or not being offered. And that's been a lot of what I'm loving about like being on social media, about like getting this information straight to people because I think there's just this disconnect. And we know that there's so much on the internet these days that people are googling their symptoms anyway. So I'm like, okay, I know, I know a lot about this small area. And so I'm going to give you as much information as I can so that you all know what's out there.
00:10:13
Speaker
I follow you on social media and I love all the things that I learn. Thank you. Because it's, it's just, it's so enlightening. I'm like, wow, you know, I've been peeing wrong this whole time. Who knew? I feel, I feel, I feel a little embarrassed about that. There's so much that we just don't know. You know, I until I started doing this work and was like, Oh, you're not supposed to push your pee out.
00:10:43
Speaker
That's what I've been doing my whole life is pushing it so it gets out faster. Turns out that's not so great for you. You know, we've never talked about.
Starting a Practice with Community Support
00:10:54
Speaker
PT for the pelvic floor or any of the stuff that you essentially specialize in. And I think that's why, you know, I got so excited when I heard you talk about your work with the pelvic floor model. Um, I was just like, this is something that literally I'm a human biology major, you know, and we talked about it in the anatomical sense, but not really that, Hey,
00:11:24
Speaker
if you're suffering from incontinence or some of these kinds of situations, there's actual PT provided for that to aid in that. That was just never something that I ever knew about. And it just goes to show you how young we still are when it comes to the things that are available to women and what's taboo and what's not taboo anymore. I think that's very true.
00:11:53
Speaker
I mean, when I go back to my origin story, basically, of how I got into this, starting with anatomy. I wanted to be a PTF for taking my first anatomy class, because I was like, the human body is so cool. Like, I want to do this for a job, whatever that means.
00:12:11
Speaker
And I taught an anatomy lab and I had a hemipelvis. So we had like a cadaver, like pelvis cut in half of a female cadaver. And so you could see the bladder and the uterus and vagina and the rectum. And I just remember these two women who were kind of middle age and going back to school to do nursing. And they just were both like staring at it. Like that's where my baby was. And that's where my baby came out. And that's where I pee.
00:12:40
Speaker
And I was 20, 21, and I was like, yeah, didn't they teach you this when you had your babies? And they were like, no. They don't, they don't get taught that. Yeah, so I think that, you know, and even now I feel like pregnancy and birth are when people most hear about me, but it's usually like when things
00:13:00
Speaker
go wrong. I couldn't tell you how many people are like, come see me during their second pregnancy and they're like, Oh my gosh, I wish I would have known all this during my first one or before my first one. You know, it's just one of those unfortunate things that people find out about us after something's already going wrong.
00:13:18
Speaker
So you started your own practice recently. What has that process been like for you in getting this information out there?
Vision and Success in Practice
00:13:30
Speaker
It's been super fun. So I've always known that I wanted to have my own practice and it seems like every spring it would come up that I'm like, oh, I'm going to start my own practice. And then this, that, or the other thing would kind of
00:13:43
Speaker
just getting away and it was never a right time and then this past winter so the early or the beginning of 2019 like the stars aligned and I had been doing women's health for the past decade and about seven or eight years in it got really burnt out I was doing everything I wanted to be doing I was
00:14:03
Speaker
working at a hospital, working all with like pregnancy and postpartum, teaching, continuing education classes around the country, basically where I had set out to get and totally burned out. And so we moved from Seattle down to Tacoma. I quit my job, eventually picked up a job just working with geriatrics and not working in the pelvic health field just so that I could take care of myself for a couple of years. But in that time I
00:14:31
Speaker
in getting to know the Tacoma community, connected with a gym, with Ascent Fitness, I coached there, and then I connected with KC, I Yoga Wild, and started teaching yoga there, and kind of like had these little ins in the community, and then stars aligned, a few things happened, and it just was apparent that it was time to start my business. It was so great to be already part of the community, and kind of plugged into these different areas,
00:14:59
Speaker
And I feel like that has been a huge part of why I've been successful. I saw my first patient back in April and I now have, I just added in December, I'm adding a third day of patients. So I've got two full patient days, which is kind of two or three days a week is what I want to do. But between social media and having these connections with these other people who are already established businesses, it was just this exponential growth and this exponential way of getting
00:15:29
Speaker
what I'm trying to put out there on social media, it just kind of is amplified. And I think that community aspect has been huge with getting my voice out there and with people finding me and finding me both in the social media presence and actually like coming to see me as patients or coming to my yoga classes. So it's been a really, I think a unique
00:16:00
Speaker
and fulfilling way to be starting a business. Especially because my business is just me. Like I don't really have people that I'm bouncing ideas back and forth with necessarily. So to be integrated in these other businesses. It sounds like you have a sense of community that has been there. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. I'm working on some online products.
Business Challenges and Community Support
00:16:27
Speaker
So I'm going to be launching some online courses soon.
00:16:30
Speaker
And so I've been very much pulled up just me and my computer and trying to figure out how to make web pages and stuff. Human beings are why I'm here. Even though they're human beings on like the other side of a computer screen or a Facebook message or Instagram, but like to be in the community and to be reminded that the people around me are the people who help build me up. And I get to help build up. And that's something that.
00:16:57
Speaker
Grit City Women does is we have our monthly events, so every month you're able to connect and it's a regular thing that occurs. Exactly, exactly. And when I look back at the beginning of my business, getting involved with Grit City Women was huge for me because
00:17:18
Speaker
I work in women's health, which means it's mostly women. There are a few men who do this kind of work, but mostly women. And honestly, like it's been kind of catty and it's been kind of clicky. And there's a lot of like, just competition that felt really gross. And after kind of taking my time away from all of that, and then
00:17:39
Speaker
venturing back into the business community in Tacoma, I have been blown away by how the women in Good City Women have been so supportive and so like, I want you to succeed. I've been blown away by that. I was a little bit hesitant, I think even probably like going to my first Good City Women event, I was like, Oh, no, is this gonna be like a
Role of Grit City Women
00:18:03
Speaker
girl club that
00:18:05
Speaker
is going to be intimidating or something. And it wasn't. I love the community that you've built and what I've learned from all these other, you know, small business owners who are, you know, Christie has a massage studio, massage studio, massage, um, whole like business, which is a completely different model than mine. But I still got to like learn from her about like, what should I be thinking about now as I'm brand new?
00:18:31
Speaker
and where I want to go in the future. And learning, just learning from different women who are in similar places, but in completely different fields has been super enriching in that community aspect. Yeah, it's really nice because we can just
00:18:47
Speaker
tap into our resources if we've got one thing going on we're like oh I know someone who specializes in that let me reach out and get some insight or let me reach out to this person. I definitely feel like myself like with Grit City Women that as a group we're not only getting to know each other every month more and more and building really strong authentic connections but we are
00:19:17
Speaker
becoming stronger because we are a diverse group of backgrounds when it comes to specialties. I feel like I've got 16 women that I can count on if something goes down, you know, like I'd give my crew. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:19:36
Speaker
It's been really great. And I especially love that what you bring to the table because it is something that is very important for women. And I think your message is really important to get out there that pooping and peeing and sex are normal bodily functions. And if there's something that doesn't seem right, there's someone to go that specializes in it and loves talking about it every day.
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And gets the time to too. You know, I, I, well, you know, the medical field as a whole, I know that there are so many excellent providers out there and the way it's set up is, you know, you go see your primary care physician or, um, you know, your OB and you probably have what, 15 minutes with them.
00:20:25
Speaker
I have 60 minutes with every single person so I can take that full time to like really hear what's going on with them and form a relationship with them too. I think that's a really special thing about about being a physical therapist and the model that I'm choosing to to be in with my own practice is I'm not dictated by what an insurance provider or a doctor referring is suggesting. I get to kind of make this plan with my patient
00:20:52
Speaker
to decide what's best for them. So it's a very unique field within the medical field that I'm so glad to be a part of. I think it's incredible. So congratulations on your new business. Thank you.
00:21:11
Speaker
I heard that you do a lot of moon cycle work. Tell us about that and how that's affected you and your business.
Understanding Cycles for Growth
00:21:20
Speaker
That's been huge for me. I think I started hearing about kind of the cyclical living and really tapping into our menstrual cycle and the moon cycle from Kate Northrup.
00:21:33
Speaker
years ago and then started using the moon as my calendar which was suggested by my naturopath and it's just this the calendar is like a way of just tracking every single day instead of starting with the first of the month we start with a new moon and it's like what's your mood what's your
00:21:52
Speaker
What's your energy levels? How are you feeling? What'd you do this day? And you kind of start to just like track all these different things. A lot of us women, you know, I started tracking my, my period years ago and that's usually what we do, right? You like track the day you started your period. Maybe you track how heavy it is. And then like the rest of the month we forget about.
00:22:13
Speaker
And we even call it our menstrual cycle, right? As if like that one week or five to seven days of bleeding is our cycle, but the whole month is the whole cycle.
00:22:25
Speaker
what a lot of people have find it the kind of typical rhythm is that the new moon is when we start to bleed which in cultures that did you know live under the sky so nomadic cultures or people who live in tents or people who spent time outside um they would typically bleed with the new moon and any any woman or girl who has ever lived with other women knows that you're going to bleed together like i'm totally in sync with my closest friends right now because we spend enough time together
00:22:52
Speaker
It used to be that at the new moon you would bleed, and then at the full moon you'd be ovulating. And if you think of the energies of those, like when you're on your first or second day of your period, or when I am on the first or second day, I want to be by myself, I want to be holed up under a blanket on my couch watching Grace and Frankie.
00:23:15
Speaker
and typically people would say like oh you're PMSing or you're grumpy or you want to like bite your partner's head off and it's it's it's so like demonized but in reality it's just your body saying hey it's time to go inside it's time to be internal it's time to you know take some time to just curl up and be by yourself so it's it's a natural hormonal shift but also like this mood shift of just going inside and
00:23:44
Speaker
then around ovulation, we tend to be more outgoing, we tend to be more attractive, not in like a, your pretty sense, but like attracting people or like, if you're going to do a big presentation, you want to do it around them because you've got this big energy and you really want to be out there. And
00:24:05
Speaker
Just to start recognizing that in my own body and to realize how much truth is in that has been hugely empowering. I mean, even when I look back and say like, oh, everything aligned this spring, that's part of it.
00:24:21
Speaker
I learned at some point to stop trying to swim upstream. So if I'm like coming up on my first day of my period and I'm just like chugging hard and having to like work so hard to finish a thing and put so much energy into it, once I start to realize that I'm doing that, I just kind of am like, okay, I'm going to take a step back. And a few days later I can pick up that same project and I can just run with it.
00:24:49
Speaker
And so starting to realize that if I have a really shitty day, if I feel really down, if I feel like my business sucks, nothing is ever going to work, my social media sucks, I have those days and I just have to remind myself this is going to pass and in a few days it's going to be better.
00:25:09
Speaker
If I would have started this business at any other time in any of the past 10 years, I guess seven years probably that I thought about it, I think it would have been swimming upstream. I would have been working really hard and like forcing connections.
Authenticity in Personal and Professional Growth
00:25:25
Speaker
When I first started marketing a few years ago when I worked at a private practice, I was so awkward. It was such a learning curve of like, I'm like, hey, I'm a good PT. Send me your patients. I literally called or emailed a doctor at 2 AM one time and was like, why haven't you sent me any patients? You said you'd send me patients.
00:25:48
Speaker
I feel so dumb when I look back at that, but I did because I was so desperate and I thought that I could just go tell people that this is what I do and they'd send me patience.
00:25:59
Speaker
I had to learn who I was. Absolutely. And trust who I was in order to be able to not even sell it, to be able to say like, hey, this is who I am. I know who I am. I'm really damn good at what I do. And it would be really beneficial for your patients to come see me or for you to come see me. And really, until this year, I don't think that I could like have really genuinely said that.
00:26:28
Speaker
And so to be at a point, which that's been 10 years in the making, well, that's how I feel right now. I'm really good at what I do. I'm not for everybody. I can't fix everybody. I don't fix anybody, I should say that. I'm good at what I do. This is what I've been having to remind myself too, as I'm trying to create these online resources, as I'm kind of freaking myself out of like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm just like, you know what?
00:26:55
Speaker
If I can just be authentic and confident in what I'm selling and then figure out how to tell people that if you want this great, if you don't, great, that's fine. Kind of finding that authentic presentation of myself has been huge.
00:27:15
Speaker
talking about the moon cycle, right? I feel like I started with this. But so much of that I think I think getting in touch with my own body and starting to listen to my own body and honor her. So on the days that I do
00:27:31
Speaker
If I'm bleeding, and if I have that flexibility in my schedule, which as an entrepreneur, now I oftentimes do, then I can say, OK, I'm not doing anything. I'm not posting on Instagram. I'm not making plans. I'm going to chill for these couple of days, knowing that things are going to pass, literally. And I'll pick back up in a couple of days, and nothing will be lost.
00:28:01
Speaker
that's just been a beautiful reminder for myself. And I think it's, it conserves my energy. So I'm not just running like a hamster all the time. You know, when we think of the, the general work week, the 40 hour work week, all of that was made for men and men typically cycle on a 24 hour cycle and they can show up the same every day of the month. And we,
00:28:30
Speaker
don't. And it's not a bad thing. I think it's a really powerful thing, in fact, that we are going to be really able to show up in one way strongly at some times of the month and on other times of the month. Maybe our strength is in kind of withdrawing. And just honoring our cycles and honoring that we can show up with what we've got on any given day has been
Preventing Burnout with Energy Cycles
00:28:56
Speaker
huge for my personal life, my business life, and definitely what I would want to like express to other women. Just get to know those cycles. Right. And it's super important, like you said, with the energy, you have to be able to
00:29:15
Speaker
utilize your energy appropriately and at the right times because you will burn yourself out and miss out on opportunities or miss connections because you were in a period of state where you were feeling like you needed to withdraw.
00:29:34
Speaker
You know, I, I definitely wish that I could plan that much for convenience, but I can't, but I have to recognize when I can plan ahead and I know that I'm going to be feeling a certain way. I will, I don't know, kind of start storing little bits of energy and just knowing that I can mentally prep for that hour or two.
00:30:03
Speaker
during that time where I'm like, okay, I'm on. And then I like go home and recluse and, you know, get under a blanket and curl up. So being, I think being aware is really important and maybe even scheduling it in your calendar. Like I have to do this one thing, but, which is really important for my business, but that's all that I'm committing to. Yep.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah, and it's obviously not, it's not like everybody calling sick. Sometimes I do. I definitely feel privileged that I've been able to do that at times. But you're right. It's kind of a, you know, if I know that I've got this one big thing, then I'm gonna, especially if it's around my period, it's going to be like, if I've got something Saturday, I'm not planning anything Friday or Sunday, like I'm going to bookend it.
00:31:01
Speaker
I'm like 100% extroverted, but I have had so many times that I burned myself out and I'm so exhausted by the end of an event or even going into an event if I haven't conserved that energy and have that internal time myself. Yeah. We can't be a full moon all the time. That's the biggest thing. You know, we all need that new moon time.
00:31:29
Speaker
And giving yourself a break, I mean, that's recognizing that your burnout may not necessarily be from the work that you're doing. It may be your cycle. You know, when you're feeling that, that overwhelming, like you said, when you're like, this isn't going to work, what am I doing? I mean, that's probably a little bit of your hormones in your body telling you to take some time.
00:31:56
Speaker
for some different energy, you know, and then you take a break and things pass and then all of a sudden you're back on fire again. I totally had that like my last cycle I was like
00:32:08
Speaker
so grumpy and so grouchy and everybody was pissing me off. And I was like, what is wrong with me? I was like, okay, okay, where are we at? This might be it. And like the next day I started bleeding and it's like, okay, it's okay. Like I'm not a bad person. I'm not falling apart. Like, it's just my body.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, there's definitely times where I'm like, that's, I have dogs, I don't have kids. So yeah, to make empty threats to my dogs all the time. And I'm like, I'm, I'm going to take you guys to the pound, you know, or doing whatever. And
00:32:44
Speaker
I would never ever, you know, like, I love my dogs, but it's like you go into that such frustrated, like, I don't know, overwhelmed state of mind that everything seems so crazy. And then on top of being an entrepreneur, you know, working a full time job and doing everything else that's like, can be very overwhelming. And if you don't recognize what you need to do to reset your energy and where you're at in your cycle, you'll just burn more fuel.
00:33:15
Speaker
I think that's a great way to say it. I really try to focus a lot on not burning fuel, on just things that aren't going to benefit me personally, or benefit my business, or just enrich my life. You have to be really aware of all of that kind of stuff, and then also really aware of, like you said, your body's needs. And that's going to be the strength that if, as a woman, you can tap into that and plan something big when you're ovulating, I never thought of that. Yeah.
00:33:45
Speaker
You got the wind at your back. Yeah, I'm like, whoa, how do I first of all tell when I'm ovulating? Second of all, I'm about to take over the world when I'm ovulating. It's so true. I mean, and it makes sense. Like, even if you think of it in sense of like creativity, like
00:34:05
Speaker
Like when you were ovulating, you were literally like fertile and your body is ready to create another human being if the situation is correct. So if it's like, I'm going to launch a new product, or we're going to launch, you know, we're going to do our, your grit city women events, yours, the events always end up when I'm bleeding. And I'm like, this is not the ideal time for the front door. So there's at least three of us that
00:34:30
Speaker
we're like all on the same cycle probably we need to set it off by two weeks so that we can all actually feel outgoing oh my god we might have to i had a day last week that i was bleeding and all but one of my patients were bleeding that day i was like we're all just on in sync apparently what if all of takoma is on sync
00:34:59
Speaker
we are a small community oh man oh that's funny i'm gonna have to change the dates now i seriously want i want because of just for my own benefit i would recommend i would recommend it yeah if it's like if that's swimming upstream every month for you then hell yeah
00:35:19
Speaker
It's your party. It's true. Yeah. Dang. I just learned so much. That's hilarious. This is a new announcement to all Grit City Women members. Everyone's going to be like, Oh my gosh. It's going to be a big relief. Wow.
Advocating for Women's Health
00:35:42
Speaker
What's your biggest piece of health advice for women? I want to say to know your body.
00:35:47
Speaker
and to listen to your body. Feel around inside your vagina. Feel your pelvic floor. Feel it squeeze. Feel it relax. Take a mirror and take a look down there. Just get to know your body. Our society pushes this thought of ignore your body or as women, we're just going to suffer with things.
00:36:11
Speaker
You just have to deal with it and I would tell women to just know that you're powerful, know that your thoughts and your complaints and whatever's going on in your body that you don't like is worth getting checked out and you don't have to live with it. And if you go to the doctor and you tell them about it and they write you off,
00:36:32
Speaker
go see somebody else. Even I've seen a lot of stuff recently, especially with people of color where they'll ask for a test and the doctor says no. And if that ever happens, like ask them for like a written refusal, ask them to write down that like you asked for this thing and they said no. Or I've had, I've known women who went and asked their doctor for a public floor PT referral and their doctor said no. So if you go to the doctor and they tell you no,
00:37:02
Speaker
then have them write down that they refuse to give you that service because it's just another way that we oftentimes are disempowered and written off and know that you are powerful, know that you are the one who knows your body best. If your body is wise and when you are listening to her and getting to know her, then you're able to tell more quickly and more thoroughly when something is off. And if you have a provider that is not respecting that and respecting what you're telling them, then
00:37:31
Speaker
You need to let them know that and advocate for yourself. So know your body, listen to your body, and do not be afraid to advocate for yourself with providers. That's a great piece of advice. That's a big, long-winded piece of advice. Well, I mean, it's a really important piece of advice, and you're 100%. I agree with you on all of it, just through things that I've gone through and seen doctors that
00:37:58
Speaker
haven't listened to me and things that I've had family members go through were misdiagnosis and all of that. And your health is very important. And doctors are just humans. They're not superheroes. They're not saints. They are literally people. And that's their job. And some are better than others. And some care more than others. And some have things going on in their life.
00:38:27
Speaker
You know, like, you just have to understand that they might not be showing up 100% every every time they see a patient. And if it doesn't feel right to you, get a second opinion. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yep. So don't, you know, don't let the, the co or, you know, don't let the title think that they know your body more than you do. I, you know, and at least if you get a second opinion, then you have two, right? And you've evened it out and you can feel, okay, cool. I was just a little worried. Maybe my body's just changing. Um, and then you can go on your merry way, but, um,
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely think that's very, very important and I appreciate the work that you're doing and the fact that you're able to be that voice and empower these women to know that those are options for them. Yeah. So thank you for that. Yeah, that's what, yeah, yeah. Empowering women is my, that is, that is my biggest mission is you're not alone, you're not crazy, you know your body best. Yeah. And yeah.
00:39:43
Speaker
Fantastic. So if any women are interested in booking an appointment or consultation, what's the best way for them to do that?
Contact Information and Conclusion
00:39:53
Speaker
Head to my website, which is drmandiamurtaw.com. If you start typing in Dr. Mandy, it's Mandy with an I.
00:40:01
Speaker
And I'm sure, Crystal, you'll post these in the notes. But if you go there and you click on appointments, you can either schedule a free 15-minute phone consult, and we can just hop on the phone together and tell me what's going on, and we can figure out if we're a good fit. And if we're not a good fit, I can send you on to somebody else too, but I mostly on Instagram, at Dr. Mandy Martauk, and I'm on Facebook too. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, this has been fun.
00:40:32
Speaker
To learn more about Grit City Women, visit gritcitywomen.com or follow us on Instagram at gritcitywomen. And we look forward to getting gritty with you.