Perimenopause Symptoms Can Start in Your Late 30s - Dr. Remina Panjwani

Remina Panjwani (0:00)

We live in a world that's constantly stimulating us. Having that cortisol spike is normal, it's supposed to be a pattern, but there are certain things that happen in your body that actually wants to be alert. So if you're in fight or flight after that period has passed, then of course you're overdoing it, and eventually that leads to burnout.

Gary Brecka (0:16)

People think of burnout as like really hitting the wall. I'm exhausted, I can't get out of bed. But sometimes it doesn't flash red lights that brightly, because they were so conditioned that they would push themselves so far into that physiologic threshold by the time their body shut down, it was almost a medical emergency.

Remina Panjwani (0:33)

Whatever it is, if you're constantly stressed, even if it was a physical or psychological, it turns into physiological and that gets into your biology.

Gary Brecka (0:41)

We have a society that doesn't really glorify rest, relaxation, sort of the sleep when I die, which I very often diagnosed as anything but nervous system dysregulation.

Remina Panjwani (0:50)

You cannot outperform a dysregulated nervous system that's always in fight or flight.

Gary Brecka (0:55)

What does a lifestyle look like for someone who is trying to keep their nervous system from getting dysregulated?

Remina Panjwani (1:01)

Whichever decade of life you're in, the best, most simple thing to do is.

Gary Brecka (1:17)

Hey, guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brecka. And I'll be honest with you, for years, I thought I had the biohacking world figured out.

Then my wife Sage went through menopause and I felt completely defenseless. Today's guest is one of the people who filled that gap for me. Dr. Remina Panjwani is a board certified internal medicine physician who served in the military, worked the COVID unit and walked away from conventional system just to practice functional medicine. I found her through a Ted talk called regulate before you stimulate. And it changed the way I think about the nervous system. In this conversation, we break down the early warning signs of burnout before you hit the wall. Why menopause symptoms can start in your late thirties and what the dutch test shows that a standard blood panel simply misses. And we go somewhere we've never really gone on this show, generational trauma. Because here's the truth, you cannot outperform a dysregulated nervous system. So let's get into it. Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brecka, where we go down the road of everything, anti-aging, biohacking, longevity and everything in between. And today's guest is going to be one of those everything in between guests, because we're going to talk about where some of the biggest holes and blind spots are in the biohacking industry. And I know this from experience, because as woke a biohacker as I consider myself, and I hate that word woke, but this woke biohacker, when my wife went through menopause, I felt completely defenseless and completely unable to help. And if you've seen the podcast that I've done with my wife, Sage Workinger, you know the journey that we both went on. So today's guest is not only a menopause and female health expert, but I first found her on a Ted Talk. So first I want you to welcome Dr. Remina Panjwani to the podcast. Thank you for coming on The Ultimate Human.

Remina Panjwani (3:11)

Thank you for having me.

Gary Brecka (3:12)

I'm so excited to have you, because I saw a Ted Talk of yours, and the title of it was Regulate Before You Stimulate.

And it sort of reframed the way that I thought about the underlying power of the autonomic nervous system. And this is not something that gets a lot of light or attention. I think people know that we have an autonomic nervous system. I mean, our heart's beating right now. We're breathing. We're sitting upright. Our hormones are being regulated. So something is in the background running the show. But really the detriments of this part of our nervous system are getting stuck in this sympathetic state, the state of fight or flight, and the consequences of that, which are very often diagnosed as anything but nervous system dysregulation. And I thought your talk did an excellent job at framing that. So before we go down like the myriad of things that I want to talk about today, I'd love it if you would just talk about what was the impetus for that TED talk. And if you could bring the listeners up to speed that they didn't get a chance to see it, on what is the importance of regulate before you stimulate.