Healing Burnout with Functional Medicine with Lori Aikman
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Episode Summary
I’m so excited to have Lori Aikman, the go-to girl for female entrepreneurs to uplevel their health, on Project: Mom today. As a mom who also talks to other moms almost daily, I know one thing that many of us can have in common is constantly feeling like we’re on the edge of burnout. Healing this often goes beyond traditional self-care and deeper into the root causes of fatigue, overstimulation, resentment, and more. In this conversation, Lori is giving us a behind-the-scenes look into how she supports her patients to help them feel in control of how they’re feeling post-birth, especially as entrepreneurs. Tune in to hear actionable steps you can take today to step out of burnout and into deep healing.
Topics Discussed:
How Lori found functional medicine and the different ways that she helps women get back to baseline after having kids
What works best for Lori as far as work/life balance as a mother and business owner and learning to trust the timeline
Learning the markers of burnout so we can recognize it before we hit rock bottom
How Lori supports her clients to manage the symptoms of burnout and what her own journey here looked like
Why it’s important to know what you desire at your core and making a plan to achieve it
Why Lori chooses to work outside of the traditional medical paradigm and private insurance and how this can be more empowering for her patients
How functional medicine can work in tandem with your primary care and/or OB-Gyn
Lori’s tips for finding your own functional medicine practitioner
Episode Resources:
About Lori:
Lori is the go-to girl for female entrepreneurs to uplevel their health. No more sacrificing your health for your business. It’s time to feel vibrant so that you can live the life you desire at work and at home. Through her virtual practice, The Vibrant Woman, Lori helps women get to the root cause of their symptoms through functional lab testing. She creates a protocol that meets the specific needs of their body and teaches them to live in a way that best supports their energy and vitality. Lori is a wife, a mom of two, and a Florida girl who walks her talk as she has reversed her own burnout through functional medicine. You can watch her free masterclass “3 Steps to Reverse Burnout for Female Entrepreneurs” at www.loriaikman.com
Connect with Lori:
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emily_gorrie:
Welcome to today's episode of the Project Mom Podcast. Today, we are chatting with Lori Aikman. Lori, through her virtual practice, the Vibrant Woman, helps women get to the root cause of their symptoms through functional lab testing. She creates a protocol that meets the specific needs of their body and teaches them to live in a way that best supports their energy and vitality. Lori is also a wife, a mom of two, and a Florida girl who walks her talk. as she has reversed her own burnout through functional medicine. So Lori, welcome. Thank you for being here.
lori_aikman:
Thank you.
emily_gorrie:
I'm really excited because functional medicine is actually something that I don't know much about. And
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
I think that there is a lot of kind of generalities of what functional medicine is. I think
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
we're starting to see more and more of it on social media platforms and
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
in the conversations of how we empower ourselves as women, especially as moms, post-having babies. How do we get our bodies back into thriving, not surviving mode?
lori_aikman:
Hmm.
emily_gorrie:
So I'm excited to have this conversation with you because I am ready to educate myself, but I also think there's a lot of misunderstanding with it. So I'm super
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
excited and super grateful that you're here and we could do this.
lori_aikman:
Thank
emily_gorrie:
So
lori_aikman:
you.
emily_gorrie:
perhaps we start with that. Maybe let's start with functional medicine. What
lori_aikman:
Sure.
emily_gorrie:
is it? What's the intro? Kind of what do we need to know about it? And how did you get into this line of work?
lori_aikman:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I guess I'll start with how I got into this, because I think many women can relate. So I'm a nurse practitioner background-wise. I worked in the ICU for many years, but then I transitioned and worked in just a general outpatient practice, family practice. And what I found was that there was this common theme of women would come in. very often moms and they were like, okay, just their body wasn't the same as it used to be, right?
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
Not just things like weight gain, but like mood swings that they didn't have before. Hormonal type changes, like their periods changing, hair thinning, skin changes, period changes. Just, it tends to be like this vague constellation of symptoms, like, I, my body just isn't the same as it used to be. And I don't feel well.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
I would say a lot of women tell me that they're like, I know I could feel better. Maybe I don't necessarily feel like I have a problem. I need to be on medication, but my body just doesn't feel good.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And before I found functional medicine, right? I would do, okay, let's check, you know. Do some labs, check a B12, check a vitamin D, let's check your folate, you know, oh, check a TSH. Like just the general things.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And for most women, they would be normal. And it was really a frustrating place for me and for them because
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
intuitively I knew more was going, these women weren't just coming in and like complaining, like you're just whiny,
emily_gorrie:
Right.
lori_aikman:
deal with it.
emily_gorrie:
We know our
lori_aikman:
I
emily_gorrie:
bodies.
lori_aikman:
knew, yeah,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
yeah. You know, and, and unfortunately I think many women kind of get dismissed. And it's like,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
this is, I literally, you know, I have this conversation with so many women, but on Friday I had a call with, um, this woman in particular, and she was like, I, yeah, this is my story. And I go to the door and they just, they keep thinking I'm depressed and they want
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
to, sorry, baby crying out in
emily_gorrie:
It's real life.
lori_aikman:
the kitchen
emily_gorrie:
It's
lori_aikman:
right now.
emily_gorrie:
real life. I love it. I love it.
lori_aikman:
Um, but she told me, you know, they, they just keep saying. you know, this every woman feels like this. Every mom feels like this, like this is norm, this is, and I think the distinction is it's common, but it's not normal.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, 100%.
lori_aikman:
And so I think just the wanting, you know, I really, I care about my patients. I care about my clients wanting more for them too. That led me to kind of start digging and go, what's really going on with these women? And that I found functional medicine, which probably the easiest way to say it is root cause medicine.
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
So okay, you're having all these symptoms, these weight gain, mood swings, hormonal changes, could be weight loss for some people too. Everybody it shows up a little differently, insomnia, fatigue,
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
but looking at it, it's A lot of people give the analogy of you've got a tree and you have the leaves. Those are like the symptoms that we're having. You know, the trunk, the branches in the trunk are maybe, okay, it's all hormonal or it's all in your gut, you know, or like the body systems, but then the root below the surface, you know, under the ground is what's really going on.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And for many women, it's the adrenals,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
which are our glands that produce cortisol, produce other chemicals that
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
allow our body to respond to stress. Those are typically, I would say, I rarely have seen a woman where that's not an issue.
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
And then
emily_gorrie:
Wow.
lori_aikman:
can be gut health. So maybe they have bacterial overgrowth, things like that. And then detoxification, how well their body is removing. chemicals through our food and through our environment, plastics, things like that.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So just our bodies aren't functioning optimally and for women that really can back up, especially after we've had babies because we've experienced these hormonal shifts that kind
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
of amplify things.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So I remember finding this and going, why aren't we all taught this in our training? Like this is so key and makes so much sense, but.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
Not
emily_gorrie:
Is the
lori_aikman:
a lot
emily_gorrie:
work
lori_aikman:
of.
emily_gorrie:
that you do in functional medicine trained any differently than if you were functioning as your nurse practitioner or a primary care provider or write an OB-GYN? Could those professions incorporate this type of work into
lori_aikman:
Definitely.
emily_gorrie:
their practices? OK.
lori_aikman:
Yeah, it's just for, so this isn't functional medicine. Most professions are not taught this in their training. So like when I was
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
a nurse practitioner school, I was not taught this. Physicians, you know, if you're a general, if you're a medical doctor, maybe DOs, chiropractors, things like that, they get a little more exposure. Naturopaths for sure. There I've even seen naturopaths who don't necessarily who practice differently. You know, everybody practices
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
how they were taught or how they learn. And so what how I work with clients is, you know, what is through training that I got in addition to just my training. I had to get my license.
emily_gorrie:
Got it. OK.
lori_aikman:
So
emily_gorrie:
Yeah,
lori_aikman:
if that
emily_gorrie:
I
lori_aikman:
makes
emily_gorrie:
find
lori_aikman:
sense.
emily_gorrie:
it absolutely, I just find it so eye-opening when you share the example of the tree with the leaves and the chunk and the roots, something that's larger than what perhaps we can put our fingers on and the dismissals that a lot of these women are getting. And I personally have an experience with that. I remember messaging my GP post. the birth of my daughter, I think it was like eight or nine months, maybe close to a year. I remember having dinner with a friend of mine and I was still saying, I was like, oh my gosh, sometimes I have a hard time regulating my body temperature.
lori_aikman:
Mmm.
emily_gorrie:
I am sweating in situations
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
where historically I should have been able to regulate or had been able to regulate. You know when you go for a brisk walk, you're walking into a restaurant and you're... kind of upping your body temperature. And then you get
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
inside and then it's a little bit warmer. So it takes you a couple of minutes to kind of regulate your body. And then you kind of settle in. It took me probably 30 to 40 minutes to
lori_aikman:
Oh
emily_gorrie:
regulate
lori_aikman:
wow.
emily_gorrie:
my body. And I remember
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
her being like, Emily, maybe you want to look into
lori_aikman:
Get
emily_gorrie:
this
lori_aikman:
that
emily_gorrie:
a little
lori_aikman:
checked
emily_gorrie:
bit further.
lori_aikman:
out.
emily_gorrie:
Like maybe three months after she was born, your hormones could still be playing a role in that. But it was eight,
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
nine. maybe even 10 months at this point.
lori_aikman:
Wow.
emily_gorrie:
And she was like, maybe you need to look into this. And I remember
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
messaging my primary care and he's like, okay, let's do some blood work. And everything came back, quote unquote, normal.
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
So there was no real followup from that. And I remember nothing coming out of it. And since then, I mean, my daughter's two now, since then that has since regulated itself,
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
but for no rhyme or reason.
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
or guidance. So I personally understand what a lot of those women perhaps were feeling who you had seen and even perhaps yourself, right? Maybe we'll get into that a little bit in terms of your journey with this, but it's frustrating to be,
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
right, in quote unquote normal, right? What is a normal range? Is it really all that normal because
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
that's what everybody else is having because it's common
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
or is it really not normal for our levels to be in
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
a certain range? That's where they are for most people, so it's considered normal. So I feel like there's a lot to unpack with this type of work that you do. And it's encouraging to see that it's actually being done because we don't have to be,
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
you know, alone in this journey and figuring out why our bodies are doing what they're doing now
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
when they never did it this way before.
lori_aikman:
Yes, exactly. I think, and I think women, you know, just hearing things like this can help give you the, a lot of the women I work with, even if they tell me this, thankfully they have enough intuition and like trust themselves enough to know, hey, this isn't right and I need to find somebody that can help me. Even though, yeah, they're being told this is normal.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, right.
lori_aikman:
Sorry.
emily_gorrie:
Right. Yeah, it is wild. So perhaps give us a little bit of background into your personal journey with
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
start moving into this business, this practice that you have, and then maybe how you decided to make the shift from working as a nurse practitioner in the job that
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
you did have, and how did you, I guess, how did you get the definitive knowing that this was a shift you had to make.
lori_aikman:
Yeah, yeah. I would, I'm like, okay, where do I start?
emily_gorrie:
Hehehehe
lori_aikman:
So I can even look back at when I was working in the ICU. And so I guess two things, I could see the adrenal peace and the burnout happening then. And that was before
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
I was a mom, you know, I was like in my twenties, I, you know, lots of energy could exist on a few hours of sleep and.
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
but I can look back and see symptoms of, a lot of times I call it burnout because I think people can identify with that, like, oh yeah, burnout. There's a psychological piece of being mentally taxed and things, which those I think go hand in hand, but then you have like a physical burnout. And I can look back and see that happening in my body before I knew what it really was.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
Um, and, but I have always, I can think even back then, so that was, I worked in the ICU from, as a nurse practitioner from 2011 to 2017. And I remember a boss of mine, cause I just would be like, I wish, I always was very passionate about like health and wellness. And,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
um, I was working in the ICU and I was going like. We should be able to help people like not get here.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, absolutely.
lori_aikman:
And I remember one of my bosses, one of the doctors I worked with, a lot of them were very health conscious too. He like cycled and stuff and he gave me a card of like a nutritionist and was like, maybe you can talk to her and figure something out. Cause I just remember thinking like, it'd be so cool if I could combine like. wellness, but then with my license, you know, it
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
was like, it seemed to take a step back. I was taking a step back if I just was helping people like diet kind of a
emily_gorrie:
Mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
thing.
emily_gorrie:
Mm.
lori_aikman:
And I actually did, you know, I was like, okay, well, you know, I really like this. So let me try. And there was a period of time where I did just nutritional counseling with people and like
emily_gorrie:
Mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
more focused around weight loss. But that was even like, We're missing something here. It's not just you're eating too much, or you need to eat less and exercise more, which I think, again, so many women, if weight is an issue or fatigue, that is the advice that a lot of women get. Well, you just need to eat less and exercise more, which doesn't work if there's obviously more going on. I think speaking to the entrepreneurial part, I was kind of going, okay, is this it? No, is this it? No. So then I did find functional medicine and began training in that and kind of integrating it in the practice that I was in,
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
in my one-on-one with patients. But I would guess there's always been this desire in me to... be my own boss and
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
just be able to practice how I want to. When you're, my virtual practice, I am a cash only. I don't do insurance because insurance really limits what we can do. You know,
emily_gorrie:
Mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
even just speaking to that piece, you know, I can say, hey, you need to get this test done and your insurance doesn't cover it. And if you, people will go, well, let's try and run it through insurance. Well, it's interesting even if I look back to family practice. They, a woman needs a mammogram and for some reason the mammogram's not covered. Well it's cheaper for you to pay cash for your mammogram or whatever it is, it's like $200, than it is for them as to run it through insurance, insurance deny it and say, no, you owe them $500 because this is how much we say a mammogram costs. We're only going to pay for this and you're responsible for the rest. So so many times it's just cheaper. not to even go through insurance. So that just being to the whole getting outside of the normal medical model.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
Then I've had times in my career where I needed to shift based on what was best for me and my family and my life. And I had hours cut and pay cut and things like that. So I was like, this is not gonna work for me. I need to be able to, that was just. just I look back and think, why the heck did I stay at? There was a particular
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
job where I went part-time. I had gotten pregnant, I had a miscarriage. It was a very high stress job, just kind of a toxic work environment too. And I cut back hours, I wasn't ready to quit quite yet.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
But then they cut my pay, like my hourly, essentially what
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
I was making hourly because I wasn't gonna be available for as much as they wanted me to.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So that was just another like, okay, I need to go be my own boss.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, another sign.
lori_aikman:
Yeah, just like this is not gonna work.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And so I think I hear so many people say following the breadcrumbs. So eventually I just was like, hey, let's do this. I started working functionally and in a virtual practice. It started smaller and then has evolved to what it is now. And it just really is awesome because it gives me the freedom to one, balance my personal life and my family, my kids, and then be able to help people the best way and not be limited by the insurance paradigm or the traditional practice paradigm.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And then two, from a burnout standpoint, my own like... Being able to kind of determine my hours and how much I wanna work or not, then allows me to not burn out myself and not. I actually just had a shift in the last couple of weeks where I was like, if I keep going this way, I'm gonna be back to square one with my health, you know?
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So I'm gonna shift and not do that. And it's gonna allow me to show up for my clients in a better way
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
too.
emily_gorrie:
Yep, absolutely. And I am writing down. I have so many things I want to touch back on
lori_aikman:
I'm
emily_gorrie:
from
lori_aikman:
sorry.
emily_gorrie:
what you just said. And perhaps maybe let's start with the motherhood piece of this. So as you were following those breadcrumbs and starting to make those changes, you were starting to grow your family and
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
add children to the mix. So how do you, and perhaps right to your point of, preventing yourself from burning out and getting to a point where you're overworking yourself. What does this balance look like? How did you add motherhood
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
to the mix of starting this virtual practice? And how do you balance it? What works best for you in order
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
to show up as the best you in all parts of it?
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm. Well, I would say there's no straight answer, right? We
emily_gorrie:
Fair.
lori_aikman:
all have to like,
emily_gorrie:
Each day
lori_aikman:
yeah,
emily_gorrie:
is probably different.
lori_aikman:
well, and you know, the great thing is, is we can, part of what I've learned on this journey, I would say so much in the last year, I've worked with like a mentor and it's, she talks about, okay, look at what's not working. Literally write down in your journal what is not working, then what is one action I can take to change and shift. So, for example, if I look at today, as I was telling you before we started recording, I have, there's four children in my house right now
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
running around crazy. But part of that has been getting the help that I've needed because in the beginning I was, and two, I wasn't working with as many clients as I am now. And so I didn't maybe need as much work hours. So I was able to, my mom would come over one day a week, watch my son, I would have some client calls. And then other times I would just get up early. I would work when he was napping and when he was asleep.
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
Then we added my daughter. My daughter's six months old now. So that got a little more complicated. Of course having two kids and
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
different nap schedules. Um, and so it came a time where it was like, okay, this isn't working for me to like not sleep because I'm trying to work when they're sleeping, which is
emily_gorrie:
Right.
lori_aikman:
varied.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, right. And
lori_aikman:
So
emily_gorrie:
unpredictable, especially
lori_aikman:
yeah, unpredictable.
emily_gorrie:
when they're
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
newborn.
lori_aikman:
Mm hmm. Well, in my set, literally, uh, the night before last or day before that. So today's Wednesday, Monday, my son started climbing out of the crib. So we,
emily_gorrie:
Oh no.
lori_aikman:
he's two. So we had to put the toddler rail up. But
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
thankfully he's doing okay and
emily_gorrie:
Oh good,
lori_aikman:
he's
emily_gorrie:
cause
lori_aikman:
not
emily_gorrie:
that's
lori_aikman:
coming
emily_gorrie:
a transition.
lori_aikman:
in. Yeah, he's not like coming into our room in the middle of the night. He's a pretty good sleeper thankfully.
emily_gorrie:
Great, yeah.
lori_aikman:
But
emily_gorrie:
Throw a wrench in things.
lori_aikman:
yeah, yeah. But I would say the biggest piece to not burn out is just getting the help and realizing what I, like our house is a mess sometimes and it's not an issue, you know, because.
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
the laundry all being done or the dishes all being done just doesn't matter at the end. You know, like for me,
emily_gorrie:
Right.
lori_aikman:
I've got a prior, you know, so I think about what are the needle movers I've got to do in a day and then making time for those and then kind of letting things, other things fall by the wayside.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
I will say something I've really been leaning into lately. I think now that I'm, so my son will be at school three days a week when school finally starts. then I'll have help for my daughter, a babysitter for my daughter, which will allow me to have just more focus, time in the business.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And I think something I'm leaning into really with that is just being able to be present in the moment. So getting
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
that help allows me to really get some focused work done during those work hours. And then when I'm with my kids, I'm not feeling that like, oh, I really need to be doing other things and I'm not present with that.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
Um, and do that just allows me, I think from a psychological burnout standpoint, it allows me to have fun. Like we, I'm, my office looks at the backyard and, um, we have like one of those big swings and my son and I almost every day, we pretty much will go out there and swing on the swing together. And he just puts his head on my shoulder and we, we've got a lot of trees in our yard and so it's just, and the weather's been great lately.
emily_gorrie:
Oh, I love
lori_aikman:
Um,
emily_gorrie:
that, yeah.
lori_aikman:
so then. in those moments, I mean, we need those moments, right, to like lower our cortisol and not, right, get into that burnout state. So being able to just, okay, I'm gonna work the time that I do have to work, and then I'm gonna sleep when I need to sleep, and then
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
enjoy life otherwise, be present with my children, with my family in the time that I have with them,
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
and just... Not worrying about, I think it can be hard because especially if you're newer and you're trying to make money, like I know for me there was a time where it was like, I've got to make enough money so we can pay our bills. Now I quit my day job. Just kind
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
of getting to that place where, okay, this is how much I can work. This is how many clients I can take on and
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
You know, beyond that is you know, maybe they'll come a time where they're both being school full time. And then
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
I can, I can add more at that time if I, if I'd like to.
emily_gorrie:
If you'd like to. Yeah, I love that. I think a big takeaway for me as I'm listening to you share this is trusting the timeline almost in terms of kind of just everything else that you have going on in the stage of life that you're in. Because I think about women who I've talked to who are interested in starting a business. I think about myself personally. You know. this podcast is a passion project, would I love for it to make money? Absolutely, but trusting the timeline in terms of what is so necessary right now, like I'm grateful that this podcast doesn't need to be making money immediately for me to be able to
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
A, continue to do it, or B, pay childcare for me to be able to do it and things like that. So there's
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
a timeline to everything, right? In terms of how quickly Are we kind of creating this false narrative that things have to happen so fast? Or
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
can we kind of trust the timeline on if we continue to make some progress and just some forward movements, things
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
will open up for us when they're meant to,
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
which is so hard to do, so
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
hard to do when you're excited about something or you really
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
want to spend the time. And I know personally, right, like there's, for me, until I allocated some space in my brain to prioritize myself and stand up and say, okay, I'm going to make this podcast a priority. I was resentful a lot of times that I was
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
with my daughter. My mind was elsewhere. I was starting
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
to mentally burn out even though physically I wasn't. doing a whole lot, if that makes sense. You know, like, she was crawling. I don't have to be like running after a toddler at that stage of life. So physically I wasn't doing a whole lot, but mentally I was really finding the challenge. And I guess
lori_aikman:
Hmm.
emily_gorrie:
that lends to the next question of, from your experience with your clients or your personal experience, like, do you find that burnout manifests itself physically first or mentally? Like, how do you notice your burnout? For example, do you tend to find it in your physical symptoms or do you feel it mentally first? How can we start to identify maybe we're starting to burn out before
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
we hit rock bottom?
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm. I think it's, I think if you can recognize, it's going to be physical first.
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
I should say, so when we talk about burnout or I talk about like your cortisol being dysregulated, your adrenals, your HPA axis, there's a couple different phases of that and the stress on your adrenals can be. I just want to preface, it can be psychological, which I think a lot of women, moms face, people face.
emily_gorrie:
Mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
I mean, I just was reviewing a friend's labs, who's a guy. He's a dad, but he owns a business. And I mean, I'm like, you're my client, but a male version. You know,
emily_gorrie:
Yep
lori_aikman:
I said to him. So there can be psychological stress, but there can also be stress from lifestyle things, you know, lack of sleep, diet, those factors. And then also inflammation, like infection inflammation, can be stress on the body.
emily_gorrie:
Mmm, mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
But I think speaking to the woman that listens to your podcast, the type of woman that I work with in my practice, it can even just be being in demand. My admin assistant is a friend and client, and I remember her saying to me, I like my own life, I enjoy my life. But so she's not, it's not that she's unhappy, but if you think about it, she's constantly in demand. She has
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
three children, she homeschools. Her husband has his own business. They are very, they're school age kids and they're very active. They're in a lot of extracurricular activities.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So she's getting up, getting them ready, homeschooling them, feeding them lunch, taking them to practice, you know, feeding everybody dinner. I mean, Maybe she's not like stressed out like, oh, I don't enjoy this. Maybe she's
emily_gorrie:
Right.
lori_aikman:
enjoying it, but you are constantly in demand. I
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
and I will say back to I think for me personally, you said the word I would choose is I start feeling resentful when I don't create I actually just had that like this week. When I don't have that space for myself to recharge.
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
I start feeling risen. It shows up psychologically or mentally. I
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
literally had to tell my husband, I was like, I'm putting, I'm giving you the kids and I'm gonna go exercise. I just need to like get outside and go for a walk for 30 minutes. And it's all you, don't call
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
me.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
I just need a minute. So I personally think yes, for a lot of the women that you and I would... you know, come and interact with, it would show up psychologically before it's manifesting. I think when it is manifesting physically, that psychological piece or being in demand piece has been going on for a long.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, so would that be a piece of the work that you do then for those women that you talk to? So I think half the battle is getting somebody who understands what it is that we're feeling. And functional medicine allows for that, that looks at different aspects and the roots of what could be causing some of these symptoms that are manifesting themselves. So how do you, what's that next? piece of that? How do you support those women that are coming to you to make some changes to address some of these symptoms? Is it medicinal? Is it exercise, food? Is it lifestyle changes? How do you
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
work with these women?
lori_aikman:
It's all of it, I will
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
say. So particularly with my practice, we do a full functional lab panel. So I'm getting like six different tests and then putting the whole piece together and then we start our work together. And so their protocol is going to include nutritional supplements that target what's going on with their adrenals. That's usually the first phase that we go into. So I may put them, recommend, hey, let's take this, and this. That's going to really help with your stress levels. It's going to help with your energy. So we're helping from a supplemental standpoint. And then we're also looking at how diet, I would say most women don't eat enough protein and their blood sugar
emily_gorrie:
Mm-hmm.
lori_aikman:
is out of whack. And I'm talking women who are not necessarily obese, who do exercise already, who eat relatively healthy.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
have blood sugar issues. So then we're looking at from a diet perspective, what are some changes we can do to help with that? And then, yes, I'm really encouraging them from a lifestyle piece of like, how can you create space for yourself today, this week? How can you... Even to, I don't, have you ever read Danielle Laporte's desire map?
emily_gorrie:
I haven't, no,
lori_aikman:
Okay.
emily_gorrie:
but I'm gonna put it on the list.
lori_aikman:
Yeah. So it's, and a lot of people will, she's like the, I guess I think the first that I'm sure somebody talked about it before her, but it's basically a lot of, all of our goals and desires really come down to a core feeling.
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
So if I look at me wanting to create this business that I have now, What did that really, what did that, what's that core feeling I really want, I really wanna feel purposeful, that I'm making an impact in people's lives and that I have some freedom. I'm not punching the clock nine to five and somebody
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
cutting my pay, right? But then I look at, I talk to them and say, okay, what's your, what are your core desired feelings? What do you really want? And why are we I find most women are like turning their wheels, right?
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
They're hustling, which is leaning to burnout. They're everything for everyone. And at the heart of that, I think for many women that comes down to a self-love piece and a self-acceptance piece. I think many of us, myself included at times in my life, we're hustling for our worth and our
emily_gorrie:
Hmm
lori_aikman:
value because we're placing our worth and our value in our ability to care take for everybody in our life or our
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
ability to succeed in our business and make honor roll. I'm sure if
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
you were growing up, you were. Okay, I have to do good in my classes and I have to, you know, be in all the extra curriculars. And then you go into adulthood and you're like, I've got to be the best mom and the best employee and the best, you know, partner. Really looking, taking a step back and going, do I love me and do I value me for just who I am without doing all the things? And I think when we, when we can come to that piece, maybe we can let go of some of the other. ways we're hustling in our lives.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, absolutely. I think too, I mean, personally for me, that was a huge realization that I was doing that when I became a mom. So it's interesting.
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
I had a lot of fears before my daughter was born. I got pregnant. It was before she was born. I was like, And I always say this with a grain of salt, and I wanna share it, but like, mom, if you're listening, I love you. You're wonderful. But like, I didn't wanna do things the way that my mom did things. Like, she
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
was a wonderful mom, in that she was always there, was
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
present for my sister, and I always took us to things. She was a super supportive and amazing wife to my dad. Like, we just saw her in every bucket all
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
the time. She was always there. And I said, I was so scared that I was going to have to find a way to do that. And I felt like I was losing all these other desires that I
lori_aikman:
Hmm,
emily_gorrie:
had or parts
lori_aikman:
yeah.
emily_gorrie:
of me that wanted to create something or felt inspired to do something. And I felt for a long time that I couldn't do that anymore because I had to be this. Presence for
lori_aikman:
Always.
emily_gorrie:
this being now, and I a huge realization for me, and it speaks a lot to. what you're saying, which really resonates with me, is like... my worth as a human is not actually tied to how other people feel I show up. And if I can
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
show up in a way that feels good to me, it's gonna feel good to my daughter. And it's
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
going to feel good to my husband because there isn't resentment, there isn't
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
frustration, there isn't self-sacrifice behind those actions. But that is, it's hard.
lori_aikman:
Yeah,
emily_gorrie:
It's hard, it's tough.
lori_aikman:
definitely.
emily_gorrie:
I think there's trial and error in.
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
starting to speak up for yourself and how it feels and creating those boundaries and those priorities for yourself. And I say this too, because just for anyone listening who feels perhaps they haven't made those changes for themselves yet or doesn't feel empowered to do so, action brings clarity. So just trying something and seeing how it lands or rephrasing something or just trying. Right? It's kind of the first step in everything. So I wonder if you're comfortable sharing, if you could talk a little bit about how you supported yourself in that journey of
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
being confident and loving enough of yourself to say, these are the boundaries I need. This is the help that I need. Because you shared how you prevent yourself with burnout. But how did you get mentally to a point
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
where you knew that was the right thing and that's what you needed to do?
lori_aikman:
Yeah, yeah, that's good. Um, I will say it's, it's a process too. Like I don't know that there's like a, oh, I'm never gonna never get, I made this one
emily_gorrie:
Right.
lori_aikman:
decision
emily_gorrie:
Ha
lori_aikman:
and
emily_gorrie:
ha ha.
lori_aikman:
right. Cause I even think this week I just was able, I did. Um, so I've been in this mentorship group for over a year now or just about a year. It'll be a year, March 1st. And there's a woman in the group that's a, um, a hypnotherapist
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
and I never I had just like, I had no clue really what, you know, I'm like, oh, if you're hypnotized, it's, you know, it's just like guided meditation,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
right? It's getting you to a more relaxed state
emily_gorrie:
Yep,
lori_aikman:
and you
emily_gorrie:
I
lori_aikman:
can
emily_gorrie:
love
lori_aikman:
really,
emily_gorrie:
that.
lori_aikman:
you know, really allow your subconscious to the forefront. And I, so I did a session with her this past week and I just kind of realized how I was, I'm still kind of rescuing in some of my relationships
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
and being able to let go. I think for me, one of the things I had to let go of, we spoke about my son will be starting preschool soon. He's only two. And there was just something in me of like, I think when I was pregnant, I was like, oh, I'll probably stay home. I'll probably be there for my kid all the time.
emily_gorrie:
Hmm
lori_aikman:
I'll probably let go of my career some. And then I just realized there's all these desires in me and I'm not going to be a full time stay at home mom and I want I kind of had to let go of yeah this may belief that I had to be there like you were saying similar
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
be there all the time for my kids and I have to be my daughter is very attached to me and
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
she you know I know she gets upset when I have to walk away and leave her with a babysitter and
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
but. Um, I guess I'll speak to the kind of breakthrough I had this week is just realizing like when we are there for people all the time and we are rescuing all the time, we're saving them from uncomfortable feelings. We're really hindering them. We're really keeping them from, um, being resourceful and learning how to deal with difficult things. I thought of. the analogy of I worked in the ICU for many years and I worked with a lot of surgical patients and we have, I worked with liver transplant patients for a long, long time. And so literally these people are having a huge incision on their, a whole, like one of the biggest organs in your body being
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
transplanted. Within 24 hours, we're getting them up out of bed and getting them moving. If I were in a good nurse, a good surgeon, post-op care, team knows people need to get up and get moving even though it's painful we know it's the best from them. If I and my rescuing were like don't move it's gonna hurt it's okay I'll
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
take care of it right I would they wouldn't they wouldn't start feeling you know they'd be hindered in
emily_gorrie:
Yes.
lori_aikman:
their recovery because I was saving them from hurting and moving too soon and really a good post-op care provider of some kind is like I know it hurts but you've got it it's gonna be better if you move. And it
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
was like, I could kind of see that in my kids and my husband of like, I know this is difficult, but you're going to grow through this. Um, and so letting go of that. My kids
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
can never feel difficult emotions. You know, I can't let my kid, I have to rescue my kids from difficult emotions. I have to rescue my husband from being stressed out and having to deal with the kids on his own.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
You know, I can. allow them to figure that out. And I don't have to be the savior. And like, what am I kids gonna do when they're teenagers, when they're in their 20s? And I've dealt with, I've handled their difficult emotions always, and they don't know how to handle their difficult emotions. So that was just a big, like seeing that in a different way, maybe expectation, self-imposed expectation,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
so that I can, and I think when I'm fulfilling, speaking to a spiritual side, I guess, I do think we all have like callings or, we have these desires in us for a reason, and they're calling out that part inside of us, that potential that's inside of us. And I think when we embrace that, and when we are, you said it, when we are, allowing those desires to be fulfilled and we step into this person that maybe we're meant to be, we aren't resentful, right? Because we're
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
not like, I'm holding back this potential for you or something.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
So I don't know if that is, I feel like that was a roundabout way to answer your question, but that's
emily_gorrie:
I think that was perfect because I think honestly, right, when you think about it, there's, I'm imagining the first year of my daughter's life, which was very challenging for me
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
because I was holding onto this pressure that I had put onto myself to be this something for her. And
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
there was a lot of physical manifestations that were showing up. I wasn't sleeping well, even though she was sleeping. There's a
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
lot of things that I could. I could walk through that was a struggle for me. I wouldn't say the moment I started to make some changes, but the process of making some changes or saying I need some help or doing things with myself as priority number one, I started to find that a lot of those problems went away. I'm
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
sleeping wonderfully now. There's
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
also this ability, my daughter just started preschool January, she's two. And
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
for me, I thought at least three, I would have her home.
lori_aikman:
Yeah. Yeah,
emily_gorrie:
Because
lori_aikman:
me too.
emily_gorrie:
of expectations, my mom was
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
like, oh, it's fine, three years. You know, what's three years? I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, three years for the first one. If I have a second one, then it's probably
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
another year at least after that, or two years. And I went down this rabbit hole and I was like, oh my God, this is my life. It's,
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
what did I do? What did I do? I did this. I have to sleep in this bed that I made. And there was a lot of frustration and
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
manifesting of stress. And I imagine if you looked at my adrenal labs, you'd be like, well, you are all out of whack, all
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
out of whack, lady. But I think you said it so beautifully. And I appreciate you sharing your journey with this, too, and kind of releasing some of that pressure and control with your son and giving yourself the space to fulfill some desires that you have. Because I think... That's something that a lot of us hold, that we do to ourselves. Even like, I bet you if we asked our partners, my husband would say this day in and day out, you'd be like, I'm here to get you help. Why won't you let me get you help?
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
So sometimes it just starts with us allowing the change to be. And it's
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
not really these expectations. We make a lot of assumptions.
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
And honestly, my kid is thriving. I mean, she
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
is such a social butterfly. I couldn't give her what she's getting
lori_aikman:
Mm.
emily_gorrie:
at school.
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
I mean, she's sick like every other day, but that's a whole other
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
thing. But I mean, that's good for her too in the long run, I'm sure. So there's different challenges. But I appreciate you sharing that journey too, because I think a lot of us who are listening can resonate
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
with just that pressure that we
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
put on ourselves.
lori_aikman:
I agree,
emily_gorrie:
And
lori_aikman:
yeah.
emily_gorrie:
so it sounds a lot like, so you are a part of this mentorship, you've gotten yourself some help. And I love the empowerment piece too
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
of kind of this journey that you're sharing of how you're showing up with your clients as well to kind of empower them to take kind of a messed up system and work in their favor. And I wanna just jump back a little bit to the piece that you had said about, you know, kind of working outside of the like traditional. medical
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
paradigm and the insurance pieces of it. And it's
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
interesting that you said the insurance, if you run it through the insurance, it ends up sometimes being more. And it is disheartening at times
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
to be somebody who's looking for help and get run through kind of a rocket at
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
time that's really just motivated by profit and
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
all of that. So I
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
would love if you could just talk a little bit about maybe the empowering side of it. your business and your work and how you work with these women and just kind of the, you know, do you see kind of a shift in your patients mentally overall? Like I don't know how long
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
you're working with these women, but you know, how do they, how do they progress? Like how do you, you know, when they walk
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
in your door for the first time to when you see them last, like what is that, that transition look like?
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so my goal is that somebody learns how to, yes, I'm helping them get things back online, but I'm also teaching them in our time together how to best care for their body so that they know what works for them and they can be their own
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
advocate and they can look at it and go, I'm getting out of sorts. Let me get back on track here. My, I have a couple of ways people can work with me, but generally the Vibrant Woman container is six months.
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
And we're working through like a full protocol from there. And then what I recommend after that is just like annual testing.
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
But yeah, my goal is that, and I'll just, I gotta say, it's kind of tooting my own horn, but it's. I just encourage people to work with someone who, if this is speaking to you and you're like, okay, I think I need this, you wanna work, when you hear functional medicine, not everybody necessarily practices the same way,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
just like you can go to two orthopedic surgeons about your shoulder or your knee and one tells you do need surgery and one tells you don't need surgery. So same
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
thing, everybody's gonna practice differently. But I would say what... The way I practice is that we just do an analysis of everything from the beginning and we take the whole picture into mind, not only all the test results, but like looking at you as a person and your symptoms and your life. And then, you know, again, I'm trying to get you, I'm helping you get your healthiest that we can and then also teaching you how to do that as well. One of the pieces that we integrate towards the end is we actually do some genetic testing. Um, you know, looking at how you process vitamins, how you process your, your neurotransmitters, um,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
to affect mood, um, how you, you know, are, is it best, do you detox, how do you detox and how does that affect how much you should exercise, how you should exercise, how much rest you should give yourself? Are you,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
you know, there's, there's kind of like a lifestyle piece that then we integrate towards the end based on your genetics. So again, my goal is then to teach somebody how to function that is best for their body. But
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
the way I see it, I don't want them coming to me dependent on like, okay, Lori, tell me what supplement to take. Like, no, let's, because yes, the
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
supplements have their place, but then if we speak to the adrenal and the stress piece, we're gonna use the supplements to help get things back online, but then we have to look at. Okay, let's man. How can you manage your
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
stress? How you know, how do you manage your life so that we don't get back to this place again, you know, or of course things are going to happen. You know, somebody gets sick, somebody gets injured or
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
life happens and we have setbacks. But but you know what your body needs moving forward and you can be even if they don't work with me again after that they know, okay,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
I need this or this is how my body works.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, I love
lori_aikman:
So
emily_gorrie:
that.
lori_aikman:
again, just speaking to that, making sure you're working with somebody who really looks at a full picture. I have worked with, I have clients that come to me that have some time, even if they are aware of functional medicine and maybe they've worked with somebody functionally before, a lot of times I find they just haven't been addressed in that way of looking at the whole picture. and kind of laying the foundations and said they haven't gotten the results before. Um,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
like I have a client right now who had worked with a functional practitioner before and she's like, I'm like six grand deep, you know, and work with them and I don't feel any different than I did in the beginning.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
And so thankfully
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, it can
lori_aikman:
we,
emily_gorrie:
be frustrating.
lori_aikman:
yeah, yeah. So
emily_gorrie:
So
lori_aikman:
it's, yeah.
emily_gorrie:
I think that's such an important distinction to make sure that you're finding somebody who's looking at that whole picture and how they're going to address some of these facets of it. I wonder, do you recommend? that this work could be done in conjunction with a primary care doctor? Or is it like, can it be in place of a primary care doctor? Because I think when
lori_aikman:
Mm?
emily_gorrie:
people think about maybe
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
the time commitment or the load of this, it's like, well, maybe their primary care doctor does take insurance. Or are they
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
kind of running parallel? Or are they in place of one another? What you do in a
lori_aikman:
Yeah,
emily_gorrie:
primary care doctor?
lori_aikman:
I think that they can run parallel for sure. Um, I think it just depends on like, I think of one client in particular right now, she, um, just had a strong mental health, um, history and her family. She's on a multiple medications herself and her goal was she wasn't always on medications. That was something that happened later in life and her goal was to get off medications if possible. And so we're. the work I'm doing, she's then staying in communication with her provider that manages her medications
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
because that provider had really encouraged her like we need to figure something out to try and get you know, because it was like one medication was leading to another medication
emily_gorrie:
Hmm
lori_aikman:
and another medication. So yeah, and I'm always I'm Always happy to contact, I've asked for people to give me who their provider is and like their contact information. So if something comes up down the line and I need to reach out to their doctor and say, Hey, this is what's been going on. You know, um,
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
I don't particularly how I function. I'm not making any changes to anybody's medication, like prescription medications.
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
That's up to whoever prescribed them. Um, we're doing things more naturally with diet supplements. lifestyle, but I definitely think they can go hand in hand.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
What I find though is a lot of women have only seen an OBGYN, right? They like,
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
and then they're like, I saw my OBGYN like two years ago for my PAP and I haven't been back, you know,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah,
lori_aikman:
so they may
emily_gorrie:
yeah.
lori_aikman:
not necessarily be working with a
emily_gorrie:
with
lori_aikman:
provider.
emily_gorrie:
somebody, yeah.
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
And I just had a question, what was it? Oh, in terms of... Perhaps people that have further health complications, like
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
I don't know, cancer genes that run in the family, or predisposition to, like you just shared with your previous client, mental health history, things like that. Do you find that functional medicine is super impactful to kind of get ahead of perhaps some predisposed conditions you know, patients could be, you know, kind of
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
on the hook for like, is it super,
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
can it be, um, beneficial to start, you know, for those type of, you know, women
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
or things like that? Like, how do you address some of those more like physical manifestations of cancer or you know, diseases
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
and stuff like that?
lori_aikman:
I mean, ideally, if I could be working with women like in their 30s, you know, that would be,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
you know, and we could, I mean, of course, some people have disease, but, you know, in their 30s, but I have clients older than, you know, I have one client, I've had two, I'm trying to think. I have one client in her 70s.
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
I was trying to think if there was some, and then some in their 50s, I'm trying to think what I typically it's like, kind of around the perimenopausal range. Maybe late
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
30s to like up to 50 is the majority of my clients. I have some outside that range, but ideally if I could work with somebody before, you know, they're being told like, you're probably diabetic, you know, they have blood
emily_gorrie:
Yep.
lori_aikman:
sugar problems, blood pressure problems, thyroid problems,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
you know, ideally, then the work we can do will help to prevent those things progressing.
emily_gorrie:
Yep, okay.
lori_aikman:
Um, but again, we look at, so there's, there is a genetic propensity for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, um, cancers, um, in everything that we do, just we're getting their body to function optimally. So if they are predisposed to any of those things, then we are hopefully preventing or delaying onset of, um,
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
some of those things because like when we're getting their adrenals and their gut regulated, it improves their immune system. When we're getting their, you know, we're balancing their blood sugar, it's preventing diabetes. When we're all of those things are, you know, affecting then blood pressure and cholesterol and that unfortunately is like when those are a problem, like when you're with your primary care doctor, they're like, all right, let's put you on medicine, you know, or hey, you need to lose some weight. But there's generally more to it than just. again lose weight, exercise more.
emily_gorrie:
Yeah, yeah. No, I really appreciate kind of that approach to things. And I think there's so much to be said for, again, just being our own best advocate, right? We know
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
our bodies better than anybody, right? Than better than our primary care doctors can. And I think there's just something really comforting listening to you speak and hearing about what you do with your clients and kind of this journey that you yourself have been on because there is. There's something, right? There's another option that I think perhaps a lot of us haven't even considered because we weren't familiar with
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
the possibility of that. I mean, I had said it right when we started this interview. I have been very unfamiliar with functional medicine, and it's not even
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
something that was in my vocabulary until just a couple of weeks ago. So I think there's just a lot of encouragement that comes along with that. So. I think with that, perhaps let's wrap up. I'd love to give you just a quick chance to just highlight where our listeners can find you, whether that be
lori_aikman:
Sure.
emily_gorrie:
your website, Instagram, how can they engage with
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
you?
lori_aikman:
I was going to say one more thing
emily_gorrie:
Yeah,
lori_aikman:
just on
emily_gorrie:
please.
lori_aikman:
that topic you were speaking of is I think that most of my clients, maybe they would say different. I don't think so, but I think most of my clients
emily_gorrie:
Hehehe
lori_aikman:
feel very comfortable with me and confident in me being able to help them. Fortunately, because of the way we work together, we get a lot of one-on-one time and I get to hear their problems and we get to talk through things and there's a lot of communication. I would say to somebody listening, don't be afraid to ask questions. In fact, you know, like if it is your general practice doctor, I mean, there are, there are, you know, yeah, there are, there actually is a functional medicine, a family practice here in town that does practice more functionally. They may not do it the same way I do, and they do take insurance. So there, it's not like there's, it's not out there,
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
but I would encourage you to Don't be afraid to ask questions and make sure you feel confident in the person that you're working with and if you don't keep looking. Maybe somebody's not going to be able... Maybe you work with somebody and it leads you to finding somebody out. Sometimes it's like that action, that one step leads to that next step, then leads to that next step. Just to encourage people if they're looking for somebody to work with. Yeah. Don't be your own advocate. Ask all the questions. Make sure you feel comfortable and confident. And don't be afraid to take a step. You know, try it. Take a step and then, yeah,
emily_gorrie:
Yeah.
lori_aikman:
maybe that'll lead you to the next step. But yeah, you
emily_gorrie:
Amazing.
lori_aikman:
can find me on my website is just loriakman.com. So I'm sure you're going to link it, but it's l-o-r-i-a-i-k-a-man.
emily_gorrie:
We will, yep, absolutely.
lori_aikman:
And then the same thing for social. I'm just at loriakman on Instagram. I have the Facebook. pages I don't love, but I'm on, I
emily_gorrie:
Hehehehe
lori_aikman:
think I'm Lori Aikman, NP on Facebook because Lori
emily_gorrie:
Okay.
lori_aikman:
Aikman was taken. Um, I did, the easiest is probably, and then same on LinkedIn. I'm just Lori Aikman. Um, the easiest would probably, if they go to my website or they could go to Instagram, I know I'm a lot on Instagram,
emily_gorrie:
Hmm,
lori_aikman:
but I,
emily_gorrie:
me
lori_aikman:
I
emily_gorrie:
too.
lori_aikman:
do have, um, some, um, like workshops coming up throughout the year. Um, and you can either from the website or from, Instagram like in my link in bio, you can click on the link to join the workshop. So in the workshops, I'm just taking you through things that you can do before you even have lab testing done. So like diet lifestyle
emily_gorrie:
Mmm.
lori_aikman:
type things that you can do even before you have your adrenals tested or you have gut
emily_gorrie:
Yeah,
lori_aikman:
testing done. So
emily_gorrie:
that's
lori_aikman:
it's
emily_gorrie:
amazing.
lori_aikman:
it.
emily_gorrie:
That's a great way to kind of dip our toes into the water to
lori_aikman:
Yeah!
emily_gorrie:
see kind of how this could work
lori_aikman:
Mm-hmm.
emily_gorrie:
for us personally as individuals. I love
lori_aikman:
Yeah.
emily_gorrie:
that. Well, thank you for sharing. We will absolutely link all of that in our show notes so they're easily
lori_aikman:
Yes.
emily_gorrie:
accessible for anyone listening. And Lori, just thank you. I appreciate
lori_aikman:
Yeah,
emily_gorrie:
you being here.
lori_aikman:
thank you. Thank you for having me. This was fun.