A conversation with Dr. Ailina Ismail, a functional medicine doctor. Ailina helps busy and ambitious women in their twenties to fifties discover the root causes of their fatigue.
Are you a busy woman struggling with fatigue, chronic pain, or brain fog? Dr. Ailina Ismail, a functional medicine doctor, shares her transition from traditional medicine to a holistic approach, finding freedom and flexibility while helping other women reclaim their health.
Dr. Ismail explains how her children's autism diagnoses led her to functional medicine. She discusses the challenges of raising two children on the spectrum, including relocating her family from Malaysia to Australia. This episode offers practical advice for women seeking more energy and mental clarity.
Dr. Ismail explains functional medicine principles, emphasizing addressing root causes, not just symptoms. She offers tips on sleep, stress management, gut health, and movement. Learn how this approach can improve your well-being.
Key Takeaways:
💡 Overcoming Challenges: Hear how Dr. Ismail navigated the challenges of raising children with autism and used it as a catalyst for personal and professional growth
💡 Building Resilience: Gain practical strategies for building resilience and managing stress through lifestyle changes and simple at-home tests.
💡 Reclaiming Your Energy: Discover how to reclaim your energy, vitality, and mental clarity through functional medicine principles.
Dr. Ailina Ismail is a Functional Medicine Doctor. She helps busy & ambitious women in their 20s-50’s discover the root causes of their Fatigue, Chronic pain, and Brain fog and helps them overcome them for good so that they can show up in their lives, workplace, and at home with more energy, vitality, and mental clarity.
🎧 Listen now and embark on your own journey of transformation!
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_ailina/
Website: https://drailina.com/
Free resource: https://info.drailina.com/sugardetox
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment or financial advice. It’s for informational purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.
Listen now! #FunctionalMedicine #WomensHealth #Fatigue #BrainFog #ChronicPain #RootCauses #HolisticHealth #DrAilinaIsmail
Laura Rotter
Today on Making Change with Your Money. I'm speaking with Dr. Ailina Ismail, a functional medicine doctor, about helping busy and ambitious women in their twenties to fifties discover the root causes of their fatigue. Listen, as Ailina shares how a challenging family diagnosis led her to reassess her professional commitments.
Like so many of my guests and opened up the opportunity for her to delve into functional medicine.
Narrator
Welcome to Making Change With Your Money, a podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now, here's your host, certified financial planner, Laura Rotter.
Laura Rotter
Welcome Ailina to the Making Change With Your Money podcast.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Thanks so much, Laura, for having me on your podcast today. I'm so appreciative that, um, you are willing to interview me. I'm from Melbourne, everyone, Melbourne, Australia.
Laura Rotter
And, um, we're excited to see where this conversation takes us.
Sure. So, Ailina, can you, um, share, I'm gonna start with the question I always start with, which is, what was money like in your family growing up, and where did you grow up?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So, I was born in Pinang. In Malaysia, it's an island, uh, on the peninsula in Malaysia. And life wasn't too bad. So my parents were teachers, and at that time they used to move around a lot from state to state, depending on where they got transferred and which school they had to work with.
So, um, all of us, this, there were four of us, um, kids, and I was, I'm the youngest, and so by the time they moved to P nine, they had me. So every. Sibling of mine was born in a different state. Wow. Growing up was good. Like, um, we went crazy rich, but we were. Comfortable like mom and dad in those days. Um, they work for the government.
Um, so it's like a nine to five, not how it is now in Malaysia. Nine to five means, um, that's just the option number, but you stay back to six or seven. But being a teacher, they would always come back in on time, like, and then, you know, I thought I had a pretty good. Childhood, although my, we are quite far apart.
So my eldest and me, my sister is 14 years apart and then the second one is 10 and my brother is six years apart. But that's how mom, like they planned the pregnancies and all that. But for me, I think I grew up kind of a bit lonely 'cause everyone had. Gone overseas to study by the time I grew up. Uh, and I didn't like, me and my brother didn't really have the same interests.
We used to fight a lot, like as siblings. Um, so I always had lots of imaginary friends growing up. But yeah, life was. Okay. Didn't get much to travel until that required. And in those days, the government would pay you like a g um, 'cause they followed like the British Commonwealth. They were, um, we were colonized before.
And so that's when, that was our first overseas trip, uh, to come to Australia, actually to visit my sister who had a scholarship from the government to study here. So that was our first.
Laura Rotter
Thank you for sharing that. It's so, to a certain extent though, you're the youngest of four, it sounds like you are an only child.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
I wish.
Laura Rotter
Be a positive thing, right? Because you get theoretically more attention from your parents. You're the youngest.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Too much I think like I had to, um. My sister had to advocate for me 'cause they wouldn't let even let me learn how to drive because Yeah, I think they were like, I was like their precious last one.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Yeah. So interesting.
There were good and bad things about it.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, true. About life in general, right. Um, so can I assume since your parents were teachers, you said your sister was overseas, that education was an important value in your family?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Oh, definitely. Mom only said that, uh, we don't have much money to.
Give you, but we can give you as much education. So in those days, um, it was like, okay, make sure you get a good job, you know, study hard, get a good job, and then you're set for life. So that was always ingrained in me. It was the typical get a job kind of mentality.
Laura Rotter
Uh, yes. And did you study in Malaysia Or?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So I studied, uh, Malaysia, went to body, um, over there they got government boarding schools. So, um, I might, maybe I was smart enough to get chosen either a boarding school, so grew up, uh, there I was five years of my secondary, we call it secondary school, um, or high school you might call it. And then had, do some pre university locally.
And then I got chosen again. Maybe I was a bit. Smart to get a scholarship to come to Australia to study medicine. Ah, like mom and dad would always say like, um, we couldn't afford, so you gotta study hard and you gotta get the scholarship. 'cause we can't, like I could have continued locally, but it was always my goal to study.
'cause my sisters, my two sisters did it. So I wanted, oh, and my brother too, he studied in Iowa.
Laura Rotter
Ah, wow. He came to the United States?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Yes. Um, it's interesting. So it's, it's similar to the European system, which is there's no liberal arts education. You essentially know what specialty, whether it's medicine or something else that you wanna go to when you're in high school and you study for that professional school.
Here they get to spend four years trying to figure out who we wanna be when we grow up before we then go on to a professional school.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
I think it's a culture thing in Asian, like it's like, are they. Your parents always want you to be like a doctor or a lawyer or engineer, like a really white collar job because as that mentality goes, then you'll earn lots of money.
Right. Um, and some people I know have friends who teach med school 'cause they just couldn't cope because it wasn't their passion. Um, whereas I like to do medicine 'cause my eldest sister was a doctor, so I, um, yeah, she's retired now, so. I used to follow her to the hospital and I liked it. So you, you have to have passion for medicine.
If not, the hours are crazy. Like we were six years of med school and then we didn't have as much summer holidays like other students, so it was like. You struggled through medical school, but if you had passion for medicine, then anything goes like, you know, you would have stayed on. So to me, I think that is unfortunately still the culture in Asia.
Um, I've lived here for 14 years and I try not to impose that on my kids.
Laura Rotter
Um, so I will share a quick funny story. So I though you're talking about in Asia, but certainly, um, I grew up in a family of. Lawyers. I did not become a lawyer and my husband grew up, he's a physician and his cousins are physicians.
And my son went to college his first year. He was a musical theater major. He loved to sing and act and plays. And mid-year through his freshman year of college, he announces that he's pre-med and we said. Why are you pre-med? We didn't put pressure on you. And he said, mom, first of all, he gave us this look like why would I listen to you, whether or not you wanted to?
And he said, I don't wanna live in a walk-up studio apartment. Um, sharing it with five other people, waiting tables, trying to. Earn a living. I think he, he realized when he was in high school, when you're a boy with a good voice, you get a lot of roles. But then when you go on to a competitive school where he attended, he wasn't getting any real roles and shows and he realized, um, so he became a doctor.
And like you, Sid, I mean I think he is passionate about what he does. You really do need to to be, 'cause it's a lot of work to become, um, a doctor in practice medicine. So did you have an idea? You, you just shared that you watched your siblings became doctors, you did have a passion for it, of what kind of medicine you wanted to practice.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
I, when I was studying and being an intern, one of my posting was actually in emergency medicine. Um, so I was working at, we call it over there, it's the accident and emergency, A and e over here we call it ed, emergency department. An emergency medicine doctor actually. So I like variety, so I couldn't see myself, um, being like a dermatologist or surgeon, like zoning in on.
Like all these specialties, you know more, but you know a lot about a little thing. Like does that make sense? Like you study more 'cause you subspecialize, right? So even like orthopedic surgeons then go on to just deal with hip and knees or shoulders. So I didn't like that. I get disinterested easily, so I like variety.
So, uh, emergency medicine was amazing. It was fun. So every day. Being at the, um, emergency, like any work shifts. Um, so I, I was like a go my student, like a go-getter. So I would work morning, then I would go do locum. Are you familiar with locuming? Like locum is when you go, um, work at another clinic for extra money.
So that was me. Uh, we call it moonlighting. Moonlighting, okay. Yeah. So we call it locum, uh, vegan locum. Um, so that was me just. Um, and I used to be a registrar, so I was, I would deal with the more emergency cases. So we, we in the room and then, um, if there were one bell, it was like semi-urgent, someone going attend.
Mine was more the three bell, so it was like all the. Heart attacks, maybe like really serious accidents that would really like, that was fun. Wow. I mean, it was fun for the patient, but it was interesting 'cause then you'd have to manage it differently every time. Right. But then once I met my husband, he's also a doctor, but he graduated from Ireland and then we got married.
Had a kid, my first, my daughter. Then it got hard because she would then was I. Wasn't good as a family life because I remember once he was on call and I was working at the evening, I had to bring my baby doctor, put her in the like on-call room and there were like nurses having like, there'll be someone always, but it was hard.
So that's when I switch. To, um, general practice. So I think you call it family physician. We call it general practice. Yeah. So that's when I still get variety, but then it's more a nine to five kind of working hours. So it's more stable when I, but still seeing variety.
Laura Rotter
Yes. And how old is your daughter now?
Just to get a sense of how long ago now?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
She's 25.
Laura Rotter
Wow. A while ago.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Yeah. They grow up to us.
Laura Rotter
Um, so when we were talking before we started to record this, you said that you did have, you know, about 14 years ago, some, some event that shifted things for you and…
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Well, she was diagnosed with autism. She's an intellectual disability.
Um, and I never learn about it. Medical medic, medical school, at that time it was like. I didn't really pick it up until the kindergarten teacher said to me about when she has about three. They noticed that she was regressing like she was growing up, achieve all her milestones on time. Um, and then suddenly she started to regress.
'cause basically that's how the autism brain works. It's like it develops until the point where it can no longer catch up with, uh, physical growth. Um, so that was like a turning point because then I was scrambling around doing my own research, finding more. About, um, autism spectrum and in Malaysia there wasn't much help then.
So that goes back more than 14 years. Like she's 25. Right.
Laura Rotter
So like, right. So that was years ago.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Yeah. So then I would look around for therapies. There was a BA then we tried so many things. Um, but I realized to bring her to all these therapies, I had to stop working full time. So I went to a. I went private, but to a part-time job.
'cause my husband had to work full-time. Um, someone had to earn the income. Whereas I would, um, ferry her around to all this therapist, um, in the help, in the hope that, you know, if we address this early, then obviously she would have a better chance in life later on. So that was when we started to struggle because, um, the income in mia so much different than in Australia.
So we started to fall back financially. We had lots of support. We lived in my sister-in-law's house,
Laura Rotter
oh, rent.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Um, my parents and my in-laws would always help. I don't wanna tear up. They were very supportive. Um. And we didn't have a holiday for years until finally we actually, so we were living in kl in the capital of Malaysia.
'cause um, that's where we worked and that's where we met. Um, I think my son, my sec first son was about two and we finally decided we needed a holiday and my sister about that. So, um. Gave us her car so we could drive to Pinang. Where I was born, it's an island and we had our first holiday. So it was hard.
We were happy we had the support, but we wanted more…
Laura Rotter
Oy God, sorry.
So. I, I'm curious, so you did medical school in Australia, but then you, you, you always knew you would come back when you finished school and so you met your husband?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
No, I never knew that. So when you are sponsored by the scholarship that the government gives you the exchanges that you come back and serve the country, which is fine.
That makes sense. Um, for at least 10 years. Um, or you by yourself out. Um, and so I was happy to go back 'cause then that's where. Doing internship. That's where I met my husband now. Um, so that was okay. It is just the curve ball was when, and we were managing like, you know, um, the income's not high, but then the cost of living is not high either.
So it was okay. But when we started, um, with my daughter, that was lots of therapy that we had to pay for and I had to work less to bring her to office. Then that's when we started to feel the pinch. Then we had a second son, uh, uh, first son after two years. And, um, then I had this medical issue, so I had appendicitis, but at the start, being a doctor, I'm like, oh, just, I didn't realize, I just thought it was like abdominal pain and I just took some painkillers.
Laura Rotter
They usually say doctors are the opposite, that you're hypochondriacs every time something happens, you think you're,
oh, I'm like, just state.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
But you two bits know I need to work. I've got no time to rest anyway. So it nearly be, it nearly ruptured. So, but finally when I decided to go to, uh, emergency department, the a NE, um, it was nearly ruptured.
So went in, um, removed it. Like he couldn't even do keyhole surgery. He had to like open me up. Um. But then a few days later, I developed intestinal obstruction. So went back in, um, cleared up and I was in hospital for 28 days.
Laura Rotter
Um, wow. I know, right? Uh, and the last, and your husband, well, you had a support system.
I was gonna say your husband was alone, alone with both kids.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Uh, yeah, but then my, I had, um. The my in-laws. So yeah, I, um, they have passed now. My parents have passed, but yeah, they were very supportive. So for that, I'm so grateful.
Yeah.
Um, and so then finally the second obstruction, he couldn't, he had, like, I've had two feet of my intestines removed because it was all like obstructed and incarcerated.
So. Um, that put me back a bit. Uh, but then I jumped back obviously into work. Um, and then we got this offer to come back to practice in Australia. Like they, someone just hit hunted me and they were looking for general practitioners and we said, we asked our parents and our in-laws because that's what we do.
That's, uh, and they give out their blessings and they knew. They want, like they wanted a better life for us and also for our kids. So we ended up in Melbourne.
Laura Rotter
Was Melbourne. Um. A financial decision? Is that, or, and what was the decision based upon, because you said it again, you know, that, you know, that would, it would be a better life.
But in what way, you know, for someone sitting here in the states who's not quite aware of what all the cultural differences are and the financial differences.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Um, financially, definitely. Um, it's like. The Aussie dollar is about three times more. The denomination ring it a dollar. So that was, uh, and as a doctor you, and obviously, um, labor is more expensive over here, so you earn more.
So that was good. And also the facility that are in place, that in the education system to help. Kids like on the spectrum. So that were two major decisions that we said, okay, um, we'll go if you don't like it. The contract was just for two years. Uh, we can all this come back and now it's been 14 years. Wow.
Laura Rotter
And what was that transition like? It sounds like financially it was a positive. You went to school in Australia, so you had some knowledge of the culture, but what was it like and what was it like for your kids to just leave family? Right. They were living near their aunts and uncles and grandparents. It couldn't have been that easy to do.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Well, it's only eight hour flight, so that was okay. Um, we always had like a nanny in, but coming here, I remember my late. Mother-in-law used to say, make sure you take care of my grandkids. So we decided because my degree was recognized, I'm in, um, as I said, I was, I studied in north, uh, south Australia in this uni.
Um, so it was easy for me to get. So I was offered the job. But my husband's, uh, an Irish grad. He, at that time, he had to do further exams. Um, as a pathway to be recognized to work in Australia. So at that time, we decided that, okay, he will be the house husband. Um, and I would…
Laura Rotter
My, my husband was doctor, mom.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
That's what we, oh, we call it doctor mom. Yeah, I call him husband. Um, in Asian culture, that's. What that's kind of frowned upon. 'cause like the guy is supposed to be the so like provider, but you know, we are, we are quite open. Like, um, even my kids like. So I was like, I was going back to what we talked about earlier.
I don't understand to become doctors or anything. I said either do whatever you want, as long as you're happy. I'm happy. So yeah. So that's the, he became the, what do you say, house, doctor? No. Yeah.
Laura Rotter
I said doctor mom.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Doctor mom. Yeah. So, yeah. So he brought the kids to school. Um, by then I had, uh, my third child.
So when he came here, he was only two years old. He's now. Oh God, nearly 17. That was the decision that we made. And it was a general practice, again, nine to five. At that time, at the start, um, I said, I always remind, remember what mom used to say, Vegas can't be chooses. So at the time I still had to work like two, not two evening shifts.
Um, and we work around that. And then after two years. I moved to this current practice where I'm in and I choose my hours outside. I choose what, like it's a seven and flight. So if I work I, and if I don't, but to me, um, holidays are important, so I, I try to take lots of holidays to be with the kids, the family, and then have that work life balance that I could never choose to have when I was back home in relationship.
Laura Rotter
And so Eileen, I'm, I'm curious, uh, I know you now, I met you right, as a, as a functional medicine doctor, and so when did that shift occur, though? It sounds like you're with the same practice for a while, but when did that shift to have this specific focus?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Must have been 10. So my youngest son is also on the spectrum.
He was nonverbal at four. Um, it was a bit hard to accept initially. Like, I'm like, 'cause you always have this mom guilt, right? My god. I give birth to, um, kids, two kids on the spectrum and. We'll always live with that. I have learned to work with that. Um, I've done a lot of self-reflection, uh, a lot of inner health, child work and all that, so, um, and I knew that conventional medicine couldn't seem to help kids on the spectrum.
Like, yes, if you can speak, go see speech pathologies. Yes. If, uh. Problems like riding a bicycle because you can't coordinate your gross motor then see a occupational therapy. So we did all that, but I felt something was like missing. So then that's why over here I had more time. Um, my, uh, financially we were in a better place.
So that I could also spend time doing lots of research into autism again, um, what we know then 14 years ago, um, we've learned so much since then. So I started to look at functional and that's how I jumped into, um, functional medicine. I went to this course, um, and in Brisbane, in Queensland, and it is an organization called Bio Balance and they in fight.
Specialist from the US and one of them is Bill Wash. Dr. Bill Wash is from the Walsh Institute. And do you know of him? No, I don't. Okay. So he does a lot of nutrient decent, meaning that he looks at the brain, uh, from more of a biochemistry point of view rather than just. Fixing like a pill for an ilk. So like, um, so he, he works with, um, mental health patients, autism, A DHD, behavioral disorders, and looking at how the brain's biochemistry then causes these symptoms.
So all those diagnoses, when you, it is just a label, like, you know, major depression when you look at it. The psychiatrist usually have this Bible called the DSM five and how they diagnose the disorders by the symptoms that you have. Maybe if you tick one box of the three major symptoms and maybe two boxes of the nine minor symptoms, then you have minor depression, for example.
But if you take three boxes of the major symptoms, then you've got major depressive disorder, for example. Whereas Bill would go and look at and he would. He has had experience looking at blood work of thousands of patients. Um, and he looked at it from the point of view of what's your zinc copper doing?
Because all of those can be cofactors in making your happy hormones. Like neurotransmitters or converting like copper is one of the major factor that converts dopamine. You are motivating hormone two. Adrenal stress hormone. So we were looking at things, yes, the diagnosis are labeled and as the symptoms, how do we look at the root causes, uh, of the symptoms and alleviate the symptoms.
So that's how I started. I. Into functional medicine, just looking at mental health and then looking at the gut brain barriers. So that's how I got into functional. But then once I look at that, then I started looking at hormones. Then I started looking at the thyroid in particular is my favorite subject.
Then, um, perimenopause is huge in women our age. Um, then I started looking what's, uh, cardiometabolics, so like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and how to address it. Looking at the root causes I. Than just giving you a script, like a pill to address the symptoms. So that's how I got into medicine for my two kids, for my two kids initially.
And then now I help other kids on the spectrum. I help mothers who came to me because they were fatigued, burnout from taking care of their kids. Um, and then that's how I got to the thyroid. 'cause one of the root causes of the fatigue is the thyroid function. It just. Keeps going. Al medicine is so interesting.
Laura Rotter
Can you define for our listeners? Yeah. What exactly functional, it sounds like a broad umbrella, but how would you define functional?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So going back, like for the, for example, right, so functional is going back to the root cause a y. Um, they are on the spectrum. It's for autism, it's multifactorial.
Laura Rotter
But I'm just gonna interrupt for a second.
So when you say root cause, are you still meaning sort of chemical root causes or No, it could be anything environmental.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So, okay. Heavy metal. Like if, um, um, I had lots of uh, um, you know, those, um, amalgams feelings, those silver amalgams, so those are mercury. In the yesterday years, everyone said they were in it, but now we know that the fumes, like from a Keurig, um, it's slowly being released and heavy metals like fat.
And what's the nearest fatty organ's? A brain. That's one. Um, eh, a mo mo is huge. Like, um, if you, it, it didn't happen to us, but say, well, she has a lot of. Candida and more so we think that maybe one of her rooms she might have been exposed. And in the whole family, I had one lady recently, so you can have a whole family that's exposed to more in your house, but only one person gets really sick because it depends on your detoxification pathway.
So we look at. How our body gets rid of all this bad stuff. So that's why we look at the body as a whole, uh, what we are taking in all the toxins, whether it's from the environment, whether it's genetically, we are more inclined to have all this, or the detoxification pathways or whatever. So this genetics environment, uh, what we are eating.
So that's a very strong. Connection between the brain and the gut. So what we put into our body also can be, what's the word? One man's food can be another man's poison. Um, so that's more I. What we call as the root cause. Uh, and then obviously there's a hormones. So I always say our hormones work like a symphony.
When one gland is out of work, then it affects the whole orchestra, right? The, so sometimes you need to fix, so even if I kind of digress, but like say someone came here to me today. And they say, oh, it's my thyroid. I wanna address my thyroid. Then I say, okay, we can do that, but we gotta look at the adrenals.
We gotta look at then the gut, because there's a very strong connection between the gut autoimmune, thyroid disease and so on. So look at the whole body, um, rather than just the specific symptom. So that's how, and then what is the root causes of that? And sometime if it's the gut and your bloating and you're not pooping every day, meaning you're not getting rid of the waste, maybe we look at the, ooh, the microbiome.
We could look at the stomach. Maybe you don't have enough low stomach, you don't have enough stomach acid, or you're taking lots of those drugs that reduce your stomach acid and sometimes addressing just one part of the gut. Your body's pretty flexible. Your body's meant to heal it itself. And sometimes just addressing a part, then, um, your body gets better.
You don't have to address every single system in your body, but it's good to look at the major ones. Does that make more sense?
Laura Rotter
Yeah. I guess my question is, so if I were to come to you and say that I was feeling, you know, low energy, brain fog, like how do you work with people? What, what, what would be the first things you would start to test or do or ask about?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Well, I have like a 16 page. Questionnaire. Oh my before, because remember you look at, you have to look at the whole person. Um, and we always like to start, I always like to start with the baseline. So, um, I call it like a pyramid of dysfunction. So we look at initially, um, sleep. Sleep is huge for, in terms of fatigue, so.
The normal hours, 78 hours, that is so true. You cannot. Have less sleep than that and it doesn't work. Like I had a patient two days ago and she said, well, well yesterday, not two days ago, Sunday, she said, oh, I only sleep like four hours. That's all I can afford. 'cause I, I'm so busy, busy. And then, um, on the weekend I have 14 hours.
I'm like, no, your body can't cope with that. So you can't replace sleep. On the weekends, then we look at things like, so this is just the baseline. This is just like the first phase. Because if you don't address all that, uh, and then they say, oh, it's my blood sugars that are awake. But if you don't address the sleep, then your body's stressed, then you know, sugar be, uh, imbalances become a problem.
So always look at the sleep. Stress is huge, obviously. So you gotta deal with, um. Previous trauma. We now know trauma can be transgenerational, so you've gotta look at your. Stresses in life, whether it can be personal work, can be transgenerational. And if you don't address that, you could do everything else.
You could take 10,000 supplements, but your symptoms would still be there. So I had another patient, we did everything right on paper. She looked good, like after we work with her, but she would still get diarrhea. Um, and then I said, so we dig a bit more. And then, yeah, she was abused as a child. Kind of locked in, like she didn't, like, she didn't even remember that until we dig more and then like, and then suddenly it starts to come up.
And then usually I send, like, I refer them after a psychologist that can deal with trauma. That's not my specialty, but just to know what can be the issue can really help, um, addressing your body as a whole. So mine is important and. Upper gi uh, upper GI function is important. So when you look at the gut mm-hmm.
Um, a lot. Have you heard of the thing like microbiome and all that, right? Yeah. So a lot of people just wanna address your pool. 'cause most of the microbiome sits in the lower gut. There's some in the upper gut, uh, in the small intestine, but usually it's in the latch. But we have to start from the top because the gut starts from your mouth.
To your anus. We call it. I call it from your gums to your bum. Um, and just looking at upper GI function and uh, I always get that, um, looking at upper GI function is the main thing. So your stomach is where we start off with rather than a microbiome. So looking at acid production, 'cause remember I said just now so many people now with heartburn go and all those strong, um, proton pump inhibitors, I want name.
Anyway. Um, there's a reason that we have stomach acid in because it needs to kill off all the bad bugs before it gets down to the lower part of your intestines. How about your pancreatic enzymes? Is there enough enzymes to break down the food that you eat? Because again, um. That's not just about assimilation, it's about also about digestion.
Breaking it down so that then all the nutrients can be absorbed. And then if you're, you don't have all of this, obviously, then, um, you can, your fatigue could be due to nutrient deficiency. So these are all…
Laura Rotter
How do you test that? How, yeah. The, the, you know, the things you just mentioned that affect your gut and your digestion, is that through blood tests?
Is that?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Oh, um, the hydrochloric acid, like if you're producing enough acid or not? Yeah, because you can get bowel reflux and the seeing terms are similar to acid reflux. And then you go on all these antiacid strong ones and they don't do a thing because. Addressing the wrong thing.
Laura Rotter
Right. And then, so how long do you work with someone after you get the results of the testing and how do you work with people?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
How long is a piece of string? Depends. Like I, my favorite question when I first see someone is, when was the last time you felt? Well, so then, you know, some people say, oh as, even as a teenager, I was always. Anxious, um, or some people say, oh, only like two years ago, that's when I had low thyroid function and it was diagnosed during my pregnancy, my third pregnancy.
Um, so everyone presents at different times of their lives, um, and how long they've had this problem because the longer you've had. The issues, obviously then it can be fixed overnight. I least compare functional medicine. I would say it's like a marathon. It's not a sprint. So don't expect to take Tylenol.
Not that that's good. Um, and half hour later your headache goes away. That's not functional medicine. Right? Um, but don't get me wrong, like it's not. That conventional is bad. No, con you need conventional medicine, you need drugs. Um, if you have like, um, a heart attack, if you've got, uh, arag infection, you still need drugs and not you can die.
So there's, you should have a balance, like function is more, all this chronic cases that convention medicine finds, it's easier just to give a script. Uh, whereas, um. So that's where functional medicine will really work. But for acute life threatening issues, you still need convention medicine, you still need drugs, you need surgery and things like that.
Laura Rotter
So it's a balance. So then, I don't know how to phrase this question Eileena, but so if you're not, you know. Doing, here's a script. Take this pill, call me in the morning. What are you telling people to do? Are they changing the way they eat? Are they what? What are. What are you prescribing, if you will?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So when we've addressed, remember I said we look at that, that pyramid of dysfunction and we've address the base, they're like, oh, okay.
So we still at the base of the pyramid, right? So stress, again, if it's something very deep, abuse, trauma, um. Then I refer out to a psychologist, a good counselor that can work with them that's beyond me if they need like a quick fix for their stress. There's lots of things we can do like, uh, adaptogen. So those are hers that you can use, um, to calm your.
Your stress to calm down your flight and fight response. So things like Ola Nia is good. And I always say at the start, 'cause some patients come and bring me like a bag full of supplements. Yeah, it's good, but we don't wanna do this forever. Like, and not, then the supplements become like another medication, another pill, another drop.
Right? So say. With, with we are addressing the trauma and the stress, uh, with a psychologist and we need something now to function in our daily activities, then yes, herbs might work. Or if they are already on what I call happy pills or antidepressants and the anxiety tablets, stay on that as we start working on the stuff.
So the zoom. Copper imbalances on methylation. That's a huge thing that, um, bill wash, I learned from bill wash. So again, that's the, uh, looking at the mental side of things. So we, once we address all this biochemistry, we can still be on the medication and then we, once we feel better, we can come off. So it's not like when you come to me stop all your medications.
No, you still need that. Um, for now. We can introduce some herbs, some supplements to help, uh, transition both your mood, uh, work on your mental side of things, trauma, and then at the same time, address on the biochemistry. Zinc, copper and all that. So that's the stress, mental health side bit sleep, obviously.
Then we look at sleep hygiene, what's happening in the bedroom before you sleep, get rid of like, you know, blue light TVs, gadgets, all those things that, oh yeah, I know about that, but we actually do it. So looking at. Sleep hygiene. And if sleep is a problem, is it falling asleep? Or you can fall asleep, but then once you get up in the middle of the night, you can go back to sleep.
Maintaining the sleep or both. Um, a short term solution would be things like melatonin. It's one of the safest, um, supplement. Everyone worries about melatonin. But if you've got the original one and it's like, um. It's a very, it's one of super antioxidants, so it's like a very, very good anti-inflammatory supplement.
Natural, uh, 'cause I've got like stage four breast cancer patient and she's like taking 20 milligrams. So that helps with the inflammation, um, and things like that. So melatonin is a good one to start off with. Uh, and last gut. So then looking at acid production, if it's good. Apple cider vinegar would be just a shot we have in the morning.
Um, we haven't even gone into nutrition 'cause nutrition is huge. Looking at what foods trigger your symptoms and then what foods are better, uh, for you in terms of like fiber, color, natural colors, so all that. So looking at food as medicine in the long term. Like start on with supplements because you need to boost your energy, but then look at what foods can also boost your energy naturally.
And then just, then the food should take over after a few weeks, a few months, depending on where you are. That's how I would approach it.
Laura Rotter
Thank you. Uh, I'm curious, in your own life, right, you talked about like we're approaching perimenopause, other things. How have you used functional medicine to enhance your own experience?
Dr. Ailina Ismail
I. Okay. Um, I forgot also to mention about exercise. So movement is huge, um, in terms of de-stressing, right? We talk about stress, we talk about, uh, dressing it as big psychotherapy, but uh, I forgot to mention about movement. So movement is important in terms of there cardio for us women this age, it's more we need resistance to prevent osteoporosis and all that.
So me. Um, don't please talk to your doctor. Don't follow me.
Laura Rotter
Right. This is not medical advice. Right.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So I, I love working out. Like that's like I have to work out at least five days a week. It is my stressor. And some peoples, it's like. There's also me time, so I love massage like at least three times at three times a week.
I wish. Yeah, that'd be great. So lots of me. Time is good. Facial massage and there music. Um, last night we went to salsa. That's me and my husband spending time learning, um, salsa. So that's a form of exercise. But I do two days of resistance training. 'cause for me, my mom had. Uh, hip fracture from osteoporosis, just falling down and then broke her hip and none of the doctors would touch her 'cause she was old.
And that was probably the cause of. Um, her death. So I always wanna prevent that. So resistance is important in women of age, resistance training, cardio. I'm not really a fan. I don't like to run. Walking is good. Um, so I only do a HI class once a week. Um, then there's the dancing, oh, I swim. So, um, once a week.
Uh, what else? So yeah, at least five activities for me. That's me. Me being the crazy me. But you could just start with walking three times a week. Right? Walking is good. Yeah. Um, but I'm not a fan of that. Um, so you gotta find what you like to do and do it well. Like, if you don't like seeming you can't seem to save your life, don't, um, if you don't like resistance 'cause it's too hot, just go walking and bring light.
Two bottles, like of like, you know, those water bottles. So that's resistance for your arms. Wear those ankle weight. So it makes, that's resistance for your low limb. So there's so many things like that you can just, um, some people don't like to dance. Maybe, you know, you just like to ride a bicycle. Some people like to run a treadmill, have a.
Like a laptop in front and watch your favorite. Yeah, everyone's, yeah, everyone's there. So there's no excuse. And then now I think there's someone going in my group that's gonna have like a chair, um, exercise challenge. Like for five days. She's just doing all exercises, just using your chair at home.
There's so many things. Pickle ball. I haven't started that one yet. I would love to do call dancing. So that's like in.
Laura Rotter
Yes. So that's after my own heart. I mean, I, I exercise seven days a week. I mean, some days it's yoga, some days it's gentler than other days. But definitely I think that, um, it's. For me, also a stressor, like you said. I mean, it's, it's important for me to do it. I, I think it keeps me from being a crazy person, so I, I always like to end my conversations and this one's been so interesting.
I could go on forever with just asking you if your definition of success has shifted over the years. And perhaps even financial distress since I know finances were, you know, one of the variables that helped you make decisions.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
So in my self, is it like how I define personal definition of success? Yeah.
Um, if it's financially, I think we are not crazy rich. Um, but we are comfortable, at least now I can provide for the kids. Uh, we've just moved. To a bigger house, just to, and before we then downgrade when the kids move up. Um. But at least we get to travel. So that's always been my dream. So now we are traveling more.
We can afford to do that either with the family or sometimes it's just me and my husband. 'cause that's another thing. Relationships very important to maintain. So relationship between your spouse or your partner, relationship with your immediate family, extended family, the community. So again, that's.
Actually at the base of the pyramid, you have to have those connections to be able to really do well, um, in life. Um, 'cause then you have all the support that you need. So success to me doesn't mean like crazy amounts of money. 'cause you know, as long as you're comfortable if. Paying off the debts, um, and you're leaving like a legacy for your kids, um, to go from there.
So, uh, how do I put this? As long as you're happy, like happy inside and you're doing something that you're passionate about. 'cause I've cut down my hours. I'm doing only three days a week now. Um, I still feel, 'cause I don't wanna retire a hundred percent. 'cause then my, you know, if you don't want your brain Yeah.
They know what your, your brain cells to die so. I think at the moment, three days a week is good. I might cut it down more. We'll see. Um, but just finding that balance between work and doing your own thing for your own self and doing things for the people that you love around you. So that's my definition.
And spiritually, so I believe in God. Um, I find faith for me is very important because sometimes there are just things out of control and you know, there's a. Higher source, a higher being. That's, um, and so sometimes you just have to pay, have faith in when things don't go as planned. And then you know, you're being tested and you just, you know, learn from the mistakes and try to do things better.
Like nothing's ever a hundred percent ary all the time.
Laura Rotter
No, uh, I I love that summation. I really appreciate it and it does resonate with me. I've, I've, I, I think trust, which I equate with faith, and it doesn't need to be in some being that's outside of you, but just sort of a sense that whatever it is.
Everything will be okay. Not necessarily the way you imagined it would be, but that, you know, you'll have the strength to get through whatever life throws your way. So as we end our conversation, Eileen, is there anything else you feel like you'd like to say or, um, tell our listeners about, um, how they might contact you if this sparks the, any interest.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Like if people wanna look at functional medicine, um, I'm sure you can share my details. I always offer like a complimentary call if you've got blood work that you want me to have a look at from a functional point of view because you have some symptoms, but your doctor said everything's okay, don't worry about it.
Show me the bloods and then we can go and treat. 'cause then we look at it from a functional point of view, looking at optimum levels. And then, you know, I can say, okay, you might just start doing this, you know, I'll do that. So that's an option. I've got lots of free resources on my Instagram. Uh, to, so have a look.
It's just, uh, Dr for Doctor Eileena, A-I-L-I-N-A, my name, um, and reach out to me. I'm on mostly on Instagram. I do have a Facebook account, but I'm not as active, but reach out to me, um, always, um, receiving dms and, and I always asking you if you need anything. I'll send out some free resources because I find that.
The more you give, then there's always the more that you get that it's like, you know, the universe, um, giving and receiving is just part of how things should be. Uh, and I hope that whatever I shared has touched some people's life in whatever way. Um, if maybe my challenges is not as big as other people to me want it.
Is still ongoing. It's not as bad as it was before. And then just how to find ways to overcome them, that that's always growing, right? You have a challenge, uh, or something like done, right? How do we learn? How do we make it better? How do we fix it? And then from that learn and hopefully we don't make the same mistakes for the past.
Laura Rotter
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate our conversation.
Dr. Ailina Ismail
Thanks, Laura for having me.
Narrator
Thanks for listening to Making Change with your Money certified financial planner, Laura Rodder specializes in helping people just like you organized, clarify, and invest their money. In order to support a life of purpose and meaning, go to www.trueabundanceadvisors.com/workbook for a free resource to help you on your journey.
Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only. You should seek appropriate professional advice for your specific information.