Endocrine Wellness

Why do so many women feel “off” even when they’ve been told their labs are normal?

Fatigue.
Brain fog.
Weight gain.
Poor sleep.
Hormone changes.
Mood swings.
Stress that never seems to shut off.

Women everywhere are beginning to ask deeper questions about perimenopause, hormones, inflammation, nutrition, and long-term wellness — because they know something in their body doesn’t feel right.

At Secrets in Healthcare, we’re creating space for those conversations.

Conversations about root causes.
Conversations about natural health.
Conversations that help women better understand their bodies and take a more active role in their wellness journey.

Because healthcare needs a new conversation.

🎟️ Join us November 20–21, 2026
📍 Big Cedar Lodge | Ridgedale, Missouri
🌐 [www.secretsinhealthcare.com](http://www.secretsinhealthcare.com)

This!!!♥️♥️♥️. This is why I love herbal medicine and supplements that actually come from plants and not a chemical formula made in a lab some where. MediHerb USAStandard Process Inc.

EBV is implicated in multiple AiD’s. Knowing a little more about how it affects the immune system allows for a more targeted approach. The herbs discussed rank among some of my favorite and for good reason. 🌸🌱

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has already been strongly implicated in the development and progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. Now a recent study provides a major mechanistic advance in the EBV-lupus story by showing that EBV does not simply coexist with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but actively reprograms autoreactive B cells into pathogenic drivers of the disease. Using advanced cell-level and genetic analysis, the researchers showed that EBV tends to infect a particular group of B cells (immune cells responsible for making antibodies to fight infections) already linked to lupus. Once inside these specific cells, the virus uses one of its proteins (EBNA2, EBV nuclear antigen 2) to reprogram how they behave, turning them into highly active inflammatory cells that present antigens and strongly drive immune responses. Specifically, the infected B cells produce antibodies against the classic nuclear autoantigens of lupus and directly activate T cell responses, placing EBV-infected autoreactive B cells at the centre of lupus pathophysiology.

The study is particularly compelling because it moves beyond correlation into functional immunology. It integrates multiple high-resolution techniques and shows not only that EBV-infected B cells are autoreactive, but that they actively propagate the disease through the T peripheral helper (Tph)-DN2-plasmablast pathway. However, important limitations remain: the data are cross-sectional, so causality is inferred rather than proven; sample sizes are modest; and EBV infection is nearly universal while SLE is rare, meaning EBV cannot be the sole cause. Nonetheless, this work substantially strengthens the argument that EBV is a key upstream driver in susceptible individuals rather than a passive bystander or a hit-and-run trigger.

This mechanistic insight fits coherently with decades of supporting evidence. Epidemiological studies show higher EBV exposure and reactivation in SLE; molecular mimicry research demonstrates that EBNA1 peptides can cross-react with lupus autoantigens; and genetic studies reveal that EBNA2 binds and activates a large proportion of SLE risk loci. The new data unify these strands into a single model: EBV infects genetically primed autoreactive B cells, reprograms them via EBNA2, and drives a self-amplifying autoimmune loop through T-cell activation and antibody production.

Crucially, this process is contingent on genetic susceptibility. Risk variants in genes regulating B-cell tolerance, interferon signalling, and HLA class II antigen presentation create a permissive environment in which EBV can exert pathogenic effects. Certain HLA alleles (such as DR3, DR15) “frame” EBV peptides so they resemble self-antigens, enabling molecular mimicry and inappropriate T-cell responses.

From a Functional Herbal Therapy perspective, this reframes lupus as a network disturbance in which viral signalling, B-cell dysregulation and immune amplification are intertwined. So the aim is not to “suppress immunity,” but to recalibrate it. Practically, that suggests layering antiviral herbs (such as licorice and St John’s wort) to reduce EBV activity, alongside immunoregulatory/anti-inflammatory herbs that modulate B-cell and interferon signalling (particularly Echinacea root and bioavailable curcumin, together with regulation of gut flora with herbs such as the berberine-rich Phellodendron).

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41223250/

Second part of Dr. Annette's adrenal series is now available to listen to! Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts!
🌱🌸✨

Ep 12: The Four Horsemen of the Adrenal Apocalypse – Part 2: The Blood Sugar Bandit Hormone Hackers Podcast · Episode

Little more about Gotu Kola!

For several years now I have been emphasising the importance of improving microvascular health in patients with, or at risk of, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), using Centella asiatica (gotu kola) as a central component of this strategy.

Now a recent randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial from Korea has evaluated a standardised extract of gotu kola (300 mg/day, standardised to asiaticoside at 14.1 mg/g) over 6 months in 80 adults aged 45 to 65 years with low baseline macular pigment optical density (MPOD). The study was methodologically sound, with good blinding, balanced baseline characteristics, low attrition, and both per-protocol and intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses reported.

The primary finding was a significant and progressive increase in MPOD compared to placebo. By Day 180, changes from baseline showed large between-group effect sizes: right eye (+0.06 vs 0.00; d = 1.26), left eye (+0.02 vs −0.02; d = 1.00), and average MPOD (+0.04 vs −0.01; d = 1.96), all highly statistically significant. The letter d above refers to Cohen’s d, a standardised measure of effect size. A value of 1.00 or higher, as seen in this study, represents an extraordinarily large clinical effect.

Benefits were already evident by Day 120. A responder analysis (defined rather permissively as any increase in MPOD) showed 94.7% responders in the treatment group versus 32.4% in placebo. Safety was reassuring, with no serious adverse events and no clinically meaningful changes in laboratory or vital parameters.
MPOD is a clinically useful surrogate marker of macular resilience, reflecting the concentration of lutein, zeaxanthin, and meso-zeaxanthin in the central retina. Higher MPOD is consistently associated with better visual performance (particularly contrast sensitivity, glare recovery) and a lower risk or slower progression of AMD. However, it is a surrogate marker rather than a direct measure of vision.

In a field where meaningful interventions are scarce, these findings signal a compelling new advance, showing that a non-carotenoid containing herb can measurably enhance macular resilience and potentially open an entirely new therapeutic pathway for AMD prevention and treatment.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41901080/

Gotu kola is one of my favorite herbs but this post shows why it should be one of YOURS!

In case you haven’t already guessed, one of my favourite herbs is gotu kola (Centella asiatica). This unassuming w**d is a quiet testament to the profound power sometimes concealed within humble origins. Gotu kola bridges traditional wisdom and modern validation, demonstrating clinically proven capacities to restore microcirculatory integrity, enhance collagen architecture and regeneration, and refine connective tissue function. My next two posts reveal how this herb’s therapeutic potential has just been taken to an entirely new level, underpinned by some truly remarkable clinical findings.

Atherosclerotic plaques are fatty build-ups in our artery walls. But more than that, they can be thought of as chronic wounds in the arterial lining, driving the entire cascade of arterial disease, from impaired flow through to heart attacks and strokes. They differ not just in size, but in structure and composition and this strongly influences their risk profile. Using high-resolution ultrasound (including grey-scale imaging), clinicians can assess plaque volume, shape, density and uniformity. On this imaging, denser, more fibrous plaques appear brighter or “white” (echogenic) and tend to be more stable. Softer, lipid-rich plaques appear darker or “black” (echolucent) and are more prone to rupture, thrombosis and embolisation, leading to hard cardiovascular events. This difference is reflected in the underlying biology. Unstable plaque is typically richer in lipids, inflammatory cells, and fragile microvessels, while more stable plaque contains more collagen and organised structure. Rather than viewing plaques as simple obstructions to blood flow, this new understanding treats them as dynamic biological lesions, where vulnerability depends on multiple interacting factors.

A small presurgical study in 40 patients with advanced carotid plaques scheduled for carotid endarterectomy (a surgical procedure to remove atherosclerotic plaque from the carotid artery) compared six months of pine bark extract (150 mg/day) plus gotu kola extract (450 mg/day) against standard care. When the plaques were removed and examined, the differences were striking and consistent across multiple risk features. For example, calcification was present in 32% of treated plaques vs 100% of controls (7/22 vs 18/18), lipid-rich atheroma in 36% vs 89% (8/22 vs 16/18), and inflammatory cell infiltration in 35% vs 100% (7/20 vs 18/18). Markers of vascular instability were also reduced: VCAM-1 (36% vs 72%), ICAM-1 (32% vs 89%), intraplaque thrombosis (23% vs 67%), and haemorrhage (45% vs 78%). Even features linked to plaque fragility, such as neovessel formation and inflammation around thin-walled vessels, were roughly halved in the treatment group. Alongside this, plaque growth over the 6 months was +1.5% vs +4.8% in controls, indicating a meaningful slowing of progression.

Taken together, the gotu kola and pine bark therapy delivered a broad, system-wide shift in plaque phenotype. Specifically, the herbal intervention appears to move plaques away from a “vulnerable” state (lipid-rich, inflamed, angiogenic, thrombosis-prone) toward more stable, organised, and less reactive structures. Moreover, this clinical effect spans multiple biological domains simultaneously: inflammation, endothelial activation, microvascular instability, thrombosis and structural composition. In other words, rather than just shrinking plaques, the herbal combination seems to beneficially change what the plaque is made of and how it behaves.

This discovery has the potential to reframe the discussion around cardiovascular risk. Much of conventional thinking still emphasises plaque burden and lipid levels, but this study highlights that impacting plaque quality—its biology and stability—may be just as important. From a clinical perspective, it raises the possibility that interventions (especially phytotherapy) that act across multiple pathways could meaningfully reduce cardiovascular risk, not by dramatically reducing plaque size and development, but by making plaque less likely to rupture, thrombose and cause events. While the study is small and not outcome-driven, the magnitude and consistency of these morphological changes are intriguing, and they support a more rational true risk-based approach to cardiovascular intervention.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36789998/

Happy
Mother’s
Day

🌸🌱✨ Hormone Hackers next episode dropping Tuesday!✨🌱🌸
Catch the next installment in Dr. Annette's 4 part adrenal series "The Four Horseman of the Adrenal Apocalypse" Part 2 - "The Blood Sugar Bandit" coming out on Tuesday May 12!

Just a few little snippets from Dr. Annette's talk this past weekend. ✨🌱
"The body had a design ... once we go into menopause we don't just shrivel up"

Just wanted to start the week off with a big thank you to Standard Process Inc. for bringing Dr. Annette out to speak at the Logan University Symposium 2026! We had a great time and she got to teach practitioners natural ways to support their menopausal patients!
Dr. Annette loves any opportunity to nerd out with her colleagues and peers, and do what she loves!! ✨🌱