The podcast for high achievers who want to stay sharp, focused and full of energy despite their diagnoses. Those who know there has got to be something better than simply accepting decline.
Hosted by Julie Howton, a National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach who used to suffer from crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis until she learned the tools and strategies to take her power back from autoimmunity.
In this podcast, Julie brings you interviews with thought leaders in the Functional Health and Wellness space. You will get actionable recommendations to Take Your Power Back and catapult your health. No fluff, just concrete, useful steps to improve your health!
Welcome back to The Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michelson, and today
we are joined by Divya Dhawan, Sjogren's
Thriver and National Board Certified
Functional and Holistic Health Coach.
Today we're talking about the body's
ability to heal from Sjogren's as
it can any autoimmune condition.
Our conversation explores the connection
between stress and autoimmunity, and
Divya shares her approach to helping
clients reverse their symptoms.
Divya, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much, Julie.
So, so nice to be here and
talk about autoimmunity.
As you know, you and I
have the same mission.
We need to keep these conversations
going so that people know
that they have options.
Mm-hmm.
That's correct.
Yeah.
How did you get to be a
Sjogren's health coach?
And, and an autoimmune expert?
Tell me a little bit about your
journey of what brought you to this.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know, I think most of us who
come to this point where we start talking
about, and, you know, becoming autoimmune
experts is really from our own experience.
So my work also kind of
stems from my own experience.
So the story goes like this about
Almost about nine years ago, I was
diagnosed with this autoimmune disorder,
which is called Sjogren's Syndrome.
Not many people still know about it
and can't pronounce it of course.
So it is characterized with dry eyes,
dry mouth joint pains, fatigue, and of
course there's a lot of intertwining
of other autoimmune disorders with it.
So I've, I've rarely seen people with,
you know, just one autoimmune disorder
because if one, if, if you have one
autoimmune disorder, the probability of
you getting some other autoimmune disorder
sort of, you know, increases by 80%.
That's just how it is.
So these are the typical symptom
of Sjogren's syndrome I was
diagnosed with with these.
Symptoms.
Yeah.
About nine years ago, for me,
the, the main challenges were
at that time was very bad, joint
pains and stiffness in the body.
So e even the muscles were stiff at that
point, and I was completely debilitated.
I could not move could not
sit down, could not stand up.
If I've, you know, closed
my fist, I can't open it up.
And if I've, I have my fist open.
I can't close it.
I mean, I'm, I'm just saying
this so that I can give.
Some idea of what the stiffness was like
for me, so I was completely debilitated.
And I was going from doctors to doctors
of course, because I was not able to find
a doctor who could give me a diagnosis.
I, I had all kinds of scary
diagnosis in the beginning of
course, which was not true.
Like, you know, you might
have some kind of cancer.
This could be izing, spondylitis, this
could be, you know, something else.
And I was scared to death by
many doctors, unfortunately.
Who did not know how to diagnose me.
But then I did find finally
a rheumatologist who was able
to diagnose me and using blood
test and Sjogren's antibodies.
And I was found positive for it.
And I, and that was kind of a.
Moment when I was like, oh,
finally we found out what it is.
But then when I asked my doctor, okay, now
what, so now what's the treatment plan?
Cause I was all, I was all excited and
I was like, okay, now I've got a path
to healing and now, you know, I can
finally get back to normal from here on.
But the answer that I got was, was
something more depressing than the
disorder itself, which was like, you
can only manage your symptoms and you
know, we can, you can, we can help you
manage your symptoms through your life.
But this is how your unfortunately
life is going to be like.
And I was like, I was looking
at the doctor for like a few
seconds and I was like, heck no.
I don't want this life.
You know?
And then, so that is where I really
started doing my own research and
finding out what really is going on
with me, first of all, and then what
I need to do in order to get better
without, you know, the drugs, of course.
So I was initially put on, you
know, the medications, the initial
medications, which is the steroids
and the Plaquenil and all that.
But with the, with, with the research
that I did, with the lifestyle changes
that I made, with all the different
things that I did within a year I was
off medication and I had no symptoms.
So I was still, you know, seropositive.
So, but I had absolutely no symptom
and the doctor said, you know what?
You don't even need to come to me.
You're fine now.
So, so that's where my story starts and
that's where I started seeing a theme
sort of rep repeating itself all the time.
So I, I was meeting friends, I was
meeting strangers who were like, I, we
have autoimmune disease, but we have
been told that we cannot heal ourselves.
And that kind of just sort of triggered
this thing in me that if I could,
you know, Come to this stage where
I don't have any problem in my body
right now, then I can help people, you
know, because people need to know that
there's a way and that there is there
is this light at the end of the path.
Even, even if they're told there's
no cure, we can still, we are
still able to heal our bodies.
Yes.
Amen.
yeah.
So yeah, that's my story.
Amazing.
Amazing.
And you had a history of, of
autoimmunity in your family as well,
Yes, that is true.
Yes.
So my mom, mom has chronic rheumatoid
arthritis, but she's also a huge
inspiration for me because she ha
she was at that point in her life
when I was like in my ninth grade.
So I was pretty young where her,
because of the rheumatoid arthritis,
her fingers started deforming.
And all these patients with
rheumatoid arthritis, when they
start getting these deformations
in their fingers or their joints,
that, that, this cannot be reversed.
But guess what?
My mom used AIC medication
to finally get better.
Yes.
Look at you.
Right?
So, so that's what happened to my mom.
She.
She's a chronic rheumatoid
arthritis, arthritis patient.
She, some, sometimes even today,
gets some pains, but she's able to
manage it so well with the help of IH
medication and lifestyle changes and
all those stuff that, you know, her,
her deformed finger came back to normal.
So that was a huge miracle in front
of me as a nine, as as a ninth grader.
So you knew
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that is what happened when I got
Sjogren's and when I, when the doctor
said there's no cure, that is when this
light bulb you know, emerged in, into my,
in, in my brain and was like, no, wait.
If my mom could have done
this, I can then do this too.
So, and then my grandmother
she of course did not have any
autoimmune, like the autoimmune.
We know she had heart you know,
heart health issues, which
are also sort of autoimmune.
If we really look into it now.
But she was my healing goddess
because she had a healing remedy
for everything and everything.
It always, always worked
and it was always natural.
So, yeah.
So this is sort of my background.
That's amazing.
Amazing.
Thank you.
I, we wanna talk today about one of my
favorite topics, and I know we both agree
that it's, it's, even though I, I think
it's pretty known that it, it really does.
Help drive autoimmunity.
Even a lot of functional medicine
doctors and a lot of people
just don't really address it.
Or they'll say the word and tell
the, tell the patient or the
client you know, lower your stress.
So I wanna talk about this connection
between stress and autoimmunity.
Hundred percent.
Yes.
Stress is such a huge driver
of so many disorders in the
body, including autoimmunity.
And the reason being because when
the stress is high, of course the,
this hormone called cortisol, which
is produced by our adrenals, is, is,
is really high in our body and we are
always in the fight and flight mode.
Which is the sympathetic nervous system
more in which any other function in
the body is not a priority for it.
So definitely then what happens?
The first thing that happens is
the digestion that goes for a toss.
And when that happens, we have
imbalanced microbiomes and then a
lot of endotoxins entering the body.
And then all of this sort of drives us
to get into autoimmunity because these
endotoxins the, the main one, or of
which is the, is the lipopolysaccharide.
That really is a toxin that
the body cannot handle with.
And then it starts attacking
the body itself in an attempt
to remove this endotoxin.
And there are many other molecules
that you know Mimic a foreign body
and that the body starts attacking.
So stress really drives all of that
Stress also can cause symptoms of
you know, histamine intolerance
because a lot of cortisol means
a lot of histamine in the body.
And so there's a lot of
interrelationship between stress
and the physiological functions that
happen which are of course imbalanced.
So definitely stress is something that
we need to address and find ways to
really manage the stress better because,
We are always gonna have stress in the
kind of life we are living until we start
going to, you know, if, if you, someone
decides I'm gonna go live in a in, in the
Himalayas and, and, you know, disconnect
with the world and all that, and that's
the only time when we won't have stress.
But considering that we all want
to live this life, As we have
it we are gonna have stress.
And so managing the stress is so, so
important because stress indirectly
is a driver of autoimmunity.
A hundred percent.
And there, and, and there's so many
studies that show that also nowadays.
So i's not something just that
is assumed, that is, it's like
scientifically proven now.
Right, right.
Absolutely.
So back to my comment
that then people, okay.
You know, once we accept, okay,
we all have stress, and stress
is connected definitely to health
and absolutely to autoimmunity.
So, What do people do?
What do you do?
You know, because that's where I see even
the doctors that are saying, oh, you know,
you know, you need to manage your stress.
And then people don't know how.
Right or where, where do they start?
So if somebody's listening
and they're like, okay, I know
that's me and whether I, I.
Felt, I hear this all the time too.
I'm not stressed.
Yeah.
and then they tell me about their life
and I'm like, well, now I'm stressed.
So I love that you pointed
out, you know, you don't have
to feel stressed out, right?
If we're on this planet,
we have chronic stress.
Yeah.
so, but, but what do you do,
you know, how do you support
people in reducing their stress?
Or what is a step people can take?
Or where do they
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
So that is one thing I was gonna say.
Most people don't even
feel that they're under
Yeah,
Right?
So, so that
normal state,
Right.
That's a normal state.
That's how they're functioning and they
think they're functioning fine, and so
they feel that there's no stress at all.
So if there's no stress,
then how do we manage it?
Right?
So the first step is really to
recognize that you have stress.
So, so small things like, you know, for
example, if, if there's if this is not
normal for you, that you go and grab.
A lot of carbs when you are not
really hungry, but in between meals
you go and grab a lot of carbs, you
have a habit of getting, you know,
maybe muffins, maybe a lot of coffee.
All these things are signs of
stress in the body, and our body
has a way of communicating this
so that we kind of reach out for
these things that the body will.
Get some relief, temporary
relief from the stress with,
so, so like sugar or caffeine.
All these things give us like that
temporary relief from the stress.
Of course they're not good in the
long run, so if you are, if, if
you're doing those things, you are
stressed, your body is stressed.
So, you know, recognizing
that, that is so important.
Okay, so step one, recognizing, noticing,
yeah.
The right away when I, I, I hear all
the time you know, pe I think people
think that managing stress means that
they're supposed to try to eliminate.
Yeah.
in their life.
And I, I do have people doing inventory.
Often we keep stressors that we
don't have to, you know, just
because we're not thinking about it.
But there are plenty of stressors
day to day that we can't eliminate.
So, so what do you, I, when
you work with your clients and
what do you have people do?
Yeah, so stress can be of
so many forms for the body.
For example, when you are reaching out
for sugar and caffeine, there is some
nutritional deficiencies in in your body
that your body's trying to fill in for.
So in that case, of course, Be conscious
of the fact that you're reaching out for
such foods which are not serving you,
and then reach out for foods which are
actually going to give you some nutrition,
which means that get go for some nuts,
which have some good fat and minerals in
it along with some cheese so that, you
know, your glycemic index doesn't go up.
So kind of this, and that's just a
small example, but really eating more
nutrition dense food instead of reaching
out for sugar and cough, caffeine.
So.
And other things which
are not good for the body.
And so first of all, you know
giving the nutrition to the body.
So that's addressing the nutritional
stress that is happening in our bodies
as far as the mental stress is concerned.
The, the, one of the most effective ways
that I've found to relieve stress is, you
know, time in every one and a half, two
hours, just time, you know, to put it in
your Apple watch or whatever, watch you
use that you know, an alarm to sit down
and just be with yourself and breathe
deep breathing for like, you know, just
like 10 counts, 15 counts to begin with.
That itself, you know, gives the body the
sign that you know, everything is fine.
So, And I don't have to be worried
because, you know, the breath is
a very important thing that it,
and it's very, very overlooked.
So if you look at, if, if you really
pay attention to it right now,
your listeners, I will tell them to
look, pay attention to their breath.
How are they breathing?
Most often than not, most of
us are breathing very shallow.
So we're never taking deep breaths.
Right.
And that shallow breathing is really a
signal to the mind from the body that
there is some sort of stress or some,
some sort of threat for us around us.
But when we.
Sort of just be with ourselves and
calm down our mind and not think
about anything for, for a few
you know, count of like 10 or 15.
I'm not asking for like a, you
know, one hour or something.
That's, and that's not doable
if you haven't done it ever.
So just be with yourself and
breathe and do some deep breathing
and do some belly breathing.
So how the belly breathing works
is you sit up straight Put one
hand, put your right hand, right
palm on your tummy, and the other
hand, the left hand on your chest.
And so when you breathe in, make sure that
your stomach, your tummy is coming out.
So that is when you really fill up your
lungs and then when you breathe out,
your tummy or your stomach should go in.
So you are actually stimulating
the diaphragm to expand fully
and then contract fully.
And then the lungs will have filled
up much more than we do it normally.
And that's a sign for the body.
This, these breaths that we take
are a sign for the body and the mind
that everything is fine around us.
There's nothing to worry.
And It can instantly bring you
into the parasympathetic nervous
system mode, which will really help
mitigate the stress to some extent.
Thank you so much for walking
us through that as well and,
and I am a, a big fan of breath.
Work and it, it is true that we can signal
our body, you know, through environment.
We can signal through breath, you know?
So even if your head is busy,
when you start taking those deep
breaths, you can at least touch
into the parasympathetic state.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's a really easy way.
Yeah.
yeah, so many people have, you know,
just lived only in the sympathetic state.
Stay in and day out that it
becomes, you know, it's like I
say, like working a muscle, you
know, you just need to practice.
So that, that is amazing.
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm so glad and I'm, I
hope that this helps the listeners too.
Yeah.
And this is one thing they can do, even
if they're listening while they drive,
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And yeah, and you don't need
to really sit in a quiet place.
You can absolutely do it when you're
driving and if you're on a Zoom meeting,
of course, if no one is seeing you,
Yeah.
Well, I mean, we're breathing.
Nobody can tell, you know,
so that's, that's perfect.
Great.
One of, it's one of my favorite tools.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
It is so important and al
almost always overlooked.
In fact, if someone wants to go deeper
into you know, first for those people
who wanna go deeper into breath breathing
and something, it, this is something that
really chimes with them, then they can.
Find out more p prams, which are there
on the YouTube, which are different
techniques of breathing and that also
bring the two lobes of brain and balance.
So there are many on internet.
You can really just explore and find out.
I'm not going to go
deeper into that, right
Well, and it is true.
We're so, we, you know, we have
access to so many resources now.
Yeah.
We absolutely live in a great times.
Of course.
I'm just curious.
I often think of, you mentioned,
you know, often when there's one
autoimmune diagnosis, if there's
not more than one, there soon will
be if, if you don't make changes.
And so I, I so often will see Sjogren's
as a secondary or even tertiary diagnosis.
But that, that's your.
That's your initial diagnosis,
and, and I, I know that this is
your specialty, as you mentioned.
It's still, I think, kind of an, an
under discussed autoimmune condition.
So how, how do people work with you and
what does that, what does that look like?
What's the, I, I guess also
like what's the benefit?
Like why, what's the difference
between working with you
or just picking up a book?
Yeah, I mean, picking up a book is fine
because you know, it's, it's good too,
but then of course you'll implement that.
Those steps in, in probably like a year
or maybe like two years or three years,
depends on how effective you are in
kind of implementing all those things.
And then with, when you work with me, when
clients work with me, what they find is
that within like four weeks, they start
seeing the difference in their health.
The, they do not have dry eyes or they do
not have dry eyes that they used to have.
When they come to me, the joint pains,
they also get a lot of relief from that.
They, in fact there's a
spiritual com component to the
health coaching that I also do.
And when I say spiritual,
it means spiritual, not
religious, just to be clear.
Which means that we.
Also work on finding the deeper connection
between the universe between God, between
that higher power in ourselves and
that connection is missing these days.
And that is also the cause
of a lot of disorders and
diseases happening inside of us.
So we really work on the mindset.
When we, when I work with my clients,
I work on the mindset, we work on the
nutrition because that is also a huge
stress factor for the body, right?
So we work on the nutrition with them, we
work on the stress management with them.
We also give them tools like natural
supplements and natural relief from how
to get natural relief from dryness of
eyes and mouth and nose and of course
joint pains as well, and fatigue also.
So all of that together within four four
weeks is a huge Huge, huge thing to be
able to achieve and to get, start getting
relief from the Sjogren's and the dryness
and the joint pains and all of those
symptoms and, and start feeling that
you have some control over, over your
body and your and your disorder as well.
Which, which I otherwise, all, all
of the clients that come to me are
like, I've been told there's no cure.
So how, how do you claim you can do it?
But the fact is we can do it.
I love that.
It's, it's so true.
I say my, my, my approach.
To healing.
When I first started, my,
my healing journey was like
throwing spaghetti at the wall.
It, I would listen to a podcast, try
something, read a book, try, you know,
and it obviously over time it, it
worked, but it took years, which is why
I, I think having coaches to,
to pull it all together is,
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's really to fast track.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
But yeah, that's really to fast
track your healing journey because
you will get there, but then how
fast you wanna get there is, is
what you really wanna think about.
And that's that's where the
coaches come in, of course.
I love that.
And, and so currently, are
you working one-on-one?
You have programs?
What?
What is
Yeah, I'm currently working one-on-one
because that is the way I can really
give complete attention to my clients.
And and that's where also everything
becomes personalized and customized for
them so that, you know, because everyone,
every person with Sjogrens is different.
And so one, if I make one program
for everyone, that is not gonna work.
So it's, it's customized, it's
personalized, and it's one-on-one.
Of course.
Not that I love.
Love it.
And, and I know we touched on
in the beginning and you just.
Just mentioned the dry eyes.
Again, for people listening that, you
know, either don't have a diagnosis
or, or may, you know, and they're
wondering, wow, I wonder, you know,
if, if Sjogren's fits my box as well.
Is it, does it, is there
an order to the symptoms?
Is it, you know, or is it that
kind of, if they're experiencing
the dry eye, dry mouth, along with
other, what I think of as autoimmune
symptoms, kind of pain, fatigue,
that that's when they should wonder.
Yeah, so I, I, on a daily basis,
I talk to so many women who reach
out to me and they're like, I have
the dry eyes, I have the dry mouth.
It's been like 10 years now,
but I don't have the diagnosis.
So I, what I really want, want
your listeners to think about is
what do they really care about?
Do, do they care about the diagnosis
or do, do they, do they care about
their own health and healing?
Because if there are both symptoms, It
definitely means something is going on in
the body and it is brewing inside of you.
So you might get the diagnosis like
10 years from now because that is
how just the nature of diagnosis is.
You might get it like one year from now,
but then if you keep waiting it, and
it is a systemic disorder, autoimmune,
most of the autoimmune disorders are
systemic, so Sjogren's definitely is.
So do you want that to happen in your
body or do you want the body to start
healing, start going towards, to the, to
the direction that you want it to, rather
than it going to the other direction
and then getting into the, you know,
the whole healing process and then doing
your research and doing that, doing all
that, because, you know, it's painful.
It's painful to have
an autoimmune disorder.
It's painful to have
Sjogren's and it's not fun.
And so my advice is even if you
do not have a diagnosis and if
you have the symptoms, there is
something brewing inside you.
So start taking action now.
I love that and, and I completely agree.
You know, when, by the time
you reach dry eye, it, it's a
sign of systemic inflammation.
Forget the diagnosis.
Like, let's, that's, you know, let's get
to the root, root causes of what's driving
that inflammation and turn it around.
A hundred percent.
And then this inflammation also takes
a lot of years to actually set in.
So when you're actually seeing
those dry eyes show up, that means
that there's always some there.
There's already something
setting inside your f your body
that you need to take care of.
So don't wait.
Start taking action.
I love that.
Don't wait.
Yeah.
Why not Avoid, yeah.
Let, let's just avoid the turn it
around now, which is, is brilliant.
I wish that I had had those examples.
That you had and, and said, you
know, no way when I was diagnosed.
But it just goes to show it really doesn't
matter whether you don't have a diagnosis.
You're newly diagnosed, you are
11 years into decline like I was.
It's, it's never too late.
And it's, it's also never too early.
A hundred percent.
That's true.
So for me, my, my inspiration was my mom.
So I knew that I could do that, but
there are many other people who can
do it even after 10 years of being,
you know, into an autoimmune disorder.
It might be slow, but then the
body is designed to self-heal, so
it'll still, still do the healing.
So the healing will happen.
You know, you just have to start and
you have to have that mindset that, yes,
my body can heal because that is when
the healing will start inside of us.
And, you know quickly I'll just talk
about the placebo effect, which is
so undermined in the entire medical
community and all, and the entire
scientific community as well.
But my question is, To,
you know, to everyone.
If our mind has the capability of
healing the body just by thinking
that this something that we are taking
can heal us, then why not just use
the capability of the mind instead
of the drugs and the medication?
Yeah, a mindset is so
important to healing.
It really is.
It's
percent.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
So you've already given us lots of,
you know, really effective tidbits,
but listeners know, I always ask at the
end, for one step listeners can take
starting today to improve their health.
Yeah.
The one step is I'll, I'll
give you two steps actually.
So one is get into any mindfulness
practice that you like.
It can be.
You know, like a Qigong or like a
yoga or what is that other thing?
I keep forgetting the name.
Tai Chi.
Sorry.
Yes.
Any, any mindfulness practice
is going to put your body in a
parasympathetic nervous system mode.
And that is why, you know, the importance
of mindfulness is so important.
So that is one tip.
And then don't do it just like
a day or two or like a week
and say nothing is happening.
Have the patience and give, give your body
the grace to, you know, experience it for
about a month and then see what happens.
Because changes will start happening.
I personally know many people who
have just turned around their, their,
you know, health just by doing yoga.
You know, so not guaranteeing that
this will happen for everyone, but
then there's, it's worth a try.
And if not, if even if your
disease doesn't go away,
it'll still help your body.
So don't give up on it.
Do it.
All right.
So that's the first step.
And the second tip is
start eating organic food.
I know it's expensive,
but wherever you can.
And and if you can go to the local
Farmer's market and get the seasonal and
local food, the food, that's even better
because you don't want the glyphosate.
And that's a huge topic, which I can again
talk on for another hour, but I won't.
But, but the gly, glyphosate is a chemical
which completely disrupts the gut health.
It works as a toxin that the body cannot
digest, and then it starts attacking the,
you know, itself because thinking that,
That is a part of the, that is a foreign
body, and it just, in, in attempt to
remove it, it starts attacking itself.
So the, so no, just, just changing
your food can bring huge, huge, huge
difference in the health as well.
Awesome.
I know most, most people.
Will have a tough time with just one.
So two works.
Two, two works.
So,
just wanted to, yeah, I just, what
I wanted to say was just this,
Faucet, you know, just remove that
as much as possible from your diet.
And to do that, you have to go
to organic food, unfortunately.
That's just how it is.
Absolutely.
For sure.
And in this country,
especially in the us.
That's true.
Yeah.
So before we wrap up, for people
that listen on the go, where is the
best place for them to find you?
So I am on Instagram.
My handle is devis
underscore Sjogren's coach.
That's a longer handle.
I'm also on Facebook and LinkedIn.
You can just type DHA and you'll find me.
And other than that, if, if your
listener interested in getting a
free, complimentary a complimentary
health consultation call with me,
then that they can also do that.
Using the links in the bio in in
Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Or they can go to my website, which
is www sjogren's solution.com, so
it's Sjogren's with an S, and then
solutions sjogren's solution.com.
Yeah, and I'll be happy to help them.
Wonderful Divya, thank you so much.
You have given us amazing gold today.
Thank you so much.
I, it was such a pleasure talking
to you and, you know, raising
that awareness that our body has
the capability to heal, you know?
It absolutely does.
For everyone listening, remember, you
can get the show notes and transcripts
by visiting inspiredliving.show.
Hope you had a great time and enjoyed
this episode as much as I did.
I'll see you next week.