Women's health: Just your hormones? The integrated nature of bodily systems, the mind & medical care

Most people who end up with chronic pelvic or bladder pain have seen a lot of clinicians. Often separately. Often with no one quite connecting the dots.Dr Sula is joined by Shelli Burton and Katy Hansen, both nurse practitioners at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Shelli specialises in interstitial cystitis, bladder pain syndrome and pelvic health, working within Vanderbilt's multidisciplinary IC clinic. Katy works at the Osher Center for Integrative Health, bringing a whole-body lens shaped by her earlier years as a massage therapist.Together, they unpick why treating pelvic and bladder symptoms in isolation so often stalls recovery, what changes when care is genuinely integrated, and why hormones, fascia, the nervous system and the mind are never really separate stories.Here's some of what you'll take away:Why looking at one body part in isolation misses the picture. The cost of treating symptoms without asking about sleep, stress, hormones or other overlapping pain conditions.The difference between two types of pain, and why it matters. Understanding nociceptive versus central sensitisation pain changes which tools are actually likely to help.Why being seen by two clinicians together changes the experience of being believed. How integrated care quietly removes the "it's in your head" framing before it even starts.The fear and the evidence around vaginal hormone treatment. Why a localised, low-risk option is so often avoided, and what's actually true about it.A new way to think about control. Katy's idea of "baby birding": Holding on just tightly enough to make progress, without gripping so hard that nothing can move.This podcast is supported by Convatec Continence Care and their Me+ programme, which supports people using intermittent catheters with both practical guidance and emotional wellbeing resources. Find out more at www.howwereallyfeel.com/in-partnership-with-convatec.Whether you're navigating a complex pelvic or bladder condition yourself, supporting someone who is, or working clinically with this patient group, this episode will help you feel less alone, better informed, and clearer on what integrated, whole-person care can actually look like.References and resources discussed in this episode, fact-checked and collated by our show researcher, are available at www.howwereallyfeel.com