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Herlinda’s guest is Dr. Sally Daganzo MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician with advanced training in psychiatry, eating disorders and functional medicine. Herlinda met Dr. Daganzo at the Livelong Women’s Health Summit in San Francisco last April. After graduate school in Physics, she chose medicine, studied internal medicine and psychiatry and holds a certification in Functional Medicine. Dr. Daganzo treats people for fatigue, brain fog and burnout, hormonal and metabolic issues, weight reduction and autoimmune and inflammatory symptoms.
Some people with GLP-1s and similar treatments could possibly run the risk of leading to an eating disorder. A person still has to eat right. To understand weight issues, people can benefit from understanding their genetic predispositions and influences of gender, aging and family histories. People might also lose weight too fast or in a way that is not optimal. People react differently to drops in glucose, so the stress hormone cortisol may trigger weight retention. The popular weight loss drugs are widely available so there is a need for more knowledge of the risks and about what else to do besides the drug.
The Intersection of People’s Thinking and their Behavior
Dr. Daganzo got interested in treating people for weight loss and eating disorders by having some clinical experience and realizing that there was a lot more she could learn about causes and consequences. She is interested in the intersection of people’s thinking and their behavior. Even fasting for religious holidays can lead to eating disorders.
Dr. Daganzo explains why it is good to get a medical screening before taking drugs like GLP-1s. She looks for diabetes, get an advanced lipid panel, study inflammation markers, look for family history of thyroid issues. She also asks about the personal history of eating disorders and OCD. This is to make sure that patients are not asking for it for personal preference and not from true need. Unsupervised use can produce bad side effects.
Dr. Daganzo describes her interest in what she calls metabolic health or metabolic medicine, or functional medicine, where you are really looking at a root cause of an illness. It is a more integrative and holistic approach. She looks at genetics and nutrition.
How do you start your day?
Her husband starts work at 6:00am so she has coffee early before the kids are up. Before 9:30 she likes to have walked the dog and had a good breakfast, a little meditation and exercise. This morning she had eggs and a smoothie for breakfast. She likes to read in the evening and does NY Times puzzles. She also has dogs that do dog agility sports. Her meditation is at least 10 minutes of silent concentration on the breath and letting any thoughts that float in, float right back out and away.