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Navigating Autoimmunity: Insights on MCAS

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Release Date: 07/04/2025

The Story Behind Magic Menopause: Reintroducing Dr. Anna

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Menopause isn’t the end of your vibrant life—it’s the beginning of a new chapter. In this inspiring episode of The Girlfriend Doctor, I’m sharing my personal journey through early menopause, the challenges I faced, and the discoveries that helped me reclaim my health, vitality, and joy. Too often, women are told to simply “endure” menopause, but I believe suffering is optional. With the right questions, symptom tracking, and intentional lifestyle changes, this transition can become a time of renewal. That’s why I created my Magic Menopause program—to help women...

Eye Health and Migraine Relief (Live Community Call)

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Did you know your eyes can actually tell the story of your overall health? My guest today, Dr. Rudrani (Rani) Banik, is a Board-Certified Neuro-Ophthalmologist and Functional Medicine Expert who blends the best of science with everyday lifestyle changes. She’s sharing how the food on your plate, the supplements you take, and even your daily routines can protect your vision as you age. And the best part is that it’s not complicated, just small steps that make a big difference. If you’ve ever dealt with dry eyes, struggled with screen fatigue, or worried about your eyesight getting...

Navigating Health in a Tech-Heavy World

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

We’re surrounded by technology every day, but few of us stop to think about how it might be impacting our bodies. From the phone at your bedside to the Wi-Fi running all night, EMFs (electromagnetic fields) could be quietly affecting your hormones, energy, sleep, and even fertility. That’s why I sat down with Dr. Stephanie McCarter, a physician who has spent years studying how our environment shapes our health. She makes this complex topic surprisingly relatable and gives us plenty of reasons to start paying closer attention. Dr. Stephanie shares some eye-opening stories and...

Toxicity to Vitality: Root Cause Healing

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Women’s health is complicated, isn’t it? Between stress, hormones, and all the changes that come with midlife, it can feel like we’re constantly trying to put puzzle pieces together without seeing the full picture. That’s why I loved sitting down with Dr. Margaret Christensen to talk about what’s really going on beneath the surface. She’s sharing a perspective on health, intimacy, and connection that every woman deserves to hear. Dr. Margaret walked this journey herself. After facing serious health challenges from toxic mold exposure, she shifted from being a traditional...

My 92 Hours Alone in Darkness

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

This might be the most personal story I’ve ever shared with you. I spent 92 hours in complete darkness, no phone, no light, no distractions, and what I came away with completely shifted how I see my life and make decisions. In this episode, I’m opening up about the surprising moments, the deep stillness, and the kind of clarity you can only find when everything else fades away. If you’ve ever felt pulled in a hundred directions, I think you’ll really connect with this one. When I finally stepped out into the first light of dawn, it was like the world was brand new. Every sound,...

Did You Say Over 100 Menopause Symptoms?

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Brain fog, itchy ears, and phantom smells? Yep, those are real menopause symptoms, and chances are no one warned you about them. That’s why I sat down with Andrea Donsky, a brilliant Menopause Researcher, Nutritionist, and Host of the Menopause Reimagined podcast. With nearly 350K TikTok followers and decades in the wellness space, Andrea’s on a mission to change the way we talk about this season of life, and trust me, you’ll feel so seen after hearing what she shares. We chatted about the 100+ symptoms women are dealing with (some that honestly blew my mind), how to support your body...

Empowering Women: Beyond the Estrogen Window

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Hormones can be wild, especially in perimenopause and menopause, and sometimes it feels like no one talks about just how much they mess with your mind, mood, and energy. But there’s a real science behind why things feel off, and it’s not all in your head. I sat down with my friend and hormone expert, Dr. Betty Murray, to talk about the gut-brain-hormone connection and why it’s such a big deal for women in this season of life. She’s not only a Functional Medicine Pioneer with over 20 years of experience, she’s also the Founder of The Menrva Project, a game-changing platform rethinking...

Unlocking the Power of Pelvic Light Therapy

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

You might not think of light as a healing tool, but red and near-infrared light can do some pretty amazing things, especially when it comes to pelvic health. From easing perimenopause struggles to helping your body bounce back after birth, this kind of light therapy is opening up a whole new world for women dealing with pain, discomfort, or intimacy issues. I had such a good conversation with Dr. Genevieve Newton (Fringe’s Scientific Director) and Elizabeth Frey (Pelvic Health Physiotherapist) about how this all works, and why more women need to know about it. If you’ve been dealing with...

Cracking the Code of Hormone Health

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Hormones are wild, especially when you realize they’re not just about how much you have, but how your body uses and processes them behind the scenes. That’s what hormone metabolite testing helps uncover, and honestly, it’s a game-changer. I’m sitting down with Dr. Liz Bartman, an incredible Naturopathic Doctor with a deep background in hormone science, to talk about how we can actually test our hormones in a meaningful way and what those results are really telling us. We chat about the different ways to test—blood, saliva, urine—and why each one tells a slightly different story....

Innovative Treatments for Incontinence and Sexual Health

The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Bladder leaks, dryness, and low libido aren’t exactly dinner table topics… but maybe they should be. These issues are way more common than we think, especially during and after menopause, and they have a huge impact on how we feel day to day. That’s why I sit down with Dr. Rena Malik, a Board-Certified Urologist and Sexual Medicine Specialist who’s made it her mission to talk about the things most people won’t. We talk about everything from pelvic floor problems to how hormones like estrogen and testosterone affect our sexual health and bladder function. Dr. Rena shares why stress...

More Episodes

Hormonal shifts in perimenopause and menopause can do more than throw off your cycle—they can actually stir up inflammation, spark strange symptoms, and even trigger immune responses that leave you wondering, what is going on with my body? If you've ever felt like your symptoms don’t quite “fit in a box,” this conversation is for you. I sit down with Dr. Tania Dempsey—a brilliant MD and expert in complex, multi-system diseases—to talk about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), why it’s often missed in women, and how hormones can play a huge role in triggering it. This episode connects the dots between your immune system, your hormones, and all those mystery symptoms no one’s been able to explain.

Dr. Tania breaks it down—how mast cells work, what happens when they go rogue, and why midlife women are seeing a rise in things like histamine intolerance, inflammation, and post-viral flare-ups (yes, COVID included). She shares what to look out for, what testing often misses, and how therapies like low-dose naltrexone and even ozone can make a difference.

You’ll also love hearing Dr. Tania’s heart for educating both patients and physicians so women can finally get the answers they deserve. And speaking of support, I’ve been sipping on my new Mighty Maca Mango lately, and it’s a summer fave. Light, zesty, and still packed with all the hormone-balancing goodness of the original, it’s perfect over ice or made into popsicles. Check it out at dranna.com—you’ll be hooked.

Key Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Introduction.

[00:01:28] Mast cell activation syndrome.

[00:06:51] Mast cell activation syndrome prevalence.

[00:08:12] Immune system and estrogen dominance.

[00:09:44] Symptoms of MCAS

[00:12:08] Hormonal impacts on mast cells.

[00:15:42] Long COVID and mast cell activation.

[00:20:51] Perfect storm of infections.

[00:23:41] Plasmapheresis for mast cell activation.

[00:29:04] EMF sensitivity and health effects.

[00:30:11] EMF shielding devices and methods.

[00:34:44] Fatigue in mast cell activation.

Memorable Quotes:

"My mission is really to figure out how can we get it to the point where this could be potentially, quote-unquote, cured. " [00:25:16] – Dr. Tania Dempsey

"I'm going to help the world, one patient at a time, by giving them this information so they can help themselves." [00:37:11] – Dr. Tania Dempsey

Links Mentioned:

Mighty Maca Mango: https://drannacabeca.com/products/mighty-maca

Connect with Dr. Tania Dempsey:

Mast Cell Matters Podcast: https://drtaniadempsey.com/podcast/

Website: https://drtaniadempsey.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtaniadempseymd/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taniadempseymd/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniadempsey/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrTaniaDempsey

Connect with Dr. Anna Cabeca:

Website: https://drannacabeca.com/pages/show