Interview with Ruth Alva

On Migraines, Iodine, Fibroids, Vaccination, Surgery and more.

Ruth Alva's comment on one of my articles led me to her Substack, Health With Ruth. In this interview, Ruth opens up about her deeply personal health journey, from childhood migraines to adult hormonal imbalances.

What caught my attention was Ruth's experience with iodine supplementation, having recently written on the subject.

Iodine

Ruth's candid sharing of her ongoing search for answers, including her recent challenges post-surgery, offers a raw and honest look at the complexities of chronic health issues.

With thanks to Ruth Alva.

Health With Ruth | Ruth Alva | Substack

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1. Ruth, can you please tell us about your childhood and when you first started experiencing health issues?

I have very good memories of the first years of my life. Sure, I had some minor health issues like colds and flus, but overall, they were wonderful, worry-free times. People knew me as a happy, carefree child—always smiling and laughing.

But I remember at the end of primary school, when I was eleven years old, things changed. A first sign of health issues, was when I needed glasses because I couldn’t see what was on the school board anymore. This seemed quite innocent but soon other problems followed. I noticed I was tired a lot and then I began having migraines.

By the time I started high school, I had a migraine attack once per week, which kept me from going to school and from living in general. Around the same time, I had my first period. This makes me suspect that my issues were closely related to hormonal imbalance. My periods were also heavier and longer than is normal and I always had a lot of pain (menstruation cramps).

2. What were some of the main symptoms you dealt with during your teens and early twenties?

Some symptoms I already mentioned: Decreased eyesight, migraines, and heavy periods. The migraines came with joint and muscle pain as well. I also had indigestion, which regularly made me throw up. Other issues were constipation, recurring ear infections, and bloating.

One thing I noticed clearly was that I started gaining weight at the start of high school and I wasn’t able to lose any weight until my mid-twenties. I also felt tired all the time, suffered from poor memory, and had cold hands and feet.

3. How did doctors initially respond to your health concerns, and how did that affect you?

My parents took me to doctors several times while I was growing up. These doctors asked me some basic questions but they didn’t check any of my stats, like blood work or a checkup of my uterus. It always seemed to me as if they were not interested in finding out the underlying cause of my problems. Instead, they gave me typical advice like, “Exercise more.” and “Make friends.” Their diagnosis was that I was overweight. But they didn’t do further analysis to find out why I had that issue.

The lack of interest and help from the doctors made me feel misunderstood and alone. If they didn’t help me, then who would? I felt powerless and desperate because my health problems were keeping me from living but it looked like there was no solution. After some years I thought my body was just broken and I had to accept it and stay like that for the rest of my life.

4. At what point did you start finding information that helped you understand your health problems better?

The first time I gained understanding in my health problems, was when I was already living with my husband. I was around 25 years old. My husband liked watching YouTube videos—primarily for research and learning. He got me into that habit, which introduced me to the “truther” community and alternative content in general.

I liked two channels especially: Three Rivers Homestead and Little House on the Mountain. The two women behind these accounts both had chronic health issues that they were able to solve. That must be why their videos spoke to me so much. I was following their content to find out what worked for them. Somehow, they both recommended the same book: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

I got the book and that was the biggest turning point in my life up to now. I discovered that much of the mainstream health advice is wrong. Things like avoiding meat, using plant oils, and eating a low-fat, low-salt diet are not healthy—they’re even dangerous to health.

So I started implementing the advice from Nourishing Traditions. I had been on a diet rich in vegetables and low in animal products, so I reintroduced meat, fish, and eggs. We stopped using plant oils and started adding more salt. We also cut out many processed foods. For the first time in my life, I had more energy. I reached a point where I had only one migraine per month—a huge improvement from four times per month!

Another breakthrough came when my husband recommended a video by Dr. Berg about the health benefits of fasting. I started doing intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet. This helped me lose weight for the first time in my life. I also had more energy than I ever had. Unfortunately, I couldn’t continue with keto because I got a keto rash every time I tried. But it was the start of improving my health.

5. You mentioned chronic stress and an unhealthy diet as main causes of your issues. Can you elaborate on how you came to this realization?

I realised my diet was unhealthy thanks to Nourishing Traditions and Dr. Berg videos. Later I also discovered Health Coach Kait and others who exposed the lies in common health advice. I simply tried their advice and saw through own experience that my health improved.

Kait, Dr. Berg, and other content creators often mentioned chronic stress as well. They explained that stress increases the stress hormone cortisol in the body, which leads to inflammation, insulin resistance, and many other health problems.

When you’re stressed all the time, your body stays in the so-called “fight-or-flight mode”. In this mode, your body pauses processes like digestion, cell restoration, and reproduction. As a consequence, you experience problems like overweight (your body cannot digest food properly and stores it as excess fat), hormonal imbalance (cortisol disrupts your other hormones), and even abnormal cell growth.

6. How did you discover the potential benefits of iodine supplementation?

This was the second biggest turning point in my life so far. It’s quite an unusual story, which I wrote about in detail in a post on my Substack Health With Ruth. It was during an uncertain time of my life because I had been diagnosed with fibroids and I was scheduled for a surgery to remove them. But something happened a few weeks before I was supposed to have that surgery.

One night, I went to an English meet-up at an Irish pub with my husband. There we met a German couple, of which the husband was a chemist. There were maybe ten people there that night and we were just getting to know each other.

At one point, the German chemist shared that he was writing a book on iodine because it is linked to breast cancer. I have to admit I wasn’t paying attention because I had a migraine exactly that night. But when I heard “iodine”, I suddenly “woke up”. It felt quite embarrassing, but I exclaimed—with the whole group listening—“I have a tumour in my uterus.”

In hindsight, I’m very glad I said it. The chemist immediately sat down next to me and told me all about iodine. Later, he gave me two books: The Iodine Crisis and Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It. I read both books in just a couple of days because they were incredibly eye-opening. I found out iodine doesn’t only have to do with fibroids but with many processes in the body.

Most of my symptoms were mentioned in the books. The author of The Iodine Crisis had many of the same health issues as I did but they went away when she started supplementing with iodine. That’s why I decided to try it too.

7. Could you describe the improvements you experienced after starting iodine and other supplements?

I noticed a change almost instantly. In the first days, I had a lot of energy and the “brain fog” went away—I could suddenly think very clearly. The months after that, I lost weight, I could digest better, and my periods became regular and were no longer heavy. My skin and hair became softer and they weren’t dry anymore. My thyroid became smaller.

But the most amazing change for me is this: I no longer have migraines. In fact, I don’t even have headaches anymore. I’ve been taking iodine for almost a year now and I haven’t had headaches for months. It’s incredible because I had recurring migraine attacks for nearly fifteen years.

8. When did you first notice the development of fibroids, and how did that affect your health journey?

I was diagnosed with fibroids in April 2023. In retrospect, I know I already had them in June 2021 but back then I didn’t know anything about fibroids. I was also afraid to go to doctors because I had had so many bad experiences as a teenager. But last year I had severe pain in my abdomen, so we decided to go to a clinic for an ultrasound. That’s where we found out I had fibroids.

On the one hand, the diagnosis came as a big shock to us. We wanted to have children but now we knew we couldn’t as long as the fibroids were there. It was also scary to know that tumours were growing in my uterus. But on the other hand, the diagnosis gave us clarity. It helped us find direction because now we knew exactly what problem we had to solve. In that sense, a burden had been lifted from us.

However, knowing I had fibroids also caused a lot of stress for us. The doctors were pressing for a surgery and they were even saying they had to remove my whole uterus. I was only 30 years old at that time, so I didn’t want that. For months, we held off the surgery. We hoped lifestyle changes like fasting, a low-carb diet, and reducing stress would shrink the fibroids. But nothing seemed to help.

About a month before the scheduled surgery, we found out about iodine. That’s when we had hope again that I could heal naturally to avoid surgery. But after taking iodine for six months, the fibroids still didn’t shrink, so we made the hard decision to do the surgery after all.

9. Can you walk us through your decision to undergo surgery for the fibroids?

Around Easter this year, I started having bigger health issues. I had pain in my abdomen and many digestive problems. I also couldn’t sleep because of pressure in my abdomen and frequent urination. At the height point, I even had trouble breathing because the fibroids were pressing against my diaphragm. In short, it was becoming nearly impossible to live without doing surgery.

But we didn’t trust the public hospital in our region because they had already made several mistakes and they wanted to remove my uterus. So we researched for hours online to see if we had another option. We found a private surgeon who had great reviews. We figured we had nothing to lose so we contacted her. She had an appointment available in a week close to where we lived. It seemed like the perfect chance.

The private surgeon was very respectful and reassuring. She said there was absolutely no need to remove my uterus and everything would be fine. We felt so relieved and we decided to do the surgery after all. They had a spot available in a few weeks, so I only had to suffer a bit longer. The surgery went better than we could have imagined. They removed the fibroids and kept my womb intact. We’re so thankful we found that surgeon!

10. How has your recovery been since the surgery, and what new challenges are you facing?

The recovery went surprisingly well. At least, the pain went away in only a few days and after a couple of weeks I could do almost everything like before the surgery. So it all seemed great those first months.

However, the past two months I had some unexpected problems. My periods became heavier and irregular again. Sometimes that’s a sign that fibroids are growing back, so it was quite scary when I noticed those symptoms. My uterus still has to heal more before a checkup is allowed, so for now we have to stay calm and be positive. The uncertainty makes it hard sometimes. But stress will definitely not help for my health, so we’re learning to just take it one day at a time.

11. You mentioned that some health issues returned in early 2024. What were these issues, and how did they compare to your previous experiences?

Apart from the irregular, heavier periods, I also gained weight again. I have less energy again and sometimes I have brain fog. It’s as if the iodine is not having the same effect as at the start. I still feel better than ever—it’s amazing not to have migraines or even headaches. But it’s strange that other problems returned.

Of course, the surgery put my body under a lot of stress, so it’s possible that some issues got worse because of that. Maybe when I give myself enough time to rest, things will get better again.

Sometimes I do wonder if there’s another reason for all these health issues, especially the fibroids: In November-December 2020 I took the COVID-19 vaccines. Ever since, I’ve been thinking if it affected my hormone-related issues too. I don’t want to make wild assumptions but my health definitely got worse during the months after the vaccines.

12. You've mentioned wondering about the potential impact of COVID-19 vaccines on your health. What led you to consider this possibility?

There are several reasons. For one: I first noticed the fibroids some months after the vaccines. Before that, I didn’t feel anything strange in my lower abdomen. I did have other hormonal issues but they were not as strong. Another reason is that I heard from many women that they started having heavy periods with blood clots after the vaccines.

13. Given that you had hormone-related health issues before vaccination, how do you approach distinguishing between pre-existing conditions and potential new factors?

I have been keeping a journal for many years. I noted down many developments concerning my health and when I took the vaccines. As I mentioned before, I only noticed the fibroids months after I took the vaccines. It’s possible that there were already fibroids but that they were small and the vaccines caused them to grow suddenly and rapidly. So I’m not sure if the vaccines caused the fibroids but it’s quite possible that they made it worse.

The same goes for my heavy and irregular periods. I always had heavier periods than other women but after the vaccines they got even heavier. One thing I find especially strange is how many menstrual blood clots I’ve had and how big they were. I’ve read from many other women that they’ve been experiencing the same.

I don’t want to claim that my problems are because of the vaccines. But I do think there is a big probability that they influenced the health issues I already had.

14. Currently, what are the main health issues you're focusing on, and what strategies are you exploring to address them?

I think my health issues can be summed up with two words: Hormonal imbalance. I’ve noticed most of the problems are related to my hormones. And since the thyroid is in charge of regulating the hormones, iodine plays a big role in this. I’ve read it’s important to take the right amount of iodine so I’m currently researching how much iodine I should take.

One recent discovery I made is that bile salts also play a role in hormone regulation. Dr. Berg wrote this in a community post on YouTube:

“Removing your gallbladder can lead to weight gain for several reasons, mainly due to the important role of bile, a substance concentrated and stored in the gallbladder, in various bodily functions.

• Thyroid Hormone Conversion: Bile is essential for converting thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism. Without enough bile, the conversion process is hampered, potentially slowing down your metabolism.

• Gut Microbiome: A healthy gut microbiome is influenced by bile. Without sufficient bile, the balance of gut bacteria can shift, leading to weight gain.

• Constipation: Bile acts as a natural lubricant in the intestines. Without it, you might experience constipation and retain waste, adding to body weight.

• Bloating: A deficiency in bile can cause bloating and swelling in the belly area, making you feel and look heavier.

To mitigate these effects, supplementing with bile salts can be beneficial.”

Dr. Berg’s post mentioned all of the symptoms I’m currently experiencing a lot. So I decided to start taking bile salts to see if this will improve my overall health. We’ll need to see how that goes the coming months.

I will share on my Substack in the coming weeks how my health is developing. Although the past months have been tough, I have high hopes that I will find solutions to my problems. Most of all, it’s important to stay calm and take it one day at a time. The Substack community has also been great in supporting me and helping me find answers. It’s truly heartwarming how supportive Substackers are!

Health With Ruth | Ruth Alva | Substack

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