Most women have been told at some point that what they’re feeling is just hormones. End of conversation. But what if your body is actually trying to tell you something deeper, something worth listening to?

In this episode of Finding Sanctuary, Debbie Draybi and Eddie Reaiche sit down with Dr. Michael Azzi, GP, founder of Napro Life Centre and one of the few Australian doctors trained in the United States in naprotechnology. Across a wide ranging conversation, Michael shares why so much of women’s health gets missed, how mental health and hormones quietly shape each other, and why his approach to fertility care and holistic women’s health starts with a simple idea. Your symptoms are signal, not failure.

Key Takeaways

  • Your symptoms aren’t random. If something feels off across the same phase of your cycle each month, your body is telling you something worth paying attention to.
  • Mental health and hormones are linked, but they’re not the same thing. Both can be missed when one is mistaken for the other.
  • Holistic women’s health means looking at your whole life, your sleep, diet, stress, faith and relationships, not just your blood test results.
  • Suffering in silence is not noble if it stops you living out your life. Faith and seeking help are not in conflict.
  • Your value is not defined by your fertility. Fertility is a sign of your overall health, not your worth.

A Doctor Who Looks Below the Surface

Michael trained as a GP in women’s health, but he wasn’t satisfied with what he saw in modern general practice. Care had become fragmented. Appointments were short. There was little space to look past the symptom and into the person.

That changed when he discovered naprotechnology, a women’s health field developed in the United States that focuses on identifying and treating the underlying causes of fertility challenges and women’s health issues. It’s built around a fertility awareness and cycle charting approach accurate enough to surface medical issues that other systems often miss.

Michael’s path into this work was also deeply personal. He and his wife lost their second child, baby Lily, who was stillborn during delivery. His faith carried them through, and the experience reshaped his medical practice. Today, when a couple sits down with him for an initial assessment, they’re often there for ninety minutes. Not because the paperwork takes that long, but because connection takes that long.

When Hormones and Mental Health Get Mixed Up

One of the most quietly damaging patterns Michael sees in clinic is misdiagnosis in both directions. Hormonal issues get labelled as anxiety or depression. Mental health concerns get brushed off as PMS or premenstrual syndrome. The patient walks away with the wrong tools and the same problem.

The differentiator, he says, is timing. If your symptoms cluster reliably in the luteal phase of your cycle, the days after ovulation, hormones are likely playing a role. If your symptoms run through every phase of the month, something deeper, often in the mental health space, deserves attention.

The answer is rarely either or. It’s usually both. Cycle tracking and body literacy give you data. A clinician who listens turns that data into a real picture of what’s going on.

Suffering in Silence Isn’t a Cross You Have to Carry

For listeners from culturally rich backgrounds where faith sits at the centre of life, this part of the conversation hits hardest. Michael acknowledges what many women already know. There’s a quiet expectation in some cultures that you put up with discomfort, irregular cycles, debilitating periods or postnatal exhaustion, because that’s just what women do.

His view as a doctor of faith is direct. God has given us tools to deal with our suffering. Offering up your pain in the moment is one thing. Choosing to live in that pain when it’s stopping you being a wife, a mother or a present friend is something else. As Eddie puts it during the conversation, it doesn’t have to be a cross you have to carry. There’s no virtue in suffering that takes you out of your own life.

Your Fertility Is a Sign of Your Whole Health

The conversation around infertility carries another layer of cultural weight. Michael describes patients who arrive in clinic having absorbed a quiet message that their worth is tied to their ability to have children. Friends ask. Family asks. Strangers at weddings ask.

His reframe is one of the most powerful moments of the episode. Your fertility isn’t your worth. Your fertility is a signal of your overall health. When your body is unhealthy or under stress, it diverts resources away from outward functions, including reproduction. Treat the underlying picture, the inflammation, the hormone imbalance, the lifestyle factors, and fertility often improves as a side effect.

That’s why Napro Life Centre describes its work as fertility care that restores hope.

You’re Not Broken

If you take one thing from this conversation, take this. Symptoms are a meaningful way for your body to ask for help. They’re not a sign that something is permanently wrong with you. They’re a sign worth listening to.

If your symptoms are debilitating, if they’re disrupting your life, if they’re not improving over time, please don’t sit with them quietly. Speak to a doctor who looks at the whole picture. Speak to a counsellor. Track your cycle. Pay attention to what your body is trying to say. There’s a path forward, and you’re not walking it alone.

Listen Now

This episode is Part One of a two part conversation with Dr. Michael Azzi. In Part Two, Michael returns with his colleague Dr. Mary Rose Moad to explore postnatal depression, perimenopause and pregnancy loss in greater depth.

You can listen to the full conversation on Finding Sanctuary wherever you get your podcasts, or visit hshl.org.au to explore more episodes and the work of Hills Sanctuary House.