Dr. Linda Slaney DC, Mount Pearl, NL (2026)

10/25/2026

I passed. 🎉 The Menopause Society Certified Practitioner (MSCP) exam. Done. ✅

There were days I felt completely unprepared. Slides, practice exams, months and months of preparation and a very anxious brain.

And I did it anyway.

Here's why this matters to me. Perimenopause and menopause still get brushed off. Hot flashes, sleep that falls apart, brain fog, mood swings, joint pain, weight changes. Women get told "that's just aging." It isn't, and you deserve to be taken seriously.

I've spent 18+ years supporting people's health and movement. Now I'm adding deeper, evidence-based menopause education to that. I can't prescribe, but I can help you understand what's happening, support your lifestyle and movement goals, and point you to the right care team when you need medical treatment.

If you're in midlife and wondering "is this normal?", I'd love to help you figure out your next step.

What's new and exciting? This. 💜

10/21/2026

Week 7 of What's Actually Depleted.

B6. Small vitamin. Big job.

It helps your body make dopamine, serotonin and GABA. Focus, mood, and your ability to calm down. That's a lot for one little vitamin.

For women with ADHD in perimenopause, dopamine may already be taking a hit as estrogen shifts. So B6 is worth knowing about.

Signs you might be low (true deficiency is uncommon, and these overlap with a lot of things):
→ Irritability or anxiety that feels wired-in
→ Low mood
→ Brain fog
→ Mouth sores or cracked lips
→ Tingling in hands or feet
→ Fatigue that caffeine doesn't touch

Food first: chicken, turkey, salmon, tuna, beef liver, potatoes with skin, bananas, sunflower seeds.

⚠️ Here's the part people skip. Tingling in your hands or feet can mean too much B6 as well as too little. High-dose supplements taken for months can damage nerves. The US upper limit is 100mg/day from all sources. Europe set theirs at just 12mg. The RDA is 1.3mg.

Check your multivitamin and your B-complex labels. B6 hides in both.

Thinking about going above the RDA? Talk to your provider first. Not worth guessing on this one.

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10/14/2026

Week 6 of What's Actually Depleted.

Zinc. The one most people haven't thought about.

It does a lot of quiet work. Immune function, wound healing, hormone metabolism, taste and smell. It also helps your body handle dopamine, which is why researchers keep poking at it for focus and ADHD. (Results there are mixed, so I'm not promising anything.)

Signs you might be low:
→ Getting sick more than you should
→ Focus harder to hold onto
→ Hair thinning
→ Slow wound healing
→ Skin issues
→ Loss of taste or smell (yes, really)

Food first: oysters (nothing else comes close), beef, lamb, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, cashews.

If you supplement: 15–30mg with food is a common range. Forms like bisglycinate, picolinate, citrate and gluconate are all out there.

⚠️ The upper limit from supplements is 40mg/day. More is not better. Too much for too long can drain your copper. Taking iron at the same time can also cut zinc absorption, and zinc can interfere with some antibiotics. Check with your pharmacist.

Honestly? Test before you guess, especially if your multivitamin already has zinc in it.

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Come home to yourself. 🌿

10/11/2026

Thank you Symmetry Wellness & Roots and Realms for a great retreat! It was an honour to share the day with such an open, engaged group.

To everyone who showed up, asked the real questions and stayed curious: thank you. Days like this remind me why I love this work. Already looking forward to the next one!

10/07/2026

Week 5 of What's Actually Depleted.

Omega-3s. Lots of research here. Not all of it agrees. Let's talk about it.

EPA and DHA are building blocks of brain cell membranes, and they help regulate inflammation. That's why they keep showing up in conversations about focus, mood, and perimenopause.

Perimenopause: estrogen shifts may change how your body handles fats and inflammation. Researchers are still sorting out the details, so I won't oversell it.

ADHD: honestly, mixed. Some trials, mostly in kids, show small improvements in symptoms. A bigger recent review of 22 studies didn't find a significant overall benefit. So not a magic bullet. Maybe a helpful piece for some people.

Things that can show up when intake is low (they're also common with a dozen other issues, so don't self-diagnose):
→ Brain fog
→ Dry skin or eyes
→ Joint stiffness
→ Low mood
→ Restless sleep

Best food sources: salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, herring. Walnuts and flax give you ALA, which your body converts poorly. Fatty fish is the real deal.

Supplements: fish oil, or algae oil if you're plant-based. Check the label for how much EPA and DHA you're actually getting, not just "fish oil" in big letters. Many ADHD trials used EPA-heavy formulas.

Safety: low risk at normal doses. The FDA suggests keeping EPA + DHA to 3g a day or less from all sources, and no more than 2g from supplements. Higher doses may affect blood clotting. On a blood thinner? Check with your doctor or pharmacist first.

Low-risk, easy to find, worth a try for a couple of months. See how you feel.

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09/30/2026

Week 4 of What's Actually Depleted.

B12.

Low B12 can look like aging. Or depression. Or early memory decline. That's exactly why it gets missed.

It matters for your nerves, your red blood cells, DNA synthesis and your brain. Not a small job list.

Now, perimenopause. Some menopause educators, Dr. Wendy Sweet included, list B12 among the nutrients that can run low at this stage. Here's where I land. The research is thinner than that sounds. One study of nearly 300 peri- and postmenopausal women found almost all of them had normal B12. So I can't tell you most women are low.

What I can tell you is who's more at risk. Older age. Acid-reducing meds. Metformin. Gut conditions. Eating little or no animal food. And the symptoms of low B12 overlap a LOT with perimenopause, so it's easy to blame hormones when it's something else.

Same with focus and mood. B12 helps your body make the chemicals your brain runs on, and low levels can leave you foggy, flat or scattered. That can look like ADHD. Does low B12 cause ADHD? No. Is it worth ruling out? Absolutely.

Signs it might be low:
→ Fatigue and weakness
→ Brain fog or memory trouble
→ Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
→ Low mood
→ Heart palpitations, an irregular or bounding heartbeat, or shortness of breath. Get these checked, don't guess.
→ Pale or yellowish skin
→ Sore tongue or mouth sores

Tingling or numbness? Don't guess and don't wait on it. Nerve symptoms left too long can become permanent. That's the one place "just correct it" isn't the whole story.

Food sources: clams (top of the list), beef liver, oysters, salmon, tuna, eggs, dairy. If you eat fully plant-based, B12 needs a supplement or fortified foods. No way around that one.

Supplements: the research doesn't show one form beating the other. Cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin both raise levels. Skip the MTHFR hype, that's a folate story, not a B12 one. Supplement B12 is absorbed differently than the B12 in food, so low stomach acid doesn't always block it. Some people still absorb it poorly and need injections. The right form and dose is a conversation with your doctor or nurse practitioner.

Safety: B12 has a very low risk of harm at normal doses, and what your body doesn't use mostly gets flushed out.

So don't guess. Testing beats guessing. Ask your family doctor or nurse practitioner for a B12 blood test. It's simple, and if you're low, it's very treatable.

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09/23/2026

Week 3 of What's Actually Depleted.

This is the one I want every woman in perimenopause to read.

Iron. Specifically — ferritin.

And the numbers just changed.

Last week, the American Society of Hematology released new guidelines for diagnosing iron deficiency.

The old cutoff? 15.
The new one for menstruating women? 30.
And if your periods are heavy? 50.

So that ferritin of 28 your lab report called "normal"? By the new standard, that's iron deficient.

Here's why this matters in perimenopause: periods often get heavier before they stop. Sometimes a lot heavier. That blood loss adds up. Month after month.

And here's what almost nobody tells you. You can have totally normal bloodwork — normal hemoglobin, normal CBC — and still be running on empty iron stores.

Because a CBC doesn't measure your stores. Ferritin does. And it's not always on your requisition unless you ask.

Ferritin is how your body stores iron. And iron is what your brain, your hair follicles, and your energy actually run on.

If you have ADHD? Low ferritin has been linked to worse symptoms. Most of that research is in kids — but it's worth knowing your number.

Signs you might be low:
→ Fatigue that feels different — heavy, bone-deep, not just tired
→ Brain fog, can't focus
→ Restless legs at night
→ Hair shedding (even when your hemoglobin is "fine")
→ Cold hands and feet
→ Focus falling apart and you can't figure out why

Best food sources: beef, lamb, chicken liver, oysters, clams. That's heme iron — the kind your body absorbs best.

If you do need a supplement, iron bisglycinate tends to be easier on the gut. Keep it away from calcium, magnesium, coffee and tea. And ask your provider about every-other-day dosing — newer research shows it can actually absorb better.

⚠️ Don't take iron without a confirmed deficiency. Too much iron is genuinely harmful.

⚠️ And if your periods have gotten heavier or changed? Get that checked. Iron fixes the depletion. It doesn't explain the bleeding.

Most lab ranges haven't caught up to the new guidelines yet. So don't just look for a flag.

Ask for the number. Then advocate for yourself.

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09/16/2026

Week 2 of What's Actually Depleted.

This week: Vitamin D. And if you live anywhere in Atlantic Canada — this one is for you especially.

We get meaningful UV exposure for maybe 4 months of the year here. The rest of the time, the sun is too low in the sky for our skin to make any. Add perimenopause to that picture.

Vitamin D isn't really a vitamin — it functions more like a hormone. And it works directly with your immune system, your mood, your bones, and your nervous system.

Signs you might be low:
→ Fatigue that sleep doesn't fix
→ Low mood, flat affect, or depression
→ Bone pain or aching back
→ Getting sick more often than you should
→ Hair loss
→ Brain fog

Best food sources: fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), egg yolks, beef liver, fortified milk.

Best supplement: D3 (not D2) — always paired with K2. K2 directs the calcium where it needs to go.

Target blood level: 100–150 nmol/L. Not just "normal" — optimal. The official RDA of 600 IU is widely considered too low by most functional medicine practitioners.

Get tested. Know your number.

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09/15/2026

Big news: I'm speaking at MIDlife, Informed with TERRA Medical Aesthetics + Wellness 🎤

Sunday, Oct 18 · 1-5pm · ALT Hotel, St. John's

My topic: "It's not just aging: the real story behind midlife joint pain"

Because I am SO tired of women being told their joints ache more in their 40s because they're "just getting older." That's not the whole story and I'm going to break down what's actually happening in the body — and what you can do about it.

This is a room full of local health and wellness pros coming together for World Menopause Day. If you're in midlife (or love someone who is), this one's for you.

Tickets were on the wait list first, and public sale opened today.

🎟️ Grab yours: https://terra-midlifeinformed-event.netlify.app

09/09/2026

Week 1 of the What's Actually Depleted series.

We're starting with magnesium — because it's the one I talk about most, the one most women are low in, and the one with the widest reach across your whole system.

Magnesium is involved in over 300 biochemical reactions in the body. Sleep. Nervous system regulation. Muscle function. Blood sugar balance. Cortisol metabolism.

And here's the perimenopause piece nobody mentions: estrogen helps your body retain magnesium. As estrogen declines, so does your magnesium. It's not a coincidence. It's physiology.

Signs you might be low:
→ Poor sleep or waking at 3am
→ Anxiety or that wired-but-tired feeling
→ Muscle cramps or tension you can't shake
→ Headaches that come out of nowhere
→ Heart palpitations
→ Low HRV on your wearable

Best food sources: pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate (70%+), spinach, black beans, almonds, avocado.

Best supplement form: magnesium bisglycinate or glycinate — 200–400mg elemental before bed. Avoid magnesium oxide. It's the cheap version and your body barely absorbs it.

Toxicity risk: low from food. High doses can cause loose stools — that's your signal to reduce.

If you've been told your magnesium is "normal" on bloodwork — know that serum magnesium only reflects a tiny fraction of your body's stores.

This one is worth paying attention to.

👉 Comment TIRED and I'll send you the Soul Tired Quiz
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Come home to yourself. 🌿

Dr. Linda Slaney DC

10/25/2026

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