In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered: Nourish, Heal, Thrive, Lindsie sits down with Tori Sorrell-Cook, an endocrine health specialist and international homeopath, to explore why so many women continue to struggle with hormonal symptoms even when their labs come back “normal.” Tori shares her personal journey from an endometriosis diagnosis to becoming symptom-free, and how that path led her to a deeper understanding of hormonal imprints left behind by contraception, IVF medications, viruses, environmental toxins, and stress. Together, they unpack how the body doesn’t just manage symptoms—it can unlearn them—when given the right signals and support. This conversation dives into the often-overlooked disruptions between the brain and ovaries, the long-term impact of the pill and other endocrine-disrupting medications, and how Homeopathic Detox Therapy (HDT) works as a gentle yet powerful way to help the body release what it’s been holding onto. If you’ve ever felt dismissed, misdiagnosed, or stuck managing symptoms instead of healing, this episode will expand how you think about hormones and what’s truly possible for your health.
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(0:00 - 6:04) This is essentially the magic wand, if it was that would be amazing, but it's my magic wand for how to address some of these imprints. So HDT stands for Homeopathic Detox Therapy. They are potentised versions of the offending item as such, so whether that is a potentised version of the combined pill or the IVF, it has been taken in substance and so that we are able to use it to signal to the body to clear. So it's not like a detox when we talk about parasite detox or we're killing things off and removing, what we're able to do with those things in homeopathic form is to essentially, the way I explain it is like point a big red arrow at the thing in our body that needs to shift because again the body has kind learnt to balance around it. It's created a sort of new route through and almost forgotten it's there which is why we now have this pattern of symptoms. So we remind the body by returning the remedy to it that this is where we got stuck, this is where the shift is and then essentially ask it to lift that blanket so we can see what's underneath. We signal to the body this is what needs to go whilst also supporting the organs and the bowel and the symptoms so that it is comfortable and the body is able to drain because often you know if this is the moment where it all went wrong this is the moment where everything is holding as well. So we need to teach the body to to release and it can be a really effective way of doing that gently because the problem is there is no, as far as I'm aware, there's no other way we can get these things out. Hey friends, welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, Nourish, Heal, Thrive. I'm your host Lindsie and today we're diving deep into a conversation that's going to change the way you think about your hormones, your health and what normal really means. My guest Tori Sorrell-Cook is an endocrine health specialist and international homeopath who helps women understand why their hormones have felt chaotic for years even when their lab results say everything looks fine. Her approach combines hormone mapping, functional insight and homeopathic detox therapy HDT to uncover and clear hidden hormonal imprints left behind by stress, contraception and environmental toxins. In this episode, Tori shares how her own journey with endometriosis led her to discover that the body can unlearn symptoms, not just manage them. We unpack the fascinating links between viral chemical and emotional imprints on hormonal health, how the pill and other medications can repattern the body's signals and what it really means to create safety in the body so healing can happen. Now as a reminder, the content shared on PCOS Unfiltered is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are not intended to serve as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, exercise or treatment plan. The information shared is based on personal experience and expert interviews and is not a substitute for professional medical guidance. Okay, if you're managing your symptoms but still know deep down that something feels off or if you're just curious about how to work with your body instead of against it, you're going to love this conversation. Welcome to Tori. I am so excited. I love this. Like, first of all, I feel like there's some of the stuff I need to learn more about, which I'm excited to, to learn from you today and have our listeners learn from you. But we just yeah, I think we just really hit it off because we share a lot of the same, same ideas and things around healing. So can't wait to just dive in. So let's do that. So for anyone that's kind of, you know, new to this world, what drew you into women's hormone health? And what helped you realize the body can unlearn symptoms rather than just manage them, which I love. I love that, by the way, I love this topic. Unlearning, yeah, we're always unlearning, that's what we've been taught. But I think it was quite a long journey, because I think actually my journey started way, way back when I had a diagnosis of endometriosis myself in my 20s, and took quite a traditional route, actually, you know, listen to the doctors did as I was told, had several misdiagnoses along the way, and then have quite a sort of heavy set of hormonal treatments, essentially, which were tricky, like they are for most women, you know, it is not a new story, your listeners will understand. But I was really lucky in that I was always told I would struggle to conceive and I didn't. So kind of pregnancy turned things around a bit for me because because of the hormone. But then once I'd had place, and therefore, I am, I kind of sought alternative treatment for myself, which meant that, that actually, I then essentially have never I was cured, I say cured, I live symptom free until today, because I saw a wonderful homeopath who said, Look, we really need to look at what's going on with your formains. And we did a kind of detox of the pill, which is where my learning started. And I had such transformational results that kind of stayed with me. And although I didn't step into that field, immediately, I've ended up here because I just think women need more choices.
(6:06 - 8:19) And more options, because the traditional route doesn't work for everyone. And I think, you know, we're told, well, that's it, that's all you've got. And I and I think, well, no, I've, I've lived this, and I've walked a different route. And I've seen different ways. And there is no, no one case fits all, which is why I'm so passionate about what I do now. Yeah, yeah, I think so many women can relate to your story. Especially I think, too, you know, you said the kind of misdiagnoses and, and I feel like that's very common with PCOS, too. I mean, I've talked to women that, like, they might have been told at some point, they had cysts on their ovaries, but then they didn't fit, like they weren't overweight. So I think the doctor just kind of either misdiagnose them or dismiss them. You know, now we know that yes, you don't even need the cysts on your ovaries. But and we know a lot more about it today than we did before, too. But I think that's still just it's very common to, I think, in a lot of women's, you know, hormonal health issues. And what the trouble is, I think, with the traditional model is that we're always looking for the symptoms that make us the same. So do you fit these? And because that's how a diagnosis is made, we have to have symptoms in common, and you have to fit x number of them. So we're always looking for the commonality. And actually, the lens I now look through is not what makes you the same, what makes you different, you know, how do your symptoms express themselves. So, you know, if you're, if you're experiencing that dysfunction, it doesn't matter, like you said, whether, whether you're gaining the weight, or whether we can actually visually see something, it's about the experience that you have day to day and the symptoms that you suffer through. And I think, unfortunately, because there's a lot of pressure on the medical model as well, there just isn't time to individualize. And that's why things are missed, and people feel that they've fallen through the gaps. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's very unfortunate. I mean, because I mean, I've learned this along the way myself, but I mean, it can even go back to how you were born, right? A vaginal birth versus a c-section, you know, how long were you breastfed, like all those things now can, or, you know, from then can actually affect your health later on.
(8:20 - 11:18) And even your mother's state. So there's some really interesting, really at the moment about, you know, actually, if you conceive in estrogen dominance, then we are, we are passing that along. Now, in my field, we often talk about your kind of genetic inheritance, but we're catching up in the science of it now, where we can see actually, look, let's look at what mom's hormone patterns were like at conception. And what does this then mean for the children that come after, and we're beginning to see those links and those patterns. Yeah, yeah. So, yes, we hear a lot about hormone imbalance. I feel like it just, you know, hormone health, hormone balance, balance your hormones, like all that stuff. You know, you go on social media, I feel like it's all over the place. But we do hear much less about how the signals between the brain and ovaries can be disrupted. So what actually knocks those signals off track in the first place? Yeah, that's really interesting. And it's really, it's hard to pin down sometimes, isn't it? And I think we sort of touched on one of them there, I think people don't think about, which is not what have what have I done here? And now what happened before or what happened much earlier on? So genetic imprints are obviously one thing that we need to look at. Also viruses, you know, I'm seeing a lot of people now in my clinic, kind of with chronic illness and hormone imbalance that have viral imprints. So Epstein-Barr virus is really big. You know, and when we're looking at case history, you know, I'm talking to people who go, well, actually, I had bad tonsillitis when I was a child. And then, but in my 20s, yeah, there was there was a sort of glandular fever episode. And that imprint will when we track it have caused these imbalances further on, which of course, people, people don't make the links, and we're not we're not talking about enough. So yeah, we've got genetic viral imprints. And then, of course, chemical imprints, how we're living, you know, I think, again, the conversations are happening, aren't they, about the chemicals in our environment and the estrogenic things that we are surrounded by and plastics in our feeds. But, you know, we can't ignore that that is having an impact on how our bodies are working and processing and clearing and leading to where we are. And then the big one that I work with tends to be drugs, drug imprints. You know, I would say, because I, I specialize in hormone imbalance, like yourself, but I'm quite generalist in that actually, it may be somebody with endometriosis in their 20s, or a woman with perimenopause in her 40s. But actually, the impact will have been the same. If she was exposed to the same endocrine disruptors, we see the same patterns. And the combined pill and IVF medications are really up there in terms of this kind of repatterning imprint.
(11:19 - 17:52) Yeah, yeah. And I feel like for some of those that you mentioned, you know, especially like the environmental stuff, and the viruses, you know, we were chatting before we hit record, but about, you know, COVID and stuff. And I feel like we're, whether it was from the virus itself, or from the vaccine, I feel like we're probably just now starting to kind of see the impacts of some of the stuff as it's changed, even over the last, you know, 20 years. But it's very interesting to see what might still be to come, you know, with our health. We're not, we have, you know, we haven't seen it all yet. We don't know how it goes out. I know, your COVID is really, really topical, isn't it? We, you know, we recognise it was like we said, in the in the relatively near history, I saw a lot of women in clinic quite quickly, after vaccination, but also after having had the virus who were having lots of issues with heavy bleeds, you know, the body again, I think we see it as a negative, which it is, but it is the way a body clears as well, you know, a bleed is one of the way a body can get something out. So actually, when we've got this viral imprint, or when we've had something popped into the body, and it's working in our immune system, you know, women seeing almost immediately those hormonal shifts as the body tries to respond and rebalance. Yeah, yeah. And that's where, like you said, everybody's different. So everybody's going to everybody came to that place differently. And so how they clear it is going to happen differently in a different pace, right? Absolutely. And I think the thing is, it's about how well our body adapts, doesn't it? And I, you know, our bodies are really resilient. And, you know, I say to women all the time, we have to trust that our body has an innate ability to do so many things. And a lot of the time that it's rebalance, you know, we can, we can take all this stuff in, but there is a point when the cup becomes full. And some of it is about, you know, I spend a lot of time, when we're discussing these impacts, looking at them in the hierarchy, you know, which were which are the ones that are the biggest. And actually, those viral imprints tend to fit a little bit lower down, as did the environmental ones, whereas actually, they're kind of the endocrine disrupting medications like IV after pill SSRI sit right at the top of that hierarchy for me. And they're often the ones I need to clear first to really begin to see the picture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God, I was on the pill for 20 plus years. So it's been amazing, getting off of it. And seeing what my body can can actually do. I mean, and I'm in a total different space with my health now. But I'm like, if I would have known this years ago, then yeah, but what I think we're at a similar age, and I just think the education wasn't there, was it? I don't think anyone ever again, I was on the pill, as many women, you know, in their 30s, 40s, 50s, were from teenage years. And I don't think anyone ever sat me down and sort of said, what the side effects might be, or how it was changing, or that actually did also work on my brain chemistry, as well as the, you know, the period pain I was trying to balance out. And those conversations weren't being had. So I have no idea what I was signing up for, if I'm honest. Yeah, yeah. And I remember when I first, first, like was thinking about getting off of it, I spoke to my gynecologist. And she discouraged me from it. And she's like, Oh, you remember what your periods were like before that? Like, yeah, she's like, well, you know, think about that. And then, and then she was like, it actually prevents ovarian cancer and breast cancer. But again, yes, didn't explain a lot of other things to me, as well. I just even even on a very basic level, no one talks about like the nutrients that might be being depleted. I mean, really basic, isn't it? You know, actually, if you're going to take this, are you aware that you may have, you know, on the flip side, you know, some nutrients that are being uptaken as well. And you can consider supplementing this that that wasn't conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You use something called HDT in your work, I'm excited to hear about this. So can you explain in simple terms, what HDT is, and why it can make such a profound difference for conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, or long standing cycle issues? Yes, so this is essentially the magic wand, not quite, if it was, if it was, that would be amazing. But it's my magic wand for how to address some of these imprints. So HDT stands for homeopathic detox therapy. And so what it is, it was developed by a gentleman called Tom Janssen, who's been practicing for many years, and he teaches across the world now as well. And he uses homeopathic remedies. So they are potentised versions of the offending item as such. So whether that is a potentised version of the combined pill or the IVF, it has been taken in substance and potentised so that we are able to use it to signal to the body to clear. So it's not like a detox when we talk about parasite detox, or we're killing things off and removing what we're able to do with those things in homeopathic form is to essentially, the way I explain it is like point a big red arrow at the thing in our body that needs to shift because again, the body has kind of learned to balance around it. It's created a sort of new route through and almost forgotten it's there, which is why we now have this pattern of symptoms. So we remind the body by returning the remedy to it that this is where we got stuck. This is where the shift is. And then essentially ask it to lift that blanket so we can see what's underneath. And we do that in the same way. In some ways, people understand traditional detox. We signal to the body, this is what needs to go, whilst also supporting the organs and the bowel and the symptoms so that it is comfortable and body is able to drain. Because often, you know, if this is the moment where it all went wrong, this is the moment where everything is holding as well. So we need to teach the body to release. And it can be a really effective way of doing that gently. Because the problem is there is no, as far as I'm aware, there's no other way we can get these things out.
(17:54 - 18:10) Yeah, yeah. Understanding, of course, like we're talking about everybody's different, does it work pretty quickly? Well, everybody is different. So again, sometimes I mean, sometimes it amazes me and I go, wow, okay, that was fast.
(18:12 - 18:49) I absolutely love this conversation with Tori Sorrell-Cook, and I hope you did too. I love how she reminds us that true healing isn't about forcing the body into balance. It's about helping it remember what balance feels like. If today's episode resonated with you, be sure to connect with Tori online at InnateWellnessCentre.com and follow her on Instagram at Innate Wellness with Tori. I'll link those both in the show notes for you. Thank you for listening, for sharing this space with me and for continuing to rewrite your health story one episode at a time. Until next time, keep nourishing, healing and thriving. You got this.