Episode 14: When the Whispers Become Shouts: Listening to Your Body with Dr. Bubbles

Oct 23

I’ve known Dr. Tanya Destang-Beaubrun for a long time. Everyone calls her Bubbles, and once you meet her, you understand why. She’s the primary physician on the island of St. Lucia and has spent forty years in medicine. She’s also one of the warmest people I know.

But even doctors don’t always listen to their own bodies.

Years ago, Bubbles burnt out. She ended up in a hospital bed, and her colleagues stood around talking about her symptoms. Nobody looked her in the eye. All her labs came back normal, and she started to wonder if it was all in her head. She told me all she wanted was for someone to really see her.

That moment changed everything. She promised herself she’d never make a patient feel that way, and she set out to heal herself. Then she started to practice medicine with more heart. She painted her office pink. She hung art instead of certificates. And she started writing what she calls “prescriptions for love.”

In this episode, we talk about:

Her burnout story and how she finally found answers
Looking for little pockets of joy throughout the day
What functional medicine is, and why “normal” labs aren’t always the full picture
Listening to the whispers before they become shouts
Giving yourself grace (and yes, having the cheesecake)
Sitting down with Oprah and sharing the Caribbean voice
Her new book, Held and Healed, which she hopes feels like a hug by the last page

What stays with me most is something she said: we’re all trying to fix ourselves, but we’re not broken. Sometimes the best medicine is to slow down, pay attention, and be a little gentler with ourselves.

If you’ve been running on empty lately, I hope this one leaves you feeling a little lighter.