What If It Were Hormones?

Hello Everyone,

Well, I feel really stupid. For about 5 years I've been dealing with "energy" challenges. Major energy challenges. Now I thought as they would appear, one by one over time, that I was just "over worked" or "over stressed." And by taking that thought pattern, I would shrug it off and just tell myself to "buck up."

I can't begin to tell you how many times my "internal" voice would be nagging at me to get up off the couch and get to work, beat me up for being lazy, and generally make me feel like I was a good-for-nothing, no account laggard.

On a good day I would give myself a break, saying to myself, "you've got a lot on your plate, be patient with yourself, give yourself a wee bit of mercy." That was on a good day. But never once did I connect the dots: stress, stress response, menopause, food and diet, exercise = hormonal imbalance. I mean to say that I never understood the deep response and the downward spiral of this delicate house of cards known as the endocrine system.

Well, yesterday as I lay in bed all afternoon wondering - despairing - if I would ever get my act together, it suddenly came to me. What if it were hormones?

Now I have been cleaning up my diet quite religiously for at least a year now. This is to say that I'm eating way more veggies and fruits, absolutely NO processed foods, and mostly organic. I drink no sodas, only water and green/white teas. I went off coffee a year ago, and if I do have a cup (one cup), it's decaf. I faithfully take my "superfood" and mineral supplements. I have even begun doing Tai Chi in the mornings to rev up the old engine. But within hours, I'm out of energy, focus and fuzzy. I could sleep ( and do ) a lot.

I've had patience with this for over a year since my chiropractor informed me that my adrenal glands were "blown out". No sh_t Sherlock. No wonder I couldn't get up off the floor, but more importantly, was the realization that it was my reaction to stress (internal) and the consistency of it that got me here. Add to that, this particular time of life to which I gave no notice or import.

So it came to me, what if it were hormonal? Then I went searching and found http://www.womentowomen.com. I took their online quiz and found out that my symptoms were "severe" and "entrenched" hormone deficiencies. Sigh. The good news (found the answer) and the bad (not an instant fix).

I don't know when I've felt so utterly stupid, not to have put this together sooner. I should have known when the antidepressants did nothing for me and I threw them away. I should have guessed a long time ago, but well, let's stop the self-flagellation and get on with the getting well part.

This morning I called Women To Women in Maine and reached a lovely woman named, Lisa.

Turns out they've been doing this work for 20 years. Well, thank heaven.

The symptoms which I think every woman should pay attention to are these:
1. by 3:00 pm you need coffee or a nap to get through the rest of the day;
2. you're craving sweets (bagels, donuts, carbs, candy); and
3. your sleep patterns are disrupted (can't get to sleep, can't stay asleep, or you could sleep all the time); and
4. your thinking is fuzzy.

Listen, it doesn't matter what age you are, seems that we here in Western Culture with all of our "stress" can experience hormone imbalance at any age, it doesn't have to be menopausal age.

Lisa told me that in some parts of the world where they don't live our life style, they don't even have a word for "menopause", because women don't experience anything disruptive. Imagine that.

Our food (quality) and our lifestyle is what contributes to this hormonal imbalance at any age.

Well, to make a long story short, I have signed up for their 90 day program which consists of phytotherapy (plants and herbs for hormone rebalance and regeneration) as well as nutritional support (the foundation). A book comes along with the supplements. Lisa assures me that by the 4th of July I will be feeling like my old self again. (Can't remember what that felt like, to be truthful.)

So stay tuned. I am going to be the human experiment once again and report back to you as I go along.

Baseline is today, May 28, 2008. I eat mostly organic foods; I eat no processed foods other than tortilla chips; I drink no sodas. I drink only decaffeinated coffee and probably have less than one glass of wine a week (organic). I do eat meat, but not a lot. I am doing Tai Chi in the am for 20 minutes. I write in my journal every am. Meditate daily. Walk daily for at least 20 minutes. I take a superfood, and liquid minerals daily. I sleep at least 8 hours a night (and could sleep more).

What I'm hoping for? Energy, enthusiasm, staying power and pure positive focus, even temperament, balanced optimism, and cheerful countenance.

Stay tuned, I will keep you all posted. In the meantime, if you'd like to join me on this 90 day program, check out http://www.womentowomen.com. Take the quiz and participate along with me.

For now I have decided to wait on any kind of HRT - hormone replacement therapy, which will be the subject of another blog at a later time.

Thanks for reading!

Kath