AGING GRACEFULLY
This is from my birthday dinner at my favorite place--Mi Pueblo in Wabash IN. Love, love, love their food and the authentic Mexican ambiance. If you ever get through Wabash, make sure to stop there. I always get the arroz con pollo. That's rice with chicken and spicy cheese sauce for the uninformed. I told them when we got there it was my birthday but I didn't expect singing, a hat, and whipped cream on the face. LOL It was all Dave's fault--he told them to bring a hat.
You ever heard the term: aging gracefully? What's so graceful about aging? I see the wrinkles in the mirror, the age spots. HATE age spots. Hate them, hate them. I'm always working on holding back the ravages of time. It's not that I care that I'm older--I just don't want to look it. LOL! I think all women feel that. My mother in law today was complaining about her wrinkles. She's 82!
I'm a big believer in bioidentical hormones. Oprah had a show about them last week and it's good someone with power is talking about them. I'm one who can speak to both sides of the fence because I was on NON bioidentical (Premarin and Estrace) for 33 years (starting at 23 after a complete hysterectomy) and the difference is night and day. I found out about them when I was searching for a cure for my migraines. You can go
here to find out more info about that. While I had high hopes for the migraines (and it DID work for them) I was even more surprised by the other things the hormone balance helped. When we age, our production of progesterone drops. In my case, it was totally cut off after my hysterectomy. If I'd known about the hormone balancing when I was 14, I wouldn't have lost both ovaries. The swelling in my ankles is gone and so is my fibrocystic breast disease. My fibromyalgia went away with solving the thyroid resistance problem (I took extra thyroid first to get rid of it). There are so many things that are better now, I'm having trouble listing them all. My hair is growing in thicker, and those dreaded age spots are fading. My beginning cataracts vanished and my doctor is now running a clinical trial to test what he's seeing in his practice: it's reversing or stopping macular degeneration. Here's info on my doctor: http://www.dzugan.com/html/restorative_medicine.php
Progesterone sensitizes your body to all your hormones: thyroid, insulin, estrogen, cortisol, etc. When you're low in progesterone, you get hormone resistant. So even though you might have adequate amounts circulating in your blood, your body is resistant to them and isn't using them. As the doctor replaced my hormones, my need for thyroid went WAY down. From 3 grains of Armour thyroid to 1/2 now. I'll be able to cut it out completely soon. Lack of progesterone causes depression, PMS, fibrocystic breasts, infertility, miscarriage, breast cancer and endometriosis. Hormonal imbalance is related to heart disease, Alzheimers, diabetes. If you're in your late thirties or above, some of your health problems might be related to hormonal imbalance. It's more common than you think.
It's the same for men but what they typically get is diabetes, heart disease, and prostate cancer. The problem is that we get estrogens in our food. Our food is laced with it and so are plastics that we use every day. It totally whacks our hormone balance.
There are several good books to read about this issue. The ones by Suzanne Sommers are good. And this
one by Uzzi Reiss. And any book by Dr. John Lee.
You might have to take in information to educate your doctor. You might have to change doctors. But it's worth it to take charge of your own health. Then you can party with a Mexican hat with me when you're feeling better too! Feel free to ask me any questions. I know a LOT about this topic. Hormonal stuff is something I've studied for over 35 years. I might have turned 57 yesterday but I feel much younger, thanks to my bioidentical hormones. I'll never give them up. Wish I could testify in the hearings taking place about them, thanks to a lawsuit brought by the makers of Premarin. Gag. You'd think they'd see right through that. People discovering what's best for their bodies is cutting into their profits, poor things.
So take charge, friends. Take back your life!
Labels: bioidentical hormones, depression, fibromyalgia, hearing, Premarin
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14 Comments:
Colleen,
I will have to do some reading on that. I've been scared of hormones because my mother had a hysterectomy when she was young and they put her on hormone replacement and years later when she had breast cancer, they told her it was caused by the hormone replacement. So it's all confusing to me. I get bad migraines and have ever since I was a child. So do most of the women on my mother's side of the family.
Blessings
Michelle
Get some of the books I mentioned, Michelle. Tens of thousands of women in Europe have safely used bioidentical for nearly thirty years. And read my website about the migraines.
The old HRT DOES cause breast cancer but mostly because they don't give progesterone with it. If they give anything, they give progestins which is fake progesterone and it actually causes MORE cancer. But the natural stuff is way different. It's taken in gel form too so it doesn't even go through your liver.
I was so glad Oprah was talking about this. I have long thought my MS was related to hormones -- because I felt great when pregnant and then, like death afterwards. So I started researching early on how to get back to snuff, sure enough, progesterone is what you're full of when pregnant.
I can't take the pharmaceuticals though, makes me mean as a witch. LOL Oh and the best thing they said on Oprah, if you have that fat face/neck? That's helped by progesterone. Oh honey, sign me up. LOL
I'm on progesterone and I'm not yet 30. Once my doc put me on it three years ago I stopped having bad PMS, acne wasn't as bad, and all the other hormones finally started to work right. I even stopped having ovarian cysts. Before I went on it I had a lot of thyroid problems, now they're gone. Like you, Colleen, I'm a firm believer in natural progesterone, and I think I lost a lot of it due to birth control pills. Makes one wonder how many women out there my age and younger are lacking in progesterone and don't even know it.
Big kicker to all this, my insurance company says I'm too young to be on it. I'd have to be 45 in order for them to help pay for it, unless my doc can prove otherwise and then its still up to insurance if they'll pay for it. They'll dole out cash left and right for wrong stuff and pay more in the end, but not preventative medicine.
Winter, I got my first ovarian cysts at 14. I know now it was a lack of progesterone even then! The insurance companies don't know anything. sigh.
I must have an good load of progesterone because I never got PMS. Don't hit me! It's true. And my menopause symptoms were fairly mild. Of course I didn't go through it until 59, if you can believe that. I thought I was a modern day Sarah. LOL My poor husband ...
Thanks for the information, Colleen! I'm not over thirty yet, but I'll definitely remember this then. I'm also glad that it's something natural. While I'm not against medicine, I do prefer natural remedies. Thanks!
This is so interesting Colleen. I'm only 25, but every few years my gynecologist sends me for blood work to check my thyroid, because it protrudes somewhat from my neck. The blood work always comes back fine, but I've had a few minor health issues over the years including anemia for which they put me on birth control pills for three years. I was such a basket-case by then that I decided I'd rather be low energy from the anemia.
Last month, my 29-year-old husband was diagnosed with a rare auto immune disorder called Wegener's Granulomatosis. It's caused masses in his lungs (at first they told us he had cancer) and can attack the sinuses and kidneys too. He started chemo last week to put it into remission. We're praying that he'll someday be able to go off the drugs and maintain remission. It would be great if there's something natural that would help.
My progesterone imbalance started at 14, Sarah. Just because you're in your twenties means nothing. And the interesting thing about the migraine program is that it was found while investigating hormonal therapy to boost the immune system to fight cancer. I'm going to ask the doctor about your husband.
Thanks Colleen, I really appreciate that.
I just completed my profile for the link you had to your doctor, so hopefully there's someone in my area I can see.
Okay, are we all ready to like up and slap Ane yet? LOL I mean, Ane, I think you're lucky we all discovered progesterone. LOL
This is very interesting! I'm going to have to investigate more about this for myself.
Colleen,
I've suspected for years that I have some kind of hormone imbalance, but each time my dr has ordered blood tests - they come back in normal ranges. What you're saying about hormone resistance sounds like me. Dr Christiane Northrup has talked about saliva hormone testing being more accurate. What have you learned about the best way to check hormones and resistance?
Andrea, the problem is that "normal" range thing. A lot of doctors mentally add "for her age." And normal is a wide range too. My thyroid was "Normal" too but my body wasn't using the thyroid that was there because it was hormone resistant. My doctor uses blood tests, not saliva tests. I think there are pros and cons to both. A woman's progesterone levels start dropping in her thirties and continue. That's the beginning of the problem. Often, all that is needed to get thing working right is to add progesterone. You can actually get that on the internet or a health food store. it's not as strong as a prescription so you'll have to take more but I know of women who have done fine on just that.
I'd suggest you get some books on hormone balance and copy pertinent pages for your doctor then schedule a longer appt to talk to him about it. My doctor is always willing to listen but some aren't. If you have one who won't, I'd find another doctor. Get copies of your lab work and do some research on them. For thyroid you need more than the TSH. You want free T3 and free T4 as well.
This site has a lot of good info: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
And anything by Dr. John Lee is good. Also Dr. Reiss.
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