Keeping Healthy Is A Life Long Commitment

The sun is out again today and I am feeling energized.  There is still a buzz going on around town since OSU won the National Championship.  I was out and about yesterday wearing my OSU gloves and made people smile.  Yes, it is nice to be happy about the OSU win and it is good news in lieu of all the bad things going on in the world today.

Continuing my rant about stress and the what it can do to your body, I will talk about hormones and imbalances.  I often wondered why some women made it through menopause without many symptoms.  Maybe they had a stress free life and cortisol had not become dominate in their bodies.  I have discovered that every time the body needs to make cortisol due to stress it uses progesterone to produce cortisol.

Progesterone is produced in the ovaries and other organs in the body. Men produce progesterone also.  When we are stressed the progesterone being produced in our bodies is used to produce the cortisol.  After prolonged periods of stress the progesterone is depleted.  As women age progesterone and estrogen in the ovaries declines.  If you mess up the other parts of the body producing these hormones  the whole HTP axis gets screwed up.  Your body lets you know that something is wrong by producing  warning signals.  These signals could be hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, panic attacks, cognitive issues, viruses, personality changes, restless leg syndrome, intolerances to cold and heat, sleep disturbances, and many more things.

When I found out that cortisol from stress had zapped my progesterone, I started understanding a life time of difficulties that I had experienced.  I had problems from lack of progesterone starting in my childhood.  My stressful childhood had upset that balance of hormones.  Those hormones are essential to keep the body in perfect functioning.  It is sad for me to think of all the medical problems I had as a child.  They ranged from painful menstrual cycles to very irregular ones and severe acne.  I always had a racing heartbeat and restless leg syndrome.  It possibly explains some of my mother's medical problems.  That progesterone also helps the body get rid of excess estrogen.  Sometimes you will see women become estrogen dominant as they age.  Since there are so many underlying problems such as cyst of the ovaries, tumors of the pituitary glands, and problems owing the thyroid and adrenal glands, it's is important to find a doctor who is well trained in the whole HTP axis.

I know over my life span I have complained to my doctors that I felt bad and depressed at times.  I also would go for stretches at a time with no menstrual periods.  They looked at me in a perplexed way and suggested Advil for pain, told me it was normal to have female problems.  I was even told at one time that my uterus looked fine and I should just exercise more. It is a wonder that I was able to become pregnant twice.  Yes, I have two wonderful children and I hope that what I have found out will help them to live a happy and healthy life.

I remind you if you read my blog that I would not recommend just taking supplements without the direction of a doctor.  If you are having similar symptoms search for a doctor that can help find out what the underlying cause is.  I found a doctor that understood that whole HTP axis.  There are medical doctors that are studying and specializing in hormonal balance. They call their practice Integrative Medicine or Functional Medicine. These doctors incorporate natural supplements and biodentical hormones to get your body balanced. They have studied the use of natural supplements, Chinese herbs, acupuncture and many other natural ways to heal the body.  They have medical degrees and are board Certified doctors. I have found that they will take the time to listen to your medical issues and based on what you tell them, they can recommend proper testing. 

Some people are happy just treating symptoms with a pill and that is their choice.  I am a person that wants to know why I am having the symptoms.   I guess for me I learned about ownership of my own body and how I can take care of myself.  It starts with a healthy body.  When the bodies HTP axis is balanced the mind body relationship is balanced. 

My husband has learned that even though chemotherapy put him in remission, that you need to make sure that there are no deficiencies in the body.  Chemotherapy is toxic and kills good cells and bad cells.  It can deplete essential vitamins in the body and throw off the HTP axis.  After a couple of years of research  and talking with other Cancer survivors we know that other survivors have had problems with cognitive issues and personality changes.  I have spoke to some of these survivors that were refereed to doctors that helped them with what is called a survivor ship plan.  Keeping healthy is a life long commitment.

It has been a long road to this healthier point in our life.  We started with small goals and kept eating a healthy diet, but it has taken some help from what I call the experts and adding some supplements.  That is doctors dedicated to helping us achieve that healthy mind and body. I am sad that it took so long for me to get to this point of feeling good, but I am also very happy that I am now living a healthy, happy life.  I am also happy that my husband has taken ownership of his own body also and has put for effort to be healthy too.

Well there is a lot more I can say about how I slowly changed my life so the blog is now devoted to talking about making changes.  It did start with changing my thoughts and it has changed my life.  It has changed Laney too, as a healthy lifestyle keeps your pet healthy also.

My motto for this year is commit to taking ownership of your body and you can be happy and healthy.

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth:)