Last week I had ANOTHER friend come to me and ask for my advice.
This friend is suffering. She can’t sleep. Can’t lose weight. Has no energy. Has mood swings and acne.
She’s gone to doctor after doctor and not found anyone that will take her seriously let alone help.
If you’re in your 30s or 40s, I’m guessing you have, or will, experience this too.
Here’s what I told her I did when I struggled, for YEARS, with these same issues…and how I’m on the road to a happier, healthier life today.
Looking Back
Let me preface this by saying that I have no medical training and this is not meant as medical advice. This is MY story and by sharing it, I’m hoping that it can help you to ask the right questions and find the right answers for you.
When I look back to my early 20s when I was on antibiotics because of my severe chin/neck acne, I wish someone would have seen the signs and pointed me in the right direction.
Hind sight is 20/20, right?
And almost 20 years later, I finally know that I could have done more to help myself.
Over the last few years I’ve seen many doctors because I just didn’t “feel” right. I remember 10 years ago, going to an internist because I was certain my blood sugar was off. She left me sitting in the waiting room for an hour having not eaten since the night before. Then by the time they saw me, I was so dehydrated they couldn’t find a vein.
She then had the nerve to say, to my face, that nothing was wrong (within 10 min of meeting me) and that maybe I should consider seeing a therapist.
You know that term “hangry”? I think maybe they were talking about me. I let loose on this lady.
Once again I was let down by mainstream medicine and left to figure out my own medical issues (this had happened when I was 19 and was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome before it was mainstream).
Over the years, I would try to go to medical doctors, only to be let down by their managing my symptoms and not the cause.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think doctors are great people. I think their training leaves a little to be desired.
What I Discovered
In the last few years I started seeing a doctor that looked just a little deeper than the “normal” tests. And what he found, while still not identifying a definitive cause, has made a world of difference in my health.
He discovered that, at 41, I had entered menopause. We still don’t know why, but that’s a BIG issue since it’s 10 years earlier than normal.
I had been to a regular gynecologist and told “you’re in perimenopause” within months of losing another baby. They basically said they could put me on the pill and I’d just have to “live with” the changes. But I wanted to know why I was suffering secondary infertility and why I was feeling so bad.
My new doctor also discovered that I have severe insulin resistance (pre-pre-diabetes). He suspects that I also have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) that had just gone undiagnosed…for 41 years!
When you look into PCOS, you discover that many of my symptoms fit…and they fit from the beginning. (And I’m guessing these symptoms may fit you too.)
We still don’t know why things “stopped” suddenly, but getting my hormones and my insulin resistance under control became priority #1 for me.
What Did I Do
So it still took me some time to figure out what would work for me. There is no quick fix for years of sleepless nights, anxiety, and just feeling like crap.
I took the diabetic medication and hormones the doctor prescribed. They only kind of helped.
After a year on all my hormones, I did feel better, but I still struggled with weight, cravings and sleep.
So I’m sure you’re thinking, “Shut up Sarah and just tell me what helped!”
What Helped
- Walking 20 minutes a day – I had lost some weight, but that didn’t really affect my insulin levels as much as walking daily did.
- Juicing – Drinking fresh juice daily helps to get in some of the fresh fruits and veggies that are missing from your diet.
- Not working at night any more – I try to go to bed by 10pm. This is hard since my kids won’t go down until about then either so there’s no alone time. But protecting my sleep time (and finding my best sleep window) is super important.
- Taking some supplements to help me sleep – I take Kavinace PM and my progesterone pills (I have a prescription, but you might want to try YL Progessence Plus). Without those two things I either can’t fall asleep or I wake up in the middle of the night (progesterone esp for this one).
- Limiting carbs – I try to limit my carb intake. With insulin resistance, my body turns carbs immediately to sugar. I CRAVE them and LOVE them, but they are not my friend. And I’ve always thought I was addicted to potatoes…I bet I really am because my body turns them straight into sugar!
- Including fermented foods – I drink kombucha daily. I include kefir and fermented veggies in my diet too to try and up my prebiotics and probiotics to heal my gut. This has had a profound affect on me.
My Point
So my point for sharing all of this is to say – You’re Not Alone and You’re Not Crazy!
There is something wrong. But you can manage it. There is hope. You don’t have to “live with it” for the rest of your life.
I do take bio-identical hormones and that’s a choice each person has to make. Getting my hormones under control with a mix of food and medicine has profoundly changed my life. I have energy. I have drive. I have control of my emotions.
Please….do your research. Don’t take your doctor’s word for law. If you don’t agree, continue to research. Go to other doctors. Talk to your friends. Go back to eating how people did 100 years ago before fast foods. Get back to the basics of life and there you will find answers.
This is an issue that many women are suffering in silence with. Please don’t continue to suffer alone.