You are supposed to feel fantastic!

The following are complaints that I hear repeatedly:

·         I do not have energy

·         I am exhausted and cannot get enough sleep

·         My whole body or parts of my body hurt

·         My brain does not work like it used to

My observations lead me to believe that more women than men, and working mothers especially, suffer from completely wasteddeepdownbonetiredmoretired thanyoueverthoughtpossiblecompletelyspent physical challenges. This is exactly how I felt. In fact I felt so terrible that I thought I was in premenopause at age 39.

NOTE: I have learned that many women do not know what premenopause is, so I will briefly describe it: Premenopause can begin in the mid-thirties. Women often have a feeling that something is not quite right. Symptoms include:

·         Fatigue

·         Weight gain

·         Irregular periods

·         Endometriosis

·         Fribroids

·         Decreased sex drive

·         Irritability or anxiety

·         Memory Loss

·         Migraines

·         Dry skin

·         Hair loss

As stated by Dr. John R. Lee, M.D., in his book entitled What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause, premenopause “…is not a natural or inevitable part of life but rather one created by our culture, lifestyles, and environment” (p. 3). Women who are often affected are “ women who struggle to balance families and work, women who forget to take care of themselves, and women who aren’t getting the help they need…” from their doctors (p. 4).

I experienced many of the premenopause symptoms above. Because I learned how to take care of and heal myself, I do not have any symptoms and my life is vibrant again at age 42.

How did I become so physically depleted?

To begin, I was not a healthy person before pregnancy, even though I appeared to be. I thought I ate well and got plenty of exercise. My weight was good. Oh, how wrong I was!

When I was pregnant, I still did not know how to care for myself, so the pregnancy drew on my reserves. After giving birth, I worked full-time, took care of my son, Colson, full-time and helped my husband with his business. We had no family to help us to care for Colson, and I was determined that he would be with us instead of daycare. I quickly spiraled down to incredible exhaustion. I had almost nothing left and barely made it through the days. What energy I did have I gave to Colson.

Before my decline I had an amazing memory. I did not keep a planner because I kept all of my work appointments and deadlines, which were many due to my 60 hour work weeks, in my head. After I crashed I could hardly remember a thing, and anything that was not routine took almost a herculean effort to accomplish. For the first time, I was not taking care of important things that were not directly related to my family’s daily needs, and I was disappointing people.

How I climbed back to health

I thought that because I was approaching 40 I was supposed to feel lousy. STOP! Read that again! I thought that because I was approaching 40 I was supposed to feel lousy. Guess what? You are not!

Dr. Ken Morehead at Oriental Health Solutions www.orientalhealthsolutions.com taught me that I could not have been more wrong. I originally went to Dr. Morehead for treatment after having difficulty recovering from a miscarriage. After discussing the miscarriage, I mentioned my other health challenges, including exhaustion, forgetfulness and the aches and pains that I associated with being 40 years old. Ken said that being 40 should not be associated with these problems. People in America do not understand what good health is. Nor do they understand that they can and should live into old age relatively pain free and definitely with strong energy.

I was amazed at all he shared with me. Americans are conditioned to expect and accept that we are to feel crummy and there is nothing we can do about it.

As anyone who knows me can attest, when thrown a challenge, I take it head on. I wanted to know what to do next, and this became another launching point to wellness. With Ken’s acupuncture treatments, supplements and patient teaching I began to improve. Bone broth was important and I increased my intake. This helped to improve my digestion. Because my digestion was so poor, I was not properly absorbing vitamin B-12, which is important for the brain’s functioning. Ken recommended B-12 supplements, which quickly improved my mental sharpness.

My family followed a Nourishing Traditions diet, as discussed in my blog post entitled “Kefir and Nuts and Bone Broth… Oh My!” We weren’t perfect at it, but we were good.

We then refined our diets further, temporarily removing:

·         all sugars except honey

·         all grains, all beans except green, navy and lima

·         all dairy except fermented dairy and certain cheeses

We follow our new food plan to a tee, with occasional milestone celebrations at first. These celebrations involved old foods such as organic pizza and ice cream. Two of these celebrations made us so sick that we stopped them. Our new eating plan has propelled me over the top, and I am feeling great! My brain is working much better and I do not need B-12 supplements. My energy is great, and I don’t have an ache to mention. My husband’s 20 year-old knee injury from a biking accident has stopped hurting for the first time. The pain in his neck is gone and he has full range of motion for the first time in years, and the pain in his back is greatly reduced.

Now that we have cleared the junk out of our bodies, we are learning to listen to them and care for them. I fully expect that we will continue to improve and life will become even more fun!  

Conclusion

Under Ken’s guidance, it took just over one-and-a-half years for me to have good health for what I believe is the first time. It has been a long, fascinating and invigorating climb. I feel that the clouds have cleared, and I am fully in the brightness of the sun, warm and smiling.