My heart began to flutter and hurt five days
ago. The fluttering alone wouldn’t have bothered me. The occasional flutter has
been with me since puberty and the flutters hit full force after Ryan’s last
layoff and were amazingly cured by my Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Ken Morehead.
He said it was withdrawal from stress hormone that caused it. Ryan got a job
and I went through stress withdrawal. Go figure. You can read about it here: She
who has health has hope…
What
did bother me this time is the general pain in the area of my heart, my left
arm was numb and cold, and stabbing pains would go into my heart. With only
emergency insurance to rely on and just enough money to make the rent because
Ryan is laid off, the ER was not where I wanted to go. What confounded the
situation more is that these symptoms can be premenopausal, so I thought that
could be the case given that I am 43. Even that didn’t make sense, though,
because I have no other symptoms. I wasn’t too worried about my heart because I
aced my cardiac tests two years ago and my cholesterol is great by western
medicine standards, but the heart still concerned me. Ken had room in his schedule
to see me the next day, so off I went.
I am in awe of this man’s
ability to heal people. I explained my symptoms, told him that stress from the
layoff was hardly playing a role in my life, and I showed him my cholesterol
numbers (see Victory
– Cholesterol). He said “That low?” with concern
in his voice. My cholesterol is 174 with good high, low low and low
triglycerides. He said that it would eventually come up as I healed more…the
healing journey is a long one. I was utterly confused and Ken said that when
cholesterol drops below 170 it can start a chain reaction of bad health
outcomes. I am not sure what they are and why but will ask the next time we
talk.
Ken examined me, kept asking questions and
began to treat me with acupuncture (he banished the pain and flutters in 15
minutes but the treatment lasted almost 2 hours). He quickly ruled out premenopause and said my heart was fine too. Eventually
Ken said that the old pattern from Ryan’s first layoff has showed itself again
(see She
who has health has hope…). He asked if I was having some of those sugar
crashing shakes and sweats that many people get. I said “No. In fact, you would
be amazed how long I can go without food!”
Then it hit me. This all began after I missed
two dinners and a lunch in the space of two days. I was literally too busy with
a new client, multiple meetings and Halloween events. I never miss a meal, so
this was completely new territory. After knowing me for 2.5 years, Ken
suggested that I put much energy out to others and do not reserve much for
myself. In this period of high energy demand and some stress from Ryan’s layoff,
the lack of energy reserves combined with the lack of food pushed me over the
edge into my old pattern. My adrenals are still recovering from years of
overwork. Further, I finally told Ken that my hands and feet were always cold,
even as a child. My mother has the same cold problem. He suggested that this
symptom shows that the adrenals were not strong enough to push the warmth out
to my extermeties and that they appear to always have been a weak link in my
health. Now they are stressed, the lack
of food pushed them over the edge and they hollering at me.
The good news is that my body gave me very
strong and definite feedback very quickly. It is great to be able to hear it.
Most people can’t hear their bodies talking because they have too much illness
and noise for the body to be able to respond early to problems. Ken says that I
have done a lot of healing, but I have a long way to go. That is so hard to
believe given how much better I feel since knowing him these 2.5 years, but it so
fun to anticipate! I was telling him that it amazes me that the older I get,
the younger I feel. I wondered how long that would last. Ken said that every
year I should feel better and better, and if I don’t then I am doing something
wrong. It is crazy to think that I have decades of feeling better and better
coming up, and I will take them!
Now back to the menopause issue. In the
future Ken suggested some blood work to better understand my adrenal function
and how to improve it. He said that with strong functioning adrenals menopause
is a breeze. Another blow to my idea of health. I thought that menopause was
supposed to be this grueling, uncomfortable period of years that required
hormone replacement in most cases. He said NO. When the adrenals are strong
they take over when hormone levels change. He said that I should think about
getting testing done in the next few years so that we can do some fine tuning
and I will be able to skate through that phase of life.
Every time I visit Ken, I leave with a
feeling of confidence, grounding, strength, awe and surprise. Oh…and profound
health improvements. I know of no one like him and am honored to know him.
Comments