Before I found out that I had PCOS, I had blood work drawn
to test my thyroid. Thyroid conditions
run in my family and I thought that it could be the answer to some of my health
concerns.
My thyroid test came back “normal.” And I was left with no answers and no
solutions, again.
I have since learned that blood work from the standard
Western Medical approach looks for disease states. If you don’t have a disease, you are
considered “normal.” Further, every
year, the normal range changes based on the blood work of everyone who was
tested the previous year.
This makes blood work inaccurate to measuring optimal and
functional levels. There are doctors
(mainly natural doctors) who test for optimal or functional levels for blood
work. A lot of us simply are not aware
of alternative options for our health, or we assume that it is “normal” to feel
tired all the time or to age the way that we age in America.
I am protesting that notion.
The notion that with aging, I will feel tired all the time, have joint
pain, forget things, and generally feel like I am a mess. I will not accept that because I know that
there are real solutions to my health needs.
Nutritional testing is a great way to find the imbalances in
your body and the nutrients that are missing to help the body heal. When I have clients come and visit,
nutritional testing eliminates the guesswork and helps me to find the root to
their imbalances.
For example, if I have a client come to see me about low
energy, there are many reasons why their energy could be low. They could be lacking B-vitamins,
hydrochloric acid, or Molybdenum to help with detox. Or they could have adrenal fatigue or
symptoms of hypothyroidism. In fact, all
these things could be going on at the same time (and typically does).
The body and a holistic approach can become very
complicated. Thyroid health and
hypothyroidism have individual roots to dysfunction. For example, if the gut does not have the
proper balance of bad bacteria and good bacteria (gut flora) your body may
struggle to convert T4 to T3 (useable form of thyroid hormone). Also, if your liver is overburdened with too
many toxins, your body may not be able to convert T4 to T3 in the liver as it
normally would.
If I would have known this when I was 16, I think that it
would have made a big difference on how I approached the PCOS diagnosis and
possible thyroid symptoms. It wasn’t
until I was 25 years old that I became aware of alternative health
options. And this is when my quest for
optimal health began.
I am so thankful for all the people who have helped me along
the way because it has not been an easy journey. I remember spending hours in the kitchen,
teaching myself how to cook for the first time.
I remember having to use a recipe for every single thing that I made
(including eggs) because I did not know the difference between cinnamon and cayenne. I also remember hearing snide comments or
jokes about what I was eating (not that
I cared that much because what they were eating looked completely disgusting
while my food was like gourmet).
However, in the past few years, it has become so worth
it. Completely worth every dollar, every
hour, and every frustration. I finally
have a cycle that would be considered “normal.”
I don’t have extreme levels of pain or PMS every time I have my
cycle. And this was the last part of my
health journey to be resolved.
After starting my cycle in Africa, I learned that having a
cycle was not always the most comfortable or amazing thing in the world. I also learned how out of balance my hormones
were after so many years of not having a normal cycle.
I began to take a supplement that contains Fibroblast Growth
Factor. Growth Factors are amazing
because they act like a signal molecule to stimulate stem cells to heal and
repair at the cellular level. Health is
built at the cellular level and you are as healthy as your cells are. You can feed the good health of your cells through
nutrients, oxygen, positive emotions and thought processes, minimizing toxins,
etc….Or you can gain access to new dormant stem cells through growth factors. (you can learn more about growth factors on my
website: http://www.yourgreenumbrella.com/antiaging.php)
Through the process of adding growth factors to my healing
process, my health has dramatically improved in the last year. I began to have an amazing healing response
that my body began throughout taking growth factors. I will talk more about this in the blogs to
come.
I hope that it is helpful to hear someone else’s health
journey to encourage you! I want to help
people have hope for their health because I know it is possible to heal and to
feel well all the time!