A Hormonal Journey

Lest you think all therapists are ‘sorted’ and suffer no symptoms I decided I must talk about my journey with hormonal imbalance and the suffering that can cause. I have dealt elsewhere with my troubles with PMT, fibroids and bloating. 5 years ago I had an operation called a fibroid embolization that was supposed to shrink these painful tumours for good. It worked for a couple of years and then they grew back. So, I turned my attention to shrinking them naturally with diet and that did seem to solve the problem so that they were without symptoms. Then, 3 weeks ago my health seemed to take a turn for the worse again.

I started to get strange sensations of pressure (I could feel my gut moving food along – peristalsis- while lying on my back at night. This would wake me with a feeling of unease and then I would eventually fall asleep again. I vowed to go to the doc after my imminent holiday. I thought the break would do me good and if it was anything to worry about I’d sort it when I got back. For a couple of days on holiday everything seemed ok but towards the end I started to bloat and find difficulty digesting my food. True, I was eating and drinking a rich diet to which I was unaccustomed – we had opted for half board so that encourages you to try ‘a little of everything’.  By the time I returned home I could tell all was not well and I went to the doctors for a check-up.

on physical examination nothing much was forthcoming; I can feel a lump in the middle of my abdomen but in the mornings it’s not so prominent so I guess the doc wasn’t unduly worried but sent me for an abdominal scan anyway. Thinking it was probably my old fibroid problem returning the scan was an intra and external ultrasound  By the way ladies (men you can avert your gaze), an internal scan is quite painful, although it apparently reveals better quality pictures. I wonder though if they could not design the technology to be a little less large and oddly shaped to fit a human body rather than a technologists.

After a coulpe of days (and knowing I wouldn’t get the results for 2 weeks) symptoms rapidly changed to one of burning and swelling around the waist and back. This has gradually worsened and become quite painful, during the day as well as nighttime. Chronic pain is exhausting as anyone who has ever had  will attest. It leaves you drained of energy, humour and ability to cope with any added stresses. I have had to adapt to a very gentle lifestyle of juicing , a more liquid diet (especially breakfast and lunch), low fibre, low protein (fibroids are muscular and feed on excess protein), with plenty of rest in the afternoon and evening. Early nights are now now not just advisable but eseential. Sleep is the time when the liver does its work detoxifying the blood. Fibroids represent the best attempt by the body to deal with the protein that it cannot breakdown properly due to excess oestrogen. The problem is twofold: excess oestrogen in the environment and chronic liver dysfunction. The liver is an extremely important organ and can be subject to so many stresses. It is the major organ for  detoxifying of the blood and if its function is compromised it cannot handle the excess oestrogens that most women (and men) are subject to.

When the liver cannot remove all the hormones it has to store them somewhere and this is normally in fat cells, hence many people with hormone irregularities find difficulties losing weight, particularly around the middle. This has been true for me since my forties. It has baffled me that despite my not eating nearly as much as I used to I simply can’t seem to lose the fat round the middle.. Now I realise it’s not about calorific restriction but about changing the type of food I eat (more fat less carbohydrate for instance) and taking time to eat and not rushing my meals whilst dashing somewhere else (stress affects metabolism hugely).

So, my regimen right now is based on the Fibroid Miracle lifestyle as specified by Amanda Leto, involving diet of no gluten, dairy and caffeine with specific supplements (B vits, NAC, omega-3, serrapeptase, milk thistle and agnus castus amongst other things) with yoga, laughter, rest and good self-talk about recovery not fear. All of these things seem to combine together to persuade the body to change direction to health and healing. I’ve done it once before and avoided a hysterectomy, I hope and believe I can do it again,