Venturing into a new field of learning can be really daunting. I discovered this in February of 2016. I had been relating some of my woes to my chiropractor, a very friendly man who will take the time to listen to me as long as there is no backlog of clients. As I was relating my concerns about adrenal fatigue (based on the book I was reading at the time), he said, “You know, I do a hormone saliva test here.” A what? Seeing the confusion on my face, Dr. Wheeler took the time to explain how hormone saliva tests are so much more accurate than blood panels. Really? SOLD! $200 and two spit tubes later, I sent in my saliva tests to see what they would tell me that my blood panels didn’t. Boy, was I in for a shocker: although my blood panels kept coming back negative for illness, my hormone saliva tests showed that I was on my way to serious trouble. Most people with adrenal fatigue have low DHEA and high cortisol, but I was low in both. Put simply, if I continued on the path I was on, I would find myself with dead adrenals. People who die from shock? That could be me. With no adrenals to help one cope with stress, one can succumb to it to the point of death. Now that is extreme and all I knew was that I wanted to be nowhere near that pit of doom.
Now came one of the first of many unsure steps to take. I have the test results, but what the heck do I do with them? It was frustratingly apparent that going this alone was going to be tough…I did not have–and continue to not have–a doctor who is well versed in the area of adrenal fatigue, hormones and how to heal holistically.
I decided to take supplements to help heal my adrenals but after a couple of months, I knew I knew I needed more. A friend of mine happened to tell me that she was see a well-respected hormone specialist in the area and I knew I needed to see him. One month later, I was sitting in his office and felt relief that he knew what my symptoms were based on the hormone saliva test numbers. He believes in the lowest dosage possible when treating (yay!!) and in using “bioidenticals”. He told me I had the hormones of a post-menopausal woman (aw, heck no!!!). He also had a hand scanner that measured the carotenoid antioxidant levels in my body. Don’t ask me to explain that doohickey to you just yet. I can tell you though, that I got a big fat “F” for fail. Now I take LifePak Nanos to help me get the nutrients I need that I’m just not getting from food, now matter how clean my diet is.
As of this publication, I’m still learning about my own body and hormones. It’s no easy task sifting through the information on Google or trying to fully understand it in the office of a busy doctor. At the moment, I am on a progesterone cream and tablet, and I’m on Armor thyroid meds. I will be soon be looking more heavily into the Iodine protocol and how to use it to heal the thyroid…but we’ll save that segment for next time.
Writer Bio
CJ Heath is getting plenty of brain-muscle exercise in trying to figure out what her body is trying to tell her. Thanks for helping her to navigate through this and feel free to comment if you are experiencing something similar!
