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<\/figure>There\u2019s a problem in our world. The more I speak out about my own health journey, the more people message me saying they are dealing with the same issues. WHY are there so many issues and seemingly NO answers. After years and years of researching, dumping thousands of dollars into functional med and going to doctor after doctor with no answers other than \u201cunexplained,\u201d I think the real answer comes down to whacked out HORMONES. I\u2019m no doctor, I\u2019m no medical professional, neither am I a nutritionist. I\u2019m just a weary mom trying to get my health back in order once and for all after so many years with NO HELP except from people who are getting canceled on the internet, and IT IS frustrating!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you there too? If you\u2019re like me you\u2019ve tried everything!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
My story in a {large} nutshell<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve spent the last several years with these symptoms: 10 years infertility, 15+ years of chronic constipation, 5+ years of hair loss, heart palpitations, gerd, dizziness, weight gain and can\u2019t lose no matter what I do (particularly after Covid), seasons of anxiety and depression, extreme fatigue and no energy, irregular periods, low libido and not so pleasant PMS\u2026and super weird\u2026a body odor of copper. (So weird!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TMI? Maybe, but I want you to understand where I\u2019m coming from. I\u2019m not dying. I\u2019m not hospitalized, but something is definitely not right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once I started experiencing symptoms like this, I was sure I had Hashimoto\u2019s which runs in the family. At that point I didn\u2019t know to ask for a full thyroid panel. My gynecologist referred me to a fertility specialist, and I started seeing him and asked about getting tested for Hashimoto\u2019s which came back negative. Of course, they just ran the simple test, not a full panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We did everything to get pregnant up to giving myself shots in the stomach which I wasn\u2019t really interested in doing, especially with a pre-schooler in tow. I left that doctor with a diagnosis of \u201cUnexplainable Secondary Infertility,\u201d and he gave me a 4% chance of getting pregnant. Where he got that number, I have no blessed idea. But I can assure you, I left that doctor frustrated to no end. I remember very distinctly this last visit sitting in the doctor\u2019s office listening to him talk because at that very moment, my MIL was in the hospital dying of ovarian cancer. It was 2018. She died a week later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, I learned I needed to fend for myself maybe with a more natural approach, but I needed some help and direction in the natural world, so off to a wholistic nutritionist I went. It seemed to be a good choice until I was thrown ten different supplements to take to handle each issue individually. Nothing worked, and I really felt like I wasted a lot of my husband\u2019s hard earned money! Little did I know how often that feeling would visit me over the next several years trying to get better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I needed help! I started looking into functional med. Maybe this would be my answer! I did some research into them and boy! This would be expensive!!! They want the big bucks and BUMMER\u2026insurance didn\u2019t cover! But the reviews were fantastic. It would be worth it if it actually worked. I was put on an intense diet and again, thrown a bunch of expensive supplements, which didn\u2019t seem to do anything for me. All kinds of blood tests were run. Some answers? Maybe, but the answers didn\u2019t help. I now had new diagnoses which didn\u2019t help anything\u2014dysbiosis, auto-immune response that didn\u2019t have a specific name, SIBO, candida overgrowth along with many other issues with my gut. Again, thousands of dollars down the drain and still not feeling better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notice no one had addressed hormones yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, I was left floundering on my own. After more research, someone pointed me to metabolic eating. Interesting! People claimed to heal everything from PCOS to bowel issues. I was game! Give me all the butter, fat, milk, meat and potatoes. Eat every few hours! This was something I could do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, I had great success with this as far as bowel movements. I had never been more regular in my life, but the weight gain\u2026I wasn\u2019t happy with. One metabolic nutritionist I was listening to said she gained a pound a week for a whole year until she leveled out after that. I\u2019m sorry. As much as I don\u2019t want to be stressed or worried about what I look like, I was not ok with gaining 52 pounds. However, I decided to keep it up and see if I would gain or maybe level out early\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then we went on vacation. (It\u2019s 2021 by this point.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every single vacation I ever go on with any sort of rules, I always derail\u2026and by derail, I mean in a HUGE way! I\u2019m completely gone, and it will be a long time before I can get myself back together\u2026if at all. In this particular case, it was \u201cif at all.\u201d I was never able to get myself back together after this. Was there any healing lifestyle that I could do without derailing on a vacation? So far, no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, things began to deteriorate quickly. By the fall of 2022, I was really struggling with anxiety and depression. I was exhausted all the time. I felt like I needed a nap every single hour of the day. The constipation was terrible, hair loss terrible. What was going on with my body?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I will add that through all of these years I have been gluten free and mostly eating healthy because that\u2019s what the doctor told me to do, so I think it\u2019s important to note, that nutritionally, I was in a pretty good place, but it wasn\u2019t doing anything for whatever was going on inside of my body.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got to the point where I really needed to find some help again. I prayed and prayed for God to lead me to a doctor who would actually help me instead of having me go down rabbit holes and play guessing games! I did an internet search and found a doctor on the other side of the country who seemed like a good fit. Once again, he was expensive, and insurance wouldn\u2019t cover. And once again, in a desperate need of help, money didn\u2019t matter. I NEED TO GET BETTER!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I was waiting for my initial consultation with him, I did an HTMA test (hair analysis). That came back showing that most of my minerals were extremely depleted\u2026except for copper. That was at 450%!!!!!!!! (That\u2019s where that copper smell was coming from!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After my first consultation, I was excited! This doctor was different! He was doing things differently! I had reason to hope! After several initial blood tests, I got some more answers! I had major issues with my blood sugar\u2026in fact, I had hypoglycemia. My body would also go crazy under the slightest amount of stress. (even if I didn\u2019t necessarily FEEL stressed.) And my body also couldn\u2019t break down and eliminate properly which was why I had issues with the copper. This was all new information! And I felt it was good to know! We now had several problems to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Immediately he put me on another intense diet that I wasn\u2019t too thrilled about, and I was to eat every 1-2 hours in the beginning. However, this new diet along with the amount of times I needed to eat in a day was stressful in and of itself, and after learning that stress was such a health trigger for me, the diet\u2026or maybe the amount of times I had to eat in a day, was actually beginning to become a huge detriment. I worked with this doctor for several months. I did see a little teeny bit of improvement, but nothing to write home about. At least I wasn\u2019t so tired all day long. I felt ok in the mornings, but around 1:00 I was so tired I couldn\u2019t function and wasn\u2019t very pleasant to be around. My husband finally convinced me to start taking a daily nap, and that actually really helped me get through the latter half of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This doctor also threw a bunch of supplements at me with no change other than my Vitamin D levels. I asked about doing a hormone analysis. I knew intuitively that my root issues were my hormones and didn\u2019t understand why every person I talked to WOULD NOT address them. Thankfully, he agreed and when the test results came back, it showed everything was low. My DHEA in particular was spectacularly low. He immediately wanted to put me on a DHEA supplements, but did not want to put me on hormone replacement therapy. He was hoping the DHEA supplements would pull up the other hormone numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Also important to note, during this time was when I really started to steadily gain weight despite being on a particularly strict diet with little carbs which was so, so confusing to me! How could you possibly gain weight when you are eating so extremely healthy and exercising daily?!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both the doctor and I had high hopes about the DHEA. I was so excited, and took the tablets faithfully a couple times a day. We were watching my energy levels closely. Nothing changed. I was still dreadfully tired, and my hair started falling out even worse than it already was! (Come to find out, hair loss was one of the side effects of taking this supplement!!!!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 8 months with this doctor, it was time to continue on with my own research once again. I was definitely in a better place than when I first started working with him, and if I need to go back to a doctor again, I would definitely choose him over any of the others I saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I knew hormones were the answer, I just wasn\u2019t sure where to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the summer of 2023, I stumbled across a lady on YouTube of all places\u2014Barbara O\u2019Neill<\/a>. She had been censored quite harshly due to the information she was spreading\u2026which tells me it must be right. Ha! (For real though, isn\u2019t that so sad!) To top it off, she was a Christian (SDA), so her lessons are coming from a Christian worldview, which I so appreciated! In all of her talks she often references a wise Creator. This is what our healthcare system needs! She had a video (actual several) explaining women\u2019s hormones<\/a> and how they should work in a healthy body and what to do if they weren\u2019t working properly. I was all ears. TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO!!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also mentioned a cream that went viral after some of her videos so it was really hard to get\u2014Anna\u2019s Wild Yam Cream<\/a>. I immediately went and did the research, read the unbelievable reviews and was sold. I purchased the cream in July, but because it was backordered, I didn\u2019t receive it until the end of October. (More on this cream in my next post.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the summer, I watched a good amount of her videos and learned all kinds of things about the importance of drinking our water with salt<\/a> so that your body retains the water on a cellular level as well as the 8 laws of health<\/a> including the importance of sunlight and exercise. I was failing miserably at sunlight and knew that was for sure something I needed to work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt like I might be getting somewhere with her information, but I was still frustrated at the weight that was steadily being put on as well as the lack of energy despite my food intake and intense exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In early fall, I mentioned a study that had been done about weight gain and Covid on my Instagram account. I got an overwhelming response of people who had said they had gained anywhere from 15 to 40 pounds after having Covid, their hormones were a wreck, and the weight won\u2019t budge. One person in particular reached out to me and asked if I had ever heard of Circadian Rhythm. She had issues after Covid and had great success in healing her hormones and losing weight after implementing this lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had never heard of it, and to be honest, it sounded a little weird. But she sweetly explained how much it had changed her life and sent me someone to check out on Instagram who taught about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that right there, friend, is where my health takes a turn for the better!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The depression and anxiety were pretty much gone as soon as the weather turned warm. I could very possibly be dealing with winter blues, so this was for sure something I wanted to keep an eye out for with the next cold season coming on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heart palpitations and gerd were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dizziness or weird things I\u2019ve got going on with my eyes from low blood sugar are fine when I eat enough food with plenty of protein, so I know how to manage that at least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, I\u2019m still dealing with infertility, and still can\u2019t lose weight, although I haven\u2019t gained any more (Hurrah!), my libido is still low and my periods and PMS are still not right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constipation is still an issue, but there is noticeable progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I quit the DHEA after I started losing so much hair with it, however I continued to still lose hair as before. I do wonder where all that hair comes from, because there is not much there to lose!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the copper smell that was emitting out of my body is reduced, but not gone yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, a few symptoms are completely gone, and some are improved since the beginning of my journey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I\u2019m focusing on now\u2026hormones, hormones, hormones. If I can get those in a healthy place, that should take care of my lingering symptoms: low libido, periods, PMS, hair loss, energy and constipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after the improvements in the last month, I feel incredibly hopeful!<\/p>\n\n\n\n More on Circadian Rhythm next week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n To Your Health!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarah<\/p>\n\n\n\nA quick look at my symptoms at this point in my journey<\/h4>\n\n\n\n