My husband's doctor told us to read this:
"The Hormone Solution" by Theirry Hertoghe M.D.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140008 ... 01_s00_i00

It's really, really interesting.
Did you know most people start to experience the effects of hormone decline in their mid 30s and could benefit from medical intervention starting that early?

There are quizzes to pinpoint what hormones you are probably deficient in- and I'm probably low on cortisol, progesterone and thyroid hormones. Possibly low in quite a few others and most likely satisfactory in only 5 of the 15 hormones covered.

I'm going to implement the nutritional advice as much as I can, given the intolerances I have, but I'll have to see a doctor to get meds for whatever labwork shows me to be actually low in.

It's a very interesting book. Your body just can't run right without adequate levels of a lot of different hormones that work together. I've already seen a major difference in my husband's mental capacity and energy with the addition of thyroid and aldosterone hormones. As more lab results come in for him, I'm looking forward to seeing how much he improves just with other prescriptions.

I've got an appointment scheduled in October with the same doctor, but I'm tempted to take this book to our regular doctor sooner and ask to be tested for a bunch of different hormone levels and see what she's willing to treat me for. I don't like feeling so fuzzy minded. I bet she'd be willing to prescribe thyroid meds if I test out low. That's pretty mundane and hypothyroidism does run in my family.

Anyway, the book is very well written and fairly easy to understand. So many, many illnesses are caused by hormone deficiencies. Everyone should read this! Depending on how this works out, I may be getting copies of this book for all our adult relatives. I bet half the ailments I've heard complaints about from them could be alleviated or cured by hormone therapy.

So how do you feel knowing that plastic in your environment has been acting like estrogen in your body, and everyone else's, for decades?

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Dig deeper.

I've known that for years.

What I didn't know is just how bad deficiencies of any of a number of hormones can affect your health. (Or should that be "badly"?? )

Hmmmm, I'm going to check that out. I haven't been feeling as sharp-minded and energetic as I'd like for a while now. I just had a check-up and all my numbers came back "healthy as a horse" but of course, those are just the standard stuff that the doc runs.

Neither have I. And it's definitely hormones. But my midwife promises that the energy thing will change soon (the fuzzy head thing, well, it's not clear if that's hormonal or just the fact major life changes are a bit distracting).

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When you can do nothing what can you do?

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I got my thyroid horomones tested 3 times before I could get the doctor to diagnose me with "subclinical" hypothyroidism and prescribe some thyroid hormones for me.

The difference has been phenomenal. I didn't realize how far I'd fallen as far as mental capacity was concerned, but it feels like I'm fully awake for the first time in many years. AND I got in to see Dr. Crist recently, the specialist in borreliosis, and he wrote me a prescription for the same hormones (among a lot of other stuff) with the freedom to increase the dosage regularly according to a timetable he provided.

I've been vorociously consuming books about health since my brain woke up and there are a few that need mentioning here.

"Beyond Antibiotics" by Michael A Schmidt is a very good book about how the immune system works and how to optimize it. A bit heavy on the doom and gloom side in places, but ... well... face it: The Age of Antibiotics is almost over. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure- especially where antibiotic resistant bacteria are concerned!

"Hypothyroidism Type 2" by Mark Starr is truly an eye opener. Every one of you should read this one, even if your lab results for thyroid hormone come back reading normal. This is another one recommended by Dr. Crist, and it is positively packed with interesting information. Even if you aren't plagued by they myriad conditions caused by low thyroid hormones, probably someone you know is. People used to die young with hypothyroidism, but since the Antibiotic Age, they've been surviving to reproduce, so there are more and more carriers of the gene with each generation. AND with the advent of modern blood tests, mainstream medicine has come to completely rely on lab tests to diagnose the condition when they are not adequate.

Dr. Starr explains the signs that doctors used to use before the blood tests were available, and I was surprised to learn that my large upper arms are not just fat. They would have been- in another age- the first sign that a doctor would check if he suspected hypothyroidism. They aren't "fat"-- my upper arms are swollen with a form of edema that is a weird jiggly mix of mucin and connective tissue. It's quite distinctive for hypothyroidism. I expect that will go away now that I'm being treated. When I re-read Dr. Crist's exam notes on me- I couldn't help noticing, "edema- upper arms" . No other doctor I've ever seen has ever said anything like that. And yet it used to be considered one of the the first signs of hypothyroidism!

I've bought a copy of both books and will be sending them to my grown children along with a letter explaining their importance. In the hypothyroidism book, it mentions a foundation started by Dr. Broda Barnes www.brodabarnes.org that teaches doctors how to recognize thyroid disease and how to treat it. I've ordered an Informational Packet from them that should include doctor referrals. It will be nice to find a doctor that treats the patient, not the lab test.

Dr. Crist is very, very good-- but it takes 6 months to get in to see him. If we (and my kids) can find a primary care physician who knows hypothyroidism when she sees it, then our lives will be much easier.

My mom has been treated for hypothyroidism since she was 35. I never thought to connect hypothyroidism with ME until I read that book in the first post here, "The Hormone Solution" by Theirry Hertoghe. MY lab tests were always "normal" for thyroid, I was told. There was no way I could have that. So I existed in a long slow decline that resulted in all sorts of weird symptoms that doctors could neither explain nor help. Thyroid hormones help regulate everything! If you aren't making enough of them, every system in your body will suffer.

And every system in mine was. Even though I'm strung out and not quite well from the antibiotics I'm on for borreliosis- I'm feeling better now than I have in decades.

Everything is starting to work better. I feel good! Once I get up to a full dose of thyroid hormones, I won't know what to do with myself!