CDC Symptom Diary Card

Thursday, December 09, 2010

ERT and my naturopath

Hello all,

I read one of the articles from the previous blog's link, about estrogen replacement therapy.  Please take time to read.  I am so happy that I discontinued my estradiol patch about a month or so ago.  I just had this feeling inside that I needed to stop.  Because I am also BRCA 1 mutation positive, eventually I may take Tamoxafen to help decrease the chances of breast cancer.  You cannot take Tamoxafen while taking estrogen.  Plus, according to the article, estrogen can increase the risk of recurrence and also increase the speed of destruction.

That's just plain bad news.

So I am having hot flashes every hour or so, and it's not so fun.  The only upside is that the overall temperature is "cold" and I can just go outside for a minute and cool off.  Hopefully this will pass sooner than later, but it's nothing compared to a recurrence.  I'll deal, no biggie.

My ND (Naturpathic Doctor) is fantastic, he's just what I needed on my team right now.  I think everyone should see him.  Prior to seeing him, I had to complete a detailed questionnaire, as usual.  But it asked really good questions about my habits, body and what was important to me.  Wow.

In his office there were some awards.  He sits looking out onto the water in Puget Sound, nice.  The staff is all smiley and friendly.  Perfect.

After answering 20 or 30 very specific questions about anything you can imagine, he wrote out a very simple plan to get my GI tract back in check.  Yippie.  I do have 4 new supplements that range from enzymes to multivitamins.  I also must eat several cups of fruit ( cantaloupe or pears etc) per day.  The fruit is for fiber.  One of the supplements will help to grease my GI tract to help things move along more smoothly.

The most important thing was to increase my exercise.  He insists that I move briskly for 20 minutes every day.................aaagh.  He prefers that I walk, but any really fast moving that gets my heart pumping is what he wants.  I didn't ask "why" because I know why.  I need to flush out toxins and increase my endurance.

I have other issues to face but he just wants to deal with digestion for now.  That is what I want to do.  He affirmed that healthy absorption of nutrients can help improve my immune function, which would hopefully fend off disease.

Funny thing, he also wants me to over-chew my food.  He said "chew your soup".  This is because the salivary enzymes are a critical part of the digestion process.  I've always been a slow eater, so no problem.  I just need to be careful I don't look like a cow chewing her cud......ha ha.

I am to see him again in late January.

I don't want to invest all my hope in this area of my treatment, but it's so so so so so important to me that I do whatever I can do to help myself be healthy.  I can control what I eat, how I eat, etc. I can't control my bone marrow production, you know what I mean?

AND.....being full of energy, feeling good, appearing healthy are all part of returning to being a productive member of the working population.

It just really gets me down that I'm not healthy sometimes, healthy people have no idea how lucky they are.

If I were healthy, I could do anything I wanted.  I could climb rocks, I could be a waitress to earn extra money.............but being like I am, my options have narrowed.  So I will do my best to see the glory and sunshine, because I do know I'm meant for something.

I also was able to go to church tonight for a mass to celebrate Virgin Mary. Last year I was not able to go. It felt so nice to be able to go to church.....................so nice.

Be Love and God Bless

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