I'm Too Young for This!: The Natural Hormone Solution to Enjoy Perimenopause (29 page)
Read I'm Too Young for This!: The Natural Hormone Solution to Enjoy Perimenopause Online
Authors: Suzanne Somers
Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Healthy Living, #Alternative Therapies, #Sexuality
SIMPLE TEST AT HOME FOR CANDIDA
Did you know you can test for candida at home very easily? When you wake up in the morning, before brushing your teeth or eating, spit (it’s not ladylike but it is effective) into a clear glass of water to cover the surface. Observe the water periodically for up to five minutes and look for the following signs:
• Strings coming down from your saliva (like jellyfish tentacles).
• The water becomes cloudy.
• The saliva sinks to the bottom of the glass.
Healthy saliva will float on top of the water. If you have these other signs, then likely you have candida overgrowth.
• If you have too much yeast in your body, avoid sugar and anything with sugar in it. I also avoid wine because of the yeast, and breads and all things white: white flour, white
rice, even high-starch vegetables like yams, sweet potatoes, and potatoes until you no longer have yeast. These high-starch vegetables are converted to sugar in your body giving your yeast a “happy meal.”• Probiotics are beneficial against yeast infections and are suggested for women who suffer more than three yeast infections per year. Probiotics work by suppressing the growth of yeast in various parts of the body and by inhibiting its ability to stick to cell surfaces.
• Resveratrol can stop candida from converting into its more infectious form, thus making it ideal as a therapy to fight yeast infections.
• Lactoferrin, a protein found in milk, can inhibit the growth of several types of yeast. It has also been shown to enhance the activity of some common antifungal drugs.
• Garlic contains compounds that have been shown to potently inhibit the growth of yeast and fight yeast infections.
• Boric acid can inhibit the growth and reproduction of fungi and can be used intravaginally to treat yeast infections. Boric acid appears to be a safe, effective, and relatively cheap treatment for recurrent yeast infections.
| Dosage Suggestions for Yeast Infections and Overgrowth | ||
| NUTRIENT OR INTERVENTION | TYPICAL DAILY DOSE | SUGGESTED PRODUCTS |
| Probiotics | Per label instructions | Bifido GI Balance or Theralac |
| Trans-resveratrol | 250 mg | Optimized Resveratrol with Synergistic Grape-Berry Actives |
| Apolactoferrin | 285 mg | Lactoferrin (apolactoferrin) Caps |
| Garlic | 1,200–4,800 mg standardized extract | Optimized Garlic |
| Boric acid suppository | Per label instructions | Available by prescription or over the counter |
| High-potency, comprehensive multivitamin | Per label instructions | Life Extension Mix or Two-Per-Day |
| Herbal blend | 2–4 capsules a day | CandiGONE |
Most of the nutrients, remedies, and recommended tests suggested within these pages can be obtained easily from Life Extension, an organization dedicated to rigorous medical science. You can reach them by calling 1-888-718-5433 or logging on to
www.lef.org/goodhealth
.
In the past, I have provided specific names and contacts to qualified doctors in the resource section at the back of my books. My passion is cutting-edge health, new medicine, and age-management. I practice it, I write about it, and I totally believe in it. My millions of readers are seeking information on how to achieve this lifestyle. They want what I have—robust health with a functional brain, strong healthy bones, balanced hormones, and the energy of someone half my age.
After interviewing many doctors and scientists for my books, I know the solution lies with caring, committed physicians who want to provide the finest health care possible, however, up until now creating a network where doctors and patients can connect has been a challenge.
Every woman and man in our country deserves the option of having access to cutting-edge, quality of life treatments
.
So I am thrilled to share with you information about Forever
Health. Forever Health provides a reliable resource for patients to find qualified physicians in their area. I am proud to be their spokesperson.
In my books, I try to expose my readers to advancements in the world of preventive medicine. I believe in restoration rather than deterioration. I believe we can build our immune system to avoid disease rather than the conventional method of only treating the symptoms of illness.
Forever Health doctors believe as I do. They specialize in age-management, including preventative medicine, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, vitamins and supplements, and overall health and longevity. I feel confident sending my readers to Forever Health, that they will be able to find qualified physicians in this field of medicine, physicians I would see myself.
The service of finding the right doctor through the Forever Health network is free of charge to the potential patient/reader. To access this incredible service, go to
ForeverHealth.com
.
Life Extension has made a special offer to my readers to give you affordable access to proper blood testing and interpretation. Comprehensive blood tests from commercial laboratories can be quite costly, but I have arranged for my readers to obtain special low prices. The good news is you can order these tests yourself and have your blood drawn in a blood drawing station near you at your convenience.
Commercial laboratories, as I just stated, often charge excessive prices for comprehensive hormone testing. I find it far more efficient and cost effective to utilize the blood testing service offered by Life Extension. They offer a special Female Hormone Test Panel that checks:
DHEA
TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone)
Estradiol (the dominant estrogen)
Progesterone
Free testosterone
CBC and chemistry that includes:
Total cholesterol
Glucose
LDL (bad cholesterol)
Liver function
HDL (good cholesterol)
Kidney function
Triglycerides
Red cell count
Calcium
Immune cells
The price for all these tests is $149, a fraction of what you’d pay elsewhere. Life Extension will send requisitions and then interpret the results for you afterwards. You can order the Female Hormone Test Panel by calling Life Extension at 1-888-718-5433 or logging on to
lef.org/goodhealth
. They’ll send you a prepaid blood test requisition along with a list of blood draw stations in your area that you can walk into without an appointment.
As a special offer to my readers, Life Extension is offering a
free
six-month membership to anyone who orders the Female Hormone Test Panel. Membership benefits include the monthly
Life Extension Magazine
, along with toll-free phone and e-mail access to knowledgeable health advisors.
Comprehensive blood testing is the critical
first
step to restoring youthful health.
To test for hydrochloric acid deficiencies (an important component to digestion and gut health) you can test with: The Heidelberg PH diagnostic test, although this test must be done under a doctor’s supervision.
Meridian Valley Labs tests for hormones, allergies, and blood viscosity. Go to
http://meridianvalleylab.com/
.
Most alternative doctors agree the best way to approach testing foods is to first address the two main causes of food reactions. As discussed earlier, one is when your immune system reacts to food via IgE antibodies. This is a true allergy and is fast acting; usually symptoms appear within a few minutes to one to two hours. An example of this type of immune response is when someone has a peanut or shellfish allergy.
The second common way the immune system can respond to food is through a different antibody called IgG. This type of reaction causes a wide range of symptoms that can appear within a few hours to twenty-four to forty-eight hours after eating a food, which makes them much harder to detect since the association with food is harder to figure out. Thus a good approach is to test for both IgE and IgG reactions. A person’s immune system can react to a food in both ways or just one of the ways.
For testing for true allergies (IgE) the most common foods that cause problems are:
Beef
Chocolate
Corn
Egg (whole)
Fish/shellfish
Milk (Cow)
Peanut
Pork
Soybean
Wheat
These IgE allergy tests are bundled into a blood panel called Allergen Profile Basic II that my readers can obtain for a special price of $115. There are also specific panels for milk/cheese, grains, fruits, fish/shellfish, etc., for those who want to get even more targeted testing done for certain food groups.
For IgG testing for delayed food reactions there are many more foods that can cause problems. Thus the panel for this type of testing includes 95 common foods and my readers can obtain it for $198.
Lastly, if reactions to wheat are suspected a person should also consider getting a celiac disease test called the Celiac Disease Antibody Screen for $99. This looks at yet another way a person could be reacting to wheat. It is crazy but a person could react to wheat in just one of these three ways I discussed or two of the three, or even all three. It all depends on how out of balance your immune system may be at the time of testing.
Bottom line: Get tested so you can start eliminating foods that may be negatively affecting your life. After one to two weeks of eliminating offending foods people typically report wonderful changes in their health.
Food allergies can also be tested by taking a comprehensive stool analysis (CSA test) to determine gut imbalances, food intolerances, and candida overgrowth. This test determines the extent of inflammation to differentiate between inflammations with potentially life-threatening implications, like inflammatory bowel disease. This test is available from Doctors Data.
Most of the nutrients, remedies, and recommended tests suggested within the pages of this book can be obtained easily from Life Extension, a trusted organization dedicated to rigorous medical science. You can reach them by calling 1-888-718-5433 or logging on to
www.lef.org/goodhealth
.
If you are still worrying, concerned, or just not convinced by me and this book that BHRT is the solution for you and your perimenopausal symptoms, don’t just take my word for it. Research and investigate more. Read as much as you can get your hands on. First, though, read this small sampling of the many, many people who have contacted me throughout the years who say that hormone replacement has changed their lives.
The first letter is from Caroline Somers, my daughter-in-law, who I asked to explain why she feels so grateful for having had access to bioidentical hormones early in life, just as she entered perimenopause.
At the age of thirty-seven I had mastered the fine art of being “superwoman.” My husband, Bruce, and I had two beautiful girls, ages six and four. We ran an amazing small business. As co-owners of a successful direct
response advertising agency we were producing dozens of commercials for the
LA Times
, DirecTV, Visa, American Airlines, and Hoover to name a few. I had also started working on the side for my mother-in-law, Suzanne, on a little weight loss project called Somersize—a business that exploded into a cottage industry with a series of books, food products, and appliances. In my free time I was over-seeing building a new house. Every minute of every day was accounted for, and I was masterfully spinning from one task to the next. The children’s birthday parties were spectacular; we were creating successful campaigns for our clients; Suzanne’s business was expanding and exciting; our social life was filled with fabulous friends; and the house was a fantasy project.
You can imagine my surprise when I started having hot flashes in what seemed like the prime of my life! Symptoms I was not supposed to even entertain until fifty arrived without warning. Every day started to feel like the worst premenstrual day of my life. Moody! I could whip from weepy to sassy in a mercurial minute. It was an out-of-body experience to hear the shrill voice come out of my mouth, overreacting to something I would have handled deftly in the past.
Fortunately, I had been seeing an antiaging doctor since I was twenty-six years old. Dr. David Allen in Santa Monica understood the importance of bioidentical hormones and could see that I had blunted my hormone production from my high-stress “I can do it all” lifestyle. He had previously done hormone panels on me, so he had a baseline of my hormone levels when all was well. Yes, that’s why you need to have a hormone panel done way before you think you are ever in need of it! It was clear that I had dipped below my baseline, when I was feeling
at peak performance, and I wanted to get back to that happy, healthy place.
I was also fortunate to have the ultimate hormone-maven as my mother-in-law, and there is no one better to speak with than Suzanne about her very favorite topic—HORMONES!!! She explained that even though I was only thirty-seven, I had likely begun perimenopause, which starts as early as thirteen years before menopause. She went on to explain that this phase can be a little harder to balance because of the drops and surges of your sex hormones—just another way women must learn to adapt to unpredictable situations. But you can either figure it out or … become miserable, undesirable, overweight, and a downright bitch? The choice was easy.
DR. Allen prescribed a bioidentical hormone cocktail of estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, and pregnenolone—along with the normal regime of supplements I had been taking according to deficiencies seen in my blood work. With the first bit of estrogen, I felt better immediately. And then within a couple of months, as my overall levels balanced out, the remainder of my symptoms were relieved and I felt like myself again! I had my fire back; my wit, my sense of humor, my drive, my normal weight.
If you still doubt this is the path for you, you will likely remain a little bitter, a little overweight, and suffer in silence (or loud rage, as is usually the case!). And you also could be at risk for numerous health-related issues caused by loss of hormones.
I have a strong line of female cancers in my family. My maternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer. My mother died of breast cancer. My maternal aunt died of ovarian cancer. People ask me, “Aren’t you afraid of taking hormones with all that cancer in your family?” Afraid? Hell,
no. I know these bioidentical hormones are protecting me from the diseases of aging because they are keeping my body at its prime. I know the supplements and hormones I take have made my immune system stronger than any cancer cells that may be in my body. I know it because I’m lucky to be with a doctor who thinks outside of the box. I know it from the research Suzanne has exposed me to, and I know it because I have the vitality and energy of a healthy, youthful person.
This year I will celebrate my forty-eighth birthday. That’s how old my mother was when she passed away. I used to wonder if I would ever live past forty-eight. Would I leave behind my children as she did? No, I will not repeat the tragic, clipped ending of her life, leaving behind a husband and six kids. I have the information she didn’t. I have the resources she didn’t. I am proactive about my health. I have access to the doctors who understand how to prevent illness rather than treat the symptoms with drugs that do nothing to eliminate the root of the problem.
It’s not my job to tell anyone else what to do or how to live her life, but once you see the benefits, it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t want the same thing. I will never experience the symptoms of menopause! From now on, I will continue to adjust my levels to make sure I am healthy and strong and feeling great. WOW! Talk about taking control of the situation. I feel very blessed to be privy to this type of medicine, and extraordinarily blessed to have Suzanne as my earth mother to continue to guide me in the direction of health and wellness.