Well, this has been a very interesting year so I will update my own bone and health story.
I found out mid-year that I am a Type 1.5 diabetic and not a Type 2, as diagnosed about 3 years ago. It wasn’t a doctor who caught it. It was me doing my own research, as usual. I had been having a harder time controlling my blood sugar with exercise and diet and I couldn’t explain it. So I had a test that reveals your level of GAD antibodies. Less than 1 is normal and I was up at 30.
What that means is that my immune system is attacking my pancreas beta cells. After 3 years the diet no longer worked because too many of my beta cells have died. If I had been properly diagnosed 3 years ago perhaps I could have saved some of them by going on insulin right away. So I recommend that every skinny diabetic should have that test.
I went on insulin and my blood sugar is back under control, using the low carb diet to limit the amount of insulin I need. So that’s working! But I also discovered that I was low thyroid and low adrenals. I tried homeopathic remedies for a while and they helped some, but not enough. So now I am on Armour Thyroid and small doses of Hydrocortisone. These are not the bone-destroying doses that some people have to take for arthritis and other diseases. These are doses equivalent to what my body would make itself if it was able to.
From what I am discovering most women over 45 need to have their hormonal system thoroughly checked out. The trouble is that so many doctors are so behind the times on the research that they don’t recognise the symptoms of low thyroid and adrenals and just believe a “one size fits all” test result.
I found a great book, “The Hormone Solution” by Thierry Hertoghe, a Canadian doctor. I had read at least a dozen books on hormones before that one and it really is the best. Through the book I found a doctor group not too far away that specialize in bio-identical hormones. I made an appointment for mid-February and I’m looking forward to getting all my hormones working in tandem once more.
I probably would have resisted this solution a few years ago because I was so against lifetime drugs. But now I have realized the necessity to replace the hormones that our body is supposed to make for itself and no longer does, for various reasons. So I’m still opposed to the poisonous kinds of drugs that attempt to kill certain parts of us without killing us entirely.
The reasons why our hormonal systems start attacking themselves, or slow down, are many and are increasing as the toxins and stress in our culture increase. It could have been an emotional event, a virus, a pesticide exposure or any toxic event, that caused my body to decide that a part of itself was now alien and dangerous and must be destroyed.
I am grateful that medical science has developed the insulin, thyroid and other “almost” natural hormones to use as replacements. Otherwise I would surely die before my time and have enjoyed my life much less.
Of course there are negative reactions in our bones when our hormones are out of whack. I have been longing to gain visible muscle from my rebounding and weight vest and walking. But, although I feel much stronger and have gained a few pounds, I just never got that muscle I wanted in my flabby arms. Don’t you hate that?
Well, the reason why women have a hard time creating muscle after menopause is a lack of certain hormones, testosterone, for one. If you are a woman who has worked out all her life, then you will probably keep the ability to have visible muscle much longer. But even weightlifting women will get stringy and gaunt eventually without bio-identical hormones.
So, it’s a new adventure that I am on this year and I intend to enjoy it. I have already improved a lot with the thyroid and adrenal replacements. I just need some fine-tuning on some of the other hormones to finish the job.
I’ll keep you posted, and may this be your best year ever,
Pam