4 Symptoms That Definitely Shouldn’t Be Ignored
I’m going to share a very personal story with you today. One that really drives home why you shouldn’t ignore the symptoms (aka signals) your body is giving you.
It all started a little over a year ago…
As a result of being on birth control for 17 years I hadn’t had a menstrual cycle in over 5. However, in November of 2015 my cycle all of a sudden came back accompanied with some fairly uncomfortable breast tenderness.
At the time I didn’t think anything of it, and my belief was confirmed when in December and January I resumed my “normal” life without a menstrual cycle or breast tenderness.
Then in February my cycle and breast tenderness came back again with a vengeance, and this time it stayed every month after.
By May I was at my wit’s end about it. This time my period lasted for 12 days and my right breast had a large red streak emitting heat that could be felt through two layers of clothing.
During all of this I also noticed that my skin was breaking out all the time and I had gained some weight. I felt as though I was having bouts of depression, was lacking motivation, was tired more than usual and I just didn’t feel like myself.
Frantically, I started looking for a doctor who specialized in women and breast health.
I went to a few of the “top specialist” in my area and this is that they said…
- I’ve never seen anything like that before, I think we should just wait on it
- I’ve never heard of that before, I don’t know what to tell you
- I’m not sure what it is but I would recommend using progesterone cream
It became obvious to me that my body was trying to tell me something wasn’t right.
I wasn’t going to “wait on it” and risk the worst case scenario or apply a band aid of progesterone cream if there was no solid reason as to how that would help an unknown issue.
In this week’s video and blog I share more details about how I deciphered my symptoms and the four symptoms you definitely should not ignore.
Our body is communicating with us all the time, we just aren’t always listening.
Symptoms are the body’s way of signaling that something isn’t right. Internally you have your own army or defense team who will sound the alarm whenever an invader enters or when a system is failing.
Think about when you start to get a cold. What are the first few signs you get letting you know it’s coming on – scratchy throat, sneezing, congestion, fatigue? When you acknowledge those signals and give your body rest you are able to fight off the cold and bounce back in no time. When you ignore them, you develop a full blown cold that can linger for weeks.
Getting a cold seems like a simple example but colds, flus and allergies are just a few of your body’s high alert signals that shouldn’t be ignored.
Here are 4 Common Symptoms that shouldn’t be ignored and what they might be trying to tell you…
1) Anxiety and/or Depression
Believe it or not, this is a sign that your gut isn’t happy. Your gut (not your brain) is where your body makes important neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine to keep your mood balanced. Leaky gut, eating inflammatory foods and/or gut invaders disrupt neurotransmitter production resulting in anxiety and depression. An imbalance in the ratio of estrogen and progesterone can also lead to feelings of depression as progesterone impacts the availability of serotonin. Ignoring these symptoms could lead to more serious conditions such as chronic depression, ulcers, autoimmunity, IBS, stomach cancer, breast cancer or fibroids.
2) Insomnia, Poor Sleep and/or Night Sweats
This could be a combo of signals both from your gut and your endocrine system. Your gut is also where your sleep hormone melatonin is made, so again if it’s not happy guess what gets impacted? In addition, the endocrine system oversees the the hormone balance of cortisol to melatonin, estrogen to progesterone and thyroid hormones T3 and T4. If any of these ratios are off, they play a major role in the ability to sleep and the overall quality of sleep. As for night sweats, those are a telltale sign of estrogen dominance over progesterone. Ignoring these symptoms could lead to more serious conditions such as breast cancer, fibroids and autoimmunity.
3) Allergies, Colds & Flu
Your gut is where 80% of your immune system is housed; your defense mechanism against allergens, infections and viruses. A leaky and/or an inflamed immune systems can’t function properly. Leaky gut and inflammation confuse the immune system, leaving it defenseless against true threats and you become more susceptible to common allergens, colds and flus. Ignoring these symptoms could lead to more serious conditions such as bronchitis, pneumonia, chronic illness, autoimmunity and even a shortened lifespan.
4) Excessive/Stubborn Weight and Fatigue
The endocrine system is all about energy production and availability, and metabolism. The hormone cortisol (produced by the adrenals as part of the endocrine system) is what gives you energy to get up in the morning, regulates inflammation and controls blood sugar balance. Thyroid hormones regulate body weight, temperature and cholesterol among many other vital functions. Because these hormones are all part of the endocrine system, if one is out of balance they will negatively impact each other resulting in excessive or stubborn weight gain and/or fatigue. Ignoring these symptoms could lead to more serious conditions such as chronic fatigue, high cholesterol, hyper or hypothyroidism, chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, diabetes and much more!
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If I hadn’t listened to my body and mapped out my symptoms I would have never discovered that I had estrogen dominance and Hashimoto’s (an autoimmune disorder). I would have gone on suffering and searching for band aids to mask my symptoms.
Instead I sat down, mapped out my symptoms, connected the dots and was able to pinpoint exactly what my body was trying to tell me. From there I was able to take specific action to support my body, rebalance my hormones and get back to feeling like myself again!
Want to map your symptoms, connect the dots and get real answers about your health?
Join me next Thursday, January 19th at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET for my free class on how to Map Your Symptoms & Unlock Answers To Your Health
In this free online class you will:
- Decipher your symptoms and what your body is trying to tell you
- Map out and connect the dots to look at the big picture of your health
- Understand your healing opportunities related to adrenal, thyroid and gut function
- Get clear on exactly what you can do next to restore balance and start feeling like yourself again
It’s time to get clear on what’s making you feel fat, sick and tired all the time so you can finally fix what’s wrong and get back to feeling like yourself again, too!
