17 years in the making…
Do you wake up every morning wishing you could feel like yourself again?
That the extra pounds that have crept up over the years would vanish?
That you had enough energy to not only get through the day but to actually enjoy it?
That the aches, pains, skin issues, bloating or other mysterious health issues would cease to exist so you could feel lighter, more peaceful, present and at home in your body?
Whatever is going on with your health didn’t happen overnight. Your body didn’t wake up one day and decide to have hormone imbalances, to pile on the pounds or rob you of the best night’s sleep.
Whatever is going on with your health is an accumulation of things that have happened over your lifetime.
Armed with the knowledge I have now, when I look back I can clearly see that my health issues didn’t start in college with the onset of seasonal allergies and debilitating ear infections, but that they were an accumulation of things that happened along the line of time of my life.
One of the earliest most significant signs of my health status going haywire emerged a few years after starting my menstrual cycle.
I was plagued with extremely painful and irregular periods, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. I simply tried to ignore the issue. I thought it was great when I didn’t get my period, I didn’t have to deal with it. And when I did get it, I would load up on some kind of over-the-counter pain killer and go on my way.
My mom had left 7 years before all of this started to happen so I didn’t really have a female figure in my life to turn to with these kinds of issues until my dad happily remarried around the time I turned 16. By then my period was so painful I would find myself sitting on the toilet bent over a trash can in pain and nauseous (sorry if that’s TMI but it’s the honest truth!).
That’s when I started the pill.
I mustered up the courage to let my stepmom know what was going on and we took a trip to the gynecologist together. That day started my 17-year-codependent and health-destructive relationship with birth control.
Little did I know how taking the pill for the next 17 years combined with other lifestyle factors would slowly wreck the delicate hormonal balance of my body, contribute to skin cancer, severe seasonal allergies, migraines, energy and weight struggles.
In this week’s video and blog, I want to help you see what has been in the making for years for you so you can start living your best life feeling like your best self!
I’ve never been addicted to anything, but sometimes when I look at how I used birth control to abuse my body and control my life, I wonder if one day we’ll identify an addiction to this little hormone and health-stealing pill.
I was impressed and obsessed with how easy my periods became with this little miracle pill. I quickly found myself skipping the week of placebo pills each month to avoid the inconvenience of having a period so I could do what I wanted to do with my body instead of it doing what it needed to do for me.
The control freak in me loved being able to control my life on a higher level by swallowing a pill every day. Before I knew it I had skipped having a period for years, and when I asked my doctor if it was ok, I was assured it was fine.
It wasn’t fine, not even close.
Have you ever read the list of side effects for birth control, or any other medication? Yeah, I didn’t either back then because I trusted that my doctor knew best.
Here’s a short list of common published birth control side effects:
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
- Chest pain
- Headaches
- Eye problems
- Swollen breasts
- Mood changes
And there’s the list of less talked about or acknowledged side effects such as:
- Thyroid dysfunction or autoimmunity
- Anxiety and depression
- Infertility and low libido
- Digestive problems
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Liver congestion
But I can’t blame all of my health issues on the birth control pill. Sure it played a big role in the constant fatigue, weight gain, severe allergies, skin cancer, hormone dysfunction and Hashimotos situation I eventually found myself in, but there were other factors at play too.
Your body has a certain vitality or ability to adapt to emotional, physical and environmental stress. When the accumulation of stress becomes too great for too long you lose this adaptability – the systems and function of your body start to become dysfunctional in their effort to keep up with the demand.
On top of taking birth control for 17 years, I demanded a lot from my body, I…
- Stayed up late robbing it from adequate rest and recovery
- Ran it into the ground with high intensity training routines
- Worked long hours in high stress jobs
- Took care of everyone else instead of prioritizing myself
- Ate “healthy foods” that weren’t right for my body
- Drank too much on the weekends to escape my work week
- Ignored my emotions and let them build up behind the scenes
Over time the wear and tear of living your life like this will catch up to you. It’s not that getting older automatically means you’re bound to have more health issues. As we age, the way we’ve been living our life is what catches up to us.
Luckily, I found the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® program and a new way of looking at disease; one that supports bodily function to naturally restore balance and health.
And as I sit here over 3 years birth control free in the best health of my life with more energy than I know what to do with, I can confidently tell you it is possible to untangle the mess and get back to feeling like your best self.
The key is looking at the whole picture, not just one disconnected piece at a time, but all the factors that have led you to where you are today.
Recognize what has been in the making for years. Forgive yourself for not knowing better, make a commitment to do it differently and start living your best life feeling like your best self!
If you want to get your hands on the right lab tests and resources so you can get back to feeling like yourself, click here to schedule an Ideal Health and Weight Discovery Session today!
