CHAPTER 6
Five Lane Highway
Life was enjoyable putting it simply. I felt alive, interested in being a participant in the slip steam of life. Next challenge. Now I felt that my clothes and body image needed an overhaul. So I joined a gym and religiously attended my 'hour of sweat' 5 mornings a week before going to work. I saw a dietician and together we mapped out a doable diet for me which turned out to be okay but not great. I wanted my eating pattern to be a life pattern and not just a diet as to me diets you went on for a time, then ended once your ideal weight was reached. I had a life time of these diets and they either never worked at all or did for awhile but only until I finished the diet and then the weight went back on.
I won't go on here about diets as that isn't what this blog is all about but permanent weight loss success for me came after my doing more research, doing my due diligence (don't you just love this trendy new age wording), and following the Cyndi O'Meara "4 Phase Fat Loss Protocol" diet. Press here to learn more about this diet. To this day, I'm still at my goal weight following Cyndi's recommended eating habits. I have occasional treats - just love those French pastries and wine- but find my body prefers the lifestyle changes I originally made with this ‘diet’ and follow religiously. To be honest, I actually no longer enjoy the taste of many of the foods I once lived on daily. They mostly taste just so chemical and gluggy. But as I said earlier, I will leave my diet choice here and say nothing further on this subject.
But back to the new compounding chemist in town which I briefly alluded to at the end of the last chapter. I’m sure Susan will be wrapped I’m mentioning her as she is such a crusader in women’s health and beauty products. What a break for me this was to have her in town!! I only had one more hurdle to climb over to delete once and for all times the marathon trips to Brisbane.... unless you count in the clothes shopping ones that is! Susan was very willing to make me my natural hormone replacement products but I still had to find a local GP to write my prescriptions or it meant once again trips to Brisbane every six months. Names were given to me of several doctors in town who used the compounding chemist facility although no information was given as to whether they followed natural hormone replacement or something else. This knowledge could only be gleaned by making an appointment for a personal consult which I did several times before finding a GP willing to ‘walk my walk’.
My new GP now worked with Susan to determine how I would be best managed. It was decided that once again it was six weeks of no hormones at all, menopause AGAIN, and then a very week dosage administered as a vaginal cream. I won’t go into the regime here but it was a long, slow road until my blood tests revealed a level they (and I) were happy with. Once this was achieved with no nasty side effects, I was then switched to trouches. These are a lozenge that I placed each night under the tongue to slowly dissolve and be absorbed through the oral (mouth) mucosa. I cannot remember the dosage but I do remember cutting the trouche into quarters and initially taking just a quarter titrating up every few weeks with blood tests to confirm that I wasn’t exceeding the recommended levels.
Once again a slow process, but a pragmatic decision was initially made that we would manage the dosage with safe levels a prime concern. Finally (and I say this with a relieved sigh) the blood tests revealed my hormone levels were within the recommended range, I was side effect symptom free, and enjoying life. And this basically continued for around a year with monthly blood tests confirming I was tolerating the dosage well.
It was then that I commenced the final leg of my journey - changing to capsules. The trouches were easy to manipulate dosage by cutting with a knife into quarters or halves. But once I had stabilised dosage with no side effects I could then go to the capsule form which was easier to take and not as expensive to purchase. So this was my final stage in my journey. I did have to change GP’s twice through their leaving to have babies, but as Susan had become quite established in town and well accepted, the search for a new doctor wasn’t a huge drama as it was the first time. I now have an amazing wholistic GP who totally cares for me hormone, mineral, vitamin wise and I couldn’t be happier. I feel like a woman half my age, bursting with energy and vitality, and my body shows it.
So this is my story and one I encourage all women to consider when approaching that ‘change in life’ period of their lives. Please don’t accept this as your fate, your destiny, your given. We are living a lot longer now and don’t want to experience many years of suffering with old age diseases resulting from no ‘women hormones’. I remember reading a lyric once penned by someone some time back that really resonated with me, and it went something like this.... “Why am I dying to live if I’m just living to die? Well I can honestly say that I’m not living to die. No way. And I’m not dying to live, as I’m living, I’m doing it right now... and having an amazing time. Is this your story?
Life was enjoyable putting it simply. I felt alive, interested in being a participant in the slip steam of life. Next challenge. Now I felt that my clothes and body image needed an overhaul. So I joined a gym and religiously attended my 'hour of sweat' 5 mornings a week before going to work. I saw a dietician and together we mapped out a doable diet for me which turned out to be okay but not great. I wanted my eating pattern to be a life pattern and not just a diet as to me diets you went on for a time, then ended once your ideal weight was reached. I had a life time of these diets and they either never worked at all or did for awhile but only until I finished the diet and then the weight went back on.
I won't go on here about diets as that isn't what this blog is all about but permanent weight loss success for me came after my doing more research, doing my due diligence (don't you just love this trendy new age wording), and following the Cyndi O'Meara "4 Phase Fat Loss Protocol" diet. Press here to learn more about this diet. To this day, I'm still at my goal weight following Cyndi's recommended eating habits. I have occasional treats - just love those French pastries and wine- but find my body prefers the lifestyle changes I originally made with this ‘diet’ and follow religiously. To be honest, I actually no longer enjoy the taste of many of the foods I once lived on daily. They mostly taste just so chemical and gluggy. But as I said earlier, I will leave my diet choice here and say nothing further on this subject.
But back to the new compounding chemist in town which I briefly alluded to at the end of the last chapter. I’m sure Susan will be wrapped I’m mentioning her as she is such a crusader in women’s health and beauty products. What a break for me this was to have her in town!! I only had one more hurdle to climb over to delete once and for all times the marathon trips to Brisbane.... unless you count in the clothes shopping ones that is! Susan was very willing to make me my natural hormone replacement products but I still had to find a local GP to write my prescriptions or it meant once again trips to Brisbane every six months. Names were given to me of several doctors in town who used the compounding chemist facility although no information was given as to whether they followed natural hormone replacement or something else. This knowledge could only be gleaned by making an appointment for a personal consult which I did several times before finding a GP willing to ‘walk my walk’.
My new GP now worked with Susan to determine how I would be best managed. It was decided that once again it was six weeks of no hormones at all, menopause AGAIN, and then a very week dosage administered as a vaginal cream. I won’t go into the regime here but it was a long, slow road until my blood tests revealed a level they (and I) were happy with. Once this was achieved with no nasty side effects, I was then switched to trouches. These are a lozenge that I placed each night under the tongue to slowly dissolve and be absorbed through the oral (mouth) mucosa. I cannot remember the dosage but I do remember cutting the trouche into quarters and initially taking just a quarter titrating up every few weeks with blood tests to confirm that I wasn’t exceeding the recommended levels.
Once again a slow process, but a pragmatic decision was initially made that we would manage the dosage with safe levels a prime concern. Finally (and I say this with a relieved sigh) the blood tests revealed my hormone levels were within the recommended range, I was side effect symptom free, and enjoying life. And this basically continued for around a year with monthly blood tests confirming I was tolerating the dosage well.
It was then that I commenced the final leg of my journey - changing to capsules. The trouches were easy to manipulate dosage by cutting with a knife into quarters or halves. But once I had stabilised dosage with no side effects I could then go to the capsule form which was easier to take and not as expensive to purchase. So this was my final stage in my journey. I did have to change GP’s twice through their leaving to have babies, but as Susan had become quite established in town and well accepted, the search for a new doctor wasn’t a huge drama as it was the first time. I now have an amazing wholistic GP who totally cares for me hormone, mineral, vitamin wise and I couldn’t be happier. I feel like a woman half my age, bursting with energy and vitality, and my body shows it.
So this is my story and one I encourage all women to consider when approaching that ‘change in life’ period of their lives. Please don’t accept this as your fate, your destiny, your given. We are living a lot longer now and don’t want to experience many years of suffering with old age diseases resulting from no ‘women hormones’. I remember reading a lyric once penned by someone some time back that really resonated with me, and it went something like this.... “Why am I dying to live if I’m just living to die? Well I can honestly say that I’m not living to die. No way. And I’m not dying to live, as I’m living, I’m doing it right now... and having an amazing time. Is this your story?
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