So it begins.........

Monday, June 9th, 2014

 

At 5 AM, when I woke up, a new journey began, a quest really. For health, for normalcy, to "feel right" again, and to live as long as I can for my son Sam, and for my husband Jeff, and for me. I want the footprint that I leave behind to mean as much as possible and not to be dragging behind for anything. My main reasons for wanting to improve my health in a major way?

 

 

Words have not actually been invented that can describe my love for these two, my boys! You can read lots more about them, our lives, our travels, our fun at redheadedmother.blogspot.com.

 

I recently began seeing a Doctor. Things didn't feel normal. It didn't matter what I did, how much I exercised, or what I ate (or didn't), after my pregnancy, things got out of whack.

 

 Will this disclosure be embarrassing? Yes, but I am committed to keeping myself honest by sharing the journey. I am starting out today at 221 lbs. This is unacceptable. Further more, and much more importantly, I don't really feel good, a lot. Not bad, just not great. I'm going to share my ups and downs because it's important for other women to know how to avoid having to take this journey too.

Almost immediately after delivering Sam, I was sick and my Doctors weren't sure why. My liver enzymes were through the roof and my platelet count was through the floor. A liver specialist was called in and I was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome. HELLP Syndrome is a life-threatening pregnancy complication usually considered to be a variant of preeclampsia. Both conditions usually occur during the later stages of pregnancy, or sometimes (as in my case) after childbirth. Read more HERE.

 

My OB/GYN and the liver specialist both said it would take a while to get back to normal but Sam is going to be three in November and I can still see the outline of myself on the sheets from the night sweats and despite several different lifestyle changes, my weight has actually increased about 20 lbs in the last year.

 

Was it possible that there were other things going on? Was it possible that the HELLP Syndrome played a hand in other issues? Does it really matter why when you don't feel right? Tell your Doctor and get well! My OB/GYN recommended I see a hormone specialist since late pregnancy/delivery complications can force other body systems into over/under drive.

 

I had a complete battery of blood tests and learned the following:

1) I have hypothyroidism.

2) My body is no longer producing estrogen/progesterone OR testosterone normally.

3) I have high cholesterol.

4) I am Niacin deficient.

5) Although not diseased (thank GOD!!), my liver is underprocessing which may be a result of the incidence of increased liver enzymes due to HELLP Syndrome.

 

I was certainly non-plussed, depressed even, to hear this news but my Doctor assured me that we could pretty easily get back on track. He prescribed the following (numbers correspond to numbers above):

1) 1-Grain for the thyroid

2) topical testosterone first thing in the morning and topical estrogen/progesterone right at bedtime

3) Alaskan salmon oil for cholesterol

4) Niacin (duh)

5) Sam-E to support my liver

 

One of the things I love about my Doctor is that he is passionate about ONLY the necessary prescription medications. 1-Grain and the topical hormones are the only prescription medicines listed, the others are supplements. In the interest of the "let's handle this without a medicine cabinet for of drugs" philosophy, he also recommended a diet change. A rather extreme (on the face of it) diet change.

 

This will be the primary focus of this blog. Dr. Fuhrman's Eat To Live program is usually meant for weight loss but my Doctor recommended it for me as a way to improve overall health. Weight loss should be a nice side-effect. The main tenant of the program is that the more nutrient-dense food you consume, the more you will be satisfied with fewer calories and the less you will crave fat and high-calorie foods.

 

As recommended, I will start out with six weeks of the strictly vegan part of the plan to see how it affects, along with my supplements, my LDL, HDL, triglycerides, etc. The worst part, no wine with dinner :(. I'm kidding, that's miniscule price to pay.

I will share the recipe information from Dr. Fuhrman's on a day-by-day basis because otherwise, this blog will be even ridiculously longer than it already is, phew! More information can be found HERE or buy the book HERE.