Alternative Medicine Check-Up

Saw the altnernative doc. They think I look much better, which I guess is true, since I'm no longer dying of bronchitis. I am more tentative. I've been in this place before, feeling like the worst is behind me only to realize that the 'new normal' comes with limitations. I'm afraid to be optimistic because that just gets me burned.

Their plan is 6 to 8 months of IV nutrition therapy and also bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

My plan is to sell a kidney to pay for all of that because this is getting seriously expensive. I wish the clinic had been more forthright about costs, because I was told it was $50 an IV session and it's not even close.

Waaaaay more money.

Add in the herbs and shit?

Even more money.

It's hard not to feel a little hoodwinked when they say one thing and then steal your wallet.

If you see the money fairy, send her my way, okay? Meanwhile I'll be writing as fast as I can (which is still slow as I'm a slow writer, totally the wrong speed for the output I need to achieve asap).

If I can get another release out this month, I'll be happy.

On the food allergy front, Dr. Alternative says it should be transient, a side effect of the IV therapy and its impact on my body. I hope that's true as I had some salsa the other night and my nose swelled shut. Chocolate, on the other hand, has been better, which gives me hope.

My big question, which remains unanswered by either. Dr. Google or Dr. Alternative is, if I have low progesterone (which I do) and progesterone is a precursor to cortisol production, how does that limit production capacity of cortisol? Or not? What fail-safes are built into the system and what impact does that have on health?

I've actually been researching this quite a bit and can't find anything. Apparently no one else in the webiverse has ever had this question. Sometimes I've stared at biochemistry charts hoping to intuit something, but, while I love Biochemistry, I never took more than the basic class in college, so it's beyond me.

Or maybe I just haven't found the right chart yet. Cue more googling and chart staring.

Dr. Alternative says it was a good question, but had no answer ready other than to move up the bioidentical hormone piece to sometime next month vs. waiting six months--which I was happy about because I think this is all connected. I don't know if it comes through on this blog, but it is clear to me that my whole body is shutting down. Nothing is working right and I think the answer lies in getting all my hormones balanced, not just cortisol.

I've been reading a lot about hormones and anti-aging (as this is the only area of medicine that seems dedicated to getting hormones right) and want to share a quote with you from a book I'm reading. T.S. Wiley is an "anthropologist focusing on evolutionary biology and environmental endocrinology in molecular medicine and genetics."

She was interviewed by Suzanne Somers (yes, from Three's Company fame) for the book Ageless. If you haven't read any of Somers' books, you are missing out because she interviews the thought leaders in alternative medicine and science. The ideas and information are very thought provoking, even if you don't agree with them.

So. The following stood out to me because it talks about hormones and the HPA axis, a topic near and dear to my heart.

T.S. Wiley says "So the pill's synthetic hormones and dosing regimen derange the original HPA axis, which is sort of a global positioning system, to tell your systems the time of day and year based upon your location to the planet. Unfortunately, whether or not the axis ever rights itself depends upon childbirth.

If you have babies after the pill, that's a start, that helps. Whether or not this axis can stay righted as you continue to reproduce depends upon lifestyle. How late you stay up, how much sugar you eat, how old you are inside.

But once the HPA axis is deranged you need a jolt, like cardiac paddles, you know, when they jump start your heart to get your hormones back in sync with the planet. You can use bioidenticals, if you use them in rhythm and use them the right way, to make peaks that feed back to the brain, and then the brain talks to the lower half.

You have to make up the part of the song that is missing."

Yeah, totally missing the melody and harmony over here. I think all I have is a slow drum beat left to my song.

The entire book is fascinating as is another book by Somers dealing with cancer, Knockout. Check them out if you have the chance. Everyone who has done so on my recommendation has been amazed.