Bone Health

March 17, 2019

Alright, I've been honestly stressing out about all of this. It is echoing in my head. My bones depleted by 7% these last three years. Holy crud. In that time, I was basically pregnant or on hormones trying to get pregnant about a year...so I had the estrogen. Yikes. I'm also dealing with severely recessed gums. Last dentist exam instead of the usual, wow, your teeth are amazing, she said my oral hygiene wasn't as good. Excuse me? I brush a bazillion times per day, floss, use mouth wash. My gums are recessing faster. I have pockets. It's due to no estrogen.

I basically need to stick it out one more month to get the babies I donate breastmilk to, to one year. After that, I think I may need to bite the bullet and start the bioidenticals. My own son really only nurses morning and night now. When he's home, he will nurse at nap time or for emotional comfort. I think cutting back the pumping will help my body regain some nutrients. Pumping an extra 24-30 oz is a lot for a body to do. My endocrinologist did say some bone density will return once I wean.

I started taking the new calcium along with my other one. So now, I take two Young Living Super Cal Plus, two Garden of Life Raw Calcium. The Garden of life has the stronium in it, but a very, very small dose. I will start their Grow Bone once I wean. The reviews are fantastic and my endo gave me the go ahead. I also just started the Young Living BLM supplement. It has the glucosamine sulfate and collagen. I'm keeping up with the Biosil and current collagen I'm on as well. In a support group, someone mentioned taking Boron as well. Lo and behold, I did some research and very promising info. The raw calcium does have some, but since I'm doing a half dose of that, I did get a 3 mg supplement.

My sister in law suggested two workout sets, so I ordered these and these as well. The kiddos and I have been doing our exercises at night, I've been doing weights a few times a week, and I've been very diligent about making sure to at least take 20 minutes a day for a brisk walk. I'm doing jumping jacks every time I get up to get a drink or go to the bathroom from work, squatting holding my son, anything to fit in extra weight bearing exercise.

I think I feel panicky because I'm not doing everything I can, but I'm not emotionally done nursing and my son is nowhere near emotionally or physically done. I keep weighing my long term health vs where we're at now. I can't supplement with herbs or supplements, I'm nervous starting BHRT... Ugh. I just need to take a breath. The reality is, a few extra months won't do long term damage. I just need to do what I can and trust. I can start on the BHRT once I'm done donating. "Normal" women have estrogen in their blood and milk all the time...granted this isn't naturally produced, but the effects are the same. I absolutely despise I need medication. I pray for no ill effects.

I just want my body to cooperate...

On a lighter note...still meal kit obsessed! LOL We got our second Sunbasket delivery and it was delicious! Well, we all agreed the sesame crusted tuna and salmon nicoise was. I thought the blackened tempeh was ok, my husband was a hard no. Ah well. I knew it was taking a chance. I'm trying to shift more plant based. For my initial Sunbasket review go here.  So far, that is the one I've been most impressed by overall.

I'm excited to try out Hello Fresh this week. Stay tuned ;)

Infertility Warrior

March 15, 2019

When I started this journey five years ago, I was broken. Completely and utterly broken. I was an emotional and physical wreck. When they say infertility destroys you...it does. Sure, I'm still dealing with some physical ramifications of my diagnosis, but emotionally, I'm on top. I kept meaning to come on here and talk about my experience speaking at a Young Living rally back in July, and, well, life got the best of me. But, it was incredibly powerful.

I was asked to speak at a Lucy Libido rally. Lucy is a fictional character that was derived from the experiences of dozens of women who transformed their lives through emotional and physical growth. "Lucy" knew I'd had an amazing journey, resulting in my beautiful son, and asked if I'd be willing to come give a 30 minute talk. Gulp. I would be speaking at the Grammy museum in front of a few hundred women. Now, some back story...I'm an actor. So, being in front of people hiding behind a character and script, totally cool. Standing up and talking about my most private and painful journey, terrifying as hell (pardon my language.)

I was asked if I'd share my infertility journey. That was it. Ok... Well, so many directions. So, after a lot of soul searching, I told it. No holds barred. I honestly didn't know how people would react, but often, what I have to say isn't that popular.

The reality is, there is no "reason" for my infertility. I have no autoimmune issues, I have no genetic ties, I have no history of chemotherapy or radiation. I was told that it was environmental. My journey started there. What did I do? You can read back for all the details, but the honest to God truth was I simply overhauled our lives and got rid of all the junk I felt was contributing to my issues. The candles, the fragrances, the personal care products I was slathering on my body, the foods that are simply riddled with chemicals, the horrendous cleaners... I simplified. What I found was, I started feeling better. In fact, my kidney function improved. Drastically.

One of the areas I branched out into, was essential oils and wellness products. I reached for cleaner products that I knew weren't going to jack up my endocrine system more than it already was. I wanted things that didn't create or worsen my overall health.  I found a preventative approach was far more ideal than chasing symptoms later on.

I won't regurgitate my speech, but here are the bullet points.

*Get rid of the junk. ALL the junk. Focus on clean products. Plant based safe cleaners, personal care products without the junk, wholesome foods. Simply, get rid of the junk. Anything synthetically derived, in most cases, is just not good for you. Yes, we have a liver. Yes, we have kidneys, but look at your body like your laundry. If you are doing your laundry, you can get to the bottom of the pile. But if your entire block keeps dropping their laundry off...no matter how many loads you do, you can't catch up. You keep piling up all that junk in your body, it gets overrun. It's called bio-accumulation. I have medical records where I watched my kidney function improve drastically over the last several years. It was a rise from impaired kidney function to great kidney function. I believe wholeheartedly it was from removing the superfluous crud in my home.

*Take care of your body. Exercise. Eat right. Focus on whole foods. If you can't do organic, stick with non-GMO, the clean 15 and dirty dozen. Choose supplements wisely, cleanly and ones that nourish. We all need probiotics. We need antioxidants. We need omegas.

*Take care of your emotional wellness. At the rally, an amazing speaker, Dr. Benjamin Perkus, was there talking about the Aroma Freedom Technique. The reality is, if you're dealing with infertility, you have a lot of emotional baggage. We NEED a place to release it. Let it go. I love what he has to say. If that isn't your cup of tea, go to a therapist. I do. I need a place to work through all my feelings. There is nothing shameful about self care.

*You are not a victim. Listen up. You are NOT A VICTIM. I was most worried about talking about this, but DAMN! Ladies, you are the strongest, most capable, amazing women! We can choose to let our diagnosis or the cruddy hand we are dealt ruin us...or we can choose to stand up straight and make it work. You want to be a mom. You will be. Do NOT let this crappy diagnosis rob you of your happiness. Do you hear me? There are so many ways to motherhood. Natural conception, donor egg, sperm donation, foster to adopt, adoption, surrogacy, embryo donation. I believe with my entire heart and soul my son was destined to be mine. MINE. This is MY son. Mine. I would not have him without POF and I wouldn't trade that for the world. Ever.

Speaking at that rally, was exactly what I needed. I met so many incredible women and it reminded me how painful it is when you are in the trenches. I saw women sobbing in the crowd. So many women came up to me after and shared their stories. I was later asked to speak in a Facebook group of 135k plus women and once again found such amazing women. I've been asked to speak at a rally this September in San Diego. I'm working out he dates now, but have found a great sense of fulfillment.

Listen ladies, and gentlemen. Infertility bites. Ok. It bites. But, we can CHOOSE if we let it destroy us. We can choose how we react to things. We can choose if we will still be parents. Please, do not let infertility rob you of motherhood or fatherhood. Genetics are NOT the be all end all. They aren't. They simply aren't. I have a biological child. I have one through embryo donation. I will say with 100% certainty. I love both my children the same. I have the same mama bear love, devotion and bond with both children. I am grateful, yes grateful, for my POF for that reason. Do I love the side effects or health issues, no. Would I trade them? No. I will take my son over perfect health any day. Any day.

If you are still hurting...I extend my heart and ear to you. Reach out. You are a warrior and you will come out on top.

God bless.

Endocrinologist Appointment

March 8, 2019

Well, yesterday I had the dreaded endocrinologist appointment following my DEXA scan, and the results weren't good. I knew I'd lost some bone mass, but was not prepared in the slightest to have my doctor walk in and suggest osteoporosis meds. Hard pass. My mouth dropped open.

As she reviewed my history she mentioned the last time I came in I had a two year old, to which I replied and I still do! Ha! Well, a six and a two year old. Her eyes got wide so I quickly chimed in through embryo donation...ahhhh. I also said I'm still nursing him and she got a bit quiet. Apparently, that took the osteoporosis med suggestion out of play since it's contraindicated.

Her next suggestion was estrogen therapy. I reminded her of my family history of estrogen driven cancers and added that since our last meeting my mom had also had uterine cancer and female cousin (40) had breast cancer. Again, she got quiet.

She was obviously deeply concerned, and I will hand it to her. She spent a lot of time while we hashed out and weighed all the options. She doesn't want me at risk for breast cancer, but at the rate my bones are deteriorating, I'd be in grave danger. As it stands, I'm still nursing so medications and even my herbal route from before are out.

She told me, very seriously, that I needed to make sure I was getting 1200 mg of calcium and 1000-2000 of Vitamin D a day. She said it could be from food or supplement, but I needed to ensure I was getting that much.

I've been taking Young Living's Super Cal Plus. The calcium levels are lower, but my understanding is it's more bioavailable to the body. As I researched calciums, the issue is a lot of people JUST take calcium or JUST calcium and D3. As I learned more about calcium, I started to see how controversial it is. Now, the controversy seems to be because people are just taking calcium supplements. Calcium by itself isn't absorbed by your body and what happens is it floats around and gathers in your arteries. This is what causes calcification and morphs into heart disease. In order for your bones to actually absorb the calcium, there needs to be adequate levels of calcium, D3, K2 and magnesium. People tend to overlook the K2 and magnesium. The Super Cal plus has all of them. It's enriched with essential oils that help make it more bioavailable and absorb better. I also like it is an algae sourced calcium.

I've also been drinking protein shakes that are calcuim rich. I add fortified almond milk, Orgain Superfoods protein powder and one scoop of Young Living's Balance complete which is higher in the calcium and fiber.

In addition to that, I looked more into Young Living's BLM. This one has glucosamine sulfate, collagen, MSM, Manganese and essential oils. As I broke down the ingredients, glucosamine sulfate has promising research that it can help bones heal faster. I haven't tried it yet, but put it on this month's order.

Another supplement I reviewed with my endocrinologist is strontium. Now, I've researched it before, but when I looked it up, it was suggested not to take while nursing, so I haven't taken it. When I brought it up though, she right away said she knew about it, there was promising stuff she knew about people using it in Australia and that since it wasn't FDA approved (it's a supplement) she couldn't prescribe it, but was totally fine with my taking it. Score.

Now, a heads up, when you google this one, strontium ranelate will pop up with red flags...THAT is a medication. Here is the deal when it comes to drugs and pharmaceuticals. You cannot market a natural mineral (like strontium.) In order to make money, drug companies must take a chemical constituent in a naturally occurring substance, make a synthetic version and THEN patent it. Ranelic acid is the synthetic compound used to create this drug. NATURAL strontium that is used in supplements in strontium citrate. As long as you are taking more calcium than strontium citrate, there have not been ANY adverse reactions reported in over 100 years.

I dug around and found a few good sources of natural strontium. Here is one and here. I love the GARDEN OF LIFE vitamin products and use this one for my multi vitamin. Now, I use the 50 and wise version because there is no iron. I have hemochromatosis so I can't have iron. If you need iron, search one of their other varieties.

So, my battle plan is to do weights a few times of week, be diligent walking and working out and once I wean my son start a bioidentical hormone therapy. I agreed to do a very low dose BHRT with a transdermal patch. She was going to prescribe oral, but I asked if transdermal would work. I want to bypass the liver processing the meds and lower my risk of blood clot and she agreed. It was funny, but when I asked for a bioidentical hormone she said my insurance didn't cover it. I said, I'm certain it does. She went on to explain they've no compounding pharmacies and was kind enough to humor me...so I pulled up this website and showed her that the FDA actually has several approved bioidentical hormones. The crazy part is the one she was going to prescribe was on there. Yay!

Here is the website so you can reference it. There are a lot of bioidentical ones available on the market that are covered by insurance so you don't have to spend hundreds a month at a compounding pharmacy.

I'm giving a shout out to my sister in law at Pod Performance. Beth is awesome. I text her asking for some recommendations on bone building workouts that would fit in my schedule (aka, no time at all.) She gave me a few suggestions that I could do when the kids were in the tub, when I was making dinner, etc. I need to make my bone health a priority, but have been freaking out how to fit it all in. Check out her page! 

After weaning, I will also start using my strontium supplement and a few other Young Living ones that are intended to support healthy hormones like Femigen and PD80/20. PD80/20 has DHEA which is the precurser to testosterone. There have been some positive studies about that one and bone health as well.

Right now, I'm using my calcium in addition to Ningxia red, multi greens, Life 9 probiotic, sulfurzyme, omegagize fish oil, Biosil  and a great collagen called Aminosculpt. I was diligently taking my minerals, and need to start that back up. I love Vital Earth's Fulvic Humic blend. It's not salty at all!

It was a discouraging day to say the least, but at least I've a game plan. I'm really upset I have to resort to medications, but I feel incredibly blessed that I had a doctor who listened to me, respected me, agreed with my concerns and found an option that I think is the best and safest method. How awesome is that?!

We considered my starting the BHRT now, but we both were a bit leery as I'm breastfeeding. The only contraindication really seems to be that my supply could dry up. BUT, as with any med, some gets in the breast milk, and we're talking about a hormone, soooo.... Makes me nervous. I'm also a milk donor. I don't want to mess with "stuff" in my milk that is going to another child.

I talked with the baby's mom yesterday about my doctor's visit. She actually watched my oldest while I went so he didn't have to sit in the waiting room with flu and colds and everything else! I talked to her about my visit and the options presented and she was too sweet to say that if I had to stop providing milk, my health came first. I told her following through to get her babies (she has twins - the boy relies on my milk) to a year is my goal and I'd committed that to her. They turn a year April 20th! A month and a half isn't going to make or break my bone health! I DID tell her though that at a year, I'd begin weaning from the pump. I don't mind my son nursing as long as he wants, but on some days I'm producing upwards of 30 oz for her. That's a lot of milk.

Something else I talked about with my endocrinologist is the fact I'd read about how breastfeeding can lower bone density temporarily and she verified that. When I'm done nursing, some bone density should come back. Not all I've lost, but a bit. That was reassuring.

Well, I've rambled long enough. It was a very emotional day. I feel so frustrated. My health overall, is good. I feel great. I've never been healthier. I don't get sick. I've good energy. And then this... I've no control over it and it's so frustrating and disheartening. I'm very type A in control and not having it...UGH!

As always, God Bless!