Symptoms of Menopause or Something Else?
I had my first and only child at the age of 39. After the birth of my son, my body went into a tailspin. Everyone blamed how I was feeling on the symptoms of menopause. Really? I was only 41! I am now 49 and have finally began to feel more like the old me. By that I mean my happy, hopeful, sexy and energetic self is emerging again. I thought I was gone forever. I had no energy, I was irritable and short with people I loved, I gained 30 pounds!!!! In short, I had lost my joy. Yes, I loved my husband and son, yes we endured many stressful events like the loss of both our fathers, a cross country move, a flood that ruined our home and our income, and yes, I was at the age of perimenopause. Everything I was feeling was “normal” for what I had gone through according to the doctors. But deep inside I knew that something was wrong and I didn’t have to feel this way regardless of what life was throwing at me. I could fix it.
In the beginning the doctors told me that everything I was feeling: the depression, lack of energy, no sex drive, horrible moodiness - these were symptoms of menopause onset and it was normal. I didn’t believe that I had to feel this way even if I was approaching “that age”. I felt my body was having these symptoms because of an imbalance in my system. I just had to find out where the imbalance was.
After 3 years of feeling real bad, I was told I had Hashimoto’s disease. This is when your antibodies attack your thyroid for no apparant reason until it is destroyed. I was prescribed Synthroid and told there was not much else they could do but moniter the eventual destruction of my thyroid gland.
Natural Remedies for Menopause Symptoms
I began my search for natural remedies for menopause symptoms and the possible causes of Hashimoto disease. Even though my lab numbers appeared normal, I was still feeling bad – that is until I began to feel even worse. I started to get real bad headaches, the tiniest sounds bothered me to the point that I had to constantly tell my young son to be quite – I would wear earplugs around the house! I was quick to anger and extremely forgetful. I had to write everything down. I really thought I was going crazy! I found a naturopath/MD who put me on NatureThyroid and suggested I take a heavy metal challenge test. The results astounded me. I had seriously high levels of mercury and lead in my system! I remembered back a few years to when I had a dentist change a filling. Now I know he had not removed it properly. Some of the mercury went into my body. Looking back that is when all my symptoms of “peri menopause” started happening. I also had 3 fillings I had in my mouth that were about 30 years old. I immediately made an appointment with a mercury-free dentist who specialized in removing mercury the correct way with dental dams and oxygen. I replaced my remaining fillings with a non-toxic composite. Within a week I started feeling alot better.
Then came the daunting chelation procedure that must be done slowly so not to over burden your body. I have been taking dry heat saunas most days and am doing rounds of dmsa to remove the lead and mercury. I am a work in progress – the heavy metals are not completely gone yet, but I am feeling sooo much better. My pre menopause symptoms had improved immensely.
I am also finding research suggesting that mercury could be a possible cause of Hashimoto disease. Mercury messes with your immune system. Makes sense to me. The thyroid gland is not far from your mouth. Fillings that were disguised as “silver” were usually 50% mercury and the rest tin and a little wee bit of silver! Everytime you chew and drink hot liquids the mercury in your teeth gases out. Where else to go but your brain, throat and thyroid gland?
I know I can’t avoid menopause, nor do I really want to. I believe from personal experience that if you dig deeper than what modern western medicine is usually willing to do, you may find the underlying cause of most of your symptoms. Is it really peri menopause symptoms or maybe it could be something else?
