tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86307049987907357732011-07-31T00:34:36.281-07:00Sick at age 30, a blog about my hilarious struggle to navigate wellness in a western world.Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.comBlogger391100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-71581648074294459972009-06-15T22:15:00.000-07:002009-06-15T22:25:18.641-07:00

No, I didn't get sucked into a vortex of imbalanced hormones; I've just been traveling a lot aimlessly for work. Thanks for your nice messages!Anyway, I really wanted all three of you to check out this great article about a teenager who had to diagnose herself because doctors couldn't. Here is the link.Let it be a lesson to us all - our doctors do not always have ALL the answers. Or even half of

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-81053813473034018752009-05-08T20:24:00.000-07:002009-05-08T20:59:21.558-07:00

Just as I was adjusting to life with bottled nothingness water, something crazy happened to piss me off even more.During one of the healer's lectures I attended, I learned that he considers water to be the primary cause of cancer in America - even before smoking. Imagine that, the number one cause.I pondered how that could possibly be the case in a post-Erin Brockovich world. Didn’t we all see

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-12738820123336001292009-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:002009-05-06T17:27:39.683-07:00

In an effort to wean myself off the diet soda, I started drinking more bottled water. Obviously, it’s a grossly deficient substitute, but I had no choice. I decided on the bottled variety when the healer’s staff warned me about the heavy metals, chemicals and assorted crap that gets into our tap water (from, among other contributors, dry cleaners). And apparently those water filter pitchers that

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-46886787415422277142009-05-04T19:46:00.000-07:002009-05-04T20:06:11.647-07:00

The healer hates it when I call it black magic, but I can't help it sometimes. The quirky and awesome way in which alternative medicine cures ailments is straight out of a Harry Potter book.For example, recently I acquired the flu. But I didn't know it at the time because - for once - I wasn't experiencing any of the traditional symptoms. I learned about my fate when the healer picked up on it

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-28631191316538553922009-04-28T11:41:00.000-07:002009-04-28T12:19:39.763-07:00

As my bad luck would have it, aspartame - the primary sweetener found in most diet sodas - is one of the most dangerous chemicals you can put into your body. Since it’s not a real food, and therefore the body has no nutritional need for it, every time you put it into your system, the organs are burdened with the task of having to filter it out. The more frequently you put it in, the less able the

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-25955938108930373092009-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:002009-04-20T21:15:50.342-07:00

When I was in college, I drank Dr. Pepper all the time. I loved it so much I would sing the company jingle on my way to class. So imagine my surprise when, during my Nutrition for Non-Science Majors class, I discovered that it had sugar in it. It was a pretty traumatic revelation, since I obviously didn’t want to be drinking my calories, especially when I could have been getting them from better

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-4285748664238161632009-04-19T17:58:00.000-07:002009-04-19T18:17:38.798-07:00

After a few days without wheat, I had come to a few conclusions:1) It's very hard to be off wheat and sugar, without being on either the South Beach Diet (unacceptable) or the Mexican-Lard-Ass-Diet.2) Three days of straight Mexican food at every meal will actually not make you tired of Mexican food, but it will make you chubby. 3) A little bit of wheat shouldn't hurt, so long as the healer

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-81092245784018669222009-04-15T13:19:00.000-07:002009-04-15T17:18:13.739-07:00

One of my favorite authors on the topic of hormones has a book you can order at no charge. Here it is:The Thyroid and Hormone Connection, by Dr. Hotze. Enjoy!

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-83619494499711763902009-04-12T23:23:00.001-07:002009-04-12T23:33:21.947-07:00

Once my thyroid kicked into gear, and I experienced an extreme improvement in health almost overnight, I became sort of curious about why my T3, T4 and TSH blood tests all came back normal only months before. I mean, it was pretty obvious I wasn’t clinically normal at the time, evidenced by the pounds of lard velcroed to my stomach and the obscene outbursts I’d been having all over Kaiser. So I

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-22923499622734007282009-04-10T15:16:00.000-07:002009-04-10T15:27:46.857-07:00

In honor of Earth Day, on April 18, moregreenmoms is hosting The Girlcott to build awareness about toxic chemicals in our cosmetics and personal care products. So what's a Girlcott? It's all about saying yes to safer alternatives, not just saying no to the bad stuff.Come drop off your old shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, deodorant, nail polish, sunscreen and other cosmetics that contain suspect

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-39408438420501407792009-04-08T12:38:00.000-07:002009-04-08T19:02:57.797-07:00

Just as I was basking in the glow of my health accomplishments, I spontaneously developed a very mysterious ailment – one swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck. And by swollen, I mean swollen. Golf-ball-cancer-size-swollen. So, coming from a long line of Jewish hypocondriacs, I promptly flipped out and googled lymphoma.By the next day, I had an appointment with my western medicine

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-21198863767684864022009-04-06T13:56:00.000-07:002009-04-08T13:05:26.313-07:00

After about six weeks of seeing the healer, I could tell that my thyroid was finally heading in the right direction. My clothes were fitting better and my mood was improving dramatically. Of course, it’s entirely possible that the attitude adjustment was inversely related to the pounds, but I suspected it was something more. In fact, I hadn’t been that happy in years.I found myself saying things

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-15278124216436423422009-03-29T11:12:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:53:08.959-07:00

Here are some of the toxic ingredients to watch out for when purchasing body care products (in no particular order):Parabens (aka: Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben): These are preservatives that give your products (but not your body) a longer shelf life. If you're like me, and go through a bottle of lotion a month, you don't need preservatives. So get rid of 'em. Parabens

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-78636682732846210242009-03-24T13:52:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:28:44.022-07:00

To say that I knew nothing about the hazards of body care would be an understatement. Not only did I work at a major body care store in college, since that time I had amassed a collection of scented goodies carcinogens so impressive, I was storing the toilet paper in the kitchen.I even had a scent for every event - the cocktail party scent, the business meeting scent, the daily scent, winter,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-59452788549024677282009-03-23T10:42:00.000-07:002009-03-23T10:56:39.415-07:00

I knew that my spleen and liver were not going to get better until they were less burdened from having to filter out the chemicals I was feeding them. And since the melasma was connected to my spleen, I was on a mission to detoxify my surroundings, starting with my body care.Don’t get me wrong - it’s not just that I wanted good skin (although believe me, that’s enough to green any girl), but I

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-33362445522016282282009-03-19T15:42:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:41:39.689-07:00

I knew my adrenals weren’t completely exhausted the day the healer told me to cut out caffeine. I flew into a rage so epic I thought cortisol might spew out my mouth.The ironic part is that I was never really addicted to caffeine itself; I was addicted to the stuff it comes in, like soft drinks and lattes. And although there are decaf alternatives to these beverages, for whatever reason, they

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-21420413029474046612009-03-18T10:53:00.000-07:002009-03-18T11:10:30.585-07:00

During the height of the health crisis, I was exhausted almost every day. So it wasn’t shocking when, a few times after getting up out of a chair or off the couch (which I rarely did anyway), I got lightheaded and a little bit dizzy. Occasionally, I would have to sit right back down because I felt so faint. And this was before I got completely knocked over by the real vertigo.I attributed this

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-78281911513888072492009-03-15T12:46:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:44:52.282-07:00

At my next appointment with the healer, I finally got explanations for some of the mystery symptoms I had experienced months and years earlier. For example, the nausea and vomiting were caused by food allergies and the lower back pain by exhausted adrenals (which are located in my lower back, not my mattress).The food allergy thing was fascinating because I had never had allergies before. I never

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-62909639844735859212009-03-11T11:42:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:49:33.124-07:00

As I do with a lot of decisions in my life, I wrote a “pros and cons” list to taking the Topamax migraine medication. It looked something like this:Pro: I won’t die before 40. Well, at least not of a migraine. Con: Neurologist might be wrong about the death part anyway. Doctors are wrong about a lot. Con: Alternative medicine man (Healer) might be able to fix it.Pro: I have only known Healer a

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-85256161416754328212009-03-10T10:04:00.000-07:002009-03-11T21:14:53.238-07:00

As it turns out, ignoring a health problem does not make it go away.Avoiding the doctor who diagnosed it is also ineffective.I discovered this during one of my multiple trips to the emergency room for my debilitating migraines.Fortunately, the first few episodes did not cause aphasia, so I was still able to communicate my symptoms to the ER doc. The only problem with being able to communicate,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-37835273912478018602009-03-09T15:39:00.000-07:002009-03-09T16:04:28.853-07:00

Since the healer had solved the very tricky vertigo problem, I decided to broach the subject of my spotty skin with him. I had been doing some research on melasma and discovered a few theories out there that it was an internal problem, having nothing to do with the skin. Of course, this doesn’t stop women (including myself) from rushing out to buy every topical ointment or treatment on the market

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-28340127714259858222009-03-08T20:37:00.000-07:002009-03-08T20:47:57.062-07:00

Four weeks later I returned to the healer for an updated assessment of my health, and was very surprised to learn that I was doing much better. Of course, the dizziness was gone thanks to the supplements, and my immune system had skyrocketed from a 1 to a 6 (no more three week respiratory infections for me). I guess he really was right about the sugar. Bummer.The only problem was that my thyroid

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-6273489057228772922009-03-06T10:42:00.000-08:002009-03-06T10:45:04.249-08:00

Here I was thinking that I could cut out the ice cream and be rid of sugar forever. Oh how naïve I was.That ignorance is not surprising considering I don’t know how to cook (I’m Jewish) and have never really looked past the caloric value of an item to the actual ingredients. But now, as I cruised down the middle aisles of the grocery store, not quite ready to surrender to vegetables and poultry,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-60721555072884641472009-03-04T17:01:00.000-08:002009-03-08T20:50:29.052-07:00

So it turns out the bright white healer is not thirty-five; he’s in his forties, with a teenage kid. Apparently his looks are inversely proportional to his years, like Benjamin Button.Personally, I find this to be his number one marketing tool. I’m actually quite surprised he’s working on a website and brochure, as opposed to just walking around town with his business cards in hand and age

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-33634329860117268022009-03-03T11:48:00.000-08:002009-04-20T21:25:13.688-07:00

Also during my first visit, the healer told me to stop eating refined sugar. Apparently, sugar does criminal things to the body, including suppress the immune system for hours after ingestion (thereby paving the way for cancer and other ailments to creep in) and cause a roller coaster of insulin production that tires the pancreas and increases appetite. It also feeds candida, which can result in

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-81089869678359616442009-03-02T16:23:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:43:48.277-08:00

I didn’t know where to begin with my questions for the healer, so I asked about the vertigo first, figuring it must be related to one of my organ failures.Back down I went for another round with the kit. This time he removed a tiny vial of liquid from the packet and left it directly on my stomach. He then pulled again on my extended arm, but this time I couldn’t resist the pressure at all, not

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-26061498180910228022009-02-28T17:03:00.000-08:002009-02-28T22:24:18.803-08:00

After about twenty minutes of “testing,” the healer sat down to give me my results. As he did, I caught him not smiling for a brief second, and suspected I was pretty screwed. I was right.Basically, every organ was failing except for my heart, which was fascinating since my father was recovering from quadruple bypass surgery at that exact moment. I was allergic to almost every food I was eating,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-68686963000108597942009-02-26T11:05:00.000-08:002009-03-03T12:04:14.486-08:00

After my initial round of tests, I had the healer all to myself.He instructed me to sit upright for some nutrition response testing – a practice designed to assess the health of my organs. I’d heard about this process from the friend who referred me. But a few minutes into it, it became obvious that, either she needed to be more descriptive or I wasn’t totally listening.First he asked me to

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-52149105862275548112009-02-25T13:12:00.000-08:002009-02-25T18:14:56.065-08:00

I don’t know what I was expecting from the Eastern healer, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be a thirty-five year old white guy from the valley.Luckily I have a good poker face.When he first walked into the room, I began pondering the notion of seeking Chinese medical help from a Caucasian, and tried not to remind myself that this was my last hope. I shook his hand as he bombarded me with his

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-82209289953322961002009-02-24T15:08:00.000-08:002009-02-24T18:25:30.442-08:00

So here I was – 31 years old. In the last year alone I’d suffered from unexplained and extreme fatigue, weight gain, nausea, insomnia, anxiety, migraines, depression, vertigo, lower back pain, a mysterious skin ailment and numerous “infections” that antibiotics couldn’t treat.I’d seen my doctors more times in the prior year than in the five before that. I’d undergone blood work, x-rays, saliva

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-87297515315624879182009-02-23T13:09:00.000-08:002009-02-23T15:30:43.078-08:00

Although I had been through the ringer health-wise, nothing could have prepared me for the trauma of the medically-non-threatening-but-somehow-completely-debilitating condition of melasma. Even the word makes me cringe.Melasma is a skin condition that affects primarily women with olive to dark toned skin, with a decent amount of pigment already. In other words, all minorities (like they need one

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-51425849557639180712009-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:002009-03-11T21:15:33.850-07:00

Another weird thing that popped up around this time was a series of “complicated migraines.” These types of migraines are particularly debilitating and scary, as they involve a host of stroke-like symptoms (vision impairment, numbness, inability to comprehend words, etc.) that precede the actual headache and can really freak a person out. There were times when I didn’t get the headache at all,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-66376334620575116212009-02-20T12:40:00.000-08:002009-03-03T18:18:49.772-08:00

Around the same time that the vertigo was coming and going, I developed very severe lower back pain, along with a mysterious need to drink water every ten minutes, which in turn caused an even more urgent need to urinate about as often. Even in the middle of the night. As someone who had always been addicted to diet soda, my sudden urge for water was uncharacteristic. But I couldn’t stay off of

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-36346829672274836792009-02-19T23:24:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:44:37.363-08:00

Likely tired of seeing me, my doctor promptly referred me (and my growing file) to an ear-nose-throat specialist for the dizziness. I ran into two walls on the way there.The ENT doc was pretty nice, but like most specialists, was rushed and made me feel like I was holding her hostage. So I stuck to the facts pertaining to my ears, nose and throat, despite the fact that I really wanted a female’s

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-15015449691136849812009-02-18T15:20:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:45:09.225-08:00

As fall turned to winter, I began to develop even more ailments. An upper respiratory infection that just wouldn’t quit wreaked havoc on my throat and lungs for four straight weeks. And despite the fact that my docs thought it was a “particularly bad virus going around this year” (I didn’t know anyone with it), they gave me antibiotics, which don’t treat viruses. For some reason, I took them.Out

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-10902705207143334502009-02-17T12:11:00.000-08:002009-02-20T00:06:09.967-08:00

Initially, the evidence pointed to a thyroid problem. That much was clear. It runs in my family and I had every symptom on the WebMD thyroid list (slam dunk). But the doctors assured me I was fine. The T3, T4 and TSH tests all came back normal. I was told the extra fifteen pounds were probably due to a slowing thirty-something metabolism (in the last six months?) and that the rest was related to

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-81144061741230353932009-02-16T12:49:00.000-08:002009-02-28T17:10:18.560-08:00

I rang in my 30th birthday like most Americans – slightly inebriated and surrounded by friends. I couldn’t relate to the people who feared this big milestone. I was finally settled in my career, financially stable, in functional relationships (parents excluded), on top of my health, and ready to party.I thought I was in the prime of my life. I had been exercising regularly for almost a decade and

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-23533661846319155492009-01-12T11:23:00.000-08:002009-03-29T23:54:29.523-07:00

I started this blog shortly after my 30th birthday, when my health took a sudden and unexpected turn for the worse.It is a chronicle of my sometimes-serious, often hilarious, but mostly ridiculous adventures on the road back to wellness.To start this journey from the very beginning, click on my first post.

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8630704998790735773.post-40169644657760999122009-01-12T11:21:00.000-08:002009-04-19T21:00:30.304-07:00

BOOKS:Hormone Balance - A Woman's Guide to Restoring Health and Vitality, Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.:This is, by far, the best book on women's health I have ever read. It's my bible; I'm constantly referring back to it. It is written for the every day average woman.In it, she covers everything related to hormone balance, which is every aspect of your body and lifestyle (adrenals, pituitary,

Health Wantedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07333603396054359491noreply@blogger.com0