The Naturopath

On Saturday I went to see my naturopath, she who has facilitated many of my healthy lifestyle decisions. I was there (with allopathic test results) to discuss my current heath predicament - that thing I like to call hormonally-induced migraine misery. I know. It rolls off the tongue.

I should begin by suggesting that, if you are not yet in your mid-thirties, or if talk of hormones bores you beyond belief, then maybe this post isn't for you. Mind you, I don't know how it could possibly be any more boring than bra-making. So give it a go, I say.

Here's the fun thing - admittedly, I have had a couple of years to consider emerging symptoms and their sources, and I have ruled out many potential issues - but it was a kick to discover that my naturopath agrees completely with my assessment of the challenges I'm currently experiencing. What's terrific about naturopathy is that it works within a different test paradigm. One of the things I will do this month (which regular medical care does not offer or cover, alas) is a three-point hormone panel. At 3 different times over the coming month, I will take saliva tests (which I'll then freeze) until all are ready, whereupon they'll be packaged into a cute little box - with a mini ice pack, no less! - and sent to the lab for results.

Gotta tell you, this system has completely improved since last I undertook it (well, I did a different panel but same basic process). Then, there was no courier service provided. Postage on the cute little package was not already paid (as it is in this case) and there was no freezing/ice pack action going on. You had 48 hrs to get that test to the lab or it was toast. Guess whose courier lost the package last time?

Of course, the lab fee - which was never negligible - has risen. But what price health, people?

This testing will form the baseline assessment, indicating my hormone levels at various points in my cycle. She, like I, assumes the headaches are being caused by a post-ovulatory and precipitous drop in hormones. These tests will tell us if we're right and how to proceed.

Not to get ahead of the game - because there are a variety of approaches to be considered - but if the the panel yields a certain result, my best option to avoid headache may be bio-identical progesterone supplementation. Note that there are widely disparate views about saliva-testing and hormone therapy (including the bioidentical form), though progesterone supplementation is largely considered to be safe. 

My views, as you know, skew to the holistic and I'm comfortable pursuing this path. Even my GP has advised me to see my naturopath, as she can't do anything for me at this point. (Based on a recent and rather compassionate discussion, I suspect my GP may have experienced perimenopausal migraines too). I figure, I've gone the allopathic route to confirm that my vitamin and thyroid levels are normal (according to that system), my brain is healthy and my future treatment will have no predictable adverse affects on my heart arrhythmia. They've told me what I can't do to fix this life-affecting, if time-specific, challenge. Now I've got to figure out what will actually help.

The truth is, I am going through a rather fascinating life-stage and, unlike in puberty (when I was clueless and inexperienced), I have a chance to approach this openly and to accord it the respect it deserves. How's that for wise old crone-ness!

Brief Sidebar:

OK, let's take a moment to discuss the crone thing: I'm 43. I like to tell people I look 30. Before I had pertussis, I felt 20. (Since then, I regret to inform you, I do feel 110 on a bad day - but I'm hopeful that I'll revert to my former youthfulness once I've had a few more months of health.) In my mind, I've always been 40 - which seems like the perfect age: old enough that people take you seriously, and young enough to credibly flirt with baristas. 

Furthermore, I'm very Generation X in that I assume that the age I am is the best age to be (and that to which everyone aspires - younger or older). I do not feel that perimenopause has in any way undermined me in mind, body or spirit. It's handed me some pain I have to figure out how to manage. Eventually, it will end my fertility. In case you were in any doubt, I have no current need of my fertility in its technical sense (though I have appreciated its many by-products - and I don't only mean my kid). 

With the end of my fertility, my migraines will likely disappear, my heart arrhythmia will likely improve and I won't get my freakin' period (which let's face it, I am SO done with). Yeah, I'm probably at the mid-point of a process that might get nasty, in some respects. My body is changing, for sure. Right now I don't begrudge it or feel like it's made me less attractive. Time and gravity work their ways. So do experience and sex-appeal. I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't appreciate it if my hormones made me gain unwelcome weight for a few years. (It's an understatement to say that hope I don't experience that.) For some reason, though, I don't begrudge it much when my appetites do. I do know that, eventually, I'm going to get wrinkles and my jaw is going to soften and my hair (never my best feature) may lose its bounce. No doubt, my boobs are going to fall (though they're doing alright thanks to some good genes and some great bras). 

I'm also going to continue to get smarter (God willing) and more creative - more capable in my thoughts and actions. I'll have increasing liberty to pursue my interests and to spend meaningful time with my husband, with whom I experience, ever more, the sweet detente that comes of many married years. Perhaps they'll be additional funds, I hope, to do more of the things that I love to do. My sense of style is sure as hell not going to falter, nor my appreciation of fit and my ability to find things that flatter.

I choose to believe that there is nothing more attractive than knowing oneself, on the basis that I'm a zillion times more attractive than I've ever been, and not because I'm any younger or perkier.

A couple of technical deets:

I'm on month 4 of taking the migraine vitamin cocktail "prescribed" by the neurologist (400 mg B2 and 400 - 600 mg magnesium glycinate) and it does appear to be having a positive impact. I don't want to get all mega-optimistic (I mean, I suppose it could be a placebo) but I've largely staved off headaches of any form this month and those that have hovered I've been able to manage without drugs. The doc did say that it takes 3 months minimum for this cocktail to kick in. When my stomach can't manage the magnesium, I supplement a smaller ingestible dose with the topical version (which also acts as a muscle relaxant). Weirdly, after ovulation, I can take much more magnesium with less impact on my stomach than I can before ovulation. I guess that does point to the clinical evidence that those who experience hormonal migraines metabolize magnesium at a fast rate.

Furthermore, my naturopath told me that she does not believe my headaches are being triggered or exacerbated by food or drink - not that she supports my less healthful choices! I mean, seriously, I totally expected her to get out the stick on gluten (no one has any use for gluten at this point - esp. not where serious headaches are concerned!) but she said it's pretty clear, on the basis of our discussion and the pages of notes I've been keeping (did I mention I've been charting my cycles for 15 years?) that this has everything to do with hormones. She then advised me to stop eating processed food and baked goods cuz those things are poison.

To those of my friends who've been (lovingly) laughing at me for the last 3 years, poking fun at my "imaginary perimenopause", allow me to remind you that I am the earliest of adopters! (Of course, if the test results don't bear this out, well who'll look stupid then? No doubt, I'll find a spin.)