Tired of Hearing Insomnia Will Make Me Fat

Did you know that according to a recent health survey, West Virginia is the most sleep-deprived state in the US? It's up there at double the national rate - probably a side effect of health problems like obesity, the researchers concluded. Or the residents' sleeplessness caused the obesity. One of those chicken-or-egg things, they said.

Excuse me, but if I read one more article about one more study that concludes that (horror upon horrors) skimping on sleep will make me gain weight, I'm going to bust a gut.

Not that I'm snubbing America's appalling obesity problem, but to focus so tightly on weight gain until the public perception becomes that a pudgy belly is the sole side effect of staying up late to watch Letterman discounts the devastation that chronic insomnia can wage…on your health, on your relationships, on your family, on your job, even on the public good.

And I should know.

About four years ago, a combination of health horrors blended together to leave me chronically sleep deprived. I'm not talking about losing couple of hours here or there, but sleeping 2-3 hours a night (if I slept at all) for a period of 3-4 months.

Nothing seemed to alleviate my nightly agony. Any medication I was prescribed would only work for a few hours, if at all. Family, web sites and professionals recommended remedies that also fell flat. Valerian root? Had the opposite effect on me, leaving me too hopped up to sleep. Same with Benadryl. At the very least, the women's magazines suggested I sneak in an afternoon nap. But I'm not a napper. I'd just lie there, staring at the ceiling and cursing my odd lot of DNA and fate.

At the time, I had recently returned to work after a back injury put me out on four months of disability leave. My physical therapist recommended, and my boss approved, a gradual schedule that started me part-time and eased me back into a full-time schedule over a period of a month or so.

But I was so dazed and weakened by lack of sleep that I could barely make it through the four-hour shifts I'd promised. Most days I struggled to get in by 9:30 and staggered out at 12:30 or 1:00. When the images on the monitor began to swirl, I had to leave even earlier. Some days I couldn't make it in at all. Some days I'd suddenly find myself at work, and couldn't remember how I got there. Also, I got sick, lost my appetite and a lot of weight (so much for that theory that sleep deprivation makes you fat…at least in my case.)

In retrospect, I shouldn't have been behind the wheel during those months. I could have killed someone, or myself. At one point I realized this, and limited my driving to days when I felt most alert. My therapist (whom, I realized later, wasn't helping me) agreed to phone sessions instead of making me drive to her office.

Eventually, it seemed clear enough to my boss that at the rate I was "progressing," I'd never make it back to my full-time schedule. My work performance, once stellar, turned pathetic. I was too ashamed to tell my boss, a woman I greatly respect and admire, about my health problems. So I could hardly blame the company for letting me go.

My last day was on a Friday in October. On Sunday morning, I broke down. Literally, I felt like I had broken. I was having trouble forming words. My lips formed the beginnings, but that's all I could get out. Then the convulsions started. Husband took me to the emergency room because he thought I'd had a stroke. In the ER, I started crying and couldn't stop. By that afternoon, I was admitted to the hospital.

Some good things resulted from that. I got a better therapist, and appropriate treatment. I learned some behavioral strategies that helped with negative thinking and depression.

And I started sleeping. It took a while, but my health, and healthy weight, returned.

I still have the occasional bad night, but I consider myself lucky. During those sleepless months, I could have nodded off behind the wheel and crashed. My sleep deprivation could have triggered serious health problems, like diabetes, heart disease, worsening depression, cognitive impairment, hallucinations, or a severely compromised immune system.

And, yes, like everybody's been warning us about, obesity.

If you've been cheating your sleep to get more done, you're only cheating yourself. If you can't sleep despite all the usual things people tell you to try, then get help. Please. Please.

So…how's your sleep? Do you conk out and sleep through the night? Do you toss and turn? Are you a light sleeper? Wake up a few times? When you can't sleep, what's worked for you?

Chocolate Meditation? Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming!

Oh, be still, my beating chocolate-loving heart! If mindfulness meditation hasn't been working for you, or if you simply want a new routine, then maybe you'll like chocolate meditation, courtesy of Elizabeth Scott's Stress Management blog. If you've never tried meditation before, this is such an easy and yummy way to start.

It has the same benefit as mindfulness meditation, but you may find it easier to stick with…probably has something to do with the immediate reward, don't you think?

To start, get one small piece of chocolate. Something bite-size is preferable (and no, not the "bite-size" of the woman in the photo.) You really don't need every much at all. If you don't like chocolate or can't eat it, try this with some other small, flavorful, bite sized food like a raisin.

Keep your piece of chocolate handy as you get comfortable in your favorite chair. Close your eyes and take a few deep, slow breaths to help relax your body. Breathe in…breathe out…breathe in…breathe out…ahhh…you're feeling better already.

Take a small bite of your chocolate. Keep it on your tongue as it melts. How does it taste? How does it really taste? Pay attention to all the flavors as you allow yourself to stay in this moment, totally absorbed in the experience. How does your mouth feel? Your tongue? Your teeth? All this while, continue taking slow, deep breaths through your nose, and concentrate on all the sensations.

Swallow. Focus your attention on the sensation of the chocolate sliding down your throat. The emptiness of your mouth…the aftertaste (if any)…how does that feel?

Take a second bite, and focus even down to how your arm, hand and fingers feel as they reach for the chocolate and bring it to your mouth. As before, "be with" all the sensations as you allow this second bite to melt…everything your feeling right now, in this moment.

If other thoughts pop into your head, gently move them back to the current experience you're having with the chocolate. The point of mindfulness meditation is to stay in the "now" as much as possible.

Sit with your experience. You can continue with the meditation if you like, breathing deeply and focusing on the lingering sensation, or continue with your day.

If you're new to meditation, you might find that a regular practice can help you lower your stress and in turn, your blood pressure. It could also reduce anxiety and improve your sleep. And a bonus…if you've got a serious chocolate jones, you may find that this mindful focus on one or two tiny bites could be enough to satisfy you.

Enjoy!

Estrogen in Bioidenticals? I Hope So!

When my doctor and I finally figured out that the wacky symptoms I'd been having - whiplash mood swings, insomnia, irregular periods, feeling hot minute, cold the next - pointed to perimenopause (that period of 4-10 years when your body transitions to menopause), she presented me with a variety of options. One, do nothing and learn to live with it. Two, try natural remedies like black cohosh, Vitamin E, flax seed, and whatever else worked for me. Three, get a prescription for synthetic hormone replacement therapy (she gave me a sample of a Premarin patch I could try, and an RX.) And four, if I didn't want the Premarin, she suggested bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, and slipped me the business card of a compounding pharmacist who she claimed was God's gift to women.

Option 1 was already out. When I'm not sleeping, I want to kill people, and that's bad. I considered Option 2 and would have gone there if my symptoms were not as severe. I eyed the prescription and sample patch that was Option 3…and it made me queasy. I'd read about the 2002 study that once again put HRT in the doghouse for increasing cancer and stroke risks. My mother had already stopped taking it. Option 4, from what I'd heard about it, seemed like my best and safest bet.

"He'll work with you and come up with just the dosage you need," my gyno said. "This guy knows more about menopause than most women."

I called Glenn, a soft-spoken and incredibly patient man, and we talked for the better part of an hour. He told me that while he'd started doing general compounding (a compounding pharmacist creates special versions of medications for people – and sometimes animals – who can't tolerate the usual prescription stuff), his wife had such an awful, wrenching time with menopause that he shifted his focus. He didn't want to see another woman go through what his wife went through. Not only did he compound various forms of "natural" estrogens and progesterones (he said that these substances are as close to what your body normally makes – or made – as you're going to come) but he offers weekly workshops on the hormones involved in menopause and what's happening with your body at different stages.

After experimenting around with differing dosages (he judges effectiveness not by blood or saliva tests – which he and many others call ineffective, since they fluctuate like crazy – but by how the patient is feeling), we found a formula I could live with. This has changed as I've progressed through perimenopause to menopause, but Glenn has always been right there, working with my doctor and me, and when time comes for me to taper off (which is also my choice), he'll be there to walk me through that, too.

Yes, like all alternative therapies, "natural" HRT has had its ups and downs in the public eye. Every so often, Big Pharma tries to shut down compounding pharmacists and especially the form of estrogen they use (estriol) which is approved for use in Europe but not in the US (I don't know why). They parade out studies that bioidentical hormones aren't FDA approved, have not been shown to be effective, have the same health risks as HRT, etc. But if you look closely at many of these studies, the funding can be traced back to one source: the pharmaceutical firm that makes Premarin, the top-selling synthetic HRT.

How about that.

You also might have seen or read Suzanne Somers' book about bioidentical hormones, or saw her when she appeared on Oprah to promote it. This caused a major hooplah, and many called Somers a "quack" who had no business telling women to ditch their Premarin patches and start rubbing progesterone cream into their arms.

Last year, thanks to grassroots support and the IACP (International Association of Compounding Pharmacists), compounding pharmacists like Glenn were able to beat back an FDA lawsuit that would have banned them from selling compounds made from estriol. Which would have forced me to take synthetic hormones or wait the month or two it might take for things like black cohosh and Vitamin E to work.

Now, I guess, the FDA has regrouped and is itching for a rematch. An article put out by the AP yesterday chapped my rump. The headline? "Bioidentical not FDA-approved, contain estrogen."

Well, duh. That's why I take them. Any woman who works with an ethical, licensed compounding pharmacist should know that their bioidentical HRT (unless you're taking just progesterone) contains estrogen. Every order (at least my order) comes with a warning – just like the literature you'd get if you filled a prescription with a traditional pharmacist – outlining the risks and the possible side effects.

And FDA approval? Holy Christmas. I've seen what drugs have been put out under the blanket of FDA approval, and what they can do to people, myself included. One of the main reasons the FDA approval has been withheld from compounded bioidenticals is because the dosages vary depending on the prescribers' needs, and there's no way the FDA can verify the effectiveness of all of these doses. But being able to get a dose that fits my body is one of the main reasons I chose bioidentical HRT. I can get lactose free capsules free of the dyes and fillers and whatever that can be added to synthetic prescription drugs.

In this article (which was horridly biased, in my opinion), the writer found a couple of women to interview who seemed only to know that bioidenticals are "natural" and better than synthetics. These women had "no other knowledge base than fear" when they made their selection.

Then, several unreferenced doctors nodded in agreement that women are getting products of "unknown risk" that "still contain the estrogen many of them fear."

Which, in my opinion, is another bogus attempt to discredit a form of treatment that has benefited so many women. Odd how in this article, no interviews were done with women who may have been tremendously helped by BHRT.

I don't know for certain that bioidenticals are indeed "natural." I do know that for me, they work. I take them, fully informed, and feel much better about it than slapping a patch full of God-knows-what on my ass. Maybe you feel differently, but that's OK. Everybody is different, and you have to do what feels right for you.

However, if you are interested in trying bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, don't feel discouraged by the FDA machine or by your own doctor, who might be buying into the Big Pharma misinformation campaign. But do educate yourself. Go to the IACP website. Choose a competent, licensed compounding pharmacy. Talk to the pharmacist. Know the risks and the benefits. See if it's right for you.

So…if any of you are going through perimenopause, how has it been for you? Have you chosen to tough out your symptoms, or get help from your gyno? Have any of you tried bioidenticals? If yes, what's been your experience? And those of you who are trying alternatives like black cohosh, how's that working out for you?

Photo by Alex Capelli

This Is For All Of You!!!! Thank you!!!!!

I am grateful and humbled and honored to be chosen your "Blogger of the Month." When Jess announced it last night (Was it Jess? Or Leigh? My head is still swirling, or maybe that was because I made the margaritas a bit too strong.) I had to blink a couple times to make sure it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me.

But thank you, thank you, thank you, to Leigh and everyone at PNN for your faith in me, your love and support and inspiration and snarky comments and all of it.

And I promise, as your Blogger of the Month, that I will wear my tiara with pride, comport myself in public with style and grace (hah!) and make sure that all of those "artistic" photos of me that have been circulating around the internet are taken down and destroyed. Oh, except this one.

I feel so blessed…

I'm Officially A Published Novelist!

I’m so excited I can’t stand it! (*me, jumping up and down, then banging my shin against the coffee table*) After years of letting the dishes pile up, burning dinner, sending all the calls to the answering machine and becoming a social hermit, I finally can call myself a published novelist!

Inspired by a college bud, D. A. Madigan, who put his SF novels up on Amazon as Kindle editions, I prepped and posted this one. “Goldberg Variations” is one of my favorite literary “children,” and my husband was nice enough to waive his usual exorbitant fee and design me this cover. Big hand for the hubster! Woo hoo!

If you have a Kindle, you can buy the book for $7.99, or Amazon is nice enough to let you sample the first few chapters for free. Or, if you don’t have a Kindle, read the first chapter here.

Thank You!

This is a belated but glorious "thank you" both to PNN for giving me the honor of being your "Health and Well-Being" featured author, and to all of my readers for, well, reading, and supporting me.

And that's one of the things I like best about writing for PNN - the supportive environment.

It's been shown that surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people - physically, and, as more studies are proving out - on the web as well - is great for your health. Social contact can reduce stress, provide important outlets during times of duress, and even help you live longer!

So, I raise a virtual glass (of sparkling apple juice) to our health-to our individual health, the health of our nation, and the health of our world.

To all of you writers, keep writing. To all of my readers, please keep reading-I welcome your comments with an open heart and an open mind. And maybe more of you will want to express yourself here as writers, too.

It's a good place to be.

Namaste.