The past two weeks we have been featuring guest posts by one of my patients, who was thrown into surgical menopause at a relatively young age. Many women may recognize the signs and symptoms Erin experienced. Like Angelina Jolie, she is sharing her story in hopes of helping others.
After a few weeks with hormone pellets, it was clear that my energy was returning. While I felt better, it was my friends, family members, and coworkers who first noticed the change in me. One of my coworkers explained, “It’s like the light of YOU came back on. There was life in your eyes again.” Oddly enough, it took me longer to truly understand what he meant.
One morning, while I was driving on the freeway to work, I felt strange. I had a moment of panic, thinking “what’s wrong with me now?” I took the next exit and stopped to do a quick wellness check so I could decide if I needed to head for the nearest hospital. Nope, not having a heart attack. No palpitations, racing heart or pain. Not dizzy, queasy or weak. No migraine coming on. OMG, what was happening??
It finally dawned on me that I simply felt really, really good. Amazingly good. The “throw your hat in the air, whoop, holler, hug random people and a spontaneous dance party breaks out” movie kind of good.
Feeling awful had been my normal for so many years that feeling good was a completely foreign sensation to me. That’s why I hadn’t recognized it immediately.
This scenario is pretty common with new patients, Dr. DeRosa explained during a follow-up visit. You just don’t understand how bad you really felt until you start feeling good again. My blood work also showed marked improvements in my metabolic functions. I was indeed getting better.
Dr. DeRosa had seen me regularly through all of these changes, and she assured me that the one thing that hadn’t shown as much improvement – my weight – would be addressed once we had my hormone levels balanced and steady. “First things first,” she said to me over and over. She said that once my hormones had a chance to work together for a while, my metabolism would begin firing up again. In the meantime, she said, “Eat well, drink a lot of water and don’t worry about it. We’ll get there.” And she was right.
Pounds began to slowly, naturally drop away. I wanted to shed the weight faster. Once I’d reached steady hormone levels where I consistently felt good and had an abundance of energy, it was time. I made an appointment to begin the MiraVita Metamorphosis Weight Loss Program. And the next phase of my personal transformation was launched.
Recognize any of these signs or symptoms? Call our office for an appointment: 480.619.4097