Long time no post.

Ahh. Back from vacation, into my new work schedule, and getting ready to hit the Keys on Thursday. Let's hope the weather holds up.

My new vitamin/holistic treatments have been going awesome. In the first week I lost 6lbs by just changing my diet to a insulin resistant form, though I promptly gained the weight back in NYC (Hey, there was a Mr. Softee on every corner and Magnolia was a block from our hotel. What was a girl to do?). Joe and I started back at the gym this evening, not only did it feel great, but I had more than enough energy to get through 40 minutes on the elliptical! That might not seem like a feat to others, but to me, it's a hugeee step in the right direction.

Since I've started this blog, I've discovered something. There are a lot of women with Endo. More than I really probably ever imagined. I also noticed that they are all looking for someone to understand what they are going through. Far and few between are there people who truly get what Endometriosis is, and unless they are someone who suffers or personally know someone who suffers, they simply have no idea. We Endo girls are a tight-knit group, who in the face of so many things, conqur every day life with a smile and grace. When we find someone else who has this disease we run to them in a way that can only be described as hopeful and optimistic. We are thankful to find another person who "gets it."

So, to those women out there who "get it," this is for you. :D

P.s. 6 months after Joe proposed, I finally finally finally booked a photog for our E-Pics. Yay!

NYC

Off to NYC tomorrow for a bit of a vacation! Be back on the 21st with pictures :) And a full tummy! Maybe I'll even make an impromptu visit to the Endo Foundation? Hmmmmm....

A few reasons to smile

1.) Luciano aka "Lucky"












2.) Rocco















3.) Bella

Sleepy head

Despite massive (ok, maybe not massive...) amounts of B-12 and CoQ10... I'm exhausted. 

What is that all about?

Dear exhaustion, go away. Thanks. - Me

Busy. Busy. Busy.

My new vitamin/supplement regiment has been somewhat hard to organize and get used to. I can't seem to remember which pills I need to take and when exactly I need to take them. I've gone to writing every pill down on a piece of paper every morning and gradually marking the pills off as I take them. It's been fairly successful the past two days, but since I'm on vacation and not really in a regular schedule, I've noticed that I'm sort of all over the place with everything. 

It was a busy weekend: I turned 25 yesterday, on Mother's Day none-the-less. Not sure when that all happened, but I can rent a car now. Good stuff. Olivia, my 8 year old niece, also received her very first Holy Communion. She looked beautiful. I'll post pictures soon.

I've also been pain free for about a week or so now. I did not notice any ovulation pain. AF was due yesterday, but the new vitamins might have delayed her visit. Who knows? I guess time will tell :P

Hope everyone has a happy Monday!!

Holy vitamins

Here is my new supplement schedule:

Morning: 

PRX - 3 when waking.

Adrenio-Lyph-160 - 2 before breakfast.

Iodo-Lite - 2 with breakfast.

Afternoon:

Glucarate - 2 per day.

DIMension 3 - 3 twice daily.

Theanine 100 - 2 three times daily.

Prevagen - 1 per day.

Iodo-Lite - 2 with lunch. 

Evening:

Fishmax - 2 with dinner.

Magnesium Citrate - three at bedtime.

Iodo-Lite - 2 with dinner. 

My bathroom counter looks like the vitamin aisle at Whole Foods. 

Oh, and I munch on CoQ10 and B-12 tablets all day. At least they're yummy. 

Yum

Too bad Gummy Bears weren't the cure for Endometriosis. 

Naturopathic doctors appointment.

I've seen more doctors than I can count on my fingers and toes. Doctors who seem to know what they are talking about, and doctors who obviously cheated on their MCATs. I spent a few years with a great one in Orlando, Dr. Ashley Hill. He is an Endo specialist to some degree and offered me a great deal of pain relief. But, like other doctors, he could only take me so far. The past couple of months have been rather painful. Periods are progressively getting worse, I'm exhausted after 10 hours of sleep, and as hard as I try, I cannot seem to lose weight.

Conventional doctors are often very set in their ways. They have tunnel vision. I've walked into doctors offices doubled over in pain begging for another laparoscopy because I KNOW there is something wrong, and these "drs" send me off with more painkiller than I ever need. (It's no wonder why or how this country has such a high dependency on drugs. We give them out like candy.) So, I decided recently to take an unconventional route of medical treatment and go natural.

Dr. Marlene Lepore is a Naturopathic Doctor here in South Florida. She uses Bio Meridian as a way to "diagnose." Now, I write "diagnose" for a reason, as Dr. Lepore isn't really "diagnosing" anything. Rather, is she finding the reason behind a problem. Bio Meridian uses your acupuncture medridian system to discover any imbalance in each organ. For instance, Dr Lepore used a probe (no needles, I promise!) on the ends of my fingers and toes, as well as on my hand to find readings on what organs are stressed, or what imbalances/impurities I have in my body. Let me just say this, for about three years now I've been in and out of doctors offices asking if my thyroid is normal. Thyroid issues run in my family and I have every telltale sign that it's off. Ok, sometimes that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I've have my blood taken over four times for my thyroid and it always came up in the "normal" range. Dr. Lepore tested my thyroid with Bio Meridian and low-and-behold my thyroid was totally out of whack! She also discovered I'm severally hypoglycemic and that my adrenal glandes are very inflammed from stress. Sitting there and talking to her gave me more clarity than I have ever had. Lightblubs started to go off, "Oh! So that's why this is happening," and, "Ah! That's why I feel like that." She finally did diagnose me with PCOS, as my FSH was disgustingly low. I knew I wasn't ovulation! God, I love this woman, and I love her more for telling me she can fix it!

After about an hour of all this fun self discovering stuff, Dr. Lepore gave me a bag load of natural supplements to take home. See, this is the difference... natural doctors find out exactly where the problem in stemming from and treat it directly. Conventional doctors diagnose, write a 'script that simply masks the problem and send you on your way - for the most part, anyhow.

I'm excited to start my new treatments. I have a follow-up appointment in four weeks, which will allow Dr. Lepore to see which supplements I need to continue taking and which ones I can stop. This is the first time that I left a doctors appointment feeling better then when I walked in! :D

Who knew!?

I'm a longggggggggggggg time Top Chef lover. I think I've probably watched each season twice -compliments to Bravo  for replaying each season as many times as they possibly can! So, who knew the entire time I was watch the beautiful Padma Lakshmi on television, judging those talented chefs, that she herself was suffering from Endometriosis? Not me, that's for sure. The Endo Community needs to give Ms. Padma a huge pat on the back. She helped form the Endometriosis Foundation of America [link at bottom of post] this year with other co-founders. The board is very impressive, with a long list of talented and educated doctors. The foundation is based in the center of the universe, aka New York City, and hopes to raise as much awareness as possible. They are even taking this disease to Congress in hope to get more research money! Oh, the thought of Endometriosis actually being taken seriously.... The joy is overwhelming! 

The entire point of all this is  awareness and education. How do we except to be heard if we're not also understood? Our employers are just as important as Congress in the education and understanding of this disease. It's not a joke, by any means, nor is it a "gimmick." Women with breast cancer lose their breasts, women with endometriosis lose their uterus'. And, no, I am not comparing cancer to endo, though I have heard the comparison, and believe me - in the end... it's not that far off. Why does Endometriosis deserve any less recognition than diabetes (which, by the way, runs in my family), or cervical cancer? Endometriosis suffers are fighters. We brave the day one step at a time, often running on no pain killers and numerous over-the-counter medicines that simply take the edge off the pain. Imagine, if you will, getting up in the morning with a knife in your pelvis and having to go about your day as normal as you possibly can. For guys, if you read this, take your testicles (shh, don't laugh) and tape them to the side of your leg. Now, try and walk around your living room normally. Key word: normally. Hard to imagine, huh? Finally, after years of screaming for help... someone is listening.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/195406/page/2

http://news.aol.com/health/article/padma-lakshmi-endometriosis-foundation/435969?icid=main

http://www.endofound.org/index.php