Heather Hall

Wow, way ahead of you there! I was in the hospital a month last year
for that very problem. I have had a lot of bumps on my path here. I'm
just starting to feel like I can actively parent. My adrenals are
shot, my liver is trying to play catch up, had surgery while I was
pregnant with Crispin, had to quit nursing at 8 weeks, been driving to
the farm every week for over a year to get raw milk to make his formula
from scratch so I don't have to feed him Nastie. I still consider it
whining, but I do come from a fair amount of crap to whine about.
Mostly got it resolved now - I mean I feel close to normal. It's
mostly tweaking the hormones at this point and I think I found the
right person to help me with that finally. I knew it was that from the
very beginning, but the stupid docs kept telling me I was bi-polar and
my thyroid was fine! I never asked *once* about my stupid thyroid!
They just listened with closed ears, cost me my nursing relationship
and a year of parenting.
Wow! Sorry! you guys seem to have hit some chords that are helping me
vent anew. Hope you don't mind. Your honesty is refreshing and I'm
finding it very helpful.

Heather
On Thursday, August 7, 2003, at 09:52 PM,
[email protected] wrote:

> Wow. That's a problem all by itself. That's ten hours. That could
> be a
> symptom of depression unless it's a lifelong pattern. I go to bed
> late and get
> up early and have less crowded times on both ends of that.
>
--
Heather, mom to
Harriet 12.15.99
Crispin 01.25.02
heatherette@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

indigodream_76

hi heather!

wow, i really relate to *so much* of what you've written in recent
messages. woo, have you got a lot on your plate!

regarding this bit about the liver and adrenals, and depression-or-
something-like-it in general, here are some of the things that help
me (when i can muster up the determination to actually *do* them):

-start each day with a *full liter* of tepid water spiked with the
juice of half a fresh lemon. drink all the water, all at once, first
thing every morning on an empty stomach. it then takes about 20
minutes to flush out your system. this is a little thing but it makes
a really big difference.

-drink 2-3 cups roasted dandelion root tea daily to support the
liver. the flavor is closer to coffee than "tea". (no caffeine,
though.) eat more fresh fruits & vegetables, less simple carbs.

-hatha yoga classes. (emphasis on *class*, not just a video,
especially for beginners. i'm a former iyengar yoga teacher and feel
it's very important to have proper personalized guidance to attain
maximum benefit from yogasana and to avoid strain or injury.)

-acupuncture. i can't tell you what a difference this makes for me!
it lifts my mood, keeps my head clearer and gives me more energy. my
health insurance actually covers a huge chunk of the cost, too!
during the 8 weeks that i was neither pregnant nor breastfeeding in
the last 5 years, my L.Ac. put me on adrenal-supportive herbs that
helped me tremendously. (massage is also fantastic, and some health
insurance plans cover that too! boy, would i love to start one day
each week with a massage!)

-sharing the weight. my mother-in-law just moved in with us 3 weeks
ago. before then, we had no family locally, and all of our friends
were moving out-of-state one after another. i'd spent the better part
of 5 years with no babysitter, no "dates" with hubby, no helping hand
around the house unless hubby was available and little social
interaction. (we're a one-vehicle family and it for the last year
hasn't been practical for me to take hubby to work so i can have the
van. it's been a rough year!) MIL's living with us is a temporary
arrangement, just until she gets her own place in this area (which is
well in the works). so she won't always be here to wash my dishes
every night, but she will be just across town when i need an extra
hand or a little "me time".

what *didn't* help me, oddly enough, is counseling. maybe i had a bad
counselor or just didn't really need it, but it was such a huge waste
of my time and money.

if you can give your depression a name that will allow the energy to
move outward (eg, "anger"), that can help tremendously too. i've
decided to face the fact that i'm absolutely furious about a lot of
things in my past and present situations. my acupuncturist (who is a
trained jungian analyst) said i should wear a lot of red. well, i had
almost no red whatsoever in my wardrobe so i did some shopping, and i
must say i'm very glad i did! it's subtle, but color therapy does
make a noticeable difference.

it also helps me to get creative. make stuff. draw, paint, write,
make origami mobiles, whatever. this can be interesting with the kids
around, as i really prefer to have my own creative space. so i either
give them a project or their own, or wait until they are busy or
asleep to dive into my creative work.

well, i hope some of that inspires you. and if not, just know that
someone else out there understands the sort of thing you're going
through, and is sending pleasant thoughts & "vibes" your way. :)

you mentioned hormones needing tweaking. are you estrogen dominant?
i've been meaning to get to a local ND recommended by my L.Ac. to get
my hormone levels tested and see about getting myself on a good
progesterone cream. i get the impression that's the sort of thing you
were referring to. if you try it, would you let me know your
experience? i've heard a lot of praises about natural progesterone
cream and am really intrigued.

take care!
--
stacie
wiped-out, frazzled, but loving mama to:
zoë - 5 yrs
madilyn - almost 4 yrs
gavin - 13 mos






--- In [email protected], Heather Hall
<Heatherette@c...> wrote:
> Wow, way ahead of you there! I was in the hospital a month last
year
> for that very problem. I have had a lot of bumps on my path here.
I'm
> just starting to feel like I can actively parent. My adrenals are
> shot, my liver is trying to play catch up,

Heather Hall

Us too! Thanks for this post, it's really helpful.
On Friday, August 8, 2003, at 07:02 PM,
[email protected] wrote:

> we're a one-vehicle family
--
Heather, mom to
Harriet 12.15.99
Crispin 01.25.02
heatherette@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]