I was voted most likely to be on crutches my senior year of high school. The youngest of three rowdy children, a student athlete, and was once ran over by a mail truck. My mom’s favorite story is how a friend of mine’s mother asked her if something was wrong with me after I tripped at least 20 x’s just walking around the block. She smiled and replied, “oh no, that’s just our Bear.” I was what you would call an “accident prone.” Growing up my family had immense trust in the modern medical system, and utilized it often, especially with my various trips to the ER. When our primary care physician (PCP) recommended something, we followed the recommendations, no questions asked as many families do. It wasn’t until I went to graduate school that I began to question why I was being told to do something, an attitude that has brought us to this blog.

I was chronically sick. I couldn’t eat a meal without taking a 3 hour nap, my digestion system was constantly battling me, and I would frequently experience agonizing sharp pains in my abdomen, and constant indigestion. I was extremely irritable, depressed, and anxious. As a pre-med biology major and college athlete, I couldn’t allow my body to be failing me, so I made a call to my PCP. They gave me guidelines, they gave me pills, they masked my symptoms, and nothing changed. After three visits they referred me out after checking with DR. GOOGLE! The sad thing is, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this.

My gastroenterologist was top rated, and I was hopeful. He immediately set me up for an endoscopy. For those of you that don’t know, and endoscopy is where they sedate you and use a camera scope to follow your intestinal tract down through your mouth and into about the top 1/3 of your small intestine. Along the journey they will take samples of your intestinal tract to make sure there aren’t any abnormalities. My results: nothing remarkable, borderline celiac, but “nothing to be concerned with.” However, he wanted to put me on a medication to “regenerate the nerve endings in my stomach.” At the time my question should have been, “If there are no abnormalities, why am I taking a medication for nerve regeneration?” My second question should have been “what is this miracle medication?”

ALERT: ITS OKAY TO QUESTION YOUR DOCTOR!!! It’s okay to wonder why you are taking a medication, or recommended an activity. As a doctor I encourage my patient’s to ask question. I will admit if I don’t know the answer, and you will have the answer on your next visit, or next day via phone call. If a doctor is offended by questions, get a new doctor! It’s okay, and highly recommended, that you research any medication prescribed to you before consenting. Just because you get a prescription for a drug, DOES NOT mean that you need to fill it. We are in complete control of what we put into our bodies. Especially if those things (medications) can have a significant effect on other systems in our bodies. We are in the midst of movement’s where women are speaking up and advocating for the choices we make for our bodies. This is amazing! So why do we blindly take medications without researching them first? Have you noticed that during this movement more and more birth controls have come out? Birth controls that have not been studied for a long enough period of time to truly understand the ramifications of infertility. That’s a topic for a future post.

The miracle medication was simply an anti depressant, unbeknownst to me. It wasn’t until I went to receive my doctorate that I realized why this was prescribed. There’s a condition called Psychosomatization, broken down this means that your body (somatic) is perceiving pain based off of emotions or stressors (brain: psycho). While psychosomatic disorder is a very real condition, sometimes it is diagnosed as a last ditch effort. My problem with my prescription was:

1. That I wasn’t told the real reason I was to be taking these medications, or that the medication was an antidepressant.
2. The prescription didn’t say that it would be treating any of the symptoms I was having.

However, I got all the side effects that came along with it (weight gain, mood swings, severe depression, etc). When I would stop taking the medication my body would spiral and I would go through withdrawals, finding myself unable to get off my bedroom floor.

I knew that this medication was affecting me physically and emotionally, and aiding in the destruction of personal relationships. I knew the withdrawals were debilitating, but I believed I could take control of my health and life. While speaking with a mentor of mine we concluded to screw the medication recommendations, and approach my issues from a holistic view. Starting with a diet change. Don’t you just hate that, reading a whole blog to hear the obvious truth: the food we consume dictates the way our body functions.

The food we choose to consume can also create by products of inflammation in our intestines. Guess what, that inflammation doesn’t just stay in your gut! It travels, throughout your body and can settle in joints, muscles, and even your brain! Brain inflammation can lead to lethargy, mood swings, and forgetfulness! (Stay tuned). My body was lashing out at me for the choices I was making. I ate pasta almost every day, ice cream was free and included in my college meal plan, so I ate it EVERY DAY. I was slowly killing myself with inflammation, and I was suffering from 20 years of bad choices. It was when I made the choice to eliminate foods that were leaving me chronically ill that I started to feel better. I didn’t need the after lunch nap, the mid day coffee, or to set 5 alarms to wake up in the morning. No longer did I get the painful cysts and cramps with my cycle, and for the first time in my life I was regular.  My body adapted, the way it is supposed to, and utilized the nutrient rich foods I was eating to heal itself.

This blog will breakdown women’s health issues through valid research so that you can make a choice. What worked for me may not work for you, but you should know why it is recommended. Don’t rely on Dr. Google for an answer, question your health!

Women feel we need permission. We need to lead and change that – Emma Watson