I was reading my Woman's Day magazine this morning... I know it's a magazine that is really too old for me... but somewhere along the way I ended up with a subscription - and I probably won't renew it so that I can get something else that I'll enjoy more.
Speaking of that - while I'm working on my Christmas list this year... I'm wondering what magazines you guys can't live without... I've got Real Simple, Food Newtwork, and Taste of Home on the list... but I'm considering adding Everyday with Rachel Ray to the list. What magazines are must haves?
Anyway, back to the point of this post...
I came across their health section and on big bold letters - I saw "New Help for PCOS" - I know that some of my other readers suffer from this diagnosis like I do, so I thought I'd pass this along. This is what they had to say: "If you're among the 10 percent of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), you know how hard it can be to treat, and that common remedies (like birth control pills) often don't do enough. New research reveals another option: acupuncture. A Swedish study found that women with PCOS who got weekly electroacupuncture treatments - which use needles that carry mild electrical impulses - had lower testosterone levels, reduced waist circumference and more regular menstral cycles after four months. 'The needles' stimulation seems to impact part of the nervous system linked to regulating sex hormones', says study author Elizabeth Stener-Victorin, PhD. Check out nccam.nih.gov to find an accupuncturist in your area, and be sure to ask if he or she does electroacupuncture."
John's on board... hahahaha... anyway - it is an interesting piece of information. I highly doubt that I'll try it - because I have this irrational fear of accupuncture and then adding the electric pulses makes me have this image of myself wetting my pants because I can't control my muscles. I know - it's silly, but it does make me nervous. I'm sure it would do wonders if I tried it out though.
Another weird health possibility has come to my attention as well - and since my two year surgical anniversary is coming up in 15 days... I'll need to go see my doctor anyway... so I plan on asking him what he thinks. Earlier this week, I learned of someone in our church having something called Hashimoto's Disease. I'm not kidding you when I say that I honestly think there is something here.
I believe that I've told you all about my sister having auto-immune hepatitis which is a disease where her body literally has been trying to attack her liver as if it were a foreign substance in her body that it needs to fight off. Hashimoto's Disease is similar in that it is your body attacking and trying to kill over your thyroid gland.
This disorder is believed to be the most common cause of hypothyroidism in North America. An average of 1 to 1.5 people in 1,000 have this disease. It occurs more often than women than in men (10:1 to 20:1) and is most often found in people between 45 and 65 years of age. (I've always been an early achiever!)
Symptoms include: weight gain, depression, mania, sensitivity to cold, fatigue, panic attacks, bradycardia, tachycardia, high cholesterol, reactive hypoglysemia, constipation, migraines, muscle weakness, cramps, memory loss, infertility, and hair loss.
It is often misdiagnosed as: bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, PMS, cyclothymia, or depression. It can be treated with medications... but I will be asking if they can explore this as an option when I go in to see my doctor in the next month.
Copyright © 2007-2010 Thoughts By Kim. The content on these pages, including text and images are the sole property of the author unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
I agree, I am freaked out by the idea of needles. I think I would probably have to be sedated in order to do acupuncture. I doubt they do it with sedation so that leaves me out. I think I could do acupressure though. Maybe. It is possible that I am too ticklish - ticklish enough to cause a masseuse to say that he had never worked on anyone more ticklish than I.
ReplyDelete