When I was poorly and before I had my hysterectomy, I would often have sleeping issues which would leave me oversleeping (sometimes even needing to sleep during the day) and then the opposite, where I would often wake up with a start, and would then be awake with for several hours. The result would be an inability to cope with the day ahead, and then a compulsion to sleep, and so the cycle goes on . If you've ever suffered from insomnia you will be familiar with this pattern, which can often leave you despairing and reaching for sleeping tablets, or worse, alcohol which has the added ability to wake you suffering from dehydration. Sometimes I would wake with a racing heart and sometimes my mind would be going over and over on an endless loop as the adrenaline flooded my system, and fuelled my sense of impending doom.
After reading and learning about hormones and discovering that I had a hormonal illness, I found a perfect solution to my insomnia, and that is natural progesterone. My body was clearly having issues maintaining equilibrium, and so I used this amazing medicine to help me with my sleeping problems, particularly if I awoke in the early hours. To make sure however, that it wasn't only me that this could work for, I just conducted the same experiment on a friend to be sure that it wasn't just a happy coincidence.
This particular friend is one of my 'hormonal sisters' and has had health issues for sometime with PMS, mood swings and crippling insomnia which again would leave her suffering from exhaustion, and would even enhance her mood swings. As an experiment, I asked her to use some Progesterone with a small snack before bed, and then again if she awoke in the night which she did. By Day 1 her sleeping had already improved, and by day 2 and 3, she was astonished by her new sleep pattern. She even noticed that the 'quality' of her sleep had improved and she was able to sleep more soundly and deeply. This I might add was after several weeks of lying awake and catastrophizing, which I can assure you is deeply unpleasant and has the ability to ruin your life. I'm delighted that it has worked for her and it adds weight to my book 'I blame the Hormones' where I explain perfectly how hormones are often overlooked and completely misunderstood. Another bonus to this is that her PMS this month is also non-existent, which at times was severe and debilitating and had required medical intervention.
Before you use natural progesterone, which you can by easily online, you should always have a chat with your GP as some women are intolerant to both, the natural and synthetic kind. However, if you have been suffering from any hormonal issues, you can always give it a try and should ask your doctor for a prescription. The particular brand I use is called CYCLOGEST and has the added bonus of being cheaper, and can work within the first hour of using. The only side effect is a little gastric wind, but it is in my experience that this soon passes the more your body gets used to the suppository. The progesterone cream can be purchased easily enough, and you rub it into the skin where it is easily metabolized and can lessen any troublesome symptoms, particularly pre-menstrual mood swings.
For further reading on the miracle that is our hormones, I would take look at an amazing website by an amazing lady (Sonya),at www.hormonesoup.com/ where you can find tons of information about women's health issues, and where there is even a television channel for this sole cause!
Please let me know your thoughts on this topic and let me know if it works for you, Suzi, AKA Caroline Church x
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