Hi everyone,

If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen me post about The Healthy Hormones Group Program* that I decided to participate in. This is a program that was designed by two people I love and respect in the community. Megan Blacksmith of Ginger Newtrition, and Alex Golden of DIGPrimal. Megan is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, and Alex is an MD. Together they have developed a fantastic program to help women heal their hormone imbalances, and start getting back to better health.

If you’ve been following along here for a while you know that I have been pretty open about my struggles with severe anxiety and some depression. It’s been something that I’ve dealt with since I was a child, but only in recent years has it become really problematic in my life. I started developing panic attacks after being on a dose of thyroid medication that was incorrect for me, while living in a house that flooded several times, and while planning our wedding.

As I’ve continued on this path, and really paid attention to my body, and what is going on with me, I have also realized that all of my major setbacks have been around my monthly cycle. I almost got a perfect score on an online PMDD test, which I did just for fun, but trust me-severe PMS/PMDD is zero fun. I pretty much go downhill as soon as I ovulate, with the 3 days before my period being the worst, and I don’t really come out of it until about days 5-7. So that doesn’t leave me with many days each month that have the potential to feel very good.

So how did my hormones get so out of balance? Many factors. Chronic stress, yo-yo dieting, poor diet choices, restrictive diets, too much sugar, poor sleep cycles, over exercising while under eating, taking thyroid hormone that I wasn’t tolerating, living in a house with water damage. The list goes on. Every time I wonder how the heck I jacked myself up so much, I remember all of the years that I woke up in the morning and went to hot yoga, spin class, or crossfit with an empty stomach, then came home and didn’t eat for at least an hour (not including drive time home). Tried to eat a lower calorie meal after a grueling workout, and then couldn’t get off the couch (huge red flag) until I had to be somewhere. Then when I was overly hungry later in the day, and unable to control my cravings, overate on foods I was trying to restrict. Then staying up late at night, only to wake up in the morning and start the cycle all over again. It takes a toll, and eventually your body will tell you when you can’t do it anymore.

For the past year I have struggled with extreme fatigue, crippling anxiety, painful depression, blood sugar issues which involves needing to eat every 2 hours but having zero appetite, sensitivity to heat, light and sounds, and bouts of insomnia. It is not a fun place to be, and something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I have detoxed, treated a systemic mold and yeast infection, eliminated hormone disrupting chemicals from my life, tried to rest and eliminate stressors, meditated, done therapy and other forms of coaching. I’ve literally done it all. I’ve done a lot of great stuff for myself over the last year, and seen many improvements, but unfortunately I still cannot get my hormones in balance, or really get my body out of fight or flight, and that cycle is not a good one to be in.

Toward the end of February this year I started getting more insomnia. Every other night I wasn’t able to fall asleep until about 4 am, so I knew that something bad was going on with my adrenals, and I wanted to get on top of it before things got too out of hand. Unfortunately after a month of those sleep issues, things started to feel like they were getting out of hand again. Let me rephrase that, sh*t was starting to hit the fan again. With the fear of reliving the crisis I was in last year, I decided to join Megan and Alex’s next hormone group, and try to figure out the hormone issues for real. There’s nothing like signs of a relapse after improving steadily, to throw you into a little panic, and push you to take things really seriously. There are a few other things I am doing to try to help with the situation, which I will talk about later as things move along, but I am really looking forward to getting another snapshot of my hormones and neurotransmitters and continue to work toward getting my body back in balance.

Megan and Alex are extremely compassionate (and competent) practitioners, and they both have gone through their own severe struggles with hormone imbalance. They truly are experts with hormone balance, and are doing amazing things to help women feel their best. Click here for more information on the group program. If you are struggling with hormone imbalance, and looking to take steps toward healing, I highly recommend checking out this program, and I hope to see you there with me!

Learn More about The Healthy Hormones Group Program

xo,

Hayley

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