Physical Well-Being

I have been blessed with relatively good health.  

I won't say I'm lucky.  I make very conscious choices about diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits, and those choices have contributed to my overall well-being.

But as I've gotten older, I've noticed that some things don't work like they used to. 

For instance, there are some quirky aches and pains that I didn't really notice before, like my right hip suddenly started hurting - like all of the time.  So much so that it was affecting my sleep.  

I did what most people do, after ignoring it until I couldn't anymore, I went to see a medical professional.  Based on nothing more than I said it hurts and I am, now, a woman of an age, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis.   I was advised to take over-the-counter pain meds (you know, aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen - but not all at once), and the plan was to continue to evaluate it, and if it got worse, we could discuss my options, which were: medication and surgery. 

I mean, seriously?  Are those REALLY the only two options?  Take a drug or get cut open??

I'm not really interested in either of those two treatment options, but neither do I wish to be in pain all of the time or to start depending on OTCs for pain management.  I guess I don't want to manage the pain. 

I don't want to just quit feeling pain.  What I really is to understand it.  I mean, of course, I don't want to be up all night because my hip hurts, but addressing just the pain without knowing WHY there's pain is sort of like, putting a bucket under a leak to keep the floor dry without trying to figure out why the floor is getting wet to begin with.  

So, I started doing some reading.

Did you know that decreases in estrogen can cause joint pain?   As a woman becomes of an age, childbearing hormones start to decrease.  It happens.  It's inevitable, and many women, as a result, end up with joint pain, and almost always, they are told there's not really anything to be done except - medication or surgery.

But that's not all I discovered.  You know what else can cause joint pain?  Increased levels of cortisol.  Cortisol is also known as the "stress hormone."  

But, wait, there's more.  You know what else can be a symptom of decreased estrogen and increased cortisol levels?  Weight gain!

You know what else can cause joint pain?  Increased weight gain!

So, here I am, becoming a woman of an age and finding that the body that I thought I knew was changing into something completely alien.  It's the biological equivalent to TEOTWAIKI - the end of the world as I knew it.  My body was becoming something completely foreign to me.  

It was like this crazy little hamster-wheel.  At the same time that my body started losing estrogen, my stress levels increased due to some lifestyle changes, and I started putting on weight like I had never done before.  All of a sudden, I didn't even recognize myself, and everything hurt. 

With zero thanks or credit to my doctors, things have changed.  

Adding some supplements to help stabilize my hormone fluctuations and starting a regular exercise program made all the difference - no drugs and no surgery. 

The one thing, though, that I feel very strongly has made a huge difference, for me, is beginning a Yoga practice, that includes Yin Yoga.  

If you don't know what Yin Yoga is, I recommend you take a look, especially if you're someone who is getting up there in age.