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 life as I knew it.  My body was becoming something competely foreign to me.  

It was like this crazy little hamsterwheel.  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.