As you may already know from my 2024 health story, I’ve learned much about stress and its impact on your body.
When my cycles stopped in late 2023, I blamed the fact that I was travelling at a different altitude.
For months, I’d been complaining of feeling tired, and whenever anyone asked if I wanted to go out, my standard reply became, ‘I’d love to, but I’m exhausted.’
So when my cycles, which had always been on a healthy 28-day cycle, stopped for one month, two months and then three months, I took myself to the doctor.
After the results of one blood test and one 15-minute appointment, I was (mis-)diagnosed by the Western Medical System and told I’d gone through early Menopause because my cycles stopped abruptly. All my other scary symptoms, such as brain fog, feeling the lowest I’d ever felt, not wanting to see anyone, aches and pains all through my joints, vertigo and styles breaking out in my eyes, were dismissed as menopause and 8 months, I believed the diagnosis and the prognosis. ‘this is menopause; you’ll learn to deal with it.’
For eight months, I navigated life in a “menopause” unit,l because of the other crippling symptoms I had, I found an “alternative medicine doctor” who spent two hours with me, listening to me, looking at a range of symptoms and told me that it was an imbalance in my body caused by an accumulation of stress over the years that had built up in my body. My cycle returned within a week of following her program, changing my diet, reducing stress, and moving to yoga. It’s taken me four months to bring calmness back into my life, wake up and feel like I can breathe easily, and see the light and energy in my eyes again.
Here’s something you might not know about stress
The first system it will start to shut down in the reproductive system this includes, stopping or skipping cycles, in men it can cause impotency and low libido.
If you’re cycles stop, or if you are a man and are experiencing impotence, then I would encourage you to seek professional help, of course, but also to look at your stress levels.
Stress can be caused by an accumulation of unprocessed events in your mind from years ago, from work, over-exercising, over or under-eating, or being demanding of yourself. It can be a short-lived experience in response to a current situation, but stress can build up and up over time so that abnormal levels of stress in your body feel like a typical day.
Here’s something shocking:
All disease -dis-ease in the body can be traced back to stress!!!
For example, did you know that stress can start to shut down
1 – Your reproductive system
2- Your Digestive system
3- Your Immune System.
We’ve already talked about the reproductive system.
2- Digestive system
My symptoms were a lot of bloating and swelling in and around my abdomen. I had a lot of brain fog and forgetfulness which Western Doctors blamed on early menopause ( mis-diagnosis) and all of this was actually linked to the fact that my body had so much stress in it, my digestive system was dry and running on empty. I found out by working with my Ayurvedic doctor that my liver was sluggish, and my large intestine was not absorbing food and nutrients, including iron, which is why I was so exhausted. Western Doctors gave me an iron infusion, which helped my iron levels but didn’t help the real issue, which was dryness within my gut caused by the build-up of stress. Other signs of your digestive system not working pr
3- Immune System
If you are picking up colds, having fevers, breaking out in rashes, acne, blotches, ear, eye infections, styes, etc., your immune system is already run down and ‘stressed’ to pick up those things. When we get sick, this is an excellent opportunity to slow down. Something we’ve finally been permitted to do since Covid.
I want to reiterate that stress is behind ALL diseases, so instead of getting to the point where your body shuts down and says enough is enough can you take the steps today to reduce stress in your life and extend your life by bringing in more calm through healthy eating, resting and getting good sleep, changing jobs if you need to, hydration, gentle exercise like yoga, walking, swimming, cycling?
This is your life – do you want to live it in the present calmly or race through it, stressed and unable to pay attention?
Calm Vibes heading your way
Em xx
