This month’s case study is 40 year old ‘Stephanie’ – who came to the Clinic because of an early menopause.

Stephanie’s Story

For the last year my periods had become more irregular to the point of not knowing when they would arrive. I was experiencing hot flushes throughout the day which I had never had before. It just felt like a wave of heat coming through my body – almost like a ‘furnace’. The night sweats were also a nuisance because I was waking up several times to change my night clothes which were drenched. I decided to go to my GP because I thought I needed to have some checks to see what was happening.  He ran a simple blood test to check my hormone FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) which he explained was an indicator of egg reserve. The higher the FSH, the lower the egg reserve and the closer to the menopause you are. The normal range is between 4 and 10 and mine was 98.7.

 

He told me I was likely to be in my ‘peri menopause’ which means the function of the ovaries declines, periods become irregular and symptoms like hot flushes and sweats can be experienced. I asked why I was going through the menopause now as I understood it was something that happened towards the age of 50. He explained that women are born with a certain number of eggs and some are born with less so they are more likely to enter the menopause at an earlier age. My GP recommended I go on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) because not only would it stop my symptoms it would protect my bones because I had a higher risk of developing osteoporosis (bone thinning condition).

 

I went away and thought about what my GP had said and decided that I didn’t want to take HRT. Although it scared me because I was going through the menopause earlier than I should, it scared me even more at the thought of taking HRT. I had heard negative things about HRT and I was generally quite averse to taking any kind of medication. However, I knew I had to do something so I looked on the internet to see what information I could find. I typed in ‘natural menopause’ and it directed me to The Dr Marilyn Glenville website. I read about the services offered and realised the clinic was based in Tunbridge Wells – not far from where I lived! I phoned straight away and decided to book an appointment. I thought this would be better than trying to follow a book and struggle on my own.

 

I spoke to a very helpful receptionist who explained that the initial consultation was one hour and before the appointment she would send me a questionnaire to complete and return beforehand. As I was filling in the questionnaire I realised I had other symptoms – not just the hot flushes and sweats! I had low energy, flare ups of acne around my chin and headaches. I felt I was falling apart!

 

During my first consultation the nutritionist took a detailed case history and asked about my mother and whether she has gone through an early menopause. She hadn’t which was why I was shocked to learn that I was. She explained exactly what was happening to my body during this peri-menopause phase – my egg production was declining and therefore oestrogen levels were dropping which was causing my hot flushes and sweats.  I asked the nutritionist exactly how long my symptoms would last and when would I get another period, but she was unable to answer this as she explained that each woman is different. Some women will have one final period and that is it while some will get irregular periods for a year or two and then they will stop. She also said the same is true of symptoms – some women get hot flushes and some don’t – there is no black and white answer to it!

 

  

The nutritionist explained that one of the key factors is to eat a well-balanced diet as it enables the body to adjust automatically to the hormone changes, naturally maintaining oestrogen from the adrenal glands and fat deposits. As my GP had said, with an early menopause comes an increased risk of osteoporosis which did concern me particularly as my mother suffers with this.  At this stage the nutritionist recommended that I do a bone density scan by ultrasound. It was a simple heel scan which gave me my ‘T Score’ which is the comparison of my bone density with a young adult. The scan took just minutes to do and because it was ultrasound it was non-invasive. From this scan, it showed that my bone density was normal which was a relief. The nutritionist recommended that I repeat this ultrasound scan every two years.  This really put my mind at rest to know my bones were strong, and I wanted to make sure I maintained this. In conjunction with this scan, I performed a urine test to assess my actual level of bone turnover and whether it was too high. Again this came back normal so it was recommended that I repeat it in two years time.

We talked at length about my current diet which she felt was mostly good, but there was too much tea going in! I was drinking 6 cups a day and I suppose it was partly habit and partly because I felt slightly addicted to it! She explained that because tea contains tannin, it can block the uptake of vital minerals like calcium which is important for keeping my bones strong. She also explained that because tea does contain some caffeine and other stimulatory compounds it can also trigger hot flushes and night sweats. This was enough to put me off drinking it! She recommended an herbal tea ‘lookalike’ called Rooibos (red bush) which was the nearest thing to normal tea. I even got my husband drinking it!

The nutritionist put together a comprehensive supplement programme for me which incorporated vitamins and minerals to ‘supplement’ my diet and specific herbs to help re-balance my hormone levels naturally. The formula contained black cohosh, agnus castus, sage, dong quai and milk thistle. I was also given additional vitamin C and an high strength fish oil which also helps with hormone balance and minimises dry skin which can be a symptom of the menopause.

 

I went away for six weeks and followed the eating plan and took all the supplements. When I went back, I reported great results having not had a single hot flush! My energy had improved and my skin was noticeably clearer and I no longer had headaches. The nutritionist said that I had made excellent progress in a relatively short space of time. All my friends, particularly my husband were so pleased that I was ‘my old self’ again. I was also beginning to get some ‘mid cycle’ vaginal mucous which was quite reassuring that my hormones had not totally dropped off. It somehow made me feel more feminine. The nutritionist did suggest that she could give me different herbs to help bring a cycle back, but I was feeling so well and actually quite happy not to have a monthly bleed I decided not to. She did also suggest I could have an ultrasound of my womb and ovaries.  Although I decided not to go ahead with the scan at this stage, it felt reassuring that I had been offered this service to give me peace of mind if I wanted it.

 

Marilyn’s Comment

 

This case is very inspiring as Stephanie saw such dramatic improvement in a short space of time. Stephanie, like many women decided to follow a natural route rather than take HRT. It is however important to take a sensible approach to an early menopause. Providing you are taking control of your health and seeking professional advice, you can manage your symptoms quite effectively with nutrition.

 

 

If you feel that your periods are becoming more irregular and you are experiencing symptoms like Stephanie, then please do contact The Dr Marilyn Glenville Clinic on 0870 5329244.

 

If you are interested in having a bone turnover test please see the resources page.

 

This month’s case study is 52 year old ‘Sarah’ who came to the Clinic with thyroid problems

I had been to my doctor for a routine check up because I had not been feeling too well. I was constantly tired, to the point of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning and falling asleep on the sofa at night. I had noticed that my hair was becoming thinner and drier and my skin looked dry and pale. I just put this down to the menopause, but when my blood results came back it showed that I had borderline low thyroid function (hypothyroid). My doctor recommended that I should address this by taking a drug called thyroxine. I was reluctant to take this because I had always tried to live a natural life and only used medication as a last resort. He said that if I didn’t thyroxine my weight would continue to increase and my hair loss would be more prominent. I went away to think about what I wanted to do.

 

I was coming home from work one night and reading a health magazine on the train and it featured an article on thyroid imbalance and how it can be supported naturally without having to take prescribed drugs. It talked about how important diet is and how some foods can support and nourish the thyroid gland and how some foods can actually interfere with its function and production of hormones. The article mentioned specific vitamins, minerals and herbs which can also be used. This sounded so exciting so I decided to go on to the next step and phone The Dr Marilyn Glenville Clinic to find out more. I spoke to a very helpful nutritionist who explained how the clinic works and what I could expect from having a consultation. It was just what I was looking for so I booked a consultation.

 

I was sent a nutritional questionnaire in the post which I had to complete and return before my appointment. This was very detailed and made me more aware of how I was feeling and it also made me write down what I ate on a daily basis. The nutritionist had asked me to be honest when filling this section in and write down what I actually ate and not what I thought I should be eating! I was sent details of a mineral deficiency test which would determine whether I was lacking in anything.  The test was very straightforward and non-invasive as all it involved was taking a sample of my hair and sending it off to the lab.

 

At my first consultation the nutritionist went through my questionnaire in detail and then went on to explain what was happening with my thyroid. She explained that an under active thyroid can often bring about symptoms of weight gain, hair loss and lack of energy.  The thyroid is a gland that controls our metabolic rate in the body and as such can affect the activity of every system and cell. The usual thyroid test at the doctors normally measures the levels of two hormones known as TSH and T4 or thyroxine.  If thyroxine levels are low, TSH is normally high and this will indicate an underactive thyroid. What is not measured however, is the hormone that thyroxine converts into within the cell which is much more biologically active.  This hormone is known as T3.  For a cell to convert thyroxine into the active T3, selenium needs to be present. So this meant that if thyroxine is prescribed it may not always work because it is not converted into T3 efficiently so symptoms then do not disappear.  I now  felt like I understood what was happening to my hormones and how this was affecting me physically and emotionally.

 

The nutritionist looked through my diet and the first thing she picked up on was the amount of soya milk and tofu I was eating. I had incorporated this into my diet when I entered the menopause because I had read that these foods contained naturally occurring oestrogens which would help to combat my hot flushes and sweats I was experiencing. She explained that it was true about them being beneficial for menopausal symptoms but unfortunately soya contains compounds called goitrogens which can have a negative effect on thyroid function because they block the uptake of the mineral iodine which is essential for the production of T4 and T3. She said I could still eat chickpeas, lentils, flaxseed and alfalfa which also contain naturally occurring oestrogens to give me some support.

 

 

She asked me to eat more iodine rich foods which included sea vegetables like seaweed (wakame, dulse, nori) and green leafy vegetables. I knew I had to pay more attention to my intake of dark green leafy vegetables. I loved them but it was often a time factor which prohibited me from eating them on a regular basis. She explained that I could get all of the seaweeds from large supermarkets and health food shops so I added them to my shopping list! The second important mineral was selenium so she asked me to eat Brazil nuts, oats and brown rice and seafood. Interestingly my mineral analysis highlighted that I was deficient in selenium. The nutritionist explained that this is becoming more common because our soils are so over cultivated that there is little selenium left, therefore the plants become deficient in this important mineral. The nutritionist gave me lots of menu ideas to inspire me which was exactly what I needed.

 

Not only did she make dietary changes, the nutritionist added some specific vitamins and minerals and herbs to support and nourish my thyroid gland and help with the production of the T4 and T3. She gave me a multi vitamin and mineral to give me general support as she explained that if you take ‘random’ vitamins and minerals without a multi, you are more likely to create nutritional deficiencies/imbalances within the body. To this she added vitamin C and fish oil which support the thyroid by allowing the hormones to be ‘picked up’ and utilised more efficiently. To this she added extra selenium which I was low in on the hair mineral analysis and a specific herbal formula containing dulse, Siberian ginseng, liquorice and important amino acids (L-Tyrosine, L-Glycine and L-Glutamine) to really nourish my thyroid.

 

I came back at 6 weeks for a follow up consultation and had been filling in daily diet/symptom diaries for the nutritionist. This really helped because it kept me focused and very motivated to follow the recommendations. There was a marked improvement in the first 6 weeks and the main area that had improved was my energy. I was waking in the morning and actually getting up on the first alarm and not having to snooze about 5 times! I felt more energetic in the evening and this enabled me to do more exercise which in itself gave me more energy. I felt my hair was also looking thicker and had more life in it.

 

The nutritionist said that I had made excellent progress in a relatively short space of time so this was very encouraging indeed. She explained that because the thyroid is such a delicate gland, it can take a few months to really modify its function. She recommended that I have a follow up blood test in 12 weeks to assess how effective the nutritional therapy has been.

 

It is so reassuring to think that I am helping myself and not just ‘popping a pill’ which isn’t really addressing the underlying causes. I think more people should be aware of how they can support themselves naturally and not be pushed into taking drugs unnecessarily.

 

 

Marilyn’s Comments

 

Sarah’s story is a great example of how powerful nutritional therapy can be. We see so many cases of borderline hypothyroidism at our clinic where thyroxine is prescribed when in many cases it can be addressed naturally. Of course drugs are sometimes needed, but there are so many times where natural therapies can be very effective alone. The problem with thyroxine is that once people take it, it becomes incredibly hard to come off it in the longer term as the thyroid gland becomes used to it and ultimately the thyroid can actually work even less efficiently. 

 

This case also goes to show just how important testing can be in diagnosing underlying health issues and picking up deficiencies that would not be found via routine medical testing.

 

If you are interested in having the test mentioned here please see the Resources Page.

This month’s case study is 31 year old ‘Suzi’ who came to the Clinic with sugar cravings:

I had always had a ‘sweet tooth’ as most people do. People were amazed at work how I could eat so many chocolate bars and sweets and not gain any weight – they were almost envious of me! It was true, I was eating at least two bars of chocolate plus pick and mix sweets during the day and I stayed the same weight!

 

This almost justified it for me that it was fine to carry on this way. However, it got to the point that I would be thinking about chocolate and sweets the entire day and it was actually interfering with my concentration at work. I started replacing my breakfast and lunch with chocolate and because I was snacking all day on sweets, by the time it came to dinner, I just had no appetite. At night the cravings would be even stronger and sometimes so bad that I would go out in the middle of the night to buy chocolate and sweets from the 24hr petrol station.

 

I started feeling very lethargic and irritable and really short tempered with my work colleagues and husband. I also started feeling light headed and dizzy at regular intervals during the day and regularly lose concentration which was interfering with my work. This was quite a scary sensation especially when I thought I was going to black out on several occasions. Someone at work mentioned that I was feeling like this because of the amount of sugar in my diet, but I ignored it and continued to fill my body with chocolate and sweets.

 

I was coming home from work on the train one night feeling exhausted and I read an article in a woman’s magazine about ‘adult onset’ diabetes and how people in their twenties are now developing the disease because of too much sugar in the diet. Reading the article really resonated with me because my diet was setting me up to develop diabetes, plus both my grandparents suffered with the disease in their later years. There was a contact number for The Dr Marilyn Glenville Clinic at the end of the article so I decided to phone to find out more about their services. What with Easter looming, and even more temptations, I thought what better time to take action!

 

I spoke to a very helpful nutritionist who talked to me about what the clinic offered and I decided it was time to help myself. She explained that the initial consultation would be one hour and in that time we would go through an in depth questionnaire which would be looking at my current health issues and most importantly my diet. She recommended I perform a blood test to assess how well my body was dealing with sugar. With my current diet and strong family history of diabetes I could see why it was so important. I managed to get this test done with the results back in time for my first appointment. The questionnaire I had to complete was very thorough which really made me think about my health and the food I was putting into my body. It was quite frightening when I actually had to write this down!

 

At my first appointment the nutritionist took a detailed case of my current health issues and asked me what my main priority was and essentially what I wanted to get out of my first consultation. I explained that I wanted to change my diet in order to reduce my risk of developing diabetes. I told her that I often felt totally out of control and had a constant desire to eat chocolate and sweets which were so strong it had started to take over my entire life.

 

She explained that by eating chocolate and sweets it was just ‘fuelling’ my cravings because the body would keep demanding more and more sugar. Also when there are underlying vitamin and mineral deficiencies, caused by poor diet, it makes the body crave more unhealthy foods.

 

Sugar is released into the blood stream when we eat carbohydrates (bread, pasta) and sweet foods like cakes and biscuits and chocolate. The problem is that our body cannot tolerate too much sugar in the blood.  When it gets too high the brain will stimulate the pancreas to release insulin.  This is an hormone that can help take the sugar into the muscles for use or will take the sugar to the liver where it is stored as Glycogen or converted into fat. Insulin is very good at it’s job and will clear the blood of sugar very quickly, however, over the longer term if the diet is very high in sugar and more insulin is having to be released it can then lead to diabetes.

 

This happens if either the insulin receptor sites cannot take any more sugar into the cell and become ‘insulin resistant’ or the pancreas simply runs out of its supply of insulin. The results of my blood tests confirmed that I had a problem with high insulin. Seeing this result on paper was very motivating for me as I suppose I wanted to know how much I was putting myself at risk of developing diabetes to give me the push I needed to change my diet!

 

She then went on to explain that the brain which needs a constant supply of sugar to function, reacts to a drop in blood sugar by either releasing stress hormones which will release sugar from the stores of create a craving for us to eat more sugar, so we grab another bar of chocolate or sweets and so the whole cycle is repeated.  She explained that low blood sugar gives rise to symptoms such as irritability, fatigue dizziness or lack of mental function. This was just what was happening to me!

 

The nutritionist gave me lots of menu ideas to inspire me which was exactly what I needed. She explained that once I started eating more fresh produce, my tastes would naturally change and my body would crave less sugary foods. I couldn’t imagine this, but I was determined to change. She recommended I take some vitamin and minerals to really help balance my blood sugar and consequently reduce my cravings for sugar. The mineral chromium is particularly important for blood sugar stability which she added into my supplement programme.

 

After the first 6 weeks my cravings became less prominent and I would manage to go an entire day without thinking about a chocolate or sweet! I was eating three good meals each day with plenty of fresh dark green vegetables, wholesome snacks like nuts and dried fruit and oatcakes with pure fruit jams and nut butters. My energy was better and I no longer had the dizzy feeling during the day. One major improvement was my concentration which made a huge difference to my performance at work.

 

For so many years I think I had ignored the signs of my sugar ‘addiction’ partly because I wasn’t gaining weight (which I suppose was the only side effect I was looking for) so I thought ‘it must be ok’. It wasn’t until I read the magazine article that I decided to do something about it.

 

I’m looking at this as a life change and not just a ‘quick’ fix.  I know that I can still have sugar occasionally, as long as I don’t come to rely on it as ‘prop’ and providing my diet on the whole is nutritious. So, I may still have my Easter egg but the thought of eating more than one now actually makes me feel ill – I never thought I would hear myself say that!

 

Marilyn’s Comments:

 

Suzi’s story is a good example of how easy it is for people to get onto this sugar rollercoaster. Just like Suzi, people don’t often realise the damaging effects of sugar on their body, especially if they are not gaining weight or presenting with any major ‘outward’ symptoms. There is only so long the human body can function with a low nutrient diet and at some point our health suffers and in Suzi’s case, this may have led her to develop diabetes.

 

This case also goes to show just how important diagnostic testing can be in diagnosing underlying health issues and from Suzi’s point of view, seeing her results in black and white really proved to her that she did have a problem.

 

If you are interested in having the test mentioned here please see the resources page.