Category: Health/Natural

Healthy Alternatives by Susie Cooper Doctor of Natural Medicine

Women’s Health - Hormonal Balance

Q: Loved your article about treating fibroids. You mentioned Vitex. How much should you take?
Thanks,
Diane

Q; I'd love an answer to this question: What is the advantage of taking Indolplex over DIM (that is not Indolplex)? I just ordered DIM and now I'm wondering if it will work as well for fibroids.
Thanks VERY much!
Barbara

Q:Can you tell me if dindolylmethane (DIM) can truly benefit a 48 year young female in menopause, or what the multiple benefits are?

Where do you go when you're coming down with a cold and you want to treat it holistically? Which would be better, an herbalist or a homeopath? Actually, there's no right answer to this question. Both can help you battle the infection, they will just take a slightly different approaches in doing so. In this case, your choice would be based on preferences, and the knowledge of which works best for you. You might even use a combination of both.

Healthy Alternatives by Susie Cooper, ND Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy

How would you define health?

• Being free of disease?
• Feeling energetic?
• Having a sense of well-being?
• Having a sensation of strength and balance (physically and emotionally)?
• Sleeping well and waking up feeling refreshed?
• Old conditions disappearing, which leaves you feeling better than ever?
• Experiencing a joy for life, an enthusiasm?

As winter descends we begin to feel the chill of shorter days and less sunlight. For many of us, less hours of light combined with colder temperatures results in us feel less light emotionally. For some of us, who actually have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) gloom really sets in. This gloom often has to be offset by either full spectrum lighting and/or various psychotropic medications.

Healthy Alternatives by Susie Cooper, ND Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy

I have often been asked through the years “if I could take just one herb for the best overall health, which herb should that be?” My answer has always been turmeric. Yes, that’s the turmeric we know as a cooking spice, used widely in Indian cooking and Eastern recipes. I always get a wide-eyed look of amazement from people not familiar with the huge medicinal benefits from this herb. How can an herb we have always just thought of as a “spice” be so healthy for us?

It’s often been said that the eyes are the window to the soul. At a very early age we learn that we can observe people’s inward processes by watching the way they look back at us. As children we are taught that it’s impossible to tell an untruth and “look someone directly in the eye.” Even when we speak we say things about people by describing their eyes, calling someone who is distrustful “shifty eyed” or someone intelligent and truthful “clear eyed.”

As I walked out of the Bikram Yoga studio toward my car after my first class, I found myself declaring, "If I can actually do this yoga, it will totally change my whole life." I had only been able to attempt half the postures, with the rest of the time lying down, just dealing with the heated, humid room. But it was a revelation as to the sorry state of my body's condition, and the pathetic condition of my mind-body connection.

Healthy Alternatives by Susie Cooper, ND Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy

Let’s take a break from the usual health-related topics, and explore an area which I feel is vitally important to healing, balancing and a sense of wellness . . . the use of music and tone in healing.

Testosterone is the major hormone responsible for our sex drives. Women produce small amounts of testosterone in their ovaries and adrenal glands and experience a drop in both estrogen and testosterone levels with the onset of menopause or from menopause caused from chemotherapy or the removal of the ovaries. For many women, a loss of libido is connected to this dramatic loss of hormones.

Many women also report that lower testosterone levels lesson the intensity and frequency of sexual fantasies. They just don't have the urge anymore, which affects their intimate relationships with their mates, which can cause much distress as the sexual bond diminishes. Between the ages of 20-40 our testosterone levels drop by 50%. When we hit menopause we lose another 30-50%. Many of us who rely on medications such as certain antidepressants, birth control pills, and some drugs that lower blood pressure are under double jeopardy, as these can lower testosterone levels also.

When I was 6 months pregnant with my second baby, I met some wonderful women at a birthing support group. I was having a difficult time making ends meet and was not working due to complications in my first pregnancy. My man and I had decided that it was best for me to stay home and take care of myself and our baby that was growing inside of me.

At the meetings, I met a wonderful woman who turned out to be a midwife and whose heart went out to every single woman in the group. I mentioned how wonderful it would be to have her as a care provider as I was not entirely happy with my OB/GYN. I felt like I was being run through on an assembly line. It was hurry up with the urine sample, hurry up with the feet in the stirrups, a few general questions, and my check-up was over. I left dizzy, with some rather general instructions in a pamphlet. My nutritional guidance came from a bottle of little red, prenatal vitamins.