Suzanne Somers, one of the great pioneers of bioidentical hormones and healthy living came to the Metro Convention Center in Toronto a few weeks ago. I was lucky to get tickets and go with some friends.
Suzanne talked about bio identical hormones, her doctors, our toxic environment and its effects on us, her health, a little bit about her past and her new book “Knockout”. She was lucid, clear, humorous and spoke for an hour and a half without notes. How did Suzanne look? She looked fantastic, with a simple modern hairstyle, great figure, a simple black top and skirt, great legs, fabulous high heels and a few sparkly bits of jewellery. I was thrilled to be watching Suzanne Somers.
Suzanne and I share a past that goes back to 2004, when I first hit perimenopause or menopause. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. I went to my regular doctor; she gave me a blood test and said, you’re in menopause. She gave me a prescription for Premarin and that was it. I had talked to the secretary at the doctor’s office and she told me she handles menopause just by drinking a large glass or two of soya milk. If only we could all be so lucky.
So how did the Premarin work out for me? It didn’t. My symptoms still existed, I was getting all bloated up and I didn’t like that, so I halved my dose thinking that maybe the dose was too much for me. Then I went back to my doctor and asked for natural hormones. Her response was “they don’t work, that’s just some California new age idea.”
I kept reading on the internet about these natural hormones, more specifically these bioidentical hormones and Suzanne Somer’s name kept popping up. I ended up going to my local book store and bought what was to be the first book of Suzanne’s I would purchase. That first book was “The Sexy Years,” which told me everything I ever wanted to know about bioidentical hormones. I also bought a book called “What your Doctor May not Tell you about Premenopause” by Dr. John R. Lee, MD.
I had the hardest time finding a bioidentical doctor. I did find a few bioidentical doctors but they were not taking new patients and others were charging a fortune for bioidentical testing, monitoring and prescriptions. I did go to another regular doctor and she pooh-poohed the idea of bioidentical hormones too. My search for solutions was a long and complicated one.
I searched long and hard for a compounding pharmacy and finally found one and discussed my symptoms with the pharmacist and my difficulty in finding a bioidentical doctor. He ended up writing me a prescription for Bi-est and Progesterone and told me to go to a particular doctor who would sign the prescription but he would not able to monitor my hormone levels.
That is my history with bioidentical hormones and the search for bioidentical doctors. Because of the difficulty of finding bioidentical doctors in this country, three years ago I started up this website PureAgeless.com to help other women find bioidentical doctors. The site also provides background information on natural solutions to aging. Finding the doctors involved lots of research and I was able to get some contributions from our readers as well. PureAgeless.com is the first site in North America to give a comprehensive listing of bioidentical doctors in Canada and the United States.
Since then and over the years, I have been a fan of Suzanne Somers and the chance to go to her lecture in Toronto was a great opportunity.
Onto the stage walked this beautiful blond woman wearing black, a few bits of sparkly jewellery and fabulous legs and high heels. She looked maybe 39 years old. But her actual age is 63. She did not have any obvious signs of surgery – like the puffed up look some celebrities get. She is a walking example of “practice what you preach”. If we can all look that fabulous at 63, then we will be doing the right thing. What amazed me most besides her looks was the fact that she spoke without losing her place or thought for an hour and a half. She was charming and funny. She has a great hairstyle, dressed in a classy/ casual style, she’s in shape because she works at it, she takes care of her body because her body is her business. She wants to maintain optimum health as the years progress.
I believe she sees a lot of doctors who test her for everything and then give her the nutritional supplements her body needs. In her book “Breakthrough,” she discusses her personal regime – how her day begins, the supplements she takes, what injections she has, her hour long yoga session in the morning and her fabulous breakfast. She also discusses what she does on a monthly basis.
I praise her, but I don’t think all women would be able to follow this type of routine when they are working women and not able to afford all the specialists, the supplements and the tests. But we can follow her example. We can follow a hormone balancing diet, eating real foods for health, supplement our declining hormone levels with bioidentical hormones, we can exercise and do yoga and we can buy most of the supplements we think we need. We can remove as many of the toxins from our life that we can. We can even try and remove the stress in our lives that is killing us. A naturopath, a doctor can help you with supplementation doses and bioidentical hormone supplementation.
After Suzanne’s lecture, I bought her book “Knockout,” which discusses new techniques by cutting edge doctors in the treatment of cancer. It’s an interesting and informative read, especially if you or someone you know has recently been diagnosed with cancer.
My friends and I enjoyed her lecture and after it, we were in the washroom discussing her speech and bioidentical hormones . One of my girlfriends (we are in 48 – 50 year old range), said, “Doesn’t she look fantastic at 63! She looks better than all of us.” We were all laughing and one of us said “God, I hope I look that good at 63.” Suzanne, you are amazing.
