Facebook Group

I have started a group on facebook called Prolactinoma and Natural Healthcare.  If you haven't noticed, I am horrible at updating my blog, but I am hoping this group can be a solution to this :)  I am much much better about FB for some reason.  I think part of it has to do with being able to update in a short brief way when I have time instead of having to make time to write a massive blog post since I haven't made time in FOREVER!  Ha ha!  The second reason for this group is that I am planning on some pretty major diet/regime changes coming up soon and I am going to need some love, support and I would love to have any and all of you join me if you are feeling up to it ;)  As many of you know, I have been able to control my tumor with essential oils and I am looking to really get rid of this thing.  I have no idea if what I am planning on will work, but I believe it will bring me closer to it and it WILL make me a healthier person, so it is a win for me either way!  Here is the link just in case:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ihaveprolactinoma/ .  Hope to see you there!

Natural Healthcare Webinar

As many of you know, I am very passionate about natural healthcare.  I have been horrible at updating this blog and I apologize for that.  2 babies and building a business from the ground up have taken most of my time.  I am however feeling amazing and have good control of my tumor.  Last blood tests were around 63 and going down RAPIDLY.  Anyway, I wanted to take the time to invite you to a Webinar that I am teaching on natural healthcare.  I will be sharing my tumor story and how we have taken control of our healthcare using essential oils.  Here are the instructions!  I hope to see you there!

Please join 

Medicine Cabinet Makeover Webinar

• Date and Time:
• Meeting Wall:
• US Toll Number:
• MeetingID:

• May 06 2013 07:00 PM - (US/Mountain)
• https://www.startmeeting.com/wall/929-540-834
• (530) 881-1212
• 929-540-834

Instructions:

At the scheduled date and time of the meeting, dial into the conference line. When prompted, enter the meeting ID, followed by the pound key. To join the online meeting, click on the meeting link listed above, then press "Join". On the next page, complete your name and email address, then press "Submit". The system will guide you through the process of downloading the meeting dashboard to participate in the online meeting.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

How this CRAZY little TUMOR has Made My Life BETTER!

I have decided to share my story in person...Well, as much as I can be to many of you around the world.  I am doing a webinar this next Thursday.  Here are the details:

How this CRAZY little TUMOR has Made My Life BETTER!
When:  Thursday, March 29th, 2012
Time:  5:00 PM Mountain Standard Time
Where:  www.anymeeting.com/elevatedoterra1
Just click on the link at the appropriate time and you will be able to join :)

Some of you have heard my story and some of you have not :)  Either way, I will be covering in detail how this crazy tumor of mine has improved my life in so many ways!  I will tell how I deal with my tumor (and my current state) and how I use essential oils everyday to make my life easier, better, toxin free (as much as possible) and how they save (and make) us money!  Feel free to invite others.

https://www.facebook.com/events/258562070899905/

Dr. MacGregor

As most of you know...if you have been reading my blog for any length of time, I struggle with doctors.  I don't hate them, and I consult with them (most of the time)  I just don't agree with their perception of my health and what I need to do to take control of my tumor.  It really sort of ticks me off.  When I explain what I am doing they look at me like I am an idiot and tell me (this is what I hear...not neccessarily what they say)  "You are patient two hundred and thirty seven that I have consulted with prolactinoma.  For every other case this is what I have them do and this has worked for them."  This is what I think and wish I had the guts to say, "Well, guess what genius-that-went-to-twenty-seven-years-of-college-to-tell-me-what-you-do-for-everyone-else!  I am not like the other two hundred and thirty seven people.  I am me and I don't want to feel like crap on meds or give up my ideal perception of the type of mother I want to be.  I don't want to have to have surgery after surgery and possibly end up on replacement hormones the rest of my life.  I want to be healthy, level headed, out of bed, happy and capable.  Please just listen to me  and have an open mind and DON'T tell me I must have been doing something I wasn't to shrink my tumor!  I was NURSING.  You can't be on meds while doing so and I didn't slip across the border and get a magical surgery.  I use OILS :)"

Yeah, this has been how I have felt with my last 4 obgyn's and my last 2 endos and the neurosurgeon I have consulted with (In the last year and a half mind you).  Quite maddening.  Even my last obgyn that I saw for my 8 week appt treated me very similar the the other 3 and he takes a "hollistic approach".  So, over Easter weekend I was doing a booth on essential oils and two booths down from me there was an Obgyn and a nurse and the obgyn's wife.  I went over and chatted with them for about thirty minutes while my friend manned my booth.  I was super straight up with him when telling him about my prolactinoma, issues I have with doctors and what I do for my prolactinoma.  He was actually quite excited that I used oils as he uses them at home with his family!  He was fascinated that they had helped me so drastically and he was surprised that I was pregnant so quickly.  He gave me kuddos on how well I knew my cycle and was very funny and put me at ease!  He told me he had never had a patient with prolactinoma before (he has only been practicing a few years) and therefore he would be researching everything....western, eastern and everything in between to help me do what is best for me!  Whoa!!!!  Really?  Basically I just tell him what I do now, what I want the end result to be and he helps me research and look into things that would help me acheive my goal!  How cool is that!  He is just starting his own practice after being paired up with one of the previous 4 obgyn's I had seen and so he has time + resources to help me do this.

My husband and I went to see him the other day and were quite impressed.  He took us into his office and talked to us for 45 minutes and then gave me a physical and we listened to the heartbeat.  He reiterated his plan of attack to help me in my quest.  He recommended me (and gave me a coupon for a free hour energy work session) to see a woman next door that does energy work and works with oils as well :)  Totally cool.  I'm actually looking forward to my next appt since he will have had time to look over all of my labs and ect.  I plan on taking him my timeline and my complete regime to go over it with him.

So, now the question for all of you.  Am I crazy to choose a doctor that has basically NO experience with prolactinoma to be my doctor?  Thoughts and ideas are appreciated.  Also, I plan on asking him lots of questions, so if any of you have a question you would like me to ask him feel free to email me.

Thank you so much for all of the well wishes and congratulations I have received!  All of you are in my prayers and for those of you wanting to get pregnant....pregnancy vibes are coming your way!!!  Have hope and know that it can happen!

Clove

Clove is my oil of the week :)  It is the first oil I am rotating into my regime.  I am rotating 5 or 6 different oils into my regime to hopefully increase the results of my prolactin levels and help my tumor shrink even more. I've been taking it for a few days now and I've been learning about it as much as I can!  Clove's major constituent is Phenols and 85% of that should be a constituent called Eugenol.  Eugenol is amazing!!!  It is cancer-preventative, anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant.  All these things can help reduce tumors!  Phenols are very strong though and should be used for only a short period of time.  There is a pretty good article I read on Eugenol and Melanoma.  You can find it here.  I put clove in a capsule as it is way too strong for me to take in my mouth.  I take 4 or 5 drops in a capsule twice a day, morning and night.  I also rinse my mouth with clove oil after I brush my teeth because clove is VERY good for your teeth!  If you have a toothache or anything clove will help numb it (or pretty much anything you may need to numb)  It's very good for infections, especially skin infections.  It stimulates the immune system and is a very strong antiseptic  :)  Does anyone have anything to add?  I hope this was informative and not too boring!  Enjoy clove!

Essential Oils convention and eating better :(

I went to an essential oils convention a few weeks ago and learned soooooooooooooooooo much!  I learned alot about hormones, eating healthy and all sorts of good stuff!  I talked to Dr. Hill who is a medical doctor and also one of the most knowledgeable people about essential oils in the world!  I had talked to him before, but I wanted to ask him specifically about my prolactin levels and how they were plateauing.  He remembered me almost immediately (I know he talks to hundreds and maybe thousands of people a month!  I couldn't believe he remembered me as I had met him once several months ago...)  He asked about my baby (oh that's probably why :)  my babe is definitely one most people remember...he's just so cute) and my husband and proceeded to explain that I should cycle in other oils weekly that also have anti-tumor properties, but to keep taking the frankincense all the time as that one is the best.  So, i will be cycling in Wild Orange, Clove, Lavender, Sandlewood, Patchouli, and grapefruit!  As I do so, I will try to write about each on as i do research on them and explain what they have in them that will help me and stuff like that!  This week I am taking clove...so I will do research and fill you in on it :)

So the eating health part....I learned that tumors thrive on refined sugar and milk and stuff like that.  *tears*  I am a steak and potato girl.  I grew up on a farm and I love me some whole milk, homemade ice cream, and just good, homestyle fatty, sugary food!  There is no way I can just turn into some sort of health freak!  (ok, some of you are chuckling right now cuz you think I already am a healthy hippy chick who used oils and wears hemp and chaccos)  well, I do love my chaccos and I try to be earth friendly and pick litter up if I see it, but that is about as far as i go although, I am trying to be better!  (I really want a compost, but that will come once we are remodeled...etc)  Anyway, back to the food thing....if it don't taste good, I won't eat it.  If it don't taste good my hubby won't eat it...end of discussion.  So, here is what I am going to do.  We are going to eat as much raw fruits and veggies as possible (we really love those) and I am going to try to cook and eat mostly whole grains, no milk and cut out refined sugar as much as possible.  I am going to post the recipes that both of us like under a new thing-a-ma-bobber (the tab things at the top of my blog)  That way the gross recipes will never see the light of day and you can enjoy the things we enjoy!  We already have a couple of good ice cream recipes that are delicious!  So, yeah, trying to eat better.  I'll try to keep my enthusiasm for that part of my life safely contained on that new tab, thing-a-ma-bopper!  I don't think it will be too hard!

Stressin over Stress.....

I got my last blood test results and my levels were back up to 141.  WHAT THE?!?  I thought they would decrease for sure after weaning my baby!!!  So, I decided to evaluate and do some more studying....In the course of the last couple of weeks I have learned that stress can play a major role in heightening prolactin levels!  I think I knew this, but hadn't really thought much about it due to all the craziness in my life lately!  In fact, in one of my earlier posts I even admitted that I think stress had a major role in triggering my prolactinoma in the first place!  (See The Beginning????)

In the last few months my prolactin levels has gone from 108 to 130 to 110 to 141.  In fact, April 13th is when it was 108 and April 17th is the day we moved into our new home, and started remodeling.  It's been bouncing around ever since then.  My husband has a job where he works 4 days on and 4 days off.  We remodel for 4 days, then clean as good as we can.  Our house is semi-clean for 4 days then we start all over again.  Needless to say, I do not do well in chaos and our house has definitely been chaotic.  It's especially hard when my baby is just becoming super mobile and I am spending most of my day trying to keep him from playing w/ tools, the holes in the floor, dangerous wires, screws, and everything else you can imagine may be in a construction zone!

 I also have 3 jobs that I do from home.  2 are pretty low stress, because I do them on my own time when I have time and I do it on my own so they are perfect.  The 3rd job involves working with other people and I'm on a strict timeline and it have been extremely stressful for the last few months!  Also, since the beginning of July I have been in a continuous cycle of pack, play, unpack, laundry, major catch up (and never quite getting there), pack, play, unpack, laundry, major catch up (and never quite getting there), etc, etc.  I've been through this cycle approximately 4 times as of yesterday!  Hopefully i won't have to pack again until Sept. 1st.  (Not nearly long enough).  Between all three of them and my full-time job as a mommy, I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water!  We got back from our last vacation on Tuesday and every mile closer to home I could feel my tummy tightening up a little more.

I stress over my desire to have more children.  My cycle still have not returned and I want it to so we can start trying for more babies!!!

Through all this, I have decided that this prolactin thing is a lot like weight loss.  In weight loss, you can't just exercise, or eat well...you have to do both to achieve the desired result.  Likewise, I can't just concentrate on one aspect of lowering my levels.  Frankincense works well, but I also need to lower my stress!  I need to cut some things out of my life!  There are additional things I can do to lower my stress.  I need to exercise daily and I am going to be doing yoga with a friend twice a week.  I am going to drop my photography stuff until I'm done writing the life history (main stresser) is done.  I am going to change my eo regime to include oils that help with stress.  I am going to prioritize each and everyday and try not to stress over my stress :)  Last but not least....BELLY BREATHS, BELLY BREATHES, BELLY BREATHES!

Any other suggestions?????

Dr. Appt in a nutshell!

I don't have much time, so this is the nutshell version...I went to the doc today.  My tumor actually has shrunk from 12mm to 10mm since my last MRI.  My doc appreciated me filling him in, neatly skirted the fact that I've been using essential oils, told me that I was on the right track with my shrinking tumor and lowering prolactin levels and referred me to an endocrinologist in town that is "conservative, anti-surgery and open-minded"!  ha ha!  I will scan my MRI results in when I have more time, but that is pretty much what he said.  He didn't think there was any need for me to go on any Rx's right now, but I need to have more blood tests in a month and we would reevaluate in a month.  He said he thinks my levels will decrease dramatically now that I am no longer nursing!  So, I have an appt w/ a "conservative, anti-surgery and open-minded" endo in about a month. Keep posted...more to come!

Ignorance is bliss???? I strongly disagree!!!

Ok, It's been over a week since I posted anything and part of that may be because I am on cloud 9 and I have caught myself daydreaming about more babies and happy thoughts like that a lot lately!   Does anyone else put off dreams and goals when you don't know what the future will bring???  I hate not having hope!  It seems like there is no fence sitting on this w/ me!  I either have hope and I am happy and excited about the future or I am sad/frustrated/grumpy that things are not going the way I had envisioned them! I am very passionate and I am a control freak!  Not  over other people, but over me, my thoughts and feelings and my life!  I HATE not having control over my future, I want it to be what I want it to be.  This is why I hate debt, working for people, time constraints/schedules, rush hour traffic and health problems.  This is why I struggled w/ getting married and why I disliked dating back when I was single.  I hate taking prescriptions or medications of any kinds because "it will make you drowsy", or "do not drive while taking this" or "don't take this while pregnant or breastfeeding", and last but not least "if you take this it may lead to high blood pressure, stuffy nose, liver damage......etc".  I have not idea why I hate parking garages...but there has to be something about them that takes away my free will!!!  ha ha!  I love the great outdoors and sleeping under the stars!  I love going to my hometown where I have no cell service!  I love my husband because he doesn't force me into some mold and expect me to do things his way or the way everyone else does it.  I love exercising because it allows me to push myself to new levels!  I love vaulted ceilings and back porches.  I love looking out at the ocean, rock climbing and hiking.  I love not wearing a watch and having no idea what time it is.  I also love learning because the more I learn, the more I am not constrained by ignorance! 


This being said here are some things I've been learning in the past few weeks (do not continue if you can't stand somewhat boring/nerdy stuff.  It is very informative though!!!):


Most Prescription drugs and over the counter (and under the counter for that matter! )medications contain one, two or even three constituents that help w/ certain things.  For example amoxicillin  contains 3 constituents that help us get over certain bacterial infections.  It is antibacterial.  Essential oils* have dozens of constituent which is why one oil may be good for so many different things!  For example lavender has hundreds of constituents which makes it antinflammatory, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitumor, antifungal, antidepressant...etc.  Which in a nutshell means it helps everything from burns to cuts to depression!  How cool is that!


The Frankincense I take* contains 90% Monoterpenes  (including myrcene and limonene) which are antitumor and anticancer constituents (as well as other things). The other 10% contains Sesuiterpenes which help oxygenate the pituitary glands and are anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic.  So instead of taking hormone regulators such as bromocriptine or cabergoline (which I can't take anyway since I want to nurse) I can take frankincense (has the highest amounts of the anti-tumor and oxygenating stuff) sandlewood, clove, lavender or any other other essential oil w/ anti-tumor constituents and it should help (and has helped me!) shrink my tumor therefore lowering my prolactin.  Not only does it do this for me, it also does it w/out the stuffy nose, nausea, higher/lower blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, depression, swelling, weight gain, vomiting, confusion, fainting, strokes, seizures, hallucinations, hives, constipation, headaches, unexplained aggression and/or unexplained desire to gamble and other side effects that you can get from Bromocriptine or Cabergoline .


*You have to be very careful where you get essential oils from. Lots of them (even those claiming to be 100% pure or therapeutic grade) are either synthetic or contain fillers, pesticides, weeds of other things that should not be in there.  These things also make them a lot less potent and may cause allergic reactions!  I did A LOT of research on this and that is why I go through doTERRA.

Am I crazy???

So am I crazy to want to nurst my baby as long as possible???  Nursing is to prolactinoma what eating bacon everyday is to someone with high cholesterol!  It isn't the cause, but it definately speeds up the process!!!  Anyways, I was reading in my "Baby's First Year" book about weaning and it made me cry!  Maybe my hormones are whacked, but it makes me sad to think about not nursing!  It took a lot to get him here and so I want to give him the best!  But at what cost?  All of the medications the doctors want me to take would keep me from nursing, but I ask them about herbal stuff and they tell me straight up that they have no idea if it would help or not and they are not willing to look into it because they don't deal with herbal stuff.  Aren't docs supposed to help people?  Then how come they won't look into something that would help me nurse and help my prolactinoma?  Frustrating.  So I am on my own when it comes to that kind of stuff.  If anyone out there has any experience with herbal stuff/essential oils that might help please let me know!