My Story

Hello, my name is Jacqueline

I would like to share some things I know with women of my age group.  If I could help just one other person, I would be satisfied with myself.  I wish I would have known that when I turned forty it would have been the worst decade of my life. My menopause was the root of all my problems.

I will be turning fifty, this November and I finally found peace with myself.  I still have difficult days, but at least when I have stress, the key factor is knowing how to deal with it.  This whole decade, I dealt with loosing a loved one, having life changes, caring for my elderly mother, trying to be a good mother and wife, loosing friends as well as being so sick and tired during it all.  I thought this is how we age.  I never believed my husband, but he told me over and over again, that by fifty, I would have everything all figured out; He was right.

I always had stomach issues with the food I ate as a little girl.  As I entered my forties my issues became worse.  I went in and out of emergencies and doctors’ offices, not finding what my problems were.  I decided to get tested for Gluten.  Thank god I did because I was highly intolerant.  I thought I had celiac, but the tests were negative.  Many people don’t know, but there is a fine line between having the celiac disease and being highly gluten intolerant, which I am.  Lucky I realized that and decided to keep going.

I took a food allergy test and found out that dairy and sugar made very strong reactions in my body, making it feel like there was a constant war in my stomach.  These foods were like invaders to me.  Then I had moderate food groups that I had to be careful with.  I was eating all these foods most of my life, which explained why I was sick all the time.  The process took time and by eliminating foods, I started to feel better.  It took about two years to repair all the damage that was done to my body.  There is so much food out there that I never thought to eat.  I also never thought stress could have such a terrible outcome on my body.  It was so bad that I ended up with acute pancreatitis in a US hospital, while taking care of my mother in Florida.  My body was completely acidic.  My intestinal ph was so imbalanced that I thought I had a heartburn condition for life.  I saw no way out and was so discouraged that I became extremely depressed.  My family was very worried.  I did not want to live anymore.

THE ANSWER:

• Find cutting edge doctors that don’t give up and look deep to find a solution (not always Medicare)
• Balance your hormones if you are in menopause or perimenopaause with bio-identical hormones done by a hormone specialist.
• Get tested if you have indigestion issues with food intolerance test.
• Change your diet according to results (60% alkaline / 40% acid forming)
• Detox naturally with food if you do not want to go all out.  Lots of greens.
• Check your thyroid.  This could be an issue.
• Get enough sleep to keep cortisol down.  If you have trouble sleeping, get to the root of it with a naturopath or specialist.  Don't mask it with pills.
• If you suffer from migraines, it could be food, stress, anxiety and hormones.  You can narrow it down, if you have the patience.
• Acupuncture is a great stress and migraine reliever.
• Get a colonoscopy after 50 years old to rule out cancer.
• Keep a journal and record your symptoms.  There is a reason why you feel sick.
• Check your sugar if you crave sweets with a blood glucose machine.
• For women, stay away from cosmetics and skincare full of chemicals.  Go to safe cosmetics.org and Femmetoxic.com to see the dangers found in these products.  Tau in the west island has a great cosmetic line made from flowers and plants and I love Suzanne Somers’ line, which is toxic free.
• Buy house-cleaning products with no harsh chemicals.

Finally I can say, I feel great and I plan to continue my search for aging healthy and loving life in a way I never thought I would.  

My life begins at 50.