Being a driven personality, youth propelled me forward (ignorantly, I might add), never recognizing the consequences of my actions. Until one day, I couldn't get out of bed. I'd pushed myself over the limit. I had lost my vibrancy - my enthusiasm for life. I looked in the mirror and thought, "Who is this woman?" "Had I grown old overnight?" I was sad, for no reason. My body simply wouldn't function. There was no medically known reason, other than my adrenals were shot.

It took getting an education in naturopathy to get to the source of what was causing my pain. Adrenals affect the thyroid, which affects the seratonin and metabolism, which affects moods and weight. It has taken almost a decade to make my comeback - and I'm still not the effervescent person I used to be. But this experience has opened doors in a way I never dreamed imaginable. My passion for awareness and 'saving' those other adrenaline-addicted, driven personalities has created for me a career.

My next dilemma... restoring my thyroid naturally without using synthetic drugs or extraneous hormones. I'm learning I need to be disciplined, aware, and determined to put myself first. ;)

I was excited to hear Oprah expose how the thyroid fits into the equation of weight gain/loss. I've been screaming from the highest mountains ever since my burn-out in 1998, the little known facts I discovered. And it finally took Oprah to wake up America to what the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists have been saying for years. (See Advice).

For all of those women who’ve lost your vibrancy, your skin is dry & itchy, hair loss, diminishing eyebrows, depression or sadness, anxiety, cold hands/feet, puffy eyes/face, low sex drive, heart palpitations, constipation, memory is slow, heavier than normal menstrual period... it may not be peri-menopause... it may be your thyroid!