"You're Not Crazy, It's Your Hormones
by Larrian Gillespie
hosted by Sue Spataro, RN, BSN

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Dr. Larrian Gillespie’s newest book You're Not Crazy, It's Your Hormones! is an intelligent guide to help ALL women understand how ALL of their hormones work. This handbook gives women the latest health information and best medical tools. Women, by using Dr. Gillespie’s book, can work with their physicians in planning and utilizing the best up to date therapies.

Dr. Gillespie, the author of The Menopause Diet, The Goddess Diet, The Gladiator Diet, and You Don’t Have to Live With Cystitis, is known as the “Hormone Diva”. She possesses both the expertise and real life experience to help all women. Dr. Gillespie established a web site called the Hormone Diva. This web site includes information and help in dealing with all kinds of hormonal problems including those involving estrogen, progesterone, and the thyroid gland. Her site also works to build a community of women who work together to help each other through online support groups. Dr. Gillespie writes a FREE educational newsletter to stay connected with all members of the Hormone Diva group. This assists women in maintaining their health and learning how best to get the health care they need.

Interview with Dr. Larrian Gillespie

Sue:
Your latest book You're Not Crazy, It's Your Hormones! is a wonderfully thorough and smart look at how ALL hormones affect women's lives. You talk about the most popular hormones, estrogen and progesterone, but you really go into depth about all the other important hormones like the ones made by the thyroid gland.

What made you decide on this topic for your book?

Larrian:
Over the years of responding to women on my forums at hormonediva.com, and writing my free newsletter, Larrian Reports, I noticed the discussion ALWAYS turned to hormones and how they affected their lives, weight, mood and family. At the same time, women were eager to find out how to work through their hormone issues, but there simply wasn't any book that took them by the hand and gave them the "inside" diagnostic tree used by physicians to figure out WHICH hormone was at fault. "You're Not Crazy It's Your Hormones! The Hormone Diva's Workbook" does just that. Any woman can take the quizzes, then read what lab test(s) give you the best bang for the buck in getting a diagnosis, and which medications is the right choice for WOMEN to use, not men.

PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)

Sue:
I noticed that you included PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in your book. This condition affects millions of women yet there is so little good information about this important syndrome. You talk about how women can find out if they have PCOS. Many times they have had this condition when they were in their teens. How would you know if a teenager had PCOS and what is the best course of treatment for them (this includes how best to preserve their fertility)?

Larrian:
PCOS is a syndrome, which means it represents a collection of problems which funnel into some main criteria: insulin resistance and elevated testosterone in women. Unfortunately, most gynecologists fail to recognize the problem, feeling birth control pills are enough for management. This allows insulin resistance to remain untreated, which can cause not only weight gain but heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and even osteoporosis. Some women are estradiol deficient, while others have abnormal pituitary function. To preserve fertility and health, women need to be treated INDIVIDUALLY, not generically by defining the SPECIFIC abnormalities each one is experiencing, and then treating those conditions. Metformin, an oral glucose regulating agent, has shown good results in stimulating normal ovulation and dropping blood insulin levels. The newer BCP's have a progestin which has a lower profile in causing insulin resistance and can block testosterone levels. Diet is another critical factor, as consuming high glycemic carbs and not enough protein will increase the insulin resistance. My book The Goddess Diet, discusses the impact of hormones on weight gain and how to eat so as to stimulate normal hormone function. Finally, exercise is important. Techniques such as TTapp, biking and Pilates can lower insulin levels as well as blood pressure.

How to organize and plan a health care strategy

Sue:
I love the fact that YOU'RE NOT CRAZY, IT'S YOUR HORMONES! is a workbook. I found it to be very friendly and a great way to organize and plan a health care strategy. Why did you feel this was the best format for your book?

Larrian:
Again, women would ask me to guide them through a workup and I found myself repeating things over and over. So, the workbook is a way to give ANY woman the basics, and valuable Diva Diamonds about low ferritin levels and thyroid problems, how to detect insulin resistance by your neck circumference, what's the correct blood values for hormones at each week of your cycle. ultrasound images, scans and more. I've also shown women how to put together a medical scrapbook complete with forms, where to order lab work and medications without a prescription (one can never have too much information about your body!) and how to negotiate with your doctor for the right therapies and diagnostic studies. This workbook gives women the knowledge and confidence to go into their doctor's office with organized thoughts about their own healthcare. Once women approach physicians armed with knowledge, they don't get shamed into accepting substandard health care or harmful medications. And if women need immediate help or another perspective on their problem, then can subscribe to my Hormone Diva Speaks forum, where I personally answer questions in the privacy of the specially designed message board.

"You're Not Crazy, It's Your Hormones"
Click here to buy!

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