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| | Hi! My name is Cara. I am married to a wonderful man named John, |  |
| | and we have 3 teenagers. We live in a suburb of Houston, Katy,   |  |
| | Texas.                                                           |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | I have always been tired. I mean\...always! Even as a teenager,  |  |
| | I would sleep more than other friends of mine, and that\'s a     |  |
| | lot! But then, so did my Mom. I thought that was \"normal\". I   |  |
| | also had severe menstrual cramps, headaches and irregular        |  |
| | periods. I would miss school because I could not get out of bed  |  |
| | due to the pain. But again, I talked with my friends and my      |  |
| | gynecologist and was told I was a normal teenager. The doctor    |  |
| | put me on birth control pills to ease the symptoms and to        |  |
| | regulate my periods. Since a lot of my friends were on the       |  |
| | \"pill\", I thought that was the way to handle this condition.   |  |
| |  My periods did become regular and the cramps were tolerable. My |  |
| | Mom agreed with it, so it had to be OK. Right?                   |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | FAST FORWARD about 20 years. Now I am in my late 30s. I am       |  |
| | moody, depressed, irritable, stressed out from work, and of      |  |
| | course, tired!   I mention this to my gynecologist, and he       |  |
| | recommends having some blood work done.  My thyroid levels were  |  |
| | normal but I have high cholesterol, and he says I need to stop   |  |
| | taking the birth control pills that I have been on for 20 years. |  |
| | My body could not tolerate the \"pill\" anymore. Not wanting to  |  |
| | have any more children, another form of birth control was a      |  |
| | necessity. So, a friend told me about Depo-Provera. It\'s a shot |  |
| | that is administered once every 12 weeks and one of the nice     |  |
| | perks was, NO MORE PERIODS! I followed the doctor\'s orders and  |  |
| | had his nurse give me a shot at each interval. It was easy! He   |  |
| | did tell me that I needed to up my intake of calcium though.     |  |
| | Since I don\'t like milk and never have, I found myself just     |  |
| | popping some calcium supplements, when I thought of it.          |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | FAST FORWARD another 5 or so years. I finally go off the         |  |
| | Depo-Provera since my husband was kind enough to \"take care\"   |  |
| | of the birth control issue. I wake up tired! I am exhausted by   |  |
| | about 5PM.  I fall asleep at night only to wake up in the middle |  |
| | of the night and cannot fall back asleep. My menstrual cramps    |  |
| | have returned and so have my headaches. Sometimes I have a       |  |
| | period and sometimes I do not.  My doctor tells me I am          |  |
| | perimenopausal and these are normal symptoms and suggested       |  |
| | considering getting back on the \"pill\".  After having a bone   |  |
| | density test performed, I find out I have osteoporosis in my hip |  |
| | and osteopenia in my back. He told me I was too young to have    |  |
| | these \"conditions\" and he put me on some medication to rebuild |  |
| | bone density.  At this point, I decided I needed to find out     |  |
| | what some other options were\.....this was the turning point in  |  |
| | my life!                                                         |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | A friend had told me about a holistic approach to menopause. So, |  |
| | I found a very well- respected, well-educated person that        |  |
| | practiced this method. The supplements were expensive, and I     |  |
| | found the experience not helpful at all. I wasted hundreds of    |  |
| | dollars. Then, one day, my husband mentioned how he listened to  |  |
| | this program on AM radio each morning about health and wellness. |  |
| | He said that the doctors on the program talked to people that    |  |
| | called in and they talked about the same symptoms that I have.   |  |
| | The doctors mentioned getting your thyroid levels checked. Well, |  |
| | I had done that. Mine was within normal limits. But, I was       |  |
| | searching for a solution to my ongoing symptoms. So, I called    |  |
| | Hotze Health and Wellness that day! I wanted to be seen by a     |  |
| | doctor as soon as possible. Dr. Sheridan had an opening the next |  |
| | day.                                                             |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | I walked into Hotze Health and Wellness office, and I was        |  |
| | greeted by a smiling, friendly lady. I filled out a              |  |
| | questionnaire, and I was taken to an examination room where I    |  |
| | had my blood drawn. Dr. Sheridan came in to see me, and after an |  |
| | exam, within minutes he told me that I had about 80% of most     |  |
| | common symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroidism). How could that  |  |
| | be? I was told by my doctor, that I had gone to for many years,  |  |
| | that my thyroid was within normal limits. Well normal for me     |  |
| | resulted in symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, menstrual cramps,  |  |
| | high cholesterol levels, Osteoporosis/Osteopenia, sleep          |  |
| | problems, moodiness, cold clammy skin, thinning hair and eye     |  |
| | brows, and mild adult acne. You see, I have a very common        |  |
| | condition called hypothyroidism. I now take Armour thyroid       |  |
| | daily, along with bio-identical Progesterone, Testosterone, and  |  |
| | Bi-Est.  I feel great!                                           |  |
| |                                                                  |  |
| | I have learned a very important lesson! I am in charge of my own |  |
| | health and well-being! I ask Dr. Sheridan lots of questions, and |  |
| | he LISTENS! I continually strive to eat better, and exercise     |  |
| | regularly.  I plan on living life to its fullest!                |  |
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