There lived a 42-year old woman. For the benefit of the story, I’ll call her Martha. Three years ago, Martha’s husband died in a tragic head-on auto accident. The death of her husband and father of two teenagers came so abruptly and finally that Martha and her children didn’t have a moment to prepare for living without him.
In the numbing aftermath, Martha has managed to downsize the family’s housing and increase her income a little bit, while dealing with her own and her children’s grief and anger. With her daughter and son in their beds most evenings, Martha’s “my time” ritual of drinking a glass or two of wine seemed to have momentarily eased the stress and the emptiness, giving her a time to just be alone.
Now, three years later, Martha has gained 40 pounds and has begun taking anti-depressant medication prescribed to her by a therapist that she has been seeing since her husband’s death. She is restless. Because she was tired of “just getting” by on multiple fronts of her life, her therapist referred Martha to me. In the introduction conversation we shared, Martha confessed that she was no longer active. She had not continued cycling, which she and her husband loved doing together. “I’m too young to just shut down my life!”
The first thing that Martha and I did was to review what’s happening with her physically. She rated her energy as 3-4 on a 10-point scale.
Secondly, we found that she was not sleeping through the night. Frequently, she reported waking up every two hours, worrying about the future, and regretting the past over and over again.
Thirdly, we explored incidents of anxiety. Martha repeatedly became anxious while doing things she has done in the past. At the same time, she couldn’t seem to make herself volunteer for new projects at work. Realizing that fact, she worries about keeping her job.
Fourthly, she also brought up the disappointment in herself for gaining those 40 pounds. She began eating only two meals daily, thinking that would help her lose weight. I explained how important it is for her to eat small frequent meals to curb her brain’s anxiety.
After I informed Martha about how the brain and body function and how food choices contribute to fatigue, insomnia, and weight gain, we created achievable changes in her food routine. The next time we rated her energy on that 10-point scale, she rated it at 7! New foods and eating habits brought about less anxiety and sleeping through the night for Martha. Now we had a basic foundation from which to build.
Next, we did a robust blood panel, more thorough than her primary physician had done. This step allowed me to check for nutrient intake, asking the question: Does Martha eat enough of the right things to make healthy quantities of dopamine and serotonin in the body? Are there minerals and vitamins present that make dopamine and serotonin? I used strict standards of health to evaluate for nutritional deficiencies. With that analysis, I recommended options for Martha’s continued health improvement and prevention of long-term diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Several months into the process, I couldn’t help but notice that Martha started more new things in her life than I suggested — things such as participating in outdoor activities and joining E-Harmony. Now that Martha possesses more energy and less anxiety, she has the will to explore new possibilities and to begin another chapter of her life.
Personal details of Martha’s story have been altered to protect the confidentiality of the patient. The story is nonetheless true. Fatigue, insomnia, anxiety and weight gain are common to many patients, who come to see me. But, life doesn’t have to be lived that way. Individual evaluations of nutritional health, screenings, and personal care plans can make an enormous difference in one’s quality and fullness of life.
