HO-HO, OH NO…ON THE THIRD WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Holiday Stress

IT COULD REALLY SLEIGH YOU

It’s Black Friday, and visions of angst dance through your head. Because Christmas is right around the corner, just while you’re still trying to recoup after Thanksgiving. Not something to be so grateful about at this point. The headaches raise their ugly heads again. You want to curl up with a steamy cup of hot chocolate (a hit of rum in it wouldn’t be so bad) and wake up when it’s all over. Like in 2017, maybe. But you’re tough and resilient and ready to go.

HELPLESS AND ELFLESS

Whatever’s supposed to be frantically going on at the North Pole, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you. Where are your merry band of elves working to make things easier? Didn’t they get your text…” HELP!”? Actually, where is anyone in your family stepping up to the wreath? Most of the time you’re pretty much on your own and what you have to do is daunting. A “Bah Humbug” would be acceptable here. Even before gifts and other plans, you need to think of Christmas Cards. Pictures of the family? Touching thoughts? Funny? And who is supposed to get them? You can count on forgetting someone. So you can count on a big hill of guilt. But grab your gift garb and get ready to shop.

SHOPPING THROUGH THE SNOW

There’s so much in store for you. Oh wait, that’s so many stores in store for you.

Door busters can cause you to bust a gut. The lines, the insanity…forget it.

And then there are the decisions. Like the card confusion, who gets what?  If anything. The mailman? Your manicurist? The babysitter? The paperboy? (Oh wait, that hasn’t been an issue for ages and ages thanks to digital news.) Who might give you a gift you aren’t expecting so you better have something on hand for them?  “Oh, you didn’t have to do that”, they gush.  Wish that were true. You do have choices, though. You could shop online. But you could blow hours and hours on that one. Oh, and no guarantee anything you buy will arrive in time for the big day. Actually, there’s another blustery thought: just how many gifts do each person get? If you celebrate Hanukkah, there’s 7 nights of gifts to get. Try and wrap your head around all that. You can’t, so, it’s off you go, ready for the battles at the counters with the only bells jingling are in your head are incessantly loud, annoying and endless. Ah, it’s like music.

Dashing through the snow

In your 6-seat Chevrolet

O’er the crowded freeways you go

Crying all the way

Jingle bells…jingle bells…

PUT THIS ON YOUR LIST:

Dr. Stephen a. Goldstein, MD, FACS. at Denver hormone health.

A lot of the health problems you’re feeling over the holidays, like stress or all other malaise toying around with your body, what you’re feeling might actually be the result of unbalanced hormones. Like so many other things you’re at the mercy of this season, you could be at the mercy of hormones. Hormones are the messengers telling your cells how to operate. There is no end to the damage and tricks they can play. And how miserable they can make you feel. But dr. Stephen a. Goldstein, MD, FACS. at Denver Hormone Health is at the head of the field of hormone replacement therapy. In one consultation, he listens to what is bothering you, then with simple tests, is able to determine exactly what’s going on in regard to your hormones. From there, he creates a uniquely tailored plan to get you back to Christmas joy.

So make an appointment today.

No thank-you card required.

LET’S TALK TURKEY – The Real Leftovers

Leftovers

Try a platter of fatigue piled as high as it will go, with a dozen sides of exhaustion and even depression. Somehow, “It was wonderful”, The food was to die for, it was so good seeing everyone” doesn’t translate into ecstatic joy and contentment. So what’s to incriminate? Dish duty? Done. Clean up? Now there’s a monster. Crumbs have crawled into every nook and cranny. It’s mayhem behind the sofa pillows. You’d rather torch the house rather than vacuum. (Not really, but at this point, no one else jumps up to help.)

GERD IS OUT TO GET YOU

You looked forward to it for weeks. Months even. And now that it’s over, it seems your body is besieged.  Migraines, body aches. It’s like a torrent of wild turkeys went wild running you over. Your mood is low and you have trouble sleeping. (Unless the acid in your stomach is keeping you up popping antacids.) And you were hoping the annual Thanksgiving rite of passage would pass uneventfully. You think that every year. And feel as beaten up every year. It’s over, you can relax now. You certainly deserve it Your body is crying for it. Close your eyes…think positive thoughts…try to meditate if only for a few moments. You try. Oh, you try. But every time you try to enter an OMMMMM state, your mind wanders to the foil topped towers of leftovers in the fridge. STOP! RESET! Let your mind replay the gratitude the day is really about. It has been shown that this can cause a large reduction in cortisol (a stress hormone), and a huge increase in DHEA, a positive hormone regulator. Just think this; you did it. You were a huge success. People can’t wait to come back until next year.  (Oh, and about that…time you thought about being the guest, and not the host.)

HARK! ANOTHER ONSLAUGHT COMING

OMG! It’s Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving (or often now the night before) that is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. You’ve been inundated for weeks about the miracles of money-saving by getting out there and battling the hordes who feel they are going to beat you to that $298 huge smart TV. It used to be that the stores all opened around 6 a.m. Friday morning, but now they are open all Thursday night. (Thus the early exit of some guests.) Who isn’t drawn to Door Buster Bonuses? So you have to stand in line for hours. It’s part of the Thanksgiving tradition, like football. Only in this case, the wins are for you. What happened to getting a good night sleep, or even sleeping in to recharge? Another helping of stress, please. And, of, course, the countdown to the next big event is around the corner. Christmas. Can’t avoid this one. But we’ll get more into that next month.

BE GRATEFUL

HORMONES ARE YOUR BODY’S SECRET WEAPON.  THEY KEEP YOUR HEART THUMPING, YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CHURNING, AND YOUR BRAIN SHARP. WHENEVER YOU FEEL “OFF”, YOUR HORMONES COULD BE THE CAUSE. THEY CAN GET OUT OF KILTER WHEN YOU’RE STRESSED, TIRED, OR EATING POORLY, AND CREATE ALL KINDS OF HAVOC. ONCE TURKEY TIME IS OVER YOU END UP IN A FATIGUE FUNK WHERE’RE YOU’RE SURE THANKSGIVING IS THE OFFENDER. BUT FATIGUE IS A TELL-TALE SIGN OF HORMONAL IMBALANCE IN WOMEN. THESE HORMONAL IMBALANCES CAN ALSO CAUSE MOOD SWINGS, INSOMNIA, DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY. ONE OF THE MOST IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY IS INCREASED ENERGY AND RELIEF FROM DEBILITATING FATIGUE. FORTUNATELY, HORMONAL IMBALANCE IS HIGHLY DIAGNOSABLE AND READILY TREATABLE. BUT FOR OPTIMUM HEALTH, IT’S VITAL TO CHOOSE A HORMONE REPLACEMENT SPECIALIST WHO UNDERSTANDS THE IMPORTANCE OF HORMONAL BALANCE AND HOW IT IS UNIQUE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL. IN THE DENVER AREA, THAT EXPERT WOULD BE DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH. AFTER REVIEWING YOUR HEALTH HISTORY AND CONDUCTING AN EXAM, HE CONDUCTS A FEW SIMPLE LAB TESTS TO DETERMINE YOUR CURRENT HORMONE LEVELS. THIS INFORMATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR CREATING A CUSTOMIZED HORMONE REPLACEMENT COMPOUND TO TREAT YOUR UNIQUE PROBLEM.

SO CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT NOW.

YOU’LL BE EXTREMELY THANKFUL YOU DID.

LET’S TALK TURKEY – Stress on the menu

Stress on the menu

Stress on the Menu – Did you know that it was in 1941 when Congress decided that the fourth Thursday in November would be observed as Thanksgiving Day and a federal legal holiday? Did you know that in 1863 Abe Lincoln proclaimed a national annual Thanksgiving Day? And that in 1789 President George Washington issued a proclamation naming November 26 a day of Annual Thanksgiving. In 1621 the first Thanksgiving was observed in Plymouth, Massachusetts with around 90 Native Americans attending. It goes back. With stress through the years, I would guess.

So anyway it’s a long-standing tradition that Thanksgiving is the day when we feel most grateful for the blessings in our lives. So why do we talk so much about Thanksgiving stress? It can weigh more heavily on us than that having a slice of every type of pie and dessert put out. (And probably seconds.) We don’t plan on it, but stress seems to be part of most peoples’ plans. From the very beginning. Who should we invite? Wait, why do we have to do it at our house, anyway? Why don’t we let someone else tackle the whole event and just offer to bring cranberry relish? So, it starts with self-reproach. But of course, we have to plan the Thanksgiving soiree of the season. We have so much to be thankful for. There’s planning the menu for an intimate dinner for 30 or so. Should we stick with the old tried and true, or be adventuresome and try something new? That ought to fill up a solid week of looking for recipes. There’s the shopping…gee, thanks.  There’s the cost involved…gee, thanks. There’s the preparation schedules and oven temperatures and cooking times…really, oh gee…thanks.

Gobble that up.

RECIPES FOR DISASTER

Guess who’s coming to dinner? When a family gathers elbow to elbow around a large table, the iconic Norman Rockwell scene doesn’t always materialize. Relationships that are strained can feel even more so when everyone is in the same room. Parents and grown children and even Grandparents often clash over everything from table manners to unanswered questions. (“Why haven’t you met a nice man yet?”) Old arguments—political (today’s tinderbox), emotional, or otherwise—can resurface. For many people, Thanksgiving is a massive platter of family-related stress. Discomfort wasn’t part of the menu, but there seems to be a lot of it going around. And it’s not always just clash of the families…when you figure in friends, anything goes. Ingredients for more stress, sweats and a stomach turning even before the battle of the gorge.

STORE-BOUGHT AND OTHER SINS

Whether you’re cooking your first Thanksgiving dinner or have been the go-to host for years, it can be stressful to be at the culinary helm. Some family members may have dietary restrictions like veganism. Some just turn up their noses at anything new you did dare to try. Or a friend brings something that no one goes to take one bite of. It’s your fault, of course, not theirs. Many stores make wonderful holiday dishes that would probably help make your life a little easier. But “easy” translates to “guilty” in a flash. How could you? It would be nice…oh, you couldn’t. And do you have a pet? if you do, you have to watch them with as much attention as making sure the serving dishes are always refilled. Because turkey bones splinter, they can choke dogs or cats, the Veterinary Medical Association warns. Dogs should also be kept away from any dish that contains onions, leeks or garlic because they are known to damage canine red blood cells. Likewise, raisins and grapes can induce kidney failure. And chocolate, especially vast amounts of the dark variety, can lead to serious gastrointestinal symptoms and even death in dogs. Another species begging for more. Does it stop?

Uh…no. There’s plenty more room for other kinds of guilt. Think of the travel. Driving? Agonizing. Flying? Nightmare would be understatement. Either is enough to plant an eetsy –beetsy thought in your head of skipping the whole thing and trying to convince yourself Thanksgiving is just like any other day. There’s the guilt you feel when you feel like that and then think of all the people who will spend the day alone, wishing they had someone to celebrate with. There is a lot of “blessed” mixed in with the guilt. So you stop stuffing the turkey and feel thankful for a bit. Feels good.

BE GRATEFUL

IT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. THE STRESS THAT BEGINS WEEKS BEFORE THE BIG DAY. THE HEADACHES, NERVOUS FEELINGS. TROUBLE SLEEPING. MUSCLE ACHES AND JOINT PAIN. YOU ALWAYS ATTRIBUTE IT TO THE HOLIDAYS. BUT THOSE FEELING COULD BE COMING FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE; YOUR HORMONES. THERE’S A GOOD CHANCE YOU FEEL UNHINGED BECAUSE YOUR HORMONES ARE UNBALANCED. HORMONES ARE WHAT SEND MESSAGES THROUGHOUT YOUR BODY, HELPING CONTROL HOW CELLS AND ORGANS DO THEIR WORK. AND WHEN THEY’RE NOT WORKING THE WAY THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO, YOUR BODY DOESN’T WORK AT ITS BEST. THANKFULLY, HELP IS NEARBY.

STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH IS ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT EXPERTS IN THE FIELD OF HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY. WITH SIMPLE TESTS AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION, HE IS ABLE TO PINPOINT THE SOURCE OF YOUR PROBLEMS AND DETERMINE EXACTLY THE TREATMENT YOU NEED TO FEEL THE BEST YOU CAN DURING A TIME YOU HAVE TO. AND ALL THE TIME AFTER.

CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT TODAY.

WITH SOMETHING THIS IMPORTANT, THE TURKEY CAN WAIT A LITTLE.