Life is a Balancing Act – Get some help Juggling

Presentation content to Zonta Women’s Club 2/17/09

Good Morning! I am so pleased to be here speaking to the women of Zonta today.

I am Dr. Mignon Lawson Emenike, and I own the Wellness Center by Dr.
Mignon. I grew up in Tallahassee, moved away for medical school, met and
married my husband and returned to Tallahassee to raise my family and open my
practice.

We started Impact Health on NE Capital Circle specializing in pediatrics and a

wide range of adult illnesses, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,
obesity, and osteoporosis.

I work closely with patients who are struggling with aging and weight gain, and
predictably, heart disease, chronic fatigue and depression. I really feel like I can
directly impact people’s lifestyle quality and duration of life, so I’ve opened The
Wellness Center. It is here that I am able to offer long-term weight loss
management, massage, supplementation, and anti-aging techniques using
bioidentical hormones. We increasingly see patients for esthetic services such as
Botox, dermal fillers, mesotherapy and vein treatment.

I want to talk to you today about Women’s Health in particular.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE WHAT , and see if these ring any bells with you:
o Maybe you have started experiencing night sweats, but you are still
getting your period
o You are experiencing “power surges” – hot flushing, the sensation of skin
crawling, dizziness, heart palpitations or faintness
o You are feeling fat, fuzzy, or frazzled
o You are feeling fatigued, depressed, have high cholesterol or low sexual
function and vaginal drying
o You aren’t sleeping, and are noticing increasing anxiety, attention deficit,
and irritability and are STRESSED OUT!

Did you know that an estimated 60%-80% of menopausal women are troubled by
hot flashes for a period of five years or more? That’s a long time to feel out-of-
whack!

We also know that 1 in 10 Americans has some degree of endocrine gland

disruption. This is where the various glands that are supposed to work together in
harmony (such as thyroid, adrenals, and sex glands) become depleted or
confused, altering their hormonal output. Most people suffering with metabolic
imbalance remain undiagnosed, while it slowly drains their daily joy, eroding
their overall quality of life. Sound familiar?

If your lab tests are coming back “within normal range,” you may be blamed for
not eating right, not thinking right, or not getting enough exercise – i.e. “it’s all in
your head.”

Well, what often lies at the heart of these various diagnoses is one underlying
cause: metabolic gland imbalance. Your tests may come back normal, but your
symptoms may be pointing you toward the truth. Unfortunately, you cannot
count on your doctor to bring up the possibility of thyroid, adrenal, or sex
hormonal imbalance as a likely culprit. Most people imagine that if they were at
risk for having a hormone abnormality, their doctor would tell them after
running some well-chosen blood tests. However, many doctors are less than fully
informed about the newer diagnostic tests or the milder yet often more effective
vitamin, mineral, or herbal interventions for restoring proper function.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE WHY . No surprises here. Generally, Women Do Too
Much! In addition, while caring for family, friends, community and work, don’t
practice any version of extreme self-care necessary to keep themselves in balance!

The constant stress of modern life with little down time or balance absolutely
increases energy hormone challenges.

Understand that our adrenals are the “fight or flight” glands that secrete excess
cortisol under duress, flooding the system with biochemicals that affect our
nervous system, and result in anxiety and irritability. Depletion of the adrenal
gland causes the thyroid gland to compensate, draining it as well.

I find that few health challenges are as demoralizing and upsetting to women as
persistent weight problems, particularly in our rail-thin model worshipping
society. Compared with other health concerns, obesity ranks foremost in
frequency for various reasons. Our high-carb-and-fat, low-nutrient diets eaten on
the run, coupled with larger portion sizes, add to our weight.

And I see all the time that women’s fast-paced lives can make it hard to find time
to exercise and rest adequately, all elements of the extreme self care I want for my
patients.

Do yourself a favor and find a good practioner to discover what hormonal

imbalance has to do with it all, and how a natural, holistic approach has helped
countless women.

A new mode of diagnosis, saliva testing, can be an excellent beginning step to

help you pinpoint and correct subtle disorders. A growing body of scientific
literature confirms the validity of testing saliva for hormone levels.
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LET’S LOOK AT THE HOW: As I mentioned earlier, we can address thyroid and
hormone deficiencies with diet and supplementation.

Step 1: You will want to eat high in fiber and low in calories, with plenty of non-
animal protein sources. You’ll want to satisfy your urge to eat with foods that
have the highest bulk, crunchiness, taste appeal, visual attractiveness, but which
are low in calories. This all adds up to eating more fruits, vegetables, beans,
seeds, nuts, and sprouts. To help handle the autoimmune issues related to
thyroid, include plenty of avocados and olives, even though they are higher in
calories.

Step 2: You will also want to add certain supplements, with a focus on the key
metabolic minerals. In addition to a multiple vitamin and antioxidant, you need
extra selenium, chromium and magnesium and a high-quality digestive enzyme.
If your thyroid is low, your enzyme complement is liable to be low, as well.

Step 3: Once your thyroid is balanced, you may finally stop that seemingly
endless tendency to keep gaining. Now your food plan and your exercise program
can start working as intended, so that you can obtain the results other people
have received all along. It may not matter so much what diet or body movement
you choose. Now that the thyroid is more balanced, it all begins to work better.

Why do women need hormones before, during and after menopause?

No matter what your age, if your female hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and
testosterone) are unbalanced, you may suffer ill effects such as the ones we
covered earlier. Women with balanced hormones - integrated with proper
nutrition and fitness – CAN have a better quality of life as they age.

It is important for you to know that you cannot patent a naturally occurring
hormone. The hormones that naturally occur in the human female body have
been altered so that the drug companies can justify the R&D programs to patent a
hormone and therefore make their money. It's a little frightening to think that
before bio identical hormones we were being prescribed a derivative of female
horse urine!

By the way, have you noticed your husbands and significant others losing
mental focus, energy, muscle mass, and sex drive and gaining weight? As men
age, their testosterone production begins to decline, and drives these symptoms.
We can help balance your man’s hormones as well with these bio identical
hormones, helping to restore their vitality.

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My personal goal is to find ways to support adults and children in achieving and
maintaining optimal weight and health, and reaching out to those who don’t have
access to the information that can help accomplish this. The Wellness Center by
Dr. Mignon can offer you expertise, life coaching, and emotional and spiritual
support.

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I thank you for having me speak today. I can really appreciate Zonta’s mission
because I love Tallahassee and want to give back to our wonderful community
too. My husband, two daughters and myself enjoy being involved in various local
projects including the upcoming African Caribbean Festival, blood drives at the
Wellness Center, Springtime Tallahassee, the Heart Walk and others.

In closing, I believe that what is good for women is good for families,
and what is good for families is good for our entire fabric of society

I urge you as women to take control of your health and become your own best
advocate. Do your research and be knowledgeable about your health and your
options for better health. And become a part of the change you wish to see in the
world.

I welcome any questions!