To Your Health
June, 2009 (Vol. 03, Issue 06) |
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Suzanne Somers Is Enjoying Wellness at 62
And Promoting the Medication-Free Life
By Ramon McLeod, Editor-in-Chief
While Suzanne Somers has many stories worth telling, the most important ones actually have little to do with her career as an actress. For Suzanne, a breast cancer survivor, every day is another step in the journey toward wellness that encompasses healthy mind, body and spirit.
She's an actress, highly successful businesswoman, prolific author, and devoted wife, married to the same man for more than 40 years. And now, at the age of 62, Suzanne Somers has a new passion: life without pharmaceuticals.
Though she portrayed an airhead in her most famous role as Chrissy Snow in "Three's Company," Somers is no lightweight in matters involving healthy living. In her most recent book, Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness, Somers explains the damaging impact hormonal imbalances have on both women and men while arguing strongly that there are natural alternatives to hormone-replacement drugs like Premarin, which she claims should only be used as a last resort.
The Seven Dwarves
For Somers, her rebellion against drugs began when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and accelerated when she entered menopause. "I had what I call the Seven Dwarves of Menopause: I was itchy, bitchy, sleepy, sweaty, bloated, forgetful and all dried up. I went from doctor to doctor to find some relief, but each doctor was offering me synthetic hormones.
"And they said, well, you're depressed, so we can give you Prozac. You are having trouble sleeping, so we can give you Ambien. Your joints are aching, so we can give you joint and painkillers. And you're having anxiety attacks, so we can give you Valium, and your blood pressure is a little high, so we can put you on blood pressure medicine. That is the first five of what I call the menopausal cocktail.
"I refused them all. And there was no real sleep for me. I'd go to bed, sleep 15 minutes, [and then] the racing thoughts would start. No sleep. That's suffering, and it's dangerous."
Somers says she has spent thousands of hours researching the effects of hormonal decline and the capabilities of biologically-identical hormones, natural products that can, it is claimed, do what patented synthetic pharmaceuticals are designed to do: restore hormonal balance.
"Hormones are the juice of youth for all of us, men and women," Somers says." And we're draining out younger and younger. It is now common for women to start perimenopause in their mid-to-late 30s. It is now common for men to start draining out of testosterone at 45 to 50."
