People ask me why I chose women’s health and hormonal imbalance support as my specialty for my practice.
I have developed a passionate fire for understanding why:
I too struggle and have struggled with imbalanced hormones. This past year I have even suffered setbacks in my progress to feeling balanced and well due to the stressors in our world right now.
I too have felt captive to how I feel from week to week in my menstrual cycle.
I too have been up for multiple weeks staring at the ceiling exhausted but unable to sleep. So tired I could not cope with anything life threw my way.
I too have felt blood sugar highs and lows despite following a “clean dietary lifestyle”. Felt like I gained weight just looking at a small scoop of ice cream let alone actually eating one.
I too have days where I cannot control my emotions. I could feel joy, cry, scream or want to hide at the drop of a hat.
For years I felt like it was just part of being a woman to have painful, heavy periods, tender breasts and nipples, hair that fell out, oily skin, acne, and uncontrollable cravings.
For years I was told you are getting older it’s just part of being over 35.
I too have had to advocate for testing because I knew something wasn’t right. • I would gain 5 lbs overnight despite my diet never changing. • My headaches were so strong for days I just powered through. • brain fog to the point I had to write EVERYTHING down or I would forget after 5mins. • Jitters out of nowhere. Shaking hands, racing heart rate, tired but wired, worried, fearful, frustrated, and overwhelmed.
It took me attending school to become a Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist to open my mind and begin the opening of doors into the response why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I found allied health professionals that not only understood my challenges but were willing to treat me as an individual and teach me why and how it was happening. It’s because of this I strive to help and support other women suffering from these same challenges and more.
As women, we need to rise up and stop feeling stuck, unheard, and unsupported. We need to advocate for ourselves and no longer accept the status quo.
We need to be studied, understood, supported.
This is still a gap in medical and pharmacological research! For several reasons, female subjects have historically been excluded from toxicology or biomedical research, says Tamarra James-Todd, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School. While progress has been made since 1993, when the National Institutes of Health mandated that women and minorities be included in any government-funded health research, there’s still a long way to go.”
STATS:
Major endocrine changes throughout a woman’s life, including puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, have been directly linked to increased risk for depression. Women also metabolize drugs differently than men. Yet fewer than 45% of animal studies on anxiety and depression use female lab animals. Yet women are widely prescribed anti-depressants for hormone imbalance-related challenges.
Only one-third of cardiovascular clinical trial subjects are female and only 31% of cardiovascular clinical trials that include women report results by sex, according to the report.
Two-thirds of the 5.1 million people currently suffering from Alzheimer’s are women, and an American woman’s overall lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s is almost twice that of a man. The prevailing thinking in the field is that this is simply because women live longer. But Alzheimer’s researchers have just begun looking past the assumption, and early discoveries indicate that the impact of hormonal changes at menopause and sex differences in gene expression may be involved as well.
These are just a few of the top reasons why I am a warrior, advocate, and champion for women’s health.
I am here to listen to your challenges and meet you in a place that leaves you feeling empowered to reclaim your life.
My name is Marissa Sylvester and I am here to help Women of all ages and stages truly understand their bodies. Reclaim their health and rise up finally to be heard and understood.
To your health and wellness,
