I came to SHA because my matrescence had been the culmination of three long years of IVF—so much more than the usual nine months of hormonal, emotional, and physical changes of a pregnancy. Not only had I been subjected to thousands of needles and gallons of medications, but this roller coaster unfolded during my 40s, leaving my mind and body constantly at odds with each other. Disrupted sleep? Patchy skin? Absconding period? Unexplained anxiety? All elements of a not-so-fun game I call “Postpartum or Perimenopause?”
How do you address something you don’t fully understand? The numbers are a good place to start. “I think you’re really tired,” said Dr. Gabriela Dueñas during my functional medicine assessment. Ordinarily that’s a laughable observation to make to the mother of a newborn, but Dr. Dueñas came armed with data. Numbers and stats projected onto the wall supported her thesis: My progesterone was low, my cortisol was high, my physical stress was through the roof, but my mental stress was, mercifully, quite balanced—likely due to my saint of a husband managing as many external factors as he could. “You have to start learning how to release and relax and reconnect,” she continued. Doctor’s orders.
The regimen she prescribed included facials and massages and time at a subterranean hydrotherapy circuit overlooking the mangroves, but also an EKG, physiotherapy, and a gynecological exam—all firsts for me at a wellness retreat. Running up and down the six-story clinic between sessions was like being back in school again, only I’d swapped calculus and French for ginger therapeutic compresses, intermittent hypoxia, IV ozone therapy, and Pranayama. It was a more rigorous course load than I’d expected from a relaxing spa getaway, but I was here to do the work, after all.
