Performance enhancing hormones

Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm not talking about that kind of performance. I'm talking about stuff to get the creativity going.

Now, I am pretty much against performance enhancing anything. Sorry, but Hemingway and Faulkner were not into anything good thinking that alcohol would give them some kind of creative boost. Steroids, no, unless you're going to die or a close facimile thereof without 'em. Illegal drugs, no. Bad stuff, IMHO. Caffiene is as bad as I will allow, and I have indulged mightily, but I do suffer afterwards, so no more of that kind of abuse.

Butt in the chair, hands on the keyboard. Every day. Breaks when you need them, and then making sure to fill the creative well. That is the recipe for productive creativity.

However, for a long while, I had thought dragging one's feet toward one's work was normal, that you had to put up with life and illness and trials and tribulations. My creativity was slow in building up to anything substantial. But I kept on going out of sheer stubborn will. For the most part, that approach works, but then there are the slumps. Recently, my doc gave me some progesterone--result of going toward cronehood, plus some unfortunate effects of PCOS.

And life became beautiful. So, it didn't fix my physical problems, but wow, wow, wow. Anxieties, gone. Overwhelmed feelings, gone. Being on a diet? Cool. Exercise? I'm there. Energy? Zippin'. The dear hubby? Most wonderful guy in the world (but I knew that, even in my slumps). Creativity, bursting at the seams. I WANT to write and write and write and that's what I'm doing. You can tell by the number of recent blogs, and then there is the book I'm writing. Tons of pages, every day. I can hardly wait to get to the computer.

So I'm going to turn this into a public service message. If you're feeling dragged down, tired, depressed, your creativity gone, and especially if you are a woman, get yourself to a doctor--a GYN and/or an endocrinologist. Make sure your endocrine system, your hormones are balanced, that the tests are extensive. Do not settle for the usual simple blood test. Get your thyroid checked (TSH, T3, T4), your glucose tested. I had PCOS--Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and insulin resistance--for years, and my family doctor didn't do a thing for it. I don't think she knew what to look for, so it took going to an endocrinologist to find out the problem. If you're depressed or anxious, don't just settle for anti-depressants--first, look to see if there might be a problem with your thyroid, or maybe you have PCOS and insulin resistance. Check out the internet sites for PCOS and hyper- and hypothyroidism. There is plenty of information out there. Not looking deeper and trying to fix that down, dragging feeling with antidepressants may just be covering up some serious physical problems. I'm not saying that antidepressants don't work--I know they do for a lot of people, and that's fine. I'm saying, look to see if there's a deeper problem.

Alcohol, caffiene, all that stuff isn't going to help your creativity. Getting your health back in order just might.

--Karen H.