Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled?: A 3-Step Program to: Beat Hormone Havoc, Restore Thyroid, Adrenal, and Reproductive Balance, and Feel Better Fast! (Hardcover)

~ Karilee Shames (Author), (Author) "The dance among the endocrine hormones can seem as mysterious as the stars twinkling in their galaxies..." (more)
Key Phrases: adrenal balancing, rebalancing tools, canary club, New York, United States, Extra-Point Questions Answer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers whose chronic health conditions are due to, or worsened by, glandular imbalances may find this informative guide to pinpointing and healing hormone-related illness helpful in improving their functioning. Physician Richard Shames is a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association, while his wife, Karilee Shames, is certified in psychiatric and holistic nursing. Their holistic view makes clear how hormonal imbalance in any one glandular system disturbs every other system. According to the Shameses, patients and their health-care providers must address each system, first targeting the areas of major disturbance, then looking at the other systems to correct secondary problems. They provide a framework that includes three different patient "Endo-Types" (the "feeling fat" thyroid-driven type; "fuzzy-thinking" sex-gland–driven type; and "fried and frazzled" adrenal-driven type) and questionnaires for readers to understand the cause of problems like unexplained weight gain, exhaustion, lack of mental focus and clarity, irritability and impatience. A three-step program then teaches readers how to address and correct glandular imbalances. Although many readers might be drawn to the book for the authors' promise of greater vitality, they may be more gratified to learn that, by restoring hormonal and glandular balance, they may be mitigating many serious health conditions, too.
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Product Description

An expert physician/ nurse team offers a practical, hands-on program to restore thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive balance-and feel better fast.

You're exhausted, and you've gained weight; you feel mentally fuzzy much of the time, and don't feel that you handle day-to-day stress as well as you once did. Worried, you visit the doctor, who orders the typical battery of tests. Two weeks later, you're assured that everything's fine.

Sound familiar? If you're one of the 33 million Americans suffering from hormone-related metabolic problems, the answer is a resounding yes. Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, or Frazzled? is the first book to expose and address the delicate, life-altering balance among the thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive hormones. This multi-gland approach-missing from other hormone-related books-can make the day-to-day difference between feeling awful and feeling good. If left untreated long-term, this imbalance can cause heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, and severe menopause.

Practical and hands-on, this book offers readers: an innovative, integrated self-care program to identify their thyroid, adrenal, or reproductive-related metabolic disorder (through easy, inexpensive, noninvasive diagnostic tests and questionnaires); a "5-day jumpstart program" to help alleviate symptoms of weight gain, low energy, or frayed nerves fast (through vitamins, minerals, and nutrition); and a long-term plan to achieve optimal health, complete with advice for finding and partnering with the right doctor.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Street Press (July 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159463002X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594630026
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #127,577 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear, comprehensive, practical and integrated roadmap, July 7, 2005

By	Mary (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

It's not always easy for thyroid patients -- and our practitioners -- to understand how interrelated our hormones can be, along with their critical impact on health. Specifically, when we have a thyroid condition, the relationship to adrenal problems and our reproductive system and hormones, is critical, but it's so rarely addressed.

This makes Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames' new book, "Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled?" particularly useful.

Using their unique "Endo-Type" categorization system, you use questionnaires and self-tests to determine which glands -- your thyroid, adrenals or reproductive glands -- are causing your primary imbalance.

And then, the book helps you restore balance, help rebalance the glands, and ensure that all three types of hormones -- the 3 legs of the "stool" metaphor that the Shames use in the book -- are all equal, and therefore able to support you without tipping over.

The Shames recommend readers find a great practitioner and partner with him or her for your health care. And they dedicate an entire section of book to direct communications with practitioners -- letters you can copy and share with your practitioners or endocrinologists, and will hopefully help you get the care you need.

Ideally, you'll find a great practitioner who can help you implement the program with the guidance of the Shames book.

But if you need to follow a self-guided program, you will find the resources and information -- including options on where to order your own tests, and what supplements and nutrients you may need -- to pursue a self-care program.

And another helpful option is that you can contact Dr. Richard Shames for a phone coaching session to help customize the program to meet your specific needs.

Short-term and longer-term approaches are offered, which is especially useful when you are talking about hormones. You'll have things you can do right away, along with longer-term goals and objectives that will help you maintain improvements in your health.

Concept Summaries and Action Summaries at the end of each chapter help you focus your efforts on those practical actions that can have the greatest impact on your health.

Overall, Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames have achieved the near impossible - a clear, comprehensive, practical and integrated roadmap to restore and rebalance our hormones. I highly recommend the book!

-- From Mary Shomon, Thyroid Patient Advocate and author of "Thyroid Diet" and "Living Well With Hypothyroidism"

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing balance back into my own life, July 11, 2006

By	Sparkle Reed "smartmouth" (MILWAUKEE, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, or Frazzled?: A 3-Step Program to: Restore Thyroid, Adrenal, and Reproductive Balance, Beat Hormone Havoc, and Feel Better Fast! (Paperback)

I had been feeling "fuzzy" in my thinking for months. I assumed it was my hectic lifestyle or my daily caffiene habit that was causing this. No amount of sleep made me feel better. In the afternoons, I was fatigued. Weight had started to creep up on me, even though I live an active lifestyle. My periods were difficult and I found myself feeling as if my body was betraying me. What could be wrong?


I completely overlooked the idea of hormone imbalance until my girlfriend suggested this book. As soon as I came to the section on fuzzy thinking and did the quiz for "high estrogen" - bingo - I realized what was happening. I am in the perimenopausal age group and didn't even consider my hormones could be affecting how I was feeling. "Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled" helped me to pinpoint what was going on in my otherwise healthy body.

I started the vitamin/mineral regimen suggested and in two days I felt significantly better. I began making small lifestyle changes and two weeks later - no more afternoon energy crashes, my brain is back on track and I feel less bloated. I've lost two pounds and feel like my old self again.

The Shames have created a book that is accessible and a good step in the right direction. Not only do they cover the more newagey type remedies (which is what I prefer) but they also offer suggestions on hormone replacement, medicine, testing and more. This makes the book well rounded and can appeal to everyone, regardless of what they believe will work for them.

For myself - so far, so good. Thank you!

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book for people with adrenal disorders, January 10, 2007

By	L. Suess (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or Frazzled? : A 3-Step Program to: Beat Hormone Havoc, Restore Thyroid, Adrenal, and Reproductive Balance, and Feel Better Fast! (Hardcover)

I bought this book for myself to understand my hypothyroid condition and figure out why I wasn't feeling better after starting levothryoxine. I am so glad I did. This book explains that the hormonal system is a 3-legged stool involving different body systems and that even if my thyroid is managed, an imbalance may still be present in my adrenal gland. This is a must-have book for anyone suffering from thyroid, adrenal, or reproductive imbalances with hormones. I got it from the library at first and decided to just buy it since there was so much useful information. What really makes the book useful is that it not only offers understanding of the problems I am experiencing, it also offers solutions and resources to feel better.