Insulin Resistance and Prenatal Stress: The Risk Factor No One Talks About (Survey)

If you have a chronic illness it’s likely that someone has told you the cause has to do with your lifestyle choices involving diet, activity levels, smoking or the overuse of alcohol. There is a very different risk factor for insulin resistance and chronic illness that no one talks about despite the fact that it offers hope, alleviates blame, and suggests powerful tools for prevention and repair. This risk factor is supported by a body of research so large that hundreds of studies already exist and the newest prospective studies are obtaining similar results and coming to the same conclusions. This important risk factor that I never learned about in medical school is the role of Prenatal Stress ⁽¹⁾Calkins, K., & Devaskar, S. U. (2011, Jul). Fetal origins of adult disease. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 41(6), 158-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cppeds.2011.01.001.

The links between insulin resistance and prenatal stress have been known for over 70 years. We know that these effects of prenatal stress can arise not only for the baby as it grows older, but can also persist for that person’s children and grandchildren. This finding suggests that having a significant family history of the diseases most recognized as being related to insulin resistance, such as obesity and larger bodies, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, does not mean it’s genetic. The fact that it’s not entirely genetic offers hope.

Prenatal Stress is a Nongenetic Risk Factor

Prenatal stress is an environmental risk factor. Most chronic illnesses are now understood to arise from nongenetic factors, also known as environmental factors. Life experiences are nongenetic factors that alter how our genes function, including whether they turn on or off. The field of epigenetics is showing us one way in which life experiences affect the way our genes work. This happens through molecules that attach to and detach from genes to influence how they operate throughout the day and over time. The encouraging evidence from this growing field of epigenetics is that epigenetic changes – and therefore effects from experiences in our past – have the potential for reversibility ⁽²⁾Weaver, I. C., Diorio, J., Seckl, J. R., Szyf, M., & Meaney, M. J. (2004, Jun). Early environmental regulation of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor gene expression: characterization of intracellular mediators and potential genomic target sites. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1024, 182-212. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1321.099, ⁽³⁾Hurley, D. (2013, June 11). Grandma’s experiences leave a mark on your genes: Your ancestors’ lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain. Discover, May. http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes#.UpO4CY2SLwx.

Links between insulin resistance and prenatal stress are under acknowledged. Prenatal stress is an important environmental risk factor that influences our epigenetics. Knowing this plays a role in providing opportunities for prevention and repair that most of us have never known existed.

Prenatal Stress is A Known Risk Factor

The understanding that prenatal stress is an important risk factor for insulin resistance (IR) comes from studies following the babies of women who were pregnant during events that are recognized as highly stressful, such as natural disasters and war ⁽⁴⁾King, S., Matvienko-Sikar, K., & Laplante, D. P. (2021). Chapter 18: Natural Disasters and Pregnancy: Population-Level Stressors and Interventions. In A. Wazana, E. Székely, & T. F. Oberlander (Eds.), Prenatal Stress and Child Development. Springer. Recovery is possible from even these kinds of enormous stressors when we understand trauma and know some of the many ways to recognize its effects and address them (I’ll share examples below).

The field of study of prenatal stress has a name: the Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease (DOHaD), previously known as the Fetal Origins of Adult Disease (FOAD). Prenatal stress and other types of adversity in the prenatal period are risk factors that have been identified not only for insulin resistance but also for other chronic illnesses such as autoimmune disease, even when insulin resistance is not present.

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone that helps the body process and store carbohydrates into sugar for fuel. Our bodies are more insulin sensitive during states of rest and digest. They naturally shift towards insulin resistance during activity and states that more specifically support survival such as through fight and flight. In sympathetic, tissue resistance to insulin keeps sugar available in the blood where it can be more rapidly accessed as an immediate supply for energy needed by the heart, brain and muscles when we mobilize.

As mentioned in last week’s post, insulin resistance is the state that supports bears to survive on fat as the fuel during hibernation ⁽⁵⁾Skett, P. (2014, Aug). Grizzly bears become ‘diabetic’ when they hibernate. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26008-grizzly-bears-become-diabetic-when-they-hibernate/. In humans, our bodies can get stuck in states of insulin resistance and trauma is one of the risk factors for this, including prenatal stress ⁽⁶⁾Nathanielsz, P. (1999). Life in the womb: the origin of health and disease. Promethean. Symptoms of insulin resistance may be driven by patterns of threat physiology that evolve in our bodies over a period of years and decades, starting with experiences of prenatal stress in our own lives, or in the prenatal lives of our parents or grandparents. These are experiences that have been sufficiently overwhelming for mothers and babies in particular, that they interrupt normal bonding, connection and feelings of safety. Experiences of distress can shift our bodies into physiology such as freeze and shutting down.

As a result of such early trauma our bodies develop in such a way that they become more sensitive to future stressors and adverse events ⁽⁷⁾Weaver, I. C., Diorio, J., Seckl, J. R., Szyf, M., & Meaney, M. J. (2004, Jun). Early environmental regulation of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor gene expression: characterization of intracellular mediators and potential genomic target sites. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1024, 182-212. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1321.099, which can strengthen these threat pathways ⁽⁸⁾Naviaux, R. K. (2014, May). Metabolic features of the cell danger response. Mitochondrion, 16, 7-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mito.2013.08.006,. Maternal and parental epigenetic changes, as well as their behaviors that are impacted by their own histories of trauma, also compound the effects of prenatal stress.

Connection is Protection

Not everyone who experiences prenatal stress develops negative effects from it. In addition, not everyone develops insulin resistance or a chronic illness after exposure to prenatal stress. Support for the mother and emotional connection between her and her baby are enormously protective, even after experiences of adversity (the inspiring studies below provide some great examples). Although my own chronic fatigue seems consistent with a hibernation type of physiology, for example, I do not have insulin resistance.

The development of insulin resistance can take years or decades to become a state that is the “new norm” for your body. Symptoms that result from prolonged states of insulin resistance and other effects of prenatal stress can also take time to arise, often after a decade or more ⁽⁹⁾Ghani, Z. A., Qaddori, H., & Al-Mayah, Q. (2023, May). Triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein ratio as a predictor for insulin resistance in a sample of healthy Iraqi adults. Journal of Medicine and Life, 16(5), 668-674. https://doi.org/10.25122/jml-2022-0239. This means that insulin resistance, if you know you have it before any observable symptoms arise, or prediabetes such as having slightly increased blood sugar levels that are not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes, can both serve as biomarkers. This gives us time to address and heal past trauma as a protective factor for ourselves. If you already have a chronic illness, which is most commonly why you’re here reading through stuff you may have never really planned to get curious about, there is still hope for healing trauma as a way of addressing, reducing and potentially resolving factors that drive your state of health. Understanding that links exist between insulin resistance and prenatal stress as well as for other chronic illnesses, in other words, offers hope.

Bonding

If you have insulin resistance, a chronic illness, or both, chances are that you experienced a number of prenatal stressors in the face of not quite enough support for your mother, your father, or yourself.

Effects of prenatal stress can occur with many different kinds of adverse events, which interact with our brains and nervous systems as they grow and develop. Our bodies learn about stress, and how to prepare for and cope with stress, in prenatal life and especially in our first 2 years while our organs are undergoing the most rapid development of their lifetimes. You can learn more in my Guide to Adverse Babyhood Experiences ⁽¹⁰⁾Mead, V. P. (2020). Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) increase risk for infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, and chronic illness. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 34(4), 1-33. https://chronicillnesstraumastudies.com/adverse-babyhood-experiences-abes-increase-risk-for-infant-and-maternal-morbidity-and-mortality-and-chronic-illness-mead-jopppah-2020/.

My own prenatal risk factors included that my mother left her family behind to move with my father to a new country for his work and had felt isolated. Her labor with me was long and the epidural was really painful. My parents described our initial quiet time together right after my birth as incredibly special, while they held me and we gazed into each others’ eyes. This is suggestive of bonding and how resilient our systems can be even in the face of stress. Soon afterwards, however, my mother developed a spinal headache from the epidural and was unable to lift her head of the pillow for a few days. She’d had trouble communicating with the nurse for support because she didn’t yet speak much English. She had my brother soon after me and two months after his birth, her father died. She describes having never cried so much in her life as she did in those couple years. While the events after my birth are likely factors that influenced my risk for chronic fatigue and asthma, the isolation from her family and the other challenges of starting a new life in the big city of Chicago during her first pregnancy were likely components of what made my mother feel more sensitive to the effects of all these events.

Did you Experience Prenatal Stress?

As a person with chronic illness it can be enlightening and validating to learn whether you may have experienced prenatal stress or its effects as a baby or in childhood. Here are indicators to look for. The Adverse Babyhood Experiences Survey has more examples where you can get a sense of the “dose” of adversity you may have experienced. This and additional surveys on my blog are helping me learn more about insulin resistance and prenatal stress and effects on other chronic illnesses.

A mother’s experience of adverse prenatal events and prenatal stress can look like:

• insufficient support
• fear
• lack of safety
• illness such as preeclampsia
• financial strain
• conflict in relationship
• death of a family member, friend or other loved one
• not having enough to eat
• premature birth
• interventions during pregnancy

Indicators of Prenatal Stress

Prenatal stress can interfere with a parent’s natural ability to bond with you as their baby. Parental experiences of adversity in their own childhoods are also a risk factor for disruptions in the ability of a parent to connect emotionally with their babies, including with in the womb.

Bonding can support a baby’s long-term health in multiple ways, such as by affecting a parent’s feelings and emotions; behaviors of attachment, care and nurturing; and even the state and proximity of the mature caregiver’s regulated nervous system that helps a baby’s immature nervous system regulate – and grow the capacity for a healthy nervous system that can eventually self-regulate ⁽¹¹⁾Madrid, A. (2010). The mother and child reunion: Repairing the broken bond. Lulu Press. https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Child-Reunion-Ph-D-Madrid/dp/055734624X, ⁽¹²⁾Klaus, M. H., & Kennell, J. H. (1976). Maternal-infant bonding. Mosby. Bonding disruptions, then, can also influence health. There are many approaches that recognize bonding disruptions and can help repair them (examples coming below).

Research on prenatal stress and effects on bonding and attachment have helped us see how early symptoms in babies and parents can reflect patterns of dysregulation of the nervous system that cause symptoms. Dysregulation is what underlies these symptoms, even if the symptoms can look disparate and unrelated.

Symptoms of prenatal stress in babies and infants include ⁽¹³⁾Klaus, M. H., & Kennell, J. H. (1976). Maternal-infant bonding. Mosby:

• birth weight below 7 pounds although prenatal stress does not always lead to low birth weight ⁽¹⁴⁾Calkins, K., & Devaskar, S. U. (2011, Jul). Fetal origins of adult disease. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 41(6), 158-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cppeds.2011.01.001
• a lower APGAR score (a 10 item scoring system that evaluates a baby’s state 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth by looking at characteristics such as breathing, appearance, activity and tone, and pulse)
• colic ⁽¹⁵⁾Klaus, M. H., & Kennell, J. H. (1976). Maternal-infant bonding. Mosby
• being difficult to soothe
• crying a lot
• not liking to be held
• frequent infections
• fitful sleep

Symptoms of prenatal stress in mothers and parents can include ⁽¹⁶⁾Klaus, M. H., & Kennell, J. H. (1976). Maternal-infant bonding. Mosby:

• premature onset of labor
• premature birth
• not feeling love for one’s baby (this indicates a bonding disruption)
• sadness, grief, anger, or feeling that things are not quite as they should be
• postpartum depression
• new onset of PTSD such as from difficult events in pregnancy, labor and birth
• finding it hard to want to hold, cuddle, gaze and spend time with your baby

Prevention & Repair

Prenatal stress appears capable of initiating the kind of threat physiology I talked about in last week’s post about hibernating bears and the cell danger response. It is a common occurrence for a mother to experience stress during pregnancy, and my goal here is not to add further stress by sharing this kind of research. Rather, it’s about understanding that stress and its effects can be mitigated and reduced through connection to self and baby and through support from others. There are also tools and approaches known to help repair the effects of prenatal stress. Many of these involve some form of therapy. These are tools that can be implemented by parents and especially, as this information becomes more well known, incorporated into routine care by the health care system so the burden is not left to individuals.

Here are 3 periods of time with encouraging examples of recovery and repair and the potential for prevention of chronic illness.

1. Preventing Chronic Illness in Babyhood

There are therapists, somatic approaches, pre and perinatal professionals and others who recognize the kinds of symptoms that are indicators of prenatal stress as mentioned earlier. Treatment often starts with being trauma-informed. The general theme among these approaches is their support for a mother (and partner) to connect emotionally with their baby during pregnancy, labor and after birth.

While I do not yet know of studies looking specifically at the prevention of chronic illness by addressing prenatal stress and its effects, an understanding suggests the following may be ways to reduce risk, delay onset or protect from developing insulin resistance and chronic illness later in life.

Decreased Premature Birth and Low Birth Weight in a Special Practice

British-trained midwife Jennie Joseph, named one of twelve women for TIME magazine Woman of the Year 2022 is CEO of Commonsense Childbirth. She has a practice in Florida where she focuses on providing access to care for all (in a country where many women are denied care for inability to pay), while empowering these women through education and respect using tools she’s developed known as The JJWay. While a common criticism of good outcomes obtained by midwives is that they self select for low risk populations, Jennie Josephs’ practice serves primarily Black women, who in the US have 3 to 4 times higher rates of morbidity and mortality than white women. These poorer outcomes are linked to discrimination ⁽¹⁷⁾Braveman, P., Dominguez, et al. (2021, 2021-September-02). Explaining the Black-White Disparity in Preterm Birth: A Consensus Statement From a Multi-Disciplinary Scientific Work Group Convened by the March of Dimes [Review]. Frontiers in Reproductive Health, 3(49). https://doi.org/10.3389/frph.2021.684207, ⁽¹⁸⁾Martin, N. M. P., & Montagne, R. N. N. (2017, Dec 7). Lost Mothers. Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth: Not education. Not income. Not even being an expert on racial disparities in health care. ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth NPR https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why. Her patients have significant decreases in rates of premature birth and low birth weight compared with similar populations in the county and in the state of Florida.

Obstetrician Akira Ikegawa in Japan has been achieving similar results as well as reductions in maternal postpartum depression by helping mothers connect with their babies before birth ⁽¹⁹⁾Ikegawa, A. (2006). Parenting begins brom a baby’s time in the womb: What we know from prenatal memories. Art Print Co. Ltd. https://d0be40f8-f31c-457f-a258-489e4d86743e.filesusr.com/ugd/4cdadd_9de1eb3ad92e447ab4a4cc0c8dd73cb6.pdf.

Prenatal Bonding BA and Healing in a High Risk Pregnancy

Prenatal Bonding BA originated in Hungary and is also now in practices in Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland and recently available in some places in the US and elsewhere. The approach facilitates a mother’s emotional connection to her baby in 1:1 sessions during pregnancy and for a few sessions after birth. It is associated with decreases in premature birth and other complications, interventions, postpartum depression and an increase in ease and duration of breastfeeding.

In an introduction to the method, a case study describes a teacher in Germany named Barbara who was referred to this work for emotional support at 20 weeks in her high risk pregnancy. She had been very sick with a kidney infection, sepsis and a threatened miscarriage. Barbara’s intuition was that she would not be able to carry her baby to the due date and would die in childbirth. The gentle process helped Barbara notice first how she felt no connection at all with her baby. It was discovered through the sessions that there were very significant layers of trauma in Barbara’s life. There had been serious trauma in her own experiences before birth, continued as a child, as well as by each of her parents, some of which was linked to the Holocaust. Through the weekly sessions Barbara gradually had the support and guidance to find her way to connecting with her baby and experienced a process through which healing occurred. This somatic process included imagery and imagination and the initial sense from the baby was that “arriving in the womb was like rolling down into an ice cave. Having to attach to the womb was like having to use an ice pick.” After a reaction that her mother had had to an antibiotic for the kidney infection before the beginning of the sessions, the baby had decided to “fight for her life.”

In what would be considered a remarkable feat by most obstetricians, Barbara not only carried her baby to 40 weeks, she enjoyed her pregnancy by the end, was healthy, had no complications and needed few interventions. Her baby was calm, alert, and inquisitive. Desiree weighed 6.83 pounds, which is an indicator of health at almost 7 pounds given all that she had been through ⁽²⁰⁾Schroth, G. (2010). Prenatal Bonding (BA): A method for encountering the unborn introduction and case study. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 25(1), 3-16. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265162331_Schroth_G_2010_Prenatal_Bonding_BA_A_Method_for_Encountering_the_Unborn_-_Introduction_and_Case_study_Journal_of_Prenatal_and_Perinatal_Psychology_and_Health_25_1_3-16.

Prenatal Bonding BA has recently published a study of 295 pregnant women they have worked with and followed closely to assess outcomes, which included very significant reductions in rates of premature birth, cesarean sections and the need for interventions; less postpartum depression; higher rates of breastfeeding for a longer duration, and very rare instances of colic in babies. They have documented similar results for 10,000 participants across Europe to date ⁽²¹⁾
Goertz-Schroth, A., Schroth, G., & Phillips, R. (2023, Spring). Prenatal bonding (BA) as a breakthrough in improving pregnancy, birth, and postpartum outcomes Journal for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 37(1), 21. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://apppahjournal.birthpsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/journal/published_paper/volume-37/issue-1/Z3sC25KO.pdf.

2. Repairing Effects of Prenatal Stress in Kids

The greatest evidence I have found so far for the preventive effects of healing trauma as a way to cure chronic illness is in Tony Madrid’s work with asthma. Tony is a psychologist in California who discovered that helping mothers heal from effects of prenatal stress and adverse events helps decrease or cure asthma in their children. Children under 9 years of age are the most likely to recover fully. When he treats the mothers for their experiences of adverse events during pregnancy, labor, birth and the child’s early life using EMDR or hypnosis and the mothers recover, their children’s asthma goes away. He’s developed a free downloadable Maternal Infant Bonding Training Manual to help assess their history. I am still blown away by this. Tony has reproduced these outcomes for 30 years, including in a number of small studies ⁽²²⁾Madrid, A., Ames, R., Horner, D., Brown, G., & Navarrette, L. (2004). Improving asthma symptoms in children by repairing the maternal-infant bond. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health, 18(3), 221-231. https://birthpsychology.com/journal/article/improving-asthma-symptoms-children-repairing-maternal-infant-bond.

I’ve long wondered how this kind of full recovery could happen, including of a chronic illness in a child by treating the mother. After 20 years I finally starting finding possible mechanisms in the emerging science of epigenetics. Stress influences a mother’s epigenetics and her baby’s response to her epigenetic profile because babies mirror their mother’s epigenetics ⁽²³⁾Wright, M. L., Yunfeng Huang, Qin Hui, Newhall, K., Crusto, C., Sun, Y. V., & Taylor, J. Y. (2018, Dec). Parenting stress and DNA methylation among African Americans in the InterGEN Study. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 1(6), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2018.3. The amount of time a baby is held at 4 months also has an impact on their epigenetics 4 years later ⁽²⁴⁾Moore, S. R., McEwen, L. M., Quirt, J., Morin, A., Mah, S. M., Barr, R. G., Boyce, W. T., & Kobor, M. S. (2017, Dec). Epigenetic correlates of neonatal contact in humans. Development and Psychopathology, 29(5), 1517-1538. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417001213. Most hopeful is that epigenetics associated with trauma in adult military veterans can reverse when the trauma resolves ⁽²⁵⁾Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., Desarnaud, F., Makotkine, I., Lehrner, A. L., Koch, E., Flory, J. D., Buxbaum, J. D., Meaney, M. J., & Bierer, L. M. (2013). Epigenetic biomarkers as predictors and correlates of symptom improvement following psychotherapy in combat veterans with PTSD. Front Psychiatry, 4(Article 118), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00118. Healing trauma in this way appears to be a profound opportunity for prevention and potentially also for treatment of chronic illness.

Another important study of treatment after birth, which was highlighted in a segment on PBS, is the Family Nurture Intervention headed by Dr. Martha Welch at Columbia University Medical School with parents of premature babies. Welch and her colleagues have introduced support for parents to build emotional connection with their premies and have compared outcomes with babies treated with standard care. The babies experiencing more emotional connection are showing biological and physiological shifts towards greater health and increasing normalization of their nervous systems’ ability to regulate with more ease at 4 to 5 years of age ⁽²⁶⁾Welch, M. G., Barone, J. L., Porges, S. W., et al (2020). Family nurture intervention in the NICU increases autonomic regulation in mothers and children at 4-5 years of age: Follow-up results from a randomized controlled trial. PloS One, 15(8), e0236930. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236930. Porges, the founder of polyvagal theory is one of the co-authors.

3. Repairing Effects of Prenatal Stress in Adults

The process of healing effects of prenatal stress as an adult who has insulin resistance, or who already has a chronic illness, can take time. As adults, we have a lot more layers of trauma and higher doses of exposure by the time we develop symptoms.

IFS and Decreased Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis

A small study compared a group of people living with RA treated for 9 months with an Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach and a group receiving education only ⁽²⁷⁾Shadick, N. A., .. Schwartz, R. C. et al (2013, Aug 15). A randomized controlled trial of an internal family systems-based psychotherapeutic intervention on outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: A proof-of-concept study. Journal of Rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.3899/jrheum.121465. In a 1 year follow-up people who experienced treatment with IFS had a significant decrease in overall pain and physical function even though they did not maintain improvements in anxiety levels, self-efficacy, or disease activity. The improvements despite changes in disease activity are encouraging. Knowing it can take time to heal trauma in adults suggests that a longer course of treatment would be of interest.

Flare Resolution in Rheumatoid Arthritis with Trauma Work

Amee and I have spoken in a podcast about her experience resolving a flare of her RA after trauma therapy. She recognizing a trigger for her wrist pain one day and, after addressing it by setting a boundary, her flare up resolved. Amee’s mother experienced prenatal stress with her as an unexpected pregnancy when she was 19 years old. Read more in this post.

Reversing Heart Disease

Heart disease is one of the diseases most commonly identified with insulin resistance and prenatal stress. Dr. Dean Ornish, a physician in California, suspected that a multi-prolonged approach working with stress reduction while also supporting changes in diet, a mindfulness practice such as yoga, and group therapy might make a difference. Funding for his study was turned down many times because no one believed heart disease was reversible. When his proposal was finally accepted he showed that reversibility was indeed possible ⁽²⁸⁾Ornish, D. (2012). Dr. Dean Ornish’s program for reversing heart disease Ballantine Books. A key factor was that it wasn’t just lifestyle factors alone but included support and therapy in a group setting.

Healing Trauma and Decreasing Medications in Type 2 Diabetes

A few years ago I had a conversation with Wren, who had type 2 diabetes. It ran in her family and her parents and many of her siblings also lived with type 2 diabetes. She weighed less than 6 pounds at birth, which is a possible indicator of prenatal stress. She also experienced a great number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which are another known risk factor for insulin resistance and chronic illness that not enough health professionals know or talk about. Her risk factors, in other words, were high and she’d had a high dose of adversity.

When Wren learned about trauma as a risk factor she had turned to trauma therapy and done a lot of good work. It paid off in conjunction with changes in diet and other lifestyle factors. When Wren described her state of health she explained to me that she’d been able to greatly reduce her type 2 diabetes medications. When her blood sugars spiked at one point during the period of time we were having conversations, she realized what the stressor was and immediately upon addressing it, her sugars had come back down to normal.

One of you emailed me after last week’s hibernation post to say that your blood sugar levels were well controlled with one of your new practices of spending time in nature :-).

Healing Prenatal Stress in My Life

It is also possible to work more directly with our experiences of prenatal stress such as with somatic therapists with expertise in this field.

One of the ways I worked with my chronic fatigue was in my training to be a pre and perinatal professional. As with most approaches I’ve used it didn’t cure me but it added another layer of healing and resilience. It helped me chip away at what I see as my threat physiology. It also shifted me out of a death-like freeze state and towards a coming back into emotional connection and relationship.

It was during this training that I finally had a real desire and readiness to meet someone after a lifetime of being mostly single or briefly dating men who were emotionally unavailable (as I had also been without realizing it). I met David during that training. We’ve been together now for 17 years. He’s been teaching me, and showing me, what real emotional connection feels like. It’s been life changing and a huge support on my own healing journey.

Take the Babyhood Survey

The Adverse Babyhood Experiences is a detailed survey looking at risk factors for chronic illness before your 3rd birthday. Learn more about your own potential risk factors. Your responses will also help me learn more about these factors that are often not looked at in detail in research in many chronic diseases.

Resources

Related Blog Posts

• What bears in hibernation might teach us about insulin resistance
• Chronic fatigue: a body caught in hibernation (and why this offers hope)
• Healing Asthma by addressing Bonding Disruptions (Madrid)
• My chronic fatigue journey
• Guide to Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs) and Chronic Illness

Tools

• Find a somatically oriented therapist and therapist directories
• 11 Tools that Support Healing the Nervous System in Chronic Illness
• Type 2 Diabetes – more research on insulin resistance that offers hope
• Consult with me to explore the relevance of your history, as well as options and tools for healing, identifying triggers and working with flares, and more

Books

Tony Madrid and healing asthma and bonding disruptions: The mother and child reunion: Repairing the broken bond. Lulu Press.

My favorite books about the science of prenatal stress for the lay person, another called The Fetal Matrix that’s more in depth, and a fantastic textbook from 2021 that is really readable

Pre and Perinatal Professionals With Resources for Adults

Colleague Cherionna Menzam-Sills has a book “Spirit Into Form” providing deep insights and the prenatal experience and exercises for adults

Colleague Kate White has a blog post “Healing Happens in Layers,” as well as free content in her online school, and a course with a discount coupon for learning more. I will be joining her as part of a small team in 2025 to offer an online course for health professionals. I’ll keep you posted

Learn More with the Surveys

All of the surveys – babyhood, childhood, missing ACEs and more – are on a new page specifically for Insulin Resistance (these are the same surveys you may have already seen or taken but with a few links to relevant blog posts on insulin resistance on this page).