Can I get a heck yes???

Did I mention that I bought jeans a size smaller than what I have been wearing this weekend? Yes, they have a little stretch in them...but they make me feel amazing. I would wear them everyday if I thought no one would notice.

And....they make my rear view sensational! WOOOT!

Total confusion

Well, I had the "thyroid panel" done last week and got my results back yesterday.

In the mean time I went to a D.O. that specializes in natural therapies. I spent a couple hours with him and we looked at my exhaustive list of symptoms and discussed when these changes may have started. One of the tests we did was an analysis of a live blood sample. Most doctors draw blood and run "tests". We took blood and actually looked at it on the cellular level. It was amazing. I saw my white blood cells engulf an invader and destroy it right in front of my eyes. The invader???...Candida albicans (aka yeast). But wait....you say...blood is supposed to be "sterile". Well, that is what we are told, but clearly my blood is not sterile. I have many invasive yeast in there. We saw a red blood cell that as parasitized by the yeast. It was absolutely fascinating.

So I am on a few natural supplements to aid in digestion, heal the intestines, and destroy yeast. I am to cut out all refined sugar and stay away from refined processed foods. Easy for you to say. Imagine feeding a family of five with no packaged foods. I can't imagine doing this with my severe fatigue and mental cloudiness.

My blood tests from the FMCF center came back flagging a potential thyroid issue (as was expected). I have low T3, sub-optimal T4, and too much reverse T3. To understand what this means you have to understand how your thyroid works. The thyroid together with the pituitary and adrenal glands control all the metabolism in your body. When you think of metabolism, you think of processing food and weight gain/loss. But metabolism is, at the cellular level, all the processes your body goes through in taking up nutrients from your food and turning them in to nergy. It takes up iodine from your diet and makes T4 and T3. T4 has 4 iodine molecules, T3 has 3. T4 is not bio active and needs to be converted by the body into T3 before it is used. Here's the problem. My body is making "reverse T3" which is biologically inactive. My body can not use it. RT3 binds to the cells so you can't take up thyroid hormone. You normally have RT3 in your system, but too much can be a sign of a problem, especially when accompanied by symptoms of hypothyroid and low blood values of thyroid hormone (both of which I have). Now you can see why I have no energy, and am gaining weight. No metabolism.

The Center said I need "more testing" that would cost between $800-$1200. Yikes! I sent the blood results to my D.O. and he said I did NOT need more testing, I have "Wilson's syndrome" (not to be confused with Wilson's disease) and it's a very hard thing to treat.

Naturally I wanted to understand this Wilson's thing, so I looked it up online. Here is the problem: Wilson's disease is not recognized by the medical community as a real thing. It's more formally called "Wilson's Temperature Syndrome". Dr. Wilson who claims to have discovered it has supplements designed to help these people. But the medical community and the American Thyroid Association say it can be dangerous to treat a false condition. So....who is right? I've read testimonials of people who feel better after treatment. And that is all I want. So what do I do? What would you do?

I don't have health insurance that would cover these tests, so the $800 would be out of pocket. I SOOOOOOOOOO want to get better. But I don't know if I need these tests. I don't know which way to go....who to trust.

Could your thyroid be causing you grief?

When talking to the folks at Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Centers, I discovered that most people fall into "normal limits" on their routine thyroid screen. As many as 40% of people with hypothyroid go undiagnosed with the blood tests your neighborhood Dr. orders And many of these people feel horrible and don't know what is wrong inside. It's a ghastly feeling to have.

Here is the online test I took to see what my thyroid function might look like. Remember this is only a test, but if you have a result that raises questions, you might want to look further into this.

Thyroid Test

The website this links up with has great information on natural remedies and resources. I am a firm believer in not just medicating the problem, but eliminating. Many people think I am a quack because of this....but think about it. Does Motrin get rid of the reason you have headaches? Probably not, it's more of a bandaid. Necessary at times? Yes! A solution? No!

A moment of brilliance

So as you can see by the last post, I have been feeling irritated for some time. There are other things going on too that are troublesome (health issues)...and I am beginning to realize they might all be related. I received a random email on Monday with a subject line "Your thyroid may be causing your heart disease". Well, I don't have heart disease, but I read on. Turns out, your thyroid (or lack of it) can royally screw you up. So I googled hypothyroid and found all of these sites with natural remedies, symptoms, cures, causes. I have been hooked for the last two days reading them all.



After studying, it turns out that I have EVERY SINGLE hypothyroid symptom:

Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Long recovery period after any activity
Inability to hold children for very long
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Low Grade Depression
Often feeling cold
Cold hands and feet
Hard stools
Constipation
No eyebrows or thinning outer eyebrows
Dry Hair
Hair Loss
Dry cracking skin
Requires naps in the afternoon
Air Hunger (feeling like you can’t get enough air)
Inability to concentrate or read long periods of time
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking
Inability to lose weight
Always gaining weight
Moody periods
PMS
Excruciating pain during period
Nausea
Swelling/edema/puffiness
Aching bones/muscles
Bumps on legs
Acne on face and in hair
Breakout on chest and arms
Hives
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Complete lack of motivation
Slowing to a snail’s pace when walking up slight grade
Extremely crabby, irritable, intolerant of others
Handwriting nearly illegible
Broken/peeling fingernails
Dry skin or snake skin
Major anxiety/worry
Ringing in ears
Lactose Intolerance
Joint pain
Varicose Veins
Dizziness from fluid on the inner ear
Low body temperature
Tightness in throat; sore throat
Swollen lymph glands
Allergies (which can also be a result of low cortisol–common with hypothyroid patients)
Headaches and Migraines
Sore feet, painful soles of feet
a cold bum



That's an exhaustive list of symptoms said to be experienced by people with hypothyroid...AND people on medicine for it. Nice hunh???? Not really treating your thyroid problem...are they?



Then I found a site that links mercury poisoning to a shut down of the thyroid gland. AND the biggest cause for this is dental fillings. I have fillings...and they are metal. I could have this.



I searched for, and found, some natural remedies for both mercury poisoning and thyroid problems and happened across the Fybromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Centers in Dallas. They are offering free thyroid screenings for anyone who "qualifies". My last thyroid check was "within normal limits" but most Drs only do a 3 point test. These Drs use a 6 point test. I was also informed that to not be "within normal limits" and throw up a red flag to your physician on a standard thyroid test you have to be the sickest of the sick. These were my qualification questions:

• Have you have an unexplained weight gain of 10 pounds or more? Check!
• Is your body temperature low-97.8 or lower? Mine after exercise yesterday was 97.2
• Is your hair dry or thinning? Oh yeah! Just installed a new shower drain to catch it.
• Are you extremely fatigued? Yes. I got 9 hours of sleep last night and am still beat.
• Are you on thyroid medication? Nope. Remember I am "within normal limits"
• Do you have muscle/joint pain? Does a bear poop in the woods. Um, yes.

So I qualify for this test. I will get my blood work done and find out within a week if anything is wrong. I am sad that something could be wrong with me, but happy to know I am on a path to nail it down and get better.

Rainy days and Mondays....

It's not rainy, but I am unusually grumpy today. I shouldn't be. I had a lovely retreat with wonderful ladies this weekend. Got sleep, ate well, rested, prayed.

So why the grump?

Last week I took the Duke to a fitness evaluation with a new trainer I met. We have not received our final printouts that score our Polar age, but I saw my weight and body fat. I have gained 5 pounds, and my body fat % has gone up. WTH?

I know I have not been able to work out as consistently as before, but I wouldn't consider myself sedentary nor a terrible eater. I was crushed. All the hard work last summer and fall, for this.

In hindsight, seeing as that a friend prayed for me this weekend to keep my temptations for brownies at bay....am I really surprised? NO. Sad, angry, irritated? You bet your Reeses pb cups I am!!!!

He gave me many reasons that my goals are "not being met". My cardio is cycling and I am most likely working too hard thus burning sugar and no fat. That's something you want to hear after 4 months of bi-weekly cycling classes. No wonder my thighs still touch.

An added blubber bonus: Apparently I am lifting weights incorrectly as well. To shock my body and "shred", I need to weight train 3 times per week, never do the same exercise for a given body part, and keep my heart rate in my fat burning zone. Who said women could multi-task?

I think I could do it if I had him as my trainer permanently. I am just so frustrated with the gym right now, I need a good month or two of someone else kicking my butt. But who can afford this luxury on a SAHM's salary? Thus I am pissed off at the world. The Duke even asked what it would take to get me training with him even once or twice/week...when I told him he said there is no way we can do it right now. And to make it worse I had to stand by the mirror in aerobics today watching all the fat blob around. Do you know that I outweigh my spouse by 20 pounds? Isn't that fun? Maybe I can borrow his "fat" pants.

I know some of you who think me "thin" are rolling your eyes right now. I am not saying that I am overweight or disgusting. In fact, I think I can pull off a pair of jeans as good as any 33 y/o mom of three. But think about when you started not being able to fit in your jeans. Or when you work so hard for something, and the opposite happens. Thin is relative. I don't want to look good in clothes, I want to look good naked and I will die trying.

Thank goodness it is Lent, or I would be drowning my pissed-offness in a pound of chocolate right now....