Friday, 26 October 2012
Rediscovery
I have discovered an old article that deals with t3 as treatment for depression. If only I'd found this months ago it would have probably made things easier to get myself treated, as it's actually written by the NHS!
Anyway, I'm actually posting to reinform about the benefits of vit D. I'm sure I must have posted something previously. But I do now believe after reintroducing it properly in supplement form that it's working.
We brought a bottle of 5000iu after the doctors incompetently prescribed my boyfriend an insufficient dose.
His blood test came back at half recommended value of 36, instead of 70. Most studies now show most people don't feel well until they are over 100.
High doses are considered to be 25,000iu to extreme cases 100,000 iu. My boyfriend got a lousy 800iu.
So I looked around and found the best reliable high dose. It comes in the form of lanolin made from sheeps wool. Which is exposed to uv rays and processed to make it safe for human consumption. It's probably like taking concentrated sunshine in a tablet. Not recommended for Vampires!
Anyway, since my boyfriends been taking it, there's significant improvement. Sleeping has improved, less stress, no anger bursts, better memory, and generally less stupid ;)
Anyway since I went off work with 2 prolapsed discs and nerve root irritation, I haven't really been getting a lot of sunshine, or a lot less than I used to because I just wasn't going out so much.
I was concerned my vit d levels would be dropping. I was also at the point where I felt I just wasn't getting any better, and was looking up things that would help my condition. So I started taking the vit D tablets. Just one a day.
Looking back now I realise they did have quite an positive impact on my mental health. However, at the time I also started other treatments including the reintroduction of coconut oil, so it was difficult to tell what was working.
Anyway, living in glum Northern England and with winter approaching we have even less sunshine. This week has been particularly dismal with the fog only just clearing from Sunday! So knowing I needed one tablet when it was partially sunny, I thought maybe as we've had zero sun I may need more.
This morning I took an extra tablet. Within half an hour I felt positive again! I couldn't stop laughing on the phone to my boyfriend, and now I feel ready to go. I didn't realise what was different at first, then I remembered about the extra tablet and it all made sense.
Today's discovered has assured me that I really am benefiting from extra vitamin D. Will try and keep you updated with me, and also try and get my boyfriend to have an extra dose, as I think he probably needs a boost too.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
8 months on t3
I'm less stressed, and I've had a few rubbish months which, I'll try to update you on later. I know before this would have sent me spiralling down.
I have a more relaxed approach to things, less anxious, stopped biting my nails for the first time in life, they are even long and feminine!
But one of the astonishing things is my hair is thicker, and growing properly!
My periods did come back for a few months, but now vanished again. Which is perplexing but amongst the other health problems I'm now facing, it may be caused by that.
The other symptoms I've not been determine an effect are, muscle and joint pain, weight problems (I've put on weight) and heating issues (definitely warmer, but this could be caused by excess weight).
I've recently noticed I am fine on the dose of 20mcg, but that's because I've added in supplements. Vit D, magnesium with vit b, chromium and kelp (iodine). I think this also means in the future I may not need t3 at all. It just needed to boost my system for a while. Hopefully once by body is properly right I can help it with supplements alone.
But for now I know I need it, so fingers crossed the doctor is willing to see that.
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Colours
Some women may perceive millions more colors than the rest of us. Are you one of them?
I know I haven't posted for a while,and this is slightly off my usual topics. But just found this really interesting. Think I might be a tetrochromat!
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Magnesium deficiency
Ok so after weeks of being in pain and my muscle not improving, have been looking for why. I now think I'm deficient in magnesium. Thus article says all about it.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
Excellent physio
She didn't do much, but was very good at her job, knew what she was talking about and seemed experienced. And most of all understood what I was going through. She gave me a few very light exercises(stretches) to do that seem so simple you wouldn't think there would be any benefit, but it's made a huge difference.
She's told me to exercise my right side, because even tho the pain is on the left the nerves are still connected so it will ease the pain.
She also explained all about the hot and cold thing which all makes sense. I pretty much knew everything just hadn't been able to put the sentence together in my mind for it to click into place. I had previously been so confused about whether to use hot or cold. Everybody said different things.
She said to put heat on to relax the muscles, before doing any movement. Once the muscles are relaxed to then do the stretches. Then afterwards to ease any inflammation to put the cold on it afterwards. Simple!
Anyway it really has worked wonders. It's so nice to just to be taken seriously that it has improved my mental state too.
I'm trying to take as little painkillers as possible. Feeling that they could be affecting my thyroid meds and mental state and therefore causing more pain, or at least the ability to cope with pain.
Anyway the great news is I haven't taken any painkillers since 11:30tuesday morning! It felt bad this morning when I woke up but I took my t3 as normal, put on some biofreeze gel and now it's just normal pain! :)))) I can cope with normal pain!
I've had a few other set backs in other areas today. Without going into detail my bowels have been playing up with hasn't been easy with a bad back! And I lost half of my vision! Something I've had before, normally leads to a migraine, but its very frustrating because i just cant read! I only see half a sentence! But it's all back to normal now! Hence me being able to write this.
The blog was actually written Tuesday but only just getting round to posting it today, Friday.
Still in pain
I was very depressed and despondent at my backward steps. Which wasn't helped by work unsympathetically phoning up wanting to to know when i was coming back to work and that I was ok to do the shift this Sat (that had apparently been arranged in my absence and I actually had no idea about!) I was also told I was supposed to be working all day Monday. I told them no I couldn't do those shifts and would try to make it back for Wed.
But the way I'm feeling now, and with the way my progress is going, and the way they've treated me I think I might actually take the whole month off.
I just ended up spending the whole day in bed. I think it actually did me some good as altho I was stiff when I got up when Patrick got home, I was in less pain. However come this morning at 4 my leg was in agony again and I ended up taking the very strong painkillers. Which knocked me out until 6 when there were cats fighting outside so I took some diazepam in the end to help me sleep. I did end up getting some sleep, but I now think the visitors wore me out.
I've had a blinding headache all evening and I've no idea why. I also feel sick so I don't know if it's the beginning of a migraine. I don't know whether it's the painkillers I'm taking or if there is something else underlying that's stopping me getting better.
The back/ bottom pain has actually got a lot better. Inflammation is almost not existent, but the leg pain has got worse. And the thing that gets me is that there is no reason for it. If it is the muscle inflammation causing the nerve pain, as the muscles ease, surely so should the nerve? Not get worse. To me it makes no sense so it makes me question what I have.
All I know is I just feel rubbish physically and mentally. I'm even feverish at times. Today I was like an ice block, yesterday I was like furnace!
Going to try to get some sleep now. Patrick is still in the other room as he's dead on his feet, and I'm going to probably be very restless. But at least he has 2 days off now to recover.
Anyway I'll update you on my progress hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Update on Me, and my day in A&E!
Unfortunately life has got a bit out control recently. I found research and my health was being too much of an obsession, so I had to take a step back.
However I'm now lying in bed in agony after my back has failed me once again. I have terrible sciatica pain all down my left leg.
I did the hoovering Tuesday which seemed to start off the pain, although it had been niggling at me for quite a few weeks.
Then wednesday as I went downstairs I put the wrong foot first on the bottom. The pain shot through me like a lightening bolt, the poor cats thought I'd gone crazy as I screamed down the house. It went all down my left leg and when my foot went dead I knew I had to do something.
I've actually got quite a high threshold for pain believe it or not. As most of you can probably sympathise, when you go to to the doctors for years and get no where, you tend to get a thicker skin for pain after just being told to put up with it.
I rang a friend who convinced me I needed to go to A&E, so she took me. To my surprise I was actually seen quite quickly by a nurse, but then I spent the rest of the day waiting for doctors, which couldn't suggest anything except more pain killers.
I must have taken everything possible codeine, diclofenac, diazepam, tymerol (no idea how to spell) i think there were a couple more that i cant remember, plus a non oral one as well! But I didn't care I just wanted the pain to go, but it didn't.
They then gave me morphine, which took about 2 hours to kick in. By which point they had decided to get the physio to see me. Of course I was doped up to the nines, and they were trying to get me to walk. I almost fainted, due to the heat of the tiny room i was in, when i first stood up. But with the physios persistence this time I felt the morphine had worked so could walk a little.
So then basically I got discharged with nobody actually doing anything. Nobody even had a look a my back, no X-rays were taken because apparently they wouldn't have shown up anything, the doctor said an MRI scan was needed but I had to wait to be referred to by my own gp! The physios said they wouldn't touch me as I was in too much pain! And no one at all even asked if I have any other medical conditions or if I'm on any other medication so god knows how its affected my t3 treatment.
So I got no where, some part of me wishes I'd stayed at home. Because after my little bit of movement the morphine properly kicked in and was violently sick for hours. Of course I had not eaten all day so that probably hadn't helped.
My future mother in law booked an oestopath to come round the next day, which did help a lot, especially with the leg pain but the back pain was still terrible. He was do much more help than the hospital tho and explained I had trapped my sciatic nerve due to my muscles in my lower back tensing. I needed to ice it until the inflammation reduced.
At present it has eased slightly, but I'm still taking quite a few painkillers so its hard to know if it's working or not. Sitting is still a definite no no, but I can stand fairly comfortably (once I'm up that is) It just wears you out standing all the time. Hence why I need a lie down in the day to rest.
In other relatively good but frustrating news my doc has agreed to continue my t3 treatment for another 4months. Obviously that's good, however the stupid thing is he still doesn't agreed that I've got a thyroid problem!!! Not that I'm complaining, I am grateful for the tablets, I really don't know where I'd be without them, it's just I don't understand his logic.
Last time I went to the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me I shouldn't be paying for my prescription as its thyroid medication, and to ask my gp for a form to get it free.
So I did this, and he laughed in my face! To be honest I just don't think he knew what to say. He stuttered that it's only free for people with hypothyroidism. Which apparently I don't have, even tho I have all the classic symptoms AND I feel better on thyroid meds?! Surely if I wasn't hypothyroid I would feel worse on extra thyroid hormones??
Obviously not it would appear! By this point he had put my back up so I told him "that I was not classified hypothyroid in numerical terms, but I believed I had hypothyroidism." to which he said nothing! So just thanked my lucky stars for the prescription.
The other update I have is on my boyfriend who I believe had adrenal problems. He luckily had managed to get a visit to the endo, she seemed very good. Took lots of blood before hand so we could discuss results when we were there. She said his cortisol levels were fine, don't know what as I was too scared to ask after last time at the doctors. But the only thing that showed up was low vit D and Calcium. To be honest I wasn't surprised by this, as the week before the appointment the weather had been glorious and I had noticed a vast improvement in him. She said she would write to his gp to give him a script for vit d and cal, and a referral to the ent for his dizziness.That was a month ago. We got a letter from his doctors surgery this week. He'd already booked and had an appointment last week! Shows how efficient our surgery is! And in the appointment the doctor didn't even mention the ENT referral! Unfortunately my boyfriend didn't realise the referral would have to come from the gp so never asked about it. So I spent this week chasing up about the referal cos he's now too stressed to do it and is almost giving up.
But at least we got the script for the vit d and cal right? Well that was a joke. I told him to ask for the highest dose possible thinking 25,000 or 50,000 IU. But nope he got a script for 400iu!!!! I was absolutely disgusted. How they could say that's the highest dose when I know somebody on here posted a question and said her strength for the very same tablets (Adcel I think) was 800iu! Even that I don't think is really going to touch a deficiency, maintenance dose maybe, but not for somebody who is 33 and needs to be a min of 75. Fuming I was! So anyway he's taking his 400 a day until the 5000 I've just ordered off amazon turn up!
Sorry to have gone on for sooo long, but I must admit writing this has taken my mind off the pain.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Insightful Video
Have watched this today and although im sure like any other diet it will have its haters and it's problems it does make a lot of sense.
Kind of sums everything up as to why I can't loose weight.
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
The Spoon Theory
My life and illness is no where near as bad as Christines, I have many more spoons. But there has been times I've had few. So I know exactly how it she feels.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Hypothyroidism in detail
If you want to know anything about Hypothyroidism here is the article. Scary how close it is to me and yet undetected for 30 years.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Proof Thyroid Blood Tests need changing
Thyroid Hormone Transport | National Academy of Hypothyroidism
This article is quite a technical read. However it does explain why so many people suffer problems. The regular blood tests to test for thyroid malfunction are simply ineffective.
Have picked out some diagrams from the article which sum it up quite well.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Arrrgh Doctors!
I recently went with my boyfriend to his doctors appointment. Im fairly certain he is suffering with Adrenal fatigue.
He has pretty much every symptom going. Like severe lower back pain, insomnia and sleep disturbances, ibs, vertigo,tinnitus, depression, anxiety, stress,rage, short fused, lack of libido, headaches, socially isolated, allergies, memory problems. You name it he has it.
He suffered for years in silence until i discovered my thyroid problem and discovered the connection with Adrenals. I have since connected the dots with him and so we went to docs a few weeks back.
The appointment was difficult and all the doc could see was depression and kept pushing the antidepressants. He's been on them before, they half helped but didn't cure him just took the edge of his anxiety.
He got nowhere but I stepped in and asked for blood tests and said thought he had signs of Adrenal problems. She said his symptoms don't match! I asked what would be symptoms, all she said a fat face!
I decided she was too old school and had limited knowledge. Which i think she then knew and asked me what tests to do! I was unprepared for this i stupidly expected the doctors to know what they were doing. So all i remembered was the cortisol test. Since going i know i should have asked for aldosterone and ACTH aswell.
She has tested for a lot of others including B12, Iron, thyroid and liver.
Anyway the appointment was nothing short of a nightmare!!
I had warned him before about blood test results and that they will only look to see if they're in green. That means they're in range, no further investigation required. Highlighted Red means they're out of range and may need looking into! (Out of range to me means serious illness and don't stop looking until you've found something!)
So I told him you need to ask for ranges. You'll probably be in range but at the low end. I said I won't be able to do it as it's your appointment, it has to come from you.
So we get in there and she seemed to be in a hurry. She just said blood tests are all fine. Brought them up quickly said a couple of names of the tests he had along with "normal". And that was it! They weren't on the screen long enough for me to see any! And all my boyfriend could do was say ok!
To be honest i understand where he's coming from. I've been there myself. I've been under prepared and overwhelmed. I know what it's like to know what you want to say but it just won't come out. To feel like whatever you say is pointless anyway. But because I am a lot better these days I can see clearer. And that's why I went with him because he hasn't got the strength to fight for his health.
Anyway all I did was simply ask her "Is it possible if we could get a print out of his results?" Fair question i thought. Obviously i was wrong. With that she turned at me and said. "What is it exactly you are after? I remember we had a lot of this before!" It felt like I'd just asked to sleep with her husband or something!
I tried to explain i just wanted to know the ranges. She interrupted with "he's in the normal range" . Everytime i got halfway through saying "that's just the reference range" she stopped me in my tracks. I didn't even get to the point of saying he could be low in ranges. She just kept shouting "they're normal" at me. I decided i couldn't communicate with her and shut up. After all it wasn't even my appointment. I could see my boyfriend getting very stressed.
So I half listened whilst they talked anti depressants and counselling. But I was so full of emotion I felt myself welling up! I've always been a bit crier, not cos i want to, but because i can't help it. In fact i hate it. I like to get things on my own merit not because people feel sorry for me!
As much as i faught it, the tears started flowing. But actually this seemed to work in my favour. She saw me and apologised for shouting. I was able to then explain my experiences of 4 years of being put through hell because my results were at the wrong end of ranges and gone undetected. Only now that Im actually on thyroid meds that Im feeling better.
She asked who my doc was and when i said the name of the head doctor she seemed quite surprised and then took me seriously. She even asked to look at my records.
So then we went through a few tests, with ranges. Not all though. So i still don't see the point in having all the tests done, wasting all that money, if they're not going to use them!
I did end up feeling sorry for her. She apologised about 4 times saying it was a bad day. I know it's not her fault, it's the way she is trained to do her job. The whole system needs shaking up. It's sad day when it takes for you to cry to get access to your own medical records! I feel there must be something we can do to make this whole process easier and stop the focus on the range but number within the range?
Anyway to cut a long story short she's actually referred him to an endocrinologist! For anyone that doesn't know that's a specialist in hormones. It's actually quite a result as however much I asked to see one, and even with my female hormones being low they still wouldn't let me.
So we shall wait and see what they have to say. Whether or not they will have better knowledge or understanding, considering they're supposed to be the experts you'd hope so. But unfortunately it's not always been my experience in the past.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Amazing article.
Stunning Discoveries Regarding Iron, Obesity, Candida & Thyroid | Weight Loss News
Here's an article I've just found that really makes sense, puts all the pieces of the puzzle together.