It's been quite an adventure riding this sparking and sputtering thyroid. It started back in the highly stressful year of 2014 when I had mountains of work on my desk, an hour-long commute, and aging parents who themselves were sputtering along and constantly needed me to come over to help them. Then my coworker quit and I had all the work to do. I asked if I could go live with her in Mexico, only half joking.
My father died. My mother nearly died of kidney failure. Then stayed with me for two weeks during and leading up to the estate sale. We surrendered her dog when she couldn't take care of him. In thanks for my hard work, I was accused of elder abuse. (The county found no grounds for the accusations.)
I had a root canal and three courses of antibiotics. Then I moved across the country: I bought one house before selling the other (albeit in Denver's hot real estate market) and had no permanent job lined up in Indiana. Then finding my best friend had changed quite a bit, we went our separate ways. It was near the end of 2015 by this time, and I spent Christmas day in bed when I wasn't throwing up.
Through this time, I had scary heart palpitations, trouble sleeping, and after the antibiotics, cystic acne. I lost weight. My stomach felt off. I looked a little bit like a meth user--not helpful as a Colorado native looking for a job in Indiana. After I got here, I was finally able to rest. It was three months before I felt like going back to work full-time again. I spent most of the day playing video games--it was all I had the energy for.
I knew something was physically wrong with me--like I'd caught a strange virus. I know now that it was probably adrenal and/or thyroid problems, likely brought on by stress.
So my roller coaster ride, physically and situationally, was over once I got to Indiana. Well, not exactly. Indiana is in the goiter belt--there's not much iodine in the soil here. That's not good for your thyroid! Plus, I was eating some bad foods because I was still stressed out, mentally and physically.
Late last year (2018), I decided to have another go at low-carb, clean eating. I was even good on Christmas--no dessert. I started making a low-carb latte for breakfast and started feeling better. I found out that just about everything in it was antimicrobial--and that Dr. Davis was advocating botanical oils--and so I joined his Inner Circle. It sounds like something with funny handshakes and interesting costumes, but it's basically a web site you can join for a fee. I posted that I was tired and keto REALLY wasn't working for me, and someone suggested a thyroid test (along with doing the Undoctored program of diet and supplements). I didn't think it was my thyroid, since I wasn't overweight, wasn't depressed, usually didn't need to run the heater in the car in the winter, and had enough hair for two people. But the test showed hypothyroid. Later I learned that probably did account for my ears itching--I'd been poking and scraping them until they bled since 2014--and the puffy eyes and creeping weight gain and bloating and the feeling that there was no point to my life. I'd been thinking I'd accomplished what I'd set out to do, that the living was easy in Indiana, la la la...I had the hormonal equivalent of Dunning-Kruger Syndrome: I was too sick to realize I was sick.
I started taking kelp pills as an iodine supplement and began to feel better, but a follow-up test still showed free T3 and free T4 (important thyroid hormones) at the low end of normal. Normal doesn't mean optimal. So I started taking natural desiccated thyroid (NDT), which is available over-the-counter. Wow--I felt great...for the better part of a week. By the end of the week, I was back to video games, and looked like I hadn't slept in a week. I upped the dose, and feel back to my old self. I hope it continues.
I chose NDT supplements because it was just easier than trying to find an endocrinologist who was hip to proper thyroid treatment. Everything I've read says that the standard of care is terrible--that they generally only test TSH (free T3, free T4, reverse T3 and the antibodies are important, too) and that they tend to put people on insufficient doses of synthetic T4. Why go through the hassle when you can order some natural, old-school hormones online?
Recommended reading:
Stop the Thyroid Madness (book and website)
Wheat Belly Total Health chapter on Thyroid
Undoctored by William Davis (book and website)
My father died. My mother nearly died of kidney failure. Then stayed with me for two weeks during and leading up to the estate sale. We surrendered her dog when she couldn't take care of him. In thanks for my hard work, I was accused of elder abuse. (The county found no grounds for the accusations.)
I had a root canal and three courses of antibiotics. Then I moved across the country: I bought one house before selling the other (albeit in Denver's hot real estate market) and had no permanent job lined up in Indiana. Then finding my best friend had changed quite a bit, we went our separate ways. It was near the end of 2015 by this time, and I spent Christmas day in bed when I wasn't throwing up.
Through this time, I had scary heart palpitations, trouble sleeping, and after the antibiotics, cystic acne. I lost weight. My stomach felt off. I looked a little bit like a meth user--not helpful as a Colorado native looking for a job in Indiana. After I got here, I was finally able to rest. It was three months before I felt like going back to work full-time again. I spent most of the day playing video games--it was all I had the energy for.
I knew something was physically wrong with me--like I'd caught a strange virus. I know now that it was probably adrenal and/or thyroid problems, likely brought on by stress.
So my roller coaster ride, physically and situationally, was over once I got to Indiana. Well, not exactly. Indiana is in the goiter belt--there's not much iodine in the soil here. That's not good for your thyroid! Plus, I was eating some bad foods because I was still stressed out, mentally and physically.
Late last year (2018), I decided to have another go at low-carb, clean eating. I was even good on Christmas--no dessert. I started making a low-carb latte for breakfast and started feeling better. I found out that just about everything in it was antimicrobial--and that Dr. Davis was advocating botanical oils--and so I joined his Inner Circle. It sounds like something with funny handshakes and interesting costumes, but it's basically a web site you can join for a fee. I posted that I was tired and keto REALLY wasn't working for me, and someone suggested a thyroid test (along with doing the Undoctored program of diet and supplements). I didn't think it was my thyroid, since I wasn't overweight, wasn't depressed, usually didn't need to run the heater in the car in the winter, and had enough hair for two people. But the test showed hypothyroid. Later I learned that probably did account for my ears itching--I'd been poking and scraping them until they bled since 2014--and the puffy eyes and creeping weight gain and bloating and the feeling that there was no point to my life. I'd been thinking I'd accomplished what I'd set out to do, that the living was easy in Indiana, la la la...I had the hormonal equivalent of Dunning-Kruger Syndrome: I was too sick to realize I was sick.
I started taking kelp pills as an iodine supplement and began to feel better, but a follow-up test still showed free T3 and free T4 (important thyroid hormones) at the low end of normal. Normal doesn't mean optimal. So I started taking natural desiccated thyroid (NDT), which is available over-the-counter. Wow--I felt great...for the better part of a week. By the end of the week, I was back to video games, and looked like I hadn't slept in a week. I upped the dose, and feel back to my old self. I hope it continues.
I chose NDT supplements because it was just easier than trying to find an endocrinologist who was hip to proper thyroid treatment. Everything I've read says that the standard of care is terrible--that they generally only test TSH (free T3, free T4, reverse T3 and the antibodies are important, too) and that they tend to put people on insufficient doses of synthetic T4. Why go through the hassle when you can order some natural, old-school hormones online?
Recommended reading:
Stop the Thyroid Madness (book and website)
Wheat Belly Total Health chapter on Thyroid
Undoctored by William Davis (book and website)
Comments
Thanks for sharing your story.
I think it's important to do this because it can, and does, help others.
All the best Jan
There are a variety of thyroid medications available online--check out stopthethyroidmadness.com for more info.