Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Propublica says, "Doctors who received payments from the pharmaceutical industry prescribed drugs differently than their colleagues who didn’t. And the more money those doctors received, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribed."That's the result of their investigation using a large database of doctors and the prescriptions they write. Good news, though: you can use ProPublica's database to find a doctor in your area (in the US) who prescribes T3. Many patients have a hard time finding a doctor who'll write a prescription for T3. T3's official name is Liothyronine. Go to the site , click on your state, sort by drug (click on "drug"), and scroll down to liothyronine, and click on it. You'll see some of the doctors in your state who prescribe T3.  Sad to say that the the most common prescriptions in the database are atorvastatin (a statin drug) and levothyroxine (syncrap).  In happier news, I'm fighting a cold-

Things are continuing to improve. I've stopped taking my adrenal cortex medicine and digestive enzymes because I don't feel I need them. I'm now down to hydrocortisone cream and natural desiccated thyroid (NDT). I got some lab tests done the other day--I'm sure they'll show improvement. I couldn't take any hydrocortisone that day (and I forgot to take my NDT until that afternoon). I didn't take my vitamins or electrolytes, either. I ended up eating a whole can of chocolate covered nuts. And a small order of fries with my lettuce-wrapped burger. Cortisol helps control blood sugar; maybe it has something to do with controlling cravings, too. I went back to my supplement regimen the next day and felt no desire to eat fries or chocolate--just tacos. I had chicken, salsa, cheddar cheese, guacamole and pork rinds. Now that I'm feeling better, thinking more clearly and no longer desperate to get well, I took advantage of a slow day at work to look over cos

DIYing my adrenal fatigue and low thyroid has been a challenge. At least I'm over the brain fog and can read and think more clearly. After my ears got dry and itchy again--which seems to be a symptom of low thyroid for me--I upped my thyroid dose again. I also lowered my adrenal cortex dose since I was gaining weight, even with the increased NDT (natural desiccated thyroid medicine) and decreased carb intake. The cortisol (an adrenal hormone) will make you gain weight if you take too much. I hope this is the last time I need to up my NDT, since my current dose costs $80 per month. I can't even pay for it with my HSA (health savings account, a pre-tax deal in the US). At least the adrenal cortex is cheap, and hydrocortisone is $5 a tube. The adrenal cortex, which I take in the morning at at noon, started turning me into a morning person. I was up at six doing dishes, vacuuming the house, and packing a lunch. I was tired around 10 PM. Since backing off a little, I'm ba

I've been taking various adrenal hormones for the past few weeks with mixed results. Overall, it's been positive: they seem to have helped me get over a three-month-long case of bronchitis and I have more energy. Using a dab of hydrocortisone at bedtime has prevented me from grinding my teeth at night. On the downside, the adrenal glandular (containing adrenaline) gives me palpitations if I take too much of it. I've been getting too hot and cold (mostly too hot). Too much hydrocortisone made me puffy and gave me a slight case of acne. Taking adrenal cortex after midday gives me acid reflux and keeps me up at night. (I'm writing this at 4:30 AM.) Your adrenal hormones help with healing, controlling blood sugar, controlling inflammation, and dealing with stress. They make some of your sex hormones. Why is adrenal fatigue apparently becoming more common? Your adrenal hormones are made of cholesterol--including LDL, the "bad" cholesterol. Salt is also importa

Ah, the Fourth of July. The summer weather, the fat, juicy burgers, the fireworks, the last day I didn't have a cold for over a month. I woke up feeling good, got a lot done, but by evening I didn't even feel like standing on the corner to see fireworks. I called in sick the following Monday and Tuesday. On August 4--one month later, I took a turn for the worse and saw a doctor, who wrote a prescription for antibiotics and cough syrup. I called in sick for the next three days. Then I went to work--still coughing, coworkers telling me it would be OK to go home--and picked up my natural desiccated thyroid (NDT). I started taking it that Saturday--and soon my cold started getting better. As the week went on and I needed to up my dose of NDT, the cough started coming back to the point that I thought about going back to the doctor. But I upped the dose--and again, the cough mostly went away. I was thinking I'd need Sheriff Grimes on the case to kill the cold that wouldn't

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

Commentator Paul Joseph Watson posted a video on his observation that a lot of left-wing activists share a distinct look, like this man (Paul Crowther), who allegedly threw a milkshake on politician Nigel Farage: Photo from Facebook. I'll stick with coconut milk. Almost everyone he pointed out was overweight and had a puffy face. In another video, he remarked how depressed his soyboy critics were. I'm no expert, but it looks and sounds like hypothyroid. Maybe someone should think about offering everyone seaweed snacks instead of statins. In fairness to them, the standard of care for thyroid treatment, especially in the UK, is so bad that patients have taken to ordering medications from Mexico and Thailand. What got me thinking about hypothyroid was being diagnosed with it. Having been startled by a high BG rating about a month ago, I really whacked back the carbs...and became so tired I barely wanted to move. My heart was going like a jack rabbit. Remembering what I sa