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My Journey to Good Heath, a Journal. (My personal story about fighting autoimmune thyroid disease.) By Pam Brisse |
Last Updated: October 2004 | |
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Introduction: Below is the story (a work in progress) of my journey to good health and the paths I have chosen to follow to get there. (Want the short version? Click here.) I'm writing this for my sanity, as writing lets me release and heal, and I'm publishing it online in the hope that it might help someone else in their journey. You may need an open mind to read this as it turns out that many of my choices are not the traditional ones. I don't know if I've been unhealthy all my life, but looking back, I suspect I have been so on and off - for much of my adult life anyway. I remember taking a photography class and realizing that my hands shook a lot. Whenever I'd asked doctors about being tired all the time or feeling swollen after a workout, they've all said everything was normal. Maybe I should slow down and not work so much were the suggestion I got from a couple of them; it was true, I did work a lot and played hard too. So, I stopped asking doctors these silly questions... they kept telling me I was fine, so it must just be normal what was going on with my body. After a physical and visit with an OB/GYN, I was given the OK to start trying to get pregnant. No problem there, I was pregnant after a week of vacation. In fact, I felt better than I had in years, being off the pill. But soon after I got pregnant, I seemed to crash, physically. I had absolutely no energy and seemed to be in a dark fog and started gaining weigh rapidly. The doctor just said, "Pam, you are pregnant, this is normal." So, I stopped asking her questions too. At about 16 weeks, I started having contractions and figured I'd better speak up. Same response, with the added advice: drink more water. At 24 weeks, the doctor said to start taking iron, my blood work came back showing I was slightly anemic. Five weeks later, my water broke, and a week later my son was born. The doctor couldn't say why this had happened, just that sometimes it does, and I should probably wait 18 months before thinking about another baby, as this would give my body a chance to heal. About a year later, I found out what the problem was. I have autoimmune thyroid disease. I have both antibodies for Graves' Disease and Hashimotos Thyroiditis. I have probably been fluctuating between hypothyroid, hyperthyroid and euthyroid most of my life. I suspect that my pregnancy made me very hypothyroid and for this reason my pregnancy lasted 7 months as undiagnosed hypothyroidism causes late miscarriages, though usually at about 5 months gestation. I was lucky, I have a healthy son.  My story: September, 2001 About 10 months after my son's birth, I went to the ER because I had been having some pains in my right side for 3 days and was worried it might be appendicitis. My family was worried because several people in my family have died of appendicitis, so it seemed like a valid concern, except that I'd experienced similar pains on and off for about 10 years. So, the ER visit was a total nightmare. They subjected me to every inhumane test imaginable. It was absolutely degrading. Of the tests, I ingested or had injected various radioactive ingredients; barium and radioactive iodine contrast dye are two. Both of these are known triggers for hyperthyroidism, but the doctors had no reason to warn me of that. Finally, I was allowed to go home, with the knowledge that I did not have a problem with my appendix, but that there were mysterious spots on my liver, an ovarian cyst, and possibly an ulcer. I was not able to breast feed my son for 24 hours after the radioactive tests. No one told me that until after the tests, in fact they never said the tests were radioactive until it was too late. The next 24 hours were painful and heart wrenching ones for both my son and me, and could have been avoided if I had just asked more questions and stood up for myself. Before this, I thought doctors knew what was best for me and would "do no harm". Was I ever wrong. I doubt I will ever blindly follow the advice or any medical practitioner from now on. I followed up with my primary care physician the next day, and she couldn't figure out what the problem with the pains in my side were, but since they went away in a few days, she didn't seem worried about it anymore. She was more worried about my liver and wanted to send me for an MRI. After the MRI, without contrast dye because I refused it on the grounds that I was still breast feeding and wasn't going to go through that nightmare again, they determined that I would need another MRI with contrast dye once I had finished breast feeding my son. October, 2001 Looking back, the very first thing I noticed that was wrong was that my eye sight has suddenly diminished. For the past 10 years my rx had been the same, I only wore my glasses to drive or at the movies. Now I was wearing them all the time (except to read) and it just wasn't right. I went to the optometrist and got a new rx for slightly stronger glasses, and I continued to wear them all the time, except when reading of course. Shortly after this, I started to wean my son, in preparation for the next MRI. During this time, I started to get hot flashes and started to lose weight. I thought this was hormonal fluctuation due to the weaning process, and welcomed the weight loss. Other symptoms snuck up on me gradually and I was able to dismiss or rationalize all of them. This list includes poor sleeping, heat intolerance, frequent trips to the bathroom, itchy skin, headaches behind my right eye, shakiness, loss of weight (like 20 lbs in one month), increased appetite, anxiety, skin changes, irritability, emotional problems, and exhaustion. December, 2001 I had finally weaned my son, and kept hoping that I would finally get my body back. Things seemed to be worse, but I kept thinking it was hormones and once that calmed down, I would be fine. Two weeks into this, I got sick. The flu or something, I thought. I took some cold medicine and shortly after thought I was having a heart attack. You could actually see my heart pounding under my skin. It was very scary and I called the doctor. She started asking me a bunch of questions about all the symptoms I listed above, and then I realized that I'd been sick for awhile. She asked me how long my thyroid had been enlarged (I hadn't noticed), and she ran some blood tests that proved I was hyperthyroid. She gave me prescription for a beta-blocker, propanolol, and scheduled a radioiodine uptake test and scan for a week later, but having just had such a bad experience with medical tests, I got on the internet to see what I was in for and try to prepare myself. Results of blood work on 12/26/2001I found the ithyroid.com Web site and read all about how unnecessary and outdated the thyroid scan was, and then started asking some questions on some related bulletin boards, especially the Graves_Support bulletin board, where Elaine Moore, author of the excellent book, Graves' Disease: A Practical Guide, is the resident expert. People were telling me the same thing about the uptake scan and that I should get an ultrasound done instead to see if I had nodules or thyroid cancer, and what blood tests were needed to determine if my hyperthyroidism was autoimmune related, and if it was Graves' Disease or not. Well, my doctor was not happy about this, but I cancelled the thyroid scan and asked her to order an ultrasound instead. She did, but was not receptive to running any other antibody tests other than the auto antibodies, which were high and she felt determined that it was in fact autoimmune in nature. She said the only way to determine if it was Hashimotos or Graves' was to do the scan. She also felt there was a possibility that this was postpartum thryoiditis or another form of thyroiditis. January, 2002 At the same time that I went for the ultrasound, I also went back for the second MRI for my liver. They said that they didn't actually have to do the contrast dye for the MRI (I had weaned my son for nothing) and determined that my liver was actually fine, that it was just scar tissue. My thyroid ultrasound also came back with no nodules or indications of cancer, though it was definitely enlarged. No definite diagnosis here. Having found ithyroid.com I started learning about the possible nutritional causes of hyperthyroidism and what supplements can help with the symptoms of. Copper, it seems is an important supplement and should be in correct balance with Iron and Zinc. This struck a bell with me as I had been taking a popular woman's supplement as well as prenatal vitamins for more than 2 years. Both vitamins did not contain copper, and I had also been taking extra iron while pregnant, because I was anemic. This, according to what I was reading, would have depleted what stores of copper my body had, causing many health problems. So, I began taking copper and then added magnesium and calcium, vitamin B's, but found that I had to split up the B complex because I couldn't tolerate B12 or B6, they would make me more hyper, and eventually added all the supplements in the list recommended on ithyroid.com. I could not tolerate Vitamin C either, as that would make me more hyper. At this time I also cut caffeine and chocolate out of my diet, which helped with the hot flashes, pounding heart and shakiness. Other things that I learned on ithyroid.com as well as other sites and books that I read, was that the aluminum in antiperspirants can build up in your body and become toxic, and the aluminum in non-stick cook ware can leach aluminum into foods cooked in them. My mother has actually been saying these things for years, but of course I never listened. So now, I threw away my antiperspirants and found a natural deodorant that I liked, and stopped using the non-stick pans and only use stainless steal or glass. I also replaced my table salt with iodine with a natural sea salt, cut out iodine rich foods like shellfish cut way down on processed food or foods with additives or preservatives, added in some goitrogens (raw broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peanuts, almonds, peaches, pears, grapes, squash, etc.), and stopped drinking bottled water which does not have many minerals naturally found in water, but does contain contaminates from the plastic it is bottled in. I also started shopping at the natural foods store and make an effort to get organic whenever possible. Results of blood work on 1/28/2000After going around with my doctor about the antibody blood tests which she refused to order and my refusal to take the thyroid scan, and her refusal to treat me unless I did the uptake scan, I started my search for a doctor that would work with me, hoping that I wasn't going to die before I found one. February, 2002 Meanwhile, my right eye was really getting buggy I had black puffy circles under both eyes and was starting to develop really bothersome pressure and pain behind my eyes. Additionally, my eyes were really starting to have that "stare" associated with Thyroid Eye Disease, or Graves' Ophthalmology and were not attractive. One day while shopping for groceries, I was trying to pick out some naturally nested chicken eggs and saw a carton that claimed their eggs were "Omega 3" eggs and Omega 3 was good for eyes, brain and immune system. I figured I needed all the help I could get, and since I needed eggs, why not try them. The very next day after I ate the eggs, I felt better. So, I kept eating them all week, and all week, my eyes were better. Then I ran out and the store didn't have any more. Within a day or two, my eyes started to feel sore again. Then the store had the eggs and I bought extra this time and as long as I ate them, my eye pain was greatly diminished, as well as the buggy look and lid lag was hardly noticeable. Around this time I also started some deep breathing exercises to relax and also to feed the blood with oxygen. The body needs this to heal. I also started doing some yoga, and found the dead man's pose very relaxing. Four doctors later, I found a doctor who would listen to me and was willing to work with me, and who said that I did not need a thyroid scan if I didn't want one. I brought with me to this doctor visit a wonderful book about Graves' Disease that I think every person with thyroid disease should own: Graves' Disease: A Practical Guide by Elaine Moore. It helped me to explain and SHOW what I was asking for, and the doctor took the book with her while she called the lab to see if they had the antibody tests I was asking for and she ordered them. March, 2002 The blood work came back showing both Graves' antibodies and Hashimotos antibodies. This, once again, did not present a clear diagnosis. It is possible to have both diseases, though rare. Some people think it is the same disease, just opposite spectrums of it. The other possibility is that I have Hashitoxosis. Results of blood work on 2/22/2002At any rate, I was still hyper and it was autoimmune. The doctor said she would like to take a "wait and see" approach to this and I said I would like to start feeling better, so she gave me a referral to see some Naturopaths and see if I could control some of the symptoms naturally. I liked this idea, because I wasn't thrilled with most of the conventional treatment options available - I had already decided I would never do RAI, and was worried that ATDs would harm my liver, which already had a history of some mysterious problem that had caused the scaring. This is where good things really started to happen. My doctor gave me a referral to Bastyr Center for Natural Health in Seattle. They are affiliated with Bastyr University and are a teaching facility. My first appointment was with a "team" of 5 doctors, two of which were students, but all with different areas of specialty. My appointment lasted almost 2 hours and they asked tons of questions and listened to everything I had to say and ask. Then they left for about 20 minutes and came back with a treatment plan for me. Initially, this included an herbal tincture of bugleweed (lycopus), lemon balm (melissa), motherwort (leonurus) and lithosperma to slow my thyroid function and block iodine absorption, as well as lower my antibodies. Additionally, they prescribed Siberian Ginseng to support my adrenals and give me a little energy. They also suggested that I try to eliminate sugar and alcohol from my diet and try to get 60-75 grams of protein in a day - to make sure I had protein with every meal and snack. They said this would give me steady energy over the day, rather than the ups and downs that carbs give you. They also validated my findings about Omega 3 and suggested that I get fresh flaxseed oil and mix that in with salad dressing or put some in with my new protein smoothies. They also said to stay away from all margarines (which I always have), oils such as hydrogenated vegetable oils (canola, soy, corn and safflower), and to stick with cold pressed olive oil, butter and cold pressed flaxseed oil. My primary care doctor also gave me a referral to see an Ophthalmologist to check out my eyes and get a baseline on the Thyroid Eye Disease. Her exam didn't show much damage and when I told her about the Omega 3, she wasn't surprised, but said that there is no scientific evidence, though it was interesting. She suggested I come back in six months or if my eyes started to get worse. April, 2002 At my next visit, I was still not feeling much better, and I saw a new doctor, along with one of the same student doctors I had seen before. The new doctor had experience in Chinese Medicine and noticed the rash I had on my face and thought it was a food related rash, that I probably had food allergies and "Leaky Gut Syndrome" (LGS). This is how I interpreted what she said about LGS: If food is getting out of your digestive system and into your body and blood stream, it is only natural that your immune system would start to attack these foreign objects. After awhile, your immune system is so worn down from fighting off these food particles, that it gets tired and confused and starts attacking healthy body parts, like your thyroid. She recommended that I cut corn, wheat, dairy and peanuts out of my diet for 3 weeks or until the rash on my face cleared up, and then add them back in one at a time to see what I was allergic to. At this visit, the doctors also prescribed some anti-anxiety herbs to take to calm me down, and these really helped. I almost felt normal again after taking them. Finally, the doctor recommended that I start Cranio-Sacral Therapy on my next visit and try that for a month to see if it would help. They also suggested a multi vitamin with copper and without iodine that might replace the gazillion supplements I was currently taking. I tried it and it was fine, no hyper reaction like with other multi vitamins I had tried. If, like me, you weren't accustomed to alternative therapies, you would think Cranio-Sacral very strange. Basically, they look at your body while you lie on a massage table to see what they see. Then they feel for your energy in various places - ankles, neck, etc and then follow the energy where it takes them. The first day I was there they noticed two problems right off: my body had a strange twist to it and I had no moons in my fingernails, which meant that I had no chi, or life force. Because of this, they had a hard time following my energy, since it was very faint. Apparently the state of my fingernails indicated a need for zinc and trace minerals. So, the first thing they did was un-twist my body by focusing on the sacral area. It was amazing, because I could feel my body adjusting itself, all she was doing was holding her hands in certain positions and kind of softly stretching or pushing, or both at the same time. When I left, I felt as if I was standing straight and walking evenly again. I was looking forward to my next visit. Over the next couple of weeks I was feeling noticeably better - cutting out the foods was a big help and the herbal tincture was starting to kick in. Cranio-Sacral Therapy was very relaxing; I could tell that something good was happening to my body. The zinc and trace minerals were helping my fingernails, the moons in my thumbs were coming back and the white spots were growing out. One of the doctors at Bastyr also suggested to me that I should consider having my mercury amalgam dental fillings removed and replaced. There are studies that suggest that autoimmune and thyroid diseases can be caused by mercury poisoning leached out of this dental work. I think it would probably be a good thing to determine first if I have mercury poisoning before going through this process. I need to look into the types of tests that will determine that, though it is possible since I have a mouth full of fillings made by a dentist when I was 12 years old who believed in "preventive dentistry work" - put fillings on all the teeth and she will never get cavities. This makes me so mad to think about. At this time I also discovered that I have Scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, and while my primary care physician said there was really nothing I could do about it and not to worry about it, the doctors at Bastyr recommended supportive shoes and shoe inserts. This was helpful in preventing the swelling in my ankles that had been bothering me for years, especially after working out. May, 2002 After three weeks, the first foods that I cut out hadn't stopped the rash on my face, so then I cut out soy, all chocolate, citrus and tomatoes. I really felt that cutting out the citrus and tomatoes made a big difference. However, this didn't leave me much food that I could eat and was very difficult at first. Then, when the rash on my face was pretty clear, I added corn back in. Well, this experience was horrible - I thought I was having a heart attack, but really it was heartburn. I had never experienced heartburn before so I didn't know what it was. My face broke out in painful pimples and I felt really bad. It took me two weeks to get over this trauma, but it cured me from wanting to eat corn. Unbelievable what a food can do to you. This inspired me to really start learning about nutrition and what foods made me feel good and what foods made me feel bad. As I was feeling a bit better, I thought I might try to wean off the beta-blockers. This was not successful and made me very cranky. I decided that I was addicted and would try again in a month or so. I also got the results of my first blood tests after starting these natural therapies. They were not much better than the last ones. I was pretty disappointed, especially since I was feeling better, most of the time anyway. I was still having a good week here, a bad week there. My primary care physician told me to make an appointment with an Endocrinologist, because she was done with the "wait and see" approach. Results of blood work on 5/4/02The doctors at Bastyr were also disappointed with the results of my blood tests but were not ready to give up. They were not as inclined to pay strict attention to the tests but also wanted to go by my symptoms, which were getting better. They doubled my dose of the herbal tincture and prescribed to me a supplement of L-Carnatine to take with the Co-Q-10 I had been taking for a couple of months. They said L-Carnatine would help block thyroid absorption at the cell level and it works with Co-Q-10. L-Carnatine is a substance that our bodies make on their own, but in the case of hyperthyroidism, most of this substance is excreted through bodily functions and so there was not enough of it in my system to do its job. The amazing thing about this was that as soon as I took it, I felt cold. Physically cold for the first time in months! I knew this was working right away. At the next visit, I had some Visceral Manipulation added to the Cranio-Sacral therapy because the Cranio-Sacral therapy kept directing them to my organs. This was really amazing. Basically, she stands behind you and reaches around and presses into your stomach area and feels around, and then moves things around or massages out adhesions. I felt dizzy on the way home and sore in my abdomen for a week afterwards. But, I could tell that there was healing going on inside. I think this was a turning point in my therapy, because since this day, I have been feeling so much better. I do still occasionally have a bad day, but for the most part I know it can be attributed to either a lack of sleep or a bad food choice. For example, one day I ate turkey in a salad at lunch noticed it tasted very salty. Shortly after lunch I crashed. Graves' Rage came back, I got shaky and exhausted and extremely grumpy. It came to me then how much iodine and "natural flavorings" can affect me. I swore off all processed meats and foods with additives and now know how and why my "bad days" had come about and realize how much control I have in choosing what type of day I have based on my food choices. June, 2002 More Visceral Manipulation and Cranio-Sacral, and the doctors say they think I am doing so well that I can skip a week if I want to. Unfortunately I popped my back out and decided I had better go and see if they could do something to fix that, so I didn't get to skip a week after all. This visit they focused on my back; I got an adjustment, a deep tissue massage and some sacral work done. Afterwards, my pulse was the lowest it had been in over 6 months, I was so relaxed and feeling great. I decided to have them draw blood since I was feeling so good to see what my labs would be on a "good day". I also told the doctors that day that I wasn't "up" to challenging more foods - I was feeling good and that was more important to me that being able to eat wheat or dairy. I asked them if we could just start the "leaky gut" protocol without going through the painful process of challenging more foods. They were up for that, since it would probably take a couple of months to challenge all of the foods and recover in between. They also gave me the name of a woman who does allergy elimination using NAET, which is something that has helped my grandmother and mother in so many ways. My grandmother looks 20 years younger after using NAET to eliminate her allergies. I believe NAET will really work for me, but I'm worried about the time commitment and getting a babysitter, etc. I need to find a way to do this. Bastyr called to tell me that my Free T4 was down by almost 5 points! and my antibodies were down by HALF!!!. Great news! TSH is still 0, but I feel like that is to be expected. I am finally getting better and feel like all the effort I've put into this is paying off. Have decided to try weaning off the beta-blockers again. One week in, and I'm down to half my original dose, and feel pretty good. I think I will stay here for a little while though, because I am starting to notice when it's time for a new dose again. Must have eaten something I shouldn't have as my face is all broken out and painful again, just like when I challenged corn. Can't think what it was though. Cranberry juice maybe? Got my labs back from Bastyr, they came with a gold star sticker on them that said "star patient". Pretty funny. Results of bloodwork on 6/11/02: July, 2002 7/2/02 - Managed to get an appointment last minute at Bastyr as I was suffering from a horrible headache. It almost feels like a sinus headache, except bigger than that. Depending on what position I'm in, different areas hurt. If I'm just sitting still, it feels like someone is squishing my head, if I bend down to pick something up off the floor, the back of my skull hurts so bad it stops me in my tracks and I feel dizzy, and if I'm lying down, the sides and eye area hurts. It's very strange. I do feel better now - I had some cranial work done, she said that yes, my bones were messed up again, it must have been the kick in my eye my son gave me a few nights back. She couldn't get all of it in the amount of time we had, but did release a lot of the pressure. She suggested I get a massage as well, and start yoga up again. When I finally got home, I took some Advil and now the headache is almost gone. While I love it at Bastyr, I was not pleased today to have two new students to whom I had to give my complete history all over again. They switch the students every 12 weeks and I really just want one or two people who know me and I can work with. My ND said she was going to look into getting me the name of someone who can do crainio-sacral on me ongoing, rather than having new students do it all the time. Of course this is going to make billing insurance a bit of a pain, but I hope I can figure out a way to do it. Hopefully she will also be an ND and I can just see one person. But then I will miss Bastyr as it's really a wonderful place and it would be hard to find one person that has all the knowledge that my "team" has. 7-8-02 - My face is finally cleared up. I think it was either the chocolate or the watermelon. Either way, I'm avoiding both now. Seem to be able to manage small amounts of dairy and small amounts of wheat, as long as it's not whole wheat. I had stopped the leaky gut protocol when my face broke out and I got the bad headache, thinking that might have been contributing to it. Have started it up again today, will see how it goes. 7-11-02 - My Doctor from Bastyr called and suggested I add one more capsule of the L-Carnatine to my program, as she thinks this is what has made such a big difference in my blood results. It is hard to say if it was this, or the visceral manipulation, which I think we started right around the same time. I think it's the visceral manipulation... 7-12-02 - I started taking the leaky gut protocol again and got a headache and my face is breaking out again. So, I've stopped that and I'll have to see if there is something else I can try, or maybe get going on the NAET allergy elimination therapy. 7-16-02 - Another visit to Bastyr, they gave me a referral for expert cranio-sacral and visceral manipulation - can go on Fridays. Also gave me a replacement for the leaky gut protocol - nasty stuff to drink down with a little water, not very convenient, but no side effects yet. Had blood drawn, feeling pretty good despite the heat. Have an appointment with a "real" endocrinologist next week and am getting anxious! 7-24-02 - My fist visit to an endo: My appointment was at 9:00 and we got there at 8:45 because I figured there was paperwork. There was. It took till 9:05 to get all of that done, all but 2 minutes were me waiting and waiting. Then I started waiting for the doc. At 9:55 I said this is nuts, let's go. Husband said no, we are here, lets stick it out. At 10:00 they called me in to get my vitals. Then they couldn't find the paperwork sent over by either of my docs, so I had to wait another 1/2 hour while they located one of the docs papers. I called Bastyr and got them to re-fax my files over to the endo. Then they called me in to a room and we waited there for 20 minutes. Then finally, at about 11:00, a resident doc came to ask all the questions, feel my thyroid, etc. etc. she was ok, good at listening. If she doesn't get the wrong advice from the older endos she's learning from, she might be a good endo someday. At about 11:30, the endo came in. Mind you, NOT the endo I made an appointment with - he called in sick today but no one bothered to tell me this.... The endo said he thought, looking at my labs and history, that I had post-partum thyroiditis. I asked him if I would have Graves and Hashimotos antibodies if it was only post-partum t. He said yes, he guesses so but that antibodies were not very good indications of what is really going on (I know this is not true) - I could have had these antibodies all my life. I asked him if it was possible that I got post-partum t. as much as 11 months after giving birth, and that 10 months later it was still here. He said yes. (It's very rare for this to happen.) I asked him if it was possible to have the eye involvement if it was post-partum, he said he didn't see any eye involvement, and I told him that my eyes were much better, but several months ago they were really buggy and I had had lid lag on one of them. My husband backed me up here. The doc then said that it was possible that post-partum thyroiditis. could turn into Graves or Hashimotos OR Hashitoxicosis. Had I heard of that last one? Yes I had, I had been wondering if that was what I had. He said it was very possible. But he thought it was triggered by my pregnancy. I told him I thought it was triggered by my visit to the ER and all the nuclear tests they gave me. He said it was impossible that my iodine contrast dye and barium swallow could have triggered this - "impossible". (He obviously hasn't read Dr. Arem's book or kept up with all the recent antibody research.) I asked him what it would take to figure out what I had, he said the uptake scan would probably not give us a good idea either, that it really didn't matter if we put a label on what I had. He said most times, if what I have doesn't go away, they will do RAI. I told him, no, that wasn't an option for me, I would rather do surgery if I had to make a permanent decision about my thyroid. He said they don't DO surgery in the US anymore (I know of several people who have had their thyroids removed surgically recently. One even lives in the Seattle area). It's too dangerous and risky, he said. RAI is what they do, it's perfectly safe, what did I have against it anyway? I told him - eye disease, I want to have more babies, they don't have any good studies about long term effects - etc, etc. He said, no one ever died from RAI. I said I'd rather do ATDs if what I'm doing is not working. He said ATDs CAN kill people, RAI is safer. That ATDs can make your bone marrow sick or white blood cells disappear or something. I said I was willing to take that chance, but in the meantime, if the alternative stuff is doing a good job I'd like to keep doing that. He actually agreed, and implied that it was probably the natural cycle of the disease that I was getting better. He did admit that he had heard of L-Carnatine and that it might actually be working in my case. Then he got talking about the how everyone was different and had a different cycle of how they might feel good, then feel bad, then good again, how they might feel good in the morning and then bad in the afternoon, and the opposite the next day, but no one knew why or could predict it. I said I thought it was probably food related, that when I was feeling good, then bad, I could usually point to a food that I ate that set me off, something that had iodine in it... then he laughed and said there was not enough iodine in our diets to make us hyper, I must be easily influenced mentally. Keeping my temper checked, as I was really steaming by now, I said, well, if that is true, there is something in processed foods that makes me feel bad. MSG, additives, coloring, something - that I only feel good when I'm eating whole foods, not processed ones. He said he'd buy into that, but not the iodine. And then he said it would be really "interesting" to see me down the road to see how all this turns out... and it would be really "interesting" to see what an uptake and scan would show, "interesting, but probably not very useful", so, good luck, hope you are doing well in 6 months, otherwise, it would be nice to see you again... Three hours, no diagnosis, no new info that I want to use, but, my GP should be satisfied that I saw an endo and that he recommended I keep doing what I'm doing, and that he didn't think I was in any danger doing what I am doing, so I'm happy to stay on my path. I'm glad that's over. August, 2002 8/4/02 - Got my lab results today. While I'm happy about my T4 and T3 continuing to come down, I am disappointed that my TPO antibodies are going up. From what I've been able to research, that means that the Hashimotos side of things may be trying to take over. Which means I may be headed toward hypo, or maybe normal numbers, but regardless, it may be time to start thinking about block and replace. A friend suggested this site: Wilson Syndrome so I will look into that as well. I'm scared to death to be stuck in hypo hell for the rest of my life. Of course bouncing around between hyper and hypo doesn't sound so good either. I'm sleeping really hard again for the first time in years, and starting to gain a little weight, my nails are getting brittle, and I'm tire all the time again. I can't spell or type well. Plus I'm pretty grumpy and kind of sad. Sound like hypo symptoms? It's time to try something new I think. Results of bloodwork on 7/16/02:8/7/02 - I have an appointment set up with a (wonderful sounding) ND who also does NAET. It's a week away, but she works some Saturdays, so I will not have to put my son in day care just to see her after all. I'm so pleased. 8/12/02 - I have an appointment set up with a new primary care doc. I found her name on the Armour web site in the list of docs that prescribe Armour (natural thyroid replacement hormones). Our insurance patient survey lists her as a top doc, and I called and asked if she was open to alternative treatments, and the answer came back with a resounding "Yes!". All together, those signs point to the makings of a good doc, so, I'm looking forward to meeting her in early September. 8/17/02 - I had an appointment with a new ND today. I got her name from an NAET support board and I have to agree with the people who recommended her to me, she is wonderful. She spent 2 hours going over my history with me and while she knew I was there because I thought I needed NAET to treat all of my new food allergies, she wasn't convinced that that was my problem until the very end of the visit. She thought the stuff I have been doing with Bastyr was great and happy it was working so well - said she wouldn't change a thing until it stopped working or until something else changed - and said she knew of several homeopathic treatments that would help thyroid problems, both hyper and hypo. She also said if I ever wanted to get pregnant again (why would I after my description of my first pregnancy and birth, she couldn't figure out ;), but if I did, she had some homeopathic treatments that were safe whereas the herbs I'm using are not safe for pregnancy. I think she kept thinking she would find (through kenesiology?) something else that was the cause of my problems. Everything she tested me for was fine except the allergies, so there, I did know what my body needed ;). So then she tested me for the basic 10 allergies - the first ones they do with NAET - and I passed the first one and failed all the other ones except Salt and the chlorides in salt. I failed Corn, Vitamin Bs, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, Minerals and Metals, Eggs/Chicken, Iron, and Sugar. Corn, Vitamin C, Calcium, Vitamin Bs are all things I've realized I was allergic to over the past 9 months, so if I had passed them I would have been really surprised. I have an appointment set up for next Thursday afternoon to clear the first one - eggs. Now that I write that down, I'm thinking I should reschedule since I have a cranio-sacral appointment set up for the next day and the first 25 hours after a NAET treatment can be kind of rough. She also knows about Chakras and does work with those, and thinks I need some help with mine - I have to agree. I don't know when I'll start that, I want to get my allergies cleared first. Oh, and she totally agrees with me about NO SOY. She was surprised I felt the same way though, she's given up trying to teach her patients about soy since the marketing companies have us all so brainwashed. So it was very interesting meeting her, she is a bit out there, but trained at Bastyr and I think she is going to be good for me. Also, she recommended these sources for vitamins and herbs: Medicine Man 323 N. 85th St. Seattle, WA 98103 206.789.0800 http://www.theherbalist.com 8/23/02 - I had a really excellent cranio-sacral session and feel sooooo good. I mentioned to my doctor my battles with yeast, and he said that there is actually an old timer at Bastyr, a MD actually, who has made some correlations between women with chronic yeast problems and autoimmune thyroid disease. So, he gave me a 7 day treatment with a refill if I needed it. I'm kind of excited that this might be one of the keys to my remission. 8/14/02 - The "up" feeling from my cranio-sacral session is still with me... I feel like something has changed for the better. 8/29/02 - Still feeling good. Have had a very tough week emotionally with various events in our lives, but seem to be handling the stress ok, and feeling fine. 8/31/02 - Suffered from some horrible stomach bug or food poisoning. Couldn't keep my bugleweed or L-Carnitine down, afraid I was going to suffer a hyper spell or storm if I didn't get some to stick with me asap. September, 2002 9/1/02 - Feeling better, not all good yet, but so much better. 9/2/02 - Feel back to normal... well, not quite as good as after that last cranio-sacral session, but almost. Just a little hyper and hot. Will have to schedule another session with Matt at Bastyr. 7 day yeast cure seems to have worked... my face is even clearing up. 9/4/02 - I met with the new PCP today. I think she might be wonderful. She made me a little nervous and I had a hard time getting everything out. She either thinks I've had some bad doctor experiences or that I haven't taken very good care of managing my health... I can't tell. She did say she thought even if I thought I was better she still thought I seemed hyper - I told her that is because I was nervous - new doctors make me nervous, I've had some bad experiences... She wants me in for a complete physical (why hasn't any other doctor done this any time in the recent past? - Her question, my thought too). She thinks a DEXA bone scan is a very good idea... she drew blood herself and will mail me the results and mail a copy to Bastyr as well... She wants to test for some other autoimmune diseases as well (Have any other doctors looked at that? No, they haven't.) She seemed very concerned about me, and I take that as a good thing. She agreed that an uptake scan probably wasn't a good idea - she agreed that the radioactive iodine tests in the ER probably triggered my problems and I would probably be allergic to the scan as well. She also has the name of a woman Endo in Seattle (turns out she is the very first endo I was referred to that I turned down when I was my most hyper and too freaked out to think straight) She is going to get me a referral to her and some more referrals to Bastyr if possible. She said there isn't a good endo on the Eastside, at least in her opinion - that is good, I've come to that conclusion as well. 9/9/02 - Nurse called, my thyroid numbers are still in the high end, and now I have a positive ANA result, which could be Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, or MS... or it could be drug induced lupus from the beta-blocker I'm taking. This is very frightening. Called my ND at Bastyr, she suggested upping my dose of the tincture and l-carnatine. 9/10/02 - Got labs in mail: ANA - 1:160 range <1:40 - POSSITIVE BY ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY - FOLLOW UP BY IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE USING HEB 2 CELLS TO DETERMINE THE TITER AND PATTERN. PATTERN 0 HOMOGENEOUS - THIS PATTERN IS ASSOCIATED WITH ANTIBODIES TO HISTONES OR DOUBLE STRANDED DNA (DSDNA). IT IS THE MOST COMMON PATTERN AND OCCURS IN PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMATIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE), MIXED CONNECTIVE TISSURE DISEASE (MCTD), RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA) AND DRUG INDUCED LUPUS. Results of bloodwork on 9/4/02:9/11/02 - Well. It's been a year for the two things I think set this disease in motion for me. My visit to the ER and those !#@$#%* tests, and 9-11-01. The stress to my body and the stress to my soul. It sad in so many ways and hard to convince myself this hasn't been a wasted year. 9/16/02 - The extra tincture and amino acids seem to be working - I feel a lot calmer and relaxed, and have more energy again. Almost back to normal! 9/18/02 - Went to see the shaman healer woman. It was very disturbing as she told me my soul wanted to leave me and go back to the divine origin and that was why I am sick. That when I slept, it went back there and was being pulled back there. All I have to do, supposedly, it tell it I need it to stay, that my work here is not finished, and then I will get well. 9/20/02 - Had a physical. New doctor still seems like a keeper. She ran extra tests for the ANA thing. 9/25/02 - Dr. called and extra tests for ANA stuff came back negative - whoo hoo! Which means it's probably the beta-blocker doing it and I will try to wean off those after my next blood tests. Also other tests came back fine. So other than my thyroid I'm in pretty good shape. October, 2002 The extra tincture seems to be doing me a lot of good, I am feeling almost back to normal and am getting away without napping most days. 10/09/02 - Had blood drawn today. Am feeling pretty good, maybe just a little hyper, (have been working a little more, not been napping, eating a few foods I shouldn't be). Was stressed getting to the dr. appointment on time, then when I asked the nurse which tests were going to be run she said "Just TSH". ARGGGG. She didn't even look to see if that was all, and I told her no, I need the FT3 and FT4 run as well, and she said "oh, well, after I draw the blood, I'll get the doctor's orders." ARGGG again! Why is it so damn hard to get (the right) labs? I'm pretty sure that my MD will order the same labs as last time (TSH, FT3, FT4) but I would like confirmation on that - I don't think that is too much to ask. And when I have to fight for FT3 and FT4, well, I don't have the stamina to fight for the antibodies too. It this doesn't work, I will just have to go back to having Bastyr run them again. 10/10/02 - My first NAET treatment was today. I decided to just go ahead with it, brought my kid with me, and did it. It was nothing, just holding a vile while she worked on some acupressure points.. now I just have to avoid all eggs, chickens, and feathers for the next 24 hours. Not so bad as some of them will be. I had to strip my bed of my down pillows and comforter... it's gonna be a cold night ;) While I was there she tested to see if mercury was affecting my thyroid, and it was... but the allergies tested stronger so she said I need to deal with that first. But, she said, if I don't deal with the mercury thing at some point, I will never really get better... I may go into remission, but it won t be a lasting remission because I won't have gotten to the root of the problem. I asked her if I could detox mercury without having my dental amalgams replaced and she said yes, but there is a risk that the detox would draw more mercury from the amalgams and end up doing more harm than good. So I'm going down this allergy path... my mom is coming to visit for a couple of weeks and I'm going to try to get 4-6 treatments done while she is here to help out. 10/11/02 - I made it through my first NAET treatment...can't tell any difference though. 10/16/02 - Second NAET treatment today... calcium - I'm starving to death, calcium is in everything. 10/16/02 - Nurse called with my labs... I'm so mad, they didn't run the FT3 like they did last time and said they would this time... so now what am I supposed to compare this to??? At least they gave me some more referrals to my ND at Bastyr, so I'm going back there ASAP. Labwork from 10/9/02:10/17/02 - Yogurt tastes GOOD again! Not all sour and yuck, but actually good! That must mean I've passed the calcium treatment and now my body will utilize calcium again. This is good. 10/18/02 - NAET treatment for Vitamin C. This will be easy to avoid since I've been avoiding it for so long now anyway... and this will be the big test to see if this NAET stuff is working. My face is clearing up already, so something is working... 10/20/02 - Well, I've eaten tomato sauce and orange juice and pineapples... and I'm FINE!!! My face is still looking clearer, no heart palps or heart burn... this NAET thing is WORKING! 10/21/02 - I went in to Bastyr today with a long list: 1.) Could the L-Carnatine be making me feel hypo even though my labs still say hyper??? Yes Definitely... we must have hit a wall with that... lets back it off... 2.) Why is my T3 so high when my FT4 is almost in the normal range??? Probably because the L-Carnatine is blocking it's absorption and it's just floating around in your system with no cells that will use it and no way to get used up... again, we need to cut down on your dose of that - lets cut down by one capsule for a little while then another... don't want to shock your system with too much of a cut. 3.) I want to get off my beta-blocker - can you prescribe some Hawthorne or something else natural that will take it's place and make it easier to wean off the beta-blocker? Yes, definitely, you really need to get off of those, they are horrible... did you read the recent study where they said that they have shown that long term beta-blocker use actually CAUSES death??? That it shouldn't be used for more than 6 weeks in anyone other than high blood pressure patients??? Yes, we will give you a Hawthorne extract and you will need to build that up in your system for a week or so and then very slowly cut back on the propranolol. 4.) I would like to have my FT3 tested as well as my antibodies... both TPO and TSI, ok? No problem, I would like to see those numbers as well... lets get those labs drawn today. 5.) Have you heard of plant sterols and sterolins - like the product Moducare for example? Yes, I have heard of doctors using it with great success, but have not used it myself... let me do some asking around... oh people on your graves support board are using it? I would be very interested to hear how it works out for them, please let me know! 6.) Have you heard of the product Thyrodex by Evergreen? No, but I'll take your contact information and make some calls and see what I can find out... I agree, we seem to have hit a wall and it might be time to try something new - thanks for bringing in these ideas - we will do some more research on them and definitely come up with something that will work.. .. you should really consider doing some more cranio-sacral since that was working so well for you before too... And finally, I told her about my experience with NAET and how I can eat tomatoes and citrus again and... she gave me a high five and was so excited that my eczema on my face is so cleared up... and that my food world is opening back up again.... 10/23/02 - Another NAET treatment today... Vitamin B's. This is going to be a hard one too since everything has vitamin Bs in them. 10/23/02 - My ND left a message on the machine for me today and I could tell she was just so happy about the results - I'm so close to normal ranges and my antibodies are WAY down finally!!! Whoo Hooo! Results of bloodwork on 10/21/02:10/26/02 - Went to ND for another NAET treatment... was supposed to do sugar, but I failed Vitamin B (on the emotional level only) and had to redo it. Bummer. November, 2002 11/18/02 - Wow time flies when you are feeling better and living your life again! I've been working on cutting down on my beta blocker - that is going really smoothly with the help of the Hawthorn Berry extract - I'm down to 5mg a day, and in a couple of days will cut that out all together. Have noticed that the numbness in my right toes is getting better. NAET - I passed the Vitamin Bs and noticed right away that stress is not so big a deal, I've done sugar and iron, but think that will be it for a little while - at least until after Thanksgiving. 11/23/02 - Am off the beta blockers totally!!! The hawthorne berry extract made it about effortless and I feel a lot more like normal now. My toes are no longer numb and I don't feel so hypo - as in the betas are no longer blocking conversion of T4 to T3. December 2002 12/19/02 - Went to Bastyr for a blood draw. My blood pressure is back to normal now that I'm no longer taking the beta blockers. I'm feeling really really good finally, I have energy and have cleaned the house, have all holiday stuff under control, an am even planning a dinner party or two - because I can. Results of bloodwork on 12/19/03: January 2003 1/8/03 - Went to Bastyr to get labs, but they messed up and only ordered the TSI antibody test. So I had them draw new blood to get the hormones done. Still feeling really good, but have a couple of minor issues: dry skin, breaking nails, breathlessness, tired, cold, forgetting what it was I was going to do or say. Just not all the time - not consistently. Sometimes I feel great, sometimes I feel a little hypo and sometimes a little hyper. I must be balancing out. 1/15/03 - Finally got some labs back and am so excited they are within normal ranges (except for TSH): Results of bloodwork on 1/8/03:Now I just have to figure out my very own set point to see what is the best place for me - that may mean adjusting my tincture a tiny bit or so - I feel like maybe cutting a little bit out will do it. It seems like I'm down to just a few things these days compared to all the stuff I've been taking over the past year - it's a great feeling - so lets see: I take my flaxseed oil every morning with my fruit and yogurt smoothie, then I take my tincture, permeability factors, multi-vitamin and milk thistle. Mid morning a cup of tea with hawthorne berry extract. Halfway through the day, another dose of my multi-vitamin and tincture, and at the end of the day more tincture, multi, permeability factors and milk thistle. amd another cup of tea with hawethorne berry extract. Once in awhile I'll take a co-q-10 or a vitamin c, but that's about it! Writing it down seems like a lot, but taking it seems like not so much compared to even 6 months ago, never mind when I was trying to figure out how to get all the nutrients I needed individually without taking any iodine. I also have an appointment in February to see a ND who does all kinds of advanced NAET stuff - NMT, JMT and Metabolic NAET - these things are supposed to be able to CURE autoimmune diseases. From what I'm reading on the internet, Graves and Hashimotos are "a piece of cake" to cure. Am really looking forward to this. February 2003 2/6/03 - Was visiting my mom in NH at the End of January and went to see her chiropractor/NAET guy. He did this thing called TBM - Total Body Modification - to me - it's an energy medicine like NAET but it balances your body systems and strengthens your immune system for example if that is what is needed or whatever. Suppoesedly he found all kinds of things wrong with my thyroid and hypothalmous and other systems and balanced me. Well I felt great after and that evening when I went to take my tincture I felt afterwards that it was too strong - that whatever he had done had helped me in such a way that who knows, maybe I didn't even need my tincture any more? Well, I was not that brave, so I started playing around with the dose amount to see what felt good. 3 teaspoons was too much, 2, too little. When I got home, I called to get labs to see if that would help me figure it out. Then today I went to see Dr. Q Areste in Seattle about the latest energy work - NMT or JMT or Metabolic NAET - I wasn't sure what she was going to tell me would work for me... and she said she had, since discovering NMT, thrown out all her NAET viles and was only practicing NMT - with fantastic results. To the best of my knowledge and ability to explain something that is next to impossible to explain, it's an energy medicine that resets your neurological responses to various things and fixes you. It supposedly can cure autoimmune diseases and autism. It can fix all your food allergies in one shot rather than individually like NAET, whatever. She described it like taking a magnet to a computer disk - it scrambles all the information and then she resets it the way it's supposed to be. She also said the way it works is like a ball of tangled string, you have to get the outermost knot untied before you can get to the next one (and she only does one per visit), and who knows how big the ball of string is, but after each one you feel better and better till you no longer have to go. So, she asked my body what was causing my autoimmune responses and it said that it was allergy related and micro-organism related - that I have one or more micro-organism in me wreaking havoc. She then asked my body what it needed taken care of first and the response was allergy - and not a group of allergies like I'd been hoping, and not a food allergy, but an allergy to some of my own body tissue. I'd been hoping to get chocolate fixed, to be completely honest, valentines day is coming, we are heading out for a nice vacation and that would have been wonderful, but I'm off topic now... so I'm allergic to my own body tissue... she asked it what and figured out that it was muscles - I'm allergic to my own muscle tissue. Which to be completely honest does not surprise me that much because I have just not been able to regain any of my muscle tone that I lost when first hyper and have been feeling more and more weak as time goes on, not stronger like I thought I should be. She treated me for my allergies to my muscle tissue and was going to send her on my way when I said "how am I supposed to know how much of my herbal tincture I'm supposed to take - is it going to change every time I see you possibly, or what?" and she said that was easy, using muscle testing she would find out exactly how much I should be taking... and then did the muscle testing and said you need 2 1/4 teaspoons a day. Well there you go - the magic number between 2 and 3! Then I got home and my doc from Bastyr called with the lab results from Tuesday: Results of bloodwork on 2/4/03:So that looks to me like T4 and FT3 are at the lower end of normal and tells me that 3 teaspoons was indeed too much and while 2 is not enough and brings back hyper symptoms, it must have been close enough not to make my blood show hyper - so maybe that 2 1/4 is right on after all?!?! I know, I know, this is very crazy sounding stuff... but I'm going to give it a shot. 2/21/03 - Had my second NMT treatment today - treated for airborne particles - pollen, dust, dust mites, etc. Have been feeling WONDERFUL. Have had to reduce my tincture to 1/2 teaspoon 2x a day. This is amazing stuff! 2/24/03 - I started a yahoo group to talk about alternative treatments and autoimmune diseases. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ai_alt_med 2/27/03 - Had third NMT treatment - was treated for yeast this time. Did not reduce my tincture this week, but feeling like I should have, and when she told me that I should only be taking 1/8 of a teaspoon a day now, that was not a total surprise - 1/2 teaspoon twice a day was leaving me absolutely freezing and exhausted. 1/8th of a teaspoon works out to 24 drops in my dropper. She said to only take it once a day... but I'm thinking 12 drops twice a day will work too. I won't be taking any much longer at this rate - this is the first time I'm seriously saying "remission" outloud - I'm so excited! March 2003 3/5/03 - Another NMT treatment - I'm so happy right now I can barely stand it! She treated me for my ingested allergies - not specific foods like in NAET, but the chemical that is common in all or most of the foods I react to - two chemicals to be exact. One was a chemical that makes red/yellow/blue foods those colors and the other one is a what... well I've forgotten now. So she treated me for them and supposedly I can now eat chocolate and corn and peanuts and all those foods that I have not been able to eat! I'm a little hesitant to try them though - it's been almost a year since I realized I couldn't eat them and the results when I've cheated are not fun. But I will, I have to! She thinks that will probably be most of my food allergies, but clearing these MIGHT expose smaller allergies - bring them to the surface so to speak We will see... if I don't have any more food allergies next week, I'm done with NMT until something changes since there was nothing else affecting my thyroid problem! (I've been off my tincture for two days now and feel GREAT) I hope to get labs done early next week to see if this is all showing good things in my blood as well... or if I'm just a loon. We will see. 3/13/03 - Another NMT treatment last night - had nothing to do with autoimmune diseases - she treated me for the flu that I was coming down with - I was feeling kind of crudy, but hadn't put two and two together that I was getting the flu that my kid had last week. I feel much better today already - headache gone, aches gone, don't feel so tired. She even treated my son for his cough and runny nose he was coming down with after the flu. She also looked in his ears and said he was on the verge of getting an ear infection too - so that will be avoided now. She said he may continue coughing for a little while but they will be more productive. I immediately noticed that in fact his coughs went from dry hacky painful sounding to ones that were doing what they were supposed to do He didn't wake up in the middle of the night coughing at all and he woke up smiling today for the first time in 2 weeks! This stuff is so amazing. She did say that she was pretty sure I still had more food allergies to work on - I think so too since I had mexican the other night and got a little heartburn and my eczema on my face came back after being completely cleared up. But most of the stuff is fixed on me - if I had to stop now I would be in really good shape I think. I had blood drawn on the 11th and will have to wait a week to see what it says. 3/24/03 - Got labs back: Results of bloodwork on 3/11/03:Not remission since my antibodies are still present, but not on any meds so what does that mean? May 2003 5/15/03 - Well here it is 2 months later - I've been living life, I'm over due for labs, and I've had good weeks and not so good weeks. I've been doing NMT treatments every week for all kinds of things, allergies, menstrual issues, morphic field(?) etc. etc. I didn't pass two of my treatments and let me just say that not passing treatments is NOT fun at all - it's misserable. But it's apparently easy to correct and I did feel so much better after she fixed me up again. Last night we moved on to the adrenals and I was treated for allergies to bioflavinoids - which are the foods for the adrenals. I feel great today and think we are going down a really good path with the adrenals. The Short Version: I suspect I had a mildly under active thyroid from about 1996 to 2000. In 1996, I had a very stressful year, graduating college, moving 3 times, getting married, and I got poison oak that took more than 2 months and lots of cortisone shots to get rid of. In 2000, I had a baby two months premature. I believe I was very hypo during my pregnancy and the result was the premature birth. In the fall of 2001, I went to the emergency room because of a pain in my side. They ran all kinds of tests but never figured out what was wrong. Some of the tests were nuclear - radioactive iodine contrast dye and barium. Shortly after, I started to develop these symptoms: weight loss, breathlessness, hunger, shakiness, frequent trips to the bathroom, etc. In December 2001, I got what I thought was the flu, took some cold medicine, and then thought I was having a heart attack. At the doctor's office I realized I had lost a total of 30 pounds, most of it in the past month, and she diagnosed hyperthyroidism. She insisted on a radioactive iodine uptake and scan, and I made the appointment, but after finding some information on the internet, I cancelled it - especially after my recent experience at the emergency room, I was not receptive to anything invasive or radioactive. Instead I asked for an ultrasound which did not show nodules, just an enlarged thyroid. The doctor suspected post partum thyroiditis or hashimotos, but would not treat me without an uptake/scan. Four doctors later, and after hours and hours of research, it was finally determined, with the help of antibody blood tests, that I have an autoimmune thyroid disease. The new doctor wanted to take a "wait and see" approach to it, but I wanted some relief, so she gave me a referral to Bastyr Natural Health Clinic to see if they could help me. My experiences with Bastyr have been wonderful and enlightening. They have prescribed some herbal tinctures, some energy work (cranio-sacral and visceral manipulation), have worked with me on my diet, helping me to discover food allergies and guiding me on nutritional supplements, as well as essential fatty acids, amino acids, and digestive enzymes. Along the way I have discovered which foods make me feel more hyper and which foods make me feel good. For several months now, I have felt very good and my blood tests are showing great improvements, and are finally in the normal ranges. Now I just have to find my set point and see if I can either find the root cause of this disease and fix it or keep up the good work and wait for remission. (May 2003) OMG - Did you see what I wrote there - "wait for remission"??? Well remission is coming on fast and furious since I started NMT - I'm amazed and thrilled and feeling soooo good I can hardly stand myself! The Last Word - For Now Anyway (October 2004) Wow, time flies, hu? I guess I should update this page with what is going on with me as I get so many emails asking if I'm still doing well or how I am. I'm doing GREAT - thanks for asking! It's was a long road (or at least felt like it), and there were many ups and downs... but most days it's easy to forget about it all. Life is moving forward again. My son is getting big and strong. I am feeling strong and not too big, though I would be happy to loose a size, LOL. I've had several labs done and all are within normal ranges. I occasionally still fight being tired, but I've had wonderful days, weeks, months too, so I know what good health is and I continue to shoot for it. Easting well and taking care of myself is still very important, though I do slack off once in awhile. I've learned a few things: NMT has really made a difference for me - I highly recommend it - especially if you get an "Advanced" practioner. I have also had some energy work done by an energy intuitive - she balances chakras and gets energy moving and flowing - all very woo-woo but but I always feel great afterwards. I've more recently discovered a deeper version of the positive thinking I've always tried to maintain - all about feeling your way into a life you want. Something about the Law of Attraction - positive energy attracts positive experiences, events, and opportunities; negative = negative. I've been experimenting and like it: Abraham Hicks or read a really horribly written book called "Excuse me, your LIFE is waiting" - great info, bad read. Reiki is great too - if you haven't tried it yet, do treat yourself to a little healing energy lift. Let's see, what else would you all like to know? I decided to get more creative - creativity and thyroid are both 5th chakra things after all... and so I am now a jewelry designer and a lampwork bead maker - I melt glass and make pretty beads. It's very cool. And way more fun to research than thyroid disease! Here is my jewelry site: The Blue Between. Oh - and there is a web journal over there too - nothing that really means much to anyone but me, or maybe sometimes family... but if you want to see what's up you can always pop over there and see... And finally, a big thank you to everyone who has written to me and told me what a help or inspiration this site was to them - I love hearing the success stories. I'm so glad I could help you find a way to get the care and healing you were looking for. I wish there was more I could offer up to help those of you whose emails bring back the fear and frustration of being newly diagnosed and not knowing where to turn. I hope you get as lucky as I did with a great team of doctors. And I wish all of you continued healing and a wonderful time getting back to "real life". Love, Pam |
About me: Originally from New England, I live in the Seattle area with my husband, son, and two dogs. Prior to Graves Disease and Motherhood, I owned my own Web design company. Post-Graves, I spend most of my time just being a mom, but I have also begun a new career as an artist - I create one-of-a-kind jewelry and also melt glass to make my own lampwork beads. My new company is The Blue Between. Open Letter to the Newly Diagnosed If you are new to Graves, this letter will get you started learning the things you need to take charge of your healing. What I've done to get better:
Some of my possible triggers:
What I believe about healing:
Food is Your Best Medicine by Henry Bieler:
Health Book Recommendations: by Elaine A. Moore, Lisa Moore (Contributor), Kelly R. Hale 
Living Well with Hypothyroidism: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You... That You Need to Know by Mary J. Shomon 
Autoimmune Diseases and Their Environmental Triggers Elaine A. Moore Marvin G. Miller (Illustrator) 
The Bacteria Menace: Todays Emerging Infections and How to Protect Yourself by Skye Weintraub 
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? -A Scientific Detective Story Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski (Contributor), John Peterson Myers 
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon, Mary G. Enig PhD. 
Feeding the Whole Family: Whole Foods Recipes for Babies, Young Children & Their Parents by Cynthia Lair, Annemarie Colbin 
Energy Medicine by Donna Eden 
Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health (Revised Edition) by Toni Weschler 
More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet: Delicious Dining Without Wheat by Bette Hagman  Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well by Leanne Ely 
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal by Rachel Naomi Remen 
Winning the War Against Immune Disorders and Allergies: A Drug Free Cure for Allergies by Ellen W. Cutler 
Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret by Duff Wilson  Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser  Internet Support Groups: Yahoo Graves Support Group Mediboard Graves' Disease forum About.com's Thyroid Boards AtomicWomen NMT Board NAET Board iThyroid.com Board BabyCenter's Thyroid Issues and Concerns Dr. Stoll's Grave's Board Archives Celiac Disease On-Line Support Group More Links: - Thyroid Information - Info on Graves from the BBC - great starting point Daisy's Graves' Disease Educational Site Graves' Disease articles on Suite 101 Graves Links on DMOZ Throid.About.com Mary Shomon's Thyroid-Info site Atomic Women Understanding Autoimmune Disorders Comparing Conventional and Holistic Treatment Methods for GD Letter to Spouses of People With Graves' Disease Endocrine Web Radiation Injury X-Rays And Health Endocrine Disrupters Broda Barns Research Foundation The Thyroid Society Thyroid Manager Health Guides on Thyroid Disease Clinical Thyroidology New York Thyroid Center Wilsons Syndrome - Related Conditions - Thyroid Disease and the Eye Understanding Autoimmune Diseases American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) Autoimmune Diseases Online Celiac.com - The Celiac Disease & Gluten-Free Diet Support Page Liver Health Thyroid disorders frequently coexist with diabetes Breast Cancer Education Network Thyroid Disease, Pregnancy and Fertility Autoimmune News - General Health - PubMed Medical Articles Search MedScape The Merck Manual of Medical Information--Home Edition InteliHealth WebMD.com Mayo Clinic Medline - National Library of Medicine American Association of Poison Control Centers Women's Health Interactive National Women's Heath Information Center - Alternative Health - Find an Alternative Heath Professional Bastyr Center for Natural Health Bastyr University Bastyr U Research Studies AlternativeMedicine.com Ask Dr. Stoll Dr. Mercola's Articles for Wellness and Optimum Well Being Alternative Health on About.com Cranio-Sacral NAET - Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques Articles on Healing - Homeopathy - Homeopathy Referrals to Homeopaths Top 10 FAQ on Homeopathy Sheri Nakken's excellent online homeopathy class - Nutrition and Food - The Weston A. Price Foundation - Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts Rebecca Wood's Healing with Food Vitamin and Nutrition Best Bets Diet Myths and Truths. Positive Health's Articles on Nutrition Your Complete Guide to Food Intolerance Low Iodine Cookbook The Square Meal - recipes for people with food allergies Wheat-free.co.uk Best gluten-free recipes Wheat-free baking recipes Food News Campaigning for Food Safety True Food Network Truth About Soy Food Substitutes iThyroid.com Hair Mineral Analysis - Doctors - Thyroid Top Docs Find an Alternative Heath Professional Health Pages Rate/Find Docs Homeopathic Practitioner Directories Best Doctors.com Doctor Directory MyHealth.com - Find your doctor's Web site Links to State Medical Boards Sick of Doctors.com - Women's Health - Dr. Chistiane Northrup Our Bodies Ourselves Susan Love MD The Breast Cancer Site - Mom and Child - Mothering Magazine Preventing Harm Vaccination Web sites Vaccine Science Fertility and NFP Protecting Your Child From Toxic Threats to Brain Development - Mind/Body - Mind Body Health Alpha Medical Nutrition Caroline Myss - Mind Spirit Body Wellness Goods Guide to Self Healing through Mind/Body Medicine Two Minute Stress Release - Environmental Concerns - Our Drinking Water Our Stolen Future Beyond Pesticides Soil Minerals and Immune System Dysfunction Dead Soils/ Dead Foods - Impact Upon Central Nervous System Disorders Environmental Estrogens and Other Hormones (EEOH) Fluoride Alert Food toxins, molecular mimicry, leaky gut and the MS connection. Pesticide Action Network Environmental Health Perspectives Natural Resources Defence Council Score Card Environmental Maps Environmental Working Group Environmental Toxins and Women's Health Issues at About.com Organic Gardening Water Messages - Be Pro-Active - Contact Your Government by Agency Save BioGems Coalition for Natural Health Michael Moore's Political Action Page Lona's page of links Electronic Activist World Revolution Center for Science in the Public Interest Public Citizen - In The News - First, you market the disease... then you push the pills to treat it High Security Trips Up Some Irradiated Patients Study Links Endometriosis With Autoimmune, Hormone and Allergic Diseases My past life as a dog Inflammation (not cholesterol) is new culprit in heart attacks What if it's all been a big fat lie? The myth of the low-fat diet Managing chronic illnesses: Doctors adopt innovative approach Labels for genetically altered food put to vote; Oregon would be first to require such listing ‘Early warning’ on Asia’s toxic haze Starved for Food, Zimbabwe Rejects U.S. Biotech Corn Pollution a factor in Africa famines? Dead orca is a 'red alert' AlterNet News Salon.com - Fun, Play and Inspiration - Camp Sark Art by Olga Another Girl at Play Voices of Women The Mommy Chronicles Practice Readings from Seekers Circle Wheniridemybike, Portfolio 2002 Dansko Shoes The Lost Soul Companion Red Hen's Mountain Farmstead Other Personal Stories and Sites Natural Approaches for an Overactive Thyroid: A Personal Story by Kath Clements Sue's Personal War Against Graves' Disease Valkyrie's Graves Disease Page My Progression of Thyroid Eye Disease by SuMi Lisa's "RAI and Me" story Jean's Graves Disease Page Simons UK Thyroid Links Dianne Wiley's Personal Stories Page Mike's Graves' Disease Page Valerie Z's personal struggle with Graves Elaine Moore's Story Molly B.'s Goiter and Hyperthyroid Page Debby's Graves Disease Story Gail Devers Thyroid Disease: A Messenger Of Love By Nora Amrani Denise's Thyroid Eye Site Thyroid Success Stories More personal stories Even more personal stories Vitamin and Herb Sources Medicine Man 323 N. 85th St. Seattle, WA 98103 206.789.0800 http://www.theherbalist.com http://www.iherb.com (best prices for L-Carnatine that I've found) Dr. Z's Store (only place I've found where you can buy my multi online without a dr. prescription - have not purchased from here however) Some Wonderful Healthcare Professionals Melissa McClintock, ND Bastyr Center for Natural Health 1307 N. 45th St. Seattle, WA 98103 206.834.4100 Maide Romero, ND, MS, LAc Bastyr Center for Natural Health 1307 N. 45th St. Seattle, WA 98103 206.834.4100 Steve Milkis, ND Bastyr Center for Natural Health 1307 N. 45th St. Seattle, WA 98103 206.834.4100 Kathleen P. Fogarty, N.D. 375 118th Ave, S.E., Suite 100 Bellevue, WA 98005 (425) 688-9841 David Graff, D.C. (NAET, TBM) Derry, NH 603-434-1177 Que Areste, N.D. 1605 12th Ave. # 16 Seattle, WA 98122 206-328-2926 Dr. Nicole Dahl Naturopathic Physician 104-6396 197th St. Langley, B.C. 604 534-3248 |
