Hypothyroid Blog

You hear about toxicity and how prevalent it is getting…so you buy organic, drink filtered water and choose paper over plastic. My doctor requested that I take a toxicity test at home which involves “capturing” your urine for six hours and then bringing your valuable package to the post office.

I’m at my desk today, putting off going…anywhere. My legs are sore like I’ve just run a marathon, I’m tired like I DIDN’T just get over ten hours of sleep. It’s a prescription strength dosage of Motrin day and it hasn’t worked today…didn’t even relieve my female cramping…sigh. I’m on the last few days of Chelation therapy prescribed by my doctor to rid me of lead poisoning. My tests reveled that “lead exceeds three times the upper expected limit” and everyone asks me, “how did you get that?” It’s a fine question and I have no solid answer to give. Lead is truly silent and deadly and damned scary. It seeps into your bones and effects just about everything in your whole body…much like Hypothyroidism. From my readings this too is becoming epidemic and can be the underlying cause for many many other illnesses. My Mercury levels are at twice the maximum level and for some reason I don’t even talk about that…it’s not as worrisome as the lead in my case.

The Chelation will “grab” the heavy metals and all minerals in my body and excrete them. The pill(s) work over night and twelve hours later I must take vitamins and minerals to replace the good minerals that my body needs. There are two methods of therapy one is intravenous it’s expensive, takes many clinic visits…if you can find a doctor doing this kind of therapy. I’m doing the pills and have had a few sofa days but also have had many productive days like this weekend.

I’m hopeful that this will be the end of the lead poisoning…then there’s the chance that I’m being exposed to it now not some time in the past.

I haven’t been posting lately and I apologize if you are waiting with bated breath! Every time I came onto my blog i was so buried in spam that it was discouraging. I have created some filters and deleted till my wrist was sore. Apologies to anyone that was a true comment…I just couldn’t deal with it all and deleted everything. Hope to be posting something more interesting than this very soon. TJM

Iodine…but I eat salt??

There is a lot out there on the subject of Iodine supplementation and all a bit controversial.  As if the rest of this blog isn’t about a controversial topic…ha!  All I can say is do your homework on this topic.  Google your little fingers off!  Goiters aren’t a definitive sign of Iodine deficiency or Hypothyroidism for that matter.  But your thyroid and all the cells in your body rely on having enough Iodine in your system…it’s critical.  The T4/T3/T2/T1 hormones produced by the thyroid include iodine so much so that the 4 in T4 stands for 4 iodine molecules.  Around 1960 the United States started supplementing salt and bread with iodine due to a goiter epidemic.  The vast number of people with goiter problems stabilized.  It’s now believed that we are using less salt, sea salts popularization and bread using a cheaper alternative in their recipes…so the population is once again suffering from insufficient iodine.  I started to make a list of all the things that are affected by iodine and just decided to say that everything from cancer, pregnancy to energy levels rely on sufficient iodine levels.  If your iodine levels are low your thyroid meds may not work as effectively as they could.  The iodine helps T4/T3 integrate with your cells throughout your body.  Dosage is another controversy…I take 12.5mg per day.  Some people take more some people take less, it just depends on your body’s needs.  I take Iodoral, which is a “High Potency Iodine/Potassium Iodide Supplement”, it is recommended that Iodine and Iodide be taken together.

To test:

My doctor used an iodine tincture on my arm, she made an inch wide circle, and asked me to report back to her how long it took for the iodine spot to disappear.  It took hours for it to disappear which told her I was Iodine deficient.  This method is controversial and the best and most mainstream method I believe is a urine test, however, you could certainly use them in tandem to test yourself periodically.

1. Do you have Myxedema or are you stuffed with Mucin?

Myxedema is specific to Hypothyroidism. It is firm and jelly-like and the broken thyroid will grab onto it instead of letting it flush through the system as it does for others. It is just under the skin and makes you appear swollen; it usually starts in your face, arms and hands works it’s way down from my experience. It’s been measured in a Hypothyroid sufferer that she had a 50% increase in mucin. And, it really likes the gut and that’s one of the reasons thyroid sufferers have bellies. In some people the mucin gathers around organs and tissue and leaves the skin alone.

To test: Try to pinch the skin only on your lateral upper arm; on the outside front not the inside about 3 or 4 inches above the elbow.. When I do it I can’t grab less than an inch of arm and couldn’t even raise just the skin. For instance when you pinch the back of yours or someone else’s hand you should just be able to pinch skin and it will be more like an 8th of an inch instead of an inch.

2. Low body temperature

Most people with a thyroid issues experience a sensitivity to cold and even feel cold in bed, a feeling that you never feel just right and comfortable no matter how you bundle. Especially the hands and feet.

The body temperature lowers as the metabolism slows and taking of your temperature is the most concrete way to test for hypothyroidism, especially Type 2 or symptomatic low metabolism

Take your basal (underarm) temperature first thing in the morning before rising, it is the best time to ensure that you are stress free and relaxed. Digital thermometers are not considered accurate enough and you need either an old style mercury thermometer or one of the new non-mercury but still liquid style.

To test: to test your basal temperature, the thermometer is placed snugly in the armpit for 10 minutes before arising in the morning. Temperature readings of 97.8 to 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit are considered normal. Readings below 97.8 are highly indicative of hypothyroidism. Do this for several days. If you are a menstruating woman, take the test on the 2nd day of your monthly. Others may test on any day when you are waking and not in a rush. (From Hypothyroidism Type 2 by Dr. Mark Starr)

HOW TO TEST YOUR THYROID

Next few postings lists ways for you to test yourself. Since my symptoms didn’t show up in a blood test I had to do a little homework on my own. These are just suggestions for you to try. These are the test results I brought into my doctor so that we might start to look at what I thought was wrong with my health. All my symptoms have pointed to Hypothyroidism I just needed some kind of proof!

Please note that this is how I diagnosed myself with the ways that I suffered you may or may not have the same symptoms, experiences or test results

This illness was first named in 1877 so it has a long history but it seems that modern doctors are only relying on blood test not a symptomatic assessment so don’t be surprised or suppressed if symptoms and tests show results for you and your doctor won’t treat you. You’ll need a doctor that is willing to step outside their peers’ way of doing things and are willing to treat you based on complaints and your performed testing besides the blood tests.

It’s past midnight and I’m laying in bed with the lights off listening to Coast to Coast AM.  I can’t believe they are having a doctor on discussing an unusual form of hypothyroidism – what luck!  I’d been researching health sites for years with my symptoms and kept coming back to hypothyroidism, even though my blood tests said my thyroid was operating fine.

Dr. Mark Starr was speaking to me that night on the radio.  He had me sitting on the edge of my bed leaning into the radio listening.   Then on the internet reading about an area of hypothyroidism that is out of fashion to diagnose and had never crossed my research path. WTH!

I took my basal (underarm) temperature first thing the next morning and for a few more days.  Don’t forget your glasses!  Then I got Hypothyroidism Type 2: The Epidemic by Mark Starr, M.D. in the mail and flew through that book with a pen and paper handy.  I ended up with a page and a half of symptoms that I’d suffered most of my life and temperature readings averaging 97.5 degrees.  The typical range is between 97.8 and 98.2 degrees.   I’d finally found what was wrong – and now I had to see if my doctor would treat me based on my findings.

TJM

“I’m always tired”…that’s me at eight years old.

“You can’t be tired, you’re only a kid”…my new doctor.

I just always assumed that everyone was tired all the time and they pushed through it…I was just lazy.  **sigh**

I would push myself to get up in the morning, to go back to playing, work..anything after lunch..I lived on Pepsi and coffee.  Caffeine just didn’t seem to make any difference…but it must have!  …right??

Always  new doctor with our new addresses…eventually I just gave up complaining and just accepted that I was…lazy.

…but not now people!  Life is for living now!

My hope with this new blog is for people who suffer with thyroid problems in general and most specifically people who experience “normal” thyroid blood tests and abnormal temperatures.  Hypothyroidism Type 2 is a book written by Dr. Mark Starr and I will be in eternal debt to his research and book.  Adrenal fatigue is another culprit in my story.

I invite comments and questions and hope that at least one person will benefit from my experiences.

TJM