There was one issue I completely forgot to mention during my talk and it is SO important! What we put ON our skin, goes INTO our blood stream. Almost all of the mainstream market cosmetics are completely toxic, cancerous, and hormone disrupting. Use a natural lotion and deodorant (I use Tropical Traditions and love it), natural makeup, high quality natural shampoos, and you will be filling your toxic bowl much slower! Here is a great article about the many chemicals you are coming into contact with if you are not using natural/non-toxic alternatives.

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I have my computer back and am able to BLOG!!!!

The Women’s Conference was a great success! We hope to have one every year with a variety of speakers. So, keep checking back here and through the Southern Middle TN Weston A Price Foundation. We will have the Nourishing Women’s Conference DVD ready for sale in the coming weeks (before Christmas is the goal). I would NOT miss out on the info in this DVD, as many women have told what a blessing it was to them and how it has helped them with their health and the health of their family!

So, here’s what’s been going on in our household!!!!!

My husband has been traveling a lot lately to cool places like California, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Washington state, etc. I have traveled a bit also. Once to Maine for a 10 year high school reunion and once to South Carolina, with the children, to visit family. Going to Maine was the first time I have traveled alone (like TOTALLY by myself) since having my first child seven years ago. It was a great time to reconnect with old WONDERFUL friends, see the place where I lived 20 years ago (I didn’t actually graduate from HS there, but have kept in touch with people….thank you Facebook), and step outside of my comfort zone. After returning home, an important truth, that I already knew in my head….. became REAL to me (which, BTW, are TWO different things): That, when this life is over I will be standing before God by myself…. not with my husband, not with my parents, not even with my children. I will be alone, and I, alone, responsible before Him.

While I WILL be held responsible for how I treated the aforementioned people according to His instructions…… my identity is not wrapped up in them. My identity is my own before Him. I know this all sounds obvious but it has HUGE implications. When my husband is grumpy (rare) – it doesn’t necessarily have to do with ME. When he is not happy with something, it doesn’t reflect onto my own worth or standing. As my children age and begin to make their own choices – those choices are their’s alone. Not mine. I won’t have to pay for them or answer for them. Same goes with my husband. It is quite freeing when you *really* think about it. It also helps me do better in the jobs I have as homemaker, teacher, business partner, etc…. much less to take offense about when you really think about it. It makes me see people as their own autonomous creatures also…. and respect each of my children’s unique identity – as they also, will stand before God alone & responsible for themselves and the choices they have made.

This may sound crazy, but before leaving for Maine I was scared of dying and leaving my children motherless. I am not afraid of the death part or what comes after it, but I was afraid for my children not having a mother. Those fears forced me to think about this “What is the most important thing I can impart to my children???” I came up with these two:

1. I want them to KNOW that someone is going to have to pay for theirs sins committed against God……. and it’s either going to be THEM paying for it – or Jesus. I am reminded it will be their choice to take the free covering Jesus offers OR to reject it – and try to stand on their own “good works” when judged….As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27.

2. God never promises continual physical safety and comfort – but He does promise that He will be there with us in all circumstances (good and bad). So, don’t strive for the comforts of the world, which will all turn to dust. Strive for the things which have eternal value.

Now onto my physical health……
My Hashimoto’s treatment is going well. I am definitely the tortoise in this race! As, every 3 months my thyroid antibodies decrease. When I started this process in March/April of 2011 my bad TPO antibody numbers were at 3,000 & now they are at 1,004. The other bad antibody numbers (TGaB) are now normal!!! I am needing to take half the thyroid medication I took in 2010! So, great news! Who said there are no known cures for autoimmune diseases???? OH!!! And my most recent adrenal test showed NO ADRENAL FATIGUE. My dear little adrenals glands have rested and recovered. I can tell that I can handle stress better. Good thing for the people I live with!!!

I am still working on ridding my body of Candida…. as I retested and I had some come back. Being less strict my diet and being able to have Cane Sugar (in small amounts) is probably what made it return. Soy-free chocolate bars are quite a weakness of mine! It knows my name and calls to me, sweetly, each evening!

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Update! You can receive a $10 off coupon by including the words BONEBROTH in your registration letter or paypal

Warning! If you live too far from Nashville, TN to attend this conference… you may want to stop reading now for fear of major jealousy!

What?
Nourishing Women Through Life, Stress, and Hormones Conference

What will we cover at the conference?
Nutrition throughout each stage of our female lives
Thyroid
Pregnancy
Autoimmunity
Digestion
Balancing Hormones
Weight loss
Adrenal Health
Stress
Blood Sugar Regulation
Hydration & Minerals
Skin Care
Question and Answer Time!

When?
Saturday, June 16th
8:30 Registration
9:00 – 4:00 Conference with a breaks for snacks, lunch, and greetings.

Where?
Central Christian Church in Columbia, TN @ 701 Bear Creek Pike

How much are tickets & how do I pay?

Early Bird Special through May 31st – $25/person!
After June 1st (or at the door) – $40/person.

We may have to limit the amount of tickets sold, so reserve your spot now by mailing a check to:

WAPF Southern Middle TN
c/o Sherri Leiter
286 Nash Rd.
Summertown, TN 38483

If you are paying for more than one person by check, include that information with the check, or email the name(s) of the other attendees to me. kristen@simplykristen.com

You can also send Pay Pal payments to wapfsouthernmiddletn@yahoo.com

What will I eat?
Healthy & Gluten-Free Snacks will be available to purchase at the conference.
Bring your own lunch and we will all eat together and get to know each other!

Who is the main speaker?
If you have read any of my previous blog posts about healing Hashimoto’s, then you already know a little about her.
Anne Fischer Silva is a clinical nutritionist and licensed esthetician. She is the owner of “A New Leaf Nutrition & Skincare”, a private practice located in Petaluma, CA. Anne has served clients from throughout the United States for thirteen years, with an emphasis on hormonal health, thyroid, autoimmunity, liver function, digestion, and much more! Anne received her certification in Functional Nutrition from AIMI in Washington, D.C. Over the last thirteen years, she has taught nutrition courses in Washington, Hawaii, and California, hosted “Health-Wise” (a weekly radio show), written articles for health publications, and spoken at many conferences throughout the country. The focus of her practice is educating people about the importance of nutrient-dense foods and balancing biochemistry. She is passionate about teaching, fresh local food, cooking, gardening, and connection around the table.

Testimonials
“I am a student of natural health, but when I started to have thyroid problems after my third child was born, I could not get any straight answers from natural health approaches or the standard medical community. When I found Anne she knew exactly which tests I needed to pinpoint the WHYs behind my issues…. and which steps to take (and which order) to regain my health. I am still working on some aspects of healing but have been SYMPTOM FREE and have felt great for a year-plus now! I appreciate her slow but focused approach with a goal of true HEALTH, not just management of disease. I would not be where I am today without her.” – Kristen, 28 Nashville, TN

“I struggled with eczema since birth. I tried strict diets, regular doctors, and even off-the-beaten-path-healers. My eczema would sometimes improve, but not significantly, and always came roaring back no matter what I did. I started working with Anne – she directed me toward specific blood tests. I started avoiding what she said to avoid and adding what she said to add. Within 3 weeks my eczema was completely gone. Amazing!” – Cameron, 16 Lawrenceburg, TN

Now, the only question is? How many of you will I see there?

Here’s the beautiful Anne!

By the way….. a few vendor tables are still open. If you are interested, email me!

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*Disclaimer – Her issue was one that was obviously connected to gluten. She may still have other issues like parasites, fungus, bacterial infections, leaky gut, etc that would not be completely resolved by implementing the list I give her below. Further GI testing would give her more clues… but regardless…. it’s a good start)

As you have a lot of GI/stomach lining healing to do. It could be that you are celiac or just gluten intolerant. Either way, it means with certainty you have leaky gut and have healing to do – leaky gut can lead to an assortment of health problems we do not even need to bring up – just realize if left alone it can develop into MUCH large problems. It’s totally reversible! Just takes some focus.

Supplements:
You’ll want to make sure your supplements are gluten free also (many are not), and of high quality. These are the brands I use – I’ve tried many, but these are the best I’ve found. I buy them thru my practitioner, but it looks like you can also get them on Amazon (don’t know if it’s the cheapest place possible though…. you may want to check iherb.com):

Probiotic – gives you good “critters” in your gut (keeps bad ones OUT) & paramount for your health.
Klaire Labs – Ther-Biotic – twice a day with meals

L-Glutamine – helps heal your lining
2 scoopfuls a day

Enzyme – 1 with every meal – helps you digest your food.

Intestinal Permeability Support – 2 a day, take at the same time you take L-Glutamine… do this away from food:

Food recommendations:
avoid all gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc)
avoid ALL processed foods (that means, if God didn’t make it and say “it is good”, don’t eat it – for now)
eat gentle/nutritious foods for a while:
homemade bone broths
soups made in a base of the bone broths (old hens make the best broth)
grassfed/organic meats
cooked veggies
fermented foods
fruit, smoothies, or juicing
keep grains (corn, rice, white potatoes, quinoa, etc) at a minimum -or none at all if possible (I’ve never been able to cut them out completely)
sweet potatoes are good, as those are not high in starch.
eat high quality fats: REAL butter, olive oil, coconut oil (cold pressed), animals fats (grass fed), fish oils, etc. Avoid all vegetable oils, soy oils, fake butters, etc. Your body desperately needs good fat for healing, anti-inflammation, proper hormone health, skin, beauty, sleep, everything!

Here are some books and websites that are excellent:

All about gluten intolerance and leaky gut:

Read Gut And Psychology Syndrome

website that talks about GAPS in a friendly way

how to make bone broths

Hope this helps! So often, I see people do what I am describing above and they get better!
The above plan takes a couple of months – but it really heals from the ground up. Remember, think of your GI system as your roots/foundation. A plant can’t be healthy without healthy roots – same goes for people.

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Last I wrote about Hashimoto’s and healing autoimmune diseases, I wrote about the Adrenal Glands and how they are paramount, and one of the foundations of health. Now we are onto the other foundation of health – the Gastrointestinal Tract (or the GI tract). Just like you can never have a sturdy building that is built on a messed up foundation….. you can NEVER build long lasting health if the foundations of health (your GI) is not in good working order. Imagine a tree’s roots…. it’s where they soak up nutrients, water, and are able to grow. If a tree’s roots are not functioning, the tree will start dying. The same is for humans, the symptoms just starts in behavior, psychological, hormonal, autoimmune or cancers will results.

2 interesting facts: 80% of your immune system functions out of your GI system, AND the lining of all your intestines would cover a football field!!!

I would tell anyone who is struggling with ANY health related to diseases to start doing the behavior modifications to heal the adrenals & support the GI tract though enzymes, probiotics, and diet changes to help heal their GI system. Here are 13 tips to Heal Leaky Gut

OKay, so what did I do to start healing my gut? Since I did not have many symptoms of digestive stress (except having an autoimmune disease… which is a pretty obvious symptoms) I had a GI Panel Test run through my clinician, Anne. My Doctor recommended the same exact test, but it would have been more expensive through the lab they used… so I went with Anne’s lab which is Diagnos-Techs,Inc.

My results showed:
- High levels of several different types of Rhodotorula species and Candida (fungus overgrowth)
- Pathogens/Bacterial Overgrowth Detected: (like strep, Klebsiella pneumoniae….. which are found in connection to autoimmune diseases)
- Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) – Which is found in 50% of Americans, and is connected to stomach cancers, leaky gut, etc. The truth is, most water supplies are contaminated with this bacteria – but that it cannot survive in a healthy balanced GI tract.
- Extremely low Total Intestinal SIgA (Stool): Means that I had been fighting and fighting for so long, that my lining could no longer fight.
- Ongoing colonic inflammation
- A low Chymotrypsin – poor pancreatic output of all enzymes.

That’s a lot of problems for someone who didn’t think I had anything wrong

So, I had to:
- get rid of the fungus overgrowth (makes for leaky gut and other damage)
- kill the h.pylori (they burrow into the sides of your stomach and create leaky issues)
- heal the lining
- decrease inflammation
- take enzymes, probiotics, and hydrochloric acid to aid in digestion during this healing time.

For 3 months I did this protocol:
- Ate minimal grains (small amount of rice, potatoes, quinoa), minimal fruits so the fungus would starve
- Took S.Boulardii probiotics with every meal. This strain of pro-biotics attack the fungus.
- took a h.pylori killing product twice a day, away from food (this would have also killed the good bacteria if I took it at the take time)
- Took L-Glutamine, ate a lot of bone broths to heal the lining of the intestinal tract. Did my own version of the GAPS diet
- Had two different food sensitivity tests run (the Alletess Antibody Test through my doctor & and the MRT/Leap Test through Anne). These are both blood tests that test for food sensitivities. I avoided all the foods that popped up on these tests. The reason behind this was to help the lining heal. After 6 months (and I was healed) I began adding back in the foods one at a time (except of soy, gluten, and corn) to see if I reacted negatively. I’ll never be able to eat those foods daily again, but so far I have not had any obvious negative reactions and can enjoy the foods once or twice a week without damage.
- Took an enzyme, a intestinal healer, and a probiotic with every meal to encourage healing.

After 3 months I retested all my bad markers. I found this:
NO Fungus
NO h.pylori
NO signs of leaky gut
NO inflammation
My GI’s ability to fight was back!!! (albeit far too high)

I was on my way to healing and SOOO excited! I maintained that health by continuing to take probiotics, eating broth and high nutriious foods, avoiding the food sensitivities till the 6 months ended, not eating too many grains, taking l-glutamine (mostly) daily, taking enzymes, and continuing to do my best in what I put in my mouth!

I’ll be doing another test relatively soon to make sure my markers are staying where they need to be. I’ll update then!

(by the way, it’s still possible I may need to go on the full GAPS diet, and I am doing a dairy free trial in 2 months for 3 months because no food sensitivity test is perfect & I want to see how it will affect my antibody count…. NOT looking forward to that…. even a little bit)

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I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

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Link to the company that ran my saliva adrenal test (4 times throughout the day), good information about adrenals and their functions here too.

Here are some symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue:
Craving salty and sweet foods
Difficulty falling asleep at night, sleep lightly or wake early or often
Overwhelmed by or unable to cope with stressors
You feel most energetic in the evening
Difficulty relaxing, nervous, anxious or hyperactive
Often spacey, or foggy thinking, even memory loss
General exhaustion
Hormone imbalances
Weight gain, especially in abdomen and waist area
Hair starting to gray, thin out and become dry
Loss of appetite
Asthma, broncitis, cough
Allergies
Recurrent infections
Low Blood Sugar (hypoglycemia)
Swelling
Auto-immune disease
Poor digestions (poor GI health)
Inflammation

Sources:
Adrenal Fatigue, Do I have it?
Thyroid.about.com
Natural News
Body Ecology
- Not recommending any of the products on those pages! The sites just have some good explanations!

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To preface my adrenal writings…. you need to know this is going to be a post from a non-scientific prospective (which is the only way I understand them). There will be links at the end of the post to give you a better and deeper view.

For years I has heard the words Adrenal Fatigue and thought it was an old lady problem and a weird sounding issue (to be frank I also thought “whiners” when I heard someone complaining about it). The first time I took it seriously was when I watched to Dr. Rind’s and Anne Fischer Silva’s presentation at the 2010 Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) conference.

So, what do the adrenal glands do? Here is a summary from my (non-scientific brain)
- Adrenals are our stress handling glands.
- Adrenals put out the adrenaline when we need it.
- Adrenals are integral in our ability use our hormones.
- Adrenals are a factor in our emotional well being. (attitude!)
- When we are experiencing changes (internal or external), Adrenals help us regulate those changes in a way that makes sense to our body.
- When our blood sugar goes to high or too low, Adrenals regulate our internal balance.
- Adrenals control our immune system responses (this relates to cortisol levels and inflammation, more on that later…. just keep in mind this reason is why steroids are given to people with inflammation issues)
- When I drink coffee or other caffeine items my adrenals surge to balance my body.
- Stress (like disease, lack of sleep, emotional stress, etc) makes the adrenals work harder (remember the internal balance?)

Allright, so I realized they were important. Dr. Rind also said something terrifying (I am paraphrasing here), “If you have a thyroid problem you are almost guaranteed to have an adrenal problem and vice versa. I take extreme notes and study the person when they only have one issue or the other….. it happens so rarely.” I thought “Oh no! I have that old lady disease too!” Then Dr.Rind said something even more terrifying (again, I am paraphrasing here), “If you have been taking Armour or some other thyroid hormone, you are giving yourself an adrenal rush and will damage your adrenals and then you will be in even worse shape than before.” AAHHHH!!! I had been taking Armour for at least 7 months now, I knew my blood sugar had MAJOR lows, I had started drinking coffee to compensate, I wasn’t going to bed early enough, I had NO ABILITY to handle frustration (think mean mommy here), and I had an inflammatory based disease that was killing my thyroid (which is auto-immune). I had to admit I had major adrenal issues.

So, I called Anne Fischer Silva and set up a free appointment to consult her to see if she could help me. She told me, “Yes I can help. Go off gluten immediately, read Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms, and….” a long list of other information I had to gather for a 2 hour appointment to go over everything with a fine toothed comb. One of the tests she wanted to me to have before the consult was an adrenal saliva test from here. As you can imagine my Adrenals were in fatigue. Anne told me “this is what I would expect from a 45 year old women who is not feeling great.” Grrreeeaaaatttt…….

Anne’s recommendations for healing my adrenals were this:
Rehmannia complex, Licorice (one bottle), and 7 Keto DHEA (to support DHEA levels). She had some very specific product and amount recommendations for these and only the Rehmannia she suggested for long term use. So, I am not recommending you readers just go start taking these, as the amounts, brands, and way to take them are dependent on your adrenal situation. I learned that taking these supplements without specific recommendations can be more damaging than not taking them at all.

There were also lifestyle changes I needed to make which included avoiding these:
Pushing yourself to exhaustion
Sugar, caffeine and junk food
Being critical and harsh with yourself
Skipping meals
Eating carbohydrates by themselves
Staying up late and catching your “second wind”
Arising early if you don’t have to
Food that you react to or are allergic to
Drinking sodas, coffee, alcohol, juice
Making someone else responsible for your health
People who steal your energy
Taking care of everyone and everything else Feeling guilty about caring for yourself
Excessive seriousness
“The grind”
Aggressive exercise

The alternatives to those damaging adrenal activities are:
Pace yourself
Eat real, whole, fresh food
Be compassionate and kind to yourself
Eat every two hours
Eat a combination of carb, fat and protein
Set to bed by 10:00-ll:00pm
Sleep until 7:00-8:00am when possible Eat nutrient-dense food.
Drink H20, lactofermented bev. or herb teas
Become empowered and informed about your health
Be with people who are concerned for your
well-being and are helpful in your recovery
Take care of and nurture yourself
Find an inner balance and sense of peace with taking care of yourself
Find things that make you laugh
Do things you enjoy
Mild to moderate exercise

Anne’s other recommendation for me was to take all high sugar foods out of my diet. Including maple syrup, cane sugar, rice, potatoes, high amount of honey, etc.
I switched to using almond flour and coconut flour instead of gluten free flour mixes (they have potato & rice flours) for baking. At this time we were in a MAJOR house remodel so I was not able to completely relearn how to cook and eat. I continued to use some maple syrup, eat potato and rice with suppers, and use honey in cooking (sorry Anne!). But, I did not eat high starchy items for snacks (like granola bars, fruit bars, crackers, or bread), instead I ate almonds, other nuts, or a almond/coconut flour based snack. If I did have some rice it was mixed with a lot of veggies, a fat source, and a meat source. We also ate a lot of quinoa as a starch because it does not raise your blood sugar like the other grains do. The difference in how I felt was absolutely amazing. I no longer felt nauseous every two hours (a sign of low blood sugar), followed by a high carb snack, then another blood sugar crash. I felt like I was getting my brain back! I was also nursing my 1-year old at this time, so I had some extra demands on my body.

After 4-5 months of the adrenal supplements Anne wanted me to retest my Adrenals, in doing so I had to wean off the 7-Keto/DHEA, as that is a hormone and not good for long term dependency. I hated going off the 7-Keto. I had headaches, shakes, and felt stressed. I am back on the 7-Keto because my tests showed I continue to need the DHEA. Before speaking with her the first time, I had purchased a DHEA pill before (that I never took) and told her I had some, she said it was a dangerously high amount. So, I’m tentative to give a blanket DHEA 7-Keto recommendation.

There were also some other supplement recommendations and further testing Anne wanted me to do. But those are not about the adrenals – and I need to stick to one topic today .

For those that are wondering about my current adrenal state. My initial stage showed me in stage 7, and my retest recently showed me in stage 4 (maladapted stage II). So, I do have some improvement to work on – but I feel much much better. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I get to stage 1 or 2!
Here are the reference levels:
CORTISOL-DHEA CORRELATION SPECTRUM
1. Adapted to stress.
2. Adapted with DHEA slump.
3. Maladapted Phase I.
4. Maladapted Phase II.
5. Non-adapted, Low Reserves 6. High DHEA.
7. Adrenal Fatigue.

I would say if you have blood sugar issues, feel sluggish, stressed, and are not in tip top shape – then you have adrenal fatigue and need to do something about it!

The other very interesting thing I learned about the adrenals relates to steroid use. When someone has a cumbersome autoimmune disease (like Rherumatoid arthritis, Crohns, or ongoing inflammation), steroids are recommended. Here is a link about how steroids work. Basically, steroids mimic your adrenal system, suppress your immune system, and cause long term damage – both to your adrenals and other body systems. I continue to be amazed at how modern medicine focuses so largely on suppressing symptoms and not causes. Research for yourself the damage that steroids can do, even if they do provide a quick fix (short term).

Oh! And I learned that Adrenal Fatigue can cause Leaky Gut Syndrome, as our immune barriers become compromised because of Adrenal Fatigue. Can’t wrap my brain around that today though to give a thorough explanation. But basically, my adrenal fatigue was a contributing factor to my autoimmune disease.

AND I learned that a pregnant woman in adrenal fatigue can actually draw the adrenal hormones FROM HER BABY in the latter part of pregnancy. The LITTLE BABY can then be born with adrenal stress already as an issue! This could lead to a myriad of problems, but I would say leaky gut as one of the top issues that go along with adrenal fatigue. This totally freaked me out when I read it, and was an extra motivator for me to clean up my health issues before bringing another child into this world.

Here are those recommendations I promised you:
- The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, by James L Wilson, N.D., D.C., PhD., Smart Publications, 2001
- Adrenal Fatigue Home Page

Happy Reading! Take care of those adrenal glands!

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So, after about 6 months I knew the clouds had lifted enough for me to try to get to the bottom of this. I knew the Rx, Armour, was just treating the symptoms of my disease, but I really wanted to get to the cause! I submitted myself to the idea that “Even if I have to take a medication for the rest of my life because my thyroid is damaged, I HAVE to stop this autoimmune reaction to improve my quality of life and not get another autoimmune disease!!!”

In my research I found very few other women writing healing and having success (even among natural sources). Oh, they wrote about hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, drugs to use, supplements to try…. but not about healing it (or putting the disease into remission) – the common theme was: frustration! Women were frustrated they weren’t getting better, that the doctors told them they’ll be like this for the rest of their life, and to just take anti-depressants. Was that ever incentive for me to work harder at researching!?!

In February 2011 I attended a gathering of the Weston Price foundation, where they showed videos from the 2010 WAPF conference. Two of the three presentations dealt specifically with thyroid & adrenal health. This was a major blessing to me, as those were my exact issues. Here were the speakers:

1) Fat: An Endocrine Organ -Stephanie Seneff, PhD
2) Thyroid-Adrenal-Lyme Connection -Bruce Rind, MD
3) Stress and Hormones, What’s the Connection? -Anne Fischer-Silva, CNT, LE

The book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal? was sold at this event, and I got to reading! After reading that book, and speaking with Anne Fischer Silva (one of the above speakers) personally, I went off of gluten immediately (and have yet to purposefully have another bite). Going off of gluten and keeping my blood sugar more regulated (by eating less carbs) have TO DATE been the most obvious improvement I’ve felt in all of the healing I have done.

Just avoiding the gluten didn’t fix my problem though! The adrenals were next. And that’s where I’ll start next time!

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When I got to the hospital they took me right in to see the ultrasound tech. She was the same lady who told me my baby boy was a boy! Anyways, she looked all around my thyroid and saw only an enormous inflamed thyroid (Inflammation Nation anyone?). So, that was a relief there was no obvious cancer growths… but I could not get off the inflammation part. WHY was I so inflamed? I didn’t think I had any of the symptoms of yeast, leaky gut, allergies, or autoimmune diseases……. I was young and healthy! What was the deal?? Well, it would take me about 6 months of minor research and getting my brain back together before I began attacking the root problem….. But we’ll get to all that in time.

A few days later I drove the hour and a half to see the MD (endocrinologist) and I noticed her take note of me in the waiting room. Once I got into the room with her, she told me “I saw your file and wondered what in the world could account for such an extreme change in TSH….. Then I saw your baby on your lap. You have postpartum thyroiditis. I am going to run your blood to see if you have antibodies, but that doesn’t really matter, it will just tell me what is going on. Oh wow, your thyroid IS large, but that’ll go down once you start medication. Basically, you are going to have to go on Synthroid for the rest of your life. Your thyroid needs help. Ok? Ok! Your baby sure is cute. You know he is very intelligent for looking at me and talking with me at such a young age. Women who have thyroid problems generally have lower IQ babies, but not this little guy. No need to worry. The lab is this way……”
HAHA! She was nice, but I can’t remember if I talked except to ask why Armour wasn’t the better choice. Her answer was “Because Armour can’t be regulated as easily.” Well, now I know that the vast majority of people who are on Armour greatly prefer it to synthroid. BUT – REGARDLESS of what hormone you take (synthetic or from a pig), the thyroid hormones are just treating the symptom and NOT the cause.

After that $250 appointment and $215 bloodwork bill, I decided I was going to take the Armour thyroid and not the synthetic version, as everyone I had ever talked too about the difference suggested Armour (and that was what I was on during my pregnancy). I never saw that MD again, mostly because I have a $10,000 deductible health insurance plan, and the office visit and lab they used was just too darn expensive. I could have the same labs done for less than $70 at my local family practice.

Like I mentioned above, for the next six months I studied and knew I needed to tackle this from the ground up. I am thankful for the Armour Thyroid that allowed my liver, hormones, and the rest of me to function. Oh! I forgot to tell you…. I had yellowish eyes at this point in the story. That is a strong indication that my liver was not working (your liver needs your thyroid…. and so on the circle goes). Anyways, I took my daily pill, got to a more normal life after the flood, taught my kids, helped my husband, and was semi-normal. I still had MAJOR low blood sugar issues and NO energy to exercise (or anything above and beyond my must-do tasks). Symptoms of that, along with blood sugar/adrenal stress/ autoimmune could be it’s own post (which is may be next!).

Okay, well next post will be some of the things I learned during that six months.

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