More on the thyroid...

We are still in the process of treating my thyroid, and working hard with diet to stabilize it. So far it's going pretty well. I still get fatigued quite often, but it seems to be less than before. The one big thing that I'm still (frustratingly) not able to get rid of is my head and neck pain. Sometimes it is quite excruciating, and becoming a concern to me since my doctor and chiropractor can't seem to settle it down any with their treatments. I'm considering a trip to the dentist since the pain seems to be radiating around my upper left jaw and then heading toward my temple and through to my sinus area. I had a tooth worked on over a year ago (one of the first revisions) that Dr. C told me had an exposed root under the amalgam from decay. He replaced it with composite filling and it seemed to be fine, but things just aren't settling down enough for my comfort and I'm curious if there's a problem. I also have a crowned tooth with amalgam under it sitting right next to the tooth in question. Something could be wrong there as well.

I happened to come across this thyroid function quiz, and thought it was rather interesting. I scored 25 out of 100 - that's actually pretty terrible! I do not know anything about the products offered for sale at this site, however, so I cannot tell you whether they are safe or not.

Another method of testing your thyroid (which is actually the old way before blood tests were available - and actually is a lot more reliable - is the basal body temperature method, and this is one that I am doing. This is not the chart I use, but a good one that I had found online. I use a digital thermometer, so I don't have to wait the 10 minutes, only a minute or less. I try to make sure to take it as soon as I wake up so that I get the most accurate temperature. The "normal" range that your temps should be in are between 97.4 and 98.1. Anything lower could mean thyroid dysfunction. Mine have ranged all the way from 95.0 to 97.1, all below the normal range.

It's so frustrating to me to know that mercury most likely is causing all of these problems for me. Mercury "loves" the thyroid, brain, and liver the most, but of course it has the whole body to wreak havoc in. Again, if you suffer from an ailment that just happened to show up either shortly after mercury exposure or a length of time after, if amalgam is the exposure, consider replacing it/them (with knowledgeable medical and dental personnel). Your body will thank you for it.

A diagnosis within a diagnosis...

I have a bit of time today and thought I would go over my symptoms list again from July and see what may have changed since then. Within just the short amount of time I've been doing the oil pulling (or swishing), I have also seen a couple more symptoms go...enough for my doctor to be able to finally see the current diagnosis and treat much of the remaining symptoms and get me healthy enough to finish the dental revision.

This is the list from July:
-frequent irritability (feels like finger nails across a chalkboard x3)
-sensory overload (''feel'' words/sounds/sensitive to touch)
-occasional feeling of suffocation/chest soreness
-vision disturbances (wobbly-like looking in a fish bowl)
-dizzy spells(vertigo?)
-chronic fatigue
-frequent anxiousness
-frequent chills/cold
-fatigue, tire easily
-neck sensitivity
-occasional indigestion
-occasional nausea
-poor memory
-brain fog
-inability to concentrate
-occasional palpitations
-lack of confidence
-don’t like to be alone
-mood swings
-headaches
-indecision
-unpredictable mensus/pms
-motion sickness
-skin eruptions
-bad breath
-occasional extreme thirst, dry throat
-zinc deficiency
-anemia

This is the list now:
-severe head and neck pain/achiness
-unexplained weight gain
-muscle aches/pain
-vision disturbances (off-balance feeling)
-dizzy spells(vertigo?)
-chronic fatigue
-hair loss
-occasional irritability (feels like finger nails across a chalkboard x3)
-occasional sensory overload (''feel'' words/sounds/sensitive to touch)
-frequent chills/cold (body temp below normal)
-neck sensitivity
-occasional indigestion
-occasional nausea
-poor memory
-brain fog/inability to concentrate
-mood swings
-motion sickness
-skin eruptions
-bad breath
-occasional extreme thirst, dry throat
-zinc deficiency
-anemia

For many of you who suffer with hypothyroidism, you may notice quite a few of my "new" symptoms as some of your own. My doctor has diagnosed me with hypothyroidism and has started treating me with nutritional foods to aggressively get my thyroid working properly again. There is a way to do it naturally, and since I have been having so many issues with reacting to medications, we chose to go this route. He has me taking kelp, miso, and 2 herbal foods called sunrise and electrosport. He said that within 2-3 months my thyroid should stabilize.

I have not discussed yet how mercury plays a role in screwing up the thyroid, and I just recently found this great article on it. http://tuberose.com/Thyroid.html
This article also mentions fluoride and how that has caused hypothyroidism as well. It's a very interesting read. If you want to know more besides that article, just google "thyroid mercury".

Mercury ban in cosmetics...

I apologize for not posting in a while. It's the Christmas season and I've been kept pretty busy, but I wanted to share this information I just saw come up for Minnesota. Yea!!!

http://wcco.com/local/mascara.mercury.ban.2.610516.html

I'll update as soon as I can.

Seems to be working...

Today is day 3 of doing the oil pulling, or swishing. I have to admit, the first day it felt pretty gross swishing it around, tasted terrible, and I had problems keeping it in my mouth because my sinuses were starting to drain down the back of my throat and I was gagging. The second day went much better, and I didn't start gagging and spitting up junk until after I was done. It also didn't taste as bad, and didn't seem to be as difficult to do. Today was a breeze and I almost forgot to go and spit it out at the twenty minute mark. I'm still not expecting much yet in the way of relief, but every little positive step seems like good improvement. I have been noticing small windows of energy the last two days sandwiched in between extreme fatigue and brain-fog, and the headache seems to be less painful. Overall my thought process is starting to become more positive, and I'm feeling more confident about things.

I have been digging around the website I previously mentioned (earthclinic.com), and finding a lot of interesting information. Some of it seems pretty far out there, but the body is an amazing creation, and natural means for health just seems more wise to me than using man-made chemicals that can do more harm than good. Have you ever noticed that the side effects listed on your prescription (or on t.v. commercials for medication) are more than what the medicine is used for? Worse off for me is that I haven't seemed to do well with any prescription meds at all over these last 2 1/2 years. The nasonex was just another reason to make me understand that with getting more side effects than what it was supposed to be helping with.

One remedy (on the website) I've decided to incorporate (again) is molasses. Molasses is great for anemia. Dr. S had me taking it a number of years ago for my anemia, but I stopped doing it for some odd reason I can't remember. It was really good to see the health benefits of this simple food, and to know that it is commonly used and has helped many people. I'm hoping that it will pull me out of the extreme fatigue/brain-fog funk and make me feel a little more human most days. I am intrigued by the apple cider vinegar method, but probably won't try that until I see how the oil pulling works.

Help with toxicity...

Today I was looking up ways to non-medicinally help with my sinusitis. I came across this site and asked Dr. S about it. He knows it as "swishing", and highly recommends it. http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/oil_pulling.html

Sparky also found this one:http://www.oilpulling.com/

Dr. S wants me to try it, so I'm pretty up on it. I read most of the testimonials this afternoon on the one website and found it to be very encouraging, with only a few people finding no relief. I will be starting this "program" tomorrow, and expecting to have quite a few bad days before I feel anything good since I know it has a lot of toxins to pull out.

Okay, you're asking about my remaining amalgams and what this will do to them. It's probably not the best thing to do while they're still there, but I'm willing to do anything non-medicinal if I will feel better for the holidays! The amalgams also are hidden under the crowns, so the only problem I would have is the mercury being pulled through my body, and at this point, I think with all I've been through I can handle that!

Headed Uphill...

I saw Dr. S on Monday, and he helped to get rid of the side effects of the nasonex, and my head ache for the most part. I am now starting to have snippets of good times in between chunks of bad times. My fatigue level has gotten back to 'normal' for me, and my head doesn't feel as thick as it did. I am no where near 100%, maybe not even 75% better, but it's still going in the right direction.

I am still being plagued by the off-balance feeling and dizziness, and a dull ache just up and behind my left ear. I had that same dull ache before, but it was a lot more intense when I still had my infected tooth. I am not sure why it has stuck around, but it could be just remnants of the infection and sore muscles from working through the tmj discomfort I had during that time due to bruxism. Sometimes when something has so much trauma put on it like that area did, it can take several months for it to return to normal. The ache is not without it's power, though - when it is more irritated, it causes me to feel pain radiated through the rest of my head and down into my neck.

Dr. S and I discussed more about why he wants me to wait for more dental revision when I was there on Monday, and now it is more clearer to me that it's not because he doesn't agree the amalgams are causing my problems, he does, but he said because I am so sensitive to so many things right now I am not stable enough to have more work done. I need to get through this latest issue with the sinusitis before I can put more trauma on my system. That made a lot more sense to me.

Extreme fatigue, nausea, bloody nose, neck pain....

The title of my post today are side effects I started having with nasonex. They were all above and beyond the normal problems I have. Included in that list is a sore throat high up in my sinus cavity, irritability, and headache. You may wonder how I could attribute them to nasonex when I have all of these other symptoms I deal with on a daily basis. They all acted differently than my "normal" symptoms. When I started on my third day of being so tired I could barely get out of bed, I decided to see what the side effects actually were for this "wonderful" drug, and found this website. http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20762&name=NASONEX
I immediately decided at once to get myself off it and figure out a different way to deal with the sinusitis. I'm less fatigued now, but all of the other symptoms are being slow to leave my body. Probably because nasonex is a corticosteroid and takes awhile for it to dissipate.

I just want everyone to be properly informed if your doctor wants you to try this medicine. Of course some people do fine with it, but as you can see in the website, there were a LOT of people who had problems like me.