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Showing posts with the label Hyperthyroidism

Diet And Drugs

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Some of you know about my fight with Graves Disease, an auto immune system disorder, which causes an overactive thyroid. Since I was diagnosed 7 years ago, I have made it my business to know everything I possibly could about the condition & this has probably saved my life. I have blood tests on a regular basis & in November last year, I was told that my T4 levels are normal & again in January the same.  My thyroid stimulating hormone was finally starting to work too, after 7 years of lying dormant, so I suggested I came off the anti thyroid drug & my GP's response was to continue for a while longer. A month ago, I rang my GP & suggested again that I come off the drug or at least halve it, as I was feeling so well  & was concerned about the drug pushing me into being under active. Again, she said to be patient & they would send for me when it's time for a blood test. I don't normally do as I'm told, but decided to stick with it a b...

Immune System Strengthening

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About 12 years ago, I studied to be a Vegan/Vegetarian Nutritional Therapist & although I never did anything with it - I continue to love learning more about health & nutrition. I did a pre-nursing course at college, but discovered that I was (& still am) incredibly squeamish around blood, lumps, veins & wounds, so I went into social care instead... I did love food & nutrition classes, not just the cookery, but learning about the importance of a balanced diet & how meals should always be colourful to provide maximum nutrients. It's something that has stayed with me & has made me the picky person I am today - I can't bear to see a bland looking meal! I am fascinated by the foods which can have an impact on our health & wellbeing. So we have lots of books & the learning never stops, I give advice out to others & in some cases have helped family & friends to recover from various ailments, but when it comes to myself - I've been crap...

The Essence Of Tea

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It's coming to the end of the tourist season, so once the holidaymakers have left this weekend - life is set to get quieter... We've had a busy time again & not only with cleaning, but putting together a quote for a potential new client & doing an inventory for the huge house of another. Amongst it all - we've also made some time to see our girls, who now both live 30 miles away... So we visited  The Essence Of Tea  in Falmouth... A peaceful haven in the middle of town, selling teas from China & Taiwan. We loved it & will definitely go again!  We enjoyed some time together drinking... A large pot of Nantou green tea & smaller pot of  1992 Da Ye Sheng Puerh. We also had a large dish of veggie sushi.  (which we forgot to photograph, but was really delicious)! We also ate later near the harbour & watched the black & white yacht being cleaned & polished by a team of people... I've also had a blood test, which for the first tim...

By Jove

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I'm starting to feel better, my heart is slowing down (a little), but at least it's in the right direction... I've even been able to iron work bed linen - without breaking into a sweat...  We've cleaned a large house today & for the first time ever - Sime was hotter than me! An over active thyroid is difficult to live with. And even harder is to see what my pig-headedness does to Sime. He gets all ate up when I refuse help & I have watched him become exhausted with the extra pressure of holding me together. A few days ago, I started taking the anti-thyroid drug - Carbimazole. I hate giving in & I hate taking it, but if it makes Sime feel better - I have to do it. The good thing is (in my opinion) - it takes between 6 to 8 weeks to kick in, but I'm already improving! Which means my herbal mixture of tinctures must be working... I'm taking mainly bugleweed with small doses of lemon balm & motherwort. I've also just started taking l...

Goodbye Top Box Tourists

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It is finally becoming quieter in this part of Cornwall. The families have headed home to prepare for getting back to school... The crowds have gone & it is wonderful! We've nearly got the lane back to ourselves. We have had 3 good lie-ins, spent several hours in  Waterstones  & visited Sal & Ryan in Falmouth - which has been lovely. We've eaten out at Archie Brown's in Truro. And just spent some nice time together. Hugo sporting his new glasses. Back to work tomorrow. It's going to be fine - easy & straightforward... My thyroid is continuing to misbehave & to be honest - I feel pretty awful...  But I'm happy & I know that as soon as we go away & properly unwind, I'm going to feel so much better. I just need lots of rest & to eat well... I've been so tired that I've not even cooked or baked for ages & poor Sime is having to do so much more...  He's such a fantastic, hard-working chap & he never complai...

No Impact Week

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We have been asked to take part in the  The No Impact Experiment  again. It's good to remind ourselves of how lightly we wish to live & to feel encouraged to do so. Work tends to make us lazy & we find ourselves talking about living simpler as a future event... It's crazy, because both of us are passionate about living with no or very little impact. We continue to dream of life being simple - living off-grid, no mains electricity or running water. Having land to grow our own food & generate our own power. We want to live as far away from other people as possible, to be somewhere very remote. A place away from disrespectful tourists & silly neighbours... To be in control of our lives, support ourselves & be truly happy, fit & healthy would be wonderful! Our journey to simplicity begins on Sunday September 18th.  It would be great if you would come along too! Click here to register:  No Impact Week Registration   And Join our group "Jus...

Joy Of Joys

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My thyroid has become over active again! Found out today that my T4 is 74 - it should be between 11 & 22... I've known for a few weeks that things weren't right, but I was hoping it would all just disappear & leave me alone... Not a chance, it's here to stick around & I've got to deal with it yet again. I think my body doesn't cope well with stress & exhaustion, so it's time to make some changes. I know I will recover again - once we slow down & we have now made the decision that the crazy changeovers will have to go...  This Saturday will be our last full day of cleaning & then we can take it a bit easier. I am really hating work at the moment, probably because I am struggling physically - my muscles are weak, my heart is pounding at around 100 bpm, I am breathless, always hungry & losing weight. The doctor has prescribed carbimazole again, but I really don't want to take it.  Luckily, I have some herbal tincture left from l...

Journey to Perfect Health *Part 4*

It is over 3 years since I came out of hospital & I returned home like a zombie! My body had been living with an over active thyroid for at least 2 years, so it was a shock to be suddenly the opposite... Conventional medication for hyperthyroidism, means bombarding your body with high levels of beta-blockers (to slow the heart rate) & antithyroid drugs - the idea being to speed up the process of slowing the thyroid down (if that makes sense)! Once the thyroid is stable, it is highly recommended that it is either removed or 'killed off' using radioactive iodine. Without the thyroid, you have to then take thyroxine tablets for the rest of your life... I have continued to refuse both of these, as I have always been convinced that I will recover completely & therefore not need to do anything so drastic, I weaned myself off the beta-blockers as soon as I got home & my heart has been absolutely fine. I have also 'messed around' with the antithyroid drug to...

Journey to Perfect Health *Part 3*

The words I dreaded to hear were coming from my GP's mouth "Hospital". Now I knew I was in a nightmare... The ECG carried out on my heart showed that my heart beat had become irregular, as well as operating at 3 times it's normal speed! I had no choice - Sime agreed with the doctor & I was extremely scared of what was happening to me. Looking back, it was irresponsible to have let myself become so ill, but Sime was working long hours & I was trying to look after everyone else. It just crept up on me. One of the first thoughts that came to mind about going into hospital was of absolute fear, both my Grandad & my Sister died in hospitals through medical negligence, so I was really quite frightened! As soon as I arrived, a nurse told me that my dangerous heart condition needed to be dealt with quickly. She told me that they wanted to use some sort of injection to stop my heart. "You'll have a strong sense of impending doom, but it will only la...

Journey to Perfect Health *Part 2*

What a relief it was to find Claire the herbalist! She was (& probably still is) very knowledgeable about the thyroid function & was impressed with what I had prescribed myself, she had a lovely calming effect on me & made me feel secure in what I was doing. It was so nice to have someone else to lean on (other than Sime), someone who understood me & shared my views on the way we live. We agreed that if at any point she felt that the herbal treatment ceased working, then I would probably have to consider the conventional route. She also opened up communication with my GP & with my agreement, they shared information on my treatment & results, etc. Great! Claire treated me for 18 months, constantly tweaking the tinctures & although it did work - I just couldn't remain stable. She didn't fail - it was just my body wasn't ready to recover & another thing I didn't see at the time - was that I was under a lot of stress with extended family ...

Journey to Perfect Health *Part 1*

I was first diagnosed with Graves Disease (an auto-immune disorder which causes the thyroid to become over active, also known as hyperthyroidism) in December 2005, although looking back - my symptoms started way before... Terrible mood swings, with totally unreasonable behaviour, intolerance to heat, profuse sweating, constant hunger, weight loss, muscle weakness & palpitations. It all came on so gradually at first, that I hardly noticed it! It wasn't until I was out Christmas shopping in Truro on a freezing cold day, stripped down to a T-Shirt & sweat dripping off my nose - that alarm bells suddenly kicked in... That night we did some research on the internet: either I was going through an early menopause or I had hyperthyroidism, another symptom was suggested in the research... A goitre (when the thyroid becomes enlarged), we had a look at my neck & sure enough there was a swelling - why hadn't I noticed it before? I had choked a few times while eating & put...