thyroids and hormones and cortisol, oh my ....

recycled cork & steel bracelet - handmade by me
I thought I would give a quick thyroid update since when I posted about this health stuff I got quite a few helpful emails from people dealing with similar auto-immune issues.

I am not going to put everyone to sleep with my current situation although I will update it at some point. I did decide not to have my thyroid irradiated ...

Anyhoo, for anyone dealing with this stuff these are some of the things I have been working with as I try to coax my body to stop making antibodies against itself.

(you might notice I have a lot of posts about working against our own self interests - this stuff is all connected)

1. Olive leaf extract -  a natural product that can be taken all year round (especially good for winters and for right now as we have moved into Vata season) to boost our immunity and manage viral infections.

2. I saw on WellnessMama's blog a while back that thermographic imaging is proving how grounding affects inflammation. I have instinctively felt this for a long time as I totally get flare ups when I am most ungrounded and it is nice to have some proof - this may not be totally scientific proof, but if we wait for them they will just turn grounding into some kind of pill with a gazillion nasty side effects.

I use my favorite grounding techniques and I decided to buy an earthing sleep system. We also unplug our wifi and cable while we sleep. I used to fall asleep with my Nook next to my head - not good. We have definitely noticed a difference in our sleep with this in a very short time. My acupuncturist believes sleeping is the key to all healing, so grounding while sleeping seems like an excellent idea.

3. Leaky Gut - this is caused by
  • a crappy diet high in sugar and low in fiber (which was my entire diet for most of my life)
  • deficiencies of zinc and omega-3 fats
  • overuse of antibiotics and hormones (think birth control pills here)
  • environmental toxins (research BPA!)
  • stress / anxiety (the parts of our brain that deal with this literally get thinner as we get older so the stress we could handle at 30 is harder to handle at 40 and 50 and 60 - if we don't deal with this stuff we are opening the door to dis-ease)
This should be a post all by itself.  I will write one soon, but google 'leaky gut' if you are dealing with any kind of auto immune issues especially if you are having digestive and mood and irritability issues.

4. Apple Cider Vinegar - alkalize! I drink this in the morning - yes, it smells like you are coloring easter eggs, but those were happy days right?! and my house smells like vinegar anyway from green cleaning products - you get used to it. The taste is not that different than lemon water. You can also use it in salad dressing, to wash your hair - not sure I would try that - and some say it smooths skin. I also continue with the lemon water although I do worry about my teeth a little.

5. Calm - hundreds of excellent reviews on Amazon can't be wrong.

6. Acupuncture - still going once a week although the fact it isn't covered by my insurance makes me crazy. I sold a table on Craigslist recently to pay for a few more weeks. 

I am about to do some lymphatic drainage massage and change up my exercise routine again, since the "routine" in my "exercise routine" has been ... erased ... who keeps erasing "routine" .... I blame Olive - her erratic, crazy behavior on walks always makes me feel like the Billy Ray Cyrus of dog parents. I want to write a post about how our pet's health is influenced by our health, too - I have seem some amazing connections with that lately. I guess that means I can't blame Olive though ...

Anyhoo, have a great weekend all - the wind is blowing like crazy here, am hoping I might end up in Oz for the new moon this weekend ....

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3 comments

KJ said...

I am passing this on.

DancingMooney said...

Hubby and I both live with symptoms of IBS, so I need to look up this leaky gut thing... His symptoms are worse than mine, but maybe some of that is our age difference. I've been trying to get him to understand that the more in tune he is with his eating habits, the more he can help himself, but you know men, stubborn, and continue to eat what they want, and pay for it. Recently I saw a quick mention on the news about the Mediterranean Diet, and would like to learn more about that as well... (if that's something you've heard of or not, just mentioning it here) Also I need to figure out a way to help hubby carry less stress. He is the kind who tends to carry a lot of anxiety around with him, and I know this is a big part of his flare ups... Lots to learn about healing ourselves through wellness. No doubt. Keep posting, we'll keep reading. :) xoxo

Catherine Ivins said...

Hi Janelle- I read this the other day but missed commenting somehow. I have heard good things about the Mediterranean Diet and have been doing the Body Ecology Diet, but it is hard because you can really never eat out and eating out seems my only chance to get out of the house and away from work sometimes ... anxiety and stress have a definite connection to digestion - "what we can't stomach", "gut instincts" - my husband and I have the same health things often or some strange connection with our stuff - picking up each other's energy I'm sure. I also think that the energy on the planet is higher now and we can't eat the same lower things we used to and feel well (the things are not as they appear either, lots of stuff in them our body is rejecting) - you should look at the muscle testing videos online - it is amazing what you can learn from simple techniques. I had a chiropractor once have me bring my normal lunch to an appt and I just held each piece of food & asked my body if I should eat it and leaned forward or back - it was automatic and totally uncanny in its accuracy. At the time I didn't follow my own advice at all because I was testing negative for almost everything (still do) and had no idea what I should eat and honestly was too unfocused and of course, the cycle is the poor eating kept me unfocused. Sometimes I miss the days when I could mindlessly eat fast food, etc - I can see how the different parts of my life have aligned to not allow this to work for me anymore, but I still have fond memories of those french fries dammit.