Re: Health problems

[Guest guest]

>>>Hi! This is long, sorry.

Hopefully someone can shed some light here, since numerous doctors of all

persuasions haven't been able to.

I woke up 2 1/2 years ago with hives and asthma - both on the same day. I

still have both. The only health problems I'd ever had before that were

seasonal allergies and some hormone imbalance that started during my pregnancy

(my son is 6 now). My hormone issue got worse over this 2 year time period as

well. I have every symptom of hypothyroid, but my thyroid tests normal. When I

went to a doc who would help me with the thyroid I had become anemic so he

wouldn't treat me. He has now stopped treating any patients.

The only time I've felt good over the last 2 1/2 years is when I did Stanley

Burrough's Master Cleanser lemonade for 9 days. That's all I consumed, lemonade

made with grade B maple syrup and I had lots of energy. In the last six months

I've done Atkins with an NT twist, then the Maker's Diet, which is NT. I'm

still on that for the most part. For both of those, I gave up all

grains/starches for at least a month with no improvement and for Maker's Diet

gave up dairy for two weeks also, then only had goat's milk raw cheese and kefir

- which I don't like the fizziness of, btw. I must try that kefilli (sp?) Heidi

talks about.

Anyway, does any of this ring a bell with anyone? I just stopped drinking

tea after reading the articles about flouride and calcium/mag/zinc issues

related to it because two of the docs I went to felt like the hives were calcium

related -as in I needed more. Taking lots of calcium didn't help either,

though. I had been drinking organic black tea.<<<

Hi Steph,

I read an article recently, don't know whether it was from this list or another,

about someone who had hypothyroid symptoms but tested normal. Luckily I saved it

(below). It's pretty long. Here is the website mentioned in it:

http://wilsonssyndrome.com/

It mentions asthma and hives in the symptoms

Hope it helps.

Cheers,

Tas.

Ok....go get yourself a cup of your favorite no-calorie beverage and sit back to

relax. I intend to leave very little out of this long story in hopes that

perhaps someone out there will recognize her experience in mine and get herself

some help sooner than I did.

Last year in August, my gyn, bless his heart, noticed for me that I had put on a

few pounds over the last year. He HASTENED to add that even though I was well

within the normal range and that I looked good, he just didn't want me to end up

on a downward slope that would end up making me unhappy and frankly be hard to

conquer as I aged. I blushed, agreed, and realized that I hadn't been eating as

well as I could have even though I didn't think I had been 15 pounds worth of

bad. Nevertheless, I was determined not to end up there a year later at the same

weight. I also knew that exercise was going to be essential for the happy senior

years I was planning and the lighter exercise I had been engaging in was simply

not enough. I decided that after years of looking at it, it was time to take on

the FIRM.

I went at it whole-heartedly. I made up charts. I tracked my weight. My

measurements. The number of workouts I had done. I was faithful. I lost nothing.

I joined the FIRM Believers club, I learned that sometimes it takes six months

for the results to kick in. I stuck with it. I lost nothing.

The months came and went. I would try to work harder and find myself exhibiting

symptoms of overtraining almost instantly. If I injured myself, it seemed to

take FOREVER to recover. I limped through Thanksgiving and Christmas with a knee

injury and did Upper Body Sculpt a LOT. I was consistent though. The only time I

missed a workout was for a migraine or symptoms of overtraining....and by golly

that seemed to happen to me pretty easily. I chalked it up to age(42). I lost

NOTHING.

The six-month mark came and went. I braced myself to begin melting. I lost

nothing. I melted...NOWHERE. It became increasingly difficult to stick with it,

because discouragement was setting in. I was stronger. I had gone from a size 12

to a size 8 I could feel the muscles underneath everything but the 'goosh' on

the top was the SAME. And I don't mean nearly the same. I mean the SAME. That

part of my body wasn't changing no matter WHAT I did with my diet and exercise

program. I upped my ab workouts. I lost nothing. I was discouraged. I tried to

listen to the 'number on the scale doesn't matter " crowd but there was the

'goosh' on top of everything and I KNEW that was going to have to go and that

would mean weight loss. I knew that when the 'goosh' went...the number would

change. I wanted that lean body I saw on the instructors and I made plans to get

a belly-button ring when I got there.

I tried Fitday....I didn't learn anything new about my diet other than

confirming my suspicions that I was doing well in that regard. I dropped my

caloric intake to 1500/day. I began waking up at night from bone-deep hunger. I

lost NOTHING. My mother pointed out to me that for whatever reason, my body

refused to use the fat stores that were there as fuel. She suggested Atkins to

give my metabolism a kick in the pants. I refused. I was NOT going to cut out

veggies. She suggested South Beach. I refused to even consider it. I KNEW I was

doing everything right. So WHY wasn't I getting the results I was working so

hard for?

Spring came and I remodeled my kitchen. During the remodeling process, I kept

exercising the best that I could given the chaos level in my house. And given

that I had no kitchen, I ate as well as I could. I tried not to worry about it.

I lost NOTHING. Worse...my measurements had stabilized as well. I wasn't getting

smaller THERE either.

Finally at the beginning of May, in desperation, I researched the South Beach

Diet. When I learned that vegetable intake was measured in terms of a

minimum....I knew I could do it and I decided to try. Now I knew that at the

beginning people feel bad. I expected it. And I did. I also lost 5 pounds in the

first week. HOSANNA! Only one problem. I couldn't work out. I don't mean it was

hard to workout...I was used to that. In fact, I had been wondering why things

still seemed so HARD for me when others were making such progress. I figured it

was my age. But on the South Beach Diet I working out as long as 20 minutes took

real willpower and at 30 minutes there was nothing left. I HAD to quit and no

amount of willpower could keep me going. I had also stopped losing weight. I

lost 5 pounds and then I hit a wall...I know this may sound weird but I felt my

body hit it. I KNEW that I wasn't going to lose any more on South Beach. I

decided to quit phase one early, so that I could resume full-strength workouts.

Only my strength didn't come back. I quit South Beach all together and went back

to just plain balanced healthy eating....and still nothing got better. NOW I

couldn't work out more than 20-30 minutes AND I wasn't losing weight. And all of

a sudden I knew there was nothing left for me to try. I had given it my all and

there was literally NOTHING left for me to fix and I couldn't try harder. I

finally had to admit that PERHAPS, just MAYBE, something else was wrong. I also

cried a LOT.

You may stop snickering now....I am sure YOU all figured it out WAY before I

did. I have nothing to say in my defense other than stubborness runs very strong

in my family and sometimes when we run into a wall we must back up, get a

running start, and run into it HARDER just to make sure it really IS a wall and

not our imagination. (And my mother once actually DID that.)I started to take a

hard look not only at my exercise and diet program but the other parts of my

life that weren't going so good but that I was ignoring because if you ignore

the problems, you don't have them. STOP LAUGHING!! I was cold. All the time. And

I live in Houston. I was LIVING for the warm weather of summer and no, 85

degrees is NOT warm...95 is warm. I kept the thermostat in my house set at 85

during the day and kept blankets on my lap. I was unable to sit in an air

conditioned room for more than 20-30 minutes without massive shivering. I was

tired. I was " burned-out. " Between joint pain, muscle pain, and head pain I was

in pain all of the time. I routinely got up, took ibuprophen and went back to

bed to let it take effect before getting up. I couldn't concentrate. I was

cranky and irritable and sound hit me like a baseball bat upside the head. My

poor children....I took chunks out of them regularly. Now if you know much about

thyroid disease, you know that I am describing the classic symptoms of

hypothyroid. I had always " resisted " the idea that I might be hypothyroid

because my bloodwork was always normal. I decided that not withstanding

previously normal bloodwork, it was time to talk to an endocrinologist. (And I

must also confess, that I might have suffered still LONGER if I wasn't worried

that I might not be up to speed for my FIRM trip in July....kids don't try this

at home. This is STUPID bebavior you should go to the doctor WAY sooner than

this stupid woman.)The endocrinologist, bastion of medical sympathy that he was,

told me that my weight gain wasn't an issue because I was still " normal " even

though I protested that it wasn't normal for ME! He did think though, that a

complete metabolic workup was in order and he ordered that. Then, gave me a book

on thyroid disease and sent me home. A week later the results were in and they

were 100% NORMAL. Yes ladies, you heard me right. In spite of the fact that I

was a walking symptom factory for hypothyroid I tested NORMAL. I wasn't even to

the edges of normal....I was smack dab in the middle of it. So...I said to this

endo.... " What's wrong with me? " and he gave me this look like " Sweetie, you are

just complaining about nothing. " and suggested that we check my testosterone

levels. I said, " Messed up testosterone levels would make me cold? " and he said,

" Well it might. " " What about the weight gain? " He said, " You are normal. " And he

wasn't inclined to listen to any more of my sad story. ARRRGGGHHHH!! I went home

and cried some more.

Several hours later, I remembered that I knew of someone in Australia (long

story that I will leave out) that was being treated for some " weird " thyroid

condition. I remembered that she had mentioned the name one time and I went and

looked it up. She called it " 's Thyroid Syndrome " (and any of you out

there that are exhibiting symptoms of low thyroid but have been told by your

doctor that you are " normal " or that it is " all in your head " need to be writing

this down.) I did a Google search and found a website:

http://wilsonssyndrome.com/

It was like reading about myself AND it explained that just because your body is

making enough thyroid hormone, if you body isn't using it correctly, it won't

matter. You will still exhibit all the symptoms of hypothyroid and still your

bloodwork MAY BE COMPLETELY NORMAL. (There are other variations so anyone who is

reading and has ANY thyroid problems, I would encourage you to look at the

website and see if maybe visiting a doctor that has expertise with this syndrome

might not be a good idea for you. They are listed on the website.) Anyway, I

made an appointment with one of the listed treating physicians...he was 170

miles away. ly I didn't care how far I had to drive, I had suddenly come to

grips with how sick I really was and I would have CRAWLED that far for help. If

nothing

else, these doctors are going to be inclined to LISTEN to you and not chalk it

up to being " all in your head. "

I started treatment on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon, it was like switches

started being thrown in my body. I am improving so quickly that I can't describe

it any other way. I have blood in my hands and feet. I sat in the movie theater

and didn't leave on the verge of hypothermia! My brain has cleared. I feel

better than I have in the last five years!! In the name of taking things slowly,

I started back to working out slowly by doing FIRM Yoga for the last two days

but today I did Complete Body Shaping today and I made it to the END!! I have

lost a lot of ground. I was winded but I didn't have to quit!!

And yesterday, I couldn't resist. I KNEW it was too early for anything of

substance to be showing but I stepped on the scale anyway. I may just have

already begun to lose weight as well....the scale said two pounds worth and for

now, I am going to believe it.

[Guest guest]

I also suggest trying to take some HCl supplements. They help you digest

your food if you're not making enough HCl in your stomach. Poor digestion

can cause other problems. It might not solve everything but it might be a

step in the right direction. Although i didn't have major health problems

HCl cleared up my chronic constipation overnight.

Elaine

[Guest guest]

Elaine,

I am new to the list and haven’t figured out all the acronyms yet. What

is HCl? My daughter has had a problem with this from day 1.

Kristi

Re: Health problems

I also suggest trying to take some HCl supplements. They help you digest

your food if you're not making enough HCl in your stomach. Poor

digestion

can cause other problems. It might not solve everything but it might be

a

step in the right direction. Although i didn't have major health

problems

HCl cleared up my chronic constipation overnight.

Elaine

[Guest guest]

It's hydrochloric acid, which your stomach produces to digest food, although

after enough years of poor eating our stomachs don't make enough. I buy mine

from the Biotics company. It's called Betaine something or the other. You

start with one per meal (with the first or last bite of food) and increase

the dosage each day until you feel heartburn. Then go back to the previous

day. My friend's kid has problems with this but is too young to take the

supp. so her ND said to give him apple cider vinegar and sauerkraut with

each meal. I don't know anything more about that though.

Elaine

> I am new to the list and haven’t figured out all the acronyms yet. What

[Guest guest]

At 01:08 PM 8/12/2004, you wrote:

>It's hydrochloric acid, which your stomach produces to digest food, although

>after enough years of poor eating our stomachs don't make enough. I buy mine

>from the Biotics company. It's called Betaine something or the other. You

>start with one per meal (with the first or last bite of food) and increase

>the dosage each day until you feel heartburn. Then go back to the previous

>day. My friend's kid has problems with this but is too young to take the

>supp. so her ND said to give him apple cider vinegar and sauerkraut with

>each meal. I don't know anything more about that though.

>Elaine

i'm notoriously non-supplement (even though i often recommned them to

others!) but i've definitely found that having kimchi (properly

lactofermented kimchi, of course) at every meal (kefir or lacto-juice at

breakfast) has helped with digestion tremendously, and also solved the

constipation problem...

-katja

[Guest guest]

>My friend's kid has problems with this but is too young to take the

>supp. so her ND said to give him apple cider vinegar and sauerkraut with

>each meal. I don't know anything more about that though.

>Elaine

Kimchi with a meal helps too! You can make kimchi (fermented vegies)

in lots of different flavors, and if you mix a little Balsamic vinegar and

olive oil in it, most folks think it's antipasto or something, they love it.

-- Heidi Jean