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Okie dokie - time to catch y'all up on my appts with my new doctor.
So I went to my initial visit with my naturopath and we had such a great conversation. She asked some detailed questions and shared information about the various ways the body works with Hashimoto's. It was very helpful.
She then sent me off for labs and we did tons of lab work. She did hormone panels, thyroid, vitamins, and more. I went back last week for the results and we went through them together. She told me what each test was and what it measured and what the result really meant. As we went through the test, the overall picture began forming. Because my thyroid is so unhealthy (so-so T4 and rockbottom T3), many other things are having trouble. Hormones are imbalanced and GI tract is not optimal at all. In addition, my vitamin levels are very low.
So after we talked about what's happening inside my body and why it's happening, we talked about how to get my body back into balance. She has prescribed me natural thyroid to see if that helps my system. In addition, I will take a hormone replacement for a few days a month, a host of vitamins, adrenal meds, enzymes and probiotics. We further discussed nutrition and while I am already low carb, we discussed the right veggies and right amounts of protein to help my system and additional things I can and should be doing to help my body.
Overall, I feel my experience was the most thorough medical discussion I've had to date and I look forward to seeing where this path takes me.
Thanks for the update. Our medical insurance covers Naturopaths so I'm thinking about making an appointment.
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Okie dokie - time to catch y'all up on my appts with my new doctor.
So I went to my initial visit with my naturopath and we had such a great conversation. She asked some detailed questions and shared information about the various ways the body works with Hashimoto's. It was very helpful.
She then sent me off for labs and we did tons of lab work. She did hormone panels, thyroid, vitamins, and more. I went back last week for the results and we went through them together. She told me what each test was and what it measured and what the result really meant. As we went through the test, the overall picture began forming. Because my thyroid is so unhealthy (so-so T4 and rockbottom T3), many other things are having trouble. Hormones are imbalanced and GI tract is not optimal at all. In addition, my vitamin levels are very low.
So after we talked about what's happening inside my body and why it's happening, we talked about how to get my body back into balance. She has prescribed me natural thyroid to see if that helps my system. In addition, I will take a hormone replacement for a few days a month, a host of vitamins, adrenal meds, enzymes and probiotics. We further discussed nutrition and while I am already low carb, we discussed the right veggies and right amounts of protein to help my system and additional things I can and should be doing to help my body.
Overall, I feel my experience was the most thorough medical discussion I've had to date and I look forward to seeing where this path takes me.
Adrenal meds? What kind of adrenal meds? Be extremely cautious regarding adrenal meds! Was one of the tests you took an adrenal stress index test (saliva collection & analysis)? On what basis has she diagnosed the need for adrenal supplementation? Was it an item in the bloodwork?
Adrenal meds? What kind of adrenal meds? Be extremely cautious regarding adrenal meds! Was one of the tests you took an adrenal stress index test (saliva collection & analysis)? On what basis has she diagnosed the need for adrenal supplementation? Was it an item in the bloodwork?
Why would people be advised to be extremely cautious about adrenal meds? Is this adrenal stress test a good thing or bad thing? How are the adrenals usually tested, if there is such a test? Just wondering.
During the last 35 years I have visited many alternative medicine practitioners looking for one or two who have very good knowledge about the healing process. Some were excellent, some were good, some were fair, and some didn't haven't much knowledge to share. It is certainly very difficult to find a practitioner who has the deep knowledge that can be applied to curing a specific chronic health problem.
Nowadays I rely primarily on my own experience and seek out additional specific advice when necessary. From my own personal experience I can relate to you this information:
1) When on the correct path the body has a remarkable ability to heal n itself.
2) Solid experience and advice, if found, can go a long way toward expediting the process.
3) There is no magic bullet when it comes to permanent cure. It takes time, some experimentation, lots of rest and patience, and a well thought out lifestyle.
Never give up. There is an answer to every problem. I can say this from experience.
Wish you the best of luck!
You're exactly right. Unfortunately so many people cave in to the "gloom and doom" thinking that conventional doctors have. Notice all the scary sounding words they give to "diseases". It keeps the patient trapped in the mind going on a wild goose chase looking here, there, and everywhere for a cure.
Last edited by rogercobb; 01-01-2016 at 02:44 PM..
I might look into an adrenal glandular instead of an adrenal med. if they are available. Would an adrenal med. be a steroid?
I am taking Adrenal Assist for adrenal support. I've noticed that it helps a lot with the fatigue and fogginess. Of course, that could also be in tandem with the other vitamins I'm taking.
I am taking Adrenal Assist for adrenal support. I've noticed that it helps a lot with the fatigue and fogginess. Of course, that could also be in tandem with the other vitamins I'm taking.
I looked up Adrenal Assist. It's herbal adrenal support that includes several what they call "adaptogenic" herbs, like Siberian Ginseng, that help the body handle stress. The thing is, while taking these, you have no idea whether it's the thyroid supplement she gave you that's helping your fatigue, or the adrenal support. You might go off the adrenal support for a week, to see if you do ok without that, just to get that feedback from your system.
I'm still curious as to whether she actually did any testing to measure your adrenal output. That would be important info to have. Maybe she has you on the herhs because thyroid and adrenal hormones work together, so she did that figuring it would be a balanced approach. But if you were having severe chronic fatigue, an adrenal test should have been done.
I looked up Adrenal Assist. It's herbal adrenal support that includes several what they call "adaptogenic" herbs, like Siberian Ginseng, that help the body handle stress. The thing is, while taking these, you have no idea whether it's the thyroid supplement she gave you that's helping your fatigue, or the adrenal support. You might go off the adrenal support for a week, to see if you do ok without that, just to get that feedback from your system.
I'm still curious as to whether she actually did any testing to measure your adrenal output. That would be important info to have. Maybe she has you on the herhs because thyroid and adrenal hormones work together, so she did that figuring it would be a balanced approach. But if you were having severe chronic fatigue, an adrenal test should have been done.
She did quite a bit of blood and urine work on me including hormone function. When we met, she went through each test and told me what it measured, what the norm is, what it means when you're not in the norm range and how that effects the body. One of these areas (I can't recall which), marked low adrenal function.
Why would people be advised to be extremely cautious about adrenal meds? Is this adrenal stress test a good thing or bad thing? How are the adrenals usually tested, if there is such a test? Just wondering.
This is an important question. Usually, an adrenal test is only done for people experiencing chronic, fairly debilitating fatigue. The best type of test, the one that gives the most complete picture of adrenal hormone output (cortisol), is an almost 24-hr. saliva collection test. It measures cortisol output starting at 6 a.m., then at noon, 4 p.m. and close to midnight, to see how the adrenal glands are performing at crucial times during the day. (They begin releasing cortisol at 6 a.m. to begin to wake us up in the morning, they peak at noon, and begin a slow decline in production past evening-time, to prepare us for sleep.) This is part of the body's circadian rhythm.
Chronic fatigue, aside from being a potential thyroid issue, can be caused by the body's stress reserves being severely depleted due to: 1. Chronic stress, and/or 2. Overwhelming stressful events, or an accumulation of those, such as: losing a job, or starting a new job, a divorce, or getting married (a radical change in life whether good or bad), death of a loved one, surgery or several surgeries close together, a relocation, being a victim of crime, and so forth. When too many stressors pile up, the body can't keep up. This is especially true for people who may have already had (typically undiagnosed) underlying thyroid disease; they're more prone to adrenal depletion, because of the way thyroid and adrenals work in tandem.
Unfortunately, most doctors (meaning: insurance-based MD's) don't believe the saliva test is a valid test, even though the AMA recognized it as a good test about 30 years ago. Most doctors, including most endocrinologists, aren't set up to diagnose and treat adrenal fatigue. Someone with severe fatigue who's working with a reluctant doctor like that can request a blood test for pregnenolone levels (since most docs favor and believe in blood tests). Pregnenolone is a precursor to the adrenal hormones--cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. (The body uses it to manufacture the other adrenal hormones.)When the body is low in pregnenolone, it's a sign that the other adrenal hormones are low, and adrenal fatigue is present.
Adrenal meds--not herbs, not glandulars, but prescription meds, meaning hydrocortisone or pregnenolone--are very powerful substances that need to be taken under an experienced doc's supervision, very cautiously, because finding the right dose is tricky, and taking too much can overwhelm the adrenal glands and make the problem much worse. Either of these meds can be life-saving, but at the same time, they're tricky and potentially dangerous, because of their potency and how delicate the adrenal system can be. A course of adrenal meds needs to be monitored with periodic testing to make sure the treatment is on track.
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