That's good, right? Oh, metabolic conditioning, how you hate me.
Scaled WOD. Yesterday's since I'm off schedule.
Four rounds for time of: Run 200 meters 15 Squats 10 Back Extensions. Looks easy, huh?
Paltry performance. A month ago I'd have made it easily. Darn that laziness!
Came in at about 3:45 per. I'm such a wuss that I walked the last two so as not to toss the cookies, and my time improved.
The good news is that I'm really hungry now. Yay exercise and levothyroxine!
The bad news is that my hair is falling out. Went to get the hair done today and every time they combed my hair, tons came out. When I commented on it the gal said cheerily "Oh, I've seen worse!". Hmm. At least it's a decent cut and color now. This is a well known side effect of both Hashimoto's, and the treatment, so it's yet another thing to add to the list.
I also had a grumpy moment in the locker room. I saw my reflection from afar and was dismayed to see that my cheeks had puffed back out. Darned thyroid, darned puffiness. Sulky moment. Then I looked again. The shadow I'd taken to be puffiness along my cheek was actually cheekbone. Ah, I rescind my sulky moment. Yay for cheekbones! I haven't seen them in about five years now! Yay! I had dinner with a dear old friend last week and she told me quite cheerily "You look great! Better than you have in years!" she then added "You *are* still fat though!".
Heh. She really *is* a very good friend, and as such is allowed to say such things. She edited to clarify that she basically wanted me to know that she wasn't blowing sunshine up my bum ... that I really do look better. *grin*
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Well that's impressive.
On Friday, I went to go workout and it was one of those evil ones that have that word "max" in them.
CFWU minus pushups and pullups,
3 rounds:
max pushups
max pullups
Well, I didn't do well. I hadn't eaten, and I was still really really sore from the previous workout. So, I did my best, got changed, and went home.
Once I got home, I realized that the entire workout had been less than a typical CFWU. D'oh!
When I do the CFWU, I take as long as I need to to get in 10 of everything. On Friday I was working hard at doing things continually, with no blood sugar, and massive full-body creakiness.
Note to self: Eat.
On a personal side note, some of y'all may be interested to know that my parents are posting about their adventuring over here: http://nikonvict.blogspot.com Go leave 'em a comment, would ya? There's nothing quite like seeing your comments explode as a welcome to the blogosphere. Plus, if you comment, then they'll post more often and it'll be easier to keep an eye on them. I might even save some minutes on my cellphone ;)
CFWU minus pushups and pullups,
3 rounds:
max pushups
max pullups
Well, I didn't do well. I hadn't eaten, and I was still really really sore from the previous workout. So, I did my best, got changed, and went home.
Once I got home, I realized that the entire workout had been less than a typical CFWU. D'oh!
When I do the CFWU, I take as long as I need to to get in 10 of everything. On Friday I was working hard at doing things continually, with no blood sugar, and massive full-body creakiness.
Note to self: Eat.
On a personal side note, some of y'all may be interested to know that my parents are posting about their adventuring over here: http://nikonvict.blogspot.com Go leave 'em a comment, would ya? There's nothing quite like seeing your comments explode as a welcome to the blogosphere. Plus, if you comment, then they'll post more often and it'll be easier to keep an eye on them. I might even save some minutes on my cellphone ;)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
From Peach to White
Today I am moving at the speed of creaky. Ah well, what did we expect? Am taking a rest day today - going to work out every other day for a couple of weeks while I get back into the swing of things.
Have had a couple of lovely phone calls this week. First thing Monday morning, the doctor's office called and said that the doctor had reviewed my question from last week and the conversation that I'd had with the nurse. She confirmed that the goal is to get my TSH to the low end of normal, round about 1 or so *and* to a level where I feel good. She said that the goal is nebulous, since everyone feels best at a different TSH. This is fabulous news! I was thrilled to bits.
Got another phone call this morning, the doctor had had a chance to look over my blood test results from last week and the verdict is... up the dosage! I'm going up from 37.5 mcg to 50 mcg - doubling the original dose she gave me back in October. Moving up from the peach pill, to the white pill.
This is great news, in that backhanded well-wouldn't-it-be-nice-if-I-didn't-need-it kind of way. This also serves to confirm, yet again, that I was not imagining things and that it was appropriate for me to be, shall we say, assertive in obtaining treatment.
I want to make a t-shirt that says "Check Your Thyroid" and wear it out in public. Or perhaps, "Check Your Thyroid: Make Sure You Get Treated: TSH Only Tells PART Of The Story"
EDIT: Done! http://www.cafepress.com/jehr
Have had a couple of lovely phone calls this week. First thing Monday morning, the doctor's office called and said that the doctor had reviewed my question from last week and the conversation that I'd had with the nurse. She confirmed that the goal is to get my TSH to the low end of normal, round about 1 or so *and* to a level where I feel good. She said that the goal is nebulous, since everyone feels best at a different TSH. This is fabulous news! I was thrilled to bits.
Got another phone call this morning, the doctor had had a chance to look over my blood test results from last week and the verdict is... up the dosage! I'm going up from 37.5 mcg to 50 mcg - doubling the original dose she gave me back in October. Moving up from the peach pill, to the white pill.
This is great news, in that backhanded well-wouldn't-it-be-nice-if-I-didn't-need-it kind of way. This also serves to confirm, yet again, that I was not imagining things and that it was appropriate for me to be, shall we say, assertive in obtaining treatment.
I want to make a t-shirt that says "Check Your Thyroid" and wear it out in public. Or perhaps, "Check Your Thyroid: Make Sure You Get Treated: TSH Only Tells PART Of The Story"
EDIT: Done! http://www.cafepress.com/jehr
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Back On The Horse
Giddyup.
After a couple of weeks of doing components of CFWU at home and discovering that I can do a passable dip off the edge of the kitchen countertop, we finally managed to sign up at the Y. It's only 10 minutes away (in no traffic) as opposed to 25 minutes away (in no traffic) for the entirely awesome but too far away former gym. This is great - only took me an hour to drive there, dress, sweat for a while, re-dress, and go. Yay! It's also next to my favorite fancy grocery store, the library, my doctor's office, my pharmacy, my Barnes & Noble, and lots of tasty restaurants.
My CFWU was awesome. My situps were great, my pushups were no more or less wobbly than the last time I did them in a gym. Pullups were at once awful and awesome. On maximum assist I had to break them up into sets - my strength curve needs to go up, and my weight curve needs to go down before I'll make much progress on these. However, I'm actually doing pullups now, thanks to the fancy assist machine, rather than doing pulldowns in a half crouch. Dips were awesome, next week I'll reduce the assist on those.
The WOD was Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. The idea is that with the first one, you do a reasonably high weight in your range, and add weight so that by the last one you should be at your absolute limit and thisclose to biffing it.
Since I've been out of commission for a bit, I didn't exactly do this. I just did Front Squat 2-10 with the 45lb bar. It went really well. I think next time this comes up I'll be in good shape to push a bit harder.
I do miss the back extension machine at the other gym. I tried doing Good Mornings, but didn't feel like I was doing anything other than stretching my hamstrings. Next time I'm going to try doing them over an exercise ball...
After a couple of weeks of doing components of CFWU at home and discovering that I can do a passable dip off the edge of the kitchen countertop, we finally managed to sign up at the Y. It's only 10 minutes away (in no traffic) as opposed to 25 minutes away (in no traffic) for the entirely awesome but too far away former gym. This is great - only took me an hour to drive there, dress, sweat for a while, re-dress, and go. Yay! It's also next to my favorite fancy grocery store, the library, my doctor's office, my pharmacy, my Barnes & Noble, and lots of tasty restaurants.
My CFWU was awesome. My situps were great, my pushups were no more or less wobbly than the last time I did them in a gym. Pullups were at once awful and awesome. On maximum assist I had to break them up into sets - my strength curve needs to go up, and my weight curve needs to go down before I'll make much progress on these. However, I'm actually doing pullups now, thanks to the fancy assist machine, rather than doing pulldowns in a half crouch. Dips were awesome, next week I'll reduce the assist on those.
The WOD was Front Squat 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. The idea is that with the first one, you do a reasonably high weight in your range, and add weight so that by the last one you should be at your absolute limit and thisclose to biffing it.
Since I've been out of commission for a bit, I didn't exactly do this. I just did Front Squat 2-10 with the 45lb bar. It went really well. I think next time this comes up I'll be in good shape to push a bit harder.
I do miss the back extension machine at the other gym. I tried doing Good Mornings, but didn't feel like I was doing anything other than stretching my hamstrings. Next time I'm going to try doing them over an exercise ball...
Monday, February 18, 2008
Again with the letters.... "U" and "V"
Well heck.
http://thyroid.about.com/od/newscontroversies/a/sunscreen.htm
"chemicals called MBC and benzophenone 2 (BP2), frequently found in sunscreen and cosmetics are ...potent disruptors of the pituitary-thyroid hormonal system in rats. It's early days, but if the same effect is discovered in humans, then we may have to rethink how we protect children and those with existing thyroid problems or those in iodine-deficient areas from sun exposure."
I've long been of the opinion that sunscreen is evil. Unfortunately, I'm one of the pale people and it is a necessary reality in my life.
A few years ago I read an excellent paper talking about Vitamin D, sun exposure, and health. I originally was tipped off to this by Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org)
"[The] trial involving 1,200 women, and found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error. And in an era of pricey medical advances, the reduction seems even more remarkable because it was achieved with an over-the-counter supplement costing pennies a day. One of the researchers who made the discovery, professor of medicine Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Nebraska, says vitamin D deficiency is showing up in so many illnesses besides cancer that nearly all disease figures in Canada and the U.S. will need to be re-evaluated. 'We don't really know what the status of chronic disease is in the North American population,' he said, 'until we normalize vitamin D status.'" http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/29/0724246
Fascinated by this blurb, I went to the original article in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070428.wxvitamin28/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
I was struck by the following quote (made, of course, much more exciting by being taken out of context - do go read the original article)
"The sun advice has been misguided information "of just breathtaking proportions," said John Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit, California-based organization.
"Fifteen hundred Americans die every year from [skin cancers]. Fifteen hundred Americans die every day from the serious cancers." "
Taking the source back another step, I read through a few of Reinhold Vieth's papers, and came across this beauty: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/422 : "We found strong evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin D could help prevent breast cancer. However, our results suggest that exposure earlier in life, particularly during breast development, maybe most relevant."
Having read these, I don't wear sunscreen on a day-to-day basis. That means that if I'm having a very indoorsy kind of day, I'll get at least 20 minutes or so on my hands and face (more in the summertime) running errands and taking the dog out. If I'm not going out at all, I'll go sun myself for about 10 or 15 minutes in a bikini if possible. Otherwise I stick to the shade and have a nice big sun hat. If I'm sailing, hiking, or going to be in sunshine for long enough to burn, then I bite the bullet and put on sunscreen. I'd rather wear a longsleeve shirt though. I eat salmon, drink milk from grass fed cows, and take a supplement.
This amount of sun exposure usually gives me just enough of a tan so that I don't burn if I end up being outside for an hour in the summer in Minnesota without other protection. In previous years when I kept myself too pale, I could burn too easily and would actually burn more often than I do now.
Hm. I've just realized that in recent years, I've rarely worn shorts in the summertime, and I usually have a long sleeve shirt on. I wonder if that has been a hypothyroidism symptom? Will be interesting to see if my clothing choices change this summer.
http://thyroid.about.com/od/newscontroversies/a/sunscreen.htm
"chemicals called MBC and benzophenone 2 (BP2), frequently found in sunscreen and cosmetics are ...potent disruptors of the pituitary-thyroid hormonal system in rats. It's early days, but if the same effect is discovered in humans, then we may have to rethink how we protect children and those with existing thyroid problems or those in iodine-deficient areas from sun exposure."
I've long been of the opinion that sunscreen is evil. Unfortunately, I'm one of the pale people and it is a necessary reality in my life.
A few years ago I read an excellent paper talking about Vitamin D, sun exposure, and health. I originally was tipped off to this by Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org)
"[The] trial involving 1,200 women, and found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error. And in an era of pricey medical advances, the reduction seems even more remarkable because it was achieved with an over-the-counter supplement costing pennies a day. One of the researchers who made the discovery, professor of medicine Robert Heaney of Creighton University in Nebraska, says vitamin D deficiency is showing up in so many illnesses besides cancer that nearly all disease figures in Canada and the U.S. will need to be re-evaluated. 'We don't really know what the status of chronic disease is in the North American population,' he said, 'until we normalize vitamin D status.'" http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/29/0724246
Fascinated by this blurb, I went to the original article in the Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070428.wxvitamin28/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
I was struck by the following quote (made, of course, much more exciting by being taken out of context - do go read the original article)
"The sun advice has been misguided information "of just breathtaking proportions," said John Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit, California-based organization.
"Fifteen hundred Americans die every year from [skin cancers]. Fifteen hundred Americans die every day from the serious cancers." "
Taking the source back another step, I read through a few of Reinhold Vieth's papers, and came across this beauty: http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/422 : "We found strong evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin D could help prevent breast cancer. However, our results suggest that exposure earlier in life, particularly during breast development, maybe most relevant."
Having read these, I don't wear sunscreen on a day-to-day basis. That means that if I'm having a very indoorsy kind of day, I'll get at least 20 minutes or so on my hands and face (more in the summertime) running errands and taking the dog out. If I'm not going out at all, I'll go sun myself for about 10 or 15 minutes in a bikini if possible. Otherwise I stick to the shade and have a nice big sun hat. If I'm sailing, hiking, or going to be in sunshine for long enough to burn, then I bite the bullet and put on sunscreen. I'd rather wear a longsleeve shirt though. I eat salmon, drink milk from grass fed cows, and take a supplement.
This amount of sun exposure usually gives me just enough of a tan so that I don't burn if I end up being outside for an hour in the summer in Minnesota without other protection. In previous years when I kept myself too pale, I could burn too easily and would actually burn more often than I do now.
Hm. I've just realized that in recent years, I've rarely worn shorts in the summertime, and I usually have a long sleeve shirt on. I wonder if that has been a hypothyroidism symptom? Will be interesting to see if my clothing choices change this summer.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Brought to you by the letters "Y", "T", "S", and "H"
We went to the local Y last night to check it out and it was awesome. There's a water slide!! Of course, I'm a little hesitant to get back into a pool until Big G, the goiter, has withered away. The weights area was small, but looks like it has pretty much everything I'll need. The Y was packed, and there was no one in the weights area, and that's actually fine with me.
My phone died yesterday. Dead as a doornail. Whoops... where did I put the charger? So I charged it up last night, and found a flurry of messages on my voicemail this morning from the Doctor's office. Three triage nurses called regarding the question I'd left at the front desk yesterday. Three! Wow! Awesome customer service.
Finally got the chance to chat with one of the nurses this afternoon and explained why I'd asked the question that I'd asked, and what my agenda was (more drugs please! thanks!). She was great, reading me stuff from my chart, letting me know that they did already have the results of yesterday's TSH test, letting me know how the Doctor usually does things, etc. She was great.
She said that what would probably happen is that the doctor will look at my results when she gets back from her vacation and have a nurse call me to ask how I would like to proceed - up the dosage, or hold steady. She indicated that this was usually what happens when the TSH is neither alarmingly high, or low.
So what's the verdict? 3.54.
August: 2.94
October: 2.31
November: 3.65 (after 8 weeks of 25 mg levothyroxine)
February: 3.54 (after 8 weeks of 37.5 mg levothyroxine)
I am intrigued. Why is my TSH still higher than it was before treatment? By all rights it should have dropped with the medication I'm taking. The endocrine system is so strange and complicated, it makes me wonder what the heck these numbers really mean.
My phone died yesterday. Dead as a doornail. Whoops... where did I put the charger? So I charged it up last night, and found a flurry of messages on my voicemail this morning from the Doctor's office. Three triage nurses called regarding the question I'd left at the front desk yesterday. Three! Wow! Awesome customer service.
Finally got the chance to chat with one of the nurses this afternoon and explained why I'd asked the question that I'd asked, and what my agenda was (more drugs please! thanks!). She was great, reading me stuff from my chart, letting me know that they did already have the results of yesterday's TSH test, letting me know how the Doctor usually does things, etc. She was great.
She said that what would probably happen is that the doctor will look at my results when she gets back from her vacation and have a nurse call me to ask how I would like to proceed - up the dosage, or hold steady. She indicated that this was usually what happens when the TSH is neither alarmingly high, or low.
So what's the verdict? 3.54.
August: 2.94
October: 2.31
November: 3.65 (after 8 weeks of 25 mg levothyroxine)
February: 3.54 (after 8 weeks of 37.5 mg levothyroxine)
I am intrigued. Why is my TSH still higher than it was before treatment? By all rights it should have dropped with the medication I'm taking. The endocrine system is so strange and complicated, it makes me wonder what the heck these numbers really mean.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Phlebotomists and Halogens
Today is blood-test day to see how I'm reacting to the new dosage of levothyroxine. I've been on it for 8 weeks, and I feel better. My nails and hair are growing, my eyebrows are thicker (weird, huh?) and my body shape is changing. I'm still pretty sleepy, and I haven't lost more than a pound or two, but I am thinner. My skin is clearer. My cheekbones are coming back. My eyes are much less puffy. I sleep better - I often sleep through the night now without having to get up. I have less heartburn, and an improved appetite. If I'm eating correctly (meaning, if I haven't eaten at Fogo de Chao recently ;) then I get hungry for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Then I'm hungry again before bed. It's wonderful.
As I'd hinted at in the last post, I left a message at the doctor's office for my endocrinologist. I've asked her what her goals are for my treatment. Is she aiming for a particular TSH, is she aiming for a particular level of me not complaining? Something else?
Depending on what she says, I'm going to tell her my goals. My goal is a TSH of .4 *and* complete resolution of all symptoms. This includes normal body weight. I would like her to continue increasing my dosage until I suffer the ill effects of having too much, then backing off slightly. If we don't do this, then I will always be guessing that I would feel so much better, be so much healthier at the next dose up.
Though I don't trust TSH particularly as an indicator of health, I think it's an interesting place to start. My main goal is, of course, resolution of symptoms. However, by aiming for this particular TSH we have something we can measure, and that's always interesting, and might show us patterns we wouldn't otherwise see. So far my TSH has been approximately:
August: 2.94
October: 2.31
November: 3.65 (after 8 weeks of 25 mg levothyroxine)
February: 3.54 (after 8 weeks of 37.5 mg levothyroxine)
I, as you know, haven't been good about exercising lately. Hopefully we can switch to the YMCA at the end of the month, and that will make things much easier because I won't have to block off 2 hours to work out.
However, this has been interesting. I've seen improvements in my puffiness, and my body fat ratio. My average weight has seemingly dropped a tiny bit (maybe two pounds) but my measurements have decreased in the areas where I carry my podge. The nice thing about this is that my body is healing even without Crossifitting. I'm all about separating out the variables! Interesting though it may be, I've got to get back in the gym, I miss it.
I'm going to do the CFWU tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Hammering hard to get back in the game, then a rest day, then back on the bandwagon. Harrass me if I don't do this, please.
Having gone for my blood test, I'm on another research kick. Why did I get this? Why is this so common now? This isn't about making my disease into my identity, or about crying "poor me!" and cultivating my victimhood. This is about understanding. What about this can be controlled? Where does the genetic component end and the environmental one begin?
I do know that I have unwittingly put myself in the path of a couple of extremely insidious bad guys in thyroidia over the past years. What bad guys? The Halogens.
I love to swim. I swam about 6 hours a week for three years of my undergrad, and about 3 to 5 hours a week while I was in grad school. That's a lot of swimming, but certainly not alarming. Lots of people swim that much. Lots and lots of people swim more than that and are just fine.
However, the University of Minnesota keeps their pools sanitary with Bromine.
I also drink municipal water which is kept sanitary with Chlorine.
I also have pretty decent teeth now from years of treatment of Fluorine.
Aaand, I've got an autoimmune disease of the Thyroid. Thyroids love and need Iodine.
Go look at a periodic table. Have a link: http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/
Look in column VIIA. Top to bottom it reads: Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine. Let's ignore Astatine for the time being, it's radiocative, and doesn't occur in nature.
So what?
Well, here we enter the realm of Halogen Displacement. I'm not very good at chemistry so we'll let Dr. Jarvis continue on from here:
"The mechanism behind "halogen displacement" was probably best described by J.C. Jarvis, M.D. (Folk Medicine, Henry Holt & Co., 1958, HB, p. 136), who wrote: "The clinical activity of any one of these four halogens is in inverse proportion to its atomic weight. This means that any one of the four can displace the element with a higher atomic weight, but cannot displace an element with a lower atomic weight. For example, flourine can displace chlorine, bromine and iodine because flourine has a lower atomic weight than the other three. Similarly, chlorine can displace bromine and iodine because they both have a higher atomic weight. Likewise, bromine can displace iodine from the body because iodine has a higher atomic weight. But a reverse order is not possible. A knowledge of this well-known chemical law brings us to a consideration of the addition of chlorine to our drinking water as a purifying agent. We secure a drinking water that is harmful to the body not because of its harmful germ content but because the chlorine content now causes the body to lose the much-needed iodine..." (http://www.altcancer.com/lugols.htm)
So why is this happening with me and not my brother? My brother is the most similar person to me on the planet - we were raised together, ate the same food, saw the same doctors, travelled to the same places until he was about 20 years old. We even lived together until I was 24. Some may cite the feminine predisposition to thyroid disease, and they might have a point there. However there are two important differences in our history.
When I was 9 and my brother was 13 we changed dentists. Our new dentist gave us fluoride treatments on our teeth. I believe that he did this until the patient was 15 or so? That means I got six treatments, and my brother got two.
When I was 20 I started swimming very regularly in bromine pools and continued that more than weekly for about six of the last 12 years.
Was this enough to damage my thyroid? Am I grasping at straws? Am I reading too much into too little? Hmmm...
As I'd hinted at in the last post, I left a message at the doctor's office for my endocrinologist. I've asked her what her goals are for my treatment. Is she aiming for a particular TSH, is she aiming for a particular level of me not complaining? Something else?
Depending on what she says, I'm going to tell her my goals. My goal is a TSH of .4 *and* complete resolution of all symptoms. This includes normal body weight. I would like her to continue increasing my dosage until I suffer the ill effects of having too much, then backing off slightly. If we don't do this, then I will always be guessing that I would feel so much better, be so much healthier at the next dose up.
Though I don't trust TSH particularly as an indicator of health, I think it's an interesting place to start. My main goal is, of course, resolution of symptoms. However, by aiming for this particular TSH we have something we can measure, and that's always interesting, and might show us patterns we wouldn't otherwise see. So far my TSH has been approximately:
August: 2.94
October: 2.31
November: 3.65 (after 8 weeks of 25 mg levothyroxine)
February: 3.54 (after 8 weeks of 37.5 mg levothyroxine)
I, as you know, haven't been good about exercising lately. Hopefully we can switch to the YMCA at the end of the month, and that will make things much easier because I won't have to block off 2 hours to work out.
However, this has been interesting. I've seen improvements in my puffiness, and my body fat ratio. My average weight has seemingly dropped a tiny bit (maybe two pounds) but my measurements have decreased in the areas where I carry my podge. The nice thing about this is that my body is healing even without Crossifitting. I'm all about separating out the variables! Interesting though it may be, I've got to get back in the gym, I miss it.
I'm going to do the CFWU tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Hammering hard to get back in the game, then a rest day, then back on the bandwagon. Harrass me if I don't do this, please.
Having gone for my blood test, I'm on another research kick. Why did I get this? Why is this so common now? This isn't about making my disease into my identity, or about crying "poor me!" and cultivating my victimhood. This is about understanding. What about this can be controlled? Where does the genetic component end and the environmental one begin?
I do know that I have unwittingly put myself in the path of a couple of extremely insidious bad guys in thyroidia over the past years. What bad guys? The Halogens.
I love to swim. I swam about 6 hours a week for three years of my undergrad, and about 3 to 5 hours a week while I was in grad school. That's a lot of swimming, but certainly not alarming. Lots of people swim that much. Lots and lots of people swim more than that and are just fine.
However, the University of Minnesota keeps their pools sanitary with Bromine.
I also drink municipal water which is kept sanitary with Chlorine.
I also have pretty decent teeth now from years of treatment of Fluorine.
Aaand, I've got an autoimmune disease of the Thyroid. Thyroids love and need Iodine.
Go look at a periodic table. Have a link: http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/
Look in column VIIA. Top to bottom it reads: Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, Astatine. Let's ignore Astatine for the time being, it's radiocative, and doesn't occur in nature.
So what?
Well, here we enter the realm of Halogen Displacement. I'm not very good at chemistry so we'll let Dr. Jarvis continue on from here:
"The mechanism behind "halogen displacement" was probably best described by J.C. Jarvis, M.D. (Folk Medicine, Henry Holt & Co., 1958, HB, p. 136), who wrote: "The clinical activity of any one of these four halogens is in inverse proportion to its atomic weight. This means that any one of the four can displace the element with a higher atomic weight, but cannot displace an element with a lower atomic weight. For example, flourine can displace chlorine, bromine and iodine because flourine has a lower atomic weight than the other three. Similarly, chlorine can displace bromine and iodine because they both have a higher atomic weight. Likewise, bromine can displace iodine from the body because iodine has a higher atomic weight. But a reverse order is not possible. A knowledge of this well-known chemical law brings us to a consideration of the addition of chlorine to our drinking water as a purifying agent. We secure a drinking water that is harmful to the body not because of its harmful germ content but because the chlorine content now causes the body to lose the much-needed iodine..." (http://www.altcancer.com/lugols.htm)
So why is this happening with me and not my brother? My brother is the most similar person to me on the planet - we were raised together, ate the same food, saw the same doctors, travelled to the same places until he was about 20 years old. We even lived together until I was 24. Some may cite the feminine predisposition to thyroid disease, and they might have a point there. However there are two important differences in our history.
When I was 9 and my brother was 13 we changed dentists. Our new dentist gave us fluoride treatments on our teeth. I believe that he did this until the patient was 15 or so? That means I got six treatments, and my brother got two.
When I was 20 I started swimming very regularly in bromine pools and continued that more than weekly for about six of the last 12 years.
Was this enough to damage my thyroid? Am I grasping at straws? Am I reading too much into too little? Hmmm...
Friday, February 08, 2008
Ladies and Gentlemen, Presenting an Appetite!
Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. It turns out that when you work for yourself, then take a month off, you're mighty busy when you do return! Am just finding myself surfacing from the huge pile of work that stacked up while I was away. Just have some normal ploddy little things left to finish up, then my filing (urgh), then getting all our tax stuff together for our accountant. Quelle thrill!
I also confess that I haven't been crossfitting. I have not lost my taste for the Kool-Aid, it's just been hard to get to the gym. Partially it's been laziness in the depth of the cold and dark Minnesota winter, partially it's been work, and partially it's been the fact that my gym, though awesome and groovy, is actually kind of a long way away. Am thinking of converting over to the local YMCA - it's under 10 minutes away.
Blah blah blah. This is all boring.
Interesting stuff? Hm, three things.
1. My measurements are down again! My weight also seems down just the tiniest bit too. Yay!
2. My fingernails are growing! This is new and strange for me. I've had to learn the fine art of the manicure. Actually, I just take an emery board to the loo with me. Multitasking. This is the resolution of a wonky thyroid symptom - weak, useless fingernails. I never had to trim them before, they just ripped, or frayed, or peeled away. What joy. Mum says my hair is growing faster now too.
3. I'm hungry multiple times per day now. This is also taking some getting used to. Previously, if I had a busy day coming up and knew I was going to miss breakfast and/or lunch, no biggie. That would just mean I'd be hungry for dinner. I usually didn't get hungry in the normal way either - I'd get moody or feel a bit ill. That's how I would know I should eat something. Now I get the entirely pleasurable sensation of growly tummy and daydreaming about food. It's so much fun! I usually have a small cup of oatmeal for breakfast, small sandwich or bowl of soup for lunch, and meat/fish and a veg for dinner. If I don't have these meals I find myself rooting around in the kitchen looking for snacks (a glass of V8 usually takes care of that quickly. Yum.). It's been an interesting balancing act. I try to eat just enough at a meal so that I'm hungry in time for the next one. However, I sometimes misjudge and find myself rooting for snacks, or skipping a meal, then rooting around for snacks. Am having a hard time with dinners though - most nights I do go to bed a bit hungry.
I have a blood test next week to see how my numbers are shaping up. When those results come in, then I think it's time for a chat with the doctor (via a nurse, certainly). Here's my plan:
Ask the doctor what her goals are for my treatment: Is she aiming for a particular TSH? Is she waiting to see when I stop complaining so much? Is she going for a gut reaction?
Depending on her reply, this is what I'd like to tell her. So far, I have felt better with each increased dose. I would like to continue to increase the dose until I feel worse (hyperthyroid). At that point, make a note, do a bloodtest, and back down the dosage a bit. I'd like to get my TSH below .4 mU/l
I've been trying to find out what the statistics are for very healthy people. Athletes who easily maintain good weight, are mentally stable, no autoimmune disorders, no hypertensions, yadda yadda. I want my numbers to match theirs, not the numbers of "normal" people when I look around and realize that I don't want to look like a "normal" person, I want to look and feel great. Thus, I'd like to try and get my blood chemistry to match that of people who look and feel great, not just a statistical middle-ground.
For some interesting reading on BMI vs TSH go here:
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/90/7/4019?ck=nck Small Differences in Thyroid Function May Be Important for Body Mass Index and the Occurrence of Obesity in the Population
Good graphic :
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/vol90/issue7/images/large/zeg0070535900001.jpeg?ck=nck
I've found a few studies that find no correlation between low BMI and low TSH, but I don't agree with how those studies chose their populations (one study that found no correlation, only had subjects that had been identified with some thyroid abnormality).
Found another good article on TSH Reference Ranges. http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm The TSH Reference Range Wars: What's "Normal?", Who is Wrong, Who is Right...
It's a very good discussion on the ranges, and how some physicians will see someone with a TSH near three (like me) and say "you're fine", but someone who is receiving treatment will have a target TSH near one. If three is fine, why not aim for three, eh?
Lovely chatting, but I've got to go. I'm hungry. :)
I also confess that I haven't been crossfitting. I have not lost my taste for the Kool-Aid, it's just been hard to get to the gym. Partially it's been laziness in the depth of the cold and dark Minnesota winter, partially it's been work, and partially it's been the fact that my gym, though awesome and groovy, is actually kind of a long way away. Am thinking of converting over to the local YMCA - it's under 10 minutes away.
Blah blah blah. This is all boring.
Interesting stuff? Hm, three things.
1. My measurements are down again! My weight also seems down just the tiniest bit too. Yay!
2. My fingernails are growing! This is new and strange for me. I've had to learn the fine art of the manicure. Actually, I just take an emery board to the loo with me. Multitasking. This is the resolution of a wonky thyroid symptom - weak, useless fingernails. I never had to trim them before, they just ripped, or frayed, or peeled away. What joy. Mum says my hair is growing faster now too.
3. I'm hungry multiple times per day now. This is also taking some getting used to. Previously, if I had a busy day coming up and knew I was going to miss breakfast and/or lunch, no biggie. That would just mean I'd be hungry for dinner. I usually didn't get hungry in the normal way either - I'd get moody or feel a bit ill. That's how I would know I should eat something. Now I get the entirely pleasurable sensation of growly tummy and daydreaming about food. It's so much fun! I usually have a small cup of oatmeal for breakfast, small sandwich or bowl of soup for lunch, and meat/fish and a veg for dinner. If I don't have these meals I find myself rooting around in the kitchen looking for snacks (a glass of V8 usually takes care of that quickly. Yum.). It's been an interesting balancing act. I try to eat just enough at a meal so that I'm hungry in time for the next one. However, I sometimes misjudge and find myself rooting for snacks, or skipping a meal, then rooting around for snacks. Am having a hard time with dinners though - most nights I do go to bed a bit hungry.
I have a blood test next week to see how my numbers are shaping up. When those results come in, then I think it's time for a chat with the doctor (via a nurse, certainly). Here's my plan:
Ask the doctor what her goals are for my treatment: Is she aiming for a particular TSH? Is she waiting to see when I stop complaining so much? Is she going for a gut reaction?
Depending on her reply, this is what I'd like to tell her. So far, I have felt better with each increased dose. I would like to continue to increase the dose until I feel worse (hyperthyroid). At that point, make a note, do a bloodtest, and back down the dosage a bit. I'd like to get my TSH below .4 mU/l
I've been trying to find out what the statistics are for very healthy people. Athletes who easily maintain good weight, are mentally stable, no autoimmune disorders, no hypertensions, yadda yadda. I want my numbers to match theirs, not the numbers of "normal" people when I look around and realize that I don't want to look like a "normal" person, I want to look and feel great. Thus, I'd like to try and get my blood chemistry to match that of people who look and feel great, not just a statistical middle-ground.
For some interesting reading on BMI vs TSH go here:
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/90/7/4019?ck=nck Small Differences in Thyroid Function May Be Important for Body Mass Index and the Occurrence of Obesity in the Population
Good graphic :
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/vol90/issue7/images/large/zeg0070535900001.jpeg?ck=nck
I've found a few studies that find no correlation between low BMI and low TSH, but I don't agree with how those studies chose their populations (one study that found no correlation, only had subjects that had been identified with some thyroid abnormality).
Found another good article on TSH Reference Ranges. http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm The TSH Reference Range Wars: What's "Normal?", Who is Wrong, Who is Right...
It's a very good discussion on the ranges, and how some physicians will see someone with a TSH near three (like me) and say "you're fine", but someone who is receiving treatment will have a target TSH near one. If three is fine, why not aim for three, eh?
Lovely chatting, but I've got to go. I'm hungry. :)
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