DNA?

 So I have learned that there is often a marker in our genes for Hashimoto’s.

Where was mine?

Because I’ve been living with my parents for the past two years, I’ve learned a few things from my sister that I never knew before.

Like my dad commenting to her once when he saw her sprouting wheat that his mother used to sprout wheat and she tried many other different, holistic ways to improve her health through nutrition. His mother went blind after his birth because of hypertension. Her nurse sister-in-law came to visit once and saw how sick she was and told my grandfather to rush her to the hospital. She had to have the baby (my dad) that day!

My dad was born at 7 months. In 1931. He’s a survivor because the technology did not exist to save him at such an early gestational age! But Grandma went blind for three years due to cataracts. They finally were blue to correct them enough for her to see through coke bottle thick glasses, and she was grateful although embarrassed because they distorted her face my magnifying her eyes.

Grandma died at age 56 because of cirrhosis of the liver. She was being treated for sugar diabetes, and she had never drunk a drop of liquor in her life. Now we know there are other reasons besides alcoholism causing that disease, but then they hushed up the cause because they knew liquor could not have caused it.

Another cause is Hashimoto’s Disease.

They had not discovered that Hashimoto’s existed back in the 1950s.

My diagnosis came at age 58.

Was I living on borrowed time? 

Hashimoto’s!? Oh my!

 Between April 2021 and today, I was diagnosed with several autoimmune disorders including Hashimoto’s Disease, high-ish blood sugar levels (under pressure-diabetes but probably always at the higher level so a risk of diabetes), high cholesterol, low blood pressure, and osteoporosis and osteopenia. The Hashimoto’s can explain all of the above. My family nurse practitioner prescribed a low carb, no grains, nuts, seeds, sugar, dairy, nightshades, and high levels of organic beef and meat diet. I think I caught all of that! 

After some research, I started the AIP protocol, or Autoimmune Paleo diet, a couple of weeks before Christmas. Yup, I skipped the sugared goodies (mostly).  I’ve actually loved it although it’s expensive. The organic part of the meat stopped because my budget bloomed with the increase in meats. You do the best you can and pray that it will be enough.  Oh, and tons of supplements, adding in methylated B12 and folate, B6, B2, biotin, lysosomal vitamin C, zinc, Benfotiamine with Thiamine, D3, calcium, strontium among others. Oh, yes, I also started taking all the hormonal replacements including NP Thyroid, and bio-identical estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

A few months later, and this was a game changer, my niece started going to an acupuncturist who also practiced NAET and Chinese herbal medicine. She saw him for NAET, which stands for Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique. Its basis is that many illnesses actually stem from allergies.  NAET uses knowledge from many fields such as Western medicine (mostly for why it works), acupuncture, chiropractic in creating something that actually desensitizes patients to those substances that are causing allergies. When you have an allergy to a substance, your body blocks it.

So basically you don’t get the nutrients you need from either supplements or food.

Boo, hiss.

The NAET practitioner muscle tests you for each thing individually and then clears you for the item that comes up as a problem. One. At. A. Time. For something like Hashimoto’s, it will take awhile! It isn’t covered by insurance yet, but I think it will save me THOUSANDS of dollars over the long haul. 

My only symptom for Hashimoto’s? Extreme fatigue with crippling insomnia. For a time, I even slept in a spare bedroom so I wouldn’t disturb my husband and so I could sleep WHENEVER I could!

You got it. I ran on cortisol for YEARS!

Ten years before, I finally went to the doctor to try to understand why I couldn’t sleep or shake the fatigue even when I could! 

I remember they told me my thyroid numbers were normal for my age. I was around 49. Perhaps a little high but nothing to worry about.

They didn’t test for autoimmune conditions.

In 2019, another doctor in another state diagnosed the osteoporosis/osteopenia. And we found out I’m allergic to Fosamax. To the extreme. Lockjaw. Thankfully the two times I took it, I woke up at night in discomfort and realized I couldn’t open my mouth so I forced it open—talk about extreme willpower!—downed a couple of teaspoons of Natural Calm ionized magnesium immediately. I never took it again instead opting for a supplement called Algae Cal.

Fast forward two years later to January 2022 to the knowledgeable nurse practitioner in another state and another DEXA scan. No improvement.

Any surprise when I tested allergic to calcium in NAET?

Magnesium was fine, but not calcium!

Long stories usually go longer but I’ll shorten it now. 

I’m still basically on AIP, at least when I want to avoid migraines and lousy sleep, but we’re slowly working through the allergies.

I’ve cleared calcium, B vitamins (yup, I was allergic to those too), my own thyroid gland and adrenals, serotonin (no wonder my sleep quality was so bad), calcium, to name a few biggies. 

Now we’re working through grains and gluten. Hello to some really tough ones! I’ll talk about where I’m at next time.