Holy Smoke--Nearly Two Months It's Been

Damn, it's hot in Texas in the Summer!!!

Such revelations might make one think I did not spend most of my formulative years here. I did. Truth is, I have always hated the heat. Always always. I'm fair skinned, which doesn't make the sun my friend in the best of circumstances. When the sun gets together with heat, forget it.

What happened was, I spent five summers in LA. SoCal has much to complain about. It does much wrong. Its values can be skewed. But one thing it does beautifully is Summertime. One actually has to wear sweaters and wraps there in the Summertime due to nightly chills that the ocean must generate. It's heaven.

What is this, a weather report you say? No, but put simply, I'm finding life adjusting to the Texas heat a bit overwhelming. Hence, no blogs.

I was also overwhelmed because the Iodoral I was taking apparently made the nodule on my right side grow. So said the ultra-sound. But believe it or not, sonnagraphy is an exact-yet-non-exact science. So we don't really know.

Then came the roughly 4000th needle biopsy. In case you are wondering, never ever ever ever get Lidocaine injected into your throat. Hurts worst than the needle biopsy. Opt instead for the the topical version.

Needle biopsy came back frustratingly normal. I almost wished for cancer at this point.

This I realize sounds horrible but I've been at this rodeo since 1991 and it's the same cycle: ultra-sound it, biopsy, repeat. At least with cancer, that'd go away, cos the gland would be removed.

Oh and let's not forget my symptoms are still in the hypothyroid range, including 21 days of sub-optimal basal temperature.

After giving up numerous times, I decided on a new tact. I decided I'd be taking too much Iodoral. So I'm going to reduce that to 6mg and take the rest of my Armor Thyroid. Then I'm going to go to the Tahoma Clinic, Dr. Jonathan Wright's clinic. Wright is a pioneer in the field of natural medicine.

With a little luck and some cooler weather, life will decidely improve.

Think to your health,

Marie

NutrEval is Rocking My World

Howdy Health Seekers--

As I told you in my last post, I recently got my NutrEval test results back from a Genova Diagostics. As defined on Genova's website, NutrEval is:

"...a comprehensive nutritional evaluation to identify specific imbalances of vitamins, nutrients, and essential co-factors. This profile also provides assessment of gastrointestinal dysfunction and detoxification impairment."

It's a motherlode in terms of everything it tests. And what a test it is! You have do a lot of the administration yourself. First, you have to have a doctor--likely an ND--to order the test for you. Then, you have to collect your own urine--always fun--freeze and transport it to a lab that will draw...drumroll please...5 vials (not a typo) of your very own blood and then send it off via Fedex to Genova for you.

I hate to see that much of my own blood outside of my body, but it's for a great cause.

In terms of cost, it is part of what's called a PayAssured program whereby you pay a sizeable co-pay--$149 to be exact--and Genova will bill the rest to your insurance. The "street" value of the test is retailed around $1200. Genova bets that your insurance will pay the difference, but if it doesn't, my understanding is Genova eats whatever the insurance won't pay.

NOTE: There are insurance companies that aren't part of the PayAssured program. I don't know them, but you can contact Genova directly and they will tell you.

It took about 3 weeks to get my test back but it had so much great info. What was great about it is that it confirmed what I had already intuited was up with my body. Particularly that I'm having difficulty with methylation in my body. This is a process by which sulfur and methyl groups are brought into my body. Methylation is critical for myriad processes, including: metabolism and detox. These are only minorly important for any self-respecting woman trying to keep her girlish figure.

The report also gives detailed commentary about any deficiencies and gives you exact amounts of vitamins you can take to correct the deficiencies!! Very exciting. So I got those and now I'm going to take them for a few months and see what happens.

Here's the link to the NutrEval test on Genova's website.

http://www.genovadiagnostics.com/index.php?option=com_gpanel&Itemid=2&task=view&nav=test&id=42

Take a look and see if it can work for you.

Many thanks again to my fabulous ND, Dr. Amy Tyler. http://www.amytylernd.com/. She is an encyclopedia of knowledge and a font of compassion.

I'll give you updates as they come along. Until then...

Think to your health,

Marie

Just Finished a 21-Day Cleanse!

Howdy Etherworld--

For those of you who know me, you probably know I've been doing Standard Process' 3-week Purification Cleanse,which has presented a host of ups and downs, which is why I've been out of pocket in terms of posting. But it's been worth it in terms of mental clarity, me thinks.

It is a rather rigid yet still doable cleanse that goes thusly:

All foods mentioned are to be preferably organic.

Days 1-10 - Eat NO animal protein, only veggies and a cup of lentils and 1/2 cup of brown/wild rice. You can also eat fruit but you have to eat twice as many veggies as fruits. You can have sweet potatos, avocados, and bananas, but not if you are trying to lose weight and frankly, most people I know are, so that's kinda a bummer.

Days 11-21--Continue eating the above but you can add fish and chicken.

You can have good oils, including butter and coconut oil, but only 4-7 TEAspoons/day.

Take supplements to cleanse the liver, kidneys and to alkalize the body. Also, you take alot of fiber pills and 1-5 shakes with protein powder and vitamins.

No alcohol.

It has been a mostly good experience except for bloating and grumpiness. Grumpiness due to fact that despite its myriad cons, animal protein does provide all the essential amino acids that form the building blocks for neurotransmitters. It is possible to get these from non animal protein, it's just a lot harder. If any of you know how to do this successfully, please email me.

But it's been good. I won't lie: my compliance to the cleanse was around 60%, but just with that, my tastebuds have been reset so I'm not craving sugar and the like. This is very good and reason enought to recommend the cleanse. If I'd adhered more strictly, I would likely have lost weight. I think I lost some, but I'm afraid it may be muscle weight b/c I didn't lift weights during the cleanse.

If you don't do this one, it's recommended that you cleanse your liver twice a year.

Stay tuned: the next post is going to be a great one--I got the results back from the NutrEval test, which assesses vitamin levels and deficiencies and much much more. It's truly awesome in terms of its scope.

Until then...

Think to your health,

Marie

Small Tips to Feel A lot Better

Howdy All--

I've found the following little tips to help me feel better and improve my journey on the road to health. I make speculations as to why they work, but ultimately, I don't care because they do work for me. So give them a try and see if they work for you, too. They are:

• Pumice your feet with sesame oil.
• Rub the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue.
• Always take a shower even after the smallest workout.

1. Grab a pumice and some sesame oil and get to scrubbing your feet. Not the dream job you've been looking for, but effective nonetheless.

To give context, I've heard the following regarding wherefore you could have rough feet:

• You have a fungus that's compounded by spores in your shoes and socks. (ew!)
• You have a predilection towards dry skin.
• You have toxins that your body is excreting through your skin.

In my case, I think it's the toxin excretion scenario but, regardless of the why, I have noticed that by pumicing my feet throughly with sesame oil has a therapeutic effect on my entire body, including increased detoxification and increased energy. Your feet also feel great. I recommend doing it before bedtime cos it just feels so good, makes you feel clean, which for me, improves sleep.

2. Take the tip of your tongue and rub it on the roof of your mouth.

This invokes yawning for me, sometimes almost immediately. After a period of yawning, I always feel more awake.

I've read roughly a ka-billion reasons about why we yawn, many of which are very interesting. The best one I've read recently is that yawning cools the brain and the brain works better when it's cool. Here are some good sites on that:

http://www.infoniac.com/science/yawning-saves-your-brain-from-overheating.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621161826.htm

http://www.thedailyheadache.com/2007/07/yawn-brain-cool.html

http://unlikely-perfection.co.uk/2009/04/20/why-do-we-yawn/

A cool brain also seems to lend itself to feeling more awake. As to why the tip of tongue works on the roof of mouth, my theory is that is stimulates the hypothalmus gland somehow to yawn. I think this may also be why chanting OM can have a similar effect.

Yawning also can cause my eyes to tear up, so I don't look that great for a little while, but it's worth it.

So yawn away, but note: it's contagious, which has it's own evolutionary reasons, which are also fascinating.

3. Take a shower immediately after even a small workout.

This may be a big "duh" for many of you, but it didn't occur to me to do it after moderate workouts. It's because the skin, as our largest organ and a key one in elimination, can reabsorb the toxins it has excreted if you don't wash them off quickly. This, coupled with the fact that exercise can release free radicals, can lead to a major soup of toxins circulating in your blood, which leads to feeling like crapola and cause you to go, "hey, why exercise?"

So I scrub them off furiously now without delay. I don't use soap, which can have chemicals and drying agents, but I do scrub.

An adjunct to this is that you can take 1-3 grams of Vitamin C after workout to help neutralize free radicals.

These are my tips. Best of luck to everyone and please, let me know what you think!!

Thinking to health,

Marie

While you are pursuing health, don't forget to add some pleasure

Hi Fellow Health Seekers---

So I've been doing so much research on health, pursuing this and that and I noticed I started feeling less that great. I think that when you focus too long on finding something wrong, you forget everything that's right about yourself. And for most of us, especially the ladies, we need to know how right everything is.

So I started finding small ways to give myself fun--I put on my Ipod and danced around my living room and stared at myself in the mirror for a while. So go outside, get a massage, rub lotion on your skin and go out with your girlfriends. Or make a date with your man and have your own pleasure party. Above everything else, make sure you have fun everyday. Make it an absolute priority. Make it the journey, not the destination.

That's cos fun and pleasure are the best nutrition you can have. I find the more pleasure I have, the less I eat and the better I feel. I feel sated and not bloated from overeating.

I've been reading two great books on fun and pleasure by Regena Thomashauer. They are called Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts and Mama Gena's Owner's and Operator's Guide to Men. Highly recommend them both.

So take your supplements, eat well, but do something fun and pleasurable to you daily. It's crucial and part of how you...

Think to your health,

Very best,

Marie

Vitamin D Triumph, Mitochondria Renewal, and Pleasure

Heya--


Great news: my Vitamin D levels are way up! It's so great to have proof that supplements work. I went from a level of 23 NG/ML to a level of 49 NG/ML. The optimal level is between 50-60, so I am almost there!

I was supplementing at 6000 IU daily with Biotics Forte D Emulsion (purchase it below or get it from your doctor)

http://www.easyhealthzone.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C279F&click=2

Now I'm at 4000 IU every other day and still trying to get sunshine, but it's getting way hot here in Austin, so will have to see how that goes.

In really exciting news, I just read a pamphelet called The Secret Life of Mitochondria, which outlines a program for generating a new mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cells. Mitochondria are essential for energy maintenance, reduced adiposity and anti-aging. Here's a pdf version of the report.

http://www.xymogen.com/2008/xymo_mitobook.pdf

Xymogen is the name of the company that published this report. They also offer something called a Mitochondria Renewal Kit, which I want to try. It is costly at $150, but I've heard that it works great. I'll report back.

Beyond vitamins is the all important world of pleasure. Make sure to take your vitamins but also have a very strong daily dose of pleasure, whatever that is to you (and yes, orgasms or recommended).

Stay tuned for the next post: I get the results back from my very comprehensive vitamin and mineral screen.

Remember: think to your health!

All my best,

Marie

Bromide Blues

Ugggh---


Whatever bromide is made up of, it's nassssteeeee. How do I know this? Because I'm in the throes of bromide detox, which sometimes happens when you start Iodine supplementation. Highlights include:

• Deep dark thoughts. Yesterday, I thought I wanted to give my dog back to the pound. For anyone who knows me, this is unthinkable cos I really love my dog.


• Creepy crawling feelings in my legs--like what I'd imagine restless leg syndrome might be.


• Ti-ti-ti-tiredness. Want to sleep much of the day.


• Strange, random pains like someone knifing me FROM THE INSIDE.

These are all in keeping with symptoms of bromide detox. Here's a list of them and some ideas for helping the symptoms:

http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/bromidedetoxsymptomsandstrategies.html

Note: this is a breast cancer site because iodine supplementation is indicated for breast cancer and fibrocystic disease.

Here's a great site explaining the need for iodine supplementation:

http://jeffreydach.com/2007/05/05/jeffreydachdrdachiodine.aspx

The symptoms are waning and I'm looking forward to being detoxed from bromide--as well as flouride and mercury asap.

Will keep you posted. In the meantime....

Think to your health.

Marie

PS I'd love to hear from fellow health trekkies. Email me.

Whoa Whoa Whoa: Slow down Iodoral

Howdy My Fellow Health Seekers---

Update: so it appears that I have a sizeable iodine deficiency, which is the likely culprit for a host of health-related issues including a multi-nodular goiter, wonky metabolism, and fatigue.

The Good News: I started taking Iodoral and feel very positive that iodine supplementation is going to help cure my multi-nodular goiter, increase my thyroid function and help with overall health.

So why, then, do I feel like ca-ca doo doo?

Ahh, the glories of detox. Bromide detox, to be exact. Turns out that iodine helps the body to flush out flouride, bromide and mercury, which is great news in the long run but not so great at the beginning.

You might be asking yourself: does this spell the end of her iodine supplmentation? Heck no, I'm just going to follow the guidelines below when taking Iodoral. They are from the http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/ webite, which is a wealth of information on iodine supplementation for both the thyroid and the breasts.

Bromide Detox in Iodine Users
Some people supplementing iodine have reported symptoms consistent with "bromism" or bromide detox as catalogued by the Department of Defense's Rand Corporation Report on the Gulf War as well as published dermatology , toxicology and psychiatry literature.

Where does all this detoxed bromide coming out our tissues come from? Please look at the evidence of the increasing bromide dominance condition in our environment and products.

Because iodine was not supplemented much before the last three years, few physicians have had a chance to look closely at the occasional symptoms which arise from iodine supplementation (still called "iodism") and raise questions.

Might the historical observation of iodism be due principally to massive amounts of stored bromine leaving the tissues and entering the bloodstream? Is it possible the apparent adverse effects of iodine are due almost exclusively due to bromide excretion, and not enough iodine-alone effects can be documented to qualify as an "ism" ?

Might the iodism phenomenon be more appropriately called "bromism"?**

For those using iodine therapeutically, these symptoms are NOT common, are usually TRANSIENT in nature and are easily usually remedied by a salt loading procedure, variations of which have been used for many years. One of the principal therapeutic actions of iodine is the removal of toxic bromide from the body, so bromide detox is necessary. The objective of orthoidiosupplementation is to promote detox while at the same time keeping symptoms at a tolerable level.

Many of the Breast Cancer Choices' Iodine Investigation Project registrants also found the following suggestions helpful if bromide detox symptoms were not tolerable.

Consult your doctor before implementing the strategies below:

Bromide Detox Strategies
1. Salt Loading.
2. Stopping iodine for 48 hours to rest the kidneys.
3. Reducing the iodine dose temporarily, then working back up.
4. Taking several grams vitamin C spread out throughout the day along with the Ioding Companion Nutrients (see website for these).
5. Drinking more water.
6. Pulse-dosing (stopping and restarting iodine therapy.)
7. According to Iodine users with skin symptoms, adding 25 mg zinc often helps.

Iodine-related bromide symptoms may include but are not be limited to:
eye lid twitching
foot twitching
tingling in hands or feet
dark thoughts (e.g., there is no reason to live)
depression (e.g., there is no reason to get out of bed)
anxiety
emotionality
mouth and tongue sores and cuts or "sore mouth"
"different" acne,"bromide acne," "acne-like eruptions" without "coniform." (Some iodine users found zinc helps bromide acne.)skin "cuts"
hair loss
brain fogleg

ETC. For more symptoms and references, check out the website.

Here's the downlow on Salt Loading:

William Shevin, MD, uses a specific protocol to clear bromide detox symptoms if they occur while taking iodine. Dr Shevin presented his Salt Loading Protocol at the February '07 Iodine conference:

1. 1/4 teaspoon salt in 1/2 cup warm water followed immediately with 12-16 oz water.
2. Repeat in 30-45 minutes X 2 until copious urination begins.
3. Observe subjective response (usually within several hours).

Be sure to ask your doctor before implementing this or any medical strategy.

I've tried this today: I halved my Iodoral dose and did the salt loading. I'm having good results so far and will keep you posted.

Very best and remember: think to your health.

Marie

P.S.
Here's a great post I found when I Googled "iodine heavy metals"

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=68229.0;wap2

Getting Closer to Solving my Thyroid Issue

Greetings Fellow Health Seeker--

I got my 24-hour iodine test results back from Amy Tyler, the wonderful naturopath doctor I've been working with, and they revealed that it looks likely that I have an iodine deficiency.

Note: I have validated this test with my MD.

For those of you who don't know, this test involves you, approximately 50mgs of iodine and a lot of urinating. It goes thusly :

1. Wake up and urinate into a cup.
2. Pour some urine from cup into a vial.
3. Label vial "Pre".
4. Stick vial into fridge.
5. Take 50 mgs of iodine.
6. Collect urine for the next 24 hours in a nifty bucket provided for you.
7. Refrigerate bucket.
8. Endure sighs from boyfriend when he sees pee bucket in fridge.
9. At end of 24 hours, shake bucket.
10. Put more urine into another vial and label it...you guessed it: "Post".
11. Mail to lab.

Nice way to spend 24 hours, right? Worth it though.

The logic of the test goes that if you have enough iodine, your body will excrete the majority of the iodine. The ideal secretion is 90%. If it holds on to more iodine, it means your body needs iodine. Lack of sufficient iodine could certainly be problematic for the thyroid (and the breasts).

I found a great website on iodine supplementation for both thyroid and breast health.

http://jeffreydach.com/2007/05/05/jeffreydachdrdachiodine.aspx

It recommends iodine supplementation of 12.5 mg/day, over 100 times the RDA amount. Apparently, toxicity levels for iodine are around 100,000 times the RDA.

You can get this in a supplement form called Iodoral, which is an unfortunate name, but which was created by Dr. Guy Abraham, a former professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA. I'm going to give that a try.

I'll keep you posted.

Think to your health,

Marie

Excuse please, but what the heck and hades is a multi-nodular Goiter?

Quite a mouthful there, isn't it? What is it? It means that you got nodes on your thyroid gland. Lovely. I don't like the thought of random nodes on or in or even near my body. Feels unsettling. But in my body they are.

I was first diagnosed with this in 1991. Plural biopsies and ultrasounds and more-than-plural vein pricks later, I still have the darn things. Recently, on a visit to the endocrinologist, the very grumpy Eastern European-born doctor, whom I'll call Dr. S, felt my neck. Within nanoseconds, here's what ensued:

Dr. S
Ju have a multi-nodular goiter with de larger node on de left side. I recommend ju hev jure thyroid remov-ed immediately.

Me
What the...you can tell this from just feeling my neck for two seconds?

Dr. S
Yes, that and jure markers...

Me
Markers?

Dr. S (sighing impatiently, writing quickly)
Jure cancere markers are elevated.

Me (sotto voce)
Eek!

Dr. S
Here's a referral to the best thyroid surgeon in town, Dr. R. He will remove it for you.

M
How kind of him.

Dr. S
Dis is serious.

M
Oh I know.

Yay! As little as I enjoy having nodes in my body, having my glands removed excites me even less. So I got two second opinions and both told me NOT to have my gland removed. So there, Eastern Europe.

But those pesky nodes still remain. I called the naturopath that I'm working with, Amy Tyler at People's Pharmacy in Austin. I call her so often, I wonder if she's ready to call me a stalker. Regardless, she still sees me. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

She ordered me a test to show my iodine uptake. This involved alot of urination. And urination collection. Again, lovely. What you do is collect the morning's first urine. Then you take a dose of approximately 50mg of Iodine. Then you collect your urine for the next 24 hours. How, how is this possible, you ask. Well, the company who offers the test even gives you a lovely orange bucket to collect it. And you get to store it in your refrigerator to keep it "fresh." This prompts your boyfriend to say:

Bryan (opening the refridgerator door)
Is this your pee here in our refrigerator?

Me
Why yes.

Bryan
Uh....

Much verbal scrambling occurs. He walks away grumbling and shaking his head. Who can blame him really.

When the 24 hours is up, you shake the bucket ferociously and pour it into another vial. Fedex very kindly comes and picks it up for you, after you put it in the near-hermitically sealed SPECIMEN bag. I recommend scrubbing the fridge as well.

If the test comes back and my thyroid isn't getting enough iodine, this could be an underlying cause for the goiter. Then I get to take a pharmaceutical dose of iodine. But it might just help and it's much better than yet another needle in my body.

I have a strong feeling that doctor's have known about this inexpensive test for sometime but instead of recommending it, they opted to prescribe endless rounds of blood tests, biopsies, possible surgery, oh and one time, radiation. Why? All I can think of it money--and that possibly the medical industrial complex (sounds very Vietnam) makes most of its money perpetuating disease, not promoting health. Just my opinion though.

Will keep you posted.

Happy Health,

Marie

Welcome to my Blog: Outline for Health

Greetings from trying-to-be-healthy-Land.

This is my first entry for what I hope will expand into a website about health.

I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist (although I'm looking into it). I am a somewhat-normal (don't ask my family to vouch for that) person who wants to maximize my health. I've tried all different sorts of vitamins/minerals and done re-donkulous amounts of research on eating plans, vitamins and various health gadgets and spent roughly a ka-billion dollars on health books and vitamins.

My goal here is to help you streamline your path to health and wellness and make it affordable and simple.

I have a confession to make: I am a woman. Thusly, many of the issues I focus on (e.g. hormones, metabolism, fatigue) pertain to women. But there are universal nuggets in here that can help men, too.

I'll make product suggestions on some of the products I've tried and how they worked for me. I'll write passages about the research I'm doing.

I'm going to dedicate much of the blog to the ten steps below that I think have been crucial to restoring my health. I'm estimating the overall investment for tests, vitamins, and equipment is around $2000 for the steps, which is a minimal investment. Check with your insurance company because they might pay for some of the tests. But be willing to spend your own money if necessary--it's worth it.

So, following is a 10-step protocol that is simple and reasonably affordable. It isn't the cheapest way to live but it is an investment that pays off tremendously:

1. De-stress. Crucial to any path to wellness.
2. Eat mostly organic and eat well.
3. Retrofit your home to make it a healthy environment to live in.
4. Get your thyroid, other hormones, neurotransmitter, and vitamin levels checked.
5. Supplement any deficiencies.
6. Test for parasites, yeast and bacteria, and food allergies.
7. Perform kill-off protocols as necessary and stop eating allergy-causing foods .
8. Check for heavy metals poisoning.
9. Perform chelation if necessary.
10. Detoxify your organs. This includes your intestines and your liver. At least once a year, do a liver cleanse.

So there you have it. Many thanks for your time.

Use your brain and gut to think to your health!!

Marie