So I’ve been doing acupuncture and While I always feel great directly afterwards, I’m not sure that it’s having any major affect on me. But it has only been like 4 sessions so far and maybe it just takes time. I’ve never been a patient person. I really just want to be able to live my life without back pain. I’m so tired of dealing with it all the time. I want to be able to do things like walk through a store.

I’m already planning My Thanksgiving dinner. This year we’re actually doing it the day after Thanksgiving because we both have to work the day before and we need a day to prep, so we settled on having dinner on the 25th.  I’m going full traditional for the Thanksgiving…Turkey and all the usual sides. However I think we’re going to do something completely different for Christmas. We may do something Mexican, We haven’t quite decided yet.

So I just got back from my doctors office and the visit went well, we discussed the current state of my Graves Disease. My TSH levels are normal, but I’m still having

Well I spent last night adding another bill to our long list of medical bills we can’t pay by paying a visit to the emergency room. Lately My legs have been itching a lot due to dry skin, well it turns out that I have what they call Cellulitis It’s a bacterial skin infection. Cellutitis is pretty common and they gave me some antibiotics to treat it. But I really had to wonder about the doctor. Actually he was a Physicians assistant whatever that means, he wanted to keep me overnight for my heart arrhythmia that my cardiologist told me I would probably have for the rest of my life. Well I already hate hospitals, and I have no medical insurance to speak of since Mark got laid off . The state told us we make to much money for me to get medical assistance of any kind. So I told that doctor that I was leaving, and not staying. So they gave me the antibiotics and I left AMA (against medical advice). So here I am. My legs look better already, aside from the itching, I’m applying cortaid, but it still itches, and I’m doing my best to ignore it.

One the hardest things about graves disease is the emotional aspect of it. It’s hard not only on me but on my family as well who have to be asked to deal with mood swings, a quick temper, and tears. Since coming off my meds I’ve been suffering with bouts of anxiety & rage (also known as graves rage). I try very very hard not direct this at my family members but it can be difficult as sometimes the smallest things seem to set me off. Bless them for trying so hard. It can sometimes be very hard to calm down but I do find that frankincense tends to help. But I’m also open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas On how to help with my anxiety and mood swings.

Not feeling satisfied with my current line of treatment from my doctor, I have spent countless hours of reading and research about My Graves disease. I have been very unsatisfied with my current line of treatment, and my endocrinologists insistence that the only way to fix my thyroid dysfunction was to have radioactive iodine treatment. This particular line of treatment would basically kill my thyroid, leaving me on medication for the rest of my life and instead of being hyperthyroid I would then be hypothyroid, with no chance of remission. As it stands right now most modern medical doctors insist on only treating one symptom of Graves disease(read thyroid), instead of treating the disease itself.

After all the research and reading I’ve come to the conclusion that something in my own lifestyle has caused this graves disease. I wasn’t taught the healthiest of eating & lifestyle habits growing up and I’m sure that it’s a combination of a few bad habits I’ve acquired over the years (smoking, terrible mountain dew addiction, high salt diet..to name a few).

So I decided to look into alternative treatments to my disease. I found a nearby Naturopathic doctor, who is covered under my current insurance, and treats thyroid disease & dysfunction. I called them up and made an appointment for the 5th of June, also I decided to take myself off my current dosage of Methimazole(Thyroid Medication), while continuing to take my Metoprolol(Heart Medication). In the meantime I have cut salt out at the table. I still cook with it, but I don’t add anything extra. Also I’ve begun eating better and have switched from drinking loads of Mountain Dew to drinking more juices and more water.

Well It’s been four days since I’ve taken any Methimazole and so far I feel fine . Please note That I made this decision after doing much reading and research on graves disease., and this approach is a personal decision I have made for me though it may not be right for everyone, as everyone’s body reacts differently to different situations. I’ll keep updated on how I’m feeling and post back regularly.

So one Painful MRI, and several Doctors visits later, I Now I know exactly what I already assumed the issue with my back to be. Money in the pockets of the doctors all so they can tell me what I already Knew(insert frustrated sigh here).

Well for those who don’t know I suffer with grave’s disease, it’s an auto immune disorder, which I’ve been fighting for a couple of years now, This particular disorder runs in my family my mother has it, and my grandmother had it as well. I have had it for a little over a year and didn’t know it because we had no insurance, so I My condition rapidly deteriorated due to lack of treatment. As of right now I can’t walk very well due to pain in my back, caused by a combination of severe muscle deterioration and The weight which I too rapidly gained once they began treating my condition. The Orthopedic doctor told me today I have what’s called Lumbar strain, and swelling in and around my lower spine. So Thursday I’m to go in and get epidural steroid shots then I’m to start Physical therapy.

I don’t intend on being overweight forever, and before this disease I wasn’t. I’m far too young at 33 to feel like this and damn it I want to be able to run and walk again. So I’ve set up some goals for myself

1. Quit Smoking (This is the hardest to be sure because to be honest I don’t want to quit I really enjoy smoking but I know I need to quit so I’m going to)
2. Start & Continue with Physical Therapy
3. A complete re-hash of my diet, learning to eat better is just a good idea all the way around

Not many goals at the moment but that’s ok you have to start small in my opinion.

For some reason I had a hell of a time getting comfortable and falling asleep last night. It sucked. I ended up getting up for a bit a posting On the Ubuntu forums for a while, just sort of sifting through some of the endless posts on there. I’m supposed to be going to the doctors today, but wouldn’t you know it they called and apparently the doctor is in an unscheduled surgery and has had to reschedule all his appointments for today, so now I won’t be seeing him until the 4th of may. Anyway I’m still trying to wake up (Yawn)…hope everyone else is having a great day!

I don’t know if it’s the Prednisone the doctor had me on or If I just picked up some cold, but I have a horrible headache and my throat is killing me. Just to be on the safe side I stopped the prednisone, he said if I was having any side effects to just not take it. But my gods if I didn’t know any better I would swear it’s the flu…..

So this week I’ve been trying hard to keep motivated about changing my diet and getting exercise to get on my feet again. It may not seem like much, but walking from the back door of my house to the front door is quite a feat for me right now, but I’m making a point to do it everyday. Also I’m trying hard to change my diet around. On the last grocery trip to the store I bought more fruits and veggie’s, and pretty much no microwavable stuff. What can I say it’s a start…wish me luck!

So The eye doctor said my eye’s are fine he gave me some eye drops and said if my vision starts to blur to use them he thinks it might just be dry eye’s. The endocrinolgist thinks differntly though. He had me do an E.K.G. and it turns out my atrial fibrillation is coming back (thanks to my thyroid) so he prescribed some heart medicine, and wants me to see a cardiologist just to make sure that there isn’t any long term damage to my heart. He’s said we need to just dissolve my thyroid and get rid of it. Which is is the same thing they did with my mom, so chances are that’s what we’ll do. I do have good news though turns out my muscle weakness and weight-gain we’re all caused by my thyroid meds causing my thyroid hormone’s to be to low, so now that we’re getting that straightened out I should back on the road to recovery soon, that means soon I should be walking better and feeling better and able to be more active once again! This morning the endocrinologist office called and told me I need to take my thyroid meds again only this time I’ll only be taking one pill a day instead of two. I’m about ready to say hey let’s just get rid of the damn thing and get it over with I’m so sick of doctors appointements and being poked and prodded all the time.