General Medicine

» Elaine Moore - Mixed up Help!!!!!

In response to Mixed up Help!!!!! posted by cybee:
Hi C&C,
I never advocate giving up coffee although I prefer tea. If someone is especially sensitive to caffeine and finds it raises their heart rate, they'd want to cut back.
Even with the things you should give up like refined sugar, wheat, sodas, especially diet sodas, and processed foods, it's better to cut back slowly and add more raw foods like fruits, vegetables and nuts. If you make something impossible it won't work.

The Lara Bars, by the way, are gluten free healthy snack bars that are really good. I buy the cashew one that's made from cashews and nuts, and the cherry pie one made from dark cherries. I read about them in Natural Health and find them at health food stores. Lately, my little grocery store in the mountains even carries them so the word must be out.

I'll be out of town for the weekend but I'll watch for your post regarding your doctor appt before I leave Thursday morning.

» Elaine Moore - hair loss

In response to hair loss posted by mariammc:
Hi,
After RAI I immediately had lots of problems from hypothryoidism, which I learned, is difficult to get properly treated after RAI because of misleading labs. The hypothryoidism caused joint problems, which contributed to degenerative disk disease. My pancreas also atrophied and I developed celiac disease. For about a year, I was always sick until we figured this out. I also developed TED and pretibialy myxedema. My feet grew two sizes and they were already huge and the pretibial myxedema makes my legs look scaly and swollen.

I also have thyroid nodules caused by the RAI and I'm actually far more hyperthyroid than I ever was when hypo because my levels are hard to regulate. And with the replacement hormone not reacting with the body's cells the way natural hormone does, I'm hypothyroid when I have normal levels.

I've also had lots of musculoskeletal pain that comes and goes with the osteoarthritis that I developed after becoming hypothyroid. I've also had Graves' rage with hypothyroidism, and this if fairly common. I do better with higher levels, and really my levels are higher now than when I was diagnosed with Graves' disese so my treatment has been a giant step backwards.

» Elaine Moore - Mixed up Help!!!!!

In response to Mixed up Help!!!!! posted by cowlover614:
Someone else asked about arterial embolization in this thread about a week and a half ago. You should find my response by doing a search.

Soda pop has lots of sugar or aspartame and lots of other chemicals. Regular tea and coffee have fewer chemicals than de-caffeinated products,which are usually chemically treated. Tea contains cathechins and other plant chemicals that have wonderful antioxidant and healing properties. Read my articles on chocolate and tea. Best, Elaine

» Elaine Moore - Graves' treatment??

In response to Graves' treatment?? posted by cynthia62:
Hi Cynthia,
Your chiropractor sounds excellent. Many people with Graves' disease have achieve remission using acupuncture, acupressure, and craniosacral therapies.
It really is difficult to successfully treat Graves' disease without addressing the entire body.

Dr. Christiane Northup in her excellent books on women's health made saliva testing popular. Because we don't use saliva tests in hospital laboratories, I'm partial to blood tests because they give an exact reading of the chemicals and hormones available to react with your body's cells. I've never thought of saliva having that ability.
I also had saliva tests for progesterone and estrogen once and it was very difficult for me to get an adequate sample without squeezing too much. No doubt the sample wasn't good because the levels all came out very low, which didn't match my blood levels.

But it could be that I was biased because hospital labs are in general skeptical when it comes to hair and saliva testing.

I'd ask your doctor if he thinks the results are reliable and if you could also have blood tests, especially for thyroid hormone levels. I recently read about urine FT3 tests, which sounded like a very helpful test for people who are hypothryoid.

For blood tests, I'd recommend an FT4, FT3, and TSH level to evaluate your thryoid status, and a TSI test to confirm Graves' disease and get an idea of how active your immune system is. Please post your results when you get them. And keep up the good work with your healing program. Best, Elaine

» Elaine Moore - Started Methamazole 11 Days Ago & Feeling Great :-)

In response to Started Methamazole 11 Days Ago & Feeling Great :-) posted by Phoebe_2007:
Hi Phoebe,
Several studies showed that a starting dose of 10 mg methimazole works well for most everyone. So your intuition on reducing your dose was probably right. Most people are also able to stop beta blockers once the methimazole or other ATD kicks in.
Since beta blockers can also mask symptoms, it's good to reduce them slowly if you're on a high dose, like more than 100 mg daily. Best, Elaine

» cybee - hair loss

In response to hair loss posted by daisyelaine:

Thank you Elaine, for raising the alert as to RAI! I am so sorry you had to go through all that! There was more than I realized that you had to go through as a result of RAI! (not only eye problems but other concerns). It is wonderful of you to sound the alert (by educating) of real risks that oft are not fully understood when people make these important decisions. I hope that you are not too bothered yet by these residual unpleasantness...but again thank you for your activism. Oh, what is Grave's rage? Is that an emotional aspect of it (I had not heard it expressed as such before)

-- posted by cybee

» cybee - Mixed up Help!!!!!

In response to Mixed up Help!!!!! posted by daisyelaine:

Oh, I am pleased that coffee is not too taboo (unless it raises heart rate). Good. I don't know that I could cut my coffee out. I am trying to cut other taboo items though (and it is nice to know that cutting back slowly is good). I see so much has salt in it! What is one to do! How does one know if the salt is iodized! I have to run out and get the regular salt. I used to always buy iodized salt as I thought that iodine was an important ingredient. Good grief. I see there is even salt in salad dressing! What do you advise? hmm.. I don't drink sodas anyway, so that is easy. Sugar is something I like, but I can cut back on that a lot (and know that is good for me).
OH, my Endo appointment is April 16! Shirl (Cowlover 614)'s appt was today! I wonder how it went!

-- posted by cybee

» cowlover614 - Mixed up Help!!!!!

In response to Mixed up Help!!!!! posted by cybee:

Well girl yes I went today Happy That's a BIG NO!!! I Have hashi's and graves and I'm sorta mad because the doctors before didn't take the time to listen to me! He said he thinks after 14yrs of being hypo that when they up'd my Levothroxine from 88 to 100 without doing labs I was getting to much which sent me into hyper.He said the other docs jumped the gun. I have to go to a eye specialist who deals only with graves. Said it might come down to surgery. Then it went to how I really need the RAI uptake scan. So I fired back with can't you do an ultra sound he never said anything about feeling nodules or that my thyroid was overly huge said he could feel it come up to his hand, but that an ultra sound wouldn't give him enough information! Said it's different then the other one but to me anything nuclear inside my body doesn't sound good. Told me that it is 100% safe and wouldn't make anything worse. He also took me off the ATD. I always have such bad reactions to most meds what if I have a reaction to that also! I have to go in two weeks for labs at least he is going to check FT3 And FT4. He said because of being on the ATD that they'll be off. So he really needs the scan! Their has to be another way! Got some questions for Elaine! Thank goodness about the coffee guess I'll go back to my full blown reg coffee! bump the 1/2 the caff! I do like tea also, so that's good. Bread I can get along without and I love veggies. I also love dark chocolate! It's sure been a day! And so I still sit with swollen eyes! Now all I have to do is find some answers. Shirl aka cowlover614

-- posted by cowlover614

» cowlover614 - endo

Hi Elaine Endo yesterday stopped the ATF yesterday said the other doctors jumped the gun. When they uped my dose of levothyroxine from 88 to 100mcgs. To much meds and not enough blood work. He said I have graves and hashi's. He want's the up take scan. I don't! said my thyroid didn't feel super size to him and didn't say anything about nodules. I asked him about an ultra sound instead but he said they don't give enough information. Well anything nuclear going in my body doesn't seem good to me. My problem also, is how I react to meds can you have a reaction to that stuff? Said he would do labs in two weeks and would check my FT3+4 that the scan is safe. Also said I need a graves opt for my eyes which are huge this morning and that I might need surgery. I am so Mad becuse the doctors didn't listen to me when this started, and I asked if I could be getting to much meds! I was 14 years of being ok now I'm doing hyper nightmare time. Now I'm not sure what the best options are. Any ideas? I know I have the night time sweats and fuzzy head. I've read alot about graves but not much about hashi's do they run together? Shirl[ Also he said my labs won't be on the money do to the ATD's.]

-- posted by cowlover614

» cowlover614 - omega

It's me again isn't their anything diet wise I can do I heard about omega eggs that have helped with the eyes. Does omega have iodine in it? Is that fish oil also I heard about flaxseed? Not sure whay that does! Thanks cowlover614

-- posted by cowlover614