10 weeks today

It's been 10 weeks now - I would love to say that I have lost the weight I wanted.....but not as yet. Today I was only down 0.1kgs in other words "nothing". I was a little disapointed - my measurements were down but that had gone up a little at the last weigh-in (don't know why). So my scales were at 71.6kgs when I first started and now my scales say 66.8kgs so that's almost 4kgs on my scales. I really expected to be down a little more but the past couple of weeks things seemed to have slowed. I asked at the clinic today whether I should pick up the exercise but 3 sessions are week are supposedly adequate - obviously they don't say NO but he didn't say get out there and go for it and you'll lose more weight!. I think I will anyway - maybe just a walk on the days I don't go to the clinic - it can't hurt. Still sticking to diet - been a little slack with vitamins but intend to rectify that today. All else is good .....still think I am much better off on this diet (program) than not - if I had of kept gaining at the rate I was I could have been another stone heavier by now. My amalgam removal is booked for September. Three appointments over a couple of weeks - something to look forward too....

Well I feel better today after a workout at the clinic - I mentioned I have been a little "off track" this week (did not give too many details) and have been sent home with instructions to do what is called a C Flush - you take Vitamin C powder (teaspoon) 1000mg per tsp (I already take this twice a day) every 15mins (in a glass of water) until you start running to the toilet - this will flush out toxins and most will be expelled then I take activated charcoal also in water which will bind all the excess toxins and they can also be expelled before your cells re-absorb them....wow wish me luck!. Then I have to prepare a "Mucosa Rebuilder" potion - which is made up of Butter (full fat) & coconut oil & healthy fibre plus (a fibre powder probably like metamucil but chunkier) water then blended together and kept in the fridge - each day I have to take a spoonful - it lasts about 3 weeks. (If anyone is interested in this receipe please email me and I will check the sheet I may have forgotten an ingredient). This apparently rebuilds the healthy bacteria in the gut apparently essential for people with "Leaky Gut Syndrome" but I am assuming is important for everyone- I have found a site with some info but admit have not read it thoroughly ....yet- it is http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/leaky-gut-and-native-nutrition. As usual I will do as I am told......I'll start tomorrow - One thing Grave's has done for me is opened my eyes to a whole new world of Health which I would never have delved into before - there is a reason for everything in this life. There is so many people out there worse off than me - this disease is a fairly"easy one" in comparison to what some people go through - I am thankful for that and hope that all the information that I share might help somebody out there..........

OFF THE RAILS

My husband cooked a great dinner on Saturday night for us and some friends - he thinks he's a candidate for "Masterchef" or something. I could not resist some "off limits" stuff - and a glass of red. I have been so good for 9 weeks with minimal slip-ups but this weekend was a write-off. I had Rack of Lamb (good) Polenta with cheese (high carbs) broccolini (good) Red wine (BAD) and Chocolate Fondant dessert (Sugar of the charts) BAD BAD BAD not one but I had another yesterday. Then I had Thai food for dinner - flat noodles (High Carbs) and all full of MSG - today I feel sick and dissapointed that I gave in to temptation - so badly. I also didn't take any vitamins or supplements all weekend and I have the worst headache - I hope the people at the clinic never see this blog as I pretended everything was normal this morning when I went in -although I am feeling really bad. Well have to get back on track - I wonder how many days it will be until I feel better again? NOT WORTH IT!!!!

I have been doing some more research on mercury toxicity and it's connection to auto-immune diseases - I have asked in some thyroid forums for any info but have not had a reply yet - here are a couple of sites I found that give a bit of info http://www.toxicmercuryamalgam.com/mercury_autoimmune_disease_and_mercury.htm and
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Setting+the+stage+for+illness:+mercury+exposure+and+autoimmune+disease-a0107756457\
and
http://www.hugginsappliedhealing.com/story3.php
actually if you type in to google - mercury toxicity and auto-immune diseases the results are endless - why are dentists still allowed to put this in our mouths - it is baffling to me - I am a bit confused why I am just hearing about this - I hope I'm not sounding like sound kind of weirdo - but I really think there is something to this.

Mercury Removal

Well I had my appointment with the Dentist and I am going to go ahead and have my amalgams removed. I have 10 amalgams and a root filled tooth which has some kind of abcess under it (I cannot feel any pain) so this will also be removed - the whole tooth that is. This Root canal was done about 4 years ago and cost me about $3000 with the crown - but it's going - I thought I was doing the right thing saving my broken tooth - I broke it trying to open a bottle of nail polish with my back teeth (I know how stupid). This is the kind of thing you yell at your kids over!. Anyway I feel there is enough evidence to prove that mercury (from amalgams and other sources) poisoning is directly attributable to auto immune disease. I can't keep them in my mouth knowing this might have caused my problem - I am in a genetic position to acquire an auto-immune disease but with mercury exposure and a poor diet that does not help your body to fight this risk - well here I am. So far I have changed my diet - what I eat is more nutrient dense which will give my body the best chance to fight off sickness of any kind. Then to have the mercury removed from my body and try to minimise other exposure to toxins (as much as possible anyway). Hopefully then I will be able to recover from Grave's and not look back. At least I have something to try - my Endocrinologist only gave me medication that fixed some symptoms and created twice as many - they just don't get it! I feel I am on the right track. My appointments for removal are not until September, so in the mean time I will stick to the program (diet and exercise) and try to get as healthy as possible. I have been booked for 2 appointments both include an intravenous dose of Vitamin C to flush the toxins released from removal from your body. It's all a bit "out there" but hey what have I got to lose? I keep updating. PS - I have not lost any more weight - but still feel really good and hoping for a bit more loss soon.

1 Neo-mercazale a day

I have been checked out by my GP and spoke to my Endocrinologist and I have been told to take 1 X 5mg neo-mercazale a day to keep the heart rate under control - it's rises to around 200 when excercising - as I mentioned in the last post I have been not taking any medication and all my levels have improved - my only symptom is the heart rate. I am not really keen to have to go back on the medication but 1 a day i not so bad and I suppose the heart rate thing could potentially be dangerous if it is elevated for too long. So I will do as I'm told..... my GP says after 6 weeks we will test again and see if I can stop then - hopefully. I am really dedicated to getting of the medication and hopefully put and end to the symptoms I have been experiencing. I presume this will be what is called "remission" then hopefully this eating plan will keep me in this state of remission. I am also about to embark of what seems a fairly important part of this program and possibly the most unusual part - Dental Revision - I have not mentioned this before although it has been mentioned to me throughout the past seven weeks. After listening to the clinic and having what is called an OPG xray of my mouth I am seriously considering having my almalgam dental fillings removed and replaced with a less toxic material. I know this sounds a bit of a hassle but if the effects of mercury (in the fillings) are toxic and are entering my bloodstream then I want them gone - I also value the opinion of the clinic as so far everything they have told me has pretty much been correct. How could I not listen to them? - I would be stupid. I might just add that I am terrified of Dentists and have very sesitive teeth and gums and sitting in that chair is not something I take on lightly. My appointment for the initial consultation which is to explain everything that needs to be done and why is Friday at 1.45pm so after that I will be a little more clued up on everything and I can post. At this stage all I know is what the clinic has told me and some info I have been sent with links to the web to have a read. There is a really interesting article about the link between mercury poisoning and Auto-Immune diseases that I just can't ignore - it was OK when I didn't know any different but now I have been shown this - how can I not do it? If 3-4 visits to the dentist and possibly a bit of money (not sure how much yet) is going to hugely affect my health I'm going to give it a go. Here is the link to the article about mercury poisioning www.westonaprice.org/envtoxins/mercury.html have a look for yourself - I will be posting as I go through this and I will be honest about whether or not I feel "different" or if my overall health improves over the next 6 months.

6 weeks no medication

Well Monday I hit the 6 week mark. On my home scales I have lost 4 kgs since starting this new eating and exercise plan. I didn't tell my Endo, my GP or the clinic I'm attending that I stopped my Neo-mercazale. I haven't taken anything now for six weeks - before starting I was supposed to take 1 x 5mg for 4 days and week and 2 x 5mg for the other 3 days. So considering the doses I have been on and off and back on again (such as 13 x 5mgs per day plus 2 Inderal) in the past 12months this dose was relatively small so I can't deny that the medication has reduced my Grave's symptons - this was not the issue - the issue with me was the symptoms that the medication had caused such as weight gain - 10kgs, the fact that I repeatedly went between Hypo and Hyper and while Hypo became very depressed, hair loss and generally feeling unwell and horrible about myself. This was the driving force behind searching for somthing alternative to the medication - which hopefully will solve my issues and will be a long term solution. Well this week I feel very confident that this is happening. The diet or should I say eating program which I have adhered to strictly has caused by T3 T4 and TSH levels all to improve over the past 6 weeks. The most important to me (because of research I have done) was to get the TSH down (apparently between 1-2 is optimal anything higher weight loss is hard or even impossible in some cases) - it has gone down to 1.1 when tested 3days ago. I am finally in a range where I am capable of losing weight - which is probably why it has started to happen. I have one Grave's symptom at the moment and that is increased heart rate but so far only while exercising - origianlly I experienced this constantly usually with a heart rate up around 110 - I feel very confident now in this program and would recommend it. I just now have to continue the same path and hopefully this symptom will also subside. I think maybe I haven't lost as much hair lately either and there is definately new growth. My eyes are good but as I have mentioned before they have never been badly affected - I have only suffered watery, sore and itchy eyes and a ache in the back of my left eye for about a year so I don't like to complain about this as I know others suffer a lot more than me. I hope the watering etc has been cured by the diet and supplements as It may give hope to others. My Opthamologist says that these symptoms appear to be first stages of Grave's eye disease so I am trying my best to reduce the possiblity of new symptoms. I don't think it is just the food I am putting into my body from what the clinic say it seems to be very impotant that I get certain levels of such things as iron and iodine and calcium up or down to the level they need to be. They tested me for everything under the sun when I came to the clinic - they even think that Vitamin D which is produced by the body after sun exposure is really important and is actually a hormone - this I am also deficient in - these days we all try to keep out of the sun. I am starting to get a lot more interested in not only the food but the vitamins my body is deficient in - my sister seems to suffer the same deficiencies and she is undergoing tests for celiac disease and there has been mention of lupus when doctors discuss her symptoms - there seems to be evidence that the deficiences are causing autoimmune diseases in susceptible people and what are the other contributing factors. I keep getting fed little pieces of information from my clinic and I feel like it is becoming a lot clearer as I go along. The program lasts for 16 weeks so in 10 weeks I'm hoping to be totally in remission, my symptoms subsided and the weight I gained gone! Is this too much to ask? Maybe I needed to get this disease to be shown a healthier way to live - maybe it's meant to happen this way - maybe it could have been a disease much worse - so if I can learn to live healthier now I might dodge some other nasty illness I was heading for. My mother lived a very unhealthy and unhappy life and died at 59 - this is not the future I want.......so I will continue on. PS on a much happier note I intend to have a drink on the 8th August (Cocktail party to go to) and let my hair down I think I deserve it I have been really strict!!!