About seven weeks ago I went for my yearly physical. I hadn't had one in many years though so perhaps it should be called my half decade-ly physical. When you're pregnant (which I have been twice in the past 5 years) you go to the doctor so often that it hadn't really occurred to me to get a physical.
At the time I made the appointment (back in October), I was in a rough place with my anxiety and panic. I figured I needed medication, either anti-anxiety or anti-depressant, or both. But I didn't know what type of "ist" to go to so I thought I'd start with a GP. (I get confused by psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist - who does what? Who prescribes meds? Etc.) Having just moved to a new town, I didn't have a doctor yet, but a friend gave me the name of her doctor along with a glowing recommendation and thankfully she took our insurance. So I decided she was a good start. But I had to wait until February to get an appointment. Rather than scheduling something sooner with another doctor I just figured I could hold out a few more months.
In the meantime I started going to Svast Nutrition and started a program called Nutrition Response Testing with my practitioner, Kajal. The initial evaluation showed I was all out of whack. Hypothalamus. Sigmoid Colon. Heart. Anxiety. Brain. High levels of toxins. And a bunch of other things that were in line with some of the symptoms I was experiencing. So I started my regimen of whole food supplements and haven't had a panic attack since the first week of starting the program in December. (Coincidence? Doubtful). And my stomach issues (which we won't get into here...) have finally gone away. That alone would've been enough for me to believe in the program. But there's more.
So the months ticked off and eventually it was time for my physical with the GP. Always the best part of any doctor's visit was my meeting with the scale - at only 5 foot 4 (on a good day) I weighed 141 pounds. Within the "healthy" BMI range, but too much weight given my slight frame and bone structure. Yet, no matter what I did this weight wouldn't seem to go down much. I have struggled with this for years and don't talk about it often, but even though I work out and eat healthy, it seemed that one cheat meal would always throw any weight lost right back on. I weighed 137 when I got pregnant with both boys and put on weight during both pregnancies rapidly, hitting over 200 when I was pregnant with Lukas. Luckily I didn't gain as much with Julian but it has been an even bigger struggle coming off this time.
Another fun part of the physical was going to the lab for blood work. My doctor called me the next day to tell me my thyroid numbers were off. She gave me the option of starting medicine that day, or waiting 6 weeks to retest and see if my numbers were in the normal range then (to see if perhaps it was a fluke - if you've recently been sick, your thyroid numbers can apparently be off). But she asked if I was experiencing hair loss, constipation, difficulty losing weight and/or lethargy - all symptoms of thyroid imbalance. Yes, yes, yes and yes. She'd have preferred I started taking the meds right away, but was OK with my waiting. I really wanted to see if Kajal and I could work on it first, so I chose to delay for six weeks.
Oh, and my GP also told me she wanted me to take an anti-depressant for the panic attacks. The goal, she said, is to not have an attack for 6 months so you don't go deeper into social phobia (the fear is that you are so afraid of having a panic attack that you stop going out and avoid all social interactions). I understood her reasoning, but I really didn't want to mask the problem, I wanted to fix it. So again, I said no thank you, but I did accept the prescription for as-needed Xanax. Which I actually have yet to need.
That same week I went to Kajal and told her about this thyroid problem. She tested my thyroid and, sure enough, she found the same thing - it wasn't working properly. So she muscle tested various supplement options and found some that my body responded to and I've been taking those for the past 7 weeks. In that time I've lost 11 pounds. Honest to God, I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 130.0. I haven't changed my workout routine. I haven't restricted my calories to some crazy amount (although I have cut out foods that Kajal found to be a problem for me at the moment, namely wheat, spelt, rye, honey, soy, pasteurized milk and added sugar). When I went to Kajal last week and she retested my thyroid, it was back to normal (actually it had swung too much the other way, so we're working on getting it in the normal range).
I go back to the doctor for my blood work this week and I'm interested to see what the labs say. But I'm pretty confident it'll be back in the normal range, though I suppose my blood will tell.
While I'm excited that I appear to have been able to start healing my body through the use of whole food natural supplements and diet changes, I want to know WHY my body isn't working properly in the first place. So I've started doing a lot of research and reading about toxins and food sensitivities and how our food is made and what goes into the products we use. And how do those products affect our health? What I'm finding is one of the main reasons I joined Beautycounter. It is why I have stopped using anti-antiperspirant and have switched over to natural deodorant. It is why I am replacing my plastic tupperware with glass (turns out the BPA Free label is great until you ask what they replace the BPA with). I feel like my eyes are being opened to things I'd never really thought about before. Admittedly, I'm turning into one of those people I used to roll my eyes at, but I'm OK with that.
If you're at all curious about environmental toxins, I think a great place to start is reading the book Little Changes, Tales of a Reluctant Home Eco-Momics Pioneer by Kristi Marsh. She is a mother of 3 who was otherwise healthy when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 30s. A situation that seems all too common these days. I'm loving this book and think you will too. In fact, I have an extra copy that I would love to give away to one reader. To enter - just leave a comment below and let me know if you've read up on toxins or why you're interested in learning more or if you've had any personal experience with toxins and your health. The giveaway will be close this Friday at midnight - I'll randomly select one winner and send you the book!
Oh, and stay tuned for the results of my blood test....
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