December's Results

So much for getting these results out quickly...

To recap- I was diagnosed with hypothyroid in Dec '04, then Hashi's in March '05. To simplify, I just put those antibody numbers in the 2004 column. (I am so detail oriented that this actually bothered me...) In April 2010, I had a regular physical/lab eval with my PMD, and those labs were PRE- gluten, legume, and (mostly) dairy free. I last knowingly ate gluten July 31, 2010. October 2010 is when I started my 6 month quest to send my Hashi's into dormancy.

I've got my old and new lab results in front of me, so I'm going to just document anything significant to my care.

Click here for my test results.

So, now to explain my situation a little...in order of the lab appearance.

My doctor believes my hgb A1c may be dropping to low and headed to close to hypoglycemia, however I am happy with my result this go-round. My fasting glucoses have remained completely stable, even though my fingerstick glucoses were high several times in the beginning of these past several weeks.

The total protein and albumin did not change in the right direction. To recap, he wanted my protein >7, and the albumin >5. He did not address the globulin in the beginning, so I am not sure where he wants it- but he did say that 2.6 is an improvement.

My Iron has been a roller coaster all these years! I am still happy with the 60. I haven't been taking any iron supplements- except for maybe 1 tab, maybe every 2-3 weeks. (I know...why even bother, right?!) I am anticipating that because of the lack of phytate containing grains in my diet (they steal minerals from you by binding strongly to them...and you don't get to keep them. So if you are osteoporotic, anemic, zinc deficient, etc...grains are a giant culprit.) my body will actually start absorbing all my iron (and other minerals) from food.

TSH result is so much better since he started me on the GTA product. And for the record, I am not as sleepy as I was a few short weeks ago. (I could've slept standing up!!) I no longer feel like taking a nap at 10 AM, 3PM, or 7PM. Another bonus is less and less hair is falling out. I still continue to take my 100mcg of Levothyroxine everyday. That hasn't changed since 2005.

He said that since my neutrophils dropped, he believes my gut infection is improving. If you remember he wanted it less that 60. That's wonderful, you know? ;) Tomorrow is actually the day I start the 2nd phase of the parasite killing action called GI Synergy, and I will continue it for the next 45 days. I just opened the container. *sniff sniff*... Garlic-y.

My Vitamin D is good! Yay!! He now has changed my yellow fish-juice supplement to a much more palatable Vitamin D dropper that is almost tasteless.

My Cholesterol panel is proof that eating fat and cholesterol doesn't equal a bad result in your body. I eat more bacon, coconut oil, butter, nuts, fatty pork chops than I ever have, and look at those results. My triglycerides actually have a notation under the result: "Verified by repeat analysis." The concern is my total cholesterol is too low. See, cholesterol is the building block of hormones. We want mine above 150. Not sure how I'm gonna accomplish this feat.

Then my Thyroid antibodies. The definitive marker that my autoimmunity is lessening and on it's way to dormancy. One down by 50, the other down by almost 200 pts. I was hoping they both would be in the 300s, but I also had no idea what to expect. My doc is pretty pleased.

Overall, many positives, a couple ho-hums. He has sent my labs to some people at Dr Kharrazian's office to see if they can give any advice.

About my TH-1 and TH-2 challenge...
I was to take 2 different sets of capsules on 2 different days. On the 1st day I took 2 caps of X-Viromin 3 times (Breakfast, lunch, and dinner). This product is supposed to help if I am TH-2 dominant. It has Vit A, C, Zinc, astragalus root extract, echinacea, licorice, thymus and spleen from porcine source, parotid from bovine source, lemon balm, pomegranate, maitake mushroom. So, if my TH-2 pathway is the dominant one, this blend is supposed to activate the TH-1 pathway to balance it out...like a see saw. (I hope you read the link in the last post that gives a great explanation of the whole process.) I was instructed to pay attention to my feelings throughout the day. Did I get sick? Moody? Tired? Any unusual symptom of an autoimmune flare up? Anything?!? If I knew it was the caps making me feel bad, I was to stop taking them the rest of the day. Well only one thing happened...and I'm not so sure if it has anything to do with this at all. There were rare times in the past where my heart would beat so hard that I would feel it in my neck. It would be during sleep, or just resting while laying on the couch. It would last a few seconds and quit. I always chalked it up to an adrenaline rush...like when you are dreaming and you suddenly startle and wake up, or jerk your body. That being said, I haven't had this happen since going gluten free...until the day I took these capsules. Once again, I was lying on the couch and drifted off  into a dream...and BAM. Heart beat city for about 5-8 beats. Coincedence? Possibly.

Day 2: I did the same exact process with a product called X-FLM. This contains pine bark extract, green tea, grape seed extract, resveratrol, and pycnogenol. This would support me if I was dominant in the TH-1 response...again to balance it out- like a see saw.
Sigh. Ok. I woke up in a foul mood, and began arguing with my hubby just an hour or 2 into my day. (I know that never happens to any of you...) ;) . I even thought to myself...maybe I shouldn't take these today, as this argument could really skew the result. I shoulda listened to my own wonderful wisdom...but alas, I was too focused on completing the test. I was grumpy most of the day...but who knows if it had anything to do with the X-FLM...because I was grumpy before I even started taking them. Other things were I felt like I just had an energy drink and my throat was warm a couple times after swallowing the capsules.

So, to conclude...it was inconclusive. And for what it's worth, I can't recall what the argument was about. Typical.

Dr. Matthews wanted to try this again in the near future, and said not everyone can tell the 1st time. However...I'm not so sure I want to. When I signed up for this, he said we would find out by a blood test. It was only recently that he attended a Dr. Kharrazian seminar in which they offered this option to test a patient's symptoms. Apparantly, the labs can be wrong sometimes...and I'm sure it's more expensive than 12 little capsules. The gluten labs are sometimes wrong too, and we still do them. It's right tons more than it's wrong...and challenging myself with a known problematic substance is just wrong to me. I don't know. I just hate knowingly putting something in my body that is activating my dominant pathway, and essentially activating my autoimmune response. At my appointment tomorrow, I think I'm going to talk to him about it. I'm supposed to be doing everything possible now during these 6 months to dampen the response...right?

I believe Dr. Matthews did say that this week he was going to give me another saliva test to do. Good. I've decided to build a WOD around it. Spitting...for time.

Do any of you have any stories to share? Successes? Failures?

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!! God bless!