Questions for the Doctor

As these months are flying by, I've been stirring several questions in my mind regarding things that haven't improved over these weeks/months.

No one has all the answers all the time, not even the people we trust with our health. I don't expect that Dr. Matthews knows everything about me because not all thyroid cases are the same. I did have some questions for him though...so I called him a few days prior to my appointment to give him a heads-up.

1) Why are my nails peeling worse than before?
2) Why are my hands and feet still cold?
3) My blood sugars have been on the high side despite the initial thinking that I was hypoglycemic. Does this mean I should stop the ProGlyco?
4) If working out causes my blood sugars to rise to the 140s immediately after a workout, is that the same as eating carbs that increase my glucoses to that same level?
5) What hair and skin products should I use? My scalp still gets flaky and itchy- and of course I just recently looked at the bottle- Wheat or oatmeal along with many other unpronouncable words. (I noticed that most curly hair products have wheat and/or oatmeal ingredients in them.)

Well, my appointment was this past Tuesday, and I got some direction.

First- let me say with great glee, that my little visitors are DEAD!!! Take that, parasites!! I win, I win!! It's cool to know that I didn't need a pharmaceutical. Natural products do work. Whooda Thunk?!

To answer my question about my cold hands and feet, we are upping my Nitric Balance dose. (Since I was recently reminded of what this product did, I figured he would say to increase it, so I already upped it a few days prior to my phone conversation with him.) ;-D
I am now taking 2 tsps daily instead of 1. If I don't see an improvement in a week, I will go up to 3 tsps. Maybe I should have complained more about my frigid fingers and toes long ago- and I wouldn't have had to walk around my house in sheepskin boots, and type on the keyboard with fingerless mittens all winterlong. Lesson learned, and I hope this increase works.

I stopped the ProGlyco the day I spoke to him over the phone. My fingerstick blood glucose levels have been higher than expected, so no need to support low blood sugars. Right now we are NOT replacing it with a treatment for the opposite (hyperglycemia)- we will just follow the numbers.

Since stopping this, I have noticed my numbers have not increased to the 160s again. But then again, I am doing better with my fruit/sweet snacks. I will say that Anthony brought home a special treat last week. Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake. A client of his made it for him. I ate a whole piece right after a protein rich dinner with a side of squash- and my blood glucose didn't skyrocket!! It actually only went to 111 one hr. post prandial! I have found heaven on a plate that I can tolerate.



Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake



As far as my workouts are concerned, he believes that the glucose spike that occurs immediately during/after is not as concerning as the complex metabolic process that comes with a high carb intake. Plus- my glucoses drop to their normal level quite quickly during the recovery phase- as all the glucose is being sucked into my thirsty muscles. (I am pretty sure I got that right.) If anyone has any other insight to this, I'd love to hear it!

I did, however, stop drinking my sweet Afterglow Recovery shake, because my glucoses were going up to the 170s, then dropping to the 80s soon after. I didn't like that, workout or not- so I switched to a post WOD meal of ground sausage, sweet potatoes, and cinnamon. Yum.

Dr. Matthews gave me an idea about skin and hair products, and I will be checking into some others too. Arbonne, Zuzu, Afterglow, and Smashbox brands have some gluten-free stuff. It's pretty hard to find acceptable products. For instance, in hair care land I've seen very few curly hair products that are GF, and the ones I have seen are marketed toward our darker complected sista's. Quite unsure how that would turn out on this white girl with the blond 'do- but who knows, I may be trying it... :)  Any suggestions from people who know of a GF hair product line that would work for me? 

He didn't quite know why my fingernails are frail and peeling. I figure it could be a myriad of things- harsh soap at work, cold temperatures, new nailpolish...or the Hashi's/hypothyroid acting up. If I let my mind wander enough, I'm sure I could come up with several more possibilities.

Maybe the labs I had drawn yesterday will shed some light on the subject. I am super excited to see my results. And even a bit nervous, maybe, since we are over 1/2 way through and approaching the end of these 6 months. (Already!?!) 

I have a story I will share soon. It is my biggest "surprise" success in this program to date. I am just a little apprehensive to share it prematurely. It wasn't in my first post, In The Beginning, and I haven't discussed it in any post since. See, I didn't really know that by helping the autoimmunity, I'd be helping this other pesky problem. I am about 6 or 7 weeks into this "win" and I feel wonderful about it...and am really praying that this is the real deal.

I can't wait to share!!

Comments? Post them below!!

Cheers!!