Reversing a Hyperthyroid Problem

In my early 50’s, I started to have a thyroid problem. I knew that both my mother and younger sister had been struggling with their thyroids and had been on thyroid medications since they were in their early 30’s. BUT it was my aunt on my father’s side who surprised me with news that ALL the women on dad’s side had thyroid problems too. It seemed like we all had the same genetically-determined fate!

My doctor dutifully advised me that I would be on medications for the rest of my life and that I might be facing surgery and radiation. We would know more in six months or so. I pushed back, and my beloved endocrinologist was annoyed. It was “obviously hereditary”. What was MY problem?!

I argued that there MUST be a way to see the root cause of this. My family had been wrestling with this disease ALL their adult lives, and I was only getting it NOW? Also, my thyroid was fast, not slow. I asked good questions: What wasn’t I doing? Or what was it that would cause it to crop up now? What other options did I have?

Calmly and respectfully, I DEMANDED that the two of us think it out more analytically; I made it clear that I wasn’t going to buy into his standard solution.

This push back caused my doctor (who I think is brilliant and very caring) to hesitate long enough to remember something important: 30 percent of the population goes into remission before their thyroid problem becomes chronic!

So it might be possible, since I was starting late in life with this problem, that I could go into remission too. “But!” he cautioned, “It will be hard work for the next year.”

And it WAS hard work. It was like driving a car with the emergency brakes on. Many days I felt very physically uneven, unsettled mentally, and it was challenging to feel so physically out of whack. When one gland is off, all the others are put off their balance too. Our glands work together like a well-balanced orchestra. When everyone is in tune it’s a beautiful thing! My orchestra was “out of tune”; I had Graves Disease, and I did not feel like myself.

To stop a fast thyroid, some people can take thyroid blockers until thyroid blood numbers reach normal. I went from one pill to two. Waited for six weeks, looked at the numbers, and went from two pills to three. At four pills, I was starting to struggle to stay awake during the day. Luckily, it was about time to do my six week check up with my doctor.

My tests showed that I now had a medicine-induced, hypothyroid condition. The next step would be to immediately start withdrawing from the four blockers. I went down to three pills and waited for six weeks, then re-tested. Then down to two blockers, waited and tested. Finally, I was down to one pill, and twelve weeks later I was finally down to none. There were six weeks between each phase. Each step was an attempt to find my mental and physical equilibrium before proceeding to the next. I was now off meds but wobbling precariously on a fence between two stages of health.

At “no meds”, I held steady for about six months, but my tests showed that I was still “teetering” (not solidly in remission). My doctor cautiously suggested that “if I wanted to” I could try taking one blocker and see if I felt any better. I DID feel better on one thyroid blocker. The one pill routine continued for another three to four months and it improved my sense of well-being during that time. I felt more grounded and solid mentally and physically with a little medication, and my improvements were sticking.

Then, one day, I woke up ready to stop all blockers. I felt my stability kick in. It was during a time when my young daughter became seriously ill. That upsetting experience seemed to help me reach my natural equilibrium. I was positive that I didn’t need the meds any more. Finally, my orchestra was “in tune”.

So, I stopped taking any pills, and when I retested soon after, the doctor agreed that I had hit a new level.

I have “held” my stability since 2004, and thyroid disease is not something we discuss any more. About one year later, my doctor announced proudly, “I’m not bringing it up any more. You DID IT! It’s over.” So much for genetics!

See my story on blood clotting and c-reactive protein to understand my doctor’s impatience with me when I fought back again (shortly after) over a new health problem! I thank him for helping me become what I am today: an advocate for doctor-patient collaboration and a patient who is prescription-free!

Remember, thyroid disease (hypo or hyper) indicates an auto-immune problem. Once you have one auto-immune problem, you are likely to get others. You have to treat the root cause in order to beat them all (current and future)!

I have several tools to keep my auto-immune system strong.

• I drink as much alkaline water as I can (the goal is to drink half my body weight on a daily basis)
  
• I exercise (bike rides and walk) to keep my stress levels low,
  
• I drink whole-fruit mangosteen juice (Xango brand), and
  
• I take Vitamin D supplements (not necessary if you are out in the sun frequently.)

I wasn’t doing any of these when my thyroid kicked up, and they help insure my stability and keep me in remission.





Learn more about Kangen Water.


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Resources:
List of autoimmune diseases. Even Schizophrenia is auto immune?!

Helpful list of symptoms that indicate auto immune disease.

For Thyroid: This link gives definitions; how gender is linked to auto-immune disease; different severity levels; when AI is good; links smoking and arthritis.

Articles:

• Keeping your Auto Immune System strong
  
• Understanding your Auto Immune System and Aging

Alkaline “Kangen Water” – creating a strong, healthy core:

• What is Kangen Water?
  
• Disease, Research, Healing Information

Buying Mangosteen Juice for Auto Immune Support from RX-Free Zone

Click on the fruit image to view hundreds of testimonials from patients and doctors using mangosteen to treat specific diseases and illness, including inflammation, cancer and blood problems.

Books:

• ABC of Asthma Allergies & Lupus by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj
  (why water can reverse auto immune disease)
  
• Living Well with Autoimmune Disease by Mary J. Shomon
  
• The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Dangerous Blood Clotting - Healing C-Reactive Protein Problems

My mother had just had a mini-stroke (TIA) and my aunt on my father’s side had just told me that “all of our family dies from something heart-related”. I was sitting in my doctor’s office being debriefed on my annual lab tests, and my doctor was educating me on the relationship between a slightly elevated cholesterol count, elevated triglycerides, and my newly discovered (and dangerously high) C-Reactive Protein (CRP) blood test.
I’d never heard of C-Reactive Protein…and still many people haven’t. It’s a fairly new product that tracks how many little blood clots your blood is making. It’s an indicator of chronic inflammation. Your CRP scores should be down around .1 to 3. My CRP score was up to 8.3! Taking the new meds was a short-term safety measure.

The doctor explained how the high C-Reactive Protein number works collaboratively to indicate risk when your triglycerides and cholesterol numbers are elevated too. By themselves, my triglycerides and cholesterol numbers were borderline high (and definitely not ideal), but my CRP was very high…all three put me at risk for heart disease, and most imminently, a stroke. I was over 50, so all of this news was in line with the medical model of aging. This slide show demonstrates the risks.

In light of my mother’s recent mini-stroke, and the fact that my dad had died from heart failure, the doctor told me my condition was “genetic and not possible to reverse, even with a better diet”. If you’ve read any of my other articles, then you already know that his verdict was my invitation to defy logic! I had just reversed my thyroid problem so it seemed appropriate for my doctor to also remind me that, “You can’t control everything!” I was now faced with using Lipitor, a controversial statin drug. Lipitor is popular because it also lowers cholesterol and triglycerides at the same time that it helps your CRP numbers come down.

I agreed to take one 10mg tablet of Lipitor, but at the same time, here’s what I asked myself: “If inflammation is at the root cause of the clotting, then what can I do to reduce the inflammation?” I tried diet; I read books. I changed as much as I could, but basically, I wasn’t able to move the needle for over a year.

Then, I heard Dr. Vern Johnson mention that he was working with many CRP patients. He is the doctor for the leaders who run the XanGo Corporation in Utah. I was looking for ideas. We were already purchasing XanGo’s mangosteen juice in my household. It was helping us manage my daughter’s persistent acne and the inflammation that was ravaging her teenage complexion. I started adding one ounce twice a day, before work and after work. At the same time, my doctor was pressuring me to take two Lipitor tablets a day.

I respectfully declined, and he said defiantly that he’d be bringing it up again in six months! Using Lipitor, my CRP number was at .5 (in a safe range) down from 8.3. So I was close to my goal, but not where I needed to be yet. My cholesterol and triglycerides were also improved.

My doctor and I had a power struggle going, so when I returned in six months to hear about my newest blood tests, he caught me off guard by saying that he would quit bugging me about taking an extra Lipitor because “for whatever reason” my CRP had gone down. It was to .4! That meant (to me) that the XanGo was stronger than the Lipitor!

Now, I could see the goal clearly, so I added 1000 daily units of Vitamin D to my plan. I’d read that it helps with blood clotting and C-Reactive Protein, too. If you spend a lot of time in the sun on a daily basis, this would not be an issue for you. But I don’t, so I reasoned that taking the extra Vitamin D might boost the results I was getting.

I didn’t retest my numbers for a year. After 12 months, I took a big leap and stopped taking my Lipitor pill. Although not being on Lipitor could put me at risk in the long run, it isn’t dangerous to stop it suddenly as it is for some meds. So one day, I just stopped. I find it interesting, that using Lipitor doesn’t address root cause, because once you go off, your numbers go back up. Lipitor just lowers numbers while you take it. I wonder if it really keeps you safer.

I stopped my one 10mg dose of Lipitor and let my body clear out all traces of it before my annual blood test. Sixty days later, I went for my annual blood tests, using my regular doctor instead of my specialist with whom I’d been struggling. Why? Because if it didn’t work, I didn’t want to stress him out needlessly or get yelled at. I would just quietly go back on my meds and he’d never know.

As my doctor entered the room, she told me that my blood scores were great! I asked about my CRP. “Why do you ask? It’s perfectly normal…its .2 - that’s a perfect score! I tears in my eyes. “You have great blood scores! What’s up?” I told her what I had been working on. She was thrilled for me “How did you do it!?” “I’m so glad you are off that Lipitor!” she gave me a congratulatory hug.

I retested six months later, and now I am at .1, and I’m still drug free! I haven’t changed my diet or done anything different except to use my daily doses of mangosteen and Vitamin D. I will always monitor my CRP because I am a Type O blood type and we are prone to inflammation genetically. But you know what I say about that!

Resources:
Purchase Vitamin D or Mangosteen Juice

• Mangosteen Juice from the RX-Free Zone


• iHERB for Vitamin D Use this referral code (IMI694) and save $5 off your first order

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Articles:

Some excellent articles about Mangosteen Juice:

• All Mangosteen Juices Are NOT Created Equal


• Science of the Mangosteen and the Role of Inflammation on Chronic Disease
  
• Good News Wednesday

Great articles about Vitamin D Inflammation and Blood Clotting:

• Medical News Today
  
• NaturalNews.com
• ScienceDaily.com
  

and Attacking CRP with Vitamin D:

• The Heart Scan Blog
  
• Speno's Pythonic Avocado

Books on Liptior, Statin drugs and autoimmune disease:

• Lipitor: Thief of Memory
  
• The Autoimmune Epidemic
  
• Living Well with Autoimmune Disease