Let me save you some trouble....

If you are a reader of my blog, and you are over 40, I want to tell you something that may save you some precious lost time.

For over a year now, I have felt pretty crappy. My usual spry self has been replaced with someone who is tired; a lot, hair falling out, skin drying out, gaining weight, at least 20lbs now ( I could be exaggerating a tad there, but pretty darn close!) quite often cold, and just plain cranky.

First I thought it was peri-menopause, seemed reasonable. My Mother started that at 42, so I knew it was a possibility, and the "symptoms" seemed to match up enough to be plausible.....

Then, My Mother said I ought to look into Thyroid issues, something she also started experiencing in her 40's.

After reading about it, and hearing my Mother's experience, I decided I had enough information to justify the trip to the doctor, the $1,000 dollar trip to the doctor, which is all out of pocket, and ended with "there's nothing wrong with you"

HMMMM...

There IS something wrong. I know it. I remember a ward member telling me about this guy she takes her whole family to, "he knows more about the human body than anyone I know"... so I call her, get his name and number and decide to "think" about it!... all of 5 min, then I decided that since I was at a dead end with traditional help, and she had so many good "for instances" that  I am just going to go.

Mark Johnson is a chemist, that's what his 1st degree is in, chemistry, he is a holistic doctor, takes his work VERY seriously, I was impressed with what he "knew" about me without even saying a word. He does an accupuncture test, says everything in your hand has a direct connection with your insides, said "in a few minutes I will have a STORY about you"... and he did.

First thing, I am probably NOT peri-menopausal, my thyroid is DEFINITELY not working; not diseased, but not functioning properly, and the thyroid controls your whole metobolic/pituitary funciton, well, FINALLY we're on to something.

I left with two bottles of drop, one for thyroid and one for the fact he says I'm highly allergic to mold, which he says would be partly responsible for so many sinus issues, mold of course is everywhere. He asked me to return in a month and bring my Dr's thyroid test results with me...

I left that office about as hopeful as I've been in over a year, giddy almost. Not only did he seem to know and understand what I was saying, but he was able to explain to ME why things are the way they are.

Last week I returned, told him I wasn't feeling "much" difference, and that I'm still battling fatigue. He said he had writen down three possible scenarios for me and that afte he looks at the numbers again, he'll know more to adjust....

All my "distressed" areas did improve, the thyroid numbers were the least moved, but they had gotten just a slight bit better, and that my overall hormone "picture" had improved. I told him I had read something that suggested maybe testosterone or progesterone was a possibility and he said he had also noted on our first visit that may be an avenue to explore.

I left with a new "mix" and had ordered the vitamins he suggested that may help, which I started the next day. That was Thursday, I woke up on Saturday and was just "awake" I got up and showered, got ready for the day and felt pretty good... the same thing happened Sunday and then again on Monday.... it's Tuesday and again, up and able to really accomplish things without feeling that I'm struggling against  the current, the fact that it is 8am and I'm OUT OF BED is something of it's own miracle. Seriously, I can't really make you understand, by reading, how exhausted I have been, and it's just not me.

When I was doing my 5mile walk disc the other day, Leslie Sansone said something to the effect "if you do this and watch what you eat, you'll lose those lb's"... that's the standard formula. Reduce calories, bump up your exercise and you'll see results.....

IF YOU ARE OVER 40 and you can't seem to make anything work, and you've noticed you're just not "yourself" I suggest maybe there is something else going on, and that no matter how hard  you try, you're fighting a losing battle. One thing Mark said was between my thyroid and my cortisol levels "you are fighting a battle you will NEVER win" and that was so liberating to hear; IT'S NOT ME, it's my body and all the internal dialogue that went "get up! get with it! try harder!" was neither true nor possible, literally.

Go get checked, there are many diseases/ conditions that can cause multi-similar symptoms. In the end, Mark said the results of my thyroid test put me in the BOTTOM 16%.... and I paid my Dr $1,000 to tell me nothing was wrong, get my husband all worked up that I spent $1,000 to find out nothing was wrong, AND be left wondering what to do next because I KNOW SOMETHING IS WRONG!

There. I hope I just saved you some trouble. :)

OH! PS. When I showed Mark the very popular, most "recommended" multi vitamin I started taking to try to help, he scoffed. Says all those multi vitamins are basically pee'd out before they ever have a chance to be adsorbed into the system, he recommends one called Superspectrim, says it's time released and actually works. You can get  those at http://www.superspectrim.com/.

Callie's new game

Babysitting Mama! This game is SO CUTE! For the wii system, it introduces "problems" with the baby, and you have to follow the game to "fix" the baby... Funny to listen to her YELLING " I AM doing THAT!" and yet the baby still cries!

So it is with real babies. There is a whole line of these "Mama" games. Cooking Mama is probably next!

The past MONTH!

Things got crazy and neglected in the past four-five weeks... funny how there weren't many pictures taken in the past month, but oh well.

The Mcdougal wedding was last night, so I've not had time to do a whole lot, but the other pictures are Valentines, the cookies I made with my Sister and Ethan with the dog he got for Valentines from his teacher, also, Callie found a new place to read, on the staris.. it was cute.

I took some interesting pictures of Doug, it's fun to play with the camera... speaking of which, mine crapped out, about two weeks ago, when the "fixes" from Canon produced no result, I had to purchase a new one, in part because I had a WEDDING... I was able to use the Canon loyalty progam, and get an upgrade to the T2i.. nicer camera, but eventually, I want one that is like the MONSTER TRUCK of cameras... I actually don't, but when I envisioned "upgrade" I really wanted to body to be bigger, but it's about the same.

The Wedding was great, the camera did great, and it's a big deal for me personally because it was the first time I walked into a wedding and wasnt' really a nervous WRECK inside.. I guess continuing to agree to take these kind's of pictures is "creating" a photographer, however, I still just feel like someone who takes pictures, not a photographer, but we'll see what happens!

Las Vegas Motorspeedway

This little boy was EXHAUSTED!

Who knew I was a NASCAR fan?

I HAD A BLAST. I want to go back... TOMORROW. Doug is now SO EXCITED we have ONE COMMON INTEREST!!!

Seriously, we were so close to the cars.... the track, the fence and us! I got gravel on my face just about everytime they went by... 41 cars going 187mps!! it is a RUSH... literally! and I recommend it.

It was warm, it was hot dogs and diet coke and a hat on, that was blown off my head and into the stands, which the nice people behind me found a way to get back to me!

Who knew? I am hoping we'll go to another before the year is over, until then, if there is a NASCAR race on, we're probably having  food and making a day of it! ;)