Baseline! Pre Thyroid Healing Cleanse Symptoms

If I am going to track my progress properly then I’d better record what symptoms I’ve been experiencing prior to starting the cleanse last week hey!

Main Symptoms Over The Last Five Years

I have not been able to work since May 2013 due to caring for my late husband, Matthew, while also dealing with CFS and depression. Symptoms became worse after Matthew passed away. (A more detailed background about me is in my first blog post here).

I would sleep a full night and wake up tired, barely able to roll out of bed. I would need a sleep around 2pm before picking my daughter up from school. I rarely had the energy for a shower. I could not deal with doing more than one or two outings a week. I could barely concentrate on making meals. I had brain fog, body aches, stiff joints and muscles, vertigo, back inflammation, headaches/migraines, and began to have sore and stiff hands a couple of years ago also. I would be lucky to get 15 minutes of walking in a day which only constituted walking my daughter to and from school. Even though school was 150 metres down the street, I would often need to take the car to school rather than walking. And I had family and friends help with Eleanor when I was particularly unwell.

Improvements/Changes Since May 2018

My general symptoms for Hashimotos and CFS have improved since I have been seeing my Integrative Medicine doctor, Dr Sally Chapman at Health Change for over 12 months.

I have been gluten free since August 2018 and taking T3 hormone supplement, zinc, magnesium and vitamin B also. My zinc levels especially were very low. I went through a gut cleanse between May and August 2018, as i only had three out of seven healthy bacteria that I should have had in my stomach, along with an overgrowth of streptococcus. Very acidic. So I also went sugar free for two months (including fruit except blueberries) to starve the overgrowth, along with taking pre and probiotics to balance the gut flora and allow my stomach to absorb nutrients properly again.

I was experiencing regular stiff and sore hands, where my fingers would also swell and become very hot, so Dr Chapman tested me for the Rheumatoid Factor which came back positive. This meant that if I’m not careful I could develop full Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Since implementing the above changes I have begun to feel a bit more energy each day, sleep better and only wake up tired every few days. Brain fog is not as regular but still there along with vertigo and body aches. My zinc levels and T3 levels improved. I haven’t needed as many day sleeps. My sore and swollen hands/fingers have not improved though, either has my back inflammation which seems to flare up after eating something but I haven’t worked out what yet. I used to think it was gluten but couldn’t confirm.

Symptoms Just Prior To End Of August 2019

This brings me up to the symptoms I have been experiencing just before last Monday when I started the cleanse. I traveled to America with my family in May 2019 for almost three weeks. This was a wonderful trip, went to Disneyland and got engaged! I managed to cope quite well while over there, only needing a couple of rest days and finding quite a few gluten free options.

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But I have been sluggish since coming back. More tired and found it harder to eat properly. I have remained gluten free but found I was eating high fat gluten free options like hot chips and gravy when I was tired as it was quick and easy food. It became a vicious cycle as the chips were likely also contributing to my sluggishness and fatigue. I have had brain fog and confusion with remembering words and dates more in the last two months. I started to get bad vertigo too a week and a half before I started the cleanse, along with blocked ears.

So I have basically only been able to get myself to a certain point of wellness and have plateaued. I’m hoping this cleanse process will help to improve these remaining symptoms. Potentially the foods that fuel the Epstein-Barr virus have been causing these lingering symptoms. Time will tell!

Thanks for reading, and until next time, look after yourselves!