Well I’m still here and I’m still going! I’m on my last week of the Medical Medium’s Thyroid Healing Cleanse Heavy Metal Detox Month, which I am doing an extra week of after spending a wonderful five nights on Hamilton Island for my 40th birthday, in the second week of October. Adam and I travelled with five close friends to enjoy a kid-free holiday break.
Quick Summary of Hamilton Island Trip and How I Managed My Nutrition
Loved Hamilton Island! The weather, the nature, the friends, the locals, the snorkelling/turtles, the pools and the cocktails! It won’t be my last time there that’s for sure. I managed to stay relatively close to my cleanse regime by remaining gluten, dairy, pork and egg free (other than some garlic aioli that I may have forgotten is made from egg yolks even though they said it was dairy free…doesn’t alway include eggs!). Corn, soy and canola were harder to avoid but I did my best. I also managed a fresh celery juice every morning courtesy of the Marina Cafe which was awesome.
Adam and I stayed at the Reef View Hotel (highly recommend), which had an excellent breakfast buffet included in our accomodation package. It allowed me to have a good breakfast every morning of homemade beans, hash browns, mushrooms and fruit. It was difficult to have a heavy metal detox smoothie while away (other than smuggling in ingredients on the plane!) so I didn’t worry about it and added the extra week on to make up for it.
There was an IGA Supermarket on the island so I was able to buy fresh fruit/veg, snacks and meat where I could check what was in them for the foods to avoid including soy, corn and canola. Eating out was a bit harder hence just sticking to gluten, dairy, pork and egg free. I found there was always one or two options I could have on menus though.
My alcohol consumption mainly consisted of fruit cocktails with no added sugar and low calorie spirits like vodka and gin. I paired this up with lots of water.
Overall my thyroid cleanse food regime while on Hamilton Island (although still strict), was quite manageable and it allowed me to thoroughly enjoy my time without compromising my health too much. It was a huge bonus to have the celery juice every morning as a baseline cleanse item.
How is my current health?
Medication
It’s been about four weeks since I posted my last update (read here). In that time I have consulted with my doctor, Sally Chapman regarding whether I should wean off my current thyroid medication, Thyroxine (T4 hormone replacement) and a compound T3 hormone replacement.
There is a whole chapter in the Medical Medium’s Thyroid Healing book dedicated to thyroid medication and whether it is a help or a hindrance to our body and our thyroid’s function. Here are two excerpts from that chapter just to give you an idea of what Anthony William is suggesting (Chapter 8)…
I scanned the whole chapter and sent it to Dr Chapman so she could see the reason behind my request for weaning off my thyroid medication. I told her that if it is something that is potentially going to benefit me in the long run then I would be happy to be a ‘guinea pig’ test subject, and record my results. Two weeks prior to this request, I had all my bloods done as a baseline, to measure against down the track.
Sally replied back saying I could wean off my thyroid medication and suggested a 4-6 week regime of weaning. I am currently in week 4.
Current Symptoms
So, keeping in mind that I am in week 4 of weaning and detoxing from almost 20 years of taking thyroid medication, my symptoms have evolved as follows over the last four weeks since my last update:
On Monday 30 September 2019, which was also the first day of school holidays, I started reducing my Thyroxine (T4 hormone replacement medication). By Thursday I was getting more tired and my hands had become hot and swollen again in particular. This had improved somewhat prior. Adam, myself and the kids had spent the Thursday down on Bruny Island fishing. The morning was fishing and the afternoon consisted of me having a siesta on the outdoor couch at our block/shack while Adam took the kids fishing some more. By the weekend I had experienced a couple of days of being moody and short-tempered, a bit like ‘PMT’.
The second week of October (on the Monday) saw us head to Hamilton Island. I was on the same reduced T4 hormone dose. Looking back I found I did not need any day sleeps at all during the trip, and I wasn’t tired until after 10pm. I also woke up around 5.30am every morning feeling quite fresh and rested. There were no feelings of moodiness either. It could have also been the ‘tropical island holiday effect’ 😜🏝 Mind you on the Thursday of that week we all went Go-Kart Racing, and after sliding into the barrier side-on around a hairpin turn, I had a very sore right rib area. It became worse at the day and days went on. Adam and I arrived home late Saturday evening and I still felt ok in spirit on Sunday without feeling the usual down you can get from a holiday ending (or needing a holiday to recover from the holiday!). But I went to see my regular GP on the Monday who diagnosed a broken rib! I was happy that I broke my first bone in a ‘cool’ way but was not liking the pain every time I sneezed, coughed or breathed in!
In the third week of October (starting Monday 14 October) I completely stopped the T4 hormone medication and just stayed on T3. I continued to celebrate my 40th birthday that night at dinner wth family and friends back home in Hobart. I enjoyed a lovely steak and also indulged in a glass of Sauvignon Blanc wine, which caused my back to become sore, inflamed and I got a headache. I also didn’t have my wine drops that I usually put in, which neutralises the effects of sulphites in wine. In the past these symptoms would also have caused brain fog and lasted for at least three days. But I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling much better with no sore back. This was worth noting as a big improvement in my overall health and speedier recovery.
I officially turned 40 on Wednesday, 16 October which was a lovely relaxing day. By Friday though I needed to go to bed and sleep at around 5.30pm and I didn’t even feel like dinner. I slept for 12 hours. I felt a bit more refreshed on Saturday morning, ready to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday with wine tours in the afternoon and a dinner party in the evening. I tried one Sauvignon Blanc at the first winery WITH my wine drops this time. Interestingly I still developed a sore inflamed back and bad headache by that evening and didn’t have any more to drink other than lots of water and food. Adam and I had to leave the dinner party shortly after they did the cake, unfortunately, due to my bad headache. I came home and took an aspirin and put a cold pack on my back, and within 30 minutes I already felt relief which was amazing!
Summary of Overall Health To Date
So I’ve basically learnt that through this cleanse and clean eating process, I am more sensitive to something in wine (most likely sulphites) but my recovery time has improved from three days to basically overnight. Whether this has anything to do with my weaning off the thyroid medication or not I couldn’t say. I probably won’t try a wine again for some months though. I don’t have any issues having a vodka, fresh lime and soda water thankfully 😅
The weaning process has seen my fatigue and moods be very up and down in the initial weeks of the change in dosages. This has been expected though as the hormone medication works its way out of my liver and body, and the healing process takes over.
In the last two weeks I have noticed my hands have not been hot and swollen at all really but I still have some mild stiffness in the mornings and evenings.
I needed to have a rest and catnap yesterday afternoon after ‘hitting the wall’ physically around lunch time. My rib injury was also particularly sore yesterday and I found I struggled to drive, which I hadn’t experienced since the first week of the injury.
Today I got through a relatively busy day without needing a rest, which was a pleasant surprise. I am noticing this more and more as time goes on.
What’s Next?
Next week I stop taking the T3 hormone as well so it will be interesting to see how that evolves. I also start the thyroid healing Cleanse A – Liver, Lymphatic and Gut Release Month. This cleanse is the most gentle and easiest in regards to cleansing and food/juice preparations.
My next post will be all about the other two health items I have discovered and been using over the last year or two, to help with my recovery that I can’t wait to share with you all!
Until then, look after yourselves 🥰
Terese Millhouse - From Chronic to Cured 