Ten times better, brighter, happier.

Ta dah!!

Remember me? I've been gone so long. Sorry dear readers. Things have been turned upside down and topsy turvy but I'm pleased to say are landing back down in just the right way.

First thing to say is that I have been feeling amazingly better. You didn't really know I was not well, and that is because I didn't wish to clog the blog up with hum-drum-ness. But now that things are totally different, it seems that it might be for the best to share a bit about what went on, in case you need to know yourself. I'll keep it simple for easy reading. What I have to say may help you, or a loved one, one heck of a lot.

The pics are to keep you interested and prove I'm feeling better, but you may also notice the glands in my neck going down from swollen to nearly normal.

At a friends wedding ceremony - end of may, my glands had already gone down quite a lot

I was not getting any joy out of the GPs, (since I wasn't crawling in there on my hands and knees and coughing up blood), but I was tired All. The. Time. Even when I first woke up. I felt like I had glandular fever (I didn't), the GP suggested I was depressed (I wasn't, or at least, I wasn't MORE depressed than someone who felt so rough might feel), and my neck was swollen and puffy and sore and had been for MONTHS. If we had a late night, or a big weekend, it would take me ages to recover, like weeks. I would try not to book two late nights in a row. Going to the events we go to for selling was quite overwhelming. I had terrible brain fog - unable to concentrate, forgetful, sluggish.

I had been struggling with these thyroid-type problems for some time, and they were getting worse and worse, not better. It seemed like it could also be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or even Fibromyalgia, since I was getting achy muscles down my arms. It was the achy arm muscles that were the final sign that things were not right, after all, an achy back (which I also had) could be sleeping funny, bad posture or big boobs. But arms, well, you know if you have been lifting things and if they should be sore.

At a Zoo party, Early June

Anyway, lets cut to the chase, on researching thyroid stuff,  I came across Dr Brownstein in the states. And from there I found his books, including one focusing on Iodine. Long story short, I found I was iodine deficient. Within a few hours of taking a digestible iodine solution: Iodoral (as he uses) the sore arms went away. (Not literary, I still have my arms). Within a week I was feeling much better, and it has improved every week since.
Now my puffy neck has mostly gone. I can get out of bed easily and have vim and vigour for my work and hobbies again. I actually feel like I am 10 years younger.

Now, here's the extra cool bit. I have had NO HAYFEVER. None. Ok I might have a couple of sneezes every now and then, but I'm not needing the anti-histamine, plus homeopathic drops, plus eye drops and nasal spray that have dominated my summers for 15 years or more. And here in the UK it is apparently a very bad summer for hayfever.

I have also been sleeping right through the night. This might not be amazing so some of you, but my Hubby has never known me not to get up to go pee in the middle of the night. Once I was awake I would struggle to get back to sleep, so might loose an hour or two each night. I just thought it was a silly bladder, but no, now I sleep right through no problems. I think I was waking up first, then deciding I needed a pee. The bladder is strong.

I can't explain the sleeping thing - there is nothing about that in Dr. Brownstein's book, but the Hayfever has some reasoning that I'll explain quickly, because it is important.  Your body needs iodine to flush out oxides (you have heard of antioxidants right?) and all the autoimmune disorders, according to Dr Brownstein, are caused by problems with oxides.  So that includes celiac, food intolerances, crohns, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, scelroderma, sjogrens, ulcerative Colitis, Vasculitis, Reiters, polymyositis, graves, hastimotos, lupus, Multiple Sclerosis... the list goes on and on. (I have extracted this list from Dr B's book on thryroid disorders. I personally don't know what most of these things are).  Hayfever is an autoimmune disease, and so, with taking adequate amounts of Iodoral, and flushing out the oxides that I was struggling with, I no longer suffer from it. Ta Dah!
I am also allergic to cats, even though I love them, so I now need to grab an unsuspecting neighbourhood cat for a cuddle and see what comes of it. Watch out kitties!

At a 70s disco night, Mid June

Your body needs Iodine to make Thyroxine. Even if your thyroid is working properly, it can't make Thyroxine without it - simple as that. It also makes the hormone that it uses to zap early cancer cells with out of iodine. Pretty important stuff eh? You would think we should know if we are supposed to have iodine don't you? Well, here in the UK at least, it isn't considered a iodine deficient country - yet in 2007, 70% of girls they tested were deficient, on the UK scale, which is lower than other countries. 70% is a lot, and they tested girls because iodine matters to unborn babies.

So, here comes the disclaimer: I have to do it don't I? I am not a doctor, I have simply done research for myself and am sharing it here in case you too could benefit from reading up on Dr B's work. I am not sponsored or paid or anything from Iodoral (the brand name of the iodine supplement).  I had some help in getting my dosage right with my Kenesiologist. At the start I needed quite a lot, but have since dropped down my dose by the fact that get a metallic taste in your mouth if you have too much anyway. If anyone is wanting to preach to me about anything then their comments will be deleted! I have done A LOT of work on this. If my post seems light and fluffy - that is because I wanted most people to read most of it, not because I'm an air head.

Do please, if you have any thoughts that you might too suffer, investigate Dr Brownstein's work. It has completely turned my world around and I feel so entirely different than I did just a few months ago. And it was SO SIMPLE!

This week, at an Award Ceremony (more to come on that)

A few last things to wrap up with:

• I bought his books second hand on amazon (they were expensive to ship from the states). You buy Iodoral online, it isn't in health food shops.
• There is a series of talks on youtube which touches on other problems that iodine deficiency might bring up - it has a focus around the nuclear fall out in Japan, as there they used an iodine solution to purify the water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-QCZAmXHqg
• There are a number of places on the internet that label him a Quack. Not surprisingly really, since his health solutions are so simple that it is easy to put them down. He is a proper doctor who gives proper lectures to other proper doctors and does clinical studies and what not.
• I also found an awesome website for thyroid information in the process: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
• Normal service, talking about dresses, events and shoes will proceed from here forth.

Shona x