Everything Looks Perfect From Far Away

I haven't written in a while because part of me no longer knows what to write. I feel like a little bit of a Hippie Failure right now, but I can't say I regret giving up on Thyroxal. I have been on Tirosint for two weeks. Those two weeks, while an improvement, haven't been perfect. Guess the ongoing lesson is still patience.

By comparison, four weeks ago, my hair had started falling out again, I was incredibly fatigued, headachy, you know...so, whatever was wrong with the Thyroxal wasn't good for me, bottom line. (Can you tell I'm trying to convince myself too?) Decisions to be made with health and medicine are never easy. There's always a scale, balancing the risks and benefits. Sigh. I still feel like I'm covering up sypmtoms in some way by taking a pill. But that's why I'm trying to take my nutrition more seriously and why I am still avoiding wheat & milk.

I haven't talked to CAG since not taking herbal thyroid stuff...I'm not due for an appointment anytime soon. For peace of mind, I think I will see him again eventually to discuss everything.

In cheerier news, peppermint oil is still my very bestest friend! I have been taking a pill (ha!) before every meal and I have been maintaining weight wonderfully. Praise God!

I talked with a friend recently who is also trying to figure out what is going on with her thyroid and adrenal glands. She had a very high TPO count, the thyroid antibody. She's also crazy like me (so nice to be with company) and goes to some holistic-kind of docs. They are currently trying to figure out what is going on with her immune system to cause such an imbalance.

I have read about this before but hadn't really spent any time trying to figure out what was going on with me. Partially I didn't spend time on it because CAG didn't mention it.

The theory is that one branch of your immune system (out of Th1 or Th2) is responsible for your immune craziness. One branch (humoral) is responsible for antibody production and attacks while the other (cell-mediated immunity) uses macrophages, cytokines, and something called cytotoxic T-lymphocytes to protect your body. I have no idea what I'm saying. Anyway, I looked some things up.

Here is an excerpt from a speech by a doctor: "Dr. Cheney explained that the immune system has two different modes of attack, based on the type of invader. One is Th1 (T Helper 1). It goes after organisms that get inside our cells ‚ intracellular pathogens. It is also known as cell-mediated immunity. The other is Th2 (T Helper 2). It attacks extracellular pathogens ‚ organisms that are found outside the cells in blood and other body fluids. Some call this humoral or antibody-mediated immunity. A healthy immune system is dynamic, able to switch back and forth as needed, quickly eradicating one threat and then resting before responding to the next."

And here is the discussion board I keep running across: "An autoimmune condition occurs when one branch of the immune system over dominates another branch. This is called an either a Th1 or Th2 dominance. A dominant TH1 response means that the natural killer cells and cytotoxic t cells are responsible for attacking the body, while a TH2 dominance indicates that your bcells and antibodies are mounting the attack."

Here's the really interesting part to me. This dude (a quoted Chiropracter) goes on to explain that "It is well documented in clinical research that Th1 stimulants are Echinacea, maitake mushrooms and golden seal to name a few. Th2 stimulators are caffeine, green tea, and grape seed extract. So in the example I gave in the previous slide, if a patient with an under functioning thyroid is TH1 dominant, then I would prescribe supplements containing caffeine, green tea, and grape seed extract to stimulate the TH2 side to regain balance. If they were TH2 dominant, then Echinacea, mushrooms, and golden seal would balance out their immune system. Since most people with autoimmune conditions have no idea which branch of their immune system is dominant, they can actually make their condition worse by taking over the counter immune boosters. Lets say for example you were Th1 dominant and you catch a cold. A friend tells you that Echinacea helped them so you take it yourself. Unknowingly you would be flaring up your already dominant Th1 response and cause even more destruction to your thyroid gland. Conversely, if you were Th2 dominant and you read on the internet that green tea, and grape seed extract could boost your immune system you would be flaring up your already dominant Th2 response and fire up an autoimmune attack to your thyroid. This can go on for years and years eventually shrinking your thyroid gland and slowing down your metabolism further. Meanwhile your medical doctor would interpret this as a need to increase the dosage of your thyroid hormones."

A comment on this posting and a suggestion I've heard from other folks is to try to see, based on how you feel, which branch of your immune system is dominant and try to re-balance things out. One day, you drink green tea and caffeine all day (no sugar!) and see if you feel better. The next day you drink echinacea tea all day and see if that makes you feel better or worse.

Well, I have now officially tried both. I'm a very willing tea drinker. :) The Green Tea day I was FULL of energy but I still didn't feel great, sometimes light-headed, sometimes dizzy. For the record, I didn't have coffee or energy drinks, just black tea. The echinacea day was about the same, minus some of the energy! I took a few echinacea pills that also had goldenseal, and cayenne. It was totally inconclusive.

I have read however that certain herbs help to balance both branches--turmeric and ginger to name two. Today instead of going overboard with green tea or echinacea, I had turmeric and a little green tea. Better. What is a Guinea Pig to make of that?!