how to shift myxedema

[flubbery]

since myxedema is not fat, losing weight won't remove/shift it.

A post from 2 years ago and some other obscure links led me to the supplement NAC, N-Acetyl Cysteine.

Also aerobic and dancing to get me sweating also seemed to help.

These two measures combined to help me lose 2 inches off my arms and also weird mucin deposit at the center under my breasts, my back and neck hump.

It was so awful to fix my thyroid and adrenals (natural thyroid and adrenal supplements) but still have unslightly looking deposits.

Most people assume it's just fat.

What angers me is that the average modern Doctor doesn't know about myxedema !

I found textbooks from 1917 that were more helpful in helping me repair myself.

[humanbean]

I'm glad you've found something that helps. I use NAC myself, but for other reasons - it thins mucus in the lungs which makes it easier to cough up, and so I use the NAC if I get a cold or a respiratory problem of some kind.

I'm very interested in knowing where you found a textbook from 1917 which helped you on the subject of mucin and myxedema. What was it called, who wrote it, and where did you find it?

You might be interested in this link :

sick2death.com/facts-new/

Scroll down until you come to "Symptoms: A Medical Text Book" and read from there. It's from 1990 - a bit more recent than your 1917 book, but still relevant. It astonishes me that almost all the information in it has been forgotten in just 25 years.

[Jazzw in reply to humanbean]

On a similar theme, I found this article a while back: healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[SmallBlueThing in reply to humanbean]

This from 1897 -- scroll to page 481:

books.google.co.uk/books?id...

[flubbery in reply to humanbean]

Oh great links.

I still need to find the link again, buried somewhere in my bookmarks!

 

[flubbery in reply to humanbean]

A recent medical paper on myxedema:  

"Hyaluronic acid is the major glycosaminoglycan that accumulates in myxedema. Its hygroscopic nature allows it to swell to one thousand times its dry weight when hydrated. Mucin deposition involves not only the skin but also the tongue, myocardium, kidney and most other organs of the body. Increased transcapillary escape of albumin, resulting in extravascular accumulation, may also contribute to the edema. In addition, inadequate lymphatic drainage may further explain the formation of exudates that are apparent in the myxedematous state

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

"swell to one thousand times its dry weight when hydrated"

Ugh.

Glad it's nearly all gone from the places it shouldn't be.

Really hope NAC can help others.

Really hope Doctors would tell patients it's not fat after all.

[humanbean in reply to flubbery]

Doctors don't tell, because they believe it is fat.

Knowledge of the thyroid and all its effects is woefully absent in the medical profession.

[Gilly81]

I had Graves' myxedema on my face, neck and ears, sometimes called Graves' dermopathy or wrongly pretibial mxyedema, it can appear anywhere on the body not just the shins! The rash part has gone after 17 miserable years, thick and lumpy and painful but the swelling is just like the fat build up you get behind your eyes in Graves' disease so I am left with a different face to the one I had for the first 47 years of my life. 

Doctors I agree no nothing about myxedema. I was at first told I had acne by a consultant! My skin was desperately dry, no pustules…madness! They had no clue so they come up with acne!

My skin was so dry and thick that when I went to the dentist for treatment, when I opened my mouth the skin at the sides would crack and bleed, it was a nightmare. The Graves' foundation in the US told me it would go one day but they could not tell me when. Three years ago it went almost overnight, incredible!

It was like having a thick, painful, disfiguring mask on my face for years, now I am left with the swelling.

[flubbery in reply to Gilly81]

So sorry to hear. 

Did anyone suggest that you possibly had Elephantiasis Nostras Variant  of myxedema.

Have you heard of Complete Decongestive Physiotherapy Facials ? 

They're usually for Lymphedema patients, but is literature suggesting it helps with residual swelling. 

Perhaps find someone who handles lymphatic drainage ?

I am going to do that myself, because I am afraid of the mucin deposits ever returning!

Good luck.

[faith63 in reply to Gilly81]

the rash thingy from Graves and swelling are not the same thing as with hashimotos/hypo myxedema..

[greygoose]

What dose of NAC did you take, flubbery? 

[flubbery in reply to greygoose]

I take NOW Foods NAC N-Acetyl Cysteine, 600mg About 19 dollars on Amazon US.

Do get capsules, as the tablets are huge and smelly.   

[greygoose in reply to flubbery]

Thank you, flubbery.

[faith63]

please tell brand of NAC, Amazon has many...thanks!

[humanbean in reply to faith63]

NAC smells nasty - like bad eggs. Sad fact of life. The best one I've tried is Swanson. It has a very good capsule shell and it doesn't stink.

[faith63 in reply to humanbean]

thank you so very much.  How do i find a high dose though, in that brand?  I read 9oo mgs, 2x daily for myxedema.

[humanbean in reply to faith63]

I've seen doses of 2400mg per day being mentioned, but not for myxedema. (I can't remember what it was for to be honest). I've never taken more than 1200mg per day personally.

[faith63 in reply to humanbean]

i didn't see pills by swanson that were higher than 600 per pill.  So, you went thru many bottles then?

[humanbean in reply to faith63]

I have never considered two a day to be a high dose. And I wasn't taking it for myxedema, I was taking it for respiratory problems. Flubbery hasn't mentioned what dose she was taking. I only take NAC when necessary, rather than all the time. If I don't have congested lungs I don't take the stuff.

[faith63 in reply to humanbean]

i was trying to save money and use less pills, by getting a higher dose pill.  i read somewhere that izabella wentz mentions it in her root cause book..i think 900mgs 2x daily.  Maybe it detoxes or kick starts healing..not sure.  The idea is to get rid of the hashi's by healing l the immune system/gut.

[flubbery in reply to humanbean]

I take NOW Foods NAC N-Acetyl Cysteine, 600mg 

Started off with 1200mg per day. Was more of an experiment than anything.

Had just 1 side effect where after a week the mucin was already going down a bit but I was peeing like a racehorse.

I'm young enough and in shape so I shouldn't be peeing 20 times a night!

I cut back to 1200mg a couple times a week and 600mg for 4 days a week. (I always take 1 day off from all supplements, YMMV)

When I cut the dosage a bit I was peeing a lot less, but still more than normal.

When I finally reached the stage where the mucin deposits had mostly gone away, I dropped to 600mg 5-6 days a week.

As I wrote originally, IMHO think movement and sweating works in tandem with the NAC.

Again, my diet didn't change at all.

I think I was even eating a bit more to boot.

[Trixie64]

I'd also like to know what dose of NAC you take.  Thank you

[flubbery in reply to Trixie64]

Hi Trixie, please see above post. 

[Hidden]

Flubbery, would you mind sharing the information how much of NAC you take daily and how long it took the first signs of improvement in mucin to show? Thank you.

[flubbery in reply to Hidden]

Message sent, good luck!

[Emporio_Invictus in reply to flubbery]

Did you take NAC with food or on an empty stomach?

[Hidden in reply to flubbery]

Thank you so much x

[Emporio_Invictus]

I've been taking NAC for 2 weeks now (2 x 900mg/day). So far no difference. Maybe even worse than before, very weird.

[tinygigi in reply to Emporio_Invictus]

Same here Emporio! I have been taking 600 mg 3 times a day for a week and think it looks worse. Maybe it's a wore before better thing?

[flubbery]

Update, stick to NOW food NAC and don't go cheap on NAC products.

I was trying to save money so I tried Source Naturals' NAC for awhile. The pills are huge unlike NOW foods and Branson brands.

They are terrible. Turns out Source Naturals' company is being sued in US class action lawsuit for lying about what's in their products.

I started to feel slightly blobby again wasn't shocked to learn this is a bad brand.

So I was very upset and did more research as this threw me off track with my health for last few weeks.

I now am going to start taking Liposomal Glutathione and am curious to see what going directly to the source does for the mucin, etc.

[tricia_k in reply to flubbery]

How has it worked with the liposomal glutathione Flubbery? I tried the NAC, but it is very vasodilating, so I can't take it daily. Was thinking of going to the source too.

[Emporio_Invictus]

any updates? this is my worst symptom and NAC didnt helped (1200mg per day).

[Wysdym]

Interested in any update

[flubbery]

Still going great healthwise, I also added in more iodine, which helps.

[tinygigi in reply to flubbery]

Flubbery, how long did you take NAC before you saw improvement? I have been on for about a week (600 mg 3 times per day). I actually think it looks worse. Did you experience a worse before better period?

[flubbery in reply to tinygigi]

Wasn't over night, definitely had a weird period for 2-3 weeks where things looked swiss cheese like. Not pretty. By 5 weeks, everything was much better.

[tinygigi in reply to flubbery]

Thank you flubbery! I will stay the course!

[Jazzy818 in reply to tinygigi]

Has it helped you tinygigi?

[tinygigi in reply to Jazzy818]

I have been using NAC and I do believe it is helping. I am not 100% back to normal but I do see some improvement. Now, with that being said, I had a biopsy done on the "goo" as I call it under my skin to see if it was actually mucin deposition. It was not. The lab came back "mild scattered perivascular lymphocytic inflammation". The dermatologist said that basically it was normal tissue but definitely NOT an abundance of mucin as they did the stain test on that. So I'm not sure if the NAC is just helping with lymph flow or what but I do see an improvement in my situation.

[flubbery in reply to tinygigi]

Very interesting. They did a Colloidal iron Hale's stain test?

[tinygigi in reply to flubbery]

Not sure. The lab work says "alcian blue stain". Is that the same thing?

[Ninjacazz]

I'm trying NAC too... I know I have myexedema in my upper arms, and I'm convinced I have it in my belly too, I have a hard six-months-pregnant belly going on. Hope it works :\

[TappedOut in reply to Ninjacazz]

Same here. Interfering with my breathing now..idk what to do or who to see about it. I’m really feeling at my last wits. It’s agony. Agony. I hope you’re doing better...

[flubbery]

Please check with your personal Doctor first, but I am really singing the praises of "Autophagy" also. This is when your body scavenges old and bad junk in your body and cleans it all out. I find that intermittent fasting from 16-18 hours a day works great. I don't have any solid science for clearing out myexedema waste, but it must have same type of effect.

[Curious82]

Any updates? I think I went through the same thing as you asking with being on keto. I am still on keto but backed off carrots things I did at first that now I realize we're very thyroid supportive and 3 years later my weight and myxedemma are back. So... Starting with the intention to lose what I didn't even think was losable, but I lost first years back and made a drastic change-myxedema.