I have not posted in a long while- even internet connection has been a big problem...
I am writing this in the hope it may make interesting reading for others with difficult thyroid meds absorption complicated by severe adrenal fatigue.
Much has happened to me in the last 18 months - 2 years.
Adrenal fatigue continues to be the knotty issue and I am sure it still lurks behind the scenes and lies at the centre of all my difficulties.
However, if I may make the analogy of a car, if you don't put fuel in, be it gas/petrol or diesel, then you will get nowhere fast! Likewise what we eat means everything.
Having a leaky gut is a serious issue to contend with. Needing to be gluten free is uppermost, however, in all honesty it does put a crimp in your life as so much more thought needs to go in to what it is that we can allow ourselves to eat and eating out does become a nightmare, regardless of what people may think.
If we can depart from the premise that when having a leaky gut we can assume that our digestion and therefore our nutrient absorption is going to be compromised in one way or another, the ultimate result is that we do not benefit from the food we eat as we were designed to do so. Hence my analogy with a car... we just don't run! Eventually our subtle decline when we have endocrine/thyroid issues, which is often so inter-connected with so many other super subtle symptoms & functions that our doctors miss it completely, means we eventually risk grinding to a complete halt, unable to perform the most basic daily tasks- like bending down to tie our own boot laces because the back pain gets to be so bad it almost makes you pass out!
At this point, if you go to see a Doctor, you will get that blank look of 'oh dear what do I do now?.. Lets give you some painkillers shall we... and.....lets get you to see a physio'. HHHmmmmmm, I no longer bother!!
Having experimented with both increasing and reducing my levels of adrenal support, together with listening to my body and doing the same with my thyroid meds I have made several observations of value:
My chronic lower back pain, focused around the kidney area where the adrenal glands sit, including a curved pain that hooks around from the right kidney, over the hip into the front, just beneath the waist, and even up to the lower ribs always on the right...decreases considerably when I am at the right level for me of adrenal support.
If I cut down even the smallest amount- the pain comes back with a vengeance.
LIkewise, if the pain in my neck/throat is bad- a slight increase in the thyroid support eliminates that. If I try to reduce it the pain comes straight back..
So far so good...
However, when I hear "Oh well you must try and decrease the stress in your life".
This is a no-brainer. Stress however, for me is categorised in many different shades.
There is the stress you can do something about- that is the easy one. Pointlessly stupid arguments with a partner or people who just do not understand- I simply walk away from them.
The other stresses, economic necessity etc, things that I cannot control, I just have to live with to the best of my ability, trusting in divine intervention! Abandoning everything and everybody around me would solve nothing at all. There, that is the mythical monster Stress dealt with...so what else is left when you are struggling with your health, your morale and so many other things that whoever reads this will already know all too well so I will not bother to mention?
As foggy as it may be... we are left with a thinking brain.
Various incidents in my personal/family life have raised my 'out of my control' stress levels to dizzying heights this year. On my elevated dose of meds, both thyroid and adrenal I have begun to go downhill again. My back has become so bad that a mere cough or a sneeze makes me feels as though my spine will snap with the pain! It makes me scream and cuts my breath away. Looking at my level of meds I feel pretty much at the limit, so my brain has told me to 'think it out'.
There are extremely knowledgeable people behind the scenes on this site who have so deep an understanding of this 'creeping disease' that they would put many a professional to shame. I bow to them in reverence. However, I cannot follow everything like they can as closely as I would like, so I need to rely upon my logic instead. If I am honest I cannot always remember and the key word here is 'remember', the different significance between the ferrous, the fumerates, the ferretins...and the fumeroles! So instead I use logic to construct pictures in my mind of how and why things work, or don't as the case may be.
As I understand it, if one had to describe the function of the thyroid with just one sentence one could say it was responsible for making sure oxygen reaches every single cell in the body...that is an awful lot of cells! Oxygen gives us life, therefore oxygen is energy. When we breathe we oxygenate our bodies. This is our fuel.
The blood carries the oxygen around our bodies. The haemoglobin content of our blood relies upon Iron its wonders to perform! Iron also has other more complex roles to fulfil, hand-in-hand with thyroid function to give us the endocrine balance we all desperately need....so feeling my general condition was going down hill, despite my GP saying my recent blood tests showed no deficiency in iron... I resumed taking my liquid iron solution, only yesterday. Just 10ml to begin with.
For the last week I have been needing to sleep 12 hours once again minimum- though still feeling exhausted when I rise. My feet have become so painful I can hardly walk on them. My back, not good normally has become crippling (and I do not use that term lightly!) Unable to even turn in an orthopaedic bed for pain that wakes me. Unable to pick up anything off the floor, put my socks on, do my boot laces up...nothing, zip!
I only took the iron yesterday.
Today, I woke normally. I had less 'clock hours' of sleep time yet feel more energetic and refreshed. I could move in bed, turning without too much discomfort! I would classify my improvement of mobility to the tune of an incredulous 65-70%! When I stepped out of bed, my feet were far, far less painful!! As I got out of bed I did not feel as though I would fall over!! I could walk to the bathroom with such little pain I was quite shocked. I am still shocked.
My logical conclusion is, that IF we do not have all the other elements required (due to impaired gut absorption due to leaky gut) to balance out this complex equation that is the thyroid, that we don't get all the necessary vitamins, minerals, trace elements etc... (that we would normally be able to get from a healthy diet- a non processed, non adulterated diet that is). EVEN if we are taking all the correct thryoid/adrenal medications, the chances are they will only partially work for us, if at all!!
And of course what our GP Doctors say are 'adequate levels' as shown on our official blood tests are indeed more than likely standards that do not apply to those of us with this complex issue that is the thyroid. We need to think it out and listen to our bodies.
Another thing that the GP's and Dr's forget, or do not even know, is that when you take Iron you need to take it in conjunction with Vitamin C... And most importantly, the Iron needs to be taken a minimum of 4 hours AFTER having taken thyroid meds.
Apologies for a lengthy post. I hope my observations and findings will benefit others on this marvellous site across the globe.
Best Wishes,
Popsy ;0)
Iron deficiency and thyroid 
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