Things I've ended up doing

[VanessaB]

Since trying to make myself feel better have realised that some things I have been doing may seem as down right bonkers.I have been having saunas,yogic posing,eating rhubarb,loads of vitamins not eating soya,wearing a scarf to keep thyroid warm having massages along with various other things so it's not all bad.Except drinking cider vinegar just wondering am I alone in this or am I the only one

[Hidden]

Yep me too! (lost my marbles a while back).

Me & daughter have a monthly treat at a sun spa - OK it's just a room with sunlamps, sun-loungers, sand, palm trees, tropical murals and sea/bird music! and there's massage chairs etc there too - too crazy for the 'Dragon's Den'. Well it's a little escape and it doesn't hurt!

A nice long bath with epsom salts.. mmm. Some folks even think taking vit D drops is weird (but it definitely helps me!) I have them in Milk - milk is good! (I used to hate it, but not now).

I refused chocs as they said contains Soya - why?(strangely I've gone off chocolate anyway). I also managed to avoid all the Christmas cake, mince pies & pud (not bothered thanks) but did succumb to a bit of Stollen. Couldn't resist a twiglet or 2 either - wouldn't be Xmas would it?

It gets weirder - I got some iodized salt - I only have a little in food - Family thinks I'm really daft, so I have to put it in a separate salt cellar! Basically avoiding most weird stuff, got non-fluoride toothpaste, eco shampoo/washing up liquid/washing powder, chucked the Channel, no makeup/cream - no spots, no dry skin, got non- aluminium deoderant, water filter, avoid bread, aspartame & marg, and cook from scratch - I'm not the weird one maybe, it's everyone else! - we've been conditioned into buying 'healthy' bi-product chemicals (some you can't even spray on your lawn) & some disguised as food! - The list goes on!

What's in Rhubarb? btw it's good for cleaning pans! Cider vinegar good for digestion I believe (not tried it) what about pickle? but prefer cider or wine with a meal instead!

oops rant over! Jane x

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

Jane, are you iodine deficient? If not, I don't think the iodised salt is a good idea.

Vanessa, I too have done some really weird things in the quest to feel well. I went to see an alternative practicioner that my dentist recommended me to (well, actually it's a bit more complicated than that, but I'll spare you all the details). She was so far off base I don't think she even had a title - don't think she was even a doctor, actually, but she cost an arm and a leg!.

So, she had me lie down, placed stones all over my body, and waved coloured lights over me; she hung me upside down (actually, I quite liked that...) and rubbed fleurs de Bach under my nose...

Funnily enough, I felt quite good after the first session. My mistake was to follow her dietry advice: plain boiled rice and carrots and soy milk! I was still very naive in those days and didn't know much about anything except that I felt ill. So, anyway, by the next time I went back, I was feeling much, much worse, with all that soy milk, and no proper food, and she started telling me how it was all my fault. It was my attitude that had brought on all my thyroid problems. I sat and cried for half an hour and never went back.

However, I like to think that the experience was salutary and I set to to learn as much as I could so that I wouldn't be taken in by charlatans again!

No, you're not alone, not by any means. Greyx

[Hashoo in reply to greygoose]

I went to a Polish monk herbologist who diagnosed me with hashimotos after suffering here for 4and a half years...this was then confirmed by doctor here and there by the fact that my thyroid antibodies were over 100x the top end of the so called "healthy level"...the herbologist has me drinking herb tea,cod liver oil, eating dark chocolate, elderberry juice and 2different lots of herbal drops,some immune boost tablets, propolis drops, plus i take selenium,vit D, B12,folic acid, vits A,C&E and iron and am bathing in magnesium solphate all on top of my Levo 50mcgs....before anyone says anything about him being a quack...it was free to see him (voluntary contribution to the church at patients discretion) and 3months supply of just the herbs cost me a tenner. half my symptoms have disappeared and i an finally able to live a life!I also try to stick with homemade food and don't eat sliced bread at all...I avoid tomatoes and grow my own herbs to cook with....it's hard and doesn't always happen but i work and am out if the house for 12 hours a day most weekdays so i don't beat myself up, i carry on fighting and keep my ear to the ground for anything that helps...especially anything that could be fun such as salt mines which helped with my breathing

so you see...you're definitely not the only ones trying weird and wonderful things!I get weird looks in the office and my boyfriend won't kiss me after some of the herbs but i brush my teeth and carry on regardless!! Who cares what they think as long as i feel better!!

[greygoose in reply to Hashoo]

You're absolutely right, Hashoo! As long as it does help, But my experience with the quack left me feeling much worse - all that soy probably finished off my thyroid gland - and hundreds of euros poorer!!!

I'd love to hear more about the salt mines, though...

Grey

[Hashoo in reply to greygoose]

I can imagine!unfortunately there do seem to be a lot of people out there ready to take advantage...I think you have to be careful and research everything you can when trying new things...one of the things that made me confident in taking the herbs given to me was that the herbologist is based in a doctors surgery where you go to see an endocronologist (for example who you do pay for but they're qualified specialists and still a lot cheaper than here) get scans done (i had an ultra sound done confirming the presence of a goitre after the endo touched my neck and felt it) and then, if you wish, you can go down the corridor to get herbs which help your recovery along (we spoke to a few people in the waiting room who all said the herbs were helping to control symptoms)...i so sound like an advert...sorry not my intention just trying to explain my experience...my mum is Polish you see and after almost 5 years of watching Gps fob me off she convinced me to try it...bearing in mind i hadn't been diagnosed here with anything except asthma and being allergic to something but nothing you could test for causing chronic synus problems with nasal polyps...i had been tested for thyroid function but not thyroid antibodies and no-one ever touched my neck to feel for a goitre...turns out its all hashimotos and since taking levo most of my symptoms have settled down...it took a week for me to see the difference,my gp here said he'd never seen anyone respond so quickly and the herbologist told me the herbs would help the thyroxin work hence why i believe both things are working for me...by the way when my gp here tested for thyroid antibodies they were over 100 times the higher limit hence why he's allowed me to keep taking even though my tsh has never been out of range (highest was right at the very top of the range).

Anyhow...the salt mines...that was something else I tried to help with my asthma, breathing problems and sinuses...and it did help a little...more importantly we got a nice relaxing holiday from it...again this was in Poland and it did help relieve some of the uncomfortable feelings i was having and by the end of the week spent there (going down into the salt mines every day and having spa treatments...nowhere near as luxurious as English spas but the massages were lovely!!)...i was able to run without having an asthma attack...unfortunately it wasn't a permanent solution and symptoms did come back but it took a few months to get back to asthma attacks at least once a day and throughout the night etc...anyway...they apparently have salt mines here to..have seen them on groupon and living social...am not sure what they're like as may be more gimicky than what i went to but you could check it out if you're interested...i was going every day for 2weeks (except Sundays) for a few hours and attending a low level exercise class (mainly stretching and breathing exercises to help you to breathe in the salty air...was for 30mins a day and the rest of the 3-4hours was spent relaxing,drinking lemon tea and playing cards or playing games (there were a lot of kids there who were playing basketball and football etc in a specially designated area for physical games)...anyway...they have 2salt mines which do this in Poland which i know of.i went to one in Bochnia...cheaper,not touristy at all so not everyone's cup of tea as is like a budget hotel type place but good for the treatments...and one in wielicka...very touristy,English translators and pricey but worth a visite even just to see it and wander around. Anyhow, let me know if you have any questions...hope this helps explain it a bit...good luck feeling better

[greygoose in reply to Hashoo]

Thank you, Hashoo, that's very interesting. But no way can I afford to go to Poland! Although I'd really love to. Or even England, come to that - I live in France. However, I will investigate to see if there is anything like it here.

Thanks again, Grey

[Kangagirl in reply to greygoose]

One of the things that really infuriates me about some, only some of the more unscrupulous 'alternative' practitioners is the way they make you feel it's your fault if what they suggest doesn't work or makes you worse. It's your 'attitude' or you're 'not thinking positive thoughts'. Worse still is the insinuation that your whole illness is down to something you've done or not done, thought or not thought.

I could tell a few tales along the same lines that would make your hair stand on end, if you've got any left, but they would sound too extreme to be believed. I can't even believe the way I let some of them upset me when I was younger and more naive.

It's so wrong to play on the guilt feelings that we already have and take advantage of our vulnerability, while charging an arm and a leg. I'm not saying they're all like that, but I've met a few in my quest to feel better and am now very wary. Actually, most GPs now seem to be doing the same thing - telling people they're fat and lazy or imagining things or worse. No wonder we take things into our own hands - what's the alternative?

Kanga x

[greygoose in reply to Kangagirl]

I agree. With GPs I feel it's to cover up their ignorance : when you don't know what you're talking about, blame the patient! It works every time.

[Redditch]

me too, sauna every day... and it did help, but then I started taking 500IU of vitamin D per day and I don't need the sauna any more..

I think my thyroid has several jobs to do,with not enough fuel to do them.

One of these, and definitely one that affects me badly is keeping me warm so the sauna gives the thyroid time off to do one of its other jobs..

BUT... now that I am taking this vitamin D, the cells are much better equipped to process the thryroxin and use it more efficiently, the difference is amazing.. the GP prescribed me 800IU but my own research into some clever Harvard prof's work convinced me to go to 5000 and I am seriously on the mend.

I also take Selenium.. and Magnesium B (Wassen) and my whole condition is improving daily.. I only take 50 Mg levothyroxin and I am really almost sorted with my concoction of vitamins and minerals. Nothing my GP has recommended or prescribed has done any good at all! I never did touch soya.. you listen to your body, and if it says "give me sleep" or "give me blue seaweed and yak's milk" then you have to assume it's for a reason... don't feel weird about it.. but take Greygoose's advice about the iodised salt.. Greygoose is well wise.

[Hidden in reply to Redditch]

Don't worry I'm not recommending Iodine.

I don't have much salt just a normal amount - sometimes Seasalt sometimes iodised - they have the latter across Europe. Multivitamins and Thryoid medicine have iodine in too, but I don't have them J

thyroiduk.healthunlocked.co...

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

Well, you can't really have thyroid hormones without iodine, can you! lol That's what they are. But iodine in salt and vitamins is volentary, you can avoid it there.