Oh. Boy.

As promised, I am doing a more in-depth post about my recent visit to a new doctor.  For those who want the dirty details right up front- I'M NOT CRAZY. I REPEAT I'M NOT CRAZY, I'M JUST SICK. The bottom line is that I will get back to a healthy weight eventually and the many symptoms I feel daily should subside if not disappear. My appointment lasted 3 hours and at the end I felt like I had heard so much information that I couldn't keep it all straight so I'm likely getting just the VERY basics of it into this post.

I was referred to The Health Spot by Dan's Aunt. She has a neighbor who has had incredible success with her fibromyalgia by following their protocols. I was skeptical for a long time, but finally made the call after several months of hearing about the clinic.

I feel that I've invested so much time, energy, money, and emotion into things that only lead to disappointment. I also feel that lately I have known more than ever that there is something else going on in my body that is contributing to my sickness.

I can't really describe bio-meridian testing because I'm not in the medical field. She hooked me up to a machine that is similar to an EKG? machine that sends electricity through the body. She used different points on my body to gather data about different systems in my body. She told me that if the line went above the green line it meant that my tissues were just inflamed but if the line went below the green line it meant the tissue had already degenerated. If the line stayed in the green line then it meant there was no pathology.

My endocrine system and nervous system are the systems that were the worst. They literally went past the measurable amount. other systems that are deficient are digestive, Liver, blood, immune, and skin. My normals systems are respiratory, cardiovascular, pancreas, lymph, and metabolism.

What does this all mean? Well to be honest I'm not sure. I was so completely overwhelmed with information. I thought I was pretty up to date on my medical issues but turns out I have a lot of research to do.

My practitioner's main concern was my endocrine system and my pituitary gland. She things I've been so sick for so long that I could very easily be headed toward another auto-immune disease or cushings. She was also concerned with my estrogen levels, adrenals, DHEA levels, vitamin B levels, acid reflux, inflammation, and chronic sinus infections.

She believes that the root of my disease was brought on my massive amounts of stress, particularly the stress that I experienced when Hollie passed away. She said that the long term side effects of the Lamictal have also contributed to my situation. She was the first doctor to side with me that my Mirena IUD also contributed to my health situation.

She said it's one giant snowball and said a lot of things that were too complicated for me to repeat but the only thing I care about is that she is hopeful for me to make a full recovery. Her goal is to eventually have my hashimoto's go into remission and take me off of thyroid medication all together.

I don't think I even understand everything I learned today, but everything she told me made sense. I couldn't believe how dead on my intuition has been about some of these things.

I was actually working with 2 people- a bio-meridian practitioner and a nurse practitioner. They both discussed my history, my symptoms, my goals, and my situation and came up with a plan for me to follow.

The supplements cost me about $250, but she said next month they should cost about $150, then the next month about $100 and then they will cost about $100 until I've made a full recovery and then it's just staying on top of my diet.

She's taken me off dairy, sugar, most grains (Quinoa is the only one I can eat right now), anything processed, most fruit, red meat, cashews, macademia nuts, chicken, egg yolks, tuna, and canned food. I can eat grapefruit, strawberries, blueberries, and apples for fruit. I can eat turkey, seafood, most fish, almonds, almond milk, almond butter,  all vegetables, and peanut butter. Over time she said I would be able to incorporate other things after she can bring the inflammation down.

She told me to cut way back on my exercise and limit it to 5 hours a week. I'm also working on eliminating stress from my life. My goals are also to release myself from the need to self sabotage.

She told me that right now I'm too sick to try to get pregnant and if I did get pregnant I would likely lose the baby again, but after 6 months I should be in good enough shape to try again.

I feel more hopeful than I have for years! I finally feel like I understand just how complicated things are and in her words "your weight has NOTHING to do with your diet or your exercise." She told me because of my pituitary gland and estrogen issue I would have continued gaining weight no matter what I did.

She told me I should probably lose 10 pounds after my first week on the supplements and I laughed in her face. I told her it has been a very long time since I have been able to lose weight but she told me I should be prepared to start losing weight during this process.

I still have bloodwork that needs to be done but right now I feel like I'm on the most specialized plan I've ever been on and I am hopeful about the future!