Possible Improvement Already? Oh, and T3
It’s day 4, and the eating part of this has been way easier than the first time. I think this is because I don’t have the sugar addiction I had before. One of the problems I’m having is that I have a case of the lazies with cooking. I need to be eating more protein, I’m sure. I’m not that hungry, but finding myself going for a couple of dried apricots rather than making a meal. Yesterday, I had leftover cauliflower for dinner. This will get better. I just need to get moving on my batch cooking. Today, I made a big pot of yam bisque, and I cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot to make soup tomorrow.
I’ve lost 1.5 – 2 pounds, which could be just a part of my normal fluctuation. On the other hand, it might not be. My hands and ankles are already looking less swollen, and I would love to know what part of what I’m doing is helping that! Maybe all of it. I’m going to be doing pictures weekly, but I took a bonus one today. Not sure I see it in the photos. Day 4 almost looks worse to me. It’s around the knuckles at the base of my fingers that seems better to me as well as less fluid between my knuckles and wrist. Hmmm, what do you think?
| Day 1, AM | Day 4, AM |
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One thing I discovered, looking back across my bloodwork, is that since I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease (autoimmune high thyroid, later radiated, so I have no thyroid) in 2007, I never really had a normal T3 level. Nobody was really tracking it much. The meds you are prescribed after losing your thyroid are T4 medications that your body converts to T3, which makes you feel normal. After 7 years on T4 meds, in 2014, I thought I had a stroke. My word recall was gone. We were going camping that fall, and I couldn’t even make a list of what we needed to pack. I told this to my rheumatologist later, who immediately checked my thyroid numbers, and my T3 was very low. I had thought that this was the first time it was low, but looking back just a few days ago, no it wasn’t. It was low clear back to 2007. For years, I only had my TSH numbers run through my primary care doc (not on the graph below), as my endocrinologist said I didn’t need to see her any more. Now, I wonder if this was why I never really recovered from my postpartum flare for over 6 years (when I went Paleo).
When I had my T3 run on Friday, it was again low. In the past (starting in late 2014), I mostly took 5 mcg of T3 meds in the AM, and was supposed to take it in the afternoon too, but couldn’t sleep. I then took 0.5 for a while in the pm, then stopped and thought I was doing ok. I’m not. Now I started supplementing 1.25 mcg (¼ pill) in the afternoon. I am not worrying about not eating for 2 hours before and 1 hour after, as it’s too hard to do in the middle of the day. This medication needs to be created in time-release, as you burn through it quickly. I think this is why I often get cold and tired in the afternoon.
More to come!