Cheers to 2014 and Improved Health in the New Year!

I'm 3 weeks in with a bug I've been fighting. At this point I'm just ready to be done. I even threw in the towel a week ago and tried conventional route with antibiotics, which actually helped me to improve, but not 100%. The worst part is the ear infection, which make me feel like I'm walking around with a fish bowl on my head. That said, this is the first time I've really had a serious acute illness in a year. That is a really good thing and I can tell my body is really trying to fight this thing, it just takes longer for me and the downside is that I may have to try another antibiotic. This is not my favorite thing to do because I run the rick of Candida overgrowth amongst other things. I have a good plan in place for preventative measures.

Ok, enough about the acute illness. I recently got my labs back that look at my environmental exposure and toxic levels. Environmental toxins are known as the "obese makers" and may be a contributor to my weight gain and inability to loose. My tests were pretty good with the exception of Parabens. I'm someone that has taken measures to really reduce my toxic exposures, but the last piece is my makeup and hairspray. It is one of the toughest transitions for most women. I'm ready though. I recently ordered make-up by Tarte and so far so good other than removing the make-up. I'm not sure why it seems to be more difficult to remove this make-up, but my new challenge is to find a good make-up remover. In addition to switching out my make-up I am supplementing with Siliphos and Glycine, which will help protect my liver and kidneys as well as indirectly build my Glutathione levels and coleus forskohlii which will help with thyroid hormone production and fat metabolism including the removal of toxic fat, which is where the body stores parabens and other environmental toxins, hence the "obese makers."  So, I've started my protocol recently and I'm hopeful that it will help with the fasting process that is planned for spring.

I've recently developed Tennis Elbow, which is annoying and makes it difficult for me to do my weight lifting regimen. I have resorted to Ultrasound with my chiropractor and hope that it will be as effective as it was with my plantar fasciitis in the past. 

I will also meet with my Lyme ND later this month for next steps, but so far so good on this protocol. I recently started Curaphen, which has given me a better quality of life. My overall chronic pain issues are significantly better as a result.

I am so hopeful about improvement with my health in 2014 and as a result I'm hopeful I'll be abe to do some things that I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I'm even toying with the notion of going back to school part-time for Integrative Therapies. My fingers are crossed that this may become a reality as crazy as it sounds to go back to school once again.

I hope this post finds you well and I hope 2014 will bring out the best you yet!

Feeling Good

Hello friends. Once again, I am sorry for the delay in this post. I have good news. I've been feeling pretty good on a regular basis. I have to give credit to a number of things that my wonderful doctors have been guiding me with. I truly think that the genetic testing I had done was one of the best things we did to make some progress that is noticeable. We are currently working on clearing my methylation pathways so that all process can operate more smoothly. The first two SNPs (pronounced snips) we have been addressing are a homozygous CBS mutation and a heterozygous MTHFR mutation (A1298C). Together they cause my methylators to act as if they are being flushed away. I apologize for getting this wrong in the last post in saying that my circumstances would cause methyl trapping. Genetic mutations are a complicated subject. With a CBS mutation it is necessary to lower your sulfer load, which for me means temporarily going on a low sulfer diet and supplementing with Molybdenum which removes sulfer (I'm 6 weeks in and have 2 weeks to go.) and for an MTHFR mutation it is necessary that you are not getting any supplemental Folic Acid in your diet because with this mutation, the body cannot make use of it. I am also supplementing with Thorne Methyl-Gaurd plus. It is a methylation support supplement that contains active B vitamins including greater amounts of 5MTHF, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. So, the exciting thing is that I think that these efforts have made just about everything else we are doing so much more effective and that is something I am so thrilled about. In addition I am almost to a full dose with the second addition to my Lyme treatment and co-infection treatment. I think that is also helping me to feel better. BUT the most exciting was wen we added Curaphen to my protocol. The difference in my level of pain was significant and noticeable in less than 24 hours. There haven't been many times in the past few years of treatment that I could say that about much of what we were doing. I feel like we are really beginning to make headway and I am so excited. It is like I've gotten a little piece of my life back.

On the forefront some things that are planned for future are addressing my high triglycerides through a very special fasting process that is guided by physician who specializes in resetting the metabolism.  We will not be doing this until Spring/Summer, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime we are testing for environmental toxins, so I'll let you know what the results are in my next post. Addressing these will also help with underlying causes of my weight gain and high triglycerides. Eventually we'll also look at heavy metal toxicity and we'll also address the EBV. Eventually we hope to address other pieces of my methylation pathways which may include B-12 shots and IV Glutathione. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I'm feeling good about the direction we are headed in and I am hopeful that I will continue to feel much better in addition to gaining control of my triglycerides and weight gain.

I hope that everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving holiday!  

Breathe, Breathe and then Breathe again... Sigh

We must stop meeting like this... I have so much to tell and I'm not sure where to begin, but I'm sure once I'm done you will fully understand why I haven't posted in over two months.

We had such a wonderful and much deserved vacation in August to Northern California for our twelve year anniversary. We spent a couple days in Geyserville, where we did a 15 mile bike ride through beautiful vineyards. 

Vineyard in Geyserville

...then some time in Petaluma and Sonoma. We ate a the Girl and the Fig, which was something I had been wanting to do and then we headed to the Muir Woods for a 5 mile hike through the beautiful redwoods. 

beautiful redwood tree in Muir Woods

Our last couple of days we spent in Point Reyes. They know how to live. We visited a beautiful cheese farm 

Point Reyes Cheese Farm

where we learned to make paella. Yes, we made that and it was as amazing as it looks.

the paella that we made

It was all wonderful and I have no complaints, other than needing another vacation already.

When I returned from vacation I had my genetic test results. I'll go into further detail about those. I also came home to some disappointing lipid results. I'll come back to this... what happens next is a domino of crazy stress makers that my body is still recovering from. We were home for two weeks when we discovered a giant plumbing issue. We live in an old neighborhood and the tree roots had grown through the old plumbing causing basement flooding and all kinds of back up issues... this ended up being an $8-10K issue and was when I was so glad I'm not the home owner. I felt sorry for our landlord. None-the-less it was a huge inconvenience for us as well. I was only able to take one minute showers or a little over a week, we really were not able to flush very often and could do minimal dishes while the problem was being fixed and by this time there was raw sewage flooding my basement. Not good. This all gave me a new appreciation for the devastation that was about to hit our beautiful state of Colorado, the 2013 flood. While the plumbing was being fixed my husband had to leave for a week long business trip. He missed the flooding devastation that was in process. All the while our plumbing was being worked on round the clock. By the time my husband returned home, the plumbing was fixed and the rains had let up slightly, but there was more flooding to come.  The floods have finally receded, but our state has so much clean up that will probably take years. There has never been flooding like this in Colorado.

Then, I received a call from my sister and come to find out she was scheduled for major oral surgery the following day, which she had told almost no one about including myself because she has been traumatized by dentists since she was a little girl. She will now suffer for the rest of her life and must build a trusting relationship with a good dentist. I had an extreme amount of guilt for not being there for her, but I had no idea. I was so worried and so glad to hear that she had made it through this procedure, but she has many more to come over the next few months. I'm just hoping the worst is behind her and that she won't be in pain. 

Next is the icing on this stress cake. My dear sweet dog Jack had a seizure on the Sunday following the day my husband returned from his business trip. I was home alone with him when it happened and it is one of the most terrifying and helpless feelings I have ever experienced. I was able to load my dog in the car along with my other dog and I drove to the vet in pouring rain. My husband met me at the vet where they ran a series of tests and X-rays... this was the day we would find out that our sweet dog of 11 years had terminal cancer. Some of you may not understand this, but our dogs are like children to us. The vet gave us a shot of valium to give to him if and when there was a next seizure. We went home determined to spoil Jack for whatever time we had left with him. Mostly he still seemed like himself and we were told that he is in no pain. Needless to say I decided that going to work on Monday wasn't an option. I needed time to deal with the news I had just received and I felt like a bus had hit me. On Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the first seizure a second one had begun. I gave him the valium and it didn't work to stop the seizure like it was supposed to. I was by myself with him again and I was really freaking out. I knew this was it. Jack is a daddy's boy and I frantically tried to get in touch with my husband. We took Jack back to the vet and the options were not good. It was time to say goodbye to our dear sweet boy. We miss him so much.
 

Our sweet baby Jack - R.I.P

Goodbye sweet friend. Needless to say, the loss is still pretty fresh. It will be only 2 weeks tomorrow. I have moments when I think I see him and moments that make me burst out in tears. I know it will take time. My body is exhausted and none of this has been good for all the health challenges I face. Our other dog, Dre, is finally coming around to being himself again, but he certainly went through depression and we were a bit worried about him. We are spoiling him rotten and this is the one time when I believe that is perfectly fine. He is 11 too, so we will make the best of his time with us.

The day after Jack passed, I had my appointment with my ND. It is time to start making inroads with regard to genetic mutations that seem clinically relevant with my symptom picture. I'm truly excited about the things we can now personalize with my results. I have roughly 60 genetic mutations and several are in the area of methylation. This is the area we are beginning to utilize because methylation is important for genes. I'll go into further detail about all the mutations I have in a future post, but for now I will focus on the CBS mutation that I have. It is heterozygous and because of this mutation it is compounding the problem with my MTHFR mutation. The CBS pathway is responsible for sulfer and when there is a mutation in the gene it can cause methyl trapping, which causes more problems. That said, I will have to go on a low thiol diet for 8 weeks. Thiols apparently are more important than just avoiding foods that are high in sulfer. So, no more dairy (I primarily avoid with exception of goat milk products, which I will need to avoid), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mustard greens...), onions, garlic, wine, most meet other than poultry and fish and eggs of course, which I am already avoiding and any products with added sulfites. I have to avoid them to lessen the sulfer load on my body and in the meantime I will be supplementing with Molybdenum among other supplements, which will help to lower my sulfer load and assist my body in being able to utilize the methylators.

Genes are complicated yet interesting. I am fascinated by my tests and not too disturbed by things I had no idea I am at high risk for (Multiple Sclerosis, Macular Degeneration, Celiac Disease...). Though there is one that bothers me because it it hits close to home for me every time I have a lipid profile done. I eat so healthy and I am so active despite all my challenges, you would think that I would have optimal HDL and triglycerides. My HDL is lower than ever and triglycerides higher than ever... all that combined with finding out that I am at high risk for Coronary Heart Disease, Obesity and Diabetes combined with low Adiponectin levels according to my genetic test results... not good. All the more reason to push my docs to get creative with ideas and motivation for me to do all I can to take preventative measures beyond what I am already doing. So we are running a VAP test, which will actually tell us about the health of my actual cholesterol cells. I should know the results next week and we'll take the necessary steps from there based on what we find out. 

In addition, I am doing well on my Lyme protocol and will be able to add an additional remedy about mid-October, which should help in improving symptoms. My Lyme ND is also checking for viruses that Lyme patients are more susceptible to. I should know those results next week as well.

Last, but not least, my husband made me a wonderful dinner for my birthday yesterday. Thank you hubby! It was yummy.
 
That is all for now. I'll share more next month. I hope that all of you have a wonderful and enjoyable fall!

What's in Your Genes?

Well, I certainly know more about myself and I hope that knowledge will pay off. As it turns out I have a heterozygous A1298C single copy mutation of the MTHFR gene. That actually explains alot. It also means that it is highly likely that I have other gene mutations as well. The MTHFR mutation is very common. Research indicates that almost 50% or more of the population has an MTHFR mutation. Essentially this gene provides information on creation of an enzyme that helps in the methylation process, providing processing information for amino acids and protein building blocks in addition it is responsible for reactions necessary to utilize B vitamins, in particular folate. This gene mutation can cause a plethora of symptoms or none at all depending on the individual and a homozygous mutation is considered to be worse. It is also link to a number of chronic diseases including many autoimmune conditions. Here are a couple of helpful websites that may be helpful. Dr. Ben Lynch and the MTHFR gene mutation, Dr. Amy Yasko, MTHFR Support,    If you are a regular reader and your symptoms are similar to mine it may be something you should get tested for. I hear the treatment can make all the difference in the world. I hope that is true. I will be starting treatment soon, so I'll keep you posted. In addition, gene testing has become more affordable. You can order a panel that will test for a bunch of gene mutations for only $99 at https://www.23andme.com/ We have ordered this panel and I will get results in about 6 weeks. I will keep you posted. I think it will be interesting and helpful to see the results. It really means that medicine can be personalized.

It also turns out that my body really resisted the synthetic thyroid hormones. It became very dangerous for me to stay on them any longer. I had the option of going on natural thyroid hormone, but since I technically do not need to be on it and we tried them to see if they would help improve any of my symptoms, I felt like we gave it a good try, but I wasn't willing to explore any further. I have felt more crappy than normal for the past three months of being on T3/T4. I decided it was time for a break and I can always give it a shot in the future.

My primary Naturopath is back from maternity leave. Yay! It is so nice to have her back and consulting with the other doctors on my case. She knows me so well. That said, I know we still have a long journey ahead and she will be integral along the way.

I've been in alot of pain as of late and realized that while my pilates studio has moved and is in process of opening up a new location, my body is feeling it. I cannot wait to get back to a regular pilates schedule. It has been a few weeks and I am definitely jonesing for a pilates session.

The vitiligo has spread a bit and my docs are putting their heads together for a remedy. We'll see what they come up with. Psoriasis has been flared a bit too, but is getting better now that I'm not on the hormones any longer. I'm still doing a detox and will likely complete the detox some time next week at which time I believe the next step is to ramp back up on the Lyme treatment... I'm very nervous, but ready to move to the next step. Please send me positive thoughts. I'm really hoping my body doesn't have another crazy reaction this time.

Ah, last but not least, the best way to end summer will be a vacation. I'm so excited. We are visiting Sonoma and Muir Woods near the end of next month. We have not been on a real vacation in about 5+ years. We've had some long weekends visiting family, but we don't consider that a vacation. I cannot wait. It is going to be awesome and I get to take a break from my supplements for a week. Yay! If you knew how many things I'm taking, you might be able to appreciate why this seemingly small thing is such a big deal to me. It will make things easier at the airport too. I'll try to share some pics with you next month. 

In good health!

Battle Scars

Hello my peeps. I hope you are well. I continue to fight the good fight. I’ve been experiencing jitters for about a week now. That is my technical term for feeling like I drank a ton of coffee, only I have not;-) It is a horrible and frustrating sensation. My assumption is this is happening due to the synthetic T3/T4. I’m about at the end of my rope with the thyroid hormones and I’m about to ask to be weaned off depending on how the next labs look. We’ll be retesting labs again in the next week or so. My nerves feel fried and I’m exhausted, needing to sleep many hours. I may have overdone it this month as we have been on the go all month with the exception of this weekend. Thank goodness I had nothing planned for this weekend because I obviously needed the sleep and even after sleeping a ton I just don’t feel rested. The rest of the summer is pretty packed full of activity too, so I’ll have to do a better job at getting proper rest and relaxation. I’ve also had severe diarrhea off and on for about the past 2 months. I’m sure this is adding to the exhaustion as well.

After the reaction to the Lyme treatment, my doc had me stop the treatment and begin a detox of Liver, Kidney and Lymph. She has me slowly working up to a full dose of the PEKANA Basic Detox Remedies. I’ll be at a full dose next week and will remain there for probably 2-3 weeks. Then we’ll restart the MC-BAR-1 Lyme/co-infection remedy. I’m nervous. Here is a look at what I’m left with after the first try. 

Vitiligo patches on forearms and hands

These are my battle scars/vitiligo and they are here to stay unless I’m lucky and they fill in with pigment like they did when I was a kid. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks and destroys the melanocytes. It is essentially a lack of melanin in the skin. Melanin is what gives our skin color. I’ve had other spots of vitiligo show up recently and I’m wondering if it is the combo of me being on Cat’s Claw (also for Lyme) and being exposed to the sun simultaneously. I started the Cat’s Claw when it was still winter and exposed to the sun far less. I haven’t had any hives like I did while taking the MC-BAR-1.

I have a new theory after participating in a live webinar with Dr. Marty Ross. He is a Lyme expert in Seattle and he answered another person’s question during the webinar about sensitivities. When individuals like myself are super sensitive to all types of things (food, environment…) they often have a defect or mutation in MTHFR. Here is a link from Dr. Ross: MTHFR: Lyme Byte 

MTHFR is a gene that helps us synthesize folate as well as aids glutathione in the detoxification process. MTHFR mutations or defect are very common. I’ve asked my doctors if this is something we should consider looking in to. I’ll keep you posted.

My regular Naturopath will be back part-time from maternity leave in the middle of July. I’m looking forward to having her at the helm of the ship again. That is not to say that my Lyme Naturopath and my D.O. have been doing a wonderful job at moving things forward while she has been on maternity leave.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer. Remember to get rest and don’t overdo it. There is always a ton of great things to do in the summer and it may be tough to say no. Take it from me, it is best to say no so that you don’t hit that wall and end up in bed and missing out on all the fun. I’m still trying to recoup and I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow. I’m hoping this will provide some relief for my nerves and the persistent exhaustion. Until next time, I wish you good health!

Pain, Pain Go Away - Do Not Come Another Day!

First of all, I'm sorry for the delay in my post. It has been an interesting month and a half since my last post. Despite all the craziness, I remain positive and always feel so supported by my practitioners. My D.O. ran my thyroid labs after a month on synthetic T3/T4 and I ended up hyperthyroid. Though I was hyperthyroid my symptoms were very hypothyroid. This is pretty common with crossover in symptoms. I was so exhausted that I was napping all the time, I could not get out of bed very easily, I did not have the energy to make it through the day, I had nausea and headaches and lots of muscle an joint pain, my cycle was completely whacky and so we ajdusted the T3 and lowered the dose and spread it throughout the day. The first day of this change in dose was completely awful, but then I started to feel better. I've been on the new dose for a couple weeks and though I feel better than I did prior to starting the new dosage level I actually feel worse than I did before I  ever started taking synthetic T3/T4. That said we re-ran the thyroid labs again this past week and I'm waiting for the results to come back. Chances are that the meds will need to be adjusted again. I've decided that I'm willing to go through one more adjustment and if I'm not feeling like it is really making a positive difference, then I'll likely ask to be weaned off the T3/T4. So far for the additional expense in labs and medication I have to say it really isn't proving to be worth it for me, so it may just mean that the majority of my symptoms can be attributed to the chronic lyme and co-infections. When all is said and done, I may be able to say that I learned more about the source of my symptoms after trying the meds. 

In addition I finally had my first 2-hour appointment with my new naturopath in Boulder. She has many years of experience treating chronic lyme patients and she has been added to my team to help with that piece of my case. I really enjoyed meeting her and feel that with her on my team I'll be able to make some important headway in the direction beginning to feel much better than I've felt in many years. That is not to say that this step in my treatment is going to be easy. In fact I'm probably facing some of the most difficult months ahead and I've already had a taste. My new doctor talked me through the steps that we will take in killing off the lyme and the co-infections that come with it. I'll keep you posted as we go through the process. She feels that my symptom picture is very indicative of Bartonella as the primary and there are likely other co-infections we'll deal with after the dominant one seems to be under control. Some of the other things we'll need to evaluate and perhaps treat are viruses such as EBV and MCV. These viruses are commonly found in chronic lyme patients... so I'll keep you posted on the outcome. I'm not certain when we'll be running the labs. The other piece we'll be looking at are heavy metals to see if there is any toxic overload. If so, we'l likely have to chelate. 

After evaluating my case my new doctor understood that my body is very sensitive and reacts quickly to certain things, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. She started me on a product from Beyond Balance called MC-BAR1. She had me start out at a 1/2 drop and wanted me to increase by 1 drop every few days until arriving somewhere around 8 drops or so per day. Well, needless to say, we didn't get very far. She gave me specific instructions to pick up Activated Charcoal in case of any herxheimer reaction. She feels it is counterproductive for the body to deal with herxing. 

After my appointment I took my first 1/2 drop and I took my second 1/2 drop the following day. I hadn't felt great, it was a Sunday and a beautiful day, so I decided to just relax in the sunshine for a little while. Later that day while running an errand my arms began to itch. I looked down and my arms were covered in a rash and I had newly developed patches of vitiligo all over my forearms and hands. I knew for certain this was a herx and I had to get home and call my doctor. She is available between appointments for such occasions with her lyme patients. I'm so thankful. I was scared that my vitiligo might spread to my face or simply get worse. That is here to stay, but the rash is finally gone. I had ordered a bottle of Activated Charcoal, but it had not arrived yet with my other supplements. I just didn't think my body would react so quickly to such a small amount. I have had to stop the MC-BAR 1 for the time being. My doctor has ordered a remedy to clear out my kidneys and lymph. She will go over the detail with me next week when it arrives. I'll do this cleanse for about 2 weeks and then we'll give the MC-BAR 1 another shot. I have to admit that I'm nervous, but I'll just have to trust that it will all be ok. Though the rash is gone, my body is still herxing, but now the symptoms are muscle aches and a flare up of my costochondritis, which has not happened in quite a while. It has been a painful week, but I'll see my physical therapist next week and she'll likely be able to help me get it under control. My Psoriasis is also more aggravated. It was tough to get through the week in so much pain, but I'm hopeful it will subside soon. My massage therapist was able to help reduce the pain a bit this weekend and my chiropractor has been able to help with gentle adjustments that have kept everything from getting more severe.

Despite all this, I'm excited to move forward with treatment and hopefully get to a point where I'm feeling better than ever. It will be a long and likely bumpy road, but I'm ready. 

April Fools

Oh how I wish this was April Fools and I would wake up knowing that all this was some sick joke, but alas it is not. There are lots of changes on the horizon for me and I'm hopeful they will be good changes. I recently got my lab work back, which indicated there are no parasites, which is awesome! Yay for that. The only significant finding is that my Bifido levels were low. That is a beneficial bacteria and may be contributing to some recent episodes of diarrhea. So my new protocol will take measures to specifically boost those levels back up. 

The IgG testing was very interesting and presents even more dietary challenges, but nothing I cannot conquer. IgG testing reveals foods, substances that cause a delayed reaction in the body, so this is not an allergy, but an intolerance. Intolerances can turn into allergies if not addressed. Food intollerances cause reactions in the body any where from an hour to 3 days after the food is ingested. Removing food intollerances for 3 months should help to give the immune system enough of a break to reset and heal. Then intolerances can be reintroduced one at a time a few days apart. I discovered on my most recent labs that eggs, almonds and dairy/whey are my latest problem foods. I kind of had a feeling about the almonds. I almost think that almonds might show up on IgE test, which would indicate an immediate sensitivity or allergy responds. I sometimes get a slightly itchy throat when I eat almonds. So much for the almond flour baked goods that I make on occasion. Eggs, I'm not too sad about, but the difficult part will be things that eggs are in. I'll figure out good substitutes like flax meal and water. Dairy is the other intollerance, but was not something I had very often and the goat dairy came up fine on the test, so that will be my substitute if I have a hankering for some cheese or yogurt. I love coconut and rice milk, so I'm not really upset about the dairy either. 

The changes in my life... well my Naturopath will be on maternity leave until the middle of July, so she has referred me to a Naturopath who has been treating chronic Lyme patients for the past six years. This causes comfort and anxiety at the same time. It is always stressful to add a new practitioner to the team and it is quite an undertaking puling all the labs and pertinent information that any new practitioner would want to see. At the same time I know she'll be a great doctor and will hopefully be able to help me feel better over time with some additions or changes to the current protocol. I'll be seeing her at the beginning of May and my current Naturopath has kindly made herself available for consultation with the new doctor even though she will be on maternity leave. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful and caring doctors.

During my last appointment with my current Naturopath prior to her maternity leave we discussed the possibility of synthetic thyroid hormone. I have had some time to warm up to the idea and become less reluctant especially since I know we have really taken every possible natural measure as possible with limited improvements. I saw my D.O. this week and I'm now on my second day of 100mcg Levothyroxin and 25mcg Liothyronine. This is a combo of T3 and T4. My Naturopath is actually more of a proponent for synthetics vs Armour or Naturthroid. That may be surprising, but I think she has seen patients do better on the synthetic forms when they have Hashimotos. So far so good. I can tell there are slight differences already, but mostly good. I'll keep my fingers crossed that things continue to be mostly good. My thyroid labs will be run again in about a month so we can measure how my body is handling the new medication and make adjustments if needed. I've had some serious weight gain in a short period of time that none of the doctors or experts can figure out since I have a very clean, healthy diet and I do high intensity interval training for an hour twice a week in addition one hour of pilates once a week and yoga, stretching and other activities peppered in on the other days. The thyroid hormone was not prescribed for my weight gain, but I hope that it will be a benefit in this area as well as it is all of our concerns that other health issues will start to  crop up if my weight continues to increase. I have also recently read the Metabolic Effect Diet that my Naturopath recommended. She wanted me to see if anything resonated with me. I feel that my workout and diet are extremely close to what they recommend in the book, but there are a few minor things I think I can tweak that might make all the difference in the world and I am willing to give them a shot. Here is a link with tips and information as well as the book that you can order:  Metabolic Effect

 Wish me luck with all the new efforts in health and wellness. The road may be rocky at times, but I'm hopeful about the outcome and remain in good spirits. I'm excited for Spring and all things new. Blessing to all of you who continue to struggle in your own journeys. Many thanks to my tireless practitioners. You make the journey bearable and at times easier.