long drive, short pictures
So I drive almost 250 kilometres and I have some blood tests and get injected with some iodine-like substance and they take some nuclear scan pictures of my thyroid and I have a multi-nodular goiter which is what they suspected already and I ask about when I see the endocrinologist.
I see the endocrinologist in July.
Then I drive almost 250 kilometres home again.
So just as well I'm not entirely dependent on the state health system for strategies to deal with heart problems, anxiety, wild irritability, shortness of breath and insomnia. The calcium and magnesium (I switched to both rather than just magnesium last week) is helping a lot on the sleep quality front. I've been taking a copper supplement for five days now. This is in response to a very recent discovery, where it turns out that high iron supresses copper and that persons with haemochromatosis need more copper. I also learnt that vitamin C and copper are antagonists, so I've stopped all vitamin C supplementation while I'm lifting my copper levels.
Copper is also toxic in high quantities, and it is difficult to detect whether appropriate levels are available nutritionally from blood samples, even if I could persuade the medical people to test my copper levels. On the basis of the reading I've done, and the case studies have been mostly anecdotal (whereas the information on copper's relationship with iron and with vitamin C and the impact of haemochromatosis comes from scientific studies), I plan to supplement daily with copper for a week, and then every second day, watching my symptoms, for another week, and then once, maybe twice weekly. I have been noticeably more stable in terms of irritability and anxiety since about day three of taking the copper supplement. The doctor wants six weekly thyroid blood tests, so I will get some specific feedback from those in the medium term as well.
In other news, caterpillar season continues, and I must have missed the nightly kill for two nights running, because last night I found shredded leaves and squillions of caterpillars. More tonight of course. All in the cause of winter meals of kale.
I'm adjusting (we all are) to the new season of what I've taken to calling the middle class tightrope. If we live on only one income, we will not be able to finance the ballet, kung fu, swimming lessons and cubs that we currently support Fionn and Brighid doing at the moment. If we lived on two full time incomes, then there would be no one available to take the children to ballet and swimming lessons (mercifully, cubs and kung fu are in the evening rather than afternoon). So I juggle work and extra-curricular taxi arrangements and generally it works, but only after various frazzlements before everything turns out okay. Tomorrow night I am going to incorporate my own activity and go to yoga. I do need to get fitter to help support my health, and yoga seems a good choice for someone with a racy heart. On current plans, I will drop FH at kung Fu, Fionn at cubs, both a little early, then Brighid can come with me to yoga, then afterwards we shall bus round collecting the boys up again. And go to sleep.
I'm currently reading The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman. Good so far.
I see the endocrinologist in July.
Then I drive almost 250 kilometres home again.
So just as well I'm not entirely dependent on the state health system for strategies to deal with heart problems, anxiety, wild irritability, shortness of breath and insomnia. The calcium and magnesium (I switched to both rather than just magnesium last week) is helping a lot on the sleep quality front. I've been taking a copper supplement for five days now. This is in response to a very recent discovery, where it turns out that high iron supresses copper and that persons with haemochromatosis need more copper. I also learnt that vitamin C and copper are antagonists, so I've stopped all vitamin C supplementation while I'm lifting my copper levels.
Copper is also toxic in high quantities, and it is difficult to detect whether appropriate levels are available nutritionally from blood samples, even if I could persuade the medical people to test my copper levels. On the basis of the reading I've done, and the case studies have been mostly anecdotal (whereas the information on copper's relationship with iron and with vitamin C and the impact of haemochromatosis comes from scientific studies), I plan to supplement daily with copper for a week, and then every second day, watching my symptoms, for another week, and then once, maybe twice weekly. I have been noticeably more stable in terms of irritability and anxiety since about day three of taking the copper supplement. The doctor wants six weekly thyroid blood tests, so I will get some specific feedback from those in the medium term as well.
In other news, caterpillar season continues, and I must have missed the nightly kill for two nights running, because last night I found shredded leaves and squillions of caterpillars. More tonight of course. All in the cause of winter meals of kale.
I'm adjusting (we all are) to the new season of what I've taken to calling the middle class tightrope. If we live on only one income, we will not be able to finance the ballet, kung fu, swimming lessons and cubs that we currently support Fionn and Brighid doing at the moment. If we lived on two full time incomes, then there would be no one available to take the children to ballet and swimming lessons (mercifully, cubs and kung fu are in the evening rather than afternoon). So I juggle work and extra-curricular taxi arrangements and generally it works, but only after various frazzlements before everything turns out okay. Tomorrow night I am going to incorporate my own activity and go to yoga. I do need to get fitter to help support my health, and yoga seems a good choice for someone with a racy heart. On current plans, I will drop FH at kung Fu, Fionn at cubs, both a little early, then Brighid can come with me to yoga, then afterwards we shall bus round collecting the boys up again. And go to sleep.
I'm currently reading The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman. Good so far.
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