A Restorative Process

Here is a summary of what I have been told by the doctor and nurse practioner of Advanced Intregative Medicine..after two visits, both in which I cried at.

My thyroid treatment that had been currently underway was incorrect..so a new one was given, and will not be successful for another month or so, the way that it progresses.

My body has a severe lacking in iodine. Magnesium, too, which helps produce metabolic energy. Other supplements to help me are Vitamin C and Vitamin B-5, and a few others, because these are important in reconstituting the ADRENAL functions.

At this last visit, I was told that fibromyalgia is a "catch all" for something that most physicians can't pinpoint, or don't try to completely solve. Something called Adrenal Exhaustion was brought to my attention, and a little pamphlet which, well, explains a lot.

Here's the story of a patient that was included in the pamphlet. Most of it is "me" and if it isn't, I'll place an N beside the comment (truly, though, there won't be many "N's."

The first thing Barbara said as she sat down in my office was, "I am totally exhausted." A thirty-eight-year-old grade school teacher, she was barely able to meet the demands of her work. Barbara was nearly desperate in her plea for help. She told me that by the end of each school day, her muscles and joints ached, her throat hurt, and she would develop a low-grade fever. She couldn't even imagine having the strength to prepare dinner for her family, or keep house. Fortunately, her husband did all the domestic activities. The elder of their two children pitched in as well.

When Barbara was able to get nine houre of sleep, she would arise in the morning with the feeling that if she pushed herself hard enough, she could manage through the day. But she felt hardly any joy, spontaneity, and creativity- qualities she considered essential to teach and to parent. For this reason especially, she was depressed, for she was falling far short of her expectations. But she was depressed all the time anyways, she said, even if she'd had a rare good day at school and everything was going well in her family.

If anything out of the ordinary happened- like having a cookie, having a pleasant dinner with friends, staying up past 10:00 pm, shopping for groceries- then her usual end of the day symptoms would be even worse. She usually needed several days or more to recover. If she drank milk or orange juice (N), she would suffer from migraine headaches- sometimes she'd get them regardless....
As a result of these symptoms, Barbara attempted to control each day. She had absolutely no reserves to deal with unforeseen events. She said she couldn't continue on this way. If she didn't get some relief soon, she was going to have to take a medical leave of absense from her work.
I asked Barbara when she last felt well. She replied that she'd been functioning fairly normally until eighteen months before, when she'd been diagnosed with mononucleosis (N, but I had mono in high school and right after that was diagnosed with fibro). She never seemed to recover fully from the mono, she continued, and it was in the following monhts that her current symptom picture began to develop. After a year of not getting any better, she was treated with an antidepressant. This medication had given her a little relief, but the overall effect was not substantial...

MORE: It is our adrenal glands that buffer stress and enable us to stand up to life's onslaughts. These glands give us the capacity to perform and to adapt flexibly to the demands of everyday. It is also the adrenals that enable us to go beyond our usual limits of endurance when needed and help us to recover in a reasonable amount of time...but plainly, Barbara had little capacity left to perform, adapt, or recover.

Stressors
emotions: worry, anxiety, guilt, anger, fear
Insufficient sleep
Chronic infections
Chronic Pain
and more I won't list

Symptoms (I'll list what I deal with)
Excessive fatigue, weakness, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, apprehensions, inability to concentrate, moments of confusion, poor memory, feelings of frustration, light-headedness, dizziness that occurs upon standing, insomia, headaches, tenderness in adrenal area, low body temperature, hair loss, difficulty losing weight, tendency to inflammation, increased susceptibility to autoimmune diseases (I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disorder)...I left out about 1 third of the main list.

Most of these symptoms are "fibromyalgia" symptoms, but now, I have hope that many, if not all, will be sentenced to SILENCE in a few months. I have a peace about it. I was told the fatigue will be the hardest to change though. And that is by far, the worst of it for me.