Winds Are Changing

I just have this feeling that something big is about to happen.

I'm feeling absolutely horrible right now and decided to listen to some 'old' music of mine.
A Perfect Circle--eMOTIVe

It's an album of covers and I think it's excellent.

Night Sweats Are Back

Unfortunately the night sweats are back. I've had them on and off for about a week now. Last night's was really really bad. My entire back was soaked through the sheet and I had to wash it as soon as I woke up this morning. It was disgusting. When this happens, my fingers are swollen too. I notice how stiff my fingers feel and it hurts to move them.

I still don't know what is causing them, but it really bothers me and interferes with my sleep.

While I was writing this, I just remembered I made an appointment with another PCP (DO) about 2 1/2 months ago. I think the appointment is in a few days...I need to find out! Maybe I'll just go to complain. I wasn't that happy with the other PCP, who didn't even know what diabetes insipidus was. DO's are usually better than that too. How pathetic. I suppose she had her role in things. She's the one that uncovered possible secondary hypothyroidism.

I've just been waiting around for doctor's appointment. I see a gynecologist on February 4th because my last pap smear from 4 years ago was abnormal and I've never had another check up. Yeah I know that is really stupid. And my menstrual cycles are becoming irregular. They used to be like clockwork, every 28 days. Now they are pushing 31 days. I'm not sure if that small amount is significant, but I'm certainly going to mention it to her. Since it is late again this month, I may not even be able to go to the appointment. /sigh

Then the endo's appointment is March 31. I have quite a long time before that one, but I have a lot to prepare for it. All blood work results, office notes have to be sent to this endo at least a week before my appointment. I'll probably need to get the MRI report too (which I can't find for the life of me). All of this will involve having to deal with doctor offices and labs.

Oh joy...

Chelation: Common Mistakes People Make

Updated March 2011:  I wrote this back in early 2009 when I thought Dr. Cutler's protocol was curing people left and right.  Now it is 2011 and there is nearly NO success stories with this protocol myself included. It has done absolutely NOTHING for me, but give me terrible side effects.  I get severe rashes and hives on DMSA no matter what dosage, no matter what dosing schedule.  Because of all of this my views on everything has changed substantially.  They have changed so much so that I am editing this post and rewriting it because I don't want to give people the wrong impression.

The only doctor (I have seen) who has published results from following Dr. Cutler's protocol is Dr. Amy Holmes.  She is no longer practicing medicine because her own health issues.  At this link you will find a chart that says no one over the age of 13 had marked improvements on Dr. Cutler's protocol.  Since I am an adult, I find this highly discouraging especially since for years she was important in the FDC circles. 

I think this protocol is solely based upon wishful thinking, hope and hype.  For some reason it grabs unsuspecting sick people like a spider web and you cannot get away no matter how hard you try.  Everywhere you look for chelation information, there is at least 1 Cutler follower who will scream if you attempt or even talk about any other chelation ideas outside of Dr. Cutler's. No other discussions are allowed because they are "unsafe" or "dangerous".  Dr. Cutler is highly prized in these groups and nothing he says can be questioned because he cannot be wrong, ever.  Right...I suppose if people were getting better, then they would have more ground to stand on.   Well, I have stopped drinking the Cutler Kool Aid and have opened my eyes up to the possibility there are other ways to recover from mercury poisoning especially since people are not getting better with DMSA and ALA.  If you stumbled upon this blog, then please read some of my newer posts on the matter and not my older posts from 2008 where I was just starting out on my journey.  I was naive.

As always though, I am not a doctor and whatever you do is at your own risk and you take full responsibility for any consequences which occur.

Most of this information is from my own experiences, but some of it is derived from Dr. Cutler's Frequent dose chelation protocol. You can find more information about him and his protocol at his website.

Mistakes Made Prior to Frequent Dose Chelation

• Chelating with amalgams in. You can pull mercury from the fillings increasing exposure.  

• Using chelating agents such as cilantro, chlorella, MSM and garlic because they are "natural" ( I am not so sure they are as dangerous as Cutler and his flock suggest).

• No lab work done prior--CBC with diff, TSH, FT3,FT4, cortisol saliva test recommended at bare minimums. If adrenal glands are suspected to be failing, then an ACTH stim test should be performed by a qualified endo before any hydrocortisone is supplemented. It is not something you should be messing with unless you have a documented adrenal issue. It is now becoming increasingly popular to go on HC for any reason.

• The idea that severe "detoxing" symptoms means you are excreting mercury. "No pain, no gain" attitude.  (I am now taking DMPS with no side effects while on round.)

Mistakes Made During Frequent Dose Chelation

This entire section assumes that the FDC protocol is actually working...That is assuming A LOT.  I can say with pretty good certainty that it is not working in a majority of cases, YET those on the FDC yahoo group will insist there are hundreds of success stories. However when you try to find said stories, they usually include young children or simply the stories are no where to be found. The so-called "success stories" list on FDC is a joke. Please do some of your own follow up of those people and let me know how many success stories are still making posts on FDC with issues.  It is maddening this would be counted as a success story. The day I consider myself a success story, I will never post on a health forum again.

I made a more recent post questioning whether or not people are really recovering.

• Starting on too high of a dose--DMSA-no more than 15mg, ALA-no more than 12.5mg (I now think that this is why the Cutler protocol isn't working.  The doses being used are a joke.  You might as well be flushing them down the toilet and doing nothing.)

• Increasing the dose too quickly. Do at least 4 rounds on intro dose before increasing. (Not sure it matters because no one really gets better regardless of what they do)

• Perceiving chelation as a 500 yard dash, rather than a marathon. Take your time because it will take years (Still think this is true. It will take time to get better, but I think 6 months to a year is reasonable to see some drastic improvements.  No one on Cutler protocol has this though)

• Trying to chelate without a dedicated timer/pill reminder.

• Not supplementing with the appropriate minerals-Vitamin C, B, D, zinc, magnesium, CoQ10

• Using DMSA/ALA on any schedule other than every 3-4 hours as recommended by Dr. Cutler (Once again I am questioning the very foundations of this chelation protocol. Who knows?)

Do your own research and start searching out people who have actually RECOVERED from mercury poisoning.  I have been listening to other sick people for years and I realized I was a complete idiot.  I should have been looking for those who have gotten HEALTHY!  DUH!  If a sick person has been trying something for years and they are no better, then whatever it is they are doing is not working.  Do not get suckered into listening to SICK people for HEALTH advice. It's obviously not working if they are STILL SICK.

The Cortef Saved Me

I survived a stressful Thursday. This is the first time in a long while, that I had an elevated stress level. When I woke up, I immediately took 10mg of Cortef. Then right before leaving I took another 10mg of Cortef.

That's quite a bit of Cortef to take within 2 hours, but I needed it. I came home and literally crashed. Yesterday was a terrible day. I was irritable, ready to cry and could barely move. I was so tired that at one point just fell asleep on the couch. I attempted to bake something and couldn't even finish it out of frustration. Why didn't I take more cortef when I got home? I didn't have any left. YIKES! The day prior to this, I attempted to fill it. That way I'd have a full bottle for Thursday. Well the pharmacy had to order it in. I thought this was a standard in-stock medication, so when she told me they didn't have it I actually got a little sick to my stomach. "It will be ready after 1PM" Oh goodness!

We waited until 1pm and picked up the cortef. This time I was given the generic type, called Hydrocort5. I wasn't familiar with this, so I didn't take one until I got home just to make sure it was the right medicine. Of course I didn't notice this until I got in the car! haha

I checked it online and it was the same as cortef and I took another 10mg. It calmed my nerves and the irritability subsided. However, I was still very fatigued. I just think that I had crashed, so there was no coming back.

My head is not very clear today. Just writing this blog entry has been difficult. I'm using the wrong words, typing things that make no sense. I keep deleting and re-typing my thoughts.

Now I must wean myself down off of such a high dose. You are only supposed to lower HC by 2.5mg every week until you are off of it completely. We'll see how lowering it goes. I really want to get these labs done.

Adrenals (& Pituitary) Aren't Doing Their Job

This week I have some stressful things going on. I have to meet with some attorneys. YUCK. Anyway, I decided it was more important to feel better for these events than to get my blood work done, so I started on some cortef yesterday. You have to be off of cortef for 2 weeks prior to testing, so that pushes things back.

Yesterday, I took 10mg in the morning. Didn't really feel much of anything. Then at noon, I took another 5mg. Eh, it was Ok. Nothing spectacular. Then another 5mg at 4pm. That is when I finally felt it working. We went to the mall to find an outfit for these meetings. By the time we got out of the mall, I felt like I was dying. I drank a 20 ounce bottle of water in 5 minutes because I was DYING of thirst. The woman checking us out looked at me really strange as I was trying to drink the water as fast as possible! I could tell she was thinking...wtf is wrong with this girl. My mind was not in a right state either.

My mouth was making that tacky sound. Felt like I had eaten 2 jars of peanut butter! haha Now since I have DI, I know what thirsty can feel like, but this was on a completely different level. In addition to that, I felt like I wanted to just cry and fall down. I was so irritated and angry, but I had no idea why. I assume that the cortef completely wore off and I was experience low cortisol. It appears my suspicions were correct!

Here's a list of symptoms found on the website, stopthethyroidmadness.com This website talks about adrenal and thyroid problems.

Items in bold, I am currently experiencing.

• continuing hypo symptoms with a high free T3, or high amount of Armour
• shaky hands; shakiness
• diarrhea
• bad palps
• feeling of panic
• weakness
• inability to handle stress
• inability to handle interactions with others
• inability to focus
• rage or sudden angry outbursts
• emotionally hyper sensitive
• overreacting
• highly defensive
• feeling paranoid
• exacerbated reactions to daily stress
• no patience
• easily irritated
• mild to severe hypoglycemic episodes
• taking days to recover from even minor stress
• taking days to recover from a dental visit
• clumsy (drop things, bump into things)
• suddenly feel extremely hungry
• dull cloud-filled head (happens when this patient is due for a next cortisol dose)
• light headedness
• dizziness
• coffee putting patient to sleep
• almost passing out every time patient gets up
• dark circles under my eyes
• waking up in the middle of the night for several hours
• frequent urination
• difficulty falling asleep
• extreme fatigue

I HAVE to get through this week in 1 piece and taking cortef is the ONLY way it's going to happen. Then once this is done, I have another deadline I need to meet. It's long overdue too.

Here's something you didn't know about me. Driving is so stressful for me that I don't even like to do it anymore. My husband practically drives me everywhere and I know it annoys him. Last week I drove myself to voice lessons and the whole time I was a complete wreck (shhhh don't tell my husband this--I told him I was OK). My hands were shaking and my thirst was OUT of control. Nothing would quench my thirst (even though I took my DDAVP). Today, I drove myself to one of the attorney meetings and I was actually calm. I took 10mg cortef in the morning and then right before I left another 5mg. That last me half way through the meeting. Popped another 2.5mg when she went to make a phone call and I needed more when I got out.

Now I still feel really wiped out from the meeting, but I noticed considerable difference in my driving. I was more focused and wasn't scared. Normally I am literally scared to death driving...This only happened about a year ago! I used to drive all over the place. I drove myself to New York 6 years ago to see a friend.

What the hell has happened to me in this time frame?

I'm telling you now, Thursday I'm going to be a wreck. I'm already a wreck. My body isn't working right. Sometimes I think since I don't work out of the house anymore (I quit because of my health) that I forget how bad I am. I go out on my own so infrequently, that I don't put my body in a stressful environment. On a normal day for me, stress is at a minimum.

This is all making sense to me now. I never thought I had a stressful life. In fact, I need to be more grateful for how easy I have it. If my pituitary isn't telling my body to make cortisol at an appropriate level, that's why my adrenal fatigue isn't necessarily related to bad stress. Any stress--whether good or bad--will cause my body to immediately fail. This week is certainly putting things into perspective. I'll need to talk about these symptoms and problems when coping with stress to the endo.

If it weren't for the cortef, I probably would have collapsed today. Once I figure out all of my problems, I'm going to be a large medical alert bracelet put all of my problems on it. haha

Start Eating Organic--Your Life Depends On It

This is a post I wrote back in August on my Diabetes Insipidus blog. I no longer update that blog, but I wanted to share this post with all of you. It goes back to people's mindset, which directly affects what they eat. You may not think these go together, but I assure you they do.

Someone who is closed-minded and watches TV constantly will likely not care about what they eat. They will eat "anything that tastes good". I put my family in the closed-minded group because they just don't care. Open minded people who don't watch TV regularly, often times are the people who eat organic. You will see them in organic section of your local grocery store, trying to get by.

I was asked to do a post about diet, so here is my bizarre view on things. I updated a few things.

There are still a lot of reluctant people when it comes to "going organic". I think there are a few reasons for this, but I will only speak about 1 big reason.

The main reason is their pride and being in denial. Americans are living their lives in constant denial, fed by the TV. You are being programmed by your TV and it tells you what to talk about with your friends and family. It feels like one big soap opera to me. Turn your TV off, throw it out and start thinking for yourself. I refuse to partake in these stupid, pointless and distracting discussions with family. When I used to work outside of home, before I even walked in the break room I knew what everyone would be talking about...

It is absolutely amazing what is available on the internet these days. You no longer even need a TV--not that I ever felt you did. However it is so easy to get weather, traffic updates, and news online. If anything you will save yourself a lot of money each month and won't be bombarded with prescription medication commercials. The costs of dish/cable TV is getting higher and higher especially if you subscribe to anything other than basic cable.

Americans are in denial that this country is falling to tyranny. We are in denial that we are sick, overweight and basically a laughing stock of the world. This country won't be the superpower of the world much longer, but we are in denial of this too. America is free and happy. Nothing is wrong! Right...

This denial extends to many aspects of most people's lives. They are afraid to say "no" to their doctor. People blindly fill their prescriptions each month without once questioning why they need a pill to "fix" their new disorder or disease. Meanwhile they have 2 other pills to counter the side effects of the first pill. None of these pills will cure a darn thing. It just makes you profitable to the pharmaceutical companies. The longer they drag out your life, the more money they make. At 25, you may be on 3 medications by the time you hit 60 (if you even live that long these days) you'll probably be on 20 medications. That's a lot of money.

When you try to talk to someone about eating organic, you get 1 of 2 responses. The first one is, "Oh it is just so expensive". I agree that is more expensive especially if you are used to eating Hot Pockets and frozen pizzas. Frozen organic foods aren't the way to go. You should be in the produce section stocking up on salad and fresh veggies. After all, processed food is processed whether it has a organic tag on the box or not.

I think people underestimate how much they will save in their lifetime by eating organic. It is a long term investment in your health. Everyone who owns a home, pays for homeowner's insurance. For each month you pay for it, do you complain about it? Not likely because you have it for the future in case something unforeseen happens to your house (e.g. tornado, storm damage, fire). This should be your same attitude with eating organic. Don't complain about the costs because it is your "insurance" for the future. Eating organic on a budget is still possible, you'll just have to make some sacrifices.

Remember there is a reason why organic items are more expensive. Not many people really understand what "organic" means. There are specific rules these foods and farms must follow and I think all food should have to follow these rules. Other countries naturally have organic foods in their country, so that may be why people from outside of the US, don't understand the fuss with organic foods. I don't think people from other countries understand how bad food is in this country. You can read a summary of the organic requirements in PDF here.

Not all organic foods are equal though. Typically smaller organic farms are better than the large organic farms. It has been said that Horizon was caught with violations, but was left to continue their business. In addition to this, late last year it was alleged that the organic private labels at Target-Archer Farms, Walmart-Kirkland, Safeway and Wild Oats were NOT organic when labeled as such. There was a lawsuit filed against Aurora Organic Dairy in this case.

When you have an organic farm it actually takes time and proper care to sustain these animals. Animals in a non-organic farm are constantly on antibiotics, given growth hormones and even fed hershey's chocolate and potato chips. Do you really want to eat an animal that has been eating potato chips and chocolate. I personally refuse to eat Hershey's chocolate and have given up potato chips for good. Someone in the family actually thought cows ate grass. I laughed out loud because it was so ridiculous, but sometimes the most obvious things aren't obvious to others. Cows do not eat grass unless otherwise stated when buying it (i.e Grass-fed Beef).

I recently saw an article stating that they will now be irradiating spinach and lettuce because of the e-coli outbreaks. This is absolutely sick. We do not know what happens to our gut when we eat these foods on a regular basis. According to this article, the irradiated foods MUST be labeled. I guess that makes me feel a LITTLE better. Remember this when you buy non-organic spinach and lettuce, look for the Radura label! In the article it states that Romaine lettuce is next to be approved, so that they can begin irradiating bagged salads. Last year all raw almonds are now irradiated and can still be called "raw" despite this.

One of the biggest problems with food in this country are the loopholes in labeling laws. These loopholes allow companies to label foods trans fat free, calorie and sugar free even if it isn't! You might be asking yourself, how are they doing this!? Well for example, a food can be deemed trans fat free as long as it has <0.5 grams. Now companies are intentionally creating smaller and smaller serving sizes in order to avoid having to label them.

Any partially or fully hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list is a trans fat. No exceptions. Next time you are in the butter section, look at the labels for the "butter alternatives". Most of them will LIE and say there are 0 grams of trans fats per serving, but if you look at the ingredients list, a trans fat will be on there.

Another example of the labeling loopholes, is in the artificial sweetener Splenda. I don't recommend using this stuff because its safety hasn't been tested properly. This is yet another FDA loophole in how food additives are approved.../sigh The serving size on Splenda is intentionally small, so it can hide the 4 calories in each packet! There are calories in the packets because it is bulked with maltodextrin and dextrose. Both of those are simple sugars. Not only does Splenda have a caloric value, there is also sugar in it. This is extremely dangerous considering diabetics use Splenda to control their blood sugar levels.

Lastly, companies are not required to label GMO (genetically modified organisms) ingredients in foods. Most families are eating GMO and don't even realize it. In the US, the most common GM foods are soy, wheat, corn, canola oil and newly approved sugar beets. Since these are such common ingredients in soups, sauces, frozen meals, your family is likely eating GM foods on a DAILY basis. Most big name food companies use GMO and won't even tell you. You'll have to contact them, but often times they can't guarantee that it isn't GMO due to contamination.

The food labeling loopholes are what's keeping Americans sick. If you went to wal-mart, picked up a can of Campbell's soup and it said made with genetically modified organisms do you think most people would buy it? Probably not. The free market would force companies to clean up their foods or go out of business. That's how things are supposed to work. However with the gatekeeping FDA in charge, it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to get food laws changed.

This illustrates why eating organic is practically required in America. If you don't, then you'll have NO IDEA what you are eating.

The next response I get when I begin talking about organic food is ridicule, giggles, and stupid jokes. "I don't eat organic and I'm doing fine." Meanwhile that same person had a heart attack, cancer and last week was complaining about headaches and joint pain. I'm sure some of you have been around these people. This is the person's defense mechanism kicking in because of their ego, pride and being in complete denial.

You can see we have come full circle. Close-minded people just don't care at all. They are oblivious to what is going on in the world. Often times, by choice.

If you have a long list of health conditions, your first move should be diet. Not a pill. Start eating all organic, whole foods and you will be shocked by how much better you'll feel.

Blood Work Before Seeing the Endo

I jumped on a hypopituitary forum and asked what type of blood tests I should have done BEFORE seeing an endo.

Here is what I was told to get:

Cortisol, AM
ACTH, AM
Aldosterone
Renin
Sodium
Potassium
LH (Luteinizing Hormone)
FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone)
Prolactin
IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor)
GH (Growth Hormone)
DHEA-S
Saliva Cortisol Test (Redo)

These tests will tell me whether or not my adrenal fatigue is caused by a pituitary problem. It will also tell me whether or not I have a deficiency in the other pituitary hormones. This way I can walk into that endo's office with a good understanding of what is and what is not occurring. He can't give me the run around.

I've got a headache for some reason. Going to lie down for a bit.

Snow, Chelation, Etc!

It has been very wintry. On top of what we already had, last night and today we probably got another 2-3" and they are calling for more tonight and tomorrow! We have to be up to a foot by now, but with how windy it's been it is impossible to get an accurate measurement.

We broke down today and bought a snow blower. My left arm couldn't take shoveling anymore. There's just too much snow now and our CRV almost got stuck in the driveway. We barely got out today. We won't be reaching freezing for at least a week, so the driveway was becoming a problem.

There have been some crazy accidents at the intersection near our house. The first one involed a truck with a horse trailer. It slammed into a house! You can imagine the sound it made. Thankfully though the truck hit the porch, so there was minimal damage done to the building. My husband and I laugh though and say if a truck were to hit our house, they would go right through it and keep on moving. haha Tonight, a tractor trailer jack-knifed (not completely sure at the moment) and brought the highway to 1 lane for a few hours. The roads were really snow covered, so it doesn't surprise me. Just moments ago, they got the truck straightened out and towed it away.

On the chelation front, I'm not going to do 25mg of ALA anymore. It's just too dangerous to start that high, so I will be ordering (tomorrow) the ALA from Dean in South Africa. If you are in need of small dose ALA, DMSA or combo ALA/DMSA he can hook you up for a relatively cheap price. He is an active member of the frequent dose chelation yahoo group, so he is reliable. I emailed him last week and the shelf life on the ALA is 1 year, so you can order multiple bottles at a time to save money on shipping. Since it is coming from South Africa expect to pay $20-30 for shipping depending upon your location.

I had a terrible headache, felt very tired today and was itchy. At this point, I have no idea what is causing it all. I added in milk thistle the other day, so maybe there is a connection or coincidence?

Snow Pics

This picture is the bird feeder out front. You can see all the snow on top of it. Made me laugh.



This is looking out into our back yard. I just love how the trees look when covered in snow.

Garbage can. You can really see how deep the snow is here.


I tried to get more pictures but the camera died on me. =) Maybe tomorrow!

A Sunspot!

Today there is a new sunspot! Holy cow! I check it every few days to see what's going on with the sun. I'm not even much of a star gazer or anything, but I found the recent absence of sunspots pretty interesting. I know absolutely NOTHING about sunspots, what they even are or how they are formed. All I know is that this marks the next solar cycle. After watching the movie Sunshine, last night, I'm glad to see the sunspot. lawl...

Update: I did a little digging and it looks like there have been a few other sunspot groups this past year. Not many, but some.

The sun is still a big mystery even to astronomers. There are so many things we take for granted in this world. If it weren't for the sun, we wouldn't be here right now. You can see the latest picture of the sun on the left-hand side column at Spaceweather.com. Now we wait and see if more sunspots continue to develop.

More snow pics to come...

Snow Is HERE!

This is the first real snow storm we've had for years and years! I am really excited about it too. They were first predicting 6 inches, then they retracted it. Now we are back on for 6-10 inches of snow and it is already really coming down.

I looked at the radar and apparently we are in the small band of showers coming through the area at the moment. No one else is getting snow but this small section of Butler county. Oh boy is it coming down too! We probably already got 2-3 inches out there and it is coming down very hard.

I'm going to run out in a little bit and get a few pictures of it!

I got some pics. Obviously it is dark, so it's hard to get ones. Might try again in a little.

First one are cat paw prints. It's a farm cat or stray that won't let anyone get near it. I've tried many times! He/she roams the area around our yard. I see paw prints very often.


Second one is looking out towards the main road. Traffic is very light considering the time. I saw a snow plow go by and sparks were flying since it was dragging on the road. Pretty cool looking.
Here I am with my ear muffs. People love these things. I get comments all the time!

Getting More Serious About Singing

I think my chest (or whatever muscle it was) has finally healed. Thank goodness! Now I am questioning my vocal lessons. Is this teacher really helping me or not? I certainly don't want to ruin my voice because of a bad teacher. Unfortunately the only teacher that looks incredible is like an 1 1/2 hours from me. It would be really hard to justify driving all that way for a 30 min-60 minute lesson. She is on western side of Pittsburgh. Not exactly a very nice place from what I can remember. My mom used to go to a craft store in that area. We would run to and from the car and never went there at night> LOL

I talked her last year sometime, but just wasn't quite ready to do lessons. I was too scared to sing for someone. Getting there wouldn't be too tough though from what I can see. (Just a very long drive) It's a straight shot down 79. Maybe her studio is located somewhere else though. (Not sure)

Right now she is offering a free first lesson and if you sign up for 12 weekly 1 hour lessons (I currently take 30 minute lessons), you save $110. I think that makes her CHEAPER than my current lessons.

(Doing the math)

It looks like she would be only a few more dollars per hour. After 3 months of lessons, I'd have to decide what I wanted to do.

Ms. Hissam has the credentials, education and incredible singing talent. Now she was trained classically (opera), but I know she does all sorts of stuff. Really all I want is to have someone help me breathe properly, use vibrato right and get better at trills and runs. I'm not that good with those yet. I have a tendency to do the jaw shake when I do runs, trills and vibrato. I've been watching myself in a mirror recently. Yikes!

Not knocking on my teacher now, she isn't as good as this other women. Not that she claimed to be though. I think I want to be more serious with singing. She is an alto and cannot sing along with me whatsoever and I don't think I sing that high. Comfortably I can go well into the 5th octave. I can hit the 6th, but I'm not comfortable with it yet. I say yet because I think there is potential. I'm not breathing right though.

All I hear is diaphragm, diaphragm! But...what does that even mean? I can puff my stomach up and fake it all day, but I'm not doing it right. I've started checking out videos on YouTube. There is one person in particular that has been very helpful.. I hate the type of music he sings, but he is a good teacher nonetheless. I've been using this video to get better.

Yeah I know I'm rambling on. Maybe this week I can record the first song I learned for lesson and put it up here for all of you to comment. It is called Treasure by Amethystium. You can listen to the original on YouTube here. This is the type of music I want to sing. Probably won't be famous or a household name, but I would be very happy. The singer in Treasure (Stine Mari Langstrand) also sings Trolltind by Lumsk. This is the song I am currently learning in lesson. As you can see, I have a little thing for this singer. I think she is absolutely incredible and being able to even tackle her songs is very uplifting. A few months ago, I had a terrible time with Treasure. Now I can sing it pretty easily. I know the lessons are working, but I just want to be the best possible.

Caffeine Dependent--Adrenals?

I have noticed these past 2-3 days, I have been very dependent upon caffeine and sweets. I have always liked a cup of coffee in the morning, but the sweets thing is new. I don't know where this is coming from! Part of me thinks it's my adrenals acting up again. Tomorrow I am going to slowly start back on the cortef. 5mg in the morning and 5mg at lunch or maybe at 4pm. I haven't completely decided yet. I need to get on a better eating schedule. It's messing me up more, I know it.

In addition to that, I am going to start back up on my supplements. The itching has almost completely stopped. Now I get to add stuff back in 1 at a time to see if any of them were causing it.

My one cat is sick with a UTI and she has been keeping me up at night. I get worried about her. She likes to pee on stuff when she has one...UGH...That's her way of letting me know she needs to go to the vet.

Here's a quick picture of her. We found her almost literally on our doorstep one night coming home from the store. She was meowing like crazy and looked very sick with cuts all over her face and a chunk of an ear missing. Java (nicknamed Bean) has been with us for more than a year, but she has her own health problems with food allergies, chronic UTI's and digging at her fur. I love her with all my heart though. She was obviously thrown out by someone in the area (probably because of her health problems). I saw her two days prior in our back yard. Just thought she was another farm cat passing through.
And so I'm not showing bias to cats. This is my other cat, Lily. I love her so much too. Each of them have their own quirks.Lily is really weird and likes thing that are poisonous to her. Cats are supposed to hate citrus fruits, but if you are eating a orange with her in the room, SHE BEGS for the orange peel...Weird I know. She also LOVES red romaine lettuce! Not the green stuff, it has to be the red! haha

Yesterday's Doctor's Visit

I saw Dr. Goldstein yesterday and I will need to call an endo to get some of these fancy tests done. In order to check whether this is my pituitary causing the slight hypothyroidism, I'll need a TRH stimulation test which Goldstein does not do. I found an endo literally right down the road from me that specializes in pituitary disorders. He sounds about as good as any other I found online.

Part of me just wants to "forget" that I have diabetes insipidus, but that might not work to my advantage. If I already have a pituitary problem he would be more willing to check my pituitary hormones. Dr. Goldstein told me that he will take me off of DDAVP for a specific time frame and redo EVERYTHING including the water deprivation test. UGH...NO! I can't wait to have heart palpitations and dizziness upon standing. The water deprivation test is pure hell. Dr. Goldstein was saying that if my diabetes insipidus isn't full blown, he will probably take me off of the DDAVP. WTF?! I already know mine isn't full blown because some days my pituitary works and other days it doesn't. Let's hope it is a really bad day for me when I go in for these tests. Some days even with my medicine, my urine is very dilute (clear). Sorry that might have been a little too much info!

UPDATE: I called the endo and the soonest they can see me is March 31st. In the meantime, I will continue to chelate and do what I've been doing.

I recently joined the Natural thyroid hormone yahoo group. I doubt I'll post much on it, but it is nice to see others talk about their hypo problems. You must join to see any messages.

Getting Back Into the Chelating Mindset

I am having a difficult time getting back into chelating. Taking these few months off has made me incredibly lazy. I missed my doses last night, so I have to stop. I used to beat myself up over it, but I am OK with it. I just need to update my chelating calendar, so I know when to start up again.

If you are trying to chelate without a calendar, you will fail miserably. Everyone should have a calendar no matter how much you think you don't need one. You'll forget!

I have heard so many people say how terrible ALA is when they first start using it. I have to admit that before knowing about Dr. Cutler and his way, I have used ALA before WITH AMALGAMS IN. It was NOT deliberate, but recently I went through all the supplements we own and came across a detox formula I used for a few weeks. I was taking 6 capsules a day. 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening. There was 100mg of ALA in each capsule!

Now I can't remember what I felt like back then because every single day was a bad day. You know how that goes! My husband and I both think that DMSA with ALA must be very synergistic. If you are only taking ALA, you may not feel the extreme affects. But then I've heard some people say if you just take ALA, the effects are worse. I don't know about that for me. When I take DMSA, I instantly feel something is happening inside of me. With ALA the only thing I noticed was a slight headache just before my next pill was due. Even with me missing my dose last night, I feel totally fine!

I have heard that ALA takes about 3-6 months to "catch up" with you. You feel fine on a high dose and then suddenly it slams you. Perhaps this is the trend I am on.

I wanted to plug the frequent dose yahoo group today. There are some very intelligent people on this yahoo group and I recommend joining even if you don't plan on posting or asking questions. In order to join, make sure you put a good reason down or they will reject your membership. They have had problems with spammers in the past.

I recommend this group more so than the herballure website. I've practically stopped going to the other forum because no one wants to help themselves. It is hard for me to deal with people who don't want to help (but still complain).

Just be sure to read all the information on the yahoo group upon arrival and don't use an email address that you don't want spammed. It is almost guaranteed to get picked up by spammer eventually.

Surprise! I've Been Chelating

I didn't want to say anything too soon in case this went completely wrong. I started back up on chelating 2 days ago. I am not using DMSA, but rather ALA. I think I am done with DMSA for now. The fact that my neutrophils and white blood cells were low, scares me! For all I know, the severe skin itching may have been a complication from it lowering the neutrophils. Who knows? The itching has been a little better this week. If it was from the DMSA, it took a few weeks for my blood counts to recover. That makes me uneasy.

I am using a pretty high dose of ALA (25 mg) right now until I can find something smaller. Quite honestly I'm not noticing any symptoms. I was feeling really hot with red hands right before the 3 hour mark, so I am now taking it every 2 hours 45 minutes. Things are going well and I'm only doing 3 day rounds right now. There is no reason to push things especially when we know my pituitary is in crisis. Hopefully it can get some of the mercury out of my brain.