Drug Intolerance...An Epiphany!

This thyroid medication has some interesting and not so interesting side effects. First, biting bugs all of a sudden love me. I haven't had any bug bites for years and now it's every day. A few months ago I came across an article that explained it's hormones that mosquitoes et al. are attracted to which is why adults get bitten more than children. I always thought they were attracted to sugar. Bugs biting made berry picking this year a bit uncomfortable.

Second, I've been getting less adrenaline rushes and hot flashes at night. For a while I was getting them once an hour all night long, now it's down to two or three. Hooray! I'm not quite sure if it's connected to the higher levels of thyroid, but I think so and this is a good thing. My new and wonderful doctor is thinking I should take a pill in the late afternoon and see if it helps even more.

Third, I have found every few days the nausea starts creeping up and the headaches begin and it lasts all day until 5pm. As I mentioned before, I start getting tired around 5pm and I've been assuming this is when the drug wears off so this makes sense. It stands to reason my liver is not liking the drugs. Most holistic thyroid doctors recommend you do a liver cleanse before starting the medication to help it work efficiently. So every few days I drink a glass of freshly juiced beet juice. Blah.

Blah Juice

One way to get the beet juice down is to mix it with other fresh juices. I mix mine with a little apple juice, but the best recipe is to mix beet juice, carrot juice and apple juice. There was a raw food restaurant in San Francisco that included this drink on their menu and called it "Blood". Aptly named as it looks just like blood.

I'm also trying to eat more cilantro, another liver detox food, and drink lemon juice in water, a kidney cleanser.

Of course, nausea makes me want to revert back to by childhood comfort food: cereal and milk. It reminds me of getting the flu at my grandparents' house and my grandmother telling me cereal is what one should eat for breakfast after having the flu as it is easier to digest than eggs. I associate cereal and milk with love. Comfort food. Every time I eat it I think of her and those are good memories. I caved to temptation and bought gluten-free corn flakes, milk, and bananas, all three are NOT on my diet, but do I care? It seems to help with the nausea, or maybe it just tastes heavenly. Or maybe there is something else at work here....

So...I'm laying in bed thinking I'll probably have to be on these drugs for the rest of my life if I want to be able to function with any amount of energy, but do I really want to drink that much beet juice in my life? First, fresh juices are high in sugar and not on my diet, and second, beet juice is blah. Not gross, just blah. What can I do? There must be a simple, or, not so simple solution.

There is...WATER.

 

WATER??? What an epiphany! The best way to clean out your body and detox your organs is water. Everyone knows that so why have I refused to acknowledge this? I know I don't drink enough water. It's all I can do to get four cups down in a day, and believe me, I've tried. I've justified my lack of water with not everyone needs eight glasses of water a day, a comment I made eons ago when I wrote a blog post on water. Or maybe they do? If you are eating sugary, salty, junky or unhealthy foods, I'm sure you need lots of water to wash it all out. I failed to realize I might not be eating unhealthy foods, but I'm certainly ingesting weird substances in the name of health. Maybe I need to increase my water intake and see what happens? Can it be that easy? And if it is that easy, why has no doctor I've seen in the past ten years made this simple connection when I tell them I'm drug intolerant? They all ask me how much water I drink. Even that last naturopathic quack asked this, but made no comment. (She didn't really talk at all so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.) Cereal and milk craving? Is it the milk adding to my hydration which is why it makes me feel better? Hmmm...

I love a good experiment! For the last two weeks I've been gulping down eight to ten glasses of water a day which is like drowning to me. I pour them all out in the morning so I can keep track and set goals. The first four glasses have to be gone by noon and it all needs to be done by 5pm. The first few days were not fun. The water retention was uncomfortable and I felt bloated and sluggish. The first few nights I was up and in the bathroom nearly every hour! What a pain! Literally! Driving anywhere for more than a half an hour and my bladder would feel like it was about to burst. But I persevered. Two weeks later and this improved a just a little so I have hope perhaps my body will continue to adjust. BUT the nausea and headaches went away immediately! Then by the second week, any time I did something strenuous or even got warm, sweat would drip from every pore. Profusely. Even my knees were sweating! This is a strange phenomenon as I've never perspired in my life! The nausea creeps in ever so slightly if I drink under eight glasses a day or with an empty stomach and I now start to crave water if I don't drink it. This is somewhat of a breakthrough for me.

It kind of makes me wonder if my life-long dehydration contributed to my chemical sensitivity? The premise, or so I've been told, is I don't detox fast enough or at all. If I've been constantly dehydrated, how could anything possibly be flushing out so that would make perfect sense. Why has no doctor ever made this kind of connection? That, however, is no excuse because I've always known humans are supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day. I am the person to blame. I am stubborn.

Excellent epiphany!

How many glasses of water do you drink?

WHY ME?

Or more importantly, why not you? Why are some people more sensitive to everyday chemicals and others not? There are many theories: some valid...some not so valid.

Most American Medical Association doctors will tell you it's a psychological condition. Yes, you're just crazy and you are causing this yourself.  They don't even need to tell you - you can see it in their eyes and their attitude. You WILL feel insane if you see too many of these "professionals" who are locked within the confines of their narrow minds and corporate boys' club mentality. Reading I might be insane, I spent too many days sitting in perfumed rooms or around smelly people trying to "heal" myself and re-train my brain into thinking there was no problem. I rationalized if it's all mental then I have control. My job was at risk along with my health and I was willing to accept any theory as long as it would help me. I would have done anything to fix it. I practiced visualization and mind control techniques while breathing in the poisons. Yes, I was fine, I told myself, until my lungs would stop working and I would run gasping to the nearest exit. Needless to say, mind over matter didn't work. It's not a mental condition.

I have heard some people have been told God is punishing them. This is so ignorant I can't even comment on it.

My favorite reason for being chemically sensitive...my mother's cousin told me it was because I was not married. She was a 75 year old retired nurse so this was a variation on the American Medical Association's insanity theory. She was also not married so I'm not exactly sure of her reasoning, but she had been married so I guess she must have thought she was better than me.

Most of your friends and relatives will tell you, for lack of a better idea and no understanding, they think it's your immune system not doing its job. This would make sense as our immune systems should guard us against illness, but this is not necessarily the case.  In fact, my immune system is hypersensitive and overactive. I was asked by an environmental specialist who was assessing my condition, "Are you sick all the time, or not at all?" Not at all. In fact I remember the day my whole system went into high alert. I could smell every tiny bit of lotion, shampoo, soap, and fragrance on each person who came within five feet of me. Whoa! It was surreal and shocking. My reaction time went from fifteen minutes or so to one breath of toxic air.  My immune system is working overtime trying to warn and protect me which is what our bodies are designed to do. Although inconvenient and at times frightening, I don't see it as a faulty immune system. I believe this is why people who have other health issues become chemically sensitive. Our bodies become defensive as they try to protect and heal themselves.  I haven't had a cold, flu or sore throat for eleven years. One of few benefits of being chemically sensitive.

In addition, research indicates some chemically sensitive might have damaged or missing enzymes that would normally allow us to detox the chemicals out of our bodies. Instead of flushing out naturally, they are stored until we are overloaded. The overloading creates the poisoning. Reducing this load is the primary goal of most MCS patients.

Research programs for MCS are hindered, especially university research, because most of it is financed by chemical companies, and well, chemical companies won't be funding any studies that might affect their bottom line. Until there is more research, we won't clearly understand why some people are extremely sensitive to everyday chemicals and others not.

What reasons have you been given?