Julie's Road to Health and Wellness!

After decades of being among the walking dead, I feel great. I had lost 75 pounds, then I settled around 165 pounds at 5'4", where I was pretty happy. This year in January, I started semi following KETO and went gluten, sugar, and lactose FREE. I found myself with my britches too big! I have been so afraid to buy clothes that fit me for sooooo long, I was wearing size 12-14. I went to the military base to buy some clothes, I put on a size 8 and it fit.

I began my journey back to life in 2011 so I am in year 6 of recovery. Each year, I get better. I started from the pits of despair and severe chronic fatigue. After six years of fighting, documenting, testing, I am here:

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THYROID 100 mcg of T3 split in four doses per day 2 grains of NDT at 10 pm My labs and lack of symptoms consistently support my dose. I am not hyper, I am thyroid hormone resistant, did not convert T4 only meds, high Reverse T3

ADRENALS 24 hour saliva cortisol low, low, low and sub low this was the biggest nightmare of symptoms for me, worse than hypo--A/I got me a bipolar II axis with psychotic features diagnosis. I spent years on the inside of mental hospitals, once via a court order. I have not been on psych drugs since 2012.

Fludrocortisone (aldosterone) completely weaned off after 3 years
Hydrocortisone--down to 12.5 mg from 30 mg daily after 3 years--very hard to wean off. If I had to do this over, I would never start with HC for adrenal insufficiency. There are other great recovery protocols to start with that are not corticosteroids.

SEX HORMONES Mine did not register at all. I was repeatedly told "that is normal for my age". I was told this was normal since before the age of 40. OH NO IT IS NOT. Not if I want to feel well. Sex hormones not registering was at the final root cause of my chronic fatigue. It has taken the better part of four years to get my levels restored. I will be 60 on my next birthday and I watch my Gran girls and pretty much have sustained energy all day, I keep up with them where their parents have trouble.

DHEA/Testost HRT 60/6 MG Cre - 3 clicks per day
Estradiol 2 mg tabs - 1 per day (DIM 100 mg twice per day to stop conversion to "bad" estrogens, which has worked for me for over two years).
Pregnenolone creme - 2 pumps twice per day (10 mg- I follow D Gary Young's protocol for pregnenolone + DHEA with my Osteopath's blessing).
Progest HRT 20% (200 M creme) 2 clicks at night.

Inflammation was contributing to my Reverse T3. My nutrition, I mentioned above ^. I take prescription Low Dose Naltrexone ("LDN"). LDN is up at the top of my list with T3 of meds I've taken that have had the biggest impact on restoring my life. I worked my way up to 4.5 mg each night at bedtime with 1200 mg of alpha lipoic acid. Supplements that have brought down my markers: turmeric.

Low iron: Vitron C resolved my iron issues

High blood sugar is in normal ranges: Berberine.

I take Vitamin D3 with K2, selenium, magnesium and vitamin C daily. The rest of my nutrition I get with real food. I had a complete nutritional profile done and my Zinc, folic acid, and calcium were low. I take prescription L-Methylfolate calcium (prescription medical food).

I do not lift weights and have pretty strong muscles in my arms. Well, lol I lift grandkids, a lot and okay they ARE weights. I lost their parent's entire childhood to the insidiousness of hypothyroidism. I had been hypo for a long time, but the real hell started for me about five years after my TT from ThyCa and after I was put on Synthroid. Looking back I know my adrenals went down soon after.

I am not angry and I am not bitter, even knowing it was all needless. Endocrinologists all did everything the same exact way, only ever testing my TSH and an occasional Free or total T4.

My hair doesn't fall out I don't wake up crying I don't have constant muscle cramps I don't have insomnia! No more fight or flight out of the blue! I am no longer weight loss resistant and I do NOT diet, EVER! I don't sit in half a dozen hot baths daily because I am not cold I do not live in fear or have panic attacks I can make plans because I know I will feel up to it I have a sunny outlook on life and I seize the day because I have confidence I no longer suffer (severe) mental illness I no longer suffer cardiac issues. I had left ventricle diastolic filling damage that has been reversed with 5 years on direct T3.