Update on my journey with Auto-Immune Thyroid Disease

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I have no medical degree or formal medical training of any kind. This post is my opinion only, and should not be taken as any kind of medical advice. No information in this post is meant to diagnose or treat thyroid disease or any other medical problem. My intent is simply to share the story of my own experience with auto-immune thyroid disease. 

You can read about my journey with auto-immune thyroid disease here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

I haven't updated for quite awhile, so I'm going to have to back track for a bit. Around December of 2012, I pretty much stopped taking Armour (the thyroid medication I take for Hashimoto's). As I skipped days here and there, I told myself that I actually felt better without Armour. And for awhile, maybe I did. But eventually, the symptoms came back, and I was feeling pretty rough.

Somewhere along the way, I came to my senses. It was probably when I admitted to my mom that I had been off thyroid meds for nearly a year, and she became really concerned about me. "You just don't know what it could be doing to your body to NOT have that medication," she gently told me. I used My Med Lab to run a TSH test, and it came back just under 10. I have symptoms when it is as low as a 2, so yes, it was way too high, but not as high as I expected it to be at after almost a year of no thyroid meds.

In January of this year, I went back to my very wonderful thyroid doctor, and very sheepishly told him my story of why I had been away for so long. He didn't scold too much, and he even said that it was pretty common for people to stop taking their thyroid meds and think they are ok without it for a while. He promptly put me back on Armour, 1 grain a day for 10 days to let my body adjust to being back on the medication, and then two grains a day after that. After 4 weeks, I went back for my follow-up, and I could honestly say that I could tell a difference already. I was feeling better, and some of my symptoms had lessened considerably. The two biggest symptoms were very painful joints and muscles in my arms, and a racing heartbeat that had me panicking several times a week. There were times that I seriously thought I might have a heart attack, it was that bad! The joint pain has lessened considerably, and my heart hasn't been racing since I started back on Armour. Lesson learned!

He prescribed N-acetyl cysteine twice a day, to essentially help the thyroiditis calm down. He also suspects I am probably insulin resistant (which apparently often goes hand-in-hand with thyroid problems), and prescribed berberine, an herbal supplement similar to the function of metformin. I have been tested many times for diabetes, and thankfully, I am NOT diabetic, but I know that I need to lose weight. So that is the next step. It feels like a daunting task to lose a lot of weight with a very slow metabolism, but I think I'm ready to just start with some small goals! As always, whenever I talk about thyroid conditions, I want to encourage those that are struggling with this to NEVER GIVE UP hope that you will feel better! Keep researching, keep learning, keep doing what you can to feel better each day! Don't be afraid to ask for help!

* If you would like to read more about the herbal supplement berberine, this LINK has some great information!

What I didn't know about hormonal birth control.......

When my husband and I first got married, we decided that I would take birth control pills. We knew other Christian couples who did this, and to be perfectly honest, we didn't really even question whether or not it was wrong. As far as we knew, birth control pills stopped ovulation, so there was no chance of getting pregnant. I admit that I didn't read the fine print on the birth control label, and I don't even remember praying about this decision. I noticed that I didn't feel very well while taking the pills. I think my body didn't respond very well to the hormones in the pills, and I often felt irritable and had symptoms of PMS almost all month long. About 9-10 months after we were married, I began to have some very serious abdominal pain that caused me to have to see an urgent care doctor. I had switched birth control brands a short time before that, and although I have no proof, I suspect the abdominal pain was linked to the birth control pills. The doctor could not find anything conclusive, and the pain subsided. One day at work, a friend of mine brought up the subject of birth control pills. She told me she had learned that there could be evidence that birth control pills had a failsafe built into them - if the pills failed to prevent ovulation, and sperm makes it past the thickened cervical mucus and fertilizes an egg, then the pills could cause the lining of the uterus to thin and become hostile for a fertilized egg to implant. I was SHOCKED, because I had never heard that before. I had rather mixed emotions - first shock, then horror, then denial, then horror again. Since I was not feeling well from taking the pills anyway, and because I was worried there was even a CHANCE that what my friend had told me was true, we decided to go off the pills almost immediately.

We made a decision not to go back on pills ever again, or any type of hormonal birth control. But I didn't really want to know the truth. I didn't really want to know if what my friend had said was true. I just decided that I wouldn't use that kind of birth control. Many years later, I did start doing some research, and I have been led to believe that there is a fail-safe built into hormonal birth control (pills and IUDs, and I believe it is possible in shots and the patch as well). I have heard of people getting pregnant while on pills or with an IUD in place, but I still believe these forms of birth control are designed to prevent implantation. It may not always prevent implantation, but I tend to think that is the exception rather than the rule. I believe that human life begins when an egg is fertilized by a sperm, even if it hasn't implanted yet. I know there would be many that disagree with me, but it is my personal belief that that is when life starts. Because I believe this way, I do not want to do anything to destroy (or cause rejection of implantation) the fertilized egg. My heart breaks that I did not know this information when I first got married, because if I did, I never would have used the pills.

The Bible is clear on how God feels about children - they are a gift and a blessing from God. The Bible doesn't say how many or how few children we are to have. I believe that the number of children you have is not an indication in and of itself of how spiritual you are. There are many examples in the Bible of believers who were barren (at least for a time), or who had one child. Take Hannah for example. She was barren for awhile before God blessed her with Samuel (and later other children as well). The Bible does not state that Hannah was living in disobedience or being punished with barrenness. Also consider Sarah, the wife of Abraham. She only had one child, Isaac. The Bible does not indicate that Sarah was judged on how much she loved God based on the number of children she had. I don't think it is a sign that you love God if you have 12 children. I don't think it is a sign that you are unspiritual if you have no children, or "just" 1 or 2. God allows some people to get pregnant very easily and have many children, and for others, He allows infertility, making it impossible, or near impossible to conceive. One of my greatest pet peeves is how some people make other people feel about the area of children. There are some that look down on couples with either no children, or 1 or 2 children and treat those couples as if something is wrong with them spiritually. But on the other hand, just as offensive is that some people look down on families with many children, and constantly make remarks about how crazy they are for having so many children.

However, as with any area of our lives, I think it is important for Christians to examine their hearts to see if they are seeking God's will in the matter of birth control. Am I surrendered to the Lord about what He wants for my life? Am I trusting Him in the area of fertility, to let Him choose the number of children I have? (Now, please do not misunderstand. I don't believe it is right for couples to have children that they honestly cannot provide and care for. But sometimes people take that too far, and say that they cannot afford kids AND the latest car, the most exotic vactions, the biggest house, etc. You know what I mean?) There have been times in our marriage where another child would have been very difficult to have because of some health problems I was having. While my heart longed for more children, we felt it best to wait until my health improved. There were other times where we were in between insurance companies, and needed to wait several months to get accepted and set up with the new company before having a child. There were other times where we worked to get our finances in order to be able to provide for another child. We decided on non-hormonal birth control during those times (when I say non-hormonal birth control, I am speaking about birth control that does not destroy or prevent implantation of a fertilized egg). I know there are those who disagree even with non-hormonal birth control, and I respect their conviction about this. We have asked the Lord for guidance about this, and continue to seek His will in this matter.


In conclusion, I want to share some links for further reading on this subject. What are your thoughts on this topic?
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Sharing the Gospel with a Lost and Dying World

photo credit

What is the Gospel? Have you ever wondered what it means to "be saved?" Maybe you have heard Christians talking about this subject, and you might have thought, what do I need to be saved FROM? Or perhaps you are already saved, but are not sure how to share the gospel with your unsaved friends, family, and coworkers. Well, this post answers all these questions. Evangelist Dr. John Van Gelderen (Revival Focus Ministries) gives a very thorough presentation of the gospel in THESE VIDEOS. It will be well worth your time! If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments, and I will try to answer them in the best way that I can.

What's so wrong about Contemporary Christian Music?

Contemporary Christian music is a huge issue in today's churches. Many churches are leaving the old traditional hymns behind, and embracing Contemporary Christian music. David Cloud (Way of Life Ministries) has put together an excellent DVD entitled "Foreign Spirit of Contemporary Worship Music." It is a current video (March 2012) and is well-documented. This is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know WHY Contemporary worship music has no place in a Christian's life.

HERE is the link for this DVD.

Discipleship Training

Have you heard of Bright Lights? "Bright" stands for Being Radiant In Godliness, Holiness, and Testimony. Their website gives the purpose of this ministry - "to give practical training in godliness, to encourage young woman to live the years of their youth fully for Christ, to provide edifying fellowship and accountability, and to be a group which will minister to others." Our church is in the process of starting a Bright Lights group in about three weeks. This is a discipleship training program for young girls, although they have also started a new group for young boys called The Light Shop. You can check out their website for more details on this program, as well as how you could start a Bright Lights ministry in your own church. Our church purchased the training manual and dvds so that all of our workers could learn the philosophy behind this ministry. The training dvds have been excellent! The Bright Lights lessons teach concepts such as children giving their heart to their parents, learning how to get along with brothers and sisters, having a clear conscience before God, and many others. The recommended ages for a Bright Lights group is for girls age 10-13. Our church has decided that we are going to also adapt the lessons for girls as young as second grade. While we whole-heartedly believe in reaching teen girls for Christ and discipling them, we are finding that many girls are already "set in their ways" by the time they reach their teen years, and often have a hardened heart towards the things of the Lord. We are hoping to reach younger girls and teach them Biblical concepts before they even reach those extremely critical years.

How big is Space?

Here's an interesting link about the relative size of some of the solar system: Earth and Sun. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom, because it is just mind blowing. How magnificent our Creator God is! The heavens truly show His handiwork!