A Master List for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease Research

I put this together to share on a thyroid group I help moderate. Since I've shared some of my health struggles here on my blog, I figured I'd share this here too - it's a great list of links - all of these things have helped me to feel better over the years. Every one of them. 

I’m in Hypo Hell: What do I do?

1.      Are your labs optimal? If NO, work toward this:

·        FT3 is in Top 1/3 of Range

·        FT4 is Mid Range

·        Ferritin is 70-90 (http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ferritin/)

·        RT3 Ratio is good. (http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/rt3-ratio/ )

·        Labwork: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/recommended-labwork/

·        Optimal Lab Values: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/lab-values/

·        TSH: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/tsh-why-its-useless/

·        Try different meds until you find one that works best for you: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/options-for-thyroid-treatment/

2.      Are you gluten-free? If NO – try it. If YES, and it’s not helping enough, try grain free or AIP elimination diet to find more food triggers.  Our health starts in our GUT. Work on making it healthier:

·   http://thyroidbook.com/blog/changing-your-diet-is-the-first-step-in-addressing-hashimotos/

·   http://thyroidbook.com/blog/autoimmune-gut-repair-diet/

·   http://chriskresser.com/the-gluten-thyroid-connection

·   http://www.thepaleomom.com/autoimmunity/the-autoimmune-protocol

·   http://autoimmune-paleo.com/the-paleo-autoimmune-protocol-an-elimination-diet-for-autoimmune-disease/

·   http://chriskresser.com/the-thyroid-gut-connection

3.      Look for other Root Causes:

·   http://www.thyroidpharmacist.com/1/post/2013/12/6-different-hashimotos-root-causes.html

·   Lyme: http://www.thyroidpharmacist.com/1/post/2014/02/lyme-and-hashimotos.html

·   EBV: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2010/06/27/be-aware-of-the-epstein-barr-virus/

4.      Correct Nutrient deficiencies: http://www.thyroidpharmacist.com/1/post/2013/06/nutrient-depletions-in-hashimotos-part-i-selenium.html

·        Vitamin D

·        Selenium

·        Zinc

·        Magnesium

·        Vitamin D

·        Iron

·        B’s

·        C

·        Trace minerals (Sea Salt)

5.      Are your Adrenals working optimally? Most likely this answer is a NO.

·        http://www.thyroidpharmacist.com/1/post/2013/09/are-your-adrenals-sabotaging-your-health.html

·        http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/take-the-adrenal-fatigue-quiz

·        http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/

·        http://www.drlam.com/articles/adrenal_fatigue.asp

6.      What about MTHFR? Ask your dr. for testing or do the 23andMe saliva test and run the data through a third party to get your SNPS.

·        http://www.dearpharmacist.com/2013/08/08/2394/

·        http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mthfr/

·        http://mthfr.net/read-this-first/2012/01/25/

7.      What about iodine? Research it and make up your own mind:

·   http://chriskresser.com/iodine-for-hypothyroidism-like-gasoline-on-a-fire

·   http://www.westonaprice.org/metabolic-disorders/the-great-iodine-debate

·   http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iprotocol.html

·   http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2013/12/29/companion-nutrients-the-key-to-iodine-protocol/

·   http://blog.drbrownstein.com/?s=iodine

·   http://www.health-science-spirit.com/iodine.html

·   https://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2011/oct2011_The-Silent-Epidemic-of-Iodine-Deficiency_01.htm

8.      Learn about LDN – it can normalize your immune system if you’ve tried everything else already.

·   http://www.ldnscience.org/

·   http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/

·   http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/01/13/can-ldn-really-help-multiple-sclerosis-rheumatoid-arthritis-and-other-autoimmune-diseases.aspx

·   http://www.ldnresearchtrust.org/

·   http://www.honestmedicine.com/low-dose-naltrexone/

9.      Learn about Neurotransmitters. There is a huge brain/gut/immune system connection:

·   http://www.createvibranthealth.com/services/neurotransmitter-assessment/

·   http://pietilachiropractic.com/docs/NTAF.pdf

·   http://www.gethelpfordepression.info/DepressionTests.aspx

·   http://thyroidbook.com/blog/hashimotos-hypothyroidism-and-how-to-protect-your-brain/

·   http://thyroidbook.com/blog/hashimotos-brain-degeneration/

10.   More Reading:

·   http://www.thyroidpharmacist.com/

·   http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

·   https://chriskresser.com/

·   http://thyroidbook.com/

·   http://www.amazon.com/Hashimotos-Thyroiditis-Lifestyle-Interventions-Treating/dp/0615825796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396464143&sr=8-1&keywords=thyroid+books

·   http://www.amazon.com/Still-Thyroid-Symptoms-Tests-Normal-ebook/dp/B00A3KO1Q6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396464159&sr=8-2&keywords=thyroid+books

·   http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Thyroid-Madness-Revolution-Treatment/dp/0615477127/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1396464159&sr=8-6&keywords=thyroid+books

·   http://www.amazon.com/Why-Isnt-My-Brain-Working-ebook/dp/B00D8N6HBM/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1396464195&sr=8-26&keywords=thyroid+book

•  http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Not-Crazy-Alone-ebook/dp/B00GZZ0270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396464217&sr=8-1

New Beads!

I was lucky enough to grab some time a couple of weeks ago to make some beads. Melting glass makes me so happy, and I didn't want to stop. But then the kid was out of school for 5 days, and then I caught that horrible cold going around, and then my new basement remodel flooded and was ruined, and then the kid needs new soccer shoes and they have to be custom ordered and cost a fortune... and my plan of just making and making and making beads and eventually maybe I'll have a show... poof. out the window. I put what I have on etsy, have a look - thanks!

Wishing For Spring

and a crazy video showing all the layers in her.

A Self Portrait

A mix of photographs and textures. 

More paintings

Digital:

and real paper and paint:

Finger Painting on the iPad

I am having so much fun, I can't stop! I just realized the ProCreate app saves all your data and can make a video of your work in progress. Wow!! Check it out :)

SO far So good!

It is turning out to be a bright and sparkly new year after all. I have been drawing, and painting on paper, and painting on the ipad, and having a lot of FUN with it all. So much better than playing candy crush!

I'll share with you a few of the things I've made so far... the first is the "Inner Artist Guardian" lesson from LifeBook 2014 class - the neat thing about her is 1.) I finally tried watercolor crayons and they are everything everyone always says about them.. and 2.) I'm so jealous of her hair! I met her in a tropical forest clearing with vines hanging down and birds singing and who knows what rustling around in the underbrush... Maya my dog was with me, she ran with me to the clearing, of course, she's my BFF. And there she was, with all her turquoise hair. I even gave her one of my talisman beads to wear. I forgot to ask her name. She told me my word for the year was PLAY.

So after her, there was another lesson about what we want in 2014, and it was this diagram thing you paint on grey paint and some of the people in the class went to town and made it look fantastic, especially the zen tangle types... but once I decided what I wanted most in 2014 was FUN (and look, it goes with PLAY).... I decided to draw some more girls because they were fun, and skip the grey diagram.

So here are a couple of girls... one with wings.

And then life happened and it got crazy busy and I couldn't paint them... but I really wanted to... so I sat down with my iPad and did it digitally. I will totally paint her again for real, but this was also FUN.

And because I figured THAT out (the ProCreate app on the iPad) - I tried other things:

I love how the robin actually looks like a real mixed media piece, with layered things in it. Love!

So that's what I've been up to so far. As well as a crazy soccer tournament. In a torrential winter rain storm. I'm still recovering from that... and will get around to painting those girls for real, soon.

Thanks for looking :) Happy New Year!