au naturel (and I am not talking about naked here people)

Before I step up on my soap box, because that is what’s about to happen, let me tell you the main reason I write this. If you remember, back in November, I wrote that I was having symptoms that suggest I have hashimoto's. The first step I took in trying to improve my symptoms was to have allergy testing done to determine what foods I am most sensitive to. After finding those out here, I took all of them out of my diet and then had my thyroid test redone. I wrote about the results at the bottom, also in italics. That way, if you get tired of reading the rest of the post, you can just scroll on down to the results.

Most all of us feel some kind of emotion when we hear the words; “alternative therapy”, “natural medicine”, “holistic”, “homeopathic”, “natural medicine”…you get the picture.

These words can almost always spark up a conversation and they tend to be controversial topics.

On a scale of 0 to 10 concerning feelings about medicine, 0 being “I HATE all types of natural medicine” to 10 being “I will not use traditional medicine and I will absolutely NOT put anything foreign into my body”, we fall around a 7.

We do not vaccinate (I know that one is a hot topic). We try our darndest not to give our kids antibiotics. We hardly ever use aspirin, ibuprofen, tylonol or any of the other pain relievers. We do go to the chiropractor. We do eat healthy. We do take multi-vitamins, probiotics, and fish oil.

I do think traditional medicine has its benefits and its place.

Are we prefect at these things? Absolutely NOT. We occasionally eat out, order pizza, indulge in sweets, and my kids eat goldfish crackers.

I do NOT write this to tell you how you should live your life or the decisions you should make for your family. Everyone is different and what works for our family is not going to work for yours. I write this because I think we all owe it to our families to do what is best. 

You might research the heck out of vaccinations and decide that we non-vaccinators are crazy and the benefits far outweigh the risks. Maybe you have tried to help control your child’s behavior by eliminating certain foods only to find out it made things worse. The important thing is that you researched it or tried it and made a wise decision for your family.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how alternative medicines have helped us to avoid more traditional approaches;

Taylor had multiple ear infections as a baby. Our pediatrician at the time told us we needed to put tubes in her ears. I was not comfortable with this idea, so we got a second opinion from a more natural doctor. We went on a Tuesday and the doctor told us to completely take her off dairy and put garlic ear drops in her ears twice per day. We went back that Friday to have her ears checked again. The level of fluid in her ear went from 90% on Tuesday to less than 10% by Friday. We avoided surgery for my 1 year old simply by taking her off of dairy.

Mark has had major stomach problems and sinus infections since he can remember. Once he changed his diet and began going to the chiropractor, he no longer has IBS and his sinuses have cleared.

Now for my hashimoto's…I took all these foods out of my diet for 6 weeks. After about one week I stated to notice an increase in my energy levels, my eczema disappeared after 2 weeks, and I had ZERO fever blisters during this time period. I had my blood work redone and my Thyroid Antibody Panel, which is the main indicator of energy levels, went from being low to normal.

I do have to say that I still have lower levels of energy than I did before kids. My next step is to completely eliminate gluten (a major cause of inflammation) and begin taking zinc, copper, and selenium in hopes to increase my energy level even further.

I go back in April, so I will give you an update then!

Ok, I am getting off the soap box. Peace out.