Home & Heart Friday Nov 20,2020

Topics: MTHFR, Music, Matthew

Physical & Spiritual Health

Welcome to Moments with Moni, I’m so glad you are here!

With the weekend coming and the family spending more time together than ever before, let’s explore some topics that many of us could use help with. 

The dreary cloudy days bring sadness to many. Families are under more stress than ever with less work, more bills, and having to learn how to Zoom School. We enjoyed a pajama day now and then back when our family Homeschooled, but dressed from the waist up for teachers meetings online, with the stress of accomplishing all of the assignments and conquering technology, after a sleepless night and a depressing day doesn’t help the old energy tank.

If you add the physical tank that is on low to the Spiritual tank that is on low, it can create a mess. 

I have been wanting to share my story with you on the physical tank that was brought so low I almost check out and went to be with Jesus. However, He has other plans for me, so here I am to share my journey through MTHFR, Hypothyroidism, and Hashimotos. 

Why in the world do doctors give these things such strange titles? After reading though medical research papers for over a decade, I can see that doctors are taught a completely different langue so that if the patient over hears a few of them sharing, we, the great unwashed, will not have clue as to what they are discussing. 

Examples:

• methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase enzyme gene 
• Hashimotos Disease 
• Hypothyroidism
• Hyperthyroidism

And then is Bronchitiis, Arthritis, and all the others itis’s 

The itisis’ are none other than inflammation of a particular part of the body. (which is another problem our medical system has. We are sent to different doctors for each part of our body that is having difficulty. Once there, we get 1-3 minutes with a doctor, he prescribes a drug or in the event the drugs on his list don’t cover the ailement, we are sent to a specialist, and or have surgery to cut out the problem) 

Pretty soon we are on a long list of meds, and a long line of doctors appointments, and due to Covid, are on a long wait list to have procedures done. 

We need our spiritual life to be healthy, and remaining in God’s word as we have in other podcasts and in our personal lives is most needed if we are going to be able to help others. 

As mom’s and Grandmom’s we can easily set aside our own health for the sake of others. It’s easy to do for those you love. But, take a hint from the Stewardess who is giving your instructions before taking off on a flight. You know, the ones we never listen to. 

Listen now, before placing the oxygen mask on your child, place the mask on yourself. 

Did you hear me? You can’t help anyone else if you are passed out. So before you Zoom School all of your children, make sure you have time set aside to spend with Jesus even if you have to get up early to be with Him alone and let Him pour His love in to you so your love tank is full and you have more to share with others. 

In the same way, exercise profits little, but if we care for the tent we have been given we may feel better and last a bit longer to enjoy this journey we call life. 

Back in the year 2000 I had major health issues and shared this story in a blog post back in 2013:

This is long overdue, but my computer died awhile back and I had to figure out how to rescue this picture. I was amazed at the difference in myself when I saw the two bottom pictures next to each other. A short bit of history...

I did not know that I was born with a thyroid issue. My mother was told I had thyroid problems but..."that I would out grow them!" NOT....All through my life as far as we knew I was "fine" according to blood tests. My mom did her best and brought me back to the doctors and told them something was wrong....she hardly eats anything and gains weight, plus a whole host of what I now know as hypo symptoms. The stress and weight gain left me diabetic, but the diet changes helped me get that under control.ut as you can see by the pictures I was anything but "fine." In the past six months since my total thyroidectomy due to an enlarged thyroid gland with a huge goiter and nodules that were "suspicious" and so large that they were hindering my breathing and swallowing, I have learned alot about thyroid health. It was difficult to learn while the brain is in fog mode but so necessary to research on your own and stay active in your health care. Life could have been so much different from this vantage point, but hindsight is 20/20, and God is still in control so I trust that He will continue to hold me up through this life.

In about 2000 I realized I was gaining much weight, and really tried hard to find out what was going on. The blood tests were based only on the TSH test, so they were not revealing that the thyroid was struggling to survive. 

I had developed severe allergies that left me with hives and anaphylactic shock so something had to be done. We had just finished homeschooling two sons, very active in life, and the daily care of my mother in law with Alzheimers fell to us. I had been trained as a CNA, specializing in Alzheimers care. I had also injured my knee around that time. The pain and stress of life as well as the "main gear" in my body not operating properly all my life and now sputtering for dear life left me overwhelmed to say the least, plus Diabetes was getting worse due the stress on the body. Yes stress can cause the sugars to go up too!

In the 2005 photo I can... now...see the hypothyroid face...puffy, thinning eyebrows, hiding the bald spot on the top of my head with thinning hair, extra weight gain no matter how well I ate. At that point I was unable to move without pain in every joint, was dizzy and off balance, had brain fog, and could not even concentrate enough to read a paragraph. I used to listen to the Bible being read online just so that I could still find comfort from God!

My mother in law died a few years ago, and my husband and I took some time to mourn and rest, and then in Jan of 2012 I was hit by a car in a local parking lot. It was a hit and run, but I wasn't injured. In Feb 2012 my car slid on the ice in an ice storm early one morning and I ended up spinning a few times and crossing the highway to end up stuck on a pole just before the car slid down the embankment into the rocks below, with the front of the car windshield inches away from a pine tree branch coming through the window into my face. After some chiropractic care, the Chiropractor thought there might be something else going on so he sent me to my physician. 

My doctor scheduled an MRI and called me at home a few hours later and said...don't eat anything, how soon can you get to the hospital? We have an operating room ready for you. You have a gall bladder that is ready to burst with a gall stone stuck in the bile duct the size of a thumb! It was an awful surgery with a week long stay in the hospital and it really took a few months before I began to feel better. After some online research I realized that the difficulty breathing, the pain in my chest and the dizziness and balance issue as well as the pain at the top of my head were all from the gall bladder! Who knew? My arthritic type pain in the joints had dissipated after diet changes and some of the stress in my life being relieved over the years, so the pain I had before surgery was from my injured knee years ago and what I thought was "Seat Belt" trauma across my chest from the accident. The gall bladder did not issue me any warnings except a few days before the MRI. So a few months later, when I had one pain in my thyroid, I made an appointment. 

My doctor schedule another MRI and Ultrasound and swallow test. Here we go again...second surgery of the year. I did have about a month to research before the surgery to make sure this is the right course of action. The thyroid had grown too large to take much more time to try to shrink it, and from what I had read, shrinkage of the thyroid doesn't usually happen. 

The thyroid surgery went much better than the gall bladder surgery! I was preparing for the worst, but hoped for the best. The tissue was too large to get an accurate reading from a needle biopsy, but after surgery they confirmed there was no cancer! PS: if you find out someone may have thyroid cancer, please don't tell them that "if you do have cancer, it is the best cancer to get as it is treatable" It's still cancer. 

It was a difficult year, after a few stressful life situations, but I see the car accident as God's mercy! If it weren't for the accident we would not have found the gallbladder problem before it was too late, or found the thyroid problem. I am now on Armour, a Natural Desicated Thyroid medication, 2 grains, and have my 6 month test coming up this week. No more insulin, just oral meds to help with sugars, but hoping that when my Armour med is correct I won't need those either although there are variables. It has been difficult to lose weight all my life. I am hoping to get to the appropriate Armour dose so that the gears will work properly again and the diet and exercise wisdom will once again work! I am not allowed to give up, for as long as I am on this earth, God has more in store for me! There is so much more to this life story that cannot be written in one post, so until we meet again....

Some Comments:

1. OMG, I am going through this right now. My right side hurts sometimes when I eat too much rich food. I'm wondering if that could be my gall bladder? What were your symptoms regarding your gall bladder? I do have Hashimoto's just got the letter on it from my dr. and am seeing her next week. I cannot lose weight no matter what. I just keep gaining, it's terrible and have lost half of my hair. I so can relate to everything you have written, thanks for this blog! You look so much better! Wow, I still look like your before pic...Take Care,
2. Just finished reading your blog, our lives sound so similar, I am diabetic and had my gallbladder removed, the gallstone was 3/4" x 2" in length. I have always been overweight since I was a child. My eyebrows are only half left, my hair is thinning, I have pain in all joints. I also have had 2 cervical fusions and two lumbar fusions with degenerative disc disease. I just had the swallowing test last friday, I have had difficulty swallowing for over a year and have severe sleep apena..Hope the removal of my thyroid takes away a lot of my problems..God bless you for posting this blog…
3. Woooow...Monika, That was a Fantastic Testimony that turned into a Mighty Fine Success story!!! You are so Inspiring & Encouraging...I thank you for sharing your life & continue to be a good example to us all!!!!! (I could have the same thing?) Gosh, I guess you could very well become an ND (Naturopathic Dr) or a Healthy/Natural Nutritionist? :o)) May the good Lord above continue to Bless you in your endeavors towards phenomenal health!

Other discussions:

Music & Worship

Matthew Chapter 24

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