As I began my research on Iodine
deficiency I learned that this isn’t something you just go to the Health food
Store and pick up. It’s a delicate balance that really should be administered
by someone who knows what they are doing. Once again, I felt discouraged. I was
pretty sure a medical doctor wasn’t going to work with me on alternative
methods and with no insurance and a reluctance to trust the medical community,
I wasn’t easily turned to them anyway.
I kept researching Iodine in connection
with Fibro and was eventually led to Power Health. Their website had an
extensive list of Podcasts where the doctors explained some of their therapies
and results with Fibro. They also went on to explain ‘functional medicine’ and
their desire to treat the patient and not ‘just’ the disease. They offered a free
consultation to see if you met the criteria for their treatment and I took them
up on it, expecting a ten minute consult where they would be sure that, for just
$$$.95 I could be cured. I had to wait almost a month for an appointment, but
told them if they had a cancellation I could make myself available on very
short notice. I was sent some paperwork (a 42 page medical history with a complete questionnaire) to fill out and waited.
Power Health did call and I was able to
get in to see the doctor in a little less than two weeks. I had an extensive
(approximately hour and a half) interview with Dr. Rutherford. After a lot of
questions about the paperwork that I had filled out earlier, he assured me that
Fibromyalgia was real and so were my symptoms. He also felt that I had symptoms
of problems with my thyroid and digestive tract. Since I had been warned
repeatedly in the islands that I should have my thyroid checked and had also
been experiencing some digestive difficulties, this was an easy diagnosis for
me to believe, but I still could not see how they were all connected. I was
then given the opportunity to continue and have an elaborate physical performed
by both Dr. Rutherford a Chiropractor in Functional Medicine and Dr. Gates and
Neurologist Chiropractor. I made an appointment for the following week.
My meeting and physical with Dr. Gates
was very interesting. He proceeded to help explain Fibromyalgia to me. I
appears that is more neurological than I had previously though. The
neuro-transmitters that carry the signals for pain to your brain are worn down
creating a well-trodden pathway; thus the almost constant pain in certain areas
of your body. My brain needed to be retrained to heal over these pathways. In other
words I was feeling pain that might or might not ‘really’ be there, but the
neuro-transmitters and my brain were convinced it was, and therefore, I had
pain. If that doesn’t completely make sense to you, you’re not alone, because I’m
still trying to wrap my apparently misguided brain around it. Due to all of
this my reflexes were pretty week and non-existent in my ankles. My balance was
terribly impaired and I could not find my nose.
Let me explain that nose and balance
thing. You know how you see in the ‘side of the road’ drunk tests, the cop asks you to walk a straight line by placing one foot
directly in front of the other heel to toe. Next they ask you to hold your arms
straight out to the side and touch your index finger to your nose, well, stone
cold sober, I cannot do either of those. On the heel to toes thing, I don’t
even place my foot on the ground and I’m tipping over, and finding my nose –
forget about it. As a matter of fact, when they asked me to put my feet next to
each other and close my eyes and just standing there, I immediately tipped to the
right, and had to be caught before I hit the ground. I joked to the doctor that
I certainly wouldn’t pass a drunk test, and he asked me if I wanted a note. Obviously,
my brain is seriously impaired.
It was also determined that my digestive
tract problems were probably due to the almost complete breakdown of my stomach
lining (and the doctors thought I may have or be developing an ulcer) and
therefore food was not being digested property. This breakdown of the stomach
lining was also the case of my not being able to ingest nutrients, and I was
suffering from several serious vitamin deficiencies, particularly Vitamin B12.
They were convinced that I had a condition known as ‘leaky gut’; which means
that undigested food particles where filtering through my stomach and
intestines into my blood stream causing me to be filled with bacteria and
infection.
The part of my physical with Dr. Rutherford
confirmed this diagnosis of ‘leaky gut’ and he determined that my thyroid was
enlarged on the right side.
Again, I was assured that they could help
me should I choose to enter into treatment. I would first have to go through a
series of blood tests and a spit test (this was to determine how well my
adrenal glands were working) to confirm their diagnoses and fully proceed with
treatment.
For the first time I actually felt
confident in my doctors. They understood my reluctance to simply take pharmaceuticals
and assured me that this was never their first approach, but that it might be
absolutely necessary at some point. They also understood my financial restrictions
and were willing to work with me. That first day they did a sampling of the
type of treatment they would do to see if I responded and the physical response
was positive. I have to admit the treatment seemed a little ‘woo-woo’ to me at
first, but later they explained exactly what they hoped to accomplish and when
I saw a positive response I agreed to enter into treatment with them.
More on the
treatment and my progress in my next post.
