Date:   8/2/2012 9:47:44 AM ( 12 y ago)
Hits:   12,012
URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1970192

Hello,

I suffered from what I thought was chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) for 9.5 years. Below is a list of things that have helped me. I wanted to pass them along in hopes that they may help someone else. I am not a medical practitioner. Always consult a physician before starting/stopping any medication, etc.

How It Started:
On Thursday, Sept. 27th, 2001, I went to bed feeling fine. The next morning, Friday, I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept. No matter how I tried, I could not get going. I went to bed very early that night and slept for 14-ish hours. The same thing happened the next morning. I awoke feeling like I hadn't slept. Later I learned the technical term for this is non-restorative sleep. This continued day after day. I was able to push through it but after three weeks I became very concerned and went and saw my doctor. He said I probably have a virus (mononucleosis) and it will eventually pass. He was wrong and it never did go away. It got worse and I developed other symptoms. From my research I learned that it can be common for CFS/FM to have "sudden onset" after a traumatic experience or illness.

My Symptoms:
Here are some of the symptoms I had in no particular order (or maybe what bothered me most):
1) Non-restorative sleep. I would sleep and sleep and sleep yet never feel rested. This was not only a physical tiredness but a mental and emotional tiredness.
2) Fatigue and post-exertion malaise. I was beyond exhausted. Everything was an effort. I did not bounce back after any kind of physical activity. I couldn't even mow my own lawn. I did only what I had to do like pay bills and work.
3) Insomnia. It was terrible. I was dead tired and could not fall asleep and, when I did fall asleep, it was hard staying asleep. The slightest noise would wake me up.
4) Pain (FM). I hurt all over all the time. Eventually this started to steal the joy from every moment. It felt like my muscles would clench uncontrollably especially when I would sleep. I got a mouth guard because I was grinding my teeth. I had to get both a top and bottom piece because I was slowly wearing through the top guard. It was pricey, $300, but better than fixing cracked teeth.
5) Brain fog. It was hard to think. I felt drunk most of the time. I wasn't able to read or learn anything new.
6) Static in the brain. This is very hard to describe. The only analogy I have been able to come up with is it's like listening to an AM radio station with lots of static. My brain was working but there was lots of interference. To this day I still have trouble listening to music. It just doesn't sound right.
7) Sensitivity to noises. The tiniest noise would bother me. My neighbor had dogs that would bark all day and it drove me insane.
8) Sensitivity to smells. Certain scents, especially perfumes and the like, made me feel dizzy and sick.
9) Sensitivity to touch. I didn't like being touched. I had to stop wearing jewelry (e.g. watch, ring, necklace).
10) My vision started going black-and-white-ish. I saw colors but they looked dull.
11) Intolerance to cold. I was always freezing even when I was in bed with the covers piled high and sweating.
12) Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That's a euphemism for gas (both ends), bloating and loose, water stool. Worse, I always had this pain in my gut. Eating would make it worse. Sometimes I would be starving but I wouldn't eat because it would hurt so bad. When I did eat, food would travel through my in 5-6 hours.
13) Memory problems. It was hard to remember things.
14) Irritability.
15) Anxiety.
16) Depression but, and I want to make this clear, it was a symptom not the source problem. The doctors always wanted to give me anti-depressants. I always said no but my wife kept saying I should try them. I tried three different kinds and I will never take an SSRI again. I made my wife promise to never, ever let the doctors give me one even if my life depended on it. The first one, Effexor, was okay. I had lots of side effects all pretty minor except the big one. My equipment stopped working. That was unacceptable. I tried Welbutrin (sp?) next. That made me feel like I wanted to fight with everyone so I stopped that pretty quickly. The last one I tried was when I was feeling really bad. I took Cymbalta. I started having spasms and I lost voluntary motor control of my limbs. It happened for approximately five minutes every three hours over a span of about 18 hours. I figured it was because of the time release capsules. It was an extremely traumatic experience when I was at one of my lowest points. Never, ever again will I take SSRIs.
17) There are more symptoms but it's hard to remember them all and I try not to think back too much less the darkness return (like how Beren would not speak of his passage through the girdle of Melian).

Things That Helped Me:
Here is a list of things that helped me. There are in order of most significant to least.
1) Submit to God. I always had plans for what I was going to do with *my* life. I got a B.S. in Computer Science and got a job programming. I would climb the corporate ladder. I would acquire all the material wealth I would need to be comfortable including a nice house, car, etc. I would find a good wife. Raise a family. Maybe start a company. After I had established *my* kingdom I would then turn towards God.

I was/am Christian and I have always had pretty strong faith. Little did I realize how much my faith would be tested by my illness. As my illness progressed I was able to do less and less. Even fun things became a chore. My life was stripped away from me a little piece at a time. Towards the end I had only my job (teaching programming at a local community college) and my wife. Everything else was gone.

I have discovered that if you hurt bad enough for long enough that you have a breaking point. I found my breaking point. Had it not been for my faith and the grace of God I would have died. I was broken not once but about three different times (yes, I'm very stubborn). I started saying things like, "Lord, I give up" and "Lord, what do I do?", "Lord, take this burden from me or make it all stop, PLEASE."

I was flipping through the TV channels one day and I came across Joyce Meyer. I listened to her for a while and what she said resonated with me. I continued to watch her because I learned something helpful every time I saw her show. After a month or two I saw a show on submission. Something clicked. I started trying to submit to God. I began to *voluntarily* let go of all the things *I* wanted to do. After practicing this for a month or two I started to find the other items on this list. For me, the more I have learned to trust and rely on God, the better my life has become and not just in a physical sense. If I had to look back, I would say God used my illness to wake me up. I'm not saying He caused it but I think He used it as a teaching tool. Most importantly, it was His grace that let me find the other items on this list. At the end I'll explain the computer search techniques I used.

2) Hypothyroidism Type 2 (HT2). Most of the medical community doesn't know about HT2. They know only about plain hypothyroidism which Dr. Mark Starr calls Hypothyroidism Type 1 (HT1). HT1 is where your thyroid gland produces little or no hormone. This can easily be detected by a blood test. I have had the blood test at least three times and my results where always "normal."

HT2 is where your thyroid gland produces an amount of hormone in the "normal" range but your body needs more. There is no blood test for this. I came across a radio interview in MP3 format that Dr. Starr did. I listened and I knew I had found a huge piece of the puzzle. Most of my symptoms which I thought were for Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome and FM mirrored almost exactly the symptoms for hypothyroidism.

Dr. Starr says to check if you have a low basal temperature and/or myxedema combined with any other symptom (e.g. fatigue, pain, brain fog). If you have those, according to Dr. Starr you could be HT2. I have always been cold. I took my basal temperature anyway and I was in the 96's. I also had myxedema. I'll explain how to check both shortly. Dr. Starr said that his patients that took Iodine for four weeks and then began taking desiccated thyroid had most of their symptoms resolve or get much better. In early 2011, I ordered both off of Amazon and started taking Iodine as soon as it arrived. According to Dr. Starr, skipping the Iodine can cause permanent damage to the adrenal glands due to adrenal burnout. Then I started taking the desiccated thyroid. That was in February of 2011. Wow, within a day I knew I was on to something because all of my symptoms moved. I felt different. I had terrible cravings for the iodine (according to wikipedia, iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. I'm not kidding. It's in the first or second paragraph.) After two weeks of 50 drops a day my cravings subsided. During the first two weeks of taking thyroid I would have terrible attacks of the sleepies. I would sleep hard for four or five hours but, and this is a big but, I would wake up somewhat refreshed. I was a little freaked out by how hard I would go down. I mean I was like a drugged elephant. Eventually I seemed to "catch up" with my rest. Also, my pain started to decrease. It's like waking up from a nightmare. After 10 months I can report that I have much more energy and much less pain. Life is pretty good now! All of my symptoms have greatly improved. I'm not 100% but I'm not struggling through each day anymore.

I know now that I never had Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome or FM. I have always been HT2. Dr. Starr says it's hereditary and usually passed on by the mother. I look at my mom and I can see she has a mild case of it. Same with my wife. Her mom is HT1 and my wife tests at the low end of the "normal" range. She started taking iodine and desiccated thyroid and had improvement.

Dr. Starr explains how to take your basal (resting) temperature. First thing in the morning put an old-school glass thermometer in your underarm for 10 minutes. The digital ones are too inaccurate. More than one degree below 98.6f could mean that your HT2. Men and post-menopausal woman can take their temperature any day. Pre-menopausal women can take their temperature only on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days of bleeding. Dr. Starr recommends shaking down the thermometer over something soft like your bed so that when you drop it it doesn't shatter on the tile floor. BTW, if you sleep with tons of blankets and cloths, you'll need to take off everything but what a normal person would wear about an hour or two before taking your temperature.

Myxedema is a thickening of the skin. Pinch the skin on the back of your hand. Notice how thin it is. Now pinch the skin on your underarm slightly to the outside. If it's thick that's myxedema. Before I started taking desiccated thyroid my skin was thick on my underarm. Now, after 10 months, it's much more like the skin on the back of my hand.

Here are links to the radio interview with Dr. Starr. I apologize for referencing another web site.

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