Learning more about hypothyroidism & REVIEW of De~Luxe Rosemary Mint shampoo & conditioner.

Thursday was not a good day for me.  I saw both my eye specialist and endocrinologist and I got answers to all of my questions.  These answers were very vague though and left me upset and just confused about the future of my health.  I keep trying to be optimistic about how I am being treated and it just feels like every time I'm figuring something out, or start understanding it, I end up realizing how much I don't know and become more confused and depressed about it all.

Since the surgery my eyesight has been progressively getting worse with blurring, light streaking, and double vision mostly in my left eye.  I felt like my glasses under my old script were not helping, though I realized at the eye doctor on Thursday they are helping a little.  My doctor informed me that for a year, or longer, certain antibodies from the Graves' disease can be elevated in my body, affecting my eyesight, & there's that possibility it might just get better or it could get worse also.  They've done enough they can with the steroids so I've been off the steroid eye drops & in a few weeks I'll be tapered off the prednisone.

I have an appointment next week to check my vision range & get a new script for glasses in which I will need.  He said the lenses need to be, I believe, fragmented and there's a possibility the lenses would need a new vision script every few months (depending if my vision gets worse or not).  He gave me a few eye exercises to do as much as I can (or when I remember) and I go back in a month.

I left the office in tears because everything seems so uncertain with this.  Not only that, but I've worn reading glasses for many years & my vision has only slightly changed.  My reading glasses that I got over 10 years ago finally broke 2 years ago and so I got the vision plan through my employment, got a new pair of cheap, reading glasses, then dropped the plan during (what seemed to be a very early) open enrollment last year.  A few months later I was diagnosed with Graves' and a few months after that, diagnosed with Thyroid Eye Disease.  I do have a discount plan under my current health insurance for glasses but it will hardly put a dent in what this is going to cost me considering I will need both new frames and lenses in which the lenses may need to be changed every few months.

If I know what I'm typing, or have an idea of the subject of what I'm reading, I can make out words though I still struggle.  Testing myself, reading random numbers and letters all together is a major stress on my eyes.  So, when my job consists of me reading a lot of VINs, phone numbers, e-mails and It's not like I can re-program the systems used to make the fonts super large so I can make them out just for my own sake, I NEED these glasses.  Besides the cost though, I am kind of excited to get new glasses.  Not only for the fact that I'll be able to see better but I like wearing glasses.  I'm a bit of a geek at heart!

Then I get home & learn how much people very close to me don't even understand what I'm going through.  Giving me their advice thinking that the doctors advice is bad, & being on this medication is screwing me up.  It's not the medication, it's the condition.  If I stopped the medication I'm on I would be so much worse off.  I don't have a thyroid anymore.  I don't have one that's even partially working to help control my metabolism.  If I don't take a medication or supplements to help I have NOTHING controlling my metabolism.  Just eating certain foods & exercising is not going to make me better (though I understand it can help).  At least I also understand why they wanted to put me on prednisone.  My doctor didn't extend the use of it, which he very well could have.  Even though I may be confused & frustrated about what the doctors are telling me and what their action plans are for me, from what I am reading and learning, everything they are doing & how they are doing it is the best they can do at this point in time.

Then I went to see my endocrinologist.  Some things are better but many things just seem the same.  I explain to him all my other symptoms that I've mentioned a million times on here before because nothing seems to be getting better & it's all the same thing day after day after day.  Turns out my TSH jumped.  When you have hypothyroidism TSH is usually high, hyperthyroidism it's usually low.  Going over my labs my TSH when I had Graves' was .002,  about a week after the surgery my TSH was considered normal at 2.199 and now it jumped to 7.499.  TSH is not the only thing we are looking at with my blood work but being that high it's a major reason why I feel like crap.  He explained to me how my pituitary glad is overworking due to the fact I have no thyroid proving that the medication dosage I'm on is not enough.  So my levothyroxine was upped from 125 to 150mcg.

When I was at my endocrinologist he had no clue why I was waking up at night sweating like crazy and feeling like crap.  Then, like a miracle, Stop the Thyroid Madness posted a link about sleeping disorders when suffering as hypothyroid.  I didn't know that being hypothyroid could directly effect estrogen levels causing this!  This may not be the answer to why this is happening to me as I will need further testing to determine if that's what it really is, but this information will help me with new question to ask & who to seek help from.  I may just get better after time when I find the right thyroid medication dosage, and if not, this information will help me know what I may need to test later to fix, yet another, problem.

Remember how I posted that link in my last post about the petition for endocrinologists to be up to date on the care of thyroid patients?  THAT LAST PARAGRAPH IS ANOTHER REASON WHY!  It seems so simple that I could have told my endocrinologist, "Hey, I'm waking up at all hours of the night all hot & sweating. (Though I'm freezing cold also.  I know this sounds all mixed up so imagine how I'm feeling!)  Even when I take a nap in the middle of the day I wake up all sweaty.  Sometimes I'm not even taking a naps & I get sweaty & gross."  His response shouldn't have been, "Oh, I have no clue why that's happening."  It should have been, "Well, being hypothyroid it can also cause havoc on your estrogen levels."  Then from there advised if I should have it checked out, or if it should get better once my other hormones level out, or if it doesn't what I should do.  Nope, he had no clue.  Again, PLEASE, if you have not already, SIGN THE PETITION!

I'm not even going to bring it up to him until I see him next.  I AM going to call my OBGYN though & explain everything to them because I am on a birth control that could be contributing to this & see if maybe there's something better.  Before I change anything I will request another blood test be done to see if this really is the problem though it completely makes sense that it could be!

Because I'm sick of feeling sick I ask when I should start seeing results.  Mind you, they said 6-8 weeks after surgery I could be completely better & here I am almost 7 weeks out and feeling like complete crap.  Almost feeling the same as I have been feeling since right after the surgery.  Here comes the vague, it could be days and it could be longer, maybe another month.  Month after month, they keep adding months to how long it will be before I start feeling better so I'm starting to lose faith as to when this time is going to come.  I want one week, just ONE WEEK, where I have no symptoms at all.  One week where I'm not uncomfortable in my body.  One week where I feel normal again to know that I'm finally on the right path.  Right now I can't even get a full day in of feeling normal.

So it has been depressing me.

Last night's bath consisted of:

• Rose bath bomb by tmizerek on eBay
• Daddy-O shampoo by Lush Cosmetics
• Buffy shower scrub by Lush Cosmetics
• Divine Calm body wash by The Body Shop (no longer available)
• Sister's Lavender & Vanilla Bean body butter by Mainely Cole's

With my last order to fragrancenet.com I got a small sample of Rosemary Mint shampoo and conditioner by De~Luxe SaVON.  Though I don't see it for sale on their site I did find it on drugstore.com.

They list the product as paraben free, biodegradable, synthetic fragrance free using pure essential oils, it has natural plant based ingredients, 100% pure botanical extracts, and it's cruelty free, not tested on animals!

I was able to use the samples over about a 4 day period.  The scent is very strong with both the rosemary and mint so if either of these bother you, as the scent will linger in your hair, the product may not be for you.  Having short hair, a little bit went a long way as it lathered nicely.  99% of the time I air dry my hair & these left me with a nice bounce & volume, a good clean feeling, and softness.

I would definitely buy the full sizes for myself & the cheapest I did find them were at drugstore.com.  If you are interested in doing a trial of the products before you buy, drugstore.com does sell travel sizes, currently $1.59, of both the shampoo and conditioner.

Happy bathing!

“If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.”

First off this is VERY important to me!  Please take a moment and go to this link & sign the petition for change in the treatment of patients with thyroid disorders WORLDWIDE!  It would be even more amazing if you would SHARE it and its importance to your family, friends and even people you don't know.  I had already suffered under the care of one endocrinologist who did not treat me well, nor understand how I could still be suffering because he was basing it off of old education.  My family and I soon learned how the condition was affecting me more than he did & I found a much better doctor.  It is such a complicated condition & doctors need to be educated & treat patients individually & differently, keeping up with all the new information & medicine that can HELP US!  So, PLEASE, SIGN & SHARE!

This WILL put you on an e-mail list for Change.org but it is VERY EASY to unsubscribe.  After you sign, you should immediately get an e-mail from change.org with links at the bottom where you can choose to either update subscriptions, or unsubscribe.  It's THAT EASY! 

I got my 2nd Birchbox the other day!  Some of the products I love & some I'm still trying out so expect an update w/in the next few weeks with the reviews!

The holidays are coming and most stores have their Autumn lineup of scents out.  If you don't already know, The Body Shop will be releasing a new, limited edition line called Honeymania (If you click the link you can already see a few of the products that will be available) and you should start seeing it in your local stores & sold online by mid October with their holiday lineup.

OH how I LOVE honey!  They way it smells, the way it makes my skin feel in beauty products, the way it tastes!  I was told they will be making a bath melt with this line also.  I think it's kind of a perfect time for them to be releasing the line as it will be autumn so you will not be chased down by bees wearing this scent (at least here in NY you shouldn't).  I had that problem a while back with a honey & almond/orange product of theirs.  I'm so excited for this line to be released!

Redbook is currently having a Honeymania soap giveaway through October 14th, 2013.  There will be 10 winners & you can only enter once during the sweepstakes period.  If you do not want the free trial of the magazine please MAKE SURE you select the "CLICK HERE" in the subscription disclaimer to keep you from getting it.  Good luck if you enter!

I haven't been very motivated, nor feeling well, the past week.  I woke up the other day to the temp outside at 42º and the inside temp 70º which felt freezing to me.  I took my medication, fell asleep for about another hour on the couch curled up under 2 blankets, woke up for breakfast then fell asleep probably for another 2 hours.  I felt tired, achy, & wished it was a dark, rainy day because then I could somehow justify my laziness.  Coffee couldn't even keep me awake.  The next day my wish for rain and gloom came true & the day was wasted though I got some reading & writing done.  Yesterday the temp got up to almost 90º and my body couldn't decide if I wanted to be extremely cold or extremely hot, & today the high is supposed to be 86º.  Then on Friday the high is supposed to be only 55º.  It's THAT time of year in WNY and my hypothyroidism is NOT helping!

I've been writing this over the last few days also to get stuff out of my head.  Still frustrated with my vision & how I am feeling, I had blood taken on Monday and have 2 appointments tomorrow so I'm really hoping to have some answers as to what's going on with my body & condition.  I have a feeling I am going to need more medication adjustments.

The other day I also realized just HOW dry my hair was.  My friend was taking me out & so, while getting ready, I took my flat iron to it & that really didn't work out so well.  Even on the lowest heat setting it just seemed to singe my dry hair even more.  I have been neglecting using oil in my hair lately so I need to bring that back into my daily routine & also do a conditioning masque a few times per week.

I put a tweet out the other day that stated, Had the #muddiest, #dirtiest looking #bath ever tonight. #Tub was a complete #mess after. #Skin feels amazing! More later! :)  Here's the, "More later," part.

The last order I placed with Drugstore.com I was looking for new products to try to help with my dry skin after the thyroidectomy and I came across a line of products from a company called The Seaweed Bath Co.  Since I felt I had enough bar soaps & shower gels & am always looking for new bath additives, I noticed their Wildly Natural Seaweed Powder Bath with Hawaiian Kukui Oil & decided to get it in the Citrus scent.  It was on sale, I like seaweed & all natural products, I got another free product of theirs with it, I checked out the reviews & decided that this was my kind of product!  So I bought it.

When I received it I noticed there was a disclaimer on the product that advised to consult a doctor before use if you had a thyroid condition so I went to their facebook page and questioned it.  They responded, "The warning on the packaging is due to the naturally occurring iodine found in seaweed, which we use in all of our products. Iodine can stimulate the thyroid."  When you have a thyroid, and it is working properly, it takes iodine & processes it into T4.  So, I can understand the warning, but I don't have a thyroid anymore so it was very interesting to learn that about the seaweed!

The ingredient are: Sodium chloride (dead sea salt), Fucus vesiculosus (bladderwrack seaweed), Citrus reticulata (tangerine) essential oil, Zingiber officinalis (ginger) essential oil, Argania spinosa (organic argan) oil, Aleurites moluccana (kukui) oil, Aloe barbadensis (aloe), Tocopherol (natural vitamin E).  

I posted some pictures of my preparation and the aftermath of using this product above.  It is suggested for adults that you use 4-5 scoops (it comes with the scoop), the bath water should be a medium brown, soak for 15-30 minutes, and for best results to use 3-4 baths per week, one per day.  The container says you should get around 16 baths out of it.

The 1st time I used this product I just dumped all 4 scoops into the running water.  Because the "powder" is so dense with all the oils & seaweed, it really didn't dissolve much.  So, the 2nd time I used a trick by putting it in a nylon knee high, tied it at the top, kept it under the running water & also massaged it between my fingers to get it to dissolve.  This worked much better, though, as you can see in the pictures, still left a film on my skin & tub.  Now, imagine how it was without the nylon!

The scent of it is very earthy and considering that seaweed is the 2nd ingredient, that's what you will pick up on the most.  I didn't really pick up on the citrus scent until the 2nd bath where I got more of it to dissolve.

I have an old, ugly, plastic tub where any oily bath additive will stick to the side of it.  Like with the tub, this will stick to your skin.  I should emphasize stick!  When you are done with the bath if you just get up & on out you will have brown dots, splotches, streaks all over you.  Just taking a washcloth & water will not remove it & you will actually need a soap or soap-like product to do so.  I'm going to suggest that if you DO buy this product to also either get one of their skin soaps or body washes to maximize the effect.  I had neither so I used a regular body wash & bar soap with a washcloth & the splotches were easily removed from my skin.  Your tub will also look like a mess once you let the water out but it's extremely easy to clean up with a cleanser & you don't have to scrub hard.

I can't even begin to tell you how awesome my skin felt after using this!  So soft and moisturized.  So if you have eczema, psoriasis or very dry skin this is a product for you!  The best I have used so far!  If you think the brown splotches and clean up would deter you from buying this product, I can assure you the the benefits of what this can do for you with regular use will far outweigh a minor annoyance of a dirty looking tub!

 Until later, happy bathing!