Rant and Hashimoto's

Whether we will admit it or not there is always some sort-of pre-conceived opinions/judgements( or whatever you want to call it) that goes along with chronic illness. When people say they suffer from physical pain and they look fine some ideas might be: they're over dramatic, they have low pain tolerance, they need attention, they are lazy and the list goes on. I'll admit it myself, that before I was a person who was plagued by chronic illness I often wondered if others were "faking it" or just lazy. I now know better. Don't get me wrong there are probably some people out there like this, but without knowing their history and story don't come to an evaluation about that person until you have heard them out.
[BTW: Chronic illness/Chronic Disease refers to long-lasting condition (more then 3 months) that can be controlled but not cured]

Since beginning this blog I have already come into contact with a handful of people who are also suffering from autoimmune diseases or symptoms. Some of these people I already knew and had no idea they were sick and others I have just recently met. One thing we all share in common is the desire to heal and live pain free. As a result of this I have spent countless hours of research and A LOT of money looking for it.

Last year in Febuary was one of those times. I was going to see a guy by the name of  Dr. Jace. ( you can look up his website if you wish- www.jacemedical.com.) My friend Esther from church told me about him and said she had a friend of a friend having amazing results with his RA by going to see this him. I spoke to this friend on the phone and he did really have great results, along with seeing another doctor along side Dr. Jace who gave him antibiotic treatments. Anyway, I wanted to get the most out of my initial visit with him, so I ordered all the bloodwork through my primary care physician. That way I could bring it with me to my first appointment. After going to the lab I got a letter in the mail saying this:

Your vitamin D was low, I prescribed vitamin D for 2 months then continue with vitamin D (1000 units daily, over the counter.) Your thyroid antibody test was positive, we will be sending a referral to the endocrinologist, and they will be calling you for an appointment. 

I had to delay my visit to the to Dr. Jace and instead I made my appointment with the endocrinologist. I saw him a while later. I left that day diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease. And just like when I was diagnosed with RA and I really had no idea what it was or how it worked. I left not even knowing how to say Hashimoto's correctly. Here's what it is:


Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys its own thyroid gland. Piece by piece your body chews up and destroys your own thyroid gland as if it is the enemy. In a healthy immune system, antibodies act as the body’s army to detect and destroy invaders not normally present in the body, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. In the case of Hashimoto’s disease, a defective immune system wreaks havoc on the body by directing antibodies against its own thyroid gland as if it is a foreign invader.

I guess you could say I wasn't very happy to hear the latest diagnoses, here is a pic from the appointment that day.




But on top of the diagnosis, the doctor was not very nice. He asked me why I had these labs drawn and I told him they were ordered for a holistic doctor that I was planning to go see in LA. His response was that I had no business ordering these labs because then I find out stuff like this and I have bigger problems to worry about like my RA. Gee, thanks a lot doctor. So now I had not 1 but 2 auto immune diseases. :/

They ordered an ultrasound of my thyroid.