By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 PM
A few weeks ago, I took the iodine loading test and bromine test from Hakala Labs. I've been meaning to report my results, as they were pretty surprising, but I've just been too busy. First though, let me tell you about the test.
The test requires that you take a 50 mg dose of Iodoral, then you collect your urine for 24 hours. You send the lab a sample of that urine, along with a report of the total amount of urine collected. The lab reports back your iodine and bromine levels in a few days. (You can test just for iodine, if you like.)
The test was relatively easy to do. You have to be at home for 24 hours to take the test -- unless you wish to carry your jug of urine in a cooler to the grocery store. (No? I didn't think so.) The jug of urine has to be refrigerated, so going to the bathroom requires some advance planning. Next time, to make the process easier, I'll likely set up the jug in a cooler in the bathroom. Of course, you have to make sure to remember to collect every last drop of your urine. (That's harder than it sounds.) Oh, and I discovered that my bladder had just slightly more capacity than the 16 ounce cup provided. (That was awkward!)
I had to stop taking my usual 20 mg per day dose of iodine for the two days before the test. The results were surprising: my digestion became sluggish almost immediately, and I felt like a bloated whale again for the first time in weeks. That disappeared shortly after I took the 50 mg dose of iodine for the test.
When I took the test, I'd been taking more than one milligram doses of iodine in the form of Iosol and Lugol's for 19 days, working my way from 1.8 mg to 24.7 mg. On average, I took nearly 19 mg per day.
So ... without further ado ... what were my results?
I excreted 46.2 mg of the 50 mg loading dose, over 90%. That's supposed to mean that I'm totally iodine sufficient.
That result made no sense whatsoever to me. Clearly, I have been iodine deficient, based on the remarkable improvements I've felt from supplementing with iodine. Yet I'd not been supplementing long enough to reach whole-body sufficiency, as that takes about 3 months of 50 mg of iodine per day. Plus, I felt the effects of just two days without iodine. So I can't be sufficient.
So what in the heck was going on? Here's what the lab report says:
If you excrete 90% or more, and are not taking iodine supplementation, this may be caused by:
1. A symporter defect in which iodine is absorbed but not taken into the cells properly.
2. An iodine organification problem where the iodine gets into the cell but does not attach to the lipid complex for activation.
3. Bromide may be interfering with the body's utilization of iodine.
I'm not sure about the first two possibilities, but I did have my bromine levels checked. And I excreted 37.8 mg of bromine in that 24 hours. That's quite high: the upper normal value is 10 mg.
The halides are a group of elements that share a similar size and shape. ... Fluoride, bromine, iodide, chloride and astatide make up this family. Iodine and chloride are the only halides that have therapeutic effects in the body. Bromide is a toxic element that has a chemical structure very similar to iodine. This similarity can cause bromine to bind to iodine receptors and possibly interfere with iodine transport in the body. Bromine is found in many food items such as bakery products, and some sodas, as well as many prescription items. In addition, bromine is found in many fire-retardant chemicals added to furniture, carpets, etc. Crops are sprayed with bromine as a fumigant for agriculture. When there is iodine deficiency present, bromine toxicity will be exacerbated. (Iodine, pg 82-3, citations omitted)
What are the effects of bromine on a person?
Bromine intoxication (i.e., bromism) has been shown to cause delirium, psychomotor retardation, schizophrenia, and hallucination. Subjects who ingest enough bromide feel dull and apathetic and have difficulty concentrating. Bromide can also cause severe depression, headaches, and irritability. It is unclear how much bromide must be absorbed before symptoms of bromism become apparent. Recent research has demonstrated that symptoms of bromide toxicity can be present even with low levels of bromide in the diet. (Iodine, pg 98, citations omitted)
Dull and apathetic? Difficulty concentrating? Depression? Gee, that sounds familiar! Those symptoms definitely improved with high dose iodine for me.
Also, Dr. Brownstein reports that fluoride has similar harmful effects on thyroid function. When added to drinking water, it doesn't affect rates of dental cavities. I'm dubious of its benefits when used topically, e.g. in toothpaste. My teeth and gums were in terrible shape, despite using a prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste for some years. I've enjoyed huge improvements in dental health with eating paleo, plus supplementing with cod liver oil and butter oil -- without that high-fluoride toothpast. So fluoride for dental health seems overrated, at best.
Exposure to high levels of bromine and fluoride in modern society might be why many people seem to need so much iodine -- about 12 mg per day as a maintenance dose -- for optimal health.
Notably, I'm definitely not endorsing these claims about the effects of bromine and fluoride and their relationship to iodine as the gospel truth. While they seem to fit my own experience, I'm hardly qualified to judge the underlying scientific claims. (I hate being a layperson, particularly where my very capacity to live a meaningful life is at stake!)
So... supposing that bromine and fluoride toxicity is a genuine problem for me, what do I do?
Mostly, I take my daily dose of iodine, in the form of Iosol and Lugol's. I'm currently varying between 24 and 50 mg per day, somewhat at random. Dr. Brownstein's tests of his patients show that high-dose iodine supplementation enables the body to excrete bromine over the course of several months, until levels fall to normal. Fluoride seems to be excreted with iodine supplementation too, but more quickly. Happily, that supplementation is super-easy and super-cheap.
As an extra preventative measure, I've been trying to identify and eliminate sources of fluoride and bromine in my diet and environment. We bought an under-sink reverse osmosis system for our drinking water. That filters out everything -- including the natural fluoride in our water (2 ppm average), as well as pesticides, herbicides, and the like. I've stopped brushing with toothpaste with fluoride. (I use what I used as a kid: baking soda.) Tea apparently contains some fluoride, but I don't think the cup per day that I drink poses much of a problem.
I've not been able to identify many clear sources of bromine in my diet or environment. It's in hair dye, and I've dyed my hair continuously for the past few years. (That's now stopped, at least temporarily.) I don't eat bread any longer, and I've never drunk Mountain Dew or other sodas. My father never used bromine in our swimming pool when I was a kid. I don't know whether it might be in our carpets or my clothing, but if so, I can't do much about that. I could switch to organic vegetables, but I'd like to avoid that hassle and expense, if possible. (But I hope to grow plentiful vegetables in my own garden this summer!)
I do wonder -- as a super-sketchy hypothesis -- whether my own fat stores might have been a major source of bromine. Bromine seems to be stored in fat tissue. Perhaps I'd accumulated it from various sources over the years, then retained it in fat tissue due to insufficient iodine intake. Losing about fifteen pounds over the course of six months in 2008 on a paleo diet might have released a good amount of bromine into active circulation in my body. Due to my super-low iodine intake at the time, I couldn't excrete it. Instead, it took the place of iodine in my body, and that interfered with thyroid function. Notably, I had low-grade symptoms of hypothyroidism before I switched to a paleo diet, so I'm sure that was in my future, but perhaps the bromine contributed to my hard crash this past fall. Mostly though... I have no clue!
In any case, I plan to repeat the iodine and bromine test in a few months. Hopefully, I'll see lower levels of bromine excretion and greater iodine uptake.
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM
I'm starting to think that thyroid lab values mean very little, at least in some cases.
I got my latest thyroid labs on Thursday:
TSH = 3.24 (above 2.5 is hypothyroid, goal to be 1.0)
Free T3 = 2.6 (normal range 2.0-4.4, goal to be high in that range)
Free T4 = 1.0 (normal range .82 to 1.77, goal to be in the middle of that range)
That's not what I expected!
Basically, these lab values are the same, if not slightly worse, than they were when I was originally diagnosed as hypothyroid in November. Back then, I was pretty much a senile corpse, but the labs indicated only very mild hypothyroidism.
Now I'm doing pretty darn well, thanks to desiccated thyroid and iodine, as I reported in this blog post.
I still have some symptoms -- I'm still cold, my cholesterol is still high, my skin is terribly dry, and I'm not quite at full strength for weightlifting. Overall though, I'd have to say that I feel pretty darn fabulous.
Yet... the labs are the same. So basically, I've gone from night to day on the inside, yet my lab values haven't budged. At least in my case, my thyroid lab values don't correlate with my well-being in the slightest!
Why would that be? Speaking purely as a well-read layperson, I suspect that many of my worst hypothyroid symptoms were due to the inability of my body to make proper use of its own thyroid hormones, likely due to iodine deficiency. In this good article on the reliability of conventional thyroid tests, Dr. Briffa writes:
Another reason why TSH may not reflect true thyroid status relates to the fact that the brain and peripheral tissues (outside the brain) can sense thyroid hormone levels different. Imagine, for a moment, that the tissues in the periphery are somewhat resistant or 'numb' to the effects of thyroid hormones (in a way similar to the situation when tissues become resistant to insulin). But let's imagine there is no such problem in the brain. Then what can happen is the brain thinks there's enough thyroid hormone around, while the rest of the body is in fact deficient in thyroid hormone and therefore exhibiting the symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism.
That's the "type 2 hypothyroidism" that Dr. Mark Starr discussed in his book Hypothyroidism Type 2.
Of course, my labs and symptoms indicate some "type 1 hypothyroidism" too, meaning that I'm not producing enough thyroid hormone. Perhaps my thyroid will fully recover with more iodine supplementation, but I'm not holding my breath. For now, my doctor has raised my medication from 1.0 to 1.5 grains of desiccated thyroid, with another thyroid blood panel scheduled for eight weeks. Hopefully, that extra half grain will be all that I need to feel completely fabulous!
By Diana Hsieh @ 2:00 PM
Last week, I finally took some pictures of the barn that Dave Brown built for us over the summer and fall. It's huge, beautiful, well-built, and awesome in all possible ways. (As always, click on the photo for a larger version.)
First, here's the overall layout of the barn.
Here's the view of the north and east sides, as seen walking from the house. The stalls faced west on the old barn. That was bass-ackwards: the horses were chilled in the morning, then broiled in the afternoon. Now the stalls face east. That was somewhat difficult to build with the hill; we had to add the retaining wall. It was worth the trouble, however. The horses enjoy warm morning sun in the winter and good afternoon shade in the summer. They're also well-sheltered from our unbearable winds. Plus, I can see the horses from the house, if they're in that east area. That's reassuring, particularly in nasty weather.
Here are the south and west sides. As you can see, Dave still has some grading work to do. The ground froze this winter before he could finish that.
Here's the north side, including the main human entrance.
Here's the east side looking toward the house. You can see the tack room door, then the four stall doors.
Here's one double sized stall, with Conrad. I can divide the stalls if needed with gates to make four 12 x 12 stalls. But for now, I'd rather give the horses the extra freedom of movement.
Here's the other double-sized stall.
Here is the house storage area, then the soon-to-be chicken coop, as seen from the aisle. We have very little storage space in the house and the garage, so I really wanted to put a good storage room in the barn. Now that I have that, I have to organize and transfer the various crap valuable possessions I have crammed stacked in the house closets and garage.
Here's the inside of the soon-to-be chicken coop. I'm going to build a secure outside run, as well as make the whole dry lot reasonably secure from foxes and coyotes for them. I need to get that done so that I can get chickens and guinea hens in the spring. (I might get other livestock too, but I'm starting with the fowl.)
Here's a portion of my tack and feed room. It's something of a disaster right now, with most everything still packed in tubs on the left, outside the picture. At least I have the blankets hung properly! You can only see a few, but they take up about 3/4 of a 12 foot wall.
Here is this year's hay. Each pallet contains one ton of compressed hay. I'm used to hay taking up far more space, but the compressed hay is about half the space. It was super-easy to load into the barn, and the horses love it. Win!
Here's a view of the aisle from the north side looking south. The wide aisle can be used for more hay storage, if needed. It also means that the farrier can pull into the barn in the winter. That makes the whole experience far more comfortable for everyone, particularly the humans.
Also, notice that the tack room on the left is not full height. The ceiling is load-bearing, so we can use the space above for storage... or better yet, I might use it as a greenhouse to start seeds in the spring. The temperatures in the barn are pretty stable, and the clear plastic above the overhang lets in tons of good morning sun. That clear plastic is wonderful: the barn is light and airy, even with the two large doors closed.
The barn was a huge project for me, but I'm so glad that it's (mostly) done!
By Diana Hsieh @ 5:00 PM
After months of being lethargic, confused, fat, pained, and cold from my hypothyroidism, I'm finally on the mend! Although I'm not yet 100%, the turn-around was remarkable. Within just a few days, my worst symptoms of mental fog and lethargy were alleviated by rejecting the conventional treatment of synthetic T4 (e.g. Synthroid, levothyroxine) in favor of desiccated porcine thyroid plus high-dose iodine.
(Desiccated thyroid is dried pig thyroid; it contains the full range of natural hormones produced by the thyroid, not just T4. High-dose iodine means supplementing with 12.5 to 50 milligrams per day.)
When I was diagnosed as hypothyroid in early November, my TSH was only 3.23. That's barely abnormal, but I was suffering from most of the standard symptoms of hypothyroidism. (TSH above 2.5 suggests hypothyroidism.) My doctor put me on 50 micrograms of Synthroid, a synthetic version of the T4 hormone. Two months later, in early January, my TSH was down to 2.28, but my symptoms were somewhat worse. Also, my Free T3 and Free T4 were the same, still on the low end of the middle range.
Undoubtedly, I could have increased my Synthroid, eventually reducing my TSH to my doctor's target of around 1.0. Would I have felt any better at that point? Based on my experience on the drug for those two months -- when my lab values improved but my symptoms worsened -- I strongly suspect not. Instead, if I'd stayed on Synthroid, I likely would have been mentally and physically disabled for the rest of my life.
I'm not exaggerating. During those two months, I was unable to work, travel, or pursue any substantive projects. My weekly trip to the grocery store exhausted me, and I often couldn't muster the energy to slowly walk around the pastures with Conrad. My IQ felt about 20 points lower; I could only think at a very surface level. I was most definitely not flourishing. My mind and body seemed to be slowly shutting down.
Sadly, that's not an uncommon response to the standard regimen of T4-only medication. TSH might fall to normal levels, but the many debilitating symptoms of hypothyroidism remain. From what I've read in countless forums, too many doctors seem concerned only to treat the problem of high TSH, not the underlying problem of hypothyroidism. In particular, many doctors seem to ignore the fact that the body might not effectively convert the storage hormone T4 into the active hormone T3 -- or that tissues might not effectively use T3. Many patients on synthetic T4 medication complain to their doctor about their persistently raging hypothyroid symptoms, only to be summarily dismissed. After all, if the TSH is normal, all those classic hypothyroid symptoms simply must be due to something other than a poorly functioning thyroid -- like aging or poor diet or even hysteria. Or so they claim. (Such doctors equate hypothyroidism with elevated TSH, just as analytic philosophers equate concepts with definitions.)
The consequences of that mis-treatment are tragic. People suffer the degradation of living as a quasi-corpse for years and decades, unless they discover desiccated thyroid. (Or, in some cases, they suffer unless they find a way to return to desiccated thyroid, after some new doctor switched them from it to synthetic T4, often against their express wishes.) It's heartbreaking to read these stories. I know that, without dedicated and tenacious people like Janie Bowthorpe of Stop the Thyroid Madness, I could have suffered the same fate. Instead, I got off pretty easy with only two months of living as a semi-corpse on Synthroid.
At the time of my diagnosis of hypothyroidism in early November, I was aware that Synthroid might not work for me. However, given that I developed my hypothyroidism at the very height of a government-induced shortage of desiccated thyroid, I was willing to try it. Well, I got my answer by early January: Synthroid didn't do squat for me, except lower my TSH.
Happily, my excellent family practice doctor, Dr. Heble, was willing to switch me to one grain of desiccated thyroid, to see whether that might help. (One grain is the standard starting dose for desiccated thyroid, but it was an increase for me, based on this conversion chart.) By that time, I'd found a local source: Wise Compounding Pharmacy.
Just as I was making that switch from Synthroid to desiccated thyroid, I also began taking high-dose iodine, plus selenium. As I indicated in my first post on my hypothyroidism, I suspected that I might be deficient in iodine for three reasons.
Seafood is the primary natural dietary source of iodine, but I hated it until my mid-20s, and even now, I don't eat more than a serving per week.
Nearby oceans supply the soil of the east and west costs with iodine, but I've lived in the "goiter belt" for the last decade.
Then, perhaps tipping me over the edge, I switched from iodized salt to (low-iodine) sea salt when I began eating paleo in the summer of 2009.
(I'll say more on what I suspect about the origins of my hypothyroidism in another post, including its relationship to my lacto-paleo diet.)
Back in early December, I began cautiously supplementing with 150 micrograms of "Liqui-Kelp," gradually increasing that to 600 micrograms over the next month. (150 micrograms is the government's recommended daily allowance.) I never felt any positive results from doing that. However, during that time, I was reading about much, much higher doses of iodine -- between 12.5 and 50 milligrams -- as sometimes necessary for whole-body health, including improving thyroid function.
I was intrigued by that, but also very wary. Most doctors will say that milligram doses of iodine are dangerous. However, the claims of danger seem to be sketchy, seemingly based on poor-quality epidemiological studies. Plus, most people seem to be able to handle those milligram doses just fine, and many people see remarkable improvement on them. Also, from what I read in some standard medical sources, a person with a physically intact thyroid can handle that much iodine, but a person with a damaged thyroid (e.g. partly removed in surgery) will be unable to tolerate it. Also, some people with Hashimoto's do great on iodine, but others don't tolerate it well. So, with much trepidation, I decided to try milligram doses of iodine.
On Monday, January 11th, I began taking Iosol and Lugol's, working my way up to about 16 milligrams by the end of the week -- over 100 times the government's RDA. I also began supplementing with 100 to 200 micrograms of selenium each day. (Selenium is essential for thyroid health, you probably don't want to take iodine without it, and you definitely don't want to take more than 400 micrograms per day. That upper limit seems well-established.)
(Note: I don't have any special reason for doing both types of iodine, except my own confusion. Lugol's -- or the tablet form Iodoral -- seems to be the preferred form, as it contains both iodine and potassium iodide. From what I've read, different tissues prefer those different forms. Iosol contains only iodine. The milligrams of iodine per drop for J.Crowe's Lugol's Solution is here.)
On Tuesday of that week, I began feeling better: I was able to run some errands, then attend Ari Armstrong's "Liberty in the Books" economics discussion group. That amazed me, as doing both would have been impossible just a week before. Then, on Wednesday, I switched to the desiccated thyroid. Over the next few days, I felt amazingly better. My brain fog lifted, and my lethargy disappeared. I could think again! I could concentrate! I danced around the house, singing silly songs! I wanted to exercise again! I had energy to burn! Life was good again!
Most amazingly, within just a few days on the milligram doses of iodine, a 16-month bout of totally mysterious amenorrhea came to an end. (Sorry, TMI, I know... but it's important.) I was totally floored; I never expected that kind of result, not so fast! By way of background, the problem started after I went off the birth control pill in October of 2008. My doctor did a battery of tests over the summer, but nothing seemed wrong, except that my estrogen levels were very low -- like menopausal. Initially, we thought the problem was just that my reproductive system went dormant with the shock of going off the pill after about fifteen years of nearly continuous use. Once the hypothyroidism cropped up, my doctor wondered whether there might be some connection. Hypothyroidism is known to cause menstrual problems, albeit usually causing too-heavy periods. Now I wonder what my iodine deficiency did to my estrogen levels, if that's what happened. (Oh, and I'm not the only one.)
Never in my life have I experienced such a dramatic turn-around in my health, mind, and mood as I experienced that week on iodine and desiccated thyroid. If I weren't a intransigent atheist, I would describe it as a miracle. That's what it felt like: I got my life back -- I got myself back -- in the span of just a few days.
However, I had an epistemic problem. Although I knew that the improvement began before I switched to desiccated thyroid, I wanted to sort out how much was due to the iodine supplementation versus the desiccated thyroid. So after three days on desiccated thyroid, I switched back to my old 50 microgram dose of Synthroid. I stayed on that for about five days -- enough time to allow the T3 of the desiccated thyroid to fully clear from my system.
During that time on iodine plus Synthroid, I definitely felt a decline in my energy and mental function, although I was still significantly better than when on Synthroid alone. I was eager to get back to the desiccated thyroid, and I perked up again when I switched back to it. Interestingly, I'm going without iodine today and tomorrow, to prepare for an iodine loading test on Monday. I'm definitely feeling a fuzzy-headed today, perhaps due to that lack of iodine intake.
Overall, I would say that I was functioning at about 50% while Synthroid, at about 75% while on Synthroid plus iodine, and now I'm at about 90% with desiccated thyroid plus iodine.
Oddly, my symptoms are not all better. Instead, my body's response has been somewhat mixed. My brain fog is gone, and my powers of memory and concentration are much better. I have tons more energy, such that I'm able to put in a day's work. Overall, my mental function and energy levels should be about 10% better, I think. I've stopped gaining weight, but I've not yet lost any weight. My digestion is definitely better: I'm not chronically bloated, and I'm able to skip a meal without disaster. My carpal tunnel is somewhat better, but still bothering me somewhat. However, my body temperatures are still quite low, averaging about 96.5 F. My skin is still terribly dry.
I'm also able to exercise -- but wowee, I am so out of shape! I'd been increasing sedentary for the last few months, such that I barely moved in December. Now I can exercise, but my muscles are shaky and then sore from even mild weightlifting. Also, I used to be unable to exert enough energy to get winded, but now my wind is the major limiting factor when I row on our rowing machine. That's good!
Also, my goiter -- the nodule in my thyroid -- seems to have shrunk considerably. Before, I could feel a squishy spot on my neck, and I could see a slight bulge in the mirror. Now that's all gone. I'll have an ultrasound recheck in late March, and I expect good results from that.
I'm going to have another thyroid lab panel done in early March, and I expect that I'll be increasing my desiccated thyroid dose to 1.5 grains then. Also, as I mentioned, I'm taking an iodine loading test on Monday. I'll be very curious to see my results; I expect that I'm still iodine deficient, and that I can and ought to increase my daily dose, perhaps up to 50 milligrams per day for a few months. Paul -- who has been supplementing with just the RDA of 150 micrograms for the past few weeks -- will be taking his test when he can, likely next weekend. I'll be very curious to compare my results with his.
I've come to wonder whether iodine might be like Vitamin D -- in the sense that the miniscule amounts recommended by the government might be sufficient to ward off obvious illness -- rickets, in the case of Vitamin D and goiter, in the case of iodine. Yet a much higher dose might be optimal. I'm definitely not recommending everyone start taking large doses of iodine. However, if you're suffering from the symptoms of hypothyroidism, you might investigate iodine. And for everyone else, I recommend that you make sure that you obtain the recommended 150 micrograms per day.
Mostly though, I'd like to see some solid research and writing on the subject. While I've learned a great deal from the sources I've read, I've been frustrated by the inconsistent quality thereof. I'm not competent to dig up and read the primary sources in the medical literature: I'm purely a consumer of secondary sources. That makes me exceedingly nervous, as I know just how inaccurate secondary sources can be!
I have serious reservations about the scientific judgment of some of the sources I've read on iodine and hypothyroidism -- even though I often found them fascinating and helpful. For example, Dr. David Brownstein wrote a fascinating little book on iodine -- Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It. (He's also the author of Overcoming Thyroid Disorders.) His collection of articles on iodine (often co-authored) looked good too... until I got to the belligerent argument for young-earth creationism. Seriously. I don't think that Brownstein is lying about the tests he's done and the results he's gotten, particularly given that others have reported similar results. Yet I simply cannot trust the medical judgment of someone who appeals to the Flood (!!) and Satan (!!) to explain why the soils of some inland areas are deficient in iodine.
Similarly, while I was super-intrigued by what I read in Dr. Mark Starr's book Hypothyroidism Type 2, I was dismayed to read on his web site that he practices homeopathy and "energetic medicine." I just can't regard that as anything better than mystical quackery. The only bright side is that nothing in the book seems to depend on -- or even hint at -- those views, so perhaps that's all separate from his views on hypothyroidism. However, once again, I simply can't trust his medical judgment.
My basic approach is to take whatever seems grounded in good empirical science from these folks, then then integrate it with my own experience and reliable reports from others. Happily, I can strongly recommend one very practical book on hypothyroidism, namely Janie Bowthorpe's Stop the Thyroid Madness. Mary Shomon's book Living Well with Hypothyroidism also has some helpful suggestions, particularly for dealing with doctors unwilling to prescribe desiccated thyroid. And I've often found myself searching the archives of various Yahoo Groups, particularly Coalition for Natural Desiccated Thyroid, Natural Thyroid Hormones, and Iodine.
Mostly, I'm just desperate for a good, juicy blog post from Dr. Eades on the subject of hypothyroidism, desiccated thyroid, and iodine supplementation. He's probably the only doctor (along with his excellent wife, MD) whose judgment I can fully trust on this topic. He's got the deep knowledge of the relevant biology; he's got the years of experience treating patients with hypothyroidism; and he's got a good working epistemology.
Happily, Dr. Eades dropped some useful hints in the comments of a blog post on Oprah's weight gain. He recommends an iodine loading test, plus Iodoral (12.5 to 50 milligrams) for people who are deficient. And he always used desiccated thyroid for his patients, not synthetic T4. I was so relieved to read that, as I felt like I was leaping about in the dark, particularly on the iodine.
So ... Dr. Eades ... will you write that blog post on iodine that you promised in those comments? Pretty please... with a deliciously tender sous vide meatball on top?
By Diana Hsieh @ 3:00 PM
My new camera -- a Panasonic Luminex DMC-FZ35 -- arrived today. Of course, I had to take some pictures of doggie Conrad. I love the new camera already, and I'm looking forward to playing around with it. Yup, Miranda Barzey has inspired me to try to learn a bit about the art of photography! (As usual, click to enlarge.)
It's not going terribly well. For the moment, I'm doing somewhat better only because I've learned how to best limit my activities, so that I don't completely exhaust myself. That means doing very little, unfortunately. If I'm feeling well, I can work for about three hours each day -- maybe. Yet even then I'm pretty fuzzy-headed all the time. My powers of concentration and memory are pretty pathetic. I routinely forget what I'm supposed to be doing unless I write it down and keep it in sight. I wake up from eight hours of deep sleep like I just got four. That's how I feel all day.
For example, when preparing dinner last week, I was puzzled by the fact that I didn't seem to have any vegetables. They weren't on our plates, nor on the stove. "Oh well," I thought, "we have enough food." Then I wandered to the stove to stir the turkey stock I was making. I noticed something funny in stirring it, but only when I spooned up a small red potato did I remember that I'd put them in the stock to cook for dinner. (I don't make potatoes often, but they are an occasional treat for Paul.) Paul then joked that I'm like the man in Memento. He asked me not to take his picture and write "enemy" on it. That was damn funny... but not entirely inapt. At times, I've thought to myself, "Oh, so this is what it feels like to go senile."
Unfortunately, it's all-too-easy for me to overdo it, then render myself completely incapable of doing anything. Any kind of exercise -- even just ten minutes on the rowing machine -- kills me. This week, I was completely unable to muster the energy to work for two full days because I wore myself out on Tuesday. What did I do? I had a friend over for an informal brunch, a guy came to the house to replace my cracked windshield on my car, and then I went into town to run some errands, mostly just buying groceries at Whole Foods and Costco. That killed me for all of Wednesday -- much to my dismay and surprise.
On the plus side, I've found that instead of my normal feelings of too-exited overload in social gatherings, the company of friends energizes me into feeling pretty normal. So although I'm not keen on doing anything, I'm trying to be a bit more social than usual.
Also, I'm still gaining weight, even though I'm eating little. I can't fast or even skip a meal. My temperatures are steady around 96.5. And my skin is unbearably dry and itchy. However, I'm happy to report that I haven't had any problems with depression in the past few weeks. I think that limiting my activities has prevented those awful lows. That's huge, I must say. I can tolerate almost anything -- but not that.
Overall, I'm not really better than when I went on the Synthroid back in November. I might even be somewhat worse.
I'm hopeful, however. I've found a local compounding pharmacy able to provide me with dessicated thyroid, so I'm going to switch to that as soon as I get my thyroid hormones tested on January 5th.
By Diana Hsieh @ 7:00 PM
Since we adopted our dog Conrad last spring, he has suffered from a strange kind of fit that we're pretty desperate to see somehow resolved. The set of symptoms are very distinctive: he'll compulsively lick and rapidly swallow, and sometimes give a sharp cough. If the fit is particularly bad, he'll attempt to eat anything in sight -- grass or snow if he's outside, but otherwise clothing, dog toys, carpet, his dog bed, etc. (That seems to be a desperate attempt to settle his stomach.) Basically, the symptoms develop based on the severity of the fit: the core symptom is the rapid swallowing -- and to that might be added licking, then the cough, and then, only in the worst cases, eating anything and everything in sight. The more severe the fit, the more upset and agitated Conrad becomes. A fit might last five minutes -- or two hours. They come in waves. So he'll be fine for a few weeks, then he'll suddenly have many of them each day for a few days.
We have not been able to discern any kind of pattern to them, nor any kind of cause. Nothing seems to ease his symptoms at the time. As for prevention, we've varied his food in all kinds of ways, to no effect. My vet recommended putting him on a daily dose of pepcid, but that didn't work. I've even tried Dr. Eades' Protexid, but that hasn't worked.
Conrad isn't unique in these fits. On rare occasion, they're referred to in forums as "the gulps" or "lickyfits." They seem common to certain breeds, albeit not German Shepherds. Apparently, the fits don't lead to bloat, and they aren't due to any anatomical abnormality. However, they're said to be a mystery. I've not seen any definitive account of their cause, nor of treatment.
Conrad has been fine for the last few weeks, but then in the wee hours of the morning, he developed a severe bout. It has recurred many times today. He's pretty unhappy -- and I'm miserable that I can't help him. (I also have to watch him like a hawk, lest he eat something he shouldn't. Worst case, I can put him in his crate without any bedding, as they he can only lick the plastic tray. I hate to do that unless absolutely necessary, however.)
Tonight, I finally captured a portion of a bad fit on video, using my iPhone. Here it is.
Do any of you have any experience with these fits? If so, do you know what the cause might be -- or how to treat it? If so, please comment! Or e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.
Notably, my vet has never seen or heard of these kinds of fits in any dog. She's never seen Conrad with them either; I've only just described them to her. Given their transient nature, I think that trying to get the dog to the vet during a fit would be difficult, if not impossible. Also, I imagine that the anxiety of being at the vet would suppress all but the worst fit. (Oh, and I'm pretty grossed out by the thought of poor Conrad compulsively licking the floor of an examination room, even if just cleaned.) Now that I've got a video of a fit, I could show that to her. And I could take it to one of the specialists at VRCC.
In the meantime, if you have any familiarity with these kinds of fits, Conrad and I would welcome any information or advice.
Update: From what I've read, these fits don't seem to be dangerous in and of themselves. However, I worry about him eating something harmful, as he has shown himself perfectly willing to eat quite a bit of fabric, not to mention foam stuffing from his dog bed, when desperate. For example, last night, he managed to chew off the end of my brand-new coveralls in less than five minutes:
I had to buy those new coveralls because he ate about 1/3 of each leg from my last pair in a prior fit. So I'm deeply worried that Conrad will cause himself serious harm in one of these fits by eating something he ought not.
That exerts a toll on me: whenever he shows any signs of compulsive swallowing, I have to watch him like a hawk. That's a huge drain on my attention and energy. For example, he kept me mostly awake with a fit from 2:00 am to about 3:40 am last night. He was safe in his crate, but I hated to hear him so obviously miserable.
That's why I'm quite desperate for some kind of solution.
It's just the small tree, and it's decorated with nothing but lights and shiny balls. But ... it's a tree! Hooray! As you also see, I put some red lights on the railing for the stairs. It's not much, but the house does seem much more festive.
Also, the cats are pleased: they're quite certain that I've installed the most exiting cat toy ever. (I wonder how many of those shiny balls will be broken this year. Any bets?)
Today, I also managed to haul three large loads of horse manure down to the ravine this morning. So the barn is now quite clean, as barns go. (Due to the extreme cold last week, mucking was simply impossible.) I'm also quite proud that I installed eye hooks in the stalls and on the posts of the overhang. Now Tara and Image are eating in style! (Okay, not really, but my buckets are of a type that should be hung rather than merely set on the ground.) The horses don't much care, but I'm so glad to have managed that small chore! To be unable to do those two simple chores was weighing on me terribly.
I have another bijillion things to do with the barn to get it in working order. I can't do much, but I can make some slow progress. So tomorrow, I'll install hooks in the tack room to hang my array of blankets. After that, I'll try to get my tack organized.
Now I'm feeling just a wee bit feisty. Take that, hypothyroidism! Pow! Pow!
By Diana Hsieh @ 2:00 PM
On OGrownups, some people have been discussing favorite holiday traditions. That got me thinking.
Although I love Christmas, Paul and I don't do much for it. He usually volunteers to work the whole Christmas holiday, in part so that he's sure to get time off for other holidays like Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. This year, he's working ten days straight from the 21st to the 29th, then he has a four-day weekend for New Year's. Often, he's so busy that we don't even open presents until a few days after Christmas. That's not bad though: I like stretching out the fun over a few days.
Some years, I've decorated the house, but that seems like too much work this year. I just don't have much energy, and I'd rather spend what little energy I have setting up the new barn. I also tend to do lots of cooking over the holidays, and this year, I'll be experimenting more with my Sous Vide Supreme. But again, I'm just not up for much: I'm still too easily worn out due to my hypothyroidism.
That all sounds rather depressing, I know. However, Paul and I are not entirely bereft of Christmas cheer. We do have two very important traditions:
First and foremost, Paul and I stay home for the holidays. I hate to fly during the crazy rush of the holidays, and I find that I don't much enjoy visiting family during the frantic bustle of holiday get-togethers. I love spending time with my parents, but I found that holiday visits were less than fun. So I stopped them; we visit at other times, when tons of fun will be had by all. (Such is the liberating power of an ethic of selfishness! Most people feel obliged to visit family over the holidays, whether they enjoy doing so or not.)
Second, Paul and I enjoy a fabulously fancy dinner with some of our local Objectivist friends. The past few years, we've dined at Opus in Littleton, always a gastronomic delight. I'm looking forward to doing that again this year.
Normally, Paul and I also take a few days off in early January to go skiing and/or snowshoeing. I don't think I'm up for that this year. It's not just the physical activities that would wear me out, but the travel itself, and the preparation for the travel. Right now, I'm exhausted by the mere thought of driving three miles to the Post Office to pick up a package. I'm not always so bad; I've been particularly worn out today, from the moment I woke up. Still, staying at home seems like all I want to do this year. Paul has that time off, so perhaps we can enjoy some more modest fun around Denver.
So... all of that was just a long-winded way of asking: What traditions do you enjoy to make your holidays of year particularly enjoyable? What could you do this year -- or next year -- to make it more enjoyable?
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM
Last summer, Paul and I spent a night at his parents' home in West Los Angeles before heading down to Newport Beach for OCON. Just shortly before we were slated to depart, I developed the worst migraine I've ever gotten -- by far. It was unbearable. I could not do anything but lay perfectly still on the guest bed, quietly weeping from the pain. I could not even manage to get my prescription migraine medication (Maxalt) out of my purse, nor open the foil seal, nor place it on my tongue. Paul had to do that for me. As you might expect, Paul was very concerned and attentive, but he couldn't do much.
The medication wasn't terribly effective, but in conjunction with an ice pack, it took the edge off slightly. The migraine persisted as we left the Hsiehs to drive down to Newport Beach for OCON, then at the hotel too. We weren't able to get into our room right away, as too many people were checking in and out at once. Eventually, we waited in the hotel's Starbucks, where I had a frappuccino of some kind. I was feeling somewhat better, and I hoped that the combination of the cold and the caffeine of the drink would help knock out the rest of the headache. (That's often effective.)
Happily, I was right. In fact, I was feeling much better before I even knew it. Paul noticed though. He saw that I went from quietly whimpering on a corner of the couch to talking more and more, then even cuddling and tickling and pestering him a bit. At that point, he remarked -- mock-ruefully -- that I must be feeling better. And he drew me the following chart:
The y-axis reads "How pestersome the woo is," and the x-axis says "How much migraine pain she is suffering." (I'm "the woo.") It's a straightforward inverse relationship!
I found the chart so damn funny that I saved it all this time. The whole incident really just typifies something about our marriage, I think. And I love it.
By Diana Hsieh @ 5:00 PM
My fabulous new barn is nearing completion, and my horse Tara has returned home. Hooray! I really missed her.
Happily, I was able to find an excellent buddy for her on short notice. His name is "Image." He's a stunningly beautiful, fancy-schmancy show horse. He injured his shoulder a while back, and he seems unable to tolerate the pounding of jumping. However, he's sound on the flat (i.e., not jumping). So the owner is looking to sell him as a dressage horse, but she needs some time to make that happen.
Here he is, fine fancy fellow that he is:
Here are Tara and Image, happy as clams.
Tara and Image fell in love in about five minutes, so they're very content together.
Image is a very sensible and calm horse, although he's basically lived a "city horse" existence in big show barns for all of his life. He's been kept in a stall most of the time, turned out to pasture for shorter periods of time, blanketed and pampered, and ridden in only in rings. Now he's learning the ways of the "country horse." He's out to pasture 24/7, albeit with access to shelter in the barn. He's living among deer, coyote, fox, and other wildlife. Tara is definitely teaching Image how to be a proper country horse. Standing around, nibbling on grass, gazing off into the distance, and standing outside tail-to-wind in storms are her specialties.
Image will be staying with us until the spring, at which point the owner will be looking to sell him. At that time, I hope to buy a new horse. Tara is quite old at 26. She's sound for now, but I won't be able to ride her for too much longer. So I'll need a new horse!
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM
Last Tuesday, my thyroid nodule was repeatedly poked for a biopsy. (My neck wasn't happy about that, I must admit!) The biopsy went fine, and results weren't so bad.
Initially, the pathologist's reading was basically, "maybe cancer, maybe not." That wasn't terribly helpful! The odds were very good that the nodule wasn't cancer. Yet that couldn't be ruled out, based on the mere look of the cells. The standard of care in such cases is to remove the nodule, along with the half the thyroid. Then the pathologist can perform the much easier task of examining a whole slice of tissue to determine whether it's composed of evil mutant cells or not. I wasn't too enthused about that, as you might imagine: I'm eager to get back to work. ("Good news, you didn't need the surgery! Now enjoy your weeks of recovery to full strength!")
Happily, we were able to get a second reading from a pathologist specializing in cytopathology. He's reasonably confident that the nodule is merely benign goiter, so we plan to simply do a recheck ultrasound in six months.
I'm not sure if the nodule and the hypothyroidism are related. However, I'm leaning toward the hypothesis that iodine deficiency might be the underlying cause, as discussed by Dr. Davis in this helpful article.
As for my hypothyroidism, I'm not feeling quite as bad as I was a few weeks ago, but I'm not feeling terribly well. I'm lethargic; I tire easily. I'm having trouble concentrating -- or even remembering what I said five minutes ago. My body temperatures are still low, and I'm cold. I'm still gaining weight. My carpal tunnel is still bothering me. I've not had the depression of a few weeks ago, thankfully. I'm definitely doing a bit better -- but only a bit. I'll have been on the Synthroid for three weeks as of Tuesday, so I'm going to speak to my doctor about increasing my dose -- if not switching to dessicated thyroid.
So for now, I'm still on a reduced schedule. My primary concern is to keep churning out new episodes of Explore Atlas Shrugged. You should consider anything else to be an unexpected bonus.
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM
The past few weeks have been a drag for me. I've just not been feeling right. I've been lethargic, even somewhat depressed. Based on those and other symptoms, I suspected thyroid problems. I was right. I've been diagnosed with mild hypothyroidism, plus a two-centimeter thyroid nodule.
My symptoms seem to have started in a clear way in early September, then accelerated hugely in early November. In short...
I've been generally lethargic, with far less energy than usual. I used to have tons of energy, since my change in diet last July. I would run up hills during six-hour hikes for fun. I would do jumping squats while waiting for meat to grill. I needed my daily workouts to burn off steam. That changed this fall. I didn't want to work out or exert myself. In late September, I was very easily worn out by the hiking that Paul and I did with my father. I didn't want to run around outside with Conrad.
I've gained weight. Much to my dismay, I've gained about eight pounds in eight weeks, despite eating in a way that should have kept my weight steady. (I feel enormous: it's awful.) Also, I found myself unable to fast: I've needed regular inputs of food to keep myself going or I would crash. The last time I tried fasting, I crashed hard around 23 hours. I was shaky and ill, with a blood sugar of only 54. My attempts to raise it by exercise were totally fruitless. Also, my digestive system hasn't been working right: it protests if I do so much as skip a single meal. (I won't inflict the specifics on you.)
I've lost muscle power. At OCON in early July, I was able to leg press 320 pounds. In mid-September, I was down to 210. By late October, I was down to 150. Given the slow-burn-type workouts I was doing this fall, my power should have been increasing, not declining rapidly.
I've been cold, cold, cold. Last winter, I was remarkably warm and toasty, thanks to my change in diet. This fall, I was freezing. My temperatures -- tested with a good basal thermometer -- have been in the 96s. Only rarely have I gotten into the 97s, and then only in the bottom half. (I have been in the upper half of the 95s, much to my astonishment.)
I suddenly developed severe carpal tunnel problems in early October, even though my desk is set up the same as ever. I've also had mysterious aches in my left elbow and neck for the past two months that never seemed to go away.
I've been depressed on occasion without cause. In general, I've felt deeply unmotivated and emotionally flat. I just don't care: I've lost my too-hot passions. I've also had some bizarre bouts of utterly inexplicable and pathetic misery -- like crying because the interior of my car stank like solvent for about two minutes after the mechanic returned it to me. Seriously, that's just dumb.
I've had difficulty concentrating. My productivity has declined hugely over the past few weeks, to the point where I'm barely able to do my one Atlas Shrugged podcast per week.
Strangely, apart from the depression and the carpal tunnel, these symptoms made me feel like I was back to eating loads of carbs and other junk. In fact, I've been eating as paleo-ish as ever. For many weeks, I just assumed that I was being lazy, gluttonous, and weak-willed. Despite all that I know, I found it remarkably easy to blame and flog myself.
However, as I became more depressed and flat, I realized that something was seriously amiss. Thanks to some excellent hints and prodding from Monica Hughes, I realized that so much of what I was feeling matched the standard symptoms of hypothyroidism. Oh, and I should mention that I've had problems sleeping (very unusual for me), my cholesterol has been rising (despite no change in diet), and I could feel a lump on my neck where my thyroid is. Also, I've got a solid family history of thyroid problems.
My doctor agreed to do a thyroid blood panel before I saw her on November 10th. (That was good; I hate doing results over the phone.) That bloodwork showed an elevated (and rising) TSH of 3.23, as well as somewhat low free T3 and T4. That, in addition to my symptoms, suggested early hypothyroidism.
So I'm now on a fairly low dose of Synthroid, i.e. synthetic T4. That medication takes a few weeks to take full effect, so we'll likely need to gradually adjust my dose based on my symptoms and lab values over the next year. (The aim is to get my TSH down to about 1.) I would have preferred desiccated thyroid over T4, as many people report far better results, due to getting the full range of thyroid hormones. However, thanks to the regulatory overlords at the FDA, that's been nearly impossible to obtain in the US for the past few months. If I'm not happy with the Synthroid, then I'll make the effort to obtain desiccated thyroid from overseas.
On the 17th, I had an ultrasound of my thyroid. The lump I felt on my neck turned out to be a two centimeter nodule. Frustratingly, it's not clear whether -- and in what way -- the hypothyroidism and the nodule are related. I wonder whether the underlying cause might be iodine deficiency, particularly given that I don't consume much iodized salt. (Dr. Davis, the Heart Scan Doc, has written quite a bit on this problem.) However, I'm pretty thoroughly confused by all that I've read on iodine and thyroid. I think I ought to supplement, but I fear doing more damage to my thyroid. (I'm now eating a bit of sea vegetable every day for its iodine content, but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do.)
I'm scheduled for an aspiration of my thyroid nodule on Monday. That should be an easy procedure. The nodule is not likely composed of evil mutant cancer cells, but it's worth checking. Plus, I figure that I ought to get whatever medical care I can before Obama can ration everything based on collective cost savings.
For the moment, I'm feeling somewhat better. Granted, I'm still lethargic, fat, pained, and cold. Life still sucks. However, life sucks less than it did a few weeks ago. Right now, I count that as a win.
My plan is to keep myself relatively quiet through this Thanksgiving week, then try to get back to work in earnest in the first week of December. November feels like a lost month for me, and I hate that. Hopefully, December will be a month of happy frolicking for me.
By Diana Hsieh @ 2:00 PM
I've decided to take it somewhat easy for the rest of the week, so I won't post another podcast until Monday.
I'd hoped to post my next episode of Rationally Selfish Radio yesterday. However, the topic -- of the proper response to offers of government welfare -- is somewhat tricky, so I want to work out my views carefully. Plus, I have other pressing work. Tomorrow, I'm giving a short talk to Front Range Objectivism on Luck and Liberty, so I need to finish preparing for that. Also, I really want to finish up all the web updates that I started last week. Oh, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of some health problems too -- hypothyroidism, I think. That's taking some time, and I'm just not feeling as zesty for life as usual. So a break seems in order!
From what I hear, some of you could use some time to catch up. So get to it!
In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Conrad playing with a Boxer at the dog park this morning. They were doing more vertical jumping than I've ever seen Conrad do; the Boxer has all four paws off the ground in the picture. (Click for the full-sized version.)
By Diana Hsieh @ 10:00 AM
We're in a bit of a snowstorm right now in Denver. It began snowing on Tuesday night, and it's expected to snow until this evening. The result? About a foot so far. Yikes! Paul and I have lived in Colorado since 2001, and we've never experienced a snowy fall like this one. It's our fifth snow so far! (I blame global warming.)
Here's the view from our front door as of yesterday afternoon around 2:30 pm. That's a fence, a gate, and a clematis vine loaded with snow.
Here's the same view as of this morning. We've got a bit more snow, eh?
Then we have Conrad, who had tons of fun running around in the snow this morning. After being cooped up all day yesterday, he had lots of energy to burn off!
And here's the front of our house. Yes, that is a glacier forming on our roof.
Thankfully, Paul is off work today. We'll have to dig out in time for him to go to work tomorrow though.
By Diana Hsieh @ 6:00 PM
Okay, I'll admit it up front: This post is just a bit of pure, organic, all-natural, raw whine. Be grateful that you don't have to listen to it! What's a blog for if not some self-indulgent complaining on occasion?!?
I had a bit of an accident on Friday. Conrad and I were playing "goalie": I kick the tennis ball into the mudroom, under the hanging baby gate, and he scrambles to get it. It's great fun -- normally.
This time, however, I kicked a bit too hard while standing on clean hardwood in hiking socks. The result was that I fell on my upper butt / lower back -- really, really hard. I laid on the floor moaning like an old woman for a few minutes, with Paul hovering over me worriedly. It seemed like ages before I could even think about rising, although I'm sure it was only a few minutes.
I've not broken anything, as far as I know. I don't even have a bruise. (I wuz robbed!) However, all the muscles along the top-back of my hips are strained. Oddly, I can walk downhill (or down the stairs) just fine, but walking uphill (or up the stairs) hurts with every step.
That probably sounds worse than it is. The pain isn't terrible or anything, just annoying. And it's getting better -- albeit slowly. I'm certainly not going to be doing anything strenuous this week.
The problem is that sometimes the date displayed via the RSS feed is the date of the last update of the post rather than the given date of the post. For example, everything is fine in Google Reader, but not on this feed page.
Most annoyingly, iTunes is using the updated date rather the given date. So on the new RSR page in iTunes, most of the podcasts are listed as having a release date of October 10th, when in fact, that's just the update date. Grrrrr.
My feed is created by Blogger (with the proper pubdate), then processed and hosted by Feedburner. I've fussed with various settings, and I've done a bunch of web searches, but nothing has helped.
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM When I was sorting through some papers in my office a few weeks ago, I found the following notes from my dissertation. They concern a section from Chapter Two, added to the second draft, about compatibilist arguments from David Hume and Daniel Dennett that moral judgments properly concern a person's character, whether under his control or not. In the dissertation, I needed to fairly quickly summarize these arguments, then offer compelling objections to them. This page of notes is my rough outline of how to do that.
I did not save these notes for their philosophic insights but rather for their amusement value. I'm amazed that the rather recent internet locution of FAIL! had wormed itself so far into my brain that I used it in an outline for my philosophy dissertation -- of all things!
By Diana Hsieh @ 2:01 PM
Wowee, my diploma arrived in the mail on Saturday. Me being me, I scanned it:
I must say that I feel terribly cheated: it's only 8.5 x 11. Shouldn't seven grueling years for a Ph.D deserve a larger piece of paper? Ah well, I will just have to console myself with my new-found "rights and privileges"!
By Diana Hsieh @ 8:01 AM
On Wednesday, I spent a fair bit of time cleaning up and re-organizing the shelves in the office. See how nice and neat they look now!
That picture only shows about two thirds of those shelves, and we have even more bookshelves in other parts of the house. (Yeah, we have lots of books.)
However, in the process, Paul's desk got rather messy.
Paul has tended to put anything and everything on the bookshelves. However, we no longer have room for that. So he's going to have to get acquainted with "Mr. Filing Cabinet" and "Mr. Drawer." It's good to make new friends!
By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 PM
In yesterday's post on homeowner's associations, I mentioned my new barn, currently in the process of being erected. So I thought I'd post a picture of its current state. (Click for a larger version.)
The man on top of the barn is David Brown, my builder peopleguy. He's mostly working alone, but occasionally hires help as need. I've been completely happy with my choice of him for the project. The work has been delayed a bit by the birth of his third child, but that's no problem for me. The metal roof is scheduled for installation today. So it will be looking quite different in short order, I think.
By Diana Hsieh @ 7:01 AM
Unfortunately, my recovery from Tuesday's oral surgery is proceeding rather slower than I expected and hoped. I've not been in much pain, but I have so ... little ... energy.
On Thursday, I crashed in the afternoon. Even after a two hour nap, I would not have been able to drive myself the 50 minutes to and from the Front Range Objectivism's Atlas Shrugged Reading Group in Golden if I'd not already arranged to carpool with a friend. Yesterday, I attempted to go for a leisurely two mile walk around the neighborhood with Paul and Conrad. Fat chance! I was tired by the time I reached the end of the driveway, so I went for a short ways, then took an easy path home. Even that was hard. I felt pretty decent beforehand, so I was surprised.
I'm supposed to attend an alumni picnic for the Leadership Program of the Rockies tomorrow, but I can't imagine that I could drive myself over 90 minutes up to Loveland, then socialize for some hours, then drive 50 minutes down to Denver to run a planning meeting for Front Range Objectivism, then drive myself another 40 minutes home. That's just wildly unrealistic. So I'm going to have to forgo the picnic. Just doing meeting in Denver will work out well enough, as then Paul can drive us.
It's really quire bizarre to have so little energy. Is it a side-effect of the healing -- or of the drugs I'm now taking? (I'm on penicillin and a steroid.) I feel mentally alert, and I seem fine in moving about the house. Yet if I try more than that, I just want to melt into a puddle of tired. Also, I've been contentious about eating regularly and heartily -- although I'm awfully sick of eating the same soft foods over and over again. (I've gotten seriously bored of scrambled eggs, but the guacamole never gets old!) So I'm not weak due to lack of food or the like.
In any case, I'll be glad to be back to my perky self again -- hopefully in just a few more days.
By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 AM
As my twitter followers know, I had oral surgery on Tuesday afternoon. Some time ago, my gum on a particular molar (#19, in fact) receded beyond the point of safety. The surgery, performed by a periodontist, transplanted a section of gum tissue from my palate (i.e. the roof of my mouth) to that problem spot.
The surgery went very well, but now I have a bunch of sliced-up tissue by that molar, plus a seemingly massive excavation site in the roof of my mouth. All of that will heal up, but for the moment, it's rather painful -- even with the protective dressings around the molar and the palate guard covering the whole roof of my mouth. Plus, I've definitely learned the meaning and importance of taking drugs to "get ahead of the pain" via my own failure to take my prescribed Vicodin as soon as possible yesterday. I was only delayed by about an hour, but that made a difference, I think.
Anyway, that's all just a long-winded way of saying that I'm not much in the mood for blogging. Hence, I'm going to lean on Miss Manners today, as I was totally floored by the woman in this column when I read it:
Dear Miss Manners:
My son got married two years ago, and please keep in mind that my daughter-in-law and I have never had a falling-out. We've stayed at their house overnight and were treated wonderfully. We get along fine because I do not want to be a meddling mother-in-law.
However, I've got some situations that I do not know how to handle.
1. First, tell me, am I wrong for believing that the bride should acknowledge her groom's side of the family with a thank-you note for gifts, rather than making the groom write the thank-you? The way they handled it, she wrote the thank-yous to her side of the family and my son wrote the notes to his side. Is this the acceptable way now?
2. Does that also hold true on Mother's Day? Only my son acknowledges me on Mother's Day with a phone call, but the both of them acknowledge her mother and both her grandmothers each year by taking them out to brunch or hosting a brunch at their home. Even though we live in another state, I felt slighted again this year on Mother's Day when all I received was a phone call from my son, no card, nothing. I was brought up to respect both our mothers on Mother's Day with at least a card, and it was always the wife's duty to keep the list and remember to buy the cards or whatever.
3. Would I be out of line by sending a thank-you note to my son thanking him for the phone call? I love my son dearly, and it's not that I expect a gift, but I don't think it's very nice to call me up and tell me what they are doing for the other mothers and all I get is a "Happy Mother's Day."
4. I really need some answers because I feel that when they start having a family, I will be slighted again where the children are concerned.
Wow. That's a woman determined to ruin her relationship with her son, then blame it on her daughter-in-law! Here's what Miss Manners said in reply:
Unless you heed Miss Manners's advice, you will indeed receive more slights. That is because you are manufacturing them yourself, and she is advising you to stop.
The premise on which you base your grievances -- that a wife assumes all social duties because the husband is the sole wage-earner -- has long been defunct. Couples sensibly decide for themselves who does what, and dividing correspondence by family is both common and sensible. You wouldn't care to have Mother's Day acknowledged by a card from your daughter-in-law and ignored by your son.
So if you expect more than a telephone call, you should deal with him. And not by a thank-you letter if you intend that as a reprimand.
Try saying "Your Mother's Day excursions sound so delightful that I'd love to join you some time. Would it be convenient for me to visit at that time? Or if it turns out that I'm not able to, I'll settle for a card."
Sadly, I don't think the woman will follow Miss Manners' good advice -- and she'll make her son and his bride miserable in the process.
By Diana Hsieh @ 12:15 PM
Paul and I spent four delightful days hiking in Acadia in Maine before traveling down to Boston for OCON yesterday. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bar Harbor, and we hiked various sections of Mount Desert Island. It was our second trip to Acadia; we returned because we enjoyed the hiking so very much last time. The trip did not disappoint: we exhausted ourselves with hours of vigorous hiking each day, then restored ourselves with excellent seafood in the evenings. For example, here we are, as happy as clams, on the top of a hill:
(Click on the picture for a larger version.)
For three of our four days, we hiked on semi-difficult trails -- meaning lots of streams, mud and muck, rocks of all shapes and sizes, exposed tree roots, and some good climbs. Our hikes lasted from four to six hours each day. After the past few months of dissertation work, it was a genuine luxury to be able to physically exhaust myself in that way.
I wore my Vibram Five Fingers on all of these major hikes. Vibram Five Fingers are barefoot "shoes": they protect the feet from cuts and abrasions, while allowing the person the kind and range of motion of bare feet. Here is a picture of me in my Vibram Five Fingers in May:
(Again, click on the picture for a larger version.)
Shortly after my mother took this picture, I ran a very comfortable mile and a half in them on a rocky desert trail. (When running in them, you don't pound-pound-pound like with normal running shoes, and so they're actually easier on your joints. You must be more agile -- and more sensitive to your terrain -- in them.)
I bought my Vibrams last fall: I began hiking and running barefoot in them in a desperate attempt to alleviate serious pain in the balls of my feet due to Morton's neuroma and capsulitis. I'd already tried standard medical treatment -- meaning custom orthotics, steroid shots, heat and ice, and rest. Nothing worked: I couldn't run a half mile without suffering two weeks of crippling foot pain. So last fall, I tried going barefoot, thanks to some posts from Richard of Free the Animal. That solved the problem very quickly -- and finally made clear its cause. Like him, I found the process of learning to walk barefoot quite fascinating! (Maybe I'll post more on that someday.)
I've done quite a bit of running and hiking in my Vibrams, albeit always in dry rather than wet terrain. Acadia was very, very wet. So I was a bit worried about them. However, they passed every test. I had excellent control and perfect grip on slick rocks. My feet didn't get tired, sore, or swollen like they do with hiking boots. I enjoyed the greater control and care required to pick my way through the obstacles on the trail, but they didn't slow me down. Apart from a few spots on my feet rubbed a bit raw -- not surprising given that I hiked over 15 hours in these "shoes" over four days -- they were very comfortable. I expect that I'll use them even more frequently now.
Also, I fasted while hiking. In ages past, I would have been obliged to routinely refuel myself with carbs to prevent myself from collapsing during these kinds of hikes. Now, because my body runs on fat, I was able to eat a smallish breakfast of eggs and fruit, hike for five hours without any food, entirely skip dinner, eat another smallish breakfast of eggs and fruit, then hike for another few hours before eating a snack of nuts, then eat a hearty dinner.
One final tidbit from Maine: I bought some local raw cow's milk at the "alternative" grocery store just a block away from our bed and breakfast. It was excellent -- and what a delight to buy it at a store! The grocery also had some raw goat milk yogurt, but I didn't have time to try that, as I would have liked. However, I did try the pasteurized plain sheep milk yogurt, and that was stellar. It had an extra tang to it, and I definitely liked that. I might try to find a source of sheep's milk in Colorado.
By Diana Hsieh @ 2:16 PM
My mare Tara has done me a solid.
Over the past few years, I've struggled to keep Tara sound enough to ride. She is pretty old at 26, and she was ridden hard as a polo pony in her youth. Consequently, she has various arthritic ailments. This fall, for example, she developed problems in her stifles that I was able to fix with a higher-protein diet, exercise, hind shoes and pads, and bute. (The stifle is the knee-like joint high on the hind leg.) The diet and exercise helped her put on much-needed muscle, while the hind shoes elevated the heels for a better joint angle. The bute -- think aspirin for horses -- decreased the inflammation in the joint.
Early this winter, she must have slipped and fallen on ice, as she suddenly came up lame all over -- in her stifles, her back, and particularly the tendons in both front legs. My vet described her pain in those tendons -- she would pull back and grunt hard when he squeezed them -- as some of the worst he'd seen. He prescribed rest and lots of bute, up to two grams per day. So that's what I've done for the past six months -- without much hope that she'd ever be sound enough to ride again. I figured that she was at the end of her useful life, and that she'd be nothing more than the stable mate of the new horse I'd get after the barn is built. I thought she'd recover enough to be comfortable, but nothing more. I wasn't too happy about that: despite her occasional freak-outs, Tara has been a great horse for me.
Happily, a few weeks ago, I was delighted to see that she was trotting normally in the pasture. So I trotted her out in the ring a bit, and she was still fine. (Sometimes a horse will look sound in the pasture due to excitement about something. So one has to do a controlled test.) Her back was still a bit sore, but nothing like it had been. So I scheduled an appointment with the vet, so that he could take a look, to see what might be done next. However, by the time he came on Friday, her back was basically completely fine: we could not get her to flinch. He was pretty surprised, I think. He said that I could and should start riding her again -- lots of walking and bending, then some trotting. Basically, I'll need to start her very slow and gently.
I can't possibly convey how happy I am about this news! Just the week after I finish my dissertation, my beloved but seemingly hopelessly lame horse recovers! Hooray!
By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 AM
I know that this particular topic isn't supposed to be funny, but I was highly amused:
A man breaks into a house to look for money and guns. Inside, he finds couple in bed. He orders the guy out of the bed and ties him to a chair. While tying the homeowner's wife to the bed the convict gets on top of her, kisses her neck, then gets up & goes into the bathroom.
While he's in there, the husband whispers over to his wife: "Listen, this guy is an escaped convict. Look at his clothes! He's probably spent a lot of time in jail and hasn't seen a woman in years. I saw how he kissed your neck. If he wants sex, don't resist, don't complain... do what ever he tells you. Satisfy him no matter how much he nauseates you. This guy is obviously very dangerous. If he gets angry, he'll kill us both. Be strong, honey. I love you!"
His wife responds: "He wasn't kissing my neck. He was whispering in my ear. He told me that he's gay, thinks you're cute, and asked if we had any Vaseline. I told him it was in the bathroom. Be strong honey. I love you too."
Ha!
Folks, that's all that I have in my blogging queue, and I'm too busy working ten hour days finalizing my dissertation to do anything so frivolous as blog. Seriously, for eight days now, I've done nothing but sleep too little, eat on occasion, and edit, write, and edit more. I have a few more days of work. So unless my co-bloggers post something, and I hope they do, NoodleFood will be quiet this upcoming week. Again, do not e-mail me for any reason. I cannot afford the distraction. If you do, you might get a rather impolite response.
By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 AM
Last week, my father left me a voicemail message regarding Paul's and my plans to meet them for a bit of camping as they traveled through southern Colorado. Due to the dissertation, I'd already delayed our planned meet-up by a day. In his message, he said that if I decided that I needed to take another day (or longer) that I should do that. It would be fine with them. Then he said, very emphatically, "you need to do what's good for you, not what's good for us."
When I say that I wasn't raised in an altruistic family, I mean it. My parents are awesome.
On behalf of Diana and Paul, I wish to thank you, family and friends, for coming to celebrate their marriage on this beautiful day here in La Jolla. We have all come together, united by their love, to rejoice with them in the new life they now undertake together.
Diana and Paul have been friends ever since they met in St-Louis nearly five years ago. During that time, they spent much time together, arguing philosophy, wandering bookstores, and bicycling through Forest Park. Two years ago, Diana moved to Los Angeles and Paul to San Diego. Despite the distance, they kept up their friendship. At this time, Paul also introduced Diana to his good friends Cliff and Alexa, who are standing with them here today.
After much debate and discussion with Alexa, Diana decided to move down to San Diego and ask Paul if he was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship. To the surprise of both of them, Diana and Paul fell quickly and deeply in love. Three months later, Paul asked Diana to marry him. And three months after that, we are here to join them in marriage.
Diana and Paul's story exemplifies the saying that "Love is friendship set on fire."
To Diana and Paul, the decision to unite in marriage means a solemn obligation to live together, to please one another, to protect and comfort each other, to assist, support, and encourage each other in all endeavors. They share a love of mutual respect, affection, consideration, and good humor. Paul's steady and cheerful disposition compliments Diana's playful exuberance.
As Mignon McLaughlin said, "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."
This ceremony is a simple one, but one with great meaning. The vows you are about to exchange represent your commitment to each other, and an affirmation of the love you share.
[Face each other]
Do you, Paul, take Diana to be your wedded wife, to love, comfort, honor, and respect as long as you both shall live?
[I do]
Do you, Diana, take Paul to be your wedded husband, to love, comfort, honor, and respect as long as you both shall live?
[I do]
May we have the rings? These rings are an unbroken circle, with no beginning and no end, symbolizing your everlasting love.
Paul, as you place this ring on Diana's finger, repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.
[With this ring, I thee wed]
Diana, as you place this ring on Paul's finger, repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.
[With this ring, I thee wed]
You will be together from this day forward, so...
May the road rise up to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the rain fall softly upon your fields And the sun shine warm upon your face
Diana and Paul, by the authority vested in me by the State of California, it is my privilege to pronounce you man and wife.
Paul, you may kiss the bride!
Ten years later, our life is rather different -- and so much better -- than we imagined on that day.
E-mail Diana Hsieh
Comments
Over the past few years, I've struggled to keep Tara sound enough to ride. She is pretty old at 26, and she was ridden hard as a polo pony in her youth. Consequently, she has various arthritic ailments. This fall, for example, she developed problems in her stifles that I was able to fix with a higher-protein diet, exercise, hind shoes and pads, and bute. (The stifle is the knee-like joint high on the hind leg.) The diet and exercise helped her put on much-needed muscle, while the hind shoes elevated the heels for a better joint angle. The bute -- think aspirin for horses -- decreased the inflammation in the joint. 
Happily, a few weeks ago, I was delighted to see that she was trotting normally in the pasture. So I trotted her out in the ring a bit, and she was still fine. (Sometimes a horse will look sound in the pasture due to excitement about something. So one has to do a controlled test.) Her back was still a bit sore, but nothing like it had been. So I scheduled an appointment with the vet, so that he could take a look, to see what might be done next. However, by the time he came on Friday, her back was basically completely fine: we could not get her to flinch. He was pretty surprised, I think. He said that I could and should start riding her again -- lots of walking and bending, then some trotting. Basically, I'll need to start her very slow and gently.
