Merry Christmas 2010

I am writing you all an electronic Christmas letter this year because I forgot to mail it out to those of you who normally receive one – however, this is a more environmental friendly way of doing it and we all have to cheer for that, right. And I can reach so many more of you!

This year as been a big year for Paul and I. We have accomplished a lot and have asked more questions than someone would consider normal. On December 1st we bought our first two houses that we now rent out. I must say it feels very strange to own two houses yet not live in any of them. Much of our spare time this year as been spent learning about real estate investing and we are happy to see our hard work paying off. Now we just have to continue to grow and nurture it to make it into something bigger.

Next year we will most likely start hunting for a house that are for us, because we grew out of our one bedroom apartment a long time ago. And it would be nice to have a room for guests when they come and visit too.

We have enjoyed some trips this year: Last Christmas holiday we spent together in Sweden and loved being able to snowboard in the Norwegian mountains. In April we went to Orlando, Florida and spent much time with Paul’s favorite pastime – Golfing. We also visited Universal Studios, something I really enjoyed even though I got sick to my stomach after the Hulk roller coaster.

Trysil Norway Winter 2009

Golfing in Florida Spring 2010

Over the summer my sister visited and we took her to Baltimore and Washington DC for a few days, along with some day trips here and there. Having visitors from home is not something you get spoiled with when living on the other side of the pond; so every moment is treasured!

Sister and Paul in Baltimore Harbour

 I went to my first American Halloween party this year; it was an 80’s theme and I had only a day to figure out what I was going to do (also called procrastination) so I decided to do Flashdance. I was happy there was a bonfire at the party or I would have frozen my a** off! Unfortunately Paul was not able to attend, maybe next year?!

Flashdance for the 80's Themed Party

 Thanksgiving we spent at the Owen’s as usual. And as usual it is an amazing day and night with much laughter, great people, and very good food. It is like Christmas for my dear Hubs and to make it even better our first snow of the season fell that morning making it a tiny bit better.

Happy Thanksgiving

 This year’s Christmas holiday we are spending it apart. I am in Sweden and Paul is back home. Not the ultimate set up I have to admit, and I hope it does not have to be this way ever again. With the tax credit to home owners getting their house more efficient as far as energy, climate control, and water, Paul has been busy the whole fall with getting this done before the new year, without any chance of getting time off. All I can hope for is that he gets a good rest with the few extra days he will have off during the holidays.

As most of you know, my health has been a little rocky and I am planning to start off the New Year trying both Nutrition response testing (Kinesiology) and the Blood type diet as a new step in finding a way back to good health. I am very hopeful and know I will learn a lot more about myself and about health in general going through this process.

2011 will be an adventurous year it feels like, and I am looking forward to all the challenges it will bring. I hope to grow as a person, business owner, wife, and friend, and I also hope to learn more about holistic health and real estate investing.

A picture from my childhood bedroom window... it is really cold here right now!

 I wish all of you out there a wonderful holiday no matter what kind of them you celebrate and I hope you feel hopeful about the New Year.

Much love

First thing in life...

My blog title says "You" ... but is it really?
I mean; it should be but sometimes we forget how to take care of our selves. Yet, we all know that we can care for others much better when we are healthy and happy.

I am still struggling, as you all already know and am really looking forward to when I go back and have my nutrition response testing in January (I am now in Sweden for the holiday with my family). And along with it, I am going to start "eating right for my type" which is a diet based on what blood type you have. This is a completely new chapter in my life and I am hopeful and scared. Hopeful that I will finally get well but scared that I will fail on myself.

I don't know enough to say that the NRT and the blood type diet works, even though I have heard many people swear by it. I can only hope that it will work for me. It for sure is going to be an interesting learning experience and journey that I am looking forward to.

"Live Your Dream"

That is the text on a new ring I bought for myself. I have always wanted to have something that can remind me of how important my health is to me. First I was thinking of a wrist band, but they always get in the way when I sit on the computer at work all day long so this ring works perfect! I have stepped beyond the need to become skinny again, I just want to get well! And that is my new years resolution to myself, what is yours?

If you want to get a ring just like this, or pick from other wonderful rings that can give you some hope, joy, or comfort click SANCTUARY ~ GIFTS THAT INSPIRE ~ MARTHA'S VINEYARD

Yasmin Story on Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMMo_a_0Lkg

A story from my past

Someone that has never been through the same thing as I have might wonder why on earth I stayed on Yasmin or any other birth control for so long... but it wasn't that easy - nowhere did I get the support I needed to get all this figured out. This is a short summary of some of the things I experienced while on Yasmin with numerous issues: 

No, it is not related – it is just you, you stupid little girl

She told me I was making a very adult decision by sticking with birth control pills after she had pointed out that it was 99% safe. She wasn’t concerned about any side effects – as the worst thing that could happen to me was that 1% chance of getting pregnant. I trusted her, I trusted my gynecologist. 

I had been taking different types of birth control pills for four years up until that point. But since nothing had really worked for me as I was having heavy bleedings in-between periods on every pill I had tried I was told that Yasmin was the new and great pill. I was told it was so good and safe that I had to go with it. There were really no other options left for me in the way my gynecologist was speaking to me. You would have thought that she could have recommended me to use any of the non-hormonal options that are available but that was not even discussed. At that point however, I did feel hopeful; a new and improved pill... 

That new and improved pill, Yasmin, soon became the one and only reason I visited doctors with all sort of specialties, only I didn’t realize it. I did not understand that it was all linked to the pill, how could I when it had nothing to do with my cycles or uterus?!  My bleedings had become a little bit better so in my mind this new and wonderful pill was truly much better than the rest! And no doctor even raised an eye brow when I told them I was on Yasmin either so it never even occurred to me. 

Unfortunately the real truth was that I had started to have heart palpitations, insomnia, and became extremely depressed and sensitive. But at the same time I was also very busy with college and I blamed it all on school. I used to lay awake all night listening to my heart beats and was so afraid of falling asleep in case I would not wake up. When the morning came I used to open my dorm room door wide open and fall asleep so that in case I didn’t wake up, someone would find me.  

Every time I went for an EKG my heart beat was ok, go figure, so instead of being a patient that needed help I soon became a hypochondriac in the eyes of the doctors and my complaints were ignored. I never knew what to do about my insomnia besides for let myself fall asleep whenever I could, which wasn’t long or often but it was the best I could do. The depression and sensitiveness grew on me and I didn’t realize it – I thought it was just the new, more adult, and mature me. 

Then the bleedings came back full force. I was bleeding more than I was not in every cycle. Having a relationship was hard and embarrassing for me as I felt extremely dirty all the time. I went back to my gynecologist who sent me to a specialist and after doing the examination he found nothing wrong with me but prescribed me two different antibiotics just in case and before leaving the room the specialist looked at me and said these exact words: “your bleedings are probably caused by you being depressed, go and do something fun”. 

I felt so worthless after that point and was embarrassed of being me. I started to shut down. I would not tell anyone how I was feeling even though more and more symptoms grew on me. But still I had no idea that it was related to Yasmin, in my mind it was all just me; something that was pretty much verified by the doctors I had been seeing… So I kept taking Yasmin for another five years and became a person that was more or less a shell of the old me...

Yasmin user from 2002 to 2009

Flu, my favorite subject!

I despise all ads about medication in general but the flu vaccine ads actually makes my heart beat a little faster and I get angry! Yes, I get angry.. they are painting up this picture that the flu is the worst illness in your life and that you just HAVE to get vaccinated to be responsible. You have to protect your family, your co-workers, and others... or you are not a good citizen!

On top of that they say that getting the vaccine is really the ONLY way you can be safe and flu free for yet another year. They even have a dot-Gov website for promoting it!

What happened to the "eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, get fresh air, take some supplements, stay clean" idea?! I bet we are a few people that can prove that it works pretty good! In fact, I think we can prove that by going about it the natural way we will be able to build up our OWN immune system and if we get the flu anyway, it would be easier handled by our body. With every flu you actually get your immune system will build up immunity to that flu for a LIFETIME - not just a year like the vaccine.. Now, isn't that a better deal?!

No artificial injections, no money paid, no possible side effects, and immunity for a life time. Who can beat that?! Not this stupid vaccine, that's for sure.

Off course, getting the flu sucks, I am not going to deny that - I have had it in the past and it is a pest.. but just like a regular cold, it passes.

I wonder what would happen if people just stopped getting this vaccine, would the world collapse? Would we loose so much tax money from all of these paid shots, would people loose jobs, would we all walk around and be sick all the time? Yeah, this flu is dangerous alright.. just not in the way you would think.

Nutrition Response Testing

My chiropractor recommended me to look into something called Nutrition Response Testing so I have taken the first step of making this happen. As time is running out I have decided to do it after I come back from my holiday vacation to Sweden rather than try to squeeze it in before, putting more stress on myself.

I really have no idea of how it works besides from what I red on the link attached above, but I am hopeful. This is not conventional medicine, this is holistic and natural down to the bone.. I like it and I appreciate it.

If anyone of you have tried it, please share your experience. I will for sure keep you posted!

NO No noooooooooo!

Got the test results back yesterday, but the nurse who I spoke to on the phone earlier yesterday actually thought she was speaking to someone else... so that was good because what she said to me over the phone did not make any sense to me.

Not that my test results made any sense to me.. well at least not all of them.
It showed low levels of TSH but normal levels of T4 - which points toward a syndrome that is called "Subclinical Hyperthyroidism" (I did my own online research when I got home).

My A1c was slightly high on the test, too high for my liking. This is a sign that verifies my suspicions that I do have some kind of insulin issue...

My cholesterol was a little skew, my good (HDL) was too low and my bad ones (LDL & TriG) were too high. But I have nothing to compare it with since it was the first time I took it. I am a little against measuring cholesterol because I don't think it really shows a good picture of your health anyway.. we need the lipoproteins in order to tell a better story. But it is a starting point.

So here are my thoughts
I have been thinking for a while that I was having thyroid issues because I have such a hard time loosing weight and have gained so much since coming off the birth control over a year ago now, and on top of that I am having a very low basal temperature in the morning, over one full degree of what is considered 'normal'... But all those issues point toward Hypothyroidism and not Hyperthyroidism! How can I be still FAT while I have a hyper thyroid?!

Second, doesn't the thyroid and insulin kind of go hand in hand? Can you have hypoT with high levels of TSH? I mean, off course you can, but does it really make sense?

I have so many questions that I think I need to speak to a Endocrinologist... I don't think my levels are alarming of any kind, they are very manageable but I still want to be able to understand it a little bit better. The doctor did not want to see me yesterday, it was just the mistake of the nurse. But then she said: "He wants you have to go on a strictly diet, and we will take your tests again in February"...

Now to someone that has no idea what low TSH, high LDL, Low B12, Normal T4, Low D3, High A1c means - what kind of a diet is that person suppose to go on. Because I am PRETTY darn sure different people call different thing a diet. Weight Watchers, Jenny Graig, Atkins, South beach, GI,  No Gluten, LCHF, Count Calories... just to name of few - which one is a diet in your mind? And which one would in your mind make the best impact on the above test results???

Well, I know which one I am going to pick - and I would have done so no matter what the doctor said, but what about other people. What does 'Going on a diet' mean?? Just as what does 'I eat healthy' mean???!!!

Off course I am struggling with the questions if this is by any chance related to Yasmin... In my mind it is.. I found this article where they say "...TSH may be unintentionally suppressed during hormone replacement therapy in about 20% of hypothyroid patients..." http://www.eje-online.org/cgi/content/full/152/1/1
I simply think that my 11 years on birth control has destroyed parts of my body's own functions and while I was on it, it was simply hiding those issues. But I might only be looking for something else to blame than myself...

And another journey begins...

Call Back

I never thought that would happen... Never even crossed my mind...
I was at my family physician last Monday for some tests. I just basically wanted some updated numbers from last year on my Thyroid, Vitamin levels, and I also asked for Cortisol levels because I have been having some issues related to insulin.
Today they called and wanted me to come back in to discuss some abnormal levels. I tried to have the woman tell me what it was all about - and off course she is not allowed so she simply said: well, I don't know how to read this stuff. And would not fax me the results... So I have no idea, I can't prepare...

And then on top of that I had my yearly PAP today... any woman doing that knows that it is not the greatest moment in a year... In the examine room the gyno and I are talking about the FAM method as a birth control method. And she agrees that it works if you are educated on the method... She had one woman tell her that they were doing FAM for pregnancy prevention and said "I have not gotten pregnant yet"... Sounds like that person didn't think it was going to work! LOL!

So as I was walking out of the office I asked my gyno if she heard many women complain about yasmin... and she just said "oh no... what they complain about is the ads they see on TV... and that is just attorney's wanting money... any reason why you ask?" I didn't say much because I was taken by surprise and I felt that she was a little rushed. I guess the only symptoms she think I had on Yasmin was my bleeding... and I guess it makes sense. She has not been with me from the start, but now I am thinking I should write her a letter of some kind just to inform her what I went through...  or this ignorance will never stop...