Normal

I used to be very abnormal in more ways than I like to think. Then again, what is normal?
I am normal in a lot of different ways. Today, I would like to talk about the healthy portion of it. I recently had a blood test done. This blood test said I was normal. My FSH, LH, Thyroid, A1C, and insulin are normal. My vitamin D is low and my Thalassimia is still holding strong. My Vit. D is low due to the fact I live in a dark, cold place. For this reason I am now taking 4,000 I.U. of Vitamin D a day. My Thallasimia is genetic and as far as I know and the doctors at this current time, I will continue to have it whether I eat healthy, take supplements or exercise or not. It isn't cureable.
Yesterday I had a spiritual experience that made me feel really good. I had an overwhelming comfort that I was doing everything right and that I will be blessed.
Through this life lesson, I have learned patience. Therefore, I don't know when I will be blessed. I just know that I will and I have to wait and see. I am totally fine with that. I probably have already been blessed, but I just haven't counted the blessings yet.
Having PCOS is not the end of anything. It is simply a wake up call that your body needs help. For me, it was a HUGE lifestyle change. Not a change that will last for a few weeks or months, but it will have to last for a lifetime. It takes courage and a lot of "no Thank you" to people offering you treats. Especially during the holidays. It is the hardest time. I find that if I don't give in at all, it is easier to turn all of it down.
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year!
My resolution for the new year is to be as healthy and as happy as I can be with what I have. "COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS Name them one by one."

You Might Be Tired of Hearing about all this, But I have to Update You!

So, I was in Barnes and Noble getting books for Christmas gifts, and for my classroom when I stumbled upon this book.

Healing and Preventing Autism A Complete Guide by Jenny McCarthy and Jerry Kartzinel, M.D.

It interested me because ever since Autism started being on the rise, I have always had this feeling that my child(ren) would have some form of autism. This really scared me and for a few years before marriage, I thought I didn't want kids, for this very reason. I also had a feeling (for the majority of my life) that I would develop some type of cancer. Well, since I have been on the diet, exercising, and herbs, that feeling has gone away along with the children having autism. However, it still interests me and I thought I would read the book anyway.
So, you may ask, What does cause autism? The world doesn't know.
Actually, it is a list of different things that cause autism. This is why it is so hard to figure out what causes it. There have been studies done, that I read about not from this book, that say those kids are deficient in B vitamins. So, I figured give the kids supplements. Well, that is not the only thing that they have wrong with them.
The book talks about the TOXINs in our environment. HMMMM! That is what caused my infertility. No wonder I no longer have the feelings I used to about the cancer and autism, because I got rid of the toxins. So the author is a Pediatrician that adopted a son that later developed autism. He started documenting what made his son act out more, and also started documenting when he got worse. The first thing he realized was that it happened right after he gave him, his MMR shot. So, he started doing research on vaccines and found that they have a million different side effects. He started informing all the parents of these side effects and offering them the choice of vaccinating or not. Most of the parents chose not to vaccinate. Then he started realizing that gluten and dairy foods made him worse, so he researched that. Did some blood tests and so forth. He found that gluten and dairy act as an opiate for these children which is why they have such a high pain tolerance. They are also ADDICTED to these foods. He says start the kids on a casein free and gluten free diet as soon as possible. The longer you hold off, the harder it will get. (This was a very interesting part of the book. He talked about kids licking the floor because the mop solution their moms used had gluten in it.)
The point I am making is that this book is a must read if you are interested in learning how to prevent, or improve the autism in children of your own, or around you.
Another milestone in my life is that I started using more organic products. I now use organic face wash, organic hand lotion and organic deodorant and a different chapstick. I now use Burt's Bees and not the one that I was using that is full of parabens. Parabens act like estrogen in the body. The body has its own estrogen and doesn't need more. This in turn, turns into a toxin. I will switch over to other organic ingredients later, however it is very expensive to switch over, over night. A little bit here and there is going to have to do for now. In so doing this, I lost 2 more pounds in two weeks of using these products. Now, I am a little baffled by this too. However, a lady at my church said she believes it because she knows someone else that had the same thing happen. Toxins cause weight gain. another thing the Pediatrician talked about in the book is toxins. He said that we are all born with a garbage can. Everyone has a different size and so everyone's can gets full at different points in life. I personally think that the can gets bigger as we grow up. This is why it is soooooo important for young kids to eat organic and eat healthy, their garbage cans are smaller. He also said, that if the garbage can is not full, then you are fine. It is when the can overflows, when it turns into disease, illness, and other things.

I AM...

speechless, still jumping up and down after nearly 5 hours of finding out, telling everyone (I made sure to tell Jim first) My heart is still pounding, I am now wondering, "AM I READY for THIS?" My head is spinning..... I am a third grade teacher!

I also want to mention, it is our 4 year wedding anniversary. We went out to a restaurant that we have not been to before, called The Pump House. Oh WOW! It was delicious. I had halibut and James had prime rib. Then we broke my diet to celebrate, not just the four years of marriage, but also the job, and I ordered dessert. That is something I have not done in quite a while. I had a lemon custard with blueberries.
Well, I need to get going, I have tons to do to get ready for tomorrow. I guess this also means, I will be neglecting this blog more than usual. Sorry.

Just a Regular Update!

I just wanted to update on what has been happening and all that I have been thinking lately.
I decided that I want to become a Naturopathic Doctor. however, I will not do it at this time. For the simple fact that they are not very popular right now. In the last 10 years they have grown in popularity. So, I figure in 20 years, I will go back to school, and become a doctor. I realize that because they are not very popular, it would be very hard to run a business when I am not one for advertisement and selling myself. I am not a good sales person.
Other things that I have been up to....
Studying magnesium and its affects on the body. It really is important to make sure you are getting enough. It helps with preventing depression, anxiety, infertility, osteoporosis, the absorption of other nutrients, and so on. The absorption of B6 is just one of the many things this mineral does for our bodies. It is also higher in organic foods compared to nonorganic foods. The majority of it is found in the bones. Hence why when one is lacking it, they are prone to osteoporosis.

The Complete Woman's Herbal by Anne McIntyre

So I have been reading a really The Complete Woman's Herbal. I have fallen in love with it. I borrowed it from a friend and decided I will buy my own copy.

It talks about what to eat and why. It says tht non organic food doesn't have magnesium. The reason the body needs magnesium is because it helps with the absorption of vitamin B6. It also helps stabilize hormones. Another thing I have learned from this book is about chromium. Chromium helps regulate blood sugar. However, sugar decreases the amount of chromium in the body so the more sugar you eat, naturally you will have worse and worse blood sugar levels. Now, that is kind of a given. However, I found it facsinating about the chromium.
Not only does it talk about infertility and the organic vs. nonorganic, it also goes through the entire life of a women. I have mainly been focusing on the infertility part. I have been glancing at other parts of the book as well and find them just as facsinating but don't have time to read everything right now.
Also, my computer is acting up so I can only view other people's blogs, but I can't leave comments. So, just know that I still love you all.

Something to Contemplate?

Well, as you all know... I have been seeing a naturopathic doctor for a year now. This month marks the one year mark. I know I wrote that it would take a year. However, I know it is working, but it will take longer. (my cycles have returned somewhat.) My naturopathic doctor (ND) never gave me an exact time frame, just that it would take a while (Years). The internet is what said it would take a year.
Through all this I have learned tons and tons and even more tons about the human body that I would love to share with others. For this purpose, it has been crossing my mind to become a naturopathic doctor. I think I would enjoy this very much. However, there are things about it I don't think I would like so much.

Pros...
I can help people who have problems like I had.
I can still teach. (It will be different types of students.)
I have always been fascinated with nutrition and and biology.

Cons...
Chemistry scares me! I have never actually taken a chemistry class.
There is at least 5 years of school ahead of me.
I would have to at least temporarily move back to Washington as there isn't a university here that has ND degree provided. Or find a distance degree program which I am not sure it exists up here.

I have prayed about it. I have not yet received an answer.
To give you a little more information on what a Naturopathic doctor stands for, here are 6 principles that I found on a ND univeristy website...
1. The healing power of nature- Trust in the body's inherent wisdom to heal itself.
2. Identify and treat the causes- Look beyond the symptom to the underlying cause.
3. First do no harm- Utilize the most natural, least invasive and least toxic therapies.
4. Doctor as a teacher- Educate patients in the steps to achieving and maintaining health.
5. Treat the whole person- View the body as an integrated whole in all its typical and spiritual dimensions.
6. Prevention- Focus on overall health, wellness and disease prevention.

Do you think I should become a Naturopathic Doctor? What do you personally think of them?

The things I have learned over the year...
what are some things that cause miscarriage.
What are some things that cause heavy painful periods.
What happens to our food.
Why we should eat organic.
What cholesterol does for us.
Signs of ovulation and a whole bunch of other female bodily functions.
Detox- in my mind it is a wonder drug. It isn't really but it feels like it the way I see it.
What causes PCOS. (Well this is tricky because it isn't just one thing. It is a mixture of a whole bunch of things. I am sure my list will grow.)
The importance of castor oil packs.
The liver and all it does for the body.

Knowing what I know now, I will think long and hard about going to a MD again. I will probably not go back to a gynecologist since she is the one that told me PCOS can't be reversed or at least not that one. That is one thing that I have learned the most about. The body really does have an amazing healing power to heal itself.
I have suffered from this for 10 years. I have been on all different types of drugs for it... clomid, letrozol, another butt injection I can't remember the name of, metformin and birth control...
After 1 year of naturopathic medicine, it is almost gone.
Through this, I have also learned patience. Great things take time. My children are teaching me patience and they aren't even here on Earth. Faith in the Lord includes faith in his timing.
Just so you know, I used to be very skeptical on this whole go natural thing. I prayed about going to this doctor, and the answer was yes. My skepticism continued until about 6 months ago. 3 months ago it crossed my mind to become one. Today, researched what classes I need as pre requisites.

Weddings!

We were n Washington for a few weeks at the end of July. We attended two weddings. John, James' brother, married Alyshia on July 29th. My sister, Rebecca, married Keith on August 6th. Both weddings had some type of mistake during the actual wedding. It is ironic because both were done by two different people. Apparently Alyshia was trying to marry her brother according to the person doing the marrying. (He said John Hunt instead of John Compton.) And my brother in law tried to marry me, as the bishop said Keith and Veronica.
James and I both had fun. We were running around like chickens with our heads cutoff trying to see everyone and do everything we wanted.
We went to Wildwaves while in there. We had a blast.
Sorry, I am not a picture taker. I took a total of three pictures the whole time I was there and I don't even have them. I will have to get a picture rounded up of my bride's maid dress. I was getting complements left and right. I actually was getting tired of them.