Coconut Oil

A few months ago one of my friends from high school posted on facebook about coconut oil.  I decided to check it out.  I could relate to most of the ailments, so I really started researching it.  I decided to order myself a small jar of it and give it a try (what did I have to lose, right?)  Well I didn't lose anything, not even wasted money on it.  I've been using the coconut oil since July.  I had blood work done in June and my thyroid levels where still a little low and that was with being on medication, along with my liver enzymes still being elevated.  I was told to go for more blood work in three months.  Now along with adding the coconut oil to my diet, my husband and I also joined a gym in May and we started eating better and eating more meals but small meals.  Once I started the coconut oil in July I decided to stop taking my thyroid medication, because one of the benefits of coconut oil is to help with thyroid issues.  So I figured between the coconut oil and exercise hopefully I will get myself into better shape and healthier.  Well it is working, it's a long slow process but I am determined to get myself into shape.  Since Jan of this year I have lost 22 lbs.  In October I won a contest from WellnessFX which was comprehensive blood work.  I went for the blood work and unfortunately my cholesterol is high, my triglycerides and my LDL's are high.  But guess what???  My thyroid levels are in the normal range...YES that's right no more thyroid medicine.  My liver enzymes are also back in the normal range.  YAY for me!!!!  Yes I'm still battling headaches, some days they are very tolerable, and others they are so bad it's extremely hard for me to get out of bed, but I figured this is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

Now my mission is to get my cholesterol levels back into a normal range without medication (that's the one thing I told my doctor is I refuse to go on any type of medication).  So besides going to the gym and walking on the treadmill, riding the stationary bike and working on abs, upper body and legs I have decided to start training to run a 5K next year.  My husband is working with me on this, he is running his first 5K on Thanksgiving.  I'm taking it extremely slow with baby steps since I do have major issues with my knees.  I'm walking for 3 minutes and jogging for 15 seconds right now.  I'll continue this probably until after Thanksgiving then I'll add another 5 seconds on to the jogging.  Like I said baby steps I don't want to injure myself.

Past 5 1/2 Yrs of Dealing with a Chronic Headache

It all started back in August of 2007 when we went to Alaska.  While we were at port in Skagway, I got bit by something behind my left ear.  The whole side of my face swelled up along with my neck and I had such a stiff neck that I couldn't turn it.  I didn't go to the "hospital" on the ship because I figured they would just give me benedryl.  We found some in the store on the ship, it didn't help too much.  We figured it was just a bad reaction to some sort of bug.  Once we got home everything was back to normal, no swelling, no stiff neck.  Shortly after I started to get headaches more frequently.  Didn't think it had anything to do with the bug bites.  I figured it was a combination of stress from work (was a 911 Dispatcher) and my mother was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma.  She had a real hard time with the chemo, being really sick all the time.  Then my grandfather's health started to deteriorate, so I started to stress a lot more.   In January of 2008 I was having constant headaches, they never went away.  In March I decided to go to the doctor because they were starting to get unbearable.  The doctor advised me to stay away from caffeine and certain foods and that should help.  Since I didn't get anywhere with my doctor and he completely ignored what my husband had to say we decided that I should change to his doctor so I did.

The doctor prescribed anti-depressants figuring that since my stress levels where so high that could possibly be a cause of the headaches.  I was put on several different types and nothing helped.  At that point they advised I should see a neurologist.  So that's what I did...the neurologist tried me on several different types of medications, had 2 MRI's done and lots of blood work and guess what the medications did absolutely nothing and the MRI's and blood work showed nothing, everything was normal.  The neurologist said we need to find a medication that will give you some type of relief so I tried several different migraine medications along with seizure medications and more antidepressants.

The only time I had any relief from this headache in the past 5 1/2 years was when I was in the hospital with pneumonia and put on a high dose of antibiotics.  I decided to go see a rheumatologist in case it was something my doctors couldn't diagnose.  All blood work from those tests came back negative.  I was tested for Lyme's disease 8 times and the tests all came back negative.  Apparently I did have mono at some point since that was the only thing that showed up in my blood work.  I stopped taking all the medications I was on due to my liver enzymes being elevated.

I believe it was in 2010 that I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism.  I was put on medication for that and was told I would be on it for the rest of my life.  The doctor advised that could have been part of my headaches also.

Well here goes nothing....just starting this blog so please bear with me cuz I don't know what I'm doing lol...will be blogging about my chronic headaches and about my changes in my life to a better healthier me and hopefully maybe no more headaches...