Just Humans Being...

Do you trust your own instinct or prefer to rely on opinions supposedly based on facts? Over the years we have been advised against doing what we have wanted to do, we have experienced so many sharp intakes of breath by the people trained in the various areas we have disagreed with, but we have always chosen to stick to our guns and do what we feel is right. The thing is, our decisions came from within – we were never been influenced by others or knew of other people doing what we we wanted to do, we just felt something...a knowing. When we first got together in 1986, we discovered that we both felt repulsed by certain meats and we began questioning why we continued to eat it when we felt so uncomfortable. One evening Sime came over to my flat and made spicy veggie burgers from soya mince which were delicious and I then found a recipe for walnut and broccoli lasagne and we carried on learning more and more. In 1987, we bought our first house together and it just so happened that ...

  Our GP first introduced us to homeopathy in 1988, when our eldest offspring, Sal was born. Our family doctor was not only a general practitioner, but a midwife (or should that be mid-husband?) and a homeopath. He enthusiastically attended the home birth of our second born as an observer, along with our usual midwife and a student midwife. It was the first planned home birth in our town in 13 years, so there was much excitement and it was wonderful! As our little Rosie Matilda was born, her beautiful big eyes opened wide as we all sang happy birthday...much to the delight of her big sis, who was two at the time. Six years later, when our third born, Hugo came along – we were very happy to discover that the student nurse from Rose’s birth was to be our midwife and she was thrilled to be on duty that night - delivering not just another baby at home, but to be sharing another birth experience with us. The health system had changed though...the midwives were no longer attached to ...

Last weekend we needed to catch up on some sleep, too many late nights took their toll & we were grateful to not be caring for Bebe - relishing the opportunity to lie in bed until the afternoon for 3 days on the trot... Such a treat! We've enjoyed sharing our home with 2 lots of friends (something we had to put on hold while Bebe was here), so it's been really lovely.  We've also had some exceptionally tough work days, but continue to be supported by our fresh juices. We just have one for lunch & love the natural lift it gives us, yesterday - we cleaned the big holiday home we look after non-stop for over 7 hours. Admittedly, we were knackered at the end, but we did the work of 4 people on our usual breakfast of super food porridge, then green juice followed by a banana for lunch. We'd taken extra food to eat too, as we knew it was going to be a hard day, but we didn't have time for anything else. After a good night's sleep, we have felt reju...

The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. ~ Ann Wigmore Keeping our immune systems strong is the key to good health & those of us with autoimmune system disorders know just how important this is. I truly believe that for me - the food I eat or choose not to eat has made a huge impact on my health... I vividly remember being told by numerous endocrinologists that I would never recover from Graves Disease & there was no way a vegan diet would make a scrap of difference, in fact one of those medical experts told me that being vegan would make things worse...Incredible! They constantly bullied me & tried to push me into taking extremely drastic measures to "cure" my thyroid. They believed (& probably still do) that the best treatment for an over-active thyroid is for the sufferer to drink radioactive iodine. They would all try to convince me that it was the right path to take & not...

We have had an incredibly crazy week, full of mixed emotions - good times & very sad times... Hugo's birthday was great fun & although he'd gone off on Friday to join in celebrating his friend's birthday & vowed to be returning with 4 friends on Saturday - he actually turned up with 9!   Luckily, we are laid back & it just meant making extra food. He didn't want to do anything in particular, just hang out... So we fed them chilli, rice & cornbread, they went off to the beach & got a camp fire going, but soon returned - as it was so cold! Some of the loveliest young people you could wish to meet! Rose & Asa joined us too - which was great! Although some of them were up until 6am & we did hear them now & again - we would enjoy having them over again!  A couple of them didn't want to leave, which was sweet - so may be a summer get-together will be on the cards...  Hugo's a big fan of Victoria Sponge C...

The day we were travelling back from Stoke, my thyroid - out of the blue - decided it was time to have another storm... My heart beat had been sitting around 90, which is just about ok & I was taking my herbal remedies, but I started having palpitations & on the way home. My heart just got faster (180 bpm), which made me feel really anxious. As soon as we arrived home, I called the surgery & was told to get to A & E. And so began the nightmare... I was taken into the resus room, wired up to a monitor & the staff tried to persuade me to have an adenosine injection to drastically slow down my heart, I refused - as I know that it can stop the heart altogether. The doctor told me that he was not sure if it would work, because they had no evidence of use with Graves Disease & the procedure could cause a permanent heart defect... Why would I want this? My heart was healthy, just running fast as a result of my thyroid problem & I really didn't...

I've made a discovery... My thyroid condition is back & I'm really pissed off about it! All this time, I thought I'd lost weight because of my healthy food choices, but it looks like my immune system just doesn't like hard work & has started attacking itself again.  I eat far better than ever, so it has to be from just doing too much...  This weekend will be the last of the full on changeovers, which is great for me - but for Sime, it's the season of worry... Will we make it through to next spring on the money we have made this summer? So I'll get better over the winter, while Sime will probably slip into the worry zone. Money has never bothered me, I know we can budget & do without. I'd rather do that than work as much as we do, besides we have more money than last winter, so things aren't so bad!  Sime likes to be busy, he loves work coming in & is happy to juggle things to shoehorn every last job into our workin...

Some of you know about my fight with Graves Disease, an auto immune system disorder, which causes an overactive thyroid. Since I was diagnosed 7 years ago, I have made it my business to know everything I possibly could about the condition & this has probably saved my life. I have blood tests on a regular basis & in November last year, I was told that my T4 levels are normal & again in January the same.  My thyroid stimulating hormone was finally starting to work too, after 7 years of lying dormant, so I suggested I came off the anti thyroid drug & my GP's response was to continue for a while longer. A month ago, I rang my GP & suggested again that I come off the drug or at least halve it, as I was feeling so well  & was concerned about the drug pushing me into being under active. Again, she said to be patient & they would send for me when it's time for a blood test. I don't normally do as I'm told, but decided to stick with it a b...

Our veg box is delivered on Wednesdays.  So by Tuesday - we always end up with a bit of a concoction... Last night we made Carrot, Hazelnut & Millet Burgers... Served with the last of the salad, some leftover pasta, sprouted alfalfa, baked mushroom & a bread roll... When we first gave up oil & butter - we really were hungry & eating several meals a day. We decided to include nuts again, especially during the cold weather & we are definitely more satisfied. We're also eating olives occasionally, though not many & aim to stop eventually.  I don't snack at all any more & don't even crave anything sweet or stodgy - I can look at chocolate & am happy not to eat it, so it must be because of the foods we no longer eat. Sime does still fancy something sweet after meals & continues to eat muesli with nuts & fruit to help with that. Interestingly, I gave up drinking shop bought juices a while ago, but Sime drinks a small glass of either pre...

About 12 years ago, I studied to be a Vegan/Vegetarian Nutritional Therapist & although I never did anything with it - I continue to love learning more about health & nutrition. I did a pre-nursing course at college, but discovered that I was (& still am) incredibly squeamish around blood, lumps, veins & wounds, so I went into social care instead... I did love food & nutrition classes, not just the cookery, but learning about the importance of a balanced diet & how meals should always be colourful to provide maximum nutrients. It's something that has stayed with me & has made me the picky person I am today - I can't bear to see a bland looking meal! I am fascinated by the foods which can have an impact on our health & wellbeing. So we have lots of books & the learning never stops, I give advice out to others & in some cases have helped family & friends to recover from various ailments, but when it comes to myself - I've been crap...

I'm starting to feel better, my heart is slowing down (a little), but at least it's in the right direction... I've even been able to iron work bed linen - without breaking into a sweat...  We've cleaned a large house today & for the first time ever - Sime was hotter than me! An over active thyroid is difficult to live with. And even harder is to see what my pig-headedness does to Sime. He gets all ate up when I refuse help & I have watched him become exhausted with the extra pressure of holding me together. A few days ago, I started taking the anti-thyroid drug - Carbimazole. I hate giving in & I hate taking it, but if it makes Sime feel better - I have to do it. The good thing is (in my opinion) - it takes between 6 to 8 weeks to kick in, but I'm already improving! Which means my herbal mixture of tinctures must be working... I'm taking mainly bugleweed with small doses of lemon balm & motherwort. I've also just started taking l...

It is over 3 years since I came out of hospital & I returned home like a zombie! My body had been living with an over active thyroid for at least 2 years, so it was a shock to be suddenly the opposite... Conventional medication for hyperthyroidism, means bombarding your body with high levels of beta-blockers (to slow the heart rate) & antithyroid drugs - the idea being to speed up the process of slowing the thyroid down (if that makes sense)! Once the thyroid is stable, it is highly recommended that it is either removed or 'killed off' using radioactive iodine. Without the thyroid, you have to then take thyroxine tablets for the rest of your life... I have continued to refuse both of these, as I have always been convinced that I will recover completely & therefore not need to do anything so drastic, I weaned myself off the beta-blockers as soon as I got home & my heart has been absolutely fine. I have also 'messed around' with the antithyroid drug to...

The words I dreaded to hear were coming from my GP's mouth "Hospital". Now I knew I was in a nightmare... The ECG carried out on my heart showed that my heart beat had become irregular, as well as operating at 3 times it's normal speed! I had no choice - Sime agreed with the doctor & I was extremely scared of what was happening to me. Looking back, it was irresponsible to have let myself become so ill, but Sime was working long hours & I was trying to look after everyone else. It just crept up on me. One of the first thoughts that came to mind about going into hospital was of absolute fear, both my Grandad & my Sister died in hospitals through medical negligence, so I was really quite frightened! As soon as I arrived, a nurse told me that my dangerous heart condition needed to be dealt with quickly. She told me that they wanted to use some sort of injection to stop my heart. "You'll have a strong sense of impending doom, but it will only la...

What a relief it was to find Claire the herbalist! She was (& probably still is) very knowledgeable about the thyroid function & was impressed with what I had prescribed myself, she had a lovely calming effect on me & made me feel secure in what I was doing. It was so nice to have someone else to lean on (other than Sime), someone who understood me & shared my views on the way we live. We agreed that if at any point she felt that the herbal treatment ceased working, then I would probably have to consider the conventional route. She also opened up communication with my GP & with my agreement, they shared information on my treatment & results, etc. Great! Claire treated me for 18 months, constantly tweaking the tinctures & although it did work - I just couldn't remain stable. She didn't fail - it was just my body wasn't ready to recover & another thing I didn't see at the time - was that I was under a lot of stress with extended family ...