January 15, 2024
I always look forward to the new year. I love the phrase “New Year, New You”. I like my new year to begin with choosing a word for the year. One that resonates with what I feel is important for me to focus on. My word for 2024 is “Clarity”.
I chose the word “Clarity” for many reasons. For those who are unaware, in January of 2023, I woke up on the front steps of the post office in Brennon, Tx with the rain gently falling on my face. Shortly after that I found myself zipping along in an Ambulance to the Texoma Heart Hospital and grasping for "clarity" regarding my situation.
My stay in Texoma was 5 days ending with a couple of shocks to the heart. You know, just to get everything in rhythm. What caused my very healthy heart to lose its rhythm? It is a common condition of the thyroid referred to as Hashimoto’s.
For those who are unaware of what Hashimoto’s is, here is a brief description given to me by my Endocrinologist, “Hashimoto’s is when the immune system attacks the thyroid. We do not know why your body is attacking your Thyroid. We have no cure and treatment is limited, but we will make you as comfortable as possible with what we do have. Oh, and sign this document that states when you get so bad that the hospital is your next step, we will put you on a medication that is so terrible that I need to step out of the room while you read and sign. You will agree to hold no one responsible for the following outrageous side effects. You will want to call us when your heart begins to get out of rhythm again. One more thing, when your iodine balances, we would like to do a biopsy and use nuclear medicine to look at your thyroid”. This is apoarently the best that allopathic medicine has to offer for this very serious thyroid condition.
When one receives a Hashimoto’s diagnosis know that the road is hard with many potholes. The liver is not converting T4 to T3 so you are what is referred to as a "non-converter" and the adrenals are on serious overload. Hashimoto’s is complicated by severe systemic inflammation. Water retention is insane in the lymphatic system causing uncontrollable weight gain. Complicating everything further is the cells mitochondria’s inability to replace used energy, resulting in debilitating fatigue being a constant companion and deep sound sleep an elusive dream. "Clarity" becomes a life raft that is painfully slow to arrive.
2023 has been a full year of reading books and trying various protocols that I created from the information I gathered. Resulting in my thyroid reducing in size and one of the nodules on the thyroid is gone. It appears that I am improving and "clarity" is emerging.
When the thyroid is struggling, several systems of the body can be affected. Disregulated sleep, poor memory, fatigue, brain fog, extreme systemic inflammation, gut discomfort, adrenal fatigue, over production of cortisol, and the list goes on and on.
Learning about the early warning signs of Hashimoto’s includes the fact that you can have the developing thyroid dysregulation, for many years. It appears that a driving factor in the progression of Hashimoto’s is childhood trauma, adult stressors, the MTHFR gene expression, and the mutated Epstein Barr virus. I had our lab run a DNA test and sure enough I do have the MTHFR expression/s. You can have one or more MTHFR genes expressing. I had my Homeopath check for Epstein Barr mutations, and sure enough I had that too.
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The journey has been one of renewal and embracing my personal emotional sovereignty. As I began looking at stressors affecting my life, I looked at inner and outer stressors and my personal boundaries. Unstable or weak personal boundaries also affect this mysterious condition.
I became deeply present that my body was expressing the energy of humanity in its extreme duality. Right vs Left, Good vs Bad, Right vs Wrong, Holy vs Evil. I quickly realized that to allow myself to embrace the opposite side of any duality was igniting my very delicate endocrine system’s auto-immune response, resulting in certain thyroid harm.
As I move into 2024, with the highest of hopes for humanity's future I call for divine “Clarity” regarding Divine Spirit, my health, my country, my cherished relationships, my beautiful earth, and most of all Divine “Clarity” in all that I say and do.
Together we can create healthy environments through our words and intentions, resulting in a more peaceful earth for all. "Happy New Year and New You!"
What will be your empowering word for 2024?
Kathy
