Indeed, not chopped liver..

I had my endocrinology appointment yesterday and I'd say things went pretty well.  I constantly forget how great my doctor is.  She practices western medicine, but was raised in India and some of that culture seems to still be ingrained in her.  Every time I expect to be met with resistance and pushed towards RAI or surgery.  Instead, I am listened to, heard, and my decisions regarding my treatment respected.  My doctor asks about other areas of my life like my work, boyfriends, stress levels, etc.  She doesn't shrug off the benefits of the meditation practice, nutrition, and physical activity to my well-being and potential remission.  I have to say I really appreciate my endocrinologist.

That being said, she talked to me about my liver enzyme levels and showed me that although a few of them were high, they weren't high enough to worry about just yet and wanted me do another set of labs, including a hepatitis screening profile (yikes!).  I explained that I had cleaned up my diet the best I knew how and added a mild liver cleansing tea (Every Day Detox by Traditional Medicinals) and that I had a more potent liver cleanser on the way from a licensed herbalist.  She told me it was probably best to hold off on the latter until I saw a liver specialist who could tell me exactly why my liver was functioning inadequately.  However, she didn't recommend that I go see one unless my levels increased further.     

She sent me off with instructions to take a lower dose of thyroid medication, which had been previously been increased due to poor communication between myself and the doctor filling in for my doctor, who had returned to India upon her father's passing.     

I went to the lab for a stick in the other arm and few hours later, Heather the nurse called to tell me that my liver enzymes had improved.  I heard the word normal in there, but I was a little excited so I can't remember if she said they were normal or almost normal.  Either way, I was ecstatic.  I sent out a text to my mom, brother and Irish lad - who must be psychic, because he called that very moment to see how my appointment went before realizing I'd sent out a text.  I go back in six weeks for more labs on my thyroid, but not on my liver. 

I plan to keep my diet as clean as possible so as not to put any undue strain on my liver.  I also intend to pursue acupuncture for supplemental treatment for my Graves Disease in the hopes that I will achieve remission sooner and for a longer duration so that I can prevent the toxic affect of my medication on my liver.  The hardest part about this disease is the perpetual cycle of stress and symptoms.  I have no doubt that stress triggered this latest episode and the disease itself causes me a massive amount of stress, worrying about the myriad physical manifestations of it, the cosmetic effect of it while still trying to digest the transition into my third decade of life; trying to maintain a perspective of increasing fitness and health rather than accept a decline in either.  This is where my meditation, exercise and acupuncture can help relieve my mind and body of these burdens so that my physical body can begin its return to the state of well-being it knows.  Doctors orders: "don't worry", and I mean not to.