Update: For those who knew me before on the forum

[SallyingForth]

quote author=bean link=topic=6455.msg104403#msg104403 date=1198209141]
Hi SallyingForth,

Good to hear you again.  How'r things?

bean
[/quote]

Thought I would address this in a new topic.

Actually things are going quite well.  My husband and I are still together. I have very strong boundaries with him because of his OCPD. I call him on the spot when he gets near my toes.    We bought a house, very nice place on 1.25 acres, and are enjoying the solitude.

I am on the second to last rewrite of my novel. I believe that's where I was when I was here before. I keep hearing the Lord saying, write it and you'll heal and you'll know the truth and it will set you free. And it does set me free again and again.

When I came on here last time I had a medical problem with my eye. That resolved, but I since learned that there were two underlying medical problems which caused the eye problem. Both of those have been mostly resolved too. In the process, I learned to become very proactive in my own health. A very good thing to be.    After eleven emergency room visits and five doctors, I finally got diagnosed. I had had the condition for over two years and not one doctor knew what it was because my symptoms were not "typical." I have perimyocarditis which is an inflammation of the heart's lining, the pericardium (peri), and in addition inflammation of heart muscle (myo). It is a very painful and debilitating condition. And the underlying cause of it, severe, under-treated hypothyroidism, which I've had for over thirty years. I've been treated for only seven of those thirty years. I found a supportive forum for the hypothyroidism. One of the many symptoms is being overly sensitive. When I am on the right dose of thyroid replacement, I feel normal emotionally, I don't overreact as I have done for years. I never knew my overreaction was due to a medical condition.

I am writing about my medical experiences (my next book -already have a title) especially the difficulty in getting a diagnosis and proper treatment in the U.S. I also found my own remedy for some of symptoms of the perimyocarditis by doing research on the www.

[Hopalong]

Gosh Sally I am so sorry to hear about what you've been through medically.
I am shocked you went undiagnosed for so long. It sounds terrifying.

Are you okay now that your thyroid is properly treated, or does the pericardum and heart stay inflamed?
Can the inflammation be eliminated?

I hear fish oil and certain mushrooms (well, I only know about mushrooms topically) can help...

I would be interested to hear about the remedy you've found, and to know it's working for you.

Sure hope so.

Hops

[SallyingForth]

Actually, it is quite common to go undiagnosed with pericarditis, because it is the least common reason for chest pain. And it is most commonly found in males twenty to thirty years old. I was diagnosed with it at age 54. The other reason is not everyone presents with the typical symptoms. I didn't. I spent half of October in the CCU. The one symptom which most people have is severe, sharp chest pain. It's something you'll never forget once you have had it. A friend online helped me get diagnosed by encouraging me to seek help again and again. I had several ER doctors tell me to not return to the ER with this type of chest pain, because it wasn't anything serious. I had three transports by ambulance to the ER, two in which they could have sworn I was having a coronary. Me too, I thought it was a heart attack. All the symptoms were present including skyrocketing blood pressure. But none of the medications worked on me. They couldn't even lower my bloodpressure with nitroglycerin and that spooked one EMT. He was stumped. The oxygen which they gave me each time I entered the ER felt so good, but I didn't know why until I started reading about perimyocarditis.

Pericarditis or perimyocarditis isn't serious in itself, but it can cause complications if left untreated. And when you have the pain from the inflammation of the pericardium you feel as if you're dying. And you can't breath in without severe chest pain. Awful.

I found that a diet rich in potassium helps heal the heart, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillations (one of the complications I have from perimyocarditis), and is great for losing weight too. I have changed my entire diet to include between 5000 and 6200mg of potassium per day. I feel better and sleep better. And I have little to no heart pains as I did before starting to eat this way. Potassium is actually the most important mineral in the diet. And doctors easily give out prescriptions for the pill version, but won't tell the patient about changing their diet. Current daily recommended dose is 3400mg. The new amount will be 4700mg. One site I found recommends taking your ideal weight and multiplying by 40mg. Mine comes to 6080mg. With that I am taking 800 to 1200mg of magnesium per day. Then there's a balancing act with the proper dose of calcium. I literally couldn't stomach the medication.

My thyroid is currently doing better. It just took another dive so I needed an increase in my medication. The thyroid regulates so much in the body. If the levels of levothyroxine are correct within the body (organs) and blood, then the body heals. I am feeling better and not having the fatigue I had almost three weeks ago.

A great website with excellent information about disease:
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/

The pericardial inflammation has lessened because I don't require the anti-inflammatories I needed in the beginning. I was on 1800mg a day. Now I am down to 200 - 400mg a day.

[Gaining Strength]

So glad you are doing so much better.  I am very interested to learn about your medical situation - I too have hypothyroidism and can't wait to get to the site you refer to.  My father has severe congestive heart failure caused by sever adema which worsened over years of   mistreatment resulting from his complicated and comorbid OCD.  He was finally hospitalized by force because he had become ceptic and delirious and actually psychotic.

What is OCPD? 

When our systems get out of whack it can send us completely for a loop.  I am interested to learn more about how hypothyroidism led to your perimyocarditis.  I wonder what my hypothyroidism has led to - I suspect it has exacerbated depression and anxiety.

I have learned through the internet that magnesium is also a very important mineral in our diets and magnisium depletion can cause all kinds of mental and physical ailments.  A very informative (though difficult to navigate) site is www.Georgeeby.com.

So glad you are doing well - GS

[SallyingForth]

What is OCPD?

OCPD stands for Obsessive Compulsive PERSONALITY Disorder. You can read more about on it ptypes.com .

When our systems get out of whack it can send us completely for a loop.  I am interested to learn more about how hypothyroidism led to your perimyocarditis.  I wonder what my hypothyroidism has led to - I suspect it has exacerbated depression and anxiety.

Most people with hypothyroidism suffer from depression and anxiety. I did along with terrible insomnia. The insomnia and anxiety are two symptoms which tell me when my TSH is too high and I need more medication.

How the hypothyroidism can lead to perimyocarditis is stated here in this quote from the http://www.thyroidmanager.org website:

Manifestations
9.5.4 CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

Gordon ¹¹ long ago called attention to the occurrence of pericardial effusion in myxedema and explained the increase in the transverse diameter of the heart shadow on this basis. Effusion must frequently play a role in the increase in the size of the heart shadow, but it has amazingly little effect on cardiodynamics. The presence of fluid may be reflected in the right ventricular pressure contour, but tamponade, although reported, is rare ^12,13. Effusions of the pericardium, pleura, and peritoneum are common findings in hypothyroidism ¹⁴. The protein of the effusion may be high or in the range of transudates. In 11 patients with tamponade studied, pericardial fluid protein ranged from 2.2 to 7.6 g/dl ¹². Occasionally, the fluid is high in cholesterol, with a "gold paint" appearance ¹³.

On the website, you'll also learn what the correct dosage is for the thyroid replacement. Many doctors under treat leaving the patient with lingering symptoms.

For central hypothyroidism, the treatment range is a TSH near or lower than 0.1. Therefore, the Free T3 and Free T4 must be monitored closely to stay within the upper ranges of both tests.

For someone with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, the treatment range is a TSH of 0.3 - 1.0.

I found a very supportive and informative forum for thyroid disease at:
http://www.freewebs.com/thyroid/
From there you'll find a link to the Thyroid Disease Chat Center.

[Gaining Strength]

Thanks.  I am certain that I have been under treated for years and my Psychiatrist wants me to retest my levels but in the past the test for levels has been done by doctors who did not acknowledge the significance of the T3 level.  I hope to learn on these sites about how to test the T3 level to learn the best medicines and dosages. 

I have never heard of OCPD.  My father has OCD and is a hoarder, he was also diagnosed by one Dr. as Personality Disorder NOS and another as NPD.  Personality Disorders cause so much damage, both to the people manifesting and to those who are part of their inner sphere.  I am powerfully struck by how inadequately our society addresses these and other issues of (supposedly) "mental" health.  I am also struck by how profoundly our endocrine system is linked to our "mental" health but how little conversation there is between psychiatry and endocrinology.  I cannot understand it!!!

Thanks for the post and the helpful information.

[SallyingForth]

Thanks.  I am certain that I have been under treated for years and my Psychiatrist wants me to retest my levels but in the past the test for levels has been done by doctors who did not acknowledge the significance of the T3 level.  I hope to learn on these sites about how to test the T3 level to learn the best medicines and dosages.

The best way to test the T3 levels is through a test called the Free T3. All other testing for it is outdated. Make sure you get copies of your tests and keep a record of them. Note your symptoms at each testing so you can go back make the correlation with TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 levels.

I find it interesting that a psychiatrist is treating your hypothyroidism. Very interesting. He is a doctor so he can do it.

I have never heard of OCPD.  My father has OCD and is a hoarder, he was also diagnosed by one Dr. as Personality Disorder NOS and another as NPD.  Personality Disorders cause so much damage, both to the people manifesting and to those who are part of their inner sphere.  I am powerfully struck by how inadequately our society addresses these and other issues of (supposedly) "mental" health.  I am also struck by how profoundly our endocrine system is linked to our "mental" health but how little conversation there is between psychiatry and endocrinology.  I cannot understand it!!!

Thanks for the post and the helpful information.

A hoarder hm ... wonder if he really has OCPD. One of the hallmarks is hoarding. Each person hoards something different. With my husband it is vehicles. I have no idea why. He's got 6 and only uses three and only two of those enough to legitimately keep them. They are usually obsessed with orderliness. However, each person's orderliness manifests in a different way. My husband's is in his clothes in the closet. Everything has to be in a specific order. His aunt has this too and she can tell you exactly where her clothes are in her drawers. And I do mean exactly ... bottom drawer, right side, back, under such and such. Her entire house is like that. And you'd better put back whatever you took out and exactly where you found or she goes bananas over it. They also have a thing about cleanliness with their body. They are either super clean to an obsession or don't shower/bath enough to a smelly fault. I live with the later. And usually they have some fetish. My husband has several. I won't go into here.

[Gaining Strength]

Now that's interesting.  When my father was young - through part of his forties - his was extraordinarily orderly.  He is the only person I have witnessed who can eat a whole fish and leave the skeleton perfectly entact with not a crumb of flesh or fin in sight.  His table manners and penmanship were and are impecible.  His once kept his closet and office in perfect order and then something shifted and his world and behavior began to collapse about mid-40s and then the hoarding began and entire rooms were piled to the ceiling with newspapers and bandaid boxes and aspirin bottles.  He went from one extreme to the other.  But why not - they are simply two sides of the same coin aren't they?

Sallying - I am sorry.  I personally find personality disorders to be utterly devastating to those ensnared by them.  I wrote somewhere else today that I think them one of our greatest tradgedies of American society and they are so underdiagnosed and so little is written about them and so little is done to help those family members who are mauled and mowed over by them.  I experience it as pure devastation.

[sea storm]

This is a fascinating thread. Both the part about hypothyroidism and the one on personality disorders.  It is so true.

My sister had severe hypothyroidism that went untreated for years even though she complained to her female doctor about fatige, weight gain, depression etc. Finally, she had a pyschotic episode and was sent to a hospital in another city and she was diagnosed. It seems like something that should be tested  routinely. No doctor has ever referred her to an endocrinologist even though she takes very high doses of throid medication.
I think there is a big link between the adrenals, thyroid and depression and mood swing.

I find the importance of potassioum and magnesium makes a lot of sense too.

In the last year I have shifted many of my beliefs and ideas about counseling and mental health. Previously, I thought that everyone was amenable to help through counselling but now I don't think so. Personality disorders are a different ball game. There are more narcissistic children now and there are kids who are entrenched in anti social behaviour and the window of opportunity for helping them is barely open.  Not open enough for me to do much with limited time and resources.

Sea storm

[SallyingForth]

This is a fascinating thread. Both the part about hypothyroidism and the one on personality disorders.  It is so true.

My sister had severe hypothyroidism that went untreated for years even though she complained to her female doctor about fatige, weight gain, depression etc. Finally, she had a pyschotic episode and was sent to a hospital in another city and she was diagnosed. It seems like something that should be tested  routinely. No doctor has ever referred her to an endocrinologist even though she takes very high doses of throid medication.
I think there is a big link between the adrenals, thyroid and depression and mood swing.

Hi Sea Storm,

There's only a need to see an endocrinologist when there are complications such as co-morbid disease(s) or difficulty controlling the TSH level.

Severe hypothyroidism can cause psychosis, especially after pregnancy.

I went 30 plus years without a diagnosis. I have no doubt that my thyroid disease was caused by living under a very stressful environment with my FOO.

In the last year I have shifted many of my beliefs and ideas about counseling and mental health. Previously, I thought that everyone was amenable to help through counselling but now I don't think so. Personality disorders are a different ball game. There are more narcissistic children now and there are kids who are entrenched in anti social behaviour and the window of opportunity for helping them is barely open.  Not open enough for me to do much with limited time and resources.

Sea storm

One psychologist says that psychopath/antisocial disorder is basically untreatable. He's tried to get them into support groups and they won't participate like others. They disrupt the group, try to take over, and/or make themselves annoying.