A Health Journey - Part 1

Greetings all,

I have begun a health journey last month as I have been experiencing some health issues, namely fatigue, depression and brain fog. I have seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in the winter and it seems like now I have it year round.

I decided to see a naturopath. I was originally interested in seeing an orthomolecular pracititioner because I was learning about orthomolecular medicine which is basically about giving high dosages of various vitamins and minerals to treat health issues.

I basically felt like I was putting too much energy trying to figure out the best person to go with that I just opted to see a naturopath. It looks like there weren't too many ortho doctors in Hamilton, which is where I am temporarily.

I went to a clinic last month and spent a long time, probably 2 hours talking about my problems health wise and I felt awkward talking about myself for so long. The naturopath I saw gave me these thyroid supplements called Thyroco as he thinks I have low thyroid.

I had a physical by my doctor this year and my thyroid shows as normal but now-a-days doctors just go by tests and not by symptoms. I figured if I saw my doctor for this brain fog, low energy, fatigue and depression, she'd be unable to help me as she's already tested me for things like thyroid or B12 deficiency or sleep problems.

I did learn as I was researching a bit about the thyroid, that low thyroid can cause depression and it makes me wonder how many people really have a thyroid problem but are being treated for depression?

I did notice that my brain fog felt better with the Thyroco. I decided to stop taking it for 2 days to see what happened but I noticed I became rather tired and so I began taking it again and am feeling a bit better.

Having brain fog is by far the worst thing I could be having at this time in my life, especially since I started school in May and want to continue. My grades are not as good as they could be and I think part of that is that my brain is not performing like it normally does. With brain fog, I feel rather stupid. I feel like my brain is a bit drunk. I don't remember things very well. For example, I'll open the fridge to get something but when I do open the door, I forget what I was looking for.

I found this site http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-brain-fog.htm and it has so many other people suffering with brain fog. I could relate to everything these people were talking about because this is what I am going through. There are several potential causes for brain fog and they are:

1. Parasites eg Dientamoeba Fragilis and Blastocystis Hominis
2. Mercury Poisoning
3. Lyme Disease
4. Low Essential Fatty Acids - ALA, GLA, EPA/DHA
5. Candida
6. Low Thyroid
7. Mycoplasma - type of bacteria
8. Adrenal burnout
9. Gluten sensitivity

I decided to try a Parasite cleanse and bought Paragone. I bought it a few months ago but decided last week to try it. I have to do it for 15 days and rest for 5 and continue but using half the product to kill eggs that may be remaining from the first cleanse. I probably will not do the second cleanse because it means having to buy a second box.

On my second day on the cleanse, I did see some worm like creature. It basically looked like a giant sperm as it had a head and a tail. I didn't see eyes or anything but I think it was a worm of some sort. The next day I saw some stringy thing. Basically those were the only 2 weird things I saw.

Apparently people living in the US or in Canada can get worms/parasites and I don't know if I caught it here or while traveling. One symptom of having parasites is craving sugar and for the past few years, I have noticed an intense craving for sugar. I know sugar is addictive as well. Was I craving it because I was addicted or was it to feed worms in my body?

I do feel my cravings for sugar are gone.