The 2010 Winter Olympics Debacle

The whole month of February has been a surreal, unhappy experience for me!

To set the stage for all this, you need to understand that Armor Thyroid was reformulated at the beginning of 2009, and although it had the same amount of thyroid hormone in it, the fillers and binders inhibited the absorption of the medicine. Which means that I've been getting too little effective thyroid medicine for over a year. And then with the lack of availability of it, I've been taking a bit less than half the dose I need for more than two months.

This would usually guaranteed depression. I don't think I've really been depressed, but I will definitely say that it's been harder to keep things from getting the better of me.

On top of that, it appears that I've also been getting too little vitamin D, which can also cause SAD, and make you feel down and depressed. Not to mention the bad effect it has on bones.

So, it was in this shape that I signed up for the Knitting Olympics. You can see Stephanie's last blog post on her experience with it this time around here. If you read the whole thing, and click the list of athletes near the end of it, you can scroll down to my name and see my pathetic entry into this whole dismal failure for me.

Keep in mind that during this time period, we had a lot of snow!

It started off with me waiting longer than I should have to decide to enter, and pushed me into making a hasty decision and ordering yarn later than I should have. Even though it was late, the yarn could have arrived on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, but, sadly, no, it didn't.

Before the Olympics had even officially started, there was a death of an athlete. I'm sure you've all read about it, and during what was listed as the "Opening Ceremonies" on TV, the first hour and a half was spent on preparations for the Olympics (not opening ceremonies), and they showed video of the accident over and over. It was bad enough that he died, but I really didn't need to see how very violent the accident was over and over!

So Friday evening, I watched a selection of the opening ceremonies, and because of a malfunction in the torch mechanism, the actual lighting was delayed, and I didn't get to see the lighting of the flame. That's what I get for DVRing it without adding extra time at the end of the recording.

I consoled myself that the yarn would arrive on Monday.

That didn't last too long because I realized that Monday was Columbus Day, and everything in DC (including the mail) shuts down for that. Except, of course, the stores, which go into overdrive and have big sales. Unfortunately for them and me, I think the buses were shut down for the holiday. I didn't have the energy to walk up to the bus stop to check this theory.

Then, because of the usual incompetence of Comcast, I was forced, on Tuesday to spend more than three hours on various buses and waiting for those buses to go there in person. As usual, that didn't help much.

But it did leave me in such pain and so wiped out that I really wasn't able to do much of anything for a few days. Although the yarn arrived on Wednesday, I was so mentally foggy that I just didn't have any ideas for designing the vest that I wanted to make.

When I finally recovered enough to be up and walking, I had to go over to WalMart to get some nutritional supplements that I couldn't find anywhere and really feel bad if I don't take. So, I went there on Friday, and fell due to the snow and hurt myself pretty badly. No broken bones or major injuries, but muscles and joints that had been rudely yanked in various directions, and were thereafter determined to cause so much pain that it would teach me never to do that again! Along with bashing my head really hard on the cement! When they give you the diagnosis of Paget's Disease, they tell you to be careful and not to bump your head because it's bad for you, and can cause even more malformations of your skull than usual with the Paget's. I had some real headaches from this one!

About the time that I was beginning to realize that I would probably be able to deal with knitting soon, and should probably spend some time with my brain fog and design the charts for the cables in the vest, I found out that someone I know was missing in Vancouver. And eventually, I learned that Josh Andrew Koenig had died there. I hadn't seen him in a long time, but it still made me even sadder than I already was.

I accidentally injured some of my already injured muscles, and dragged my recovery out even more. For a while there, I wasn't really knitting at all.

Although I didn't get to see the doctor and find out the results of the vitamin D level tests she did in January, I read the list of symptoms, and it's pretty clear to me that my D levels were very low, so I tried supplements, and that has started to improve things considerably. Oh, and I did get some new thyroid medicine, so I 'm back to what is probably close to a good dose for me. Those things should improve my health, but although both things work quickly, it's not like waving a magic wand. The effects are not instant, but I'm seeing an improvement, and that's encouraging.

Around this time, Holly was finally able to find her car where it was hiding under the snow, and tried to dig it out, only to discover that a passing snow plow had not only piled lots of snow on it, but had actually hit it and smashed the left rear quarter!

And then the end of the Olympic Games. I got the see the mechanism they were using for the flame at last right at the end when they extinguished it. It really was very pretty.

Aside from the actual Olympic scores, my personal life scores were: two people dead, one someone I knew; I haven't even started my Knitting Olympics project; a patch of injury and bad health, although there's hope for the future on this one; Holly's car smashed; and a real thankfulness that it's over and that February was short.

Things have to get better from here on in, right?

During the last few days, temperatures have been going up above freezing, and the pond next to my place has changed from being solidly frozen to a shimmering pool of light when the sun comes out. It was supposed to go up to near 50 degrees yesterday, although it felt colder than that when I went out.

I did walk to the library yesterday (the sun was actually out for a while!) and to Safeway for food, and came home without that horrible ache in my bones, so maybe the vitamin D is doing some good. If it stays that way, I plan to walk more. I'm hopefully looking forward to a MD Sheep and Wool festival that I can survive without being in pain for the next two months.

We have snow flurries in the forecast for this afternoon, tonight and at least part of tomorrow. Flurries don't sound bad, but they're also using the word "storm" which, after the ton of snow we've already had makes me uneasy.

But it will be Spring soon! I can see just a few hints of it, and I've ordered some super clearance yarn for almost nothing that will make some great Spring clothing!

Welcome to Stupidity

Armor Thyroid (which is a medicine I take for hypothyroidism) was reformulated just a bit more than a year ago. Then they quit making it altogether.

I have just a little of it left, and if I can't get some soon, I will have to go without the medicine I need.

The reformulation of the medicine included changing the sugar filler for cellulose, and that might sound like a good thing, but it isn't. The tiny amount of sugar allowed many people who took it to put it under their tongue and absorb it sublingually. The new filler makes that impossible, and manages to keep the medicine from being absorbed as well. In addition to that, although I haven't found anybody who has mentioned this on line, there seems to be a very thin film covering the actual tablet. They don't make pills in the strength I need, so I have to resort to cutting pills in half. I used to be able to do that with just the tiniest bit of crumbling, but now when I do that, the two halves stick together and I have to yank them apart because they're still fastened together by the coating on the tablet. That has got to affect the ability to absorb the medicine.

What all this means is that although I'm taking the same amount that I was (according to the amount stated on the bottle), I'm not able to get all the medicine that's in the pill. So, over the past year, I've been getting too little thyroid medicine, and I've been like a clock that's running down.

Today, I hit the point where I just can't think straight anymore. I want to do things, but get distracted, can't make decisions, don't know what to do, have no ambition.

I have an appointment Thursday to see the doctor who took all those tests last month to find out how the tests came out, and what can be done.

The Armor Thyroid people have said that they will be going back to their former formulation, and that it will be available soon. In fact, it should be available now. But at this point, it's not. Neither is another brand (Naturethroid) that is the same as the original Armor formulation and which was shipped on the 28th of December from the manufacturer. I know that it takes a while. The drug goes from the manufacturer to the distributer to the drug store distributer to the individual drug store.

Whatever happens, I am going to try to get a written prescription so that I can call around and find a drug store that actually has the medicine. If worst comes to worst, maybe I can get it from Canada.

And in the meantime, I may not put up as many posts, and you've probably noticed that my posts have been less and less interesting over time.

I'm sorry. Hopefully, I'll be feeling better soon and will do better.

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I competed in the Knitting Olympics four years ago, and it was fun, even though I didn't finish my project on time! The Yarn Harlot is running it again in a very low-key way, and I have put up a comment on her blog saying that I'll compete, but I don't have a clue what I'll knit (see brain fog above).

I also want to enter the Ravelympics, but am having lots of trouble trying to decide what to make for that. The WIP Dancing event (called WIP Wrestling in the last Summer Ravelympics) sounds like a good candidate.

Just thinking about the Knitting Olympics reminds me of four years ago, when I was working on preliminary planning for Fade Out, a science fiction movie that just kind of fell apart, and never happened. I still have the script for it around here somewhere.

I need more medicine. I'm rambling. On to another topic!

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All last week, the news people were going crazy over the weather situation here. Local channels preempted regular programming and had people standing around, talking about snow for hours! There was some mention of a few snow flurries that they (then) expected today and tomorrow.

Well, now that today is here, it has suddenly changed from "a few snow flurries" to "a Winter Weather Advisory!" They've been predicting something like another 20 inches!

All this was supposed to start around noon today.

Nobody told Mother Nature.

Right around noon, the sun came almost completely out from behind the clouds, and it was sunny enough that I wore my sunglasses, and could see shadows. It's about 5 pm now, and so far, not a flake has fallen.

That's not a complaint. There's about 20 inches of snow already on the ground, and it's piled up way over my head in the places it's been plowed. Here's hoping that the weather people are totally wrong about this snow!

I did take photos of the last snowfall, and as soon as I get the energy to get the photos out of my camera and into my computer, I'll put them up here. See info on brain fog above.

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Lost is on tonight! ABC will be showing the second half to the two hours they showed last week, and following it with a new one hour episode!

There's also a brand new show on called Past Life on Fox. I don't know much about it, but I feel sorry for it that it's on Fox, a network that likes to spend money putting shows on so that it can kill the shows as soon as they develop a fan base.

And, of course, a new episode of White Collar.

I'm going to collapse for a while and try to drum up enough energy to at least be able to think a little. Maybe even have dinner.

Hope you're feeling much better than I am!

Christmas Eve Is Two Weeks from Today!

I just wrote it and I still can't believe that two weeks from today, it will be Christmas eve!

I still have so much knitting to do!

Just before I sat down to write all this, there was a knock at the door, and when I went to answer it, there was a box full of shiny yarn! Some of it is Lion Brand Festive Fur, and some is Paton's Brilliant, but it's all shiny, and it's all intended to make Christmas stockings with.

About two weeks 'till Christmas, and I still haven't made all the Christmas stockings! Well, I made some shiny Christmas stockings for Malaia and John a couple of years ago, so I don't have to do those. But I'd like to get some made for Kyle, Bob, Holly and Robin, at least. I'd like to make stockings for several other people, too, but I think that's unrealistic at this point.

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I have hypothyroidism (low thyroid function), and I got a phone call from the pharmacy yesterday. I ordered a refill on my prescription three days ago, and they called me two days ago to say that they'd run out and would have to order more, so it wouldn't be ready on time. I thought it was odd at the time. I mean I had filled a prescription with them and they knew I would be coming back for more, so why not keep it in stock?

Then yesterday they called to say that the Armor Thyroid that had been prescribed wasn't available AT ALL! The woman I spoke to said that they'd keep trying to get some more, but she didn't hold out much hope.

There are two different types of drugs for an under-active thyroid: natural hormones and synthetic (patentable) drugs.

The thyroid hormone that human bodies make includes chemicals called T1, T2, T3, and T4 as well as calcitonin and possibly others. The most popular synthetic drug (Synthroid) contains T4. The argument for the synthetic drug is that T4 is kind of a "holding" substance, and can be converted to T3 (which is the active ingredient that your body actually uses) in a body with a healthy endocrine system. Since it's only given to people who are already proven to have endocrine systems that are malfunctioning, as you might expect, some people just can't convert T4 to T3 well or at all, and Synthroid is about as useful to those people in solving their thyroid problems as drinking a glass of water. The further argument for synthetic drugs is that researchers haven't been able to discover a use in the body for T1 and T2, so they have come to the illogical conclusion that they don't do anything, and therefore, don't need to be in the drug given to people. Of course, if they put all those things into the drug, it wouldn't be patentable, and they wouldn't be able to charge the big bucks.

Calcitonin, by the way is also marketed as a drug to deal with osteoporosis and Pagets disease. I have Pagets, by the way (in my skull0, and I'm working on osteporosis, so this is important to me. A large amount of Calcitonin gives me horrible headaches, so I don't really want to take the very expensive drug form of it, but I suspect that the bit that's in the natural hormone helps. And, of course, that's not in the synthetic.

The problem here seems to be Big Brother. In all it's wisdom, the FDA is jealous of the small amount of money that the manufacturers of Armor Thyroid and the two other natural thyroid drugs are making and they want those profits for the manufacturer of Synthroid (and more, since Synthroid costs a lot more), so they're coming up with the idea that the natural hormones that have been safely in use since the 1930s (closing in on 100 years) are "new drugs" and have to go through the whole certification process from scratch! They're overlooking the fact that almost all doctors who actually have hypothyroidism have tried Synthroid, and switched to a natural thyroid medicine because they found out how BAD Synthroid makes them feel!

They're also proving once again, that they couldn't care less what they do to US citizens' health, as long as they get their bribes and help the drug companies harm us. At least I can't think of any other good reason why they'd do such a thing!

So, the plan is to find out if any other natural hormone is available, and if so, get a revised prescription from my doctor so that I can get that. Failing that, I need to get a new prescription and send it to a pharmacy in Canada or Europe, where these drugs are still available because doctors there are out to cure or help people rather than make lots of money for big drug companies!

As a matter of fact, if I lived in Europe, all I'd have to do is go to a doctor and he'd prescribe an antibiotic for my ulcerative colitis, and I'd be cured. But, unfortunately for me, I live in the US, and doctors here would rather tell me it's incurable and prescribe a drug that costs $400 per month (well it did nine years ago, it's probably more now) and doesn't do much of anything.

Lucky for me, I talked to someone who grew up in England, and he told me what doctors prescribe there: multi-minerals in a sublingual form. I can't find them in sublingual form, so it took longer for it to help, but multi-mineral tablets (at just under $10 per month) do a much better job than the expensive drug (Asacol)! In fact, they make the UC act like it's not there, which Asacol never did.

I HATE the FDA!

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I have so many things that I'd like to get done today that there's no way that I can possibly do them all. The day just isn't that long.

I need to do something about getting some more natural thyroid medicine, pick up the books I ordered at the library, go try to get the shoes I want, get to WalMart and get some new jeans as well as the vitamins, minerals and OTC stuff I've replace all my prescription medication with, and a trip to the grocery store would be helpful. Since I have to do any traveling on the bus, that's way more than I can do in one day.

And I have to knit those presents!

So have a great evening and enjoy all the reruns on TV tonight!