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Inspirational song: Helpless (Hamilton)

I brought this on myself. I mean, it was out of desperation, after being told there is no treatment for the symptoms of Hashimoto's unless I present with a clearly elevated TSH. I would say I was back at zero, but there is a new sense of urgency when the ultrasound two weeks ago came back as NAFLD, or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It seems that all those years (10+) of me saying hey, my stomach hurts right here [points at liver] meant that there was something wrong with it. I even had a gastroenterologist run an ultrasound of it three years ago, and he mostly shrugged and said he had no idea why it hurt, and here, take these pills to stop stomach spasms that will give you horrible side effects.

I'm still coming to grips with what the liver thing means, but early googling is giving me the idea that it is closely tied to the Hashimoto's. So much so that when I bought a book on the way home from the disinterested endocrinologist on Friday, the first thing the book calls for is a two-week liver cleanse. That day I started drinking more water, and haven't had juice or soda since. I drank half the normal amount of coffee over the weekend, and did not put any sugar in it. Yesterday I bought a bunch of greens, nut milks, and fruits for smoothies, and a filtered water pitcher. Today is what I consider the official start date of the two weeks.

First off, let the record reflect that I hate smoothies. I always have. I am okay with milkshakes, and the occasional cherry slushie. But thick, stringy, weird tasting goo? Yuck. I prefer to chew my food. I'm glad to eat all of my veggies. I don't need them hidden in sludge. But I'm playing along, and trying to do this as directed.

Today was rough. Really rough. I was fine giving up a lot of the food groups. Gluten? Been clean for 7.5 years. Dairy? Well, I don't want to, but I can handle it for a few weeks to see whether it helps. Soy, I never liked anyway, and alcohol isn't hard to skip. I know how important it is to lose the sugar, no matter how much that one hurts. But what is really rough today is the coffee. Two days to step down wasn't gentle enough. I have been walking around today as gingerly as if I had just had major surgery on two thirds of my whole body. I wore jammies all day, and slept hard this afternoon. My head hurts, and I have almost no appetite. I know it will get better soon, but waiting this part out sucks.