In January my upper left eyelid started twitching off and on. It was irritating, and three weeks later it was frustrating. There was a week where my hair was falling out a lot in the shower and I had this weird metallic taste in my mouth. That was short lived, and I chalked it up to a change in my diet. I don’t frequent the doctor but the twitch starting to affect me as more than just a minor inconvenience. I had a hard time focusing, felt like I had to blink a lot, had a couple of headaches.
So, I made an appointment.
I called and just asked to see whoever was available on a Friday to accommodate my work schedule. I haven’t lived in this area for long and hadn’t built a relationship with a specific doctor. So, it really didn’t matter for me except that I didn’t want to take time off of work.
I had my appointment on January 29th. The doctor I saw started off the conversation asking me why I didn’t see my primary care physician. Apparently, I was assigned one and I had never met them. The conversation felt strange. The doctor kept asking me questions as if I was making things up. Like I was there for a really dumb reason which, was frustrating. But I thought, “maybe this is dumb, it is just an eye twitch.”
I had some blood tests done and the doctor sent me a very short email:
“All labs are normal. Take vitamin D supplement.”
Well. Okay. Even though my vitamin D was actually in range, and I take 10,000 IUs already. Which I had told the doctor.
Two more weeks and my eye was still twitching. I had played a hockey game as goalie and I told CJ, “I let a few goals in that I really shouldn’t have. I had a very hard time focusing this game. Even during a pretty easy shot, my attention just wasn’t there this game.” I laughed and shrugged it off, “I guess I am just getting old. Everyone has games like that.”
But it kept happening. And my eye kept twitching. And I still couldn’t focus
on work. And I was feeling more anxious and irritable than normal. I could feel my emotions more strongly it seemed. Something about one irritating thing, makes you pay a little more attention to the rest of the irritating things.
I tried eye drops, ice, heat, and compression. I wore my blue light blockers when I was on my computer or while on my phone. Still no change.
So, I wanted a second opinion. I scheduled another appointment with a different doctor. I told him the same things, “My eye has been twitching for almost two months. It seems to me giving me headaches and it’s making it hard for me to focus at work.”
“Well, are you under a lot of stress?” The doctor asked.
“I mean, I am a mom of two young kids, I work a full-time job, and I own a business. So, I guess I have some stress in my life. But I eat well, I work out regularly, I do things that I enjoy, I walk every day and use that time to breathe, and I don’t drink alcohol or watch much television. I have stress, but I think I manage it well.”
He responded, “Well your lab work is all normal. I will prescribe you a muscle relaxer that may or may not help. If it doesn’t, I’d suggest seeing an Ophthalmologist.”
I challenged him on that. “I don’t like the idea of my health being just ‘normal’, I want to be optimal.”
He said, “Your lab work is better than normal. Even a Ferrari gets a bug on its windshield every once in a while.”
He called me a Ferrari. That’s nice. Okay. So, I tried the muscle relaxers. I slept well, but no change with the eye twitch. So, I went to the Ophthalmologist.
“Well, are you under a lot of stress?” The doctor asked.
“I mean, I am a mom of two young kids, I work a full-time job, and I own a business. So, I guess I have some stress in my life. But I eat well, I work out regularly, I do things that I enjoy, I walk every day and use that time to breathe, and I don’t drink alcohol or watch much television. I have stress, but I think I manage it well.”
He says, “Okay. Well, you have 20/20 vision! Everything looks great! The weather is changing, and you likely just have some dry eyes. Use eye drops 4 times a day for the next month and then come back in if that doesn’t work.” I told him I had already tried that. But I had only used them twice a day so apparently doubling that amount was going to do the magic trick.
In the meantime, I had also purchased a glucometer at the direction of one of my coaches. I took my fasting blood glucose the morning of my check-ins.
March 13th, fasting blood glucose = 55 mg/dL. “Huh, well that’s a bit low.” For reference, normal fasting blood glucose is 70-99 mg/dL. Anything less than 70 is typically considered hypoglycemic. I made sure my glucometer was calibrated and in range. It was.
For the next couple of weeks, I checked it more often: 59, 108, 105, 86, 66, 54, 57, 56, 61, 60, 130, 59, 64. Out of 13 checks, only one was within the “normal” range. I even took a few readings an hour and two hours after eating: 61 (45 minutes after a meal with turkey, kale, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and eggs), 69 (1 hour after salami, cheese, rice cakes, and a no bake cookie), 74 (2 hours after pizza).
Throughout this whole situation I had been communicating all of this with my nutrition coach. She had recommended that I see a naturopath and strongly suggested that I ask to have a full thyroid panel ran. The previous doctors only checked my TSH and it was right in the middle of the reference range. I was skeptical and my insurance didn’t cover a naturopath but at this point, I didn’t care. I made the appointment in February but couldn’t get in to see her until April 14th.
The intake form was extensive! It asked me every question imaginable. Luckily, they sent it to me before my appointment because it took an hour to fill out.
Reason for visit? “Eye twitch.”
My consult with her was also extensive. We talked for over an hour about my medical history and symptoms before she started her actual exam. I asked her if she could do a full thyroid panel and she agreed. She told me that I likely had an absorption problem and I need to do some gut healing. I likely wasn’t absorbing potassium. I also had symptoms of adrenal fatigue. She could hear that in my heartbeat.
I was happy to have more of an answer and I started working on the protocol she gave me. I started taking the potassium supplements she recommended, and the eye twitch decreased! I was so relieved! I had my blood work done a week later.
The eye twitch had decreased but I still felt… off. Something about one irritating thing, makes you pay a little more attention to the rest of the irritating things.
I sent a text to CJ. “My anxiety is through the roof today. But I’m not actually sure if it is anxiety or my heart rate/beat.” He says, “Why!?” My response, “I have no idea. Mentally, I feel fine. I’m caught up at work and with coaching. I’m happy with you and the kids. I’m caught up with my other certifications and stuff around the house. I have no idea. My heart feels like it’s racing and it’s like someone is squeezing my windpipe…”
Two hours later my naturopath called. “Your lab tests came back, and I wanted to talk to you about them. We checked your TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Thyroglobulin antibodies, and T. Peroxidase antibodies. You TSH is spot on, right in the middle of the range (1.55 uIU/mL). Your Free T4 was also good and in the middle of the range (1.15 ng/dl). Your Free T3 is what we call ‘suboptimal’, so a bit low (2.8 pg/mL). The part that is interesting, and I have seen this a few times now, is your thyroid antibodies. Your Peroxidase antibodies were elevated (41 IU/mL) and your Thyroglobulin antibodies were also elevated (284 IU/mL). You have Hashimoto’s or chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.”
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease. I already have celiac which is another autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which your own immune system mistakenly attacks your body.
My body is attacking itself. Like I said, I KNEW something was wrong…
I am lucky to be a Functional Nutrition Practitioner because I knew that I would need all of that knowledge to navigate these next steps.
Advocate for yourself. You know YOU better than anybody else. And if you need someone to help you advocate for you, I am always here for that! Listen to your body and take care.
Liz
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