Beating Back the Beast - Day 5

I'm not sure what I did differently yesterday but the beast has been rather subdued today. Something about my workout last night or maybe the fact I only ate a little salad for dinner, had me buzzing last night. So much so I couldn't get to sleep. This is abnormal for me to say the least, usually it is a matter of staying awake that is the issue, I enjoyed the extra energy. I am going to trial this salad in the evening thing and see what results I get. Not every evening but that should give me a better indicator as to whether it was the salad or just an anomaly that gave me all of the energy.

This morning though, it was hard to get out of bed after not getting to sleep until late, but once up and into it I was ecstatic to realise my body was not crippled with pain as it had been all week. Yes I had a few tight muscles from my previous nights work out but that was to be expected. The rest of my body was surprisingly loose. 

My workout today was again my stretch program and also a short walk with several of the dogs. I got the boys out for another walk to keep their minds off the girls who are still wearing their inappropriate perfume. Lovely now to be out on a beautiful spring evening. Today's video is just a break-fall, I'm just happy to be able to do one and get back up.

Beating Back the Beast - day 4

The Beast is angry!!!! I am not sure if there is one muscle or connective tissue in my body that isn't screaming at me today. Apparently the Beast will not be beaten back easily, but am I going to give up? HELL NO! You have had your time Beast it is my time again now. I am not listening to you. I am making plans, I am going to get my life back again. You can have your tantrums and you can throw your worst at me, I am sure you intend to anyway but I also will not be beaten back down. I am taking back my life. I can be just as bloody minded as you can be.

I did'nt work out during the day today, I know my limits but I did work out. Today was class so my workout was in class. I struggled through reps but I beat the Beast to complete two 7 minute circuits. I was proud of my full minute plank, as I haven't done one for some time. There are always little wins along the way, that was mine for today.

Also have been making some decisions on the career front and was discussing with a friend how I would love to make a living writing. She is a writer/editor she told me to just do it, sounds easy, lol . Not long after talking with her I checked my emails to see the NZ Society of Authors is having a seminar in two weeks. Guess who has signed up for it. Now to jump back into the battle of finding food I can take with me that will feed my brain and not my Hashi's. The struggle is real. I will win this one too.

My video today is from one of the stations on the circuit tonight.

Beating Back the Beast - day 3

Day three did not get off to an auspicious start. Sleep had been patchy thanks to the inflammation that took its grip of my body during the dark hours before dawn. Everything ached and I could not lie in one position for long at all. This was not helped by Monsieur Clawed the resident Birman cat who kept coming to check on me and tickling my face with his whiskers. When he wasn't sleeping on my feet intensifying the pain and discomfort.

With the Beast fighting back with all it had I decided to make today a stretch day. I have a program I use that covers every muscle group and takes around an hour. A work out in itself but at the end you feel like you have had a massage, mmmmm just what my body needed. I still found it hard to actually commit to this until late afternoon but wished I had done it earlier after I had completed it. I feel so much better now.

I suppose today would be as good a day as any to give you a little insight into why at this moment in time I am proceeding with my battle against Hashimoto's without the help of the medical profession. As I said from the outset I have had this condition since I was in my very early twenty's. It took until I was 45 for anyone to actually test me for Hashi's and to come up with a diagnosis for me. This was not my primary health care Dr, but an integrated Dr I began seeing who I had heard worked with people with my symptoms.

She ran a whole raft of tests on me and discovered my thyroid antibodies were over 2600. I did some research,  they are supposed to be between 0 and 50. This was not looking good. I will not go into all the treatment I received  as I just want to explain why I have no Dr at this point in time. The treatment I received though was not very successful but I feel that is because the Dr wanted me to broaden my diet. I was eating dairy at this time. Things really did not improve at all.

At one point this Dr, in an effort to save me money told me to go to my GP( Primary healthcare Dr) to have scripts renewed as it was costing me a lot every time I had to see her. My GP had been kept apprised of everything that was being done. To my regret I followed her advice. My GP was not in anyway supportive of the fact I had sought help elsewhere and was more interested in defending the fact she had never tested me for this condition. She kept saying it should not have been tested for because my thyroid levels were within the normal range.

Ummmm 'Hello', It was tested for and discovered that I do in fact have high levels of antibodies. I have a problem. I was very low that day, very low! I sat in her office and had her talk down to me and tell me firstly I should not have been tested and secondly that I should not be on the natural hormone as it was dangerous! This told me all I needed to know about her level of understanding of this disease. I apparently knew more than she did. I almost begged her that day to help me. She said she would be writing to the Thyroid Clinic on my behalf. I left feeling a little better about her, thinking maybe she was on my side after all.  I really am a naive soul.

Some weeks later I received a phone call from the integrated Dr who had been treating me. Apparently my GP had written to the Thyroid clinic just as she had said she would. What she wrote was that she believed in this country they do not treat Hashimoto's and she felt the drugs I had been given were dangerous and should not be prescribed. The integrated Dr now wanted to step away from my case. I could hear in her voice she was concerned for her career. This left me with the option of going back to my GP, who by her own admission would not treat me.

For the last three years I have not seen a Dr. I was very ill with the flu last year but could not bring myself to go to a health care professional, and I use that term loosely who refused to treat the condition that plagues my life. I received a letter from her clinic the other day stating I had not seen the Dr in three years did I want to remain on their books or had I found another Dr. WOW! I still cannot find a way to talk with these people civilly so have not informed them that I no longer have a Dr or more correctly one who gives a damn about my health. I guess I will have to pick up that pen one day and get my records sent here to me.

I don't have a photo from today so will post another video from last night

Beating Back The Beast - day 2

I have a confession to make. Over the weekend I did not manage to curb the sugar intake. Because of this my muscles are now screaming at me. Today I have pulled back on the sugar but have not gone cold turkey. I know very well if I do it will create a crash and I will turn into the monster from hell, if, that is I am not completely crashed out and sleeping. I more than halved my intake of sugar today and will cut back further tomorrow.

On the training side of things I did not run today. Another thing I have learned over the years is the Beast will punish me if I repeat train the same muscles on a daily basis. Already my calf muscles are knotting, so I am mixing up my workouts. Today we were back at class after the holidays so it was a boxing and a core workout today. Love putting on the gloves and doing boxing drills.

Something I do not love though is seeing myself on video, especially when I have been in the grip of the beast for so long.  I am heavy at the moment and hopefully I can change that. It is not something that sits well with me. I am used to being fit, okay I never had a six pack but I was happy in my skin. Today I am not happy in my skin. This has to change. Onward and upward.

Beating Back the Beast - day one

The alarm went this morning and I gave a silent groan. It was only degrees 3C outside and my bed was so warm. One of the nasty little tricks the beast plays on the body is to lower the core temperature. So morning temperatures in the midst of a flare up are around 35C about 2.5 degrees below normal. So the sufferer of Hashimoto's is almost always cold. One of the things that drives my husband mad is that I will be wearing my puffer jacket in 24C while everyone else is in shorts and t-shirts. Suffice it to say it is extremely hard to drag my sorry butt out of bed when the temperature outside is below 10C.

But I did drag myself from my bed and I swapped my fleecey P.J's for my lightweight training clothes. I did my usual karate loosen up and then I grabbed my running partners and headed out to the forest. Now my partners were not all that willing. They wanted to stay at the house, why? Because of the cold? No....because they are male hounds and the female hounds of the house are wearing their wonderful perfume the stuff that drives the boys wild. Finally I was able to convince them that a brisk run in the  morning air was just what the needed to work off their frustrations.

As we walked over to the forest the beast  reminded me of its presence. My joints ached and quite a few muscles called out their discomfort. I pushed back at the beast and told it these little things would not
stop me.

Together my partners and I walked and ran 1.6 k's this morning in the frigid air. My hands only just thawing out as I made my walk back across the paddock to house. I was definitely walking slower on the walk back. The last two runs were not much more than shuffling but I had survived it. I had beaten the beast today.

The boys on the other hand were moving much faster on their trip back to the house and their lovely smelling ladies. I did a silent eye roll and wished for their energy and enthusiasm.

Fighting back at 50 and beating back the Beast!

On the twenty third of April 2017 I will reach the inauspicious milestone of fifty. As someone who has always looked to challenges and goals to motivate myself I have been finding this milestone a particularly troublesome one. You see not only am I turning fifty but I am also clocking up nearly thirty years with the auto immune disorder Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and for the last five years I have been struggling to win the daily battle with my monster.

I realise I have to go completely AIP (Auto Immune Paleo) with my diet if I am to conquer this beast but I have struggled to find a goal to give me the day to day motivation to beat it down and stick to this gruelling protocol.

 Today I may have found my new challenge.

The last time I beat this beast into submission was when I wanted to attain my black belt in martial arts. I became very strict on my diet and worked through the daily pain and fatigue to attain my goals. Not only did
I reach my goals but my life became enriched by beating back the beast. I was able for the first time in over 15 years to participate in life and not just watch it go by without me.If there is one thing Hashimoto's will do it is to rob you of life and the ability to enjoy it. It steals your joy. I had taken back my joy.

In September of 2010 Canterbury was struck by the first of many large earthquakes. At the time I pushed through, I denied the stress I was under and I self medicated with chocolate and dairy products to help me combat the constant stress and anxiety the quakes invoked. In doing so I gave Hashimoto's all the ingredients it needed to insidiously take back control of my life and to put me in a permanent state of limbo once more.

I tried to fight back but the harder I fought the more my stress levels rose and the further I slipped back into the beasts grip. Then came the procrastination and the giving into the pain and the fatigue. It was all becoming too hard again. I was now writing and working on book projects, this allowed for me to sit at a computer and to excuse my lack of activity.

I struggled through teaching at my club and dragged myself through every class, physically and mentally. I wanted it to change but could not see past the pain. Another of the physical difficulties I face with the beast is I cannot do anything for more than a few reps. I can never truly even sit still as my muscles and joints will ache and scream at me if they are positioned in one place for too long. So I was beginning to lose hope of ever conquering the beast again.

This year though I discovered the AIP protocol and have had some success. Dairy is gone again and OMG how much better my body feels. I have more stamina but sugar has to go too. This one is a tough one, this is my addiction. This is my shame! I know that I should be stronger than this mentally but when my blood sugars crash and I want to tear the head of the first person who enters my vicinity I find it is more pleasant for every one if I am "medicated" with sugar.

Today I have found my challenge.

I have found the goal to motivate me, to get me through the turning fifty blues. I marshalled today at the Salmon Run. It is an relatively new event. There are several different event categories you can choose from to challenge you and take you outside your comfort zone. I marshalled on the long run which also took in the Duathlon and Multi sport competitors. I watched people of all abilities and ages run past me, from the uber competitive athletes to the people of much more advanced age than I. Instead of feeling resentful that the beast had held me down I felt inspired to once more tame it, beat it down and ride it to the finish line.

So here is my fighting fit at fifty challenge I am throwing down to myself. I am going to train for the next twelve months for this event. I know the beast is going to try and thwart me and with that in mind I am not going to commit to the 13k race yet. I will train for it and will do everything in my power to beat the beast but if I should not be truly victorious over it by October next year, I will do the 6k race instead.

Follow my journey here, I am going to share with you the trials and the tribulations of my journey. As a Martial Arts coach my career has been spent motivating and inspiring others to achieve the best they can be. Here I want to inspire myself and others not to give up, to keep fighting back. We all face trials in our lives, it is what makes the journey an interesting one but sometimes we need inspiration, we need to see that others too struggle, fall down and pick themselves back up again.

I prefer my privacy but I know having you all here watching and supporting me I will have a much better chance of beating back the beast. I need any advantage I can get in my battle, I will fall and I
will most certainly gripe about it but if there is one thing Martial Art has given me, it is the tenacity to never give up while there is breath in my body.

Fighting back at 50 and beating back the Beast!

Review Battle for Arohanui by Nina Atkinson

Battle for Arohanui review (Spoilers)

www.amandavanvliet.co.nz Before you dive into the review, you should probably know what type of reader I am. I am 13 years old and am obsessed with reading. I particularly enjoy books part of the Fantasy and Sci fi genres. I also enjoy reading books based on true events.

The Battle for Arohanui is an exciting and beautifully written fantasy adventure for readers of all ages. It is full of colourful characters, amazing landscapes and has a plot that will excite the imagination.

One of the many things that I loved about this book was its overall world and premise. I loved that instead of using typical, fantasy creatures such as humans, elves or ogres, van Vliet has created her own unique and special world unlike any other I've read or seen. The book takes place in the magical land of Arohanui, a world inhabited by the peaceful, but powerful goats, and their protectors are the Wolfhounds of the Royal House of Kuri te Aroha, who live in a magical kingdom with faeries and other woodland creatures. There are tons of fascinating and unique creatures, such as the fast talking haggises, to the gentle, lake dwelling womanatees. During the prologue of this book, van Vliet has made sure that we understand how the land of Arohanui works, and does an excellent job at setting the stage for the main storyline to take place.

The second thing I loved about this book were its characters. I absolutely fell in love with the characters such as the main heroine, Bridie, her mother and queen, Millie, and the charming knight Dumfrees. All these characters are relatable and well thought out, which personally is very important to any book I read. I hate it when I have to follow characters who I can't relate to, but van Vliet has made sure that that will never happen. With every victory the hounds had I felt their joy, as well as their sadness during times of tragedy. I also loved the villains too. The first antagonist we are introduced to (spoilers), is the vicious she-dragon, the queen of dragons responsible for the tragic, womanatee massacre that caused the Morosium, a grieving song sung by the surviving womanatees that causes any listener to spiral into sadness. The prologue does an amazing job at showing what a truly black hearted creature the she-dragon is, and she immediately becomes the one you root against as the story progresses. During the dragon's dialogue, all her s's are extended into a long hiss, making her seem less human and more reptilian. This was another thing I really liked about this character because her unique style of dialogue made her seem even more alien and evil. Our second antagonist is Gal En Skasrend, the God of evil. This character is truly something else. He has no permanent, physical form. Instead, he takes the form of his attacker's worst fear. This element makes him even more terrifying than even the she-dragon, and van Vliet makes sure that the reader fears him just as much as the hounds do.

The overall narrative of this book was amazing too. It is written in such a way that, despite the complex plot, the book remains easy to follow and suitable for young readers like myself. Another thing that I liked was the fact that the book ended on a cliff hanger (I will not spoil it for you, don't worry!) This cliffhanger kind of annoyed me though, because I am literally DYING to find out what happens next!!!!!!

Overall, the Battle for Arohanui is a wonderful addition to the fantasy genre. It is a book suitable for all ages and is truly worth reading. I can't wait for the next book!!!!!

www.amandavanvliet.co.nz