I was thirty-seven and I had just given birth to my daughter. Within a month I began to have a slew of symptoms. My hair began to fall out in handfuls and I was cold all the time. I was extremely sleepy most days. Memory issues kept me from recalling my bank card passwords. I had brittle nails, trouble swallowing, dizziness upon standing, heartburn, constipation and I slurred my words when I spoke. I was a mess. It was time for a doctor’s visit. She tested my TSH, said I was fine and offered to write me a prescription for anti-depressants and sent me on my way. Flabbergasted and in awe of her ignorance, I declined the drugs and knew that I was on my own to heal myself. I knew that most drugs treat the symptoms and not the source of the problem, and I certainly knew my issues stemmed from something physical and not mental.
Research became an obsession. My mother had been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in her forties and I learned that she had had similar symptoms, so I thought that I might have it too. But my mother was taking a synthetic drug and I didn’t want to take drugs if I didn’t have to. I knew my body was out of balance and so developed a huge appetite for knowledge, researching every chance I got, and when I wasn’t incredibly tired while raising a baby, and managing a household. Through my research and after asking a lot of questions I discovered iodine.
What finally saved my life was the iodine protocol. I learned that what western medicine calls Hypothyroidism or low thyroid hormone, is actually bromide toxicity. What this means is that I had Hypothyroidism, which is treated typically by being prescribed synthetic thyroid hormone, so your body has enough. But through this approach no one is asking the question, why am I deficient in thyroid hormone in the first place? And is a synthetic substitute the healthiest choice?
I was suffering from environmental toxicity which decreased the production of thyroid hormone in my body. And so I began a long journey to detox the bromide from my body. As I did, I cured myself of all my symptoms. After three months I began to get my brain back. It took that long to begin to feel better, but fourteen years later I remain on the iodine protocol, (going off it occasionally) because we are constantly being exposed to bromide in our environment and so we need to keep detoxing it.
Interested in natural and integrative medicine and plants as medicine since my twenties, I studied many books and the internet to try and determine what was wrong. My symptoms were common with Lyme Disease, Cancer, Wilson’s Syndrome, Adrenal Stress Disorder, and others. I reached out to my sister as she too was interested in natural medicine. Her hair had been thinning for years and she read that iodine was helpful. And so I began to research Iodine which has been an important cure for many illnesses for over one hundred years.
Up and down, through this journey of sadness and joy, frustration, fear, trial and error, I created a pathway towards healing. A shift occurred in how I saw myself, from helpless to a healer, as one does not need to attend med school to be a healer. After all, all healing is self-healing. My confidence grew and I became unafraid to try new things, different herbs and vitamins and protocols. Now when my family or I am not well, I know there are some things that I can do to heal us.
This I found, was a much more powerful place to stand than the me I used to be, who would make a doctors appointment and more often than not, be told that they could do nothing to help me. I had to wait around feeling terrible and living out of hope. When you get frustrated enough waiting around for others to fix something, and they don’t, you eventually figure it out for yourself. Now I have many cures in my medicine chest. I read more, reject the fear-based medical practices of today that scare people into harsh treatments, and use preventative medicine which allows me to be self-reliant, and not a passive spectator in my ability to heal. And when I get sick, I don’t live out of fear of the unknown for very long. Never having had a career that I was truly passionate about accept motherhood, I had toyed with the idea of creating this site for the past sixteen years. Because getting well means getting educated about the many treatments this world has to offer. If I can help make one person’s journey easier, then my time on planet earth will feel better spent.
The purpose of this site is an exchange of information, driven by patient recommendations, sharing what has worked for you in your journey towards wellness. I plan to compile an encyclopedia of herbs and supplements. And in addition to a blog, I request that people email me at ali@unarmed-observation.flywheelstaging.com sharing their stories of which practitioner, protocol, supplement, herb or combination helped them to heal from an ailment or illness. Eventually, with public input, we will develop a phonebook of practitioners, locally and eventually globally, a free resource and compilation of ideas that are held in one place, unarmed-observation.flywheelstaging.com. My hope is that healing comes easier for those that are suffering and don’t have the time or ability to spend hours trying to find the answers to what ails them.
In speaking with others I have found that those who use natural medicine, have grown up with it, already using it in their daily lives. Those who primarily rely on western medicine often continue to. I am not interested in changing anyone’s mind. Simply put, I wish to collect knowledge and information and share it for your enrichment. If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn’t then throw it away. Different things work for different people. As in life, we try new things at our own risk. I encourage everyone to take responsibility for their own health. These days we have so much freedom: to order and perform our own labs at home, use our computers as a research library, connect with people on the other side of the globe, and administer our own medicine. What is called cutting edge medicine is what native people have been using to treat and prevent illness for thousands of years: sea life, plants, bones, berries, music, meditation, and even worms. There is no room for close-mindedness in the healing process when you are committed to achieving optimal health.
Email me your stories of healing wisdom for publication on unarmed-observation.flywheelstaging.com.
Email: ali@unarmed-observation.flywheelstaging.com
Please see “The Iodine Protocol” menu for more detailed information as well as the other sites in that section.
In Health
Alison Trotta-Marshall
Research: http://www.optimox.com/iodine-study-14
