Good News, Bad News and Eggs News

The Good News
My TSH is normal.  My T3 and T4 hormone levels were normal.  It was good news to find this out last week but it still didn't solve my problem of inability to lose weight.  I was expecting the worst and assumed it had to be that even though I had no other hypothyroid symptoms, unless you count fatigue.  From all the research I did on a disease I was expecting to have it is a terrible thing to deal with.  I'm really glad I don't have to.  I do wonder why the TSH blood spot test that I did at home came back high.  Maybe it changed?  Maybe it never was? At any rate according to my results it's all normal.  If I had other symptoms besides weight gain and hadn't discovered what I think has been causing the problem I would purse other tests because the ones that she was willing to do don't always tell the whole picture.

The Bad News
She did a HGBA1C test since my dad is diabetic.  The normal range is 4.8-5.6% and my result was 5.9%.  I tested high in August too.  Apparently anything over that range is considered pre-diabetic.  At 5.9% I'm still considered borderline.  I exercise.  I eat right.  I've never been overweight.  How the hell am I pre-diabetic?  What pisses me off the most is that no one even called me to discuss it.  If your results are out of range wouldn't you expect a nurse to call to let you know what that means or if you need to do anything about it?  Then, when I e mailed my doctor to ask she replies with this generic response.

Your blood sugar test result shows a level that is higher than the normal range but not high enough to be called diabetes. This is called prediabetes. People with prediabetes have a high risk of developing diabetes in the future. Approximately 5% of people with prediabetes become diabetic every year. Although diabetes is a serious disease we know it can be prevented if we act right away. Research studies of people with prediabetes have shown that even a small amount of weight loss by healthy eating and increased physical activity can lower your risk of developing diabetes up to 60%.  Think about some changes you can begin making now to enhance your well-being.  Even small changes can help you develop habits that will improve or maintain your health throughout your life.  I am confident that you will be able to make some changes in your life to lower your risk of diabetes. If you would like to talk with a health educator to help you make life changes, please call Member Health Education. 

Oh, thanks for letting me know that I am pre-diabetic and had she bothered to look at my chart she would see that I am not overweight nor have I ever been.  When I was at my doctor appointment she acted confused when I said I had gained 20 lbs over the last two years.  She says, "You are in perfect weight for your height," but of course she didn't remember that.  I also told her that I eat healthy and exercise, in fact that for the last four weeks I cut out all but meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs and nuts and exercised 5-6 days a week. What small changes is she confident I can make?  Even more annoying is that apparently if your HgBa1c is high then you should have a fasting glucose test.  I did the random that day but the fasting is more accurate.  She didn't even bother to check to see that I hadn't had a fasting glucose since 2010 or say that I should have it so I emailed her back and requested it.  It's just annoying how doctors don't really seem to care about you.  I just switched primary's too because my original doctor was like a damn robot.  She had no bedside manner and it was like talking to a wall.  I might switch again.  I'm so glad it's free and maybe that's why nobody cares.  I have the free HMO because the one that isn't free costs an arm and a leg.  Thank god the doctor who did my hysterectomy was AMAZING and that I had a good experience with that.  My random Glucose test was normal and hopefully she'll add the fasting (plus all the other tests I made her add to address my fatigue) and then we, or should I say I will go from there.  I've heard it before and it's so true.  You really do have to be your own advocate because a lot of doctor's don't care until it becomes a full blown illness and even then you still have to be vigilant. 

Eggs
Last week in my 4th week of whole30 with not a single pound lost.  I was beyond frustrated and confused so I got to thinking.  I've cut out just about everything, but what is the one thing that has remained constant in my diet for the last year?  Eggs.  So I decided to quit eating eggs on Tuesday.  That night my stomach appeared oddly flat.  Like freakishly flat.  Ever since my surgery I've had this thing where it's not exactly bloat because it doesn't hurt nor is it uncomfortable but it's like I can't suck my stomach in really hard.  It's still flat, but it won't go concave and not ultra flat like it used to.  In the morning sometimes, but always by the end of the day my belly just had sort of a thickened appearance, like gas or bloating.  That night it remained flat and by Wednesday I had gone from flip-flopping between 139-140 to 138 lbs.  I knew it had to be a fluke and that after Saturday when I quit eating Whole30 I would gain 2 lbs over night.  I had toast with peanut butter on it and coffee in the morning.  We had a picnic for my husband's birthday so then I had a giant Italian sub and wine.  Dinner was at home hamburger off the grill and chips.  I was at like, 1,900 calories for the day.  The next day.  No gain.  I was SHOCKED.  One week later and I'm down to 136.4 and my hunger has decreased a lot.  That's almost 4 lbs in a week which is basically a miracle when you consider that for the last year all I've done is gain despite my very best efforts and I haven't been 136 since January.

It looks like I have an egg sensitivity.  When I got that meal plan in May 2015 eggs were on it.  I've been eating them almost daily ever since and they've been making me fat.  It's the only explanation I can come up with considering the drop just one week after quitting them.  I think somewhere along the way my weight gain transitioned  from the result of metabolic issues from disordered eating to a result of egg sensitivity.  At some point my belly roundness transitioned from being because of my surgery to because of eggs.  Apparently, Eggs is an inflammatory food (other culprits could be gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, soy, nuts, nightshades [tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, and eggplant], citrus, yeast[baker’s, brewer’s yeast, and fermented products like vinegar], and if you have a sensitivity (even if not an allergic response) your body could still be sensitive and have an inflammatory response when your immune system tried to fend it off that can cause you to retain fat and make it impossible to lose weight.  Eating one of those foods daily can also trigger a problem.  I have an iron stomach.  I can eat anything so I never in a million years imagined I would be sensitive to a food.  I can't believe my efforts for at least the last four months have probably been totally sabotaged because of Eggs.  Damn eggs!!  Well, at least that is the theory I'm working with right now.  Even if I don't lose another pound it's a huge weight off my back to know that I don't have to face a future of inexplicably getting bigger and bigger every year.  I feel hopeful at least, which makes me so motivated to finish my work out plan.  At some point I will try to determine if it's the yolk or the egg white that I have an issue with.  It could be both, but it would be nice to know if I can still eat egg whites.  I'm not in a hurry to test it out just yet though.  I will not miss eggs at all so it's not the biggest deal for me to avoid them.  The next time I go out to Breakfast and eat french toast which is likely coated in eggs I will pay attention to the way my belly looks that night.  That's the ONLY thing I would miss if I have to give up eggs entirely but I don't even eat it that often, so occasionally it might be okay.  I will also miss the healthy breakfast sandwiches from Starbucks and McDonald's but I don't eat those on the regular either and it's a small price to pay to feel normal.

I introduced non-dairy creamer back into my diet first along with coffee, bread and peanut butter on day 1.  The first sip and first bite was heaven.  The powdered kind that I had at work made my stomach hurt so I won't be using that anymore and I'm done with Splenda.  I'll use it if I'm going to be out but at home and work I'll only use Stevia.  Another day I had popcorn and it tasted saltier then before because I don't think my taste buds were used to it.  I introduced a cheese back into my diet yesterday with no problem.  I don't really miss string cheese and yogurt all that much so I don't plan on making them a daily part of my diet anymore.  I was so sick of meat after whole30 that I made lentil soup and have been eating that for dinner this week.

It sure sucks to know that eggs have probably sabotaged my Whole30 and the first 4 weeks of my bikini body work outs.  I don't consider it a waste even though it cost us $520 bucks in groceries when we normally budget for $350.  If I hadn't done it and cut out nearly everything else who knows if or when I would have discovered that eggs were a problem.