Help Make a Floor on the Medical (financial) Pit!

For more than ten years, I've been free-falling in a muddy, slimy, medical-financial pit. But it seems that the Universe flung me a few things to create a notch in the side of the pit, grab some falling debris to thwack in the side of the pit to hold on, and perhaps even make a floorboard from which I can continue to climb up from. There's a real hope here, the first time in ages!

Briefly (which I am terrible at): in 2006, a doctor noticed that my thyroid ran high, perhaps excessively and dangerously fast; he referred me to my endocrinologist. When my body did not respond to the standard treatment to *calm down* and regulate, I went the medically conventional route -- I knew no better and my body and brain were in too much overdrive for me to do research; in Feb 2010 I had my thyroid ablated. This procedure is known as radioactive iodine treatment, painless, yet something that set in motion a host of long-term physical disabilities and illnesses over the coming decade. The thyroid controls metabolism, and with that killed off, I gained a hundred pounds. Between that and being prescribed a bad drug, that also directly led to type 2 diabetes. I had been born with less than an eighth of a 'normal' healthy immune system, but the previous high speed of my metabolism covered a multitude of ills -- literally. So instead, from 2006 to the present, I had shingles more than ten times, as well as mono, and other big whammies of viruses. Because I had poor health care as a child, I don't know when epilepsy was present first, but I know that frequency of it increased with what I shall now refer to as "When the fire nation attacked" (when my thyroid was radiated). The list goes on - a total of more than 30 medical conditions. And now, from what I've understood, this is a normal projected outcome from a rather large group of people like me who get the RAI (radioactive iodine) treatment to kill off the thyroid: to just keep getting sicker until a combination of them all wreaks enough havoc that ...that's it. From what I hear, this is a normal projection.

BUT! I found a way out. From reading and researching about people like myself, I stumbled upon what people DO to stop the madness (there's a blog by that title in fact https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/ ) . From there, I started on desiccated thyroid (basically the dried hormone from either pig or cow) instead of the chemical I'd been given since thyroid ablation, and that change felt **qualitatively different**, like my old self. But I needed to find a doctor who could monitor my thyroid levels using the natural medication. When I met with her, I found the complementary problem was happening in my body due to the ongoing long-term physical and all-over stress I went through: my adrenals were next to non-functioning. However, conventional doctors only treat near-dead adrenals when there's an absolute emergency, a full on crisis, and some people can just stay at 'near-dead' for decades.... Without writing the entire list of what she did, all the wonderful blood tests covered by insurance that other doctors don't have time or mind to do, she found my real issues stemming from what happened to my body medically years previous.

The short story is that with Vit B, Vit D, Iron, Adrenal Support and new Thyroid support via desiccated thyroid hormone (my body responds to natural, and not the chemical / pharmaceutical), I will have ENERGY to LIVE. From that... I can solve the other medical pieces, and then from there...start to start over my life.

Because of this new hope, I'm creating my renewed vision for a future -- without the supplements and doctor visits I have none. But... being on SSI and that not even meeting 1/8 of my financial needs, I need to ask for help here at the place to pull my way out of the medical and financial pit.

If you'd like to help long-term, I'm open to giving you the detailed list of what I'm purchasing.

Here's the big picture:

July and August:

$ 291.76 -- Necessary supplements

$ 98. + tax -- Misc supplements (Vit B, D, magnesium, etc)

$200. Naturopathic Doctor visit in Aug (monitoring thyroid, adrenals, iron, vitamin levels, etc)

$100 + tax -- long overdue purchase of Medical ID bracelet to watch for an Addisonian crisis (my adrenal fatigue is stage three which flirts with stage four, so EMS would need to be aware of this and the list should I have a difficulty).

= approximately $698.76.

That gets me enough stability to function around my house and yard, start to have a normal sleep-wake cycle, and go (safely) out of the house as well, engaging in life.

By the end of August (knock on wood), my iron stores should be replenished, my adrenals shouldn't need AS much coaxing (one less supplement) to work, etc. And I should need less supplements from the local Coop. So:

Sept - Dec:

$203 + tax -- Necessary supplements

$ 72 -- Misc supplements

$ 200 -- Visit with naturopathic doctor

= approximately $475, or a total of about $ 1165. If I can after that... it's going to be necessary to change up my dental work to get rid of the mercury fillings and toxic mercury buildup from that, but I hope to cross that bridge once I have energy again.

And, my hope and 'more than a soft goal' from there is to get back to school at Empire State College, one course at a time again come January 2019. As soon as I can get my Adrenal Fatigue from stage 3 (flirting with 4) up toward or solidly into stage 2 -- realistically two years if all goes well -- then I can start to work part time again, and before that I can certainly begin making and selling artwork and working at writing. There's real direction now. I just need someone to fling some helpful debris down this medical-financial pit so I can make some toe-holds and footholds to get up again. It's possible.

Note: if you're able to say, 'sponsor' a supplement for a few months at a time, I can get them cheaper still. And: I get my misc vitamins & supplements from the Honest Weight Coop ( https://www.honestweight.coop/ ) , so if you just want to pass along giftcards, that is a godsend as well.

I'm not sure what words to use to make this perfect, or if you would like more explained in detail; please let me know~! I have two young adult kids who won't be leaving the nest soon (one has Chronic Lyme Disease). And yes, it's been a long long road to get here and will likely be a long climb out of this medical and financial mess -- but the point is that there exist resources to get me out. It took nearly the ten years to have basic financial help of SSI, and that after appeals and amassing more illnesses and medical conditions. And I get it: one slight wobble on a hand-made peg on the side of the wall in this deep pit could send me, unbalanced, back down -- like the 2003 Toyota Camry failing to last the next five years, or some health issue pushing harder, or any other actual unknown. But we take the resources before us and strike out on faith, doing the best we can, hard, hard work, yes? And we thrive on that work and that faith yes?

In deepest gratitude,

Jeannie

It's taken me more than three tired weeks to put this together and it's time to be buying the next round of supplements, so I just have to fling this out to the world and hope you all hear my need. Thank you SO much for reading all of this.