Friday, June 22, 2007

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

that is the question...

So I've been having a bout of insomnia as of late. I think it's been brought on by a number of things all culminating at once. It started about a month and a half ago when I went to my 2nd cranialsacral weekend class. At that time I also switched from a brand name thyroid medication to one that my new insurance would cover. I also started working out 4 to 6 times a week for less time each day. Whereas before, I had been working out about 2 times a week for about an hour and a half.

The cranial class is kicking my ass, in a good way, and also in a kicking my ass intense way. After the last module, it took me 4 days to feel normal. I felt off, like someone had messed around with the furniture in my head and body, and the inner feng shui was all off. After this last module, in which we learned to work many of the facial and jaw bones, I felt great. A week after the last class, I received a session from my instructor, who I would like to one day be. My body was working on unwinding patterns from when I broke my neck. My entire right side is compressed, energetically, and fascially. She also worked a lot with my sphenoid bone, which was also compressed on the right. And for those of you following along with the cliff notes, the pituitary gland sits in the middle of this bone.

Cut to yesterday, I get a call from my doctor's office. I had recently gone in to get some more blood work to check my tsh(thyroid stimulating hormone) levels. I hadn't had them checked since my last thyroid surgery in January 2006. I call them back this morning. And it turns out my thyroid levels are too high. I've been on the same dose of thyroid med for about 10 years now. They told me to stop taking a pill on Sundays, and that my tsh levels would level out to where they should be.

Would explain the insomnia a bit, yes? Also, how did a hormone level that had remained constant for almost ten years, become too high? Why now?

I personally think it's because of whole food supplementation, increased workouts, cranialsacral therapy, liver detoxes, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic adjustments, and chanting. Honestly, it's just really nice feedback that the things I have been doing are changing my physiology. I wanna help people be able to do that.

In other news, Ly and I have seen 3 music shows in less than one month. It's amazing what having a critic husband can do for our music exploits. I think it may turn out like we see movies, one day it's his turn to pick, the next day it's my turn to pick. I did see his beloved Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum with him on his birthday. They were very theatrical, very intelligently put together, very good musicians, and scary as hell. I liked a few of the numbers. But then Sky Cries Mary was in town with a new album out, and I had to put my foot down. I got my coy pout face on, the big round hopeful eyes, and said, "dooooood, it's music I want to see, we MUST get tickets. He so very graciously complied (I love it when that happens). And last night we saw Antibalas and danced until I felt a bit faint. I see great music in our future.

PS - To my sisters, I'm glad you both now have blogs.

9 comments:

thelyamhound said...

You were an excellent sport about Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (though, if you want to come to Melt Banana with me, you may have to be an even better one, given the opening acts).

I called it on the thyroid stuff last night; when you called and said that the doctors told you what I predicted, I flipped. Not because I was right--I'm used to that by now :^)--but because, honestly, I was sort of throwing the most positive answer I could out there; its being correct was a happy accident.

Stine said...

I'm all over Melt Banana.

The Rookie said...

So, are there links to Ly's reviews? Congrats on the excellent bill of health! It is always nice to find out insomnia is caused by something POSITIVE, right?

I too am happy to be a blogger. It's great fun!

The Rookie said...

By the way...I finally posted the correct link for your blog to my blog. I've been hooked up to March's posts for a while now...until I finally realized it was odd you weren't posting anything. Oopsy! Wrong address.

~A~ said...

Have you been watching the soy?

If so then my theory would be that the soy was suppressing the medication. The medication was high to bring you to normal levels, you cut back or out the soy and boooooooing the medication shoots you through the roof. At least that's how I feel when I eat stuff with a higher than minor soy products, I go all hypo and when I get back to good non-soy habits my body freaks out, goes hyper, I can't sleep, I'm jittery and shaky and eventually I re-balance. But shit man, it's sucks until then.

But if that's not the case for you, I dunno why the medication went all wiggity. :)

Stine said...

A - I stopped eating soy about a year and a half ago, so I don't think that's the problem.

It actually wasn't/isn't a problem. The medication being too high is a good thing, it means that my pituitary/hypothalamic axis is starting to work again after many, many years of it being off-line due to birth control pills, lower liver metabolism of most nutrients due to shitloads of general anesthetic from 10 surgeries, and a bunch of other food-related, exercise related stuff, along with the cranialsacral work.

Ultimately it's all a good thing. And I feel my body is going in the right direction.

thelyamhound said...

Hey, rookie . . . none of my features are online--you'd need to seek out the print edition of ALARM for that--but a handful of my reviews, and a concert review of the very Sleepytime Gorilla Museum show of which 'Stine and I speak, can be found at alarmpress.com.

'Stine: I'm sure you're all over Melt Banana, but their opening acts are fairly death metal oriented. That's where significant "sportsmanship" may be required. :)

Missuz J said...

Comment challenged today, but reading and thinking of you. I HATE insomnia.

~A~ said...

Ah-ha birth control pills. I noticed in my early 20s that BCPs screwed up my body too, mostly in the form of unexplained uterine bleeding. I haven't taken any since so it didn't occur to me the effects it would have on the whole endo system, but it makes sense.

BTW - since we're talking about the endo system, could you send some positive endo thoughts out in to the universe for a friend of mine's 14 yo son, they recently discovered that it's pituitary basically hasn't been working for year and now he has a tumor growing on it. They're not sure it's cancer or not yet, but we're hoping that it's not and that the medication that he has started will shrink it.

xoxo