My First Mitosis on the Bean Protocol for Hashimoto's

It's been 90 days since I started this protocol and I've made it through the first mitosis! I'm writing this post to log my progress for my own memory but also to give you an idea of what can happen and when while on the Karen Hurd Bean Protocol. 

Overall

• I feel way better.
• No change with my meds yet.
• ​I'm not sick of beans yet, not even close. 
• I am, still farty 🤣

Thyroid function

• I'm still on the same amount of medication. I've had moments where I thought I maybe should lower it, but then that passes...
• I'm having moments of anxiety and racing heart. This could mean that I'm going into a hyperthyroid state. It could also be reactions to foods. I need to have my levels checked by my thyroid specialist. I'm not sure when I'll be able to do that. Also, the weather is changing and shifting between cold and warm as we move into fall and then winter and this effects how much medication I need, so that is another factor that could be effecting how I feel at the moment.  
  
  ​For example: colder weather means you need more thyroid hormones and therefore higher medication. So, in times like fall and spring, where the weather changes from hot to cold, it can be a rollercoaster for those of us with thyroid conditions with our bodies needing more thyroid medication one day and less the next but with our medication being the same each day. 

MCS

• I'm still extremely sensitive to chemicals. I was just exposed yesterday and had one of the worst reactions yet. I was really hoping this diet would relieve that but I think my limbic system needs retraining. I've lived most of my life in survival mode leaving me near permanently in a state of fight or flight. So, I'm recommitting to DNRS. I had started it earlier this year in February and was having great results but then COVID hit and the presidential election drama, and the rioting and the negativity from everyone everywhere was all consuming. With DNRS and limbic retraining, you really need to be in a relaxed, happy, and positive state as much as possible for it to work. So, I'm thinking of taking another social media break. But, also, I'm working to change my social media. I have already started removing friends from facebook. I want to get my friend count down to a very small group of people that I'm either extremely close to, people who are positive and supportive, and/or those not posting about illnesses. It's a hard change for me as I know people can get really upset that you unfriended them and I'm not trying to hurt feelings but I need to do this for my limbic system. I've been going slow, removing small batches of people at a time. Next I'm going to revamp my instagram. 

Skin, hair, and nails.

• My skin looks and feels amazing. I actually have a thin layer of oil on my face now! I'm thinking my testosterone might be balancing out... Anyway, this has been a massive change from earlier this year where I had purple welts on my face most days, no clue as to why. 🤷🏻‍♀️It was just another shitty thing going on with my body. And, since Hashimoto's my skin has been dry and itchy. So having it feel moisturized and comfortable is so relieving. 
• I'm losing way less hair making my hair look fuller and healthier. I've been losing massive amounts of hair since going vegan in my early 20's. Even after 5 years of veganism and incorporating animal products back into my diet, my hair continued to fall out at a rapid rate. 
• My nails are strong and growing at a record rate. This is unheard of for me since junior high. 

Digestion and poop.

• After the first two weeks of adjustment, I have not been bloated. I used to look pregnant by the end of each day (Yes, every. single. night.). I can stuff myself full now and still have a flat stomach. This is unheard of for me. 
• I've had NO stomach aches or sharp pains. For years, I just thought that eating was painful and that was just how life was. I also don't experience 'food comas' anymore. Those are not normal! 
• I'm pooping daily! Since being hit with Hashimoto's 6 years ago, I was only pooping once every couple of weeks. 
• I'm still farty. It feels like a big change after carnivore where I almost never farted but, it is what it is. I'm thankful I have an awesome husband who can laugh at bodily functions. I try to warn him with a "Sorry, weird fart 😬".

Mood, sleep, and energy.

• My mood has been more even and I have more patience. I'm still experiencing lows and sad days but overall, my mood is way better. Hashimoto's really made me grumpy, irritable, and depressed. So, it's nice to have a little bit of myself back.
• I'm still getting extreme anxiety and OCD thinking if I eat any other vegetables besides carrots or parsnips. Like, raw tomatoes are a huge NO for me. So painful!  
• My memory is a little bit better. It still isn't great but I've had some moments where I actually remembered something without writing it down! 
• I have better concentration but not great. I'll take any improvement I can get. Again, with Hashimoto's, I lost most of my ability to concentrate. Having some of it return has been a godsend.
• I'm still sleeping like the dead. I was sleeping like this before, so no change there.
• I have more sustained energy and feel more awake during the day. I still have moments where I get tired but nothing like before. It's really nice to be able to trust my body more with energy.

Face, body, and periods.

• The color has returned to my lips. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror the other day and actually rubbed my lips. I knew I hadn't put on any lip-tint but my lips looked as though I had applied color to them. It was strange yet amazing. 
• My teeth have whitened on their own! My mom thought I had been whitening my teeth. 
• The whites of my eyes are whiter. Yay! Maybe my liver is working better?
• My weight is a stable 125lbs. The lightest I've been in my whole adult life and the lightest I've been since I was 12. It's shocking as I added in 900 new calories a day with the beans. Some days I do extra servings of beans so there are days where I add an additional 600 calories on top of the 900 calories, while still eating all of my regular calories from the meat, carrots, and fat I eat daily. 
• No more Fibromyalgia pain! My doctor told me I had "all the symptoms" of Fibromyalgia but there was no point in giving me a diagnosis as there was "nothing" they could do about it. Thankfully, that pain has dissipated and it longer hurts to be touched or hugged.
• I'm still experiencing vertigo and dizziness fairly regularly (almost daily). This really sucks. I know I get vertigo and dizziness for many different reasons. Sometimes it's my neck, sometimes it's my vagus nerve, sometimes it's from food sensitivities, sometimes blood pressure, sometimes from the Hashimoto's alone. I'm doing neck exercises to try to get my neck back into place and I'm hoping with time the food sensitivities and Hashimoto's will clear up and I'll be dizzy free. 🤞🏻
• My blood pressure has felt better. I'm not getting dizzy and almost blacking out when I stand up or losing my breath! 
• My blood circulation has been better, no more purple legs and feet. ​​
• Ovulation is still rough. It's when most of my symptoms flare up. 
• Periods are much calmer! My last period was the best period I've ever had. I was still a little sleepy, still a little crampy, but that was it. The two periods I had before that, I had a flood of blood on the second day that was so heavy it knocked my tampon out each time. My last period did not have that and was totally calm! 
• Libido is still struggling. I had a couple moments where it came back but for the most part it's still not really there. It died over 4 years ago.