Seaside Metabolic Rendez-Vous

Why shine incandescent red lights on our heads, supplement with vitamin D3 and pour Epsom salts in the bathtub when there is... the beach?

I have experimented with that for the past two weeks and I tend to become now a believer in the sea’s therapeutic virtues -- to the point that I would consider moving by the seaside.  I have yet to decide which sea and what side. Further blissful experimentation required.

While enjoying ripe fruit under the generous sun without much in the way of UV protection I was thinking about how I spent this past year discovering my body’s functioning and how this newly achieved self-awareness under a Peat perspective has brought new depth to my life. I have always been a hedonist, now I must be truly disconcerting in that way.

So, shortly after I saw Dr. Coculescu, taking to heart his advice to stop obsessing about my “failing thyroid”, I packed my bags.

We went on a whim to spend some time on the Romanian seaside, in Mamaia to be precise, which we had not visited in a very long time.

Exotic vacation places had taken its place. While delectable, most were spent by the resorts' pools, as the sea or ocean water was either not the cleanest and inspiring, or too cold, or a bit too far -- with the notable exception of the Maldives... “Naturally”, all the while I would drench myself in sunscreen to the point that nobody could tell when I came back that I had ever been close to a beach.

This time around I spent my time at the seaside the old fashioned way, with daily sun baths and several long sea baths every day, out in the open air all day long, sand walking, barefoot as much as possible, grounding myself, close to the elements and going inside just to sleep.

I also did some "mud packings", with a supposedly healing mud found in a lake by the Black Sea called Techirghiol. It is a very black mud with a soft texture and an unpleasant smell. Some say the bacteria it contains cures all sorts of ailments, but after reading Dr. Peat's work I imagine that rather the transdermal transfer of mineral substances is the reason...

My metabolic speed and the overall well being and harmony were unbelievable! Again, no aches or pains at all and a feeling of rejuvenation, mood elevation and overall energy.

As soon as I came back to the city, all these good sensations magically vanished and the generalized aches and pains in the morning started again, as well, to the point that I wonder if what I experienced was real.

Maybe bliss is transdermal, it can come from the air, the sea, the earth?

I need to go to the sea again, ASAP, to see if its therapeutic effect is replicable. This time around I plan to go alone and pretend I lived there, see if the good stuff happens again.

That being said, Mamaia would not be the best option, it has become an incredible party resort, there is music and fun everywhere… I cannot compare it with anything else and I have a hard time imagining myself living there alone, as this hypochondriac recluse taking her dutiful baths! In Mamaia, there is always vodka in one’s OJ and the music is booming.

I should find somewhere quiet and experiment in peace.

Worst thing that can happen is that I discover the feel good effect did not come from the sea, etc., but the continuous partying…

And then… what? :)

Reality Check Feat. Dr. Coculescu

In a posh part of Bucharest, at a luxury clinic where everyone on staff had sheer reverence towards "The Professor", I had this consultation with Dr. Mihail Coculescu, the President of the Romanian Society of Endocrinology. To my surprise, we had a rather extensive chat, by my standards, and by the looks of the still waiting patients. 

As expected, Dr. Coculescu had never heard of Dr. Peat, whose books I had brought along, in the hope that they might capture his interest. Granted, I was not given the opportunity to pitch them properly as Dr. Coculescu had interventions and pointers for me at every step. However, something tells me that he would eventually check out Dr. Peat's work and theories. 

To summarize, he recommended that I simplified my life and quit the path of excessive intellectualization I had embarked upon. Decrypting PubMed articles and becoming fluent in the theories behind Hashimoto's would accomplish nothing. I should be thankful for the easy form of the disease I experience and for its simple (perhaps not even necessary, judging from my last set of blood tests) treatment. 

I could see that Dr. Coculescu was barely registering my suffering and I cannot blame him for one second. I myself felt kind of guilty for insisting on seeing him, when other people, with far more serious problems, were waiting in line by his door. But the harm is done. Refreshingly, he didn't mind this aspect, he even indicated that he would accept my "case", if I decided to switch endocrinologists, so no discrimination there on his side. 

He laughed when I mentioned that I didn't believe Anti-TPOs and Anti-TGOs were killing thyroid tissue and mentioned the "firemen at the place of the fire" analogy. He freely admitted that the science doesn't have all the answers, but refused to admit that I should complicate my life and allow myself to be affected by THAT, i.e. the proverbial things I could not change. 

He insisted that the thyroid, no matter in what shape, whether shredded or inflamed, can still accomplish its function, and that I seemed to have been in that situation.  It is OK if I feel better under T4 treatment, it is just that I should determine the optimal amount of supplementation, because it looks like even 50 mcg is too much for me. 

As to the concept of improper nutrition undoing thyroids, he mentioned the endemic lack of iodine in some places, and how entire populations develop huge goiters -- however, all those thyroid glands do keep working... They huff and they puff but... they do their jobs. So?.. At this point in the conversation, I felt kind of ashamed -- I didn't even have a goiter to complain about... 

I felt like coming out of a tunnel.  Minor twists of perspective performed by "authoritarian figures", to use a Peatism, can work wonders. In that sense, Dr. Coculescu was a tremendous doctor -- and I am convinced that he performed knowingly his "tricks".

They were what I needed and he was too experienced a practitioner not to know it the minute I took out of my purse Dr. Peat's books and my stacks of blood test results...