Betty J.’s Comments

[Thyroid] Syndrome Treatment Center I was, for the first time in many years, optimistic that someone might have discovered the key to helping me feel like life was worth living. I was frustrated. Here I was, a registered nurse with some record of success in helping others to get well and I couldn’t find a way to get help for myself. The morning “ache all over feeling,” headaches, more and more pronounced fatigue and trouble focusing lasted longer and longer each day and now encompassed most days. I was difficult to arouse by my door bell, telephone, or any outside stimuli. The increasing signs that my body wasn’t functioning well (increased infections, skin problems, neurological problems, mental problems) were evident. It seemed to me that something was terribly wrong with my metabolism, but no physician could find a test to substantiate that, and I was becoming depressed. I had no doubt that my primary physician and the other specialists in a large clinic in Wisconsin were competent. I was afforded all the lab tests and evaluations they knew to pursue.

When the dermatologist suggested a psychological basis and the psychologist whom I had personally known agreed, it still seemed physiological, I felt cornered. I knew I practiced the best of health habits. Those I practiced worked well for my public health nursing clients, but they didn’t help me. Still, I knew somewhere there was a physician, who could find the key, so that when I learned of Dr. Wilson I saw hope.

Still I arrived at Wilson’s [Thyroid] Syndrome Treatment Center with a fair amount of skepticism. His explanation of Wilson’s [Thyroid] Syndrome made sense and his explanation of its cause and the way it could be corrected sounded promising. About everything he described I found to be true. I was amazed to find my average body temperature was so much below normal. I was likewise amazed when my troublesome symptoms decreased as my average temperature increased. I was so prepared not to believe what I heard that I couldn’t accept at first that I felt much better within a week after I started the treatment plan. When I continued to feel better, when my friends commented on how much better I seemed, and when I found myself about to take on more activities and enjoyed them, I was convinced the course of treatment was working for me.

My problem did seem to start over 10 years ago. I had changed nursing positions, was taking university classes, and recovering from alcohol addiction. Additionally, we started to build a new house “hammer and nails.” We were preparing for our daughter’s wedding and I was asked to run for a local elected office, which I did. When my elderly mother became unable to care for herself and came to live with us, and this necessitated my taking over also more of her business and the farm business, I began to feel constantly fatigued and achy. Reasoning that I was spread too thin, I cut out my job and classes, which helped a little.

A few years later my elected official position increased in demands with more committee responsibilities and statewide organizations; and my mother-in-law, no longer able to care for herself, came to live with us for a while. I became more tired, achy, had more difficulty focusing on arising, and then new health problems came (Bell’s palsy, shingles, sinus and dental infections, which did not respond well to treatment, atypical skin problems, and increased irritability). I was able to cope because I organized so as to use the time when I felt good effectively, and I had the support of many good friends and colleagues.

When my husband retired about 3 years back, I found organizing much more difficult, especially when I was trying to sandwich in escalating family farm operations in another state in between my own elected office responsibilities, and at the same time get our house ready for sale, seek a new house in another state, and get ready to move. My symptoms were becoming so pronounced that by the time we moved, I often had trouble being aroused in the morning. When I did get up, I felt terrible most of the time.

After we moved, my system seemed to go down and stay down. I overslept often. I ached so much and was so tired I didn’t enjoy doing anything. I was frightened and a little depressed and had 23 of the some 30 problems sometimes seen in Wilson’s [Thyroid] Syndrome when happily I heard about Dr. Wilson. I wish I had heard about Wilson’s [Thyroid] Syndrome treatment earlier because I was becoming so frustrated and angry with my family for their “parameddling” suggestions which didn’t help, and their lack of sympathy, that our relations have become severely strained. While I do need to and have the strength to work these feelings through, I’m not sure I will ever have a close relationship with some of them again. But the important thing is that I feel so much better that I can get involved with fun activities with friends. Many of my friends and colleagues, now that I have been open about my successful treatment, have shared that they, a family member or a friend, have suffered similar mysterious symptoms and have asked for more information about Wilson’s [Thyroid] Syndrome. I am glad to give them the information and recommend Dr. Wilson. I hope they too can get help because “walking through life with what seems to be the weight of the world on your shoulders is not really living at all.”