Thyroid – A New Way of Looking at Life

Being too focused on just your physical bits is how you came to be in the mess you may be in, especially with the apparent help ice was supposed to be. Making this worse with the addition of all cold drinks and food sources – and this may be why you are not healing – even though you diligently follow all instructions by multiple therapists/helpers and modalities.

Here I am suggesting a new way of looking at life so that you can help yourself. Using the acupuncture terms, we need to look more closely at YANG to see why later on I speak warning of adding cold, and using it to apparently ‘aid’ healing. We might need to look at what causes the body to break down from perfect functioning –

Causes of disease are NOT bugs – but a system that is unable to adapt to change.

What causes low thyroid function? Lack of yang . . When Yang Qi is in balance – body works on automatic. When not – we falter – perhaps start with what to do to boost yourself back up again? Avoid all cold. I do mean then undo this ridiculous notion the icing a wound /area helps. Instead, it destroys the natural tendency for blood to rush in to heal. – it hurts so you don’t keep using the damaged area!! At east get yoursel fready to help yourself. . . you source your own REAL (not smokeless) moxa stick

See also how to use a moxa stick here

Get off all sources of fluoride – it does not even help your teeth . .

Fluoride used to be prescribed to LOWER thyroid function.

Why is it there? Teeth need ‘protecting’? It does not work in the water and is causing a total health breakdown. Perhaps look to the facts – your teeth can heal themselves – (As your bones do) look to remineralisation of teeth. Look to the Weston Price work and see just how you can yourself. Start with all the below . .

They may not know either that the removal of cold may be your missing link. Remove it from your life, and your life may get suddenly a lot easier.  Your Yang Qi can do its job again. (Keep reading – it will become apparent soon). I am redressing this through speaking firstly of energy, as this is what we are all powered by. Our energy signatures gives the instructions to our physical body and this is totally ignored in biomedicine, as though the physical is all there is.

Without knowing how the energy model works (just as biomedicine and naturopathy), you, may be flying blind in most endeavours by pretending it is not a consideration, because you cannot see/measure it.

This is as unhelpful as the medieval peoples arguing that the earth was flat; that the sun revolved around the planet and that there were no microscopic organisms (hence no need to wash hands) as they were not visible to the naked eye; so they did not exist. We now know there is more to the world and reality than what we may be able to perceive personally.

Cause of dis-ease

In East Asian medicine, we are seen to get ill/imbalanced when the dance between the inner and the outer has broken down. We are designed to bend with conditions, so if we don’t have the resilience to do so on any level, we become unwell. If the immune system is working well, we don’t even know we are fighting something off. If our Yang Qi is circulating freely, there is no pain. Anywhere. See the presentation above. .

If Yang Qi is respected:

• no applications of cold,
• no consumption of iced water, or
• food straight from the fridge or
• other invasions of cold energy into the body

All bodily processes can work as they are meant to – without letting us know through warnings.

The key reasons for an illness to take hold are external climatic forces (either seasonal or microclimatic, as in what you are wearing or what you have exposed your body part to), and the inner climatic — emotions that are either unexpressed and/or unresolved and/or suppressed or those that are being wallowed in. Wellness abounds with good mood and a positive outlook. Once the spirit is weakened, especially through a continual state of unhappiness or distress, inner resilience is lessened and illness may creep in. When an external climate prevails, the Yang energy has to mount a counter attack to keep within healthy boundaries (homeostasis).

How does it do this?

Yang Qi allows normal, dynamic life processes to occur, independently of any interruption or interference from us — as healers or as inhabitants of the body.

• Yang Qi roughly corresponds to the Western concept of ‘metabolism’,
• Yang allows us to transform food and fluids, digestion,
• Yang qi circulates everything, circulation,
• Yang qi keeps us warm, temperature control,
• Yang qi keeps tissues, organs, blood/ babies in place, structural integrity, and
• Yang qi protects us from all aspects of harm, immune/protection.

To enhance your yang qi:

• Eat regular, warm, nourishing moderate-sized meals eaten in harmonious, calm and unhurried environment,
• Live with an absence of extremes in any sphere of life,
• Avoid cold penetration, which directly wastes Yang Qi Exercise often and well as adequate movement ensures freely flowing circulation,
• Sleep early in the night, awakening with the sun,
• Avoid all invasions of cold and do not ever use it as a ’therapeutic’ helper.

In a state of wellness

If we look after ourselves, everything is provided automatically. The seasons, the time of day/what you are feeling and doing with your energy is automatically adjusted — and the dynamic flows of energy should be happening without your being aware. When there is too much load on the body, it may start to give out warnings. Often we ignore these messages as they are either not loud (painful) enough to stop us, or we choose to just silence them with some form of pain silencer/’killer’ — hence the ice.

But heat is the body’s way of dealing with attackers (kill by fire/inflammation).  It may feel uncomfortable. Reaching for that which cools a fever or inflammation and swelling stops the innate healing response – the body’s way of getting rid of dangerous aliens within, or of immobilising a wounded area so it is not further damaged through unwise usage is local heat and swelling.

You may not notice the very minute increments of cold in your body/life, as when we are young there is plenty of inner vitality. The gradual lessening of how much energy we have, and how unwell we feel – is usually seen as ‘aging’. It is often also blamed on other things that are happening in our busy lives. Without the framework to make sense of the cold invasion; it may be called ‘bad luck’.

YET the catching of colds and being cold and miserable all increase in the colder weather. This is not due to an excess of ‘bugs’ so much as too much call on the protective energy to stave off the cold, whilst it is cooler weather.

To waste your Yang Qi

• Have immoderate/irregular life style, especially exposure to cold (external or internal) through consumed fluids and foods, especially when very hungry or exhausted,
• Consuming damp-producing foods/fluids, (often cold/chilled/raw and /or sweet) which slow the Spleen Yang Qi’s ability to transform and to assimilate the raw materials eaten into pure essence,
• Allowing damp energy to form, either through living and being in damp conditions, or by immoderate eating choices as above, which in turn obstruct the clear digestive process,
• Becoming slothful and lethargic (consequence of damp setting in), creating sluggishness,
• Allowing any blockage to lodge on any level, distorting the orderly essence transformation and circulation processes. To live well, thoroughly enjoying life, we need strong yin.

What also wastes Yang Qi?

• Cold,
• overuse,
• exhaustion,
• insufficient rest.

Cold impedes all circulation, interfering with a well self-healing, self regulated body system. Cold that has entered from any source lodges in our tissues and remains, with our Yang Qi trying to neutralize it until we can provide the appropriate conditions for its permanent exit. The cold energy that is accumulated thus impairs the body’s normal functioning and creates pockets for dis-ease to fester over time.

What next?

These cold ‘splinters’ can manifest as generalised or ‘arthritic’ aches and pains; menstrual cramping; masses of any description and a generally sluggish metabolism. All through life, small doses of cold energy exposure (worse if tired or rundown when experienced) whether it be from drinking cold milk, to cool the heartburn, the breeze slept under, the cool showers to cope with the summer heat, all add up, to create a residue of cold, trapped energy that interferes with the body’s innate wisdom, giving rise to ‘problems’ that were unknowingly self-created.

What happens when Yang Qi is wasted?

Common life experiences, especially tiredness, weakness and degenerative and ‘ageing’ conditions can collapse the body’s ability to hold tissues and blood (and babies) in place (causing later varicose veins, haemorrhoids, prolapses, and hernias).

For women especially:

Cause her holding energy to fail creating:

• miscarriages,
• prematurity when pregnant,
• haemorrhaging, and
• serious incontinence.

For everyone:

•      Create energy blockages, which lead to loss of sexual feeling/desire/ability to orgasm.
•      Accelerate the ageing process, especially as digestion is flawed.
•      Everything is harder as circulation is slower and less efficient.

When we become relatively depleted in Yang Qi

• We feel the cold easily.
• We ‘catch’ everything that is going around.
• We can’t digest/assimilate food well.
• We have fluid accumulations.
• We can’t get motivated, lose oomph.
• We become colder. It is as though our furnace has forgotten how to do the job.
• We have less energy, as more is used up trying to keep warm.
• We are less nourished.
• We are less able to keep well nourished, as our ‘oven’ temperature is set too low. The kitchen oven can only cook at a useful temperature also.
• We reach for warm and often sweet things to try to warm up.
  Our digestive system creates damp, phlegm even, we become addicted to that which we are allergic to, we start having hypoglycaemic attacks, and we need to keep topping ourselves up, or we get very irritable and we ‘lose the plot’.
  Common food and experiences may start to overload our bodies as we are less able to screen out that which may be potentially dangerous.
• We dry out.
  We no longer circulate fluids as we should. Everything slows up. Constipation and general fluid build up everywhere starts happening, as our entire system slows down. Some call this aging — it could also just be self neglect and exhaustion.
• We lose interest in anything that needs energy expended, and sexuality is often the first thing to go as it is not needed for our immediate survival.
  The body starts hurting and feeling stiff. The circulation starts slowing; everything feels less nimble and more arthritic/elderly.
• We start getting more flabby, flesh falls down and we put on weight very easily.

Does this sound like aging? It is actually losing yang and is recoverable as long as the life habits are radically altered.

When yang is diminished, life gets more tricky and harder to be involved in anything other than survival — as it all just takes too much out of you.

Sounds like a hypoactive thyroid. Although if you have blood tests saying you are ‘within normal limits’ — you are like most people —( unwell but not sick enough to medicate — supposedly rendering you ‘OK’).

Becoming yang depleted is a vicious cycle, as we need to be able to maintain ourselves in the face of change — temperature, food requirements. When we can’t, the digestive processes also suffer, and then there is less quality substances (blood etc) to keep us working well.

We ‘age’ faster/eventually wear out/ become YIN DEPLETED. Along the way life gets harder and you just assume it is supposed to be this way.

Many may have a very real sub-clinical (not picked up in medical tests) thyroid (metabolism) condition of under activity. This shows up in a myriad of ways. I strongly suggest you order a great book — Thyroid Power — by Richard and Karalee Shames.

This will spell out just why it may be quite futile going to a GP or even an endocrinologist for testing and assistance — and why you need to overturn what you are doing in your life, as this is what has lead you to where you are not working at optimum. Please also see Low Thyroid Function The metabolism/thyroid slowly going ‘under’ can be seen in the general lessening of who we are — often put down to ‘aging’.

Moods/depression, energy slumps, hypo (low) function of any system – blood sugar, blood pressure, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and all digestive (esp reflux/heartburn/poor assimilation and allergies/Candida), circulatory (including Raynards syndrome), immunological and reproductive problems – especially over bleeding and endometriosis..

Most of these are warning systems we just ignore, or have a biomedical specialist deal with locally, not globally. Asking the question, ‘what does Yang do?’, also brings us to the functions ascribed to different organ groups within the body.

When I speak of ‘Spleen’ I am NOT referring to the physical organ that has various physiological functions according to Western biomedicine. I am referring to the Chinese Medical ways, and hence whenever speaking of the acupuncture model, the organ is seen capitalised — Spleen. Were I speaking of the actual organ I would write it ‘spleen’. Hence — to see what the various organ systems do in this framework, briefly:

Kidney — Transforming and transporting (digestion and circulation) plus keeping all YANG in the body supported.

When Kidney Yang is specifically depleted, sexual function and feeling, renal output and fluid metabolism, basic hormonal (metabolic, sexual and thyroid especially), slow up and may dwindle, leading to early aging.

Common body experiences of depleted Kidney energy the overall ageing phenomenon: (not the renal function)

General spark, zip and vigour may all dwindle; and its severity is dependent on the individual constitution and previous life history.

teeth memory hair colour hearing brain function hair quality eyesight

hormonal integrity hair growth bone density lower back & general back integrity Urinary flow and strength and continence/leakage sexual feeling sexual appetite sexual abilities

General spark, zip and vigour may all dwindle; and its severity is dependent on the individual constitution and previous life history

Kidney Qi losing its edge may also show as:

• up and down at night to pee,
• needing to pee often in the daytime, and/or small quantities,
• leakage of body fluids, inadvertently.

This is easily remedied through lifestyle choices that are life giving, rather than comfortable.

Enhancing life flow, supporting the digestive and regenerative functions, and taking Chinese herbal tonics as part of a wellness programme, (that may include regular maintenance acupuncture sessions) will all reverse, or at least slow the gradual descent into the decline that all expect of their bodies.

This is where Chinese medicine shines. It is easy to alter this symptom picture and completely change a person’s life. But if you attend a usual doctor/medical clinic, the expectations are vastly different.

In that model, there may be many specialists involved, but you may not be unwell enough for what they have on offer.

Often all of these problems and body changes are put down to aging or to ‘family traits’, yet they are really indicative of dwindling vitality, and can be reversed.

When to think of Kidney Qi/Yang tonics

In addition, common health issues that are simply Kidney Qi or Yang deficiency are:

• Tiredness
• Overwhelming exhaustion
• Feeling drained, especially flagging in late afternoon
• Weak back, especially at waist level
• Weak or aching lower back. If very strongly deficient, the knees and legs may also feel unstable and weakened.
• May have cold intolerance, and poor circulation, with cold hands and feet.
• Lack of any interest whatever in sex. This may become such that there is no feeling at all, even with direct stimulation. Sensual numbness may set in, as the body shuts down non essential (for physical survival) drains on its most precious essence and Kidney Qi.

This can also be accompanied by such issues as chronic constipation or other gut problems (overweight that nothing seems to shift); eventually being complicated by diabetes, and many other apparently degenerative conditions.

It may be that you are trying to get pregnant in this state, and a complete overhaul of the Kidney energy is far more vital than looking for donor eggs or sperm. What is really needed is a system of medicine that actually LOOKS at the state of the person and has answers as to how to restore normal functioning, through lifestyle changes.

Your calendar age (‘old eggs’) is a gross representation of what biomedicine has no concept of — inner vitality.  You can alter this by paying attention to what has been a system of medicine for millennia in China, and all through Asia. The nearest you may find in orthodox medicine is a thyroid condition if you are sick enough for the blood test results to decree assistance. Please see solutions found in Low Thyroid Function.

Often other systems are also affected — the Kidney Yang is the source of all Yang in the body. The Spleen Yang is a subsystem – that which allows us to support ourselves, — through the digestive and circulatory and structural/vascular integrity functions.

Spleen/Pancreas — everything digestive, and holding things (especially blood) in place

Body experiences of depleted Spleen Qi/Yang are

Rescuing the digestive functions is imperative as nothing can function without the nourishment that the ‘food factory’ affords us.

Further afield, weak Spleen Qi/Yang is responsible for prolapses, incontinence, varicosities and haemorrhaging. Different biomedical specialists may be consulted- none offering practical helpful and effective life solutions, or an understanding (past bad luck or ‘genetic’ factors) – as to why it has happened to you; hence what to do to rescue yourself back to vitality.

A small note about young children

They are vulnerable . .they do need keeping warm – especially what goes in their mouths.

Failure to thrive/always ill

When children are really young and not strong, it is far more sensible to find a Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist and work with them to strengthen what should be vital and vigorous than inject the youngster with chemicals supposedly to enhance its immune system.

When patently, the entire body is struggling, the tonics and other medicines and techniques available in the acupuncture framework include changing diet and lifestyle — all of which assist the body to repair itself.

At least stop giving them cold or cool fluids and foods, and definitely nothing with a sweet taste, as this depletes the Spleen energy. Mucous production, continual illness and ‘catching things’ and general debility are all correctable through changing diet and lifestyle.

AVOID ALL COLD ENCOUNTERS

WHEN COLD ATTACKS/LODGES ALL OF THESE MAY BECOME MORE OBVIOUS.

There are other organ systems that also rely on Yang Qi, although this is beyond the scope of this book, except to add briefly —

Heart Yang — Enjoyment of life and physiologically cardiac oedema and weakening of the cardiac vitality.

Lung Yang — keeping you well despite climatic/seasonal and even air conditioning changes. If you find yourself sneezing/with a runny nose/asthma or instant sinus in cold air — this is you.

Why not consult someone whose health model is one of enhancing normal, not of trying to kill nasties and enforcing a simulation of what was before normal functioning through new-to-nature chemicals that mimic or mask what is your natural settings? Maybe see the online self paced courses here so YOU take charge yourself. Or . . . Contact Heather for more information.