Rachel L McManus

  As I started on my thyroid journey, I honestly didn't believe I would feel any better. There I said it! I was a complete skeptic, that I would ever feel any better. I didn't think the brain fog would leave me. I didn't think that my symptoms would stop or diminish. While they haven't gone completely away, I am still in the newness phases of this journey and its been enough of a difference to want to tell everyone about it. That nurse I told you about in the first blog, had a lot of holistic knowledge. He didn't have to think about what he was saying, he just knew the research he had done. He had tried it for his mom and it made a huge difference in her life he said. She was hypothyroid and had tried it and it worked for her. He suggested ordering Nascent Iodine and Selenium. The Iodine comes in a dropper bottle and you literally add one drop to a small cup of water. I took the Selenium at the same time, and chased it all with orange juice and my NP thyroid pill...

   I got diagnosed 4 years ago with Hypothyroidism and Iron Deficiency Anemia. The past 4 years has been a huge struggle for me to deal with all the symptoms associated with these 2 things. People think that if you take a pill all those symptoms go away. I thought this. I thought I would take the pill, let it get into my system and then the weight that I gained because of it would just melt away as fast as it came and my memory would be immediately restored. What a joke! It just didn't happen like that at all. It still is something I deal with, but thankfully after taking my own health into my own hands I am finally getting results. Let me start at the beginning of this journey and tell you the background.    Hypothyroidism runs in my family. That doesn't mean everyone will get it though. I spent my whole life being thin. Had myself a nice curvy but thin figure. Until about 38 years of age. Suddenly I had memory problems and thinking problems. I gained 20 pounds in...

While I was away in Nebraska and South Dakota I wrote down things that I saw as God led me out of my slump of not writing. I feel as though I have been uninspired for over a year. I have been in an intense brain-fog for several years as I have been plagued with iron and thyroid issues. I am now trying to get back to the place I was before and listen when He speaks to me.    In South Dakota the hills start off gently rolling, but you can see for miles on the high peaks of these hills. The 2 states of Nebraska and South Dakota blend together in their beauty. These hills are not for decoration, it is farmland. This land has a purpose to it. Some hills and fields were dark and rich with over turned earth. It had already been worked over and over again and was ready for planting. Some were brown with old crops that had been cut last season and left to lay fallow until the season is right to begin the work that would take months. The life of a farmer is not easy. They have to wait ...

   We sometimes have preconceived notions about specific things in our heads and when we see things that blow that expectation out of the water, sometimes we are left blessed. This past week I took a week long vacation with my husband out of state, to visit one of the best friends I have ever had in my life. We went to Nebraska where she lived but stayed in South Dakota which bordered one another. Everyone I had talked to, said how flat Nebraska was- just so flat that you could see for miles. I think those people failed to see this area though. There were parts that were flat, but there were those parts when you traveled straight up a hill and crested the top that you could see other rolling hills and although you could see for miles, it was breathtakingly beautiful. We had made plans to see my friend's 'cow farm' and being from Texas I thought I knew what constituted as a cow farm. I did see some that fit my perception, but hers blew me out of the water. Their cow farm was...

        Group last night was so awesome. I love those ladies as if they were my own family. We watched a video on thinking about what you are thinking about. It said that we are all in control of our thoughts.         Have you ever woken up or even during the day had an argument with someone in your head? Got mad at them for something they actually had never said or done? I have! I have had whole arguments, discussions, and laid into someone all inside of my head with just one thought...anyone wonder where that comes from? The Enemy...Satan, the devil, whatever you want to call him. The bible says that he is sneaky and deceptive, look what he did to Eve in the Garden.        The bible also teaches that we are to take every thought captive. What that means is when we have these thoughts that just bubble up out of nowhere, that we are to take a hold of them, examine them and if they are not thoughts that we should be having (so...

Sometimes nothing turns out the way we want them to. My sister and brother-in-law came down this week to get their son's driving test done so he can get his license. Before they came my B.I.L. wanted a list of things that I needed done, because my own husband isn't plumbing/mechanically inclined. So first on the list was the ballast in my kitchen florescent light, next ceiling fan in the kitchen (its Texas and hot), brakes on my car and the plumbing in my front bathroom that has never worked right. We got the kitchen light and fan done within 2 hours, but then we hit that cursed plumbing. Seriously that bathroom has got a curse on it. We have used the shower in there, maybe 15 times in the 11 years that we have lived here. We have replaced everything else in that bathroom, except the tub itself. So we had to go to the store at least 3 times, and are not done yet.     Last night he decided that he was just going to redo then entire part of that pipe with a roll of copper. He g...

   Every time I get to know God a little bit more, I fall in love with Him just a little deeper. His love for me seems to penetrate the shell that I built around my heart a long time ago. He knows that I know when I do something wrong and if I don't immediately repent, He lays it heavy on my heart until I do. See it is not about what I have done, who I am or what I have accomplished in this life or finished. It is about what HE has done, Who HE is and what HE has accomplished and finished.      Sometimes my pride and selfishness get in the way of the plans that God has for me and my family. It is something that He has to deal with on a daily basis and get my heart right before He can maneuver blessings into my life, or even people and situations out of my life.     God has blessed me greatly within my life and am so greatly appreciative of His love and guidance. Why does He even love me? Care about me? Or desire to even see me accomplish anything? I ...