Experiences during my recent Hospital Stay in Jupiter

The Lesson: You are in charge of your health

Last week I had to go to the emergency room at Jupiter Medical Center due to rapid atrial fibrillation caused by a hyperactive thyroid. Jupiter is about half an hour North of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The care and procedures in the ER were nonplus ultra. The ER doc immediately ordered the correct treatment and examinations. I felt like a race car at a pit stop. A nurse on my right inserted an IV for the medication I needed to bring down my heart rate. A nurse on the left simultaneously inserted a saline IV to have another open line, while another nurse hooked me up to the ECG and oxygen monitor and another lady asked about name, address and insurance. Within an hour they did a contrast CT to check if I had a pulmonary embolism, an Echo Cardiogram (basically an ultrasound of the heart) to check for blood clots and an ultrasound of the thyroid. It was a bit overwhelming for me as I was half passed out, but my sister took care of everything. The only thing I didn’t like was having to sign on a small pad that I agree to something which I didn’t get a chance to read. For one thing, it was on a computer screen I couldn’t see and for another I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend what I was reading in my state of being almost passed out.

Later I was transferred to the observation tract. There are single bed rooms that encircle a central station where nurses keep track of everybody’s’ vitals. There were no windows, which was a drag but the care given by the nurses and their assistants was excellent. They took their time talking with me, helping me get washed, checking my vitals every three hours. A pastor, an elderly gentleman, came by and offered a prayer. He knew I didn’t belong to any religion or denomination but that didn’t bother him. I graciously accepted his prayer.

The doctors though are another story. The hospitalist came by a few times. I thought he was the partner of the cardiologist, but it turned out he was the hospitalist but he didn’t introduce himself as that. I asked him, my cardiologist and his nurse practitioner as well as the nurses to please get an endocrinologist to see me as my problem wasn’t my heart, but my thyroid. I kept getting conflicting information. The nurses said there are some that do come to the hospital while the doctors said there are no endocrinologists. They told me I should follow up with mine. I didn’t have one and getting an appointment as a new patient can take 3 months.

I was put on a calcium antagonist drip to return my heartbeat to a regular sinus rhythm. That didn’t work after almost 24 hours. The cardiologist wanted to add another medication, Amiodaron. This one though contains Iodide, which is the last thing you want to take when your thyroid is hyper. I refused. He later called and said it no longer contains iodide. The next day his nurse practitioner came by and said they wouldn’t put me on it as it contained Iodide (go figure) but they would give me another medication, Flecanide. This one doesn’t have iodide, but it can cause arrythmia and kill you. I was not happy but there was no option. They gave it to me and 20 minutes later my heart rate converted to a regular rhythm. But my Pranic healer in Switzerland had worked on me for two hours right before it converted. It may have been a combination of the two treatments that did it. They also put me on the blood thinner Eliquis as atrial fibrillation carries a risk of causing a stroke. Nobody informed me about what I can and can’t eat or take as supplements with Eliquis. I asked the hospitalist if I could take Magnesium and Potassium. He started to complain that so many people take supplements and they are not necessary as a healthy diet provides all these nutrients. I respectfully disagreed and told him the food contains very little as the soil contains very little and Magnesium is essential for muscle function while pointing a finger at my heart. He put me on a cardiac diet. This means no saturated fats and very little salt even though I was not having issues with heart disease but my thyroid. I have worked out intensely six times a week for 2 years. Instead, the diet I got contained loads of carbs, including corn syrup, GMO wheat and non-organic vegetables. The kitchen was able to mess up even the most elemental foods and drinks like blueberry muffin, dinner rolls, lemonade, carrots. It really takes extra effort to serve food this bad.

The hospitalist and the cardiologist kept saying I would need to take the blood thinner and the heart meds forever. I disagreed as my heart wasn’t the issue, but my thyroid and this I will fix myself. First I will continue a medication to suppress the thyroid while doing energy work, acupuncture, mediation, pranic healing and shamanic work. It worked 12 years ago.

When I got home I had to find an alternative for decaf coffee and tea as even decaf versions contain some caffeine which is not a good idea to drink with a hyperactive thyroid and atrial fibrillation. I checked if I could drink Chamomile, Fennel, Chaga or Hibiscus tea but none of them are compatible with the blood thinner Eliquis. I ordered chicory coffee Ersatz, but it was a few days before I received it. Meanwhile I’m stuck with warm milk. Two of the meds cause constipation, even though I am hyperthyroid which tends to cause diarrhea. To alleviate constipation, I wanted to take Triphala, an Ayurvedic herbal combination. That too is incompatible with Eliquis. I then wanted to add flax seeds to my yogurt, but again it would interfere with Eliquis. I continued to find out I couldn’t have limes, grapefruit or oranges, but lemons were OK. I had to drastically reduce my dietary supplements because of incompatibilities. My point is that no doctor told me that. I had to find out for myself. Even though I’m a physician, I have been away from practice for a while and didn’t know the answers off hand. Thus, I was like a patient who has no medical education.

Graves Disease or Morbus Basedow in Europe

A hyperactive thyroid like in patients who have Grave’s disease makes the heart race and irregular. Prolonged heart racing can cause cardiac failure within a very short time. Besides atrial fibrillation it also makes you heat intolerant, makes your hands tremble and gives you diarrhea. The worst part besides the intermittent atrial fibrillation is the inability to remember anything and concentrating. Thoughts keep flying out of the brain in all directions. In addition emotions are felt at a five fold intensity. Atrial fibrillation (afib) is a huge fear factor for most people. Imagine feeling it at five fold intensity. Last Monday evening I had an episode of afib which lasted until Tuesday afternoon despite upping the dose of the antiarrhythmic medication. I sat in my meditation corner as my heart fluttered in my chest, beating slower and slower, feeling tired and distant, and I thought this was my last hour in this dimension. But I’m still here and I feel I have a job, or rather several jobs to do in service to all.

You must take your health into your own hands

After this experience, there is some advice I want to give you. You are in charge of your health, not your doctor, chiropractor, nurse practitioner or anybody else. This means listening to the doctors but then going home and doing research yourself on the diagnosis they have given you. Find out if your symptoms match the diagnosis. Find out what the recommended tests and treatments are. If you have been prescribed a procedure or a medicine, find out everything you can and write down on all the questions to ask your doctor during the next visit. Find out about side effects, interactions with other medicine, certain health conditions (such as Grave’s disease hyperthyroidism and Iodide). Find out about precautions to take, incompatibilities with foods, exposure to sunlight (some antibiotics) or physical activities such as driving. Take someone with you who can take notes.

Most importantly, find out why you have the issue and correct any lifestyle habits that contributed to the issue. The main cause of my problem is stress. Then find out what natural treatments there are to help with the issue from lifestyle and dietary changes to energy medicine, dietary supplements, homeopathy, infusion therapies, HBOT, red light therapy, stem cell therapy, acupuncture, mindfulness techniques, meditation and many more. One last advice: don’t tell your allopathic doctor what you are doing as they will think you are crazy. Even if you go back completely healed, they will think it was their doing or the original diagnosis was an error or it is unexplainable.

I wrote extensively about the medical care and pitfalls of allopathic medicine in my book Meet Your Killers.

To be clear, the immediate intervention with pharmaceuticals saved my life. We need this kind of medicine for emergencies. But for chronic issues, we have an array of alternative, natural means to heal and we must never forget that our bodies are miracles and have tremendous self-healing capabilities.

Until I can heal my thyroid I have to cut back on everything I do. This means Substack articles may not come out as regularly as usual. I have prepared several articles during summer which will be coming out until mid-November. Typing is a bit difficult due to the trembling of my hands. My new microscope hasn’t come yet. With my health issue and the delay in getting the microscope it may be a while until I can post some microscopy findings. I thank you for your understanding and patience.

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