At the Grocery Store

One of the things to remember about Thyroid Cancer is that you usually have some other thyroid disease that proceeds it. Thyroid Diseases are usually autoimmune disorders. Once you are diagnosed with one Autoimmune Disorder, it is likely you will be diagnosed with another. My other thyroid condition is Hoshimoto's Thyroiditis. My other autoimmune disorders are allergy related. I have allergies to foods, food additives, plants and scents. A taste of disodium guanylate or a whif of some good perfume is enough to turn my world upside down for at least a few hours. If you have never had a reaction to MSG it may be hard to understand. Some people have tried to tell me that it is all in my head or that my symptoms have some other cause. I hate that. I am not a hypochondriac. What I feel is very real and very painful. Depending on the food additive, I could be rendered useless for days. Muscle aches, fatigue, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea and migraine headaches are the most severe of the symptoms. Because of this, I have to be extremely careful about the food that I put in my body. I have to read every label and even then I get surprises. The other day I was very excited to have found a new wholesale spice in the bulk isle at Winco. Winco has been my new fave store since I discovered all of the natural bulk foods I could buy there on the cheap. However, not all of their bulk items are natural. I tried a new Taco Spice that I was really excited about. It was 16oz compared to a similar spice in a 3oz jar from Safeway but for the same price. I only used it once and had to dump it in the trash. I still don't know what ingredient did it to me but I'm guessing that there was something in there that was not on the ingredient list. Sometimes a listed item will be very vague such as, "natural preservative". This could mean anything as I am learning. After I ate it, I wanted to sleep but I wasn't really sleepy, I was just in pain. Plus I had dinner to prepare for my family of seven and I didn't have time to be sick. Instead I was irritated. Sometimes I get angry that I am so susceptible to the pitfalls of the artificial world we live in. I can understand why a child with allergies would act our and misbehave. Its extremely difficult when you feel like shit but everyone still expects you to act normally and perform at your best when all you want to do is climb under the covers. Some people tell me, "I ate that when I was growing up and I turned out fine". #1, you are not me and you are not living in this body. #2, the food you ate growing up had the same name, was marketed in the same box and had a similar taste, but the food you grew up with is not the food that is being sold to you today. Food producers now use additives that didn't even exist when we were young. They have slowly switched out the real ingredients and substituted them for artificial ingredients while we weren't watching. I hate this body and I hate the food companies for putting profits before my health.