How far I've come

This last month was a rough one. I herxed almost continually every single day; the same pain in my shoulders, neck & jaw, and my air hunger returned. I had my monthly consult a couple days ago, and she thinks it's time to back off and only add in houttuynia every other month, like we do with the sida acuda. She said the constant herxing isn't necessarily a bad sign, but it is a stress to the body. We also believe stopping the intermittent fasting contributed to the herxing. The last few days I unintentionally did 12 hour overnight fasts and noticed a huge decrease in my herxing symptoms, so I believe my body really needs those extra hours to detox. We agreed that I'm going to do 12 hour fasts 3 non-consecutive days a week, because we know my body really needs the fasting but we also need to keep my hormones at healthy levels. It's always a challenge keeping the right balance for my body.

I felt so discouraged all month, and it was really taking a toll on my positive outlook. So I've been trying to focus on how far I've come, and looking at my list of symptoms really puts things into perspective:

Symptoms that have continued
Muscle weakness in shoulders
Pain in shoulders & neck
Aching jaw
Rib pain
Exercise intolerance

Occasional symptoms
Air hunger
Migrating joint pain 
Heart palpitations
Hip flexor pain
Headaches
Ringing in ears

Symptoms that are gone
Swollen lymph nodes
Stiff neck
Random points of intense pain/swelling
Feeling cold
Muscle stiffness
Sore throat
Ankle pain
Pain in soles of feet
Twitching muscles
Painful toes
Fatigue
Brain fog
Forgetfulness
Inability to focus
Sensation of swelling in throat
Inability to lose weight
Hot flashes
Reflux
Nausea
Depression
Pins and needles
Insomnia
Joint stiffness
Anxiety

In addition to this, I have been able to lower my supplements & meds from 30+ pills a day to only one. My hypothyroidism is in remission, and all the inflammation weight came off. I used to have to take 2,000 mg of fish oil per day to keep my joint pain manageable, and I stopped taking it months ago without issue. It's so easy for me to focus on the current difficulties I'm having than to see how far I've come. It really puts things in perspective.