My Health Journey: Hashimoto's & Hypothyroidism
disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor or anyone legally able to give you medical advice…. I am just a fed up woman who did the research and kept pushing until I got answers, over and over again! So consult your medical professional on anything to do with your health. Also disclaimer, this is a long post but worth the read!
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
In the fall of 2014, I was working long weekends and many weeknights taking family photos for clients. It had been exactly one year since I had my third child. I was exhausted and not just the staying up too late, working too hard kind of exhausted. I was getting enough sleep, I was working out and I just couldn’t get enough rest. Then my mood started going down and that just wasn’t normal for me. My husband was home on shore duty, life was great and we were truly happy…. but I kept having down moments that I just couldn’t figure out. Ooh and did I mention that none of the baby weight had left… it was all still hanging on like a bad perm from the 90’s. So, I made a doctors appointment at the local military base medical clinic. Yes some of you just cringed haha.
I went to my doctor visit.. I explained all of my symptoms and he looked at me and said you’re 36 and you’re just hormonal. He agreed to test my thyroid after me all out insisting, along with a CBC and other routine things. All of the test came back “in range” That phrase makes me crazy now, 6 years later. So, I waited a few more months because now I thought well maybe I am crazy and I’m just getting older….
Things just got worse, so I made another appointment and even broke down crying in the office with the doctor. To which, he again told me I was hormonal and possibly depressed… and he sent me to the mental health office next door haha. He wasn’t letting me leave base without a required visit to mental health. Thank goodness it was a woman, I explained everything to her and the steps I had taken to improve my symptoms. I mean I have a Masters degree in Human Relations and took multiple counseling and mental health courses. She reassured me that I was NOT crazy or depressed, that it was 99.9% an imbalance in a hormone and probably my thyroid. She sent me back to the doctor. See where this is going? Circles!!
DIAGNOSIS
Flash forward to 2016. Almost 2 years of living with utter exhaustion. Except now it had gotten really bad. My hair was falling out in horrifying levels. My eyebrows were half gone and so were my eyelashes. I couldn’t remember anything, and walked around in a fog all day. My digestive system was at a halt haha. I had had my thyroid levels checked again in 2015, but nothing since. Then came the morning that I said enough! For weeks, maybe months, I had been waking up and getting the kids up just to walk down to my office and collapse on the couch. My oldest would wake me up when they were ready and I would drive them to school. One morning, I was driving them in my normal fog feeling. About halfway to school I had a sudden panic because I thought that I had left our youngest, 3 year old at home alone…. I hadn’t, he was in the car and safe…. but that was one of the scariest moments that I won’t forget.
I called the doctor right then and was seen that day, by the worlds most amazing Nurse Practitioner. She tested my thyroid and other levels and called me back in the next day. She had taken my new results and compared them to the last 4 years of tests, along with the auto Immune markers and said that I was in the beginning stages of Hashimoto’s Auto Immune Disease and that my thyroid was dying lol. We had started with a more homeopathic approach of increasing Selenium, Iodine, Magnesium, and Vitamin D in my diet a month prior to the panic morning, but that wasn’t working, so I started on a low dose of Synthroid that day. Within a week, my brain fog was significantly better.
Over the course of 6 months, we tweaked my dosage and things just kept getting better and better. My TSH had went from 7 to 1.5, I lost a large amount of the baby weight and I had energy. Yay!!
50 STEPS BACK… MORE LIKE 1,000
So fast forward to 2018. We moved away from DC for a military move and I was no longer being seen by the amazing Nurse Practitioner. After 18 months of awesomeness health wise, I had to have a pretty significant surgery to repair two hernias and a ripped apart stomach muscle. It was hard, so much pain for so long. I couldn’t sit up without pain for over 6 months. The chronic stress, pain and lack of sleep caused my thyroid to go crazy again. The symptoms started again, hair falling out, utter exhaustion, joint pain, horrific brain fog…. I couldn’t remember the word umbrella one morning… I told my daughter don’t forget that stick thing that keeps the rain off of you. I was terrified, I was losing words. It was a fight with my new doctor and when tested, my TSH was back up around 4 and “in range” (there is that annoying phrase again) according to her. For the record, “in range” when on medication is no longer in range and it is also very specific to each individual. I was not in range, I couldn’t remember the word umbrella for goodness sake!!!!
I cried and cried and made multiple appointments with the local Primary Care Manager. Then after multiple extra tests, I put my foot down and said I want to see a specialists. I got lucky, a new Nurse Practitioner who specialized in thyroid issues had just moved to our very small town and I had an appt for a month later. Let me just say, the stress and crazy that you feel when you know your health is not ok, but no one will listen or help you to fix it…. IT’S BULL_HIT!!!! Utter Bull_hit! I’ve cried so many days feeling hopeless and helpless.
I walked into my speciality appointment with spreadsheets of my results going back 4 years. A list of all symptoms and all of the things I had tried over the years. I had the tears ready to come flowing out. She walked in, took one look at my numbers and said “ohhh honey, you don’t feel good do you?” I cried, ugly ugly crocodile tears. I handed her all of my spreadsheets and explained my journey. Then she said “we are going to get this fixed, starting today”
TODAY
We are still in progress of “fixing it,” but there is hope and progress. I am now on both Synthroid and Cytomel (T4 and T3 Hormones). I am always trying to stay in-tune with my body. I’m constantly doing research and trying new things to find ways to improve conversion between T4 and T3. I even did a food sensitivity test to help me reduce inflammation through my diet… hallelujah I’m sensitive to kale haha. I take my supplements (Magnesium, Vitamin D3 and K2, B Vitamins, C, and a few others), try to reduce inflammation trigger foods, get sleep and reduce stress. I have a whole sleep routine and environment that I’ll share one day! I’ve also enlisted the help of others in the health industry who have helped me along in this journey and have walked the same path as me.
HAYDEN SMITH, MPH HC has been a friend for the last 5 years, thank goodness for Stroller Strides in Oklahoma City!! Hayden has been my Health Coach off and on over the last 3 years, encouraging me when it was getting bad and helping me to focus on positive goals to improve my symptoms and my daily life. I can’t recommend her enough. If you are struggling, looking to improve your health, need accountability from the sweetest encourager, or just need to talk through your current situation…. contact Hayden. You won’t regret it, she is a wealth of knowledge and support!! You can visit her on Instagram and Facebook. You can also email her at hayden@nourishmindbody.net
To those who are going through hell with your health, I’m cheering for you. It’s hard, it sucks… but fight for yourself with your doctors. Don’t give up just because a doctor says you are crazy or just getting old (if I ever see that male doctor again…). You are in control, even in the darkest moments when you feel helpless along your journey. There is more than just traditional medicine… look at your vitamin levels, your stress levels, your sleep, your toothpaste, your cleaning products. So many things that affect our bodies and our environment. Hugs to you my friend, you can do this!!!
