I Have Hashimotos Thyroiditis
Hello dear Experience Project friends, I am sorry it has taken me so long to update. Things have been rather busy in my world. I recently moved into my first house, which I am happy to say has been a wonderful experience! It's glorious having a space of my own (well, and my husband, of course).
I have been diagnosed with Hashimotos for almost 8 months now, and am still adjusting to my schedule of hormone taking, especially after moving. It really has been a whole new life for me, after the move, and it will take some time to get into a habit of things. I've missed a day or two every once in a while, which I start to notice around nighttime when I get a small headache or my body will feel worn out. Once I missed 4 or 5 days straight, and let me tell you, that was NOT pleasant, at ALL. I quickly became depressed, snappy, tired with extreme migraines and mentally sluggish. Took about 3 days after taking my hormones again to get back to normal. When I take them daily, I am amazingly back to my old self. My memory has become sharp again, my insomnia has completely disappeared, my attitude has returned back to normal (usually loving, happy and goofy), and my body pains are lowered.
As I've mentioned in my last story, I have switched priorities from weight loss to stress management. Best decision I've made thus far in my disease handling. With Hashimotos, stress can eat you alive from the inside-out. It can ruin your life, relationships, job and everything else in between. My weight gain has been significant since 6 years ago. I went from 175 to 200lbs when I injured my back and had to stop dancing, then from 200 to 220lbs from development of my disease and eating out with then boyfriend (now husband), then from 220 to 240lbs from stress by itself from this disease. At one point I went from 230 to 200lbs on a strict medical diet given to me by my chiropractor (the one that diagnosed my disease and recommended the hormones I'm currently taking) but I overstressed and dropped the diet rapidly and went back to stress eating. I have come to a realization that the only way to serious consider losing weight is to probably be on this diet and focus on nothing else, no job, no children, etc. This particular diet, as I said, is VERY strict, and very difficult with the disease. The diet essentially cuts out carbs, gluten, sugar and fats. And as you might know, Hashimotos causes you to become quite tired, sluggish and have low energy. Well if you cut out carbs, gluten and sugar then there goes a good amount of what you consume to GIVE you energy...not a good combination. Especially in my career as a dance instructor.
I have had a several serious conversations with my husband. We had always decided that after we married we would wait a few years before we have children. We have been married two years now and much to my surprise he has been thinking that he might like to have them sooner, rather than later! This is something that I have to carefully think over, plan and prepare for since Hashimotos CAN lead to infertility, miscarriages and other problems. From what I understand, after reading multiple articles, speaking to several people and reading many stories and experiences online, having a baby with yourself having Hashimoto's Thyroiditis can be easily and healthily done, if done properly. Constant visits with your endocrinologist with constant blood tests is the key. As you ladies know, once pregnant, your hormones will go rampant, constantly fluctuating. That can be dangerous when taking Hashimoto's meds or hormones since we require the proper dose for thyroid balance. Hence, constant blood tests and hormone observing. Keep your dosage correct during the 9 months and everything should be fine.
I realize the best chance I can give my future baby is to lose as much weight as possible (healthily of course). And to do that (especially if my husband is considering sooner than later) I need to prioritize what I want in life. First and foremost, I am not a career woman, I am a family woman. My dream is to be a housewife and mother (of 2 hopefully). Although I love teaching dance, it is not the most important thing to me. And honestly, I know in the future I can always teach a class or two, here or there, but it's not what I want to consume my time with. Therefore, I have decided that this school year will be my last at my job. I have to wait till June before I can quit since I have a recital with the studio then, but quit I will. Then my priority will be the weight loss with my full time job of a housewife. My husband fully supports my decision and I am so grateful that he has become so in touch with disease and the situation I am put in. It took him a while to fully understand what it is like and what I will have to face, day to day, for the rest of my life, but he has exceeded even my expectations and even checks with me daily to see if I have remembered to take my hormones and constantly puts my needs first (such as food and sleep) to make sure I never have problems with the disease. If anything, find yourself a family member who can help you the same as my husband has, it is the greatest blessing you can have for your dealing of Hashimoto's.
Until June, I have decided to just watch my food intake, stop drinking sodas, and limit my carbs. I have already dropped 7lbs just from a lemon/lime flush for 3 days and weeks of intake watching. The important thing is that I am mastering the art of stress-handling. Which in itself is quite a challenge. I have also decided to find myself a good endocrinologist, seeing as how I have decided to stop seeing my chiropractor for many reasons. I need to find one that does not have a problem with recommending natural hormones, since I refuse to take synthroid. If any of you wonder why I have chosen this, to put it in the simplest terms...what synthroid basically does is kill off your thyroid and put a man-made hormone into your body (this hormone replacing what your thyroid SHOULD have been producing on it's own.) What disturbs me about this is that first of all, it kills off your thyroid, essentially making your condition worse so it can more easily put the correct amount of synthroid into your body without worry of adding to what your body should be naturally producing. Secondly, it's MAN-MADE. I believe the body will more naturally handle a substance that it naturally made to go into a body, and not something more foreign. The hormone I take is called GTA Forte II, along with vitamins and minerals it contains Porcine Glandular concentrate (yes, yes, pig hormones essentially, but these are REAL HORMONES, similar to those that we produce.) Thus far I have been very impressed with it, although I am open to trying other natural hormones supplements. I hope to find a good endo soon, since it has been quite a while since I've done a blood test to check my T3 and T4.
Don't let this disease control you and your life. Find ways to ease your stress, and if necessary, rid yourself of things that can cause extreme stress for you. It's not worth it. This is YOUR life, YOUR happiness and YOUR time. Life is short and with it comes a chance to love, live and be content and happy. We all have our problems, but never forget, they can all be handled...so step back and breathe a little. I wish you all the best in your battles...
I will update again soon, if you have any questions or just need a fellow Hashimoto's friend to talk to, please feel free to email me.
Love, Cookie
I have been diagnosed with Hashimotos for almost 8 months now, and am still adjusting to my schedule of hormone taking, especially after moving. It really has been a whole new life for me, after the move, and it will take some time to get into a habit of things. I've missed a day or two every once in a while, which I start to notice around nighttime when I get a small headache or my body will feel worn out. Once I missed 4 or 5 days straight, and let me tell you, that was NOT pleasant, at ALL. I quickly became depressed, snappy, tired with extreme migraines and mentally sluggish. Took about 3 days after taking my hormones again to get back to normal. When I take them daily, I am amazingly back to my old self. My memory has become sharp again, my insomnia has completely disappeared, my attitude has returned back to normal (usually loving, happy and goofy), and my body pains are lowered.
As I've mentioned in my last story, I have switched priorities from weight loss to stress management. Best decision I've made thus far in my disease handling. With Hashimotos, stress can eat you alive from the inside-out. It can ruin your life, relationships, job and everything else in between. My weight gain has been significant since 6 years ago. I went from 175 to 200lbs when I injured my back and had to stop dancing, then from 200 to 220lbs from development of my disease and eating out with then boyfriend (now husband), then from 220 to 240lbs from stress by itself from this disease. At one point I went from 230 to 200lbs on a strict medical diet given to me by my chiropractor (the one that diagnosed my disease and recommended the hormones I'm currently taking) but I overstressed and dropped the diet rapidly and went back to stress eating. I have come to a realization that the only way to serious consider losing weight is to probably be on this diet and focus on nothing else, no job, no children, etc. This particular diet, as I said, is VERY strict, and very difficult with the disease. The diet essentially cuts out carbs, gluten, sugar and fats. And as you might know, Hashimotos causes you to become quite tired, sluggish and have low energy. Well if you cut out carbs, gluten and sugar then there goes a good amount of what you consume to GIVE you energy...not a good combination. Especially in my career as a dance instructor.
I have had a several serious conversations with my husband. We had always decided that after we married we would wait a few years before we have children. We have been married two years now and much to my surprise he has been thinking that he might like to have them sooner, rather than later! This is something that I have to carefully think over, plan and prepare for since Hashimotos CAN lead to infertility, miscarriages and other problems. From what I understand, after reading multiple articles, speaking to several people and reading many stories and experiences online, having a baby with yourself having Hashimoto's Thyroiditis can be easily and healthily done, if done properly. Constant visits with your endocrinologist with constant blood tests is the key. As you ladies know, once pregnant, your hormones will go rampant, constantly fluctuating. That can be dangerous when taking Hashimoto's meds or hormones since we require the proper dose for thyroid balance. Hence, constant blood tests and hormone observing. Keep your dosage correct during the 9 months and everything should be fine.
I realize the best chance I can give my future baby is to lose as much weight as possible (healthily of course). And to do that (especially if my husband is considering sooner than later) I need to prioritize what I want in life. First and foremost, I am not a career woman, I am a family woman. My dream is to be a housewife and mother (of 2 hopefully). Although I love teaching dance, it is not the most important thing to me. And honestly, I know in the future I can always teach a class or two, here or there, but it's not what I want to consume my time with. Therefore, I have decided that this school year will be my last at my job. I have to wait till June before I can quit since I have a recital with the studio then, but quit I will. Then my priority will be the weight loss with my full time job of a housewife. My husband fully supports my decision and I am so grateful that he has become so in touch with disease and the situation I am put in. It took him a while to fully understand what it is like and what I will have to face, day to day, for the rest of my life, but he has exceeded even my expectations and even checks with me daily to see if I have remembered to take my hormones and constantly puts my needs first (such as food and sleep) to make sure I never have problems with the disease. If anything, find yourself a family member who can help you the same as my husband has, it is the greatest blessing you can have for your dealing of Hashimoto's.
Until June, I have decided to just watch my food intake, stop drinking sodas, and limit my carbs. I have already dropped 7lbs just from a lemon/lime flush for 3 days and weeks of intake watching. The important thing is that I am mastering the art of stress-handling. Which in itself is quite a challenge. I have also decided to find myself a good endocrinologist, seeing as how I have decided to stop seeing my chiropractor for many reasons. I need to find one that does not have a problem with recommending natural hormones, since I refuse to take synthroid. If any of you wonder why I have chosen this, to put it in the simplest terms...what synthroid basically does is kill off your thyroid and put a man-made hormone into your body (this hormone replacing what your thyroid SHOULD have been producing on it's own.) What disturbs me about this is that first of all, it kills off your thyroid, essentially making your condition worse so it can more easily put the correct amount of synthroid into your body without worry of adding to what your body should be naturally producing. Secondly, it's MAN-MADE. I believe the body will more naturally handle a substance that it naturally made to go into a body, and not something more foreign. The hormone I take is called GTA Forte II, along with vitamins and minerals it contains Porcine Glandular concentrate (yes, yes, pig hormones essentially, but these are REAL HORMONES, similar to those that we produce.) Thus far I have been very impressed with it, although I am open to trying other natural hormones supplements. I hope to find a good endo soon, since it has been quite a while since I've done a blood test to check my T3 and T4.
Don't let this disease control you and your life. Find ways to ease your stress, and if necessary, rid yourself of things that can cause extreme stress for you. It's not worth it. This is YOUR life, YOUR happiness and YOUR time. Life is short and with it comes a chance to love, live and be content and happy. We all have our problems, but never forget, they can all be handled...so step back and breathe a little. I wish you all the best in your battles...
I will update again soon, if you have any questions or just need a fellow Hashimoto's friend to talk to, please feel free to email me.
Love, Cookie
By:
spunkychocolatte
Age:
22-25
