My Story with Thyroid Disease

January is thyroid awareness month, so I’m taking this opportunity to bring some support and encouragement to others suffering, or on a healing journey with thyroid disease. 

I had the majority of my thyroid removed in June 2009. I developed a large goiter very quickly in my neck for no apparent reason. Within a few short months I had biopsies, ultrasounds, and surgery in fear that it was cancerous. Thankfully, it wasn’t. I went on my merry way thinking that would be the end of it, too young and unaware to ask “why?”. 


Over the years I began to have more symptoms, starting with fatigue ("everybody’s tired"), deep crevices in my nail beds ("are they just weak?"), loss of hair on the outside of my eyebrows ("plucked them for years!")… nothing major to worry about right?... but then it became more debilitating. I started to have severe fatigue as if my legs were made of lead and I could hardly keep my head up after a work day. I had terrible joint pain in my fingers and toes and heart palpitations. I had worsening migraines with aura, where twice I had stroke like symptoms with numbing of the left side of my lips and left hand. I also had awful carpal tunnel to the point where I needed to ice both my wrists and and wear a brace quite frequently. I realized this was not normal, and it was not in my head.


Your thyroid is the master commander of almost every metabolic process in your body. Although the little lobe I have left keeps chugging along, the last 12 years have been a roller coaster of strange symptoms. This past summer I tested positive for both of the antibodies (anti TPO & anti TG) for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition that attacks your thyroid, so the thyroid is really the innocent bystander and it's your immune system that needs work. This finally started to make so much sense to me! I do not have hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, but I often have symptoms of both. This is common with Hashi's because when your immune system attacks your thyroid, you may have a hyperthyroid response because more thyroid hormone is being released from your thyroid gland due to the attack. Then after the attack, you may begin to have a hypothyroid response because your thyroid gland stops releasing that extra thyroid hormone. Most people with hypothyroidism do have Hashimoto's. I began to read everything I could get my hands on about this autoimmune disease. 


I have read over and over again that researchers have found that a few months on a gluten free diet can eliminate organ specific antibodies such as the thyroid antibodies. Gluten actually has a very similar molecular structure to a thyroid cell (molecular mimicry), and your body can get confused attacking your thyroid in addition to the gluten. I immediately went gluten and dairy free because these intolerance's often go hand in hand with Hashi's. I also began prioritizing sleep, moving my body every day, drinking lots of water, and trying my best to keep my stress levels down. And, I am finally feeling the best I ever have in my life! I’ll always have ups and downs, that's just part of it, but there IS hope.


I still have flare ups but not to the extent of before. Just this past week I actually had a carpel tunnel flare with pretty bad fatigue, but it only lasted about 2 days whereas it used to last at least a week. I'm still working on figuring out my triggers. I do believe gluten was a big one for me because I have noticed such a huge difference in my mental clarity and energy levels. I do know stress is a huge trigger for me. If I have something big happening in my life or a stressful few days in a row, I know I'll suffer for it a few days later. Sometimes it's only one or two symptoms, and sometimes it's more. I'm still learning, and will continue to learn, what hurts and helps me. This obviously isn't medical advice, and please see a physician if you're worried about your thyroid. However, I don't think it'll ever hurt to encourage people to check their neck, and ask the questions. You know your body better than anyone. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with doing whatever it is you can to optimize your mind and body in order to live your best life <3


.

.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's Lift Each Other Up

I’ve been reading “Strong Women Lift Each Other Up” by Molly Galbraith. Wow. Every woman needs to read this. She discusses how in our culture women are conditioned, or seem to feel the need to constantly compete with each other. We believe that to succeed, we need to bring others down, especially other women, because there just isn’t enough room for more than a few women to be successful…right? Wrong. We’ve all been in situations where women have been catty, and you feel like they’re tearing you down and talking behind your back. It’s not all on them, it’s also on us. We’ve also all been in situations where we ARE the catty ones. I have felt this divide my whole life. I’ve always gravitated to having more guy friends because of this and it kills me, not because I don’t love my guy friends but because sometimes I feel like I’m missing out by not having close girlfriends. Why can’t we just support each other? Why don’t we want to help each other succeed? It stems from our culture, an...
Read more

Hashimoto’s and Lifestyle Changes That Worked For Me

Since I came forward with my Hashimoto’s story, I’ve had so many conversations with other women telling me they have suffered with the same symptoms. A thyroid disorder is no joke, and no one truly understands it unless they have experienced it themselves. I still have flare ups from time to time, especially after an extra stressful day or not sleeping well for a few days in a row. But generally, I’m feeling the best I’ve felt in a long time and that’s because I’ve learned to manage my lifestyle and make some changes that were necessary for ME. Everyone is different, and this is certainly not advice, but I know a lot of people are struggling with similar situations and I want them to know there IS hope and there are things you can do to start to feel better, it just takes time, and some trial and error. Once you begin to recognize your triggers, things will become easier to manage.  Here are the top 5 lifestyle changes that worked for me: #1 Sleeping Longer I used to think 6-7 hour...
Read more

The top 5 things that helped me feel my best at 40

I recently turned 40, which IS only a number... but turning a new decade always seems to trigger some form of reflection for me. What did I do in my 30's? Have I changed? What accomplishments have I met? I answered a lot of my own questions of course, and although I could write forever about things I have learned, and ways I HAVE changed, ultimately, I broke it down into 5 main things that I believe have helped me feel my best at 40.  #1. I made the decision to learn more about my body If you've read my first blog post, "My Story with Thyroid Disease", you understand why I took charge of learning more about my body. I've had thyroid disease for over 10 years, and probably longer. It was in 2009 when I started having symptoms, and this would play out to be an interesting thyroid history including biopsies, imaging, and surgery. Personally, I was scared, because I was having so many increasingly strange symptoms. People would say, "you're getting older, it...
Read more