The Post

Generally, I'm a pretty healthy gal. While I don't always work out and I don't always skip the sweets and caffeine, I'm happy to say that I don't get sick very often. Nor have I ever spent a day in the hospital (with the exception of having the boys) or needed emergency treatment (except the two times I've gotten stitches). I've mentioned thyroid issues and it looks like I was right. Sorta. After three visits to the hospital in a two week span for blood work, an ultrasound, and more blood work, plus two visits to my doctor, I've been told that I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I thought it was hyperthyroidism. Turns out, Hashimoto makes you go back and forth between hyper and hypo thyroidism. I don't mind the hyper - increased metabolism and weight loss! But hypo is the exact opposite so I shouldn't be too happy. So far, I'm only experiencing the hyper. I've lost 10 pounds in two months. Sure I'm hot all the time and scratching my itchy skin and I can't paint my nails because of my trembling hands. But 10 pounds!! That's almost worth it! Of course, this is only temporary.

Anyway, my Doctor says with Hashimoto, my immune system is going wacky and attacking my thyroid. My poor thyroid! It's trying to fight off those autoimmune cells and hence the back forth between hyper and hypo thyroidism. Eventually, my thyroid will probably stop working so my doctor suggested a thyroid medicine for me. But I'm not thrilled to be on medicine for the rest of my life so I asked if there are alternatives. She said I could cut out the caffeine and eat a healthy diet and in rare cases, people heal themselves. Since my symptoms aren't more than a mild annoyance, I'm holding off on medication for awhile. Her only concern is my heartbeat which registered at resting rate of 120 beats/minute. This is unacceptable so I'm temporarily taking medicine to help with this. We'll re-evaluate everything in a few weeks.

Sorry to be a downer with all the yucky medical stuff but a lot of my family reads this blog and it seemed easier to write this out than go around telling everyone. Plus, it's not something I really want to talk about anyway so we'll consider the subject closed for the time being. Unless my symptoms get so bad they affect my life, I'm going to play it cool.

I'd like to close this post by lamenting on how much getting old sucks, but really, I feel like things just get better and better as I get older and older. (I'm saying this at 36, mind you.)

Plus, Hashimoto is often hereditary so I'm blaming the genes.