When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease
My son (my first child) had just turned one when I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I’d been tired and I thought it was just being a new mum but I went to the docs and she called me to say my TSH was high and it looked like I might have an underactive thyroid – to come back and have another blood test in three months. But after a month I was feeling even worse and my mum insisted I go back – my TSH had doubled in that time, I was put on levothyroxine and sent on my way. At that time on the NHS they tested TSH, T3, T4 and thyroid antibodies. For me the thyroid antibodies were present.
What nobody told me about Hashimotos Disease
I didn’t realise that having an underactive thyroid was because I had an autoimmune disease.
The doctor didn’t tell me and it took me years of reading to find that out. Once I did a lot of pieces slotted together and I was able to start looking at the whole holistic picture. The autoimmune disease is Hashimoto’s and basically my body makes antibodies which attack my thyroid gland meaning it can’t work like it should and so it becomes ‘underactive’.
But an underactive thyroid is just a symptom of Hashimoto’s.
When Levothyroxine Wasn’t the Whole Answer
And once I learned that I realised it came with a good few other things and that just taking my Levothyroxine each morning wasn’t really enough to treat it on its own – certainly for me it wasn’t. I took my pill religiously every morning a good hour before breakfast and caffeine but I still suffered many of the symptoms – I was exhausted, cold, my hair was always thin.
Looking beyond my thyroid
I was back and forward to the docs for years, they’d test my thyroid, say my TSH was normal and so my dosage was fine and I’d be back to square one.
When I learned about Hashimoto’s I learned that it’s autoimmune, so anything that puts my system under pressure can affect it – particularly stress or a bug. I learned that if you have Hashimoto’s it can greatly affect your gut health and absorption meaning you can be low in ferritin and B12 or even be coeliac. I learned that lots of people with it can find gluten or dairy inflammatory. I learned lots of other things that I’ll write about in the coming weeks, months and years.
But most of all I learned that a pill wasn’t going to solve it. I had to look at my life as a whole – how I spent my time, who I spent it with, my sleep, my exercise, my food, my thoughts, my approach to work, everything.
Learning to Live Well With Hashimoto’s
And I’ve done that. It’s taken 15 years but I’ve finally learned some balance and I feel a lot better and enjoy every day even more.
Lastly, and this is something I’m still learning – I’ve learned about acceptance – I’m having to accept that I won’t feel again like I did before Hashimoto’s. That I can’t cheat it or outrun it or cure it. I’m living with it and sometimes it makes things harder and that’s just a fact of life.
Why I started The Well Lived Day
I find writing relaxing and so this can be my therapy room but I really hope that the things I share help you too – whether you have an autoimmune thing too, or are just busy and sometimes overwhelmed.
We can learn together.
