I’ve never been so happy to have something wrong…

Today I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, meaning my thyroid is underactive and my pituitary gland in my brain is working extra hard to try and get my thyroid to produce hormones which are in charge of regulating my metabolism and bodily functions related to my heart, digestion, muscles, bones, mood and brain.

This now means that I’ll be on medication every day for the rest of my life and  I will have to have regular blood tests, but honestly I have never been so happy to be given bad news.

For quite a while now I haven’t been feeling great and I have been deteriorating pretty rapidly over the past few months. My mood has been low for a while and although I wouldn’t say I was extremely depressed, I knew I really didn’t feel great and my anxiety levels increased. I started to take anti depressants to try and help with this and even did a CBT course to try and help me manage my anxiety, little did I know this was just the start of it.
My memory became terrible. I’m forgetting the days and when events etc are happening. I have been forgetting to contact people or get back to people who have contacted me. I remember that I need to go to the shops but can’t for the life of me remember what I needed. I have been carrying out tasks and feeling almost like I did it all in some sort of bubble and can’t think clearly about what happened. My brain has been so foggy that I’m struggling to even have proper conversations with people.
I have had absolutely no energy whatsoever, every morning Ophelia wakes me up and I literally want to cry because I feel so tired and so not ready for the day ahead. Every afternoon I find myself struggling to keep my eyes open. I’ve also noticed that in my head I really want to do something but it’s like my body is telling me that it’s going to be way too much effort.
I’ve been getting styes and recurrent twitches in my eyes, my hair is falling out and blocking my drain after every shower, I feel achey and weak and just generally not right. I have been really irritable, and my incapability to think straight, even when asked just a simple question, has lead me to become really frustrated and snappy. Ben has bared the brunt of this daily, it’s like my brain can’t keep up with him and I’ve ended up getting angry because I don’t know how to answer him or to just have a normal conversation.
I managed to put on 25lb in weight in just a couple of months and when I raised this with the doctor and asked whether or not this could just be down to the anti depressants I was on she said “I’m pretty certain this is thyroid related, lets do some bloods” she took me off the anti depressants straight away and got me an appointment to have my blood taken.

Today I received a call from the doctors asking me to come in and before I even sat down she said “It is what we suspected with the thyroid, I’m afraid”
Now usually you’d think that its a shame that someone aged 29 now has to take medication for the rest of their live and undergo frequent blood tests to keep an eye on their thyroid levels but honestly it came as a relief. To finally have an answer and a reason for all of these symptoms you’re feeling. Knowing that it’s all down to one little butterfly shaped gland in my neck and that there is a very valid reason for all of this at last comes as a relief.
It may sound strange but I don’t feel in any way upset about this, nobody wants to have something wrong with them and everyone wants to be healthy, however I’m well aware that there are people today who had to hear results alot worse than mine, people who go through so much more every day in order to keep themselves healthy. All I have to do is take a tablet each day and keep an eye on things. Yes, this issue can lead to other health issues which is why I now qualify for free prescriptions, but I always try and remember that there’s always someone else worse off.

I’m sure in time I’ll probably blog a little bit more about this and my experience with it all, but for now I have a few bumpy months ahead of me as my body gets used to the new medication and I have a few more blood tests to try and find the dosage of levothyroxine that works best for me. Tonight I’m going to bed relieved that I finally have an answer and I can look forward to feeling better soon.

Information on my type of thyroid issue Hypothyroidism, can be found here on the thyroid uk website. The website also contains information on Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroids) and the different types of thyroid issues.

If my description sounds familiar to you then please check out the symptoms on the NHS site here so many people go undiagnosed which can lead to further complications, I didn’t have all of the symptoms you’ll see listed on websites but my blood tests show there’s definitely something wrong so it’s always worth speaking to the doctor if you are noticing any of these symptoms or if you’re just not feeling right.