I don't know about you, but Hashimoto sounds like a Japanese warrior name - conjuring words like brave, indestructible, and all things that means conquer and success. What it means - destroy destroy destroy.
The symptoms that come with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's are as follows:
- Fatigue and sluggishness
- Increased sensitivity to cold
- Constipation
- Pale, dry skin
- A puffy face
- Hoarse voice
- An elevated blood cholesterol level
- Unexplained weight gain — occurring infrequently and rarely exceeding 10 to 20 pounds, most of which is fluid
- Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, especially in your shoulders and hips
- Pain and stiffness in your joints and swelling in your knees or the small joints in your hands and feet
- Muscle weakness, especially in your lower extremities
- Excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)
- Depression
Diagnosed and treated (like mine), Hashimoto's isn't life-threatening; it's really just a constant struggle to diminish and avoid weight gain and a generally uncomfortable existence.
Many women have it. Many don't know.
Many people have other hormone or endocrine-related illnesses and chalk it up to inability to lose weight or depression.
It's not that simple.
Why I am telling you this now? Recently, I made a big deal about getting on the right track to fitness and health and right in the middle of that energy, I experienced what I call a "thyroid flare" or "attack," meaning my thyroid hormone levels suddenly went off balance. In short, it's a period when the thyroid hormone replacement therapy isn't dosed quite right or my thyroid has a period of its own frenzy. In short, despite some heft efforts, I've gained weight and have lapsed into a phase of complete frustration.
Not depression. Frustration.
See all those symptoms above? Think of those, all the time, for weeks at a time, in exaggerated form.
The result? I'm pretty pissed off.
My response?
Get a trainer to kick my ass on a weekly basis and kick my grief over how I feel into motivation to fight anything getting in my way.
The result?
I halted the weight gain. I'm getting better work outs.
But I feel miserable. I'm actually losing my hair. (Thank God it's thick hair!)
The doc tells me I'm at the point where the thyroid gland really just doesn't work all that much anymore and occasionally will sputter and confuse my body into some hormonal chaos, but in short, I'm on hormone replacement therapy - FOR LIFE.
Fun.
And I really have to watch what I eat from now on. No excuses. No sneaking. No whining about not being able to stick to it or lack of self-control. With each bad choice, I'm freaking my body out.
So rather than being pissed off and sad and giving up, I'm going all warrior style and fighting back this ridiculousness. I may never be tiny or gain much feeling back in my extremities during the winter, but I don't have to take this BS.
If anything, my diagnosis is the added kick in the pants that I've needed in addition to a trainer. It's not enough to try feebly and talk fitness, it's got to be coupled with serious action.
What does this mean - serious action?
Well, it means working out a lot harder than before. It means actually making sure I take all of my supplements (prescribed by the good doc) and it means not letting my lifestyle (or penchant for salty snacks) destroy the progress I made over the past few months.
(When I was first diagnosed, I was nearly 200 lbs. I'm never going back there.)
Speaking of supplements, some interesting tidbits that come with Hashimoto's, at least, for me:
I'm completely deficient in Vitamin D3 and B5 (pantothenic acid - which is usually found in starving people in 3rd world countries)
I need to take fish oil (eeeewww).
I need to eat almonds (10 a day).
I'm supposed to eat a low glycemic/Greek diet.
(Yay for olive oil and red wine!) :-)
Maybe you're thinking that this isn't such a big deal; grand scheme of things, probably not. However, some of the big issues that come with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's (particularly when symptoms aren't controlled): clinical depression, infertility, risk of requiring thyroid surgery, goiter, or thyroid cancer.
I'm not ^ there. Now.
Thank goodness.
But! It's something to keep in mind when you hear someone saying they have a sluggish thyroid or that a thyroid issue is countering their ability to feel good or lose weight. It's not an excuse; it's real. It makes reaching a fitness goal infuriating from time to time, especially when you can't control a lousy butterfly-shaped gland.
Ugh!
Maddening.
I'll tell you this though - there are a lot of worse illnesses and people who have larger struggles. The theme here is:
Be a warrior; Don't give up.
Ever.
