Back in 2011 after countless blood tests and every cold that was going around, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, an under active thyroid gland (lazy of course).
This is a condition where the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough of the thyroid hormone. My symptoms were extreme fatigue, hair loss which included thinning of my eyebrows, bad digestive problems which lead to extreme bloating, memory loss, lack of concentration and mood swings just to name a few.
2011 was when I had my 1st baby, in women this can exacerbate an underlying thyroid condition. Very common in women, mostly women, lucky us.
I would get asked on numerous occasions if I were pregnant because of my severe bloating. I was uncomfortable and depressed and lost.
My GP put me on a drug called Thyroxine which over the next 6 years went from 25mcg up to 100mcg which I am still currently on.
I want to share my experience or my journey (hahaha journey, getting deep now) with other Mums who are going through this and Dads who are supporting women going through this, to get a better understanding and not just put it down to being a tired and busy Mum.
After I was put on the Thyroxine I thought that was that. Just keep plodding along taking my meds and nothing more, boy was I wrong! After the birth of baby number 3, I stopped taking my Thyroxine. This was a huge mistake. In my defence, I was extremely uneducated about my condition and I was feeling really good (Ill put that down to the joy of having a newborn in the early days). I thought gee I'm feeling great, I don't need this medication anymore. Unless you have made other changes to your health or your thyroid has stabilised, you SHOULD NOT stop taking your medication. I had stopped taking it for almost 6 months, in that time my health slowly plummeted.
In the early days I just started getting more fatigued, the bags under my eyes felt like they were hanging down near my knees. I actually fell asleep on the kids trampoline (mother of the year award). Then my brain became foggy, I was struggling to remember things, I couldn't put a sentence together because I couldn't think of words. I remember standing at the fridge looking at the calendar and I burst into tears because I could read the words in my head that I had written but it felt like something was stopping them feeding them to my mouth. I would get extremely frustrated and moody, cried pretty much all the time over the silliest little things. I had zero energy to play with my 3 little men which made me feel like a bad Mum. I would take things out on my Husband, he would walk in the door and hold his breath because he never knew what he was in for when he got home.
I eventually went back to my GP and she was honestly disgusted with me haha. She could not believe I had stopped taking my medication. After she ran blood tests she was actually shocked that I was still standing. Soooooo, back on the Thyroxine I went, dosage increase number 1!
Sorry , this is quite a long post. I have a lot to share so hang in there.
I had been back on the meds since September 2015 and things had improved but only slightly. Because I had gone off them for such a long time, it was going to take some time for my body to build back up again. Anyway, the slight improvement was just not good enough for me and that's when I hit my point.
I couldn't go on like this anymore. I was a horrible person to be around, mood swings and temper tantrums. I felt like I was failing as a wife and mum and my family deserved better.
I will continue the 2nd part of my journey in another post so stay tuned.
Peace out.