Still out here, just struggling a bit

I have been missing from the site for a bit due to health problems.  The thyroid issues have gotten much worse and just getting up and getting through a normal workday has been a tremendous struggle.  Things haven’t been good and I have lost my focus.  I have an appointment with a specialist in a couple of weeks; I’m just hanging on until I get there.

I stopped exercising near the end of last week; it seemed to drain so much of my energy I wouldn’t be able to function for the remainder of my day.  So, that’s been set aside for a bit.  I did get on the treadmill for a while this morning, I miss it, but I’m going slow and not on there for long.  For now I’m trying to get back to caring about what I eat.  I have been cycling through eating too much and living on nothing but coffee, not eating at all.  There is either not enough food in the world or everything but coffee sounds gross.  It has been a struggle.  When you are this tired and have no ability to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes the idea of figuring out what to eat that is on Weight Watchers that is on plan and within points is just plain mentally exhausting. 

I weighed myself on Sunday, even though I told myself I wouldn’t because I didn’t want anything to upset me.  Luckily I have only gained 4 pounds, I’m thankful for that.  I have decided that I’m not getting back on the scale until after I see the specialist, things are too out of control right now and I don’t need to add to the stress.  I’m going to focus on healthy foods and move along from there.

So, I just wanted to say hello.  I’m still out here, just really struggling.  If there are any people out there with Hashimoto’s or any other kind of thyroid disorder that can relate I would really appreciate some encouragement/words of advice at this point.

For information on thyroid disease / Hashimotos: http://thyroid.about.com/od/bookssupportresources/a/letter-to-family-friends.htm

Have a great day everyone.

Ordinary Days

I skipped a blog day again, ugh, I seem to forget a lot lately.  It wasn’t intentional this time; I fell asleep last night when I got home…oops J

I will recap the last couple of days because I skipped.  On the thyroid front, the ultrasound went relatively well.  There are a couple of nodules, kind of expected because that’s normal for people with Hashimoto’s.  They needed my tests from 2005 to determine if they have increased in size at all.  My next step is an appointment the specialist at the beginning of August.  I’m getting closer to answers every day!

Food has been good, though I have been really hungry lately (swinging back into hyperthyroid).  I have been able to manage it to the point where I am using my WPs.  I didn’t want to this week, but I also need to listen to my body.  I haven’t used all of them and I won’t dip into activity points so I feel like I’m staying on track.  Luckily my cravings haven’t been for sweets/chocolate, they have been for crunchy and protein.  The crunchy is easily taken care of by an apple, or dill pickles or my home-baked corn chips…check.  The protein I’m just focusing on low-fat stuff, mostly chicken and some tuna. The exploding chicken taquitos from Hungry Girl have come in handy.

Exercise has been going well.  I love the feeling of getting stronger.  Am I crazy to be excited about putting the treadmill up to 6% incline and trucking like I’m climbing a hill?  I love that I can, that my muscles work well and feel strong and that I know if I were on an actual hill I could do it no problem.

Ok, that’s it for today.  I don’t really have much more to say.  Happy Friday!

A Long Pause and Hashimoto’s

I have been absent for a few days, life got a little crazy here.  My husband ended up with a serious infection in his leg that put him down for most of the week.  Between that and my struggle to get my thyroid acting right again I just plain fell back into old eating patterns.  For me that means no cooking healthy wonderful food, it means buying food that others have cooked (aka take out from restaurants).  The result?  Only a .4 gain, thank goodness I kept exercising through it all.  I even added some more weight workouts, it makes me feel like superwoman afterwards.

I saw my doctor this week for the first time in the past two months.  She was out of town for my entire thyroid blowout.  I have Hashimoto’s disease, my immune system attacks my thyroid making it either to into hyper or hypo mode.  About a month and a half ago I went to the doctor for a racing heart, a symptom I recognized meant I was well into hyperthyroid.  My doctor was out of the country and the on call doctor, without looking at my history, took me off my thyroid medication all together.  Big mistake, one of the worst things you can do for someone with Hashimoto’s is take them off of their meds, that gives the immune system free reign to further damage the thyroid.  The biggest problems I have had since are brain fog and total exhaustion along with what is likely depression.  Not a good combo for someone that is trying to really focus on getting healthier.  My doctor put me right back on my meds, it will take a bit for me to level out, I’m looking forward to that.  She also set up an appointment for an ultrasound because my thyroid is now enlarged, and also with a specialist because she wants me to have someone there that knows everything about my condition (I love my doctor!). 

The silver lining in all of this?  I never once skipped exercising, even when I woke up so tired I didn’t feel like rolling over in bed.  I pushed myself; I made sure that I continued at least one healthy thing for me.  I’m really proud of myself for that part.  In the past I would’ve given up altogether and just gone into a mode that was totally unhealthy.  Yay me for maintaining focus in at least one area.

My plan for getting back on track?  Obviously, no eating out!  I also decided to make my entire week’s menu, tracking points for every day.  I put it all down on paper and left a few points on the table for any “oops” I may have.  The goasl for the week are to stay within DPs as much as possible, maintain the same level of exercise and focus on getting the food back on track while my thyroid evens itself out.  Oh, and posting in my journal, it’s important and keeps me focused.

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday!