A short story about me.

This goes back over 8 years when I was Super Thin. And by super thin I mean as thin as a stick. We call such people “Haddi” in Hindi, as most of you reading this are aware. To add to it, I hogged food back then too, which included Excessive Consumption of junk food and Aerated Drinks too. Some people were jealous that I ate carefree and yet never gained weight, while my Family always complained “Kitna patla hai”. 

After engineering 2nd year, I failed to clear all the papers and hence was forced to drop out, stay home for a year and clear all the papers before moving onto the 3rd year. Over the next year and half I gained a lot of weight and very quickly. To be frank, most of us were happy at first because it helped me look better, but then it continued to a point where it looked like am just bloating like a balloon and something is wrong. All of this, took over 1.5 years, though every quarter the changes were noticeable kind of change. My family doctor did ask me casually to have a thyroid check up to be sure nothing is wrong in the first 6 months itself. Me being a smart ass, didn’t convey this to my family, instead looked up the internet with the least interest and found out that most cases of hypo-thyroid are genetic and came to a conclusion that its not possible that I’ll have any such issues as none of my family members have ever been detected with it. Eventually after 1.5 years by when a lot of damage was already done, I did go ahead with the test, the results were scary to say the least, but better late than never. After a few months of good care and medication I showed signs of improvement and the care is still on. No one knows for certain why exactly it happened to me, but it could be excessive consumption of aerated drinks.

Anyway, why the whole boring story?
Well, I learned some important lessons from this incident, which might help you too.

• If someone is responsible for your health, it is you. Not anyone else, not even your family
• If you notice some change in your bodily behavior, there is no harm in seeking help from your doctor, no matter how minor it seems
• A simple blood test is nothing to be scared of. Even if there is some irregularity it is always better that it comes to surface as early as possible
• Do not use your own smart brain and internet for health issues without proof, in fact use it to help yourself be more cautious