Those living life alongside me in Seattle know most of this journey already. The last 6 months have been no walk in Disney Land. Health-wise, I hit an all-time low this past summer, and it took everything in me just to get through the day to day routine. It was grueling, exhausting and frustrating emotionally as well as physically. I was diminished down to the weakest of health I’ve been in 15 years and I re-experienced helplessness, utter weakness, and an all-time low: things I thought my Body had conquered.
The background on my health issues and previous updates can be found here. I was diagnosed with acute hypothyroidism when I was 15 year old and the diagnosis was a reason to celebrate at that time in my life because of the state of deterioration my body was experiencing. At 4’11”, I was 170 pounds and eating very little--read virtually no metabolism. I had stopped growing and maturing. I had extremely dry itchy skin, dry scalp, and hair loss. Puffiness and water retention were so severe I looked as if I was being swallowed by my own skin. Energy did not exist. Just walking up the stairs was a grueling task and I did everything I could to avoid doing so. I slept 10 to 12 hours nearly every night and could have easily slept more had my mom let me. I also suffered from nearly every classic hypothyroid symptom but because I went undiagnosed for so long, each symptom was magnified significantly.
So fast forward to early May 2012. After 6 months of blood tests, food allergy panels, elimination diets, and no sugar diets, I was still gaining weight despite my stellar food journal and regular workouts. I was also exhausted yet jittery and often dizzy and unable to focus. I knew I didn’t feel right so back into the Doctor I went for another option.
After taking a new blood sample she found my Synthroid dose was probably too high still and was being converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) inside my body which is not good. The plan to undo this RT3 was simple on paper but involved a few uncomfortable months ahead of me. Her plan, if I was willing, was to take me off of my Synthroid (a medication I’ve been taking for 15 years) and allow my body stores to “run out” essentially inviting some of my hypothyroid symptoms back into my life (the uncomfortable part), and then simultaneously putting me on prescription T3 hormone (new for me) as my body was apparently not converting the T4 in the Synthroid to T3 which is really what the body uses. This was the end of May 2012.
Did you get all that? No? Good, let's continue.
Did you get all that? No? Good, let's continue.
(This is all very simplified and in my own words based off of what I understood from my doctor. I am not in any sort of medical profession and have no business helping you diagnose or self-medicate. Please see your own medical professional for that. These are just merely my experiences.)
So the next 6 weeks were gradual at first. Each day I was a little bit more sluggish. My foggy mind returned almost immediately. Workouts were really hard, but I refused to give in to my body and give up my health regime and what I believed to be "healthy" for my body. Can you say obsessed?
Then about two weeks in, everything fell apart (coincidentally we were also buying a house that week and moving in with friends for the interim part between rent and own!). I started to sleep all night long, and on into the next day. I struggled to find energy to do simple things like shower, make dinner, and walk home from work. All my focus went out the window and it’s a sheer miracle I didn’t lose my job because I’m fairly certain I got nothing accomplished for a whole month. My hair started to fall out. My dry skin came back and I began retaining water so bad that I stopped wearing my wedding ring.
Then about two weeks in, everything fell apart (coincidentally we were also buying a house that week and moving in with friends for the interim part between rent and own!). I started to sleep all night long, and on into the next day. I struggled to find energy to do simple things like shower, make dinner, and walk home from work. All my focus went out the window and it’s a sheer miracle I didn’t lose my job because I’m fairly certain I got nothing accomplished for a whole month. My hair started to fall out. My dry skin came back and I began retaining water so bad that I stopped wearing my wedding ring.
I quit working out altogether and only walked for 30 minutes a few times a week if I felt up to it. I napped every day. I drank obscene amounts of coffee. My appetite disappeared. I gained weight.
And in my opinion the worst of it was when I experienced hormonal depression for the first time in my life. (I promise this whole post will not be a debbie downer.) Where everything outside of me was completely fine but inside of me I was happy one minute and completely overcome with sadness the next. My poor husband held me multiple times as I walked away from a setting where I was surrounded with friends because I burst into tears and couldn’t for the life of me understand why I wasn’t happy to be with them. And this was the last straw for Mark. Seeing my personality change so quickly made him scared. He insisted I make an appointment with my doctor as soon as possible which was about mid July 2012.
As I was enduring this journey, I became obsessed with researching anything I could find about T3 and RT3, why the body does these things, what kind of diet and exercise is most beneficial, what foods are recommended to avoid, etc. There’s a lot out there. And without any medical degree, I don’t feel comfortable sharing all the possibilities with any of my readers. But I assure you. It’s out there. Just Google “Reverse T3” or “hypothyroid and Adrenal dysfunction” to form your own opinions.
I discovered from reading this book that I should probably check into my adrenal glands since lots of what I was reading pointed toward the thyroid and adrenal gland dysfunctioning simultaneously. To test the adrenals, the best method available is a saliva test kit. Thankfully my naturopathic doctor had them in stock and the next day I was on my way to sucking cotton 5 times a day and mailing it in for testing. Meanwhile, my doctor did do another blood test and concluded my body simply does not make ANY or such small untestable amounts of thyroid on its own and that was why my symptoms returned so quickly and with so much force. I was put back on a much smaller dose of Synthroid in addition to my T3 medication.
Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with overall adrenal deficiency and put on a supplement that fosters healing for all the adrenal components (cortisol, adrenaline, testastorone, aldosterone, and whatever others are lumped in there too—they were all generally LOW or undetectable.) I was excited to learn this, oddly enough because having answers to the problems that effect every aspect of life was so encouraging! I remember leaving the doctor’s office with a huge sense of relief.
Within a few days of having Synthroid and my new adrenal supplement back in my life, things started returning in the direction of normal. My energy returned within a week. I lost the water weight I was holding on to. My sleep felt refreshing and no longer exhausting. My emotional rollercoaster ceased. And most of the other symptoms reversed as well.
Life-wise, we moved into our new house that week and I ran a 5k full of zombies. Both still fully exhausting, so it’s hard for me to pinpoint where normalcy truly returned. But things were definitely moving in that direction, and I was too busy to care.
I could end this recap here, and it would be an accurate account of the physical ailments I went through the summer of 2012. But the truth is there was a huge spiritual battle going on inside me simultaneously. Yes, my doctor and I agreed this was the path I would take, but God also had his hands involved. He used this time to show me how weak and frail I really am and how strong and big He really is. My health is not something I deserve to have in this life. It is a gift. And God wants me to be healthy and full of life, but he uses those times of weakness and sickness to teach me to depend on him and draw me near too.
I've definitely taken my health for granted. And having it handed to me so quickly and with such force really helped me realize how much I need my Lord and Savior. How dependent I really am on Him. I'm nothing without Him. And nothing is accomplished without him. And he LOVES me so much.
I could end this recap here, and it would be an accurate account of the physical ailments I went through the summer of 2012. But the truth is there was a huge spiritual battle going on inside me simultaneously. Yes, my doctor and I agreed this was the path I would take, but God also had his hands involved. He used this time to show me how weak and frail I really am and how strong and big He really is. My health is not something I deserve to have in this life. It is a gift. And God wants me to be healthy and full of life, but he uses those times of weakness and sickness to teach me to depend on him and draw me near too.
I've definitely taken my health for granted. And having it handed to me so quickly and with such force really helped me realize how much I need my Lord and Savior. How dependent I really am on Him. I'm nothing without Him. And nothing is accomplished without him. And he LOVES me so much.
