Small But Mighty: A Thyroid Life

You Can Have One Thing to Improve Your Health

2014-07-29T23:23:00.001+01:00

Dear Readers,

I am working on some new initiatives to improve healthcare for those with chronic conditions and injuries, and to attempt to support changemakers who cannot access the resources they need to make a positive change.

As part of the launch of these initiatives, I would like to ask you one question:

If you could have just one person or thing to improve your health, what would it be?

Post your responses below. Here's to a high energy day,

Louise

Put the Thyroid in the Public Eye on International Story Day

2013-08-23T23:00:00.000+01:00

International Story Day sees people all over the world collecting and submitting stories anonymously to a gigantic collection. This could be a chance to raise awareness of thyroid disease amongst the general public.

Add your story via this form: http://louisesopher.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/international-story-day/ or by commenting with an anonymous name on this post.

Read examples at strangersproject.com

Youth Is Not Based On Your Age

2013-05-06T21:39:00.003+01:00

Being hypothyroid is like being on the longest road out of town, full of bustling individuals running on foot. Everything seems slow and sounds seem drowned out by white noise and you are there trying…just trying, on sprinting legs, to keep up with a world which turns and speaks and screams endlessly around you. So I tell myself that energy is to be cherished. Energy is to be respected. Energy is a sign of things going right. If you have it, you are lucky, the world is on your side, and no doubt you have finally overcome the drains resulting from surrounding symptoms.

But so many people talk about losing energy as they age, and I laugh it off. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, I say: there is no such thing as old age. It is a product of hormones and chemicals, therefore there is no such thing. If I can have all the symptoms of old age (not to mention approaching death if things lag out a while…) then you can be young when you are old. Age does not determine a person's experience.

Read why here.

2012-10-24T19:26:00.000+01:00

Ladies and Gents,

In 1854 a poetic and philosophical man made a comment which is now buried in the pages of his book. 'To be awake is to be alive,' he said. But every man and woman is too drowsy for daily life and too far asleep to participate fully in the highest tests of their lives. Hats off to us for trying, but we could be so much better.

The man I refer to was Henry David Thoreau. He favoured getting out into the wild in order to reclaim our vitality. I favour this too, but there is something the modern world tends to forget when it comes to being awake and truly alive. That something is proper nutrition.

Nutrition is vital in our lives. It is one of several processes which feed our body. It is the reason we feel deeply for those who are unable to access enough food. It is also the reason we have become aware of the dangers of an economic climate which leads people away from the shelves of healthy food and towards the fast-food stands. Few people are aware of the true list of ingredients and the lack of nutrition prevalent in even the prepared foods which look healthy. Those with digestive symptoms may search for the right foods for their body, but many others with medical conditions might not actually realise the impact that some foods, no matter how good their diet, have on their symptoms.

Let me tell you something. At 17 I was diagnosed with the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism. A year later I asked my specialist how long he thought I had this disease without knowing. Well he shrugged a little and said, '7 years.'

I spent a while considering all the parts of my life which may have had something to do with the disease, all the things people had said about me, and all the things I had overheard. Rarely, if at all, during those 7 years, was I ever really awake or alive. I was processing things at a different speed, and the times I was really alive are still hard to remember, as blurry, distant memories which is just the way I was.

Thyroid disease is serious in that, given time, it can kill you. The symptoms will be more pronounced than any ordinary form of tiredness in the same way that fatigue is greatly exaggerated in similar conditions compared to everyday forms of it. But let me ask those of you without these conditions now, how often do you feel alert and functioning to your highest standard? How often do you not feel bloated? How often do you lack the energy and vitality required to participate fully in a conversation or activity? As good old Thoreau said, none of us are really awake. None of us are really alive. Too many of us are being held back by symptoms and too few of us are aware of the foggiless world that's out there if we just get out in the open and away from the smog and breathe it all in with pain-free food by our sides. Admittedly we are not all the same. We are all humans (last time I checked) but in the modern world we have vastly different lifestyles, are in different environments, and are in different medical states. But there is no doubt that we all have foods which slow us down and make our bodies feel more like machines grinding away and sounding awfully like a train clanking along an uneven track while a dead rat hides in the middle carriage, instead of course of the wonderful image of an organic being full of chemicals flowing delicately in the right order and amount. Yeah right, right?

So, if you frequently feel drained, foggy, slow, more like a half-functioning robot when you don't even have a medical condition to put it down to, then wherever you are right now, put your hand up. Now stand up.

Okay, now everyone with a digestive condition or ongoing symptom, stand up with me. And those who have to eat every three hours? Those with conditions, symptoms, or issues ranging from all autoimmune conditions to other hormonal conditions, to poor focus, to the ones which are so unusual that you feel left out in this list,

stand up.

And anyone with medical conditions for which the advice is contradictory; the treatments useless and littered with side effects? Stand up.

And finally, anyone who wants to eat healthier but doesn't know how; any student who, like me, is trying to eat well to reach their full potential and not be held back, but is facing the issue of expensive bills and too much stuff clogging up a small fridge, stand up.

Okay, now if you feel well, or like your diet and health are good or under control, sit down. Anyone who thinks I'm going on about rubbish, also sit.

Who's left?

Now let me tell you what I'm doing in a nutshell. If you think it will help you, I want you to sit down. And then I want you to like the following photo album.

Click here to view the album and the Facebook page.
[http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.296397733799913.57833.296392280467125&type=1]

If you're still standing now, let me know whether something is missing from the proposed website. If you're sitting and it's not because you gave up on the idea, let me know I've got a job to do with this website.

We Are All Asleep

2012-08-03T14:26:00.000+01:00

'Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering? They are not such poor calculators. If they had not been overcome with drowsiness, they would have performed something. The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?'
-- Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden', 1854

With Energy I Wake

2012-08-02T14:14:00.000+01:00

Live every day of energy with enthusiasm. Energy is delicate. It rarely lasts. Hold onto it. Savour it. Love it. Live it.

This, and only this, is the culmination of my search for thyroid health. Thyroid health does not have to be about the digits, which may be good or harsh and intrinsically unfair, but about the way you cherish the times you react within a click of the fingers.

'To Be Awake is To Be Alive'

- Henry David Thoreau (1854), Walden

Please read on by clicking here: With Vitality I Rise

This does not mean the end of this blog!

Update

2012-06-30T00:10:00.001+01:00

I haven't posted as was promised, but you can be sure that another one of '52 tips and tools' is coming soon, along with more posts.

I have switched over to Google's new standard (dynamic views) because posts no longer looked very good with my old template and the site was taking so long to load. I'm taking a little sigh here, as the last template took lots of work and was a positive change (so you said) when it went live. However, text now reads nicely across the screen, and images are displayed clearly too. The menu bars haven't disappeared: move your mouse to the right-hand side of the screen and hover over the black squares. These boxes will expand, and you'll be able to access the previous menus in the same way.

My site badges from Medpedia, New Doctor, and Disease.com are now in a separate page. There is also now a link to Everyday Health, who asked me to write for them not long after I began this blog. You can find this page on the top menu bar of the blog. The About page is also in the same location.

If you are unfamiliar with dynamic views, you can use the drop-down list on the left-hand side of the menu bar to change the way blog posts are displayed on the site. The 'classic' template currently displays the majority of posts in the best way. Keep scrolling down and you'll find posts as far back as 2009.

Be sure to leave me some feedback about how the new template is working for you!

Louise

2012-06-16T09:36:00.001+01:00

The theme on this blog has been taking ridiculously long to load lately, so I will be changing to dynamic views or a different theme shortly.

Tips & Tools (2): Poor Concentration - The audio-book

2012-06-03T15:00:00.001+01:00

Today's tool falls under the symptoms of what I usually term 'BLANK' and 'BLUR'. BLANK refers to the horrendous memory accompanying thyroid disease; and BLUR refers to the blurry vision and brain fog which is also prevalent. Both, then, are symptoms which influence the capacity of the brain to function. These can cause concentration issues but, in the days of multi-tasking, we are all - healthy or unhealthy - prone to such irritants.

How do you train your brain to pay attention when you have spent so long being ill? How do you get yourself to focus when your focus is non-existent?

Try downloading an audio-book and listening to it for ten minutes every day, before you are supposed to start your work. Force yourself to pay attention to the words and not drift off. Start typing up some of the words if you are falling into a dreamy state from which you will not be able to recover. Pay attention. These ten minutes will go pretty fast.

Now get to work. Have you returned to your dreamy, blurry, blank state, or are you paying attention? If you are hypothyroid, chemically of course you have an excuse for returning to that blurry state. However, is it possible that your symptoms can be made less irritating through attention to each one independently while you try to solve the main issue (through correct medication)? It's worth a try.

Tip (1): The Chart

2012-05-28T00:34:00.003+01:00

52 ways to bust your symptoms. Right here.

First on my list of 52 tools and tips for busting health symptoms is the chart.

Simple as it sounds, if you have digestive problems or you are struggling to get into a routine, a chart may really help. Simply draw out the days of a couple of weeks on paper and add in columns for everything that you need to do: specific exercises each day, perhaps; timed meals; and even ensuring that you shower on the right day may all be perfected using the chart. Give yourself a tick for everything you do correctly. If you are undeserving of that tick, write an explanation. That way, when you look back you will (hopefully) be able to spot what went wrong and continue perfecting your routine.

This is a simple but effective tool. Try it!

Next week, look out for a tool for aiding concentration.

52 Symptom-Busting Tips & Tools

2012-05-19T22:40:00.001+01:00

Introducing The Symptom Buster

For the past three years I have written posts about the symptoms of thyroid disease, its lack of awareness, and tips on how to live with the condition. After being scooped up by Everyday Health not long after I started this blog, I have also been writing (more frequently, I might add) from a more personal perspective over there, sharing my experiences, insights, and theories around this disease and health in general. Now I am going one step further. You see, for a long time I have paid attention to health websites which include those with other medical conditions, even those which do not fall into the endocrine (hormone) sphere. On this website I have taken to keywords which sum-up - for me - hypothyroidism, and which are nevertheless some of the most common symptoms: namely Blank, and Blur. Brain Fog, what I term Blur, although Blur also refers to blurry vision, is a term which is all over thyroid forums, personal blogs, support groups, and informational websites. But it is also a term which is all over the support websites for similar conditions, and the support websites for more different conditions. In reality, although the cause of our Blur is different to the cause of others, we are talking about exactly the same thing. Although we are all receiving different treatments, and although for some Blur is long-term and it is not meant to be relieved by medication, and for others Blur is the result of something more serious than thyroid disease which is not caused by cancer (what some term 'chemo fog', for example), while Blur is in full-throttle, for all of us, underneath whatever conditions, we all need a way to stand against it. Those dealing with Blur until their thyroid is under control need a way to deal with it until they get there. And those dealing with Blur long-term need a way to cope which works. In reality, we are all looking for the same symptom-buster. Yes, in part treat the cause, not the symptoms, but unless or until those symptoms go away we are all in the same boat as each other. So when someone on a website we haven't looked at because it does not cover our condition has an answer to our question because they have the same symptom, will we know about it?

I have previously thought that I should focus on symptoms as opposed to the disease itself which, come on, I've overdone and overdone and overdone except to try to raise awareness - there are, after all, answers to many questions spread out across the internet, but repeated and repeated and repeated because there is not one single answer and the medical authorities disagree across the world. The question is, how useful is that to people? And what is the best way to do it?

I don't always put a post up. And there is one popular post on this blog - the informative, 'this is how it is' kind of post, for thyroid newbies, and that tells me I should write more like that...when I can! Having surveyed and spoken a few people I know what may be obvious: practical advice is what people, on the whole, are looking for, followed by emotional advice/release. On Everyday Health you can join me for my personal journey to decent health, which may not always cover thyroid disease so strictly as here. Look out for more news on what the coming few posts over there will be about. I can say that I will be drawing up a theory and testing it, to find out how much control we really do have over our own bodies. Here, I'm aiming to point to a useful tool (online or offline), or the best tip I have, once a week, all year. With 52 weeks in the year, you can expect 52 tips and tools. They may be anything from the best brain-foods and stomach-curing methods, to useful Apps you can use to support your health. But the point is, they are going to focus on symptoms. Thyroid symptoms (which, for the Thyroid Oblivious and Newbies, cover an awful lot), yes, but as most are aware of, thyroid symptoms are far too generic for anyone's liking, and this means that they may be shared by those with other conditions, and - in a mild or singular form - by the healthy. That makes the following 52 symptom-busting tips & tools highly useful (I hope!).

Occasionally I may post a numbered tip or tool on Everyday Health. If so, it will be signposted with something like the following:

Number [...] on the list of 52 symptom-busting tips & tools!

...and there will be a link to.

Look out for the first tip or tool in the coming week and leave your comments below to let me know what you think about this idea.

Louise

It's Time To Do Some Research

2012-03-30T22:52:00.001+01:00

Hello all,

As part of a second-year undergraduate research project I am looking for people living in the UK who also use the internet to search for health advice or participate in online support groups (such as this one) to fill in a survey. I want to find out who does this research, and whether or not this has become your only source of advice. For more details follow the link below or ask me.

Please follow this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dER0RS00RDZlNkVScThIZ0xOYkMxb1E6MQ

At the end of the survey you will be asked if you want to be contacted for a forum-based discussion or/and Skype interviews on key issues around this subject, which will occur very soon. You will have much more of a chance to share your opinions and discuss wider issues, including virtual support platforms, and the reasons online support is better, worse, or the same as offline support, by participating in one of these.

Thank you

2012-02-24T14:26:00.001+00:00

'A table, made for six people, lurks in the corner of the pub. Its occupants wave at you, and you take the empty seat, shake hands, do what conversation calls for. It's not long before you've led the chatter in a curious direction, and you've ended up watching the man or woman opposite you. 'So what is it that you've got?' you ask.

'Well,' replies the person, and the conversation turns into a competition, a pathetic number-game where whoever has the most health conditions wins. Meanwhile the open-mouths around the table suggest your gob-smacked friends cannot even begin to understand why the two of you are in fits of giggles, apparently finding the proceedings rather humorous. You even begin to split up your main diseases into their symptoms, labelling the sub-conditions as entirely separate...they'll never notice! you holler in your mind.'

Read my latest post on Everyday Health: http://www.everydayhealth.com/blogs/life-with-a-headless-metabolism-thyroid-disease/whatever-your-condition-is-its-a-challenge

'But if you are chatting about your illnesses, you're not seeing them as the challenge of medical science - you're seeing them as your challenge. And that's good. That's good because medical science cannot solve everything.'

The Knowledge Divide - Life with a Headless Metabolism: Thyroid Disease - Everyday Health Blogs

2012-01-29T21:18:00.000+00:00

We typically look at the internet as one vast collection of knowledge which search engines work endlessly to plough through on our behalf, so that we can look out on the field and find the ripe strawberry amongst the dead ones. But I have found, time and time again, that even within the internet a divide exists. This divide is clearly not digital, but it is one of access to, and participation in, knowledge communities.

In my Everyday Health post this week I argue for centralising the conversation and debate on thyroid disease. To find out what I'm talking about, and to share your opinions, click on the link below.

Read it Now: The Knowledge Divide - Life with a Headless Metabolism: Thyroid Disease - Everyday Health Blogs

'When community leaders are spending time answering the same questions over and over again, and when individuals post the same arguments and the same questions and the same criticisms under the same forum headings while the older debates, three steps ahead, get shuffled into the archive, we don't get any further than this stage one of questions and shouting and 'what do you think?' and 'let's hear your opinion, shall we?'. '

Feed Me Long-Term Solutions. Please. - Life with a Headless Metabolism: Thyroid Disease - Everyday Health Blogs

2012-01-16T14:48:00.000+00:00

Feed Me Long-Term Solutions. Please. - Life with a Headless Metabolism: Thyroid Disease - Everyday Health Blogs

2011-12-01T13:53:00.001+00:00

Eat This; Don't Eat That - We could all be wrong:
Take a Guess.

This video presents views which are incredibly controversial within the thyroid community as well as other communities: is it better for us, for example, to eat raw foods? The general agreement is yes, of course, and there has been a massive growth of raw food snacks available in the supermarkets and online, but this collection of 'raw foods' includes those deemed to be 'goitrogenic' - brocolli and cabbage are just two examples. On the one hand it is suggested that cooking such foods ensures that they do not damage the function of the thyroid (although a question I have not researched is if we already take thyroid replacement medications then surely this would make no difference?). On the other hand cooking these foods (as pointed out in the above documentary) reduces the nutrition which they would otherwise offer us. Our bodies, apparently, were never meant to take in cooked food which does not need to be cooked.

I certainly believe in raw foods, but there is something much nicer about adding some boiled broccoli to a bowl of delicately mixed vegetables.

Perhaps there are two extremes, as there are with everything: if you prepare foods yourself, from base ingredients then surely you are more likely to reap the benefits of your relatively fresh meal (despite the ingredients coming from a supermarket or similar place), not contaminated by not needed sugar, salt, E-numbers, palm oil, and various other irritating things bound to nudge even the healthiest of stomachs and bodies into decline?

If, on the other hand, you agree to the supposedly healthy weight watchers (apologies to anyone who is a sworn weight-watchers follower or similar) microwaveable meals, the vegetables-in-a-packet provided by such high-market supermarkets as Waitrose and declaring on their front that they are extremely healthy and will be ready to eat after two minutes of experiencing microwaves or boiled water, or the 'fat free' yoghurt offered by some brands which may be wonderful occasionally but otherwise tastes so decidedly sweet or sour (which one is it?) that you are forced to peek at the ingredients and notice that the sugar content is twice as high as the pot containing less than 2 grams of fat, aren't you losing out on something more nutritious?

Please note that Small But Mighty: A Thyroid Life is a blog aimed at informational and awareness purposes; Life With a Headless Metabolism: Thyroid Disease is where I allow my privacy to become depleted with personal stories open to people who would like to relate and am meant to post more frequently. If I do add a personal comment on this subject over there, the final sentence of the above paragraph will not be a question but a statement: '...you most certainly are losing out,' it may say. I will not write that here (because I am not knowledgeable enough, nor am I qualified in anything close enough to medicine or nutrition, and) I could be wrong.

Of course, so could medical science,

(which actually is composed of qualifications and knowledge).

Finally, an article with facts in it

2011-07-31T00:23:00.000+01:00

Well done, the Daily Mail: you've finally done it: written an article which tells people what the thyroid actually does, and what it doesn't do when things go wrong.

Well done, the Daily Mail: your article appears to be well-researched; though depressing, it appears to be true.

The article focuses on actress Gena Nolin (of Baywatch) and, of course, on her weight struggles. But it also explains her other symptoms, and says that thyroid disease can lead to serious cases. It highlights how long it takes to get diagnosed. It explains the process of thyroid disease deterioration well.

I'm not sure what different medications Gena Nolin was able to try, or why she tried them, and I wish they pointed out that for most women, on the usual UK-given drug levothyroxine, it takes up to six months to be 'almost symptom-free', not 'three days'.

Still, an altogether positive article for the state of awareness from the Daily Mail. Looks like it will be in the print edition?

Shame I don't usually have any faith in the newspaper: I'd buy a copy to check if I did. But this article may well sway me towards believing that the Daily Mail actually does publish worthwhile stories.

Click here to view the article

I Have the Thyroid Thing

2011-03-25T21:17:00.001+00:00

I have the thyroid-thing: I see all these people on the trains, see their necks and their faces; see they're exhausted; see they're sleeping; see they're daydreaming...and I feel sorry for them. They could be hypo, but they don't know.

I have the thyroid-thing: I look at these people, sleeping; daydreaming - and I think 'I used to be you'. I love the way I am, the super speedy me; the third - do I have a third? - personality me. My endo said my body's heading into overdrive (in other words yes I am becoming a little hyper...in my case over-treated with thyroxine). It was obvious from the word go - from over two years ago - that this was going to happen, seeing as I went shooting down when I added the extra pills to my concoction. But I wouldn't call this shooting up - it's more like I was flung into outer space when I came off those other pills, with my arms spread in front of me; reaching, in this gravity-less place; on a road which takes quite a while, for the planet ahead of me, bright red (the worst colour, but it signals that things are intense), and that two weeks ago I was close enough to touch its crispy edge, and as for now? Well...I tested his theory (and mine, for I queried the change) on the escalator: walked as fast as I could through the crowds, swung myself around those slow-walking, suddenly stopping strangers like I like to do, headed the wrong way but quickly recovered over a dozen times with my super-speedy decision-making and my power-walking legs - yeah, look at me: speedy me; charged with a rocket me; look at me, yeah.

But it's all got to go. And I knew it would. I'm supercharged, like a laptop that's been over-clocked: it's a dangerous game to play. No - I refuse - (and watch my list here, you'll like it I swear)
to exclude the possibility
of a wide-eyed me;
of a super-speedy me;
of a brain activated,
super-speedy chatty problem-solving one
hundred and thirty laps in the pool
Me.
Yeah.

What do you do if you don't want to overclock your laptop but you do want the same results?
You clean your hard drive, empty your internet cache, delete unwanted software, complete a virus scan, de-fragment your fragments and then you restart. And what you get is just as good.
Yeah.
I know what to do: I'll make this feeling last; it's the same feeling you get when you suddenly start being able to do something, with no warning but many falls behind you. You felt it? You know it? It's like a drug, but one you're only given every few years. You had it? Let me tell you - you sure as hell want it. I know what to do: I'll make it last...
I'll make it last...at least
I'll try.

Otherwise I know I sure will miss the overdrive; I sure will miss my second ever taste of life on the other side (because this need to go on alternate doses is a little deja vu. Just so long as I don't, in a few months, start on another medication to add to my totally reduced concoction, maybe my timeline won't circle and circle and circle). Levothyroxine isn't addictive - but a taste of hyper for a hypo?; A taste of the extra RAM; the overdrive that's fucking brilliant?
That sure is.

Damn good I have an imagination to see where things could go. Damn good, doc, I can see my guilt twenty years down the line if I let this be; damn good I doubt myself like that; damn good, proff, don't you think - that I'm not screaming; leaping; yelling for this thing; this thing that I call a drug.

Lost for Words

2011-03-01T16:59:00.001+00:00

Blank and Blur - below is a writing entry found on my laptop, dated October 2007 - a year before I was diagnosed; a year before I knew there was anything wrong with me. Thyroid Disease is real, and it's not one of those things caused by your thinking that you're ill.

'I’m lost for words: I’m completely and utterly lost for words. Nothing is swirling in my head; no complex mixture of thoughts – hell, not even something downright simple. What is this? A trap of writers block? Yet I’ve not even claimed myself enough to have that title standing over me. So what? Am I ready to begin? Yet again time is crawling behind me, lashing it’s claws at me and striking deep, sickening holes in me; holes which weep oceans of red-brown blood; blood which trickles down my skin and sinks into the next gash; the ocean flowing like lava from a volcano, burning, sizzling, steaming, melting my skin. I turn my eyes away…and begin….'

Theory

2011-01-29T11:53:00.000+00:00

I HAVE a theory.
The theory is that it is possible to train your body to the way you want it to be. I'm talking about food. I'm talking about routine. I'm talking about knowing what's good for you and what isn't. And here are my top tips:

Make a food chart. One the left side put 'No-Go-Foods/Drinks' and on the right put: 'Best Foods/Drinks For...' with sub categories for whatever it is that you struggle with, e.g. 'Energy', 'Regurgitation' and so on. When you are certain about those foods write them down. For example, under No-Go-Foods/Drinks' I have pizza or anything sharing those ingredients, wheat, and fizzy drinks. Under 'Best Food/Drinks For..Regurgitation' I have fennel tea and (lemon with hot water?), along with solid dry foods. Stick to this chart as your bible - refer back to it every time you have specific issues, and deviate only if you really believe that certain no-go foods are now okay, or if your diet is changing.
Make a chart with tick-boxes for whatever it is that you keep forgetting to do or running out of time to do. Examples include a sit-up chart; a chart to get your health back on track if you've been skipping meals or not showering enough (tick every time you do to get yourself into a routine). My chart includes tick-boxes for when I do physio exercises on my shoulders.
Teach your body to ask for only what it needs - nothing more. If you have to eat little and often then continue to do so; if not, try it. Have a specific-size breakfast (e.g. half a yoghurt with cereal) and if your body asks for the other half later then allow it. If you have what I like to call a 'crash hour' (more on this in a later post) where you feel pretty rubbish, could fall asleep,can't focus on anything and want to eat to try and get your energy back, then work on that hour and find out what is the 'perfect snack' for that hour, and keep experimenting until you find it.

Thyroid Awareness Week

2010-10-22T17:25:00.001+01:00

THYROID AWARENESS WEEK

2010-10-18T17:35:00.000+01:00

This week is Thyroid Awareness Week in the UK. 1 IN 5 have it. That means you should either have it or know someone who does. But it's undiagnosed in 13 million people in the US - that's 1 in 20. It's misdiagnosed. Diagnosed years later. It's the subject of argument and controversy. It affects everything,

everyday.

And if you don't know you've got it, this could be the week which

changes your life.

This is the time for shouting about our disease. This is the time for telling people how important thyroid disease is, for telling them how much it changes people; how much it leads lives; how much it affects everyday life. This is the time for getting thyroid disease the proper attention it deserves: a space in the news; a place on the agenda of international experts. This, right here, right now, is the time for settling online debates and international controversies; for establishing, once and for all, a treatment or choice of treatments which every doctor or endocrinologist accepts and a diagnosis which doesn't change between the UK and the US. This is an international disease which deserves international response.

Let's realise how mighty small things are: Hypothyroidism. Hyperthyroidism. Graves and Hashmiotos. Thyroid Cancer. Let's get rid of those 7 year, 12 year, 20 year stories of undiagnosis or misdiagnosis. And let's realise how small the mighty can be.

The Thyroid: Small but Mighty: look it up.

Ah, So the Net DOES Back me up on a Hypo Brain!

2010-08-30T23:16:00.000+01:00

"What allows the brain to work quickly and efficiently is its energy supply. If this is impaired in any way, then the brain will go slow."

That is the first sentence of an article entitled 'Brain Fog' on the website DoctorMyhill.co.uk. For me it is a direct link to hypothyroidism and if I didn't find that word or the phrase 'underactive thyroid' in the article I would've been undeniably shocked.

Luckily, then, it is mentioned.

According to the article a properly functioning brain needs the following:

A good blood supply
Enough blood going to it
"Sufficient blood pressure"
"Sufficient oxygen"
A consistent sugar supply

View the article (link at the bottom of this page) for more information on each of the above including how to treat a foggy brain.

Now, almost as often as I write a post on this blog or on 'Life With A Headless Metabolism' or even on Dear Thyroid I add in some kind of reference to 'Blur.' Blur, as I name him or her or it, is the irritating blurred vision which comes and goes as it pleases when I am tired but particularly when my thyroid is down - at such a time Blur is a regular visitor. Here comes the advice part:

To rid him or her or it one must shake their head or blink furiously; alternatively, if Blur is being a little more of a twat patience is the only option. Concentration, if you are reading at the time and particularly if you are in a rush or under a timed condition examination, is not to be expected. Likewise, if you are attempting to listen to someone's intelligent or interesting conversation during Blur's distracting visit then again I would highly advise delaying the interesting you-must-remember points with a relatively intelligent-slash-not really needed question. These are lifestyle tips, you'll realise - just ways of dealing with Blur.

Blur can, alongside blurred vision, which is a highly common hypothyroid symptom and is often listed on symptom checklists from website to website, also refer to brain fog where, to put it simply, you're brain is floating somewhere between Saturn and the snowstorm mountains of ski slopes - and yes, it does take millions of lightyears to get between them. Thus:

You cannot process a thing without repeating it a hundred times. Cannot read and respond to a simple sentence on a page without breaking it down bit by bit. You feel pretty dumb and you wonder what the hell everybody else thinks of you too. You can't remember something, not even from that morning, or of who you saw the day before - anyone would think you either weren't listening, weren't paying attention or just have seriously bad short term memory issues. Brain Fog. It's strong. It's irritating. It's a brain of absolutely nothing. You could flick it with your fingernails and all you'd hear would be the hollow sound of dead wood or the echo of a derelict cave.

The list of symptoms of brain fog on the article above contains everything I've just described as well as the following:

- difficulty finding the right word - TRUE!

- thinking one word but saying another - TRUE!

Now let me ask you, how many times when you've been really tired have you stumbled over your words and said to the person in front of you: "oo, I really can't speak today!" Most of us do it randomly anyway. But how much do you do it when you're tired? When you're hypo? If you're not just imagine it for a moment. How many times?

Alot. An awful lot.

That's brain fog.

Now, the article does mention under 'Treatment' that 'hormonal disturbances' i.e. hypothyroidism is one possible cause/treatment for brain fog. What I want to do is get this news out a little more. What I want to do is let people know that their complaints of poor concentration, poor memory and so on - potentially, dyslexia and dispraxia (yes, that is my opinion there) - could be due to hypothyroidism. That the amount of children in schools whose poor grades are finally being attributed to poor memory..and hopefully at some point the fact that the syllabus is far too memory-orientated, may in fact be due to developing hypothyroidism issues. It's the same with growth problems; socialisers who don't keep up with the modern 'law' (again, my strong opinion) on socialising; even obesity. Yes, all the so-called 'problems' we have today may be down to thyroids or to immune-system mistakes causing thyroid problems. Yes we need to ensure that amongst today's non-active busy lifestyle we are fit and healthy and totally not stressed but we also need to consider a little more the importance of certain hormones; of our metabolism in our day to day life.

Let it be known: the thyroid IS Small But Mighty

Read the article referenced here:
http://drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Brain_fog_-_poor_memory,_difficulty_thinking_clearly_etc

Totally Unrelated - my Borneo adventure

2010-08-18T15:25:00.003+01:00

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I told you it’s Small But Mighty

2010-07-17T11:46:00.001+01:00

You know how I always say 'The Thyroid is Small But Mighty?' Well I mean it.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that the thyroid doesn't really do that much. That assumption is rubbish.

Read why on my Everyday Health blog here: Life With A Headless Metabolism - That Assumption is Rubbish