You’ve probably heard the term hypothyroid before or even know someone who has thyroid disease. The thyroid is such a vital part of the body, and a lot of people aren’t educated on its purpose. Spoiler- it’s such an important gland in the body!
Hypothyroidism means your thyroid gland is under-performing and you don’t have enough thyroid gland in your blood. This can be determined via lab work and can occur for several reasons such as:
autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s)
surgical removal of thyroid gland
medication (more to come on this)
radiation
damage to the pituitary gland
Symptoms of hypothyroidism include:
difficulty losing weight
infertility
cold intolerance
depression or mood disorders
difficulty swallowing
dry hair or skin
constipation
puffy face
menstrual issues
fatigue
slow heart rate
muscular pain
Just because you have hypothyroidism doesn’t mean you will experience all of these symptoms. Everyone experiences different symptoms at different times, and you could even work to be asymptomatic through lifestyle factors and proper medication/supplementation.
I personally know my thyroid is “acting up” when I feel an overwhelming sense of brain fog, fatigue, muscle pain, and mood disorders. This is what this looks like for me:
Brain fog- feeling confused and forgetting simple things quickly
Fatigue- pretty self-explanatory but I feel completely exhausted after doing regular activities
Muscle pain- I am up throughout the night with “tight muscles” and restless legs
Mood disorders- I get sad, unmotivated and irritable with..such ease (can you sense the sarcasm here?)
Since I’ve been aware of my thyroid disease for over 10 years, I can usually catch these symptoms coming on and I have to immediately attempt to shut them down. This means I slow down, reduce stimulation such as social media and TV shows, and work on getting more rest. To be honest, it feels unfair that this happens to me, but then I remember that everyone has to slow down at times. I don’t believe we are made to go go go all the time. There are seasons of pushing and seasons of resting more, which is the basis of seasonal living.
I’d love to hear how other people experience thyroid symptoms and what they do to work through it. Having a community is so important and has helped me when these symptoms come on and times get tough.