thyroid fluctuation and lifestyle change
As you may know, I have a thyroid problem. Most of the time, I take a pill every day to replace the thyroid hormone my body isn't producing, and dont' think too much about it. Sometimes, that balance gets messed up, and the changes are subtle enough, and come on gradually enough, that I don't recognize that I feel rotten. I imagine people on antidepressants have similar difficulties detecting when their drugs quit working. When the hormone balance is off, I feel tired, fuzzy-headed, emotionally flat, disengaged, disinterested in things like it's all just too much effort, and my blood sugar is all over the show. (Except when there's too much hormone and I feel restless and anxious). Having been raised Catholic, I am wired to assume that anything wrong with me short of blunt trauma is probably the result of some sort of personal failing, so it doesn't occur to me to look for a medical cause. I just need to harden up, or get more sleep, or manage my stress better, or get more exercise, or .... something. I don't need a doctor to tell me that, right?
A couple weeks back, I started waking up at 4 unable to get back to sleep. That's a frustrating thing when I already feel like the 6am alarm required to get to the gym before work comes too early. I'm usually a pretty good sleeper, though it can take me a while to get there. Did I have work stress and some realistically anxiety-provoking situations in my life? Sure. But was I doing the things that usually help manage stress? In spades! I work out 6 days a week, eat very well, and try to get to bed on time with reasonable 'sleep hygiene'. Combined with my increasing difficulty coming up with the right words, I finally cottoned on to the fact that I needed to have my levels checked, and sure enough, they were whacked. The doctor increased my dosage by 35% and we'll check again in 5 weeks. What a relief! [And yet, until I actually feel better, not. There's always this worry in the back of my head--what if it's not the thyroid, and I'm stuck feeling like this?Again, I imagine people on antidepressants go through a similar cycle.]
While I was getting tests anyway, I had them test for thyroid antibodies to get to the bottom of *why* the system doesn't work. Seems likely (though not conclusive) that it's caused by Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune problem that causes your body to attack the thyroid so that it can't do it's job. Since I've been thinking a lot more about optimising nutrition for health in recent months, I've been reading up on self-care for Hashimoto's. A lot of it is the same stuff I'm doing to prevent diabetes: plenty of exercise, avoid sugar and high GI carbs, eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately (from my perspective), I've also learned that autoimmune conditions in general, and Hashimoto's in particular, often benefit from removing gluten.
This finding makes me want to cry, to be honest. I do a lot for my health voluntarily so that I don't HAVE to exclude who categories by necessity. And I know what a big commitment it is to go properly gluten-free and still be able to eat socially (since it's in so many prepared foods). There are other autoimmune problems in my family, like lupus. I have some minor ones, like the Reynaud's syndrome that causes some of my fingers to turn cold and white and (probably) the vasomotor rhinitis that causes my sniffles and sneezes. And I've recently learned that if you've got one, you're likely to have others, because it's a manifestation of your immune system being problematic. So it's *possible* that going gluten free would make me feel radically better and eliminate some every-day problems that I've been resigned to living with (and trying it is the only way to find out).
However, I try to be realistic about that challenges I currently have on or upcoming. I'm currently focused on maintaining a training program, finding a new job, moving to a different city and setting up a life there. On top of that, I've got some international travel coming up. Adding a program of dietary restrictions on top of that is a recipe for making myself miserable and unsuccessful. So I may give that one a go later in the year. It won't be the end of the world, I don't actually eat a lot of grains anyway. Those of you who have gone gluten free lately: are you feeling radically better? what are your strategies for success?
A couple weeks back, I started waking up at 4 unable to get back to sleep. That's a frustrating thing when I already feel like the 6am alarm required to get to the gym before work comes too early. I'm usually a pretty good sleeper, though it can take me a while to get there. Did I have work stress and some realistically anxiety-provoking situations in my life? Sure. But was I doing the things that usually help manage stress? In spades! I work out 6 days a week, eat very well, and try to get to bed on time with reasonable 'sleep hygiene'. Combined with my increasing difficulty coming up with the right words, I finally cottoned on to the fact that I needed to have my levels checked, and sure enough, they were whacked. The doctor increased my dosage by 35% and we'll check again in 5 weeks. What a relief! [And yet, until I actually feel better, not. There's always this worry in the back of my head--what if it's not the thyroid, and I'm stuck feeling like this?Again, I imagine people on antidepressants go through a similar cycle.]
While I was getting tests anyway, I had them test for thyroid antibodies to get to the bottom of *why* the system doesn't work. Seems likely (though not conclusive) that it's caused by Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune problem that causes your body to attack the thyroid so that it can't do it's job. Since I've been thinking a lot more about optimising nutrition for health in recent months, I've been reading up on self-care for Hashimoto's. A lot of it is the same stuff I'm doing to prevent diabetes: plenty of exercise, avoid sugar and high GI carbs, eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately (from my perspective), I've also learned that autoimmune conditions in general, and Hashimoto's in particular, often benefit from removing gluten.
This finding makes me want to cry, to be honest. I do a lot for my health voluntarily so that I don't HAVE to exclude who categories by necessity. And I know what a big commitment it is to go properly gluten-free and still be able to eat socially (since it's in so many prepared foods). There are other autoimmune problems in my family, like lupus. I have some minor ones, like the Reynaud's syndrome that causes some of my fingers to turn cold and white and (probably) the vasomotor rhinitis that causes my sniffles and sneezes. And I've recently learned that if you've got one, you're likely to have others, because it's a manifestation of your immune system being problematic. So it's *possible* that going gluten free would make me feel radically better and eliminate some every-day problems that I've been resigned to living with (and trying it is the only way to find out).
However, I try to be realistic about that challenges I currently have on or upcoming. I'm currently focused on maintaining a training program, finding a new job, moving to a different city and setting up a life there. On top of that, I've got some international travel coming up. Adding a program of dietary restrictions on top of that is a recipe for making myself miserable and unsuccessful. So I may give that one a go later in the year. It won't be the end of the world, I don't actually eat a lot of grains anyway. Those of you who have gone gluten free lately: are you feeling radically better? what are your strategies for success?