Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Gaining by the Day

I failed to mention in my first post that I am now 36 years old and weigh 156 lbs (and am 5'5").  I know that this doesn't sound alarming to most people but trust me when I say that I looked pudgy when I was 30 lbs. lighter.  No thanks to all of the swelling--courtesy of Hashimoto's. 

I have been tracking my weight for several years.  I keep a daily log in a notebook next to my scale and always weigh at the same time.  Recently, I found a notebook that was dated 1 month postpartum.  Sadly, I now weigh more than I did 4 years ago when I had my last child. 

I am considering renaming my blog - 'my weight-gain journey' since that is the direction I am now headed in.

Instead of dwelling about the number on my scale, I have decided that I need to take additional action and sign up for a 10K race.  Before I had kids, I ran 2 half marathons but now only have endurance for 3 miles.  Perhaps this self challenge will push me in the right direction.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Miscarriages led to my original hypothyroid diagnosis

From Misdiagnosed to Miscarriages
I was first diagnosed with hypothyroidism at age 28 after 4 miscarriages.  It was such a relief to have an answer to these symptoms that had plagued me as long as I could remember.  Throughout high school, I was tested for mono and iron deficiencies due to unusual lethargy.  My family and friends would call it my coma sleep.  No amount of sleep would make me feel rested.  I would actually feel sick when I woke up and one doctor told me that was from too much sleep.  I was also falsely diagnosed with sleep apnea and told that I was carrying too much fat around my abdomen by another doctor.  At that time, I was 23 and weighed 123 lbs.  Even I knew that was a stretch of a diagnosis.  What I wouldn't give to be 123 lbs today! 

A Simple Blood Test Changed My Life
I was skeptical that any of my prior diagnoses were accurate, but didn't have much choice than to believe that I was an overweight 23 year old with sleep apnea. Now here I was at 28 and never correlated the miscarriages with my exhaustion, puffiness, paleness or thinning hair.  I just thought I was a victim of poor genes.  I now know that I am luckier than most women dealing with infertility.  This was a relatively short amount of agony and I was diagnosed fairly quickly.  The good news was I knew I could get pregnant, I just couldn't stay pregnant.  My OB ran some simple  blood tests and found that my TSH was 5.9.  She put me on a low dose of Synthroid and some Progesterone suppositories and voila, I was pregnant.  Of course, I was scared to death because I had been pregnant several times before but lost each pregnancy before I was 20 weeks along.  My OB thought that this was a sufficient course of action, however, I did not want to lose another pregnancy so I went to work learning everything I could about hypothyroidism and pregnancy.