Exciting News!....My thyroid problem is becoming a thing of the past! A few weeks ago I was at my absolute worst and couldn't take it anymore so I made an appointment with my doc to change my hormone dosage. They couldn't get me in until this week. I started to tell her how bad it had been, but then started to realize I had been doing okay this past week. She sent me for blood work to see how the ol' hormones were doing....and voila! They are on their way up to being normal. I feel like myself again! I went for coffee today, ran some errands an even....*gasp...went to my first yoga class in 2 months! My doc said that post-partum thyroiditis works like a U shape...the hormones keep dropping, dropping, dropping until they reach an all time low, and then they start working their way back up and then leveling out at normal. A few weeks ago I must have been at the lowest point.

I know this only happens to 5% of women post-partum, but I should use this time as a forum to share how my experience with it was. As I said in an earlier post, I knew something was wrong when I had non-stop nausea. I hadn't even noticed the lack of motivation or energy since I was a new mom to a 4 month old baby...I just figured "this is what all new mom's feel like" I started to feel really bad since ALL I did all day was lay on the couch, watch t.v., read books, and feed my baby. When my doc diagnosed me, I finally had a reason for feeling the way I had. It was good to know my problem wasn't just my own laziness, but bad to know because I felt trapped by my diagnosis. I felt like I wasn't able to do anything more than I was already doing. It's definitely okay to give yourself permission to not overwork yourself, but I think sometimes I may have used it as an excuse to not do anything.

My frame of mind was not the same either. My doc had said to watch out for depression, because most people with a thyroid problem struggled with it. I didn't think it would be a problem for me since I am not normally an emotional person (one of the few lucky ones to not experience PMS every month!), so when I was all of the sudden down, sad and crying for no reason it was really hard to handle. I remember lying in bed crying loud sobbing cries, yet I didn't know what I was crying over. I was also overwhelmed really easily. Because I was so tired, I really let my housework slip, and I knew our kitchen needed a cleaning BAD. One day I had to psych myself up for it all day saying "okay, as soon as I take this nap I will clean the kitchen....as soon as I'm done feeding Eva I will clean the kitchen..." when I finally had mustered up the strength to get off the couch, I walked in the kitchen, saw that EVERY dish in our kitchen was dirty and just started bawling. I was so overwhelmed I turned around and walked out. Steve also needed me to apply for my teaching certificate and fill out the paperwork to become a substitute teacher so I can begin subbing soon. The idea of being in a classroom full of kids, with my mind frame so down, and my energy so low overwhelmed me so much I refused to even drive down to the university to fill out the paperwork. Every time Steve brought up the issue I just began to cry. It is an overwhelming and exhausting health problem to have. It does get better, and now that it is, I'm excited to do all the things I was missing before. I felt like I was wasting my maternity time. But now I have been thinking about cleaning and organizing things, I have been excited to scrapbook again, and I have even been inspired lately to paint (crazy!) Yay for things being back to normal!