I like my Sleep but this is Ridiculous!

I cannot remember the last time I felt rested after 8 hours of sleep.  I currently sleep about 12 hours a “night” and do not feel rested when I get up.  It’s not every night anymore but still more than I would like.  One of my goals of hypothyroidism treatment is to get awake in the morning after 8 hours of sleep and have energy to get work done.

I have a difficult time dealing with the sleeping thing; before my hysterectomy, I slept 6 hours a night and felt good when I got up.  I actually long for those days!  Now I spend more time sleeping than doing anything else and it seems like such a waste.

My doctor wants to do a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea but I don’t want to do that yet.  I want to get off the Effexor XR and get the thyroid levels to where I have some energy and then if I am still sleeping so much I’ll do the sleep study.  I think he’s a little perturbed with me but I really don’t care at this time.

I’ve been reading Mary Shomon’s book the thyroid diet and am starting to think I need to change my diet not so much to lose weight but to see if there are certain foods that enhance the effect of the hypothyroidism.  A little back, I started drinking spring water to see if the fluoride in the tap water may be affecting me negatively, I continue to do that and have noticed a little increase in energy so will continue to do that.

I get frustrated with how I feel physically and need to do two things frequently; 1.  Remember that hypothyroidism isn’t a condition that is going to go away; I will have to live with it the rest of my life and 2. Pray for God’s help and guidance in dealing with it.

Til next time!
Linda <3

Depression VS Hypothyroidism

In 1991, I had a total abdominal hysterectomy, due to uterine cancer, which meant I went through menopause at the age of 33.  In the months following the surgery, I noticed some changes in me one of which was that I did not want to go to family activities.  Now you must understand that one of the things I love about my husband is his family.  Those of you, who know them, know they are very special and I fell in love with that so when I did not want to attend activities, I knew something was wrong with me.  I could go to work and be fine but if I saw someone I knew at the mall, I would do everything I could to not have to see them face to face.

When I told my doctor about these things, he felt I was suffering from depression related to the hormonal changes from the hysterectomy.  (I was not able to take estrogen for five years because of the cancer.)  I wasn’t sure what was going on and what he was saying made sense so I have been taking antidepressants since 1992.

Since my diagnosis of hypothyroidism, I have been doing some reading on the subject, especially the book “Living Well with Hypothyroidism” by Mary J. Shomon and have learned so much about how the thyroid hormones affect our bodies.  One of the things I have learned is that there is a belief that depression may be related to the hypothyroidism which means that I would not get better by taking antidepressants but rather need to get the thyroid hormone levels in the proper range for me.  This is good news because I hate taking so many medications.

Next time, my experience with weaning myself off the antidepressant Effexor XR…you won’t believe it!

Till next time,
Linda <3

A New Diagnosis

For the first three months I was off, I still had heart palpitations and difficulty remembering things but they did seem to be occurring less frequently.  The big thing was my sleeping.  I would sleep 12-14 hours each day then get up and usually fall asleep in the chair.  At first I thought I was trying to get “caught up” on my sleep but it never seemed as though I was gaining any ground.  No matter how much I slept it never seemed like enough.

Being the patient that good nurses make – NOT!  I did not go to my family doctor until September 2009! I know, I know, if it was someone else I would have told them to go to the doctor much sooner but I’m sure you’ve heard that doctors and nurses make the worst patients!

Anyway…. I told the doctor about the sleeping and he checked to see if they had done a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level.  They had and it was high indicating hypothyroidism so I was started on Synthroid which is an artificial hormone replacement drug.  I really did not notice any difference for a few months and an increase in dosage but now I am only sleeping 12 hours in bed and then I’m not falling asleep in the chair.  To some this may not be a big deal but it is a big deal to me.  I still have a lot to learn about hypothyroidism but at least I feel as though I’m on the right track!

More later!
Linda <3