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

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