A year ago August I went to the doctor because of a stopped up ear. As we were finishing up the appointment, I randomly asked if I could have a blood panel done. For some reason or another, I hadn’t had one since in years.

The next day I get a call telling me they need to see me in the morning to go over my blood work. I was a little worried because it had taken me almost 2 weeks to get an appointment for my ear and now they wanted to see me the next morning.

When I went in, I was told I had Hashimoto’s disease, which is basically hypothyroidism. Your thyroid controls so much in your body. Because mine was so low it had also caused a high cholesterol level and pre diabetes.

Let me explain why I didn’t realize something was going on in my body that was much worse than what I thought it was. The symptoms of hypothyroidism mimic being perimenopausal.

i was experiencing hot flashes that were out of control. In fact, at Hannah’s first scout meeting almost 4 years ago, in August, in an unairconditioned 100 year old cabin, I had one so bad the other parents thought I was having a stroke. They were nice enough to plaster me with wet paper towels and cold water bottles. Great first impression.

My skin was dry. Desert dry. My eyes were puffy and I noticed I was losing hair, not only on my head, but my eyebrows were non existent.

i was gaining weight, especially in my mid section. I was eating healthy and exercising, but it was a huge struggle to lose any weight.

i was tired. It was weird because it came in cycles. I knew that once I felt that tiredness it was going to hang on for at least 2 weeks. The first time I really noticed it was when we moved here, to Longview. I thought it was just the stress of selling our home in Baton Rouge and the job of having to unpack and get settled, but it kept happening. I’d be okay for about a month and then, BAM, it would hit me again.

And I would get moody and crabby. I also had memory fog.

All of these symptoms are menopausal. When I had my hormone blood work done at my gynecologist, everything came back completely normal. This was after my Hashi’s diagnosis.

it’s been over a year. I started off on 25mg of thyroid medicine, then 50, then 75, then 88, then 100. I have to do blood work every 3 months. I just had my doctor’s appointment yesterday and my blood sugar and cholesterol are fine, but my thyroid isn’t. I’m now on 112 mg. I can tell that I was having a Hashi flare up because I didn’t feel like myself. I was moody and experiencing the thyroid fog. This is something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life, but hopefully the new dosage will be that magic number. We’ll see in 6 weeks.