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MOM-OF-SIX's Recent Blog Entries
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Well, I survived last week's migraine. It sure took it's toll on me. My brain felt "bruised" through the weekend. It's been a week since I exercised, but I got through the elliptical, weights and stretching. Moving a little slower than last week seemed to help.
I'm really hopeful SparkPeople will help me stick to my guns, even if the weight comes off extremely slowly.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
With bitter cold temperatures and more snow than I can remember as an adult, this winter has been a tough one on kids. Blizzard condition snow days mean the kids are getting cooped up and re-addicted to video games. This week, however, things have changed a little. High temps have been around 25-30. As the kids come home from school, I grab their backpacks and send the kids back outside.
Three simple rules:
1. Play with the twins. I have six kids, the oldest is 13, taller than me, and has a voice deeper than his dad's. The youngest two are four-year old twins, a boy and a girl, both getting extremely bored this winter. The middle three are 11, 10, and 8.
2. Everyone outside. They can invite friends over, which increases the excitement, but everyone must stay OUTSIDE.
3. Watch out for kids smaller than you. I can have anywhere from just my six kids in the yard, to about 15 kids total running around. They all need to watch out for the smaller ones.
In the summertime, we frequently have Nerf battles raging on our property. My oldest convinced some friends to come over with the promise of a winter Nerf battle. It's fun to watch kids of all ages plotting, ambushing, hiding, and just plain running around. Yesterday, one of the twins was on the same team as my oldest. I think the older kids love hamming it up for the twins, especially with their "death scenes." They'll let the twins shoot a dart at them, then comes the melodramatic falling to the ground, gripping their injuries. They even let the twins capture them and take them prisoner.
I dread the spring thaw. The yard will be too soggy then to let the kids run around. For now, they can have all the Nerf battles they want, unknowingly getting the exercise they need. Who knows? Maybe even their dad will get up from his computer and join the fun.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I'll take a break today from my thyroid blogs. Tomorrow's Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It's a wonderful time to take our healthy lifestyles to another level. Everything we sacrifice we can offer up to our Lord as penance for our sins and to unite our suffering with his ultimate sacrifice for us. Feeling hungry, giving up certain foods, all these sacrifices can not only benefit our bodies, but our souls as well when we offer them up.
I wish everyone a very Blessed Lent.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Thyroid patients such as myself have discovered in hindsite that our symptoms lingered on for years before ever being diagnosed. I probably needed to be on dessicated thyroid in my mid twenties. That's when I started gaining weight despite exercising and eating well. Granted, I'm no athlete, nor was I perfect at eating well and dieting. I still did not deserve the weight I was gaining. This was also when I started having trouble with mild depression, especially in the winter.
Here's a list of common hypothyroid symptoms:
Low stamina/energy
Long recovery after activity
Chronic low grade depression
Feeling cold/cold hands and feet
High Cholesterol
Constipation
Thinning eye brows
Hair loss
Dry cracking skin
Foggy thinking
Inability to lose weight
Always gaining weight
PMS
Swelling/edema/puffiness
Illegible handwriting
Broken/peeling fingernails
Joint pain
Blood pressure problems
Tightness in throat/sore throat
Low body temperature
This is by no means a complete list of complaints. You can see a pattern here, though. Every cell in your body needs thyroid hormone to function. If your thyroid isn't functioning well, nothing else will. It affects every system in your body. Patients just feel like they are not themselves anymore. Your brain is foggy, you over react to the smallest of stresses, constantly mildly depressed, and the list goes on. Loss of eyebrows and constipation are very common signs of a thyroid problem.
Doctors will frequently only order a TSH lab to diagnose hypothyroidism. Patients have discovered, though, that this lab only adequately diagnoses a pituitary problem. It's important to find a doctor who looks at your symptoms and not just a TSH result. If that's all he/she is looking at, run from his/her office. As a patient, you need a doctor who will not only listen to you, but work with you through treatment. Many patients have found general or family practitioners much easier to work with than endocrinologists. Most endocrinologists have a "god" complex and will try to dictate to you that they know what's best. They will diagnose based off of TSH, put you on levothyroxine (T4) only, and when your symptoms don't go away, they will prescribe more meds for these symptoms. Patients have ended up on a whole slew of meds they didn't need because the root of the problem was never addressed appropriately, hypothyroidism. You can see from the list of symptoms how a patient can end up on: one or more anti-depressants, one or more cholesterol lowering drugs, one or high blood pressure meds, meds for constipation, etc...
Take a look at this list of symptoms. There are more complete lists on the "Stop the Thyroid Madness" website and also at the about.com thyroid site run by Mary Shomon. These are excellent sites to visit for information. I plan to post tomorrow about what labs are the correct labs to insist on for better diagnosis. With proper labwork and tracking symptoms, hypothyroid patients will get diagnosed sooner and begin treatment sooner.
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