[Life] An Answer

Ya'll, I am so sorry. I have been MIA for a few weeks.

I'm not really sure how to say this, how to bring this up, so I guess I'll just blurt it out: I have a health issue. It's nothing serious, however, the symptoms have been bad enough to throw me off my game significantly in the last month. 

After feeling overly tired, among other issues, I went to see my doctor. Bloodwork was done and a few days later my doctor called to inform me that I have an underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism. What is it?

Symptoms:

• Fatigue (check)
• Increased sensitivity to cold (check - I was wearing a sweater in the house when it was 74 degrees)
• Dry skin
• Unexplained weight gain (check)
• Puffy face (check...all of my pictures from Jamaica are terrible because my face looks so dang round!)
• Muscle weakness
• Elevated cholesterol level (check)
• Thinning hair (not sure because I lose so much hair as it is, but maybe?)
• Depression
• Anxiety (check)
• Impaired memory (check)

Apparently, I've been "off" for much longer than I realized. Only in the last month have some of these symptoms really hit me hard. Basically, the thyroid controls your metabolism. The pituitary gland releases a hormone to stimulate your thyroid when it's not performing as it should, and that appears in your bloodstream. My stimulation hormone levels were 250% higher than normal levels, which means that my thyroid was severely underperforming. Not good. Also, with a higher level of this hormone in my blood, my body was creating antibodies to attack it.

So the good news is, it's been diagnosed, and it's a super easy fix. I will have to take a pill daily for the rest of my life to regulate it, but that's all. And it might take a few months to find the right dose, but that's ok. The bottom line is, I'll be feeling better soon. Which is awesome. And awesome for this blog.

I have about 14 posts in draft that are just waiting to have pictures added. Hopefully that will come this week.

Thanks for sticking with me. I'll be back to normal soon!