Even those of us who work in the alternative health field can fall victim to to our own health issues. For busy moms like myself, I think it is all too common for us to ignore warning signs our bodies might be giving us and just keep plugging along . I mean who has time to take care of themselves when you are taking care of everyone else. Well this January my annual physical was a wake up call that indeed, I need to start taking care of myself and putting my own personal needs a bit higher on my list.
In the late 1990’s I had Graves Disease and after a terrible reaction to medications I decided to have my Thyroid removed, via a nuclear cocktail. As a result I have to take a rather high dose of synthetic thyroid hormone everyday, or at least I am supposed to. I make sure my 13 year old takes her daily medication religiously, I give the dog her meds everyday, never missing a dose and my husband never has to worry about running out of his vitamins or prescriptions because I make sure he always has them, but what about my Thyroid Meds?
Well after having my GP read my metabolic lab reports I was shocked. My thyroid was so out of whack, the numbers indicate I should not even be functioning, yet somehow I still was. Some of you might not realize that a slow thyroid or lack of medication results in dramatically increased cholesterol levels and other poor metabolic outcomes but these functions are inter-related. So my cholesterol was high for the first time in my life, but more importantly I realized that the lethargy I had been feeling, both mental and physical had a medical reason. Once I knew how out of whack my endocrine system was functioning, I began to realize how crappy I actually had been feeling. It is amazing how easy it can be to ignore symptoms when we are busy. After my appointment I went home to realize that I probably had only been taking my pills 20% of the time.
Let my experience be a wake up call to you. No matter how busy you are taking care of others, remember if you don’t take care of yourself it all falls apart.
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