From my hair falling out to Hashimotos disease.

About 10 years ago, my husband received a commissioning in the Naval Reserve and our family was about to embark on a new "adventure." During this time my husband was working 14 hour days, 7 days a week. I was working full time and raising two rambunctious boys. I remember when my husband first told me he was going to run for local elected office, (adventure) I envisioned exciting times and new clothes so I could stand by my hubby's side and attend different events. I just didn't realize how much of a life consuming adventure it would become. Naturally, it was high stress, so when I first noticed I wasn't feeling good, I attributed it to that stress. Then things became strange. You see, I used to have long thick hair, but at 28 years old it started to fall out. During this time, I was a big fan of America's Next Top Model, and I remember one of the contestants at the time had Lupus. One of her symptoms was her hair would fall out and she was always very tired. So when my hair was falling out and I was always extremely tired, I thought... "What if I have Lupus?"

So, I scheduled an appointment with my PCP and he decided to do lots of blood work to see what was going on. The test results found that I had Hypothyroidism. So he talked to me about the medications Synthroid and Armour Thyroid. With his encouragement I went with Armour Thyroid. He told me it was very natural and he was one of only a handful of doctor's in my town who prescribed it. So I started taking it. About four months later, I was losing weight and I began to tremble, and by tremble I mean my kids had to help me put my earrings on; I couldn't even put my makeup on. It was so bad, but remember, we were in the middle of a political campaign and all of a sudden I wasn't feeling myself. I wasn't as excited anymore because I was scared and alone in my thoughts. My husband was busy from sun up to sun down and my boys were too little to understand what I was going through. My appearance was changing, my mood was changing and I did not feel good at all.

After calling my PCP to tell him what was going on (the trembling, no energy, mood swings) all he told me was to stop taking the medicine. He said "see if that helps". I was shocked that he didn't want to see me for follow up. So I decided to take matters in to my own hands. I researched and found an Endocrinologist. After one visit with him, he did a sonogram, reviewed my blood work and said I had a goiter and that I had Hashimoto's Disease. He put me on Synthroid and heart medication to regulate my heart and followed up with me for the next 6 months. After seeing that we couldn't get my levels to a normal range, he decided radioactive iodine was my best bet. Let me tell you, radioactive iodine is CRAZY. You schedule your appointment as usual, you wait in a exam room, then a person comes in with an armor suitcase. To me, it was as if they were bringing in a bomb. This pill came in a steel box within a steel box and then inside of a smaller steel bottle. Then the doctor places it in my hand and tells me "here is some water, swallow it whole." I'm sitting there like a deer in the headlights! You want me to ingest that! LOL!

Anyways, for the next week I was in "quarantine" (Ha! If only I knew I'd be practicing that years later). I had to wash my clothes separately, use a separate bathroom and from then on, I had to be on thyroid medication for the rest of my life.

Now thankfully, by this time my husband had won the election and we had settled into his new role as a City Councilman. This was so exciting as long as I was given advance notice to have to make public appearances with him. I was struggling so much with my appearance and my fatigue. I was mostly by his side but on the inside I was breaking. I did cancel multiple events because of my anxiety. But I never really wanted anyone to know what I was struggling with. At this point I had chopped my hair off. It was a teaching moment for my boys about donating your hair to "Locks of Love". It was a bittersweet moment. Having my hair short gave me a boost of confidence because I was able to fake volume. My hair meant and still means a lot to me. To this day it is the first sign for me to know something is going wrong within my body. If my hair starts to fall out in clumps, I know my levels are off. Since my diagnosis, I have had 3 male Endocrinologists. None of them understood or listened to me when I told them my hair falling out means my levels are off somewhere. One of them actually told me his hair was falling out too. (Insert eye roll here)

Fast forward to today. I finally found a female Endocrinologist who ACTUALLY listened to me. It's a fairly new relationship but I have a good feeling about it. 10 years ago was the start of me taking control of my autoimmune condition. As you can see a whole lot of things have happened to me since my original diagnosis, but here I am still taking control and keeping it siempre un dia a la vez. Stay tuned for more of my autoimmune adventures in the future! Strength & Spoons ~ RheumaChica