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Browsing Tag

Fatigue

What I Mean When I Say I Don’t Like Mornings

Mornings are the worst time of the day for me. They never used to be. I…

When People on Public Transport Think I Don’t Need My Seat

Note: I initially wrote this article when my health was in a fairly bad place. I…

When You Feel Like a Burden

TW: Mental Health, Depression Some days I feel like a burden. I know having hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, adrenal issues…

An Open Letter: “Dear Doctor, It’s Not All in My Head”

This ‘open letter’ has been inspired by the large amount of thyroid patients who are told…

Thyroid Patients Explain What Thyroid Fatigue Really Feels Like

I asked followers of my Facebook page how they would describe thyroid fatigue to other people,…

Why I’m Looking Forward To Tomorrow’s Endocrinologist Appointment

I’m weirdly looking forward to my appointment with the endocrinologist and GP tomorrow. Why? Because I’ve…

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Find me on Instagram

theinvisiblehypothyroidism

🙋🏼‍♀️ Anyone else with me?! •••

🙋🏼‍♀️ Anyone else with me?!

•••

What you WON’T find here:

🦋 Claims that “all thyroid patients must ___” (insert “go gluten-free, dairy-free, eat organic, take iodine, be on a certain type of thyroid medication”).

These are false, scaremongering and push this idea that there is a one-size-fits-all way to treat and manage thyroid issues. There isn’t!

🦋 A focus on weight loss. Yes - weight gain is common with thyroid issues. Although, I do get sick of it being implied it’s the most important symptom, when others also affect us deeply and often in bigger ways too.

For example, fatigue and muscle pain can impact our ability to work, socialise or parent. We are more than our weight, after all.

🦋 Pushes to buy coaching programmes from me.

I do have books (bestselling ones, may I add 👀 😜) but I don’t claim to be a thyroid expert or medical expert. I’m a thyroid patient expert. An expert in the patient experience.

🦋 Claims for things that aren’t heavily backed up… I’m talking celery juice cleanses, “adrenal fatigue”, applying castor oil packs, certain supplements etc.

•••

What you WILL find here:

🦋 An understanding that we don’t all experience thyroid disease in the same way.

🦋 Me sharing what has (and hasn’t!) helped me as a real thyroid patient whose health was once in a terrible place.

🦋 Realistic depiction, advice, tips and more on having a thyroid issue.

No one here is expecting you to do a complete overhaul of your diet, exercise, beauty products and more.. We don’t want to feel scared and overwhelmed. And a lot of the time - it’s not necessary.

What we CAN do is assess the information available to us, then decide what does and does not apply to our situation.

We also accept that our health may be up and down - flares can come out of nowhere. No one is perfect, but we ARE open to finding out what could help us improve our health with thyroid disease. ☺️

•••

💛 So if you’re looking for helpful, authentic and realistic thyroid advice without all the scaremongering and blanket statements, welcome!

👇 Do you have anything I can try to answer for you about your thyroid condition right now?

- Rachel 🦋💙

Raise your hand 🙋🏼‍♀️ if this is you t

Raise your hand 🙋🏼‍♀️ if this is you too!

•••

❗️Adrenal dysfunction (though it is more accurately referred to as hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction) may be common in those with thyroid issues.

❗️The adrenal glands, which sit atop the kidneys, are responsible for producing hormones in relation to stress and the one concerned in adrenal fatigue in cortisol. If cortisol levels are out of rhythm (not following the expected slope🎢), this can cause a load of symptoms.

❗️Sleep issues, fatigue, anxiety, hot flushes, feeling unable to tolerate stress, jumping at loud noises, craving salty food, weight gain around the middle, dizziness, fatigue after exercise and many more. (I’ll put the link to a full article in my stories)

❗️I completed a saliva test a few years ago to check for adrenal issues and discovered that my cortisol was sky high all day, contributing to symptoms of fatigue, struggling to sleep (feeling tired but wired), anxiety, hitting a slump in the afternoon, hot flushes, a weakened immune system and more.

❗️I addressed the adrenal issues and brought my cortisol levels back to normal by fixing my gut issues (Candida), stress levels, sleep, diet and more (will link in stories).

❗️I can’t stress how big a part adrenal dysfunction played in my quality of life. It made my mornings incredibly difficult as I felt dizzy, nauseas and fatigued beyond words, before it was addressed.

🧩 I always talk about living well with thyroid disease as requiring slotting into place these jigsaw puzzle pieces and adrenal issues is one of the most common coexisting issues we thyroid patients have.

•••

👇 Did you know about this? Let me know in the comments and as always, follow me for more thyroid info and please check out the resources linked in my bio for more support!

📖 ALSO: see my book “Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate“ for more info on this.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- Rachel 🦋💙

🧩 Every person is unique and as such, different

🧩 Every person is unique and as such, different things may work for different people! That is my key message in my thyroid advocacy work.

•••

👀 However, there are some things that seem to help a large amount of us with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s.

👀 and these are the ones that commonly get a bit of backlash..

⚡️ Reducing stress (where we can). I know it’s not easy to do - we have jobs, children, people to care for and so many responsibilities in this day and age. But whatever you CAN do to reduce stress can go a long way in managing your thyroid condition.

⬇️ Slowing down. I stopped saying “yes” to everything, juggling too many balls and being afraid to upset people constantly. I had to find a balance to life which meant slowing down on some things. Not everyone wants to do this - I get it. But I’m living MORE these days, now that my body isn’t struggling from taking on too much.

💻 I had to have a long, hard think about the job I was in and how it was detrimental to my health, making it impossible to get things under control.

💊 Supplements - and let me stress, don’t just take a bunch of stuff! Well thought-out and wherever possible, tested for supplementation. Many of us are low in iron, Vit D etc.

🥘 I stopped dieting and overcame an eating disorder. It was stressing my body out no end, keeping thyroid antibodies high and adrenals on alert.

🧘 I went from forcing cardio daily to yoga, walks, dancing, swimming etc. as my body felt able.

🍞 I am one of the many thyroid patients who feel better off gluten, alcohol caffeine.

•••

👇 What are your experiences with this?

- Rachel 🦋💙

😶‍🌫️ Hypothyroid symptoms of fatigue, mu

😶‍🌫️ Hypothyroid symptoms of fatigue, muscle pain, brain fog, hair loss, acne, brittle hair and SO much more can be frustrating and debilitating.

•••

🦋 Many of us are given our thyroid meds, told to take one pill a day and we’ll be fine. Except as time goes on, we realise we are not.

🦋 And yet there ARE solutions, and help and support is out there. Many thyroid patients are sadly unaware however.

💙 As a thyroid patient, I have investigated, researched and trialled so many different things and share it all in my work as a patient advocate!

•••

🦋 These are just a few of the key things that have helped me! All covered in past posts, but if you have questions about any of them, ask away below and I’ll do my best to respond! 👇

- Rachel 🦋💙

© Rachel Gask and The Invisible Hypothyroidism, 2015-2024. All Rights Reserved.

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