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About Rachel
Start Here!
- Symptoms of Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s
- Order Your Own Thyroid Tests
All Articles
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Menstrual Issues

General Update #21

Read the last blog in this series. The last month has already seen some more change…

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theinvisiblehypothyroidism

💙Thyroid fatigue is overwhelming, debilitating

💙Thyroid fatigue is overwhelming, debilitating and unlike anything else. It’s not the same as ‘regular tired’.

•••

🦋 Thyroid fatigue is often described as an overall exhaustion of every inch of the body; as if you’re dragging a dead weight along.

💙 It’s not ‘I had a late night and am a bit groggy today’ tired. It feels as if you could fall asleep with every blink you take.

🦋 When your eyelids are so heavy that it’s probably dangerous to drive.

💙 When getting up the stairs is such a difficult task, that you have to plan about half an hour before you want to go upstairs, in order to physically prepare yourself for it.

🦋 A lot of thyroid patients wake up in the morning and no matter how good a night’s sleep they get, never feel refreshed. They often wake up feeling more tired.

💙 It’s randomly falling asleep around a friend’s house.

•••

💖 However.. We CAN get better.

🧩 To address why you may still be feeling unwell, check out the resources linked in my bio. We need to slot in those puzzle pieces!

🙋🏼‍♀️ I’ve felt all of the above before but I’m here to tell you that I went from having no quality of life to thriving again.

👇 Let me know below: do you relate?!

- Rachel Hill, Thyroid Patient Advocate 🦋💙

🦋 After my diagnosis, I had to accept that I co

🦋 After my diagnosis, I had to accept that I couldn’t be as active as I once was – walking ten miles a week, playing badminton twice a week, running once a week and dance once a week - was not a good idea. It was making my health worse and causing flares.

•••

🏠 I had to accept that my house wasn’t always going to be as clean and tidy as it used to be because I had to learn to prioritise my energy (‘spoons‘) and I quite frankly didn’t have the energy any more to spend time everyday cleaning the way I used to.

🦋I learned that my body wasn’t as strong and capable as it once was and that some days I would be forgetful, achy and fatigued beyond words, also catching illnesses easier and taking longer to recover from them, compared to other people my age.

💻 I started missing a lot of time at work. I began living in a world of brain fog and low energy.

💙I had to learn to mourn the person I was before I developed hypothyroidism, as well as the life I imagined I would have. Everything was going to be different now.

💙 I had to accept flare up days, ups and downs and a new way of looking at my energy levels.

💙 And yes, while I live in good health these days, my life is still very different. I keep an eye on my energy levels and live in a way to try to limit thyroid flare days. I have to be gluten free. I have to take thyroid hormone replacement medication.

💙It is perfectly normal to grieve for a life you used to have. A lifelong diagnosis can after all be life changing. And there is no set time for how long each person takes to grieve. Some may never feel the grieving phase, whilst others may pass it quickly or linger in it for some time.

•••

👇 Let me know your experiences with this 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!

- Rachel Hill, Thyroid Patient Advocate 🦋💙

Hello 31! 👋 🎈 ••• ☀️ Another tri

Hello 31! 👋 🎈

•••

☀️ Another trip around the sun as my 4-year-old tells me. Another year of learning what my body needs from me to keep my thyroid health in check.

☀️ I had a lovely family day out today to celebrate my birthday and let the first image be a reminder to you that following your children down small slides can feel incredibly claustrophobic and stressful 😂😂

- Rachel Hill, Thyroid Patient Advocate 🦋💙

🩸 Ahh blood tests… do you follow these ‘rul

🩸 Ahh blood tests… do you follow these ‘rules’?

📝 Psst! Save this post to refer back to later!

•••

1️⃣ Not taking your thyroid meds until after your test

Why? Because taking it before can make your levels look falsely elevated and lead to your doctor lowering your dose when what they’re seeing is just an initial spike.

2️⃣ Taking biotin

Biotin can cause falsely elevated thyroid levels on test results, making you look overmedicated or hyperthyroid when you’re not. It is advised to not take it for at least 48-hours before a thyroid blood test.

3️⃣ Researchers have found that our TSH lowers after eating

Therefore, your TSH level is likely to be at its highest and most reflective of its underlying status, when tested after fasting, in the early morning.

4️⃣ Going late in the day

Each time you have your thyroid tests done, you should aim for it to always be done at the same time, and under the same circumstances (i.e. fasting), so they’re as accurate and comparable as possible.

Given that you shouldn’t take your medication until after the draw, as early as possible in the morning and before 9am is preferable. This is because thyroid hormone levels have a circadian rhythm with a peak at night. Tests can be done before 9am in order to avoid missing subclinical hypothyroidism.

5️⃣ Being ill

Being unwell may affect test results temporarily. Infections or a bout of an inflammatory condition can alter results until the illness resolves. Diarrhoea can interfere with the absorption of your thyroid meds.

6️⃣ On Your Period?

This one isn’t conclusive yet, but some thyroid experts say that being on your period may change your thyroid levels, and that if you test in the middle of your cycle, you will not get the same results as at the beginning of your cycle.

•••

🧩 Nailing your blood tests is an important jigsaw puzzle piece. After all, we want them to be as accurate as possible so our med dosage is correct and we get the most out of it. We’ve learned so much in our thyroid family community!

👇 Share below: did you know these?!

- Rachel Hill, Thyroid Patient Advocate 🦋💙

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

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