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Home
About Rachel
Start Here!
- Symptoms of Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s
- Order Your Own Thyroid Tests
All Articles
Newsletter
My Books
- About My Books
Store

Browsing Tag

Root Cause

What Causes Hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s?

Originally published on 12th June 2016 Last updated on 11th March 2024 You may have wondered…

Book Review: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause by Izabella Wentz, PharmD, FASCP

This book has been sat in my Amazon wishlist since I was newly diagnosed with hypothyroidism…

How I Made My Way out of Hashimoto’s Hell

When Hashimoto’s patient Kristine reached out to me over email to share her story, I knew…

Find me on Instagram

theinvisiblehypothyroidism

🦋 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 🦋💙

🙆‍♀️ Hands up if you relate. 🦋 I must

🙆‍♀️ Hands up if you relate.

🦋 I must be honest and say this: I didn’t know, understand or appreciate this before I was diagnosed with a chronic condition and took years to get back to good health.

🦋 But when you DO get back to a place of good health? Oh my goodness it’s so worth it.

💔 Recovering your health can be slow going, fitting, confusing, lonely, and anything but linear. Thyroid flares still happen for all of us from time to time.

💔 Please don’t give up.

•••

👇 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! It’s all a big jigsaw puzzle but I’m here to help.

- Rachel Hill, Thyroid Patient Advocate 🦋💙

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

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