Recognizing the Early Signs of Hypothyroidism: My Story

I am naturally not a big girl, so when I went from 123 lbs to 180 lbs, I didn't know what happened to me. Not only did I gain a lot of weight, but I could not sleep either. I had constipation, was cold intolerant, and noticed my hair was falling out.

I told my family doctor that I couldn't sleep, and she prescribed me a sleeping pill that made me feel half asleep and half awake. So I did try it for a few days and stopped, especially since the pharmacist warned me not to take it for long. I lived like this for more than 2 years.

One day, I was writing an internal auditing exam that I loved so much. I had given 100% attention in reading and attending class, and my brain froze—I couldn't remember anything. Fortunately, I had a great teacher who was always expressive, so I could remember all his explanations and I wrote that instead of what I memorized.

I was so exhausted all the time and craved sugar constantly.

Then in 2017, I got pregnant, and that is when my family checked my thyroid and other exams. She said I had hypothyroid, B12 deficiency, and low iron. So all my pregnancy I was on Synthroid, took B12 vitamins, and iron supplements.

Briefly, I had my baby in 2018 and he regressed into autism in 2021. Before that, he couldn't sleep, was always crying, and had extreme anxiety, so I was beyond tired.

I did my research in between—I love reading to figure out if there was anything I could do besides my Synthroid medication since I was still tired, not sleeping, and overweight. The only thing that Synthroid helped with was the cold tolerance.

I had to find a way to get my energy back, or at least have it back to 70%, especially since I love going for walks and always felt like a cow since I had to make it a routine to take my son out and still do.

I want you to know there is hope, and you’re not alone. In my next post, I’ll go step by step through what I did and what helped me on this journey. For today, I just wanted to share my story. Stay tuned for more!