About Us
Name: Lisa
- Username: Ladybugpicnic
- Postion: Moderator of the Mental Health and General Thyroid forums
For a very long time I believed I was just tired because I had quit working out and that just came with the package of being overweight. I tried to keep walking in my routine, but exercise always made me more tired rather than refreshed…and I always physically did better in evening workouts. Looking back now, I remember even in my best shape- weight lifting and teaching aerobics part time, I was never able to reach my goal and always carried extra weight no matter how hard I tried.
I had our first child in 2003…a difficult birth, worked night shifts, dh laid off during my pregnancy and by postpartum I was utterly and totally depleted. There were other circumstances in my life that I won’t detail to keep it short… let’s just say I chalked it all up to extreme stress (and PTSD) and my baby was the only reason I wanted to crawl out of bed in the morning. I had to get back to work and pay bills, eventually got on an antidepressant, some counseling and moved on.
Fastforward to three years ago, when I was finally able to stay at home… I still worked every other weekend (nights again) and slept a “little” more regularly… and could not understand why I could care less if I unpacked my house or cook meals. Isn’t this what I always wanted?? To stay home with my daughter and be a housewife? Then I got pregnant with my son. My first trimester I was even more tired and nauseaous, than with dd. I was basically incapacitated on my worst days. I finally quit working altogether. It was just too hard. Then during my last two months of pregnancy I felt better than I had in a very long time. Not 100%, but awesome for a fat and very pregnant lady from 36 to 41weeks of gestation! I took dd to the pool. I walked daily.
I thought finally all those diet changes, walking and supplements were working! HA! Then I had my son Fall of 2006 and fell flat on my face again. I started digging into why I had low milk supply for the 2nd time, hair loss-- in chunks this time, incredible fatigue, etc. I mean, the ‘stress’ was gone this time and things were supposed to be better!
So, I went back to my nutritionist and she ordered the saliva test in Dec 2006 @ 2months postpartum. On a hunch, since I used to work graveyard shifts, I asked her to add in the four cortisol measurements - couldn’t hurt, right? LOL *THAT* was the beginning of my education. I read Wilson’s book “Adrenal Fatiuge: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome”, found Val’s group first, then ended up on STTM to soak up all I could about thyroid and adrenals.
I began HC (when slow release meds were unsuccessful) at the end of May this year. I added in dessicated thyroid in June slowly moving up ¼ gr at a time (only at signs of hypo) b/c I was unable to tolerate even ¼ gr on the slow release cortisol. I have since moved over to Medrol and still have some things to figure out with thyroid, but I am able to have better “good” days and fewer tough ones. I’m not giving up until I feel like ME again!
Janie asked me to come aboard at STTM to moderate the Mental Health forum… when I heard we were moving, I packed and headed to RTH with Deb and crew. I’m happy to be here for as long as I can commit the time. Finding this community has been a life saver.