The Typical Thyroid

Here to spread awereness of how Thyroid Diseases affect people and also to spread joy to those who suffer, you are not alone! Follow The Tale of the Typical Thyroid here on this blog!

[typicalthyroid]

Hello my dear friends!

Here is the next chapter in The Tale Of The Typical Thyroid.

This is no joke. Constipation is not fun. As allways, when you thyroid don’t work like it should, basically anything in your body can stop functioning normally (at least that how I understand it). I’m not sure if I should go into detail about this topic, but those of you who have this issue, I know your pain! :’(

Try eating some prunes! In case the don’t work, they’re at least delicious! :D

XOXOXOX

[typicalthyroid]

Hello!

This post is dedicated to @ashleyadalia

So this is my first real update in a year. I explained in my last post why I haven't updated, because this year has been hectic. And also, it’s quite hard for me to come up with new ideas, I’ve already covered a lot of my experiences. But here is a post about heart palpitations that I was asked to do. It’s a symptom that usually affect people with hyperthyroidism, and some with hypothyroidism. It can be a symptom of various issues, such as stress and anxiety. So if you experience it, go see a doctor to make sure there’s nothing wrong with your heart and to get treated.

I have few other ideas based on some of the messages I’ve received. Thank you all. 

Xoxo

[typicalthyroid]

Hello Friends!

This blog now has over 1100 followers! Thank you!!! It’s cool that the following is growing even though I haven’t updated in a long while. Well not since the winter of 2014 (it’s also a little sad that so many have thyroid issues).

The reason that I haven’t updated is that I haven’t had as much free time since the beginning of the year. I started this blog while being unemployed, so I would have something to do, among other projects. This year I started an internship as a graphic designer at a start-up company, back in January. I worked there for a few months. I had to quit when my personal laptop broke, the company didn’t supply me with one so I used my own. They didn’t want to pay for a new computer for me to work with either, so it was good bye (don’t worry, all my files were saved!). No employment! Then in the beginning of summer, I started another internship, and I still have 3 weeks left, I don’t know what will happen after that. I might continue, maybe get employed or maybe the internship will be extended. Life has been tough for me financially and it still is, so working, even for free has been important so I can hopefully get a job soon. So now you might understand why I haven’t prioritized this blog. But it’s still up and it will continue.

I want to create more illustrations of The Typical Thyroid, but I don’t know when! Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week or a month. I can’t make any promises, I can only say thank you. Feel free to share the illustrations with others! I didn’t make them just for me, they’re also for you!

xoxoxo

[typicalthyroid]

Hello my Thyroideers!

Who else feel like sleeping? I do.

I don't think I have to write that much about it. It's not just about being fatigue, if you have trouble sleeping, like I do sometimes than obvioulsy you're gonna be tired. But even if you sleep a lot you can still be tired with an underactive Thyroid. And it's frustrating because people don't understand this, they don't know how it feels to be this tired all the time.

So try to eat well, make sure you get the right treatment, exercise and try to stay away from stress. Stress really makes a Thyroid patient tired. And in the winter, take vitamin D supplements, like I keep telling you.. if you like, drink some coffee (but maybe not together with your Thyroid medication, I've heard it's bad to do that).

Take care!

XoxoxxoX

[typicalthyroid]

Look, it's a pumpkin Thyroid. Happy Thyroideen everyone! 

XoxO

The Typical Thyroid

[typicalthyroid]

The Zombie Thyroid has invaded!

So it's fall now, and it sucks. Why? It's dark, and cold, and just no fun at all. I mentioned earlier that during the summer a lot of Thyroid patients don't feel that sick. You get plenty of Vitamin D and you have a lot of energy to exercise and everything just feels better. Now that summer definitely is over I can totally feel it. I'm just so tired and my body aches. So I guess it's time to start taking my Vitamin D supplements, it's so important especially for people like me who live in the North and specially for Thyroid patients.

Don't be a Zombie, take Vitamin D!

I don't like to sound like an expert, because I'm not so you can read here in this article: Transitioning From Summer To Fall With Thyroid Disease.

So what can we do? Well as always, make sure you get the right treatment, the right medication. Try to not stress so much, and just do basic things to take care of yourself. Also, it's okay to not always be okay. And of course, Vitamin supplements are your best friend during the winter, so start munching on those!

Halloween is for candy right? Well you can eat a little of that too if you want. But just make sure you get some nutrition too!

Xoxoxo...

To Be Continued!

[typicalthyroid]

Hello my brave thyroid-champions!

This subject may be a little off topic, but it's something very important to me and I know that this affects a lot of us. And it's about fat shaming. Calling people fat is awful, and it makes me so upset.

When I was younger I was the chubby girl, I gained weight during puberty. I hated my body. I didn't just get stretch marks, I got teased. OTHER people made me feel bad by calling me fat and mean nicknames. Evan family members commented on my weight. My grandmother told me when I was 10 that I would never be as skinny as she was when she was young, and when I ate she would tell me to not eat so much becuase I would get fat. That especially hurt, because she was someone I looked up to and trusted. It still makes me so upset when someone hints that I should loose weight, i will cry and have anxiety for several days after wards.

I talked about this with someone who has recently lost a lot of weight, and I told her how different I got treated after loosing 20 kg, especially by boys who used to treat me like scum, and suddenly they were nice to me and she told me that since she has lost weight people are treating her like a human being again. But even at my lowest weight I heard that someone had said that I would be so hot if I lost weight (!!!), while other people told me that I looked anorexic. It's funny how much opinions other people have about other peoples weight.

I'm guessing this effects a lot of you since I know a lot of people with thyroid issues struggles with their weight. Being fatigue can't help either, since overweight people often are believed to be lazy.

"Just eat less and exercise more" - people say. Well obviously, that is not the case for everyone, especially for thyroid patients, which I've talked about here in the past.

What can we do? Here's what I think we can do to stop the fat shaming:

Don't call anyone fat. Ever. Evan as a joke (just like Demi Lovato once said). You don't know how that person will react, that person might have had an eating disorder or he or she might have been teased. You don't know how sensitive that person is. Also, if that person really is overweight, he or she probably already knows that, and you are not their doctor who needs to tell them.

Just stop using the word fat to describe other people. The reason why I say this is because fat has become such a negative and hurtful word for many of us, and I don't like how it's loosely used on people who are not overweight, both in the media and by people around me.

Take some time to think about what fat actually is. This is for the same reason, that I just explained. I'm at a healthy weight according to my BMI, but my stomach is not flat, I have quite big butt and my arms are flabby, does that make me fat? I don't think so, because I'm at a healthy weight, and those are just my flaws and pretty much everyone has flaws. Still I often look in the mirror and I feel fat, and I'm trying to do something about it, not just for me, for everyone feeling like that. Basically people who are not fat gets called fat way to often and I would like it to stop.

So basically there is no need to make others feel worse than they already do. And don't judge others, which is hard. When I see someone overweight I automatically think that that person probably eats a lot of junk food, which is none om my businesses and I also don't know that. That person might have thyroid issues or other issues that I don't know about, but I would never ever ever ever call them fat!!! Because I know how much it can hurt. And I think to myself, that that person probably does the best he or she can do to manage their own life.

Please take care, and love yourself and your Thyroid.

PS. Obviously skinny people gets a lot of shaming to. People assume things and say rude things to them too, like asking if they are anorexic or tell them they should eat more. If you've done that, please stop.

PS 2. If you know me in real life and you care about me, please don't call me or anyone else fat, even as joke, I don't think its a funny joke and it makes me very upset. Please don't tell me that my boyfriend should loose weight or that I should get him to work out. Please don't talk about dieting or calories with me or in front of me. Don't tell me I need to work out or loose weight. Don't comment on my body or ask me if I've lost weight, I will not take it as a compliment, it will just make me uncomfortable that you've looked at my body. If you do any of these things, than you should be aware that these are anxiety triggers for me because I've spent more than half my life feeling fat and that I should loose weight thanks to people making comments about it, I will have anxiety for several days, sometimes months where I cry, have panic attacks, call myself fat and I might even self harm which I try not to do anymore. I used to measure and weigh myself every single day, and I've stopped doing it now because I know it just gives me anxiety if I measure more than I think I should. I still count calories pretty much every day, silently in my head. But I try to tell myself, every single day that it doesn't matter how much I weigh, measure or what clothing size I wear as long as I feel good and I'm healthy. Those are just numbers and they don't measure the quality of my life. But one comment can ruin so much, so please be kind to me and others. Thanks!

[typicalthyroid]

One year ago, The Typical Thyroid was born! And I started this blog on tumblr, which is exciting. And all you followers are so sweet! This little cupcake that The Thyroid holds is for all of you, to remind you that you are not alone!

Keep taking care of yourself and your thyroid, you are all champions!

I went as far, as baking my own special cupcakes.

Have an awesome day!

XOXOXOX

[typicalthyroid]

Hey! I posted these on my Instagram earlier today! In case you've been wonderoing what I look like, well here it is. And yes, I do love to bake!

[typicalthyroid]

The Typical Thyroid turned 1 today!

aww, just got this cupcake in my inbox, and I was actually planning to bake my own to celebrate this occasion, haha. 1 year of Thyroid Madness. ^^

[typicalthyroid]

Dear Thyroid Freinds!

Thanks for all your sweet messages and sorry for the dely! I've been having a hard time the last couple of weeks because I've been sick and I was going to begin an internship as a graphic designer this fall, but it fell through. So now I'm having crisis where I don't know what to do with my life + I'm sick and tired so things are not good right now. But I'm trying to find a job or another inernship and I try to get healthier. But yeah, right now things suck and it's hard to find inspiration and energy, but I haven't forgotten about the Typical Thyroid. It feels nice to know that I at least do something good with this blog and that I get to use my graphic skills to reach out to people. That makes me happy.

I want to talk about something that has to do with having hypothyroidism. And it's about energy. Several years ago I took my energy and health for granted, and I never worried about not having enough energy to do things. I could do things nonstop for hours. But now I feel like I am running on a battery that's low, and I have to use it only when necessary, otherwise I'll crash. So if I have choir practice one evening, and I go to the gym before, my energy will be all used up so I don't have any energy to go to my choir practice, this has happened several times. So basically I try to plan things so my energy will last. So I will probably only work out if I don't have any other plans that day. It's a lot like having a mobile phone, your phone won't last all day if you play a lot of games on it, right? That's exactly how I feel. It's not just about being fatigue, because I can feel like I have energy, and then suddenly I don't have any, it's been all used up.

Of course this has become better with the right amount of medication and a healthy lifestyle. I have more energy, and I can do more things, like cleaning my house and going to the gym regularly. But I do feel like I have to be careful and not push myself to do too much, because I will and I have crashed and then I don't have energy to do anything. 

Do you feel the same? If not, then you're lucky I guess.

Take care of your Thyroids! XOXO

[typicalthyroid]

Hello Thyroid friends!

Enjoying summer yet? I hope so, here in Sweden it has been quite cold the last few weeks which sucks. But summer is still good.

So here's the latest Tale of The Typical Thyroid. And today we're going to talk about food.

One of the most frustrating and confusing things about ill with a thyroid disease is that you don't know what to eat. I've heard that several different diets are good for thyroid patiens inlcuding, low glycemic food, low-card high-fat diet, paleo diet, gluten free diet etc. And I don't know what's good or not. It drives me crazy! And it's also the whole weight gain-thing a lot of us suffer from, which makes it hard to loose and easy to gain weight. So I control my eating a lot, which stresses me. I wish I didn't have to but I don't want to become overweight.

Did you know you're not supposed to eat soy protein if you have a thyroid condition? A lot of people don't know it, but it it contains something called goitrogens which if you eat a lot of, you can develop a goiter (enlargement of the Thyroid). Which is scary! And how much is too much? I don't know, so I won't eat anything soy related, (well I try, it's hard eating sushi for example with out soy sauce). Other foods with goitrogens are broccoli, cabbage, among others. However if you cook these veggies with goitrogens, then they're safe to eat, at least that's what I've heard. I just found this blog post about this confusing topic, read here.

Avoiding starchy food is also good, but it's hard. No potatoes or corn? Well maybe you could have some. I know I will eat 'em.

So basically there's a whole lot of avoiding to do, with nothing left to eat! It really feels like that for me. And the more research I do the crazier I get, and the more food I avoid. So maybe it's just best to eat whatever you feel like? Just make sure to not eat to much sugar and eat enough veggies and you should feel fine. And I guess you could try certain diets to loose weight or just to feel better, and if it works, then good for you! You have to try!

I personally like eating low glycemic foods as much as I can, it makes me feel good and I can loose a little weight with it. And I also drink a lot of water and eat fiber so my digestion works (another annoying Thyroid problem). You could also take supplements to make sure you get all your vitamins, and you'll feel a lot better. But it is hard with a weird appetite, maybe nothing seems good, in those cases just try to eat something, anything! That's what I do. Food is supposed to be a joy, which it rarely is for me, but I try to enjoy it. Now during summer I eat a lot of Swedish strawberries, sometimes with whipped cream, so yummy! ;P

Anyway, I could keep writing about goitrogens and diets forever, but I'm gonna stop now. Take care of your Thyroid and enjoy the lovely- or not so lovely weather wherever you are!

To be continued... x

[typicalthyroid]

Hello Thyroid Friends!

Sorry for not updating in a while. This spring has been so busy for me, with work, choir practice, band practice, volunteer work, yoga, therapy etc. Haha I have no full time job but I still manage to keep myself busy. And I would like to say that I've been healthy, apart from some severe anxiety attacks. But my therapist says that when it comes to mental health it's; "when it feels like you're drowning, it actually means that your're healing" so I try to stay positive evan when life feels super hard.

Hopefully I will be able to post more during the summer, which is great right?

What's weird about summer is that I used to prefer winter for almost all my life (mostly because of christmas and my birthday ^^). But for the last 3 summers I've loved because, well I allmost don't get any thyroid symtoms which I'm so glad about. I allmost feel healthy during the summer. Of course I live in Sweden where it's so cold and dark during the winter so everyone here turns into zombies, but I escpecially feel the Thyroid symtoms in the fall/winter/spring area but now I'm optimistic and hyper during summer.

I've asked about this on forums and other Thyroid patiens with under active Thyroids feel the same. But of course I realize that is is not the case for everybody, but I do hope all of you can enjoy summer no matter what the state of your Thyroid and/or health is.

So basically, please just enjoy summer! I know, I will.

And look out for the next chapter of The Typical Thyroid! I'm so happy that The Typical Thyroid is growing, both here and on Facebook evan when I haven't updated in a while. Thank you so much, everyone! 

Xoxoxoxooxox

[typicalthyroid]

Hello thyroid-followers!

Has anyone ever had a hoarse voice due to an under activethyroid?

I have.

For several weeks people kept asking me if I was having a cold, because it sounded like I did but I didn't. My throat did however feel a little soar and I would speak in a more quiet voice, however when I was singing with my choir there were no problems at the time, which I was thankful for because singing is my passion. But I have heard of a few people who has their singing voices affected too and that's really sad! :(

When I went to my old doctor and told her about this, she sent me to an ultrasound of my thyroid and all they told me was that my thyroid was lumpy, and it might be the reason why my thyroid is under active, but it wasn't anything to treat more then the medication I was already taking. I also went to another doctor to look at my vocal cords, and there was nothing wrong with them so it really must have been my thyroid lurking around, which I told that doctor and he told me that that was impossible because the thyroid isn't located near the vocal cords so it can't put pressure on them(???). And this just shows how little doctors generally know about Thyroid Diseases, because a hoarse voice IS a common symptom. It really can affect your voice, but I myself don't know exactly how, it's all a little too complicated sometimes.

Anyway, I've heard that if you have a hoarse voice it's because you don't have the right dosage of medication. I don't know if that's true either but it did go away when I started with a higher dose.

Take care you all! See soon for another chapter of The Tale Of The Typical Thyroid.

XOXOXO

[typicalthyroid]

Greetings, my little thyroid friends!

The Typical Thryoid got dressed up just for you! Do you like?

It hit my a recently, while I was thinking of vampires, that the reason vampires crave blood is because they're anemic!! Vampires probably lack red blood cells, and therefore they drink blood, haha.

When I was first diagnosed with an underactive thyroid in the spring of 2010, I was also diagnosed with anemia. I was pale, tired and had problem sleeping during the night, I was pretty much like a vampire. Although, I didn't exactly crave blood, more like a big juicy stake, lolz.

Anemia can be linked to hypothyroidism (read more here), but it's usually easily treated. For me it meant that I was prescribed with iron supplements at the same time as my thyroid medication. But what no one told me was that you're not supposed to mix iron supplements with your thyroid medication, you have to wait two hours after you've taken your thyroid medications before you take the iron supplement. So I ate the two of them at the same time every day for 2-3 months before I found out. Thanks a lot, doctor! (not).

Of course you could get iron from eating a lot of stake and/or broccoli! And in Sweden we like to eat blood pudding (which is, cheap and really tasty with lingon berries and bacon). But taking a pill is easy, and you'll be sure that you get enough iron!

Another thought about vampires and The Thyroid: Where do vampires usually bite? And where is The Typical Thyroid located? Coincidence? I think not. :P

Pugs and kisses to you all!

[typicalthyroid]

Hello everyone!

The Typical Thyroid now has it's own Facebook page! So you should all head over there and like the page.

Here's the link: www.facebook.com/typicalthyroid

Continue to take care of your thyroid! X

[typicalthyroid]

Hello!

I did this one a few weeks ago, but for some reason I've had brain fog and didn't know what to write each time I started. And my dear BF has been nagging me about not updating this tumblr site, becuase he's the biggest fan of The Typical Thyroid. (JK, love you F!!! ;P)

So me, myself have a hard time getting excircising done. Basically everyone (doctors, therapists, annoying poeple who think they know what's best) is on me that I need to work out all the time, whenever I tell them I'm tired. And I try to explain that I can't excersice that much, it actually scares me since I sometimes feel like I've used up the little enegry I have on working out. And then my body will ache and I won't have enrygy for important stuff I need to do.

I went on a Facebook group for Thyroid patients with Hypothyroidism and asked about exercising habits. Most of them told me that they too would experience pain and they would not get more energy from working out, yet they forced themself into going to the gym becuase they where scared of gaining weight if they didn't. It kind of made me sad, because I feel exactly the same. I want to work out to loose/not gain weight, and when I can't the anxiety kicks in, I get tense muscles and everything feels hopeless.

When you have an underactive thyroid your cells can't recover after a workout like they can on a healthy person, it's a slower process. Recovery is key when you work out, especially if you lift weights, which I don't do that mych anymore, because I'm scared.

However, this is induvidal. Only you know how much you can exercise and what exercise is the best for you. If running and lifting weights makes your muscles super sore and tires you out, then try taking long walks and maybe some yoga or other low impact exercise and see if it helps.

Yoga is great because there are yoga positions that are good for the thyroid, you can just go to Youtube or Google and search for "Yoga for The Thyroid", and you'll find it. Otherwise, you do whatever you think is fun! Play sports, dance, have sex or whatever! It doesn't have to be boring, exercise is easiest when you're haveing fun, right?!

Basically the, Thyroid is quite evil sometimes, since it messes up so many things, making things harder. But you could also see it like The Thyroid is forcing telling you to take better care of yourself.

Do take care and look out for another chapter of The Typical Thyroid.

XOXO