Sunday Salon: Where Have I Been?

 My blogging (and commenting on other's blogs) has been remarkably light for the past two months - I even missed Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Unfortunately, I have been fighting this overwhelming fatigue that has left me with very little energy and even activities of daily living have been a struggle. The fatigue came on slowly in the beginning but by late July, I couldn't walk home from the subway stop (less than 5 blocks). At that point, I decided something was definitely wrong and I saw my doctor who ran a series of tests and called a few days later to tell me my TSH (a measure of thyroid function) was 12 (the upper limit of normal of 3 and mine had previously been between 1 and 2). The higher the TSH, the lower your thyroid function or circulating thyroid hormone so I was profoundly hypothyroid.

Credit: Thyroid.com

 While I was relieved to hear that it was "only" my thyroid and not something more serious (my mind had started to hatch all kinds of crazy theories), I was definitely perplexed. Issues with my thyroid are not new to me - I had my thyroid removed three years ago after I developed a large mass on my thyroid. I was led to believe that life after surgery would be virtually unchanged except I would take a small pill every morning to replace my thyroid hormone. Well - it has not proven to be quite so simple. I have struggled to get my Synthroid dose at a level that will keep my metabolism humming and when I run up against a TSH of 12 I just want to throw my hands up in frustration. So I have started seeing an integrative physician that is willing to look at this problem a little differently and have really begun to consider the quality of food I choose to eat and seeing if I can heal myself from the inside out. On the upside, I am starting to feel better and am returning to life as normal -so I am back blogging! Have any of you seen an integrative physician or used alternative therapies to treat illness? 

 

Although my activity on the blogs has been light, I have been reading a lot so I have many reviews to write which should keep the blog busy in the coming weeks. Fortunately, Alita of Alita Reads hosted a Reviewathon this week which has prompted me to catch up on my backlog. I got 3 of the 8 pending reviews finished which is at least a little dent in the workload. I posted one of the 8 reviews - An Accidental Mother by Katherine Kindred. This small book is a memoir by a woman who became a mother-figure to her boyfriend's young son only to have her boyfriend cut off all contact after their relationship dissolved. Definitely gives you something to think about in terms of the different people that can assume a mother role and the complications of post-divorce relationships.


I hope you all enjoyed a lovely fall day!