 No one told me that if you lose weight you might get more thyroid medication out of your usual dose. Ahem. Well, I'm here to tell you, you can. And the results weren't pretty. Having thyroid issues sucks. Especially when you have Crohn's disease. Sometimes you get too much of the hormone, sometimes you get too little. Depends on what's happening in the gastro tract. If I don't get enough of the thyroid hormone, I can fall asleep in my chair in an instant. I also get really depressed, but it's not a depression that's like a mental depression, it actually feels like there's not enough energy to move your moods around. Actually, there's not enough energy to do anything. You just feel flat. Like a car run out of gas. If you get too much? Well, from my experience, I get angry. Real angry. Not only do I get angry, I get finger pointing jabbing angry and heaven help the person who trods on my toes. Patience is at absolute zero. My husband had the audacity to ask me if someone had changed my medication or something. Furious, I slept on the couch for two days. I showed him! Two days later I came to my senses. Something was wrong. I did a quick search on Google and sure enough I displayed perfect symptoms for a hyperactive thyroid. Two days after lowering my dose and I'm back to feeling normal and I'm seeing the doctor next week. Turns out this is quite common. Lots of things can interrupt the thyroid hormone. Even food can mess with my medication sending me into a hyper or hypo state. Other than my state of perpetual anger which is now gone, thank goodness, Crohn's is acting pretty good. Whoot! I'm hoping I don't flare as I get closer to my infusion date. *fingers crossed* The farther apart my infusion dates, the less likely I will not become immune. Or so I've been told. I need to check with my doctor on that. On to my weekend read.  For those of us with Crohn's disease, the first year is the toughest. I didn't know where to turn. I was facing major surgery or some type of chemotherapy to control what was to me, a death sentence. Worse yet, I was on high doses of Prednisone that not only made me ravenously hungry, but irritable and angry at everyone and everything. I also felt betrayed by my own body and was in a very real way, in mourning.
As I've said before, Crohn's comes in minor, moderate and severe. I have severe, but many have a minor case that rarely gives them trouble. I have one friend who was diagnosed by colonoscopy who has never had a flare. Go figure. The First Year by Jill Sklar is not a book for someone who has had Crohn's for years. It is written for people who are newly diagnosed and are in mourning for the life they once had. It's a pull yourself up by the bootstraps kinda book that helps you see forward into the future a little at a time. This newly revised edition includes new research and insights to help everyone newly diagnosed with IBD come to terms with their condition and the accompanying lifestyle changes – along with other vital information about IBD. It doesn't address the diet issue, but that stage can come later, once you are used to having the disease. Generally, newly diagnosed people are in the middle of a flare, doubled over in pain and overwhelmed with information so it's best, in my opinion, to introduce major changes a little at a time. For most GIs Prednisone is the first line of defense and that comes with its own issues. Along with Prednisone is generally the BRAT diet. Bananas, rice, applesauce and dry toast. While not the SCD diet, it does soothe the stomach. The First Year is an overview of most of the things you will need to know and it is a great reference book when you just want a quick answer and don't have have your phone and/or laptop handy. It covers most of the drugs available, the course of the disease and current theories about how the disease is contracted. For those of us with severe disease, it is best to know everything possible (within reason) about UC and/or Crohn's so we can survive. Pick one up for yourself or someone you know that is searching for answers during that first year of diagnosis. To me, it's worth the money, the time, and the effort to bring someone suffering a little bit of hope. Comments are closed.
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