oprah and i have something in common

7 years ago, when i was first diagnosed as hypothyroid, i wanted to create a t-shirt that said, "take care of your thyroid." the ironic (i was trying to be sarcastically witty.) thing is that it's very difficult to take care of your thyroid. it's a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland located in the lower neck that takes care of itself, or in my case, suddenly stops working properly. there's little you can do to prevent hypothyroidism or it's sister, hyper. there's a bunch of hoo-ha surrounding the onset of these thyroidic diseases, (hereditary, lack of iodine, excessive consumption of soy...) but, when it comes down to it, there are still mysteries regarding this common yet overlooked condition.

7 years ago, i developed a goiter and thought it might have been from straining my neck muscles while doing sit-ups. (PUH-SHA! yeah, right. i was convincing myself that there was nothing to stress out about. interestingly enough, stress can somehow lead to hypothyroidism as well--what?! so i wonder if my trying not to stress out about stressing out was enough stress to induce my current hypothyroidic state?!?) i had no idea what the thyroid was at the time of my diagnosis but all i knew was that i had a protrusion from my neck that was very un-natural. that, and i was soooo tired all the frickin time no matter how much i slept. it was hard to distinguish whether i was exhausted from my inactive thyroid or from jet-lag. most likely, both. i had just returned from my first visit to south korea, where the time difference is 14 hours.

the thyroid serves very very important functions. namely, this lil guy affects the metabolism, ie, how the body harvests energy. in fact, it's like the fuckin ringmaster of metabolism. the thyroid secretes (ha ha, that word, for whatever reason makes me laugh! secretes!) 2 key hormones: triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). T3 and T4's purpose, while traveling through the bloodstream is to help cells convert oxygen and calories into energy. but if mcmaster thyroid tires of his circus duties, and allows his evil cousin, hypothryoidism to take charge, your body will definitely show signs of it:
fatigue
weight gain
goiter
constipation
hair loss
depression, among others.

how did i find out i was hypo? thankfully, my goiter was a tell-tale sign. and sure enough my blood test results confirmed that my pituitary gland was sending off a high amount of TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) to my thyroid:

pituitary: thyroid, you need to make more hormones, copy?
thyroid: unresponsive
pituitary: i SAID, thyroid, you're not doing your job and you're fucking things up, man!
thyroid: still unresponsive
pituitary: HELLO?!?! (mutters) lazysonofabitch.

pituitary kept sending more and more signals to thyroid and as such, my bloodwork revealed that my TSH levels were higher than normal. i consider myself lucky. hypothryoidism affects people very differently. oprah winfrey recently revealed that she was hypo, too and she, like many others, has experienced a host (wha! no pun intended...) of negative effects, some of the most recognizable are lack of energy, motivation and weight gain. (on a related side note: when i went to new zealand, i gained a large amount of weight throughout my 6 month stay. at the time, i thought it was due to my traveling lifestyle, emotionally driven eating habits, and stress. last night, i found out that the mineral selenium which is believed to help promote healthy thyroid function is nearly absent in nz soil. it is, however, very abundant in us soil. now, i'm not an endocrinologist, but! i truly believe that that was also a factor in my sudden weight gain! incredible. how the body functions, reacts, and shuts down.) through yearly blood tests and a consistent hormone pill swallowing schedule, i've not had serious complications due to my hypothyroid. i strongly believe in the mind-body connection so i make a conscious effort to nourish my mind while i maintain a healthy body. for some things, it is mind over matter, however, when it comes to hormones, the mind is incapable of producing what it needs on its own so i'm thankful for medicine and careful monitoring. fyi: women! watch out, this condition affects you 6 to 8 times more than men.

why am i sharing this? consider it my psa blog.
questions? the (faux) doctor is in.