The Rhythm of My Pregnancy: An Over Active Thyroid? (Week 16)

No matter how healthy you think you are, waiting for blood test results is never fun and it sucks even more when they actually do find something wrong. I got a call from y gynecologist saying I have symptoms of an overactive thyroid in my blood and need to see a Physician to get it checked further. Being the Kanya that I am I turned to my loyal friend The Google for some serious answers to my questions  ….What is an Over active Thyroid? What natural remedies can control it? Diet? What is the worst case Scenario? Was it really bad? Did I really need to see a Physician?

Well in Kanya terms an over active thyroid is caused when your thyroid (gland in the throat) produces too much Thyroid hormone (a hormone used to control how every organ in the body uses energy). It can be an inherited disease or it can be triggered by different things like pregnancy, going on or off the pill, stress and other things. The problem is that a lot of the symptoms associated with an over active thyroid are similar to pregnancy symptoms. Which means that a lot of pregnant women don’t even know they have a thyroid problem. The main similar symptoms are extreme exhaustion, irritability and lack of concentration; others are intolerance to extreme temperatures, severe weight loss with increased appetite, heart palpitations. Now these symptoms I have been experiencing big time through out my first trimester and just assumed it was SIAM. Especially weight loss 56kg to 54kgs....isn't normal for a pregnancy when you are eating loads. I began to get a little freaked out knowing that actually there could be something seriously wrong with me. Yet I was feeling fine before I got the information. It made me think who else in my family has had this….did Grandmother Kanyadzo Die of this during child birth and she never knew because there were no tests and doctors with this kind of knowledge in the rural areas of Zimbabwe? I probably would never know the truth.

Being the cheapo that I am I really didn’t want to go see the Physician. My gynaecologist appointments were already too expensive in my eyes and just one visit to this physician costs R1, 300 which isn’t something we had budgeted for. I explored my options and ran it by my Gyne, from homeopaths to diet control. But my gyne said it was best that we have a good monitoring system in place through out my pregnancy because it may be stable now but it could get worse in the third trimester where she worries about me experiencing a “THYROID STORM.” A thyroid storm is as bad as it sounds….it is fatal and occurs when all your organs completely shut down due to lack of monitoring of the thyroid hormone! My Gyne was also worried about the impact it would have on SIAM. Well that enough information for me to get my appointment booked with the Physician…all of a sudden R1, 300 didn’t sound too bad.  

After seeing the Physician, and asking her every question in my books, I felt a bit better. It was all a matter of doing more blood tests and getting the right thyroid medication balance in place. But the doctor’s information wasn’t enough for me I wanted to find any natural remedies possible which I could follow. From my research eating spinach suppressed the over active thyroid and taking vitamin B12 complex. I also read that Barley green (a nasty green powder) was also for the thyroid. So this explains why every vegetable that is dark green is like a drug to me….I eat spinach like I am Popeye.. they sailors wife of course.  

A week later I got my results, only to find out that my Thyroid levels were too low for medication. I got such a strange feeling inside me. It was like I was excited but at the same time super confused. You see this whole thyroid seemed to explain some of my unnecessary anxiety attacks, like going Ninja on Avon, which made me feel comfortable knowing that I could take medication to control them. But now I was getting nothing…. Which made me re-think  the source of those anxiety attacks me, SIAM or the thyroid or all of the above? And now I didn’t have a fix to control them in future. Then I was excited  as well because this news meant I wouldn’t have to buy medication…. Then I was frustrated because these tests, doctor visits got me all worried but only to find out it wasn’t anything hectic!!!!

But who really knows the purpose of this whole experience so I just thought well “Thanks God anyways!” This process has made me more consciously aware of my diet and irritability levels. Funny enough it has also made me think more about other peoples irritability levels…..gets me thinking that peoples reactions to things could actually be a medical problem and not just a “rude person.” …..I still have to go for monthly blood tests just in case the situation changes but I am trusting that it all goes well.

If you have symptoms like theses….get your thyroid checked out. Apparently there are a lot of people who are living with an over active thyroid or under active thyroid (weight gain) and don’t even know it. Getting medication to balance it may change your life!!!!