A Tale of Hyperthyroidism Told Through My Hair
I've been gone from Hive and most social media interactions for a long ass time. It's been a tough 5 years for me with a lot of huge changes (wanted and unwanted), death, and struggle.
Everything came to a head in 2023. My body just couldn't handle it anymore I guess ...
We have all gone through stuff, and for me it sometimes affects my hair. When I was younger especially, but I seemed to have changed.
I kept the same hair style, long and natural colour for 20 years. No matter the shit life tossed me I didn't take it out on my hair.
Well, I went through some crazy thyroid shit (hyperthyroidism to be exact) in the summer of 2023 and decided to give myself a haircut 😅
Stage 1: A Bob
This was when I was beginning to get sick. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I had been under an intense amount of stress for years, and so used to living that way, adrenaline was the way I got stuff done.
I left it for so long and just got worse and worse until I wasn't even sleeping.
After weeks of little to no sleep I ended up acting so weird that I was hospitalized for 2 weeks.
They ran a bunch of tests and figured out that my thyroid was overproducing hormones like they were going out of style!
I was given medicine that would slow the hormone production and was told I had to chill if I ever hoped to get better.
No work. No excitement of any kind.
After I got out of the hospital I did this 😂
I just took my scissors and cut and cut and cut until I had to stop or I would have been bald 😂 I really liked it but my family didn't.
I think what they didn't like was how different I was acting more than my hairstyle.
Hyperthyroidism medication
The doctors were saying I would have to be on it forever maybe. They also were pretty keen to just straight up cut my thyroid gland out. That would 💯 make me have to take their meds for life. Just different ones. Meds that would give my body the hormone.
I was confused and scared so I kept following their path.
A good friend of mine finally said "get off their shit, you can fix this naturally, you can do it Lynds!".
So I went on a frightening journey of weening off their medication and starting the recommended herbs I researched.
It was frightening because I didn't want to end up back to shaking again, heart racing and never being able to sleep, and maybe ending up back in the hell hole hospital.
5 months later...
I started feeling a bit better after huge diet changes and the natural medicine.
I had quit all sugar, caffeine and stress.
I hate tv normally, but watching Martha Stewart and Gordon Ramsay through those months was my lifeline. I could zone out and not feel the weird things going on in my body.
If I thought about my heart it would start racing, so I learned to tune it out.
I slowly began working at my bakery again.
The whole time between the hospitalization and the above pic I was just selling eggs. Once in a while I would do some baked goods. It felt good to get back in the kitchen full time 😄
8 Months After
As you can see on the shelves behind me I was in full swing again.
The natural herbs and diet/lifestyle changes were working their magic, and my hair was growing along with me 💗
1 year & 2 months later
My son and I are in a photoshoot for our debut Rap album 😎
Haha! Kidding obviously, I felt really good though and my family was no longer worried about me. I could get my hair in a pony tail too! We were back to our old fun selves. All the scary stuff was a thing of the past 🫂 All that remains are the scars.
1 Year & 9 Months After
Damn hair takes a long ass time to grow lol 😆
At this point I knew the hyperthyroidism was in remission. I hadn't taken any herbs for months, and have no symptoms whatsoever.
I also kept up with the no sugar and no caffiene.
2 Years Since I First Got Sick
I decided to get my hair professionally done for my first time in 20 years, and I put blonde highlights in.
It was a decision of joy and turning a happy new leaf.
I'm embracing my feminine side more and more lately, I've missed her I realize 💗
Fast forward to today...I chill and manage stress like a boss.
I never allow myself to get too excited, too sad, or carried away. I found a peaceful middle ground in my emotional state rather than the extreme highs and lows I've lived my whole life.
I don't stay up too late or overwork myself. Sleep is more important than anything, it's precious.
Being unable to sleep when I was sick was torture. The shaking and constant sweating and heart racing, never being full from food because it digested so fast...
I will do anything, change anything, give up anything to never go through that again. I would never put my family through that again either.
I feel confident that I know the early symptoms now and if I ever felt them coming in I have my herbs stocked up here and wouldn't hesitate to start taking them again.
Epilogue
I'm very grateful to be back here blogging with you all 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 It feels sooooo good!
I've loved reuniting with my old friends.
I've had a lot of laughs and smiles this last week, so thank you for remembering me ❤️ It really means a lot.
Holy crap! You've been through so much and came out looking better than ever!
Strength, calmness, wisdom, eggs. And three lucky kids with a mom to show them how it's done!
Congratulations on getting off the pills. I don't trust anything from the vats of big pharma (and I know you don't either) so the thought of relying on them for a lifetime of medication must have been terrifying!
Thanks for the encouragement Winston, and I know you can resonate with the insomnia too a bit eh?
P.S. Here's an egg just for you!