How I processed with getting diagnosed with Hypothyroidism

You hear about it from family and friends or even coworkers. But it’s until you get diagnosed yourself that you start to think, ‘oh crap, this is serious.’

For those that don’t know, Hypothyroidism is where your thyroid glands aren’t producing enough thyroid hormones and it messes with everything metabolism related — like weight gain; how lovely right?

For me personally, it’s not cancerous and I don’t have to worry about it becoming cancerous — however — everyone is different and I am in no way giving any medical advice nor am I telling you that you shouldn’t get yours checked.

I got diagnosed with Hypothyroidism just a few weeks ago — although I probably had it for a few years; I would say maybe around 2 years without knowing it.

It was around the time that I got my first job right out of high school at a buffet. I remember constantly having to leave work early because I would start having panic attacks. No warning — just very random. And I just thought, ‘maybe its just because this is my first job.’

So that went on for a good while. Around that time I had two episodes where I fainted. I have never fainted in my life so you already know I was freaking out!

Both times where I fainted I was at home — thank goodness! And they both happened due to the same reason — I got up too fast.

Next thing I know, my parents and I were off to the hospital to figure out what the heck was wrong with me.

And of course at that point, they didn’t find anything — because they never did any blood work. All they could tell me was that I had a slower than normal heart rate. Like what is an 18 year old girl supposed to do with that information?

So I went back to work after that. Never fainted again. But yet, I would still have moments where I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath and had no idea why. I just thought it was because I was another person experiencing anxiety.

Well fast forward a few years to my mid-20s. I finally went to see a doctor to be put on medication for my anxiety — due to it getting worse.

They did blood work this time — and what do you know? They found it. They found the answer to why I would have anxiety attacks, why I would have little to no energy, rarely an appetite and the cause to my unexplainable rapid weight gain.

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and thyroid disease called Hypothyroidism.

I also found out that my biological mother had it as well as my older sister — so good thing is that I am not alone.

Knowing that I wasn’t in this alone is how I came to be okay with this disease. I calmed down. After having a mini freak out moment of course!

Knowing that there are others out there with this disease is also what calmed me down. And because its genetic. I couldn’t stop myself from getting it even if I wanted to.

In a way, I’m kind of okay and at ease with having Hypothyroidism because it helped answer a lot of the unknown that I was going through.

It’s okay not to be okay and if you or someone you know also has this disease just remember, you are not alone and I am here for you.