Small Slice

I need to be better about recording how I'm feeling, and what my symptoms are. It's been about 6 weeks now since I began taking Synthroid, and my hair is still falling out, and my body is still fatigued - but my mood is much lighter.

Chalk that up to getting the kids back to school and our last minute summer accomplishments. I'm pretty sure that's what made the difference there. Also, I'm sleeping better lately, if you consider better to be crazy dreams featuring the cast of True Blood and shopping at Trader Joes.

I started to attempt an elimination diet, eliminating eggs, dairy and gluten for a week. I made it a whole week, and then we had our back to school dinner, and the whole thing fell apart and I went back to eating and drinking everything. (About 1,500 calories of everything.)

I was using unsweetened, unflavored almond milk to replace the milk in my decaf coffee, and snacking on nuts daily, and I think that maybe I have a nut sensitivity, because the weird poop issues escalated. I'm clearly not allergic, because I'm not having any major symptoms, but now that I have switched to unsweetened rice milk, I'm doing much better on that front. I'm going to start up again tomorrow, this time without the nuts, and see what gives.

Posted by Jenny at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Ah, science. You bum (hah) me out, sometimes.

From About.com's Thyroid info page comes a new study from the Mayo Clinic

"The answer is they have low NEAT, which means they have a biological need to sit more. A person can expend calories either by going to the gym, or through everyday activities. Our study shows that the calories that people burn in their everyday activities -- their NEAT -- are far, far more important in obesity than we previously imagined."

He adds that the NEAT defect in obese patients doesn't reflect a lack of motivation. "It most likely reflects a brain chemical difference because our study shows that even when obese people lose weight they remain seated the same number of minutes per day," says Dr. Levine. "They don't stand or walk more. And conversely, when lean people artificially gain weight, they don't sit more. So the NEAT appears to be fixed."

And here I thought that my ability to sit for hours and hours was a reflection of my mad skilz.

Posted by Jenny at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I've been taking the thyroid meds for almost a month, and I honestly don't know if they are changing anything yet. I know that is to be expected, and really, it might take a long time to get my issues all sorted (especially since the whole sleep apnea issue is looming.) But still.

I had hoped in a very small, stupid part of my brain that there would be some sort of mystical rainbows shooting out of my rear or something after a month on these meds, and aside from some improvement in the weird poo department, which I GUESS you could consider mystical, if you haven't changed your eating patterns or diet one iota and yet your number two is differentish, things are pretty much the same.

My hair is still falling out - every shower or hair brushing has dramatic shedding.
My body is still fatigued and achy.
I don't have any interest in getting any action.
I'm pale and itchy and my skin hates me.
My legs are still swelling.
I haven't lost a single pound.
My menstrual cycles are still irregular and weird - although I finally had one after 8 weeks. FINALLY.

BUT! And this is not exactly a breakthrough - but I think my closet office setup is a major factor in my swelling legs. The chair I am using doesn't allow me to place my feet flat on the floor, and the direction I twist my torso when I'm working (to see my second monitor) corresponds to the worst swelling. I'm going to get a new chair, and try repositioning my monitor and laptop and see if that gives me some relief from the weird swelling.

I'm soldiering on with my 300 Calorie photos. I'm not taking a picture of every single bite or beverage that goes in my mouth because COME ON. You don't need to see photos of every mug of decaffeinated coffee or whatever. As I said earlier, the goal right now is to just identify what I'm eating - so that my claims of having a healthy, balanced, fairly low-calorie diet can be fine-tuned. I already can see that I need more protein and more whole grains, less breads and pizza and muffins.

The final part of this puzzle is exercise. I DO NOT FEEL LIKE IT. I am tired and cranky and sore and achy and I just don't want to go do it. I know I need it. I feel better when I do it. But I'm just not getting it done.

And I need to Get It Done.

image via

Posted by Jenny at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)