Eseme's Den

Small children go to kindergarten and bring back the plague. Advice on ramping up my immune system is greatly appreciated. I am going to see my mom on Friday and get her recipe for elderberry tea.

I will also be seeing my sister and my adorable niece who have traveled down from Nova Scotia. I am extremely excited, as I typically see them once a year. I have birthday presents for cutie, which I hope she will like.

I am going to try and get more photos of things I have made online, at Ravelry and other places. Doll and toy photos will go on a blog I have for that. I am planning on getting a few doll photos today. I am not sure anyone but ashbet cares, but I will link to them.

I am working at loosing weight that I gained from my extremely sedentary job and tendency to damn the consequences and eat dessert. Thanks to watching what I eat and counting calories I am down about 13 pounds since January. The plan is to get back down to a healthy weight and then do some serious work on my wardrobe.

My hair was purple for a while last spring, and I want to get back to that. Another weight loss reward! I cut it the shortest it has been since I was 10 last summer, about bra strap length. I don't like it and am growing it back out, aiming for waist length and gelling out my hair stick collection again.

The Angel is on 250 units of sythroid for his thyroid, and has more energy. He has a host of other health issues, and is seeing a neurologist soon and will hopefully get more help with his headaches.

So life goes on and I will try and journal it better!

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

The Angel, who is a very important part of my life, has thyroid problems, among other things.

He has very bad thyroid problems, from what I can tell.

He started on 25 mcg of Levothyroxine, which is a generic of synthroid (I think).

They keep checking his thyroid hormone levels, and while his medication has been stable for sometimes half a year, it keeps going up. And up. And up.

He is now on 200 mcg of the same medication. This is due to thyroid levels creeping back up to 3.9 at his last blood draw about a week and a half ago.

He had been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditus, which is to say his white blood cells are attacking his thyroid as a foreign object, and at this point neither of us is sure he has a thyroid anymore.

He has been utterly exhausted lately, likely due to this. On my urging, he tried to look up Facebook groups for thyroid issues, to maybe find other people to talk to who have the same issues and who may have advice on dealing with chronic fatigue.

He keeps finding groups open only to women, or who blatantly describe Hashimoto's as a "women's issue." And that is WRONG and extremely alienating for him.

I know there are at least three people on my friends list who also have thyroid issues. Can I ask for some info?

It is me, or is that a really high does of the meds? I am really worried that his system is not in a good place, to need that much of the tyroid hormones.

Are there other meds he can ask his doctor about?

Are there any good online support groups or websites you can recommend for chronic fatigue and chronic pain (we suspect arthritis, and he also had a traumatic brain injury about 18 years ago and gets very bad headaches)? Ones that are less women-centered and more helpful?

He has not until recently thought of himself as disabled, and many of his family and friends do not think that way either. He is not used to managing energy levels, which can result in him running out of "spoons" suddenly.

While I know several people with chronic pain and chronic fatigue, and I know about the spoon theory, I thankfully (and am very grateful for this) do not have those conditions myself. So can't really offer advice or insight that he really needs. I'm appreciate anything that you have to offer. He does not currently have an LJ, and is on Facebook all day. However, if there are better groups or resources on LJ or Dreamwidth, I will encourage him to sign up (and will start using my Dreamwidth as well).

Thanks everyone!

It would happen if I did not keep injuring myself.

First I severely bruised my thigh in a fall on Memorial Day (fainting is not a safe thing to do, I can't recommend it).

Then I sprained my ankle this past weekend at a LARP. I swear that the rock, slippery with rain and mud, was not there when I started running.

Both injuries were on the same leg.

I swear, I will be more careful!