# How do you people do it?



## mememe (Mar 18, 2010)

Luckily I'm in a position right now where I don't have to work. It won't last forever (I don't want it to), but it scares me when I think of having a schedule to go to work and feeling this way!

How do you find the strength when you're feeling really bad (in my case-fatigued) to just get up and go and do what you need to do?

When you find the right dose of meds, do you still ever have days that you feel bad like you did before? I haven't been on any meds yet, so I can't imagine what that's like!

Those of you that push through a full time job feeling crappy-you are amazing!!hugs4


----------



## hillaryedrn (Dec 14, 2009)

I'm sorry you're feeling so bad! :hugs: Some days are better than others. You will get there. I'm still in the phase of getting my dose right, but luckily I haven't had any really horrible days. I have a job where I don't have much choice but get my rear up and move! LOL!  Just keep your chin up and keep walking forwards. It will get better! hugs1


----------



## AngieG (Jul 5, 2010)

I am a stay at home Mom and the fear is the same, the only difference is I don't have to put on a suit. I too sure hope there is that state of Euthyroid people talk about!! I think it is hard to think of that when we are feeling so horrible, and the answer seems elusive, but we are here and have each other. To me, that has helped so much! To know we are not alone, right? hugs6 hugs1


----------



## mememe (Mar 18, 2010)

AngieG said:


> but we are here and have each other. To me, that has helped so much! To know we are not alone, right? hugs6 hugs1


yes, that has helped me so much, because I always say "no one understands"...and no one I know in person does understand. They just don't get it. I try to explain that this isn't normal for me....

I'm truly scared of committing to a job or school because I won't be on top of my game and I don't want to suffer through those days. I'd rather suffer at home, where I can be at least a little peaceful, rather than going to work and stressing through it.


----------



## AngieG (Jul 5, 2010)

Oh, I hear ya! I was recently offered a job at Staples I'd applied for, but just in my heart couldn't take it. The panicky, fatigued pregnant lady on a 20 ft ladder? I just didn't see it happening. I also have a class or two lined for Fall, since I had _planned _on going back to school (Haha!! Life has a sense of humor!!), so we'll see how things develop.

The way I see it, each week gives me a new result, so I'm not going to cancel any plans until I come to them and decide I can't make it. But it's okay to make plans, just remain flexible. Give yourself a break. Be honest when you feel you can't go. And if you cry, then definitely cry. Honor those feelings and then decide to move on when you can. Some days maybe we can't, but some other days ARE good, and we look forward to those!!!!! 

So, accept you can't do everything you'd like right now, be your best friend and advocate, cancel when you need to (and when you want to) and know that your true friends will try to understand, even if they don't right away.  But one day it will get all figured out and you will feel good and relieved. hugs1


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm a stay at home mom/wife - I honestly do not think I could have worked while on ATD's or the first few years post op. {{hugs}}


----------



## mememe (Mar 18, 2010)

what's ATD?


----------



## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Anti thyroid medication = ATD


----------



## happysunshine (Sep 25, 2009)

when I first got hyperthyroidism there would be no way I could go to work or study, I tried going back to uni and I just felt anxious and nervous.
After having the RAI treatment it took about 8 months until I started getting better, I had a toxic nodular goiter and my body was releasing so much toxic hormone and the RAI was getting rid of it all , so yeah during that time I felt like absolute crap, people didn't understand cos they didn't get how I was feeling, I think with thyroid, you have to experience it to understand.

Now since being on medication cos my thyroid is now under, I am feeling better, those hard times are over now and I made it through, you will also make it through, just think of it as a road you have to go through in life and soon that road will end and it's not going to last for ever, your body is going through heaps of changes. Also keep the faith and you will be alright. I wish you all the best.

Oh yeah when you go on meds, you will feel the difference and for the better.


----------



## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

Sorry if I offend anyone, but I've found that people who have to work appear to have an easier time dealing with thyroid disease because they don't have the time to dwell on it. They are distracted with their work.

Right now my friend, age 40, is dealing with aggressive lymphoma. The chemo treatment, once every 3 weeks, is brutal. She's lost all her hair. But she got a lovely wig and works in the office two weeks out of three and from home on the weeks she has chemo.

So the way I see it, my Hashimoto's and 3 autoimmune arthritic diseases are small potatoes compared to her problems. It doesn't mean I don't hurt like crazy from joint pain, that I don't feel lethargic, don't suffer from brain fog, or that I don't get sick from some of my meds. I've felt it all for the past 20 years and it doesn't get better. It DOES mean that I focus on my work. It's all about attitude and being in control of your disease - refusing to let it get you down.

That said, the first year is the hardest.

And again, sorry if I've offended any of you, but sometimes you have to put things in perspective.


----------



## AngieG (Jul 5, 2010)

No, not me. Not in any way. hugs3 Actually I feel it kind of gives me hope. For now, I have been seeing a therapist who specializes in Anxiety and phobias. He does get clients now and then who have thyroid problems and often anxiety problems, or difficulty handling the demands of their life with these new challenges.

Here's the thing I learned recently, and this was such a pivotal point for me.

The thyroid meds did indeed create (or re-ignite) my anxiety problems. But I always noticed these were different from the Panic Disorder I had overcome over a decade before. Not all my symptoms were the same. So what was happening was, my thyroid problems, coupled with a young naive doctor's prescribing maximum dosage right off the bat to a person with a previous history of depression and anxiety was a mistake - apparently, you *must* go up gradually. So, first point: thyroid meds/problems created fluctuations that mimicked anxiety/panic, but were NOT panic. glow

As these problems continued, my reactions worsened and they eventually developed into a full-fledged, head-on anxiety problem. Anticipatory anxiety eventually becomes the fuel and the original point becomes moot (nearly); it has its own, self-sustaining power. Even if I were miraculously cured of thyroid, I'd still have to see panic to the end.

Realizing that I was actually dealing with 2 types of symptom sets, I am now able to tell them apart and deal with each appropriately. This is so freeing! I have hope, and tools, and my anxiety events are lessening.

I already know how to overcome panic and anxiety from before - and it's still going to be a buttload of work - but I also have tools for dealing with the thyroid med flux as it comes. It's totally liberating.

So now, I'm gradually stepping up my meds (and demanding better bloodwork), instead of Blitzkrieging myself, AND I am acquiring tools to deal with the mental aspects. I can see myself working again one day, or going back to school, too, but in a few months maybe.


----------



## CA-Lynn (Apr 29, 2010)

Angie,

I think you're dealing admirably with your symptoms and thyroid disease.

Two important points you made that we can all learn from:

! - Be proactive about your disease and related or unrelated symptoms.

2 - Gradual dose changes are preferably; blitzkrieging may be ill advised.


----------



## mememe (Mar 18, 2010)

That's all great advice. It's interesting to see how we all have something similar-thyroid problem-yet we all deal with it differently in our day-to-day lives.

I know I will get get better sometime, I just wish that time was years ago!lol. I always tell people "my body doesn't match my mind". I WANT to jump up and go do exciting things and always be busy busy busy and not feel bad, but my body doesn't have it in it. My eyes always feel heavy/tired, and so does the rest of me! Hopefully my new doctor I go to in less than a month will be awesome! I'm so excited!


----------



## ToeToes (Jul 28, 2010)

I drank caffeine (I know, bad me!) to stay awake. Thankfully, I quit that job. I'm not even sure if I could have kept that job, let alone another full-time job now. I'm wondering and I'm definitely going to attempt to, but... I'm still worried about the outcome.

Delicious monies do tempt me, however. And all of the pretty things that it will fill my closet with. It's definitely worth a shot.


----------

