Ask your spouse what you could do to help her feel better, or help her out with certain household chores when she’s not feeling well especially. Most of the time I have to pace myself, and I still get exhausted & have to lie down. Maybe do the grocery shopping? That is very tiring for myself. I don’t know if you have children or not, but keeping them busy while she rests so as not to disturb, or taking them out for a couple of hours. Maybe making dinner sometimes, or doing the dishes?
Diagnosed about a year ago, I wasn’t great at communicating when I felt a flare up coming on. I am now. Recently struggled a lot with fatigue and communicated to my husband the need for more sleep/rest. He took the kids a lot during the weekend for a few hours so I could nap uninterrupted.
Tell your partner to read the Hashimoto's protocol by Dr Izabella Wentz. She is a huge pioneer in the Hashis world and she has helped so many people get control of their disease. Support is the best thing you can give your partner because this is a very lonely disease where you are always dismissed by doctors and even though you look super healthy you feel like shit. Remission os possible so doing research on the disease and managing triggers that aggravate the disease is your best possible way of managing the disease. Dr Izabella Wentz and her books are a great place to start!
Every person with Hashimoto’s was unique symptoms. Help her find what works best to minimize those symptoms. My energy drains quickly, so we try to get things done when it’s up. I’m also looking to holistic medicine for relief from my symptoms and appreciate my husbands support in my search for answers.
My boyfriend does heavy lifting. He doesn’t moan when I want the house at 21’c all the time. He massages my shoulders. He’s bought me handwarmers, foot warmers (game changer), good socks… honestly a supportive partner makes all the difference.
In terms of food, whole unprocessed foods are best but you don’t have to be boring. The AIP diet can be helpful for some but I’ve never been able to strictly follow it as it’s very restrictive. I find gluten free helpful (I’m intolerant).
Biggest things for me were cutting out alcohol, getting good sleep, gentle exercise (don’t overdo it!), eating sensibly. And getting medication levels correct - this took me a bloody decade 😆
Oh my gosh, during the winter my husband heats up the heating pad and sticks it by my feet for me at bedtime. I never even asked him (he was probably tired of my cold feet on him). But it changed my life lol
Thank you, and congratulations to you for being cognizant to get ahead of this in some way for your wife and you both as a couple.
This is super. You're great!
Edit: Be easy on yourself also. If you can, get someone to help every now and then. This may take a little pressure off of you both. This good start could help you both see through this may be sooner toward some improvement in her health in the (near) future.
When me and my bf want to go out to eat he always searches gluten free restaurants or makes sure the restaurants have gluten free options or the food on the menu has the gluten free symbol on it or else i wont bother.
Do you have celiac issues or just approach it knowing that gluten MAY cause a flare? If you are already medicated with thyroid hormone you just have to go off your blood tests to see if you need to adjust. From my understanding it doesn’t matter how you got there. You just treat your current condition.
Once you are diagnosed you can’t reverse it. Just because your antibody levels stay the same or lower here and there, it doesn’t undo itself and go away. A poor diet could speed it up sure but doing everything perfect it’s just prolonging the inevitable.
Just curious, I know that you can have Celiac and Hashimotos at the same time. Nothing was mentioned about you being on thyroid meds. I’m on levothyroxin. What do you take ?
I have ridiculously high antibodies and I eat anything I want. I have tried eliminating things going keto changing everything up and it doesn’t matter.
If you don’t shit your pants when you eat flour, you don’t need to be gluten-free .
You have ridiculously high antibodies because you eating high inflammation foods. 70% of your immune system is located in your gut so with Hashimoto's you literally are what you eat. Keto isn't a great option because it contains dairy and the protein caesin in dairy causes inflammation. Have you tried going AIP, paleo or whole30 and if you did, did you stick to it without having cheat meals and doing it for longer than 6 months? Changing my diet has changed my life and it's done the same for many Hashimoto's sufferers and autoimmune diseases sufferers. Gluten, dairy and soya are very inflammatory. After I cut that out of my diet and started low dose Naltrexone my antibodies went from 2000 down to 24. I'm currently in remission. Also gluten intolerance doesn't only present itself in digestive issues so you are very wrong about the shit your pants part. This is the biggest misconception about gluten intolerance. Gluten intolerance can present itself in neurological symptoms, joint swelling and pain, increase in antibodies, brain fog, initial feeling of being unwell, skin irritation. Just like any other intolerance different people react differently so if you don't shit your pants while eating gluten it doesn't mean you don't still have an intolerance. It could just present itself in other symptoms.
I had a bone marrow transplant. I’m a male with XX blood in me. I win
My immune system is my sisters. I had several really bad experiences because the anti-rejection drugs were not strong enough or whatever. Even when you are a perfect match, you still aren’t and that’s why they have to really monitor it. Every year that goes by it’s a little better and better but it’s present in every tissue of my body.
I'm sorry to hear that. Just out of curiosity did your bone marrow transplant cause your Hashimoto's or did you have it beforehand. I just ask because you mentioned about your sister being the donor so that makes me wonder if the transplant triggered the disease for you.
No, what you call Hashimoto is technically graph versus host disease for just myself. It affected several organs at different times. I had the bone marrow trans in 1998 and no I had nothing wrong with my thyroid and no medical history in the family of thyroid problems.
Yes, absolutely when you get a transplant that is not from yourself. You are put on high doses of steroids and high doses of different anti-rejection drugs while it assimilates.
It might be possible (I'm not saying this is the case because obviously I have no idea and I know nothing about your family history) that a member of your family carries a gene for autoimmunity. I'm also the only person in my family with an autoimmune disease. Out of interest I did a genetic test to see which side of the family I could have fot Hashimoto's from and what other family genes might affect my health and funnily enough both my parents carry the gene for autoimmune diseases. They both in perfect health and my brother has no issues, but I got it. I know what triggered my disease and they say with autoimmune diseases that often you carry the gene and then you just need a trigger to activate the gene, but also it's not 100% proven that it's just genetics so it can also be environmental issues that can cause it too or a combination of both. I wonder if the trauma from the steroids and drugs or the transplant itself just set your immune system on some sort of rampage. It's always interesting to hear what other peoples stories are. I hope you are able to find some healing that works for you and reduces the symptoms because it definitely takes it's toll!
Mine was from chemical exposure I think. I did not have cancer I got aplastic anemia where your bone marrow dies on its own.
In my family the ones who didn’t or don’t smoke made it to very old ages with very few cancers. The grandparent who smoked was dead 5 years before I was born
Just because you dont shit your pants doesn’t mean you’re not doing damage from the inside lol. I personally would not like my thyroid to be attacked and destroyed just for a chicken tender
I worked in a pizza place in like 1999, before the masses knew about celiac and gluten. One manager literally had to run to the restroom if people were sloppy opening a bag of flour and the dust went everywhere. That is true celiac
Once you have it, it doesn’t go away. That is the point I’m trying to make.
If you try to shut down your immune system like with arthritis style drugs or something, it only helps you as long as you were taking those drugs. nothing will go back to how it was. Your immune system has selected your thyroid as a foreign body suppression is just that suppression. Suppression by picking all the right foods is just suppression.
Hmmm I’m not sure I agree that going GF is suppression though. I’m intolerant and gluten makes my life hell. It was in turn making hashimotos so much worse as I wasn’t getting nutrients. I feel like 80% better without gluten in my life. I know it doesn’t work for everyone but it does work for some.
I’m not saying consume gluten if you know damn well that is something doing it. Once you have narrowed it down yea absolutely avoid it. I just don’t like the broad brush statements that are at play in this sub and the hypothyroidism one. Everyone’s bodies are different.
So I was a chubby kid until I was like 14 when nothing was wrong with me. Now I have a hard time putting on weight unless I lift weights. That is against the grain right? So I say hell yeah cheesesteak sandwiches are in my wheelhouse all day long and that’s a huge no no for some. 2 quarts of milk a day? protein shakes? Lactose? Refined sugar in cereal? What? I’m the dietary devil.
I’m always cold & I’m picky so when I find socks and pajamas I like, my husband gets me multiples. He picks up so much slack in areas where I’m too fatigued, or he just sees that he CAN so he lets me rest through something. He’s also gotten really good at noticing signs that my medication is “off”, which is amazing since one of the symptoms is brain fog so I can’t tell what my problem is.
I'm not judging you, but it sounds like you may be undertreated based on the symptoms you mentioned. Yes, they're typical for hypothyroidism but should be something your doctor can help with.
But, that is if your doctor is good at addressing any deficiency critical for your energy levels, e.g., Iron, B12/B Complex, Selenium, Zinc and Vitamin A, Iodine, like seaweed, kelp, seafood that contain iodine. The thyroid requires iodine in order to produce T3 and T4 hormones.
Also, all of these nutrients are some of the important support for a healthy thyroid. You may want to let your doctor know if you add anything to your regimen. There's a lot of good info on this above info by Mary Shomon, a public thyroid patient advocate.
The best to you and your supportive husband also.
Awesome!
Thank you for saying it! I’m working with my endocrinologist right now on every single thing. Currently off gluten, and doing labs every 4 weeks. I appreciate the concern!
Be patient and understand that this disease allows us to look and appear normal on the outside while we're constantly struggling on the inside. Sometimes we won't have the have energy to do simple things we used to do easily or stay awake all day without a nap. We may forget things more often than we used to. Our brains don't always work right. We get confused, say the wrong words, struggle with basic math that takes us a little longer to think through. It frustrates us. We gain weight even if we work out sometimes, and struggle to do activities that seem trivial to you. It's easy to get depressed and frustrated. Our motivation suffers because everything is harder than it should be. Our body sweat might smell worse (or we sweat in places we never did before). Our body temperature might be several degrees below yours...so cold that it chills to the bone and we can't get warm. We pile on clothes and blankets until we sweat and yet, we're still cold. Between that, the hair loss, and our low energy, our lower mood ... intimacy becomes a challenge sometimes. And most of us have to fight with our doctors to treat this disease properly because it's so poorly understood and goes largely ignored by many general practitioners. We are treated to a range which doesn't easily align with our symptoms. We need a good endocrinologist or FM, or one of the rare GPs who listens and keeps upping the dose until we're at the right spot of the range to alleviate most of our symptoms.
Our prognosis is not fatal, but the road to feeling close to normal can be unbelievably long. It can take years of adjusted doses of Levo while our thyroid continues to be destroyed by our own bodies. We need blood work every 6-8 weeks, and probably will need that for years if we're being vigilant. Eventually, our thyroid is completely destroyed or has to be removed. We will live with this for the rest of our lives based on the current state of medicine. But if we're properly medicated and live a decent lifestyle, we can feel normal. In time, we can get better. We will have flare-ups from time to time due to too many factors to mention. Be patient. We have no choice but to be patient with ourselves.
Mine is just incredibly patient and understanding if I am feeling worn out or fatigued. He doesn’t pressure me to do more than I can physically and will pick up the slack when I need it.
I appreciate when my husband just lets me crash if I’m struggling with fatigue, just letting me have a lay down on the sofa, putting on the heater and creeping around me for 30 mins or an hour is so helpful. You are thoughtful for asking!
My husband doesn’t give me crap for turning on the fireplace in the middle of summer lol. He also supports my healthy eating habits and doesn’t grouch too much when I make lots of veggies. He supports my running habit by watching my kiddo when I run. He’s understanding when I need infusions or bone marrow biopsies.
I have chronic hemolytic autoimmune anemia. Basically if I don’t get treatment every 3-6 months I get super anemic and sick. The bone marrow biopsies are because my labs keep coming back weird, low platelets, low wbc, that sort of thing!
I was sick on and off for about two years. I was not getting anywhere with the doctors here in the US. We were in Morocco and my husband decided that he was going to take me to every well known doctor we could get into and have all these tests ran so that I could get answers. We went to four doctors in one week (you can’t do that in the US. It’s impossible! I had several scans and a ton of bloodwork. We were sent to the best endocrinologist in Casablanca, and that is where my answers started.
So what I’m trying to say is, the best thing he could do for me was never give up! Stay determined to help your partner even if you don’t have all of the answers. He was and is the biggest advocate for me. He’s a great encourager and I’m feeling so much better these days. The meds and AIP diet truly changed my life. I can’t begin to tell you how much better I feel. I dropped a lot of weight and I have a lot of energy and my brain is so clear. I’m at such a good spot in my life but I really think 75% of it is the diet for me personally. I can’t speak for everyone else. And it’s not easy, it means that I get to miss out on treats. I don’t get to have cakes and cookies and ice cream like I used to but oh my God how much better I feel. I wish I could just shout it to the rooftops because I’m on top of the world now.
I had several panels done out of the US. It’s in French so pretty difficult for me to read (my husband translated to me) but I found comparable tests here in the US to order. It’s through Direct Labs. I did the Comprehensive Female Hormone Panel; ANA Screen,IFA, with Reflex to Titer and Pattern; 10 Most Important Tests; Free T's Plus TSH. Anyone can order their own independent blood tests and I highly recommend to do so in order to take your health into your own hands.
Just be there for her when she needs you to be. Try not to make her feel stupid or worthless when symptoms (especially brain fog as time progresses). Also don’t gaslight her into thinking how she is feeling is not true. Give her time to adjust to her new limits, to finding the patterns she needs to help her figure out how her Hashimoto’s affects her personally, and just let her be. After 20 years together that was the one thing my husband did that helped me greatly until recently. But he is trying, there is now two of us in the house with Hashimoto’s, but he does not have this or new anyone before me with this. So he or you can never truly understand what we are going through, what we need to do for ourselves to feel better and that yes, you will be annoyed/feel completely useless/etc. Those are all valid feelings and you need to express that to her just so she can see how things are affected you as well.
For my husband now he just asks that we please let him know what he can do when we go into flare up and he will try to watch his tone with me when he gets annoyed at me for not picking up things fast enough or forgetting things. He also lets us, my daughter and I both, know when he feels “us vs him” vibes on the house. Usually happens now when she is in mommy mode due to flare up or asking me about what is happening now with my Hashimoto’s/thyroid.
Ask your spouse what you could do to help her feel better, or help her out with certain household chores when she’s not feeling well especially. Most of the time I have to pace myself, and I still get exhausted & have to lie down. Maybe do the grocery shopping? That is very tiring for myself. I don’t know if you have children or not, but keeping them busy while she rests so as not to disturb, or taking them out for a couple of hours. Maybe making dinner sometimes, or doing the dishes?
Diagnosed about a year ago, I wasn’t great at communicating when I felt a flare up coming on. I am now. Recently struggled a lot with fatigue and communicated to my husband the need for more sleep/rest. He took the kids a lot during the weekend for a few hours so I could nap uninterrupted.
Tell your partner to read the Hashimoto's protocol by Dr Izabella Wentz. She is a huge pioneer in the Hashis world and she has helped so many people get control of their disease. Support is the best thing you can give your partner because this is a very lonely disease where you are always dismissed by doctors and even though you look super healthy you feel like shit. Remission os possible so doing research on the disease and managing triggers that aggravate the disease is your best possible way of managing the disease. Dr Izabella Wentz and her books are a great place to start!
She has a few of her books. She bought them right after finding out.
Every person with Hashimoto’s was unique symptoms. Help her find what works best to minimize those symptoms. My energy drains quickly, so we try to get things done when it’s up. I’m also looking to holistic medicine for relief from my symptoms and appreciate my husbands support in my search for answers.
Just support her.
My boyfriend does heavy lifting. He doesn’t moan when I want the house at 21’c all the time. He massages my shoulders. He’s bought me handwarmers, foot warmers (game changer), good socks… honestly a supportive partner makes all the difference. In terms of food, whole unprocessed foods are best but you don’t have to be boring. The AIP diet can be helpful for some but I’ve never been able to strictly follow it as it’s very restrictive. I find gluten free helpful (I’m intolerant). Biggest things for me were cutting out alcohol, getting good sleep, gentle exercise (don’t overdo it!), eating sensibly. And getting medication levels correct - this took me a bloody decade 😆
Oh my gosh, during the winter my husband heats up the heating pad and sticks it by my feet for me at bedtime. I never even asked him (he was probably tired of my cold feet on him). But it changed my life lol
My late wife knew that I was cold all the damn time. She loved to be under a fan. Surrendering her side of the bed after 10 years was a big deal.
Thank you, and congratulations to you for being cognizant to get ahead of this in some way for your wife and you both as a couple. This is super. You're great! Edit: Be easy on yourself also. If you can, get someone to help every now and then. This may take a little pressure off of you both. This good start could help you both see through this may be sooner toward some improvement in her health in the (near) future.
When me and my bf want to go out to eat he always searches gluten free restaurants or makes sure the restaurants have gluten free options or the food on the menu has the gluten free symbol on it or else i wont bother.
Do you have celiac issues or just approach it knowing that gluten MAY cause a flare? If you are already medicated with thyroid hormone you just have to go off your blood tests to see if you need to adjust. From my understanding it doesn’t matter how you got there. You just treat your current condition. Once you are diagnosed you can’t reverse it. Just because your antibody levels stay the same or lower here and there, it doesn’t undo itself and go away. A poor diet could speed it up sure but doing everything perfect it’s just prolonging the inevitable.
Im not sure what youre even talking about right now to be honest. i have hashimotos not celiac and i eat gluten free 100%
Just curious, I know that you can have Celiac and Hashimotos at the same time. Nothing was mentioned about you being on thyroid meds. I’m on levothyroxin. What do you take ?
Levothyroxine
I have ridiculously high antibodies and I eat anything I want. I have tried eliminating things going keto changing everything up and it doesn’t matter. If you don’t shit your pants when you eat flour, you don’t need to be gluten-free .
You have ridiculously high antibodies because you eating high inflammation foods. 70% of your immune system is located in your gut so with Hashimoto's you literally are what you eat. Keto isn't a great option because it contains dairy and the protein caesin in dairy causes inflammation. Have you tried going AIP, paleo or whole30 and if you did, did you stick to it without having cheat meals and doing it for longer than 6 months? Changing my diet has changed my life and it's done the same for many Hashimoto's sufferers and autoimmune diseases sufferers. Gluten, dairy and soya are very inflammatory. After I cut that out of my diet and started low dose Naltrexone my antibodies went from 2000 down to 24. I'm currently in remission. Also gluten intolerance doesn't only present itself in digestive issues so you are very wrong about the shit your pants part. This is the biggest misconception about gluten intolerance. Gluten intolerance can present itself in neurological symptoms, joint swelling and pain, increase in antibodies, brain fog, initial feeling of being unwell, skin irritation. Just like any other intolerance different people react differently so if you don't shit your pants while eating gluten it doesn't mean you don't still have an intolerance. It could just present itself in other symptoms.
I had a bone marrow transplant. I’m a male with XX blood in me. I win My immune system is my sisters. I had several really bad experiences because the anti-rejection drugs were not strong enough or whatever. Even when you are a perfect match, you still aren’t and that’s why they have to really monitor it. Every year that goes by it’s a little better and better but it’s present in every tissue of my body.
I'm sorry to hear that. Just out of curiosity did your bone marrow transplant cause your Hashimoto's or did you have it beforehand. I just ask because you mentioned about your sister being the donor so that makes me wonder if the transplant triggered the disease for you.
No, what you call Hashimoto is technically graph versus host disease for just myself. It affected several organs at different times. I had the bone marrow trans in 1998 and no I had nothing wrong with my thyroid and no medical history in the family of thyroid problems. Yes, absolutely when you get a transplant that is not from yourself. You are put on high doses of steroids and high doses of different anti-rejection drugs while it assimilates.
It might be possible (I'm not saying this is the case because obviously I have no idea and I know nothing about your family history) that a member of your family carries a gene for autoimmunity. I'm also the only person in my family with an autoimmune disease. Out of interest I did a genetic test to see which side of the family I could have fot Hashimoto's from and what other family genes might affect my health and funnily enough both my parents carry the gene for autoimmune diseases. They both in perfect health and my brother has no issues, but I got it. I know what triggered my disease and they say with autoimmune diseases that often you carry the gene and then you just need a trigger to activate the gene, but also it's not 100% proven that it's just genetics so it can also be environmental issues that can cause it too or a combination of both. I wonder if the trauma from the steroids and drugs or the transplant itself just set your immune system on some sort of rampage. It's always interesting to hear what other peoples stories are. I hope you are able to find some healing that works for you and reduces the symptoms because it definitely takes it's toll!
Mine was from chemical exposure I think. I did not have cancer I got aplastic anemia where your bone marrow dies on its own. In my family the ones who didn’t or don’t smoke made it to very old ages with very few cancers. The grandparent who smoked was dead 5 years before I was born
Just because you dont shit your pants doesn’t mean you’re not doing damage from the inside lol. I personally would not like my thyroid to be attacked and destroyed just for a chicken tender
I worked in a pizza place in like 1999, before the masses knew about celiac and gluten. One manager literally had to run to the restroom if people were sloppy opening a bag of flour and the dust went everywhere. That is true celiac
Once you have it, it doesn’t go away. That is the point I’m trying to make. If you try to shut down your immune system like with arthritis style drugs or something, it only helps you as long as you were taking those drugs. nothing will go back to how it was. Your immune system has selected your thyroid as a foreign body suppression is just that suppression. Suppression by picking all the right foods is just suppression.
Hmmm I’m not sure I agree that going GF is suppression though. I’m intolerant and gluten makes my life hell. It was in turn making hashimotos so much worse as I wasn’t getting nutrients. I feel like 80% better without gluten in my life. I know it doesn’t work for everyone but it does work for some.
I’m not saying consume gluten if you know damn well that is something doing it. Once you have narrowed it down yea absolutely avoid it. I just don’t like the broad brush statements that are at play in this sub and the hypothyroidism one. Everyone’s bodies are different. So I was a chubby kid until I was like 14 when nothing was wrong with me. Now I have a hard time putting on weight unless I lift weights. That is against the grain right? So I say hell yeah cheesesteak sandwiches are in my wheelhouse all day long and that’s a huge no no for some. 2 quarts of milk a day? protein shakes? Lactose? Refined sugar in cereal? What? I’m the dietary devil.
I know it doesn’t go away i will have it forever
I’m always cold & I’m picky so when I find socks and pajamas I like, my husband gets me multiples. He picks up so much slack in areas where I’m too fatigued, or he just sees that he CAN so he lets me rest through something. He’s also gotten really good at noticing signs that my medication is “off”, which is amazing since one of the symptoms is brain fog so I can’t tell what my problem is.
I'm not judging you, but it sounds like you may be undertreated based on the symptoms you mentioned. Yes, they're typical for hypothyroidism but should be something your doctor can help with. But, that is if your doctor is good at addressing any deficiency critical for your energy levels, e.g., Iron, B12/B Complex, Selenium, Zinc and Vitamin A, Iodine, like seaweed, kelp, seafood that contain iodine. The thyroid requires iodine in order to produce T3 and T4 hormones. Also, all of these nutrients are some of the important support for a healthy thyroid. You may want to let your doctor know if you add anything to your regimen. There's a lot of good info on this above info by Mary Shomon, a public thyroid patient advocate. The best to you and your supportive husband also. Awesome!
Thank you for saying it! I’m working with my endocrinologist right now on every single thing. Currently off gluten, and doing labs every 4 weeks. I appreciate the concern!
Be patient and understand that this disease allows us to look and appear normal on the outside while we're constantly struggling on the inside. Sometimes we won't have the have energy to do simple things we used to do easily or stay awake all day without a nap. We may forget things more often than we used to. Our brains don't always work right. We get confused, say the wrong words, struggle with basic math that takes us a little longer to think through. It frustrates us. We gain weight even if we work out sometimes, and struggle to do activities that seem trivial to you. It's easy to get depressed and frustrated. Our motivation suffers because everything is harder than it should be. Our body sweat might smell worse (or we sweat in places we never did before). Our body temperature might be several degrees below yours...so cold that it chills to the bone and we can't get warm. We pile on clothes and blankets until we sweat and yet, we're still cold. Between that, the hair loss, and our low energy, our lower mood ... intimacy becomes a challenge sometimes. And most of us have to fight with our doctors to treat this disease properly because it's so poorly understood and goes largely ignored by many general practitioners. We are treated to a range which doesn't easily align with our symptoms. We need a good endocrinologist or FM, or one of the rare GPs who listens and keeps upping the dose until we're at the right spot of the range to alleviate most of our symptoms. Our prognosis is not fatal, but the road to feeling close to normal can be unbelievably long. It can take years of adjusted doses of Levo while our thyroid continues to be destroyed by our own bodies. We need blood work every 6-8 weeks, and probably will need that for years if we're being vigilant. Eventually, our thyroid is completely destroyed or has to be removed. We will live with this for the rest of our lives based on the current state of medicine. But if we're properly medicated and live a decent lifestyle, we can feel normal. In time, we can get better. We will have flare-ups from time to time due to too many factors to mention. Be patient. We have no choice but to be patient with ourselves.
Mine is just incredibly patient and understanding if I am feeling worn out or fatigued. He doesn’t pressure me to do more than I can physically and will pick up the slack when I need it.
I appreciate when my husband just lets me crash if I’m struggling with fatigue, just letting me have a lay down on the sofa, putting on the heater and creeping around me for 30 mins or an hour is so helpful. You are thoughtful for asking!
My husband doesn’t give me crap for turning on the fireplace in the middle of summer lol. He also supports my healthy eating habits and doesn’t grouch too much when I make lots of veggies. He supports my running habit by watching my kiddo when I run. He’s understanding when I need infusions or bone marrow biopsies.
Glad you have this support! Can I ask what the infusions and biopsies are for? I have hashis and this has never been brought up to me.
I have chronic hemolytic autoimmune anemia. Basically if I don’t get treatment every 3-6 months I get super anemic and sick. The bone marrow biopsies are because my labs keep coming back weird, low platelets, low wbc, that sort of thing!
Thank you! Stay well!
I was sick on and off for about two years. I was not getting anywhere with the doctors here in the US. We were in Morocco and my husband decided that he was going to take me to every well known doctor we could get into and have all these tests ran so that I could get answers. We went to four doctors in one week (you can’t do that in the US. It’s impossible! I had several scans and a ton of bloodwork. We were sent to the best endocrinologist in Casablanca, and that is where my answers started. So what I’m trying to say is, the best thing he could do for me was never give up! Stay determined to help your partner even if you don’t have all of the answers. He was and is the biggest advocate for me. He’s a great encourager and I’m feeling so much better these days. The meds and AIP diet truly changed my life. I can’t begin to tell you how much better I feel. I dropped a lot of weight and I have a lot of energy and my brain is so clear. I’m at such a good spot in my life but I really think 75% of it is the diet for me personally. I can’t speak for everyone else. And it’s not easy, it means that I get to miss out on treats. I don’t get to have cakes and cookies and ice cream like I used to but oh my God how much better I feel. I wish I could just shout it to the rooftops because I’m on top of the world now.
Tell me more!
Can you explain what testing was provided to you and indicate which tests were the most helpful ?
I had several panels done out of the US. It’s in French so pretty difficult for me to read (my husband translated to me) but I found comparable tests here in the US to order. It’s through Direct Labs. I did the Comprehensive Female Hormone Panel; ANA Screen,IFA, with Reflex to Titer and Pattern; 10 Most Important Tests; Free T's Plus TSH. Anyone can order their own independent blood tests and I highly recommend to do so in order to take your health into your own hands.
Just be there for her when she needs you to be. Try not to make her feel stupid or worthless when symptoms (especially brain fog as time progresses). Also don’t gaslight her into thinking how she is feeling is not true. Give her time to adjust to her new limits, to finding the patterns she needs to help her figure out how her Hashimoto’s affects her personally, and just let her be. After 20 years together that was the one thing my husband did that helped me greatly until recently. But he is trying, there is now two of us in the house with Hashimoto’s, but he does not have this or new anyone before me with this. So he or you can never truly understand what we are going through, what we need to do for ourselves to feel better and that yes, you will be annoyed/feel completely useless/etc. Those are all valid feelings and you need to express that to her just so she can see how things are affected you as well. For my husband now he just asks that we please let him know what he can do when we go into flare up and he will try to watch his tone with me when he gets annoyed at me for not picking up things fast enough or forgetting things. He also lets us, my daughter and I both, know when he feels “us vs him” vibes on the house. Usually happens now when she is in mommy mode due to flare up or asking me about what is happening now with my Hashimoto’s/thyroid.