Small But Mighty: A Thyroid Life

Today's tool falls under the symptoms of what I usually term 'BLANK' and 'BLUR'. BLANK refers to the horrendous memory accompanying thyroid disease; and BLUR refers to the blurry vision and brain fog which is also prevalent. Both, then, are symptoms which influence the capacity of the brain to function. These can cause concentration issues but, in the days of multi-tasking, we are all - healthy or unhealthy - prone to such irritants.

How do you train your brain to pay attention when you have spent so long being ill? How do you get yourself to focus when your focus is non-existent?

Try downloading an audio-book and listening to it for ten minutes every day, before you are supposed to start your work. Force yourself to pay attention to the words and not drift off. Start typing up some of the words if you are falling into a dreamy state from which you will not be able to recover. Pay attention. These ten minutes will go pretty fast. 


Now get to work. Have you returned to your dreamy, blurry, blank state, or are you paying attention? If you are hypothyroid, chemically of course you have an excuse for returning to that blurry state. However, is it possible that your symptoms can be made less irritating through attention to each one independently while you try to solve the main issue (through correct medication)? It's worth a try. 

52 ways to bust your symptoms. Right here.

First on my list of 52 tools and tips for busting health symptoms is the chart.

Simple as it sounds, if you have digestive problems or you are struggling to get into a routine, a chart may really help. Simply draw out the days of a couple of weeks on paper and add in columns for everything that you need to do: specific exercises each day, perhaps; timed meals; and even ensuring that you shower on the right day may all be perfected using the chart. Give yourself a tick for everything you do correctly. If you are undeserving of that tick, write an explanation. That way, when you look back you will (hopefully) be able to spot what went wrong and continue perfecting your routine.

This is a simple but effective tool. Try it!

Next week, look out for a tool for aiding concentration.

Introducing The Symptom Buster

For the past three years I have written posts about the symptoms of thyroid disease, its lack of awareness, and tips on how to live with the condition. After being scooped up by Everyday Health not long after I started this blog, I have also been writing (more frequently, I might add) from a more personal perspective over there, sharing my experiences, insights, and theories around this disease and health in general. Now I am going one step further. You see, for a long time I have paid attention to health websites which include those with other medical conditions, even those which do not fall into the endocrine (hormone) sphere. On this website I have taken to keywords which sum-up - for me - hypothyroidism, and which are nevertheless some of the most common symptoms: namely Blank, and Blur. Brain Fog, what I term Blur, although Blur also refers to blurry vision, is a term which is all over thyroid forums, personal blogs, support groups, and informational websites. But it is also a term which is all over the support websites for similar conditions, and the support websites for more different conditions. In reality, although the cause of our Blur is different to the cause of others, we are talking about exactly the same thing. Although we are all receiving different treatments, and although for some Blur is long-term and it is not meant to be relieved by medication, and for others Blur is the result of something more serious than thyroid disease which is not caused by cancer (what some term 'chemo fog', for example), while Blur is in full-throttle, for all of us, underneath whatever conditions, we all need a way to stand against it. Those dealing with Blur until their thyroid is under control need a way to deal with it until they get there. And those dealing with Blur long-term need a way to cope which works. In reality, we are all looking for the same symptom-buster. Yes, in part treat the cause, not the symptoms, but unless or until those symptoms go away we are all in the same boat as each other. So when someone on a website we haven't looked at because it does not cover our condition has an answer to our question because they have the same symptom, will we know about it?

I have previously thought that I should focus on symptoms as opposed to the disease itself which, come on, I've overdone and overdone and overdone except to try to raise awareness - there are, after all, answers to many questions spread out across the internet, but repeated and repeated and repeated because there is not one single answer and the medical authorities disagree across the world. The question is, how useful is that to people? And what is the best way to do it?

I don't always put a post up. And there is one popular post on this blog - the informative, 'this is how it is' kind of post, for thyroid newbies, and that tells me I should write more like that...when I can! Having surveyed and spoken a few people I know what may be obvious: practical advice is what people, on the whole, are looking for, followed by emotional advice/release. On Everyday Health you can join me for my personal journey to decent health, which may not always cover thyroid disease so strictly as here. Look out for more news on what the coming few posts over there will be about. I can say that I will be drawing up a theory and testing it, to find out how much control we really do have over our own bodies. Here, I'm aiming to point to a useful tool (online or offline), or the best tip I have, once a week, all year. With 52 weeks in the year, you can expect 52 tips and tools. They may be anything from the best brain-foods and stomach-curing methods, to useful Apps you can use to support your health. But the point is, they are going to focus on symptoms. Thyroid symptoms (which, for the Thyroid Oblivious and Newbies, cover an awful lot), yes, but as most are aware of, thyroid symptoms are far too generic for anyone's liking, and this means that they may be shared by those with other conditions, and - in a mild or singular form - by the healthy. That makes the following 52 symptom-busting tips & tools highly useful (I hope!).

Occasionally I may post a numbered tip or tool on Everyday Health. If so, it will be signposted with something like the following:

Number [...] on the list of 52 symptom-busting tips & tools!

...and there will be a link to.

Look out for the first tip or tool in the coming week and leave your comments below to let me know what you think about this idea.



Louise