PCOS and Hyperthyroidism are common conditions that many women have. It’s dealing with it that can be challenging. In this post I am going to share with you the truth about having PCOS with hyperthyroidism. I want to show you how I have learnt cope and with any luck be able to help others. If you going through this, please be reassured that there is support out there nowadays.

PCOS

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder women. Symptoms can include having infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods and excess male hormone levels (androgen) which can result is excess hair.

The ovaries can develop numerous small collections of fluid (follicles) and fail to regularly release eggs. Signs and symptoms of PCOS often develop around the time of the first menstrual period during puberty. Sometimes PCOS can also develop later where symptoms can lead to substantial weight gain.

The Mayo Clinic

There is a high percentage of women who suffer with PCOS, many of them don’t even realise they have this. One of the main reasons it is discovered is when women want to try for a family. This is how I discovered I had it myself. It is one of those conditions that in the past hasn’t been publicised as well because it was almost undiscovered. When the doctors told me I had it, I had no idea what it was.

Hyperthryoidism

An underactive thyroid, also known as hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis, is where the thyroid gland produces too much of the thyroid hormones. The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, just in front of the windpipe (trachea).

National Health Service

It wasn’t so much publicised years ago. However I think I worked out that something was happening when I was a teenager. My GP picked up on it when I was trying to conceive years later and had my fertility looked into. I have been taking medication for this for many years, unfortunately I am borderline. Which means I cannot be prescribed anymore medication to help with my thyroid. If my dose is too high then there is a chance I could get Graves Disease which is dangerous.

Loosing weight

So many conversations over the years with people asking if I do eat the wrong things. Or some ask if I’ve every tried exercising and it does get boring after a while. I tend to smile through it and shrug, responding by saying that yes I’ve tried that. Some have even suggested what diet I should try, or latest craze that is supposedly guaranteed to work. I probably have already tried it, but again I just smile grit my teeth thanking them for the suggestion. Frustrating is an understatement.

The best one was when someone I know asked me what I ate. Because she’d seen me out running and couldn’t understand why I was overweight. I wanted to explain, but at that point I couldn’t be bothered. Instead I told her that I liked my wine and chocolate too much.

I literally cannot loose weight and it doesn’t matter what I do or what anyone says it is near impossible. Getting fed up of trying to loose weight years ago. I can loose weight when I’m taking a certain level of medication. Unfortunately this affects my health in other ways so I decided that my health is more important than my weight. It sounds almost contradictory. If you’ve been through this or know anyone that has both these conditions you may already know this.

Obsession

At one point I became unhealthily obsessed with my weight. I was getting on the scales every day and it was bad for my mental health. My life had become making sure I didn’t gain weight. It took a long time for my husband to understand, he couldn’t understand because I ate healthily and did exercise. Years later and I am still trying to understand my body and have changed my eating lifestyle quite a bit. So now when I diet it’s to help me maintain it. If I don’t make a record of any of meals or regularly weigh myself I start to gain weight.

I eat the things I enjoy but I don’t go mad with them. The following day I would eat fruit, vegetables and fish. I will also do some hardcore cardio to help cancel it out and the majority of the time it works.

I still feel like people are judging me because of my size.

Trying not to make a huge issue (oh the irony!)

However, today it upset me on another level.

I was upstairs getting in the shower this morning when my son walked in. I knew this day would come but a little sooner than I anticipated.
“Mummy why are you fat.”
“It just the way it is.”

There it was. I had hoped that maybe he would be a bit older when he said it so I could explain in a more factual way about my condition but he wouldn’t understand.

“Because that’s the way I’m built, you and daddy are tall and slim and mummy is short and fat.” It will be more difficult when he goes to school because children don’t understand. I think at that point I’ll say “because I love my food” to him and his friends when they ask.

Maybe one day I will just show him and others this blog post when they ask me why I am overweight, then I won’t have to keep repeating myself!

At the end of the day

I am still the same person though no matter what size I am and quite sensitive about my weight. Joking about it because that is how I cope. I just hope that one day William does understand this. I theory I should be past caring what others think of me but it’s not that easy.