Thyroids, migraines, and the reason for me missing (again!)

It's quite ironic that the last post that I posted was about my illness was when my illnesses struck and whipped me out completely. Then followed by getting whiped out completely I get another possible illness thrown on to the table as I was trying to get my migraines all underway, hence for my long-missing for what feels like forever.

I'll explain why I was gone and what's going on in my life in case I somehow disappear again.

The Migraine Related Journey

My migraines the past month have been unbearable, as soon as one leaves I start to feel that numbness, tingling and the loss on the whole half side of my body again. The sparkly areas are almost like a common phenomenon in my life. I couldn't even imagine my life without feeling like I'm a glittery snow globe being spun around to the point I might lose my breakfast. And I have gotten to the point that the being spun around in the snow globe with my head bouncing around has made me lose my lunch, breakfast and everything else. I am so happy that the journey has a new contender and a new doctor. 

Let's introduce the new contender!

The new doctor I'm seeing, so far has been amazing, he didn't just stop at Maxalt, which wasn't working for me at all, and actually researched to see if there were any other triptans. That would work and that my insurance would cover. That's dedication! That's why he has me started on Naratriptain, to see if it does anything to help me. In the meantime, he has referred me to a new neurologist to get an opinion on what to do, because of issues I had with my old neurologist, and to get an opinion on what to do because of the numbness when it all happens.

An old possible diagnosis comes back to light

My heart rate has always been a bit fast, and nobody seems to have an answer or even know what to do. My doctor, this amazing doctor has again been a lifesaver and kind of the reason why I fell MIA. Just recently my doctor brought up the possibility that it could be my thyroid, because their wase a strong possibility in the past that it could have been Grave's Disease and when I switched from an amazing doctor (she left the practice) to a doctor who I wasn't too happy about, they abandoned everything the old doctor had been told.

So now that the doctor has Grave's disease and my thyroid back on the radar he's looking at things in and to too long ago, I had to get my thyroid checked. I know from hospital visits in the past mine's usually hyper and I have a slight case of goiter (enlarged thyroid a lot).

When I got my test results back this week I wasn't surprised that I have hyperthyroidism. It was one of those, "I kind of figured that type of moments." I just couldn't figure out the right way to verbalize how I felt.

What I feel like with hyperthyroidism

Please note that what I'm going to write here is how I feel, and is not meant to take place of a medical diagnosis or anything of the sort.

We all know about humans and their fight or flight response. That little part of our brain telling us that we're in trouble. Just imagine that your body is stuck in fight or flight mode and can't be turned off. That's exactly how I'm feeling almost on a daily basis. I have a non-stop panic attack on top of already having anxiety a lot like being an animal in a cage, with no way to escape. These panic attacks can make someone feel a bit of rage and when I panic and feel panicky I lose my appetite and hardly eat at all causing my weight to drop drastically.

Because I'm so panicky, I can't sleep too well. I toss and turn and then eventually pass out from exhaustion and then wake up and do the same thing again. Adding that to having a migraine and chronic pain already it's like my head is spinning like a top and there's no way for it to stop. 

Last weeks ordeal

It wasn't until last weeks fun turn of events with my health when I realized it's crazy. My thyroid was and still is pretty swollen, which that too makes it really hard to eat when it feels like you're eating food through a straw. But I was the lucky winner of the cold that was going around here. Having a cold, coughing up phlegm, running a low-grade fever, and having a swollen thyroid made me feel miserable, and 5 days later (now), I'm still feeling a little run down. 

What the future holds

If this does turn out to be Grave's disease, which is an auto-immune disorder. There's going to be a whole new can of worms. I'm going to have to go an endocrinologist to talk about what options I do have. The options I do have are a bit scary to say the least. 

Option 1: A pill to try to regulate my thyroid
Option 2: Radiation
Option 3: Removal of my thyroid

Since I still have no clue what's going on I do have time to worry about what they're going to do to my thyroid or what they can do. I get my blood retested in two months to see what step my doctor wants to take. I'm trying to remain hopeful that things will eventually go the way that they're supposed to and I'll be feeling better because not knowing what's going to happen next is a bit scary.

So why exactly was I MIA?

I know I really don't need to owe it to anyone and even explain why I dropped off the face of the planet for a month, but I do want to explain. It's just how I am as a person, you know. I hate leaving things out in the open and letting people draw their own conclusions.

My reasons for being MIA have mainly been, I really haven't felt too good. Having a panic attack, and a migraine worried me a bit. I didn't even know if I could write a full sentence without forgetting what I just typed. Some days my migraine would be so bad I couldn't even read.

Right now I'm still having these problems but because I have a name and I'm able to verbalize a bit better what's going on I'm going to really attempt to give you guys more content and let you guys know how things are going and what it's like inside of my head but in case I drop off again, you all are awesome.

Be prepared for tomorrow's blog post along with my tags because you'll actually hear some real accounts of what it was like taking care of me from Dr. Freya herself. 

🌜💜I love every one of you folks that take the time to read my blog. 💜🌛

Some of my other health-related posts:

🌚 My other time I was MIA with a migraine

🌚Questions people are afraid to ask about Migraines

Tag Thursday: Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness...welcome to my life

Today is kind of a special tag, it's a follow up from the post I did the other day talking about tips about feeling better when it comes to chronic pain and chronic illnesses. The chronic pain and the life of someone with a chronic illness were why I started this blog, to begin with. To prove that we're not too much different than everyone else that you can still live life and enjoy things. This chronic pain and illness tag came from YouTube from a girl called Life With Stripes. Check her out if you want to.

1. What are you diagnosed with? 

I've been diagnosed with a couple things, I'm diagnosed with hemiplegic migraines, cluster headaches, optical migraines, occipital migraines, allergies, PCOS, endometriosis, and IBS. There is a strong probability if I actually got diagnosed instead of stopping gluten cold turkey that I have Celiacs as well. 

2. What do you tend to do at night when you can't sleep? 

I like to read or write if I can and the pains not too bad. If the pains too bad to do either. I sit and try to watch YouTube videos. I do whatever I can to do pass the time when the pain stops for awhile. 

3. What's the worst side effect you've had from a medication? 

The worst by far was when I was taking Topamax for my migraines. It went well for the most part, until one day I couldn't even stand up because my back hurt so bad. I went to the hospital to find out that I had kidney stones. One had to be surgically removed. According to the doctor that I had, some people have kindey stones with Topomax. 

4. How has your condition affected your mental health?

I have more panic attacks and feel paranoid in public. Especially when it comes to my cluster headaches and hemiplegic migraines. I'm always worried one's going to come on and ruin my whole day.  Being a parent, let alone an adult with my conditions is near impossible. I'm happy I have people who can help.

5. Describe your social life! 

I really don't have a social life anymore. It's all been ruined from being in pain and the lack of energy to even want to socialize that much anymore. Unless you call talking to people on Facebook social, then I don't have one. 

6. What's the hardest thing to do when you're flaring? 

When it comes to my flares one of the toughest things I've encountered is being able to think and talk in general. It's why I quit my job doing the content mill stuff. When my flares are really bad I try to type, and try to think and according to people especially people who I wrote for in the past, that I can not speak English and my writing is atrocious. My flares come out of nowhere so I can be fine and cohesive for one second then the next I don't have a clue what I'm saying. 

7. Do you have worries for the future?

Tons, a lot of these issues I have are progressive, or so I've been told. I don't even want to think about getting worse. Then I think about all of the other health problems my family faces like Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritus, and diabetes to name a few. I don't want to add any more illnesses to the list that I have already. 

 8. Favorite comfort food?

As of right now, they're the granola bars that Aldi's selling in their little teeny gluten-free section. They smell like one of those Little Debby's brownies and have little chocolate chips in the bar. Especially during the days I'm not hungry and need to take at least something to take my medications bars like these are great. 

 9. Tell a valuable lesson you've learned from being ill. 

Just because some is diagnosed with the same thing you have, it doesn't mean that they understand the hills that you climb. Everyone is different. With that said one treatment plan will not be the same as someone else's treatment plan. It's all learning about your body. 

10. Name 3 things you miss that were taken from you because you got sick. 

1. My ability to think and write: I said it already but I loved to write. As soon as one of my flares hit and I got told that I couldn't write well. It stopped me completely. I'm still trying to get my head back in the game.

2. Being active: I was active before all the pain hit. I love taking long walks, I loved playing basketball, I just loved being outside. Now I can hardly walk a few feet without terrible pain or having something trigger my migraines. 

3. Foods that I used to love: Since realizing gluten has been a danger to me and it's one of the things that made me ill. I had to cut out the foods I loved. I'm still slowly reinventing my diet and it's not the same as it was before. 

They had an extra question about when I started having symptoms and to be honest a lot of these symptoms have been life long. I just want everyone to know. That you're not alone. 

So I'm confused about what happened here.

This post is actually getting me more emotional than I thought I'd be. I never thought a blog post would hurt to write like this one, I'm in tears, and I want answers from readers an fans about what on my page do people find offensive? I've tried to make everyone happy. I tried to understand what I did wrong and I don't answer an answer, anything related to the blog is completely not allowed on Facebook anymore. No sharing my link, no friends sharing about this blog on Facebook, nothing. 

For those readers who are actually tried and true, and don't mind reading my blog posts. I want to know who you are, and I want to know what you'd do in this situation. Because I'm lost, confused, and trying to understand what went on.

Just so you know the blog isn't going anywhere

I'm not deleting my blog, and I'm still going to share my blog. There are other platforms that I can use that are not Facebook. There's Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Flipbook, and a few other places that I'm sure that I could use to make things better. I do have one other option, and that is to migrate my blog to somewhere like Weebly, Word Press, Wix or whatever blogging and site-building site that I could use.

If it happens to be someone who reported any of my Facebook links, please explain to me why I'm legitimately confused about what happened.

 While I know I can't make everyone happy, I do want to figure out what people didn't like, and see if there's a way that I can change it. It's all I ask from people who read my blog and are fans of it.

I've contacted Facebook about the matter already

In case this is a glitch or whatever. Which it doesn't seem to be. I contacted them both through my main page and my blog and explained to them what happened. Hopefully, thing will be fixed and I can go back on my way. If not I'm okay with working around the whole blog post thing, and I won't be directly posting about my blog anywhere on Facebook.

Normally I wouldn't write about what's going on, but I'm confused any help or anyone who's been in these shoes I would like to hear what to do or what route to take. Just be assured, I'm not going anywhere and I'm going to still be blogging.

You body's going through what? How to deal with flares? 7pieces of advice to survive it.

It’s been a week, my allergies, my fibromyalgia, and migraines all decided to flare all at the same time. Leaving me feeling tired, sniffly, and sore. It usually happens during the change of weather and around the time of the womanly visitor. If you’re new to chronic pain and hidden illness world half of what I just said seems like medical jargon (the talking about flairs and stuff), but the other half makes tons of sense.

What is a flare-up?

A flare is a lot like the left dial, in the red, and turned up

Chronic pain and hidden illnesses never really go away. They’re always going to be there causing pain, and taking over your world. But there are times when your illness gets triggered by something, lack of sleep, stress, hormones and whatever it may be. Then your body goes into overdrive. Everything gets turned up couple notches. Take a car radio or a TV, volume for an example, you can have your sound on the lowest level, but something comes by and bumps into your knob or your button and turns everything higher than it should go. Flares are something like that.

What you can do to get to feeling better after a flair.

None of the tips below are actual medical advice and should not be taken as such

1. Rest if you can. I know we all have busy lives, but if you can rest, it gives your body time to recuperate from whatever knocked into your chronic pain button. Even a little bit goes a long way.
2. Learn your triggers. We can’t run away from our triggers, but we can find out what triggers our illness. The best way to find out what may be the trigger is to keep a daily diary about what you ate, how you felt, important facts about your health and what you did that day. Hopefully, you’ll find out what triggers your illness and if you can avoid it.
3. Take you medications as stated by your doctor. If you have medicines to take only during the time of flair or medication to reduce flairs. Take them as directed. If they aren’t helping as they should be brought up with your doctor.
4. Have a support team. Sometimes the best support teams are the ones on Facebook and online that have people who are going through the same kind of ailment you are. Your family and friends as long as they can be positive helpful and supportive are of great help.
5. Find out what helps you find relief. When it comes to my migraines, my go-to relief is Maxalt, Ragalin, and Ibuprofen as far as medicine goes. But what really helps is an ice pack. Some people swear by magnesium oil, others like essential oils to feel better. Whatever works for you, works for you.

   

   My Icey mask

6. Remind yourself that the flare will be over. We won’t know when they’re over. But keeping positive that the flares are temporary and you will get better.
7. When all else fails to call your doctor. Call the doctor who diagnosed you with the illness, and sees if they can offer advice. If they can’t offer you advice maybe they can evaluate you and figure out the next step to feeling better.

These tips are tips that I use whenever I go through a nasty flare-up. I hope they’ll help anyone else who’s had flares or is new to what flares are. We with chronic pain, chronic illnesses, and invisible pain don’t have to be alone there’s power in numbers.

8 scarves for fall that I totally love

My go item for the fall is going to be scarves. It doesn't even need to be Halloween themed it just needs to to be, cute, and light. Most people are going to tell me that scarves are not in these seasons or this year and it was last years trend. But I'm the kind of girl that never really went for trends, I went with what I liked because I like it. There's no time for people who dictate what I like to wear. As it should be with most people. If people are worried about what you're wearing and don't take time to get to know you. They aren't people you really need to surround yourself with. I'm just saying

Enough of this talk and let's see some pretty scarves, shall we? I tried to find scarves that cover both Halloween and some that are just fall-inspired. All both are pretty cool! I wish there was some Thanksgiving-related scarves but I've looked and there are none. W

1. Spider Print Infinity Scarf: Amazon $9.27

Amazon

2.  Infinity scarf with ghosts: Etsy $23.30

Etsy

3.  Autumn Themed Scarf: Catalog Favorites $12.95

Catalog Favorites

4. Autumn Harvest Scarf: Amazon $12.99

Amazon

5.  Luxury Autumn Cat Sarf: Cuttie Kat $19.95

Cuttie Kat

6. Knitting Factory Pumpkin Print Scarf: Amazon $9.99

Amazon

7. Geometric Pattern With Orange Tassels: Esty $22.65 

Esty

8. Scarf Trading Inc Skull Pattern: Amazon $8.99

Amazon

Giveaway: Win $150 Amazon Cash

It's time for one of my favorite type of giveaways again. The kind where there's money involved, and who doesn't like to try to win extra money? Even if it is an Amazon gift card. Come on my loves its $150 Amazon Cash

Welcome to the Amazon Cash Giveaway!

Cold, hard cash is everybody's favorite prize, right? Well, this is pretty close considering Amazon pretty much sells anything you would ever want.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

1 Winner

Prize:

$150 Amazon Gift Card

Hosted & Sponsored by:

 

Rules: Use the Giveaway Tools form to enter daily. Giveaway ends 10/01 and is open worldwide. Entrants must be 18 years old to enter. Winner will be notified via email.

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Good Luck! Enter Below

Entry-Form

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ONE entrant will be selected by the entry form to win a $150 Amazon gift card. Open for entry worldwide, 18 years and older from 08/30/19 thru 10/01/19. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. This giveaway is in no way endorsed, affiliated or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other social media networking site. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification email to claim their prize or a new winner will be selected. Once a winner is drawn and confirmed, the name will be announced on the GiveawayTools form. Home Jobs By Mom will be responsible for sending the winner their prize.

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