What Every Mom Should Know About Being Abnormally Exhausted

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Dear fellow mom, are you exhausted?

I don’t mean feeling tired after a night of sleeplessness when your kids are sick or after a hectic vacation.

I’m talking about exhaustion that never seems to fully go away. You just never seem to have energy. Or if you do, it’s fleeting. You may be depressed or anxious too.

Dear friend, what if I were to tell you that you may not be “just tired.” And that it’s not normal.

You should be able to live life to the fullest, not just barely getting through each day!

What if I were to tell you that you may have an actual medical reason for your exhaustion? Not a scary, life-changing diagnosis, but something that can be fully treated. And where you can come out on the other side full of energy and ready to live your life again. Doesn’t that sound good?

That’s exactly what I want to share with you today. Because, dear Mom, your exhaustion may not be normal. And here’s what every mom should know:

I’m going to share my story with you, because this is exactly what I’ve been going through.

My Story Of Battling Mom Exhaustion:

2014 was a rough year for me. I was really sick for most of the year. So sick that blogging has taken a back seat. Even taking care of my family has fallen to the side.

“Fatigue, sensitivity to cold, dry skin, weight gain, inability to lose weight, muscle weakness, joint pain, thinning hair, depression, impaired memory. Those are just a few symptoms.”

I haven’t been sick with something obvious. Most people probably think I’m just fine when they see me. A little tired maybe with dark circles under my eyes, but they wouldn’t guess that I’ve been suffering from debilitating exhaustion. What some might call chronic fatigue.

Back in March, thanks to my fantastic doctor, I finally learned that my thyroid is not functioning well. I have hypothyroidism. 

If you’re like me (before I was diagnosed), you’ve probably heard of “thyroid issues” but have no idea what it means.

Let me put it like this. It’s hard to understand just how important and vital to good health the thyroid is until it’s not working properly.

The result? Fatigue, sensitivity to cold, dry skin, weight gain, inability to lose weight, muscle weakness, joint pain, thinning hair, depression, impaired memory. Those are just a few symptoms.

I’ve dealt with all of the above, especially no energy and complete exhaustion day in and out, even with 10 hours of sleep at night.

Hypothyroidism Has No Physical Appearance

I think the worst part of thyroid issues is that you look perfectly fine. There’s no broken leg where you have an obvious reason to rest. If you talk to your doctor, most of them will run a standard TSH blood test to check for thyroid function and when it comes back normal (because it almost always does as TSH is not an accurate indicator of thyroid health), you feel like it’s all in your head.

My Hypothyroidism was Missed-Diagnosed

{Yes I meant to spell it like that. Because I wasn’t diagnosed with anything for years.}

I firmly believe I’ve suffered from hypothyroidism for the past 8 years. And it became a lot worse the past year.

The fatigue set in after I’d had Emily. She was a good happy baby but I remember having a hard time getting back on my feet after she was born. For the first few months, I chalked it up to breastfeeding and interrupted sleep. But when Emily started sleeping through the night and I switched to formula after a few months (mostly because I was so very tired), I was still exhausted. My OBGYN ran the TSH blood test and when it came back fine, she told me it was normal to feel tired since I had two little kids.

It wasn’t normal though. I know that now. But who was I to question my doctor? I went on living my life and I did slowly begin to feel like myself again, after a solid year.

Then I got pregnant with Joshua and the fatigue came back. You know that “burst of energy” you’re supposed to get in the second trimester? I never experienced that. My exhaustion continued throughout my entire pregnancy. And with each baby, it was worse.

After I had Joshua, my energy was at an all time low. But he was extremely colicky and that was a very good reason to be tired, right?

I got pregnant with Luke before Joshua was even a year old. I never regained my energy between those two. I stumbled along that pregnancy and as hard as it was, I was almost relieved when I was put on bedrest with Luke. Again, my doctor reassured me that it was normal to be tired. I had three young kids and was pregnant. Of course I was tired! I totally bought it.

Then Luke was born. I never regained my energy. I felt terrible. My doctor said it was because I now had 4 little kids and had had 4 c-sections.

When Luke was 18 months old and I continued to have a hard time, I went through with a hysterectomy, thinking my fatigue was due to blood loss from my extremely heavy periods each month. While that definitely was a factor, I was soon to learn that was only a small part of it.

For the first year after having my hysterectomy, I felt better (it was a huge relief to not be tied down with horrendous aunt flo each month) but I was still so so so tired. But I figured that was my body recovering from the surgery.

But it wasn’t until a year ago (a full year after my surgery), when I should have been completely and fully recovered, that I knew something else was going on.

I Finally Got Answers About My Hypothyroidism

That’s when I pushed for more answers. Finally I went to my family doctor and she ordered new labwork (free T3, free T4, and reverse T3). Then I finally learned the truth – my thyroid was NOT working well.

I almost cried when I was diagnosed. It was a relief. My exhaustion wasn’t in my head. I wasn’t a lazy incompetent mom. Nor was I dying of some unknown ailment. I finally had an answer and best of all, we could treat it.

In addition to hypothyroidism, I learned that my adrenals were (are) fatigued and likewise not working well, which only compounded the situation. The body is a finely tuned machine and if something is not working properly, it can throw off other “systems.” That’s exactly what happens with thyroid and adrenal issues.

The crazy thing? Over the past 8 years, I’ve had at least 4 or 5 TSH thyroid blood tests and they all came back normal. The most recent TSH test was just over a year ago when, without a doubt, my thyroid wasn’t working well.

It can be hard to pinpoint exactly what causes a misbehaving thyroid, but it can range from environmental and/or genetic factors to acute stress, trauma, even pregnancy. Often times, it’s a combination of things (which is likely my case). Here’s a link to more info on the causes of hypothyroidism.

Treatment

Since my “diagnosis” last March, my doctor put me on a low dose of non desiccated thyroid medication (a natural combination of T3 and T4, which is ideal for thyroid treatment. Note: Many doctors prescribe T4 which is not the same and rarely works as well.). That helped for about a month or so. But then I started feeling poorly again. We raised the dosage a little bit and again I felt slightly better, but I always came back down with a bang.

It was about that time – May – that we seriously began preparing to move. As anyone who has bought a house knows, it’s a crazy stressful time. We had to do a bunch of renovations on our old house to get it ready to sell and I know that period of time taxed my adrenals and thyroid to the max. I’m still not quite sure how I made it through all that.

By the time we had moved and settled into our new house at the beginning of August, I felt like a tire completely deflating. I had nothing left. The adrenaline kept me going through the early summer and gave me a little left to unpack, but I seriously crashed after that.

In September, my doctor had me start a new medication (Cytomel – T3 only), but again I only felt better for a short period before slumping again. By November, I was depressed and could barely do anything. The holidays were approaching and I had no Christmas spirit in me. Christmas is my favorite time of year, so that was a real sign of how poorly I was doing.

I think I reached my do-or-die moment around Thanksgiving. I decided to take things into my own hands and I researched the crap out of hypothyroidism. I found an awesome website – stopthethyroidmadness.com – which is run by folks who have successfully treated thyroid issues. And I learned a ton.

I’m fortunate because my family doctor really listens to her patients and is willing to try new things. When I asked her about increasing my thyroid meds dosage again and trying a couple news things, she was completely on board. Thanks to her and some incredible people I’ve found in some online thyroid support groups, I was able to feel better just in time to have a good Christmas.

Right now, I’m worn out and have very little energy again, because I kinda overdid it the past couple weeks. {Healing from thyroid and adrenal issues is a balancing act – you really have to take care of yourself.} But that’s okay, I’m still on the mend and with more tweaks to my medication and continuing to take care of myself, I’m getting back on track to feeling like me again.

You’re Not Just Exhausted

I wanted to share all of this with you for two reasons: 1) So you know’ll why I haven’t been keeping up with Musings lately. And 2) because you may be dealing with similar symptoms too. Are you exhausted all the time? Where you just feel something isn’t right? Don’t settle for years like I did. It may not just be mom exhaustion. It may be a thyroid issue. 

That’s right, it may not be in your head! You may legitimately have a medical problem that can be fixed.

For years, I felt guilty and wondered why I didn’t have the energy or will power to exercise or run around or do all the supermom things I wanted to. And when I learned it wasn’t my fault, that felt so good! I felt vindicated!

If this all sounds familiar, you need to read more. Here’s some links you’ll find very helpful in your next steps. Keep your chin up, there is hope!!!

Links with helpful information:

Start here: Things Thyroid Patients Have Learned

Symptoms: Issues Relating to Hypothyroidism

How to Find a Good Doctor

Recommended Labwork 

Why the TSH Test is Useless

Recovering with T3 – this guy’s website and his Facebook group has been incredibly helpful to me. I credit them with saving our Christmas!

Email if you’d like to connect with me – erika (at) livingwellmom (dot) com