A Tale of Hyperthyroidism Told Through My Hair

I've been gone from Hive and most social media interactions for a long ass time. It's been a tough 5 years for me with a lot of huge changes (wanted and unwanted), death, and struggle.

Everything came to a head in 2023. My body just couldn't handle it anymore I guess ...

We have all gone through stuff, and for me it sometimes affects my hair. When I was younger especially, but I seemed to have changed.

I kept the same hair style, long and natural colour for 20 years. No matter the shit life tossed me I didn't take it out on my hair.

Well, I went through some crazy thyroid shit (hyperthyroidism to be exact) in the summer of 2023 and decided to give myself a haircut 😅

Stage 1: A Bob

This was when I was beginning to get sick. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I had been under an intense amount of stress for years, and so used to living that way, adrenaline was the way I got stuff done.

I left it for so long and just got worse and worse until I wasn't even sleeping.

After weeks of little to no sleep I ended up acting so weird that I was hospitalized for 2 weeks.

They ran a bunch of tests and figured out that my thyroid was overproducing hormones like they were going out of style!

I was given medicine that would slow the hormone production and was told I had to chill if I ever hoped to get better.

No work. No excitement of any kind.

After I got out of the hospital I did this 😂

I just took my scissors and cut and cut and cut until I had to stop or I would have been bald 😂 I really liked it but my family didn't.

I think what they didn't like was how different I was acting more than my hairstyle.

Hyperthyroidism medication

The doctors were saying I would have to be on it forever maybe. They also were pretty keen to just straight up cut my thyroid gland out. That would 💯 make me have to take their meds for life. Just different ones. Meds that would give my body the hormone.

I was confused and scared so I kept following their path.

A good friend of mine finally said "get off their shit, you can fix this naturally, you can do it Lynds!".

So I went on a frightening journey of weening off their medication and starting the recommended herbs I researched.

It was frightening because I didn't want to end up back to shaking again, heart racing and never being able to sleep, and maybe ending up back in the hell hole hospital.

5 months later...

I started feeling a bit better after huge diet changes and the natural medicine.

I had quit all sugar, caffeine and stress.

I hate tv normally, but watching Martha Stewart and Gordon Ramsay through those months was my lifeline. I could zone out and not feel the weird things going on in my body.

If I thought about my heart it would start racing, so I learned to tune it out.

I slowly began working at my bakery again.

The whole time between the hospitalization and the above pic I was just selling eggs. Once in a while I would do some baked goods. It felt good to get back in the kitchen full time 😄

8 Months After

As you can see on the shelves behind me I was in full swing again.

The natural herbs and diet/lifestyle changes were working their magic, and my hair was growing along with me 💗

1 year & 2 months later

My son and I are in a photoshoot for our debut Rap album 😎 Haha! Kidding obviously, I felt really good though and my family was no longer worried about me. I could get my hair in a pony tail too! We were back to our old fun selves. All the scary stuff was a thing of the past 🫂 All that remains are the scars.

1 Year & 9 Months After

Damn hair takes a long ass time to grow lol 😆

At this point I knew the hyperthyroidism was in remission. I hadn't taken any herbs for months, and have no symptoms whatsoever.

I also kept up with the no sugar and no caffiene.

2 Years Since I First Got Sick

I decided to get my hair professionally done for my first time in 20 years, and I put blonde highlights in.

It was a decision of joy and turning a happy new leaf.

I'm embracing my feminine side more and more lately, I've missed her I realize 💗

Fast forward to today...I chill and manage stress like a boss.

I never allow myself to get too excited, too sad, or carried away. I found a peaceful middle ground in my emotional state rather than the extreme highs and lows I've lived my whole life.

I don't stay up too late or overwork myself. Sleep is more important than anything, it's precious.

Being unable to sleep when I was sick was torture. The shaking and constant sweating and heart racing, never being full from food because it digested so fast...

I will do anything, change anything, give up anything to never go through that again. I would never put my family through that again either.

I feel confident that I know the early symptoms now and if I ever felt them coming in I have my herbs stocked up here and wouldn't hesitate to start taking them again.

Epilogue

I'm very grateful to be back here blogging with you all 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 🥰 It feels sooooo good!

I've loved reuniting with my old friends.

I've had a lot of laughs and smiles this last week, so thank you for remembering me ❤️ It really means a lot.