Good news. Can't wait to hear all about it.
Long story kinda short: I was having serious issues with taking my thyroid in the morning as instructed; within 2 hours, I was essentially worthless; brain fog to the point of not knowing what words to use in conversation, practically passing out, extreme muscle weakness and slow impulse response, complete inability to mentally focus...just plain miserable. This would last until 2-3 in the afternoon, so essentially the entire workday. My doc said this isn't a normal reaction to thyroid meds, but said that even though it's likely to have something to do with impaired adrenal response there was nothing she could do to address it until my thyroid was more stable.
I quickly realized that this was unacceptable -- I work in a very fast paced office, and I wear a lot of hats, so I have to be "on" and extremely highly productive all day. This wasn't going to work for me. So for 3 days I tried taking it at night before bed which worked great for the workday but apparently put me back into some bad symptoms while sleeping. I was experiencing the obstructive sleep apnea I had before starting the thyroid, enough that I had to be awakened every night because it sounded like I was dying (apparently--I was completely unaware).
So I thought going back to the morning routine will be better and maybe my body had gotten used to the thyroid by now...so Wednesday I started doing the morning thing. Same reaction as before but lasted from 8:30 AM until 4:30PM.
I had read that adrenals can be supported with a stress-B complex vitamin, and I have 2 half-used bottles of that on hand. So Friday morning I took my thyroid and when I got to work about 2 hours later took the B-complex. We had our 2 hour meeting, and I was doing OK. By the end of the meeting, I felt great and could handle the whole workday with only very slightly compromised mental function. All of the other issues were non-existent, and I only felt slightly tired, like I could have used a little more sleep.
So I'm going to follow this protocol until my appointment on the 22nd and see if that's the missing link in my feeling better. Hopefully the doc will suggest more thyroid as my progress seems to have plateau'd on that front, and we'll go over the other lab work to see if there is more I can do to help things move along.
This little epiphany about the B complex has been a huge step forward for me, psychologically.
Yeah I pretty much never know what to say either but it doesn't mean and I don't care and that I'm not thinking about and praying for all of you (doesn't matter if you don't believe in prayer I believe enough for everyone). So hang in there everyone and take comfort knowing that even though we're not there with you - your friends are here for you.
My sentiments too...I never really know of anything better to say, if at all, than my thoughts/prayers are with those who are suffering.
First, an apology for not being good at replies, with that said, I would have liked to reply to just about every other entry in this entire thread. I have been lurking behind the curtain reading older posts just to get to know some of you. So many of you sound like me. I can't remember how I found this thread, I thank my lucky stars that I did. After reading so many success stories in this forum, I thought I was crazy that it wasn't working for me, and that it had worked, before I got sick.
Some folks kick the habit easily.....I did. I won't go into the gory details but suffice to say it was an overnight thing. I went to buy my weekly carton, saw the ecig and purchased it and threw away the new carton the next morning. I smoked from 1958 until 2011 @ 2ppd. I have no criticism for peeps that have a hard time quitting cigs 'cause everybody is different. I currently have most of the problems that cigs bring......HBP, chronic severe kidney disease, extremely bad lower body blood circulation etc. No aspersions on you @ShariR and @Lox if this goes against the premise of your thread and you want to delete this post...........feel free. 'just sayin'
My wife and I are opposite ends here. I was a smoker for nearly 20 years, she smoked for about 10. I lost the desire for the cigs after my first vape nearly a month and a week ago. My wife on the other hand, is having a hard time giving them up. All I can do is continue supporting her and not ridicule her for her intense lack of willpower LOL.
I think that a lot of ex-smokers and non-smokers who haven't had to deal with underlying mental/physical issues really have no clue how hard it really is.
If you look at my banner, I started vaping at the end of March. I quit smoking immediately after, and it was "easy". I was amazed. 3 weeks later, my SO of over 20+ years and I had decided that it was best if he leave, and a few days prior to that I had a final meeting with a bankruptcy attorney to lay out my plan to file. I had previously had excellent credit and was current on on my bills, but 3 years prior lost 1/2 my income due to the construction crash and have never been able to recover enough to pay my debts back. It would take me 30 years to do it, and at less than any of my creditors were willing to accept.
So that was what triggered my first "relapse". I started vaping exclusively again after 2 weeks. My SO and I worked out our issues as best as can be done. I am still in a holding pattern with filing BK due to some dumb financial decisions I made at the beginning of the year when I thought I would be able to handle my situation better. Within a month starting to vape exclusively, I was having what I thought were allergy issues with juice. It got to the point where I could not vape any of the 30 or so juices I had. But I dealt with it by using antihistamines for nearly 60 days.
Then I got progressively worse, sicker, and finally went to a doctor who diagnosed me with severe auto-immune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's). My theory is that quitting smoking put my hypo into full-swing (the smoking having repressed the production of the thyroid antibodies), and that the auto-immune response is what has been giving me the "allergic reactions" since I quit smoking. So for 2 weeks now, I have been smoking, vaping, and snussing to try to get what my body is craving to feel well again. I am smoking more than the other two--mostly because my subconscious is trying to convince me that I will feel better if I do, even if I don't, and because I am too exhausted to fight the urge to do it. To be honest, the snussing and vaping do make me feel better than smoking but it's really hard to fight a 30 year old reflex when you're sick.
I intend to try vaping exclusively again once I get more regulated; I have no doubt that I will be able to completely quit smoking once that happens. But the feeling of knowing it can be done (since I did it twice before) is sort of gnawing at me and making me feel inadequate.
Quitting smoking has NOT been a very good experience for me and I'm a bit ...... about it.
I think my biggest worry was how well I would do out all day with just the eroll, how well it would work and all and it did just fine. Unlike the normal cig-a-likes it really produces a satisfying vapor and since I got the new juices that are all 24 mg I'm not wanting a cig and not even thinking about wanting one. When I think about a cig the thought is more surprise that I really don't want one.
Yay! Another eRoll convert...first Thaya and now Claudia. I concur--the eRoll is a different kind of e-cig. Certainly doesn't work for everyone, but I credit mine for my 24 hour quit time the first time around. I haven't used mine in about a month now, maybe I should give it a go again.
