When I didn't know I had Hashimoto's Disease...

A challenge was presented at Hashimoto 411 on Facebook. Post a photo of yourself in your teens...a time when you didn't know you had Hashimoto's disease. Well, I am almost fifty-nine years old and have only known about having this autoimmune disease for about a year and a half after a surgeon removed a suspicious nodule and part of my thyroid and told me I have Hashimoto's disease.
The pic is from high school, a time when many teens obsess about dates and blemishes, but when I think back I had always been constipated growing up and had headaches and sometimes migraines. In my twenties I had an infertility problem when my husband and I tried to start a family, and when I finally did get pregnant I had to have c-sections. I also had some problems trying to breast feed too.
In my thirties my itchy blistery rashy face messed with my self esteem, especially when I went back to college for writing. I seemed to be constantly flushed with the stress of going to college full-time and raising kids too.
Weight gain added to my self esteem lowering and my joints ached; weariness plagued my days.
I escaped by writing fiction. Creating characters and dialogue helped me forget about feeling poorly. I loved my family, but my quality of life was problematic. And yet, I didn't know anything else.
It was in my early fifties while my hubby and I were running a mom and pop diner operation that I had to have a kidney stone lithotripsied and my health seemed to go downhill with every passing day. I was so fatigued I was close to fainting. My insides felt like a bunch of those skinny balloons blown up when I ate. One day I said to my husband, "What do you feel when you eat, I mean, inside your body?" He gave me a curious look and said, "I don't feel anything, what are you talking about?"
I googled my symptoms and suspected a gluten intolerance so I began to watch what I ate but didn't eliminate gluten completely for a while. I went to the doctor's and told him how horrible I felt. He did some bloodwork and said I might have Hashimoto's but at that time he did nothing about it and I didn't know what he was talking about, since I had never heard of it. He sent me to a GI doctor and we did the acid reflux meds and I told him I was avoiding gluten to which he shook his head like, "What the...," but after a few months he told me he thought I should go to an endocrinologist and I would have to to be referred by my doctor. My doctor moved away so I began to see another doctor. She referred me to an endocrinologist. There was a long wait but I eventually saw her and she put me on a low dose of Synthroid. Two years later, she relocated and I was seeing her P.A., who was the one who sent me for a sonogram and the nodule was found.
The doctor who first told me I might have Hashimoto's but didn't pursue it at the time is also the doctor who wanted to put me on pills for breaking down proteins but I refused because the side effects were too hard for me to risk taking on. I mean, flapping your arms and wagging your tongue and becoming depressed. No thanks!
I could write a book about these experiences and I might but at this point I prefer to focus on fiction. I gave my eighth novel a main character with Hashimoto's disease; it is with me all the time...all consuming.

So here it is...my teenage photo, a time when I hadn't suffered for years not knowing I could have had help. I have help now...and I am thankful and determined to help others discover their autoimmune situation as early as possible. Life is amazing...especially when you feel better.