One of the major reasons I have always had a low energy level is because I was born with hypothyroidism, which basically means that your thyroid is ineffective or completely dysfunctional. It's just kaput! As I've had it explained to me as a kid, what the thyroid does is to handle the nutrition stuff in your body; I'm not very good at explaining this stuff because, as much as I do enjoy the concept of biology, I suck at it... unless you really dumb it down for me. (Seriously, there are too many Latin words!)
This is how Wikipedia lists the symptoms anyway:
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| I have mostly experienced the fatigue, feeling cold, poor memory and
concentration, poor appetite, heavy menstrual periods (and later the
light ones too)... then there are a bunch of things in that list I'm not
sure, it depends on what is normal and what isn't, which would be hard
for me to determine. So for as long I can remember (and as long as my parents can remember of me too), I have always been tired, physically slow, distant, having struggles with school because of my lack of concentration and memory (Plus the common problem with school favouring very specific ways of human learning. I imagine people who learn with more visual and physical elements, not reading, know what I'm talking about.) and as you might imagine, it gets very old. It gets especially old when you have finally finished basic school, high school and you finally get to choose what to educate yourself in, which in my case was art. But I nearly failed the two art-educations I took, each of them a year long and with very understanding, forgiving teachers and other staff. I was fortunate enough that these people who worked in those educations believed me when I communicated my struggles, and they were often willing to help me find a compromise so that I could pass. They could tell that I cared and was frustrated with myself. Even with all that support, it was always a close call. After one or two months of enthusiasm and dedication, I was completely depleted; I would start oversleeping, skipping more and more classes, which would then lead to me being too ashamed to show up for several days a week. I thought I could read judgement in the faces of my classmates and teachers who were not aware of what was going on with me, and at the time, I cared very much about what they thought. All those struggles with school also applied whenever I got an internship in some working-place - only with less understanding and more humiliation. (Like being yelled at by your boss in the lunch-room in front of your co-workers. Not a good story.) #UnitedInterns #TheStruggleIsReal anyone?? Eventually I started to give up on trying, because it was always the same story. I never considered taking my life, I rather mourned each and every year of it, and my youth, that went to waste, also having trouble imagining myself ever being happy. I have rarely had much problem asking for help, so I did, and sometimes I got some. It was a good thing I did; asking for help, whether you get it or not, at least gives you more legitimacy when whining about your problems or feeling sorry for yourself, eh? If that's what you wanna do, anyway. (I think everyone does that, at least a little bit.) For me, though, it helped to always be doing something in attempt to change my situation, no matter how insignificant it was; whether it was finally doing the dishes, getting dressed that day, or making that phone-call I had been dreading for two weeks. Those little things mean very little to the people around, but they are big accomplishments for yourself... eh, speaking for myself, anyway. So imagine how psyched I was when I woke up a few weeks ago and I was not tired? I was so giddy that I was bouncing in my chair. One of the major changes that I think caused this was that I had for a couple of months been prescribed D-vitamins by my endocrinologist (a kind of doc that specialises in this stuff) after having discovered my D-vitamin rate was at 18, which is crazy low. (You are meant to have at least 85 or something, and around 55 you are given treatment for it.) I actually felt... what I assumed must be "normal". This also happened when I was little; my mum has told me about when I had been given a stronger dose of Levaxin (the standard medicine for hypothyroidism) and I would act like a "normal kid" (energetic and playful, etc) for a while, then gradually go back down to my normal level, which was very non-reactive. Since that morning, things have been easier, but still not enough for me to get back to the real world. With my new level of energy, generally feeling like I'm awake most of the time rather than asleep, I take more steps towards changing my situation. Who cares that I'm failing my distance class in Digital Painting? At least I'm awake. |
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