How many times have you seen a product on tv that supposedly changes or affects you physically and at the very end the voice over person quickly says "Please consult your Doctor before doing this etc etc.."
Why do we not ever bother to get our bodies checked out by the people who sacrificed the most to know the most about my body? Honestly, people theres only two types of humans in the world - male and female. Doctors have seen multiple versions of me over and over again. Even as an occupational therapist, Ive seen enough bottoms and private parts to last me a lifetime that honestly, whenever I see body parts now, I'm now completely emotionless and objective. Its just another body.
It seems like me and everyone I know don't often bother getting our bodies looked at until we are in severe enough stress or pain that we care about the pain ending more than our embarrassment in being looked at.
My weight loss journey started with me not getting pregnant. Not getting pregnant really pissed me off. And four years on, it started to become quite distressing. Why was I, a healthy'ish woman in her 20s not getting pregnant?! This is the prime of my fertile years! Actively seeking it! So I went and saw my GP, was like "What is wrong??!! Why aren't I getting pregnant?!" He was as perplexed as I was but he did the good Doctor thing and did what they do best, he made me do every medical test he could think of. And as I was walking out of his office he said, "By the way, you really ought to consider losing weight. You're very overweight, and you're only 27. If you did somehow get pregnant this could be negatively impacting your chances of keeping a pregnancy." I was like: "Aye aye Captain! *Salute."
One of the tests was actually just numerous blood tests. In doing those blood tests I was told my thyroid had almost hit rock bottom which in turn was screwing up my menstrual cycle like a rollercoaster. Doctor asked me, "Have you been under any stress lately? Does your Mom have thyroid issues? It oftens runs from mothers to daughters.." Yes, Ive been under significant stress. And Id say a good portion of the stress put on me early in life was the same stress that my Mum had that screwed up her thyroid. So yes, I have been stressed over a long portion of my life, isn't that normal? Turns out its not. The thyroid pretty much looks after and regulates hormones in your body ie the kind that tell your ovum to make eggs or your breasts to make milk. It also affects your metabolism. So in a nutshell, it was a contributing factor to my being overweight AND infertility.
So he put me on a graduated dosage of a thyroid replacement medication that I now have to take for the rest of my life. I asked Doc why my dosage had to be so darn high and was there anyway I could decrease it at some point? Answer: "Yeah, lose weight." Such refreshing brevity and bluntness.
So I started on thyroid medication around October 2016 and finally came to an appropriate dosage around January 2017 and actively sought to lose weight at the same time. Now I don't know if maybe I pushed harder to lose weight this time or if the thyroid meds helped. I think it helped. I noticed I was starting to sleep better, my menstrual cycle was becoming more "normal", I was noticing I was less panicky about stuff and I especially noticed I was having less chest pain (which had previously occurred during panic attacks). It certainly didn't ease my grief over my infertility. The difference was this: I have been for the past decade, struggling to ever lose more than 5kg. For some reason I'd lose a bit of weight, and it would bounce back on at the 5kg point. Being on the medication I noticed a very slow weight loss occur. Usually by a few 100g at a time. When I first started, I was focused solely on my eating and wasn't remotely doing any extra exercise other than what I was typically doing (eg the odd walk/hike on a weekend). The big kahuna was this: I broke the 5kg loss barrier and gradually kept losing more. By May 2017, I was now incorporating high intensity interval training (HIIT) on elliptical and treadmill machines 1-2x per week along side using the MyFitnessPal app and the Bob Harper 'Skinny Rules.' And I started shedding weight like crazy but in an overall consistent way. Not in huge amounts but lets just say I was consistently losing weight EVERY week ranging from 500g/1lb to 2kg/4lb per week. By the end of May I had taught myself to run non stop on a treadmill for 20 minutes and by early June I was running short distances outside (1-2km). From January 2017 to the beginning of July 2017 I had lost a total of 12kg/26lb.
My big point Im trying to make here is one that some might not agree with -
1. My Doctor told me I was overweight and
2. I should not be overweight.
My Doctor was doing his job. He did not call me "fat." He did not call me or imply to me that I was or have been "lazy." He did not berate me in the first place for being overweight as if it affected my cognition. He just stated the facts matter of factly, though I imagine it was rather uncomfortable for him to say so. I also appreciate that my GP is South African not Canadian. Canadian GPs are great but the whole being polite is taken to such degrees here that I think that people here are terrified of speaking the truth in case it offends someone. Bluntness of speech is something I think New Zealanders share with our South African friends. The cultures are very similar. Second of all, I have a very good relationship with my GP. And as one health professional to another I trust his expertise and his objectivity. Im not his daughter, hes not my Dad, this is not personal, this is not subjective. Like me I also acknowledge he does not know everything medically related on the face of the earth. Its incredibly unfair to put a GP on a God like pedestal because if I do that he WILL let me down. The mark of a good Doctor, is not that they know everything but that they talk and discuss your treatment plan with the right people ie specialists. My GP got the ball rolling, got me on my thyroid meds and passed me and my husband onto respective fertility Doctors. Most of all my Doctor acted in my best interests as my Doctor not as some cushy friend trying to make me feel better. If in the future I got cancer Id damned hope he would straight up tell me Ive got cancer, regardless if I break down and cry. So Im very appreciative he had the common sense and guts in this politically correct world to tell me to lose weight regardless of my feelings.
In closing I might add this, its almost February 2018. My period was recently late for the first time in over a year. The last time that happened my thyroid was out of wack. But Ive been conscientiously taking my 125mg pill every morning. I booked myself another blood test a week from now and Im hopeful the new results show I can be allowed to decrease my dosage. Fingers crossed!
If you're trying and failing to lose weight, go see your Doctor, you never know what might be going on in your body that perhaps it would be helpful to know. Sooner rather than later.. In hindsight, witnessing my Mum go through her thyroid issues and surgery in my teens should have been a stern warning to me. I should have had my thyroid checked while I was in university. Shoulda coulda woulda.
