As teenager, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My thyroid gland was too weak to support my body, so I was prescribed a hormon supplement which I took until I got 18. My doctor then told me, I had to pay for my medication myself (up to this point, my health insurance paid for the medication) which came (with my second drug I was taking) to a whopping 90€, a large sum for someone barely out of school. So I decided to stop taking it.

12 years later I didn’t sleep well. Don’t misunderstand me, I slept through the night, but I wasn’t rested. I got increasingly anxious and nervous, couldn’t concentrate, gained a lot of weight and had problems loosing it again and had no drive or motivation anymore.

Then I remembered: I had hypothyroidism, could it be that? I knew it was linked to weight and sleep, so I had it checked out. Results will be available in 4 weeks, I was told. Yesterday I was at the doctors office, asking if my results were already available – and they were! They asked me to wait a short time and then I had a talk with the doctor.
Hypothyroidism (struma), some cysts (which are benign so they don’t have to be operated) and Hashimoto-Syndrome.

Hashimoto is an auto-immune disease were the thyroid gland destroys itself, leading to many of the symptoms I described.

Luckily, treatment is easy: Hormon supplement. In fact, the same one I had as a teenager. Sure, I have to take one pill each day for the rest of my life, but I figure that’s a small price to pay if I can get back to my old self.

So, today marks the start of my medication and I will try documenting as many steps as I can.

I am 1.84m tall and weigh 96.7kg. I took 25 μg at 6:32 in the morning. I slept until 8:01 am and went to work. I was feeling unrested. It now is 8:53 and my head feels somewhat unfamiliarly clear and I am not tired anymore.