Public Service Announcement: CHECK YOUR THYROID

So freshman year didn't start well. And since I didn't get to go home the first month, when the weekend arrived to hit the road to visit home, I was ECSTATIC. Going home and going to visit alllll my high school friends and boyfriend at their college in my hometown. I went to their dorms, met all their new friends and was having a blast. Then Sunday rolled around and it was time to drive the 120 miles back to school. That literally was one of the worst days of my life so far. I remember literally feeling like my heart was breaking. Like I was so sad that I actually felt sick.

My dad dropped me off and I made a vow to myself. Self-talk like: "Seriously, come on. You don't date the high school quarterback in high school and not be able to make friends. It will be fine. This will be my week and I won't even need to go visit home for another month."

Toted my clean laundry done by mom up the elevators back to my not-missed dorm.

The next few weeks were worse. I literally could NOT get out of bed, and cried every night when I called my friends/boyfriend/family in the little studyroom/makeout room in the student lounge.

My parents felt so bad; they would tell me to just make it to Friday, and I could come home for the weekend. I think maybe they thought it would get better and I wouldn't want to take them up on their offer? Nope. Every. Weekend. They would drive down and back to get me, and down and back to take me home. (To this day I still can't listen to the Maroon 5 CD, because that's what my dad would ALWAYS play when it was his turn to take me..)

In between all of this, I went to the doctor at home. Was I depressed? Was it just typical small-town-girl-moves-to-the-big-city?

Well. My mom calls like 17 times when I'm in class. I call her back after.

"Honey, how do you feel?"

"I hate this place."

"Like, are you scared to cross the street?"

"Ummm........."

So the lovely doc had run my blood-work and I guess my thyroid was sooo out of whack that the nurse had immediately called my mom and told her to take everything I was saying seriously. But it is so weird. The cross the street example? TOTALLY TRUE. Hypothyroidism (when your thyroid doesn't make enough of the hormone it should be making) makes you:

• sleep alot (not ideal when everyone is college stays up reaalllyyy late and you start snoring)

• gain fat around your waist/love handles (not the best when there's hot frat boys around and a boyfriend you see once a week)

• crave carbs (uhh, maybe why I ate WHITE RICE with soy sauce every night for dinner in the cafeteria? No wonder I didn't have any friends.)

• hair thins/hair loss (HATED brushing my hair in the dorm bathroom cuz I knew everyone was in shock at the amount of hair that was on my hairbrush)

• feelings of "doom" (It's true. Like you seriously feel like nothing good will ever happen again.)

This disorder is really common among women, but I had a severe case. It was just so convenient that my thyroid problem decided to begin RIGHT when I moved away to college (Sarcasm)

I got a prescription for Synthroid (a synthetic thyroid medication) to bring my levels up to normal, and see if fixing that problem would change my attitude about UW....

SO, MAKE SURE NEXT TIME YOU GO FOR YOUR YEARLY EXAM/BLOODWORK YOU DO A THYROID CHECK! It's easy, doesn't hurt and can save you a looooooooooooooot of mental anguish (and unwanted muffin top :) Trust me. :)