Marta is professionally a teacher of English in a private school. Privately, he spends most of his free time practicing various kinds of activities. He has been struggling with Hashimoto's disease for many years. What is her life like with a chronic condition? Marcelina Dzięciołowska talks to Marta Długosz
When did you find out about your illness?
It was about twelve years ago, before I got pregnant. I started to drill down on the topic even earlier - about 14 years ago, when I was again at the doctor's asking for a referral for tests, because something was wrong with my weight.
Did your weight only send signals that something was wrong, or did you have any other disturbing symptoms?
I did not know what was wrong with me then and I did not think what could be, so as if these other symptoms that I now know were, I was not aware of them and I thought that I had them this way, that it should be like that . It didn't pause me. When I finally managed to do tests that confirmed that I have Hashimoto's, it turned out that all the symptoms that have been in my life since always, were symptoms of the disease, but I had no idea what was going on before.
What were the symptoms?
First of all, fatigue, apathy, mood changes, sleepiness. It's been all in my life for a long time, and I thought that's just the way I have it.
Didn't the doctors think it might be a thyroid problem?
At that time, Hashimoto's disease and awareness of it was not as great as it is today. Doctors said I just eat too much. When I went to the internists for a referral, they kept telling me to go home and count calories …
But it didn't put you off?
I went to other internists saying that something was wrong … I don't remember why I asked for a TSH test. I don't know if I read anything about it, it was a long time ago. Anyway, I asked to be referred for this test and the doctor insisted that I don't need it at all and my problem is that I eat too much! She made me eat 1000 kcal a day … Then I firmly said I wanted this referral.
What happened during the research?
I did a TSH test andthe first x-ray of the thyroid gland showed that the inflammation was very severe. TSH was in space.
At what stage of your life were you then?
I graduated from university, I have already worked professionally as an English teacher. When it comes to physical activity, sport has always been in my life. Not on a level like now, but I grew up in a home where movement was always there.
This is what made me think that although I exercise and play sports like my peers, I have this problem with weight. I was always kind of just right, but still bigger and whatever I would do, the weight was still there.
How much did you weigh when you were diagnosed with Hashimoto's?
68 kg at a height of 168 cm - it was a constant weight for many years that did not budge, whatever I did.
It wasn't some kind of overweight?
I think it was on the verge, I didn't look bad, but I just felt bad about myself, it bothered me, so I kept digging into the topic.
What happened next with the diagnostic process?
When it turned out that TSH was very high, the doctors referred me to an endocrinologist and the treatment process began, which, as I found out at the first visit, will last for the rest of my life. I also learned that yes, you can alleviate the symptoms, but this disease will be with me forever. I was given medications that I have to take every day. From that moment on, I started to read a lot on my own about it and talk to different people, and it turned out that you can also help yourself in other ways and make everyday life easier.
What steps have you taken in addition to taking the medications prescribed by your endocrinologist?
I always took medications regularly, and in addition I used a diet for people with autoimmune diseases. There is such a thing as an autoimmune protocol. It consists in excluding a very large group of products from the diet and introducing a given product once in a while to check if you have any ailments or not.
You used product exclusion on your own without allergy tests?
Yes, it was only after some time that I decided to do them, I did tests for gluten, lactose - so basic. Nothing came out of these tests then, everything indicated that it was ok. It was only after consulting another specialist that I found out that I would probably fail from these tests, because the problem was somewhere else, and even though the tests showed that I'm not allergic, it can be. These tests are simply too insensitive to show it. I triedalso to watch myself carefully because I felt really bad after many products. It is balancing on the edge of what is consistent with medical practice and what is not. I did it on my own, read about this protocol, looked at articles of people living with this disease, and for me, throwing out many products from the diet just happened.
It was one of the key actions you took on your own without consulting a doctor. You checked yourself, your body and how it reacts. At that stage, did you do anything else to feel better and support yourself in this disease?
Later I found a very nice endocrinologist who was also a dietitian and she knew about everything I was doing - that I use an autoimmune protocol, what is my activity, what my life looks like. This lady doctor accepted it all, never told me I was doing wrong. At each visit, she conducted an in-depth interview, asked what I eat and what not, how I feel, so I felt her support. Thanks to her, I got pregnant. It is difficult with this disease, and it led me to the point where I could get pregnant in the first place.
In addition to fighting Hashimoto's symptoms, you had one more tough fight to fight - trying to get pregnant. Did it take a long time to have a baby?
Now I know not. Back then, I wanted it so much and thought it was the time. Very intensive efforts lasted over six months. But before it happened, we had to adjust the hormones, and it took about a year - changing the doses of the drug, checking if the level was as it should be. After such preparation, the endocrinologist, in consultation with the gynecologist, decides whether the patient is ready.
How does the body react to pregnancy with Hashimoto's disease?
In Hashimoto's disease, the body treats pregnancy as a foreign body and wants to get rid of it. This is how every autoimmune disease works, the body hurts itself and it is a constant struggle. It was explained to me that the same is the case with pregnancy, and women with Hashimoto's disease can have huge problems conceiving.
After six months of trying, I doubted whether I would be able to have a child, I took a test every month. And then it worked, all the time taking medication. It should be noted that taking medications during pregnancy and checking hormone levels is actually the second treatment in addition to pregnancy management. Constantly checking whether the drugs are working as they should and if everything is fine.
Did any symptoms, apart from those typical for pregnancy, particularly difficult for you when you were wearingchild?
Gaining weight in an express mode and out of nowhere. Doctors asked me what I eat, that I weigh so much, and I didn't have any cravings, I didn't eat that much.
How much did you weigh at the end of your pregnancy?
100 kg! In the seventh month of pregnancy, I was admitted to the hospital for antenatal weight loss. I stayed there for a week, but the doctors told me that I had brought myself to such a state that I would have difficulties to give birth - I was so big!
It was not cool and unpleasant, especially since I had virtually no whims. Additionally, I developed high blood pressure, and I had to take more medications. It happens to women, medications are necessary, otherwise it can lead to the so-called eclampsia.
How do you recall your pregnancy?
First of all, I was in the hospital many times during pregnancy due to pressure fluctuations. They had to be constantly controlled and regulated, so I had to be under the care of doctors. By the way, I very often left the hospital at my own request, but at the end I gave up and accepted that it had to be that way.
Eclampsia, which can occur from high blood pressure, can cause miscarriage or cause premature birth. It was very tiring. Even though I love my baby and think it's wonderful to have one, I don't remember the very stage of pregnancy very well.
It's totally understandable! How was it after the baby was born?
The results normalized, they were good. Whenever a woman is born with a diagnosed Hashimoto's disease, the baby should also be examined after the birth. The first time immediately after giving birth, and then a few months after. During these tests, doctors check that the baby has not inherited the disease. In our case, everything was fine.
After giving birth, I had a drastic diet, because Antek - my son had colic, probably because something that was in my diet was harmful to him during breastfeeding. I had to watch myself again, but the plus was that I started to lose weight very quickly. About half a year after giving birth and for the next several years, I was even too skinny. I do not know if it should be combined with Hashimoto's, because many women just do it after childbirth and it results from changing their lifestyle with the baby.
How did your hormones behave after pregnancy?
Without the stabilization of hormones and any weight loss, weight loss is impossible to achieve. I was stabilized until pregnancy and childbirth, and it stayed that way for me. Being under constant control, nothing unpredictable should happen, because during regular visits, doctors constantly monitorhormone levels and in the event of any fluctuations, they immediately intervene, e.g. by changing the drug. So there's little chance that something will go wrong.
Do you think that with Hashimoto's it is enough to use only medications to alleviate the symptoms of the disease, improve the quality and comfort of your life?
I believe that taking medications is not enough, you have to change your lifestyle. In addition to the aforementioned diet, something I came up with on my own helped me, but as I found out later, many people with Hashimoto's also use it. It is a daily routine, repeating activities such as getting up, eating, going to bed always at the same time. While maintaining such a cycle of repetition, the body functions much better, which translates into better well-being.
Another important thing is to avoid stress, situations that make you nervous. People with Hashimoto's get aggressive very quickly, many things can throw us off balance very quickly, so you have to eliminate it to a minimum to achieve inner peace.
You have other ways to reduce stress and aggression, right? Tell me, when did you get into sports more seriously, more intensively? What are you doing now, what sports are you doing, with what intensity?
I practiced all the time before, and I was pregnant too - I attended classes for pregnant women. After giving birth, I went to classes for active mothers with my baby, I did Nordic walking.
Exactly when my baby was 7 months old, my parents dared to take him home for the first time in two weeks. I woke up alone in the morning at home and said to myself that I had to do something with myself. I went out for a run. At first it was a few kilometers, then gradually I started to increase the distances and found that it was cool and that is it.
All my life my dad was an amateur runner, and I was not moved or interested in it at all. And after the birth, it probably woke up in me. I started and now my main sport is running. It is all built on preparing the body for such activity.
How many kilometers do you run per week?
Weekly it is about 100 km, but at the moment I am already on the ultra-running level. I do ultramarathons and I think my body is prepared to do it, it can do it. It's hard work, but I love it.
What is your activity schedule? Do you run once a day?
I run once a day, but usually during the day I have two or three sports activities. Running is always there and other activities are swimming which helps merelieve your joints and relax after running, and build strength during other workouts.
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Do you know everything about Hashimoto's disease? [QUIZ]What achievement are you most proud of?
I think this is the first marathon because it was something I will remember for sure. It was a marathon abroad, it was very important to me, everyone was with me - my parents, husband and son, and such support for a runner is very important.
After running the marathon, I started to set myself more and more challenges. There were other runs, marathons. The pandemic left me accidentally dragged into ultra running in the mountains. I liked it very much.
Explain what exactly is ultra-running?
These are runs that are longer than the marathon distance, i.e. over 42 km and the route runs in forests and in the mountains - the point is that there should be elevations, we do not run on asph alt anymore. We spend many hours running in the mountains. Ultra runners have different approaches to what can be called an ultra run. In my opinion, after running over 50 km in the mountains, i.e. with altitudes of about 2500 m and more, you can call it an ultramarathon.
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Running for beginners. How to start running?How did your adventure with ultra running start?
I was lucky to find myself in a group of people who got me into ultra-running. I met girls who suggested last year that we should do the Little Beskid Trail, which is about 130 km in the mountains, but we did 170 km, because we ran without tracks, i.e. without maps in our watches, only following the signs on the trees, and this causes that one gets lost, especially at night.
It was the first long distance - 170 km, you run all the time day and night. When we did it, we came up with the idea that it was time to do 240 km. We did that too. We ran for three days and three nights and that was our life's challenge. We didn't do it as part of the competition, because you have to fit in a certain amount of time with the competition. We did it on our own, with our own support, we could have longer breaks between the race, while a longer break means an hour, a maximum of two hours of sleep during these three days.
Our 240 km also had a lot more gains than in the competition, but we managed. Apparently, such a distance is obtained once in a lifetime! And now we are born new, new ideas.
These were the most important points: the first marathon, Mały Szlak Beskidzki and 240 km, which would once have been unthinkable for me.
For me it's still hard toimaginations!
When you start doing something and get caught up in it, it becomes natural and normal. And it is possible, especially when you have such nice people around you and I don't mean only the running company, but the entire base of people who ride with us are responsible for the entire logistics. I am very lucky that the whole family is behind me, rides with me. This is our way of life. For my son, riding with me to various types of competitions, cheering, standing and waiting at the finish line is something normal.
What are you doing together?
I have always wanted sport to be like in my life, that my child would be brought up in the same way. Skiing in winter, sailing in summer, contact with water, swimming, horseback riding … Antek has always had it all and I wanted him to be able to choose in the future, just like my parents gave me such a chance. He grows with it, he himself says that it is nothing extraordinary for him, first of all he is not forced to do anything.
Did the doctors not give any contraindications to the fact that you lead such an active lifestyle?
I happened to run into doctors who understood and didn't mind. They always knew that I was training, they were aware that these are intense workouts. In my case, this disease has gone a little bit more hyperactive, so I always say I have Adult ADHD. At the moment, I cannot sit still and I really need this movement, thanks to which I vent my excess energy. This is the side effect of this disease. My lady endocrinologist says that we - those with Hashimoto's and those who take it - are "sped". These drugs stimulate us, so we need to vent it. I found it in sports, it helps me.
Doctors did not discourage me, there were a few who tried to tell me that I am only an amateur and I should remember that. But now I am with such a wonderful endocrinologist, to whom I am talking about everything. I was also told that I have had an athlete's heart for many years, which means that it is larger, overgrown and works slower when idle.
So you can say that you forgot about this disease? In addition to taking medication, do you no longer experience any Hashimoto-related symptoms?
Sport saved me a lot in my everyday life, so I don't think too much about what is wrong with me, because I'm busy with something else and that is also very important.
How much do you weigh now?
Now I weigh about 58 kilograms.
How old are you?
I turned 40 in June.
Would you like to say something to people with Hashimoto's?
If at least one woman, after reading my story, regains her faith, changes her attitude towards this disease, believes that it can be good, then I will be very happy.
Author
Marcelina Dzięciołowska Editor for many years associated with the medical industry. He specializes in he alth and an active lifestyle. A private passion for psychology inspires her to take up difficult topics in this field. Author of a series of interviews in the field of psycho-oncology, the aim of which is to build awareness and break stereotypes about cancer. He believes that the right mental attitude can work wonders, therefore he promotes professional knowledge based on consultations with specialists.