[amosmcd September 8, 2013 at 5:56 pm Post count: 231]

#1060177

It’s not that I’m feeling better. I’ve just decided to try fighting this a little bit harder. By this I mean “The Blerch.” To find out what The Blerch is, and for a hilarious motivational article, go to http://www.theoatmeal.com and click on “The terrible and wonderful reasons I run long distances.” My 22 year old son, who is a runner, told me about this site.

For us with GD, in whatever stage we are, there is definitely the GD version of The Blerch. Since my TT 4 months ago, I have been fighting tooth and nail with it, and it’s been winning. But I am tired of it. A friend of mine got me to sign up to walk a 5K today (last one I walked was on St. Patrick’s Day, so it’s been quite a while) and right up to yesterday I was dreading it. But I didn’t want to let her down, so I got up at 7am and met her in Seattle for the race. It was fantastic! I haven’t been walking much lately, what with The Blerch over-powering me. I walked yesterday for a couple miles with my son to prepare my body for the race.

About 2 miles into the race my endorphins kicked in and I felt fantastic. Just remembering that feeling will help motivate me to get my butt out of bed in the morning and go for a walk before work (I work 3p-11:30p.) And I’m going to try to do more 3 miles walks like I did before my TT. I used to alternate 2 miles one day and 3-1/2 miles the next, usually 5 days a week. Now I’m lucky if I walk two days a week.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience, and share about The Blerch. It doesn’t matter if you exercise or not, we all have to deal with some form of The Blerch. Our thyroid levels go up and down, we feel like crap, and it feels like GD owns us and rules us. We just want to give up and crawl into a hole and stay there, either physically or mentally or both!

I’m generally a lazy person, and too often take the easy way out, but I figure if I can do this, others can, so I want to be a cheerleader today and say get out there and fight and live your life, even if you feel like crap!! Otherwise life will just pass us by while we wait to feel better. And by living life, we actually do feel better!

Have a great day, everyone! (And yes, I have doubts my body will be able to move tomorrow, but it was worth it!) LOL!

Amy

[SueAndHerZoo September 8, 2013 at 8:57 pm Post count: 439]

#1180994

Way to go, Amy! thanks for the pep talk and wisdom. Yes, it’s so much easier to crawl into a hole (or back into bed or onto the couch) but we can’t realistically do that forever so some days we have to dust ourselves off and forge ahead even if we don’t think we can possibly do it.

Most days it will work, some days it won’t. Today I woke up feeling like a blerch but had a family commitment (child’s birthday party) that I had to attend. I seriously contemplated copping out but forced myself to go anyway. I didn’t really feel any better while there and most of the time I was looking at the clock counting the minutes until I could leave but it wasn’t horrible, either. I was just in a “blerchy” mood all day and only wanted to lie on a couch and lose myself in a movie or two. I’m sure I wasn’t the life of the party but I didn’t bring anyone down with me so I’m glad I went.

Congrats on pushing yourself to walk, but don’t forget that some days we totally deserve to blerch out.
Sue

[snelsen September 8, 2013 at 9:18 pm Post count: 1909]

#1180995

AMY! SO happy for you! As I write this, I am thinking of Sue’s reply, and applying it to myself right now. She is so right! SOME DAYS IT WORKS, AND SOME DAYS IT DOESN’T!

I got hit with a heart thing, atrial fibrillation, a couple weeks ago. Most docs think it is directly related to my CHRONIC hyperthyroidism (labs only.) But my TSH has been .00something or other, for years. No matter WHAT I do. We reduced Synthroid from 150 mcg. all the way down to 77 mcg. The outcome of that was gastroparesis. For those who don’t know what that is, it is not fun. The stomach does not empty. So we went back, gradually to 125 mcg, and now are trying it again, with longer intervals between changes. I’m at 100 mcg right now.

OOPS! Sorry, I think I highjacked the thread without intending to. but the main point was, I could not DO ANYTHING for the past 3 weeks, until i was cardioverted at Swedish. Then still felt like crap. Could not get out of bed and stay out of bed. TODAY, I walked a few laps in the neighborhood, went to a wedding at a coffee shop, and I feel like a human.

Point is, it is hell to feel hyPO, it is hell to feel hyPER.
So some days, it is so so much better. But it is OK to have those other days, and not feel like we flunked the day. Cause the next day will be good. Or the next one, and soon most of them will be good, and now and then, all of them will be good!!!!
Shirley

[amosmcd September 8, 2013 at 10:00 pm Post count: 231]

#1180996

Hi, Sue and Shirley–

Oh, I for sure know there will be days when no matter what, I will blerch-out and stay in my recliner all day or not get out of bed til afternoon! I don’t want anyone to feel guilty or feel like I was being preachy. I was just happy about feeling good and wanted to pass it along, because you guys know how hard it’s been for me since surgery. To have a nice, fun, energetic day like today has been so rare for me, I just want to try to force myself more to try not to give into my low energy and depression. GD is too unpredictable to say that bad days will not happen. I guess I’m just personally tired of having more bad days than good, and hoping if I make myself do stuff it will help.

I’m really sorry to hear about your A. fib, Shirley! And that you needed cardioversion. That totally sucks! And gastroparesis, too. I know you’ve been dealing with that low TSH for a long time. Have you tried banging your head against a wall over and over again to see if your TSH will climb a little? I’m sure you’ve already tried that!

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another with GD. I guess we just have to take one day at a time. I know long-term planning is hard, because I never know how I’ll feel from day to day. But I’m so tired of it ruling my life.

Amy

[Kalty September 9, 2013 at 7:05 am Post count: 23]

#1180997

Woohoo!

[SueAndHerZoo September 9, 2013 at 8:34 am Post count: 439]

#1180998

Hello Fellow Blerchers. (I think I love that term!)

I think one of the hardest parts for us is knowing when we need to kick ourselves in the butt to be functional and when it’s truly not going to work and would be better for our minds and bodies if we give in and stay home. It seems with me that about 70% of the time if I can get through the rough part of forcing myself to go to work or to an outing I will start feeling “OK” as the day wears on, but there are those 30% where I feel like I am white-knuckling it through the whole thing and wishing I had listened to my inner voice to stay in bed. “Sometimes it works – sometimes it doesn’t.”

Even though I have been fighting Graves for many, many years, it still amazes me how many systems in our bodies it screws up. Is nothing safe or sacred from this GD thing???? (GDGD – God Damned Graves Disease!)
Sue

[Raspberry September 9, 2013 at 1:08 pm Post count: 273]

#1180999

Amy thank you so much for that link! Really truly made me laugh and the blerch certainly speaks to all of us. I had a little trouble trying to find where to start reading in case someone else had the same problem the blerch is part 1 .

ETA….aaaargh I have Graves Brain! You did tell us what to click on. It’s too embarrassing to tell you how long I wandered around that site looking for the story of the Blerch. I want my brain back so bad.

[LaurelM September 9, 2013 at 1:41 pm Post count: 216]

#1181000

Yay Amy! You, Shirley, and I should meet up for coffee sometime. It would be fun to put faces to names.

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