Endometriosis

Hello everyone!

Thought I would share an update. So 10 months ttc with no luck. I decided it was time to see if there was anything else blocking this from happening or whether it would just take a little more time. I decided to see an obgyn specialist. I had an internal ultrasound done and he suspected I may have a little bit of endo (50% chance) at the back of my uterus. So he booked me in then and there. I am super lucky I only had a 2 week wait and the hospital was literally 5 minutes from my house.

Hubby and sister had her day off to come with me. I was a little nervous as I have never been in a hospital to have surgery before! I was terrified of the drip (needles 😩). After an hour wait it was finally time to go in. I was on the bed, given a relaxant and two attempts at putting in the drip. And I was asleep before I knew it!

Coming out of an anaesthetic was the weirdest feeling. I was so tired and relaxed, alert in my brain but not in my body. I could hear the nurses saying that I had four incisions and immediately I knew the doctor needed to remove endo. I was shocked. I was in disbelief. I had absolutely no symptoms! Similarly to my thyroid 😜

After a few hours in recovery my specialist came to see me and told me the extent of my endo. I hade stage 4 deep infiltration endometriosis! It was found in multiple spots and had started to infiltrate my bowels and bladder! The doctor needed to seperate and loosen up old scar tissue that was starting to limit movement of my organs.

I was discharged at around 7:30 that night and was feeling ok due to the pain killers I was on. My family came over for dinner that night and I was tender but ok. The next week was a different story. I could not believe how sore and swollen I was! It was a struggle to do anything that involved my stomach muscles. I couldn’t get in or out of bed by myself, couldn’t shower or dress myself, couldn’t cough or sneeze, couldn’t walk without being hunched over 😱 by the third night I was so frustrated with myself.

It’s now 1 week +2 days later and I’m finally starting to get my movement back. I went for my checkup and found that the incisions aren’t healed up yet. I still have stitches and I’m quite bloated. I changed my bandages and have now found out that I’m most likely allergic to them, just my luck!

My husband and I have our first wedding anniversary coming up and we re-booked the same place we stayed after the wedding. It has a gorgeous cedar hot tub that I won’t be able to use 😢😢 6 weeks without baths, spas and pools!! But I have heard wonderful things about women falling pregnant within months of having endo removed. Fingers crossed!

I extended my time off work, and am hoping to get back next week (I am a little worried as I work with kids). But I miss them all dearly.

Have you had this procedure done? How was your recovery? Thanks for reading xx

So it’s been a little while …

It’s been so long since I have posted on here! Everything is slowing down thyroid wise and starting to speed up fertility/pregnancy wise.

I am within the normal range in regards to my thyroid numbers and have just had a medication increase to help be within the safe and optimal pregnancy range.

After trying for 10 months, it was recommended that I attend an appointment with a fertility specialist.

I went to an obgyn last week for an internal ultrasound and they discovered some possible endometriosis. I am booked in for surgery next week to have a close look/removal. They will also be checking for any tubal blockages while I am under. I have heard some really positive stories about people falling pregnant a few months after having this procedure so fingers (and toes) are crossed! Have you had this procedure done before?

Symptom spotting.

I need some advice.

When you are trying to fall pregnant it is so easy (and exciting) to look for any symptom, no matter how small it is. It starts to consume you. You know you don’t want to get your hopes up, but you just can’t help it! With every extra cramp, every sick feeling, every twinge, every headache, every time your thirsty, every craving, every feeling of tiredness (literally anything you can use to think … YES IM PREGNANT).

I’m currently finding it really difficult to stop doing this as it only leads to heartache and disappointment when you get that negative.

Everyone says to ‘just relax’. And while I know this is beneficial, my brain tells me it is, my heart tells me the timing just isn’t right, it annoys the hell out of me! Because I just can’t do it. It doesn’t work for me. I’ve always been impulsive and a go-getter when it comes to getting what I want. If I decide to colour my hair pink – it has to be that day. Last night I saw a picture or purple ombré, so I currently have bleach in my hair. If I want a new pair of shoes – it has to be now. I’m terrible at waiting for things I know I want. This has been the hardest thing I have ever had to wait for – clearly no comparison to wanting some new Windsor Smiths 😂

What have you tried to take your mind off things? Has it worked? Help!!!!

Great news!

So I am happy to share that my hormones are now within the average range!! It’s only taken 9 months to get here -.- but I am here none the less!

After 9 months of meds, my TSH levels have reduced from 74 to 4 – and I am so close to the goal of 2.5 for a healthy pregnancy! It has also been confirmed that I am ovulating!

My doc has said that he would be happy for me to fall pregnant at this level – woohoo! 💫

I feel as though I can finally breathe and relax, knowing that my body is slowly becoming ready to grow another human. It’s been 7 months of TTC with no success. It is easy to think ‘well that’s only 7 chances to fall pregnant’ but month after month the disappointment does not lessen. I guess we are always taught that if you have unprotected sex, you WILL fall pregnant – and this can happen! But for a lot of women out there, it’s almost setting us up for failure.

Over the past 7 months of actively trying and 12 months of wanting a baby Oates, it has been hard to not feel completely devastated month after month. However recently I have had a shift in my own mindset – believing that my body just simply isn’t ready yet – and it hasn’t been, and it still may take months, but for the first time in a while I am feeling hopeful that we have some positive news (and positive tests) in the up and coming months.

Gluten free high tea 🍾

Today we are off to a high tea!

Being gluten free, this may be a challenge, so I decided to try out a couple of new recipes to bring along.

Chocolate torte

7 large eggs

250g unsalted butter

250g dark chocolate

1 1/4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tsp almond extract

Melt the butter and chocolate together over a double boiler. Once melted, add in the sugar. Let it cool slightly. Add the eggs one at a time until the mixture thickens. Add in vanilla and almond extract.

The batter should look silky and delicious!

Place it in a prepared tin and cook for 30 minutes at 190C. Let it cool in the tin before removing.

Egg muffins

5 eggs

Tasty cheese

Spinach

Ham

Salt and pepper

Mix the eggs and add all ingredients until the mixture is nice and thick! You can add any other ingredients as well.

Scoop the mix into a mini muffin tray and cook for around 7 minutes at 180C.

Now I am yet to taste test these – but they look pretty good! I will let you know how they go!

It was delicious!!!

Thanks for reading!

New book!

So it has been a while since my last post! Everything has been progressing well and I have been having no side effects with the increase of medication this time!

I was worried for the sake of my poor husband that copped it last time! 😜

So a friend of mine purchased this book and thought of me, allowing me to borrow it (Thanks Georgia!) and what a fantastic read it turned it to be.

This book goes through the main female hormones in relation to fertility and also discusses hormone related issues. Bonus! As we are now on our 6 month of TTC!

I really enjoyed that it is easy to read and provides you with natural alternatives to balance your hormones either through supplements, diet and lifestyle.

I found it very reassuring and support and loved how it’s top suggestion is to go gluten free! Which makes me feel as though I am doing what I can to support the health of my body in relation to autoimmune disease.

I can’t wait to trial some of the recipes in this book as majority of them follow an anti inflammatory diet!

Gluten free camping!

Oh the dread …

but everything was delicious!!!

I was super worried about heading on a camping trip for 5 days with other people. It’s so much easier to just cook the one meal rather than two different options so I sneakily planned a full gf menu for breakfast, lunch and dinners!! The key was to think of naturally gluten free foods and then carefully checking labels of other food items.

Breakfasts

Cereal, pancakes, toast (gf bread), bacon, eggs and baked beans!

Lunches

Nachos, sandwiches, dips and crackers, sausages and baked potatoes.

Dinners

Roast chicken, salads, burgers, salmon and sausages.

The most challenging item for me to find was the ever important … MARSHMALLOWS! Thankfully I managed to find an American brand that Aldi had on sale woohoo!

These were all super easy meals to make and enjoyed by everyone!

What food do you take camping?

Specialist update!

So last week I had my follow up appointment after increasing my thyroxine dose by half a tablet! Feeling great!

My levels have dropped down to 13. Still too high for an ideal pregnancy (0-2.5) but slowly getting down. It is still possible to fall pregnant with these levels but you have a much higher chance of miscarriage in the first trimester.

I have increased my tablets again after this visit – back on a full dose, daily. Hopefully side effects aren’t what they were last time I was on a full dosage!

But anything to increase my chances of falling pregnant – bring it on!

Husband approved GF dinner 🙌🏻

The gluten free diet!

My husband always complains (jokingly) about how me living a gluten free diet impacts on him 😂😂

He is super lucky, and most meals I can switch up separately to suit me, while he gets the norm!

Tonight though I was making gozlemes and didn’t really want to prepare two lots of dough! So he said “why not!”

I made this dough using Greek yoghurt and gluten free self raising flour. You knead enough together (more flour than yoghurt) until it becomes a lovely smooth dough that isn’t sticky! Roll it nice and thin, stuff it with your choice of filling, seal it up and pan fry.

We were both over the moon with how delicious this meal was! And we can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow ❤️

Ps – our filling of choice is spinach, feta and mozzarella, topped with sriracha and lemon.

Brain fog

Brain fog is real! And it is something that I’ve noticed over the past month or so.

I am a teacher and yes teaching is a stressful job and you always have what feels like a million tasks to get done.

I actually pride myself on being organised and getting things done! However the past month has been a different story …

little things and jobs that I’ve had to get done I end up completely forgetting about. This makes me feel so stressed and overwhelmed and I feel as though I’m running behind (I’m not technically, but for me, I feel as though I am). It even seems to be effecting my ability to problem solve and get different jobs done in a timely manner without sort of losing my way and becoming distracted. It’s a very odd feeling and one that I am starting to pick up more.

I found this website a good read – helpful and a little confronting. But it’s just another part of hashimoto’s!

Have a read and please feel free to share your experiences!

https://hashimotoshealing.com/brain-fog-matters/