When the nurse asked if a nun should come by to pray for me, I knew I was fucked.
Doctors were guessing between lung problems, virus infection, burn out, and depression. Apparently I had caught some kind of a virus in Brazil, but that wouldn't explain all the symptoms. It was pretty frustrating trying to convince them I was not depressed; maybe a bit pissed off because I couldn't climb. Later I have found out that most of the people with same diagnosis are usually first diagnosed with depression.
I had plenty of time in the hospital, so I googled what could be wrong with me. Surprisingly, my symptoms matched a number of different types of cancer. But also exactly with over-active thyroid. Despite numerous blood tests, the thyroid levels hadn’t been tested yet. I guess it’s better business to diagnose with depression and keep people in the hospital with 1000 € per day rates.
So I begged that they would test my thyroid levels, what they luckily did. They were 3x higher than than the maximum level for normal and finally I got medication for hyperthyroidism.
I still needed to stay in infusion for some days, which was a pain in the ass. They didn’t give me enough food, so Anu brought me pizza and snacks every day. My metabolism was super fast, so even when I was just eating and staying in the bed, I lost 8 kg in two weeks. Yes, hyperthyroidism is an excellent way to lose weight. Unfortunately it's not contagious so I can't help out any fatties.
Finally, after a week in the hospital I got out and went straight to see a thyroid specialist. That felt for the first time like someone actually knew what she was talking about. The dosage was at first doubled and then tripled. This of course led to nasty side effects and I had to change the medication.
This was a few weeks ago. The new medication seems to be working and my thyroid levels are lowering nicely. I’m not allowed to do anything physical though. So, at the moment I am on sick leave, and so is the blog.
