How Did I Ignore My Health?
Throughout my academic career, I remained pretty healthy until I was in grad school. Now, not having a thyroid was completely normal for me. In fact, it was the only way that I knew how to function. I’d take a pill each day and go on with my normal daily routines. I felt normal and didn’t really pay much attention to my health other than regularly scheduled lab testings, blood drawings, and appointments while being in undergrad (undergraduate college).
It wasn’t until my first semester of graduate school that I had blacked out… and it just had to be while I was while driving.
As scary as this may seem I didn’t realize at the time that I had even blacked out. Due to my normal tune outs, I didn’t think anything of it until it began to happen more and more. In my second semester in graduate school, I was at the gym and blacked out again while on the treadmill but somehow my body was able to react quickly and I didn’t get hurt. It wasn’t until my last semester of grad school that I blacked out again while driving but this time I was almost hit by a vehicle. Coincidentally my body reacted and I caught my steering wheel before things went really bad…
With all of the blacking out and I had many moments to realize how my health was being consistently affected by stress. This stress came directly from being in graduate school. Late Nights, long papers and even all-nighters. There were no excuses for me, even if it meant I had to put my health second. Realistically, that wasn’t the best thing to do but I was determined to finish strong. It wasn’t until after one of my blackouts had occurred I had a conversation with my parents about what was going on. My mother who is a nurse reminded me that stress plays a role in effecting my thyroid levels. My father then added in that I couldn’t reap the benefits of all of my hard work if I simply wasn’t here to do so…… That statement HIT Hard.
With that being the case I tried to slow down but the cycle would repeat itself until I finally had slow it down because my body had enough of my back to back all-nighters. Since all of this, I’ve learn to stop myself before my body does so. It’s important to know your limits but most of all know when you need a break. It’s completely okay and necessary to put your HEALTH FIRST, at all times.
