desire to quit
Hi everyone–
I’ve been lurking here for months, and I have so enjoyed the
camaraderie of this forum.
My situation is a little funky– I was a hardcore smoker for
fourteen years, and for ten of those years, I had an undiagnosed
thyroid problem. Last spring, I developed full-blown
hypothyroidism, the symptoms of which were so bad that I had to
go on sabbatical from my teaching job. I cannot drive a car, and I
can barely get up the energy to do a modicum of housework.
I have been wanting to quit for the last five years, but until recently
did not have the time or the knowledge to quit. My life has been
very stressful for all of those five years– I went to graduate
school, couldn’t find a job in the post 9/11 market, got a teaching
post and then found myself working at several universities, got
married, and both of my husband’s parents passed away very
quickly. I am a professional writer, and the last three years, I
have not been writing, which is extraordinarily painful to me. I’ve
been dealing with grief, and writer’s block and the goofiness of
life.
Now that I am at home, sick, I know that I want to quit. I am
having problems with getting up the physical energy to do the
work required, but I don’t know if that is purely a physical issue.
Also, people who are severely hypothyroid tend to suffer a thyroid
“crash” when they quit smoking, and I would like to minimize this
by tapering off slowly– but I don’t know how. I also have random
anxiety attacks– which are very common with thyroid problems. I
am seeing a therapist for the anxiety attacks, and an
endocrinologist for the thyroid issues.
In addition to seeing an endocrinologist, I have also just started
going to a naturopathic MD, to help me get down to the bottom of
my hormone issues. He really wants to help me quit smoking,
and I can use all the support I can get. I just saw him for the first
time yesterday, and he was most supportive of the research I’ve
done into my thyroid condition, and my smoking issues. ( I gave
him a print-out of the cognitive quitting materials.)
I will be starting on my ABCs today.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Best wishes–
Courtenay.
July 25th, 2006 at 4:00 am
Hey Shadoe–
People with thyroid problems often have a drop in thyroid activity
right after they quit, because smoking masks the extensiveness in
thyroid problems. Everyone who had a smoking problem on the
thyroid.about.com forum will tell you the same thing. You will
probably want to schedule an appointment with your doctor four weeks
after you are quit to check your levels.
In addition, smoking uses the same receptors as T3 at a cellular
level, so when you do quit smoking, you should have a rise in T3
eventually. I don’t know how long that will take though.
I have gained 13 pounds since I started having thyroid problems,
which my naturopath is trying to help me get under control so that I
do not exacerbate the problem.
I am still very much undermedicated, and seem to be resistant to
dosage increases. That’s why I went to see the naturopath. My
symptoms include extreme fatigue, brain fog (I brushed my teeth with
shaving cream once!), menstrual problems and the possibility of blood
sugar issues. We will be running a battery of tests as of next week.
Everyone with thyroid problems who smokes eventually got the thyroid
problem under control. If anything, you might have to see your
doctor a little more regularly than usual for the first year, since
you are already euthroid.
Thanks for the email!
Courtenay.