When you hear the phrase “Oh yeah, I get tired too…..” do you want to  smack them in the face?!?

Harsh. I know.

But it’s been my truth when I’ve had fatigue and someone says this to me, and it makes me kinda scream on the inside.

I never knew there were so many different types of tired before I began this journey! Who knew!??

Here’s all kinds of types of tired…….

Partied out tired

I could party all night, work all day and function. Yes I’d be tired but I would Still Function. I knew my bed was calling me and that it was a safe bet that I’d be in at some point during the evening. This is a “I’m tired but I’ll be in bed soon tired” (I mean, invariably I’d end up partying again but hey….you know what I mean by this kind of tired). Eventually I wake up somewhere dribbling. Not so much these days. Obviously.

Exercise tired

The best kind of tired in my humble opinion. When I’ve worked my butt off, sweated myself insane (and look the most unflattering I have EVER looked) and I get in the shower where my legs can barely hold me and then……once I’m blow drying my hair……I realise I’m ok! Then it hits me. Just before bed. I’m realllllly tired out. Worn out. Phew! Physically worn out. My mind is ok. My body is thanking me and hating me at the same time! I’m ready for some sleep kinda tired. Awesome.

Mummy tired

Jules The Thyroid Expert and mum asleep at the tableNow in my experience, this is a sneaky kind of trickery. I didn’t know HOW tired I was until I was no longer tired. My babies were sleeping through the night/not getting in my bed/not draining my soul from me each day (bless them) and I suddenly thought “SHEESH!!! I WAS SO TIRED!!!!”. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sometimes I would notice how tired I was. Clues to this were putting the milk in the washing machine drum or perhaps trying to open the front door with the car key “blipper thingy”, talking to someone for half an hour then realising they are NOT the person I thought I was talking with but generally, Yip, generally not a clue about how tired I actually was. Pushing on through Mummydom.

Then there’s fatigue tired.

sign please don't sleep hereTrudging up a hill through treacle in lead boots.
Having to close my eyes “just for a second” whilst driving the car (I know, scary!).
Wondering if I would ever not ache/hurt/cry because it took all my energy to stand up and slice a piece of cucumber/put a pizza in the oven for the kids. #nojudgementplease it was all I could manage. (I cried the first time I cooked a meal for my children without having to sit down).
Not even having enough energy to THINK about showering, let alone have one.
Leaning on the child in the supermarket trolley seat whilst doing the shopping.

Putting my feet up wherever i was sitting as I didn’t have the energy to sit up straight.
Falling asleep EVERYWHERE – car (as noted previously), sofa, whilst cleaning teeth, in the doctor’s/consultant’s/surgeon’s waiting room, whilst eating dinner, you get the picture.
The. List. Is. Endless.

BUT it can get better. A great little book is James Wilson 21st Century Stress Syndrome. It talks about adrenal fatigue and how to take steps to fix it. There are even pictures, cartoons and lists. (Clever man. He knew there’s no way a fatigued person can read a book!!!!!!!) And where there is low thyroid function, there is generally low adrenal function.

Click here to book a discovery call and find out how these are linked!

I’m going through a minimal fatigue patch at the moment. I’ve gone back to training at the gym and think i may have tipped my body over the edge as it slowly gets used to having to produce more energy. Now, what I WANT to do is drink coffee, keep going, push myself and get through it. But now I know better. I’ve cut out the caffeine, am going to up my vitamin C (adrenals love this!), go to bed by 10pm every night for a couple of weeks so my body knows what its doing and rest/sleep/laugh as much as i can annnnnnnd i’ve just booked myself a massage to help my body chill, rest and recover.

Self care is key. Especially as next week is the Easter holidays!! Two small children, self employment, a ton of you lovely people to help out and War & Peace to read at bedtime (a bucket list job) in an attempt to stay off my phone in the evenings!

So that’s me done. Please take care of YOU. You are precious. There is only one of you.

And Don’t smack anyone in the face. Remember that they just don’t get it.

Jules x

Jules Chandler, mBANT is a registered nutritional therapist providing evidence-based nutritional therapy from a naturopathic, person-centred approach. She offers 1-1 consultations from clinics in Keynsham and Queen’s Square, Bristol and via Skype. Her specialty is thyroid disorder and she believes a thyroid disease is never a diseased thyroid.

She is a member of BANT, CHNC, MTI and the World Health Heroes, a network of health and well-being practitioners, promoting affordable health and well-being across local communities. She is an Assistant Clinical Supervisor at the College of Naturopathic Medicine and gives regular talks and workshops on health.

Jules Chandler, DipCNM, , , Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, is known as The Thyroid Expert and is the founder and director of The Thyroid Collective Ltd. She is a lecturer at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Bristol and is currently writing “The Thyroid Book” having published her first book “Three Little Things – a shortlist gratitude journal” in 2020. She is a self confessed “geek” and ensures that she has never, and will never, know everything about the complex beast that is the thyroid and endocrinology system. She moved from London in 2005 and lives with her two daughters, lovely husband, ginger girl-cat, silly sausage dog and a variety of small fish in South Bristol.

Jules spent years working in a stress filled environment within the corporate sector in London before an accident gifted her with a pause in her life. This pause enabled a refocus to discover her real life’s passion; helping others to heal and feel better and she embarked on a two year course, qualifying as an intuitive, holistic massage therapist.

An autoimmune hyperthyroid condition raised its ugly head in 2008, Graves Disease, shifting her focus once more toward an interest in natural health, in particular working alongside conventional medicine. This new interest prompted Jules to embark on her training within a science-based naturopathic medicine programme at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Bristol.  In her second year at the college, Jules was asked by her peers to take an impromptu class on thyroid health and was nicknamed “The Thyroid Expert” by her fellow classmates. She qualified three years later as a Naturopathic Nutritionist.

After the four years that Jules suffered at her worst with Graves Disease, she had no choice but to endure a total thyroidectomy in 2012. Living with Graves disease was life changing. She experienced horrific delusions, bipolar symptoms and inexplicable rages alongside daily debilitating fatigue, extreme muscle pain and constant illness. Post thyroidectomy, Jules felt she had “woken up”. She began to study and learn how naturopathic, natural medicines and alternative ways of living and eating could have reduced the risk of having such a radical operation. Since that point, she has endeavored to help as many people as possible into the management of their thyroid disease. Not just so that they may possibly avoid a thyroidectomy, or radioactive iodine treatment, but to also improve quality of life. Nobody really understands how devastating thyroid disease can be whether it is over-active or under-active. As a patient, and now a science based practitioner, Jules understands thyroid disease in its entirety.

As a practitioner, Jules has helped hundreds of thyroid patients with one to one clinic sessions, local talks, webinars, podcasts, radio interviews and her yearly conference dedicated to thyroid health. She supports clients worldwide via Zoom and Skype.

In 2020, after years of coaching, lecturing and supporting other amazing practitioners with thyroid conditions, Jules has finally collected the beginnings of her much needed “thyroid army”, The Thyroid Collective.  This was launched in April 2020 and is a group of hand picked, Naturopathic Nutritional Therapists dedicated to supporting thyroid conditions to meet the needs of an ever increasing demand of thyroid patients.

In 2021, Jules made the decision to refer all clients to her trusted associate practitioners within the The Thyroid Collective as she studies a BSc in Biomedical Science at the University of the West of England.

Click here to select a trust practitioner within The Thyroid Collective to work with.

Practitioner Webinar – The Impact of Medicinal Mushrooms on Thyroid Health, Hifas Da Terra – 2019

A collaborative webinar with Linda Sims, Nutritional Therapist, lecturer and mycology specialist and Jules Chandler, known as The Thyroid Expert discussing the use of medicial mushrooms in thyroid dysfunction and the impact of medicinal mushrooms on thyroid health

 

Jules shares her personal experience of Graves’ Disease, delves into the workings of the thyroid, the implications of thyroid hormone imbalances and disease.

 

Read more