2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PipneyJane

@Laura_Elsewhere and @PollyWollyDoodle - thanks for the feedback.  I'll go with 4 coupons, which means that at halfway through the year, I've spent half my coupons! 

- Pip

missychrissy

Well done pip, smack on target. I’m looking forward to joining you on July 1. Although I think I’ve only bought 2 t shirts , a pair of jeans and a pack of knickers this year I know I bought a fleece and 2 pairs of short Hotter boots during the winter but I couldn’t remember if it was Dec or Jan, so I thought it was fairer to start with a clean slate on July 1. I only bought those because I finally admitted I needed a size 12. I’ve always been between 7 n a half stone and 8 n a half stone apart from pregnancy but since retirement 5 years ago I’ve piled it on even though I’m active. I am borderline under active thyroid but GP won’t start me on thyroxine until every blood test shows under active. I’m supposed to go every 3 months for a blood test but I admit it’s over a year since I’ve been. I don’t feel like being a pin cushion. If I dropped a bit of weight I would have a whole wardrobe open to me that’s just sitting there.

PipneyJane

missychrissy said:

Well done pip, smack on target. I’m looking forward to joining you on July 1. Although I think I’ve only bought 2 t shirts , a pair of jeans and a pack of knickers this year I know I bought a fleece and 2 pairs of short Hotter boots during the winter but I couldn’t remember if it was Dec or Jan, so I thought it was fairer to start with a clean slate on July 1. I only bought those because I finally admitted I needed a size 12. I’ve always been between 7 n a half stone and 8 n a half stone apart from pregnancy but since retirement 5 years ago I’ve piled it on even though I’m active. I am borderline under active thyroid but GP won’t start me on thyroxine until every blood test shows under active. I’m supposed to go every 3 months for a blood test but I admit it’s over a year since I’ve been. I don’t feel like being a pin cushion. If I dropped a bit of weight I would have a whole wardrobe open to me that’s just sitting there.

I have an underactive thyroid, @missychrissy, so I feel your pain.  Apart from weight gain, I felt constantly tired +/- brain fog. Ever felt like you were on an old fashioned telephone call, the sort where the person you are talking to would speak and then there'd be a delay before they were heard?  Well, it's a bit like that, except that the delay would be between my hearing their voice and comprehending what they said.  All my reactions slowed down which, since I had to do a lot of driving at the time, could have been quite dangerous.

You may not want to be a pin cushion, but it's worth it to get a diagnosis and treatment.  By not getting tested, you've pushed your diagnosis back by a year or more.

- Pip

joedenise

Definitely speak to your Dr @missychrissy about getting another blood test done - you probably don't need to see him/her, just a telephone consult and (s)he can arrange for you to pick up the form to get the test done.  Hospital blood test places are much quieter than usual at the moment - I know this because I had to get a blood test done shortly after lockdown and instead of having to wait the usual 2 hours or more I was in and out in less than 15 minutes.  I'm hoping it's the same next month when I have to have another one done - I've already got the form so don't even need to go to the GP to pick up a form.

Please get it sorted!  I used to have to take tablets but since it was discovered it wasn't actually my thyroid but my parathyroid causing my problems (after 4-5 years on thyroxine!) I've had a op to remove one of them and now I don't need the tablets anymore.

PollyWollyDoodle

Thanks Laura - Obvious as it sounds, I hadn’t actually realised that it needs to be higher than hip height. I have been resting it from time to time, and walking doesn’t seem to make it any worse, it’s just really annoying. I’m going to try that, thanks very much!

Missychrissy, this is the second time I’ve torn the ligaments in this ankle. I recall the physio saying last time, about 15 years ago, that it’s like knicker elastic – once you’ve stretched it it never quite goes back! I have remembered that I had difficulty with swelling that time, and eventually I had acupuncture which sorted it out.

Laura_Elsewhere

@PollyWollyDoodle - you can see why it used to drive my poor aunt up the wall - she could never understand why on earth doctors didn't take the extra 10 seconds to add "and it needs your foot higher than your hip" when telling patients to rest with their leg up! Time and again she'd have to go and see someone, as District Nurse, and she'd find they were putting their foot 'up' on a little six-inch foot-stool - get them putting it up-up (as she called it!) several times a day for 20 minutes or so and have 'em skipping around like a spring lamb in a few weeks  

I'm very happy here - my chap was driving his son to his home from his latest bout of surgery, and paused briefly here to collect some things for him, and popped up to get me so I could say hullo - first time I've seen him since February, having only met him for the first time in November! Still grinning like a loon... he really is such an unexpected added bonus to loving my chap...  

joedenise

I must have been very lucky with my GP when I badly sprained my ankle about 30 odd years ago as I was told to keep my foot up above my heart - that is certainly higher than my hip!  Not sure I could get it that high now though!

missychrissy

I know know you are right about getting my blood taken but I spent years going every 3 months and I’d alternate between under active and into normal range. It was my GP son that recognised my problem when I complained his house was cold (in July).  Both  my parents had under active thyroids. Apparently I’m not producing thyroid stimulating hormone.  I’ve got the form and I will go. I’ve discovered that I only put on weight around my middle. I have thin arms and legs, even my bum is ok. I’m like a little barrel looking 10 months pregnant. One of my daughters in law told me a few weeks ago than my trousers were too big for my bum but I need that size to get around my big belly. Thank you for listening.

PipneyJane

Good morning everyone 

I got woken by the rain at 6am, then remembered that I hadn’t rolled on the ledgers last night because I went to bed with a splitting headache and forgot.  (It’s month-end at work.). You might as well have poured cold water on me - I went from dozy to wide awake in seconds.  I’ve rolled on the ledgers and... here I am.

Yesterday afternoon, I started thinking about purchased fabric face masks.  (DH is a Liverpool fan and they are selling branded masks.). I think you will agree with me that they should be exempt.  They fit into the spirit of the blurb at the bottom of the original announcement, which exempts compulsory (male) work garments like boiler suits.  Mask wearing is compulsory on public transport and, I suspect, will become compulsory in other places in the near future.

missychrissy said:

I know know you are right about getting my blood taken but I spent years going every 3 months and I’d alternate between under active and into normal range. It was my GP son that recognised my problem when I complained his house was cold (in July).  Both  my parents had under active thyroids. Apparently I’m not producing thyroid stimulating hormone.  I’ve got the form and I will go. I’ve discovered that I only put on weight around my middle. I have thin arms and legs, even my bum is ok. I’m like a little barrel looking 10 months pregnant. One of my daughters in law told me a few weeks ago than my trousers were too big for my bum but I need that size to get around my big belly. Thank you for listening.

How frustrating for you! Surely they could give you a very low dose? FWIW, I didn’t go to the doctor with symptoms - my blood was tested as part of infertility screening - and was prescribed thyroxin after that one test.  (I remember looking at the GP and saying “that makes sense” before telling her about the waves of tiredness, feeling cold, the weight gain, etc.  At that point, she’d already written the prescription.)

Gaining weight around your midriff is a classic hypothyroid sign.

- Pip

PollyWollyDoodle

I definitely think facemasks should be exempt. They’d be in the same category as gas masks, surely?

I had low thyroid levels, but not low enough to get medication, for years. I kept asking for tests and it was such a relief when they finally fell below the level at which they will prescribe. Some people have symptoms even if their levels are quite high.  It can take a while to get the dose right, mine has been stable for a few years but I get tested every year.  However I remember the GP asking me ‘Do you feel tired, is your hair getting thinner, does your skin feel coarser and are you putting on weight’ and saying to him ‘ask any woman my age, and they’ll probably say yes to all of those!’