I am slowly realizing that what I thought was a cute response to maybe getting older and suddenly loving a nap might be tied to my thyroid issue. I worked nightshift from about 1995 to around 2016, loving it, for the freedom it gave me, but realizing that working that way allowed me to only sleep around 6 hours a day. When I was in my twenties and thirties it didn't even seem to be a problem. As long as I got to sleep late once or twice on my weekends, and since I worked 3- and 4-day weeks on a 12-hour shift, I could always catch up, or so I told myself. Suddenly, about 8 years ago I got whiny about being on night shift, it was almost an overnight thing maybe if I hadn't thought it was my body just getting tired of being a night shifter, I would have gone to the doctor. I was at the point where we would go to the movies and I would almost instantly fall asleep, if we went to a restaurant and things weren't fast paced, like having the boys arguing with friends with animated conversations, I would surely fall asleep. The big one is that I could not drive long distances, going out of town would put me in a trance, it worried me a bit, but best I did was let Wife drive, which she would push back at first saying I was just being a baby. It wasn't until we had a few scares, where I almost hit other cars that Wife figured out I wasn't playing, and at least now she will drive if I tell her I don't feel right.
Now that I have been diagnosed with the bad thyroid, it could explain why I seem to always be sleepy, why I am holding on to so much weight, maybe why I even drool so much in my sleep, if everything is swelled up, there is no space in my sinus cavities and the drool is just coming out, which is another gross thing I have noticed lately. A couple years ago, when Covid showed up, I was able to lose around 80 pounds fairly quickly by going low carb/Atkins, but we have been trying to get into it and I am not seeing hardly any improvements, which I am going to tie to this as well. I read that having the thyroid hormones in a hypothyroid condition, where I am not getting enough of them it could slow the body's metabolism, but upon correcting it, the body could lose around 10% on its own, which on a 400lb person, would be 40 pounds or so. I would love a cheat code to help get me close to 350, then I could try and diet down to 300, that would be a fairer fight. The surgeon mentioned sleep apnea, which I said I had never done a sleep study, but surely just removing the huge mass from my neck will open up my airway and just allow me to breath so much better was his thought.
I decided to talk about sleep because yesterday was an especially lazy day, or I might be starting to get worse. I woke at 715am, drank my morning coffee with toast like I do most days. Then I went and worked out, the surgeon said the operation was going to be tough on my body, it would be good if I started walking, so I am trying to at least walk a mile on the treadmill, maybe I'll increase it, since I have a couple months before the surgery. I lifted some weights and then came back down, ate some fruit, then Wife came down. She reheated up the leftover brisket which did turn out well under the care of Mijo, by the way, but like mine, it is still not perfect. I then showered and was in nap mode until almost 5:00pm. We went to my in-law's house for my father-in-law's 81st birthday. I let Wife drive, I just didn't feel the oomph to drive, maybe because it is her family. I did stay awake all the way up there, but I could not stay awake on the way back. This happens a lot, especially after I eat, I seem to fall into some food coma, most of the time. Food makes me sleepy, and they certainly had a lot of food.
Either it is the thyroid working improperly, or food just knocks me out. My mom also adds that my grandfather on her side, her dad, used to eat then take a nap, that was how he operated, which again can mask the reality of a bad thyroid when other reasons seem to make sense as to why I am behaving a certain way. I guess at this point, I only have to wait a couple more months to figure out some realities.
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