Hashimoto’s Won’t Keep This Lizard Down

Hello! My name is Tokyo, and I have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an auto-immune disease that basically sucks.

I live in Japan, and contrary to popular belief, living here has not made me skinnier. I’ve in fact gained about 20kg since arriving!

Last year I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, and while my thyroid gland is in good shape, I have a host of other issues, including:

• weight gain & retention
• hair loss (from head)
• hair growth (on chin, in particular)
• brain fog
• energy drain
• late or absent periods
• weak teeth
• constipation (you can see why I chose comic forms over anything incriminating, yeesh!)

I started this blog to basically vent, but also to keep track of my progress. I’ve been slowly trying to get myself into shape through exercise and diet, but it hasn’t been radical enough. That’s why, as of last week, I have gone completely gluten-free (okay, well, I cheated today… I didn’t think one teeny cookie would make a difference… I was SO wrong! Swelled out like a balloon and felt awful the rest of the day.)

So, yeah, the gluten-free thing is happening, which is both easy and hard in Japan. Rice is plentiful, but that’s about it for grains, so I have to be careful.

In addition to the gluten-free diet, I am also starting training for a full marathon taking place in February 2015 in Kyoto. Something like 42km. I can jog about 6.5km in an hour right now…. I have low expectations of finishing the marathon, but it’s a good goal to work towards. I have a long way to go! My body can’t even do one pushup right now, haha.

A little explanation about the Godzilla bit. I’ll switch between my caricature and pudgy Godzilla depending on my moods during this whole thing. Last week was definitely more of a Godzilla week. This week too, so far… but I’m confident the “Tokyo” week is about due.

So, that’s all for now. (Also, shorter posts in the future… promise. :P)