#blue fingernails

What do I have, exactly?

I was born on Thursday the 2nd December 1971 and today I am 40-something years old on the publication of this blog. When I was born, no-one suspected that anything was wrong. Normally a person with a heart condition is easy to identify. Normally the lips, under the fingernails and toenails as well as tongue are a purple or blue in colour due to lack of oxygen. Unlike “normal” heart condition…

I have the absolute worst time controlling my body temperature. I get hot randomly and I get cold randomly. And usually when I become one or the other it's not like "oh it's a little chilly" it's more like "I think I just landed in the Arctic"

Rather random story that actually happens a lot... I was sitting in class one day and the girl next to me started acting strange and freaking out. When I asked her what was wrong she nearly screamed "your fingernails are blue! are YOU alright?!?" I looked down at my fingernails rather puzzled. They were, in fact, blue. Which to be honest was kinda freaky. I mean, I was breathing just fine and I wasn't THAT cold...

I've started to realize that this happens to me a lot though. I'll be writing a paper and notice my fingernails are blue. Logic would find that this is not normal but quite honestly I don't know why they keep doing that at random points in time. I can't help but wonder if this is just something I face or if everyone with Hashimoto's gets it as well. This would fall under one of the many questions of "is it just me?"

Well anyway, back on topic... I feel terrible some days. I'll be sitting around and suddenly I'll just sweat uncontrollably like I got put in a toaster oven. I'll look around. Nope, the thermostat is at 70 degrees... I should be fine. Not even a cute guy around (which some of my friends used to give this as the answer when I'd complain). I am literally sweating mad out of the blue. And it sucks a ton because at that point it doesn't matter how much deodorant I put on, I still feel really nasty when I finally have a chance to cool down. I can never predict when it'll happen either - that's the really annoying part. It just happens and I just have to deal with it.

Or when the opposite happens and I feel like I'm in a freezer. I'll start shivering and get goosebumps. I'll wear sweatshirts when it is obviously not sweatshirt-season. I'll just get so cold easily. This always seemed to create a small amount of conflict back home as my father LOVES the cold and loves to have our house cold as heck. Luckily my bedroom was next to the heater so if the heater was going to turn on for any length of time, at least I'd feel some of it. But just getting so cold so easily... it bothers me. Especially because I love the snow. And I can't play in the snow as long as I'd like to because before I know it I'm frigid and can hardly feel my fingers or toes.

So here I am, living in a typically hot and humid climate and even in September, wearing a sweatshirt to bed because I just had to be that cold. My roommate probably thought I was weird a little more than once.