A: The Part two answer comes from a woman that has lived with thyroid disease for 32 years. At times in her life she has dealt with the disease in the midst of a highly competitive, elite athlete career in South Africa. Her answer is below:
Hypothyroidism and sport performance
At the height of my competitive swimming career, some 32 years ago, I was diagnosed with an under-active thyroid. In a way this came as a relief because the incredible fatigue and the below par performances in training and racing just made no sense to me as a competitive athlete with a love for training and racing.
I was tired of hearing that I was burnt out and over-trained. So when the news came -- I was in fact relieved that I would be able to take medication to treat it and then get back to where I wanted to be as a competitive athlete.
I soon found out it was not that simple and after a few months on the medication I was back to square one. There were days I was tired from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. Other days I was 100 percent fine. It was there and then that I learned that TSH and Free T4 levels need to be monitored and balanced on a regular basis.
For me, that means blood tests every three to six months depending how in-synch my levels are. I sought out a really good endocrinologist that worked closely with me and showed an interest in my well-being as a patient AND as an athlete. During the years that followed, I never felt my thyroid held me back at all. When I moved to the USA in 2001 I needed to, once again, seek out someone that I could work with and trust.
Over the many years, I have found this to be a process of discovery, and I have managed fairly well to keep on top of the problems as they have arisen; but I do find that at times my levels go crazy. More often than not I find imbalance coincides with stressful times in my life and times where I do not pay attention to my diet and rest needs.
Over the years I have also needed to increase my dosage somewhat at certain times when the blood tests indicate the need. Right now I take a particular dosage Monday to Friday, with a slightly lower dosage Saturday and Sunday. In this way my doctor manipulates my dosage to keep me at the required levels. For now, this seems to be working very well.
I am not a competitive athlete anymore, but I do enjoy regular runs where I like to test myself. I feel, for the most part, that I have things under control. I cannot stress enough the importance of finding a good endocrinologist to work with and the need for regular testing to balance your levels.
Do not try to manipulate dosages without clear instruction from your doctor. I firmly believe that once I learned this valuable lesson, I could then focus on my sport rather than constantly worrying about how my thyroid was letting me down.
Libby Burrell
Director International Triathlon Union Sport Development