For quite some time now I have not felt right, going to work and everyday tasks have required a great deal of effort. I feel that I have been putting off backpacking trips and blaming it on the weather, preferring to catch up on my sleep at weekends. I have also started to get a bit wobbly around the middle and my hiking trousers no longer fit. Changes have been gradual and feeling unwell had become the norm, however it has made me fed up. A trip to the doctors with a list of my symptoms and worries that I may have Lymes disease, due to being a bit of a tick magnet.
A blood test and a couple of weeks later and I was requested to go back and see the doctor. Waiting for my appointment I spent a few days feeling a bit nervous. Turns out that I have an underactive Thyroid Gland meaning that basically my body has slowed right down making me feel sluggish. A prescription of thyroxine so hopefully should be back to my old self in a few weeks. A bit of a relief being given an actual diagnosis, rather than thinking it was all in my head. I have been taking the tablets for a couple of days now and yesterday at work I felt a strange urge to go out clubbing and actually felt excitable for a couple of hours!
Fingers crossed that I can soon backpack again without falling asleep the minute that I crawl into my tent. I may even change from slackpacker to backpacker, who knows. Packing now for a trip to Snowdonia after work tomorrow, not quite got the energy for a backpack so will use the Bongo as a base. Then some posts to catch up on, not got round to writing up Dovedale yet, frankly this week I just could not be arsed……..
I have even started drawing squiggly lines across Anquet maps. Plans are hatching for another week long Northern Highland coast to coast in April, this time across even wilder countryside.
Backpackingbongos 