elephant skin, here i come.

elephant skin here i come! and don't think that i want to come...i just can't help it.

early last year i was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after struggling with a serious bout of depression, a continuously achy body and lethargy *is that a real word?*. i went to the doctor, and thank goodness i'm learning to say what's on my mind *i used to be even worse than i am now at this* because i plopped in the chair and told her flat out, "i think i need xanax. i am depressed and i'm going crazy!" she just looked at me, slid her glasses up higher on her nose and said, "let's see if the problem is physical before we send you off to the cuckoo house ok?" *people it was a joke, she's a great doctor really*. i had been going through so much, but as i slowly got my life together and put my priorities in order, my depression seemed to wane.

i have to note that i never got the xanax script and now i use a healthy dose of Jesus and lots of self-care to combat any depressive thoughts.

anyway, back to the point.

as my doctor was feeling along my throat she noticed lumps and that's how she came to wonder if my thyroid was playing a part. so she gave me a referral for a specialist and i eagerly went, because by this time i was suffering from a calamity of ailments.

the doctor sees me and looks at my face and asks, "is your face always that dry?" and i say "YES!" loudly and clearly because my facial skin indeed has been a progressive problem in the past two years and was one of many situations that prompted me to start my own business. he says, "definitely a sign of hypothyroidism."

so i come to find out that i am indeed hypothyroid, and my skin is a reflection of this. now i have to admit when i found out i didn't flip out or falter, but i told God, "thank You for helping me see the problem clearly, because now We can work on making my life better because of it." i am happy that i took that stance because it's worked, seriously. i sort of embrace my condition because it puts a reason to many problems that i had before and thought i was just weird or crazy to think i had *it was all in my imagination let me tell it*.

i have come to call my skin elephant skin. really, it gets rough and dry and discolored often but especially when i'm under alot of stress, go through extreme change, or when the seasons change. my elephant skin is coming back with a vengeance, and it will be bad this year unless i am proactive about it.

right now i am slathering it up with "Rahab Body Butter" (yes it's named after the prosititute in the Bible but it's not official yet so i don't market it) and it's doing wonders, and i use organic shea butter in between once daily slatherings, but at this moment i have to up this process from once a day to about 4 times...right now my face is on FIRE from the burning of my skin *it burns when it dries out*, and that's crazy because today i slathered on so much butter my daughter said, "mom i can see your face shining from the bathroom" and i was in my bedroom, a good 10-15 feet away.

this elephant skin is really bugging me this time around. it's cracking and itchy and burny, and i have skin burns and a bunch of other calamities on my face. there's really nothing much i can do for it but keep it hydrated and moisturized. i need to drink more water i know...i'm making a concious effort to start drinking more water to keep this stuff at bay...because i notice it does help slightly. but in the interim i'm about to buy a gallon of my own product to keep my face from cracking and falling apart.

elephant skin! i'm here!