How long does it take to get back to normal after the birth of your baby?

Do you ever get back to normal?

It's been 18 months, and I'm still reeling from the whacked out hormones. I was diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis when my son was 3 months old, after I went to my Doc complaining of a tremor in my left hand and an irritating level of hyperactivity. Heart palipatations, hot flashes, sleeping just a few hours a night -- and my baby was a good sleeper from the very start. On the up side, I had lost all the baby weight. I was convinced it was either Parkinson's or premature menopause. (Or maybe the epidural -- when the Doc inserted the needle, my left leg shot up and kicked my husband; that leg was so numb during the birth, the nurse had to hold it for me.)

"Are you depressed?" Doc asked.

"No," I snapped.

"Perhaps a little anxious?" he offered.

Come to think of it, yes, I had been a little anxious.

He knew right away that it was postpartum thyroiditis. Very common, he assured me. It's a condition where the thyroid, which regulates your metabolism among other things, goes into wild roller coaster swings. When it's in hyper production, you're producing too much thyroid hormone. You lose weight, feel anxious, are always thirsty, always hot, always hyper. Your hair and skin get really dry. Because I was breastfeeding, the only medication they gave me was a beta-blocker, something to calm me down a bit.

Then, the thyroid goes into under-production. You gain weight, are fatigued all the time, and are generally just apathetic. This phase can be easily controlled, just test your blood every week and get yourself some synthetic hormone.

Seems easy enough, but the roller coaster part means you're constantly in swing. In fact, the thyroid is the likely culprit as the cause of post-partum depression.

Finally, I went to an acupuncturist and spent a small fortune to get everything under control. The acupuncture -- and I am not exaggerating -- worked wonders. She explained that the thyroiditis was caused by other things in my body being out of balance; if we put things back in balance, the thyroid would fall back into place. A few months of treatments, herbs to detoxify me, and a little faith in the healing power of my own body, and my thyroid levels came back to normal.

For a while.

I still go through funky months, and the tremor comes and goes. I'm still seeing a fleet of doctors to monitor the situation.

So how about it, moms: how many of us are going through whacked out hormones, and for how long?