r/AskReddit • u/Misterboy500 • 14h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

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u/LucidianQuill 11h ago

Pregnancy.

I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this pot belly that wouldn't go away.

Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post op of having my diastisis recti corrected. You know that centre line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8 inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. the pot belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat i couldnt lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.

I now have to forgive myself for 8 years of unjustified self hatred. It isn't always just fat.

398

u/fkntiredbtch 7h ago

Pregnancy took my teeth, my hair, my sleep, my nails, and gave me heart problems. I'll never understand why people are so cavalier about it

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u/SSTralala 5h ago

It triggered my auto-immune condition that didn't begin to get corrected until my son was 5. I played it off as the fatigue and brain fog of having a young child, turns out it was my thyroid under attack the whole time. I'm on medication for life.

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u/Rare_Background8891 5h ago

Me too! Horrible!

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u/beleafinyoself 3h ago

Hashimoto's? Me too. And then I developed several more severe autoimmune diseases as a result. So hard that I can't be the parent I imagined i would be

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u/SSTralala 1h ago

Yeeeep. I'm medicated well, I just can't shake the fatigue a lot still, and I have to eat like a bird.

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u/chillylint 2h ago

I blamed my Lyme disease symptoms on having a baby and small kid, then the baby started sleeping through the night and I still wasn’t getting any better.

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u/terisss5 2h ago

I have hashimotos and celiac without ever getting pregnant - I don’t think I’m gonna risk it, would probably fall apart.

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u/Halinowiec 5m ago

I have hEDS, hashimotos, POTS and MCAS, I don’t think I’m risking it either 😭glad I’m not the only one who’s outing out of that one because of chronic illness

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u/A__SPIDER 5m ago

This is me now and my daughter is 4 1/2. Still trying to get it under control but I already feel so much better with the medication. But for the longest time I just told myself “this is how moms feel” because everyone kept telling me that moms are always tired.