When we last left off, I was telling you about my latest round of thyroid woes—my numbers have been all over the chart and I’m having a really hard time regulating my levels with my current medication. Even though my medicines have been working well all along, lately they seem to have given up the proverbial ghost.
I headed back to the doctor for another round of blood work and found out in the process that my fasting blood sugar was too high, and that my physician wanted to test my pituitary gland to see if it was connected to my thyroid issues.
I called my friend who may possibly have Type 2 diabetes and we compared notes. Her fasting blood sugar was normal, but she failed her two-hour blood glucose test. My fasting blood sugar level was too high, but I didn’t have any additional testing yet.
We started talking about our risk factors, and interestingly, we both had babies who weighed over 9 pounds at birth. Apparently this can be a risk factor for developing diabetes down the line, although neither of us know why this is the case. If anyone reading this knows why this is the case we’d both love to hear from you.
My father has diabetes so I have a family connection, and my friend, bless her heart, would be the first one to tell you that she has been meaning to lose some weight for a few years now, so she has that risk factor to contend with.
I went in for my follow-up blood work and an MRI of my pituitary. I half-expected to hear that I had diabetes and a pituitary issue. Imagine my shock when all of those tests came back completely normal. My blood sugar was normal—the previous high reading seemed to have been an anomaly for that day, and my doctor didn’t feel that any further testing was warranted, and the MRI showed a perfectly-working pituitary. As a bonus, my thyroid also seemed to have stabilized.
The one test that came back too high was my cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone, and since I’ve been going full speed pretty much 24/7 for the last bunch of months, this really didn’t surprise me at all. To try to reduce the level, I’ve been trying to get into the pool every evening to walk around in the water or swim and just relax a bit.
As for my expanding bosom that I wrote about in my previous post, so far my doctor and I are not absolutely sure what is causing it. Since I have hypothyroidism, it’s possible that the weight I’ve gained is from that, especially since lately my medicines have not been working so well. I’ve also noticed that my waistline is starting to disappear and I’ve been wearing a lot of sweatpants lately (which I love to do anyway). I want to be pro-active about all of this and continue to be tested and figure out why I’ve had some of these symptoms. But for now, my thyroid seems to have calmed down a bit and I’m feeling better.
I feel as if I’ve walked away from this latest round of tests with the renewed realization of how important it is to take our symptoms seriously and to go in for regular testing and talk to our doctors. But at the same time, I’ve also come to recognize that becoming paralyzed with fear is also not the answer, because sometimes you can be convinced that your symptoms are due to an illness or condition, when they might be because of something completely unrelated and benign.
This is also true for test results—if something comes back too high or too low, it’s okay to ask to be re-tested. If you find out your cholesterol or blood sugar or anything else is too high, try to stay calm and ask for that second test.
On the flip side of this, as hard as it is to find out that you have pre-diabetes or diabetes or a problem with your pituitary gland or anything else, if you are having any unusual symptoms, you absolutely have to go in and find out what is up with your health. You owe it to yourself and your family to do so.