Auntlello1
I was in middle school, always tired, sleeping at school, sleeping after school, eating dinner then going to bed. I don't remember how many times we went to the doctor, but it must have been enough to upset my dad because we went for a "second opinion" which is something he doesn't do even to this day. Well, as soon as this new doctor walked in, he looked at me and said, "You have a goiter!, We need to run some blood work". That was before he even felt my neck! Of course the TSH came back high, and I was put on 75 mcg and the TSH went back down.
Around that same time I put on 30 pounds over summer, which made all the other moms feel bad for me (mine had passed away 4 years earlier) because my pom pom uniform didn't fit over my now bigger stomach :( After my mom died at age 8, I was never "skinny" again (I assume because my poor father took us out to eat EVERY single night), but there in middle school is when I really gained weight. The school was pretty good with me, even had a class taken out so I could go down to the nurses office and take a nap midday, and no longer required me to take the typing class (which was mandatory at the time, but they let me out of it anyway) because the constant clicking of the keys was driving me crazy!
Fast forward a couple of years, and I had already been diagnosed with migraines, IBS, I had Mono, and pityriasis rosea. So, not the healthiest person through high school, but still on 75 mcg of Synthroid. There were even months at a time that I would forget to take my medication, but my TSH never seemed to change.
In 2006 I learned of this "new" treatment for hypothyroidism, and drove 90 miles into Chicago to find a doctor who would prescribe Armour. Well, only SIX WEEKS after changing medications, I was pregnant. I had been married for 4 years, with no desire to have children, no thought that we ever could (we didn't use anything to avoid it) and then it happened! I don't care what anyone says, to be married for 4 years without protection, and then to get pregnant after six weeks, that is all the convincing I needed that different medications do different things!
So, from then until now I have tried a lot of different meds, but lost my great DO who moved to FL. He would have worked with me, and was even willing to try out the Cytomel, but he returned to the room all sad and said they no longer made it. Had I known then what I knew now, someone somewhere lied to him. It was his suggestion, so I know he wasn't trying to just shut me up. Now I am on Naturethroid, and although my TSH is now low, and my FT3 is in the high range, I am still working on getting my FT4 up, as it still won’t go above 1.0. So much to learn, and so much to do, but since I finally admitted to myself that I will never have a normal life, and treat it as if it is any other lifestyle changing disease, now I have the strength to carry out the day and do what I have to do, and not get discouraged if I can't do it all.
I would love to put together some sort of Thyroid Lifestyle Protocol, so other people won’t' have to spend their lives looking everything up. Maybe just a top Ten thing, with links to medical research, so they can look it up if they have the time.
I realize there is a lot of BS out there about thyroid disease, but there is a lot of life changing info too. All we have to do is find it and find each other :)
I take .75 daily Synthroid (light purple pill). I've been having skin problems (eye swelling) and just recently a painful/itchy rash on my feet/shins. Online message boards indicate that these ...
Auntlello1 commented on julielwarner's post Skin rash and other side effects from Synthroid?