This post brings out a bit of emotion in me, but I feel the need to share to try and help spread the knowledge on Thyroid Disease and how to live a healthy full life when you have it. I'm learning so much...
Now, it's nothing new to know that I have thyroid problems. Most of my friends and family know I've complained about it here and there but it hasn't really seemed to affect my every day life all that much from an outsider's prospective I assume. Since having 'Little Miss', I've experienced a slew of new symptoms that until now I had no idea were directly related to my thyroid disease. I was diagnosed in 2009 with what's called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Sounds a little silly if you ask me... but basically it's an auto-immune disease where antibodies attack my thyroid gland and try to destroy it. That part sounds a little scary, but really it's very common and (as I've come to learn recently) its symptoms are curable to the point of leading a very healthy balanced lifestyle.
The problem, is that my treatment as of now is completely inadequate! (This is the part I get a little heated over) A week or more ago I had a Facebook status that read something to the point of needing more energy to keep up with my kids. I then received a message from my best friends mom who also has thyroid issues, asking me if I'd been able to switch to natural thyroid treatment yet. We had talked about it prior since she was using it with great results but my endocrinologist had refused my request saying it couldn't be regulated enough and my levels weren't stable enough at the time. I soon after got pregnant which can be a little risky as a thyroid patient since they say it affects the baby's brain development if not treated, so again she didn't want to put me on a natural medication. This all made sense to me at the time, but after my friend's mom gave me this website I'm very upset with my doctor's decision.
If you are reading this and have a thyroid condition that you know of, please visit the above site. The sad part is that so many people (MILLIONS) don't even know they have a thyroid issue and are misdiagnosed all of the time!! Since I was in high school (I know this only because hind site is 20/20) I had symptoms that went misdiagnosed. I was put on an anti-depressant for headaches and was told my fatigue was because I was "too active" at 17 years old. (Kids are supposed to have enough energy to take on activity... and I wasn't even in sports!) Later on my symptoms came and went, then after having my son in 2008 I felt like I was hit by a bus.
There are so many symptoms to name, but the main ones I experienced then (and have come and gone since) were;
extreme fatigue, hair loss, dry skin/brittle nails, low grade depression, intolerance to cold, inability to concentrate (brain fog), mood swings, inability to handle stress, etc... some are a little to embarrassing to list. I also have what is called a goiter. My thyroid is enlarged and sometimes gets large enough that people will notice, but is normally not anything anyone else can tell. These things have affected my friendships, my relationships, and have contributed to (in my mind) WAY too much time wasted "sitting on the sidelines"... or the couch.
When I went to the doctor they tested my TSH level and found it to be an outrageous 105 when they say normal range is between 1 and 10 or so (although I've heard a number of variations to this so who do you believe? *que eye roll* ). My endocrinologist said she was surprised I was even able to walk in to her office that day with a number like that, so she immediately put me on Synthroid .75mcg. Here I thought "YAY I'll feel better within a few weeks!!" ...boy was I wrong. As time went on I felt MUCH better!! I started having more energy, losing less hair, having less mood swings, and the list goes on. The trouble though, is that it only helped so much.
The analogy used on the "Stop the Thyroid Madness" website is this;
According to the experience of a large body of patients worldwide, T4-only meds do not do the job, any more than an elevator which only rises to the fifth floor of a 50-story building “does the job.”
Now I've had my second baby, I have a whole new list of symptoms and can't seem to have the energy to do things like exercise, run errands with the kids, or some days... shower. So what does my doctor do?... Ups my dose of Synthroid which is only doing a fraction of what I need... It's NOT helping! Oh and of course I've been told I can have a "band-aid" anti-depressant any time I want, yet they're not willing to switch me to a natrual thyroid medication?? Hmm...
I'm now arming myself with as much information as I can possibly learn in order to bring it all into my doctors office and demand she help me with a new treatment. I will be asking her for a listing of new tests making sure that I have complete control in knowing all of the results and beginning a natural desiccated thyroid treatment. If she wont do it for me, I will find another doctor that will.
I am now also involved with a Facebook group called "Stop the Thyroid Madness" as well where there are many educated thyroid patients working together to help each other through all of the hurdles of finding the perfect doses for each individual's needs and lending an ear to any questions. It's nice to know I can talk to people who understand and have been through things like I have.
Don't get me wrong, I know this is not some life or death situation here... I'm not trying to get a pity party started, and I really debated even writing this for the reason that a non-thyroid patient out there who may not be able to empathize with me, may read my blog and think I'm just trying to get attention or something... but I know that if I can help one person find this knowledge that needs it, I will have helped someone live a more full energetic life ...and that is what matters most to me.
I now have been given the tools to become a stronger more in-charge version of myself and I WILL feel better in time. I'm ready to take charge!! My children and family need me to do this, and most of all... I need to do this for me.
To understand more of what happens when you have thyroid problems, and why doctors are not treating this disease correctly please visit the website... or buy the book online.
Thank you for visit and reading this long-winded blog. :) If you know someone you think may need to read the information on this website, please send it along. Thank you to the wonderful lady who is like a second mother to me for sending it to me, You know who you are :)... and thank you to Janie for creating it!
