I Have Thyroid Disease

Thyroid Information


I have an autoimmune thyroid disease - Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and am hypothyroid. I have been since my 3rd child was born. To give you an idea of what this is like (and to judge whether you are showing symptoms or somebody you love and want answers), here are some of the symptoms as shown at www.hotzehwc.com:

Physical Signs and Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

Fatigue, Weight gain, Cold extremities, Cold intolerance, Decreased sweating, Headaches, Muscle and joint pain, Enlarged thyroid gland, Menstrual irregularities, Infertility, Miscarriages, Loss of libido, Recurrent infections, Allergic disorders, Decreased mental sharpness "brain fog", Depression or mood swings, Hoarseness, Slow speech, Dry skin, Hair loss, Constipation, Fluid retention, Skin pallor, pastiness and puffiness, Enlarged tongue with teeth indentations, Brittle fingernails with ridging, Loss of hair on the outer edge of the eyebrows, Low blood pressure, Slow pulse rate, Low basal body temperature, Tingling and/or numbness in extremities, Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides

I was showing several of these symptoms when I was diagnosed. Almost seven years later, my bloodwork levels are within "normal" range but I am still having too many of these symptoms. That's not right.

I've been on synthetic hormones from the beginning, which I questioned several times but was always brushed off. Everytime I asked my endocrinologist about a natural med for it, I was shoo shoo'd away. It's always bugged me but I figured at the time she knew what she was talking about. Well, we've since moved so I no longer see her and I'm still having a lot of symptoms, I started looking up information. I bought a book Living Well with Hypothyroidism that is proving to be very interesting plus a web site was just recommended to me as having useful information:

http://www.hotzehwc.com/

I've been told that these two web sites below are supposed to be a good source of information and am looking forward to digging into them to find more information (and back up for when I go into my doctor insisting on a medication change):

http://thyroid.about.com

http://www.thyroid-info.com (this web site is the author's web site of the book I mentioned above).

I am going to insist to my new doctor that they switch me to a natural thyroid med to see if it helps. I'd love to get rid of as many of these symptoms that are hanging on that I can. I always attributed those symptoms to other things in life (like age) but I'm 36, not 86 or because of stress. I shouldn't be tired after sleeping all night. I shouldn't be so forgetful when my memory used to be sharp as a tack. I shouldn't still have four nodules sticking out of my thyroid, choking me if I laugh with my head turned the wrong way. That's not normal and it is time to insist on a trial medication change. If my insistence is met with denial, I will find another doctor. I want answers.

Anyway, I know thyroid issues are becoming quite common (like 1 in 8 women now) so I thought I'd put this info out there in case anybody else is showing symptoms that isn't being treated or know you have it and would like more reading material other than just the "synthetic - synthetic - synthetic" treatment some doctors will only use.

If you'd like to test yourself to see if you have symptoms of a problematic thyroid, among other things, try this:

http://www.hotzehwc.com/test/

Good Luck!