Another clue that my menstrual cycle was just off (again) instead of being pregnant should've been the small eczema patches on my leg and chest this past week or so. I only get eczema when my thyroid needs attention. Once my thyroid hormones get close to where they should be, the eczema goes away quickly.
I get blood work next week so that'll give me some clue what my thyroid has been up to this past month.
From what I've read, there are higher incidences of thyroid disease than what the doctors find because labs aren't read correctly. If you're experience fatigue, memory/focus problems, skin problems, weight gain or loss, or worried about hair loss prevention, and other unexplainable symptoms, you need to ask for thyroid labs be drawn (Free T3, Free T4, TSH, T3, T4, ferritin (iron) come to mind off the top of my head) and see if your problems are your thyroid (or your doctor's inability to read the lab results correctly. There are new standards in place for some thyroid lab results that the labs and doctors don't even follow!
It took doctors almost nine years to figure out I had a reverse T3 problem!
Crazy, right?
I have taken a "hands-on" approach to my health the last few years after severe disappointment in how doctors were treating my thyroid disease - and not listening to me. I am doing better now than I have in the past eight years and still improving.
Along the way, I have read up on progesterone (and figured out why I spent 36 months - four pregnancies - with morning sickness 24/7), cortisone, iodine, and human growth hormone. I read one of Suzanne Somers' books and I believe she takes human growth hormone.
I stopped taking iodine a few weeks ago when I plateau'd with my weight but am going to start taking it again. I need to clear out all the receptors of fluoride and bromine so iodine can replace it where it belongs for a healthy thyroid (and breast tissue as well - very important to prevent breast cancer).
If you aren't happy with how you feel, listen to that feeling. You know yourself better than the doctor. If something feels wrong and they won't listen, find a doctor that will. I am a bit angry that I spent the last eight years feeling miserable because of doctors. There was no reason too - it was an easy fix and they just wouldn't listen to me because the pharmaceutical companies have them in their pockets.
The new doctor to handle my thyroid disease treatment is AWESOME!! Finally a doctor who listens and thinks outside the little square box most family doctors and endocrinologists put themselves into when it comes to thyroid disease. The things I practically begged my family doctor and endocrinologist for - that's all normal treatment options for him!
I'll summarize: He is raising my T3 and advised treatment for anemia and Vitamin D deficiency (the other doc wouldn't do a thing). Instead of making me feel like I was asking for something detrimental to my health or like I needed drug rehab for wanting my T3 raised for my thyroid like the other doctor, I actually felt like crying a few times because I was so happy to have some hope that I may eventually feel good again!
Oh yeah, the rash I was complaining about - NOT hives. It's eczema. Hydrocortisone cream and raising my T3 should help my skin problem too.
I was gushing so much about how happy I was with this doctor, my husband asked me, "How old is this doctor?" LOL. Not within an age group you need to worry about, honey!
I have broken up my weight loss into three milestones so that meeting each one is quicker which gives me encouragement to move onto and finish the next milestone. I'm managing my thyroid medication by symptoms and it's been working so much better.
I've lost some of the weight I've gained since getting thyroid disease. I'm right at the start of the second milestone (ten pounds to lose in this milestone) but I'm at a standstill. The weight isn't coming off again. I'm also losing more hair than I should be and am always cold. Rather than give in and find best weight loss pills, it's time to increase my thyroid medication a very little bit to help take care of these symptoms. As hypothyroid symptoms decrease, so will my need to increase medication.
Optimizing my hormone levels is what is working for me right now. I'm not ready to give that up yet!
That's what my endocrinologist told me during my last visit when I complained about the weight gain because of my thyroid disease. I told him I don't over-eat, used to be tiny, etc. Instead of him even considering that my thyroid disease, which slows down your metabolism, is to blame, he said, "Just reduce your calories by 100 calories a day and you'll lose 20-25 pounds in a year." I wanted to hit him! A doctor who is SUPPOSED to be knowledgeable about thyroid disease was an idiot!
I seriously doubt anything but getting my thyroid function optimized is going to drop this weight, not even diet pills. I am going to change doctors. I was just not happy with this doctor at all. His "cookie cutter" treatment for my thyroid disease was:
Oh yeah, and this was before he'd even examined me for the first time!
Read more...Oh great, just what I wanted to hear since I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (and hypothyroidism).
A recent study in the Journal for Scientific Research is showing an increased risk of of developing thyroid cancer if you have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is confirming other studies done that have indicated this.
The article I read is here.
I am always interested in finding other ways to treat my thyroid disease because I just can't stand the thought of taking medications for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, it's been over seven years since I was diagnosed so I highly doubt there is any way for me to "fix" my thyroid - the damage is probably done and permanent. However, if there is something that might "help", I am all for researching it.
I've noticed while reading magazines the past few months the same term that keeps cropping up that has shown success with some people with thyroid disease. The word is "ashwagandha." I am seriously interested in researching this more.
Has anybody heard anything about Ashwagandha and thyroid?
I am going through some articles I've saved...trying to clear the clutter off my table. Since I have thyroid disease, this article about hypothyroidism caught my eye and ended up part of my clutter. It is an article from Health magazine (health.com), the May 2007 issue.
It says a thyroid needs iodine (not too much or else you'll cause other thyroid problems), selenium, and magnesium. My husband would like this - it says sushi is a good source of iodine. He loves sushi. I guess I should be popping my multivitamin more often. I will pass the sushi, seafood, and kelp to my husband and stick to my vitamin.
It talks about raw cruciferous veggies (like broccoli and cabbage) interfering with iodine and thyroid hormone production (so cook them).
I've heard some controvery over fluoride and not just in relation to thyroid. I've heard that you shouldn't be using fluoride toothpaste or drinking water with fluoride. It's one of those things where you just don't know who to believe. Our tap water doesn't have fluoride added to it so the kids have fluoride "swishes" once a week at school. This article talks about how fluoride can decrease production of thyroid hormone and how it moves thru your blood. They recommend rinsing well after brushing and not drinking too much fluoridated tap water.
The last thing was to manage your stress (good luck with that I think to myself). Keep to a workout schedule. Get enough sleep. Ha! Good luck with any of these three if you are a busy mom. Many more good luck wishes if you're a stepmom!
DOCTORS
I've made an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow for my asthma. It's not getting better and it is very unusual for this to affect me like this since starting Advair a few years ago. It's a bit scary. So, I'll see my doc in the morning and find out what the heck is going on now.
I'll also get my actual thyroid and adrenal gland test results other than being told they are "perfect" on Monday like I was - I want NUMBERS PEOPLE!! I want to know what they consider normal or perfect and keep track of these things like a good, aware patient should.
I also have an appointment for my oldest to have her finger looked at again. It's still causing her pain and throbbing and it's now been a week since she injured it.
VALENTINE'S DAY
Valentine's Day was a good day for everybody in our house. Hubby surprised me when I woke up this morning with a big teddy bear, card, and chocolate. For our four kids, we bought them each their own baby box of chocolate and small, stuffed animal and a little dollar toy for each of them. For my stepkids, we sent them each a poster-sized collage of family pics of everybody that included them too. We also created a web site for my stepchildren with their own personalized domain name. We made a Valentine's Day page with lots of happy wishes and love posted on it for them from us. We didn't hear a word from them on it or at all about anything today. No big surprise (they rarely contact dad and never contact anybody else in the house) but still somewhat disappointing. Our four kids were so grateful and full of hugs. They were thrilled with what they got and we only spent about $5 on each of them. It's good to know we are raising our four kids to appreciate and be grateful.
EVERYTHING ELSE
Speaking of this web site, we created a private forum on there since my stepkids won't allow dad access to their myspace pages. It's perfectly safe as you need to register and be approved to view and post. Did they rush and register to chat with us? Nope. Despite being online several times today, nope. The reason given why we couldn't get on their myspace was that it was only for their friends and not even their mother has access per stepkid. That's not true, unfortunately. Disappointing to be lied to. Not only does their mother have access (as she should...as should dad!!), maternal uncle has access via his personal myspace page AND band page, as well as a friend of their mother's! Yet dad isn't allowed. We've sent friend requests several times and they are all denied. Soooooo, we thought - ok fine...we'll make this private forum so they can keep their myspace (even though I think dad should light into his kids for lying to him and being so disrespectful AND send a request to their mother to be added - he IS dad!!! It's not my problem though.) so we can chat with them in our own private space. No dice so far. Let's see if they register to come into our private forum created just for them anytime soon. *sigh*
Our two year old cut her hair a few days ago. Her first haircut was given by herself to herself by stealing a pair of (blunt tipped) scissors off the bed that my daughter was using for homework and snip-snip.
I was woke out of a dead sleep at 3:00 a.m. this morning to hear somebody coming in the house! It turns out that hubby came home last night at 3:00 a.m. early because he was sick. It's a good thing I figured out who he was before using the bat on his skull!! My first instinct when I hear somebody coming into the house, at an unusual time for anybody to be doing so, was to grab my bat and be ready to swing to protect my kids. I figured it out before having to meet hubby with the bat. Good thing for his skull! A freaked out, dazed from sleep, mother wanting to protect her babies and wielding a bat is NOT a good thing to meet at 3:00 a.m. Though I know I could use it if I had to. I have no problem protecting my own. It's good to know that when it came down to it, I didn't freeze up.
I spent a few hours today putting pictures in albums. I've only done three years so far (I take a lot of pictures). That leaves my childhood pictures all the way up to the year 2000 with marriage and kids and then from September 2004 - present to print and put in albums. I've only done 2001 - 2004 so far. I have a lot of work ahead of me.
I was notified this week that I've had a couple of product reviews approved for publication. So, that's cool!!
I called my doctor for my thryoid lab results. I was told they had just mailed them to me (so I should see them tomorrow or Monday), but that they were all perfect. "Perfect." OK. Don't know what that means in terms of numbers but we'll see when the letter gets here. I guess it means my thyroid med dosage is good. Damn. Wish the stupid symptoms would go away then. I was so hopeful too... Maybe I'm being impatient though. I guess 6-1/2 years of symptoms can do that to a person:)
I took our daughter to the pediatrician today to find out the pediatrician's thoughts on why she kept falling asleep this week around the clock and was light sensitive with headaches. The pediatrician is stumped. She said it is "odd" but that she would wait to see if it happened again. The frequency of this second occurrence (1-1/2 years after the first occurrence) is odd and she'd hold off on scans and other tests unless it happened again. She doesn't think it is hormonal related. She didn't think the fatigue would be so extreme from hormones. She mentioned migraine but our daughter doesn't usually have headaches and didn't have them all the time thru all of this - just part of the time so that was ruled out. I had migraines when I was pregnant with our son (the only time I've had migraines which is how I knew we were having a son) and what our daughter was experiencing, while some similar symptoms, wasn't close enough to be migraines. (I really hope not because week-long migraines would really suck.) She had them (headaches) periodically this past week and because of the light. While we were there, we also had her look at her finger she hurt in basketball last night. Doc thinks she stretched a ligament and it is wrapped. If her finger isn't feeling better next week, she will see her again. She probably won't be playing in the game Sunday unless her fingers makes a rapid improvement.
My asthma has been giving me a problem everyday since I had the flu a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure what the difference is now but something has definitely changed for the worse. I haven't had this many problems with my asthma in years. That scares me a bit. The last bad asthma attack almost killed me my doctor said after my trip to the ER.
That's all for me tonight. I'm tired and am going to hit the hay. I have some thoughts on parents who know their kids lie and do nothing as well as parents who encourage their kids to lie but I'll save that for another time. I'm too tired to care enough to give that issue my time right now. I'd rather be sleeping, lol.
Well, I've been on my new thyroid medication for a couple weeks now. No flighty mood changes since the very beginning so that has leveled off at least. No changes though either (yet) which I was really hoping to see sooner rather than later. I was hoping that the first prescribed level would be perfect and all these symptoms would disappear and all would be well. Not real realistic huh? Oh well. I get tested soon so I'll know where I stand then as far as prescription dosage. *Fingers crossed this is going to give me more relief of symptoms*
Read more...Well, it's been about a week since my new doctor changed my thyroid medication (at my request so I was happy she was so readily agreeable to hearing me). I am hoping to see some relief from some irritating symptoms.
Previously, I had been on the same thyroid medication for 6.5 years, since I was first diagnosed. I was still having a lot of thyroid symptoms but my previous doctor, an endocrinologist, always brushed my symptoms off. Tired? Oh, you have kids. Stressed beyond belief? Oh, kids and "that" issue (we'll leave the "that" for another post in the blog...maybe). Hair falling out? Stress from kids and "that" issue. Itching? Whatever. Depressed? Can't be your thyroid because your levels are FINE. Symptoms must be related to something else. Irritable? Look at how many kids you have. Brain fog? Mom of four kids...again. Boy, my kids were blamed for almost everything! I'm sorry but if parents had THIS much BS to deal with regularly from their kids (and MY kids are basically good, sweet kids), if it affected them SO badly, I don't think people would continue to have kids. Besides, I had also been to my family doctor and my ob/gyn. Everything else was ruled out.
She was the only Endocrinologist in our area and she was who I went to. Then we moved. There isn't an Endo in our immediate area, but the doctor my husband goes to seemed like a possibility. It is a family and sports medicine practice and she specializes in "women's issues". Off I went to my appointments:)
I asked her at my second appointment if I could change to Armour. I explained that some of the symptoms were only evident since my thyroid disease diagnosis so either 1) the medication was causing it or 2) the medication wasn't enough to take care of the symptoms. She listened to me! It felt good to have a doctor open to hearing what I had to say or how I felt about my health.
I also didn't want synthetic hormones anymore (unless I have to). I won't be stupid and refuse the medication if Armour doesn't work and the other works better but I have to try. I want to try.
So, it's been about a week. My moods were a bit odd the first few days. I was a bit loopy for a couple hours (like an airhead, lol). I was relentlessly teasing with my husband. I'm not sure if that was medication related or just holiday related. He said I was getting annoying, lol. However, he also said if this new medication helped my moods, that'd be good. That must means he's willing to put up with my teasing. Yeah for me because he's fun to tease. After a few hours of being a bit of a ditz, I crashed for a little while. I was SO exhausted. That lasted a couple hours too and then I was back to my regular self. My moods seemed to have stabilized - no more off the wall goofiness or crashing a few hours later. Good!
So, now I wait. In about three weeks, I'll have my hormone levels tested through blood tests. If my doctor needs to adjust medication levels, she'll do so after she gets those test results.
Here's hoping to a noticeable improvement in thyroid symptoms! Cheers!
Well, it WAS 5.7 pounds but it is the holidays. Give me a break. I lost that in the first four days of my "diet" too but by the fifth day, I couldn't stand it anymore and I cheated. That led to constant cheating. Thus, no more "diet" did I follow. I have managed to keep some of the weight I had lost off though the past few weeks, despite the holidays. Plus, I have to keep hiking up my pants so even that small amount of weight loss did make a small difference.
I have lost 1/4 of what I wanted to lose in total weight though so that isn't too bad. The diet the doctor gave me to follow just included too many foods that I could not eat without gagging (certain vegetables and fish). I think I am going to modify it a bit to include more foods (proteins) that I like with the veggies I like and cut out the foods that I couldn't stand, that discouraged me from this diet. Obviously, it was working (even if some of the foods was making me want to vomit). This diet isn't a "diet" so much as a different way of eating healthier foods, while cutting out oils, butter, and dairy. Definitely not a bad thing.
Here's hoping to more weight loss in my near future!
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!
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