Thyroid woes

Anyone who suffers from thyroid problems can relate to that medical doctors are pretty much useless when it comes to dealing with thyroid issues. Hypothyroidism runs in my family, so my experience is pretty much limited to underactive thyroid or hypothyroidism. I developed an underactive thyroid after the birth of my second son. The doctor who delivered my son told me to diet. My childhood family doctor diagnosed a thyroid problem. I had a resting pulse of 58. He told me that if I wasn't currently training for the Olympics, I had a thyroid problem. See how easy that is? And he was right! My doctor who delivered my son could see that the thyroid medication he didn't prescribe was helping me, so until he retired to a desk job, he monitored my TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) and continued to prescribe the thyroid supplement. For those of you who suffer from thyroid problems, you should be aware that the old standards (which most doctors still religiously adhere to) are that a "normal" TSH falls between .6 and 6. In 2003, the official Endocrinologist (gland doctors, for those of you not familiar with the term) organization decided too many people were being undiagnosed, so they lowered the standards to .3 to 3. If you're young, you probably want to be in roughly the "2" area, but for those of us a little older, we need to be in the lower range. Regardless, this is the best way to look at your perfect TSH. Normal shoe sizes for women are between 6 and 10. Normal clothing sizes for women are between 6 and 16. Following the "normal" guidelines for TSH, every shoe between 6 and 10 should fit you, and every piece of clothing between 6 and 16 should fit you? Make sense? Not at all. The bottom line is you have to find the "normal" that fits you.

In 2006, I developed a virus that attacked my thyroid gland. My new family doctor, who was an egotistical know-it-all (we fired each other) read my TSH of zero as that I was overactive thyroid. I knew that to be false, but when he suggested a gradual decrease in my thyroid supplement, I decided I would try it. Big mistake. His ego told him my agreeing made him right and he just about killed me. I gained 45 pounds in a little over a year, was irritable, couldn't focus or concentrate or stay awake, had severe muscle cramps from the neck down, my hair fell out by the handful, the inside and outside corners of my eyebrows fell out regularly, I had chronic sinus infections even though I'd never had them before, I began to snore, my skin was dry and pasty looking, I craved carbohydrates, I lost all the hair in my armpits and pubic region, I retained tons of water. Now you'd think my doctor would notice something was wrong, but you'd be mistaken. He couldn't get his nose out of the test results long enough to notice anything.

I found a new doctor who referred me to the leading endocrinologist in the area. It took her 3 1/2 months to fit me in, and then she told me, without ordering any new tests, that I shouldn't be taking any thyroid supplement, that my thyroid was habituated to being overstimulated, and that she doubted I'd ever had a thyroid problem - ever. I was furious. Back to the new doctor, who could see something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what it was. In an effort to try to feel alive again, I began taking kelp. Word of caution: do not take kelp if you are taking a thyroid supplement as this will drive your blood pressure to dangerous heights. She finally referred me to another endocrinologist, who diagnosed me with Grave's Disease. Yup. That's overactive thyroid. She was wrong too, but at least this got us all on the track that it was a virus doing all of this. When all was said and done, the endocrinologist (old school) was satisfied with my 4.7 TSH, even though that was clearly underactive thyroid by the new standards. My new family doctor agreed with me and put me back on thyroid supplement. I gradually increased the dosage until I felt well. I now take 125 mcg of Eltroxin and have a TSH of about .5.

The downside is that I was hypothyroid for long enough that my entire metabolism is messed up and even taking the correct amount of thyroid supplement isn't helping me to lose weight. Still, I feel alive again for the first time in a long time, and that's worth more to me right now than an immediate weight loss.