You only get one thyroid...

[shelliebear]

And mine is dying.
My mom has chronic hyperthyroidism, and her thyroid will eventually work itself to death.
My sister and I have HYPOthyroidism, which is what someday my mom will have--our thyroids are dying.
It's easier to treat once it dies completely, because then the hormone production has stopped, and your levels are stable. That way you can be on one solid amount of synthetic thyroid.
Mine is still trying to work. Imagine a car with a bad battery or low gas. It'll slow down and shutter, and almost stop working, and then all of a sudden come back to life a little bit and start inching forward.
Since mine, every once in a while, works a little bit, it changes the level of TSH in my blood, and then my dose needs to be adjusted...
I get blood tests every three months. My last one, however, was in October, and the place lost the bloodwork. They just found it today; one of my numbers is at 10.7 and the highest normal amount is 10.0. It should usually be lower than 10, but they had to provide some sort of gradient for abnormalities.
Anyway, with TSH tests, if your numbers are higher on the results, it actually means you're hypothyroid. I'm not sure why. (I sure would like to find out, though.)
In previous tests I remember my number was definitely lower than 10, so it has risen quite a bit in a few months.
But I am hopeful. This can be treated. The exhaustion I've been feeling, sleeping 14 hours a day or more because I have no energy to move or think, mood swings, puffy skin, sign of Hertoghe, etc. can all be fixed, if we can get my thyroid levels correct.
I'm...excited. If we can fix this, maybe I'll be able to get my GED instead of sleeping my life away.
Just wanted to share an update. Though I have to take medicine for the rest of my life, I hope eventually, someday, it will even out, and I'll be normal.

By the way, I've almost kicked my Pepsi addiction. Some days I cave and drink a can, but never more than a can. Yay!
Shellie

[TheWinWizard]

Good luck with it and hang in there. Life is good.

[dragonboy4578]

Best of luck to you...

[L.West]

Hi Shellibear, I also have hypothryoidism and was diagnosed about 14 years ago. I am on a daily medication for it. My dose has only changed once in 14 years.

Although, when I was diagnosed with it I never knew there was a problem - I didn't have any symptoms like you are describing. I went on the meds, get my bloodwork done every year and have been fine ever since.

I sure hope they get your dosage correct - you should feel fine after that.

Good luck.

[JLC]

Good work on the Pepsi issue! Taking control over one issue gives you that much power to step up and take control of something else.

My hubby has basically a dead thyroid. It got blasted with radiation during cancer treatments and didn't come through it very pretty. (But he's totally cancer free now, so it was worth it!) He had his dose tweaked a few times in the beginning, but it's been very stable for the last several years. You'll get to that stable point as well, and so long as you take your medicine consistently and faithfully, you'll not even know you have anything goofed up inside. My hubby is perfectly normal, does not have mood swings any more than the average person with a stressful job, and has no trouble maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy body.

I hope they get your dose settled and it really does solve those issues for you. I wouldn't let them get away with "losing" a blood sample. YOU need to know your numbers, and if they can't tell you because something got "lost", then you go back in for another test. More and more in today's medical field, the patients need to be VERY proactive in their own treatments. You gotta follow up with your own stuff and not expect doctors and staff to do it anymore.

Anyhow....I gotta go and already talked enough, I'm sure! Good luck with it!!

[marwari31]

welcome to the broken thyroid club when I was in my second year of college, I started feeling really bad like you described, extreme fatigue, lowered immune system, lost a lot of weight, hair falling out, itchy rashy skin, yellowing of my palms and eyes, so I got tested for mono and a million other things because they thought I was too young to have a thyroid condition even though it runs in my family. But once I was tested and I was on the proper medication levels ( I have hyperthyroidism) everything went back to normal within a few weeks. I felt a million times better. Now I get blood tests every three months and I am on medication about 4-5 months out of the year. The doc said eventually either my thyroid will work itself to death or i can get it "killed" and taken out. Either way, eventually I will be on medication for the rest of my life.
Thyroid conditions are not a happy event in anyones life, but they are very treatable and very easy to live with once you have the correct dosages on your medications.

When TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) is high, it means that your body is trying to make your thyroid work, but it is not responding so your body sends out more TSH to try and get it to respond. Its a viscous cycle that can be hard on a person.

And congrats on kicking the pepsi addiciton!! Eating healthy will help your thyroid hormone levels stay stable too

[Igby]

I wish you the best of luck on getting your TSH levels regulated.

Congrats on pretty much kicking your pepsi addiction.

[BPelizabeth]

Thyroid conditions are very very common. Mine has been "dying" since right after having my son. I was going for a few years every 3 months but now I typically go once a year. I am just about on a complete replacement therapy. I have one cyst...very tiny and not growing. Basically it will burn itself completely away! I use to be pretty upset about the whole thing but ya know.....in the grand scheme of everything ......its not that bad and completely controllable. Especially Hypo....it is the easier to manage and the least to turn out with anything malignant.

I would insist on a ultrasound of your thyroid though just to insure you have no lumps....or if you do that they make sure it isn't anything.

[mommanessy247]

i'm on thyroid replacement meds and have been for as long as i was able to swallow pills.
funny thing is my levels have always stabilized during my pregnancies, go figure huh?
i have to have my levels checked every 6 months and havent had an adjustment to my meds for quite some time.
the only good thing my thyroid disease does for me is it keeps me from gaining too much weight, which my younger sister HATES me for, haha. we both had our 1st kids like 4 days apart. i lost almost ALL the pregnancy weight just by delivering my daughter and the rest of it just dropped off on its own while my sister had to work out for months to lose her pregnancy weight.
anyways,
can i be added to the member's list for this "broken thyroid club"?

[Kymberli]

Clearly this is a bit late, but thank you for sharing your story. Many people take their health for granted. Hopefully by now you are feeling better and have improved on your Pepsi addiction. Not many people realize how hard it is to kick a soda addiction. I've developed Acid Reflux Disease because of my soda intake. I can honestly say that I can not remember the last time I have gone more than 24 hours without a Diet Coke. I'm one of those people refilling their soda cups at the gas station several times a day. I've surprisingly had better luck kicking my cigarette addiction than I have my Diet Coke addiction. So, kudos to you for cutting back so much!