hypothyroid

[Grits]

Dannielle, Isn't it funny how our bodies react so differently to things? If I hadn't gotten this routine screening, I never would have thought to get checked for the mild symptoms I am having, while you were having much more extreme symptoms with better test results.

As I am telling friends about my test results, so many of them are saying that they are exhausted all the time. I guess doctors hear it so much, or women don't even bother to report it, that hypothyroid gets undiagnosed a lot. I'm telling them if they really do feel tired a lot, got ahead and ask for some blood work, for pete's sake, and get their thyroid function and iron level checked. It is a shame to not feel the best you can for lack of a simple test.

I'm glad you were able to get on the right meds and dosage and get some relief.

[Flyneagle]

This is a great thread I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism last month and started on 75 mcg of synthroid. I was feeling really drained and just felt off and gained a lot of weight over the past year. I told my gyn dr at the beginning of the year how I was feeling and we ran my TSH and other hormones all in normal range. Well I'm a medical laboratory scientist and last month I was at work and felt awful so ran my TSH again and this time it was 7. Needless to say family doc agreed that was definitely my issue. I'm so glad to finally have a reason to why I felt the way I do.
Now the synthroid at first was making me feel really amped up...like I was going a hundred miles an hour! I think I'm finally getting use to it but my doc wants me to go up to 125mcg and then check my TSH again around the 25th. So that's my thyroid story

[Dannielle]

the weight gain part is a booger, too! Since I spent years with undertreated hypothyroidism I packed on quite a bit of extra weight. Once everything got worked out I was finally able to lose but still had to work to lose it (it didn't just melt away lol). It took me 4yrs to lose a little over 200lbs but it's finally gone. Bike riding helps quite a bit

[Grits]

Dannielle, That is an incredible weight loss - good work!

Flyneagle, Is your MD upping the dosage because you have been retested and your levels were still not where they needed to be? It is interesting that they went from normal to 7 over a period of months, but you were already having the symptoms when they were still normal

[Flyneagle]

No...he just upped it 2 weeks before retesting. It's funny how you can have symptoms for a while before you see the increase in the lab results...but I will say that when the thyroid is out of whack it sure affects everything :s

[Dogmama]

I've been on synthroid for 20 years & just recently (last year) had it increased just a little. My doc says peri & menopausal women are often hypothyroid & can use some help. I'm not a big proponent of pills but I wouldn't go without my synthroid. The generic is incredibly cheap & works for me.

[Catrin]

I admit that I am suspicious over the claims that XYZ diet can address a malfunctioning thyroid. Then again, that suspicion is probably over someone trying to convince me that removing wheat from my diet would address MY thyroid issues....apparently the news that I do not HAVE a thyroid at all didn't change her mind at all.

To me it was kind of like the old adage - if the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. Nothing wrong with checking out different options, but there is so much differing information out there.