Question of the Month - May 2013

[Barb135]

How was your thyroid condition diagnosed?  Was it during a routine exam/blood work or did you have symptoms that pointed to a thyroid condition?  Did your doctor offer testing/treatment or did you have to ask for it?

[ChitChatNine]

My primary care physician found my nodules on a routine physical exam.

Kudos to him! and Kudos to me for going for a physical!

C~

[Lisa9221]

In January 2012 I began to feel really tired and achy. I had a bunch of bloodwork done by the doctor and at the same time took a pregnancy test. Turns out I was pregnant. My tsh came back really low and I was told it was consistent with pregnancy. After a miscarriage in April I wasn't surprised that I did not feel well. But when it got to be June and I had extreme fatigue I started to think something was wrong. I continued to feel worse and worse with new symptoms developing all the time. Finally in November I went to a different doc. She took one look at my tsh from January and said it absolutely was not consistent with pregnancy---I had been hyperthyroid. She tested my TPO antibody and thyroglobulin and both were high. She diagnosed me with hashimotos but said my current symptoms could not be from that because I was currently euthyroid. She said there must be something else. Well it is 6 months later and many doctor visits and tests later and nothing else has been found. Seems I still have new symptoms developing in addition to worsening of old symptoms. Every single symptom can be related to thyroid. I am still searching for an answer and hopefully help. I am new to this site but has already helped to read about other people's experiences. Thanks!

[Red_Star]

This was when i was 15 and there was no internet *cries* lol. My white spots are due to vitiligo but some of these white spots went away when i corrected my B12 deficiency (have autoimmune pernicious anaemia).  

Vitiligo is frequently associated with autoimmune disorders, particularly autoimmune thyroid disease, autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes, pernicious anaemia, Addison’s disease, and alopecia areata

A new study has revealed a substance called pseudo-catalase could be a possible vitiligo cure breakthrough. This substance looks to reverse grey hair too. Sounds good to me! :)

[dgmootry]

I was Pregnant in 1984 living in Oregan Temp. and my Ped Doctor told me when I get back to Okanogan to have my Doctor look at my neck, I had noduals on it, it turned out i was hyper with noduals, I had a ultrasound and they said all was well, so I went about life with lots of energy, had another child no one said anything, up until about 5 yrs ago had another test and they said to see a specialist in Wenatchee, and what she told me, I decided to put off for another 2 yrs or so, well long story short, I went into a thyroid storm, most likely due to eating way to many seaweed wraps, so I went to my doctor right away, scary so scary, they made an appt with my thyroid doctor, and because I was feeling better, I put it off for a few months, but finally went back had the RAI which was suppose to destroy everything thyroid and nodules I guess but didn't which I think is good so far, I'm hypo if i don't take my 45mg of Armour, and this was well over a year ago that i had the Rai and I'm finally feeling better since i've been on the Armour, I still wonder if there was a way I could have controlled my hyper thyroid if I would have know about the seaweed and I know there are foods that help calm the thyroid down, makes me wonder, I tell you if it werent for this site I would still be on Levoxyl and feeling horrible, thanks again to all of you. I still have problems here and there, but getting closer to feeling normal. I;m just glad I never had anything done back when I was raising my children, we didn't have a computer back then, and I would have had to rely on the Doctor for any information and you know if I was raising my children while feeling the way I did while on Levoxyl It would have been horrible, because no one would have told me there were other meds I could have tried to see if they would have worked better, that is truly a scary thought

[dgmootry]

you mentioned white spots on the skin, I have alot of white spots on my arms, had some when I was hyper, now I'm hypo I have a whole lot more, what is it? debbie

[Red_Star]

Thyroid symptoms really kicked in around age 15 although i can't really say when symptoms began and symptoms just keep adding to the long list of unexplained symptoms over time. At age 38 and i started thyroxine. TSH had finally risen to 6. I have cellular issues and it looks like Hashimoto's joined the party in 2009 (when i was extremely ill).  I diagnosed myself from online research.

Hey LazyMoose, my doctor told me my white spots on my skin was due to fungus. Fungus. SMH. :)

[LazyMoose]

Decades ago, I asked the same Dr for 7 years about being tired,  vertigo, aches, hot and cold intolerant, fatigue, and spacing out - brain fog ect.

Then one day I asked him what I know to be vitaligo, he replied it can be common with autoimmune conditions - then a light bulb went off in his head and he ran thyroid antibodies , FT4 and TSH,.....bingo!

7 years!!!!

[goolarra]

Well, I have a good one!

I'd had all kinds of symptoms for about a year.  My back threatened to not hold me up, I was nodding off in the car (as a passenger!) on any trip over half an hour, I slept like the dead, I gained 25 lbs...you know the drill.

One day, my husband (cabinetmaker) was watching Oprah (don't tell him I told you this) back when she used to have Dr. Oz on, and they were talking about thyroid.  My husband looked at the list of thyroid symptoms and said "that's my wife!"  I kind of ya-ya-ed him at the time, but I did investigate later and had to agree it was pretty much me.

So, I got online and ordered a TSH test...ooooh, sixty-something.  Time to call my PCP...

I had to wait a couple of weeks to get an appointment, so I asked the nurse if she could order a thyroid panel in the meantime, and she did.  FT3 and FT4 both in the toilet and waiting to be flushed.

So, I walked into my appointment with the PCP, labs in hand, diagnosis at the ready.  She agreed with me, and then she said this:  "I'm so glad WE'VE finally found something wrong with you that we can treat and that explains you symptoms."  Yeah, please, just write the script...you had absolutely nothing to do with it.

So, the moral of the story is...if you can't find a doctor to diagnose and treat your hypo, you might try to find a cabinetmaker!  LOL  You can remodel your kitchen or bathroom at the same time...

And the rest of the story, as Barb said, is a book in itself...

[Barb135]

I had symptoms for quite some time, the worst one being horrible fatigue, then I began gaining weight, had horrible muscle/joint aches/pains and a few things I didn’t even know were thyroid related.  

In mid 2007, I was diagnosed with Pernicious Anemia and according to my pcp, the B12 shots were supposed to solve all my problems.  While they helped considerably with the fatigue, of course, they did nothing for the other thyroid symptoms.  

One day, in early 2008, when I was in the doctor’s office getting my B12 shot, I mentioned to the nurse giving the shot, that I was disturbed about the rate at which I was gaining weight.  She suggested that I make an appointment with the NP and ask to get tested for hypothyroidism.

I made the appointment and went in a week later.  The NP was not real thrilled about being asked to run the tests and we sort of “bickered” about it, for a while, then she finally agreed, but the only test she ordered was TSH…….. I, then, made an appointment to see the doctor about a week later to get the results.  Fortunately (I guess), my TSH was at 55, so I didn’t have to go through the hassle of arguing over whether or not I had a thyroid issue and whether or not to be put on replacement hormones.

There began my journey……… which is a whole book, by itself……..