just diagnosed with hashimoto and 8 days post op

[bubblytoes]

Please tell me when I will start to feel better. Just diagnosed today. Surgery was 5-23-07 as I had a nodule the size of a large marble on the lower left side of my thyroid. I had a couple biopsy's and couldn't get a reading so I waited a year and half and decided to have it removed. I am happy that I did I can tell the difference already. I had no problems with surgery and I am healing nicely. The staples came out today. I had staples as I have reactions to adhesive tape. As of now my thyroid is not working and my Dr. said it could take up to 2 months for it start working and it may never start working. Then it is meds. I have been reading up on this but just want to hear from real people with the same disease. What kind of meds are avalible and what works good. I am bummed that I have to wait two months or maybe longer to get my thyroid working again.. my biggest complaint is being tired and weight gain. I have had plenty of blood work done and everytime my TSH level was in normal range. but I have had these issues for years just thinking it was because I am getting older that I was tired, dry skin, high blood pressure,joint and muscle pain. I am 41 female. Thank you,
Jean

[rayneweather]

Don't worry about going off topic here, we do it all the time.  I'm glad that anti-smoking drug is working for you.  One of my coworkers quit a little over a year ago and it was such a great day when she had gone one week and then one month and now one year.  It has dramatically improved her energy level and her breathing; I'm hoping the same works for you.  Great to hear you've got a really good GP; there are many people (my mother included) that see multiple doctors and none of them really care or are any good.  Please keep us updated.

Rayne

[bubblytoes]

Thank you Rayne,

I am so happy to find this site where I can talk freely and not feel like a dummy. Your suggestion and other's have been so helpful. I am grateful that I have a awesome GP ( a female) and she listen's and always gives great advice and/or treatment. Oh I discovered sneezing it very painful after having PT surgery, maybe it's just the way I sneeze but oh my goodness I thought I was going to hit the ceiling. Other then that I am on day 11 post op and not much pain at all, maybe just one pain pill at bedtime.
I am a smoker of 26 years and decided to try quit I am trying Chantix perscription only pills. I am doing excellent. This is my first week and can smoke but I am suppose to cut back. I was a pack a day smoker. I am only smoking 2 or 3 a day now. June 4th is my day to stop completely and I think I can with no problems. I hardly have any cravings taking this drug. I have tryed many many many times before to quit and always started again. I can take chantix for 12 weeks and longer if I feel the need. So if any of you smoke and want to quit I suggest trying Chantix it is a wonder drug for smokers.. Wish me luck.. Have a great day. Jean... Sorry got off the main subject a bit..

PS.. Thanks for welcoming me into the group.

[rayneweather]

Getting a good endo is very important, especially one that does a lot of thyroid care.  I found out the hard way (as did a # of others on this board) that a lot of endos focus mainly on diabetes and don't know much about thyroids.  I think seeing your GP is a good idea to see where your thyroid levels are right now and if they're low enough they may want to start you on a low dose of synthroid.  It takes 4-6 weeks for any extra stores of thyroid hormone to work out of your system and if your surgeon is telling you that you have Hashi then there's a good chance that the remaining part of your thyroid won't produce enough hormone anyway since the antibodies will be attacking it.  My suggestion :-)

Rayne (and welcome to the board)

[bubblytoes]

Ahh I just saw your post. Thank you. I am going to make an appointment with my GP and go over this stuff. I don't want to jump the gun but I do want good care. The Dr. that did my surgery ( head and neck specialist) always seems to be in a hurry and I am nervous about telling him to stop and listen.  So I don't say much at all. I had a bunch of questions when I went in to get my staples removed and he told me I had hashimoto thyroiditis but they all went unanswered or they were very short answers. I came home and started reading about hashimoto on here and other sites which was very helpful. I am so pleased to know that I do suffer from a disease after feeling terrible for many years and not knowing what was going on. I will admit that I don't like going to the Dr. and didn't for many many years because I thought I would be told it was all in head. :) Thanks for listening. Take care.

Jean

[ChitChatNine]

My post op tests were A-OK at the 2 week mark and then it went downhill fast from there .. apparently I had stores of hormone the body was using bcz the other side of my lobectomy was not functioning and I went hypo with symptoms.

So I'd push to have a baseline done now and at 6-8 weeks .... C~

[bubblytoes]

Thanks for responding.. I had the left lobe removed. My Doc said he was going to wait 8 weeks then test but I am not sure I want to do that. he is just my head and neck doc ( he did the surgery)  not an thyroid doc.  I better get referred to an thyroid doc I am thinking. My Doc now said I would just go to my general family DR. for blood work. I am going back to work monday half days if I choose and had to do a bunch of running around today and just that made me so exhausted. I can't imagine going another two months or longer. Please give me some advice. I am thinking I should just get me a thyroid doc and get my blood tested. At least he/she would have the history of my case.
Thank you,

Jean

[rayneweather]

What surgery did you have, just a lobectomy?  I had a total and was put on medicine right away so I can't speak from experience about waiting to see what your thyroid will do before starting medicines.  But there is another lady on this board that had a partial and has had difficulties with the other side of her thyroid not functioning and working on getting her medicine to the right levels.  But as for what meds there are - synthroid & levoxyl are the most popular.  They are the same medicine but 2 different "name brands" and there are also a host of generic brands as well.  They are all T4 thyroid hormone.  Then there is a T3 thyroid med called cytomel that is often used in conjunction with the T4 med for people who don't convert T4 to T3 well.  A 3rd med is dessicated pig thyroid hormone of which Armour is the "name brand" and there are generics for this, too.  Instead of being a synthetic human thyroid hormone grown by bacteria it is the thyroid hormone from a pig's thyroid and contains both T3 and T4.  It works well from some and not so well from others and some doctors won't let their patients touch the stuff.  However, it was the standard of care before the synthetic hormones came along.  I hope this helps some.  Is your doctor planning on doing any bloodwork before the 8 weeks are up?  I know that my tsh change drastically change within 4 weeks.

Rayne