Hi there, I have mysterious problems, and I wonder if mold is causing them.
I was diagnosed w Graves' Disease in March 09, after being sick since Dec. 08. It is an autoimmune disease that caused serious hyperthyroidism. My hormone levels gradually lowered, so while I started in Dec 08 taking 20 mg of Tapazole a day, now I only take 5 mg/d. Now they even say I have HYPOthyroidism. They don't know why. Is that Hashimoto's? I also was taking 50 mg of Metoprolol for racing heart, but now I take only 12.5 mg of Metoprolol. That took some getting used to - the withdrawal is hard and scary. But is ok now.
Now, my thyroid hormone levels in the blood show relatively normal, taking into account that I am taking medicine for hyperthyroidism, and my doctors think I should be fine, given the results of their tests. They want me to see a psychiatrist! I know I don't have psychiatric problems, based on what various people in the health care sector have told me. They just don't know what to do with me. But for the emotional part of my problems, thyroid problems are notorious for causing those.
Every day I am exhausted and sleep for about 2 hours, for every 2-4 hours of activity. During these times I need to sleep, I have thyroid pain, can't think straight, and feel weak. The pain used to go away after sleeping an hour or two. For awhile, I improved so I only needed to rest for 40 min and I was ok again for 3 hours. But not anymore.
Sometimes I also have aches and pains, and I am usually very thirsty, like all the time. I will wake up at night because I am dry and must drink - I drink a glass of water before bed, 2-3 glasses of water during the night, or more, and more all day! I get anxious and nervous meeting people, where before I was very sociable, and I am a teacher, but cannot teach right now because of this condition. If I don't drink enough, my heart races until I drink a glass of water or two. Also it is hard to maintain my body temperature. I am senstitive to heat. Often at night I get too hot, then too cold, then too hot, etc! So it's hard to sleep.
That has all been going on for 9 months, but it was way worse before. In May I could only stay up 1.5 to 2.5 hours at a time. Now, sometimes I can do 4 hours, usually just 3, and this week, sometimes just 2.
The past two weeks I have had constant thyroid pain, and my thyroid was cold. then on Tuesday I went to the emergency ward because, since Monday, I also had excessive thyroid swelling: it stretched out to the sides of my neck and around the sides of my neck. I also on Tuesday I had more swelling on my back and head, that came and went! I was very weak and extra tired and not able to think well or take any kind of kidding around. And I've been getting hungry in the night, having to eat nuts around 2 am, before my body will go back to sleep - I had problems with hypoglycemia before and if my blood sugar is low I will wake up. That can be caused by hyperthyroidism too.
And my mind is starting to race again, so I think maybe it is going hyper thyroid again. Because on Monday after all the pain and cold, I decided I needed to lower my medication from 7.5 mg/d to 5 mg/d, and my doctor agreed when I told him. (I know how my body acts when the meds need to be changed.)
The blood tests at emergency showed normal. They said the inflammation might have been due to a virus? They told me to take Naproxin 2 tabs, 2x / d, which helps sometimes, but sometimes not at all. One time I actually felt worse. I am still on Tapazole for hyperthyroidism, and showing symptoms of hyper AND hypo thyroidism. The doctors are confused. I just want to get well.
Also my naturopath says I have adrenal fatigue, and, indeed, when I went off the herbal remedy for a week, in August, I got so sick and lethargic, and it took 3 or 4 weeks to get ok ish again when I restarted. I have still not recovered from that setback and it is now December. When I do Reiki on my adrenals, I feel more peaceful and much better and more energetic. The medical doctors tests do not test for adrenal problems milder than Addison's,although if they did they would help many many people. So they say my adrenals are fine.
But they cannot explain my problems.
So I wonder if it's the mold. I have been staying at my parents', and resting well, since Tues. It is now Monday again. Getting better. Today I went to my place to get it ready for me to go back, and I realised how much mold there is there. The fridge had all this moldy food. I cleaned it out this evening. The mold has got out into the rest of the apt. I have houseplants to clean the air, but I don't know if the mold will go into them, or if they will help me. I got stuffy just being there, and my lungs started to hurt. When I take Respiractin Deep Lung Cleanse, this clears up!
I wondered if the mold is going into my body, into the thyroid, and causing autoimmune disease. I heard the mold can go into the thyroid, then the body attacks the mold and because it is in the thyroid, the thyroid suffers. I read somewhere that it caused adrenal problems for some people too.
Thanks for reading. I'm pretty tired so it makes me ramble a bit, but I think you can get the idea. Please let me know what you think. Thank you. Rachel in Canada
This discussion is related to
Thyroid problems and Toxic Mold.