Normal levels ,But I'm not!

[hashimotowacko]

HI! I wish I could have found this site several years ago. It is so helpful to read what I have been going through is not in my head! I was diagnosed with Hashimoto thyroiditis a few years ago. I have never felt the same again. It is frustrating. Before they figured it out, I told the Dr. I thought I would need a wheelchair soon. I am in Pain 24/7 but what can I do?
I had a Panic Attack,Heartpalpitaions ,severe fatigue,extreme joint pain,weight gain,dry eyes,stiffness,constipation,hair loss,dry skin,insomnia,night sweats, Heel pain. You name it I had it. I was 35 yrs old and falling apart. My Dr. said I needed a Anti-depressant and I told him I wasn't nuts! I refused to take it.He did Check me for several things including my thyroid and said they were normal. Then he decided after my complaints again, He did another thyroid level and found my Antibodies were extremely high. I was started on synthroid and now I'm on levothroid. Some of my problems have decreased. But my Joint pain is unreal. The Dr's around here don't know **** about this stuff.we suffer with this mentally and physically but they think were wacko. They think since your on medicine you should feel good. I haven't felt the same in over seven yrs. I try to stay active but my Joint pain slows me down. But my levels are suppose to be normal now. Can anyone relate to this? What i don't understand is Why aren't these Doctors putting these symptoms together and realizing this disease
is more than elevated blood work. It took me more than 2 years to find out I had Hashimotos. Wish I Had a good Endo.

[luna_one]

I am newly diagnosed with hypo and I am using acupuncture, so far I have had 6 treatments.  I am in Singapore and the acupunturist is trained in China for five years. I am taking in the AM one tablet called ELTROXIN and also  traditional Chinese medicine. They say that it will not interfer with the ELTROXIN. Apparently low/high thyroid is some thing that they treat very often and have said to me that within 3 - 6 months thyroid function will have mormalized itself. So far so good, I have no symtoms now other that being overweight whereas before I was a basket case with all of the classic symptoms of hypothyroidism include: hoarse voice; slowed speech; puffy face; drooping eyelids; intolerance of cold conditions; constipation; weight gain; dry hair; dry skin; and depression.

http://www.acupunctureworks.co.uk/Acu&Hormones.html

One trial in a French hospital compared three groups of menopausal women:- those treated by acupuncture; those by HRT; and those who received no treatment. A range of blood and urine tests were carried out to assess a whole range of chemical effects. Both acupuncture and HRT produced comparable changes in oestrogen levels.

However, only acupuncture produced an increased level of thyroid stimulating hormone, which increases metabolism, and an increase in testosterone levels (the male hormone which is produced by the ovaries in small amounts) and which may help safeguard against breast cancer and bone loss.

I feel comfortable in using what is termed alternative medicine. Acupuncture has been around for 7000 years with practitioners of yesteryear only being paid if their patients regained their health; if its curative and preventative powers were not up to scratch the acupuncturist would have gone out with the ark!

[plv]

to all the people on this page..................read as much as you can ON msg and aspertame......correct what you can and see how everything changes again

[hashimotowacko]

What do they do for the tumor? How did they happen to find that? I have like you, tendon pain in my feet.My Heels and also on my big toe joint. I can't wear dress shoes anymore, the pain is wicked.I have to wear cushioned shoes. The best shoes I ever had was reebok dmx with air pods. I can't stand long. because my heels hurt too much. The Dr. sent me to a rheumatologist to check me for arthritis because of all my joint pain. but he said it was my tendons in my feet not arthritis. My other joints have been so painful lately. My knees especially. They also sent me to a Dr. that said I have fibromyalgia. Nothing you can do for that either. I have had symptoms from both hyper and hypo which is confusing. but I have Hashi-Hypo. You say about your Mom not diagnosed, My mother complains of the same thing, now 76 yrs old.complains of pain in joints and tired,etc. but thats been for years. no explanation for her problems. I met someone that her whole family has thyroid problem her mother,sisters and her young teen children. I am the only one in our family that we know of with this and i'm the youngest. now 42. I also can't remember things and think slow. My kids are always reminding me of that. I wonder if anyone has tried acupuncture with this disease? I am getting desperate and don't like popping pills for everyday pain.

[Mertie]

I have been diagnosed finally with Hashimoto's after years of  illhealth.  I think my mother had this too and was not correctly diagnosed. My grandmother was thought to have "arthritis" but this was probably Hashimoto's  It is certianly brought on by childbirth and the awful thing about all this is no body will take the antiboides unless you have an abnormal tsh even though one can have obvious clinical symptoms of hypo or hyper thyroidism.  Like getting very thin, agitated, hyperactive and hair falling out and bulging eyes (hyper) and the opposite with depresssion swelling up, tiredness, dry skin, dry eye hair falling out no pubic hair in the end etc  It can even, if left untreated go from hyper to hypo and cause being susceptible to viruses, colds and bacteria.I cannot undertand when doctors know this why they do not take antibpodies at the same time as the tsh.. I have a pituitary tumour but they say it is a coincidence and that this is nonproducing. How likely is that?Some docs prescribe T3 supplementation is anybody on this?  I  have all the arthritic symptoms described by others plus tendinitis in the heels and feet. Forgetfulness too which is awful. Weight gain even though I do not eat excessively. Regards Mertie

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Hashimotos can cause a variety of symptoms and the severity varies from person to person.  Usually, when the TSH is normal (about 0.4-2.5 on most labs) even with positive antibodies it is difficult to attribute joint pain (arthralgias) to the thyroid - I usually treat Ab+ pts who are symptomatic unless their starting TSH is less than 1.5 (risk for making them hyper with treatment) but I am vigilant for ruling out other causes of their symptoms, particularly if they do not improve on thyroid medications.  

In your case, I would ask a rheumatologist to consult as the dryness suggests Sjogren's (not uncommon in hashi pts) and this can also aggravate joint pains or be associated with other rheumatologic entities.

Jimlow is right - pregnancy can bring on autoimmune disease such as hashi.

[hashimotowacko]

Thank you for your response. Yes,I too have crunching knee joints. My neck is extremely bad but that is due from a old whiplash injury. I explained to the Dr, that it sounds like i need to add some wd40 to my creaking joints. Alot of people know their blood levels like yourself. I don't know mine. They just call me and say they are normal. My own Dr. has a thyroid disorder, But she doesn't have all these symptoms that I experience. I often wonder if my Hashimotos came on after pregnancy but then never diagnosed for years causing it to worsen. Does anyone know if pregnancy can cause thryoid problems? And as far as i'm concerned Antidepressants are way over prescribed. It's unfortunate that people with this disease are not getting properly treated because they think we are all nuts and need Anti-deppressents instead. Thanks again to sites like these to be able to relieve our worried minds when we question ourselves and think that maybe the Dr. is right, maybe I am crazy!

[Jimlow]

Hi, Yes, pregnancy according to medical resources, can hasten the onset of Hashimoto's in women predisposed to it (runs in family etc..). As far as your lab results, ask the lab for copies of them, past and future because they are obliged by law to provide them and helps you see how treatment is going and helps you research about things.
Thanks for your reply about the joints, myself, SandyAnn, Christine01 & ShannieK have all reported this problem. The cruncy, popping has a medical name, "crepitus".
I'm age-42 male, never would have believed I would ever get thyroid disease!
Thanks again for your reply!

[Jimlow]

Hi, Your story is repeated on here, over and over again! I'm so glad people are doing so because it shows just how wide spread this trend is! Docs are continuously using the emotional "catch-all", and are mass-prescribing antidepressants. As usual though, I want to say there are terrific caring Dr.s out there, that don't do this! They take time to make sure there is not an underlying disease, instead of treating emotional symptoms only and also prescribe antidepressants when people really do need them. Your story is very similar to mine because of the joint pain/stiffness aspect. I went on to test for "RA Factor"(rheumatoid arthritis)and "Uric Acid"(gout), to make sure these weren't causing the arthritis symptoms I was having. When I first went to a Doc about my thyroid symptoms (same as yours), she prescribed Paxil, Xanax and Atenalol(beta-blocker) because she said it was Generalized Anxiety Disorder". I suggested "thyroid" that very first time and finally got a thyroid blood-panel done. Mine were not severely off but a later "antibodies" test was! Below were my readings that were abnormal:           TSH: "8.3"  Range: 0.5 to 4.82
             T-3 Uptake: "31%"  Range: 33 to 40%

The Later Antibodies>TG: "537"  Range: <40
                    TPO:  "84"  Range: <35

One of my more prominant symptoms was/is joint pain-stiffness. Believe it or not, the next 4-Doctors I went to after that first one, also tried to get me on antidepressants! This was due to my thyroid med, not elieviating all the symptoms. Boy, those antidepressants must be miracle drugs(sarcasm)!! My physical symptoms far outweigh my emotional ones. I can't believe they would try to get me to believe emotional was causing my joint pain! May I ask you a question? Do you also have popping/crunching sounds in your joints? I hear this especially at night, turning over in bed, mostly upper spine, shoulders, collar bones. Thanks for a reply if you can!
JimLow