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How long does it take to get stabilized after diagnosis?
I was diagnosed in July and have had blood tests and medication adjustments every six weeks. After 6 months, I would have expected to arrive at the correct dosage by now - especially with all these "highly sensitive" lab tests. I've gone from very under-active, to over-active, and now back to under-active. I suspect my next lab will require yet another adjustment since I've been abnormally depressed and sleepy the last few weeks.
How long did it take you after diagnosis to reach the correct dosage? (Not necessarily with all your symptoms resolved, but where you no longer had to keep getting blood work every 4-6 weeks) I understand it will always need to be adjusted somewhat every year or two, but I read "The Thyroid Solution" and the Dr. who wrote it referred to patients who were euthyroid 1-2 months into treatment! Is this normal??
My doctor won't adjust any of my other medications - antidepressant and birth control until my thyroid is stable because he says what I perceive as "side effects" may be thyroid related. 6 weeks may not seem very long to a healthy person, but it's an excruciatingly LONG time to be constantly exhausted, depressed and struggling to hold down my job and marriage!
How long did it take you after diagnosis to reach the correct dosage? (Not necessarily with all your symptoms resolved, but where you no longer had to keep getting blood work every 4-6 weeks) I understand it will always need to be adjusted somewhat every year or two, but I read "The Thyroid Solution" and the Dr. who wrote it referred to patients who were euthyroid 1-2 months into treatment! Is this normal??
My doctor won't adjust any of my other medications - antidepressant and birth control until my thyroid is stable because he says what I perceive as "side effects" may be thyroid related. 6 weeks may not seem very long to a healthy person, but it's an excruciatingly LONG time to be constantly exhausted, depressed and struggling to hold down my job and marriage!
I thought it was on MedHelp, at least I linked to it through Med Help from one of my posts. It might have been Stella who linked me there. Oh well. I was just hoping to point Rach there. And I have so many bookmarked articles I would share, if we had a library. Thanks again for those links you posted, and for all you do. I appreciate it.
Are you sure it was through the Med Help site and not a member's message listing links like those?
No, can't seem to get to what I found before, not through the search button and not through Health Pages. Very confusing. It was a list of articles from JAMA and The European Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins, Mayo and the like. The kind of stuff we find through assiduous Googling, but in a convenient list of clickable links. Oh well. Thanks, G.
Not exactly sure what archives you mean. Does the search button at top of page not get you to the info you seek?
Gimel, King of Research ! Thank you so much ! Can you explain how to get into the archives of information that are on the forum ? Not the "Health Pages" which mostly seem to give us the party line from NIH and The American Thyroid Association (thanks ATA for insisting on the TSH as the one true test, against all patient symptomology)....but rather the archives that have research papers from JAMA etc. ? I got in there once but have never found my way back, wish I'd left bread crumbs. I keep asking if there isn't a way to post valuable science that we find in a kind of forum library, so others don't have to spend the hours down the Google rabbit hole all over again.
Though Rach, you might want to click on the Health pages that talk about the T4 and T3 tests. (note that they don't say "FREE" tests, which are the accurate ones, but it's true for the FREE tests too.The link is on the bottom right in a box that says "Most Read Health Pages", up there where you started your post. You might consider printing those out and also showing them to your doc. The pages are from NIH and state that estrogen/birth control pills have an effect on both tests and will give a false reading that has to be accounted for in interpreting your labs. All the more reason to find a birth control method that works for you at the start of your treatment instead of one that is giving you side effects that are also cited by women on that pill who do not have thyroid issues. The extreme rage and depression you talk about is not unusual on Loestrin...and I have already told you how much an under-active thyroid creates depression and, if left untreated for a very long time, psychosis, all on it's own. Check out "myxedema". Yes, the final stage is rare, but the fluid build-up is not and affects not only your physicality but also your mood. No joke. I spent a fortune on psychiatric therapy and medications that made me ill on the recommendation of my first endocrinologist, and my now-ex-beloved was not as understanding as your husband. Spare yourself.
Thyroid meds have a very big effect on your period. The hormone system is all inter-related, with the thyroid being the master regulator of your body's function. At the risk of alienating our hypo-brethren, I will tell you that my period was so heavy before I was put on meds that I was going through the most absorbent tampon every 20 minutes for the first 2 or 3 days. It was a nightmare, which ceased when I was put on T4/T3 combination thyroid meds. Not everybody needs T3, but I do. And every time a stupid endo has insisted on lowering my meds, I get spotting or a noticeable difference in flow, even at my age.
One last note: You mention Raynaud's. My mother had it. My sister, who has Hashimto's has it. My brother, who has ADHD has it. Raynaud's is an auto-immune disorder, and the latest thinking is that at least some forms of thyroid disorder are a genetic mutation/auto immune disorder that runs in families. Auto-immune shows up in different manifestations in various family members...current research is putting ADHD in that category. One of my brother's sons has it too. So this is all the more reason to insist on the two lab tests for Hashimoto's. I don't have it...my sister does. Who knows why, but at the start of thyroid treatment, you need to know because it can cause your levels to go up and down erratically until the thyroid stops functioning and it's comforting to know what you're dealing with if that happens. There's nothing to be done about Hashi's, it is what it is, but at least you can know that you're not going crazy, LOL.
When I tell you these things about my journey, it's not to talk about myself at all, it's to give a graphic example so you don't feel like the only person on the planet with these problems, not only with your thyroid health but with your doctor. Thanks for the sympathy, but totally unnecessary. There's no point of going through all of this if you don't help others with your experience. It's my privilege to help and I'm sure you will do the same !
All the best.
Though Rach, you might want to click on the Health pages that talk about the T4 and T3 tests. (note that they don't say "FREE" tests, which are the accurate ones, but it's true for the FREE tests too.The link is on the bottom right in a box that says "Most Read Health Pages", up there where you started your post. You might consider printing those out and also showing them to your doc. The pages are from NIH and state that estrogen/birth control pills have an effect on both tests and will give a false reading that has to be accounted for in interpreting your labs. All the more reason to find a birth control method that works for you at the start of your treatment instead of one that is giving you side effects that are also cited by women on that pill who do not have thyroid issues. The extreme rage and depression you talk about is not unusual on Loestrin...and I have already told you how much an under-active thyroid creates depression and, if left untreated for a very long time, psychosis, all on it's own. Check out "myxedema". Yes, the final stage is rare, but the fluid build-up is not and affects not only your physicality but also your mood. No joke. I spent a fortune on psychiatric therapy and medications that made me ill on the recommendation of my first endocrinologist, and my now-ex-beloved was not as understanding as your husband. Spare yourself.
Thyroid meds have a very big effect on your period. The hormone system is all inter-related, with the thyroid being the master regulator of your body's function. At the risk of alienating our hypo-brethren, I will tell you that my period was so heavy before I was put on meds that I was going through the most absorbent tampon every 20 minutes for the first 2 or 3 days. It was a nightmare, which ceased when I was put on T4/T3 combination thyroid meds. Not everybody needs T3, but I do. And every time a stupid endo has insisted on lowering my meds, I get spotting or a noticeable difference in flow, even at my age.
One last note: You mention Raynaud's. My mother had it. My sister, who has Hashimto's has it. My brother, who has ADHD has it. Raynaud's is an auto-immune disorder, and the latest thinking is that at least some forms of thyroid disorder are a genetic mutation/auto immune disorder that runs in families. Auto-immune shows up in different manifestations in various family members...current research is putting ADHD in that category. One of my brother's sons has it too. So this is all the more reason to insist on the two lab tests for Hashimoto's. I don't have it...my sister does. Who knows why, but at the start of thyroid treatment, you need to know because it can cause your levels to go up and down erratically until the thyroid stops functioning and it's comforting to know what you're dealing with if that happens. There's nothing to be done about Hashi's, it is what it is, but at least you can know that you're not going crazy, LOL.
When I tell you these things about my journey, it's not to talk about myself at all, it's to give a graphic example so you don't feel like the only person on the planet with these problems, not only with your thyroid health but with your doctor. Thanks for the sympathy, but totally unnecessary. There's no point of going through all of this if you don't help others with your experience. It's my privilege to help and I'm sure you will do the same !
All the best.
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