Please Help I don't want to die but I don't want to live like this either!

[dani2776]

Someone please help me! Please tell me this is all normal, tell me I am going to be ok! I have Hashimotos, diagnosed last April.  It is coming up to a year and I am still struggling.  I CAN NOT keep going like this.  I had a brief period where I felt better but it keeps going downhill!  I am back to thinking that there is something else wrong, something that they are missing.  Here are my symptoms.  Fatigue but cannot sleep, depression with anxiety, dizziness but not room spinning.  I feel like I am drunk, equilibrium is all off.  I can't walk straight to save my life.  Vision is blurry but yet eye exam is normal. My hands, feet, and eyes are swollen.  I am cold but yet having hot flashes.  Heart rate is slow but yet have periods where it is racing. Internal shaking sensation and tingling sensations as well.  Here is a list of my most recent labs.  I was just increased to 50mcg from 44 on my Levoxyl.

September (when I felt my best)
TSH 2.060 (range 0.40-5.600)
FT4 0.84 (0.61 - 1.12)
FT3 347 (230-420)

December 2nd
TSH 4.420
FT4 0.76
FT3 295

December 22nd
TSH 5.810
FT4 0.71
FT3 305

January 11th
TSH 7.160
FT4 0.69
FT3 353

I really can't live like this anymore!  I am at my wits end and what I am experiencing is not fair to my family either.  This is no way to live, please help!

[stella5349]

I am in the Midwest too and I will say... This seasonal fatigue is horrible here. What I found supurb and has stop most of my thyroid blues ( an I have no gland at all) was starting a solid daily regime of a particular vitamin ( which is really a hormone) - Vit D-3.

There IS a difference in taking D. and the D-3 is fabulous. I am taking 20,000ius daily and none of those dark - sluggish issues with no sun are present with me.

I love the anti stress effect of it too. My husband who drives semi for a living locally and hates winter driving started this winter in 14,000 iu's - What a HUGe difference for him too. He feels more calmer at the wheel and get through the day with no stress. He was a basket case in past years when ONE flake of snow started flying.

[shagg]

im a 39 year old male whose tsh is supposedly in normal range but it fluctuates sometimes seasonally with winter. i live in midwest, and much less sun in winter obviously, don't know if there is some type of correlation. but the point i want to make is, i felt close to normal, never have i felt like iused to before i started feel full implications of hypothyroidisim.  i am on .175 levothyroxine. i feel like something is missing from my health, something gone, don't know if it will ever return to normal. i feel more depressed than i ever have, some i'm sure can be attributed to stress, age, etc. i felt many of the same sypmtoms you had several years before i was diagnosed with hypo. i remember feeling vertigo at times, extreme anxiety attacks where i would feel i 'd have to check myself into the hospital(mental) and depression. i don't have many anxiety attacks anymore which i'm extremely grateful for, but sex drive is still low, doesn't feel as good, and i feel very frustrated at times also and feel like giving up too. but keep your head up and do your research and good luck for now.

[Barb135]

I use the selenium also when I start getting that painful, choking feeling in my throat.  In fact, I had sort of slacked off on taking them and I'm now paying for it.  I do know it doesn't work everyone, and for me, it makes a difference in the type of selenium I buy.  I use a biocitrate in capsule form.  

As regards TSH -- mine stays down around 0.01 and so long as my free T's are in line, I don't worry about it..........

[stella5349]

swelling on the thyroid during these attacks is very scary and painful for many. I use to compare it too the Simpson TV show with Homer wrapping his hands around Bart's neck and squeezing. DId you ever see that show and how Bart's face looked? - That... was me for sure.

Really once the attack starts with any of the antibodies - it is very difficult to control. My doctor is a big believer that - The thyroid will die off eventually from the antibodies beating on it - no matter what - but a suppression of those antibodies could keep you out of pain while the attack is happening. She also is a big supporter of selenium when you have high TPOab antibodies in the system.

I still have bouts of tightness in my neck... Pinpointing them.... its right around my period every other month. For me - I can link them to possibly being right around the ovulation process everyother month and they continue and get somewhat intense until the period is over. Another mystery I have not spent a ton of time on to figure out the mighty WHY. - and the other big mystery for ME is -- I really don't have thyroid left from RAI years ago. Last ultra sound showed my thyroid looking like a piece of thin yarn hanging way below - near my collar bones... So. - since my thyroid looks like a wet pair of nylons on a wire hanger... what's causing the tightness in MY neck?

I do know that hormones DO intertwine with each other and just because you had found Hashi antibodies that are upsetting thyroid hormone a reason - the other hormones within our bodies are whacking out to some degree too. Here I believe the key word is stability... finding that will subside some of that and only suppression from what I understand will halp gets us through it better. That is why I reach for selenium when I feel the attacks rearing up! - It does help me and I should really stay more consistant taking that daily - but I just don't

[dani2776]

Thank you so much!  It is so good to see someone actually say they have that too!  I know I don't have a goiter or nodulessince I had the ultrasound done about 6 months ago but I can definately tell my thytoid is inflammed.  I feel like someone is choking me and I can see that it is swollen.  I guess I need to accept what is going on and stop trying ot convince myself that I must have MS :-)

[TamraW]

I get the dizziness and off balance when my goiter swells.
:) Tamra