Who are you with THYROID???

[stella5349]

As a refresher for members and an invitation to ALL -

How did you come to the thyroid board here at Med Help?  Let us know what conditions you have and what you went through so far.

Do you have a parathyroid disorder? Do you - or did you - have cancer and have had your thyroid removed? Are you autoimmune and struggling?

So many - visit here and a thread like this is so important to know what's up.

We as Leaders and members would like to know what has brought you to this board so we and others can direct you to the best resources available.

Thanks and Happy Health!

NikkiP/Stella

[EyesofBlue55]

Hi,and I am new to this forum.
   Lately I have been extremely tired ALL the time.I can get a decent nights sleep,get up in the morning and 4 hours later Im ready to go back to bed .I wake up every morning with a dull headache that usually lasts the good portion of the day.I just dont feel like myself anymore.I complained to my dr about the fatigue and got a hepatitis c diagnose.Could I also have a thyroid problem?What tests do I need to confirm something like this????cindy

[soscared872]

I'm one of the rare men who have hypothyroid. My level up to February of this year fluctuated at an elevated level of 5.5 to 4.5 or so in February. Then a recent test showed I had 7.5. My only symptoms were stubborn cholesterol level around 200 and no matter how healthy I ate I could not bring it down,  my fatigue (lack of energy), lack of motivation, maybe a dark cloud over my head most of the time, and digestion issues that come and go. But hypothyroidism runs on my mom's side. I'm 52. I feel fortunate that I'm now on thyroid medicine.

I'm knocking on wood since I had only four doses of levothyroxine. I have not read one positive thing about that drug. I'm taking 50 mcg per day. But right away my digestion went back to normal. My IBS has disappeared. I hope that is a long term thing. On my fourth day of this I did not get the fatigued feeling in the afternoon.

I am thin, and have been thin all my adult life except in the late 90s for two years or so (girlfriend was a great cook). I have been an exercise fanatic spanning five decades (teenager through current). And I ate healthy generally. I have waged a very impressive battle against my elevated TSH and my symptoms.

But I want energy and less fatigue. I want to lower my cholesterol. So I am open to taking this medicine.

Ironically when I googled IBS and levothyroxine, I had a lot of hits. Most people started suffering IBS after starting levothyroxine. I immediately feel the opposite. A Mayo clinic site says that I should feel more energy in two weeks and gradually drop cholesterol.

I will see.

One of my sisters started taking levothyroxine a few months ago. Her hair started falling out, but the situation has stabilized.

For now, I am intrigued by the thought of being able to eat more red meat (I am on low dosage of high blood pressure medicine, quinapril, and eat an extremely high fresh vegetable diet - low goitrogens, and eat mostly salmon and very low sodium tuna). I will check in from time to time. Hopefully I will have good news in a few weeks - more energy, lower cholesterol.

[beenewt3]

hello and thankyou all for being so informative!!!...i was dianosed 11mths ago hypothyroid was put on synthyroid and almost 3wks ago was taken off due to my tsh being very suppressed now the dr says hyperthyroid..i have a multinodular goiter and struggle each day with being overly tired,achy muscles with weakness also pain sometimes severe in my jaw and neck..i am learning a great deal from this site ..THANKYOU...JUST..THANKYOU ALL....................b

[jesseka1987]

Hi my name is jesseka and im 24 years old. i was born without a thyroid and since i was born i always have to have my blood drawn and take pills every single day. I cant take it any more its so annoying but i do it for my kids. I am always tired, bruise easily,and my hair falls out like crazy, am i alone? Im pretty sure im not.

[jimmycan11]

I remember having fatigue real bad for a while, at the same time I was having extreme anxiety.

My thyroid was one of the several, "1st" things that was tested. My endocrinologist that I was referred to said: "no way do I have a thyroid problem that's causing me any discomfort. I thought I had low testosterone prob's I thought too. Wow! the doc was SOOO against any sort of testosterone replacement. My levels were taken about 4 or 5 times and they were all around 190,....maybe the high was 230? This is JUST above the bottom range for hypogonadism for males. I was in my early 30's too....pretty young.

I said heck w/ these Dr.'s and paid out-of-pocket (expensive tho.) for a guy more open-minded. He did blood-work that was AMAZINGLY detailed. They filled about 20-30 tubes of blood when I went to the lab.

He saw my testosterone was STILL low AGAIN....started me on transdermal therapy. It helped.

He also ordered an additional test for a western blot analysis for Lyme bacteria anntibodies. There was a list of about 15-20 of them (Ab's) for unique antigenic determinants that were only found on Lyme bacteria (Borrelia Bergdoferri). I was positive for several of them. The test was considered positive if you tested positive for at least 4 or 5 of particular Ab's....some were more definitive than others. However, I was officially positive after tresting negative for Lyme Dz on urine and PCR-based blood tests thru my PCP.

So I was started on "Ceftin"...kind of a medim-to-high dose for a month. -WOW! I really felt it! I got SOOO sick. I developed a 2ndary erythema migrans (bulls-eye rash) on my arm, my joints in my hands and knees among others swelled and became sore as ******!
My fatigue went thru the roof! I had to go out to the car and lay down in the back seat during work. I'd do this for as long as possible, several x's/day. The fatigue was like "CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME". WHen I reported my problem, he said that many physicians believe that CFS is actually Lyme Dz, undiagnosed. ALso diseases like MS, ALS, and others were actually unexplained Lyme.

A well respected Dr., un-froze some brain samples of patients that died from ALS (Lou Gherig's Dz sp?). Amazingly something like 8 out of 10 of the frozen brains tested positive for Lyme bacteria Ab's. I think he may have even isolated the bacteria itself in many of the cases. It's VERY evasive and hard to find I guess.

Then, I was switched to a combination of 3 antibiotics the next month and I got even worse. My joints got WAY worse.....my face even swelled up. He called it a Jarsch-herxheimer reaction from killing off too many bacteria at once-they release endo and exotoxins when they die offf. After a few months, the reaction got less and less severe. But the characterisitics changed depending on the antibiotic combo I took.

I know I wasnt allergic to any antibiotics either.....from childhood and very young adult experiences with many types of antibiotics.

Today, I feel SOO much better, but not perfect. So, Im thinking my high TSH levels and thyroid AB's may be messing something up w/ my health.

I feel like it could be a repercussion of the lyme dz. Nerve damage which has been verified by nerve conductance tests may have afffected my endocrine balance as well as the Ab's?

I'd love to try balancing my thyroid levels and see if that helps further.

j

[Riya1980]

Hi all,

I am also kind of new here to this community. My hypothyroid was diagnosed  in April this year. Although I was gaining weight since beginning of this year. Finally, in April, I went to the doctor and told her that I find something wrong with my body as suddenly I am gaining weight and despite of my efforts, I am not able to stop this weird thing.

My TSH and FT3 were normal but FT4 was low (0.83). I had started medicine and changed my lifestyle a bit but low calories food (to the extend I could, not much) and 10-20 mins walk (which is the max I can spend on myself).

After 2 months, I had my tests done. I have lost 5 KGs and my FT4 has gone up to 1.24. Now, my thyroid is normal but doctor suggested me to continue with medicines for at least another 2 years. Then we will see. I just keep track of my weight for now.

I wish to continue lose weight. I have to lose another 10 KGs to get into shape. Just wish me best of luck for that.

I wish all of you get well soon and continue to remain healthy.