In May of 2010 I went to a new doctor in our new city for a full exam. Doc did his thing, and I went home, that was that. About two weeks later I received a call from his nurse requesting that I come back to have more blood work drawn. She said I had a hyperactive thyroid reading. Well, being that I'm 50lbs over weight, I knew it had to be a mistake. Come to think of it, I did just loose 30lbs. But thats because The 2 years prior I had gained so much weight being laid off work, and depressed at home, then preggo. We just moved from Ohio to South Carolina and I was being more engaged in life. I was more active, and counting my points (calories), and I was trying to loose it. So, no, it had to be a mistake.
I went back in and he retested me. The new blood tests confirmed... yes I was hyperthyroid! Wow... I'm only 37, I'm not sick? Oh wait, for the past year I've felt like I was going through the change of life early. The hot sweats, moodiness, inability to sleep, decreased mensus, did I mention hot sweats? But, I'm not heading into menopause, I've got a sick thyroid.
Here were my initial lab results:
T3 231 (71-180)
TSI 545% (0-139)
TSH <0.006 (he said "practically untraceable") (0.45-4.5)
T4 free direct 2.82 (0.82-1.77)
He put me on Methimazole, an anti thyroid medication used to treat Graves Disease, the original diagnosis. The meds appear to be doing something. The biggest thing I've noticed is that I dont sweat constantly like I was before, and my ability to sleep more than an hour at a time has been heavenly. Its been a long time since I've been able to sleep through the night. Its still not a perfect nights sleep but 300xs better than it was. On the other hand, I now seem to be a bit cooler than everyone (not cold or extreme)... and my hair has started coming out in the shower. Not in clumps but enough for me to notice and stop from going to drain. I have these hives on my hands and elbows that make me look like I have leperacy. I went to doc to make sure these were not side effects of meds. I was told to continue to take them that its all just part of the disease.
Here's my big question - is it posible for me to have had this thyroid problem for years... and in hypo/hyper cycles? I look back on my life and see different times that I easily lost 20-30lbs. I see other times I gained the 20-30 lbs even within a months time. Also, these weight losses and gaines seem to be around my pregnancies and miscarriages. I have 2 miscarriages that happened to come right around the time I lost a bunch of weight. Then it seems with each and everyone of my viable pregnancies came right after a large weight gain. Could I have been going hyper, which I read can cause miscarriage, and then hypo, caused the weight gain but kept pregnancy viable? It also seems like my weight loss and gain also are during cycles of my period being very light, or heavy. I've always been very sensitive to hormonal medications. I've hardly ever even taken birth control because it makes me not feel right. Could all of those be signs of the thyroid, or am I just over analyzing the events of my life?
Also, I've had 2 seizures in the past years. My first one was about 8 years ago, I was at work with witnesses around. I most certainly seized and not fainted. I went to a neurologist that worked with me for almost a year, and was never able to figure out why I had it. He tried duplicating it with no success. He brushed it off as I must have fainted NOT seized. I was never put on anti-seizure meds. The second one was 8 months ago. Again, no reason. I was with my sister, and she said I most definately seized. Could those be caused by a swing in my thyroid?
With such a disease I have to contemplate removing or killing off a vital organ if these meds would not work to put my Graves in remission. Graves disease itself makes you very irritable, manic even! I was not sleeping, not thinking about anything but "being sick".
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