What a journey this has been. I mean… a year long battle to finally start making a move. I don’t remember updating you guys on my thyroid before. I know I’ve done this on my personal Facebook account, but not on my site. Here, I’ve discussed my sulfite allergies (here and here) and my hive outbreaks (here but there are gross pictures) at length… but not my thyroid.
After thinking I was just having an allergic reaction to wine, I found out that something was off with my thyroid. LAST NOVEMBER. Yes, you heard me correctly. I found all this information out a year ago. I was supposed to head to the doctor for a second blood test and follow up but never did. Why? Because life got in the way. Because I’m not that important. Because I’m a mom and I have to take care of my kids and my house and my husband and my job and I guess somewhere on that list … there’s a checkbox for me but it’s not in the top 10.
Almost a year later, I made it. I got to my appointment and chatted with my endocrinologist. She looked over my lab results and told me that I had Hashimoto’s disease. End result? These symptoms:
- Fatigue and sluggishness
- Increased sensitivity to cold
- Constipation
- Pale, dry skin
- A puffy face
- Hoarse voice
- Unexplained weight gain — occurring infrequently and rarely exceeding 10 to 20 pounds, most of which is fluid
- Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, especially in your shoulders and hips
- Pain and stiffness in your joints and swelling in your knees or the small joints in your hands and feet
- Muscle weakness, especially in your lower extremities
- Excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)
- Depression
The main problem? When you have Hashimoto’s, they don’t really give you any meds. I don’t have hypothyroidism YET. I’m not at that point. Right now, the disease is just slowly eating away at my thyroid. Eventually, it will lead down that road… but not today. Today, I am lucky enough to just LIVE with all the symptoms without having any method to fix them.
** I’ve spoken to several friends who have told me that limiting gluten will help. Further research is required on my part.**
Anyway, after several questions from the doctor, I also learned that I have to go and see a cardiologist. Apparently, things that I thought was completely normal are NOT normal and are in FACT CAUSE FOR CONCERN.
For instance ….
When I run or exert a lot of energy, my chest really hurts. I get major chest pains. I thought that meant that I was out of shape. I thought that everyone felt that way.
Nope.
Also I am always out of breath. Shortness of breath. All. The. Time. I thought it was because I had a deviated septum.
Nope.
Dizzy spells. Maybe because I have BPV?
Nope.
All these things together point at heart issues!!
Icing on top? I – at times – have an elevated heart rate and find myself racing for absolutely no reason. I mean, I SKY ROCKET while just lounging on the couch. For no reason whatsoever. I told her all these things without thinking anything of it and she handed me a referral. I’m going for a freaking stress test.
I’m 37!!!!! What is happening???
Back to my thyroid.
UGH
After the questioning, she came over to me and felt my neck. Then she asked me to swallow. And then swallow again, and again, and again, and again, and again. You catch my drift. She didn’t like something she was feeling. Finally, she sat back down and said that I had to go and get a thyroid sonogram because it felt disfigured. It was out of portion. It felt irregular. And maybe we were in a different boat after all….
So, I went from Hashimoto’s is a flag for hypothyroidism and we are just going to watch you to… go and get a sonogram as soon as you can because we have to see what’s going on in your neck.
Off I go… 9:30. Will update later. Though I know I’m not going to get any updates today. The technicians never give any answers. They just send it off to the doctor to review.