Who else here has hypothyroidism?

I just found out that I do. I have no clue yet what has caused it. But, it has snuck up on me and kicked me in my [bleep].

I knew something was wrong with me, but attributed all that I was experiencing to my arthritis. I always have fatigue, so when it worsened in the past year, I really thought it was due to the fact that I am aging and that I have arthritis.

And I started losing my hair in the past year. I complained about it to everyone I knew, hoping that someone could advise me about why my hair was so awful all of a sudden.

My skin has been so dry lately, too, which is not normal for me. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that I was already feeling bad enough from my arthritis, and the torn cartilage I've been dealing with since March, and now this. :mad:

My doctor called in a prescription for synthroid. Started it tonight. I go back in a about a month to have my thyroid labwork retested.

I just wanted to come here and commiserate with others who have hypothyroidism and ask you --- after you were started on synthroid (or an equivalent medication), how soon was it before you noticed an improvement in how you felt? I know it will take a while, but please tell me that there's hope for me to feel better within the next few weeks.

*sigh*

Give the Synthroid about a week or so. You will start feeling better then, but until your labs come back and your dose gets set, don't count on feeling "back to normal". I've been on it for about 10 years now and it took 2-3 months before the docs got me on the right dose. Watch the potential for weight gain...once you are on synthetic hormone (Synthroid) it is way harder to burn off any extra pounds.

Yikes about the weight gain. I was actually hoping for the opposite effect. :( But, thanks for the info!

Yes, give it about a week. For me the difference was like night and day. My energy came back, the pain in the morning before getting out of bed are gone, concentration got much better, about one month in the treamtment my daughter told it was great cause now she said that I got my sense of humour back and looked much happier.

I have been on it for a year. I was afraid of taking it because you have to take it everyday at same time each day.This pill did so much good for me that I take every morning I make sure I don't forget.

I take Synthroid too.

Wow I don't mean to be the party pooper of the group but I think it depends on what symptoms you're looking to feel alleviated from.

But for most symptoms it takes about 6 months, to start noticing a significant change.

So everytime they shift your medicine it can take up to another 6 months for the symptoms to alleviate.

That's from my Endocrinologist, not me.

When I was first dx'd with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis I thought I would feel better quick. When I came back for the follow up my numbers were better but I still didn't feel any better. I asked why and that's what I was told.

The one thing about Hypothyroidism is there is no such thing as an overnight cure.

Here's a link to the best Endocrinologists (search for your state/city). They are recommended by patients. Top Doctors from Thyroid-Info.com (http://www.thyroid-info.com/topdrs/)

Hopefully you'll find a great doctor!

I lucked out reading an article listing the top 100 doctors for the field and found one of them was in my area. That is my doctor to this day. Personally I think a good Endocrinologist is the key followed second by patient knowledge of their disease. (I'm a novice still! I'm learning all the time about the disease!)

Ugh. Weight loss! Weight loss is harder with Hypothyroidism. It is not the 'fat girl's dream' (as one doctor said to me)! :eek:

I feel like I have to work twice as hard to lose the weight! Your thyroid plays into your metabolism. :(

If you're feeling fatigued it's probably your thyroid again. It will reserve your body's energy to do the more essential tasks (heartbeat, breathing, etc) and stop doing the less essential tasks (nail growth, hair growth). That's why a lot of people with the disease will complain about weak nails and hair loss.

When the thyroid is back under control these items will alleviate themselves but I'm still struggling with the side effects.

Your thyroid symptoms can mimic depression symptoms which answered my "They keep saying I'm depressed but I don't feel depressed!" comments. :p

If you take Synthroid take a calcium supplement. Hypothyroidism depletes calcium and Synthroid depletes it as well. It's a double whammy. A supplement is a must.

Also have them check to see if you're Insulin Resistant. It seems to happen more frequently with Thyroid patients (no idea why though).

Biggest changes to energy levels I've found: Very healthy diet (the healthier the better, I think because healthy foods produce more energy and it plays into it), exercise, adequate sleep, and religiously taking your medicine on an empty stomach (1 hour before eating or 2 hours after).

Avoid almost anything that is a depressant (Tylenol, cough syrup, alcohol, sinus medicine). I try to avoid everything like that because it counteracts my Synthroid and leaves me feeling tired.

Also, if you're ever prescribed Steroids check with your doctor. It plays against the Synthroid.

Did you find out what your numbers are?

Ideally you want to feel your best. Most people feel their best at the 1-2 range but 4-5 is the high end of normal and some crap doctors will tell you you're fine when you're really not. They should be reviewing your tests AND your symptoms.

If you are still symptomatic but testing high normal then you are still outta whack. If he won't help, find a new doctor.

Now I take a pretty high dose of Synthroid. I'm on .250mcg daily. But my numbers warrant the dose. I was testing +27 when I first got dx'd. Now I test around 4-5 and am still being adjusted 3 years later (I just was upped from .225 to .250). Weight gain/loss can affect the medicine you need (I found that out!).

How often will they be seeing you?

I am seen every 6 months with a thyroid scan 1x a year to verify my goiter growth.

Here's the other thread where I talked about what I have...

http://www.agelesslove.com/boards/showthread.php?t=31208

I linked a few books and sites.

Good luck to you. I'm in no way an expert on the subject but I suffered pretty bad undiagnosed for many years (at one point it took all my energy just to lie on a couch) and was determined to never feel that bad again.

PS -/ Had you said hairloss to me I would've immediately said Thyroid. It's one of the biggest symptoms (fatigue, hairloss, brittle nails, dry skin, cold extremities, forgetfulness).

I have been on thyroid medication for 10+ years. The hair loss was a big factor in making an appointment with my doctor.

The only thing that I can add is never take your thyroid medication with other pills. Even a multi-vitamin or especially calcium pills. They will interfer with the thyroid medication being absorbed.

So an hour before eating, two hours after eating (as Angel said) and use the same time table to wait to take other medication.

Thanks so much for the tips everyone. About the hairloss and fatigue, you see, those are also symptoms of arthritis, which I have had for about 25 years, so I just assumed that my arthritis was kicking into high gear, which it was. While my TSH levels were increasing, so was my CRP and sed rate which are indicators that my doctor watches for my arthritis. So, I just really had no idea that there could be yet another condition that was contributing.

I don't know what my latest labs from last week showed except that my TSH was even more elevated than 2 weeks before when it was last checked. It was a very quick conversation with the nurse from the office on my cell as I am driving to my mother's house. I will get more details when I go back to my doctor next month.

I do take calcium supplements and had a bone density study in March that was normal. So, I think I'm in good shape there.

Anyway, thank you so much and especially for the tip about taking it on an empty stomach. I read the prescription information last night and don't remember seeing anything in the document about that.

*trots off to take her synthroid now*

About my levels, Angel, do you mean TSH? My last one drawn at my rheumatologist's office a couple of weeks ago was 6.95. And now it is apparently higher. ugh

About my levels, Angel, do you mean TSH? My last one drawn at my rheumatologist's office a couple of weeks ago was 6.95. And now it is apparently higher. ugh

Yep that was the one!

It is elevated but they should be able to pull that number back down without much trouble. When I started I was almost at 30! So it's taking a bit longer to moderate my number.

You really have had a bunch going on physically!

It's normal for it to keep creeping up the scales when you're not medicated.

I have to say I'm thrilled your doctor caught on to it! I think you may be shocked how much it was affecting you once the symptoms start to resolve.

Having been on the medicine all this time I can actually tell if I didn't take my medicine that day because my body will feel like it's working in slow motion.

I'm sure most of us who posted can say that one! Like Charisme said it's like night and day when you aren't on the medicine.

Great advice Fae! I take it alone as well because so many pills can make it break down too fast or counteract it.

I've been hypo for about 13 years. Had half my thyroid removed since the goiter that grew on my neck made me look like Shaq's sister and as of last year, there is another growing on the other side of my neck and has to be removed as well.

I've not been on my meds for about 3 months. My job didn't have health insurance and I have to be tested before they can set my meds, that will be done this week hopefully.

I felt great on Synthroid, for one thing, it gave me such great energy I was bouncing all over the place. I was on .100 but was reduce to .75 when it changed me to hyper a couple of years back. I still feel great, and still have alot of energy, no fatigue either but the one thing I noticed that wears me down is soy. they say it cancels out synthroid meds and it sure does as it then crashes me badly.

My hair stopped falling off, but my scalp is still pretty dry and my skin is back to normal soft. Use cocoa butter or anything with shea butter, its helps alot. Change our soap to either dove, Ivory or Oil of Olay. I also use Johnson & Johnson, softlotion, but the cocoa butter has helped greatly. When I do take my meds though, I can't wait an hour to eat, I become hungry almost immediately and its a hunger that just drives me crazy. At first I thought I was crazy but I've tried holding off breakfast until I get to work and then taking the pill, and taking the pill before I get to work and then having breakfast, but when I do the latter, I get so hungry I get nauseaus. Needless to say, synthroid reves up my metabolism greatly so much so, I really have change to 6 small meals instead of 3 big ones. When I forget to take the synthroid, I could go without eating the whole day until I get home from work, which is wierd...dr can't figure that out. So if I have a big breakfast, I don't have to eat again until dinner even with all the running around that I do.

Hope you'll feel better, but it does take a while and I started feeling better after a few years, once they reduce my dosage. And now even with no pills, I feel just as good. But yes, weight is a problem, I have to do twice as long a exercise just to lose 1 lb and stay under 1200 calories.

Paris

Been diagnosed with Hashimoto's about 5 years ago and been on the medicine.

My neighbour who had it also, cured it completely with a homeopathic treatment.

Last week I saw the same doctor very briefly (who happens to be her boyfriend's mum) , who asked me to stop the medicine, gave me a homeopathic treatment and warned me that the classic medicine (Levothyrox in France) will only make things worse and end up killing the thyroid gland alltogether.

My symptoms: weight gain, hair loss, COLD INTOLERANCE, mood swings, dry skin, high cholesterol and high blood glucose.


ps: out of subject, I have also entered pre-menopause and for that she told me to not even consider taking astrogyn.

Full body exam on the 5th of July. I'll see what she'll tell me to do, but I know that she will be asking me to change my eating habits, which I don't mind at all.

Good luck Katrina. :)