January is Thyroid Disease Awareness Month

January is thyroid disease awareness month and I am one of those that is very aware. I have been hypothyroid for 8 years and have been on a long journey. There are many struggles with thyroid disease and sometimes just when you think you have everything figured out or you think you have found normal again, your body just throws a wrench in the whole operation and you have to start all over again. There are many forms of thyroid disease: hyperthyroid, hypothyroid, hashimoto and graves disease. Thyroid disease not only has physical affects but also impacts you emotionally and psychologically.

The best thing that I have recently found were support groups on facebook. I have learned way more through those groups than from my doctors who frankly know little on the subject. If anyone suffers from thyroid disease I highly recommend the following support groups:

https://www.facebook.com/HypothyroidMom/
https://www.facebook.com/thyroidsupportgroup/
https://www.facebook.com/thyroidnation1/

Nobody goes through anything alone and sometimes all you need to do is ask. :)

                                       

The Signs of Thyroid Disorder

Many physicians are not fully trained to understand some of the signs and symptoms of thyroid disorder. Luckily when I went to my doctor that was the first thing that was tested but that is not the case with everyone. It's good to know some of the signs of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism so that you can get diagnosed and treated right away. These are the signs that I pulled directly from the book that I reading right now The Thyroid Solution.

Signs of Hypothyroidism:

-general tiredness

-weight gain

-aches and pains in joints and muscles

-muscles cramps

-constipation

- thickened skin

-dry and pale skin

-brittle hair

-hair loss, including loss of eyebrow hair

-feeling cold even in warm temperatures

-milky discharge from the breast

Signs of Hyperthyroidism:

-weight loss (or less commonly, weight gain)

- fatigue

-shakiness

-feeling hot and becoming intolerant of warm and hot temperatures

-increased thirst

-hair loss

-eye irritation

-increased sweating

-rapid heartbeat, palpitations

-muscle weakness, decreased muscle mass

-irregular periods, decreased fertility

Someone with a thyroid imbalance can show these signs but are not limited to the signs that fall under hyper or hypothyroidism. I'm hypothyroid but have shakiness, feeling hot all the time, increased thirst, palpitations and muscle weakness while still showing most of the signs from hypothyroidism. Also remember that some of these symptoms can be related to other diseases as well but it's an easy blood test and one that gets overlooked sometimes. 

Even when your treated and your levels are back to normal you can still show symptoms. I still have anxiety, hot flashes and heart palpitations. Even if your TSH levels are normal, it does not mean that you are in the clear. If you have been tested and are still showing normal results, ask your doctor to test your Free T3 and Free T4. The test  might come back normal but it can also come back out of whack. It's just blood work and doesn't hurt to test, and at least  you could rule it out if the results came back normal. Do a lot of research on this if you think that you may have a thyroid disorder. I've been hypothyroid for 8 years and there are still things that I am learning. Don't leave your health in the hands of one person because you are far too important. And on that note, have a happy Friday! :)

The Thyroid Saga Continues

As I mentioned in my profile, I've been hypothyroid for about 8 years now. It was almost 2 years after the birth of my daughter and I still couldn't fight the unexplainable fatigue. It took everything out of me just to do my day to day routine and I was pretty close to falling asleep at my desk a few times. I had 2 children and could not live like that any longer and finally went to the doctor. I was slowly introduced to Synthroid, increasing my dose 0.025 mg every 2 months until I reached 0.088 mg which I stayed at for 7 years. 

Even though my levels were fine I still felt some of the symptoms and not those that are typical of hypothyroid. I experienced the dry skin, hair, brittle nails, fatigue, muscle weakness which are normal for hypo. But I also had a lot of anxiety and would get hot flashes. I'm talking hot flashes where it felt like an inferno was building inside of me that I just couldn't reach. I've stood outside in the middle of winter before Christmas dinner just to cool myself down. And the flashes would go as quickly as they came. 

Around March of this year I noticed that something was off and I made the stupid decision to take myself off of my meds. I was starting this new "going natural" lifestyle and seriously thought that I could just quit the meds cold turkey as long as I ate well. Boy was I wrong! I had the right idea because essentially meds only cure the symptom of a disease but they don't address the cause. Something caused my thyroid to stop functioning. At this point it is probably too late to reverse but I still wanted to fully understand why.  I stuck it out with no meds up until the end of September and then finally had to drag myself back to the doctor and tell her what I had done. Needless to say she was not impressed and when my blood work came back, I actually was feeling so bad in March because I needed more thyroid hormone. My doctor bumped my meds to 0.1 mg with the plan to slowly progress to 0.125mg.

Eventually I would like to see a naturopath and get their take on thyroid healing but for the time being I have accepted that I have to be on something. I wanted to be on medication that was more natural and asked my doctor to switch me to Armour. This is made from animal thyroid glands which provides T3 and T4 whereas Synthroid only provides T4. Even though my T3 levels are fine, the majority of blogs and websites show patients feeling a big difference between the two and prefer Armour. It took a bit of convincing and depending on what country you live in, your doctor might not even allow this natural alternative. Luckily my doctor went for it and I've been on this medication for 2 weeks now. My prescription of Synthroid 0.1 mg converted to 60 mg of Armour. The plus side too is that Armour starts to work within an hour after consumption where Synthroid takes up to 4 hours.  I will be tested in 2 weeks to see how much more I need to my levels back to normal. 

During the process of going back on my meds, I found this book on-line called The Thyroid Solution by Ridha Arem, M.D. and it was such an eye opener to all possible things that could cause thyroid disease such as iodine deficiency, stress and even emotions. Just like it says on the cover of the book, getting control of your thyroid disease is about "regaining your emotional and physical health". 
                                                                 
I'm about halfway done this book and there is so much information on things you can do to help promote thyroid health. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who suffers from any type of thyroid or autoimmune disease: hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, Hashimoto and Graves disease as well. I just had to share this as I know that I am among many that struggle with this. Medication doesn't mask everything and keeping a healthier lifestyle is so much harder when you can barely get yourself out of bed to workout. That's my struggle right now. I had been on a steady workout routine for 2 years. Me and my Jillian Michaels DVDs kicked some serious butt every morning at 5:45am but and when my thyroid started acting up I could barely wake up for  7am let alone 5:45am.  I completely stopped and gained about 20 pounds. For the past month I've managed 2 to 3 workouts a week but it's still bit of a struggle. I'm hoping when my Armour dose is increased that I will find that extra bit of energy that I have been missing for so long. For me workouts have always been mind over matter but when your mindset isn't fully there, it just doesn't work. And just like the title of this post, the thyroid saga continues..... :)