Sisterhood of the Uppity Thyroid

I wasn't told of any foods to avoid. It would not be good for me to stop eating soy, seeing as it's the basis of 2 dinners around here every week. There's just so much chicken one can make and eat.

I had a mini-revelation last night as I took my bcp -- that's hormones, right? And I have no problem with that. So why'd I have a problem taking a hormone that just replaces one I'm lacking?

Still want to find out more/ talk to doc, but that helped me get my mind around that particular aspect.

Well, good!

Honestly, I think you're going to be very happy about the Synthroid once you see all the positive changes it will bring.

For one thing, I now recover from colds in about a week instead of 2. Just like normal people! And I'm not overly sensitive to temperature changes anymore, either. What a relief!

Soz
Soz, sending you good vibes and hugs.

BBB

soz, I was thinking about your "I'm not cold" thread as I wandered to work this morning.

mrs. hamburger has well controlled hypo. my best friend from uni has reasonably controlled hypo. a friend's daughter-in-law has totally whack, uncontrollable, hypo. All three of them have temperature issues. They're cold when no one else is. I think I hear "Aren't you cold?" or "You must be cold" from those three women more than from the rest of the world combined. Maybe sozlet really truly isn't cold - but your possible hypothyroid has been deceiving you.

I thought of that too!

E.G. and I are usually in sync, though. (We both think it's cold, we both think it's fine, we both think it's warm, etc.) On the other hand, he's a skinny fella.

Yeah - hamburger's a pretty scrawny fella - I discount his temperature reports for the most part :wink:

So it turns out my mom has this too.

Who knew.

(I'm not sure if I knew and forgot or never knew -- she's the kind of person who takes a handfull of pills every morning for this and that.)

Emailed doc for details (infinitely more efficient than via relay, or in office with terp, or especially in office w/o terp), nothing yet, will give it a bit more time then call and make sure that email is a viable option.

Remember I told you my mother and sister had this too, Soz? It definitely runs in families.

What did she say about her experiences with it?

She just dashed off a line on her way to doing something else, hasn't written more yet -- the tone was very "oh THAT, yeah, no biggie." (Paraphrase.)

At this point I'm really not concerned if I have it -- take the Synthroid, onward and upward -- just want to confirm that I'm not subclinical, as in the Mayo paragraph I quoted on the first page:



If it was the symptoms that put it over the edge, and the pure numbers were within the normal range, I'd like to work on the symptoms a bit first. A lot of them seem like they could have other causes. (Especially, depression is all intertwined with sleeping a lot and weight gain. The period since we moved has been rough for me, with peaks and valleys but overall improvement.) Just confirmed with E.G. that I'm not cold more often than he is -- he's skinny, but not THAT skinny (6' 1" or so and maybe 175 pounds).

If the pure numbers are out of the normal range, will start popping Synthroid, no problem.

My membership came through, start working out tomorrow! Really excited about this, long time coming. I feel most myself when I'm working out regularly.

One thing I'm finding in my research (and you guys have said this too) is that it's quite common but not something that people are routinely tested for. If it turns out that it's in the very early stages but something I do have, I'll be happy that circumstances conspired to make it more obvious than usual so I can mitigate/ head off the bad effects of all that TSH before the symptoms DO become less ambiguous.

Apparently kelp, for some folk with "borderline" hypothyroidism, can stave off meds for a while.....



Not that the meds are a problem, it seems...but just thought I would throw it in.

Ah yes, m'Mom and I both have it.

Damn dry skin, this year has been pretty bad for it. And hair is coarser, too.

I'm just such a glamor gal.

Doc replied, yay...

My TSH is 9. Normal range is 1-5. Real problems start appearing at 20 or so.

So...does that mean a very small supplemental dosage of Synthroid, or none at all?

Well, yeah, that's the rub.

Do you guys have any feedback?

It's definitely out of the normal range -- but it's still low. I'm feeling so much better since my "day off" (I needed it), and as of now am still on a workout high. (Man was that FUN!!! I'm sure in a week things will start being sore and I'll be grouchy but as of now I'm a bit giddy with how easily I got back in the old groove and how great I feel now.)

My doc says if I want to wait for a couple of months, then be retested/ see how things are going, that's fine.

I'm really unsure at this point. There is a bit of if "it ain't broke don't fix it"; if I was feeling worse/ symptoms were more severe I'd be more amenable to starting Synthroid. While it seems to be a dream drug in terms of lack of side effects, there are a few things like interfering with absorption of calcium and interactions with other drugs, and the doc says that if I start it, I'm pretty much committed for life.

So, feedback welcome.

Prescription btw is for 50 mcg... from what's been said, seems highish, really not sure about that part either.

sozobe, I would wait and get retested in a few months.
You're borderline now and your thyroid might jumpstart by
itself again, or the low TSH factor is contributed by something
else.

Once you start with treatment, it usually continues for life and
it becomes very difficult to stop treatment to determine if
the original diagnosis was correct.

That's about where I am, CJ.

Both you and Eva seem (?) to think 9 is relatively low, would love to get any more input/ info on that, as I still don't have as much of a grip on that kind of thing as I would like.

50mcg seems a bit high to me, soz. But you can cut the pills in half easily.

I'm with CJ. I'd wait and get retested in about 3 months. If it's still at "9" or so, you can decide then.

You guys are SO helping, I really appreciate it.

Yeah, that's what's making the most sense to me at this point.