Thyroid problems...what about you?

[kimandkathess]

My vitamin levels were normal last time around.

My dr. has orderd some tests for my heart...but they are spread out over a couple months...got to love living in a super small town and not being able to get in right away.

She has also put me on an inhaler to help with the breathing problems. Not really helping.

I ended up in the ER today. My right hand, wrist and arm were all swollen up. I was told i have tendonitis. Right now I am in a brace which sucks because its on my writing hand.

Other than all that I am feel a bit better.

[434Teresa]

Its not just your area when it comes to endocronologist this is a very touchy hard to pin pint job they have. Hormones are very hard to figure out even for a endocronologist sometimes for no two people are the same. I have a on the border of low thyroid and pituary problems right now all they do is take blood every few months to see if anything has changed. I also have nodule the test to tell if they are hot or cold is easy to do so why not have that done...They take a needle and stick it in the nodule(yes you are a wake) and pull out some of the liquid to test...The test only takes a few seconds and it dont feel to good but its not just unbearable either..

As for the breathing do you have asthma or any breathing problems? if not you realy may want to have your heart seem about..

And for the leg cramps, I FEEL for you! I have them all the time and yes they hurt like @#@%......if you have proventil albutrol be aware that it dose cause leg cramps..the more abbutrol you use the worse the cramps may become.

[JulieDB]

I had a thyroid problem that started when I was pregnant. At first I was just exhausted. Yes, I know that can be a part of pregnancy. I was also anemic. But as I was telling the Dr. how exhausted I was, I fell asleep mid-sentence. He was like... Whoa! We need to run some blood tests!

No cause was found for my problem. I went from hyper to hypo then hyper again and eventually settled into hypo. I was put on Synthroid.

Then we made a cross country move. I had a really hard time finding a Dr. An ear infection cropped up while we were moving. Turned out it was the fungal kind that you can get from swimming, or diabetes! I had gestational diabetes or so I was told. I really think it was type 2 diabetes but I had been unwittingly controlling it because it was found early on in the pregnancy. Then they put me on a strict diet which I was still following after the baby becausae I was breast feeding. Type 2 diabetes was found when the baby was just over a year old.

So... I didn't see an Endocrinologist until two days after the diagnosis of diabetes. Actually I had the appointment for the followup with my thyroid. It just took me that long to get an appointment. I had gone from Dr. to Dr. prior, with them all telling me I was fine. Nothing was wrong with me and my thyroid was fine.

I was having symptoms of hyper because in fact I was being severely overmedicated on my thyroid meds. At some point they switched me to Levoxyl instead of Synthroid because my insurance would no longer cover it. I found this out when I switched GPs yet again and she ran a battery of tests on me including an MRI. She thought I might have MS because my muscles would lock up and I was in constant pain. I also had brain fog and was exhausted. Oddly when you are hyper you may feel super jittery and full of energy for a week or two and then your body just sort of burns out and you are exhausted. My Endo. also told me I was having panic attacks. I was sure I was not, having known people who have had them. Hyper and hypo thyroid can give panic attack like symptoms. What would happen to me would be this...

I would try to walk somewhere. Like the bathroom at the park. I would start out walking okay and then my muscles would totally lock up. I could not move. I could not bend my knees. I could feel my muscles getting weak and I would need to sit down. But I could not. I would also be very dizzy. It was as though one person was pulling the top of my body to the right and another person was pulling my legs to the left. It was all I could do to stand there. And then eventually I would sort of hurl myself to the ground or floor, sometimes injuring myself in the fall. Drs. did not believe that I could be doing this. And it was hard to describe. If there was a couch or chair or bench nearby, I could sort of ease myself into it. But if not I was stuck with the ground or floor.

I was also diagnosed some time later with diabetic neuropathy and psoriatic arthritis. Part of my problem could be those things. And I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia but I feel at least in my case a lot of that was just symptoms of the thyroid problem.

So anyway... This new Dr. found out I was extremely hyperthyroid and demanded from my Endo. to know why. His answer? I was overweight. This idiot actually thought that giving me too much thyroid medicine would make me lose weight! It didn't.

I was also extremely hot and sweaty all the time. I couldn't even go into the pharmacy to get my pills without sweating like a pig. On the flip side I chilled easily. And once I got a chill, it could take hours to warm up. So every room of my house had blankets in it and also little battery operated fans.

The Endo. told me to stop my thyroid meds for a few days then start them up again at half the dose. Just prior to stopping them I felt MUCH better! Oh I had also developed a racing heart. So much so that the Endo. felt I was about to have a heart attack. He put me on some other pills to slow that down.

Well then I started up the thyroid pills at half dose and a half an hour later my heart was racing and I broke out in a sweat. I called him right away and insisted this was the wrong dose. Eventually he put me on a lower dose. Symptoms got better but I still felt bad. This was in CA.

Moved to NY. Endo. there said I was on too high a dose of thyroid meds. Cut me back to the lowest dose. I was still having symptoms but much more mild. By this point I knew enough to ask for a copy of the labs so I could see for myself. Clearly I was hyper. But he refused to take me off the med, saying I would go hypo if he did.

2 years later we moved to WA. Endo. here ran my labs and immediately took me off the thyroid med. Felt MUCH better!

Oh and I changed my diet too. I used to eat a lot of soy products. Edamame, roasted soy nuts, Tiger's Milk bars, Miso and Boca Burgers. I thought soy was good for me. When I read of the connection it had to thyroid I totally quit eating it. Once in a while I will have soybean oil. Most restaurants use that. If I am buying something like chips, I will look for a brand that doesn't have that kind of oil. If something else is available I will buy it. But I will never ever eat anything with soy protein in it. Just the other day I bought Hormel chili without reading the label. Got it home and found that it now has soy. Didn't have it before. At least I don't think so. So to the food bank it went. Other foods that can affect the thyroid are cabbage, broccoli and depending on what list you see, peanuts, spinach and even strawberries. Do a search for goitrogenic foods.

More recently my 12 year old daughter was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. She had been gaining weight rapidly. Had every illness that was going around and then some. Was exhausted and getting injuries right and left. I have been careful with her diet. She does love coleslaw and eats it once or twice a week. But no soy products.

I hope they can sort out what's wrong with you. I know it's no picnic!