Test results!
So, when I got my Synthroid prescription, after the office visit I gave more blood to the nice people in the lab. They were going to run more detailed thyroid tests, and some more liver-related tests. Nobody specified exactly what, but hey… the doctor says “more tests” right after telling you you’ve got mysterious problems with your endocrine system and worrying liver enzyme levels, you just hand over your arm and play along. Read more
Worse before it’s better?
So I was put on thyroid medication (generic Synthroid, a T4-only medication) for a 6 week trial, after a blood test showed very high TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) levels. Supposedly it can take weeks for your body to readjust properly to the new T4 (thyroxine) levels… so the plan was to take a small dose of the stuff for 6 weeks, do follow-up blood tests at 6 weeks, and go in to see the doctor a few days later (after the follow-up test results were in).
I started actually feeling worse after the first week of the medication… Read more
Recommended Thyroid Tests
If you go into your doctor asking to be tested for thyroid function, there are a number of tests they can run. Most will start with a simple TSH (Thyroid Stimulator Hormone) test, and may tell you everything is OK if that test comes back normal. However, if you’re experiencing a lot of hypothyroid symptoms, or if your TSH test comes back abnormal, there are two other tests that should be run: Free Thyroxine (T-4) and Free T-3. Read more
I turned into a water balloon
I recently took a trip overseas. Now, this is my fourth year in a row, so I’ve got a pretty good idea what is and is not normal for me while travelling. When I arrived in London, my feet looked like overstuffed sausages. This was NOT normal.
Of course, the first thought is, “OMG, what if it’s deep vein thrombosis and I’m about to die of a pulmonary emoblism?!” Well yeah, I’m kind of a nerd about medical trivia, so that really is more or less what I actually thought. However, I remembered that my feet had actually puffed up a bit a day or so before I left, so it probably wasn’t caused primarily by the flight, and DVT rarely affects both legs, so the fact that both feet were puffed up was a good sign… Read more
Hypothyroid Symptoms
Before the doctor prescribed my thyroid medication, she’d already seen blood test results showing “really low” numbers for my thyroid… so she asked about a bunch of symptoms. Because I thought we were looking at a recent problem, I answered “nothing new” or “nothing unusual” to a lot of her questions. Don’t make that mistake yourself! When I started researching hypothyroid symptoms online after the appointment, I realized I’d had many common symptoms for years… some for as long as I can remember. Which makes me wonder if it would’ve ever become so acute, if I’d started treatment sooner?
Look over this list of common hypothyroid symptoms. If you find yourself recognizing a lot of them (either long term, or recent-onset), you may want to request a thyroid test from your doctor! Read more