Within “Normal” Range
Just got back from the dr’s office. Apparently my TSH is within normal range now. My temperature was exactly 98.6. So supposedly that means I am all better. But I’m not entirely convinced my symptoms are entirely gone… Still have issues with listlessness and general gloom a lot of the time, so now (since my TSH is normal, it couldn’t be that, right?) the doctor is starting to talk about anti-depressants.
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another month, another test
And on and on it goes. Getting low on my 150 levothyroxine pills, went in for another blood test today, and will be seeing the doctor Friday to find out how my ‘levels’ are doing. I’m rather anxious to hear my TSH is within normal range, so I can try adding T3 to my medication (either as a second synthetic pill, or in a natural thyroid product like Armour Thyroid). Right now I’m still losing weight, still sleeping better, still staying warm, still having unreasonable good moods… but I still feel kind of ‘run down’ and apathetic about so many things. It just doesn’t seem quite right. Read more
And another thing …
It’s funny, in some cases an old problem goes away, and I don’t even notice it’s gone until something jogs my memory.
A friend emailed me and asked how I’ve been doing, and having had more than a few hypoglycemic-cranky-lightheaded-I-NEED-TO-EAT-NOW moments in his company while rambling across the English countryside, it suddenly ocurred to me that my hypoglycemia problem seems to be gone. Just like that! Poof, gone! I can forget to eat until my stomach is grumbling, and I don’t get a bit dizzy or grumpy about it.
Now, if my allergies would only go away, I’d be just thrilled beyond words! Read more
Symptoms Update: Wow, I’m happy!
Since starting on the higher dose of levothyroxin, I’ve started to notice some really dramatic changes in symptoms I didn’t even entirely realize I had. I was so used to being chilly, and being depressed I didn’t know what it was like to be any other way. I was so used to sleeping late in the mornings, I never even considered that being a “night person” maybe wasn’t normal for me. Well. Was I ever in for a surprise! To quote a bit from my “regular” blog:
- My hands and feet are often *warm*, instead of either being cold or not-cold.
- My face actually has some color in it. I’m not as pale as I always thought I was!
- I wake up in the morning. And I stay awake. Even when I want to sleep ’till noon on the weekend, I can’t unless I stay up ’till 4am the night before. (Before this, I could either sleep all day, or I’d wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep.)
- I’m losing weight without trying. I don’t know if this is because of my metabolism, or because I can’t eat for 3 hours every morning because of my medication. Either way, I like it.
- And this is the super-weird one: I am sometimes in good moods for NO PARTICULAR REASON.
Book Review: Thyroid Power
by Richard & Karilee Shames
Richard and Karilee Shames are husband/wife medical professionals, who specialize in treating patients with symptoms of hypothyroidism. This book is full of case history references to their own patients, and to Karilee’s personal experiences as a hypothyroid patient herself. One of the central assertions of the book is that hypothyroidism manifests in each patient differently, leading to highly individual results on various thyroid function tests, and widely differing responses to different types of thyroid medication. Read more