About Us
Name: Joyce
- Username: job
- Postion: Moderator of the Hyperthyroid & RAI forum
All my life, I was very thin. Even in high school at 5'6" tall, I never weighed more than 110 lb. As a child I had asthma and eczema. I was frequently constipated - I remember taking Fletcher's Castoria a LOT! I outgrew the asthma and eczema around age 18, I think. I also have a potentially fatal allergy to peanuts in any form.
I was never very active, mostly sat with a book or knitting and I could eat ANYTHING I wanted to and never gain an ounce. I actually went to my doctor around age 19 and he did a 24-hour urine collection (adrenal testing?) and a thyroid test. He told me my thyroid was "low normal" and gave me a pill to take daily (Synthroid?) I stopped taking it after a few months because it wasn't making any difference. Did I mention that I smoked about a pack a day starting at age 18?
At age 30, I had twin boys and then another boy at age 34. I complained to the doctor that I was always tired, but was told it was normal with the kids and the full-time job......When I went to bed at night, I called it "shutting down" - I would be asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and wouldn't hear a thing until the alarm went off.
I was always cold, my entire life. My co-workers would comment on my cold hands and ask me if I was sure I wasn't dead. (Can you say hypo?)
Fast forward to 2000 - age 43 - I started having hot flashes. The doctor did some blood tests and told me it was menopause. He put me on Prempro. In 2000, I also lost my job in November of 2000 and stayed at home for 1-1/2 years. The first symptom I had was with my eyes - after I lost my job, I was doing a lot of close work, and suddenly my focus would flutter. The eye doctor diagnosed some sort of muscle issue and gave me exercises to do. Then, in March of 2002, with my severance pay running out, I quit smoking. Within a month, I was having weakness in my legs, shaking, and more hot flashes. I had a sinus "drip" that wouldn't go away, and I kept losing my voice or feeling hoarse. After the third trip to the doctor, he finally tested thyroid and told me I was hyperthyroid. He sent me to an endocrinologist.
The endo convinced me to have RAI. After that, my TSH went way up and he put me on Synthroid. I gained, in the space of 3 months, 50 pounds! Not normal for me! I was wearing size 12 and looking at buying size 14. And I was walking at least a mile at lunchtime every day - more exercise that I ever got before. The endo told me it couldn't be my thyroid and discussed the relationship of diet and exercise to weight. Grrrr...
A bit of history - when my grandmother was about the same age - she had a period of hyperthyroid and was given a pill to take as needed. Eventually it stopped and she became hypo.
I found NTH, and another doctor - he tested for antibodies and the TPO antibodies was well above the range. I got some Armour and eventually HC, and the rest is history! I am now back down to 115 lb and in a size 8! I have some energy and have a very busy life! I truly believe that I was having a Hashi's hyper swing and that, if left alone, my thyroid would have burned itself out eventually.