Hi all, how fantastic it is to feel that I am not alone in my battle with hypothyroidism. I am 42 and was diagnosed 18 yrs ago - i currently take 200 mcgs daily and it definitely does make a difference which brand of thyroxine you are given by the pharmacist. I am sooo glad others find the same - all of a sudden a weight is lifted from my shoulders and i realise that i am not a hypochondriac! My mum and 2 sisters have pernicious anaemia as well as the hypothyroidism but it seems to have missed me so far - according to my GP I am borderline for this and have been for a number of years, exhibiting symptoms but the blood tests say no. As far as lethargy goes I feel my GP takes one look at me and thinks - oh well she's fat what does she expect - and that awful cold feeling. Weight gain is terrible and although it seems possible for me to lose a half stone here and there it stops at that - after gaining 5 stones just prior to diagnosis I still have them. I've learned to cope with the tiredness and know that sleep is my friend :-). Dry skin on the front of my shins is a bit of a nightmare, especially during the winter but remedied with the cheapest of moisturiser water based. Sore joints, absolutely - and I didnt know that was related till now, worse in the winter. Didnt know about natural thyroxine and am now off to find out more about that. Such diversity in brands means I am sure that I do not get a regular dose. Thanks for the advice and good luck to all xx
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I too have been dignosed with hypothyroisism in the last 12 weeks, and given 50mg Levothyroxine. I am 55 and for years now thought I was going thru menopause..night sweats crying despair so much pain in joints.. all the lot. I was buying top grade Red Clover for the sweats, which is Soy !!! Just read on this site that is one of the things to be avoided at all costs.
Like your relatives I too have pernicious anemia and have B12 injections and folic acid tablets. Also I have terrible reflux desease and suffer constantly with digestion and constipation.
I though I was alone and going crazy, and was almost glad when the doctors surgery rang with my blood test results saying I was Hypothyroid..at least now I thought something would improve..alas.
I feel I have to fight this battle to stay alive as in the mornings I cannot get out of bed.. the effort and the knowledge of yet another lifelong battle seems too much and I lie there willing myself to get up. How long can this go on i wonder as no-one seems to take it seriously except poeple like you who are in the same boat. I need to have dark green veg for the pernicious anemia, but cant have it because of this thyroid problem,so both ways I loose. I will be ever glad I came across this site, and would love to hear from anyone with this thyroid problem.
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Hi Carol, Sorry it's taken ages to reply but its been a while since I visited the site (your email dated 17/4/06.)
Don't worry about not eating green veg for your pernicious anaemia it's not necessary! Your B12 jabs correct the problem. Yeah, all these autoimmune diseases do seem to go hand in hand - I am now being investigated for rheumatoid arthritis - just another string for my bow. I have to say that I try to take things a day at a time. I do get really fatigued at times and so try my best to do what my body asks - sometimes I am not tired but my body is, so I grab the remote from the kids and slouch on the sofa for as long as I can before my next shift shouts.
It takes a few weeks before thyroxine kicks in and since when you wrote you had been diagnosed 12 weeks previously then you should be at a point where you should start to feel a bit better now. Your next blood test should say whether you are on the right dose or not - generally it goes up a little bit before it settles for a while - or at least that's what happens with me.
I think you should stop beating yourself up! Hypothyroidism makes you feel tired, achey, miserable at times and sometimes just generally lousy. Listen to your body as best you can and do what it asks - I know family, work etc make that difficult most of the time but you learn to live with it and I have found that if I just slow down a little then I can do more over a longer period of time.
Thanks for writing. Hope this helps. Am no doctor but the same as the rest of us who have this - we find wee tricks to help us get by.:lol:
PS: Does anyone find they also suffer from GI symptoms?
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