I'd love to give a solid date on when my thyroid issues all began, but it doesn't work that way. The slow declining health anyone with thyroid issues have are often dismissed as "oh, that's just how it is when you get older" or "you have three kids and a career, of course you're tired." Thing is, my symptoms weren't just tired, I was exhausted and I felt I was "passing out" exhausted. I'd feel dizzy and I suspected a blood-sugar issue.
When it got really bad about 2 years ago, I went to the local doctor's and we ran a glucose test. My blood sugar dropped below 50, the danger zone (anything below 70), but my blood sugar never spiked above normal ranges, just plummeted. I was told I was most likely prediabetic.
I'm a research-aholic. You tell me something I don't know about and I'm researching reputable websites because I dislike not knowing something. I seek out my own answers, but the diabetic answer didn't add up. In fact, if I followed the standard "eat 15g of carbs when your blood sugar is low" it'd make things worse.
Spring of last year, it was horrible. I fell asleep at 6pm and slept at least 10 hours and still woke up exhausted. I started to experience vertigo and I was dizzy every 2 hours if I didn't eat. I lost a record number of work days and I fell asleep during my children's homework time. I had no social life because I needed naps. I'd wake up from a nap and I couldn't even think half the time when I awoke. This really brilliant woman could not answer simple questions. My brain couldn't process anything. At a certain point, I felt I was dying
I saw doctors and then specialists, ran MRIs, and a litany of blood tests...to be told again and again my reports were "all normal" and nothing was wrong with me. One endocrinologist told me I needed to see a psychiatrist for depression. If I was depressed, it was because I felt so miserable and I could barely live my life. It felt like I was surviving each day and pushing myself to get the most basic daily activities accomplished.
I cried most of the way home that day...and then grew so angry. I thought how I have this Master's degree, I'm pretty brilliant and what do you do when you can't find research with enough numbers to give you statistics? You look for personal narratives. That means there has to be others like me who have these symptoms. Where are their stories? That, I knew, would be my route to finding health. If the medical establishment couldn't help me, then I'd find the answer myself.
I started reading about people with blood sugar issues, but didn't have diabetes or the diabetes symptoms. March of 2014, I went on a sugar detox (I believe the book is 21 Day Sugar Detox). Taking away foods with sugar in them was a great help. I felt considerably better keeping my sugars to about 3 grams per serving.
From there, I had two coworkers convince me to see a doctor who one lady described as someone "who specializes in the obscure." I'm glad I listened because the doctor who told me I needed to see a psychiatrist had felt my thyroid (felt nothing) not a month before this new doctor....and my doctor found a 6mm nodule. He had me go immediately to the hospital and get a sonogram.
I had given him a lengthy list of my symptoms and he thanked me for my history and pulled out his prescription pad to prescribe me dessicated thyroid (Armour thyroid) and I started crying. I had been turned away again and again by so many medical professionals with a dismissive "nothing wrong with you" answer. He had answers and better yet, solutions. He suggested a yeast-free (it's not the protein gluten, but the yeast in wheat), sugar-free, low carb diet along with Metformin and Desiccated Thyroid (I'll use another blog to discuss desiccated).
It's been 17 months under his care and I've lost 37 pounds, approximately 4 pant sizes, and the best part is...there is no severe fatigue, no vertigo, very little dizziness (and that's my own fault for getting up too fast), no passout reaction to being out in the heat, and when I eat healthy, I lose weight. Before, it didn't matter how healthy I ate, I gained and I gained weight. That's classic thyroid, but here's the rub...my thyroid blood work always comes back with "in range" numbers. That doesn't add up for me, but my doctor is also an advocate for treating symptoms people have, not numbers. I'm glad he is because I don't think our medical community has discovered all the nuances of testing for thyroid issues. Thyroid health is a mystery that only a few doctors will look at alternative methods and actually treat their patients.
I am developing a list of books I've read and doctors who know what they're doing regarding thyroid health. I will post that soon.
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