Thyroid Take 2: Take Control of Your Health

Disclaimer:  As with all of my health related posts, I'm only posting this stuff in order to hopefully help other people with similar issues.  If you don't wanna read it, don't. :) I'm not sharing any amount of detail that makes me uncomfortable, just general info and experiences that may ring true for others.  Okay, that is all.
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So, remember that whole debacle with the endocrinologist where she told me that there wasn't anything wrong with me and asked me why I was seeing her?  Yeah.  That was fun.  Well, I had my annual appointment with my GP in September and I complained about it.  I told him that I was still dealing with the symptoms that I was having before and lamented that there HAD to be something going on with my thyroid or something.  Otherwise, why would my test results be borderline (leaning hypothyroid) in addition to my hypothyroid symptoms?

He agreed.  After all, he was the one that referred me to the endocrinologist in the first place!  He did say he was between a bit of a rock and a hard place, however, because he saw problems but the specialist didn't.  So, if things got to a severe point for me he'd potentially have some problems referring me again.  But he didn't care, he wanted me to feel better.  Not only did he sympathize with my concerns and my frustration, he agreed it was worth it to try and treat it to see if there was an improvement.  And he agreed with me that a generic version of Armour, the more bio-identical/natural thyroid treatment, was a better fit for me than Synthroid, the one that freaked me out.  Fewer side effects, more in line with my holistic/natural treatment preferences, etc.  He gave me a three month prescription for a low dosage of the generic Armour and wanted me to come back in two months for a retest and to see how I'm feeling.  The low dose would be enough to hopefully start moving my levels in the right direction, but not so high as to cause issues if I didn't need treatment.  Based on the followup we'd be able to determine if I needed a higher dose, if the current dose was working, or if I didn't need treatment at all.

I had my followup on November 18th, and I was pleased to report progress.  A couple of my symptoms had definitely started to improve, and I didn't feel any spazziness that could indicate too much thyroid hormone. He said based on how I'd been feeling alone he was fairly certain that the treatment was making a difference and that I should stay on the medicine, but that the blood test would be our true indicator.  Also, as I continue taking the medication, I'm likely to start seeing improvements in some of the other symptom areas where I haven't as of yet.  It's a process.  And it can take some tinkering to get the right levels.  As long as there's progress, I'll be patient!  Anyway, I got my results today and my numbers were clearly moving more toward normal so he wants me to stay on the current dosage and possibly adjust up a bit on the dosage later if I'm not seeing additional improvement.

...Take Control of YOUR Health...

What's the moral of this story?  YOU know your body better than anyone.  If you feel like something is wrong, and you're not a hypochondriac that's spent too much time on WebMD, fight until someone listens to you.  It can be frustrating, time consuming, sometimes expensive, and downright maddening but once you get someone to listen it'll be worth it.  Of course, the key is not insisting you know for sure exactly what's wrong with you...that's their job and hopefully they'll do it.  Be able to articulate your issues.  Be specific.  Be cooperative and open minded.  Basically, help them help you.

I'm so glad that my GP that has known me for years was willing to ignore the specialist's findings and do what he felt was best.  So far, my weight issues and another one or two frustrating symptoms haven't improved but I'm going to be patient and hope that with time and possibly a dosage change I'll start to see progress.  Unfortunately, my GP is retiring in January so I'll have to go to a different one.  Luckily, a nurse friend was able to point me to another doctor in the same practice that she felt would be most compatible with me and most like my current doctor.

Fingers crossed that I'm on the right path!  I'm excited about it and have high hopes, but not so high that I'll be devastated if things don't continue as I hope they will.  :)

Back to the drawing board.

Remember when I said that it may not be my fault that I've had so much trouble with my weight for so many years? Yeah, so much for that.

I finally got my meeting with the Endocrinologist after waiting two months for a female doctor due to some female issues that could also be related to the thyroid. It didn't go well. First of all, she had a trainee with her, a 25 year old male trainee, and I didn't feel like I should say no to letting him be there so there he stayed. Then she starts off by saying, "so why are you here?" Now, keep in mind she had to review my chart to even decide whether she'd see me as a patient so if she didn't see a reason to see me then why bother?? Anyway, without going into details I basically left feeling stupid, carrying around drugs that I didn't want (synthetic vs. bio-identical), feeling like my preferred approach of natural wellness was poo-poo'd, and waiting for results of more tests that she was sure would prove I had no issues anyway. We clearly weren't a good fit for each other.

By the end of the appointment I was blinking back tears, had my stress blotches on my chest, and wanted to get out as quickly as possible. Oh, and she said my nurse was an idiot for assuming that my increase of my TSH levels from 1.648 to 3.305 was a sign of an issue. I did end up getting blood drawn to test for Hashimotos which is basically a disease where there are antibodies that end up causing hypothyroidism. Got a call back today telling me that I'm normal. In fact, my TSH numbers are now 1.3. W.T.F. WTF, I say! Apparently weight loss and diet changes can make the number change a lot and that's what she thinks happened to me since I lost 15lbs between when I took the test and now and I changed elements of my diet.

So, now I'm back to the drawing board. She said she could test me for PCOS since that tends to show itself in similar symptoms to what I am experiencing, but based on my body shape and other factors she's pretty sure it would come back negative. Also, PCOS doesn't explain some of my more frustrating symptoms besides the weight management one so I didn't want to bother if it didn't seem to cover all the bases and she didn't think it was likely. That, and I just plain didn't like the woman. Instead, I'm going to go to my general doctor and start over. He's been my doctor since I moved to Iowa and I feel he and his nurses know me well. Which is one reason why I was so irritated that the specialist would dismiss my nurse's opinion so easily given the woman has been my nurse for nearly 10 years! If she sees something that stands out why should it be so easily dismissed?

I'm frustrated and tired of being frustrated. Maybe I'll check with my acupuncturist to see if there's anything for my issues. I had great luck with acupuncture before!

Blah.

Final Ultra Metabolism Numbers

Sunday was the final day of my Ultra Metabolism prescription and I think that it went well, overall. I have to be honest and say that I didn't totally avoid the refined flours and sugars during the 2nd phase as I was supposed to but I'm still pleased with the final results. I've mentioned before that I ate pretty well in general before trying this plan so I didn't expect the full potential weight loss that was advertised in the book to come true for me. I was pretty much right in the middle of the potential loss ranges each week, however. My grand total during the 2 months I did the Ultra Metabolism plan was 13lbs. I'm happy with that! I hope to continue to see a pound fall off here and there, though.

I feel I most benefited from the education and insight that I gained from reading the book. I would have never gone to get my thyroid checked out if not for this book and now I've got an appointment with an Endocrinologist to discuss hypothyroid issues. That's a win in my book. I also feel much more aware of the things that I should and shouldn't eat and I know I have the willpower to be really strict with myself for long periods of time.

That being said, the experience overall has been great! I'm going to try and avoid, as best I can, the things on the "don't eat" list going forward as well. No need to go back to crappy fake foods or foods lacking in nutritional value when I know better!

Also, several friends have been interested in how I lost my weight and have purchased the books as well. I hope that it works as well for them! The positive feedback I've received about my appearance and my increased self confidence has been wonderful! I'm only a few pounds away from the goal I set on my programmable scale 3 years ago and it's a great feeling. I know that if I stick to my good habits and also work with the Endocrinologist I'll be at that goal (or lower!) in no time.

Thanks to everyone for the support!

It may not be my fault...

I apologize, this is gonna be a long post with no pictures. But, if even one other person with similar issues to mine reads it and decides to learn more about the thyriod then it's worth it.

One thing I found very interesting when reading Ultra Metabolism was his focus on addressing the whole problem. That includes eating habits, exercise, supplements, liver function, thyroid function, etc. There is a self-assessment at the end of each section that allows you to gauge how your body is doing in various areas. If you score over a certain threshold he recommends going to a doctor for further testing and even gives you guidance as to what tests to make sure to get, the right questions to ask, and what to expect for treatment.

I've always been a little uncomfortable going to a doctor and telling them, "Hey, this is what I think is wrong with me." After all, that's their job isn't it? However, after reading the book and taking the self-assessments, I really do feel that I'm a more educated patient. It's not the same as watching a pharmaceutical commercial on TV and saying, "hey, I think I have that!" I think prescription drug ads should be outlawed. But, educating yourself and learning how your body could be responding to certain deficiencies is acceptable and encouraged if you ask me. So, after reading the section about thyroid issues a light bulb went off. Actually, more like a big, Vegas-style neon sign turned on.

I've often felt that something wasn't right. It seemed like it was way harder than it should be for me to lose weight and keep it off considering my activity level and how well I eat. It's been a battle for many years and I would have loved to been able to look at my habits and realize I was eating crap or that I was a couch potato so that I would have a clear cause and effect situation. But even nutritionists couldn't help me. Having regular well-rounded workout with cardio and weight training didn't help me. If I slacked off on the eating or exercise I'd balloon up so quickly it was unbelievable. And that's just with a little bit of slacking off. It's not like I went from eating quinoa and steamed veggies to a bucket of KFC for every meal. So frustrating!

For the last two years I've been very diligent about my eating and exercise. I've lost about 40lbs in those two years and it's been just by kicking my own ass. But now, as always, I've hit that point where I've got 15-25 more to lose and I'm stuck. I never make it past this point. In fact, after losing 8.5lbs last month I'm stuck again. And have gained some back. I want to scream.

After I read the book I already knew that I wanted to look into my thyroid. I knew that in 2006 I had it tested and it came back normal so despite having a laundry list of associated symptoms I wasn't hopeful. I signed up for a screening offered by Iowa Health Systems. I had my vitamin D and my thyroid checked. As a side note, did you know most people are deficient in vitamin D because we don't get enough sun exposure? I take 7500iu a day of vitamin D supplements and my levels are at 66 which is perfect (range is 33-100). So, I take a lot per day but that's what's required for me to be right where I need to be. Take vitamin D! There's so much research now indicating vitamin D deficiencies could be responsible for many ailments. Why risk it? Anyway, back to the thyroid.

As I mentioned, I match up on many of the symptoms that are common for hypothyroidism. When I got my results my TSH was 3.305 which is "normal" according to the ranges used by the lab. However, I called BS on that and did some digging and found that the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists updated their recommendation a few years ago to say that anything over 3.0 was actually hypothyroid or should be examined more closely. So, it just depends on which range the doctor/lab wishes to use. How annoying. Consistency, people! The thyroid is a pretty important little part of the body, can't we agree on how to measure proper function? I decided that I'd take my results straight to a specialists after many of my friends said to skip the middle man. I did need a referral, however, so I asked my family doctor to send in the referral and he agreed without me coming in simply based on my history with him and my struggles with weight. It pays to use the same doctor! One bit of info that came as a surprise to me while talking to his nurse was just how much my thyroid levels had changed since I last had the test. I was tested by my doctor in 2006 and at that time it was 1.648, totally normal. And now it's 3.305? That is very much no bueno. Not only is it now in the hypo range, it's a significant change from before. That is definitely something to address before it can decline further, as it likely will without treatment.

Something is clearly going on and I need to get it under control before I drive myself crazy trying to battle my weight and my body really starts to suffer. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be waiting until April or May before I can get into to see one of the specialists (I prefer a female for this). I was hoping to get started treating this sooner rather than later so that I can be used to the drugs or whatever it is I get before I go on vacation. I don't want to be adjusting to new meds while in a different country. I guess lucky for me Tony's mom is a doctor. :)

Thanks for listening. I'm frustrated and, like I said, others may unknowingly be battling the same demons so I thought I'd share. Hope I didn't scare my three readers away! :)