Thyroid Thread for January
 

I thought our other thread was getting too full so started this one.

I hope everyone is doing well. My goal for this year is to reach my personal goal of 150 and STAY THERE! I'm also trying to increase my exercise, but that is wholly dependent on how my asthma is doing...not really good right now.

i hope your asthma gets better, quilter. i thought of you when i was at a thrift store recently...i found a bunch of books on quilting. :-)

you'll get to your personal goal this year, i'm sure. you are so very close, which is probably also the annoying thing. heh.

i've still been walking. i skipped it tuesday, cuz i was tired, and i thought i would be more awake if i slept longer. unfortunately, i was wrong. oh well.

today, i saw 2 rabbits (or maybe the same rabbit twice), and a bunch of birds. i met this one guy while i was finishing my walk, and he seemed really creepy. didn't even acknowledge my hello, or anything. i think i'm gonna start carrying pepper spray.

what have you all been doing?

hi all.

im still here. doing ok, tho i only lost 3/4 this week.

i've lost 2lbs. i kept weighting myself over the weekend until the digital scale said what i wanted it to say. heh. :D

i'm still walking, and i got my pepper spray, so i feel safer when i walk in the mornings.

school is horrible, and i have lots of writing and reading to do. oh well. no sense griping too much.

what's up with you guys?

I think I need to get checked again...been awakened every night this week with cramps in my legs and my hands are cramping as well plus I've been tired again and I'm getting hoarse...usually means I need more medication.

Other than that, I'm doing good. Keeping the carbs down and that helps with my weight.

Teaching a quilting class next week, so got to get my class materials together and get some handouts made.

The sun finally came out today so I think I'll go for a little walk at lunch time.

Have a good weekend!:wave:

HI,

Did any of you have problems getting diagnosed? I have almost all of the symptoms but when I get my thyroid tested it falls within the normal range.

I didn't have any trouble being diagnosed...I was so far out of range. Even at that, I was at the doctor for bronchitis and she said my thyroid was very swollen and should be checked. Dumb me just thought I was getting old and that all those symptoms were from asthma and age!

Do you know what your numbers are? You may be very close to going over but still in the normal range. Try and talk your doctor into trying a low dose for a month and see if you feel any better.

my levels are in the normal range also....borderline, though.

kaiser wouldnt' give me a prescription, because i'm normal. however, i paid out of pocket to go to a doctor that deals with thyroid stuff often (women only office...very cool), and she did all the tests and decided to put me on armour thyroid medication even though i am borderline.

sometimes you really need to complain. doctors aren't used to looking for thyroid stuff, and a lot of other health problems are thyroid based, but they don't treat the cause.

case in point, i always had horrible cramps and stomach issues during my period. my gyno said, oh, it's normal. get used to it. since i've been on the medication, i don't have any of these things anymore. i can function fully during my period, which is somehting i could never do before. that was worht the money i spent.

be the squeaky wheel...you gotta watch out for yourself, cuz the doctors are usually too busy to do that.

Trixie is right...if you are borderline, you'll have to be aggressive to get them to do anything.

Dear Quilter & Trixiepup -

Thank you for your input. I have tested in the normal ranges but I do have the symptoms and I have had 2 docs tell me that's what they think is going on. It is so disruptive, I can't believe docs are so reluctant to help people. I've read Dr. Vliet's book Screaming To Be Heard and she says to be really demanding, too. If you have any more advice on how to find a doc that will treat borderline patients, do let us know.

Thanks again!

PS - You are an inspiration - your numbers look great and I'll bet you do too!

jenn,

yr lucky you are BL. i cant even get my endo to see that far. she say theres nothing.

To put a little insight into why the doctors are reluctant to treat borderline, too much thyroid can cause heart problems and even death. It's really a touchy area. The symptoms are also found with many other diseases so if the tests are normal, perhaps you need to look at other causes as well.

Thanks again for your input.

I am getting new tests done this week, we'll see how they turn out.

:?: Hello ladies I'm very new here so please excuse my budding in. I was diagnosed Hypothyroid about 1 1/2 yrs ago. My doc keeps telling me to lose weight (I quit smoking 3 yrs ago) I stay on WW and can't seem to loose much. I wonder if my meds are just out of wack. Doc checks me every 6 months and says meds are fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm at the point where I don't even mind if I don't loose (need to loose 50lbs) I just don't want to gain anymore. Thanks,

pet,

welcome!!!!!! i hear ya. im in the same boat and have 50 to lose too. have you considered doing the low carb version of ww? or, if you prefer, i can give you my version of the greenwich plan. good luck!!

:^: Oh yes I would love any version that you could give me. I really don't know anything about low carbs. I know what foods and all but, have never tried any low carb diets. PLEASE help me. thanks either the one you do or the ww. whatever is easier.(that's me always wanting the easy way out)

ok, no problem:) i will send you a pm:)

What's the Greenwich plan? How about sharing it. Lower carbs/higher protein work for me, you might give that a try. Are you getting more exercise to help your thyroid get started? I find weight lose is slow...some of that could be my age as well (I'm 60) and I was hardly losing until I cut the carbs which I love. My favorite meal is a loaf of fresh baked bread and tea. I have read that people with low thyroid don't process carbs as well and tend to be insulin resistant. Not being a doctor, I don't know.

susan,

i find the same to be turue as well. the GP, is simply atkins w/o the cholesterol. the emphasis is much more on lean fats and oils along with lean proteins and unlimited no starch veggies:)

Me too please
 

Andreaphillip3 could you please send it to me also. I have had a underactive thyroid for 12 years and am losing weight but I think I am stuck. I have heard alot about low carbs and would like to try the plan you are talking about. Since I have alot of heart disease in my family so the low colesteral will be great.

Thanks

i'm a lazy bum, and my morning exercise has fallen away because sleeping in is far more appealing when its 32 or something equally cold degrees outside.

i'm still at 160. maybe i'll drag my butt to the gym on campus. it is free, after all.

i made bread yesterday in my breadmachine (gotta love salvation army) and it came out great. i used a slice of the bread as the base for some steamed veggies with some veggie marinade. it was very yummy, and complemented the wheat bread nicely.

how's everyone else doing?

:?: Ok ladies, where is everyone? Did you all find the cure for your thyroid and weight problem and, not clue me in? How can I get my moral support if no one comes back here? I've been the same for 3 wks no loss but, NO GAIN so I guess that's a good thing. Right?

im here petunia,

i was on vacation&then was very ill. im starting over today on the carb addicts plan.

180/175/125

So happy to find you all!
 

Hello everyone!

My name is Leslie and I am so glad to have found a board for those with thyroid problems!

I was just dianosed with having hypothyroidism about 40 days ago, I was having other problems, still yet unexplained pains, they did a series of tests and found that I have spots on my liver, huge ovarian cysts (one the size of a tennis ball) and that my thyroid was high (which really means low?).

You'll have to excuse me, I am still new to having this problem, although I had felt for years that there must be something up with my thyroid, I had all of the classic symptoms, inability to lose weight, gaining weight, brittle nails, adverstity to cold, extremely tired but everytime I had it tested it always came back alright...

The doctor who finally found the thyroid problem this time said that my levels weren't really in the 'danger' zone but that the AMA is presently reevaluating what is high and what is low and that I fell right outside of what is considered high (the high low thing still gets to me, I think it should be the other way around?).

So he started me on Synthroid 0.125's and the first few days I had a pretty bad headache and my brain was on GO! My poor old body hadn't caught up though...

Then by the next week, it was like someone had handed me my life back on a silver platter! I found myself up, cooking breakfast for my husband, showered, make-up on, dressed and at the mall at 10 am, I literally found myself standing in the mall at 10 am one day and I was amazed!!!

I guess that doesn't seem like much to some but to me it was a tiny miracle, normally I wouldn't be out of bed by 10 am! And for the first time in a long time I was seeing -2 lb loses each and every week!!

But sadly that was short lived, my doctor said it would take a while to get the levels sorted out and was he ever right...by the third week on the Synthroid 0.125's I was in a bad state, my heart was racing, beating out of my chest for three days straight, I couldn't sleep, I was ill, it was not good...

I just got my blood work back and they've switched me to the Synthroid 0.1's, I started them this morning and I am hoping these will do the trick!

I stopped taking the Synthroid altogether until they got the blood work back, that was three days ago and now I am back to being so tired, I actually took a nap at 8 am this morning! LOL

Its an up and down journey, isn't it? I look forward to hearing from the rest of you about your thyroid situations and any advice you can give to me is much appreciated!

Anyway sorry to write a book, I just wanted to let you know where I am with my thyroid situation :dizzy:

I'm looking VERY forward to getting to know you all!

welcome!!!

i too have difficulty getting diagnosed b/c of the stupid tests. i battle my weight big time!!!

Hello everyone!

You all must be having great and busy weekends, its so quite in here!

Thanks for the welcome andreaphilip3!

Well, I started my new lower dosage of Synthroid on Thursday and by last night (Saturday) my heart was pounding out of my chest again!

I called my doctor this morning (Sunday) he was not too pleased I don't think, oh well...tough luck, I'm not going to have a heart attack if I can help it! He said that my heart rate which was 110 was not that high to be concerned with, I don't know what an average heart rate is, all I know is at 110 my entire body was pulsating with every beat and that can't be good! (he agreed)

He said for me to go back to the Synthroid 0.125's but to cut them in half and to try this dosage until Friday and if all was well to come back in to have my blood tested again.

He said that some people have to take a high dose on day and a lower dose the next, some take on really high dose weekly, some take two low dosages a day, etc...

He did warned me when I first started on the meds that it could be a long drawn out process getting it right and of course I would end up being one of those long drawn out ones! :rolleyes:

The doctor did make a good point though, he said with the first dosage being too high I now have a build up in my system which will take time to level out so even if for now this new lower dosage works well in a few weeks it might not as the build up will have gone, so looks like I'll be having a lot of blood tests on the horizon.

I'm wondering if maybe another thyroid medication might be better, my doctor seems to be partial to Synthroid, what medications are most of you taking? Did any of you experience a lot of trial and error with getting your dosages right?

ps) in my first post I mentioned that my doctor said that I was just outside the high range, well, the on call doctor that I saw the other day when my heart started acting up looked at my first blood results and said that it was indeed fairly high, not just outside? I guess possibly each doctor has his own opinions of what is high and what isn't?

I'm looking forward to discussing this stuff with you and to hearing about your experiences with medications etc...

Leslie

hi leslie,

yikes!! good luck with the meds. ther is armour thyroid, but some docs dont like it. im not on meds.... i cant get a correct diagnosis.:( i have tests 2x.

synthyroid is preferred by most doctors cuz they don't have to do blood tests as often, so it's cheaper for hmo's to prescribe. armour thyroid is made from pig thyroid, but it is practically identical to what our body produces, and it can be used completely. synthyroid was described to me by my doctor as missing part of something so your body can't quite use it fully. she likened it to showing guests your freezer full of thanksgiving dinner and telling them to eat it when it's frozen and obviosly not edible.
i use armour. i haven't had any problems with it (though at times, the dosing can be a wee bit off because it isn't chemically manufactured) and i think it's cheaper than synthyroid. my mom used synthyroid, but didn't really have any real change. she now uses armour, and prefers it. the only thing i dislike about it is that it smells sorta funky.
you might want to consider going to a specialist...not necessarily an endocrinologist, but someone that deals with thyroid stuff more often than a few random patients.
i think a book my sister got (yes, she is hypo also...gotta love genetics) was living with hypothyroidism....a very good book. a lot of the stuff on the about.com forum is written by this lady. i think that was the title....

anyways. good luck. i go sleepy sleep now.

guys,

a few days ago, i made a feb/march thread, so use that 1 k? thanks:)