How can I tell if I have hypothyroid or not? I'm going tomorrow to insist on all the thyroid tests, if they didn't do them all last time. But how do I know if my doctor is reading them correctly? As in, the results say normal but I may not be. Do I just take the results to another doctor as see what he/she says?

yes, second opinions are always a good idea

Do you have the symptoms of hypothyroidism? What are your symptoms? I think that would be a good place to start. The tests should confirm how you feel already. I knew I was hypo and changed doctors to try and find one who would treat me more as a person and less as a lab result. If your lab results are normal, perhaps your problem is not thyroid related and changing doctors won't help. A second opinion is not a bad thing, but explore other possibilities. For instance, I was very tired, and thought my thyroid was slowing down more, so I went to the doctor for a thyroid test. He also did an A1C test for blood sugar problems and I found out I was a diabetic with seriously out of control blood sugar. Once I got it all under control, my energy level went WAY up...

The tests said I was "normal," but I know I'm not. Out of a list of 65 symptoms, I have 31. Almost half the list of hypothyroid symptoms. And my doc just says it's all from depression. Well, I'm handling thing myself. I'm buying Armour thyroid and Cortef, and going to dose myself. Worse that could happen is I become hyperthyroid. In which case I just stop taking the meds. Best that could happen... I can finally feel good! Without anti-depressants making me feel "fake happy."

The latest statistics that I've read indicate that less than 10% of women are hypothyroid. Widely consided, but not too common.
They are fairly straightfoward test without much room for error.

Can you post a list of those symptoms?

Theses are the ones I know of. There may be some, like high cholesterol, that I am not aware of.

Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Chronic Low Grade Depression
Suicidal Thoughts
Often feeling cold
Cold hands and feet
Hard stools
Constipation
Dry Hair
Hair Loss
Dry cracking skin
Nodding off easily
Requires naps in the afternoon
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking
Inability to lose weight
Always gaining weight
Aching bones/muscles
Bumps on legs
Acne on face and in hair
Breakout on chest and arms
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Inability to work full-time
Complete lack of motivation
Handwriting nearly illegible
Internal itching of ears
Broken/peeling fingernails
Ringing in ears
Lactose Intolerance
Carpal tunnel symptoms
Low body temperature

A lot of those symptoms are common with a variety of ailments. Let me think on it and I'll respond in the morning.

Allthese are very basic symptoms of depresssion
Chronic Low Grade Depression
Suicidal Thoughts
Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Aching bones/muscles
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Internal itching of ears
Broken/peeling fingernails
Ringing in ears
Inability to work full-time
Complete lack of motivation
Nodding off easily
Requires naps in the afternoon
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking

All these can indicate malnutrition
Low body temperature
Acne on face and in hair
Breakout on chest and arms
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Hard stools
Constipation
Dry Hair
Hair Loss
Dry cracking skin
Nodding off easily
Requires naps in the afternoon
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking
Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity

All these are indicators of inactivity
Often feeling cold
Cold hands and feet
Hard stools
Constipation
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Chronic Low Grade Depression
Carpal tunnel symptoms

All these can indicate irritable bowel syndrome
Lactose Intolerance
Hard stools
Constipation
Inability to lose weight

Several of them are symptoms of the flu, pregnancy and so on ...


Well, you get the picture. Don't wait until you find a doctor who argess with you. There are a lot of things you can do right now. You might also have to face the fact that your thyroid is just fine.
Instead of reading about ailments on the internet ... read here.

Point taken. But antidepressants just don't seem to work for me. I've been on three different ones and they either don't help or the side effects are worse then being depressed. And I know my eating habits are bad, but it's hard to eat right. And I'm horrible at taking vitamins. Though I have plenty that I shouldn't forget... And I know I should exercise more, but I can't seem to find hte motivation or willpower to do so. And with Welbutrin making me so dizzy, which I still am even though I haven't taken it for at least three days, it's even harder to exercise. Sometimes I wish I could just find a way to start my body on a clean slate.

Oh, and what can I do about IBS? Besides see a doctor.

Hmmmm ... a clean slate ... that's an interesting concept. I kinda like it.

Irritable bowel? It's all about the food. Psyllium is a good place to start.

I'm really liking your clean slate idea. How could we do a thread something like that???

Losing weight completely cured my irritable bowel.

I want to say, though, that yes, eating right and exercising are hard. Really hard. I started very close to your shoes - I had major depression and anxiety that I couldn't medicate, I had irritable bowel, and my eating habits were terrible.

I'm not saying this will work the same for you, but this is how it worked for me. I spent two weeks exercising and eating according to a specific plan (meet the DV for fiber and calcium, 100g protein or more, 4-6 liters of water a day, 1400-1600 calories, and 45 min or more of cardiovascular exercise) - and it was really hard and nothing changed for the first couple of days. At the end of the two weeks, though, every single symptom I had almost disappeared.

My previously paralyzing anxiety and depression (for which i had been medicated and talk-therapied to no avail) pretty much vanished, starting slowly at first, and more and more as the days went on. The insomnia related to that depression and anxiety, which made me so tired and made exercise so horrible, completely vanished within 2 weeks.

All of the gastrointestinal symptoms I had vanished, and haven't returned since, including all the symptoms related to my IBS. I think this has to do with the increased fiber in my diet, as SusanB mentioned. Just gone. The only times I get any symptoms at all now are those times when I go off of my eating plan.

The first two weeks were really, really hard. I had to take those vitamins. I had to exercise. I had to eat well - and I FORCED myself to do so. But after the two weeks are up, I had such RELIEF! No more depression, no more insomnia, no more anxiety, no more tummy troubles. My therapist was blown away at the big changes I could make in my brain chemistry in just two weeks, especially since medication wasn't an option for me despite having a clinical depression and PTSD diagnosis. And after two weeks, it really wasn't all that hard anymore.

Now, I have more energy than I ever imagined, and more than that by far, I am HAPPY. It took a couple of really hard weeks of forcing myself to get there, but it was SO worth it for the change in well-being.

It is something to consider. I'm not saying that all cases of depression, anxiety, PTSD, IBS, etc can be solved by diet and exercise. All I'm saying is that mine were. You want to feel better, obviously, and I can read it in your post. Maybe if you can sacrifice a couple of hard weeks, you could feel better and healthier than you do now.

I had pretty much every symptom that you did. Now, I don't have any, except feeling cold all the time, which i'm pretty sure is my body reacting to the fact that it has fewer layers of fat to keep it warm. I feel for you because I know exactly how hard it was, for me, and how hopeless it must feel to you. My physical and mental health are better than they have ever been.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more. And again, i'll stress that I am NOT saying my approach will work for everyone, its just something to consider, because it DID work for me.

Actually I haven't had much trouble with the constipation and hard stools anymore. Course that could be because I eat a whole 16oz bag of frozen blueberries everyday. They are like my new candy. I love them! Anyway, I just wish I had people like all of you to motivate me every day. I'd ask my parents but.... I tend to get snappy with them sometimes. At least my mom. I've told her in the past to help push me to do things, and I always get annoyed at her. Though it's mostly me, I think her negative reinforcement approach doesn't help much. But I might try again. Tell her to get me more positive about things. I might still order some Armour, since the only bad thing is that I become hyper. I've also ordered a 24-hour saliva test kit to see if my adrenal glands are okay. I do have suspicion they might be lacking, since I failed an eye self-test. So my thyroid might be okay, but my body isn't getting the hormones cause my adrenals are sluggish. We shall see. For now I'll try to exercise (My aching knee joints! ) and take my vitamins. I'll also try protein shakes for the protein, though I wish there was a pill form. Like I need anymore, but the damn powder won't mix with anything. But thanks for all you're help. I'll let you all know about the saliva results when I get them. Might be a week or so.

You do have people like us to talk to each day

Be careful with the Armour thyroid. It has tons of side effects, and is normally given under a doc's care so the side effects can be carefully monitored.

Also, if you think your adrenals are underactive, do NOT take Armour thyroid. The two are contraindicated - taking Armour thyroid generally makes underactive adrenals worse.

I've been reading on a thyroid site that is made by patients. You can take Armour if your adrenals are bad, but you have to take something like Cortef to get your adrenals up and runnning first. No one there mentioned side effects, and I even found a site they gave me where I can get Armour myself. But I'd rather try the Cortef first, assuming I do have an adrenal problem. If that along with better diet, vitamins, and exercise don't work, THEN I will consider Armour. Cause Cortef isn't much. They gave me a site where I can get 30 10-or-20mg tablets for like $5.