So answers in General Chatterboxing
- June 20, 2015, 5:31 a.m.
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I have Hashimotos Thyroidits autoimmune disorder/disease.
Yeah its a mouthful haha.
Basically it means my immune system is attacking my thyroid. Which is causing it to go hyper and hypo ( hense the hypo symptoms and hyper numbers)
My antibodies should be between 0 and 35. They were over 300.
We are retesting in 6 weeks ( puts me over one year post partum) to see if it can even itself out ( not be related to having a baby) or not. Then we treat what we can.
In the meantime, zoloft is doing great at managing a good chunk of the symptoms. im more energetic, and it helps manage my growing panic attacks. I even let conner have a sleepover at someone elses house ( he did great lol) AND i drove 45 miles to Eagle River to see a friend. Without panicking on the drive. Although i did get nervous and had adrenaline spikes driving through the busy part of town. I was lucky it was in the middle of the day so traffic is calmer. Then we took the back highway home so i avoided the worst of the rush hour drive home traffic too. Which helps. The only thing that sucks is its such a long drive!
So at least i know what is wrong with me. Thats good news. And after my next blood draws i can start treating it, for now the drs agree not to do anything that can effect the way my body is working. No new vitamins, no new diet, no new herbs or oils or anything. They dont want ANYTHING to sway those numbers. They need my body as it has been to see if there is a change. We are establishing a baseline.
We had two birthdays this week. Conner turned 8 and Logan turned 4. Conner got a quad copter. Logan got a racecar, a dinosaur and a rubber duck. He picked out his own gifts. I may make that a tradition. They get to go and pick out a gift they want. We are already doing ice cream cakes they design themselves for their birthdays. And Conners friends mom works at coldstone, so she told me to to come in and design the cakes there, They will do extra for us. Tee hee. Kids love that! B got his big boy quad copter. 1 hour of charging for 8 minutes of flying. Sigh. Ordering extra batteries NOW. What a pain you know lol. He loves that. Next up is… Audra.... Next month. Ill cry. Shes starting to walk. Im crying anyway. My last baby is ttrying so hard to be a big girl. God she completes me. She really does. There is nothing better then curling around my little girl while we nurse. And she holds my hair and shirt. Then throws herself at me when she sees me, the sunshine of the world lights up her face. Its hard to explain. I love and adore my boys. Im bonded with them. But Audra, she was everything i was waiting for. And i dont miss a minute of it. My work has taken a back burner, the housework has gone to hell lol. Just that we can watch her doing things. You dont know how much you wanted it, i mean you really dont, then you get it. And even though you wanted that… you realize what you were missing. And you didnt even KNOW. Shes that filling of the hole. And soon enough she may be her daddies girl. And thats ok too. Because this time is mine. ( and logans because he loves to cuddle lol) Im going to miss this.
We are SO busy. SO SO busy. Monday i saw my dr. Tuesday errands, wed errands, Thurs we went to Eagle River, Today B sees the derm for his warts. This weekend we are planning a dump run, and a walk. jeri wants to go fishing. We do something every day. Never relaxing. Well thats what this morning is. Knitting fox tails and relaxing. Preparing for my HUGE craft show. Please dear god let me have enough stuff! Shit im nervous. ok i gotta go, going back to work.
lessoff ⋅ June 20, 2015
random noter: are you seeing an endocrinologist? I was told IF the numbers come back for the antibody test as higher than 4 (mine was 800 and something) then you need to start the meds. I also get an ultrasound done of my neck every 3-4 years to make sure it is not growing (a thyroid should be smooth and a certain size, mine is slightly enlarged and bumpy). I take 75mcg of levothyorxide every day except for Saturday and sunday and my TSH levels hover around 0.62 lately (im also 32 weeks pregnant) ive been on the same dosage since turning 30 (im 35). I got diagnosed at the age of 27, I actually thought I was depressed (this was a bit after my father died and I just finished up college and I was still working in the same job-so it all made sense).
anyway I suggest you see an endo (if you aren't already) also cut any soy out of your diet (good book to read is jillian michaels master your metabolism, she has the same thyroid condition that we do). I know my cousin says that glutten free is the way to go but I HATE that diet.
if you are overweight, try to lose weight. my endo told me that once I get diagnosed with one endocrine disease im more likely for a 2nd (I technically already have PCOS, which counts, but diabetes is one of them).
my goal TSH is 1.0 when not pregnant. just a warning the meds were a bit hard on my body at first but once they are in your system you will feel so much better. (my numbers are based off of US numbers, if you are in a different country then yours might be different).
Lina lessoff ⋅ June 20, 2015
Usa here too.
my dr thinks that despite an OVERWHELMING family history ( mom four aunts, grandmother and great grandmother) with bad thyroid issues, that it could possibly be caused by having my 5th baby. I think its just the natural progression of something that is clearly running in my family.
They spoke with an endo who agreed wait 6 more weeks for one more blood draw to establish a baseline and then do something. Im not sure they kinda give me this wait and see.
This popped up because i noticed a swelling in my neck a few months ago and went to the dr. Ive had an ultrasound which shows an enlarged thyroid on both sides but more so on the right, where i can see/feel the "swelling" they wont call it a lump. Its swelling. That dosent go down. After 3 months. The TSH levels went from 1.9 to .9 to .8 in the last month. My antibodies are pretty high. I know they can get a lot higher but i was pretty stunned that they were as high as they are. They tell me that seeing my TSH is within normal ranges they dont want to treat me, despite having a host of side effects. The zoloft is dealing with the anxiety and needing to nap more often then my 11 month old. It dosent help that im now 30 lbs over weight and gaining, despite eating well and seeing a personal trainer twice a week. Ive kinda given up on that. Im just doing my workouts, which is making me stronger. Call that close enough lol. I dont have anything like pcos or diabetes. Those test results all came back good. Just my thyroid.
My great grandmother died from a goiter so its pretty much, this was going to happen to me sooner or later. My mom was 40 when hers was removed. Im nearly 31. Im not even stressed about it now. I know whats wrong. if the drs wont treat it with medicine, ill find some other way of managing. Its life you know :) And find a new doctor lol.
lessoff Lina ⋅ June 20, 2015
whoa 5th baby! im a miserable pregnant woman (Haha) so ill be having one. :)
I don't know what your heritage is, but it is very common for people who have ancestors from Russia to have issues with their thyroids (from Chernobyl) my dad's mom was fresh off the boat.
have they checked your free t3 and free t4? sometimes those can be messed up but not the TSH, I have the opposite TSH is wonky but free t3 and free t4 is awesome. a friend of mine has issues with free t4 and takes armour meds (made from pig thyroids I believe)
Lina lessoff ⋅ June 20, 2015
I think those ones were in normal ranges as well.
I dont think we have an Russian in us. My grammy and Pappy were from England and Ireland. Im second generation American. we have some german and indian on my fathers side. But its my grammys side that had thyroid issues.
Lina lessoff ⋅ June 20, 2015
And yeah 5 lol. From 11 on down!