If you have/had an under-active thyroid...

libbyann

What were your main symptoms? Did a blood test diagnose it, or were there other things that went into it? What is the treatment for it and is this a life-long treatment, or will it go away over time?

I'm heading to the doctor in a couple weeks to get blood work done because of some things that have me concerned (mainly that I'm tired all the time, haven't been able to lose the 10lbs I have left to lose, despite diet/exercise, zero sex drive, very moody). Looking up the symptoms of an under-active thyroid seems to fit, but the symptoms are also very general and could be explained by a million other things - for instance, increase sensitivity to cold I do have, but I've also lost a lot of body fat since last winter, so it could be explained by that.

We're also checking my hormone levels, as my issues could also be explained by high estrogen.

Just looking for real life stories, not things on WebMD and such

Mrs.Purdue

watching this thread because I also think I have some thyroid issues since having DD in May.  The tiredness thing is a big one for me (my DD usually sleeps 12 hours straight so I shouldn't feel like dying of exhaustion every single day), but also extremely slow hair growth, really achy joints/muscles, and worsening eye sight. 

 

mcurban

I went to see my ob/gyn b/c I had zero sex drive. None. I was exhausted all.the.time and I was gaining weight, despite maintaining a healthy diet and running 12-15 miles a week. My hair was also falling out at a rate that was higher than usual.

She did a blood test that came back clearly stating my thyroid was hardly doing it's job. I should have suspected this earlier, as my mom had the same thing at around the same age.

I take Synthroid once a day and have bloodwork every 6-12 weeks. 

Definitely have it checked out, especially if you are thinking about TTC. Thyroid levels should be actively monitored during pregnancy.

OrangeFelt

I actually had thyroid problems UNTIL I started working out regularly and changing my diet. Its totally fixed itself.

Have you had any rest weeks recently? Could it be that you are hardcore plateauing and feeling fatigued because you've been going for a while non stop? A good rule is to take one full week off, every 12 weeks to properly recover and bounce back.

ETA: definitely get the test, though. I still get tested for TSH and T3 levels every year or so to make sure its in check.

ACR

Well, I didn't realize anything was a symptom except in retrospect. My initial diagnosis was just part of some routine bloodwook during a physical. But - for overactive thyroid, it was - irritability, heart racing, more irratibility (and a big lump on my neck). That's all I can really remember - was over 10 years ago.

 After I had my thyroid removed, I didn't have any hormone replacement for a ferw months so I could get a baseline. During that period of hypothyroidism, I gained weight, was depressed, lacked energy & motivation (my grades really suffered that semester).

Those vague symptoms are tough - best of luck that you can get it figured out!

el_twirpo

while my thyroid is currently crazy overactive (going to the endo on friday), i can tell you what my experiences were when i was on antithyroid meds and it slowed down really fast before we tapered me off the meds.

feel cold all the time
hair falling out (giant clumps in the shower drain)
skin was dry
fatigued/exhausted
couldn't lose weight even with diet/exercise change
moody/no motivation to do regular stuff

get your blood work done for sure.  

 

libbyann

OrangeFelt:

Have you had any rest weeks recently? Could it be that you are hardcore plateauing and feeling fatigued because you've been going for a while non stop? A good rule is to take one full week off, every 12 weeks to properly recover and bounce back.

I wish it was that easy I took a week off around Thanksgiving. This has been going on much, much longer than that though...about a year, actually. I keep thinking that there's some magic combination that's going to work for me - like I'm not eating well enough or I'm not working out hard enough.

I'm really running out of things to tweak, so I started looking into other causes of my weight-plateau (and to be honest the last bit of weight I lost was VERY hard to do and happened because I was eating 1000-1200 calories a day, which I don't want to do again). When I started researching, I couldn't believe how many of the symptoms I had - I end up attributing it to other things. 

For instance, I'm tired because I get up at 4am every morning to work out. My skin is dry because the heater is on and it's winter. I'm cold all the time because I've lost body fat and we keep our heater really low. I've never had a high sex drive, so the lack of it now is just because I'm tired. I can't lose weight because I'm still doing something wrong.

My workout partner/trainer agrees that something just doesn't seem right, so I feel like I need to get it all checked out.

libbyann

Okay, another ?. My OB/GYN takes forever and a day to get in unless you're pregnant. I scheduled my annual for 2012 in October and the earliest opening she had was in December (of 2012)!!

Do I need to go see her, or could I see a general practitioner? Not that I have one, or anything, lol...but it might be easier to get into one than my OB. And on that same vein, anyone have a great doctor, north, that they love? It's a long shot for them taking my insurance (S&W), but I'll try!

Mainer-in-Texas

I had a routine physical done in October. I had no symptoms of hypothyroidism, (that I noticed, anyway), but the bloodwork showed that my TSH was high and my free T4 was normal. Both my PCP and OB said I didn't need to be treated, but I kept reading stuff online (journal articles) about how I had subclinical hypothyroidism, and that a high TSH can cause miscarriages. I also read that, even if your T4 is in the range considered normal, it may not be what is normal for you. So I went to my RE, and he confirmed what I read and put me on Synthroid. I've been taking it for one week, and I have to go back in two more weeks to have my TSH level check again. I think it can take a while for the Synthroid to start working, so I am wondering if I may actually notice, in hindsight, that I have been having symptoms. We'll see.

Anyway, my point is that I would get your levels checked, and if anything is abnormal and your doctor doesn't want to do anything, go see an Endocrinologist. It seems like there is still a lot of debate about what levels are considered "normal," and Endocrinologists are (or should be!) more up-to-date on the research. 

el_twirpo

libbyann:

Okay, another ?. My OB/GYN takes forever and a day to get in unless you're pregnant. I scheduled my annual for 2012 in October and the earliest opening she had was in December (of 2012)!!

Do I need to go see her, or could I see a general practitioner? Not that I have one, or anything, lol...but it might be easier to get into one than my OB. And on that same vein, anyone have a great doctor, north, that they love? It's a long shot for them taking my insurance (S&W), but I'll try!

 

 go see a general practitioner. really, someone just needs to order the blood work for you, and if it's off, they can refer you to an endocrinologist. you don't need to see your OB to get it done. 

Temp13436125005166

I suspect I have an underactive thyroid too.  I've been meaning to research taking iodine supplement, I've heard of iodoral.  Do you read the cheeseslave blog, https://www.cheeseslave.com/?  She took iodoral for some time and did other things to help her thyroid.  I remember reading that she had to fix her adernals first (or maybe the other way around). One thing she reccomends is to take your temp 3x a day and that if its below the normla 98.6 that might indicate thyroid trouble.  

Are you doing low carb?  I was reading on Matt Stone's blog today that a lot of people on low carb diets do great initially and then at some point things change:
https://180degreehealth.com/2012/01/paleo-diet-myth-
(I have no experience with this, just read it today at lunch and thought I'd link it in case it was interesting)

luluAXA

How I found out about my thyroid problem was because of a missed period.  I went to the OB/GYN and she suggested I see the endocrinlogist.  My levels of course were off when I did the blood work but in addition I had a nodule on my thyroid and eventually after months of observations and sonograms and biposies I had my whole thyroid removed.  I believe my thyroid was over active which was suppose to make you lose weight which wasn't the case for met and I also didn't have any other visual symptoms (bulging eyes, etc).  I take my synthroid daily now and have lost weight but that was due to WW and not the thyroid.  Whenever I'm not into sex DH likes to blaim my thyroid but that's a whole other story and I used to be tired a lot but it looks like that was due to having a new baby and not my thyroid either. Regular exercise and sleep solved that.

2H2L

I dont, but J does. He had all of your symptoms. Our pcp dx after a blood test and put him on meds. It's taken a few appointments to get the level just right, but it made a HUGE difference in all of the above symptoms.