Hashimotos

Over five years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism by my OB/gyn after having a miscarriage.  However, the doctor never did any more thorough tests to determine the cause of the hypothyroidism and I wasn't really given a lot of information about the effects of it except that it might have been a contributing factor to the miscarriage.

My dosage of Synthroid (a synthetic form of the hormone the thyroid would naturally produce) has increased steadily through my 3 pregnancies and I've continued to feel pretty tired and lethargic even though my last test results come back "borderline normal"--whatever that means!

So, I decided to go to our family practitioner instead my OB since I figured that would be the better place to get my questions answered about what is really going on with me and to find out if there is something else I could be doing.

So, last week I went to Dr. Blount at Matthews Family Physicians (Jon and I both really like him and how he takes plenty of time to answer our questions) with a huge list of questions, and he ordered a few different tests related to my thyroid.

I got the test results today, and he said it came back strongly positive for Hashimotos Thyroiditis.  Last week he explained this is one of the main causes of hypothyroidism in women my age.  Here is some information on it from www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/hashimotos:

Basically, it is "an autoimmune thyroid disease in which your thyroid is being attacked by your own immune system via antibodies, attempting to destroy your gland as if it’s some vile enemy.  Hashi’s is confirmed by two antibodies labs: anti-TPO and TgAb. The first antibody, anti-TPO, attacks an enzyme normally found in your thyroid gland, called the Thyroid Peroxidase, which is important in the production of thyroid hormones. The second antibody, TgAb, attacks the key protein in the thyroid gland, the thyroglobulin, which is essential in the production of the T4 and T3 thyroid hormones.  


As the attack increases, you will tend to swing between hypo and hyper, making dosing by labs, and especially the TSH, impossible. Your labs will be high one time, and low the next…back and forth. The hyper is caused by the release of thyroid hormones into your blood due to the destruction. The hypo is caused by the lessening function of your thyroid due to the attack."


After reading up on Hashimotos this morning after hearing the results from the doctor, I really have more questions!  It seems there is a better medication I should be taking-- "We have seen those on thyroxine T4-only (aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, etc) have some success in stopping the attack, but patients who switched to desiccated thyroid noticed even better results, especially if they dosed by symptoms rather than labs."  There is a ton more information on this, but I'm still trying to process it myself right now--and I'm wondering why the doctor didn't mention switching to a different medication based on these results.  


I'm praying for where to go right now since I still have the symptoms of being easily fatigued,  poor stamina, gaining weight easily, etc....probably due to the fact that a "normal" test result on just one lab isn't thorough enough to determine what's actually happening (according to the information I've found today).  Right now, by just monitoring my thyroid levels every 6 months, it is just "watching/keeping an eye" on what's going on.  However, I found this statement:  "IS IT A GOOD IDEA JUST TO “WATCH” IT, AS MY DOCTOR WANTS TO DO? In the opinion of a large body of patients who followed this advice, “watching” your Hashi’s is akin to watching a dog chew off your leg. Allowing the attack to continue on your thyroid can not only last for years, but cause all sorts of problems along the way of its destruction, including adrenal fatigue and Celiac disease. And once you add adrenal fatigue to the mix, you’ve got more problems to tackle. Instead, why not just stop the attack and all the consequences, as explained below."


I'm going to close this post as my kids are getting restless with what I've set them up to work on and Brilee is crying (poor thing has developed the same bad cough/congestion I've been dealing with since Sunday afternoon).  


I'll post some updates if I talk to my doctor again soon.  This is really eye opening info that I need to dig into further...