# We want to know.............



## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

What was your first clue that made you think that you may have thyroid disease?

Did you follow through on your gut instinct?


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## ann.olscv (Dec 29, 2009)

I was extremely tired and was depressed. The Dr tested my thyroid levels and they came back normal. I was referred to an endocrinologist and he noticed I had a huge goiter. I am a female and was in my 20's and didn't know it wasn't normal. After taking synthroid the goiter shrunk.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

ann.olscv said:


> I was extremely tired and was depressed. The Dr tested my thyroid levels and they came back normal. I was referred to an endocrinologist and he noticed I had a huge goiter. I am a female and was in my 20's and didn't know it wasn't normal. After taking synthroid the goiter shrunk.


Well, thank you very much Ann. This should be an interesting little discussion here.

You were fortunate to have gotten prompt attention. It is also worthy of note that your thyroid labs were in normal range yet you had a huge goiter. Did doc run antibodies' tests at that time?

My first clue was my weight and loss of eyebrows plus very very slow intestinal motility.


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## ann.olscv (Dec 29, 2009)

I don't remember what he tested. He just said that they didn't do an extensive enough test so that's why they missed it. My sister was recently tested and her thyroid levels came back normal. I told her to tell them to do the more extensive test for hashimoto because her sister has it and they did and she also has hashimoto's.

I have had it for as long as I can remember and always had/have a slow intestinal motility. I didn't realize it wasn't normal.

My insurance switched to Kaiser and they didn't check the Hashimoto and it got out of control, which I didn't realize until recently. I gained weight and couldn't lose it. I kept telling them and they didn't listen. So I switched insurance and am now looking to see a new endo.

I will be responding to your response to me in my 'thread' shortly (Hashimoto & Nodules).


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## thatbrian (Dec 11, 2009)

Although I had 100 other symptom, it was my hoarse voice and difficulty swallowing that sent me to the doctor. I knew absolutely nothing about thyroid problems, so I didn't suspect it at all.


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## Live2Love (Sep 14, 2009)

I definitely just typed a paragraph, and deleted it some how. LOL! I had to go to the doctor for a physical. I was feeling fatigued, but chalked it all up to stress. Anyways, the physical revealed that my thyroid was larger on one side than the other. I had all sorts of tests done, and ended up with Hashimoto's. Now that I look back- I had soooooo many symptoms, but ignored them because I was so busy going to school and working full time. I had muscle weakness, hair shedding, pale skin, dry skin, fatigue (sometimes went to bed as soon as I got off work), heat intolerance (I couldn't sleep with a blanket on, and often slept with as little as possible on), and many others. Silly me, thinking it was all because of stress.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

ann.olscv said:


> I don't remember what he tested. He just said that they didn't do an extensive enough test so that's why they missed it. My sister was recently tested and her thyroid levels came back normal. I told her to tell them to do the more extensive test for hashimoto because her sister has it and they did and she also has hashimoto's.
> 
> I have had it for as long as I can remember and always had/have a slow intestinal motility. I didn't realize it wasn't normal.
> 
> ...


Oh, yes.............hypo slows the whole system down. You can liken it to a bear getting ready to hibernate for the winter. That would include the brain when I say the whole system. :anim_63:


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

thatbrian said:


> Although I had 100 other symptom, it was my hoarse voice and difficulty swallowing that sent me to the doctor. I knew absolutely nothing about thyroid problems, so I didn't suspect it at all.


Aha! We now know that is a major domo symptom, don't we? Thanks for responding.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Live2Love said:


> I definitely just typed a paragraph, and deleted it some how. LOL! I had to go to the doctor for a physical. I was feeling fatigued, but chalked it all up to stress. Anyways, the physical revealed that my thyroid was larger on one side than the other. I had all sorts of tests done, and ended up with Hashimoto's. Now that I look back- I had soooooo many symptoms, but ignored them because I was so busy going to school and working full time. I had muscle weakness, hair shedding, pale skin, dry skin, fatigue (sometimes went to bed as soon as I got off work), heat intolerance (I couldn't sleep with a blanket on, and often slept with as little as possible on), and many others. Silly me, thinking it was all because of stress.


Well, you know the doctors will tell us it is stress also and Rx an antidepressant. LOL!

Muscle weakness; yes!!! Makes one think they have Multiple Sclerosis at first.

Were you scared?

Thank you for sharing?


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

I had been going to the doctor for several years for alot of things - I can't even remember but one of the main things was insomnia, muscle pain, severe knee pain, allergies and at the very end hives. My husband called my a hypocondriac because I was going to the doctor alot. I never had any issues before I experienced pregnancy - 4 pregnancies in 37 months with 2 live births.

My doctor continually tried to put me onto anti depressants but I always refused because I did not feel depressed. My doctor also kept writing me prescriptions for Ambien to help me sleep but after 18 months it completely quit working.

I had heart palps about 2 years before I was dx's and my gyno said to avoid caffeine. The only thing that narrowed down what it might be was my gyno ran an "executive 50 lab test" 2 years in a row and the second year I noticed that my TSH was non existent - he said the "other thyroid tests" were normal so I was fine.

I continued to go to doctors for 18 months after that telling then I suspected sub-clinical hyperthyroid and finally after switching gyno's my new gyno agreed and sent me back to my GP who then sent me to an endo.

DX - was moderate graves disease and I was treated so aggressively with ATD's I went from completely hyper to completely hypo in 3 months - I had to go to a therapist because I thought I was losing my mind.

If I knew then what i know now I would have never gone hypo or been kept there for the 4 years I was on ATD's. I think the MD's thing if they keep us hypo we are easier to treat.

I had TT 4.5 years after my DX and have been "thyroid free" for 5 years. Life without a diseased thyroid has been far superior to living with being on ATD's.

My Story!


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Lovlkn said:


> I had been going to the doctor for several years for alot of things - I can't even remember but one of the main things was insomnia, muscle pain, severe knee pain, allergies and at the very end hives. My husband called my a hypocondriac because I was going to the doctor alot. I never had any issues before I experienced pregnancy - 4 pregnancies in 37 months with 2 live births.
> 
> My doctor continually tried to put me onto anti depressants but I always refused because I did not feel depressed. My doctor also kept writing me prescriptions for Ambien to help me sleep but after 18 months it completely quit working.
> 
> ...


What a story it is!! Oh, my gosh. Sounds a lot like what happened to myself and others. Just being fluffed off.

I take it that at no time did any doctor run antibodies' tests, uptake scan.................nothing like that? Pooey!

I am so so sorry you had such a bad time of it and I wish to also welcome you to the board. I have been reading your posts.

Thank you for sharing; it might help others which is the purpose of this thread!


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## Whats a girl to do (Oct 22, 2009)

I was a healthy happy person until I gave birth to my son 18 years ago, the day I came home from the hospital I started with the panic attacks, felt housebound for months, at first I thought something was seriously wrong as i was also experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness and extreme nervousness!! In short, I thought i was dying.
Doctor told me i was stressed after having a baby, I needed to learn to relax!!

I relaxed so much that I was doing NOTHING.... The symptoms still didn't go away, My Mother is Hypothyroid, my granma is Hypo and my Aunt is Hypo.. So doc ran TSH, result came back normal. I knew it was my thyroid for years, I made the doc retest me as more symptoms were coming... Long story short, it took 18 years of misery before I was diagnosed... I kept telling each doctor i knew it was my thyroid, they kept telling me I was normal!!!!!
It angers me now that i went thru all that unpleasant sickness and the doctors basically allowed me to suffer, not one of them wanted to investigate further.

I recently found a doc who did the full thyroid screening... My reverse T3 was way out, I was diagnosed with RT3 Dominance Wilsons thyroid disorder.
I was put on T3 meds and felt the greatest I've felt in my whole adult life!!!!
I've had my dose increased 3 times in 3 months because i start to get the hypo symptoms back after 3 weeks. We're currently trying to find the accurate dose for me, a dose that will keep me well.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

Whats a girl to do said:


> I was a healthy happy person until I gave birth to my son 18 years ago, the day I came home from the hospital I started with the panic attacks, felt housebound for months, at first I thought something was seriously wrong as i was also experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness and extreme nervousness!! In short, I thought i was dying.
> Doctor told me i was stressed after having a baby, I needed to learn to relax!!
> 
> I relaxed so much that I was doing NOTHING.... The symptoms still didn't go away, My Mother is Hypothyroid, my granma is Hypo and my Aunt is Hypo.. So doc ran TSH, result came back normal. I knew it was my thyroid for years, I made the doc retest me as more symptoms were coming... Long story short, it took 18 years of misery before I was diagnosed... I kept telling each doctor i knew it was my thyroid, they kept telling me I was normal!!!!!
> ...


Welcome to the board. I got you beat; I went undiagnosed (fluffed off) for 20 years and almost died of a Thyroid Storm!

Did you have RAI or surgery? What T3 are you on? Cytomel? Are you on Cytomel only? I have a vested interest as Armour is no longer available and I am "considering" Cytomel only. I don't convert T4 to T3 so I see no point in taking T4 and truth be told I think the build-up of it in my system is what made me horribly sick when I was on it many years ago.

That said, I am very very sorry that you were so mistreated by the medical establishment. I am of the opinion that there should be a major uprising in this country about this sort of thing. Meanwhile, we always have to pay to be told we are fat, lazy, depressed, suffering from anxiety and don't know how to push ourselves away from the table. (just a few things I was told by various and sundry doctors.) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.


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