# What does having Hashi's "mean" for you?



## Love2RunLong (Oct 21, 2014)

Trying to put this simply without being confusing?

What symptoms do you attribute to Hashi's/ How does it affect your daily life? I haven't felt really good since my Daughter was born 19 months ago, and started to feel pretty awful even before I was pregnant. I had been diagnosed with celiac in 2012 and thought after eating GF that I'd start to feel better, but it just seems to continue. It's a constant battle to get my thyroid meds right, even with a good doctor as my numbers just seem to keep bouncing around.

My mom has Hashi's and seems to blame all of her problems on Hashi's. On a daily basis, SOMETHING bothers me. My knees hurt, or my head hurts, or my stomach bothers me. I'm currently seeing a Gastroenterologist for a stomach/intestinal problem. So far, everything has been NORMAL. Blood, CT, ect. I wonder if I should just keep searching out an answer or if this is just a manifestation of having Hashi's.

My GP told me that it "didn't even really mean anything" to have hashi's, and while I knew that was BS, I don't seem to associate all my weird crap to having Hashi's.

So how does having it affect you on a daily basis? What do you to minimize symptoms, ect?


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh, gosh....

A short list off the top of my head:


muscle & joint soreness;
tummy issues (constipation, diarrhea, cramping, etc);
sleep disturbances;
heart palps;
trouble swallowing;
light headed-ness when standing or getting out of bed;
fatigue;
foggy-headedness or memory issues;
bad nails;
bad hair;
irregular periods;
periods of rapid weight loss followed by rapid weight gain;
bags under my eyes...

I can't think of anything else at the moment, but it wasn't "nothing."


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## WhatHappened (Nov 12, 2015)

Hashis. I'm new to it. Still healing, but everything at one point hurt or looked like it would hurt or I expected it would hurt and this general feeling of "what's next?"

On a daily basis? That I am living a life I never expected. That I realized that it probably screwed with my sense of time (like what happened the last two years). That I now take a pill and almost never sleep in. Where I never gave a dang about taking meds as directed I wake up making sure I didn't oversleep, that I have a full glass of water, wondering when the script needs to be renewed. In short, don't get between me and my levo. That's my morning, until I take the pill.

If someone had complained to me about being severely hypo before becoming hypo, I never would have believed them. How could my puffy face, the lack of hair on my arms and legs, and the dark bags under my eyes be related to the stiff hands, achy feet, hurting muscles and joints? You mention all your weird crap, and I still have some floating around, but I joked that I could only find 300 hypothyroid/hashi's symptoms on the web after I was diagnosed and that I had 500 of them 

I think, or I suspect, that it would be much harder for me to adjust if I was a stay at home dad or was not working. That frightens me. I can keep going as long as I am moving, as long as there is a sense of urgency, but if things get quiet at work, or there is less to do at the weekend, or god forbid a big lull, its hard. Sluggish, feel lazy, start lots, finish little then.


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## Love2RunLong (Oct 21, 2014)

So probably a lot of what I'm experiencing is just Hashi's...


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

It probably is Hashi's, but I would argue that those symptoms should be minimized if you are probably medicated...and if you can't get the a point where your meds and labs are stable, it might be good to get a surgical consult.


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## Hashi411 (Jan 25, 2016)

I have had all types of blood test through the years, especially having 3 children. I have never been diagnosed with any thing other than Hashi's, just recently 5 mos. ago. My drs never caught the disease, I did after I ordered my complete thyroid panel online and took the results to my dr. As soon as I showed her my positive high TPO results and ask is this Hashimoto's, she said "Yes, it is" Wow... so finally after 2 yrs of thinking and sharing with her, insisting it was my thyroids...I was always told it wasn't. That all my symptoms were from stress and depression. For 3 yrs I was put on Welbutrin for depression, Xanax for anxiety, Ambien for insomnia, and Phentermine for weight loss. I became so messed up emotionally on all this crap...I decided to stop letting drs treat my symptoms alone, with out trying to find the root of my problems. I slowly began to ween myself off all these meds.... Now I am just on Armour 60mg, Vitamin D3 and Biotin.

However, I still feel horrible. I am constantly exhausted. I sleep 6-7 hrs at night, I take early naps and drag the rest of the day. I fight constipation daily, maybe once or twice a week I go, and its painfully difficult. I get winded just standing for short periods, my hair is brittle and breaks daily, My hands and feet are constantly freezing, brain fog through out the day and I feel I'm getting more depressed with each passing day.

This is how Hashi's is effecting me.... not to mention my family and friends are sick of me bringing it up.... They seem to feel its no big deal or dangerous disease....so it makes my journey lonely too..... Until now, this board is such a blessing.... thank you to all who care enough to share with us  It makes me feel less alone!


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Hashi411, what labs is your doc running to dose your Armour? Hopefully Free T3 is included. You might also ask for a reverse T3 test--my meds didn't do much to help at first because I had a high rT3 level, which meant my body wasn't properly using the T3 in my meds and it was building up in my system as rT3.


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## TZT (Jan 6, 2016)

Thanks to my Hashis and two nodules I am having my thyroid removed next Tuesday. I have a lot of the symptoms and my ENT actually pays attention to how I am feeling. After a year and a half of every test imaginable it has finally come to removing it altogether. I say goodbye to it and hello to a lifetime of medication in the morning. I am perfectly fine with it. I am tired of being tired.


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## foregvn2000 (Feb 13, 2016)

TZT, i can so relate to you. Approx. 6 yrs of constant horrible life changing negative symptoms, not being helped with Levo, i just got a diagnosis of Hashi a couple weeks ago. I'm hoping that I can have my thyroid removed. Keep us posted on your recovery and the differences of your experiences prior to removal. Thanks for sharing.

Joie


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## foregvn2000 (Feb 13, 2016)

creepingdeath said:


> *A living nightmare you can not wake up from*.............................


Agreed!!!


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## Thyroidpatient (Jan 18, 2016)

I am shocked with the symptoms! I try doing the more natural stuff before meds,I don't understand how the symptoms are so broad and can be related! I do have to say in my experience, I did an elimination diet for 6 weeks ( fruits, veggies, meat ) only. it did make me feel better an a lot of daily aches and pains were gone! At the time I contributed it to weight loss, I was on meds at the time. As soon as I came off meds the weight loss stopped. all the aches and pains are back! I will try the diet again without meds and see if it helps.. Maybe it's worth a shot for some, it's not a fun diet but I have to face head on an try again! Meds suck!


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## WhatHappened (Nov 12, 2015)

I guess it depends on the level of thyroid function you have and the severity of your hashi's, but I am not sure that going off med is necessarily the right choice. You mention you felt your best when on both. Perhaps diet in cooperation with a monitoring doctor, your bloodwork, and of course how you are feeling and adjusting med accordingly.

For me (very little function) no meds would be insane.


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## TZT (Jan 6, 2016)

foregvn2000 said:


> TZT, i can so relate to you. Approx. 6 yrs of constant horrible life changing negative symptoms, not being helped with Levo, i just got a diagnosis of Hashi a couple weeks ago. I'm hoping that I can have my thyroid removed. Keep us posted on your recovery and the differences of your experiences prior to removal. Thanks for sharing.
> 
> Joie


Mine was about 2 years of trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It is now out and it will take a while to get my meds right but I truly think I am finally on the right path. The surgery wasn't that bad at all. I had a sore throat for a couple of days from the breathing tube and a stiff neck. I am still tired but I am in recovery. I am hoping six months from now I will be back to my normal self and enjoying what I used to before all Hell broke loose with my body.


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## indigovalley (Oct 9, 2015)

I was diagnosed with Hashimotos when I was age 18 via a college physical (my doctor discovered the start of a goiter). I didn't have a lot of obvious symptoms that I recall but then I was very young so perhaps wasn't as alert to changes in my body. I have been on Synthroid or Levothyroxine (I've had both at different times) for over 40 years. I started out at dosage 175 but now I'm at 150 due to having occasional atrial fibrillation. Over the years the only issues I can identify as stemming from hormone treatment and/or Hashimotos are occasional heart palpitations and fatigue. I developed one nodule that turned cancerous and I had that lobe of my thyroid removed late last year. I'm sorry to hear that so many of you are having so many side effects from the disease and/or treatment. There seems to be a wide variety of symptoms and severity.

I wonder if there are differences in people and how we individually metabolize thyroid hormone that could account for this? That would explain why some folk need higher/lower doses than others. It might also explain why it can take some trial and error to get the dosages at the right level or why some respond to one thyroid med but not others. Such a frustrating disorder....


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## Keba (Aug 11, 2012)

My doctor told me that all of my symptoms could be the Hashi's. She did however say there could be another autoimmune disease that hasn't been found yet so it's important to go in if I suddenly start feeling worse.

Fatigue by far is the one I'm battling with most. Also just can't get back on track after having the flu earlier. It's a beast but you can't let it control your life.

Icy hot, peppermint oil and bio freeze has been my best friends as my muscle and joints refuse to cooperate.

I bet most of what you're feeling is Hashi's. My sister has it too and our experiences have been totally different. She will get brain fog and fatigue but doesn't get the crushing muscle and joint pain that just makes you want to crawl in a hole.


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