7.17.2009

Yum, Drugs.

I've always been a proponent of remedying what ails my body in the most natural way possible. It was, after all, local honey that saved my poor bronchials from defeat several times while growing up in South Texas aka The Cedar Capital of the World (turns out I'm allergic to all things Juniper, something I learned during my senior Biology of Plants class in college). I even snuggle up close with my Neti-Pot when the weather turns to wheezing and general feelings of death-by-mucus.

However, I recently did some investigative work into my bloodwork history and discovered that my thyroid stimulating hormone levels have been teetering on the edge of screwy. "AHA!" I thought. I knew all the symptoms 'cos all the ladies in my family are plagued with various twists of thyroid tumult, including cancer and a fun little thing called Hashimoto's. In fact, at a bridal shower, I distinctly recall not only that the cake was super tasty but that every woman in my family sat around the table discussing what dosage of Synthroid they were on.  Kinda spooky.

So, I finally hauled my hair-falling-out, family-history-of-thyroid-issues, mildly depressed, foggy-brained, sleepy-from-the-time-I-wake-up-'til-I'm-asleep-again, can't-lose-weight-even-though-training/racing-triathlons-and-eating-really-healthy, to the doc, armed with bloodwork results and I'm glad to report that I've been on Synthroid for four days. You can say what you want about placebo effect, but oooh I feel the stormcloud lifting from my head. It started small, tiny rays of sunshine peeking through. It's almost overwhelming, the amount of energy I have throughout the day. I found myself wondering if they'd prescribed some kind of street-drug upper for me. Nope, just getting ye 'ole thyroid tweaked. I had even lost 5lbs as of this morning, and that's with some beers with dinner, ice cream from Sonic, and not working out as I twisted my ankle working in the garden last weekend.

Added bonus: the pills for the next two weeks are not only chewable but kinda citrusy. Nom.

Whew. I feel like I'm back, after who knows how long of not being so. Eesh. Good to be back.

3 comments:

Mini-Martha said...

one of my cousins has thyroid issues also so i got bloodwork done awhile back but came back fine. glad to hear the drugs are workin'. welcome back. :)

idyll hands said...

Soooo... how long have you had these symptoms because I've been that way for a couple of years. Couldn't lose weigh no matter how hard I did Weight Watchers (even though it was super successful 5 years ago), can't always come up with replies to simple questions, wanting to nap all of the time... maybe a trip to the doctor is what... well... the doctor ordered.

Christina said...

I have been trying to figure out how long I've had these symptoms - I think they may have started sometime last year, around the time of us moving/me being in Austin for internship, in that I didn't feel consistently crappy but would swing back and forth so much that at times I was all "am I bipolar?" which I most certainly am not. Also, I gained weight while I was down there even though I worked out quite often - it was just the crazy thyroid going out of whack. Another indicator for me was also that I just got on WW recently and have had absolute zero luck.

Take all your information to the doc and have them do a full thyroid panel. Remember that optimal functioning is supposed to be between 1-2. There's a lot of information on the intarwebs if you google thyroid.