The Beginning With No End in Sight

Starting around fall 2012, I began to experience bouts of vertigo. It usually only happened when I would go to bed and turned over on a certain side. The room would spin violently, the right side of my head would feel weird, and I would grip onto the bed and shut my eyes to prevent myself from feeling sick. At first it only happened a couple of times maybe about six months apart. 

Around this time, my second ex-husband and I had started to start drifting apart. I don't know if it was the stress from trying to deal with the situation, but I started not to feel well. I was eating less, feeling more tired than I had been in YEARS since getting Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and bruising more easily than I normally do. I would be full after five minutes of eating, then my stomach and chest would hurt from the full feeling. I think this is what caused me to start eating less. My heartbeats were becoming more irregular. It is normal to get skipped beats here and there, but I was feeling then more often, and it really got to me. 

In February or March of 2013, I ended up getting sick, felt fullness in my left ear(which has kind of been there for a year or so), then my ear began to ring and hasn't stopped sense. It was driving me nuts! I ended up finally confronting my ex-husband about our situation and asked if he wanted a divorce. He said that he did. I couldn't understand how it got to that point, but then I put two and two together, and discovered that he had been cheating on me for months. I think even though our marriage was not going well the last couple of years, there are better ways to handle it than cheat. I do take my share of the blame in the destruction of the marriage as I just didn't want anything to do with him the last two years. I think that came from a combination of being sick with my thyroid issues and partly how he was towards me. Even if I wasn't getting what I wanted or needed from the marriage, I didn't do what he did. I do need to write about the experience at some point to help me. But I digress.

Spring 2013 brought on major allergies for me, and the vertigo started again. This time it wasn't just from lying down, it also happened to me standing up. I was at Walmart shopping for a few food items and such, when all of a sudden, I was hit with major post-nasal drip. My nose would not stop running. I had already felt a little dizzy, akin to rocking-on-a-boat feeling, and I knew I had to hurry up and get out of there or I wouldn't be able to drive home. Once I got home, I leaned over to put something down, and the room started spinning even worse than usual. This was the first time I almost fell from the vertigo. I tried just sitting down, but keeping my eyes open, and seeing the room spinning so fast, started to make me feel sick. I had to shut my eyes, because it's one of the only things you can do to make yourself feel better. It took me a bit longer to recover from that bout. 

I ended up going to the doctor, and even though I only felt things in my left ear, the doctor said that I had fluid in the ear...mostly in the right one. I was still getting dizzy after that and got the same thing from another doctor. My regular doctor, at the time, scheduled an MRI of my brain and left inner ear,  and hearing test. The MRI came back negative, but the hearing test showed high frequency hearing loss. I didn't get a hearing aid at the time.

Here I am, two years later, and I still get bouts of dizziness. The vertigo has only happened maybe once or twice, but only when lying down. I have had MRIs, bloodwork, x-rays, ultrasounds, etc., but no one can find anything to cause my dizziness other than thinking it's either Meniere's Disease or cervical stenosis. This week I've had the dizziness. I am grateful for the times that it goes way, and really hate when it comes back. I can't focus as well as I would like, and I pretty much become useless, because I don't like the feeling when I stand up.

One thing that was discovered in all these testings. outside of the hearing loss and cervical stenosis, was my low vitamin D levels. This can happen to people who have thyroid disease. My level was at 5ng. The cardiologist, that I saw for the irregular heartbeats, said that he wasn't surprised that I wasn't feeling well, and started me on vitamin D therapy to see if it would help. At this time, because I felt so crappy after taking thyroid medication, I started to not taking them regularly. I'm sure this didn't help. I have more to say on this, but I will save it for another time.

Wow....It's Been Three Years Since I Last Posted.

I can't believe it's been three years since I last posted to this blog. So much has happened since including having thyroid surgery. I want to start this blog back up, because I think it will help me deal with some of the things I have been feeling especially since the surgery. Maybe it will help others, too, I don't know.  

A Change in Meds

When I was first diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, I was put on a small dosage of Levoxyl.  It helped for a short while, then I started to not feel well again.  I was then put on a higher does of Levoxyl, which helped some, but not much more.  I was also without medical insurance, trying to see the endocrinologist, and paying for thyroid medication.  I didn't see the endo very often, and when I did, I was lucky enough that he would work with me on paying for labs and such.  This was my life until I married my current husband.

I moved to California, and I finally had health insurance with Kaiser through my husband's job.  My medication was then switched from the Levoxyl to Levothroid.  I had been on Levothroid ever since...until now.  

Recently, the Kaiser pharmacy sent out a letter stating that it would no longer carry Levothroid but would substitute it with another generic equivalent.  I have been taking it for the last two months, and I've been awfully tired lately.  I know that part of the reason for my sluggishness is due to the fact that I've become more forgetful, which turns into me forgetting to take some or all of my required pills for the day (137mcg of generic T4 and 5mcg of Cytomel twice a day).  If anything though, I remember to take the T4 meds.  I know that I can't survive the day without at least one Cytomel, but between being super tired and the forgetfulness, I may often go a couple days or more without.

I guess for me to truly know if the new T4 medication is working as properly as it should, I probably should try to make more of an effort to take all the pills correctly and daily.  I have tried alarms, pill boxes, putting it by my bed, etc., but I eventually fall out of the routine.  Anyways, tomorrow I'm going to start taking them like I should, see how it goes, and get some thyroid bloodwork done after I think there's been sufficient time to see if it makes a difference.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Good Thing I'm Not Vain

One of the things that those with thyroid disease experience is hair loss. This was a BIG indicator back in the early days, back before it was diagnosed and I was put on medication. I guess it's lucky that I'm not a super vain person, because I went from thick, beautiful, long, and shiny hair to thin, dry, and dull hair. It is still long but it took a long time to grow after a short haircut. I never had that problem when I was younger. I was convinced that my hair grew at rates that were faster than normal.

For awhile, after I had gone on medication, the hair loss wasn't as bad as it had been. I believed that I was on the right track. I'm not sure what happened between the onset of my thyroid disease and now in regards to the hair loss, because I didn't really pay attention. I'm paying attention now. It has gotten pretty bad. It's in the drain, on the floor, on the carpet and so when anything is on the carpet or floor it's going to get hair on it, too. I think I read somewhere that being on too much thyroid medication could possibly make you lose hair like crazy. I'm not too sure about that, but what I do know is that if I have to suffer this hair loss to feel good, I'm not too proud to admit it. I will NOT and CANNOT live without my Cytomel (T3 medication). I did try the generics, but that didn't work out so well as I had mentioned.

I just realized that I didn't get around to the brand and generic comparison of T3 medication. I will have to do that soon, because it really is amazing to me on what a difference there is in the makeup and the affects.

Ten Days In....

I have been on the generic form of Cytomel for almost two weeks now. I still feel rather lethargic, and I've been requiring naps. I'm trying to see if this medication is what is causing this. My husband has also noticed that I have been, what he calls, "A lot bitchier." I do see that about myself. I feel a lot more irritable than usual. It's not good for me, because it causes stress on my mind and body. It's definitely not good for my family as they've been taking the brunt of it. I'm trying to wait this week out to see if my body is going to ever function the way it did with brand. I just have a feeling in a few days, I will be emailing my doctor to put me back on brand to function at least somewhat normal!

Could It Be Thyroid Disease? Signs and Symptoms

There are signs and symptoms that can signal thyroid disease. Some people get only one or two of these symptoms, some get several of these. For myself I had, and still have on occasion, every symptom listed here with the exception of five of them. Here is a list that is taken from http://thyroidawarenessmonth.com, but can be find almost anywhere during research into thyroid disease. If you find yourself with some of these symptoms, have your thyroid check. My next post will be the suggest ‘first time’ labs that should be done and what your exam should be like when getting checked for thyroid disease.

___ Low body temperature
___ Particularly low or high pulse re
___ Unusually low or high blood pressure
___ Enlarged, tender, or sensitive neck or lump in neck
___ Hoarse, husky, or gravelly voice
___ Extreme thirst or hunger
___ Noticeable change in weight (gain or loss) despite no change in diet and exercise
___ Feeling warm or hot when others are cold, or cold when others are warm
___ Heart palpitations, flutters, skipped beats, strange patterns or rhythms
___ Constipation and or diarrhea/loose stools
___ Fatigued, weakeness
___ Pains, aches, and stiffness in various joints, hands, and feet.
___ Carpal tunnel, tarsal tunnel, plantar’s fascitis
___ Puffiness around my eyes
___ Loss of outer eyebrow hair
___ Lesions on lower legs, feet, toes, arms, face, shoulders and/or trunk.
___ Hair loss
___ Dry eyes
___ Swollen hands or feet
___ Dry, sensitive, gritty or achy eyes
___ Changeable moods
___ Brain fog, difficulty concentrating or remembering
___ Depression
___ Anxiety, panic attacks, jumpy
___ Tremors
___ Insomnia
___ Irregular periods
___ Low sex drive
___ Infertility
___ Miscarriage or multiple miscarriages
___ Difficulty breastfeeding
___ Leaking milk when not lactating or breastfeeding
___ Difficult perimenopause/menopause symptoms

TSH Results

As promised, my TSH results. You can see that my last one was taken on 6/13/08. My TSH is .7. What's interesting to note here is the unsteadiness of my levels. I have not been able to get regulated. I think there's a combination factor for that. One, is that at first I wasn't getting enough medication. It started to change, as you can see by the decrease, with the Cytomel. Second, the fact that sometimes I forget to take my meds on a regular schedule. For all I know, I could have accidentally doubled up on the Cytomel. I'm trying to be better about it, but it's not going too well right now. LOL

I feel decent, a bit tired at times, but I'm good. Still losing quite a bit of hair, but that could be because of my thyroid levels right now. I do have some hyperthyroid symptoms. I think I lose way more than the 100 strands they say a normal person would.

I ran out of meds this week and didn't get them ordered until today. The pharmacy in the closest Kaiser doesn't carry my meds. Luckily, there were enough Cytomel to last until I get back from my trip next week. Unfortunately, I have to go without the Levothroid. I'm hoping that I still have some of the lower dosage ones that could get me through until Thursday. Better go scrounge around in my nightstand.