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Thyroid problem news from Thyroid Talk
A Personal Thyroid Story
by James Lowrance
I have suffered several disorders/diseases during my lifetime, the most recent and the one most profoundly affecting me, being Hashimoto's Disease/Hypothyroidism.
My first experience with a disorder causing serious symptoms in me, was in my teen years, during the 1970s, being diagnosed with what an MD and Cardiologist thought was "Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome", due to finding a "click-murmur" in me but turns out I suffered with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome for all those years. The condition cause me panic attacks and generalized anxiety, spells of tachycardia, othostatic hypotension/dysautonomia (getting dizzy upon standing up), fatigue, exercise intolerance etc...
Now fast forward to the year 2001. I went back to a heart specialist at age-38 and he ruled out my ever having Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome and said I could never have had it, being a condition that is lifelong unless corrected by surgery. A couple of years later, through research, I realized it was Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (the "syndrome" describes patients with symptoms from MVP, most do not). Strangely, unless a Dr. specifically looks for Mitral Valve Prolapse, most of the time, they will not find it incidentally because it is a common heart murmur (statistics: affects 5% to 20% of the population) and they don't give the condition a great deal of credence unless a patient has symptoms specifically from it ("MVP-Syndrome"). My mother has had the same symptoms as mine all her life, plus both my son and daughter have them (MVP runs in families). My daughter also has "Pectus-Excavatum", a curvature of the spine, that commonly co-exists with MVP.
I was very pleased that the Cardiologist, ruled out the more serious type heart murmur but following this revelation of having MVP instead, I began developing new, more severe symptoms. I also broke out in a severe case of hives, which I had never had before in my life. A Doctor prescribed antihistamines and I recovered from the hives but I had worsening onset of fatigue, dry skin, more hair falling out, anxiety/depression, constipation and joint pain. I made a new Doctor visit and even though I suggested the possibility of thyroid problems, the Doctor prescribed me antidepressants. As I took these for only a few months, my symptoms worsened because the underlying thyroid disease wasn't being diagnosed and treated. Several months after stopping the antidepressants, I called a new Doctor and asked for blood tests and my TSH, in a range of "0.35 to 4.5", was flagged high at "8.3". I also had my T-3 Uptake flagged two percents below normal and all my actual thyroid hormones were in the low-half of normal. The Doctor almost didn't treat me, being one from the camp that believes TSH must be above a "10" for treatment to be considered but he went ahead and placed me on low-dose Synthroid.
I changed Doctors again and was placed on a higher dose of Synthroid, later changed to Armour, when symptoms didn't improve. The Doctor thought my lack of improvement was due to "inadequate conversion by my body, of T-4, into T-3" but in reality, I was not on a high enough dose of thyroid hormone replacement medication, to make me feel well. I did extensive researching and found that the doses I was on for the first TWO YEARS, were inadequate. The Doctor first had my TSH only down to "4.95" and because of a different lab he used, having a TSH range of "0.5 to 5.0", he said that was a "perfect" reading. I wondered why I was still sick, so was getting other testing done and in the process, I had a 24-hour urine cortisol and 10 different saliva cortisol tests, to reveal I also had co-existing "adrenal fatigue" and because of this, my thyroid medication was acting adversely, so after a few months on it, I developed much more severe joint pain and fatigue, swollen lymph glands, severe post exertional malaise.
My newest Doctor's response to my urine-cortisol being very low normal and four different saliva ones being flagged clinically low and the rest never being above lowest-normal, was that I had a hypo-functioning "HPA Axis" (Hypothalamous-Pituitary-Adrenals) and that there was NO CURE for it. I immediately began researching again and found that I was experiencing "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome", triggered by a combination of Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism and Adrenal Fatigue! What I was needing was to support my adrenals, along with increasing my thyroid medication, to recover from this terrible syndrome!
I found yet another Endocrinologist, who placed me on a higher dose of Armour, one that brought my TSH down to between a 1.0 and 0.3 and I felt better almost immediately. Also, since none of the previous Doctors checked my TPO and TG Thyroid Antibodies, to see if the cause of my hypothyroidism was "autoimmune disease" I had these checked after two years on medication. My TG ABs, were very high @ "537" (range was <40) and my TPO ABs were @ "84" (range was <35). This revealed the Hashimoto's, rather than the previous explanations I got that my thyroid was "just a little low-functioning".
More and more Doctors are recognizing the need to treat patients individually, rather than thinking we all fit into the same mold. More are also realizing that a normal TSH range, is not normal for everyone. The AACE recognized this several years ago, when they revised the old TSH range to "0.3 to 3.0", from the old one that was generally in the "0.5 to 5.0" range. Also, the "diagnostic range", is not the same as the "treatment range" for TSH. The AACE also suggests patients on thyroid hormone medication, should have a TSH between "1.0 to 2.0", however, I have corresponded with several Board Certified Endocrinologists, who have stated that many patients need to have their goal TSH to be between "0.3 to 1.0", in order not to have hypothyroidism symptoms and a few patients,even lower but these of course must be monitored closely. I feel the ones needing their TSH suppressed below the recommended treatment range, may be due to a slightly sluggish pituitary gland.
As I took the higher thyroid medication dose, I also took vitamin supplements, containing those needed to boost my adrenals, plus I took some low-dose adrenal glandulars and low-dose DHEA, for relatively short term. The combination of higher thyroid dose and boosting my adrenals, gave me wonderful improvement! I have maintained this improvement for many months now. I still have days of not feeling quit 100% but I feel some thyroid patients will have fluctuations of mild symptoms, due to the autoimmune process itself, while others may not.
Please note: James approached Thyroid Talk recently to offer his knowledge and material on the subject. He has given Thyroid Talk permission to use these articles as a resource for visitors. He has also given permission to anyone who would like to contact him via email at jmjthree@sbcglobal.net
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