Re: New member intro

[Guest guest]

Jodi,

It is amazing about doctor's and tests and why they won't order them

in the first place. My sister has a situation similar to yours but

she is not aggressive in asking for the tests. I prefer to be

knowledgeable about my conditions and am tired of being ignored by

these doctors. I am beginning to take action on my health and well

being despite the doctors best intentions to earn money off of us!

>

> Hi,

>

> I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's in Oct 2007. I have been having

> various health issues since 2005. I had severe iron deficiency

anemia

> in 2005 (ferritin: 3 [12-200]), which finally got resolved, but I

> still had a lot of fatigue. In the spring of 2006 I pressed the doc

> for help. My TSH was a little high (4.02) and had been rising (3.06

2

> years earlier, 3.89 6 months earlier), so they put me on a trial of

> Synthroid 75mcg. Within a week I was feeling much much better, so I

> knew I was hypothyroid.

>

> But they kept testing my blood and lowering my dosage until I was

> only taking 12.5mcg. At that point I was feeling horrible again, so

I

> requested the thyroid antibody tests. (I don't they would have done

> the antibody tests if I hadn't requested them. It pays to know

about

> this stuff and not just go along with what doctors say.)

> Thyroglobulin was 46.9 (0.0 - 3.9), and thyroid peroxidase was

210.9

> (0.0 - 3.9).

>

> The doc then referred me to an endocrinologist, and I'm happy with

> her. I'm back on 75mcg and feeling better again. I also had a

thyroid

> ultrasound done and was found to have a micronodular goiter (left

> side 4.6 cm, right side 5 cm), which explains why I'd been having a

> little pain and feeling like my clothes were choking me.

>

> I feel okay about the thyroid treatment I'm getting; I am actually

> more concerned about all the other things that are going on that

have

> never been adequately diagnosed. I think they must all be related

> somehow since they all seemed to come on around the same time. I

have

> a weird condition that causes my muscles to twitch (benign

> fasciculation syndrome), which is presumed to be autoimmune. I also

> have something going on in the right side of my head that causes

> pressure, migraine-like headaches and constant ringing in the right

> ear.

>

> I'm wondering about what caused all of this. Yesterday I had a root

> canal. Turns out the tooth was dead, and an infection had been

> simmering for years. Maybe the tooth infection was the trigger for

> all my woes. Or maybe it was the throat infection I had just before

I

> started noticing some of the initial symptoms. Or maybe it was due

to

> stress; I had some long periods of extreme stress during much of

the

> 9 years leading up to my illnesses. I guess we'll never know what

> causes any of this, but being an analytical person, I like to try

to

> figure it out. No cause was ever determined for my anemia either.

>

> Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and it's nice to be on board.

>

> Jodi

>