Hypothyroid?

[Guest guest]

Hi, my name is Lin and I have been lurking for the last few months. I was

diagnosed with fibromyalgia about seven years ago by a neurologist. My

presenting symptom was severe headaches, migraine and other types. He was an

extremely caring doctor who had enormous knowledge of headaches and who helped

me in that area very much. He however, gave me a rather cursory physical

examination and never did any blood work. He gave me antidepressants and

migraine meds and for awhile, that worked. Over the years, my symptoms worsened

and I just blamed everything on fibro: sleep problems, skin problems, headaches,

depression, stomach problems, irritable bowel--you all know the litany of

symptoms. This past March I went through an extremely stressful time after my

Dad fell and broke his hip (at 91) and after he was ok, I basically fell apart.

I had never felt the extreme pain of fibro before this and I never want to feel

that way again. After getting nothing more than a change of antidepressants

from my neurologist, I decided to see a doctor here in New Jersey who came

recommended by a number of fibro organizations. Dr. Podell is an

internist here in NJ who has a subspecialty in fibro as well as other autoimmune

diseases. It took me two months to get an appointment with him but thank God I

waited. For the first time I had blood work done and after all those years

found out that I had practically no thyroid function. It just never occurred to

anyone before that the symptoms I was dealing with were anything other than

fibro. I have to blame myself as well because I never pushed for blood work.

All of the symptoms of fibro are symptomatic of hypothyroid! I have been on

thyroid meds for four months now as well as seeing a physical therapist and I

haven't felt this good in years.

I guess what I am saying to you all is that you need to make sure your doctors

check your thyroid hormone levels.

Its possible that I still have fibro (caused by my autoimmune thyroid disease)

but hopefully it will be kept under control.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences.

Lin