Hashimotos blows big chunks

What is Hashimotos? It is Hypo (ssslllooowwww) thyroidism. Where your body thinks your thyroid is a foreign body/virus, and so your whole immune system goes into fight mode and kills off your thyroid over time. So you are in autoimmune overdrive, always.

So there have been times in my life, in the past, that I have been monumentally “struck stupid”. Other times I feel like I just can’t think as fast as a normal person, or what I perceive to be a normal person (read Scott [or anyone else for that matter]). I can not think on my feet well. Sometimes I have felt like there is something seriously wrong with my mind. Why can’t I remember stuff? Then when my grandma got dementia, I was like… OOOOHHH. Another inherited trait. Already starting. First the boobs, then the back, now the brain!

I cope with this by taking A LOT of notes (usually more than one human should), and writing EVERYTHING down. You should see my calendar.

Well, it has become really bad lately. So even after my recent trip to the Endo (it’s one of the things that really prompted me to go). I took a moment and went on a thyroid website, and I read this thread that totally read like I had wrote it. It was about this woman who had thyroid issues who pretty much was walking around struck dumb and having no idea why…until she got a thyroid test and got the right dose of synthroid. Please let this be my answer too.

A lot of times people who don’t have these issues have a hard time understanding what the F is going on. I have just about EVERY symptom though associated with this autoimmune disease. Basically: Fatigue, depression, sensitivity to cold (I can’t even hold a gallon of cold milk for more than 2 seconds—it HURTS), weight gain, forgetfulness, muscle weakness, puffy face, dry skin and hair, etc. Some patients have major swelling of the thyroid gland in the front of the neck, and they call it goiter. Which I have, along with nodules. Yippy Skippy.
But one of the things that bug me the most is the Difficulty Concentrating or Remembering Things… THIS SUCKS. In our family we call this CRS. Can’t Remember Shit.
CRS is a long standing joke in our family, but god how true it is!

I have had thyroid issues since senior year of high school. How many years is that? TOO MANY. I got diagnosed with Hashimotos though about 7-8 years ago.

I think a lot of people go undiagnosed for thyroid complications. Especially when many doctors, endos, especially older male endos, kind of write you off if you are female, and have a TSH anywhere below 5. They’re like, that’s good enough, it’s all in your head, go home.
Basically they took a sample of the population and decided that what is good on average is what is good for everyone.

NOT SO. Very stupid policy.

Agreed if you are above 5 you are fucked and need synthroid stat. But if you are a 4 or even a 3, you may not be at the right score for YOU, personally. So therefore you may feel absolutely no relief even if you are lucky enough to be put ON some small dose of synthroid. It will not be good enough until you find the right score for you. For me I felt my best when I was at 1. I have not been anywhere near 1 for about 2 years.

Thanks to our friend Kate, I actually came to know a doc who actually SAID the above to me. Even when I had researched it and begged my previous docs to realize they were wrong using the old rules…with the new endo I didn’t have to even open my mouth.

So right now I have been on 75 for about a week, and I don’t feel anything yet. But it should take about 4 weeks. Please cross your fingers that my CRS can be cut off and I can go back to thinking correctly. I hope the cloud lifts. And soon.

So if you have any of those symptoms, GO ask your doc to test your TSH, and if it is between 0-2 you are in normal range. If you are above 2 go fight your fight!!