More thyroid thoughts

My endo, Dr. Mini-Giant, mentioned that my thyroid felt enlarged. Which didn't bother me (or maybe register) until today.

So of course off I go, looking up and researching enlarged thyroids. (Mine isn't so big you can see it) Apparently the two causes are iodine deficiency or Hashimoto's Disease. *sigh* Which I forgot to ask about! Damn it!

Both are things I've wondered about and wanted to get checked out. In the US an iodine deficiency is rare because it's so plugged into our foods. But I'm not a big salt person . . . never have been.

Hashimoto's Disease is genetic. My "crazy uncle" is hypothyroid (but we're not going there. That's a story that I don't want to get into), so I know I came by it honestly. I have theories that my dad maybe too. So Hashi's is a definite possibility.

When I started doing research on enlarged thyroids, thyroid nodules also came up, as well as thyroid cancer.

Okay . . . I really don't want to be a hypochondriac, but this stuff is FREAKING ME OUT!

I still need to fax over my health insurance card to my endo's office and I'm anxiously awaiting my test results. I'm sure they won't come back for a week, but still . . .

I WANT THEM NOW!

Freak out much? Oy . . .

Okay . . .

It's lunch time . . . I'm hungary <---yes, I know that's misspelled.

I'm going to go to my car, get my insurance card and get some lunch.

Thanks for letting me freak out a little!

Paleo Diet

I'm committing.

I'm going to do it.

I'm scared shitless . . . but I'm going to do it. I'm going to transition my diet to a paleo diet. After reading on Dear Thyroid an article by David Csonka and reading the comments of how eating paleo has helped others who also have thyroid disease. 


I wrote this down, and wish I'd made a note of where I found it, because it defines the paleo diet ingeniously! 

Paleo = "meat, veggies, fruits, nuts & seeds, little starch, no sugar"

Simple! Em likes simple! So does her Italian (maybe that's why he married her? Ha ha ha! Kidding!) 

The paleo diet will be good for the both of us too. It's a diet we can both do and will be something that is sustainable. It's a far cry from what I was looking at. Which was a primarily plant based diet. 

I'm excited about this . . . nervous . . . terrified . . . but excited. Glad I've finally made a decision and one that both my husband and I can do together. (It'll help keep us stuck to it!)

Thyroid levels and Toopid labs!

I told you all that I went in the end of last month to get my blood work done to check my thyroid levels right? I got a call last week saying that my cholesterol was elevated and my TSH levels were normal. I called to get a copy of my results faxed to me yesterday and they were waiting in the fax machine when I got in to work this morning. (Thankfully part of my job is to check the fax. No one else really does! PHEW!)

According to the labs, sure, my levels are normal. (They're lab range is .4 - 4.0. Better than the old lab, but still not good.) But according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists the correct range should be 0.3 - 3.0. With a TSH of 3.06, I'm outside of that range. Just a smidge, but still outside. I'd like to be at . . . oh I don't know . . . a 1 maybe? I WANT TO BE NORMAL DAMN IT!!

With my thyroid levels elevated, my cholesterol is also elevated. But Dr. C won't recognize that. Of course not! If he did that, he wouldn't be able to shove another pill down my throat! It's not like I'm not a friggin' walking pharmacy as it is! When my TSH levels aren't elevated, my cholesterol is good. When my TSH levels are elevated  . . . my cholesterol IS elevated.

Is it just me or does anyone else see a pattern here? Of course my doctor also said he thinks Lipitor should be in the water. (I think it already is isn't it? It's one of those things that they can't filter out right??)


We go through this EVERY SINGLE TIME I get my blood work done. I tell him his labs ranges are off, and he tells me that's the ranges they go with.

Does anyone else have trouble getting in touch with their doctor to discuss results?

I don't want to make an appointment to discuss my results. I want to sit down, shoot him an e-mail and discuss them that way. If I was able to do that, I'd have records as well as time to digest what he is saying! I can't do that when we're in an examining room. Seriously!

I do understand not wanting to give out your e-mail address to patients as well. You don't want to be inundated with e-mails from crazy patients (and right now I might qualify as one of those crazies. I'm a little pissed!). But having to play phone tag with his nurse (and she's wonderful, I really like her) is simply not acceptable!

Another thing . . . my glucose is high? WTF! What does that mean? Why wasn't that mentioned?

I don't like not getting the full picture and I don't feel like I'm getting the full picture.

At the same time, I'm only beginning to learn about hypothyroidism. I don't know a lot about it and it's a big topic with a lot of information!

Okay, I think I'm done my rant. I've given myself a headache, so I'm going to crawl under my desk and cry myself to sleep. *sigh* I hate this!

Edit: I'm really frustrated with all of this because I was feeling good. I thought my thyroid was producing normally. I was feeling "normal" when I got my blood work done. Has my view of normal gotten so skewed that I don't know what true normal is anymore?


So frustrated . . . so angry!

Soy-free . . . it is possible?

I'm hypothyroid, meaning my thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones to help my body function properly. I found this out RIGHT before my wedding a year and half ago. It wasn't until less than a month before my wedding that we got my medication and levels sorted out right.

If you're not familiar with hypothyroidism some of the symptoms are sensitivity to cold (didn't get it), weight gain (OH YEA! Got that one!), loss of appetite (w/ the weight gain that seems hardly fair, but didn't really get that one), and hair loss (nope, not that one either). So on my wedding day I looked like this.

 

No, that's not my wedding dress. And I was not the wisest when I picked the dress to leave the wedding in. (Yes, my Italian is still in his tux. He changed at our apartment before we left for the hotel. Isn't he GORGEOUS!!)

 

I LOVED (and still love) that dress! When we bought it in December before my wedding (I got married at the end of September) it needed to be taken in several places. When I tried it on a few weeks before my wedding . . . it fit perfectly! ARGH!! Now we did save money on the seamstress, but still! 

I thought my Italian might have pictures from the beginning of our relationship on his facebook page, but he doesn't.  I'll have to find some to put up. But these pictures were taken September 2007. 

Anyway. My hypothyroidism isn't the only thing to blame on my weight gain, I was creeping up the scale anyway. When we started dating in December of 2006, I was probably around 175-180, by the time we got married in September of 2008 I was easily 220 + pounds. 

But all that to say, when I was doing research on hypothyroidism, I found that soy is one thing that actually slows down thyroid hormone production. I had considered going soy-free at the time, but everywhere I turned EVERYTHING had soy in it. So I put it on the shelf and forgot about it. However, increasingly I'm finding more and more soy-free options for foods. 

It's got me thinking . . . Can I really go soy-free?

I know if I stick to whole foods and create everything from scratch, I'd have no problem with it. Unfortunately, I work 40 hours a week and at the end of the day, I'm tired! 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not a big fan of the frozen meals. Or the meals in a box. (Yes, I know, I flambed Hamburger Helper the other night. I'm not a fan of them, but that doesn't mean I won't eat them. My husband loves them.) I enjoy cooking but I hate cleaning up. And when I cook or bake  . . . hooooo! I destroy a kitchen. (It's why I can't wait for him to get out of his cast. He can come back to kitchen cleaning duty!)

I also don't know exactly where to start!

If you want more information about hypothyroidism, Mary Shomon is an excellent place to start. She is hypothyroid herself and is also a patient advocate. I got a couple of her books after my diagnosis and learned a ton of information. It also helped me to learn how to advocate for myself with my doctor. Her website also has a lot of really good information, but sometimes you have to dig a little bit.