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Rambling about health
So at my physical, my lab results returned a TSH result of something north of 5. My NP says "that looks like early hypothyroidism, you should go get a second lab done in a month to double-check". (To me, TSH of 5+ seems pretty straightforward hypothyroidism, but what do I know?) So okay, I went back last week and got another blood draw. Today's email brought a "your thyroid test was normal, recheck in a year"; the number they gave me this time was 2.72. (Is that significant a drop without any treatment likely? I honestly don't know.)
See, the thing is, the diagnosis of possible hypothyroidism was kind of reassuring. In the last several months, I've been noticing that I am having a very hard time remembering things. As just one example, I had a dental appointment on March 1 to get my permanent crowns installed. I forgot completely and entirely about it until I found the appointment card more than a week later. (For some reason they started calling my house instead of my cell phone, and I never got the confirmation voice mails.) I forget tasks unless I write them down on a notepad that's hanging in front of my face. I can't remember if I took medications, I forget directions, I forget random things that there's no reason I shouldn't know off the top of my head. I also forgot about the rescheduled multi-hour dental appointment I had today until I saw a note on my calendar at home, and then I couldn't remember whether the time had changed since the original appointment until they called on Saturday.
On top of all that, I've been feeling like I'm noticeably stupider than I was, oh, even less than a year ago. In addition to the faulty memory, I'm feeling like my brain is getting sluggish and foggy more often than not. Okay, maybe some of that is a result of getting older, but I don't think that's all of it. There are also a few other possible physical symptoms that seem to match up with things I've noticed in the last few months.
I need to make an appointment to talk to Marie about these labs. Because frankly, if the problem isn't hypothyroidism, the mental issues scare me.
See, the thing is, the diagnosis of possible hypothyroidism was kind of reassuring. In the last several months, I've been noticing that I am having a very hard time remembering things. As just one example, I had a dental appointment on March 1 to get my permanent crowns installed. I forgot completely and entirely about it until I found the appointment card more than a week later. (For some reason they started calling my house instead of my cell phone, and I never got the confirmation voice mails.) I forget tasks unless I write them down on a notepad that's hanging in front of my face. I can't remember if I took medications, I forget directions, I forget random things that there's no reason I shouldn't know off the top of my head. I also forgot about the rescheduled multi-hour dental appointment I had today until I saw a note on my calendar at home, and then I couldn't remember whether the time had changed since the original appointment until they called on Saturday.
On top of all that, I've been feeling like I'm noticeably stupider than I was, oh, even less than a year ago. In addition to the faulty memory, I'm feeling like my brain is getting sluggish and foggy more often than not. Okay, maybe some of that is a result of getting older, but I don't think that's all of it. There are also a few other possible physical symptoms that seem to match up with things I've noticed in the last few months.
I need to make an appointment to talk to Marie about these labs. Because frankly, if the problem isn't hypothyroidism, the mental issues scare me.
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A LOT of doctors are using old protocol. My labs were "low side of normal" to one doctor, but then I went to an osteopath, she was like AUGH HYPO and put me on synthroid. Like magic, my hair started growing back and I had enough energy to get off the couch. I'm now deeply mistrustful of most doctors.
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Mary Shoman's got a lot of stuff about sub-clincal hypothyroidism, if you want to read a little before you see your NP.
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Yeah, probably not a bad idea.
My NP is normally pretty good about stuff, so I don't know why the first reaction here wasn't "treat this" but "go get another test". I want to sit down with her and talk about the stuff I'm experiencing and see what she says; if she's stuck on treating the numbers and not the symptoms, I think I'm going to go elsewhere.
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For another, understandably, they're worried. Once you're on thyroid meds, most people are on it for life (unless the other imbalances are corrected), and thyroid meds at the wrong dose can cause all kinds of drama, up to heart problems. So I see why they are overly cautious. But it really doesn't jibe with current research and protocol.
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Everything all works together – often just throwing synthroid at the problem helps some of the symptoms but won't actually fix the underlying imbalances, and can lead to further imbalance.