Hypothyroidism & Thyroxine
I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in March 1996 after years of feeling quite ill. This illness has so many different symptoms, some of which synonymous with other illnesses and whether mental or physical, made it difficult to pin point exactly what was wrong. I was totally fed up of constantly consulting my Doctor with different ailments at frequent times.
It was by chance I was reading a magazine where a Doctors article was written about Underactive Thyroid, listing classic and common symptoms such as constipation, dizziness, lethargy, weight gain, palpitations and generally out of sorts, to name a few and thought-that’s me!
The following account of my Hypothyroidism is designed to help people with the same diagnoses, which might be of some help and a little advise with what could be expected with changes of medication. Also certain health conditions that might go with the changes of medication and other health problems that could possibly occur with the alteration of the hormone supplement, Thyroxine. However, these are my personal journals and some of the symptoms may not be suffered by another person with the same diagnoses, but I intend to highlight some symptoms that my own Doctor was not aware of, that I suffered and still occasionally suffer and that some are too much of a coincidence not to be linked to Hypothyroidism at the time of a medication change as many symptoms reoccur during these changes. Symptoms have also varied making it confusing to establish what the problem really is.
My Thyroid has fluctuated continuously since the early 1990’s and as a result, I have suffered going Overactive (Hyperthyroidism) and underactive (Hypothyroidism) trying to find a balance of medication after each blood test. Unfortunately, Thyroxine is only supplied in 25 mcg, 50 mcg and 100 mcg measures and at the time of writing this, I am fairly balanced taking and 85 and a half mcg daily, which means taking 100 mcg one day and on alternate days, 75 mcg. I would not know if this would make an overall difference to my well being, but I do know, that if I were to take 12 and a half mcg less or more daily, this would make me feel very unwell in a matter of days. One of the biggest affects it has had on my life is not being able to control my weight. No matter how hard I try to keep a healthy, balanced diet; the weight always creeps back on and no amount of dieting and exercising helps unless, it seems my tablets are unbalanced. This is, perhaps the biggest bone of contention of all. I also know that in spite of the way I feel, whether slightly Underactive or Overactive, it has, at times been difficult to distinguish between the two, either way, making me feel confused. Thyroxine is also only prescribed in bubble packs, very annoying when the medication fluctuates and can be difficult and fiddly to remove. When I was first diagnosed they were dished out individually and wonder whether the shelf life was not as long or as good when given in the small plastic medicine bottles. I am also exempt from prescription charges, which is a great help.
Before my journals begin, a lot of this will make negative reading. I would like to emphasize that a majority of the time I feel quite well and that although Thyroxine is not a cure, the Hypothyroidism is fairly well treatable.
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The Gaining Weight
Usually, an insidious illness, in retrospect, the sudden death of my beloved Mother a day before my divorce in court, the way the divorce was handled and the vulgar behaviour of my now ex-husband I felt contributed to the speeding up of the illness, so I feel stress might have made it worse.
I had been slowly gaining weight around about the time of losing my Mum in July 1991. I was also estranged from my husband and going through a messy divorce. My Mothers’ personal wares that were left to my sister and myself suddenly become the focus of interest and attention to my nearly ex-husband and solicitors. It caused endless problems and any minor everyday irritations suddenly became a major struggle and it seemed that everything just mangled and merged into one. The Doctor, at this stage treated me for depression, which was understandable. I could hardly get my words out without bursting into tears and with my head in my hand; he prescribed Prozac, which I took for just over a year. Apart from feeling permanently thirsty, which I assume was a side affect of the drug, Prozac made no difference at all to my well-being. My feelings now of suicide. I had no confidence or self-esteem. My whole life, it seemed had turned completely sour. Life was unbearable and getting more and more difficult to cope with. My sleep pattern was all over the place. I always seemed to wake in the early hours of the morning for several hours. By the time I finally drifted back to sleep, it was almost time to get up and as a consequence, felt so tired during the day; I could not help but sleep at odd times during the day and had no energy or zest for life. I realised there was a problem when I could not remember where I had parked my car, wondered why I was in town in the first place and got confused as to where I lived, which led me to believe I was having some sort of breakdown. It absolutely terrified me.
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