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Sorry if this topic has been discussed before (Ive been trying to search through previous threads) but I am feeling a bit freaked out at the moment and would love some feedback from all you experienced people.
Three years ago my sister became very ill and was diagnosed with Hashimotos, also my mother and several of my aunts and cousins have thyroid problems and are on life time medications. I didn't give this too much relevance to my Fibro, as I believed my symptoms to be the result of an accident and to be primarily nerve and injury related. My routine blood tests didn't show any abnormal levels, but Ive never had the special testing done either (I learnt about those tests on here)
However, these last weeks the Fibro symptoms have got kind of worse and there are a few new ones. After reading some of your posts here it also alerted me to wondering about hypothyroidism.
No matter how positive and healthy I try to be, I get daily bouts of absolutely overwhelming, debilitating fatigue where I just have to stop everything and go to bed - like crying with exhaustion after a simple shopping expedition yesterday. I feel like Im becoming more dysfunctional and useless.
Every morning I'm waking up feeling like Ive had no sleep, in a zoned out mental haze, episodes of scary palpitations and irregular heartbeat, sore, swollen eyes, having to vacuum the floor every day due to the large amount of hair falling out (I have long, very thick black hair so its a mess!) and a bunch of other symptoms I think go with the hyperthyroid issue.
Ive also drank soy milk every day for the past 20 years so Ive just read this can be an aggravating factor (big surprise there)
The problem is that I need to know here and now if I have this disease or not so I can make an informed decision. As Ive mentioned in earlier posts Im in a tricky situation where I am in a new country, have no health insurance and cant visit a doctor until this is sorted out. I am waiting to hear if an insurance company will accept me but have to rely on a friend since I cant speak the language. I also have to know if I can commit to the work schedule that is coming up, and how long I can carry on without treating the condition and getting medical help.
sigh..I guess no one can answer these questions and Ive got myself into a messy situation..but these symptoms have really developed more strongly since I moved here and I thought I was just dealing with Fibro- not a hormone disorder as well.
Do these symptoms sound like a thyroid issue? does anyone know the likely prognosis longer term? I have some very big decisions to make about staying here or going back home if I get too sick to work. It also hangs on whether I get insurance or not. I'm scared and worried.
Thanks for being here you wonderful group! Its great to have such kind and wise friends to talk to :)
Three years ago my sister became very ill and was diagnosed with Hashimotos, also my mother and several of my aunts and cousins have thyroid problems and are on life time medications. I didn't give this too much relevance to my Fibro, as I believed my symptoms to be the result of an accident and to be primarily nerve and injury related. My routine blood tests didn't show any abnormal levels, but Ive never had the special testing done either (I learnt about those tests on here)
However, these last weeks the Fibro symptoms have got kind of worse and there are a few new ones. After reading some of your posts here it also alerted me to wondering about hypothyroidism.
No matter how positive and healthy I try to be, I get daily bouts of absolutely overwhelming, debilitating fatigue where I just have to stop everything and go to bed - like crying with exhaustion after a simple shopping expedition yesterday. I feel like Im becoming more dysfunctional and useless.
Every morning I'm waking up feeling like Ive had no sleep, in a zoned out mental haze, episodes of scary palpitations and irregular heartbeat, sore, swollen eyes, having to vacuum the floor every day due to the large amount of hair falling out (I have long, very thick black hair so its a mess!) and a bunch of other symptoms I think go with the hyperthyroid issue.
Ive also drank soy milk every day for the past 20 years so Ive just read this can be an aggravating factor (big surprise there)
The problem is that I need to know here and now if I have this disease or not so I can make an informed decision. As Ive mentioned in earlier posts Im in a tricky situation where I am in a new country, have no health insurance and cant visit a doctor until this is sorted out. I am waiting to hear if an insurance company will accept me but have to rely on a friend since I cant speak the language. I also have to know if I can commit to the work schedule that is coming up, and how long I can carry on without treating the condition and getting medical help.
sigh..I guess no one can answer these questions and Ive got myself into a messy situation..but these symptoms have really developed more strongly since I moved here and I thought I was just dealing with Fibro- not a hormone disorder as well.
Do these symptoms sound like a thyroid issue? does anyone know the likely prognosis longer term? I have some very big decisions to make about staying here or going back home if I get too sick to work. It also hangs on whether I get insurance or not. I'm scared and worried.
Thanks for being here you wonderful group! Its great to have such kind and wise friends to talk to :)
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Another day, another ouchie?My bruised achilles tendon (don't ask) makes my foot numb. Wonky on meds, whacked it.Now, as to fibro:A lot of reports are going around some parts of social media that fibro (and dang near anything else) are caused by post-Covid, post-flu, post-vaccinations, post-pick-something.1. Your risk of death or serious complications beyond "ow, that shot hurt!" are typically...
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Well..my thyroid might be a problem. I have a high TSH but normal T4. TSH increases when your thyroid isn't producing enough thyroid hormones...if only the TSH is high, it could be early or subclinical. Will wait and see if they want to do anything about that or just recheck it at some point. Either it'll even out or my T4 will drop. Meanwhile it's hot and I'm working with Karen, and I have no...
OK, IMHO, and I'm no doctor? Stress can be fatiguing, and you've got a lot. But thyroid issues are easily missed---"Normal" can also be "low normal" and what is "low normal" for one is symptomatic in another. As a doctor once told me (wise man): "These tests are guidelines, not set in stone. Everyone "lives" at their own place." In your shoes? I would get the extra testing to be sure. When there's a family tendency, better safe than sorry. The problem is fatigue is like headache or "pain"----it can be a symptom of anything from a bad day to a bad illness. There are some other folks far more knowledgeable than I on hypothyroid etc. who can give you more feedback on that---but I will note my endocrinologist was very careful about my thyroid b/c she wanted to be sure my FM wasn't caused by it. (It isn't. Drat.)
Note: Only an opinion!
I agree, yoru sitautoin is tough, but not impossible. You can still go back to NZ, you have options, just remember them and breathe deep and slow, and we're here for ya:-)
BTW, did not know that on soy milk. Good to know, thanks!
You are right - I do have options - but I dont trust myself to make a good decision (bailing out too soon?) when my brain is so foggy and overwhelmed. Having the correct information so I can make an informed decision would be the ideal solution - here's hoping I can get to that place soon! Thanks again.
BTW - Almond milk is delicious.
Take care.
KatieAngel you are right about the quality of soy in different parts of the world, one of the reasons I was happy about moving to Germany is that they have very high standards of food and drug testing and do not allow imports of poor quality food (in general) in fact some NZ foods have been denied and sent back due to the additives and preservatives in the food and wine. Organic food is very available and very affordable here, so I am really enjoying that, also gluten free is cheap and available. Wonderful. I usually try and only buy organic soy milk. I don't mind paying 40 cents more at the supermarket for the quality.
AnnY I am still confused about the health system here, so many different sources of advice and info. I am sure if there was a medical emergency I would not be denied treatment but would be sent a very large bill which would ruin me financially. There is no national health system here, but if you are too poor to pay insurance the government pays. I havent lived here long enough or worked here enough to qualify yet. I came here because my friends had offered me a part time contract, but now they say they cant offer it and I may to pay my own health insurance. I found out that is very high as a self employed contractor...damn! my other friends who are freelance teachers (and most language teaching is freelance) have to deal with the same issue. Bad thing for me is my age and a pre-exisiting condition..I am figuring out a way to make this work. We are going to call the Public Insurance tomorrow and see if they can consider my application seeing as I have part time work on a regular basis. Wish me luck!
I did a little Googling and found this information:
http://blog.mygermancity.com/medical-and-health-care-for-tourists-in-germany
I would think if you explained your situation, they would take that into consideration.
Also, as you may know, if you have any autoimmune disease in your family, you would be more likely to have an autoimmune disease, and that wouldn't be limited to Hashimotos.
Good luck with all this. I hope you find some good health care soon.
fatigue and weight gain were the two biggies I had from it. then pcod rears it's ugly head, and I find out I can't have children. then comes the anemia. in which I have to have iron infusions and blood transfusions as well as b12 injections daily. then comes the fibro and the ms, and now my doc is watching me for lupus.
my point is, when you have one auto immune you have a higher chance of having multiple auto immune because everything is so connected. and it sucks. thankfully thyroid disease is pretty easy to rule in or out, and it's pretty easy to treat unless your like me and allergic to a lot of the meds for thyroid.
some things you can do is make sure you are using iodized salt, because iodine is necessary in trace ammounts for a healty thyroid. hair loss can be because of stress, change in water and hormonal changes ( I teach cosmetology and worked in non surgical hair replacement for several years) and exhaustion can be because of the stress of move and new job.
as to special testing, all your doctor has to do is order a full thyroid panel that includes t3 and t4 as well as free thyroid. if the panel comes back clean then just keep it checked once every year because it is hereditary, and you have first and second degree relatives that have it, so you have a bigger risk of developing it.
you might also want to have your doc test your iron, b12 and vit d levels.
not to sound crude here either, but if you are going thru menopause then that can trigger some of the changes you are experiencing too.
as to soy milk, i'm lactose intolerant and my doc says as long as I take extra vit d i'm ok. he does suggest I stay away from GMO soy milk, but in reality our bodies don't process cow's milk as well as soy or almond or even goat's milk.
He ran labs. My TSH was 181.0 and I had an antibody count of greater than 11,000. My PCP referred me to an endocrinologist and today I'm right as rain. I don't know if this helps you or not. I do hope you get answers soon.