Quitting and hypothyroidism

[Gwenivere]

Anyone here battling changes with this condition since they quit?  I’m now back in the struggle to find a balance again as mine is quite severe.  Makes it very hard to feel much appreciation for quitting.  I don’t feel all the good things most do and that keeps me in the background wishing I could post a YAY, I’m doing it post.  

[Barbscloud]

Daniela, thanks for sharing this.  I don't know if everyone realizes how serious this condition is.  Fortunately for me, I am so obsessed with my weight and I gained so much after quitting smoking, that I  contacted my doctor and caught it early.   My TSH was fine in November and 168 by March. 

I don't believe it took so long for docs to diagnosis. I'm sorry.  It sounds like you went through hell.

.minihorses

[Daniela2016]

Thanks Barb, in my case, my family doctor missed checking it during the annual exam, then when I went to see her slurring my words (I forgot about that symptom), she sent me for a brain MRI, suspecting a stroke, or some kind of tumor.  Then she left the office and her former boss did not bother investigate.  He sent me home to "drink lots of water" and come back in 2 months.  If I were to follow his advice, honestly I might not be there today.

I found a Naturopath with awesome reviews in my area, and went to see her.  She did not let me leave her office before she administered 2 liters of saline with all kind of supporting stuff in it, and in 24h I had the diagnosis.  I kept being seen by her for about 6 months, but I could not keep up financially.  At that time I was up to $10,000 in medical care from her office alone, and as much as I liked the place, the people, the Dr, I had to come back in the system.  But I selected a clinic which practices "integrative medicine" meaning they are a little more oriented to treat you as a person, rather than look only at one affliction for which you are going there. When the PA who was treating me moved to another place, I asked the family Dr, and she is now managing Hashimoto's along with most of the other medical stuff.

[minihorses]

Thanks for sharing this Daniela.  No one told me about any of those problems.  I have the water retention in my legs, my left leg has it more because of the knee surgery and yesterday it was hot but the swelling has gone down for now, my skin is very dry no matter how much I drink and I've lost muscle strength.  I thought it was just because I'm not getting up to go out and smoke a cigarette every hour.  I've been stressed out to the max for a year and it's getting to be a chore just to get through a day.  I read the information sheet on the Synthroid and it says that I shouldn't take iron pills with it but I'm really anemic so I'm not sure what to do about that.  Lots of questions for my PCP next week I guess.  I feel like I'm only getting bits and pieces of information on how to address the problems without causing something else to go out of whack.

[Barbara145]

Thyroid affects ever cell in the body.

[Daniela2016]

Oh, don't worry minihorses‌, we've all been there at some point in time; and I hate to say it but the older we get, the more confusing it becomes, because we keep on adding medical conditions, at least I do, and it is so hard to keep all the symptoms straight between them.

[minihorses]

So true.  Getting old really does suck.  Why can't we start life old and get younger?  Oh yeah, we'd have to dump a lifetime worth of lessons learned as we descend in age.  SOO worth it

[Gwenivere]

Didn’t work out too well for Benjamin Button.  

[Gwenivere]

Daniela2016‌, you are SO right.  I’ve got 4 things going, my own pharmacy and trying to sort symptoms to which condition is very difficult.  Trying to get that thru to the doctors is frustrating too. They want to point to each other.  I’m just the monkey in the middle trying to feel decent again.  I accept age, but geez!  This is nuts. .  

[Daniela2016]

Barbscloud‌, how long did it take you to adjust after quitting taking Prilosec?  Like you, I have been taking it for years, prescribed by an ENT when my voice started changing. Being still a smoker  at that time, she checked my larynx with a camera, looking for something worse, of course.  But it was all clear, and the hoarseness of my voice was caused by the acid reflux.  Since then,  it happened to me several times to forget to take my morning pills on time, and the way I realized I did, is the heartburn I can feel once I pass about 12h since I should have taken the pill. I know there is a super production of acid when you quit taking it, but wondering how long that takes, and if I could keep it under control with Tums or another acid reducer, and if it goes away eventually?

[minihorses]

My mother-in-law, who passed away in 2015 was on Prilosec for a while but her osteoporosis became worse to the point that her back broke when she stood up from the bed to pull up the pair of pants she was putting on.  I use it but only for a short time if acid is bad.  Then back to Zantac or Pepcid for as needed other times only.  I'm medical and drug savvy and try to keep up on that stuff but new problems on top of old problems is making it harder to do so.  I've got a physical Monday so it ought to be interesting trying to coordinate everything. I'm going to make a list of the new half-arse 'specialist diagnoses', which are really neither.  I hope they sent results to my doc but I doubt it. It's frustrating when you are so used to feeling like crap because the help to feel better isn't being provided without shuffling you off to some specialist that doesn't know anything about you and paying about a year's mortgage payments.  Hence, the reason I live with a lot of things and try to get through the day with whatever ailments are present at the time.  At least the Synthroid isn't making me want to scratch my skin off from itching.  I haven't had any of the side effects that I had on the generic. Let's hope this helps!