January is Thyroid Awareness Month!

January is Thyroid Awareness Month!

I mentioned this on Twitter and on Facebook, but I got a phone call earlier today that makes me want to put information about this up here, too.

The phone call was from a friend that I've been annoying for a while. I'm going to make every effort not to mention his name here. For the past year, I've had him telling me how bad he feels. I've been telling him to get his doctor to check him for hypothyroidism. He did discuss it with his doctor, and was told that there was no point in doing tests for hypothyroidism because he didn't have any of the symptoms.

Since I posted about this on Facebook and included a link, he read it, and found a list of symptoms. I hope that he read this list, because it's the best and most inclusive one I've found.

Anyway, he called to tell me that he'd read a list of hypothyroid symptoms, and it sounded like a perfect description of what what wrong with him, and he intends to make sure that the doctor tests for hypothyroidism next time he sees her.

He sounded so happy, like there was hope again in the world. I do remember how wonderful it is to find out what is wrong with you, and have the promise of health ahead of you. It's an enormous weight lifted from your shoulders, and the future holds hope again.

There's more information in the article that you should read, but here's the list:

Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Long recovery period after any activity
Inability to hold children for very long
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Chronic Low Grade Depression
Suicidal Thoughts
Often feeling cold
Cold hands and feet
High or rising cholesterol
Bizarre and Debilitating reaction to exercise
Hard stools
Constipation
No eyebrows or thinning outer eyebrows
Dry Hair
Hair Loss
White hairs growing in
No hair growth, breaks faster than it grows
Dry cracking skin
Nodding off easily
Requires naps in the afternoon
Sleep Apnea (which can also be associated with low cortisol)
Air Hunger (feeling like you can’t get enough air)
Inability to concentrate or read long periods of time
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking
Inability to lose weight
Always gaining weight
Inability to function in a relationship with anyone
NO sex drive
Failure to ovulate and/or constant bleeding (see Rainbow’s story)
Moody periods
PMS
Inability to get pregnant; miscarriages
Excruciating pain during period
Nausea
Swelling/edema/puffiness
Aching bones/muscles
Osteoporosis
Bumps on legs
Acne on face and in hair
Breakout on chest and arms
Hives
Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
Inability to work full-time
Inability to stand on feet for long periods
Complete lack of motivation
Slowing to a snail’s pace when walking up slight grade
Extremely crabby, irritable, intolerant of others
Handwriting nearly illegible
Internal itching of ears
Broken/peeling fingernails
Dry skin or snake skin
Major anxiety/worry
Ringing in ears
Lactose Intolerance
Inability to eat in the mornings
Joint pain
Carpal tunnel symptoms
No Appetite
Fluid retention to the point of Congestive Heart Failure
Swollen legs that prevented walking
Blood Pressure problems
Varicose Veins
Dizziness from fluid on the inner ear
Low body temperature
Raised temperature
Tightness in throat; sore throat
Swollen lymph glands
Allergies (which can also be a result of low cortisol–common with hypothyroid patients)
Headaches and Migraines
Sore feet (plantar fascitis); painful soles of feet
now how do I put this one politely….a cold bum, butt, derriere, fanny, gluteus maximus, haunches, hindquarters, posterior, rear, and/or cheeks. Yup, really exists.
colitis
irritable bowel syndrome
painful bladder

Extreme hunger, especially at nighttime

Dysphagia, which is nerve damage and causes the inability to swallow fluid, food or your own saliva and leads to “aspiration pneumonia”.

This is really important for people to know because so many people have hypothyroidism and don't know it, and their doctors have been trained to not recognize it unless it's really extreme!

From what I can find out, doctors seem to be relying on the drug companies to keep them up to date on new developments, and the drug companies give them the information that will help them sell the most drugs. And if you have hypothyroidism that's untreated, you are guaranteed to feel bad, and to keep coming back to your doctor for help! And if it remains untreated, or is treated with Synthroid, there are a lot of problems you'll continue to have that they can sell you expensive drugs to "fix." For example, cholesterol medicine, sleep apnea machine (this is expensive), antidepressants, osteoporosis medicine, Viagra, antihistamines, and more over-the-counter drugs. And after all those medications, you'll still feel bad because they haven't fixed what's actually wrong!

I keep hearing people tell me that Synthroid (T4) is all you really need and that some people can get along on it. Well, I'm here to tell you that when I switched from Synthroid to Armor Thyroid, it was like waking up from a long, horrible four-year nightmare!

I've had doctors tell me that I don't need anything from the natural thyroid medication except the T4. One of the the things that's in there that I supposedly don't need is calcitonin. Then, they go on to prescribe calcitonin separately as a drug! Well, surprise! You just contradicted yourself! The amount of harm that doctors have tried to do to me on the subject of hypothyroidism should be criminal!

I'm sorry about the rant, but if I save one person with hypothyroidism from continuing to suffer from it, I'll be happy!

Hope you had a great weekend and will have a great week!