thyroid
May 26, 2010

Well, I've already found this damned drug to be a colossal pain in the ass, and I only started taking it today.

I have to take this immediately upon rising, at the same time every day, and I'm supposed to wait an entire hour before taking my other meds, eating, or drinking.

In what reality, exactly, do people have this kind of life? I am out the front door 45 minutes after the alarm goes off--how the hell am I supposed to be having my first cup of coffee and taking my GERD, arthritis, and allergy pills 15 minutes after that, at the same time I'm merging onto the interstate?

And if I have to give up ANOTHER half-hour of sleep during the week, and forego my weekend sleep-ins, just to accommodate these pills? Then the little fuckers better be the sure-deal, slam-dunk cure for my fatigue problem.

A bit of what this is all about: apparently, my immune system is trying to do in my thyroid. My thyroid antibodies are off the charts, my TSH is trying to get things moving and failing, and I'm way low on T4. Hence the meds. But these don't solve the actual problem--they just replace the T4 I'm not getting from my own glands. So this is a lifelong thing I'm going to have to deal with. "This" does have a name-- it's called Hashimoto's Disease. So now I'm compelled to do what I always do: Dig up every single thing I can on it, and arm myself with all the knowledge I can gather.

Among the things I've learned so far?
Hashimoto's typically involves a slow but steady destruction of the gland that eventually results in the thyroid's inability to produce sufficient thyroid hormone -- the condition known as hypothyroidism. Along the way, however, there can be periods where the thyroid sputters back to life, even causing temporary hyperthyroidism, then a return to hypothyroidism. This cycling back and forth between hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism is characteristic of Hashimoto's disease. So, for example, periods of anxiety/insomnia/diarrhea/weight loss may be followed by periods of depression/fatigue/constipation/weight gain.

Umm...sounds kinda familiar...