Happy Saturday, everyone! I know a lot of you have seen that this week I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. I've had a few questions about it already, and wanted to post some information for whoever is interested. First, a brief story.
Those of you who know me know that in the past 4 years, my life has been a whirlwind of new things and big changes, one right after the other. Graduation, moving away from home for the first time, having a baby, having another baby, and moving to a new location. I've had so many things happen that I thought it really wasn't a big deal that I was feeling fatigued almost all the time, having bouts of depression, anxiety, and occasional panic attacks. However, after life started setting down and slowing down, I started to feel worse. I went to get my thyroid levels checked, as they had been high during pregnancy, and quite low right after. But I got them checked, and they were normal. So that made me feel really really depressed, because I KNEW something was off, and it wasn't just all in my head. But I gave up for a while, and things eventually got better. Temporarily. Throughout the spring, I rarely let it show, but I was commonly generally anxious, with occasional bouts of depression and great fatigue. At that point I pretty much became resigned to the idea of just struggling with depression and anxiety. But I wanted to be proactive about it. I started exercising more, attempting to eat healthier, taking more vitamins, and going out almost every day to do fun things with my boys while my husband was at work. It definitely helped, but I would still have occasional episodes of more extreme emotions/thoughts/feelings. I finally decided to make an appointment to get checked out again. I told the doctor everything, and they ran an array of blood tests, all of which came back normal. But I started to do some research. Given the fact that my mom has Hashimoto's disease, and it runs in families, I decided to try and see if it was even a possibility for me. After talking to my mom about all this, she mentioned that her endocrinologist said that my brother and I should be tested for Hashimoto's when we reach 20 years of age, and I had never been tested before.
So, when the nurse called with my thyroid results (both within normal limits) I asked about being tested for Hashimoto's. They said they still had some of my blood they could send out, but they weren't sure how long it would take to get my results. I was encouraged that they actually listened to me, and about a week later, they called and said it looked like I have Hashimoto's, and asked if I wanted to come in and talk to the doctor about it. So I came in the next day, and the doctor showed me my levels (for this disease, they test two antibodies to get their levels), explained what it meant, and referred me to an endocrinologist. They said it will probably take up to three months to see the endocrinologist, but at least now we're moving forward.
Okay, so here are a few facts about this disease and how one is diagnosed.
- Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, which basically means my thyroid is eventually going to disintegrate, because my body is going to attempt to, and eventually attack my thyroid. Nobody yet knows why this happens, but it's usually one of the easier diseases to cope with, as it usually only requires monitoring of the thyroid hormone levels and regulation of the thyroid hormones with medication (one small pill every morning half an hour before breakfast).
- I will have to get my blood tested at least once a year for the rest of my life, because my thyroid levels will fluctuate. Right now my thyroid hormone levels are within normal limits, but I will eventually be hypothyroid because of the disease. I have yet to see the endocrinologist, so I'm not sure if they will want me to go ahead and start taking meds or not, but a general practitioner doctor wouldn't prescribe medication unless the two levels they tested were off.
- Speaking of levels, the way they test the blood for Hashimoto's is they test the thyroid peroxidase enzyme and antithyroglobulin antibody. The normal level range for the thyroid peroxidase is 0-34. Mine is 193. The normal level range for antithyroglubulin is 0-40. Mine is 186. In a nutshell, this means I have the disease. This means my body is already fighting, and probably has been for some time.
- Fortunately, like I said, there's a pretty easy solution. Just getting a few blood tests every year, and eventually having to take medication for the rest of my life.
-However, I will most likely be dealing with at least some of the symptoms off and on for the rest of my life as well. There is no real "cure" for the disease, and I will always have it. So I will have times when I feel better, and times when I will feel not so great. (during those times, it will probably be as easy as going and getting tested again to see if I will need to change my medication dosage)
- So as long as I am treated for it, I shouldn't ever have a problem going about life pretty normally.
Anyway, I will know more after I see the endocrinologist, but for now feel free to ask any questions.
