New to the group

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the group and wanted to introduce myself.

I was diagnosed hypothyroid in January 2010 and have been riding on an emotional

roller coaster ever since. In the year preceding my diagnosis I had been nursing

my step-father, who died of lung cancer last September. So, all-in-all a rather

life-changing year and a half.

When I was diagnosed initially, I was given 25 mcg of Levothyroxine. The main

symptom that sent me to the doctor at first was my persistent bleeding, my

menstrual cycle wouldn't stop. I thought this was due to the stress I was under,

but my thyroid problems were the cause of that. This stopped within a week of my

first dose of Levothyroxine. I was excited that I might be one of the lucky

people, that Synthroid would be okay for me. (I had already read about the

delicate nature of this condition on various websites)

Despite my menstrual cycle being sorted, I still felt tiredness, aches,

depression and a lack of clarity in my head. But I put this all down to the

grief that I was in the middle of.

I went back to my home town, having helped my mum as much as I could, and went

to see my own doctor (I had initially been seen by my mum's doctor at my

step-dad's surgery). My doctor told me that my bloods were now fine and that my

thyroid was okay - but that I was anemic and needed iron tablets. I told him I

was feeling terrible - and he replied that I would be feeling awful for at least

a couple of months. He turned his back and wrote a prescription - and that was

it.

The iron tablets were horrid. I felt sick, ill from the thyroid and had awful

boils on my skin. I didn't want to leave the house. I was constantly in tears.

I suffered like this for a month, until it was time to see the doctor again. I

made an appointment with the other doc at the surgery - who agreed with me that

I wasn't well, that the bloods showed that I was still hypo and that I needed

50mcg of Levothyroxine. I left feeling relieved that I might get somewhere.

After two weeks of 50 mcg, I started to feel ecstatic - I was beginning to feel

normal again. The cloud in front of my eyes was dispersing and I was feeling a

lightness about me. My skin was still awful, huge boils on my face, but they

were getting less and I was hoping that they would go once the effect of the

iron was gone. The next check with my doc was after three weeks - the bloods

were good. TSH was down to 0.3, T4 looked good. I was feeling great.

Feeling this good didn't last long. It may have been about a month later when I

started to feel the symptoms creeping back. It was my irritability that was the

major sign. I wasn't able to tolerate the smallest things and would find myself

in a constant battle with myself to keep my anger under control. As the weeks

have gone on, I am now having days where my energy levels are almost as low as

when I was on 25mcg. The tears are never far away. My skin is a mess. I am

depressed.

I have made an appointment to see my doctor - he is away on holiday for two

weeks. I will see the other doc at the surgery, the one who has no idea how to

treat my condition.

Things are spiralling out of control. I have now bought Armour over the

internet. It hasn't arrived yet, but I am considering self-medication, which

scares me a bit. I have started to take Nutri Adrenal Extra, figuring that this

is only a bunch of vitamins. I am desperate. I have been in tears for almost a

week - and I need to try and sort myself out, somehow.

My mum insists that I go to see a specialist. I will ask the doc on Monday for a

referral to a private doctor. Dr is in Cardiff and is a specialist

in thyroid conditions, apparently.

I'm sorry to have gone on and on - but I wanted to get all the details down

here. Any advice would be great.

Thank you for reading.

Del