Nervous and a bit scared..

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone, I'm molly. I'm 23 and I am hypo. My doctor

prescribed 60mg of armour. Is this an unusually high dose to start

out with? He said to break the pill in half and take one half in the

morning and the other in the evening. It's been a 'while' since I've

felt like myself. I think the last time I felt " normal " was around

the age of 14yrs. When I started my period, my mother had to rush me

to the doctor's office because the cramps were so painful and I

threw up then passed out as a result. Since then I have missed at

least 1 day a month from school and work due to my period. My

doctor ,back then, would give me shots of naproxin about a day or

two before my period was due and then I would take pain killers

until it was over. I've also had a problem with keeping my body

temperature up, my hands and feet are ALWAYS cold to the touch. I

hate winter because the cold " hurts " . I can remember when I was 16,

my friends and I went to the movies and there was a light sprinkle

of rain. We started watching the movie, and the only thing I could

concentrate on was on how cold I was. When the movie was over, we

went to the restrooms and my friends rushed me over to the mirror

and were asking if I was ok. My face was very pale, my lips had

turned blue/purple, and I had a ring around my eyes. My mother took

me back to my doctor to find out what was wrong. She said I had

a 'hormonal' imbalance and that going on birth control pills would

help. They didn't, so I stopped after 2 years. Things started

getting worst, I started having problems concentrated, my head felt

like it was in a fog, (like a head cold), I could never get enough

sleep, and I was starting to lose interest in everything. I have a

hard time " feeling " emotions. The next doctor I saw said I was

depressed, so I went on prozac. That didn't help and I actually felt

worst. All my energy was being drained from me. I stopped going

outside because the sunlight hurt my eyes. Being a teen without the

energy of my 'normal' friends was really hard. I couldn't keep up

with them, I started losing friends because I just didn't have the

energy to keep up the friendships. I started becoming introverted.

So to another doctor my mother took me. Basically he said it was all

in my mind..and I believed him. Well, some of the other symptoms I

started having was my hair was falling out, my lips are almost

ALWAYS chapped, (even though I went to a dermatologist and I did

what he told me to do: drink more water, and apply the chapstick

stuff he gave me...it didn't help much)..I don't like

being " touched " or being too close to other people. My mother

thought i might be a manic depressant since my moods are becoming

extreme.. she says I'm like march, she doesn't know if she's going

to get the lamb or the lion.. All the doctors I've seen tried to

treat the symptoms individually and it didn't work. I've also become

suseptable to colds and the flu. *Sorry about my spelling* ~smiles..

and it takes me so much longer to get over them than it does anyone

else in my family. I'm waking up with head aches every morning.. and

i have a hard time getting up before 10am.. I'm having a problem

with insomnia.. and my mother thought it might be stress. But my

life isn't really " stressful " , so i don't think my symptoms are

coming from stress. Well the older doctor I've started seeing,

thanks to a referral from an older neighbor..ran some blood tests

and other tests on me, (he's such a sweet old man) he said my

thyroid is underactive so he's putting me on Armour for a month to

see how many of my symptoms clear up.. I'm trying to not be overly

optomistic, since I've had dissapointments before, but I can't help

but be excited at the possibility of feeling " normal " , actually

feeling my emotions, not having anymore headaches, letting my hair

grow again, and having more 'energy'. I was wondering how much of my

symptoms are from the hypothyroidism and how many of them could be

from fatigued adrenals? Please let me know what you think.. this is

really scary for me because i don't want to live the rest of my life

like this.. I know I'm young but my body feels like it belongs to

someone who is in their 90s.. What are your experiences with this?

All the thanks in the world.~smiles

~Molly M.