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Hi!

I'm working on getting acquainted with this forum and I'm excited to

get to " know " you guys better.

My name's Amy and I'm 31 and was recently diagnosed with Hashi's.

My general MD had me on Synthroid since last Spring b/c of a

wellness screening our school district puts on every year. I

probably would have never known I had an issue if not for that free

screening. He never came out and really said what I had; just that

my thyroid wasn't functioning as it should and my TSH showed that.

It wasn't until Feburary of this year that I had a name to go with

my symptoms (I didn't really think much of my MD's treatment of my

problem..I just figured I'd take the little pill every day and

things would be fine. I had NO idea that there were SOO many

resources out there). I ended up seeing an allergist b/c I had some

episodes where one of my eyes would just puff up from outta nowhere

(usually while at work) and I'd have a random hive or two. Because

I'd had hives before in my life (jr high and some in college w/

facial swelling), I didn't think much of that, the the eye thing out

of nowhere was new. The allergist ran a FULL lab workup and sent me

the results. My TSH was lower (it used to be around 13 and then

gradually went from 8 to 5 to what it was then), but I saw other

thyroid-related numbers I didn't know existed til

then. " Antithyroglobulin AB " was one of them (it was 188). They

didn't check FT4, but did have total (11.6). Anyway, I was a bit

intrigued why I'd never heard these before from my regular doc.

Long story short, the allergist recommended I see an endo and gave

me a referral. I took my lab results to my MD's office and left them

with the medical asst. She ended up calling me (left a message) to

say that the doc had written me a year's script for 100 mcg

Synthroid (which he'd put me on a few weeks prior to the full workup

I had) and that was it. I was a bit mystified why he wasn't as

concerned about my numbers as I was. I also had read about the push

to change " optimal ranges " to .3-3.0 instead of the standard .5-5.0

for TSH. My doc uses the latter. I'm thinking 1-2 might be better

for me. My new endo agrees.

So, I had new labs done (tested for FT4 this time, too) and am on

112 mcg Synthroid. I started this regimen about a week and a half

ago. I see the endo again in April. The only thing is, I didn't

request my labs be sent to me, too, so I'm going to have to change

that. Do you think I could call up there and ask for my numbers or

would it be better to go by? I'm just curious what they were.

I am sorry for such a long post. I just didn't want to forget

anything. I possibly have an autoimmune disease called angioedema

(which would explain the random swelling and throat wheezing and

hives I've had sporadically in my life0 which was indicative of my

compliment levels being off (low) and non-functional. Fun stuff, eh?

I've gained almost 40 lbs since 2003 (also the year I married) and

have stretch marks . I am hoping my metabolism picks up and that

I can get on an exercise regimen (I want to get my cholesterol down,

which was also found to be high at the time I was screened). I don't

know if my weight gain is a result of being on birth control (Ortho

Evra) or the thyroid stuff.

Thanks for enduring such a long post. If I've left out anything,

please feel free to tell me.

Have a great week!!

Amy