It was the summer after my freshman year and I was nineteen. I lived at my parent’s house during the summer. I was getting ready for my sophomore year by taking some classes at the local community college. I was also working a manual labor job. I just wanted to sleep all the time and I always felt exhausted. I thought it was because of the college classes I was taking and the manual labor job. I started to sleep through one of my college classes and eventually had to withdrawal from the course. I thought I was sleeping because the professor was unbelievably boring. I started to get migraines, which I thought was a result of my summer job. It seemed that my boss really hated women and was working me hard. There were several strong men around, but they just chatted while I lifted all the heavy objects, typical! I finally had to go to the doctor because my migraines were making it difficult for me to function. When I was at the doctors she felt my throat and said “You need to get your thyroid checked.” Then she processed to give me a blood test. Doctor’s really love to draw a patient’s blood. My mom and I call them vampires. This time I was thankful for the vampire. They were checking for TSH which is short for thyroid stimulating hormone. It is the hormone the pituitary gland releases to get your thyroid to work. This hormone tells your thyroid to produce the hormone it is responsible for called T3 and T4. At this point I did not know much about the thyroid. I did not even know how important it was for the function of my body. For women in the United States thyroid diseases are in the top ten diseases that go undiagnosed. Women are often misdiagnosed with depression.

The doctor called me with the results a couple of days later. She told me that my TSH was the highest the office had ever seen it was 400. There has been some debate about what the TSH levels should be. But, at that time it was supposed to be no greater than five. My level being at 400 meant that my pituitary gland kept releasing hormones in an attempt to get my thyroid to function. Since my thyroid was not functioning the TSH levels raised. It is like a girl who keeps leaving voicemail messages on a guy’s phone telling him what he needs to do, typical. If he is not checking the messages then the messages start to pile up. This is a similar concept. The doctor was amazed I was still able to function. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. This basically means that the thyroid is under producing. If the thyroid is over producing it is called hyperthyroidism.

I had a type of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. When I hear Hashimoto’s I feel like I am supposed to clasp my hands together and bow. This is what I do at the end of yoga when I bow and say Namaste. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease happens when your body attacks perfectly healthy tissue. No one really knows why? There have been several theories, but not really any solid reason. The doctor told me I would have to take thyroid medication for the rest of my life. Having an autoimmune thyroid disease means the thyroid is never going to work properly again. I take one of the leading thyroid medications called Synthroid. This tiny little pill gives me what my thyroid cannot. I just thought I had the much talked about freshman 15. This is what happens when someone goes to college and gains 15 pounds. Most people are in their forties when they are diagnosed with a thyroid disease. I always say I am eighty five not thirty years old. In some cases mild hypothyroidism can be reversed. This is only possible when an autoimmune disease is not present. My thyroid just up and left me. I know I did not appreciate it as much as I should have. I really had no idea how much one tiny gland was going to have an effect on me until it was gone. I would advise everyone to get their thyroid checked when they go for their physical. If you do not stand up for your health, who will? So ask those vampires to take some blood!

Tags: doctor's, health, hypothyroidism, thyroid, tired, weight

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 2:50 am and is filed under Bunny, health, kitty photo, thyroid disease. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.