Hashi-what?

Apparently I have hit middle-age. Not really sure when that happened, but I seem to have one foot already in the door...or at least my thyroid has already decided to go there. I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago for my yearly physical. Okay, let me be honest...this is the first time I've had a physical in a l-o-n-g time. I mean I go to the doctor when I'm sick and for other things, like blacking out at the beach, so it's not like I haven't graced the door of the doctor's office in eons. It's just been a while since I have had the whole workup done at once...EKG, blood work, urinalysis, getting poked and prodded, talking about diet and exercise, and when I've last gone to other important doctors like the eye and girly doctor. And in my defense, I have had blood work done twice in the past year and have had 2 EKG's and an echo-cardiogram, so like I said, I've been to the doctor. But I digress. So I went and had the physical done. It wasn't so bad, well except for the whole sticking a needle in my arm to draw blood part (which I am just going to have to get used to)...and the only "weight" thing she said was to keep on running. We talked a little bit about how I have lost about 30 pounds and I happened to mention to her that it has been a s.....l.....o.....w.....process. She said slow was good and just to keep up what I was doing. When I left, they said they would call if there was anything of concern on the blood work and if everything looked great, they would send me a postcard. I was totally expecting the postcard.

Well, as you have probably guessed...I didn't get a postcard, I got a phone call last Thursday saying that my thyroid levels were not right and that I needed to come back in. I made the appointment for Monday and proceeded to spend the next 3 days reading any and everything related to thyroid issues. I pretty much had figured out what the issue was and was prepared with a few questions for my doctor. So the bottom line is that I have something called Hashimoto's disease. It's an autoimmune disorder that causes your body's antibodies to attack the thyroid gland and cause it to not work as well, resulting in hypothyroidism. Hashimoto's typically strikes women who are middle aged (since when did 33 become middle aged?!?) Symptoms include being tired and sluggish feeling, weight gain or increased difficulty in losing weight, sensitivity to cold, and lots of other really random things. Hypothyroidism means your thyroid is basically under performing and it can affect every system in your body because the hormones that the thyroid produces T3 and T4 (the easy names to call them) help do a lot of stuff in our bodies. The good news is that it is pretty easy to fix with medicine. The medicine, Synthroid, just replaces the thyroid hormones in your body and does their job...which includes revving up my metabolism! Yay for a metabolism that works!! The bad news is that there is no cure and I have to take the medicine for the rest of my life. And the really bad news, or the worst news in my case, is that getting the dosage right can take some time. If the dose is too high, it will send your body into overdrive and it can do heart damage...not good. So I have to have blood work every 3 months until my levels are right.

So here's to a lifetime of Synthroid...and a metabloism that actually works. Can't wait to get all my energy back and see how the weight loss goes now!!