Anyone here ever have thyroid issues?

[skygazer]

My helper at work is the coolest 22 year old girl you ever met. Responsible, hard-working, mature, great sense of humor, smart...

She's in the hospital today because she's got this thyroid thing going on. Evidently she's had some symptoms for a while but because she has no insurance ( :eyes: ), her doctor hasn't been exactly giving her the red carpet treatment.

She collapsed a couple of weeks ago and finally got sent to a specialist who is not yet sure of her exact problem but tells her that her heart is working overtime and she could have a coronary at any time. So she should "avoid stress." :eyes: I always love that line.

She got sick again last night and is in the hospital again. I'm not looking for medical advice - just wondering if anyone has had or known anyone who had thyroid problems and what your experiences were.

You know, it figures - first time in 6 years I've had decent help. :grr: (Seriously, I'm just worried about the poor kid :cry: )

Thanks...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. My kitty has hyperthyroidism. His heart rate ws through the roof before we got him his meds. I hope

they can diagnose your helper with whatever is going on with her thyroid. That sounds too scary and she's just a baby to boot!

[MorningGlow]

2. Yes, I'm hypothyroid

I have thyroid disease on both sides of my family. However, because my THS (the standard blood test to find out if your thyroid is misbehaving) was in the "normal" range (and that range has since changed--become more narrow--interestingly enough, so now I'm "legit"), my doctor essentially told me to "get lost--oh, and lose some weight, whydoncha" when (if you're hypothyroid) it's impossible to do, because your body is completely out of whack. Over the course of approximately a year and a half, I went through several MDs, two OB-GYNs, a nutritionist, and an endocrinologist--thyroids are their specialty, but not this guy, apparently :eyes:--before I got help. And I got help from a holistic MD.

Most important, YES, you can DIE from an untreated thyroid problem and all the secondary issues it causes. When I was untreated, I was in my mid-30s, and I sincerely thought I was going to die soon; my body was essentially shutting down.

First of all, your friend should GET RID OF HER DOCTOR. If she has no insurance, she should find a holistic MD in your area (there are directories on the Web). My holistic MD didn't take insurance anyway because she doesn't like HMOs telling her how to practice, so I was a self pay, and my insurance paid for my blood tests and such. (Depending on where you are, she might be able to self-pay for blood and urine tests by mail; however, it's illegal here in NYS.)

PM me if you want to chat. I have had a LOT of experience getting diagnosed and treated for my thyroid and have the battle scars to prove it.

[skygazer]

3. Thanks, I appreciate the info

And I might take you up on that offer, especially once I know a little more about her condition.

Reading up on the web, it sounded like she probably was hyperthyroid since she's been losing a lot of weight and has the heart palpitations.

Thanks again. I really worry about her - she's like another daughter to me. :(

[MorningGlow]

5. It's so good of you to care about her welfare

Kudos to you.

Thyroid issues can be very strange. A blanket statement would be that people who lose weight and seem "wired" are hyperthyroid and people who gain weight and are sleepy are hypothyroid, but it isn't always the case. Like I said, very strange. And they're two sides of the same coin anyway. When I was young, I couldn't gain weight no matter what I did. I also couldn't sleep and was very emotional (high strung). That was my thyroid. But as I got older, my symptoms swung the other way--I gained weight, my blood pressure shot up but I was always cold, and I had no energy to speak of (among many other symptoms)...and yet I had heart palpitations.

Bottom line: thyroid problems are thyroid problems. People can swing from hyper to hypo, but it's all because of the same gland. The sooner she gets diagnosed and treated the better. You are very welcome to PM me anytime. :hug:

[laylah]

4. My youngest has had thyroid problems

since she was 19 (she is soon to be 24). First she was diagnosed with Graves, then Hashimoto's, now a combination of both. My baby is on heart meds! Her doctors let her down BIG time and she has very adequate insurance through her Dad!

From what little experience I have (as I am at a distance) she needs to be evaluated for other forms of thyroid conditions! Especially the Hashimoto's and Marine Leherer's (or something like that).

It sucks she has to be this far along to get attention!

edited for spelling

[skygazer]

6. Oddly enough, I was watching Sicko last night

And thinking how absurd our health care system is and then today I find out she's in the hospital. Yes, it does suck and thanks for the info - I hope your daughter is okay now. :hug:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. I have hypothyroidism.

I have to take a pill a day. It's easily manageable. That doesn't sound like what she has. Maybe it's a hyperactive Thyroid?
Duckie

[Redstone]

8. I had a lover back in 1980, who was a stunningly beautiful strawberry blonde, but who was

exceedingly self-conscious because she had a scar on the lower part of her throat from having had her thryroid gland removed.

I made her a nice necklace that covered the the scar, but she still worried that people would notice it.

My point? I guess to say that although she was shy about the scar, the surgery did indeed work, and she had no health problems after having the gland removed.

Nell Beal, where have you gone?

Redstone

[skygazer]

9. Funny how people get self-conscious

I, on the other hand, have a scar on my throat from a cervical fusion and I love to point it out and tell people that I got it when someone tried to mug me and slit my throat but I fought them off, knocked them out, tied them up with duct tape and called the cops. :rofl:

[Redstone]

10. Oh, yes indeed. "You should see the other guys" always makes a good story.

Redstone

[mike_c]

11. my daughter had similar experiences....

She developed a whole raft-load of mysterious symptoms in her early twenties, including heart rhythm issues, dangerously low blood pressure, etc. Her doctors-- she went through a bunch of them because none could give her any relief-- simply never tested her thyroid levels because she was so young. They did treat her ineffectively for a bunch of other misdiagnosed illnesses, including psychological issues. Needless to say, none of that helped much.

When she started having problems with temperature regulation I suggested she INSIST on a test for hypothyroidism. Low and behold, she's been on synthroid ever since, and much better. Ironically her mother developed thyroid deficiencies at about the same time (in her forties). Now they go to the same doctor and swap hypothyroid stories all the time.

[MorningGlow]

13. The same thing happened to me when I was your daughter's age

I was in grad school in Boston, plus working three part-time jobs, so my doctor assumed that my symptoms (low blood pressure, heart palpitations, nearly fainting a few times, and lower back pain) were caused by stress after he tested me for cancer and endometriosis (gee those upper and lower GIs sure were fun) and found nothing. He never tested me for thyroid either. My symptoms went away when I finished school and moved home, because my stress levels were lessened (and of course thyroid problems are exacerbated by stress). It took another 10 years and a fresh set of stressors before I got to the bottom of it.

[BeachBaby]

12. I was diagnosed with "borderline" hypoactive thyroid

in August 2003. I was 34 years old, very active, always on the go, never slept more than 6 hours a night, happy personality.

In one fell swoop, I was tired all the time, losing weight, losing HAIR, sleeping as many hours as time would allow, and VERY depressed.

Luckily, I have great doctors who immediately ran a panel on me.....looking for Lyme's disease, Lupus, cancer, diabetes, and CANCER.

I came in for bloodwork every 3 months, and it started to even out a bit, it never went over that "borderline" mark that would require meds. I took Lexapro for 4 months, weaned off of that, and after about a year, I was more or less back to normal. Was very scary.

[BeachBaby]

14. I meant "hypER" - I apologize. n/t.