[Hawkwind]

Continued musings:
I went in to see Kim a week after that call, armed again with even more information (and two more books about thyroid disorders on the way!). She agreed with me that given my history we shouldn't wait until June to retest. After going over my symptoms of the past 5 months we decided on a course of treatment. (My second choice of three. More about that later.)

At this point let me paraphrase the conversation between Kim and I:

Me: I am worried about weight gain.
Kim: Amy, you take great care of yourself, your weight has hardly changed, you exercise and keep on top of your diet, and you always make adjustments when you need them. You take better care of yourself and know yourself better than most of my patients.

I sat there looking at Kim and I could tell the moment she saw the terror and desperation in my eyes...

Me: No, you don't get it. My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law and nieces are all hypothyroid and on hormone replacement. Kim, they are overweight, and I'm not talking just a little...I'm talking, obese. Huge. [pause] And Kim...I can't get out of my own way. I haven't been this exhausted in ages. I fall asleep twice a day...and my sis needs me as one of her drivers back and forth to her radiation and chemo...

Kim sat there and looked at me as what I was saying dawned on her. Weight gain is not an option for me...period. And I have to absolutely get back on my feet. Someone I love needs me and I intend to be there for her.
She looked me straight in the eye and pretty much repeated what she had told me adding: You always do what you need to do to get better. If we don't find the right dose or prescription for you I will send you to an endocrinologist. We'll test you again in two months. And if your meds are not right call me and come back in and we'll adjust them again. But Amy, it may be 4-6 weeks before you notice your weight shift.

I nodded numbly and for the first time ever I doubted my ability to pull myself through a health crisis. Gaining weight uncontrollably terrifies me to no end. (I'm a bit prideful about my hard earned body.) Being 'off' and not being able to pull myself together...well it just pisses me off to no end.

I went home to find that the first of two books I ordered had arrived. So I put aside everything else I've been working on and reading and got busy reading that book...and was totally shocked at what I learned.

I have a tough road ahead of me...and there is a lot of disinformation and especially a huge lack of information about hypothyroid disorders in particular.

In my research I learned that women, particularly women over 40, or women like my daughter that have one female relative or more that is hypothyroid are at risk and very likely to become hypothyroid themselves. I actually had many, many more risk factors than I realized, even though as far as we know none of my female family members are or were hypothyroid.
I also discovered that due to changes in 2002 as to what constitutes 'normal' TSH levels that have not been adopted by the vast majority of doctors in this country a very great percentage of people struggling with weight gain may in fact be hypothyroid.

So...after realizing that there are other people out there like myself that lift 3 or more days a week, do cardio 3 or more days a week and watch their diet carefully yet cannot lose weight or struggle not to gain weight...that maybe I should share my battle in the hope that someone reading this may look at their mom, wife, sister or even a male family member that does 'everything right'...but just cannot keep the weight off and possibly help them to seek help. All it takes is some simple tests...but unless you know what you are looking at and can advocate for yourself...your doctor may not take you seriously, or may think your risk is not 'bad enough yet' and you or they can suffer needless heartache over ballooning weight and exhaustion and host of other thyroid related symptoms.

Put simply...hypothyroid is a hormone imbalance...for whatever reason your thyroid is not producing enough hormone to keep your metabolism going.

Continued...