My Life. Medication Optional.

So I went off the thyroid meds yesterday because I was insane.  I had a horrible headache and was jittery, like I'd had 5 or 6 red bulls.  And according to my husband, I was annoying as hell.  The directions say to cut out the meds until the issues subside, then get back on the pill wagon at the last dose before the problems.  I cannot wait to get back to it.  These pills are awesome.   

In other news, I am cranky and tired today, which may be from the lack of thyroid meds or because my kid won't give me a minute of peace.  I love her dearly, but no, I don't need her help making the bed, sweeping the floor or loading the dishwasher.  And since her way of helping is to put something on the floor and yell 'I made a mess!', it's really not helping my mood.

So far I have tons more energy and I feel happier.  I also feel more alert, like I know what's going on more and I'm more aware of my life.  The downside to the energy is that I hurt the hell out of my shoulder and I'm not supposed to do anything on it for awhile.  That's some nice irony right there.

is the name of my new meds that came in the mail today.  I can't start them until tomorrow, which is kind of annoying.  It's a first thing in the morning thing, I guess.  I'm more excited than I thought I would be.  I hope it works out okay.  I worry that it won't help or that I have too big of expectations.  Maybe I am just the kind of person that is meant to be tired and grumpy a lot.  And maybe I'll just have to get used to doing things like putting the yogurt in the cupboard without realizing it.   Maybe, but I hope not.

Well, I went to the doctor again today.  I actually saw Dr. A instead of his PA.  I got to go down the list of stupid things that are wrong with me (and thanks for that morale booster!) and he asked a few questions and took about a million notes.  (He's very thorough.)

Now I am on a thyroid supplement.  My apparent diagnosis is Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  I take this thyroid med in the am. I start with 30 mg for 3 days, bump up to 60 mg for three days, bump up another 30mg, repeat until my pulse gets too high.  Then I scale back until I get to the right dosage.  The meds have to come from a compound pharmacy, so they won't be here until next week.  My insurance didn't cover them, but it was only $70, which is do-able.  Next month they should come from my regular pharmacy and can be billed to my insurance then.  (I guess there is a shortage, which is why it can only come from certain pharmacies right now.) 

And that is the medical situation for another day. 

There were a few effects of my birth defect.  I have extra skin on my neck (a webbed neck) and I was super self-conscious about it for a long time.  I even looked into surgery for it, but the cosmetic surgeon said that they could do very little for a lot of money.  So I'm pretty much over it.  It's me and it's not gonna change.  I also have edema in my feet (swelling) and weird toenails.  Oh, and I got sick a lot as a kid because my lymph nodes didn't work the way they were supposed to (see the Lymphatic part of the diagnosis), but having my adenoids out really helped.  

In high school I was told I had a chemical imbalance that was causing my depression.  I cycled through different meds until college, where I was given another diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and I met my new friend Cymbalta.  I've been on the Cymbalta for 5 years now and it is awesome.  It just puts me to a point where I can manage the emotions I am having, rather than being overwhelmed by them. Nothing else ever did that for me.  I occasionally take Xanax for extreme anxiety, but it's pretty rare anymore.  

In November of 2009 I went to my doctor (technically a PA) Shannon (Hi!) for lethargy and no sex drive.  She ran some thyroid tests and discovered that my body makes very little testosterone, which is the basis of the sex drive.  After many, many more tests and much of my blood in little tubes, it turns out my body doesn't like my thyroid and wants to eat it.  My body = dumb.  So Shannon gave me some hormone cream in December (I'm now 60) and the actual Dr. (Dr. A) had me start some magnesium powder supplements.  Apparently most people have a magnesium deficiency and it can be the reason for extra stress and low energy levels.  Normally I would be super-skeptical, but my doctor is a big believer in quantifiable data and western medicine, so if he says he takes a supplement, I'm inclined to believe it may have value.   

And now, we're waiting to see what happens.  (As of Jan. 3, 2010, zip.)

Bored yet?