Intuition

For the past few months, I've been feeling pretty awful- lethargic, forgetting everything, sleepy, etc. I honestly though, gee, maybe I'm pregnant again (dear God, please no!) or maybe I'm just stressed from motherhood, but then I realized I felt exactly like I did in high school and college. Aha! It must be my stupid thyroid not doing what it's supposed to (again)!

To follow up on my hunch, I went to the doctor a few days ago, and he said he'd call if there was any news. He had done a full bloodwork thingie, so if there was anything bugging me, he'd find it. Today he calls and says he has news. My thyroid is (again) not working as hard as it should, and he will call in a prescription right away to up my meds. I knew it!

Just out of curiousity (and because I've learned that I am the only one tracking my health as it should), I asked him what my TSH levels were. He said, "They were slightly higher than they should be, at 10.3." WHAT?? That's not slight at all! That's more than 3 times the high end of normal!

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a little medical lesson for you. When you are hypothyroid (like me), your thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones that it should (which produces TONS of nasty side effects and slows your whole body down). Hence, your body makes more TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) to pretty much bitch-slap your thyroid into shape, but to no avail. The higher the TSH, the more hypothyroid you are. Normal levels according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists & the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry as of 2003 (yes, I've done my homework) are between 0.3 and 3.0. However, some doctors (like mine) are unaware of this change and still following the former guidelines of 0.1 to 6.0, which is why I always ask what the levels are exactly and to give me a hardcopy of my lab results, although it doesn't matter which guidelines the doc uses, because 10.3 is way over either of them.

So, now I know why I've been feeling like sh!t for the past few months. I'm headed to the hospital today to get a new prescription and hopefully start feeling more human in the coming days.

*A little side story that my fellow Navy wives might find pretty funny. The doctor I saw is not my PCM. Apparently, my PCM has been transferred, not to another department or anything, but to another state. I found this out a few weeks ago when I made the appointment and Central Appointments said he was no longer "available". No one has contacted me yet to tell me my doctor has PCSed, so I'm just going to see exactly how long it will take, heehee.