hypothyroidism

[veronica_rich]

So I'm taking the lazy woman's way to finding out something about a newly-diagnosed condition. Is anyone reading this taking medication for/living with low thyroid production? If so, how did you feel before treatment and has medication helped you, and how? I have pills to start taking tomorrow; I've lived with this for so long (gradual continuing weight gain despite exercise and better diet, fatigue, increasing loss of mental function and memory for nearly four years) that I'm afraid to hope it can all go away with a pill.

Comments

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

I take Armor Thyroid (a prescription thyroid supplement derived from pig thyroid) as contrasted to Synthroid. I personally think that there are advantages to the natural vs synthetic one of which is that the natural supplement has all of the componants of the thyroid hormones as opposed to just one.

Yes, I see a difference. Without the meds I tend to more volotile with my temper. That is to say more things get under my skin and I can really explode. I am much more even keel with the meds. I do also notice that when I forget to take them for a few days I will start to feel dull and muzzy headed. I didn't notice that much of a change when I started them but because I moved in the middle of starting to take the meds and therefore switched doctors, and because I was piss poor at taking them regularly, it took us a year to get the dosage right. That is the big thing and it can take a litte while to sort out how much you should be taking.

From my research, the weight gain associated with low thyroid is moderate, about 10 to 15 pounds. I lost about 10 pounds when I started taking the meds regularly but I can't say for certain that I can attribute the cause to the meds. I think that most of my weight gain came from the fact that I was approaching 50.

The short answer is that yes, I think you will feel a difference. How long it takes to feel it will depend on how close to the right dosage you get at the start and how disciplined you are at remembering meds. Most people are much better at that than I am.

I hope that it helps. I know how sucky it is to feel that draggy and moody.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

It's been this way for nigh on four years now, ever since I had a really bad flu-like illness in late 2003. My energy has gradually run down, my temper's gotten shorter, I feel more stupid, and I fixate on things that shouldn't annoy any reasonable person. (What's really bad is when you know things are wrong with you and not a whit what to do to change it. It's like being aware of Alzheimer's or something.) Thanks for the support.