My Experience with Hypothyroidism

I was diagnosed with a low thyroid, or hypothyroidism, in 1991. When I tried to talk to my doctor about my symptoms—weight gain, dry skin, brittle nails, sensitivity to cold, constipation, mood swings and a heavy menstrual flow—she dismissed all of the symptoms as me being an overstressed, depressed mother of 3 active children.

Of course, I was depressed—I had hypothyroidism! Had my doctor listened to what I was saying and performed a simple blood test, I would not have ended up in the hospital a few weeks later.

I knew something was wrong. Something had to explain all these annoying symptoms: the weight that just crept up higher and higher no matter how much I exercised and how much I watched my diet. I was so lethargic most of the time. Not long after crawling out of bed in the morning I was ready to curl up and go back to sleep. Despite having a husband and three children to care for, I had absolutely no motivation for even the simplest of tasks.

My skin seemed to soak up moisturizer as quickly as I put it on and would feel dry to the point of cracking minutes later. My fingernails were weak and brittle. My periods were so bad that I had days I would not leave the house for anything but an emergency. My family did not know what to expect from me as far as the mood went. I won’t even tell you how bad the constipation was.

The worst part of all of this was that my symptoms had come about so slowly I had come to accept them as all part of getting older. I was around 36 at the time.

At my husband’s urging, I went to a new doctor. When I went to see this doctor my blood pressure was so high it was in the stroke range. The doctor gave me medicine to bring my blood pressure down and made me wait in his office for several hours until he felt it was safe for me to leave. He gave me some more of the medicine and sent me home with a return visit scheduled for the next morning.

That night my daughter had a nightmare. When I jumped out of bed to go to her, I fell down. My husband had to comfort our daughter and then came back to check on me. Both of us felt that it was the medicine making by blood pressure too low. He stayed home the next morning to take me to the doctor. Telling the doctor what had happened the night before, he checked my blood pressure. It was sky high. He told us he thought I was in beginning stage renal failure and that what was causing my blood pressure to skyrocket. I was admitted to the hospital for tests.

After going through a series of tests including a renal catheterization, kidney function tests, blood work, and a cat scan the doctors determined my kidneys were fine. The doctor decided to do a broad spectrum of blood tests to try to find the cause of my problems. A nurse was sent to my room to get a list of all the symptoms I had.

She told me to include anything that I felt was unusual for me. I gave her the wide spectrum of symptoms I had: weight gain, sensitivity to cold, heavy menstrual flow, brittle nails, thinning hair, lethargy, mood swings, constipation, no motivation, brain fog, and dry skin. She added the high blood pressure to the list. The doctor came in a short time later and said I was suffering from an under active thyroid or hypothyroidism.

Hallelujah! I was not going crazy! There was hope! Those symptoms I had been complaining about for years were the most basic symptoms of the hypothyroidism condition. And better still, I was going to feel like normal just by taking a synthetic hormone replacement. Hallelujah! I was going to feel normal again. Except I didn’t.

The synthetic hormone that I had been put on had it’s own list of side effects: headaches, nervousness, inability to sleep, irregular periods, and sweating profusely. I was suffering from all of them. Adjusting the dosage of the medicine didn’t seem to have an effect on my symptoms. On the up side, I was starting to lose weight. I was beginning to despair of ever feeling normal again.

I called my aunt who also suffered from hypothyroidism. She told me about a natural thyroid replacement. She said a natural thyroid replacement was easier for the body to process. I asked my doctor about it. She tried to talk me out of it and wanted to continue to adjust the synthetic hormone’s dosage. I insisted and she reluctantly agreed to give me a three month prescription for the natural hormone. At the end of the three months she told me, I would be begging to go back to the synthetic hormone.

I filled the prescription. I started taking it and didn’t think about it at all. Within a week, I noticed that some of the symptoms had disappeared and others had lessened in severity. Best of all, I was starting to feel like a human being again. My family, needless to say, was happy to have Mom back.

Because of my hypothyroidism experience, I have learned to listen to my body. I am the expert when it comes to me. I am not a failure, lacking in determination or motivation. I am not a depressed, exhausted mother who could not cope. I am not defined by my hypothyroidism.

I have learned how best to deal with it. I am more careful about what I put into my body. I eat what my body needs and I make sure it is pure, natural, and organic when possible. I have learned to survive this thing called hypothyroidism.

-Theresa Pennington