Last time I wrote (Part 3) I had gotten off the phone with the midwife who INSISTED I go see an endocrinologist to figure out what in the world was happening with my thyroid! Before heading to the endocrinologist though, she wanted me to have an ultrasound of my thyroid, ASAP! Everyone around me kind of freaked out. It was a Friday afternoon and the hospital was 40 minutes away. I was just going to wait until Monday, but my friend, Rochelle insisted that she was going to drive me there right away…. another friend watched my kiddos. The ultrasound was to make sure there were no growths(cancer) that could have accounted for the extreme change in TSH.

When I got to the hospital they took me right in to see the ultrasound tech. She was the same lady who told me my baby boy was a boy! Anyways, she looked all around my thyroid and saw only an enormous inflamed thyroid (Inflammation Nation anyone?). So, that was a relief there was no obvious cancer growths… but I could not get off the inflammation part. WHY was I so inflamed? I didn’t think I had any of the symptoms of yeast, leaky gut, allergies, or autoimmune diseases……. I was young and healthy! What was the deal?? Well, it would take me about 6 months of minor research and getting my brain back together before I began attacking the root problem….. But we’ll get to all that in time.

A few days later I drove the hour and a half to see the MD (endocrinologist) and I noticed her take note of me in the waiting room. Once I got into the room with her, she told me “I saw your file and wondered what in the world could account for such an extreme change in TSH….. Then I saw your baby on your lap. You have postpartum thyroiditis. I am going to run your blood to see if you have antibodies, but that doesn’t really matter, it will just tell me what is going on. Oh wow, your thyroid IS large, but that’ll go down once you start medication. Basically, you are going to have to go on Synthroid for the rest of your life. Your thyroid needs help. Ok? Ok! Your baby sure is cute. You know he is very intelligent for looking at me and talking with me at such a young age. Women who have thyroid problems generally have lower IQ babies, but not this little guy. No need to worry. The lab is this way……”
HAHA! She was nice, but I can’t remember if I talked except to ask why Armour wasn’t the better choice. Her answer was “Because Armour can’t be regulated as easily.” Well, now I know that the vast majority of people who are on Armour greatly prefer it to synthroid. BUT – REGARDLESS of what hormone you take (synthetic or from a pig), the thyroid hormones are just treating the symptom and NOT the cause.

After that $250 appointment and $215 bloodwork bill, I decided I was going to take the Armour thyroid and not the synthetic version, as everyone I had ever talked too about the difference suggested Armour (and that was what I was on during my pregnancy). I never saw that MD again, mostly because I have a $10,000 deductible health insurance plan, and the office visit and lab they used was just too darn expensive. I could have the same labs done for less than $70 at my local family practice.

Like I mentioned above, for the next six months I studied and knew I needed to tackle this from the ground up. I am thankful for the Armour Thyroid that allowed my liver, hormones, and the rest of me to function. Oh! I forgot to tell you…. I had yellowish eyes at this point in the story. That is a strong indication that my liver was not working (your liver needs your thyroid…. and so on the circle goes). Anyways, I took my daily pill, got to a more normal life after the flood, taught my kids, helped my husband, and was semi-normal. I still had MAJOR low blood sugar issues and NO energy to exercise (or anything above and beyond my must-do tasks). Symptoms of that, along with blood sugar/adrenal stress/ autoimmune could be it’s own post (which is may be next!).

Okay, well next post will be some of the things I learned during that six months.

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