Hi! I just found this board and thought I'd introduce myself.
I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse (trust me..it's relevant!) in Feb of 2002. I've been on meds ever since for that to control heart palpitations.
In August of 2003, my father RAI treatment for his Graves Disease. He had gotten to the point that he constantly had the shakes. They were starting to think he had Parkinson's or something like that -- they didn't suspect the thyroid because he didn't have any change in weight.
So, I started doing some internet research about Graves Disease, and I saw that Graves can cause Mitral Valve Prolapse. I made an appointment with my GP, who said that it doesn't work backwards, but, if I had family members who had thyroid problems, I needed to be tested too.
The results? She said my TSH was low but still normal..and she was concerned about the presence of Lupus antibodies. A month later, I was officially hypothyroid, with a 7 pound unexplained weight gain to boot.
Unfortunately, immediately afterwards, I quit my job (bye-bye insurance!) then found out I was pregnant. The nurses I saw while I was pregnant were not concerned at all with my hypothyroidism, so I went pretty much my entire pregnancy without medication.
When I finally had insurance again in late 2006, I found a new GP and got back on medication. When it was finally worked out, I was on 75mcg.
That October, I had gotten myself into an exercise routine. I was feeling a lot better -- more energetic, happier, etc. January 2007, though...I felt like I'd shut down. I couldn't drag myself out of bed early enough to exercise (I did manage to get to work, though) I had 0 energy -- even taking every available opportunity to sit at work (I'm a teacher, and sitting is generally a no-no when there are students in the room).
Of course, my GP was not concerned. He actually seemed to act as though I was a woman and was just complaining because that's what women do.
In March 2007, I thought I felt something in my throat, as though my thyroid were growing. I didn't ask about it until April, and my GP sent me for an ultrasound. It took 2 weeks to get results..then all I got was "The ultrasound shows several nodes of different sizes. We're sending you to an endocrinologist to make sure it isn't cancer or anything." And, of course, it took a month to get in to see the endo.
When I described everything to the endo, he said, "Well, that sounds like classic Hashimoto's Thyroiditis." Even when I told him about the tiredness, he asked, "Did it feel like you were just coming off the flu?" And that was the best way to describe it -- since I wasn't "sick", I didn't think about making that connection for how I felt.
A year later, my endo got an ultrasound machine and said he'd use me to do his training. He'd never gotten the results from the previous ultrasound (even though he called and faxed requests for it). I got to see as he examined, and he described what it would look like if one were "hot" (potentially cancerous). There were definitely a lot of nodules, but none were hot. He said, "This is exactly what a textbook Hashimoto's thyroid looks like. Why didn't anyone just tell you that's what you had? Or why didn't they just say from the first ultrasound that it was an obvious case of Hashimoto's?"
My level today is a little over 2 (I think the last one said 2.34), and I guess that seems to be normal, even though I still feel tired most of the time and have periods of weight gain where I don't change anything about eating or exercise habits but I just gain weight...then it seems like I can't do anything for it to go away.
Oh, and if you're wondering, yes I did quit going to that GP.
