First signs

[butterflyz01]

What were the first signs you knew you had a thyroid problem?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Tired, tired, tired, sleep, sleep, sleep, put on weight.

[butterflyz01 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Oh wow I hope things are better for you now. Was it to the point you couldn’t work? And just needed to sleep?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to butterflyz01]

I'm going back almost 45 years and I was a mum with a toddler and a baby. I could never get up in the morning, my husband used to pull me out of bed, leave me on the floor and go off to work. It went on for 2 years, by which time my oldest child was at school and I used to push the other one in the pushchair, I needed it to lean on to get there. Poor thing was still in night clothes with a soaking wet nappy, it used to take me about half an hour to do the 10 minute walk, then same time back. By the time my husband came home at night I'd be on the sofa asleep again. I was a total zombie. I couldn't have worked if I wanted to, but most of us didn't back then when we had babies.

[jgelliss in reply to SeasideSusie]

SeasideSusie

AMEN !!! To Those Symptoms !!!! Over and OVER Again . Same story different characters .

[LAHs in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yes, identical symptoms, tired, tired, tired, sleep, sleep and put on weight. I was working outdoors in those days and I was the buyer for the project. By the time I had driven to the job site I was worn out and made an excuse to go and buy parts. I would drive off, turn the first corner and have to sleep for five minutes before I could drive to the store. I would get to the parking lot, sleep again for five minutes then have enough energy to go and buy the parts. I would return to the truck, load the stuff in then sleep for another five before I could drive back to the job site - where I was useless and I could hardly function until I could drive off for more parts. That was in February and I dreaded going to the doctor just because I was tired. Fortunately a friend had told me about her son who had similar symptoms that had been due to a thyroid problem so I just asked the doc to check my thyroid. He did, he noticed nodules and by October I had a total thyroidectomy and things got progressively better until they didn't and then they did again.

[SamW]

I had a cough which wouldn't go away and wasn't explained by a virus or infection. It was my thyroid pressing on my windpipe! I'd had a goitre for years.

I was also exhausted. I fell asleep every evening straight after work. When I was walking hte dogs I had to keep lying down every 10-15 minutes!

[Baobabs]

I ached first thing in the morning (still do) felt exhausted on waking, hung over and plagued with migraine daily.

[Peanut31]

For me it was being cold constantly, freezing cold In fact like ice cold water running through my veins, extreme tiredness. I would come home from work and just fall asleep on the sofa, no matter how much sleep I had.

Low concentration, major brain fog. Major neck stiffness, it was agony.

Hair loss, dry skin, anxiety, depression. Always in tears no zest for life and low libido, weight unstable.

[jgelliss]

Peanut31

You just reminded me of all the symptoms that I really put behind me . Being cold freezing when others around me where comfortable . Itching terribly with breakouts ,palpitations , anxiety , crying spells all the time , terrible anxiety couldn't concentrate .

Till one day I had terrible soar throat and even than the Dr said my throat looked fine . When I insisted that my throat was really hurting me the Dr pressed on my throat made me swallow and found a nodule .

Wishing wellness .

[Heloise]

Hi butterfly, I think it started from the bottom up and the top down. When I went downstairs first thing my ankles would hurt which I thought was strange. It happened every morning for no reason. Then I would get the pain on the top of my head. Strange. As it became more severe my legs would become very weak off and on. I do think there were signs over the years like weak nails and some hair loss. It's gradual and can take years to define. After starting on Synthroid I had burning thigh syndrome and restless leg syndrome which may be an iron deficient cause but no one examined any of that. I've read that the knee reflex will tell a lot to a doctor who knows what to look for.

[Maya_83 in reply to Heloise]

Heloise...

Can you describe the pain on top of your head in more details please...

I've have this annoying headache like my scalp is pulling for over s year now, without a diagnosis from the doc

[Heloise in reply to Maya_83]

Hi Maya, It's been something I have researched for ages and am still not sure of the cause. I know smooth muscle is very affected with low hypo and after all the summits and lectures I think it is all about the cranial nerves. Did you see any of The Broken Brain? It is Dr. Mark Hyland and Tom O'Bryan and it seems the autoimmune conditions affect the brain similar to multiple sclerosis. The nerve coating (myelin) is deteriorated and the messages do not get sent. Your gut actually sends more messages to the brain than the brain sends to the gut. The vagus nerve is the 10th? cranial nerve and goes to most of the organs so stimulating the vagus nerve is important. It runs close to your palate and throat muscles so often the hoarse voice is a part of that.

They have found leaky gut particles in the brain so it's important to heal the gut and lower antibodies. It's complicated.

[Maya_83 in reply to Heloise]

Gosh, it does sound complicated. I defo know it's ralated to nerves or something, i can tell blood is not flowing properly.

I used to get instant relief for months by having wasabi paste and steaming my face but has no effect now.. docs have done MRI scan to Ct scan and also sinus but find no cause for the daily chronic headaches.. no painkillers seem to help too ☹. It's a real struggle everyday😢.

[butterflyz01 in reply to Maya_83]

Sounds like tension headaches?

[Maya_83 in reply to butterflyz01]

That was ruled out too as it's there all the time, from the moment I get up, just intensifies throughout the day.

[Heloise in reply to Maya_83]

Interesting about the wasabi. Does any kind of massage work? I've posted John Bergman's videos and he is excellent on You Tube. The neck curve is very important and in fact thinks that the loss of neck curve could be a cause of Parkinson's. I was doing some exercises for that but I know my neck gets scrunched the way I sleep.

Is it a throbbing headache? Another doctor suggested putting your arms up to the elbow in very hot water. It causes more blood to be drawn away from the head. I don't get headaches myself. In your case it seems blood flow is not that good. Do you think some Down Dog yoga would help? Dr. Zakarrian says to get oxygen and bloodflow to the brain takes some aerobic exercise three times per day.

Another thought from the Broken Brain series was that people actually had evidence of bacteria from gum infections in their brains. They are really finding out a lot about the brain and treating Alzheimers and autism is encouraging.

[Astridnova]

My periorbital sockets used to fill with fluid, giving me bags over the eyes when I was about 38. (Although I had had similar symptoms from about age 16, they were much less obvious.) My GP prescribed diuretics, but it just kept happening. Then I started to put on weight. When I was 60ish my knees became unstable. Then my lower legs and feet started to swell. Doctors diagnosed arthritis, of course. Occasionally someone over the years did a conventional thyroid test and my TSH was around 2.0 which was deemed normal. My mother, after severe brain injury due to failure to treat hypothyroidism was diagnosed and then I realised I had similar symptoms - not the legs - but I looked up leg swelling and knew instability and it all led me to thyroid problems. I read more and decided that pork thyroid was probably the best thing. I found a thyroid friendly doctor on stopthethyroidmadness. He ran a questionnaire past me, sent me for blood tests and an iodine test, and we have worked together since then. Also take my mother and my partner, who now both take port thyroid with positive results.

[janey1234]

In my case it was extreme fatigue, nodding off suddenly, weight gain and, as my husband would say, I was like a rabbit in headlights. I would stand in a supermarket staring at the shelves unable to focus on what I needed ( not in a blurry way, in a non-focussing brain way). The lights were on but no one was in.

Looking back I remember going to the GP with various ailments over the years which I think were signs leading up to my final crash.

[Clairewalker751]

Looking back I think my symptoms started years and years ago sleeping for hours on end constant fatigue I kept making lifestyle changes after having the Morena coil removed and a period of stress I started with what I thought were menopause symptoms inability to.lose weight went to doc they said thyroid was fine and gave me 800iu of vitamin D weight continued to increase despite me barely eating and running I looked bloated from head to toe and of course the extreme tiredness I also couldn't remember words cognitive function was seriously impaired thought I had early onset dementia finally I asked doctor to test my thyroid again and was finally diagnosed with a TSH of 40 and antibodies in the 1000s I think I had symptoms a decade earlier looking back. My mum has hashimotos and didn't even know it was autoimmune condition she's just been on 100 levo for years and has got progressively heavier and sicker

[Zephyrbear]

Being tired and cold all the time and utterly losing interest in anything and everything... and periods so heavy that they prevented me going out of the house at all for the first two days! I became a complete zombie and the weight started piling on around the middle (nowhere else...). There was a family history of hypothyroidism (my mum and several of her sisters had it as well as my grandmother) which made me suspect this, so I went to the doctors, had a bloodtest and, of course, everything came back 'normal'... This was a full 9 years before I was finally diagnosed! By that time I was carrying an extra 3 stones in weight, the menopause had, thankfully come and gone without too many problems, but the brainfog was crippling. Even after I was diagnosed and given Levothyroxine, this continued until my endo (who has very sadly now retired and been replaced with a total failure) decided to try me on a trial of T3 after struggling 7 years on T4... It was as though someone turned a light on in my head! All the brainfog went and I enrolled on a BA (Hons) Degree course in History & Creative Writing at a local University, which I achieved, graduating with a 2:1 three years later.

[jenniferarchiba]

My kids would ask me to play with them and all I could do was lay down on the floor and watch them play, I would fall asleep 10 minutes into a TV show, and every few days my belly would swell up like I was pregnant. I was frequently sick to my stomach and had diarrhea constantly. I also had chest pains and dizziness. I went through 7 years of this before I got diagnosed.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

Plantar fasciitis! Didn't know what it was called then but painful arches/feet in the morning.

[Clarrisa]

I was scheduled with limited weekends off from work. I remember looking forward to getting the next weekend off! I came home Friday after the day shift & fell asleep. When I woke up I called my Mother wanting to get together with her. She informed me it was Sunday evening & too late for that. I had slept soundly through my entire weekend off, & I would return to work Monday morning😢