Friday, February 14, 2014

Learning to Live Without a Thyroid

Who would have thought that something as small in one's body would disrupt my life for several months??

Last fall I noticed that my hair was thinning, I was cold all of the time, and I had zero energy. (Hence no blogging and no quilting or stitching!)

I was already on a low dose of thyroid medication but knew there was something more going on. So a trip to the endocrinologist, lab work, and an ultrasound of my thyroid uncovered couple things.

My blood work uncovered extremely low vitamin D levels -- 7.8 (where 30 is the minimum they should be). So I began high doses of vitamin D -- which after about 6 weeks finally gave me enough energy to get through the day.

And, yes, the ultra sound showed that I had an enlarged thyroid with nodules. Could this possibly be the cause of my chronic cough that has progressively gotten worse over the past 7 or 8 years? At first it looked like the cough was solved. But gradually over the month or so since the surgery, I've started coughing again.  Not as much, but it's still there. ARGH! Hope I didn't go through this for nothing.

The decision was made and a month ago the thyroid came out. Surgery was pretty uneventful. But side effects of general anesthesia kept me from working full time for a couple weeks.

Now I'm adjusting to living without a thyroid -- I think I'm on the right dose of meds except I still  want to go to bed a 8:30 or 9:00 PM.

I finally got into my sewing room last Saturday and sewed one block. Hopefully tomorrow I'll  be a bit more productive with my rotary cutter and sewing machine.

5 comments:

Linda said...

Nancy it's great to see you back. I was wondering where you were. I haven't been blogging much myself this past year, but have added to posts recently. I'm sorry to hear about the health problems you have been experiencing. From others, I know thyroid problems can throw you for a loop. I will keep your recovery in my prayers. Be well soon. Linda

Loraine said...

Gosh Nancy, I am sorry to hear of your recent health issues. Hopefully you will feel better now that you know what is going on. Prayers going your way!!

Rosey said...

You poor thing, my daughter was born without a thyroid, so I have a little understanding of what you would have been going through x

LiahonaGirl said...

Thanks Rosey. I've never heard of being born without a thyroid. Makes me wonder how long it must have taken to diagnose that!
Thanks for visiting. (PS: You are a no-reply blogger so I couldn't respond to you directly via e-mail.)

Rosey said...

Think I have fixed it now x Congenital Hypothyroidism. There was a bit of a mix up with her newborn screening test unfortunatly so it was not detected at the screening. By day 10 she had hypothermia, low respiration rate and was not doing very well and was in intensive care for the next few weeks. Scary times! All good now at 5 on meds though. Amazing how 1 tiny tablet can do so much :)

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