Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown) • Go With The Flow • Thyroid Support Group
Top 'O the World!
Driver, Runner, Bestie
Hi All: Well, ever since the decrease in my synthroid from 137 to 125; I have feel like its been a struggle. Even though the decrease doesn't sound like much, I think I have had a loss of energy -- which my log shows consistent runs of 5 or 6 miles a day. I can't seem to push beyond 6 miles and even that feels like a dredge. I've had persistence numbness and just a general feeling of laziness, which isn't like me. I've compensated with caffeine, which probably isn't the solution. Anyway, its been three months and its time for blood work.
I have this new doctor too, since the HMO made a change and he isn't the most receptive person around. He would like to see my number around the 1 mark or even higher, so it might be a battle with him.
So, when do you know if you are just freaking out mentally about the fatigue or when you actually have symptoms? I mean this feeling could just be stress and getting older, too, right?
And how is everyone else doing?
Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all.
Kate: I'm sorry you are having such a struggle. Your symptoms are real and you deserve to feel tip-top. I think being runners that we're more in touch with our bodies and energy levels and require more from them than other people. I would suggest not chalking it up to age, although that did come to my mind too a few months back when I was going through the same thing. If it was age though, it wouldn't have been resolved with a dose change. At the time, my PCP reduced me from 112 to 100 because she says generally people feel best around 1. Then because I was so butt-dragging tired, I asked her to get me back on 112 and she agreed. When a follow-up test showed .36 TSH and I did have some subtle symptoms of too much thyroid hormone, she had me reduce by taking a half-tablet one day a week, but staying at 112 the other six. I feel great now and wilI get re-tested at the end of this month. I'm lucky because I feel like she really takes into consideration how I'm feeling and if I'm able to do the things in life I need and want to do. I have deadening fatigue and trouble running at TSH levels other people consider normal...such as when it gets near 4...and I hope I never see 13 again There's no quick turnaround with thyroid treatment though and that can get you down.
I'll be interested to know your new lab result and what the doc suggests. Hopefully you can convince him to take your input seriously.
One additional note, my PCP told me that you can also have fatigue if you're in the hyper thyroid state...just throwing that into the pot!
Don't make excuses for why you can't get it done.
Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.
Hi Everyone: Almost hit my goal this year--run 1924 miles, which is 76 miles short. It was a rather high goal; I started the year with 1500 in mind and then readjusted. So I am happy with what I got in!
Hope you all have a Happy New Year and enjoy good health.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Kate: Great job. Wow-1924 miles! I think that's super!
I made my pace bunny goal of 2000K (1243 miles).It was challenging - in a good way.
Hope everyone else is happy with what they have accomplished as well.
So this is a little of a shock. If you may recall, I had been taking 133 mcg and had a blood test result on 7/30/09 of TSH of .29 H. The clinic where I go had a change in doctors, and the new doctor felt this was too hyper although I felt fine. So the dosage was moved to down to 125 mcg. I sort of objected halfheartedly, but the doctor told me it was for best, there have been heart palpitations and other cardic issues with high thyroid levels.
Well, its been a struggle. I have had numbness in my hands and feet and even tingling in my cheeks. Saturday night at a party where I had consumed a few beers, my friends noticed my fingers were blue! Also, I have been overwhelmed with being tired, feeling blah and lazy. I have gained 6 pounds. And even though I have continued to run, I have not felt like I've improved in fitness or in mile per minute pace. So the blood work from 2/4/10 showed a TSH of 5.52H.
The new plan is to switch from the generic thyroid medication to Synthyroid as my doctor says people do better sometimes on Synthryroid. He is keeping the dosage at 125 mcg. I don't know if the general decline in my attitude and the increased numbness/blue fingers is a result of this monkeying around with my thyroid meds or if its is something else, but it sure is frustrating. 8 more weeks and then some more bloodwork. I would have thought that after 18 months of this stuff, I would have stabilized by now!
Have you been taking the generic all along? The generic doesn't work for me. I stick with Synthroid.
Hopefully you will notice an improvement switching away from the generic version.
I have Raynaud's too, (that's the blue or white fingers) but haven't noticed whether it is more likely when I'm hyper or hypo. It's no fun though and I've just seen a dermatologist who gave me dire warnings about what might happen if I don't do everything I can to prevent it from happening. (She claims your finger bones can dissolve from the lack of blood supply)
Kate, I must say that your mileage is incredible given your low energy. I could never do that much when hypo. I can't even run what I do now when I'm hypo. My dose is in the middle of being adjusted downward too. I'm with you on these 8-week tests - sooo long in between dose decisions.
Hi Happy: I was taking the generic all along, except when I was initiallly started on thyroid medication. How often have you been swinging from hypo to hyper and what is the range of the swing? Is there anything that triggers a swing? I thought once the correct dosage was established, it would be a sure thing.
Is your Reynauds primary or secondary? I don't have a lot of pain when my hands and toes turn blue, but numbness for sure.
Part of my motivation for running is this Half scheduled on May 1st. I am a very competitive person, and I will seriously be bummed if I don't see a time improvement from last year. Which is quite possible given my current situation.
I know I am lucky that I am dealing with just this thyroid issue instead of some chronic illness--things could be much worse. Having said that, I am soooooo ready to feel the energy again.
Hmmm I guess my Raynaud's is secondary, because I believe it's related to my thyroid disorder and also because I may now be getting scleroderma in one of the three fingers that routinely turns white. I think I've been hypothyroid since puberty, but once diagnosed and treated at age 28 I was stable for almost 20 years. The hormonal changes of menopause apparently triggered the swings. I'm still trying to get on an the right dose and it's been several years now. Ugh! It's hell getting old.
Ugh! It's hell getting old.
You got that right!
I haven't posted in a bit - things were beyond frustrating and it was hard to keep that tone out of my posts. I ended up to 137 every day - and while my FT4 went to 3.1 (normal up to 2.7) my FT3 did not budge. We decided to try cytomel again. I had to go down to 125 and wait for levels to drop before trying. Now the smallest dose of cytomel is a 5mcg pill. I started with 2.5 mcg and it was too much. Specifically my heart is very sensitive to cytomel and had the high heart rates that made it very difficult to run, and was just plain uncomfortable. I mean, I was hitting 140 walking before I ever started running! Tried 2.5mcg every other day - still a no go. I ended up dropping to 112 on the Synthroid and going to 1.25mcg - yup - that's 1/4 tablet and I couldn't even tolerate it at an every other day level. So - I'm off cytomel now, and on 112 Synthroid and...I'm feeling relatively OK - I'll get labs checked again in about 10 days, and it won't surprise me if they come back with everything in a good range. We are now thinking that I may have a problem with intermittent high cortisol secretion( possibly from the pituitary tumor). If that's the case, cortisol can interfere with T4 conversion. Since the pituitary tumor seems to be resolving -I'm hoping that once it goes away - things will stabilize out for me with the synthroid. I can hope anyways!
After getting my ferritin levels up to 60 - I reduced how much iron I was taking, and it's back down to 30 again. I guess I'm going to just keep taking the liquid iron as long as I keep running.
Swinging from hypo to hyper is tiresome and I hope that resolves for you soon.
I started having intermittent Raynaud's symptoms when I first went hypo - and I do notice it more when my levels are lower.
Sounds like we'll all have labs back around the same time. Here's to all us being on optimal levels or at least moving in the right direction.
You've really been through the wringer Cheryl. I'm with you - hoping we all get good lab results soon. I had lots of problems with Cytomel when I tried it a couple years ago - increased heart rate, palpitations, very unpleasant - I'll never try that again. I'm happy for you that the pituitary tumor seems to be going away - that's good news! How is your running going?
With the running - I felt I had no choice but to just stay within my mid-aerobic zone. I normally wear a HR monitor anyways, but I moved to being really strict - run until I hit 165, then walk till I dropped back to 150. At times it was very frustrating - somedays, it was hard to just run 3 minutes before having to walk. Then I had some other "life gets in the way" stuff and ended up taking a week off. I'm noticing a big drop in my everyday HR - and plan on running tomorrow - hopefully I'll be able to get back into a regular groove over the next 2 weeks. I'm hoping to run a half in May. Well, that's the goal - I'll have to see if I can get some long runs in by then.
On the bright side - we are gaining 5 minutes of daylight/day, and today we hit 45! That's just plain crazy for us in February! A good omen, I think
I should have known that my much lower HR's and return of my GI problems was not a good sign. FT3 has dropped 40 points back down to 280. Sigh. I'm going back to the 125, I don't want to even give cytomel another shot. I cannot afford to drop any lower than this - I signed up for a half April 25th. I'm actually not doing that badly, but I think it's because I'm totally obsessed with trying to get in shape for this race. I mean, the fatigue could just as easily be from bumping up my activity. As far as the training goes, my biggest problem has been sustained running. I'm probably going to have to do this with set run/walk intervals, but I really want to be able to run as much of it as possible.
How is everyone else doing?
And the weather? We've had 14" of snow in the last 2 weeks....