Do you have a thyroid problem?

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After remembering that about 40 years I went to a doctor who gave me a prescription for a medication that would help a thyroid problem that I had. That's all he said. Didn't let me know what the problem was or if I needed to renew the prescription. Zilch. Because of that my thoughts were after I take all the pills I would be ok.

One day this week I noticed that I really am going bald. The man who cut my hair last year at Disney told me I was which I didn't think was a big deal until I noticed how bad it has gotten. That REALLY annoyed the s**t out of me.

That's when I decided it is definitely time to see a doctor! For me my appearance is a bit important. I actually don't think I am very vain. Don't use makeup. My hair style is certainly not very attractive. But for me it feels like it's the only thing I have that I believe I am capable of controlling and improving. When I am satisfied with my appearance I feel much better than when I think I look awful.

When I first suspected I had the problem I took a test on the internet for hyperthyroid because I have not gained weight. Yesterday I took for for hypo and found that the score was actually higher. This could be interesting.

Wish me luck, please. I don't think it would be appropriate if I were to bring a stuffed animal with me as a security blanket. Do you?

I would like to know from people who have the same problem did their symptoms get better from taking a medication? Which ones? Please let me know.

Hey Irene! I had a very underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) for about a year before I finally gave in and saw the doctor. The doctor visit and blood tests (which I was dreading) ended up being far less anxiety inducing than I'd originally anticipated and they found that my thyroid had been barely functioning. Once they prescribed the medication, it's a pretty long process of taking a dosage of artificial thyroid hormones (synthroid, levothyroxine or whatever) for ~6 weeks and then getting retested so they know whether you've evened out or if they need to keep raising it. It took me about a year to finally find the proper dosage. As far as the symptoms I had; immense fatigue, lots of muscle soreness and cramping, dry skin, definitely hair loss, headaches, very slow healing and a slow recovery from illness and irritability. As the dosage increased towards the proper amount, the symptoms slowly faded away, with hair loss being the slowest to disappear, possibly because at 25, I'm naturally losing a little more hair, anyway. Another thing, I never gained weight either...not even a pound. I hope you're hypothyroid and not hyperthyroid, because it's much more difficult to treat the latter and good luck with the doctors appointment! Also, I think you'd be all right bringing in whatever you wanted...doctors have seen crazier things!

Windtreeman thank you for replying. Muscle cramping is something I didn't know about. I was getting them in my right calf for a while. Now a feel as though I could pass for a poster child for a thyroid ailment.

The loss of hair could be my age as well. Perhaps a bit of estrogen could help that problem.

How are you feeling today? Still have any symptoms?

I have low thyroid.
I used to get really tired, foggy brained, dry skin, slow healing...
I'm on a low dose of medication which has helped a bit. The consultant thought that depression was contributing to my low energy and I argued the lack of energy was making me depressed as I didn't have the energy to do the things I wanted to do.

Sometimes other medications or hormones affect hair thinning. I hope you find an improvement soon.

I've never been able to gain weight no matter how much I ate, and always had a lot of energy, etc. In late teens or early twenties I got hypothyroid and gained up to 160 lbs and dieting didn't work at all. When I went in for my yearly pelvic exam my doctor found a mass on the left side of my thyroid. I had a CT with contrast and it was a cold nodule, and I had to have it out. They removed the left lobe of my thyroid completely and tried me on replacement meds but I couldn't tolerate them. Too many weird side effects. They were d/c and I did absolutely fine. I haven't been on any thyroid meds at all and I get a full thyroid panel done every year and I'm completely fine. I'm a bit on the high side, but within normal limits. Always have been that way except when I went hypo and got fat.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com

I have an underactive thyroid, which is genetically inherited. My thyroid medication is at a higher level than my mother's, but no comparison otherwise for it.

My worst fear is that the doctor tells me that she couldn't find anything wrong with me and it's all in my head.

When I mentioned this to the lovely slightly younger man that I live with if that should happen we would go to another doctor for a second opinion.

From what I have seen in programs on television sometimes the patient is able to diagnosis themself better than the doctors. I have also seen a British one that advocates a proper diet rather than medication which I have been trying. The terrible part of that is that my favorite foods are on the list of what not to eat. Wonder if the problem could have been caused by my diet?