I met with Doc today and found out why I was scheduled so immediately after my bloodwork and my HSG.
HSG is ok as I thought. BUT...I have hypothyroidism...who would have thunk it?
Turns out that Dr. Crazypants over at the local homeopathic medical plaza did...back in October! and I didn't believe him because he is crazy! Or at least he looks it and has very poor bed-side manner. Doc said that Dr. Crazypants does tell everyone that they have thyroid problems and I was right (in a sense) to question his "diagnosis".
I always thought that hypothyriodism meant that you had to be overweight. I'm 5'4" (who knew?!?! I've thought I was 5'2" for years) and 137 pounds. I could stand to loose a few pounds around the midsection, but overall I'm essentially healthy, or so I thought.
Turns out that normal Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is pretty much anything under 5. Doc Fudd said today that I had 8.6!!! Yipes!!! But I don't really scale-wise know how bad that is.
Here are the symptoms of hypothyroidism in relation to what I've been experiencing-
Early symptoms:
- Being more sensitive to cold-Check but I thought I'd just acclimated to a warmer climate
- Constipation-Check, or the opposite sometimes
- Depression-Check, but it seemed like the regular infertility blues (also, couple months back in early 2009 but my dog had died and the sadness just lingered)
- Fatigue-Check, thought it was work related
- Heavy menstural cycles-check but they've always been that way
- Joint or muscle pain-check, check
- Paleness or dry skin-check my lips are so chapped I think they will fall off sometimes
- Thin or brittle hair or nails-nada, this one I escaped
- Weakness-check
- Weight gain (unintentional)-I never thought it was that bad
- Decreased taste and smell-nope
- Hoarsness-nope
- Puffy face, hands, and feet-nope
- Slow speech-yes, but I talk to people with hearing loss all day, it's a job requirement
- Thickening of the skin-no
- Thinning of eyebrows-YES!!! (this is what Dr. Crazypants picked up on)
Shit!!! I should have known!! and COULD have known 5 months ago had I believed the crazy man.
[Insert bad case of the shoulda, coulda, wouldas and the general self-loathing that comes with that]
I don't seem to have the infertility side effects that tend to go with hypothyroidism such as anovulatory cycles, luteal phase defects, PCOS, chemical pregnancies and differences in length of menstrual cycles (that I know of, I still could be charting this all wrong)
I start popping pills tomorrow and go back for more blood work in 6 weeks. Doc gave me an order for more blood work and a very low dosage prescription. He said that I shouldn't expect to get pregnant until my TSH looks better-meaning I'm responding to the medication. He will give me that time to respond then up the dosage. If he can't get it under control, then I will be referred to an endocrinologist (not a reproductive endocrinologist).
When I write it all down, my situation does not seem so dire. I'm glad to know what's going on, I hope this ends up being the only problem and can be solved in a matter of weeks or months. However, to find out I have a serious problem that I will likely have for the rest of my life was not exactly the news I expected to hear.
