Symptoms of hypothyroidism
Thank you everyone for the “feel better” wishes! It’s nice to know that there’s a good reason for the awfulness I’ve been feeling, and that I will be feeling better soon.
Hmm, here’s a “symptoms of hypothyroidism” checklist:
____ I am gaining weight inappropriately
____ I’m unable to lose weight with diet/exercise
____ I am constipated, sometimes severely
__x__ I have hypothermia/low body temperature (I feel cold when others feel hot, I need extra sweaters, etc.)
__x__ I feel fatigued, exhausted
__x__ Feeling run down, sluggish, lethargic
__x__ My hair is coarse and dry, breaking, brittle, falling out
____ My skin is coarse, dry, scaly, and thick
__x__ I have a hoarse or gravely voice
____ I have puffiness and swelling around the eyes and face
__x__ I have pains, aches in joints, hands and feet
____ I have developed carpal-tunnel syndrome, or it’s getting worse
__x__ I am having irregular menstrual cycles (longer, or heavier, or more frequent)
____ I am having trouble conceiving a baby
__x__ I feel depressed
__x__ I feel restless
__x__ My moods change easily
__x__ I have feelings of worthlessness
__x__ I have difficulty concentrating
__x__ I have more feelings of sadness
__x__ I seem to be losing interest in normal daily activities
__x__ I’m more forgetful lately
I also have the following additional symptoms, which have been reported more frequently in people with hypothyroidism:
__x__ My hair is falling out
__x__ I can’t seem to remember things
__x__ I have no sex drive
____ I am getting more frequent infections, that last longer
____ I’m snoring more lately
____ I have/may have sleep apnea
____ I feel shortness of breath and tightness in the chest
__x__ I feel the need to yawn to get oxygen
__x__ My eyes feel gritty and dry
__x__ My eyes feel sensitive to light
____ My eyes get jumpy/tics in eyes, which makes me dizzy/vertigo and have headaches
____ I have strange feelings in neck or throat
__x__ I have tinnitus (ringing in ears)
____ I get recurrent sinus infections
____ I have vertigo
__x__ I feel some lightheadedness
____ I have severe menstrual cramps
Yup. No fun. If you have some of these symptoms, see an endocrinologist! Hypothyroidism often goes undiagnosed. Since I bounce between hypo and hyper, I should always be on the alert, but even so it took weeks of ill health before I added everything up and made that doctor appointment.
Category: Blog 4 comments »
May 27th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hope you feel better soon, Kara.
Still, even when you are ill, you seem so much more productive and cheerful than most mere mortals!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Kara – there are lots of food things you can do to help with your thyroid. Check out the “Prescription for Nutritional Healing”. There will be a list of foods that are both good and bad for you. I’ve found this book at the library as well as finding them for sale at health food stores. I love mine. It’s all alphabetical for all kinds of problems. It also lists vitamins and other things you can do that don’t require prescription drugs. It’s helped me a lot over the years. If you don’t want to get one right now, I can find the pages in mine and scan them for you.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Here is a link to one of the books at Amazon. They update it from time to time:
http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Nutritional-Healing-3rd/dp/1583330771
May 28th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Cool! I had Graves’ Disease a few years ago (super-overactive thyroid) so they nuked my thyroid to kill it partly off (more gentle, natural solutions didn’t work), and I have to take artificial hormones to make up the difference. Sometimes things change and I end up hyper or hypo again, but mostly it’s tolerable :)