On the thyroid thing .. did you know that thyroid problems can be brought on by stress??? Just ask me. Right in the midst of our R problems, guess what I developed? Yep, you've got it! Only thing is, I started out (according to my then crazy doc) with Graves/hypEthyroid. After being on meds for the hypEr for a while, I actually went hypOthyroid. I had many of the symptoms that Ellie mentioned, but my blood tests kept coming back "normal" according to my "crazy" doc. I knew I wasn't feeling well .. wasn't losing that weight either .. no matter WHAT I did. I fired that doc and finally found a new one. When my labs came back to THIS doc .. he said to me that it's no wonder I was having the problems that I was (Including the big time weight issues). He told me that a lot of people feel their best when the blood test results(FT3&FT4) come back in upper third of the ranges. It wasn't until I got my FT4 and FT3 in the upper third of the ranges that I finally began feeling better ..and low and behold .. I started losing weight!!! So when you ask for the thryoid tests, make sure you request TSH, FT3, FT4 and ALSO the thyroid antibody test. (DO NOT let your doc go by TSH only .. that can be very misleading! I've been there, done that!)
Because of all of the stress that you have gone through .. another thing to possibly consider is having adrenal/hormone testing. Those two can and do go hand in hand with the thyroid problems. Thyroid/adrenal/hormone issues can ALSO contribute BIG time to your emotional affect.
Quote: This is a lesson for me! I mean, won't they think I'm bossy?????
I had a problem .. at first with this. After feeling bad for so long and my original doc NOT doing anything because my blood tests were "normal", I learned to be different. (A 180?) Once I began feeling so much better (starting on natural thyroid meds), I realized how much time had been wasted just because my previous "crazy" doc was diagnosing me totally by blood tests. (He should've added all of my symptoms into the equation, too!) When it comes to your health, you are you own best advocate .. so demand away. I think I dare say that most doc's are probably used to it.
I'm sorry for the long post on this topic. This is a very "hot" topic for me .. because of the fact that I went for so long incorrectly diagnosed.
