Well, kids. It's been a challenging Summer. I know listening to people talk about their health problems is about as interesting as listening to someone go into great deal about their dreams or complain about their jobs, but I'm sure I've already subjected you all to that before, and now I'm going to subject you to having to read about my health problems. I promise that if you want to go into great deal about your health problems or how much you hate your job, I'll be there to listen. If, however, you want to go into great detail about the dream you had last night, I may only pretend to listen while my eyes glaze over. Fair warning.
Sooooo, anyway. In late June I started having migraines too often again. Then on July 10th I got more of a period than I've had for a couple of years. Like, I didn't bleed a bunch, but it went on for six days, and there were more migraines, and lots of feelings, and I hated everything and everyone, but wanted to eat the whole world. Then it was over and I had more migraines.
Then John and I took a week of vacation where we stayed in town but rode bikes, and JUST as my migraines were finally starting to dissipate, I lost like seven pounds in about a week. Which wasn't a bad thing for me, since my doctor says I need to try and lose about 20 pounds to get to some kind of "ideal" weight which may not be all that realistic for me. It was also really hot and humid, so I figured it was just water weight from not having air conditioning and sweating for 24 hours of every day. I started doing this thing where we'd go on bike rides, and I would get to some point where I was suddenly overheated and I felt dizzy and I'd have to either turn around and go straight back, or one time I got a ride halfway through our bike ride when we met friends for lunch in Kalona. Then last Friday I woke up with really bad dry eye and scratched my cornea just by opening my eye when I woke up. I have had all of these symptoms before (except for the easy weight loss) and so I just figured they were all from the lovely perimenopause I have been going through for the last 700 years, (or at least that's what it feels like).
Lucky for me, my annual doctor's appointment had originally been scheduled for December, but my doctor had a cancellation and so it was rescheduled to last Monday. I went in and told her my usual complaints. I talked about the dry eye and asked if there was some shot of lubricant they could give me in my arm, that would help with my dry eye, my peeling skin, and horrible muscle cramps, or at least some kind of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) that I could use, but she said no on account of my stupid breast cancer. Oh, I almost forgot, my blood pressure was up, just the systolic, but I'm a spaz, so I didn't think that much of it.
My doctor decided to do a little blood work. They did a TSH and free T4, just to make sure my thyroid was doing what it should. I was like, "whatever". I'm sure it's fine. But I was wrong. My TSH level was .01, which in laywomen's terms means I have hyperthyroidism. As if I needed to be any more hyper...Since the symptoms are almost exactly the same as those of perimenopause, I wouldn't have even thought anything about them, and just be glad I was finally losing a little weight. Apparently, that would have been dangerous. The biggest issues for untreated hyperthyroidism is heart attack and stroke risk. Awesome. I already have a HUGE genetic disadvantage there.
My next step is getting my blood drawn again on Tuesdays to check for antibodies that will let me know if this is caused by Grave's Disease - an autoimmune disorder that is one of the main causes for hyperthyroidism. It also causes eye issues (think Marty Feldman). They will probably do a scan of my thyroid too. There are some treatment options. One is a beta blocker. There are also meds. If neither of those work, then they do the radioactive iodine thing, and if that doesn't work, then they just take the damn thing out. No matter what, it probably means I'll be on meds for the rest of my life. I suppose most people get there with blood pressure meds, HRT, cholesterol meds, blood thinners, anti-anxiety/anti-depressants, or what have you. I've been lucky so far, is how I look at it.
Because this is usually easily treatable, the biggest drag is just for the immediate future. Until we get this thing figured out and started on a treatment plan, I'm not allowed to get my heart rate up - no running, no swimming, no biking (except I'm allowed to bike to work and back as long as I don't go too fast. Which means I can't be late for work ever), and no lifting weights. Of course, we had this great, fun, vacation planned at the end of September to go hiking, white water rafting, and mountain biking in Moab, and we might have to reschedule it. I'm waiting until at least next week to pull the plug on it. We'll see what they say after the antibody test. The reality is, that it could take four months for the thyroid meds to kick in. Can you imagine how hard I will be to live with if I can't play outside for FOUR WHOLE MONTHS? I can go for walks, and hikes, so that's at least something. But you may want to send love and your best wishes to John in his time of need.
Soooo, that's how my week went, how about yours? I hope you all have good health, and any issues you do have are easily treatable.
