Blood work results

I was surprised to have the OB office call twice today. The first was to return my call from yesterday about (how embarrassing....but??? constipation...) Ok, with that handled, and recommendations made, I got a second call. The second call was to increase my thyroid medicine to which I've been taking the same dosage for eleven years. I asked the nurse why? Were there further results as to what disease or disorder I have other than hypothyroidism? She had no clue, so had to have the doctor call me. So, low and behold, a third call from the OB's but this one on my cell (?) and from a doctor. Yep, this has never happened before. She called it Hashimoto's disease, also known as Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. What this means is: somehow my body is producing antibodies to attack against the hormones the thyroid produces. To counter act this you increase the amount of synthetic meds given. So they are actually doubling the medicine I take and will check it again in about 4-6 weeks.

In further research today I found that this disease is related to the enlarged thyroid and goiter. Many other things I've been fighting for years: depression, weight gain, constipation, insomnia plus others I can't think of at the moment. It can also contribute to low intellect in unborn babies, and misscarriage. And it runs in the families. (My mom found out she's low thyroid too, only after I found out.) My friend Debbie has been telling me for a couple of years my "T4" levels have to not be correct...turns out she's right. I can't wait to tell her.

I asked this doctor why all of a sudden was this searched so fully? The only thing she could say without blasting another doctor; (she chose her words very carefully) was that the research was fairly new in such detail in the area of thyroidism. OK, well I guess I can accept that since she did seem a whole lot younger than the oldest doctor in the group. How interesting. She also is not too concerned over the baby's development and as I've read if this is detected in the early months of the pregnancy it should be treated well and the baby should be fine. Needless to say, that's quite a relief. Now I can be thankful for this baby for another reason, fully understanding what's wrong with me from the start....heehee...just my thyroid. Figures it has to be a pregnancy to get the full scoop. Go figure.