Autoimmune diseases: Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

[sherryinutah]

Some people are silly enough to think that Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is just another way to say that a person has hypothyroidism ( or an under active thyroid).

The truth is that it's an autoimmune disorder; which means, there's an imbalance in thyroid hormones and an imbalance in the immune system. 

Even a percentage of physicians don't understand the entire can of worms.  They think they can prescribe thyroid medication and the patient will be just fine.  Hypothyroidism is only one of many indications that a patient has Hashimoto's.

There's really only so much a physician can do.  It's the patients responsibility to learn how to manage this disease.

Symptoms include but are not limited to:

dry, pale skin
high cholesterol
depression
lower body muscle weakness
fatigue
feeling sluggish
cold intolerance
thinning hair
irregular or heavy periods
problems with fertility
weight gain due to under active thyroid and adrenals
Might be intolerant of caffeine if they are TH-2 dominant.

Are you dealing with an overwhelming health issue? 

Do you have an immune system disorder?

How do you manage your situation?

[Penwoir]

My sister had an overactive thyroid, hyperthyroidism, due to the fact that she had graves disease, an autoimmune disorder. The doctors seemed to think this can be triggered by a stressful "life event". Interestingly, she had just had a baby. She took beta blockers and so many other meds which got this all under control manually and then when she got pregnant again, the hyperthyroidism/graves disease came back. She decided to take a more drastic approach and was medicated with radioactive iodine which killed the thyroid gland. This was about 6 years ago and since then, she has had another baby (at 43). This little boy is now 4 and she has had no reoccurrence of the disease. How fantastic is modern medicine!

[vickysue]

I have I hyper along with Graves. Have just had a nuclear stress test to see if I can take the pill. Passed with flying colors I only have a 3% blockage in one valve. Which is great as I am almost 72. The doctor well pleased about it.  Now  am waiting for one more blood test and then the doctors will start me . Glad to be getting this over with. Right now I am taking pills to lower the thyroid and make me feel awful. Yep ready to go.