Drug Addict!

Hello, my name is Lara and I take drugs. Not just any drugs, of course. I take Eltroxin for my thyroid problem. For my hypothyroidism to be precise.

People often don’t know what this means, and I don’t blame them. Hell, if I hadn’t grown up watching my mother and grandmother popping pills for this very problem, I wouldn’t have known myself! But thankfully, I did grow up knowing what hypothyroidism is, which meant that I realised that I had it pretty early.

So, what are the symptoms? First of all, there is the exhaustion. And when I say exhaustion, I do not just mean tiredness. I mean waking up tired, spending your day tired, coming home tired and collapsing on the bed not wanting to move because you are so tired. The tiredness seeps down to your bones and makes your body ache all of the time. Waking up tired is usually a sign that something is wrong, whether it is a thyroid problem or something else, and if it is the case that you are getting the right amount of sleep (not under- or over-sleeping) and are still waking up tired, you should look into getting some tests done.

So the tiredness is one of the most obvious symptoms, but there are more. You may experience mood swings. I know that I did. So much so that I thought that I might have been bi-polar. I would be laughing one minute and crying the next without knowing how I got there. I was constantly on edge and looking for something to upset me or looking to get into fights without realising it. It was as though my body didn’t want me to be happy.

And talking about my body, another of the symptoms of hypothyroidism is weight gain. Your metabolism does not function properly, which means that your food is not digested the way that it should be and this can and often does lead to weight gain. If you have hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, you will experience many of the same symptoms, only instead of gaining weight you will lose weight at a ridiculous rate. More specifically, it will be almost impossible for you to put on weight because your metabolism is in overdrive. While this may sound like a wonderful thing (I know it does to me – eat anything I like and never put on weight) it also leaves you vulnerable to heart-attacks and has other symptoms that are not so fun.

The trouble with these symptoms is that they can also point to a number of other conditions, including a B12 deficiency, iron deficiency or diabetes. However, if you are experiencing the systems, you should really go and get yourself tested. It amazes me how many people I talk to about this who go, “Oh… but I have been experiencing that and thought that it would just go away.” It won’t. Whether it is your thyroid, your vitamin levels, your sugar levels or your blood, it is something that you should have looked at.

So, how do you find out if you have hypothyroidism? Go to your GP and request a blood test. It is likely that if you discuss the symptoms with your doctor, he/she will recommend doing a number of other tests at the same time to rule out other conditions. In my case, knowing the symptoms and knowing that thyroid conditions are hereditary (if your mother/grandmother has it, it is highly likely that you do too or will develop it) I was fairly sure that was it. However, I also found out that I had a B12 deficiency which was also affecting my body and making me even more tired than usual.

If you do have hypothyroidism, I am afraid that you will be on pills for the rest of your life. If you have hyperthyroidism, there are treatments available and diets that supposedly help you maintain a healthy lifestyle without pills, but there are no such treatments or diets for the hypo alternative. Your dosage will differ according to how bad the condition is. This means that your levels will need to be tested via a blood test every 3-6 months. I started on the lowest dose of eltroxin and, over the last couple of months, have had to increase the dosage. The pills are small and easy to take without liquid and thankfully don’t taste too bad, but it is essential that you take them every morning to ensure that your levels stay the same. There are also specific types of food that you should avoid if you take eltroxin because they tamper with levels and prevent the medication from being effective. One of those foods is soy, and you should avoid soy products as much as you can. Many people say that wheat also affects the intake, and I think that this is true, though I have had trouble staying away from wheat, which possibly affected my levels and is part of the reason for my increased dosage. But I can’t guarantee this.

I hope that readers take this to heart and if they have experienced or are experiencing any of the symptoms that they will go to their doctor and get tested. Hypothyroidism may not be a fatal condition, but it is one that can easily be rectified and, once the medication becomes effective, can better your quality of life.