Hyperthyroid And Hypothyroid What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You A Simple Guide

A thyroid problem is one of those illness’s that hardly anybody thinks about until they find themselves suffering from it. You never see it talked about on TV, and magazines never mention it. In fact, if you are anything like me, I only knew about thyroid problems when someone was talking about not being able to lose weight. So, because of this explanation I presumed that it was a simple thing, easy to control and once the tablets had kicked it, forgotten about.

I couldn't have been more wrong. I discovered that suffering from an over active thyroid was hell. And eventually when the doctors gave me tablets to control it, the side effects of the tablets, along with the too easy way of it becoming under active, was even worse.

Take it from me. Being diagnosed with a thyroid problem is not easy. In fact it can take over a year to get your body balanced and back to normal again, and even then it is something that you have to keep your eye on every day.

So what are the symptoms of an over active and under active Thyroid?

An overactive thyroid can start to show up in quite a few ways. In fact you may feel really healthy as it can speed up your motor functions and make you rush around feeling full of energy. The trouble starts when you notice that you have lost a lot of weight, your eyes seem to be more staring, and your hands start to shake.

This is caused by the thyroid gland in your neck producing too much of the thyroid hormone. It is a bit like the fight and flight stimulation caused by stress. And the really bad thing about it, is that it can cause your heart to work too fast, pumping the blood around your system.

When I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, another word for Hyperthyroid, I was told in no uncertain terms too, go home, sit down and don’t move until the tablets that my Doctor was going to give me, had kicked in. Why? Because if I had an accident, and needed surgery, it could kill me! Not such and easy going illness is it now?

1. Weight Loss
2. Fast Heartbeat
3. Shaking of the hands and poor elasticity of the skin on your hands and arms
4. Out of breath
5. Stomach problems
6. Over active brain, can't sleep.
7. Panic attacks.
8. Goitre (Swelling in the neck)
9. Very heavy menstruation
10. Aching bones and muscles
11. Bad eyesight such as dizzyness and after glow. Imagine a camera that has taken a picture of someone holding a torch. The glow from the torch spreads across the photo. This is similar to what happens when you look at something.
12. Night sweats and sleep paralysis, very bad I might add.

Thyroid eye disease is another side effect. Eyes will look puffy or strange, and your eyesight starts to suffer. You will also get watery eyes, and pain. Not everybody will get this, but it is very common. Any thyroid problem is an auto immune disease. This means that your body is attacking itself. Thats why its better to have a low thyroid than a high one.

When you have been diagnosed, there are a number of different options for you to take. Tablets, radioactive tablet, and surgery. All depending on how bad your symptoms are. Your Doctor will find the best one for you.

What the Doctors do not tell you.

Now we get to the part that is really important. And trust me when I say that I have tried and tested all these! Not deliberately you understand, but by way of pain, trial and error.

For a start, lets take a look at the tablets.

You may think that the Doctor will always give you the right medication. You have to remember that they probably have never had a thyroid problem so they are just doing it by the book.

But everybody is different. I was given a set of tablets called Carbamazole. To start with they were fine and my hyperthyroidism started to go down nicely. What I didn’t realise was the effect that they would have on me. I started to feel pain in my arms. In fact it got so bad that I couldn’t move them without yelling in agony.

Then it spread to my legs and back. The only way I can describe it is, imagine laying down on the road and letting a car run you over! Then being left to walk home. Yes, it was that bad. Every time I moved my arms, legs and back, it was excruciating. The strange, and very disturbing thing was, I called the doctor, and they gave me pain killers, not knowing why I was suffering like this.

I was admitted to hospital twice, and the doctor thought I had arthritis! In other words, nobody knew what was wrong. So I did the only thing that I could think off. I bought a book about my illness.

That was the best thing I could have done. It turned out that I was allergic to Carbamazole, and when I told the Doctor, he sat there, looked through his medical book and decided to change my tablets! I actually told him the ones that I wanted, and after that the pain went away!

The second that you are diagnosed with Thyroid disease, make sure you get a good book about your illness.

Do not take it for granted that the doctor knows about thyroid illness. They may have training, but they do not know how it feels. Apart from that, a thyroid illness has many symptoms. Some very subtle, others more obvious.

A doctor will learn the basics, and know what to look out for, but everybody is different. Its one of those illnesses that has so many side effects and different aches and pains. Unless you suffer from it, you will not know. Its not something that can be learned.

I discovered that hyperthyroidism is a very different illness. I was literally in the dark, and the annoying thing about it was that the Doctors had no idea. You have to keep an eye on it yourself. Simple as that.

If you are told that you may have to have the radiation tablet, make sure that you ask as many questions as you need to know. Its your body. Don’t just go in there, take the tablet and go home. You choose. If you would rather carry on with the tablets, or have surgery, let them know. Taking a radioactive Iodine tablet can make some people sick, and you must keep away from babies and small children for at least two weeks. Saying that, its not strong enough to cause you any problems. It has been used for years. But you must be careful hugging people and staying near them for a few days.

That’s where the book comes in handy. The Internet is good for information, but the trouble is that you have to keep clicking on different sites to find exactly what info you are looking for. If you buy a book, then its there for you, all you have to do is flick through the chapters. Take this illness into your own hands. Its not only good for your health, but mentally you will feel a whole lot better if you know exactly how you are going to feel.

On the other end of the scale, hypothyroidism is when you haven’t got enough hormone in your body. According to Doctors this is much easier to control and sort out than if its too high. that’s all very well, but once again, doctors do not know how you personally feel. A low thyroid can be a very scary thing.

Why? Because bluntly speaking, it can make you feel like an idiot. Harsh? Sorry but it’s the truth. A low thyroid is frightening because unless you have someone who knows how to recognise the state you are in, then basically you can go down hill fast. I don’t mean to frighten you, but it’s the truth.

Mental Confusion

According to the book that I read on the subject, a few years ago a young girl kept going to the doctor because she said she was ill. He diagnosed depression and gave her tablets. The situation got worse, but the doctor still said it was depression, and never looked for anything else. The young girl ended up in a coma and nearly died because the doctor had misdiagnosed her! True story!

Why did that happen? Easy, the symptoms are very similar to depression. And the worse thing about it is, when your thyroid hormone is too low, you cannot think! Your brain feels woolly and numb. Even looking at something will take you ages to figure out, purely because your mind is working too slowly. Your eyes see, but your mind does not connect.

How the hell are you going to look after yourself if the doctors misdiagnosis you?! Trust me on this, it happened to me!

The reason why it happened in my case was that the stupid doctors knew it was too high, so they gave me tablets, and the radiation tablet, and sent me home. Not one of them said come back in a month.

So, without thinking, I carried on taking them. My face filled with water pockets, I couldn’t recognise myself as it was swollen, and my mind felt as thought it was full of wool. Eventually, luckily for me, I looked in a mirror and realised that something was wrong. Just that one little voice in my head saved me.

I went back to the doctors and he said, your thyroid is dangerously low! And quickly changed my tablets! The stupid doctors, the specialist and all of them put together never ever said anything about this! The fact is, they didn’t know! They presumed that I would figure it out! How the hell could I figure it out when I couldn’t think?

So please, please get a book, read all about the symptoms, what happens when you are too high, check to make sure you are not to low and so on.

Do it before your mind decides to pack up on you. Trust me, nobody else will help.

And before you say, well, my friends will tell me. Or my partner will see.

NO! two points on this one.

First, friends are too polite to say, hey, you look ill, anorexic, shaky etc

And secondly, your partner will just not notice! True! Its such a subtle thing, its very hard to spot.

So to end, take note of the list below, and if you find yourself in this situation and have been diagnosed with Thyroid disease, make sure you;

1. See a Doctor.

2. Make sure you buy a book on subject.

3. Change your tablets the second you feel ill or in pain.

4. Keep nagging and phoning the specialist, he is the only one who can help. GPs are useless!

5. Keep looking in the mirror. If your face gets skinny, fat or filled with watery sacks, get down the doctors fast.

6. Check your hands for the shakes, its one of the best signs of over activity.

7. Check your heartbeat sitting down, running, and then sitting again, to see if it beats too fast, or changes normally.

8. If you suddenly find that you are staring into space a lot, or sitting around without thinking, take more thyroxin and get to the doctors, your thyroid is too low.

9. If your eyes start to get wobbly vision, get checked out again, some of the symptoms can either be too high or too low, they do overlap. Symptoms can feel scarily similar, so you may not know if you are too high or too low. Do not diagnose yourself.

And last but not least.

10. WHENEVER YOU GO TO THE DOCTORS WITH ANY OF THE ABOVE SYMPTOMS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BLOOD TEST. NEVER EVER LET THE DOCTOR GIVE YOU MEDICATION FOR DEPRESSION WITHOUT CHECKING TO SEE IF ITS YOUR THYROID THAT IS CAUSING YOUR ILLNESS.

A MISTAKE LIKE THAT CAN KILL YOU!