#hyperactive thyroid

Artist in Studio (stopmotion)

An illustration of the artist working alongside their instability. Mental illness does not always have to compromise our work ethic but it certainly makes it different. The artist suffering from an invisible illness may not produce work any worse or better than those without, but it is important to recognize that the creative process can be totally different and more complex. Let this piece reach those who might identify with it, and send love to those who may be suffering. 

When i went to the cardiologists the week before the last, he said it was probably POTS, which i had never actually heard of. For those of you who were like me and didn’t know what it was, a quick google search will give you all you need, but the only treatment to sort of attempt to alleviate the symptoms are lots of salt and fluids with electrolytes. All the symptoms really did seem to fit at that point. But my mom went absolutely nuts, bought two bottles of at least 4 different kinds of salt tablets, tons of different electrolyte stuff, and 3 books about it. Needless to say, this made me feel super uncomfortable, especially when she’d blame me for some random thing when the salt tablets were not working for me no matter how i took them, when i took them, or how many i took. There was also no real difference in my stamina when i took the pills vs. when i didn’t. 

I already mentioned that i got the echocardiogram and a holter yesterday, we brought the holter back this afternoon, and then went to the main doctor to go over the results from my lab tests. It took us forever, i think it took us 3 hours to get out of there, and most of it was waiting :P Once we finally got the doctor she told us that i had a hyperactive thyroid, then left lol. I was pretty much panicking because i did not know what that meant, and in the moment was so overwhelmed i couldn’t calm down. 

Anyways, she finally came back in, explained everything, said that something was off the charts and another one was “in the basement”, i honestly don’t remember which ones they were? obviously the ones to do with the thyroid lol.  She called the cardiologist, conferred with him about medication, told him that my heart rate sitting there was 130, he said that my resting heart rate while getting the echo was 140 etc. etc., and  said she was going to set me up with a beta blocker to hopefully calm my heart down while we get other appointments for an ultrasound of my thyroid and other more specific blood tests, because obviously such a high heartbeat is not good over time, hence the reason i guess that the tests already showed heart muscle damage. The pills i have are duper duper tiny though lol, they’re about the size of a sprinkle which strange for me haha xD

But even though i am not that pleased that i have so many more doctors appointments to do, I am happy that maybe finally we’ll get answers, and I am also fairly happy that my discomfort over my mom going so crazy when he said it was probably POTS was not misplaced, and that the salt really didn’t have much an effect on me no matter how i took the salt pills. (unless my blood pressure was low of course) sooo yeah, this is still an ongoing struggle, and i’m still just trying to figure out how to deal with everything that is going on.

For the last ten years, I've been struggling with several symptoms of a thyroid malfunction (both overactive and under active).  Some of these symptoms include chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, atypical chest pain, heat intolerance, and weight gain.  

In April 2015, I was experiencing what I thought was severe anxiety. In March I had totaled my car, and shortly after, someone tried to break into my apartment in the middle of the night. After explaining my symptoms to my general practitioner, he prescribed two different anxiety medications. While most of the symptoms went away, I realized I was still having terrible heart palpitations throughout the day.  

Heart palpitations are no joke.  The final breaking point before going back to my general practitioner, I could see my pulse in my throat at a rapid rate.  Let me also note, my dog would not come near me until my body calmed down.  That itself is terrifying, that my dog knew something was not right.  (If you’ve ever read “The Art of Racing in the Rain”, you know how smart dog’s senses are, and how they know when something just isn’t right in their human.)

When I mentioned chest pains on the phone, my doctor got me in the next day.  He performed an EKG which showed that my heart was in good condition and working well.  Also, my oxygen was at a 98% out of 100%.  And even though my resting heart rate was 98 BMP, there seemed to be nothing wrong.  My doctor didn’t know what to tell me, except to provide me with a referral to a Cardiologist to put my anxious mind at ease.

That day, I requested for a full blood panel, as far of the extent that general practitioners can run.  I wanted everything tested, because I knew, and my dog knew, that something just wasn’t right in my body.  My doctor didn’t expect to find anything other than my previously known auto-immune diseases and vitamin D deficiency.  When he called me the next day, we were both pretty shocked.  After ten years of blood panels, various symptoms, my TSH (Thyroid stimulating hormone) test came back, showing I had an overactive thyroid. Instead of fear, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest.  Finally, we had some answers, and I had never been so relieved in my life.  

I had no idea what this actually meant.  It meant, finding an endocrinologist that was actually accepting new patients, frequent bloodwork, $60 co-pays for seven minutes of talking to my endocrinologist while she stares at her computer, and hundreds of unanswered questions about my overall health.

Even though I eventually found an endocrinologist that was taking new patients, I still wasn’t able to make an appointment until one month later.  During my first visit, I was told that “overactive thyroid” can mean three different things: thyroid cancer, Graves’ disease, or simply just an overactive thyroid.  She didn’t feel any nodules during her physical examination on my thyroid, but referred me to an image center for an MRI to be sure.  She also sent me to an outside lab for a full thyroid blood panel. She assured me that it was most likely Graves’ disease and most people go into remission from it within one year.

I was prescribed 5mg daily of a common anti-overactive thyroid drug. The drug directs your body to stop producing the thyroid hormone, and use up the excess that you have made. What does this actually mean?  It slows down your metabolism.  Of course, I looked it up and saw horror stories of weight gain, mood swings, anaphylactic shock after first use, and thyroids so overactive that dosage was increased to 45mg daily.  (None of these said side effects were found on medical websites, all word of mouth from other users.)  Of course, I was terrified.  

After six months and seven blood panels (and hundreds of dollars in lab co-pay) later, I am now down to 10mg. from being increased to 15mg, of this drug, and no anxiety medication.  I would like love to blame my 35 lb weight gain in the last four months on the thyroid drug, however, drinking beer, eating pizza, and not working out all don’t qualify as taking care of my body.  Also, the people who complained about weight gain mentioned that they had no energy to workout.  I, on the other hand, had increased energy since starting my prescription.  So, naturally, at the beginning of the year, I decided to commit to a half-assed Whole 30/Paleo diet and workout at least six times a week.  So far, I have crushed these commitments.  I haven’t had any of my trigger foods (dairy, sweets, bread, pasta, bean and cheese burritos...) and I’ve been killing these workouts.  My chest pain has gone away 80%, my energy is up even more, and I am so motivated to continue with this life style. I wake up at 5am on weekdays to jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes if I don’t have a class that I’ve committed to that evening with my Class Pass.  

So where have I been? I’ve been here…. Trying to regain control over my life! Over the summer, I was diagnosed with a hyperactivethyroid; more specifically, Grave’s Disease. First of all, do you even know where your thyroid is? Do you know what it does? Not many people do. It’s located in your neck. The thyroid controls how quickly the body uses energy, and makes proteins, among other things.…