by Samantha Pratt-Tyler

Created on: September 12, 2008

Living with hypothryroidism has not been easy. There is the weight gain, even on thryroid medicine the weight fluctuates and mostly stays on for me.

Hair loss is another thing to expect, for me, I have a lot of hair, so the loss does not seem so drastic, except to my drains!

Expect to be tired, run down, having a slower heartbeat (for some, me I am tychcardic)your reflexes can be slow, heart palpitations, high or low blood pressure, course brittle hair and nails, DRY SKIN, that includes dry mucuous membranes. Have pale skin and lips. Slow movements and slow speech. A hoarse voice, englarged neck (goiter) and swelling of hands and feet. Some people suffer depression, since the thyroid hormone regulates most of the bodies functions, it could be something is needed in the thyroid hormone to keep on an even keel mentally. You may have cold hands and feel and even in warm weather feel cold. So you may need to keep or bring a sweater with you if you are in an air conditioned building, or even a run to the grocery store when going by freezers can cause a deep chill to the bones so trying to stay warm is something you have to figure out. Your body temperature maybe lower than the 98.6 that is the norm, and mine is usually in the 97.8 range.

Expect periodic blood tests to see if your THS T3 or T4 are ok, and a free T3 test or free T4. These are the thyroid hormones that regulate the body. When too low or too high you get a variety of different symptoms, like the ones above for having hypothryroidism.
These tests determine the amount of thyroid hormone you need to take to replace that which is not being produced by your body naturally.

Expect that the medicine may have side affects, diahrreah, nausea, causing you to go from hypo to hyperthyroidism, where you have a fast pulse, racing heart beat, loss of weight.

Living with a thyroid problem is an ongoing thing. You have to take your medicine, unfortunately, for people like me, who take medication for GERD, need to take iron for anemia, the medications have to be spaced hours apart and that can be stressful when all you feel like doing is sleeping.

A thyroid problem is not one where people will look at you and tell you are sick, most likely you will not look sick at all, but hypothryrodism left uncheck can cause a coma state and death. It is something that should be taken seriously.

According to the book "Living Well With Hypothyroidism" there may be a lot of different factors that play into having a thyroid problem. Of course genetics is one, but things like and autoimmune disease, being female, having female problems, smoking, iodine imbalance, alcohol usage when pregnant, fluoride treatments or fluoride products, x-ray, depression, anmemia, mononucleosis, and a host of other different things can cause a thyroid problem. The author Mary J. Shomon has written a very extensive book on this subject which I have found helpful and fancinating.

Basically having a thyroid problem is making sure you take care of yoursel, get the sleep your body needs, don't fret about how long you sleep, it just causes more stress on an overloaded body. Exercise, eat right, use products to put moisture back into your hair and skin, and just take time to enjoy life.

Reference: Living Well With Hypothyroidism

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