Drug Purge

I tried. I really did.

The first thing I noticed is eight hours after taking the 30 mg. thyroid pill, I'd get incredibly tired, crash, and feel the need to nap. I stopped crashing when I changed my diet so although low-level fatigue is what I was trying to address with these drugs, crashing was a newly returned symptom. My new health care provider agreed I should take a second 30 mg. pill in the afternoon. We assumed the drugs were wearing off. This seemed to work...for a short time. Then I started getting more tired in the afternoon, earlier in the afternoon each day, then waking early in the morning and beginning the day tired.  This was not an improvement.

I was also hungry all the time which wasn't new, but I started overeating.  Constant, compulsive overeating nearly to the point of vomiting. I had to pay close attention during a meal to know when to stop. I never felt real hunger and even after overeating, I'd still feel famished.

My legs and hips started hurting all the time. I read that hip pain is a hypothyroid symptom.

Then last week I started feeling borderline depressed. Just off. Like everything was not quite right. At first I thought this mild depression might have been residue from the heater chemicals offgassing. That would make sense, but it should have gone away once the heaters ceased to be a problem.

Prior to starting this Paleo with Hashimoto's Twist diet, I had severe inflammation, mostly at night. My skin would burn uncomfortably and my face was often burning red. It went away with the diet and since taking thyroid meds, it has returned. Inflammation is never good.

Unfortunately, all the muscle pain, muscle weakness and lack of muscle recovery never went away. The adrenaline rushes and hot flashes got worse. I had hoped a thyroid prescription would help with some of it. For a short time I did feel slightly more energetic and not as stress intolerant.

I worried about these new or returned symptoms and questioned whether things might get worse with a dosage increase.  I made an appointment with the formerly fired Nurse Lady.

Let me clarify. Yes, I had planned to fire Nurse Lady for failing at follow-through, but then I spoke to the pharmacist who said this was unusual behavior for her. So I thought I'd give her another chance. Maybe she was having a bad week? I know she wasn't having a bad week. She went to Hawaii. Can I blame her? Would I love to drop my life and go to Hawaii? Of course! But health care providers have a certain responsibility to their patients especially ones who's prescription needs refilling before it runs out. She should have done the research and settled her accounts before leaving. Instead she left me in a panic not knowing what to do. She never did get back to me about anything. Her failure makes that first appointment a waste of time and money.

Yeah, I should fire her, but then where do I find another fragrance-free health care provider? One who has Hashimoto's, acknowledges chemical sensitivity, recognizes my sensitivity to drugs, understands compounded pharmacies, and seems to have researched ideas relevant to my issues? Other than lack of follow-through, I really liked her. I wouldn't even know where to start looking for a new doctor. So she's not fired. I just won't rely on her to do what she says she will in the future. I really hate it we have to accept substandard health care for lack of any other choice.

My second appointment with her she said, "So, it's been over a year since you've been in?" Hmmm... I was in your office two months ago. She has no clue who I am nor what year it is. That did not inspire confidence. Did she leave her brain in Hawaii? I told her about my many new symptoms. The fatigue I have now is slightly worse, inflammation has returned, hips hurt, body hurts, and I am starving. During the course of the appointment I told her three times about the feelings of starvation and each time she stared at me with an occasional grimace. She had no clue. Her response was to give me dietary counseling. She knows I'm on the Kharrazian diet-that-saved-my-life and I know my diet is better than the diets of most Americans. It was frustrating to waste my time having someone tell me how to eat. I know my diet is what has improved my health, but she's not listening to me. I resent people who treat me like I'm a moron.

I did, however, lose two pounds which was odd since I'm eating like a horse, and my temperature is lower than the last visit (96.6). I asked her about how these meds work as I'm assuming they are killing my own thyroid's function causing more hypothyroidism which then demands a higher drug dosage to compensate. She disagreed but only on my choice of vocabulary. They suppress the thyroid. She told me people who take thyroid and want to quit can be weaned slowly off it and the thyroid will bounce back. I am skeptical. The thyroid gland doesn't just bounce back or no one would need any medication. I asked about a dosage increase since I read most people need to take three times more drug than I am, and she suggested the dose should be raised to 60mg. in the morning. The goal eventually was to take one pill strong enough to carry me through the day. I smell a drug addiction coming on. I just want to see an improvement. She ordered labs.

Breakfast...Yum.

So, the next day I took a double thyroid dose (60 mg.) and within an hour I was so incredibly hungry AFTER eating a multiple-course, multiple-helping breakfast, I wanted to eat my furniture. All day I was climbing the walls feeling like I was starving. I laid in bed that night and decided this isn't right. I checked online. There are others who have reacted to thyroid in the same way. Feelings of excruciating starvation not due to hunger. Their health care providers also had no answers for them.

The following day, I stopped the drugs. It was the first time in four months I was not hungry after eating a meal, did not overeat, and did not feel like I was starving.  Later that day, I felt no fatigue and it was the first time in four months I actually felt real hunger just before a meal. The next day I awoke to absolutely no depression and feeling really content and happy with everything.

Those damn drugs are poisoning me and messing with my brain.

Dessicated thyroid is real thyroid glandular from a pig, therefore, it has all the natural ratios of thyroid including T3 and T4. This natural balance is the reasoning behind taking it. Problem is it also comes with natural iodine, or iodide. Hmmm...I know people with Hashimoto's are supposed to stay away from iodine as it triggers immune attacks. Is this causing my reaction? Is this why I felt better at first and then slowly declined?

Kharrazian's book says taking thyroid medications unnecessarily will cause cells to develop a resistance to it creating pituitary hypofunction. The patient will feel fine at first, but then symptoms return. Hmmm....so the drug is killing off organs one by one? Kharrazian says your body's natural function will be permanently lost and dependency on medication will become lifelong. Great. That doesn't sound like anything will bounce back in fact quite the opposite. The whole thing is really frustrating and I get the impression most health-care providers fail to see the holistic side effects of any drug. Thyroid drugs are considered the easy answer, but everyone I know who takes them still suffers from fatigue which does not inspire confidence.

It's been a week and I actually feel much better without drugs than with them. I'm waiting for the thyroid lab results to see what has happened to my body while taking the drugs. I no longer think my low-level fatigue is related to just the thyroid, although I've been saying this for years. I was hoping this one piece of the puzzle would help a little. Not many people seem to know what to do with adrenal health problems. If I'm waking up every hour throughout the night with adrenaline rushes and hot flashes, it stands to reason I'd feel tired a lot. I read low cortisol incites the adrenaline rushes and this excessive cortisol will lower your blood sugar causing sugar cravings and digestive problems as well as muscle pain and weakness. I've known all along I should address the adrenal problems to support the thyroid and I've read if the adrenals aren't working properly, neither will any thyroid medication. Back to square one.

I'm currently trying to decide if I should go back to Nurse Lady or go to Gyno Doctor. The gynecologist has drug posters on the walls of her office and in the exam rooms. This indicates she will have little acceptance of chemical sensitivity, but she might know more about weird menopause symptoms than Nurse Lady. Also, her husband who shares the office with her is the only endocrinologist for miles. Still any treatments she will have will focus on chemical prescriptions and I already know I'm not very tolerant of drugs. What a game.

Health care sucks. It always feels like such a waste of money like I'm running in circles and getting nowhere. Just poorer.