just been diagnosed as hypothyroid

[descendingintomadness]

Very unexpected, i'd actually gone to the GP with agonising joint pain in my hands and wrists, he sent off some bloods, and lo and behold i've come back as being 'significantly' hypothyroid

Aside from the obvious thing of taking thyroxine tablets to correct my levels, and regular blood tests, is there anything else i should be aware of / living with hypothyroidism etc and so on? My GP was a bit lax with the old info, and i was so shell-shocked at the diagnosis (was expecting it to be arthritis!) that i didn't think to ask any questions!

Thanks.

interesting , didn't realise that was a symptom of low thryoid
there are a million and one symptoms

you should feel better at least , and lose weight if you have any to lose

Thyroxine usually sorts it out once got dose right. be aware that the blood test can appear like your levels are within normal rang but you still feel symptoms so they sometimes need to up the dose a little anyway. you should start feeling better pretty soon

If you've been undiagnosed it can take a long time to get back to normal. The symptoms can be really wide ranging.

My mum and I are both hypothyroid, and she was undiagnosed for years (we all thought she was a hypochondriac) and now she attributes every problem I have to my thyroid (it used to be my hormones ).

Oh, one good thing to come out of it is free prescriptions so make sure you get your medical exemption form from your GP.

Thanks All.

Free prescriptions? The GP didn't mention that! Mind you, DD is only 6 months old, so i'm still covered by my maternity exemption certificate.

Having looked at a list of symptoms online, i probably have half of them without ever even suspecting hypothyroid was the cause! Hopefully once my levels are sorted (the GP did say they were the lowest he'd ever seen in someone still upright!!), i'll shift the baby weight that has been persistently staying despite my appetite being smaller than a sparrow. Just makes me worry how long i've had this and it's never been picked up. Apparently they don't routinely test thyroid function in pregnancy, so probably pre-dates DD. There's no family history, and i'm only 29 so even the GP is baffled.

How long will it take for the thyroxine to start working? My hands are still cripplingly painful, and i'm due back to work after mat leave next month.

Yeap free scripts, but then isn't everyone getting free scripts soon

I find it really hard to shift any extra weight put on,
if my dose isn't right I nod off alot,
long cycle (me anyway, how I got diagnosed)
and dry skin there are actually loads of symptoms, that I still discover along the way

Sorry didn't read your second post,

I definitely had mine before my first dd and it wasn't caught until she was 6 months I think,
I used to fall asleep in work and started putting weight on (my mum said she thought I was just so contented with dh she didn't like to mention it!)

As the others have said, once you've got your thyroxine dose right you probably won't have any symptoms and you will feel soooooo much better.

If you become pregnant you will be referred to a specialist midwife or consultant for extra monitoring as hypothyroidism can cause problems in pregnancy if it's not being treated correctly - you usually need to take a higher dose.

Worth bearing in mind that it's usually hereditary (about half of my cousins have it) so watch out for symptoms in your children.

I've had irregular/abnormally long menstrual cycles for as long as i've been having periods, and i've already got a long history of eczema so very hard to attribute that to the hypothyroidism (unless its been a problem for THAT long!! and surely it would have been picked up before now if that were the case?)

As for weight, again difficult to judge as DD is only 6 months old, and i've never been particularly small anyway, although it would be nice to finally lose the baby weight - although i'm basically back into my pre-pregnancy clothes, i'm still about 2.5 stone heavier than i was

It would be nice to have more energy, but that could just be asking miracles of such a tiny tablet once a day

Just read your second post - it takes up to a week for thyroxine to kick in.

I was also diagnosed when DD1 was about six months old. Pregnancy is often the trigger. The main symptom I had was sudden weight gain. I expected it to drop off as soon as I started taking thyroxine but I'm afraid it didn't - I just didn't put on any more

You will definitely have more energy.

I was just about to say that pregnancy can be the trigger, plus the symptoms (hair falling out, tiredness, weight) are all also the symptoms of having a new baby!

Some people think that diet can have an effect too, I believe soya is meant to have a detrimental effect, though I am too lazy to research it! Other people suggest that milk close to when you take the tablet can inhibit it's effectiveness but I am a monster without my bowl of cereal in the morning so again it's not something I have pursued.

GPs not always the best at treating it, they routinely take your TSH levels but rarely your T3 and T4, so while they measure the thyroxine in your body they don't measure how well your body converts it, so do keep on if the symptoms persist. I am newly pg again and will see a consultant specialising in endocrinology, so will take the opportunity to get some proper info. If you can get your GP to refer you anyway that would be good, mine aren't too helpful.

Oh, and this sounds bizarre, but hypothyroidism is covered under the disability discrimination act, the major point being that your employer has to make reasonable allowances for your disorder and the symptoms. I referred myself to occupational health after being back a year as I thought I was going crazy, but turns out hypothyroidism can affect your cognitive functions, e.g. memory, concentration etc. You may have to make allowances for this. Sounds a bit OTT I know, but the psychologist at work took it very seriously in me.

Wow! lots to think about. My GP is usually very good, so when i see him next (he wants to recheck my blood levels after 6 weeks of initial levothyroxine treatment) i'll ask if i can be referred to an endocrinologist.

Can any of you recommend a good book on the subject? (or any specifically to avoid!) - i've had a quick look on Amazon, but there seems to be a large number and i'd rather go with a recommendation as some of them seem quite terrifying!