Do you have experience with some kind of hormone imbalance?

The time line is sketchy as this was a slow burn for a long time…years. It all surfaced after gradual and noticeable weight gain and growing discomfort in the reproductive areas of her body. Fibroids and a clogged fallopian tube were discovered. Various options were discussed and outside research was consulted. Hormonal imbalance was the first course to pursue and therapeutic and homeopathic remedies were put on the table. The first plan of action was to cut out as much if not all of foods, meats, dairy, eggs and specifically chicken that would contain added hormones. Within a week her skin color changed..was healthier and her physical comfort began to improve. The focus was a healthier more balanced diet based on whole clean foods and 3 years later the hormonal issue is a distant memory. This was not an overnight success by any stretch. I will add that outside stressors….kids, work, family etc. added to the burden of the physical aspects of this hormonal challenge. Not a fun road to travel.

I am post menopausal now but had extremely high estrogen for years. The PMS was a killer, not so much mood swings but the body stuff was rough. I modified things with a B complex supplement, Vit, E and grossly reducing my caffeine intake.Really, really improved things by about 80%.

Now days I am super level but, discovered I have an Adrenal adenoma last year and went through a bunch of testing for various Endocrine issues likes Cushings disease etc. my BP is high and they just upped my BP med by another 10mg. and are going to re-check my Adrenal hormones and do another CT scan in the new year. These tumors are usually benign but can wreak havoc with all sorts of hormonal stuff if they tumor secretes too much Cortisol and other hormonal compounds. I feel okay but then again I don’t know if could feel even better since nobody is sure what’s up with this weirdness in the moment. haha

I’m hypothyroid.

My eyes, hair, and skin were very dry.

My hair started falling out a lot.

I was falling asleep constantly, and I need excessive amounts of sleep.

My thyroid gland was enlarged.

I was feeling unusual, not myself.

I felt like I couldn’t get enough oxygen at night. Not like when you can’t expand your lungs, I could take deep breaths.

I could feel my missed heartbeat, my arythmia.

It was diagnosed because it was the weekend and I really began to feel like something was very very wrong. I can’t describe it. I just felt almost paranoid, or uncomfortable in my own skin. I walked myself into an emergency room (I usually do my best to not go to the ER) and said I think I need a thyroid test and named three other tests also I thought should be done for other symptoms that in the end were unrelated to my thyroid so I didn’t mention them in the symptoms above. The triage nurse at the ER told me I’m not an emergency. If I had been 20 years old I think I would have left. My thyroid number was incredibly extreme. The doctor reassured me that the nurse was wrong to say such a thing, and that she had never seen a thyroid stimulating hormone that high in her entire career. She was fairly young, but still.

I actually had asked my GYN for a thyroid test 2 days before, and I had showed him my neck, which he said look fine. His nurse who draws blood wasn’t there so he had told me to come back to the office next week. It’s pretty annoying to me he didn’t see anything wrong with my neck. A different doctor saw my goiter before I finished describing my problems.

When I was in my 20’s I tried one of those tri-phase birth control pills and I felt crazy on it. I switched back to a steady dose pill and I was fine again.

The only other time I’ve been whacky horminally is when I was taking drugs for in-vitro fertilization. I gained weight, and I remember feeling somber.

@JLeslie I was about to answer this thread but you just described what I’ve been going through for the past 6 months! I haven’t had a check up yet but I was suspecting I have thyroid problems. There is always a pain in the right side of my neck. I also have PCOS and as far as I know, I think I’m anemic, too. I’m 21 now and I tried taking pills but it gave me mood swings so I stopped taking them. Did your doctor prescribe you any medication? If you don’t mind, may I ask what happened to your goiter? How are you now?

i used to explain my symptoms to my doctor (circa 1960) but he said it sounded like “female problems” and tried to prescribe Valium. I refused, since I don’t like drugs. Eventually, (circa 1980) I found a female doctor who prescribed Thyroid medication, which completely relieved my symptoms of confusion, being tired all the time, and lethargy. When I asked her why it took so long to find a solution, she said the methods of detection had improved.

Ten years later, after menopause, I was prescribed hormone replacement medication and I experienced the best times of my life. I was full of energy and alert and happy a lot. Then it was all taken away, because hormone replacement could result in premature death.

I happily settled for a humdrum, longer life, and I do not regret the choice.

Hyperthyroidal for a while, until i had the gland removed. Wanted to kill at the slightest frustration. It was something very strange, almost like being someone else for a while.

I was extremely hyperthyroid. I was diagnosed with Graves disease. My levels were off the charts. I felt sweaty and shaky and had a hard time remembering things. I thought it was stress because I had owned a franchise at the time where the franchiser was going belly up and I was going to lose my investment. I was relieved it was just a little thyroid problem and have been managing it with anti-thyroid hormones and diet and lifestyle. Specialists have tried to suggest burning out my thyroid with radioactive iodine, but I won’t have it. 20 years on, and I go into remission for the most part and I only feel symptomatic and go in for a blood test now and then and then take a bit of my anti-thyroid medication. I’m a unicorn. I have been diagnosed with Graves Disease, but after 20 years, my thyroid is intact. I’ve protected my health and my thyroid with education, empirical data (my blood results) and stubbornness.

One side of thyroid—hyperthyroid or side—hypothyroid. It was wacky for about 10 months. Had a radioactive iodine uptake test, it showed one side not working and the other over working. That was 15 years ago, no problem since.

When I saw the endocrinologist the first time, he took my pulse and blood pressure three times. My free thyroxine was above 16 pmol/L (if my memory is right), which concerned him because it usually causes increased heart rate, he expected a pulse rate of 100 bpm instead he got 72 bpm. I had to take my pulse every morning before getting out of bed, if it was over 90 I was to make contact with office.

I had undiagnosed Graves disease probably throughout my childhood (always underweight, super energetic, needed very little sleep, etc.) It was diagnosed when I went into thyroid storm and almost died, at 15 years old. Symptoms of thyroid storm included shaking, dropping a large enough amount of weight in about a two week period that I looked skeletal, and not sleeping—at all—for 3 or 4 days. The not-sleeping pretty much made me go insane, and that’s when my mother took me to the doctor. Ended up in the hospital and missed a whole semester of school during recovery. Because of my age, they didn’t kill my thyroid, so it was all drug-related treatment…21 pills a day!

Two years later, my thyroid ‘killed itself’, so I’ve been hypothyroid and on medication for that ever since. Symptoms included significant weight gain (from 114lbs to 170lbs in a year), always feeling cold, sleepy, fuzzy headed, bad memory, and losing my ability to do math in my head (and I’ve never gotten that back, damn it).

@micchon

Simple blood tests. Here’s what I recommend, you can bring the list with you to your doctor. It’s likely they would test most of them anyway.

TSH
T3 Total
T4 Free
Iron
CBC
Vitamin B12
Vitamin D

Possibly CMP also depending on your symptoms. Your doctor can decide that.

The first three are thyroid. Make sure the doctor doesn’t only run TSH for your thyroid, it’s not enough.

Do you protect yourself from the sun? No tan lines? It doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, or any shade in-between. I’m specifically asking if your skin is a few shades darker from sun exposure. If you use SPF lotion, and always are fairly covered with clothing, you are likely extremely vitamin D deficient.

Iron deficiency supposedly can affect the health of hair so that’s where the CBC and iron test come in. It definitely affects energy level and how much sleep you need. I can have iron tests in normal range, but the red blood cell counts and measures in the CBC will be below normal or the lowest side of normal. Iron fixes those numbers into the normal range and I am so much less tired, and I feel stronger in more ways than one. Physical strength, more alert, and ability to fight colds.

Can you see a goiter in your neck or feel it? If you look in the mirror, kind of like a man’s Adam’s apple, but it would look wider, flatter, than a typical Adam’s apple. Stand in front of the mirror and you can see it easier if it moves.

They also might do pituitary tests on the blood test list. I don’t remember the test? I think it’s prolactin?? There might be another or something else also for that. Do you have discharge from your nipples? That’s a tell tale sign of pituatary problems.

PM me if you remember when you get the test results. I’ll be interested to know if it was helpful.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor.

I have Hashimoto’s Disease with some nodules on my thyroid. I was diagnosed about 12 years ago. I take Levothyroxine. I don’t always take it religiously. About every six months to a year I get blood tests done. Whether my TSH is up or down, I rarely have symptoms other than intolerance to cold. I’m not lethargic, constipated, no hair falling out, whatever.

When I was first diagnosed with thyroid problems, I researched it and found out that 1 in every 6 women will have thyroid problems in their lifetime.

@micchon I didn’t answer all of your questions, and I’m going to go ahead and answer because I think someone interested in the topic would be interested too, even though it’s a little off topic.

I take thyroid medication. I’ve tried the synthetic (most common brand name is synthroid) I’ve taken natural (Armour) and synthetic T3, and various combinations.

My goiter went away once my thyroid numbers were back to normal.

What pills did you take? You mean for mood? Any doctor who treats a woman for mood and doesn’t test her thyroid is really missing something they shouldn’t miss. It’s possible your doctor did test you, I’m not assuming, I’m just making a statement.

Are you sleeping a lot? Or, is it the opposite. When thyroid is too slow or too fast you can lose your hair and be extremely dry. I have those symptoms when I’m under or over medicated. What changes is my heart rate is slow, my blood pressure is high, and my temp is low when I’m hypothyroid, and I’m cold. When I’m hyperthyroid just the opposite. I can feel like I’m having a hot flask when I’m overmedicated.

It’s not very uncommon for young women to have Grave’s disease (hyperthyroid) and hypothyroid is fairly common too.

@Jeruba Thats one I missed initially, my blood pressure tested high four times in a row within two weeks time all of a sudden. I had never had high blood pressure ever before. They were ready to prescribe me blood pressure meds rather than test my thyroid. Once I was on thyroid meds my blood pressure went back to normal. This is still a symptom of mine when I’m under-medicated.

It gets ignored by doctors when my blood pressure is low, because it’s at it’s lowest when I’m at rest, not in the doctor’s office. It causes me to have bouts of spaciness. This happens when I’m hyperthyroid (over-medicated).