So, without further ado, here's Sierra:
Hi all! My name is Sierra. Sarah is my cousin Tara’s sister in law. She also asked me to talk a little bit about my thyroid. To start off, I’m going to take you back about 10 years.
When I first started high school in 1999, I was in really good shape and very healthy. I was a healthy 130 lbs at 5 feet 7 inches. I was very active and athletic. At first, I didn’t realize anything was wrong. I started to become very anxious and moody. I would yell and scream over the silliest things. Of course, everyone thought I was just being an emotional teenage girl. Then the weight started to come off, and fast! I was eating a TON! Teachers were starting to worry if I had an eating disorder. I got down to 110 lbs very quickly. I started having bad hot flashes. I would have to leave my classroom. I would get winded very easily after working out. The night I finally realized something may be wrong, we were visiting my Grandma in the hospital. I noticed on her heart rate monitor, that he heart rate was kind of fast, like in the 90’s. I was just standing next to her and I was completely out of breath, which had been normal for some time. So, I decided to check my pulse. It was 120 beats a minute! And I was just standing. That was it. My parents finally made an appointment with my pediatrician.
They did every test imaginable on me. I was poke and prodded. I wore a heart monitor to school and did stress tests. It took almost a year for the light bulb in my pediatricians head to go off when all the other tests came back negative. That’s the first time I heard the word thyroid.
Sure enough, I had hyperthyroidism. I don’t know why they didn’t see that early. I was shaky, had a fast heartbeat, weight loss, serious anxiety issues, hot flashes and slight bulgy eyes. Even though it took them FOREVER to diagnose me, I’m just glad they found the problem.
I met with a doctor down in Beverly Hills because they didn’t have good endocrinologists out where I lived at the time. She decided I didn’t need iodine treatment and that medication would be just fine. Honestly, I can’t remember what I was on. I was very uneducated about it and I just took whatever they told me to take.
From what I do remember, if I forgot to take my meds for a few days, I would have a serious anxiety breakdown. Screaming, yelling….it was horrible. By the time I graduated High School, my doctor said I was in a normal range and could try not being on the medication. It’s pretty sad that I don’t even know now what I was taking. All I remember is that it was 2 pills.
Fast forwarded to April 2008. Sean (my husband) and I had been married for 5 months. And I had gained 25 lbs in those 5 months of marriage!! I was so tired ALL THE TIME. And I felt depressed. Everyone tried to tell me the weight gain was due to marriage. But I had not been eating bad enough to gain 25 lbs in such a short time frame. I immediately thought, “it’s my thyroid.” I made an appointment and sure enough, I had gone hypo. Apparently, if you are hyper at one point, there is a big chance you can go hypo later on in life. I had no idea. My current endocrinologist even told me that I could have died after explaining the symptoms I had in high school. It’s called a “thyroid storm.” It’s a life threatening condition brought on by undiagnosed hyperthyroidism. And since it took so long to diagnose me, this very well could have happened to me. My doctor first put me on 50 mg of Synthyroid. I responded very well to this. I stayed on this dose until I became pregnant.
I’ve been pregnant 3 times since 2008, but 2 were miscarriages. My 3rd and successful pregnancy, I had to go into my endocrinologist every single month. A baby does not make their own thyroid hormone and gets the hormone from the mother. So this is why I needed to be seen so frequently during my pregnancy. My medication had to be increased quite often during my pregnancy. I remember one month, I jumped from 75 mg to 115 mg. I was feeling so sluggish and depressed. After I got the increase, I felt much better.
Even after Brielle was born, it took almost 10 months before I finally normalized and found a good dosage for me. I am currently on 75 mg. In a way, I’m happy that the condition I have is so easily fixed…..just take one pill every day. But in another way, it does bum me out that I have to rely on a pill to feel 100%. Even the slightest bit off and I feel horrible. I will be on this medication for the rest of my life. But I’m grateful that we found out what the problem was. And I’m grateful to be more educated this time around. I wasn’t educated at all about my condition when I was in high school. So, educate yourself! If you feel like something is off, go get your thyroid checked. It can make all the difference.
See, isn't she great! Thanks for sharing, Sierra. I hope people take your advice and get checked if they feel like something with their body (and possibly mind!) is off.
***This post is part of a series I am doing because it's Thyroid Health Awareness Month. I am not a physician, nurse, or anything like that. I am a woman who's had to learn a lot about her thyroid in the past year. My almost-lawyer-husband would be so proud that I'm including the following: I am not liable for this information nor for the decisions you make based upon what I post. My hope is to teach people some basic thyroid information but if you have real concerns talk to your doctor!***
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