Those are the confirming words my doctor spoke to me today, in an unscheduled triage. Those, along with, "You're crashing" in regards to not only my thyroid, but also my adrenals.
For readers not inclined to medicine (I find it all completely fascinating stuff), I'll try to explain.
Your thyroid gland (part of your endocrine system) is in your throat, and is responsible for setting your body's metabolism, base body temperature, weight gain/loss, etc. This gland can go wrong on two different ends: HYPERthyroid, which speeds up the body's metabolism, temperature, and weight loss, etc, and HYPOthyroid, which slows down the body's metabolism, temperature, weight gain (or inability to lose weight in spite of valiant efforts to do so), brittle hair and nails, fatigue, depression and/or other mood changes, etc.
As you might have guessed, I know more about the HYPOthyroid, because that is what I have-- diagnosed in Dec 2011 when it first crashed on me (or at least, the first time it was finally detected by blood test). I have to take a thyroid hormone replacement the rest of my life, twice a day (because I take dessicated thyroid, not synthetic stuff)-- it's kind of a pain in the ass for all sorts of reasons. But, I certainly rather have to schedule everything around taking that little pill than go into a coma and die.
You have two adrenal glands (also part of the endocrine system), each atop your kidneys. These little glands are necessary for you to keep alive. There's two parts to each gland, and they secrete different hormones that tell your body what to do. You know when you get startled by something, say almost being hit by another driver and your heart pounds and you shake and your breathing becomes rapid? That's because your adrenal glands shot out. . . adrenaline! (did you guess that already?) But the adrenal glands do more than just shoot out adrenaline; they're responsible for maintaining blood pressure, electrolytes in your blood, cortisol production, epinephrine and norepinephrine, and some hormone names I can't pronounce. If you get dehydrated while having low blood pressure (easy to do, for those of us who have "low blood pressure," aka hypotension), you could pass out. And that's if your adrenals are working fine. Those buggers had better do their job, or you drop dead, unless you're sleeping, in which case you'll just never wake up unless someone finds you and gets immediate emergency attention to you--like, super-fast. I'd prefer the "never waking up part," because just dropping in public could cause unwanted attention, you know? I try to avoid drama, especially now.
Oh, yeah, so back on topic, which I actually didn't stray too much (those involved in medicine, feel free to correct any inaccuracies; aside from "brain fog," my sleepy meds are starting to kick in).
Okay, so you have these two endocrine glands, and normally they work "in sync" with each other, because they're part of the same system. The thyroid takes a crash dive (like mine did in 2011), well, that took me to places I haven't been. I could write a short book about it. Otherwise, I'd recommend getting one that has already been published, since I'll probably never get around to writing what I really want to write. When I started first getting treatment in Dec 2011/Jan2012, I could feel a change within days! Other semi-acquaintances noticed subtle changes within weeks or a couple of months. And what did I do? What I always do-- got down and dirty working, which this time was beyond me, but I'm still grateful for all that I learned from it-- sheetrocking, taping, mudding, sanding, texturing, priming, painting. . . . . Hanging sheetrock is no joke, but it did help to get me back in shape, now that my thyroid was being treated. I ended up having to buy new, smaller jeans for the first time in. . . decade-ish? I started feeling really good. Felt comfortable in my own skin, for the first time in forever-- I didn't feel like a gunk filled balloon ready to pop.
When the thyroid treatment ceases to be effective, and one has a background similar to mine, the next in line are the adrenal glands. Both the thyroid and adrenals have to be treated at the same time, or the thyroid can't get better. So, that's where I've come this past fall and winter. . . my thyroid replacement wasn't effective, even after dose increases were instituted; and in fact, my blood level test went down after increasing the dose (it should have gone up!). Following up our previous talks during thyroid checks gave me this information, and I finally insisted (advocated for myself) the adrenals be considered.
With 20 years background in integrative medicine, a humorous personality, I liked my doctor from the get-g0, which is rare. He agreed with me and prescribed the steroid hydrocortisone and said that should help my thyroid start getting better (next day, lab results showed I needed another up dose of thyroid).
~~~~~~ I will have to do a part two, later. Falling asleep now. ~~~~~~~
~Cedeham~
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