Ut oh, I have Hypothyroidism!

Move outta the way cardio bunnies! The kick-butt Kitty is here!

I was just hanging out yesterday with DH and having an uneventful day, when my doctor called. First of all, I was shocked that a Dr would call me on new year's eve and talk with me for 20 minutes about my lab results. My old doc trained me to expect suck-ass behavior, I guess.

Anyways, after running new lab work the thyroid was even worse than before. After he took the blood last week I wanted to educate myself somewhat about Hypothyroidism so that I would know what questions to ask him if it turned out I have it.

So we had a good conversation and the bottom line is that I started taking meds for this yesterday. I can either just wait to see how I feel and go over this with him more when I have my next appointment at the end of February. Or I can make an appointment with an endocrinologist and let the specialist handle this aspect of my health care.

I am going to wait two months and take the meds to see how I feel. I don't want to make this bigger than it needs to be. If I don't feel differently after two months then I will see an endocrinologist.

Now that I looked into this, I can clearly see that I've had all of the classic symptoms for quite some time, I was just attributing them to other things. For instance, my normally silky skin has been dry and scaley-- I attributed that to getting older. Lotion doesn't help and I was annoyed by that.

I had a gorgeous head of reddish-blonde hair that was all the way down my back. It was so thick that it barely fit into a large pony-tail holder. My hair started to thin and break off about two years ago-- again, I attributed this to getting older and also genetics. My grandmother developed very thin hair as she aged. Now I wonder if she didn't have hypothyroidism too. Sadly, I cut my hair off because of this and I have been sad about it ever since. I always LOVED my Irish hair.

My feet and lower legs are always cold-- like blocks of ice. This adds to my insomnia as this is to the point of being really uncomfortable. I keep a small space heater near the chair where I sit in at night to watch a little tv before bed. I put on socks and put my feet near the heater trying to warm them up. Even this doesn't do much good. Cold feet and poor circulation are one of the main sympoms of hypothyroidism.

One thing that really pisses me off is that I complained to my former Doc about all of these things and he did NOTHING. You'd think he would have said, "Oh, this overweight woman whose mom had hypothyroidism now has dry skin, thinning hair, cold feet, insomnia, low body temperature, etc. Maybe I should test her thyroid?"

I didn't know these things were connected, but he is a doctor, shouldn't he have? He knew that I was starting to go through menopause and basically told me that dryer skin and hair were part of getting older and I'd just have to accept it and age gracefully. I am adding him to my list of people who need a good slap!

My weight loss may increase now, my hair grow back and my feet stop feeling like two blocks of ice. That would be great! It can take a few weeks for the medicine to have an affect that you notice, according to what I've read.

I am going to keep reading on the subject and studying the different treatment options. People with hypothyroidism are at an increased risk for heart disease and cancer, so there is more involved here than being cold and uncomfortable and having a tendency to be fat. I will keep you all posted.

On other fronts, I did a two mile walk/jog today and followed that up with just under an hour in the gym. I said after the first of the year I would record my work outs here, so here's what I did at the gym today:

These are all machines, no free weights today. "JB" is an abbreviation I use in my training log that means "just barely." It means that the set was at the outer limits of my strength and I could barely do it. LOL


Chest Press: 12 reps at 100#, 12 reps at 115#, 12 reps at 130# JB

Duel axis Chest press: 12 reps at 90#, 12 reps at 95#, 12 reps at 100# JB

Duel axis Incline press: 2 sets of 12 with 70 pounds
(had a hard time with this today, unsure why)

Cable seated row: two sets of 10 at 150#, JB

Cable chest fly: 2 sets of 10 at 90# JB

Overhead press: 12 reps at 35#, 12 reps at 50#

Shoulder press: 12 reps at 20#, 12 reps at 30#, 12 reps at 40#

I said before that I was starting the new weight training program on Monday. Actually, I will start it on Sunday and post about why at that time. I am VERY excited! I will outline the program at that time too.

Hope you're all enjoying what is to be a long weekend for most of us! Grab some quality time with the ones you love, including yourself!

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