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Sooo, I had an endocrinologist appointment yesterday afternoon. The first question I always ask him is “Are you sure I have Hashimoto’s?”. His answer was yes (again). He said my TSH went way up in a short amount of time. Last time I was at the top of the normal range, this time I’m at the very bottom. He said this means that my own thyroid is losing altitude. He asked how I’ve been feeling. No change there. I feel like crap. Exhausted crap. I feel sore all the time. I forget everything. I feel crazy. I feel irritable. Like PMS irritable. All day, everyday. I asked him what would happen if I stopped taking the medication (since it doesn’t seem to be helping much anyway). He told me about Myxedema (which can lead to death) and said stopping medication is a very bad idea. He said he is going to increase my dose and see what happens. He is convinced that we will get my dosage figured out. I just have to be patient.
Don’t misunderstand me. I really like my doctor. He is called the best of the best for a reason. He is very nice and listens to me and assures me that I am not crazy. But, he says food will not help my symptoms or my numbers. This is both frustrating and confusing because he is the one who told me about AIP. Then, in July (after I had been doing AIP for 5 weeks) he told me that food doesn’t really help but it was good that I tried it. He switched my medication and told me to just eat in the healthy side of normal. I may or may not have gone straight to Cold Stone after that appointment! That’s what I’ve been doing since then (not Cold Stone, eating on the normal side of healthy). I’ve added back most of the foods I eliminated and don’t feel any different. I asked him yesterday if eliminating gluten would help my thyroid function better. He said there is no good scientific evidence that shows a correlation between being gluten free and thyroid function. He did say that I might feel better if I eliminate gluten. By following a Paleo style diet, my skin might improve, I might lose weight, I might have some more energy. But it won’t improvement thyroid function.
Since being diagnosed in March, I have read a ton of books, blogs and joined a few Facebook groups all in connection to Hashimoto’s. Everything I’ve read says food is key to relieving symptoms. They also say stress reduction helps but let’s be real. Never going to happen. Back to the food. I am going to go hard core Paleo again and treat it as a complete life style change. I ordered the Paleo Approach and it will be here tomorrow. This means Paleo holidays. Wish me (and the people who have to eat my cooking) luck!