Another one of her concerns was the fact that her cholesterol
readings were high, and despite exercise, niacin, statins etc, the
numbers never seemed to budge. The recurring anemia, family worries, sudden
family calamities/deaths, finally got her to a state where she suffered
from great fatigue. She could not put off
weight that seemed to have crept up on her.
She used to have great discussions with her gynaec, on just about ny medical query she had. She often had pathological tests done simply to set her mind at rest about some doubt she had. One such time she had her thyroid tests done. All normal.
Eight months later, on a routine visit to her doctor, the latter noticed a change in Neha's facial features,- puffiness, some kind of semidroopy eyes. Some expression, that appeared significant to the doctor, who frequently met Neha otherwise. The doctor immediately suggested a Thyroid panel test.
Turns out that her TSH was 10.5, which is way above the allowed upper limit. This defined her as hypothyroid. This also explained the constantly high cholesterol, vague response to statins, fatigue, the fact that she felt cold when no one else did, and of course , her pet peeve, the huge menorrhagia.
The doctor put her on a low dose of eltroxin. After a week of this, there was a perceptible change in the fatigue situation. An improvement. Today, six months into eltroxin, her TSH is reduced, not yet normal, but heading in the right direction.
Menorrhagia, a known manifestation of hypothyroidism, in this case , still continues, but the other symptoms like facial changes, puffiness etc simply went away after a few weeks of starting eltroxin.
Currently , Neha continues eltroxin in its minimum dose. She understands that as she nears menopause (she still is nowhere near it), hormones will fluctuate in fairly unpredicatble ways, causing some stuff to go up, some to go down. What is important, is that she keeps to some sensible nutrition protocol, leads a healthy lifestyle, and basically keeps her mind otherwise occupied. (She has just found out that one of the commonest features of hypothyroid women, is the depression that is seen. )
"It seems to me that thyroid problems are not just about doing some tests and taking some medicine. " she says. " what is needed is a discussion with the health care provider on holistic lines. Suggestions regarding exercise, useful foods, work therapy, meditation, all appear to help".
Makes sense. After all, thyroxin, insulin,
estrogen, progesterone, serotonin, are all beads in the same string. You
mess with one and you disturb the others. A good solution is to maintain
the bead equilibrium- not press or push one at the cost of the other !
UPDATE !..... Six months into her minimum dose, it looked like things were sort of stuck. The tiredness returned, menorrhagia came back with a vengeance,
and Neha went for a checkup.
Although her TSH was sort of sitting in the same place, her weight had zoomed, and her blood pressure was trying successfully to elevate itself. She was advised another checkup at India's leading medical-research institute . They upped her eltroxin dose to 100 mcgs a day, to be taken in a divided dose, twice a day.
About 10 days into this regimen, there has been a dramatic change; energy levels are back, things are looking up physically and mentally, activity levels have increased, and Neha has actually started believing in the lyrics to the song (Here comes the sun...!) that you hear in the background as you read this page :-)