or "What's that fire in my neck and why does it hurt so much?"
by Debbe
My trial by fire, so to speak, with subacute thryoiditis started in January 1997. At first I thought I just had the flu because I felt achy, hot, and had absolutely no energy to do anything but lie flat in bed. My throat even hurt if I sat up in bed. It was like an extreme sore throat that never got better.
And the weakness was awful. I couldn't get through taking a shower without giving out of breath. It was a strange feeling allright! Supposedly no one knows what causes thyroiditis but it might be a virus or germ left over from a recent cold or URI.
I went to my family doctor who examined me and said my thyroid was enlarged and that I had thyroiditis, which means "inflammation of the thyroid." Well, I never knew that little gland controlled so much activity in my body. It controls heat sensitivity and metabolism to name a couple.
I was hot, then cold, chills, then fever. My fever went up to 103F and I stayed in bed for almost a week. My doctor gave me antiinflammatory drugs and said, "This will go away soon. Your thyroid will even itself out and you'll be back to normal."
Sorry to say, this was not the case. I went to an endocrinologist and he said the same thing, that I would have to wait it out. I asked for a thyroid scan, for by this time I had been doing some research on the internet and in the library and I knew the scan should tell if my thyroid gland was damaged. So I took a radioactive pill and went back the next day to have the scan. This was normal.
I was still feeling very draggy, however, so the endo put me on a Medrol dose pack, which is high powered prednisone over an 8 day period. This helped but one cannot sleep on high doses of prednisone and I was already tired. I was also taking Percocet for pain. At work I used to be energetic and move around a lot-- I could barely sit in my chair all day! I also gained about 20 puffy looking pounds and I was already overweight!
Well, my thyroid has still not resolved itself 2 years later. I am on a small dose of Synthroid and still struggling with weight gain and energy. That's my account of subacute thyroiditis.
