This success story is about insistence and self-education. I had returned to college for further studies to gain myself more marketable skills (and so get a year-round, decent-paying job) a few years ago. I became increasingly tired and fatigued, and chalked it up to stress and tried to deal with it. Nothing doing, though, and things got bad. Even though I was getting 10+ hours of sleep a night and felt fine as long as I was moving, I got drowsy and would fall asleep whenever I tried to sit still and concentrate.

I told my dad about my problems, and he told me I was suffering from the same stuff my entire immediate family eventually succumbed to. He told me to get to a doctor and get a full thyroid workup done, because I was probably hypothyroid. I went to the student health center and spoke to the closest thing they had to a thyroid specialist. She thought I was probably hypoglycemic, and ordered a glucose tolerance test (inconclusive), but also ordered a TSH test (bingo!), since I was so insistent and had a family history. Upon discovering that I was right, she put me on Synthroid. There was some immediate improvement, but the rest of the school year was pure h*ll, and I only managed to hang on and make a mediocre showing.

When summer came I moved to Houston, TX to join my boyfriend. He did not understand much about my health problems (neither did I), but he tried to be supportive. I thought I found a good doctor in TX, but that proved to be otherwise. After shopping around I landed with an endochrinilogist, whom I had to pay for out of pocket, since I was working temp jobs while job-hunting. Actually, my boyfriend paid my medical bills at that time, and encouraged me to take any necessary tests.

Time went by, I got a permament job, and most of my syptoms did not change. In fact, some got worse, including sexual dysfunction. I felt I had recovered part of my brain, so I started researching thyroid problems. In the meantime I talked with my endo, who kept saying my levels were normal and it must be something else.

After becoming very frustrated with my endo I started doctor-shopping again, thinking I'd at least find someone to look at the sexual dysfunction, which was creating quite a strain on my relationship. Big mistake -- the new doctor tried to tell me it was psychological, and that I needed counseling. In a fury I hit the internet to research the sexual dysfunction and prove her wrong, and in following links on this problem, came full circle back to the thyroid.

I discovered news about T3, and researched further. I dug through medical journals, printed out postings, and searched bookstores and libraries. I tried to tell the new doctor about the information I was finding, and she dodged me and never spoke to me again. I went back to my endo and told him aobut the "new" information, but he was sceptical. We compromised and ran a few more tests, and I kept researching. Finally I went back in and said flat-out "I want to try T3." What do you know -- it worked! I had brought him copies of the most persuasive medical literature and postings, and described my conclusions and told him just why I thought a trial was in order. He WAS open to the idea, but had many concerns about the safety of such a trial and what I could realistically expect. We worked out a plan between us both, and agreed on dosages of Synthroid and Cytomel, times of day for split dosages of Cytomel, length of the trial, and followup visits at monthly intervals, to check progress and watch for any problems.

I've now been on T4/T3 combo for 1 month, and tomorrow is my first follow-up visit. There is noticable improvement in some symptoms, although not as much as many posters were describing, and not necessarily the same symptom-set they had claimed was improved. The brain fog has lifted a little more, and there are some rather interesting changes in my memory loss. I'm not as tired, so on weekends when I sleep in I'm only sleeping 9 hours instead of 10 or more, and (both on weekends and during the week) I wake up more easily. There is some improvement in my libido, but not much yet, and there might be a slight lessening in my hair loss, but it's hard to say. What I didn't expect was the change in my appetite: I stopped craving carbohydrates and now meat and fresh veggies are what I want. My fatigue doesn't set in until later in the evenings, so I can get motivated to get out and get exercise again. I have hopes that by the time of my wedding 11 months from now I'll have my waist back, and some of my former vim and vigor.

I am realistic about this. I know that whatever I might wish, I will probably never get back to my size and energy of 3 years ago. But as long as I keep researching and actively working with my doctor, I stand the best chance of recovering all that I can. I just yesterday found mention of a time-release T3, which would be infinitely preferable than several split doses. I'm printing out anything I can find on this to show my endo tomorrow when I see him. In the meantime, it's heartening to know that I CAN do something about my health problems (research), and I WILL make a difference.

Beulah

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