hashimoto's diease

I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease about 3 years ago. Currently there is no cure for the disease, but they are researching and attmepting to find a cure for this and other autoimmune diseases. I have found that the most important thing in living with this disease is to get healthy. With low thyroid production comes a low metabolism (among other things) and often weight gain. If you and your doctors caught this early and you haven't gained weight good! If not, try and exercise regularly, it'll help alleviate some of your symptoms. Also I and several people I've talked to seem to get relief from eating less processed foods and even using healthier beauty products. I think that the overly processed natured of common foods and toiletries lead to an over toxification of the body which stesses your body and makes your symptoms worse. Taking medication really does help A LOT. It's important to find the right medication. There are more options than just the synthroid/levothyroxine that doctors automatically prescribe. The most important thing is to find a prescription that alleviates your symptoms, so you can feel normal and healthy again. Regular testing is also important if your hashi's is well undercontrol you should have bloodword done twice a year or more often as needed. Learning about the different blood tests and understanding themm will help you stay informed about your health. I keep a record of my lab results at home and make a graph. It helped me figure out which symptoms correlated with a drop in my thryroid hormone. It's to the point now where I can tell my doctor that my thyroid is low then they'll order the lab results see I'm right and tweak my dosages. Now about when I found out and such...I had been sick for two years. Extreme naseau, dizziness and exhaustion (along with a long list of other commmon complaints) drove me to my doctors office time and again. I was pretty sure that I had a thryoid problem (lots of nurses that are family and friends). I repeatedly asked my doctor if this was a likely problem. She said no over and over, saying I've run the blood work and its fine. Turns out she did 2 clasic things that most drs. do...she only ran a TSH test and she was using old lab values that had changed. I was "border line" Hypothryoid for two years if you were using the old lab values, a tsh of 5 was considered "normal" now "3" is the new standard. I was pretty close to a 5 for two years before she would consent to run the lab work again. Finally either her or the lab began using the new standard and I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Which really isn't a daignosis...Hypothyroidism is a condition caused by something...I had to research and go back to my doctor to find out what that "something" was. The first year on medication I had to have a dosage increase ever 2-3 months. Eventually my TSH normalized, but my symptoms didn't go away. I felt awful despite the medication. I found out that an additional medication may help, but that my dr. was unlikely to prescribe it without more indepth lab work. By this point I had learned to take in a print out with my current "complaints" and questions I had and any requests I had to my drs. office. I asked my doctor to do a COMPLETE thyroid pannel and we found out that while my TSH was showing normal results my actual thyroid hormones were totally screwed up. Eventually after moving and changing doctors I was able get a perscription for thyrolar, which is a combonation of 2 thyroid hormones. I dont' feel GREAT, but I do feel good. Once normalized on this medication I lost about 20 pounds I eat a really good diet, but once my hormones were settled the weight just started coming off. The kicker was I was able to get pregnant, which can be difficult if your thyroid hormones are off. I was really depressed (big side affect of the disease) because I was unable to get a diagnosis. Once I did I felt a big relief...until I realized that my doctor really didn't know much about this particuar disease. I had to really reasearch and find out on my own how to help myself. The biggest thing I had to realize is that doctors don't know everything...they cant the body is too complex and too many things can go wrong with it for them to know everything about it...that's why there are specialists. I found this great website http://thyroid.about.com All I can say is reasearch, be informed, dont be afraid to talk to your doctor and make reccomendations to them... and stay/get healthy. I wish you the best of luck.

Hi hopejordan. To be honest I've never heard of Hashimoto's Disease before and I can only imagine the shock you must have had when you found out you had it....Are you taking any medications for it, do they help....I did a quick search around..I don't know how valid they are but there seems to be some natural herbal remedies that may help the symptoms. Have the links here for you to read http://www.yourbodycanheal.com/hashimotos-disease.html Here's another good link for you to read http://www-thyroid.com/html_hypothyroidreport_v2.htm {These are not referral links but links about Hashimoto disease} Hope these can help a bit...sometimes regular medications can make things worse than better

My neighbour used to have it. Its an underactive thyroid thats easily treated by medication and in some cases surgery to remove the thyroid gland. My neighbour had hers removed and it made such a difference to her.