It's Just Your Thyroid!
08 February 2024
You must be premenopausal …you are way too skinny for your age! I sat in the gyno’s office, confused and angry. How dare she say those things to me? Where were her bedside manners? Because she is a female doctor, I expect better treatment. And I was not too skinny! I am healthy. She ordered blood work that later revealed thyroid issues. Thyroid? She explained that I had signs of hyperthyroidism because I was so skinny.
She referred me to an endocrinologist who practiced even worse bedside manners: If you have cancer, that is the best cancer to have because it has the highest survival rate. I could not believe my ears! This type of diagnosis by just looking at me and my blood panel? Come on! I walked out of his office dumbfounded, crying my eyes out, screaming into the phone as I shared the news with my mother and my boyfriend. How could I have cancer? I worked out and ate well. Why me?
"The doctor explained Hashimoto as an autoimmune disease where your body makes antibodies that attack your thyroid, resulting in weight gain, a goiter, feeling tired, issues with an enlarged thyroid, hair loss, and muscle weakness, just to name some of the symptoms."
The endocrinologist ordered more tests, so in the meantime, I focused on surviving the news. The big C! My boyfriend had a positive attitude toward my diagnosis. He tried to cheer me up. I finally went back to the endocrinologist who had good news for me: I did not have cancer but had Hashimoto’s disease, which meant I did not have hyperthyroidism, but the opposite, … I had hypothyroidism.
The big C was out of the picture, and I felt relieved, but now, I have a disease. What was this Hashimoto stuff? The doctor explained Hashimoto as an autoimmune disease where your body makes antibodies that attack your thyroid, resulting in weight gain, a goiter, feeling tired, issues with an enlarged thyroid, hair loss, and muscle weakness, just to name some of the symptoms. There is no cure for this. We will just regulate your thyroid with medicine. By the way, you also have nodules in your neck that we will need to check to rule out cancer. What in the world was happening to me?
Luckily, after an extremely painful biopsy, the doctor revealed the nodules were just nodules, yet as a follow-up, this new revelation needed to be monitored, something that I still adhere to this day. What was strange was that I really did not experience any of the noted symptoms. I truly felt fine, until I hit a forced menopause, and the waterfall broke loose!
I often hear women complain about weight gain, brain fog, or feeling dead tired and unable to sleep. No, you are not going crazy! It could be menopause, but it could also be thyroid disease: your body is attacking itself, creating havoc inside. Make sure to ask your doctor to include in your bloodwork a thyroid check. Hopefully, during your annual exam, the physician is already checking that for you. But just in case, ask questions and become more involved in your health.
To know more about Hashimoto’s disease:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/hashimotos-disease
https://www.thyroid.org/hashimotos-thyroiditis/