I wouldn't have guessed that...

For those of you who don't know, I have hypothyroidism, which means that my thyroid doesn't squirt enough of the hormone that is one's "gas pedal" into my system. I was diagnosed five years ago. Symptoms are weight gain, puffiness, a goiter under your chin, exhaustion, hair falling out, and always feeling cold.

I was living in California at the time I was diagnosed, and I had the worst doctor in the history of the world, but because I was on MediCal (California's name for Medicaid), and because switching doctors took, like, several years of paperwork, I just gritted my teeth and dealt with her. I knew I was moving as soon as Benny was done with grad school, so it didn't seem worth the effort to do all of that paperwork.

My BFF, Pooh, has had hypothyroidism her whole life, so when I realized my symptoms, I thought, ohhhhh.....this is familiar.... I remember being on a camping trip with her family, and she and I shared a double bed in her camper, and she was just shivering uncontrollably, all night. She could not get warm, no matter how many blankets I piled on her. I felt so badly for her. I often can't go to sleep because I'm so dang cold. I have to have a heating blanket turned on high to get me warmed up enough. And sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes I have to take a hot bath, too. It's weird.

So I went into this doctor in California. I told her my symptoms and that I would like a blood test to determine whether I had thyroid disease. She looked at me with her head cocked to one side and said, "No, I just think you're getting fat." I am not kidding. She literally said that. I said, "Um, nevertheless, I'd like to get tested." Turns out that I was right. She was really the biggest bee-otch.

Anywho, when I went on this medication, I immediately dropped, like, fifteen pounds, which was fun. And I stopped being cold all the time, my hair stopped falling out, and all was right with the world. I have to get tested once per year under normal circumstances; when I was prego, I had to get tested every three months.

It's funny; I used to faint when I got blood drawn, but thyroid disease will cure you of that real fast. I still can't look when they're drawing blood, though. And now I have a "favorite phlebotomist." I won't go to anyone but her. She's really good.

Anywho, lately, I've been really feeling sluggish. All I want to do is sleep. My hair seems to be falling out even more, I think I've gained some weight, and I'm back to feeling cold all the time. Normally, this means that I'm not taking enough micrograms of my medicine, and that I need a higher dosage. I love when I need to go up in dosage, because I usually drop like another five pounds or so. It's like a free diet. So much fun.

So I finally got tested last week, confident that I would go up in dosage, which would fix my exhaustion, coldness, puffiness, etc.

To my utter dismay, I was told that I've been taking too much. Blah. They bumped my dosage up when I was prego, which is very common. But now, apparently, it's too much. Which is weird. Usually, when you are taking too much medication, you start to develop the symptoms of hyperthyroidism - When your "gas pedal" is stuck on the floor and you're driving uncontrollably. Your heart races, you feel nervous, you have insomnia, you feel muscle pain, you lose weight... I don't feel like I have any of these symptoms.

So yeah, I'm going to be a good girl and take my new, lower dose. Because I don't want to get heart palpitations. No thanks. Maybe when I'm on the right dosage, my energy level will go higher. That's what I'm hoping for. And I'm also really hoping that I won't gain any more weight. Ugh.