DEAR THYROID^TM

Dear Thymon:

I swear, eventually you will get me kicked out of a doctor’s office. The “normals” with the medical degree don’t know any better, so kind of take it easy on them.   This GI doc seems promising.   I stress “seems”.   We’ll see what happens.

Thanks for coming to my rescue though, to pound my problems through his thick, male, normal skull.   I really think he was terrified of us.

Hee Hee.

I see your point, Thymon, after waiting over 6 months to see him, the first words out of his mouth were “Oh, are you here for a gastric bypass referral?”

As soon as you heard that, Thymon, you drew your little sword and ran to defend my honor.   As John was trying to find a parking place, he missed out on the beginning of the duel and came in late.   When he came in, it looked like you had started the fight.

I kept trying to tell Dr. Normal that the weight was due to you, but he really didn’t want to listen.   Finally, you drew your sword and held it to his throat. Unfortunately, no one else can see you and it comes out of me like this:

Me: Shut up and listen!,   I’m here for a reason.   I have severe stomach pain, I can’t eat and I’m losing weight.

Doc:,   We’ll address your weight issue in a little bit.

Me:,   F#(% you.!,   I have Hashimoto’s, pernicious anemia, severe Vitamin D deficiency, severe B12 deficiency, Rathke’s cleft cyst, and Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency.

Doc:,   I see…Where did you read this?

Me:,   What do you mean, where did I read this?

Doc:,   All of these things you mentioned are rare.   You couldn’t possibly have all of this wrong.

Me:,   Call my endo.   His records should be in your chart.

My husband came in the room after this and the doctor started to examine me and actually listened to my problems with my stomach.   A few minutes later, he called the nurse in and started to tell me his “plan” for making me well.

Doc:,   Ok, the first thing I want you to do is to see a nutritionist to be put on a liquid diet.   If that doesn’t work, we will think about gastric bypass.

Me:,   No f—ing way!,   Are you not listening? I said….

Doc (interrupting):  Are you going to listen to my plan?,   If not, then this appointment is over.

John (my husband):   Jackie, you promised me you’d behave.

Me:,   Ok, I’m listening

Doc:,   No, you’re angry.   We’ll continue at another time.

Me:,   Just TELL ME ALREADY!,   I’ll still be angry, but TALK, damn it!

I swear, Thymon, just like Zorro’s “Z” you slashed a “T” right on his throat.   Your sharp sword becomes my sharp tongue in the real world.

You got the doc to proceed with his plan.

Doc:   Ok.   Again, I want you to see the Nutritionist/Obesity specialist and go on a liquid diet.   We’ll see why your Vitamin B12 and D levels are low.

Me:   Ok. Listen.   I am taking growth hormone, B12 injections, synthroid, prescription Vitamin D (100,000IU) a week.   I really want to talk to my endo before I do this.

Doc:   Oh, I didn’t know you had other things wrong.   You never told me about the lack of intrinsic factor.   You’ll have to take the shots to get the B12.   Your body doesn’t metabolize it.

Me:   See, you WEREN’T listening.

Doc:   Well, I just assumed that since you were obese, you were just overeating junk food and stuff.   Ok, now I want you to go to the psychiatrist to deal with your emotional issues.   In the meantime, I want to schedule some scopes and the capsule endoscopy as you might have a twisted intestine and that is what may be causing your severe stomach pain, and not because you don’t know when to stop eating, like I originally thought.

Me:   Thank you.

Doc:   Although, since you have a thyroid condition, your digestion will be off due to your metabolism.   Once you get your thyroid in range your stomach may go back to normal.   Bye.   Call my nurse to schedule the testing.

Haven’t had any testing done.   But Thymon, just like in the ER, you got them to sit up and finally listen to me.   You are saving my life.

By the way, for all my fellow “Thyroidians” out there, I recently found out from my endo that due to the autoimmune aspect, a lot of people end up with lack of intrinsic factor.   This is an enzyme in your stomach that only depletes from gastric bypass or some autoimmune diseases.   Hashi’s is one of them.   Graves I believe, also.   Due to lack of intrinsic factor, your body cannot metabolize B12.   Your body needs the intrinsic factor for your body to use B12.   The only way for the B12 to get to stay in your system is by intramuscular injections of it.   I only take 1 shot a month and already my B12 levels are almost normal.   My fatigue has also improved.   So have my “crazy” spells.   My doc said that I was so deficient for so long, I was getting early stage B12 dementia.   It was also causing B12 urinary incontinence.   Please, please get your B12 levels checked.

Also, due to the Hashi’s, I found out that a lot of Hashi people have Vitamin D deficiency.   I got this off the Living with Hashimoto’s Disease Facebook page.   Everyone on there has Vitamin D deficiency.

Then I called my endo told him about it, and did some research with him to make sure I wasn’t getting wrong info.   There is a connection between thyroid problems and parathyroid problems.   They tend to run together.   Parathyroid problems can cause severe Vitamin D deficiency.

If you have parathyroid tumors, your Vitamin D will NOT go back to normal until the tumors are gone.

My endo will be testing my parathyroid levels next month and doing another thyroid ultrasound and possibly a biopsy.

You hear that, Thymon.   Just be nice and keep running to my rescue and maybe, just maybe, the endo will let you stay with me.   Otherwise, (making a slashing motion across my throat),   LOL!

Everyone have a fantastic holiday season and I’ll talk to you in January!

Love,

Jackie

(Bio) Hi.  My name is Jackie, and I am 40 years old.   My life ended as I knew it, the Spring I turned 30.   I didn’t know what was wrong with me.   Doctors insisted I was crazy.   I almost believed them.  Thank you, Dear Thyroid for your site.  I hope this letter I write will finally allow me to accept my condition…

Tags: effects of thyroid disorders, hyperthyroidism support, hypothyroidism support, low vitamin D parathyroid, parathyroid tumors symptoms, thyroid literary support, Thyroid patient letters, thyroid symptoms, vitamin B12 effects on thyroid

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