Real Time Update--This Shit Just Got Real

Sooo....the name of this post reflects my current feelings.

I have been feeling hyper-thyroid for the past week-ish. This means that I have had chest pain, I feel super energetic (which is actually kind of nice), I have lost weight (which is really angering), and I have a lot of trouble sleeping soundly.

I went to the Cool Acupuncture Guy on Tuesday and he said that I looked 'hyper' and recommended that I halve the dosage of the Levothyroxine I'm taking. Now, I would like everyone to recall that CAG told me to take Thyroxal at the same time as the Levo, or at least, that's what I thought he said.

So imagine my surprise when I went in to the Physician's Assistant today and found out the my TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is about .023. Normal is somewhere around 1.8 to 2.4 depending on who you're talking to. Everyone seems to have different opinions about these things.

In any case, it was an eventful morning.

PA: "Um...your TSH is reeeeally bad."

Me: "What is it?"

PA: "It's really low, .023, it's almost 0."

Me: "Like, not .23, but ZERO-point-two-three?"

PA: "Yes, it's very low....you might be killing off your thyroid. It's going to get exhausted."

Me: "What do I do?!"

PA: "Stop taking anything for a few days....just don't take anything. And then when you do take something, take just one thing--either the herbal or the Levo."

Me: "Okay...what happens if I get to 0?!"

PA: "It's hard to say. You might pass out...you're going to worry about this now, aren't you?"

Me: "Um, yes."

This was my morning. Good morning to me.

To her credit, this PA is kind of wonderful. She's open-minded and understands what I want for myself. She makes sure to write down in my chart 'Nicky is willful, self-medicates, and is seeing some acupuncturist who is trying to cure her." Thusly, she absolves herself from all responsibility should I pass out because I have basically been taking too much thyroid hormone.

As I am still alive, conscious, and typing, I am going to assume that I am going to be just fine. That I will not pass out, have seizures, or have anything else horrific happen to me because I am so hyper.

I had my blood drawn on Tuesday and it is now Thursday. In those two days I have already decreased my thyroid-drug intake, so I am also going to assume that I'm not as hyper as I was before.

Now, I want to point out that in the last three weeks that I have been taking Levothyroxine and Thyroxal at the same time, something has changed. I like to think that these little pills will work all by themselves and will help stimulate my thryoid to work again instead of me relying on Levo for my whole life.

On the other hand, I don't want to rely on Thyroxal my whole life either, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...

In other updates, I spoke to the CAG about how I still stumble upon foods that give me the big D. I asked if I was ready to start adding food back in and (at least before I get diarrhea) enjoy wheat, dairy, etc. again. Sadly, because I'm not 'stable' he said that was a bad idea. I am supposed to get stabilized (which I take to mean stop having diarrhea by avoiding inflammatory foods for me) and come back in October so he can give me 'other stuff' that he has for me.

I'm so impatient to start that next step, but I understand the logic and prudence in waiting until I'm not so up-and-down all the time.

Sigh.