Under Diagnosed Thyroid Disorders ~ Learning Disabilities ~ Fibromyalgia

I have been working on this post since last week. I am beginning to think that maybe all of these things due tie together (Thyroid, LD’s and Fibro). As my regular readers know I was diagnosed with Follicular Thyroid Cancer three years ago. The first time that I remember having my thyroid levels (TSH levels) were tested was shortly after my last child was born and I was complaining about fatigue and hot flashes. Each time that I was tested, the test came back that my TSH levels were in “low-normal” range and I was never treated. At least not until a nodule showed up on a CT scan, then a biopsy was ordered and showed that I needed surgery to determine if it was indeed cancer and what type. Although, I have never been diagnosed with Dyslexia, I do think that I have it. I am sure this does not help with the brain fog from the Fibro or getting this post finished.

Last Monday, I was on Wellsphere.com and found this post simply titled “Thyroid” by Dr. Paul V. You can click here to read the post and the entire conversation. In one of my questions I asked, “Also, at what age should an abnormal thyroid be treated in a child with a strong family history of thyroid problems?" The reason that I asked was about two years ago, the doctor tested my youngest for thyroid issues and some other things. Everything came back fine except for his thyroid which came back “low-normal”. This didn’t surprise me because of my thyroid issues, several of my relatives have thyroid problems and just about everyone on my husband’s side of the family has thyroid problems. I guess the poor thing just didn’t have a chance, having a normal thyroid. This was Dr. Paul V’s answer to my question about treating children with abnormal thyroid, “As far as children go, with that history you should get periodic lab tests. If the children become symptomatic, or the lab values are a little off, you can do some nutritional things that will help quite a bit. Important because thyroid is linked to IQ and development.” I had no idea that the two were linked. Luckily, even though my son is dyslexic his IQ is quite high. So, I got to looking and I was surprised to find that there is a link to LD’s and Dyslexia with thyroid problems (You can find all of the links at the end of this post).

I really don’t understand why doctor’s today are so reluctant to treat a so-called “low-normal” thyroid? Years ago, everyone was on thyroid medication? It took me years to find a doctor that was willing to treat me, she waited though until after we found out for sure that my nodule was indeed cancerous. Now, without a thyroid, I have to be treated. I did a search on “complications in not treating hypothyroidism” and one of the articles that I found was on MayoClinic.com. The complications listed were Goiter (a.k.a. nodule), Heart problems, Mental health issues (depression), Myxedema, Infertility, and finally Birth defects. I had two out of the six, the goiter and infertility. As far as the infertility goes my PCOS did not help matters. I know, I have three children but…there are 8 years between the first two and 5 years between #2 and #3.

I also found a new community called Rareshare for patients, families and health care professionals dealing the rare disorders. Here I found a group for Fibromyalgia and there I found a woman who blogs about Fibro. Her blog is called FibroFix. While searching her blog I found an article on thyroid and the link to Fibro, here. Then I also found on Chiropractic & Nutrition Wellness Center, this is a really good article on the subject.

Are all of these linked? I think that yes, it is a part of it. This is just a little FYI, I will leave it up to you to come up with your own conclusion.

Learning Disabilities Association of America

Dyslexia Research Institute

Thyroid Foundation of Canada

University of Maryland Medical Center

MayoClinic.com

Rareshare.org

Chiropractic & Nutrition Wellness Center

Long Vacation...

I have not really been on vacation, just sick and taking care of my autistic child. Quite a bit has happened since my last post. It started out with that terrible cold that was going around in mid March, my youngest and I both had it for over a week. When we finally got over that, we took a trip to see my dad and our autistic son. We had a good visit but we were still at the end of our colds.

At the end of March, I finally got a hearing for my Social Security. I applied about two years ago; got denied, hired a local Social Security Disability law firm, got denied again and then finally got the hearing with the judge. At the hearing office I had to go through security with the security guard, it was a bit like going through security at the airport. Had I known this, I would have carried my usual airport things; a tiny wallet (with my ID, bank card and insurance card), then wore a pair of Crocs. But nooo…I had a purse full of all kinds of stuff. I had to dump everything out and let them go through it, then get wanded. When we finally got to the hearing room there was the judge, court reporter, a job expert and (via the phone) the social security doctor. First the judge asked me a lot of questions about how I felt and what was wrong with me and then about my various careers. After explaining to him what I had done at my past few jobs that spanned back about 15 years, he told the “job expert” that she was no longer needed. Then came the ss doctor on the phone…first he didn’t think that my Chronic Kidney Disease is as bad as it is, then came the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome…he tried to say that it was not a “text book case” of CFS (my attorney came back with asking the doctor if there was anywhere in any of my doctor’s reports that said that I was not chronically fatigued? The ss doctor said “no”) next was the Fibromyalgia; somehow my pressure point test did not wind up in any of the reports? When the hearing finally ended, I left with no answer for my SSDI (no yes, but no “no” either)

The day after the hearing I went to see a Rhumotolist, to get diagnosed by an “expert” for the Fibro. I have been a little reluctant to see a Rhumotolist, mainly because of all of my goofy medication allergies. But, to my surprise he was really good! Due to my allergies and CKD there are a lot of pain medications that I am not able to take, he came up with Ultram which is aspirin based and does not have the compound that is in Darvocet, Percodan and most others that end in “cet”. He agreed that I do have Fibro and hopefully…this will help in my SS case.

Then finally it is the end of the school year, yea!!! My autistic son flew out to stay just a little over a month, he has been doing this since my mother passed away. With my mother gone, my dad doesn’t always have someone to watch him while he is working. Even though he is 15 and high functioning, you cannot leave him by himself. This summer, we had a really hard time with him. I think that his Psychiatrist is on the “conservative” side and does not have him medicated enough. Most of the time that he was here this time, he did not go to sleep until after 2:00 if he did sleep at all. He has always had a problem with sleeping, before we started him on medication he would “maybe” sleep for about a hour a day after the age of three and even before that he rarely took naps. It would not be so bad if he would stay in his room but, he wanders around (even outside sometimes) and gets into EVERYTHING! So, I had to say up with him and not take my evening medications most of the time he was here. By the time he left to go home, I was completely exhausted.
About getting into “EVERYTHING”, I do mean everything. He got into my husband’s clothes (he wears an adult XL and my husband wears an adult M, not sure why he does this? He even gets into my clothes???) he found my daughters artwork that she did in high school that has been missing since 2003. He likes to draw and has tons of his own paper, colored pencils and markers but, he got into and used up my brand new set of Prisma color markers. Everyone in the house’s stuff is free-reign but, he will have a fit if you touch his things. We are just about at our wits end, we have tried everything that we can think of to teach him that; you have to ask to use someone else’s things and you don’t steal. It is not that he does not have the ability to learn this but, it is like he is a clepto maniac. The things that he takes, he does not need like with the markers he had his own. Please post any suggestions or things that have worked for you if you have dealt with this or the sleep problem.

Auricular Biomagnets ~ To Quit Smoking

As you may know, I am in the process of trying to quit smoking. I ordered some of the Auricular Biomagnets from eBay, called Zero-Smoke. I have been using them since this Tuesday. Tuesday went pretty well. I did get a headache and I was really sick to my stomach. I am not sure what the upset stomach was from? Anyway, I did pretty well not smoking that day. But, then I wound up going to the store and asking for the cheapest, ultra light 100’s that they carried. The nasty cheap cigarettes have helped too because, I am used to the premium brands.

Yesterday (day 2) was really hard. I wound up spending the entire day shopping for cocktail attire for an awards banquet that we are going to this weekend. I have been to busy watching my favorite shows and not “What Not To Wear” to know that the “New Black” must not be black after all. First of all, I hate to shop especially when I have to go to the mall. It is really hard to find appropriate clothing when you are 40something and not a size 4. I wound up exhausted and frustrated. Two really great smoking triggers…I am trying not to be too hard on myself. I have cut down from a pack per day to 5 or 10. Yesterday though was another story 15! Then, I wake up this morning and all of that shopping flared up my Fibromyalgia. I am all stiff and my joints really hurt. I am feeling like I am 90 years old. Then, my husband tried on the new dress shirt that I bought him yesterday and oops…wrong size. So, off to the mall again. No telling what I am going to fell like tomorrow.

Despite all of this, me making this much progress is a major accomplishment! Like I have posted before, I have tried just about everything. So, I am still hopeful that these Biomagnets will finally do the trick and end this addition with nicotine.

Photo thanks to Flickr

A news article I found on CFS and FM and other vitamin info

This morning while looking for news articles on CFS and FM, I ran across an article on the use of magnesium for muscle spasms. I have been taking magnesium since I had my thyroid removed due to cancer. The magnesium has nothing to do with the thyroid or lack of but, when my thyroid was removed my parathyroid completely quit working. This only happens in 1 – 3% of thyroidectomy patients. I am not very good with percentages, when I went in for my thyroid biopsy; the doctor doing the biopsy told me “don’t worry, less than 5% of these ever come back anything.” Turns out I had follicular thyroid cancer.

Back to the article...it talks about magnesium being a natural muscle relaxer, that it can increase energy. I have been out of my magnesium for about a week and my muscle spasms have been raging! Not to mention my fibro pain and most of the time it is not that bad. Not that I don’t hurt, mine is more being sensitive to the touch rather than overall widespread pain. I am more CFS than FM, so I can not attest to magnesium and energy…I have none.

magnesium

Another good thing about magnesium is, depending on the form, is a great laxative (and is not cramping like some over the counter laxatives)! If you have chronic constipation the “magnesium citrate” is the laxative form. My favorite citrate brand, which I learned about from my doctor, is the “Rexall” brand. I have not been able to find this one in months; I used to be able to find it at Walmart in the vitamin section. I am now taking the “NOW” brand, it has the; oxide, citrate and asparate forms in it. The article says that magnesium glycinate and magnesium aspartate is the best forms for fibromyalgia. Magnesium, calcium and D work together, without one the other does not work as well.

Now about the parathyroid, your parathyroid regulates calcium in the body. Since mine no longer works, I have to take calcium, magnesium, prescription vitamin D (which is normally formed in the liver) and Calcitriol (which is normally formed in the kidneys). For me not having a working parathyroid working is much worse than not having a thyroid. The lack of my parathyroid was noticeable immediately after my thyroidectomy surgery. The day after surgery, I woke up to my hands seizing up, numb hands and feet, my lip and face twitching along with other muscles twitching. Then once I was able to eat, I started noticing that my throat would close up (just not want to work) while eating along with terrible hiccups! Until I started on all of the above listed medications, things were really terrible. Some of this still happens every once and a while but, nothing like it was.

If you want to learn more about vitamins, two of my favorite books are; Vitamin Bible and Herb Bible, by Dr. Earl Mindell. I have a few others that I will post later.

New Fibromyalgia Blog

While surfing around I found a wonderful Fibromyalgia blog called Fibrantliving. It has lots good information and links. Once I read more I will post more about this blog. Click on the picture to go to Fibrantliving blog.

Please, post comments and interesting thing you find here