Hypothyroid

I found out this week that my blood test came back showing that I was Hypothyroid. I've been doing a lot of research on the subject, and it looks like there are a lot of things I should avoid in my diet to make things better. No Soy, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Corn, Gluten, and Red Meat just to name a few. I don't eat a lot of red meat any way so that should be an okay thing. Corn and Broccoli are some of my favorite vegetables, so they will be hard to eliminate. I figure I can have them every so often.

It's a little frustrating to think that I've just now been diagnosed, and ALL of these things that I've had issues with for YEARS now are all due to being hypothyroid. I've been treated off and on for depression which is linked to hypothyroid. I've had headaches and migraines for quite a few years now. I even had an MRI a couple years back about them. The doctors couldn't find anything, and just assumed that since I was in college they were stress related. I complained about being tired all the time. So they sent me in for a sleep study, they determined I did not have sleep apnea, but probably was just a problem with Seasonal Affective Disorder....again more anti-depressants. Abdominal cramping, the weird *gas bubbles* under my ribcage, my dry skin, joint and muscle soreness, weight issues, ALL of it are symptoms of an under active thyroid.

I have been wondering how long ago they could have tested me for this and it would have resulted in a positive test? I found a study stating that if you have elevated TSH levels but normal T4 levels then most likely you were sub-clinical for hypothyroid, and that most people with this result will test positive for hypothyroid at some point in the future. That it was a matter of "when" and not "if". What I find *really* interesting about this is that when I was 16 I was tested and was told I had the elevated TSH, but the T4 were fine. It was about 2 years after that point that I started having issues with "depression" and weight gain. I'm wondering now if they had retested me at that point if I would have had a hypothyroid at that point.

I know there isn't much use on focusing on such things that can not be changed, but part of me knows that I could have lived the last 10 years very differently. I think that I'm a fairly active person (more so before I had the baby...she makes it hard for me to get out and really work with the horses and such. She's 6 months old now BTW), and now that I'm taking the synthetic thyroid hormone, hopefully it will be easier to get back into shape. I've lost a LOT of muscle tone after the C-section and Gallbladder surgery.

So the future will tell how this all will work out. I'm hoping for the best. I meet with the endocrinologist in a couple of weeks to find out more about the whole thing, but I think that I've learned quite a bit just by the research I have done on my own.

On a lighter note, I've signed up for classes, they start August 30th....Within the next couple of years I'll be a Nurse! Hopefully!