#i have high tsh levels and i think my cholesterol also went up

[sleepless-crows]

.

[gettingthebestofyou]

So, who am I and what am I doing?

I’m a 40 year old woman living in the northeast US. I’m documenting my journey on a GLP-1 Medication. Feel free to come along for the ride or to ignore entirely. There will be frank discussions on weight loss, body image, and injectables.

I’m keeping this as anonymous as I can make it. I want it to be a diary of sorts.

Here’s my story…

I was always overweight as a kid, but I learned to have a very dysfunctional relationship with food because my mother hated her weight. I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t on a diet or I wasn’t thinking about what foods were good, what was bad, or how much I could have without looking bad in public.

I managed to keep my weight under check as a child, but I was always “chubby.”

In college I went up to 180 lbs. Even with being very active, I had no control over how I was eating and didn’t ACTUALLY understand nutrition.

After college I had a fairly active job, and I tried to keep active with gyms. I went on multiple diets many times. My weight fluctuated a lot.

Part of my job requires me to be in specific kinds of clothes, and to be in front of mirrors often. I see myself all the time. I do not like what I look like.

I did not like dieting and exercise, but I managed to stay just a little overweight for the majority of this time.

I was able to keep my body in check until 2014.

In 2014 I contracted Lyme Disease, but because I did not see a target rash and my test kept coming back negative (falsely) they wouldn’t medicate me. Over the course of 4 months I went to 5 different doctors, including one who wanted to diagnose me with Fibromyalgia and treat me with a course of muscle relaxants to sleep and caffeine to keep awake. The last Doctor finally treated the Lyme, and within 24 hours of being on medication I saw a 50% reduction in symptoms. I gained about 30 lbs in those four months.

In 2014 I also went back to school and my lifestyle changed drastically. From 2014-2019 it was a struggle to have energy, to move, even to sleep sometimes. It was all symptoms I had with the Lyme, but on and off, sometimes better, sometimes worse. Dieting became a struggle for me and the things I had done to lose weight before weren’t working.

During this time, I tried many drastic things to lose weight, which only worked for a time. I started to accept that I wouldn’t never be thin.

No matter what I did, in the end, my weight always went up.

When Covid hit, like so many others, everything stopped. I was unable to move, and keeping my weight in check was a dream at this point.

In 2022 I decided I’d lived with my head in the sand long enough. While I had been well other than my weight for years, I hadn’t seen a primary care doctor since 2015, and mine had retired during the pandemic. I went to a new primary, who found a myriad of issues.

Of note: high cholesterol, high lever enzymes, high A1C and high TSH.

I ended up changing primaries because I didn’t like how she seemed so unconcerned with my high results as I have a myriad of health issues in my family history.

My new PCP is amazing. With his guidance and the help of a nutritionist and a personal trainer, I’ve decreased my overall cholesterol to normal levels, my LDL is only slightly out of range, my liver enzymes (which indicated non-alcoholic fatty liver) are also now normal, and after referring me to an endocrinologist, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis which is now being treated.

Over the last year and a half, I have not been able to get my A1C down, though, no matter what changes I make.

After my last round of blood tests, and with my PCP’s agreement and cooperation, my endocrinologist has put me on Zepbound.

I am engaging on a GLP-1 Journey, like it or not. Some days I like it, some days I don’t.

Here, I’m going to recount it all.

Today is February 3, 2024.

Today I start finding the best parts of me.

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 96, March 2018

On Monday morning, I went to see Dr. Mah Mah at Narre Gate Medical Center in Narre Warren. I was running late as usual having slept in this morning, that classic Beatles song “A Day In The Life” could be a running monologue to describe most Mondays for me (Woke up, fell out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup. And looking up, I noticed I was late...).

The issues with my ears from the infection to blockage and soreness through the glands and sides of my face was becoming like an episode of Days Of Our Lives (Previously on Michael’s auditory health issues). I was doing everything possible to treat myself, even spending my actual birthday resting up in bed and giving myself regular doses of pain killers and antibiotics. And yet it still hadn’t cleared up or stop hurting.

Being a Monday morning, the waiting room was packed with mum, dads, tradies and annoying screeching children running around (luckily I could only partially hear them). I wished that my doctor could simply prescribe me with a new set of ears (maybe an ear transplant?) but alas that’s not realistic. She advised me to stop taking the Ciproxin ear drops and instead put 10 drops of Waxsol in each ear for the next two nights and came back to see her on Wednesday. I’ll seriously do anything at this point just to get rid of the pain and discomfort. https://1800bulkbill.com.au/medical-centre/narregate-medical-dental-centre

After my appointment, I had birthday shopping to do as it’s my Mum’s birthday tomorrow. Truthfully, I wasn’t in the best state health wise nor in the mood to be shopping but I didn’t really have a choice. Plus it’s my Mum and she’s important to me and I’ll happily put up with an ear infection for her. My first stop was JB HI-FI Narre Warren where I bumped into my friend Tom Armstrong who happens to work at the store. I briefly caught up with him and he helped me out with getting a powerbank. Tom is an absolute sweetheart, no joke!

Next stop was Chemist Warehouse to stock up on my drugs (of the prescription variety of course). I’ve made a couple of trips here recently and now it’s not as daunting and overwhelming as it usually is. I guess you slowly get used to where all the products are located plus it wasn’t that busy. I managed to be in and out within 10 minutes or so. I needed more waxsol drops, cotton balls, a liquid inhalant for my Euky Bear vapouriser and panadeine forte. https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/

Lastly I dropped into a lovely little shop called the Berwick Curtain Nook located inside the Village Arcade and off High Street, Berwick. Whilst I was feeling a little awkward coming here by myself, I pretty much knew what I wanted to buy Mum. I got her a paperback notebook with an elephant on the front, a ceramic ornament with a beautiful inspirational quote and a grey Scottish Terrier ornament.

The lady went to the trouble of wrapping the ornaments in tissue paper and placing them in a bright red gift bag as I mentioned that it was my Mum’s birthday tomorrow. Thankfully it didn’t quite turn into the scene from Love Actually with Rowan Atkinson going overboard with the gift wrapping (Any ribbon? Cellophane? Rose petals? A box? NO THANK YOU!) but my pain threshold wasn’t letting up. However, I was very grateful for her service considering how last minute this was. http://www.berwickcurtainnook.com.au/

On Tuesday morning, we celebrated Mum’s birthday by each having a much deserved massage at Body & Balance in Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre. We decided on getting the oil neck and shoulder massage plus reflexology foot massage and hot stone therapy. The lady did a really thorough job without going too intense in the pressure department. I could actually relax into it even with the noise of the broken air conditioner above me.

I did get myself a little confused though as the lady said something quickly and left the room. I was left there wondering if she was coming back or if I was supposed to go outside the room. I was still feeling half deaf and she was also softly spoken so it was difficult to hear her. Looking at the digital clock on the table, it read 10:30am meaning that I still had another 20 minutes and my massage wasn’t over. So therefore I trusted my instincts, got dressed and met her outside.

Mum and I both reclined back on these circular rotating arm chairs whilst our female massage therapists went to work on our feet. It’s been months since I’ve had a proper foot massage done so I could feel how tense and sensitive they were in places but it was still a lovely experience all the same. The only thing that bothered me was that the massage staff were all having a conversation in Chinese the entire time which I thought was kinda rude. But I decided to let it go and tried to focus on enjoying the massage. https://www.cranbournepark.com.au/stores/body-balance/

On Wednesday afternoon, Mum and I saw Dr. Mah Mah at Narre Gate Medical Center in Narre Warren. I think I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to the doctors in the past fortnight but now I’m getting over it. Thankfully the pain in my ears has eased up quite a bit and the waxsol drops have helped to soften up the ear wax blocking up the ear canals. So it was a huge relief when Mah Mah could syringe my ears so that I could hear clearly again.

I also decided to get a blood test ordered as it’s been over a year since my last one. She added a FBE (Full Blood Count), Urea/Electrolyte/Creatine, Cholesterol/Triglycerides/HDL/LDL, Glucose, TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) and TES (Testosterone) levels. Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed that I’ve been having periods of low energy and chronic fatigue so I think a blood test would be really helpful in figuring out what I’m deficient in.

In addition (I literally had a list of things to see her about today, no joke!), I wanted to get the dosage of my antidepressants increased. I’ve been taking Zoloft (Sertraline) tablets at 150mg for about 5 months now and my psychologist recommended that I increase it up to 200mg due to scoring a severe level of anxiety on a recent assessment I did. Plus I have noticed that there are times where the antidepressants seem ineffective when it comes to my mood so it couldn’t hurt to try increasing it.

On Thursday morning, I had my first Employ Your Mind session with my support worker Ally Lamb at Wise Employment Narre Warren. Basically, EYM is “a program that helps build the thinking and social skills that are important for work and other areas of life”. Ally recommended it to be as she knows how much I struggle with communication in social situations and dealing with my mental health issues. http://www.fifeemploymentaccesstrust.com/employ-your-mind.html

The first session was pretty straight forward and more of an introduction to the program. There are four phases in total which each run for 6 weeks with a short break in between. Phase 1 is done individually with the learning coach (Ally Lamb) whilst Phases 2,3 and 4 are run in small groups. We went through what her role as a learning coach is and I also filled in a questionnaire called the General Self Efficacy Scale.

The second part of the session involved the concept of cognitive remediation and going through parts of the human brain (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum, temporal lobe, brain stem). Basically it’s about being able to improve cognitive or thinking skills. Lastly we discussed how mental health issues can affect or impact upon cognitive skills and make it even more difficult to learn, concentrate and retain information. http://www.wiseemployment.com.au/en/community/ndis-supports-and-services/

Unfortunately my ears were still not 100% clear even after I got them syringed/irrigated at the doctors yesterday. It’s hard to explain but they still “feel” blocked even though my hearing is a lot better than it was earlier this week. I could be experiencing tinnitus or that my ear canals are too dry and not lubricated enough. Hopefully it clears up and heals naturally over the next few days.

On Friday morning, Mum and I went to the Morning Melodies social function at the Waltzing Matilda Hotel in Springvale. We were running late (no surprises there!) so we didn’t end up getting to the function room until around 10.45am or so. Thankfully we caught most of the performance though. Today we had Brian Muldoon doing the “Johnny O’Keefe tribute” show. It was partly a history lesson as Brian talked about Johnny’s life back in the early 60’s and 70’s, the television shows we became known for and the downward spiral that followed due to his mental illness.

Brian performed many of his classic hits including Shout!, Sing Sing Sing, She Wears My Ring, So Tough, The Sun’s Gonna Shine Tomorrow, It’s too late she’s gone, The Wild One and She’s My Baby. Most of Johnny O’Keefe’s songs carried a positive, uplifting message to them in order to help people’s moods up and push through the tough times in life. I feel like this is very relevant to the challenges we face in life today. https://www.entertainoz.com.au/listings/brian-muldoon/artist_profile_details

On Friday night, I went to a Vinyasa flow yoga class with Jade Hunter at YMCA Casey ARC, Narre Warren. I haven’t been to a fitness class in nearly two weeks now due to my health problems and being busy with other commitments like my birthday, appointments and my VCAT hearing. However, considering my ears were feeling a lot better, I decided to go back tonight. It’s funny how quickly you miss the gym when you haven’t been for a while.

I also read that certain yoga poses can help to unblock and relieve the pressure built up inside the ear canals so there’s another good reason to do. Tonight was a little more challenging than usual with lots of balancing, twists and binds thrown into the mix. I wasn’t really prepared for all of that nor did I have the flexibility to do everything Jade was demonstrating (Putting my legs behind my head? Yeah right!).

We did our usual Vinyasa flow sequence (Downward Facing Dog, Plank, Chaturanga, Cobra/Updog) plus Standing Poses (Warrior 2, Standing Forward Bend, Half Lift, Chair pose, Reverse Triangle pose), Seated Poses (Boat pose, Staff pose, Wide Legged Forward Bend, Happy Baby) and Inversions (Shoulder Stand, Plow pose). I could hear my ears popping which was a good sign plus my body heated up quite quickly during the class.

Jade does go the extra mile though considering we are doing yoga inside a creche. She added candles, burning incense, beautiful yoga music and some brass Tibetan bowls and chimes to the space which gave it the appropriate atmosphere for a yoga class. https://www.doyouyoga.com/the-perfect-vinyasa-flow-routine-for-beginners-30159/

[type2diabetestreatments-blog]

The 411 on Diabetes + Thyroid Disease

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/the-411-on-diabetes-thyroid-disease/

The 411 on Diabetes + Thyroid Disease

My dad has hypothyroidism, as does my grandmother. For my whole life, my dad has taken a tiny little pill every morning to make sure his metabolism functions properly. I always thought that compared to diabetes, thyroid disease wasn't very "serious" — all my dad needed to do was pop a pill! — and that it was nothing I needed to worry about anyway. But then, because of my diabetes and my "genetic predisposition," my endocrinologist insisted on starting to examine my thyroid regularly...

But despite my risk factors, I never knew much about thyroid disease. Now's as good a time as any to learn.

January is actually National Thyroid Awareness Month, so for this edition of our 411 series on diabetes complications and co-morbidities, we're taking a look at another body part in distress: the thyroid.

What Does It Do Again?

The thyroid is a little butterfly-shaped gland that lives in the middle of your neck, and it's part of the body's endocrine system, where diabetes also dwells. This system controls your body's metabolism. One of the thyroid's primary responsibilities is to manage your metabolism by producing two thyroid hormones: T3 and T4. An overactive thyroid can cause weight loss, a quick heartbeat, and other signs that your body is "on the go" a little too much. The opposite, an underactive thyroid, leaves people feeling sluggish, and causes weight gain and slow heartbeat. Essentially, your body's normal equilibrium slows down.

Turns out, thyroid issues are incredibly common. They're so widespread, in fact, that Oprah was all on about it a few years ago. Thyroid disease affects 30 million people in the US — and some experts think thyroid disease may affect nearly 56 million Americans.

Note that "thyroid disease" is actually an umbrella term for several different conditions that can affect this gland, including:

hypothyroidism

hyperthyroidism

autoimmune thyroid disease, which includes Graves' Disease and Hashimoto's Disease

goiter, which is an enlargement of the thyroid

thyroiditis

thyroid cancer

As you can imagine, none of these are good news for your body.

There are a whole host of different risk factors for thyroid disease, and you guessed it, diabetes is one of them! Experts estimate that about 30% of people with diabetes will be affected with a thyroid disease, so it's a big one for us.

Diabetes itself does not cause thyroid issues, but those with an autoimmune condition are automatically at an increased risk for other conditions. In the case of thyroid disease, PWDs are at risk for the two autoimmune-type of thyroid diseases, Graves' Disease (hyperactive thyroid) or Hashimoto's Disease (underactive thyroid). Approximately 10% of type 1 PWDs will have a thyroid condition. Although type 2 diabetes is not an autoimmune disorder, there's also an increased incidence in thyroid diseases, but for reasons that researchers can't explain. One theory is that thyroid disease and type 2 diabetes both affect the elderly, although we've learned that's not 100% true in all cases. On top of that, women are at a much greater risk for thyroid issues. Once again: lucky us!

How Can You Tell?

The symptoms of hyperthyroid and hypothyroid are starkly different, and it can be difficult to tell there is an issue right away because symptoms can develop very slowly. They also often match symptoms for a whole list of other conditions, so it can be tricky to figure out the culprit. This is why regular thyroid screenings are important.

Hyperthyroidism symptoms include quick pulse and pounding heart, weight loss despite an increased appetite, shortness of breath when exercising, muscle weakness or tremors, and trouble concentrating.

As you can probably guess, hypothyroidism symptoms are the polar opposite: fatigue and sleepiness, persistent feeling of being cold, dry skin, brittle hair, weight gain despite no change in diet, low blood pressure or a slow pulse. Hypothyroidism can also affect fertility in women. Yikes!

Symptoms of thyroid conditions can sometimes be confused with symptoms of diabetes, or attributed to other circumstances. Take veteran diabetes journalist David Mendosa, who wrote about his diagnosis with hypothyroidism last Spring. He writes, "My feet were cold most of the time. Even when I wore thick woolen socks to be, my feet were often so uncomfortable that they interfered with my sleep. Since I have diabetes, I assumed that my problem was that I had one of the most common complications of our condition, peripheral neuropathy. So I focused all the more on controlling my blood glucose levels in hopes of reversing my problem some day. Good strategy in general. But worse than useless when the assumption is faulty. My problem is hypothyroidism."

Does the Thyroid Affect Diabetes Care?

One thing to note is that although hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism do not directly affect blood sugar levels, not treating thyroid disease can cause lots of issues in managing your blood sugars because the effects the symptoms have on your body and how your body metabolizes glucose and insulin. For instance, with hyperthyroidism, insulin "clears" through your body faster, leaving you with higher blood sugars.

Hyperthyroidism can cause rapid heart rate and increases the risk of abnormal heart rhythm, so it increases the risk of heart problems, compounding the heart risks posed by diabetes.

Hypothyroidism can cause insulin to move through your body much slower, which could leave you with lower blood sugars. because the insulin "sticks around" longer. Hypothyroidism can also cause an increase in cholesterol and LDL levels, and an increase triglyceride levels, which adds to the danger of high cholesterol with diabetes.

So clearly it's all bad news if you don't catch the thyroid problem quickly!

What Up with Diagnosis & Treatment?

You'll want to see your endocrinologist (endocrine system, remember?) or primary care physician asap. You may be referred to a doctor who specializes in thyroid issues (as opposed to diabetes), but your endocrinologist will know exactly how to diagnosis you. The primary way to diagnose thyroid disease is something called a TSH (Thyrotropin Stimulating Hormone) test, which checks the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone in your system. It's a very easy and inexpensive blood test, so don't delay if you think you have symptoms!

However, sometimes the test will come back false-normal, so testing for antibodies or having a full Thyroid Panel can also turn up things that the TSH test might leave out.

Autoimmune thyroid diseases, like Hashimoto's Disease, are usually much easier to manage than diabetes. The hormone replacement treatment comes in pill form, so taking the medication is easy-peasey. But some patients have difficulty finding the right type of thyroid replacement pill. While there are two types of natural thyroid hormones, called T3 and T4, only T4 is found in the common thyroid replacements. For many people, this doesn't work well. In theory, T4 medication would also convert to T3, but research suggests this doesn't always happen. You'll want to do your homework and make sure you get on the right treatment for you!

Patient Lindsay O'Rourke writes on the TuDiabetes group for Hypothyroidism: "I went on my generic prescription, levothroid, and even at a very low dose it was an extreme difference. I felt back to normal. My energy was back, and a slew of other symptoms went away."

Hyperthyroidism can be treated with anti-thyroid medicines such as methimazole (Tapazole) and propylthiouracil (PTU), but the most common way of treating hyperthyroidsim is radioactive iodine therapy. Weirdly, it kills off the thyroid, causing permanent hypothyroidism. So you're really just trading one problem for another.

Because of the common problems with misdiagnosis and mistreatments, there's a whole movement of Thyroid Patient Advocacy, both in the U.S. and abroad.

So far, I personally have been lucky in the thyroid department, and have not had any issues, although Amy has not been quite so lucky. I know that being a woman with type 1 diabetes puts me at a greater risk for thyroid disease and it's something I fully intend to keep an eye on. If you've dealt with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, we'd love to hear your story in the comments!

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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