I was passed thru to my new endocrinologist's triage nurse today after calling and asking about receiving my latest test results. I got her voicemail which stated not to bother to ask unless it's been two weeks. Since that's not until Friday, is it any wonder I almost hurled my headset across my cubicle?
Waiting for results is almost worse than thinking there is something wrong in the first place. Especially when you know something is absolutely NOT right. Back in August, I mentioned to my doctor that I was having some discomfort in my neck. Having had every doctor comment on how large my thyroid feels and having known since my last thyroid ultrasound in 2009 that I had a goiter, I have been just completely miffed that nothing ever shows in my blood work and I thought I should push the issue and ask about it again. So my doctor sent me for the ultrasound and after a couple of weeks of not hearing anything, I remembered to call my doctor's office and ask if they'd received the results. I was told the hospital needed my previous ultrasound to compare it to. I was so busy that it was weeks before I remembered I had to do this and to be honest - after years of being told "nope, everything's normal," I didn't really anticipate there'd be anything there. I finally got around to dropping off the old results at the hospital in early October.
After that, I went on a glorious two week exploration of Northern Spain and forgot my life entirely. I got my exercise on about six weeks before the trip and it carried me through all the walking and stair climbing. I continued after returning home but couldn't walk miles a day. After finding out at my Hematologist's that I weighed the same and then entering into a period of cold weather, I was deterred again from exercising, even though I know I need it for strength. Learning about my weight reminded me of the thyroid ultrasound so I called my doctor's office to ask again if they'd heard anything back. This time I was told the hospital had lost it but after finding it would be taking a look at it that day. Another couple of weeks went by and just before Christmas I received notification in the mail that I had a nodule on the right side of my thyroid. I quickly made a call to my doctor's office and asked for a write up for new blood work and made an appointment for a week later to discuss the results.
I should probably say here that I've thought there was something wrong with my thyroid since I was in my twenties. I had a doctor at the time that checked it every time I came in - no matter what I was really there for. God Bless him, at least he believed me when I said I wasn't a pig. Always normal though. By the time I was pushing forty, I'd given up believing in what I knew to be true about myself. I gave up that fight for being repeatedly treated as though I was insane.
After two years of asking my doctor every time he took blood to test me for antibodies and getting increasingly more and more downtrodden, by a chance mistake, some showed up. (It can take a person years to be diagnosed with anything autoimmune as the antibodies don't always show up.) When I got the test back, a different antibody had been tested by mistake - a TRAb antibody called thyrotropin receptor which is usually associated with Graves Disease but could also point to Hashimoto's. It was high. Whatever nervousness I experienced from learning the results, they took a backburner to the knowledge I had at last been vindicated.
So after meeting with an ENT doctor, having another ultrasound (to find out it had grown a smidge,) and then a biopsy, I found out it was not cancer. My immediate reaction was one of complete disappointment. I almost had a breakdown screaming and crying at relatives on the phone. It's terrible, but that very day, I would've risked cancer to have the damn thing removed. After some additional research, I have read that some people feel great afterwards and have relief from all their symptoms and some get so hypothyroid they gain a tremendous amount of weight. Since I cannot afford to gain anymore- again I am perplexed. So here I am again, waiting for test results to see where I am. To see if any other weird antibodies show up. To see what happens next. I'm so terrified and confused.
If you think you might have symptoms not adequately explained by PCOS, a good website to read is this one which explains the connection between PCOS and an auto-immune disease called Hashimoto's. Hashimoto's is increasingly and most frequently connected with PCOS.
http://www.drhagmeyer.com/hashimotos-thyroid-disease/women-pcos-often-have-hidden-hashimotos-autoimmune-thyroiditis/
However, I've had many chats with many other PCOS sufferers in my support groups who have been diagnosed with Graves, Hashimoto's, Lupus, and many other autoimmune diseases. If you have been diagnosed with PCOS it would be helpful for you to take this quiz, study the blood work you need done and then take the quiz to your doctor and ask for it. If he/she won't help you, find a new doctor.
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/endocrinology/l/blchecklist.htm
Thanks for listening and have a good night!
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