The Doctor rang up...

...to say she had been talking to a colleague and decided I could increase my dose if I thought appropriate!
I'm to ring her tomorrow to discuss it.

Well so much for that 'good idea'!

Apparently my levels are now normal, so no increase in treatment.
The doctor glanced at her screen with the look of one who sees it in writing, so it's official - the fact I generally feel under par doesn't seem to cut any ice! However she did say it may take a while to settle down, so it seems I may have a course of appeal. She also asked whether I'd had one of the many bugs that have been going the rounds and I said 'no', but when I thought again this morning, I realised I'd had a mild dose of one, probably close to the time I felt most tired.
I am also going through the usual mid-summer 'can't sleep' cycle so no wonder I feel tired. I've decided to get more sleep and see how that helps.

Could be construed as cheating?

Blood test this morning... didn't take my thyroxine before I went so I wouldn't get a rise in levels! Well, yesterday I had felt I had more rather than less energy (which wasn't typical of the last month or so) so I didn't want to skew the reading in a detrimental direction.
I've just stared a course for work which includes awareness of common medications and, while looking up levothyroxine in the BNF, I was interested to see that a typical starter dose is at least twice the dose I have, so maybe I won't have much persuading to do to get the doctor to give me more. After the first few days and a blip a short while later, I really haven't felt much different from pre-treatment days.
Next doctor's appointment is in a week's time.

I feel like going back to sleep!

I do, I really do... going to sleep would be so nice right now, probably something to do with getting to bed at silly o'clock again last night, but as I actually slept till gone 8 this morning, I don't think it's all ordinary tiredness.
Anyway, moaning about it won't get anything done so I shall do as I generally do - get off the computer, which hasn't given me enough energy as I hoped it would, and go and get on with something.
Blood test in a week's time!

Recovery is quicker

I still don't feel I have quite enough thyroxine, and I need to make another blood test appointment and get my levels checked. Just over a month into this treatment, I'm having more 'down' days than 'up' days, but I haven't really worked out how much is normal tiredness as this is the height of June and my sleep pattern, such as it is, is always disrupted by the longest and shortest days.
I am still having sight problems and have had a few episodes of feeling 'wiped out' by activity, but I think I'm recovering more quickly from the exhaustion than I used to.
I'm beginning to wonder - anyone know any good thyroid jokes?

Three weeks in and a weigh-in

I reached the three-week point feeling, as I had for some days, that the thyroxine wasn't having any effect. In the last few days, though, I've been feeling slowly better. Perhaps the slump was because I was doing rather a lot - I had two four-hour train journeys on top of extra time at work, and spent several days in a too-hot-for-me house. It wasn't just ordinary tiredness, though, as my sight's been a significant problem over that time and still isn't quite as it should be.
I have, however, started to lose weight! It's been some time since simply cutting back had any appreciable effect, but I've lost a couple of pounds over the past few days through careful eating - a whole couple of pounds! Those with hypothyroid-induced weight gain may well appreciate how good this feels. This is on the same scale that I used to be able to lose weight, a couple of years or so ago, rather than the measly half pound I would have lost on the same regime over the past year.
In fact over the year I went from 9 stone 5lbs to 10 stone desppite my best efforts to the contrary.
I really want to get back to a suitable body-weight for my height and build, and am very much encouraged by this week's results.

Dreams

While I remember: the first week or so of thyroxine was one in which I had a couple of nasty dreams. It's not like me to remember dreams. I think they were the product of unresolved feelings after a medical scare that came to nothing, but I wonder whether the thyroxine has changed the depth at which I sleep, or at least portions of it?

... and more slump

I've discovered the Sunday afternoon sleep wasn't all there was to the slump.
Timeline:
Friday - day off, felt great
Saturday - long day's work, still feeling good
Sunday - extra long day's work, baking heat - fell asleep after work
Monday - slump
Tuesday - still slumped, fuzzy vision, hoarse voice (which, by the way, I haven't noticed for a week or so) but feeling rather better later in the day.
Wednesday - on a training course, the sitting/standing around is wearisome. Tired when I got in but not exhausted. Vision improved, voice somewhat better but not 100%.
So: I seem to be recovering slowly from this one. Was it the hard work and heat that set it off? Would it have happened anyway?
However, it's the second night running that I've been up and doing housework after work.

Slump

Well, after some great days and a fairly strenuous weekend - with two long shifts - I fell asleep in an armchair for a little whileon Sunday night and as today wore on I was very tired. This evening I had to keep going as I'd arranged to meet friends. By the end of the evening my voice was getting hoarse ( ut has been fine for some days) and I was having difficulty reading because my eyes weren't focussing.
So last week's down day wasn't a one-off. Was this brought on by the busy days before, or would it have happened anyway?
I did notice I'm not as tired as I sometimes have been, and suspect I am recovering a little more quickly.
Incidentally, when I had a chat with the doctor at the end of last week, she mentioned my thyroxine readings 'fluctuate wildly'. I don't know if this is just the way she expresses things or whether any doctor would say the same. What is undoubted is that they fluctuate.
Never mind, new tablet in the morning :-)

Zingy days

Immediately following my last post, I had three wonderful, energy-replete, sunny days. On the third of them I went on three walks and still had energy to spare at the end. I suspect today would have been simiar had I not been at work: even so, although I'm tired, it's ordinary tired not low-thyroxine tired.
Yay for medical science and a health service that provodes thyroxine for people who are short of it!

Not working!

Today I feel I might as well not have had any thyroxine. I'm sure that's not the case, and I would have felt worse without it, but after a morning trip to my piano lesson (very local) followed by picking up a few bits atTesco (also local), that was almost it for the day. I've really not been much use though I pulled myself together enough to tidy up a bit before my husband came in. Other than that I've been tempted to sleep, my vision is rather blurry again and my temperature's been up and down.
I'm wondering if the thyroxine has found some little niche to secrete itself in, doing some vital but invisible work, or whether I simply need a bigger dose?
Anyway, if the doctor's right and I'm producing enough thyroxine myself, just not utilising it efficiently, how come I'm being prescribed thyroxine? Is it just that if I'm given extra, I'll pick up more? How come I don't get TSH instead?

Bothersome

It's a lovely hot day today and I'm just sitting down for a rest after a fairly active six hours: a car boot sale (it's BankHoliday), quick visit to the garden centre (Ditto regarding BH), short drive out to drop my daughter at someone's house and a session of gardening.
The gardening raised the 'bothersome' bit as per title. As far as I know it's nothing to do with my thyroid, but arthritic feet deciding to be arthriticy.
Energy levels are coming back up so I shall probably go and do some gardening that doesn't use my ankles much.
I'm nearly a week into the thyroxine now. I understand it hangs around for at least seven days, which is why it's not a crisis if the odd dose gets missed, and I think that must mean I've not yet built up to the amount I will normally be carrying around and therefore can't really judge how it's doing. I'm hoping to get a bit more energy yet: whether it's possible and whether the doctor might think I need a higher dose, I don't know. My levels weren't drasticly low to begin with (something like 5 whastever-it-ises on the doctor's test and 6.6 on another blood sample I had done for something else).
I know people say the maintenance dose is often a bit lower than people would like, but any increase has to be better than not being treated.

Day 5

Eight hour shift at work and still okay at the end of it, so the thyroxine is definitely having some effect. Normally I come in and crash out more deeply, if you see what I mean, though this was a quiet shift, not too much time on my feet.

Day 4

Am wondering if this stuff is working: feeling weary today... but I'm told there's a difference in my face... I think this means skin tone as there are still odd puffy little patches on my cheekbones.

Day Three

Okay, I had better reassure you now that I don't intend to make this a blow-by-blow account of everything that might just be vaguely to do with thyroxine for the rest of my life.
Just for a few days... :-)
I had a very energetic morning this morning then wondered why I felt tired. For a while I worried that the thyroxine was wearing off. It was only later that it occured to me that I can still wear myself out, it's just that I can go longer before it happens.
Fell asleep on the couch this evening...
Earlier night tonight: two one thirties and a one o'clock don't help.

Hungry...

I felt peckish most of the morning. Is this my new, speeded up metabolism or an after-effect of eating rubbish for the last few days?

Day Two - 'tired' ain't what it used to be

I discovered yesterday that I can be tired without being hypothyroid tired. It's a bit confusing. It's what happens when you start thyroxine straight after a 1.30 am bedtime.
It doesn't feel the same. I felt I'd slowed down, and I was yawning, but without that mesmerising wooziness that I had before. There wasn't the need to try to shut my eyes for a minute just to keep going.
The odd things are, firstly, that I have all the old habits. I'm guarding the energy I have and eeking it out, although I've yet to get back to the point where I just need to stop. I can see I'll need to be aware of what I'm doing.
Secondly, I get to bed feeling I could go on for a bit yet: there's still some reservoir of freshness (even at a second 1.30am bedtime) even though a little while before I was struggling to stay awake. Did I just get past being tired? I don't think so, it didn't feel like a second wind. It felt as though there was a bit of the previous morning still with me, that optomistic feeling that goes with being rested and refreshed.
Well, today... I have to admit I haven't felt quite as good as yesterday, but not as shattered as previously, ither. It could be because I took the dose a bit earlier in the day so it wasn't as strong later on. It also seems the thyroxine is doing what it's been doing for a while: finding different thnings to target. Today my eyes have been pretty good but not perfect, my voice has had its weak moments and - sorry if this is TMI - my digestion is starting to return to what it used to be pre-kids. I've managed to waste far too much timeon the computer and not enough getting jobs done, so there's an important habit to change. It's now 8.30 in the evening and I'm somewhat tired but not wiped out. Tonight I need to aim for a sensible bedtime and give my new tablets a fair chance, which they won't really have if I have worn myself out.

Hoarse voice

A hoarse voice can be a sign of an underactive thyroid, but not necessarily. It's one of those things the doctors like to keep an eye on, isn't it, in case it turns into Something.
When my 'hoarse voice' started, back in about February, I didn't even recognise it as such. The weather had been evil and a bit of phlegm was not surprising. In fact, if you had asked me, I would have defined a hoarse voice as a painful voice, feeling as you do when a really nasty cold is about to start.
Over the intervening months it's developed from being an evening phenomenon until yesterday, talking to the doctor at 9.30 in the morning, I was already slightly throaty. After taking the thyroxine, my voice was normal till evening, when my usual call to my Mum started a bit of a relapse. Today, thyroxine notwithstanding, my voice is a somewhat relaxed. It's never been my strong point, though - have I strained it through raising it?
The doctor asked me if I'd ever smoked. I haven't. She wants to see how the thyroxine affects it before investigating further. I have realised that just as symptoms shifted around before I started thyroxine, so they may shift around while it's being fixed, and maybe (if the dose doesn't quite get rid of all symptonms) permanently.

Day One

DISCLAIMER: THIS BLOG IS A PERSONAL JOURNEY AND IS NOT TO BE TAKEN AS MEDICAL ADVICE. I'M NOT MEDICALLY QUALIFIED AND I MAY GET THINGS WRONG. WHAT'S RIGHT FOR ME MAY BE WRONG FOR YOU SO PLEASE ASK A DOCTOR IF YOU HAVE CONCERNS.

This isn't intended to be a big diary: I want to keep tabs on my experiences as someone taking thyroxine, and if by blogging I can add to the general pool of information, I'm happy to do so.
I'm also happy to reply to emails, but can't guarantee that I will check them regularly.

So, then.

Today at 10.50am, I took the first of my thyroxine tablets, the first of a series that's expected to continue as long as I live. I'm a 46 year old female; I was officially diagnosed as in need of thyroxine supplements after some blood tests, but the doctor and I are of the opinion that I've probably needed them for a long time. That's the nature of thyroid problems: they can creep up on you, waving handfuls of symptoms that look like symtoms of all sorts of other things, and it's quite easy for nobody to notice what's going on.

I have a long list of symptoms which I'm not about to share with the world, but I'm keeping a check to see whether any of them responds to treatment. I'm hoping at least some do, otherwise this will be a very limited blog, because even if I'm not publishing a list, I want to talk about what changes. There are, I think, changes already. This is what happened this morning:

I had my visit to the doctor first thing, and was given my free prescription. I'm in the UK, and hypothyroidism is one of the conditions that entitles the bearer not to pay £7.20 every time the doctor prescribes something. In my opinion this is very fair for thyroid suffers, but not very fair on those people with certain other chronic conditions who nevertheless don't qualify.

Now, as those who have thyroid problems will already recognise, there is only so much energy available and it needs to be spent wisely. While I was out, therefore, I did the day's shopping in order to avoid a second trip later in the day. I live only 10 minutes' walk from a major supermarket, but the walk there and back, carrying shopping, would normally be enough to wipe me out for three or four hours. Lately I've even fallen asleep once or twice, but normally I have to keep going so I rest as much as possible between activities. The key is not to stay on my feet too long, or if I have to be active, to stay on the move. It's when I stop that it catches up with me. Today, then, I came home and put the computer on, read the instructions for my new pills and took the first of them (little white thing, no hassle to swallow with water, preferably before breakfast and away from any calcium intake). I then sat at the computer, feeling the beginning of the 'wiped out' feeling taking hold and wondering if I should go and lie down. Then I can only assume the pill took efffect, though I hadn't expected anything clearcut on the first day. Instead of getting rapidly more tired, I stayed awake and - wow! - began to feel more wakeful!

I've been like this the rest of the day. Right now, at midnight, I still feel as though I've had the benefit of a siesta. I'm aware of a slight heaviness from the bottom of my neck to the top of my chest: I wonder if that's anything? I found my feet were fidgetting - why? Am I restless because of the new hormone levels? I have certainly been going round with a spring in my step, even cleaning the kitchen floor late this evening (and it's been a while since I did housework late on, though I'm an evening person. How long? A year? More?)

The most obvious, quantifiable benefit has been that my vision has been clear most of the day. I've been short sighted since I was 10, and for about three years recently I've also had reading glasses and those things will continue, but since some time last year I've had real problems focussing and generally having blurred vision. This evening I've had a slight recurrance of the blurriness, but most of the day - since I took the hormone - it's not been a problem It's been so nice not to feel my eyes are struggling!

Well, enough for now. Even if I'm feeling fresher than usual, I still need sleep.