Transitional period.

So, I got my lab results yesterday.  Something about looking at the actual numbers felt good to me.

My TSH levels (the thyroid hormone levels) are 5.75, which is high, since the normal range is somewhere between .80 and 4.5.  I also found out that, once this number moves above the normal range, it keeps increasing exponentially until treated, which means that someone with a TSH level of 15.5 might not feel much worse than someone with a TSH level of 5.0.

I also had a test to see if my thyroid perxoidase antibodies were normal.  Apparently, the normal range is between 0-34 (I don't know how 0 can be normal, but I'm not a doctor).  I have 122.  One hundred and twenty-two.  This means that my body is attacking itself, which requires a lot of energy.  Hypothyroidism already makes you tired, but when your body is always fighting, it's a wonder how you can even move at all.  I wonder how I can even move at all.

Less importantly, I'm vitamin D deficient (most people, especially in Portland where it's always raining, have this problem), and my iron is in the "low normal range," which my doctor doesn't seem to like, and wants me to fix.

Here's the cumbersome part:  My thyroid medicine needs to be taken first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, with 8 ounces of water... I can't eat an hour after I've taken it, and I can't take vitamins or any other medicine for four hours after I take it.  This means that if I wake up with a headache, I can't do anything about it for 4 hours (which happened to me this morning and has been happening every morning lately).  It also means that I have to treat my various vitamin deficiencies at a different time of day from my treating my thyroid deficiencies.  I find this kind of funny since I never went on the birth control pill because I knew I'd never remember to take it every day.

Today was my first dose.  I woke up at 7 to take it, and then went back to sleep for an hour and a half.  I think I'll have to keep doing this if I want breakfast during the week, given the restrictions. I'm aware that it's highly unlikely for me to feel any changes on Day 1, but maybe taking that first pill raised my optimism.  Today seems better than yesterday.

I have to go back for another blood test in three weeks.  I'll let you know how it goes.