I did not write this, but it hits very close to home, so I wanted to share...  If you know where it orginated, please let me know so that I can give credit where credit is due.
                                       
"Hi. My name is Hashimoto's. I'm an invisible autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid gland causing you to become hypothyroid.
I am now velcroed to you for life. If you have hypothyroidism, you probably have me. ...I am the number one cause of it in the U.S. and many other places around the world.
I'm so sneaky--I don't always show up in your blood work.
Others around you can't see me or hear me, but YOUR body feels me.
I can attack you anywhere and any way I please.
I can cause severe pain or, if I'm in a good mood, I can just cause you to ache all over.
Remember when you and energy ran around together and had fun?
I took energy from you, and gave you exhaustion. Try to have fun now.
I can take good sleep from you and in its place, give you brain fog and lack of concentration.
I can make you want to sleep 24/7, and I can also cause insomnia.
I can make you tremble internally or make you feel cold or hot when everyone else feels normal.
I can also give you swollen hands and feet, swollen face and eyelids, swollen everything.
I can make you feel very anxious with panic attacks or very depressed. I can also cause other mental health problems. You know crazy mood swings? That's me. Crying for no reason? Angry for no reason? That's probably me too.
I can make your hair fall out, become dry and brittle, cause acne, cause dry skin, the sky is the limit with me.
I can make you gain weight and no matter what you eat or how much you exercise, I can keep that weight on you. I can also make you lose weight. I don't discriminate.
Some of my other autoimmune disease friends often join me, giving you even more to deal with.
If you have something planned, or are looking forward to a great day, I can take that away from you. You didn't ask for me. I chose you for various reasons:
That virus or viruses you had that you never really recovered from, or that car accident, or maybe it was the years of abuse and trauma (I thrive on stress.) You may have a family history of me. Whatever the cause, I'm here to stay.
I hear you're going to see a doctor to try and get rid of me. That makes me laugh. Just try. You will have to go to many, many doctors until you find one who can help you effectively.
You will be put on the wrong medication for you, pain pills, sleeping pills, energy pills, told you are suffering from anxiety or depression, given anti-anxiety pills and antidepressants.
There are so many other ways I can make you sick and miserable, the list is endless - that high cholesterol, gall bladder issue, blood pressure issue, blood sugar issue, heart issue among others? That's probably me.
Can't get pregnant, or have had a miscarriage?
That's probably me too.
Shortness of breath or "air hunger?" Yep, probably me.
Liver enzymes elevated? Yep, probably me.
Teeth and gum problems? TMJ?
Hives? Yep, probably me.
I told you the list was endless.
You may be given a TENs unit, get massaged, told if you just sleep and exercise properly I will go away.
You'll be told to think positively, you'll be poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL, not taken seriously when you try to explain to the endless number of doctors you've seen, just how debilitating I am and how ill and exhausted you really feel. In all probability you will get a referral from these 'understanding' (clueless) doctors, to see a psychiatrist.
Your family, friends and co-workers will all listen to you until they just get tired of hearing about how I make you feel, and just how debilitating I can be.
Some of them will say things like "Oh, you are just having a bad day" or "Well, remember, you can't do the things you use to do 20 YEARS ago", not hearing that you said 20 DAYS ago.
They'll also say things like, "if you just get up and move, get outside and do things, you'll feel better." They won't understand that I take away the 'gas' that powers your body and mind to ENABLE you to do those things.
Some will start talking behind your back, they'll call you a hypochondriac, while you slowly feel that you are losing your dignity trying to make them understand, especially if you are in the middle of a conversation with a "normal" person, and can't remember what you were going to say next. You'll be told things like, "Oh, my grandmother had that, and she's fine on her medication" when you desperately want to explain that I don't impose myself upon everyone in the exact same way, and just because that grandmother is fine on the medication SHE'S taking, doesn't mean it will work for you.
They will not understand that having this disease impacts your body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, and that every cell and every body system and organ requires the proper amount and the right kind of of thyroid hormone medication for YOU.
Not what works for someone else.
The only place you will get the kind of support and understanding in dealing with me is with other people that have me. They are really the only ones who can truly understand.
I am Hashimoto's Disease."

Half way to normal

I have been feeling pretty good lately.  Not 100%, but pretty good.   I have been taking the HC again, and that has made a difference.  
I have even started keeping the house halfway clean.  I still don't have a lot of ambition, and dread going anywhere (but I think that has more to do with my two year old than with my energy level. :)  )  I have only been taking 1/2 the amount of HC than I should, so I am going to try increasing that and see if that continues to help. 

I don't feel any better now than I did last time I wrote in here.   I am not pregnant this time though.  I haven't felt good since my daughter was born, and she will be two years old in a few days.   I have pretty much given up.  I don't know what to do.   I haven't even bothered trying to tweek my meds in so long, because I just get hyper, but never better.  
Right now I am on 100mcg synthroid, 60mg Armour and 20mg HC.   Now my doctor thinks I have Candida, which I agree with, because I don't eat like I should.   So, all the meds in the world won't help than unless I can rid of the yeast.  I did go on an antifungal drug (forgot the name) and I tried the candida diet (no sugar,  including fruit, no grains, no yeast, no peanuts, no dairy.... so pretty much meat and veggies.)  I don't dissagree that it is a very healthy diet, but it is about impossible to do, especially the no fruit part.   Also, it takes a lot of energy to make everything from scratch, and I don't have energy. 

I have recently realized that everday I am waiting for tomorrow, hoping to feel normal again.  So for the last ten years, I have just been "waiting until".   Of course, life is not easy like this, but it is what I have, so I might as well just accept it and try to get on with life.  It doesn't mean that I won't try getting my candida under control, or that I will never again try to tweek my meds, but right now I am almost as sick of trying to get well as I am of being sick.  *sigh*

I am always tired, and always low, but I have been extra exhausted lately. So much so that I am quite depressed I think. Part of the problem is that I am pregnant again. I am excited about it, it is a very good and blessed thing, but I am still tired. Mostly though, I am tired because my hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue have hit me extra hard. I can tell the difference from just being tired, pregnancy tired, and hypo/AF tired. This is hypo/AF tired. I am sure the pregnancy had something to do with my hypo/AF getting worse, but I am so sick of being tired it isn't funny. In the last two years I have felt human for about a month. I took some of my hydorcortisone for a few weeks in January, and it is amazing how normal I felt. I actually was able to get through the day with out napping, and without even feeling the need to nap. I had the ambition to clean my house, and KEEP it clean. I wanted to play with my kids, and see my friends. It wasn't like I was full of crazy energy, I was just normal, or almost normal anyway. I always feel like I am lazy. I should just "buck up" and make myself do the things a normal person would do. If I just do it, I will get the energy. It is so not true. In fact, I just plain old don't have the stamina to do more than survive most days. Copied from my an earlier post...
I read something in the book "Adrenal Fatigue" that really hit home for me. ....
"These people may appear to friends and family to be lazy and unmotivated, or to have lost their ambition, when in reality quite the opposite is true; they are forced to drive themselves much harder than people with healthy adrenal function merely to accomplish life's everyday tasks."
That is exactly how it is for me. I really struggle with making it from one day to another much of the time. I am very blessed to have a husband who understands (or at least tries to) and helps me when I need it.There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. I didn't take the medication when I was pregant and breastfeeding Gwendolyn because the doctor said it was a "C" drug and I shouldn't. I did some shallow reasearch that scared be into agreeing with him, so instead, I just felt like crap for two years. Now that I am pregnant, and looking forward to another two years of this, I did some deeper research, and found that at the low doses that I would be taking, and the reason I am taking it, there is actually very little risk to the baby. I am still going to wait until my second trimester, to be extra catious, but the doctor has pretty much agreed to let me go on it next month! I am so, so, so looking forward to being able to function normally (or at least almost normally) again!

Hi.

I haven't been able to log in for some reason, but I got in today. Weird.

I am 12 weeks pregnant, so I am not totally sure in some cases if I am feeling one way or another because I am pregnant, or because of the drugs. lol I wasn't trying, but we weren't preventing either, so there you go. :) We are very happy, and I just hope all the bouncing around I was doing when I got pregnant doesn't effect the baby.

I did end up going on 1mg synthroid (actually, I am getting generic) and 60 mg Armour. It seemed to help a lot. I have more energy, and no heart palpitations. I just had some tests done, and my TSH is completely suppresed, but my T3 and T4 are now in the upper-middle normal" range... right where they should be. :)

I was in the process of weaning off the HC when I found out I was pregnant, so just continued to do so. I think the HC really made all the difference.

Of course, now I am tired most days, and sick.... but I am pregnant. On days when I feel good, I feel pretty good, so that is a good sign, right? ;)

I should post more.

I didn't stay at 180mg Armour for long, because I wasn't feeling quite right. The pounding heart wouldn't go away, and I wasn't sleeping well. I tried upping my HC some too, but it didn't seem to help. After a few weeks I dropped back down to 120mg Armour, and felt really good again. I think I just need the extra T4 without so much T3. I have another appointment with my doctor next week, so I am going to ask about getting a combo of Armour and Synthroid.
If I remember right, humans usually have 3% T3 to 97%T4, and Armour is 20/80. It works good for a lot of people, especially people that have a hard time converting. All I know is I felt so great right when I switched to Armour (I had all the T4 from the synthroid still in my body) and then the way my doctor explained it, is that the T3 in the armour kind of gave my body a kick start. So now I want some more T4 to go along with that T3.

I think my adrenals are getting better! I am taking 20mg HC. I will take 10mg in the morning, and if I forget my noon dose, I don't shut down like I used to, I just get a little tired. Before if I missed it, around 3:00pm or 4:00pm, it would be like someone unplugged me and it was time for bed. lol

I have been losing weight slower. Mostly because I hadn't been eating as good (I think it is harder to eat well when I am not getting enough hormone. I have way more cravings, ect.) I am back on track the last few days though, and exercising more, so eventually it will come off. ;)

Doing better, but still not quite there yet.

I did finally call the doctor, and he increased my HC prescription to 20mg. Since I was not better mentally, after seeing the doc and getting blood tests, I began to raise my Armour (with docs approval). I am now up to 180mg (or 3 grains), and the fog is pretty much gone, but I am still pretty low in ambition and sex drive. I am better than I was last summer, but not anywhere near as good as I was for those two weeks right after I switched to Armour.
I think it is my adrenals keeping me from getting that well again. (I think at the time, that much energy in my body freaked my adrenals out.... which is why I got even worse after those two great weeks then I had been before.)
So the good news is that I do feel human again, the bad news is that I am still working on getting myself all the way back to myself.
I think I might need to increase the HC just a bit again, because since I raised my Armour, my temps have been unstable again.
I have a follow up appointment with my doc next month.

ETA: I have also lost about 12 pounds so far! That is good news too. ;)

Feeling better

I am taking 20mg of HC now. I am feeling a lot better physically. Not 100%, but definitely better. Mentally I have improved a little bit, but I am still a pretty foggy, and have low ambition. I am going call my doctor about my increase in HC, and then I think I will try raising my Armour again. Now that my body has enough cortisol to handle the energy.... hopefully it will help. :)
I am also losing weight. I have been on a "diet"... meaning I have been eating healthier and keeping track of how much I eat. I lost 5 pounds in the last week and a half though, and that has never happened that fast before! I am not hungry between meals either, which was always a huge problem for me when trying to eat less before. I was hungry all the time, and it was like I couldn't control myself. Now I am having almost no problem resisting. :D

Hydrocotisone for my Adrenals

I went to the doctor on Thursday, and since I was not feeling much better, he prescribed hydrocortisone (from now on I will refer to this as "HC"). I am so excited it isn't even funny. Most doctors are afraid to prescribe it, because at high doses, it can be dangerous. At this low level though, it is really just replacing the cortisol that my adrenals are/should be making.
Taking HC is supposed to take over for the adrenals for a while, and give them a break, allowing them to heal. I don't fully understand it. If a person takes too much thyroid replacement, the thyroid will work less, and may even shrink, but replacing the cortisol, allows your adrenals to heal. It is important not to take too much though, and not to take it for too long, or your adrenals may shut down..... I think..

Anyway, I am just ready to feel good again.

He prescribed 10mg, taking 5 mg in the morning and 2.5 at noon and in the afternoon. I have been working my way up though, just in case of a thyroid dump. (If your body can't utilize the thyroid hormones in your system, the cortisol can jump start it, and you might end up with too much thyroid hormones working at once.) I am up to 7.5mg right now, and will probably end up around 20mg. Most people at www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/community seem to have the best luck around 20mg.
I will just do what my body tells me. (Letting my doctor know what I am doing.) He did say it might need to get raised, but I am not going to wait 6 weeks for that to happen. I have done enough waiting. (Sorry doc. ;) )

Since starting the HC on Saturday, I have been mostly tired, but I do feel just a tad bit more aware than I did. I think the HC is making me tired, but once I get an optimum dose, that should fix itself.

I am keeping track of my temp too. I am trying to follow this... http://www.drrind.com/tempgraph.asp

If my temps get stable from day to day, then it means that my cortisol/adrenals are optimized, and getting my temps higher means my thyroid is optimized. So the goal is higher more stable temps. Well, actually the goal is to feel better. :P

Waiting

At my last appointment with the doctor, he prescribed some T3 to go along with my Armour. When I went to fill it, my insurance wasn't going to cover it, and I didn't want to pay $53 a month when I could just raise my Armour dose. Armour is about 20% T3, 80% T4, and since my T4 was so low, that could only get better. He did say if my I started feeling hypo to call him.

I was doing ok, but after about a week, my heart was pounding a lot at night, and my insomnia was getting worse. I pretty much expected it, because from everything I have read, my body just can't handle that much energy while my adrenals are like they are. They just can't handle normal amounts of energy. So I lowered my dose back down, and I am sleeping better again.
I didn't call my doctor though. I will just tell him about it at the appointment.

I don't really feel any different after starting the supplements.