PDF Ebook Living Well With Hypothyroidism
Millions of Americans like you wake up each day with hypothyroidism, a condition you don’t even know you have. You’re fatigued, your hair is falling out, you’re gaining weight and depressed. You don’t even think to mention your symptoms to the doctor because you assume age, or not enough sleep, or too little exercise is to blame. Unfortunately, you don’t recognize these problems as common symptoms of hypothyroidism, a condition that affects an estimated twenty million Americans, possibly even more. If you’re a woman, you’re up against a one-in-eight chance of developing a thy-roid disorder during your lifetime. When you’re living with undiagnosed hypothyroidism, you aren’t living well.
Those of you who do mention your problems to the doctor may have a different experience. After reciting a list of symptoms right out of a Thyroid 101 textbook, you may be told by your doctor that you are suffering from depression, stress, PMS, menopause, old age, or, simply, that it’s probably just “in your head.” If you’re living with hypothyroidism and you’ve been misdiagnosed, that’s not living well.
Countless numbers of you are living unknowingly with hypothyroidism after treatments that your doctors already know can cause hypothyroidism. Some doctors actually forget to tell you that after you’ve had all or part of your thyroid removed due to Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism, nodules, or cancer, you will almost certainly need thyroid hormone replacement. If you’ve had radioactive iodine treatments or take antithyroid drugs to “kill” your overactive thyroid, your doctor may have forgotten to mention that hypothyroidism is usually the result. Living with hypothyroidism that results from treatment for other thyroid conditions is not living well.
Some of you suspect—often correctly—that you are hypothyroid, but you cannot get diagnosed. You have a long list of symptoms and a family history of thyroid problems, but you still can’t even get a thyroid test. Sometimes your doctor is arrogant, some times ignorant; sometimes you come up against a system designed to avoid paying for medical tests. Whatever the reason, doctors repeatedly refuse to test you in the face of symptoms and history. Even if you manage to get tested, you risk being told that you’re normal by doctors who believe that thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) test numbers don’t lie—but patients, symptoms, medical history, and experience do. Your doctors rely on numbers on a page—ignoring common sense, direct examination, and overwhelming symptomatic evidence. When you are living with undiagnosed and untreated hypothyroidism, it’s impossible to live well.
Once you are diagnosed with hypothyroidism, many of you perhaps even a majority—do not feel well on the standard therapy. One Thyroid Foundation of America study found that up to two thirds of hypothyroid patients still suffered symptoms—such as muscle pain, lethargy, weight gain, and depression despite what doctors considered sufficient treatment. A survey I conducted in 2002 of nearly two thousand patients found that more than half indicated that they were not satisfied with their quality of life after treatment, and still suffered from a variety of debilitating symptoms. If my e-mail inbox is any indication, there are many of you who share these complaints. You’re hypothyroid, you don’t feel well, and your doctors say, “You’re fine, there isn’t anything else we can do for you.” Insufficient treatment that leaves you symptomatic is definitely not living well.
CONTENTS
Epigraphs
Introduction
Introduction to the Revised Edition
Part I: Signs, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Chapter 1: What Is Hypothyroidism?
Chapter 2: Are You at Risk for Hypothyroidism?
Chapter 3: What Are the Symptoms and Signs of Hypothyroidism?
Chapter 4: Hypothyroidism Diagnosis and Symptoms Checklist
Part II: Conventional and Alternative Treatment Options
Chapter 5: Thyroid Hormone Replacement
Chapter 6: Alternative Medicine for Thyroid Disease
Chapter 7: Alternatives: Vitamins, Herbs, and Supplements
Chapter 8: Alternatives: Mind and Body Approaches
Part III: Challenges and Controversies
Chapter 9: Diagnosis Challenges and Controversies
Chapter 10: Treatment Challenges and Controversies
Chapter 11: Other Controversies
Part IV: Special Concerns of Hypothyroidism
Chapter 12: Losing Weight Despite Hypothyroidism
Chapter 13: Depression and Hypothyroidism
Chapter 14: Fatigue and Other Continuing Concerns
Chapter 15: Infertility, Pregnancy, and Breast-feeding
Chapter 16: Hypothyroidism in Infants and Children
Chapter 17: Hypothyroidism After Thyroid Cancer
Part V: Living Well Now and in the Future
Chapter 18: Living Well with Hypothyroidism: Creating Your Plan
Chapter 19: Looking Toward the Future
Resources
Glossary
References
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Mary J. Shomon
Praise
Copyright
Cover
About the Publisher
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