Is this a thyroid problem????

Hi All,

I usually post in the gerd section, but am currently getting a second opinion for a post surgical problem and I am waiting for results from that before I get my friends there up to speed.

At least one of my symptoms my be related to the surgery I had in March.

For the past 6 weeks I have become extremely intolerant to the cold(It is winter here in the southern hemisphere) My feet, hands and nose especially feel like they are snap frozen. My fingertips also feel kind of numb. I don't usually feel the cold this way, except once when my iron level was 3. (13 when checked 17 weeks ago). I have infusions often and opted for injections in my bum this time. 10 injections over a period of 14 weeks. My bloods will be checked early Sept to see if this method was successful.

I have been waking up several times during the night with my arms and hands asleep.(this has been going on longer than 6 weeks) I have pain in my thumbs, forefingers and wrist off and on.

Hair loss, fatigue, impatience and migraine aura (without pain)

Constipation off and on. (again unusual for me)

A constant sensation of a lump in my throat and difficultly swallowing phlegm. YUK. (this, I thought could be surgery related)

Also, about 4 weeks ago my forefinger on my left hand went white all the way down to my second knuckle, and the my fingernail went blue before the colour came back. It lasted for about 2 to 3 minutes and happened on 3 consecutive days. Nothing that I can think of precipated this happening, and each time it happened I had just got out of bed.

It looked just like a dead persons finger. Freaked me out.

In the past I had a nodule discovered on 1 side of my thyroid and years down the track, another on the other side. I had a FNA on both which was NAD.

I have a blood pressure of 100/65 and a resting pulse of 47.

I have no serious medical conditions.

I look forward to your feed back.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Buzz.

 

Hi Judy and thanks for your prompt response,
I forgot to mention (how ironic) that my attention span/level of concentration is quite bad also. I guess that could be iron related too.
I have 2 sisters that are hypothyroid and one also has type II diabetes. I also have a brother with type II and another brother who has swollen painful joints, which was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis which kicked off diabetes type II in him. I'm not familiar with how one autoimmune thing apparently kicks off the other, but he says that he can not take diabetes medication with the meds he is taking for arthritis. My mother had diabetes too and died last year from complications related to PPS (God rest her soul).
My eldest sister and I were discussing family ailments and as my cousin had MS and my great aunt had lupus and Dad had alzheimer's, we're probably a gene pool that was better left alone.
I am the youngest of 9 and am hoping all the defects were flushed out of the pipes( so to speak) before they got around to creating me. hehe, wishful thinking.
Are you familiar with autoimmune conditions kicking off other autoimmune conditions? Am I more likely to get thyroid problems because of family history?
Thanks
Buzz

Oh, I have some of both, I got the hypothyroidism from my mom and both my uncle and aunt have it and my uncle now has Diabetes and Gout. Bit I'm the only one with the Hashimoto(autoimmunine)form of it and while I've had the thyroid condition for 12 years it was only diagnosed as autoimmune last year. I also have Fibromyalgia and EBV Chronic Fatigue Syndrome both autoimmune diseases and all post radiation for my 2nd brain tumor. I would definetly get to an Endocrinologist and fast, I get all those symptoms, minus the blue part, and it is a signal that either one of my other meds is interfering with my thyroid med or that I need to have the med adjusted. Hope this helps and its only a blood test so it can't hurt.

I don't have much to offer in regards to your overall thyroid post, but I thought you would like to know the name of your "dead finger" symptom :) I get it too, it is called Raynaud's disease. Essentially your body overreacts to stress and cold environments. Not sure if I can post a link to outside resource's (and if not let me know so I can edit and remove the link) but you can read more about it here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raynauds-disease/DS00433/DSECTION=causes

At the very bottom it says that it has been linked to thyroid gland disorders.

Hi Buzz,

I was just going to say that it sounds like Raynaud's phenomena but I see Tired Girl beat me to
it. You do have a lot of symptoms of hypothyroidism, fatigue, constipation, lump in throat,
difficulty swallowing, slow heart rate, and hair loss. Like Judy suggested, I would ask for a
TSH, free T3 and free T4. You might also want to ask for thyroid antibody tests because
with your family history, I would bet that you have Hashimoto's. Hopefully if you start
treatment for your thyroid, it will stop the development of another autoimmune disease.

Buzz,
I sent you the cellulose thing in the GERDs forum. The fact that you may have a thyroid issue makes you 10 more pron to cellulose, micro cellulose intolerance. really!
Check out www.stopthethyroidmaddness.com. Get the book. You are going to have to educate yourself and be your own advocate. The book will become your bible.
Again, a cheap fix that will revamp your life.
When you read the book, you will feel like you found a home, that's the way I felt.