Hello everyone. Usually I am over in the lupus/fibromyalgia boards, but I'm posting here because I got some blood results back and putting them together with my symptoms/family history, I'm wondering if some of my problems aren't caused by my thyroid after all. But I have no idea (waiting on appt with an endo) so I thought I'd post here and see if I could get some opinions. :)
My symptoms are fatigue- some days it's ok and some days it's like I got hit by a truck. Or as I like to describe it, someone put a needle in me and took out all my energy. My brain is foggy and I often feel "out of it"- I forget everything I did three hours ago, I can't remember if I washed my hair or not, etc. Terrible balance as well- I'm always falling over, having to lean on someone or something.
My hair has been falling out for months, not in patches but my hairline has gotten noticeably higher and my hair looks extremely thin near my temples and sides of my head. I have very dry skin, to the point where it's itchy, and have several dry skin patches that don't go away. I have random rashes as well, that my rheumatologist hasn't been able to explain. I constantly feel ill, whether it's sore throat, body aching (legs and back), or headache. Headaches are my biggest problem and I have had unexplainable pain when moving my eyes for about
8 months. Eye doctor suspected Orbital myositis or Thyroid eye disease, did a CT scan but it was normal. I have an appt with a neuro-ophthalmologist next month.
Other than headaches/eye pain, my worst and most recent symptom, which has been going on for over 3 weeks, is extreme shakiness. It's worse in the morning and afternoon but is often present all day. My whole body feels trembly and shaky on the inside, but I feel it most in my legs, feet, and hands. My hands shake VERY noticeably and lately it's difficult to even text message or type on a computer. I drop things and my handwriting is a disaster. This is terrifying to me because I have no idea what it's from! The only thing that sometimes helps is taking a klonopin, which calms me down. But the shaking is not caused by anxiety...it's a new and significant symptom and it scares me quite a bit.
I haven't had weight gain, but that's because I have been, until recently, on Topamax, an epilepsy drug that pretty much eliminates your appetite. I lost about
25 pounds in four months, and had no taste for food. I'm closer to my normal weight now (about
120) because I am now on Lyrica.
My heart rate also gets high from little exertion. A pulmonologist took me on a slow walk around the floor his office was on, and my heart rate went up to 150 just from that walk. He scheduled an echocardiogram to make sure everything's ok. My heart often feels like it's racing or like it's skipping a beat, but I have had 2 ekg's and they were normal. Oh, and I have a chronically swollen, somewhat hard lymph node that will be biopsied soon.
I recently had a full panel of blood work done, and several things were abnormal. My white blood count was low (out of range) at 3.0 (EOS, LYM, and MON parts of the white blood count were all lower than the range). My ANA was positive (1:160), but this has been positive for months. My T3 was lower than the range, it was a 2.40. My TSH was 0.760 on a range of 0.340 to 5.60. Though this isn't out of range, it seems low to me since the range goes all the way up to 5.6. And my T4 was 0.74 on a range of 0.58 to 1.64.
Thyroid problems and autoimmune disorders run heavily in my family. I have Celiac Disease, my mother has Sjogren's syndrome and a chronic thyroid problem (diagnosed as similar to Wilson's syndrome, she's been on medicine for years and was extremely ill before diagnosed), my first cousin on my mother's side has Lupus and Hashimoto's, and my aunt on my mother's side also has Hashimoto's. My brother had a growth hormone deficiency and severe chronic IBS, though he tested negative for Celiac.
I have been diagnosed by one rheumy as fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue, and two other rheumys suspect lupus is "developing" based on my symptoms and positive ANA (and I am off and on chronically anemic), but my SED rate is normal (11.0) so I haven't been given an official diagnosis yet. But now, based on these blood tests and my symptoms (esp shaky hands) I am wondering if I should be fully investigating the possibility of thyroid.
Phew....sorry so long! I would really really really really really appreciate any opinions anyone has! I am struggling every day and on the search for answers. Thank you!!!
