I wanted to take time to share a bit today about my journey and diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This is a journey I’ve been walking for over a decade and one that continues on to this day. And unfortunately, it’s a disease that many women share.
What is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis?
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is an autoimmune form of hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is when a person’s thyroid doesn’t work well enough. It’s a bit behind. It doesn’t create enough thyroid hormones or convert enough precursors to sustain you. Hashimoto’s is a bit more advanced. With this sub-diagnosis, if you will, a person’s body not only lacks enough thyroid hormone. Their body is also attacking the thyroid gland as if it was a foreign invader such as a virus or infection.
Why does Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis matter?
The thyroid controls many functions of the body. In addition to making thyroid hormone, it’s one of the main hubs of the body’s metabolism. Additionally, when the thyroid isn’t working properly, it affects cholesterol accumulation, heart health, and immune response. People with low thyroid function get sick more easily and cannot fight off infections as well. And in absolute worse case situations where one does not receive treatment, the lack of thyroid hormone production can prevent growth.
So how did my diagnosis come about?
During my sophomore year of high school, I walked through a very hard and dark season of depression. Due to the concerns surrounding the root cause of that depression, my provider at the time had me get a full lab workup done. This, of course, included thyroid markers such as TSH and T4.
For healthy individuals, TSH is most optimal from 1-2 but can be normal between 0.5 and 4. My TSH results, at 16 years of age, were in the 7s. Way higher than they should be in a healthy adult, let alone a teenager. In addition to my TSH numbers, another endocrinologist found that I also had elevated antibodies. Translated, this means that my body was already attacking my thyroid by the time we discovered my hypothyroidism.
Fast forward to the summer after high school graduation, I started taking thyroid medication for the first time. A lot of symptoms that I struggled with, such as eczema and staph infections, lessened, but Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis did not. It’s been 8 years since I started taking medication to help support my thyroid and my numbers have only worsened. My antibodies have increased from the 80s (at age 16) to over 500 now. My TSH struggles to stay low even with meds. And my dosage has continued to increase.
So why am I sharing this?
This isn’t a success story, right? You’re right. I’ve been on a path to healing for years. A path with many twists and turns that has been slowed at times by growing and welcoming our babies. But in the next 2-3 months, I’m stepping fully into searching for the root causes of my Hashimoto’s, and I’ll be taking you along with me as I, hopefully, find more answers.
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