WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON WITH MY HEALTH: PART I

Long time no see! It's been a crazy few months and I want to begin my semi-return to blogging with an honest explanation of what's been going on. I am really not the type of person to put my medical information out there, but I feel like I absolutely have to share this. I have to share this because I don't want one single person to have to go through what I have been through during the past year. It's been a long, frustrating journey to get here and I thankfully now know that I have another long journey ahead of me. So I'm going to share this in two parts because I don't want you to get lost in what would be a really long blog post if I shared everything that has happened all at one time. So here's Part I and Part II will go up later this week...

In January of last year, I started to feel the first of many symptoms that ultimately led to my diagnosis. It was so strange... I had just started a new job that I was (and still am) so excited about and I had all this free time that I had never had before. I planned to blog more, travel more, read more, and just be happy--- more. And some of that happened, but definitely not as much as I anticipated. I was always so exhausted. I started experiencing fatigue and constipation (sorry if that's TMI, but it's part of the story!). I would get a great night of sleep and be crazy tired by noon the next day. The fatigue and constipation were sporadic, but happened enough to be noted. But I wrote it off to my body getting adjusted to a new routine. I brought both symptoms up to my family doctor during my routine physical in February. She agreed that the fatigue was probably my body adjusting to my new routine, but she referred me to a gastroenterologist to check out the constipation... Scary, but fair enough, I thought.

I feel like I should pause here to say that outside of my migraines, which I have mentioned several times here before, I've never had any major medical issues. Never. I eat really well except for maybe one day a week, I exercise, don't smoke, enjoy sporadic glasses of wine, try to manage stress well (emphasis on "try"), and you KNOW I love my sleep. So all of these symptoms and working with different doctors was a completely new experience for me...

So I see the gastro and she recommends that I start taking a probiotic. She also recommended a colonoscopy just to rule out anything serious. "We really have to go there??? But I'm not even 50 years old yet!" Those were my first thoughts. But I agreed - hastily. But thankfully nothing was found. The doctor just told me to continue to take the probiotic- oh and to call her if I had questions...

Fast forward to October. I started to get SUPER anxious about the silliest things. I've always been a bit of a worrier, but this was on a whole other level. I also started experiencing heart palpitations, panic attacks, brain fog, weight loss, and insomnia. Oh - and I discovered a bald spot in the back of my head at the base of my neck that was about the size of a quarter. Hmmm... Back to my family doctor I go.

Before my appointment, of course I turn to trusty Google to see if I could get an idea of what might be going on. I typed in my symptoms and thyroid issues kept coming up. I noted that for my appt. So I explain my symptoms to my doctor and she ran an EKG to determine any abnormal heartbeats. Nothing was found there. She then wanted to run a blood test to check my thyroid and my Vitamin D levels. I specifically asked her if she was going to run a FULL thyroid panel (i.e. the T4, Free T4, TSH, Free T3, reverse T3, and thyroid antibodies of the thyroid) - and she said yes.

The test showed that my Vitamin D levels were really low, so she recommended a supplement. But my thyroid tests came back normal - sort of. She only tested my TSH and T4 levels. I reached out to her for an explanation and she said that testing just those levels were the main indicators of any issues and she said my thyroid was fine. Hmm. Noted. In the meantime, my doctor recommended I see a cardiologist to get a further explanation of my heart palpitations and a dermatologist for my bald spot... Ugh. More doctors, more appointments, more frustration.

I followed her orders and saw a cardiologist. I brought up potential thyroid issues to the doctor and she said there was no indication of any issues since my TSH and T4 were fine. She proceeded to give me an echocardiogram. Even with the heart palpitations, which to her were not enough for concern, my heart was in perfect shape. So she recommended I go back to my regular doctor for further testing.

My appointment with my dermatologist to discuss my bald spot was very quick and to the point. I was in and out. She quickly stated I had alopecia areata and recommended cortisone shots to restart the hair growth. She never even defined alopecia areata, but I knew what it was thanks to the Google research I did the minute I saw the bald spot. I asked her if she thought this could be a thyroid issue and she said no because my TSH and T4 levels were fine. Sigh... Due to my normal level of worrying coupled with my heightened level of anxiety in general, I accepted the shots. Anything that might make me feel better and make me quit having thoughts of going bald. Two months later, the spot had almost doubled in size...

At this point it's January of this year. A whole year of just feeling off has gone by... I'm exhausted most of the time, still not getting good sleep, I'm still having digestive issues, I'm anxious, my heart feels like it's going to explode most times, and my hair is falling out. I've seen four different doctors - all of whom I assume were just doing what they know to do. However, I still felt like they weren't really listening to me and just wanted me in and out of their office so they could get to the next person.

So I ditched all four doctors and decided to take a whole new route...

to be continued on Wednesday...

Image by Dana Eason