Long and Pathetic list of Hypothyroid Symptoms

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Impor­tant to Note: This is an iro­nic list. Gran­ted, these are hypothy­roid symp­toms expe­rien­ced by patients. Howe­ver, these are also lin­ge­ring symp­toms that patients have had while on Thy­ro­xine T4-only meds (Synth­roid, Levoxyl, Levothy­ro­xine, Eltro­xin, etc) and with a so-called tar­get TSH.

But there’s MORE! In order to qua­lify to be on this list below, these ALSO had to be symp­toms which were totally era­di­ca­ted when these same patients got on natu­ral desic­ca­ted thy­roid like  Natu­reth­roid, com­poun­ded or others, and found their opti­mal dose:

• Less sta­mina than others
• Less energy than others
• Long reco­very period after any activity
• Ina­bi­lity to hold chil­dren for very long
• Arms fee­ling like dead weights after activity
• Chro­nic Low Grade Depression
• Sui­ci­dal Thoughts
• Often fee­ling cold
• Cold hands and feet
• High or rising cholesterol
• Heart disease
• Pal­pi­ta­tions
• Fibri­lla­tions
• Pla­que buildup
• Biza­rre and Debi­li­ta­ting reac­tion to exercise
• Hard stools
• Cons­ti­pa­tion
• No eye­brows or thin­ning outer eyebrows
• Dry Hair
• Hair Loss
• White hairs gro­wing in
• No hair growth, breaks fas­ter than it grows
• Dry crac­king skin
• Nod­ding off easily
• Requi­res naps in the afternoon
• Sleep Apnea (which can also be asso­cia­ted with low cortisol)
• Air Hun­ger (fee­ling like you can’t get enough air)
• Ina­bi­lity to con­cen­trate or read long periods of time
• For­get­ful­ness
• Foggy thin­king
• Ina­bi­lity to lose weight
• Always gai­ning weight
• Ina­bi­lity to func­tion in a rela­tionship with anyone
• NO sex drive
• Fai­lure to ovu­late and/or cons­tant blee­ding (see Rainbow’s story)
• Moody periods
• PMS
• Ina­bi­lity to get preg­nant; miscarriages
• Exc­ru­cia­ting pain during period
• Nau­sea
• Swelling/edema/puffiness
• Aching bones/muscles
• Osteo­po­ro­sis
• Bumps on legs
• Acne on face and in hair
• Brea­kout on chest and arms
• Hives
• Exhaus­tion in every dimen­sion – phy­si­cal, men­tal, spi­ri­tual, emotional
• Ina­bi­lity to work full-time
• Ina­bi­lity to stand on feet for long periods
• Com­plete lack of motivation
• Slo­wing to a snail’s pace when wal­king up slight grade
• Extre­mely crabby, irri­ta­ble, into­le­rant of others
• Handw­ri­ting nearly illegible
• Inter­nal itching of ears
• Broken/peeling fin­ger­nails
• Dry skin or snake skin
• Major anxiety/worry
• Rin­ging in ears
• Lac­tose Intolerance
• Ina­bi­lity to eat in the mornings
• Joint pain
• Car­pal tun­nel symptoms
• No Appe­tite
• Fluid reten­tion to the point of Con­ges­tive Heart Failure
• Swo­llen legs that pre­ven­ted walking
• Blood Pres­sure problems
• Vari­cose Veins
• Diz­zi­ness from fluid on the inner ear
• Low body temperature
• Rai­sed temperature
• Tight­ness in throat; sore throat
• Swo­llen lymph glands
• Aller­gies (which can also be a result of low cor­ti­sol–com­mon with hypothy­roid patients)
• Hea­daches and Migraines
• Sore feet (plan­tar fas­ci­tis); pain­ful soles of feet
• now how do I put this one politely.…a cold bum, butt, derriere, fanny, glu­teus maxi­mus, haunches, hind­quar­ters, pos­te­rior, rear, and/or cheeks. Yup, really exists.
• coli­tis
• irri­ta­ble bowel syndrome
• pain­ful bladder
• Extreme hun­ger, espe­cially at nighttime
• Dyspha­gia, which is nerve damage and cau­ses the ina­bi­lity to swa­llow fluid, food or your own saliva and leads to “aspi­ra­tion pneumonia”.

As you read the above list and see some of the symp­toms as your own, you have to now make a para­digm shift in the way society and doc­tors have taught you to ascer­tain whether you have hypothy­roid or not, or whether you are ade­qua­tely trea­ted or not.

Namely, you have to make symp­toms your pri­mary clue, not lab­work like the TSH.  Lab­work should only serve as addi­tio­nal infor­ma­tion, NOT as the ini­tial force of rea­lity. If you con­ti­nue to look at lab­work as the ans­wer, you are no bet­ter than hun­dreds of thou­sands of doc­tors around the world who have unwit­tingly kept thy­roid patients sick! That is espe­cially true for the TSH, besi­des the total T4.

Next, you find a doc­tor who’s ahead of the game, because he or she unders­tands that symp­toms are the horse that pulls the cart, not labs, and that desic­ca­ted thy­roid is the treat­ment of choice, not Synth­roid, Levoxyl, Levothy­ro­xine, etc. You may have to drive farther to a good doc than any doc­tor you’ve ever had. But it’s worth it.

Addi­tio­nally, no mat­ter how exce­llent of a doc­tor you find, you need to become edu­ca­ted about what patients ahead of you have lear­ned, and what mis­ta­kes you do not want to make. No doc­tor is per­fect, so you are your own best advocate.

Want to order your own lab­work to con­firm what the above symp­toms are telling you? STTM has crea­ted the right ones just for you to dis­cuss with your doc­tor. Go here: https://sttm.mymedlab.com/