Hello! Just thought I'd give a little background as to why I'm over here at the disabled MA forum . It's kind of nice to be in a place where I'm going to explain why I have physical limitations and it doesn't sound like I'm just making excuses . I lived my life as a relatively healthy person until December of 2003 when I became ill with autoimmune thyroid disease (my thyroid swings between overactive and underactive). I am also on hormones for possible premature ovarian failure (hooray, menopause at 29 ). My drs feel I may have yet another autoimmune condition but I'm burned out on testing and drs so I declined any further investigating for this year (I need a reprieve...even if it means suffering with whatever I have for a while; I told my dr if it becomes life threatening I promise I'll have somebody drag me in ). I was also born with a neurological condition that predisposes me to seizures and learning disabilities. I may have CAPD, meaning my brain does not process verbal communication well and I do not express myself very well verbally (nothing goes in right and nothing comes out right ...it's like I'm hearing dyslexic! ) All of that amounts to a lot of weird and at times debilitating symptoms. It's also entirely inconsistant and unpredictable. To top it off I "look healthy"; at least that's what everyone tells me..."well, you look good". That's very kind of them to say so but I'm not sure if it's such a great trade off (being healthy and not looking good sounds like a better deal ). As for how this all affects my training, well I guess I'll post on that as issues arise (and believe me they have...had a drop seizure during spin kicks once...of course we weren't on a padded floor at the time ...OUCH!). Anyway, hope you're all doing well! Kelly
Hey Kelly! I was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid disease at age 13, and have been on Synthroid daily for 22 years. I completely understand what you deal with! The issue for me was never really the thyroid, as the medication take care of the problem for the most part, the biggest problem is, once you get an autoimmune disease, more issues can pop up. For me, it's the spinal issues I have. My mother, and my grandfather both have different autoimmune problems as well. It seems to be genetic, but all have seperate problems. It's miserable stuff, so I feel for you! Do you find when people say you "look good" at times, it's almost as if they don't believe you're sick? I've run into circumstances where if a person can't physically see something wrong with you, they tend to think it's less serious then it is, or think you're making it up, just to be lazy. It's a shame really. Good luck with the training too!
I'm sorry you and your family are in this autoimmune boat too! That IS the crummy part; it seems like you can't just have one AI disease without others creeping up on you. Oh man do I ever!! I run into this all the time. It gets worse when they find out I'm in tkd. I also get a lot of comments like: well at least it's not RA, MS or lupus . The funny thing is I know people with each of those conditions who feel and function better than I do! Actually none of those have been entirely ruled out at this point either. Do you have spondylitis? I had a blood screening done for that due to pain, inflammation, swelling and stiffness in my SI joints; it came back negative and nothing further was pursued (I went to a chiroprator though that was very helpful). It's great to talk with someone who understands! Thanks for posting ! Kelly
Hi kelly, welcome to MAP. My GF has an underactive thyroid, it was overactive when she was younger, had some sort of treatment, which they gave her too much of (radiology type stuff?) and now her thyroid is shot. She has to take a ridiculously high dose of thyroxine daily. They want to remove her thyroid completely but has been told the operation has a very high chance of leaving her infertile, so she's putting it off until later in her life. Its harsh, but what can you do? keep up the training, and best wishes
Hey Xen, The thyroid roller coaster is definitely not the best ride in the park! I have two friends in a similar situation as your GF; both had RAI (killed the thyroid with radio-iodine) due to hyperthyroidism and are now hypothyroid. They seem to have a harder time getting their levels stabilized than I do but I have more symptoms...go figure ! I have a soon-to-be SIL with hypoT and she's never had symptoms a day in her life ! None of it makes sense but like you said...what can ya do ? I'm having my own infertility issues at the moment (recurrent miscarriages). I've had children so it's not as bad as it could be; it's still no picnic though. I'm hoping someday to get it all straightened out. In the meantime I'm working on training to my fullest potential. It's odd how so often we look lazy and yet we have to work twice as hard or more to accomplish what others take for granted. We'll be the stronger for it! Take care! Kelly P.S. November's Paul, is there a specific treatment for your spondylitis and stenosis? Have you found anything that has been beneficial? As for your thyroid issues, did they seem to respond well to the Synthroid or did it take a while? LOL, I hope you don't mind me drilling you !
I don't mind at all! I've tried physical therapy as treatment for the spine issues, but I didn't respond to it. Right now, until I find something that works, I manage the pain with medication and rest. I'm hoping for a medical miracle in my lifetime for this. As far as the Synthroid goes, it was so long ago I was diagnosed, I can't remember actually. I do know, it wasn't found because of symptoms, it was found by a blood test, and the doctor checking the physical size of my thyroid. The other symptom I have to the thyroid is the lack of metabolism. It makes it very easy to gain weight, very difficult to find the energy to do something about it.
