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| Tue, 10-03-2006 - 3:58pm |
Hi all,
I have been taking levoxyl for 5-6 years now for low thyroid function. I have also had periodic problems with heavy menstual bleeding and anemia. My life has been so hectic, crazy with a divorce, children, working, moving, you name it, I've put my health on the back burner. I'm really not feeing good. I'm so tired ALL THE TIME! Not sleeping well either. I do take iron supplements until the gastric symptoms get intolerable. Vicious cycle. I've decided I need to do more to feel better. I'm sick to death of people telling me I look tired. Nobody wants to hear that. It's time to repeat the routine bloodwork and renew prescriptions, so I'm going to request an appointment with the endo to talk about all this and really make an effort to feel better. What should I ask? I also need to do the well-woman checkup and will see what can be done about the overbleeding issues, could be hysterectomy (which will be ok with me, actually, I'm 47--would love to stop menstruating!) I've had lots of benign fibroids for years, no pain, though, no endometriosis.
I wanted to ask ya'll that have dealt with this successfully, what you recommend?
I really need to feel better. I'm overweight, but so tired I can barely move after work and thus don't burn many calories.
Also, has anybody's eyebrows ever grown back?

Hi Momsacupcake~!
Well....I will tell you....at 37 I had my hysterectomy. I too was bleedings all the time, became anemic, and took the iron which wasn't doing the trick. I did have one huge fibroid. But, I can tell you since, I feel so much better after the surgery. God, doesn't it stink being told, "Hey, you look exhausted"? Well of course, you are, but you hope you don't look it. Isn't it strange how all this ties together? The thyroid plays such a role in regulating a women's body especially. Get to your gyno, tell them you need treatment. Oh...but look, they may recommend the shot that shuts down your ovaries, forgot the name of it...but it puts you into instant menopause, and it make you feel nutso. So be leary.
Raerae
Thank you so much for describing your experience. That kind of confirms what my gut feel is, that I'm not gonna feel much better till I stop this monthly blood loss. When I described it to the dr., she said I'm losing about 4-5 times the amount of blood that I should and that is impossible to replace that volume each month.
Last time I was there the dr. suggested a procedure called uterine ablation. Basically burns out the inside of uterus so the blood producing tissue/fibroids cannot grow back. Less drastic a procedure than hysterectomy.
Anybody have experience with this?
Hi momsacupcake,
Welcome to our board.
Hi,
I just stumbled in here today and wanted to give my 2 cents on ablation. I had it done in late July. I continued to bleed for about 6 weeks although it wasn't heavy at all - more like heavy spotting. I think I'm starting to feel better but it is a slow process. The biggest problem that I have from the ablation is that I have always had horrible PMS mood swings. Since I still ovulate, I still have the mood swings. Just no bleeding to confirm to me that its PMS. If I know when I'm having PMS, I can usually work a little harder to bite my tongue and convince myself that my DH isn't vacuuming the floor b/c he hates me but since I don't bleed anymore, it's hard to know if that's what's going on or not. I've got to figure that out. Life is much simpler now though. I was having to change tampons every hour or so and when you travel alot that's not always easy to do.
I also don't think that all of my exhaustion is from the bleeding. I think some of mine is simply from depression and lack of exercise. I have trouble exercising b/c of joint problems. I know these problems would lessen if I could loose weight but the problems in the joints cause exercising to be painful. I tried walking but can't do that at home (dangerous road). DH refuses to go with me and it's not safe at night. I know these are all excuses and need to find a solution.
I would dearly love for a doc to increase my thyroid medication. Something inside of me keeps telling me its not working as efficiently as it should. My test results are all okay but it just doesn't feel right. I have been trying to increase my green tea consumption and that seems to help with my energy level but I have to be careful b/c I have a heart problem and too much caffeine causes irregular heartbeats.
Good Luck and you might give the ablation a try. I had pretty severe cramps for about 48 hours afterward but that was it!