I think I will be making quite few posts today. I had another topic I wanted to address, but some research into possible causes of my anxiety has my brain on over drive about it and I just have to get it out.
I don't have a thyroid gland. It was removed in October of 2007. I had been having thyroid symptoms for years prior. When I think about it, my thyroid issues probably date back to the end of high school and only came to a head somewhere between my hip surgery and the birth of my first child.
At the end of high school I gained weight rather rapidly with no real reason. I was sluggish and depressed. Oddly, after my first hip surgery I lost weight pretty quick without any dieting. I have read surgery can cause an increase in thyroid hormone particular when it is a surgery done on bone.
After the birth of my first 2 children I lost weight very quick. I was thinner after my second child than I was when I was 19. I had chalked it up to breastfeeding, but it turned out I had hyperthyroidism. My thyroid was also growing larger. It was ultimately removed because a biopsy showed possible follicular cancer. They were originally only going to remove half but when they got in there they saw both sides were diseased.
Lately, I have been gaining weight. I hadn't gained any weight since the thyroidectomy aside from getting pregnant with my third child. I maintained a decent weight after her birth until mid 2012. It has really jumped in the past few months.
I have been lax on taking my thyroid replacement pills. I found out today low thyroid hormone can cause extreme anxiety, brain fog and many other things. I think I have found whats going on and I need to get back on track.
I also found out that low thyroid hormone, oddly enough, can cause gastrointestinal bleeding. There is a reason this struck me. My brother's cause of death was GI hemorrhage. It was shocking to every one of us. He didn't seem to have any major symptoms of a major GI issue. He had been gaining weight... see where I am going here?
The major things he complained about in the months prior to his death were constipation, an increase in anxiety and agitation, being more tired than ever before,memory issues and his hair falling out. We all kind of attributed it to just being him. He was always a bit of a hypochondriac. Plus closer to the end he had some legal troubles and stress can cause all of those symptoms.
The biggest thing for me is he had been talking about how he seemed to feel his thyroid when he swallowed, ear pain and saying it felt like his thyroid felt bigger when he touched the area, I actually felt his thyroid myself a few years ago and it did appear bigger than it should, but, I am also not a doctor. There is also some evidence that thyroid issues run in our family.
I also found out that upon autopsy, a large percentage of people do not have a normal thyroid. The incidence of abnormal thyroid findings increase with age, but it never reaches 50% for those with a normal one. The incidence of thyroid problems has also increase 3 times since the 1970's.
I read a case study detailing GI bleeding in 24 year old patient. This patient had been having recurring GI bleeding. Generally, when one experiences a GI bleed it will happen again. This patient presented with memory issues, constipation, chronic fatigue, increased anxiety and weight gain. They found out the patient had hypothyroidism and treated them with thyroid hormone meds. The patient, at the time of the study being published, had been without any bleeding for three years. Upon further investigation, they have found a larger percentage of people with GI bleeds also have hypothyroidism.
I have been curious to read my brothers full autopsy report, and now I really want to read it. If his thyroid was larger than normal it could indicate hypothyroidism. We only got the short autopsy report and tox report after we found out cause of death. The short report only told us where the bleed was and it was huge bleed. I am definitely wondering if there was anything wrong with his thyroid. Ultimately, I want to know just what the heck caused such a huge bleed so suddenly in someone who was only 26 years old.
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