Thanks for all the replies! I had no idea that the carpal tunnel thing I was feeling was attributed to hypothyroidism, I just thought I had carpal tunnel! That makes me happy, it would be awesome to use my hands without them hurting! On the days that I take my meds at the right time (like 8am) I have a perfect day and perfect sleep, but the kids just had almost 3 weeks off school because of Christmas break and snow days so I'm on the screwiest schedule right now. I can also sleep as long as I want to if I don't have anything going on, and stay up till 5 or 6 am, but I'm not completely exhausted anymore. I feel like a normal person!!!
My already crazy abnormal menses were weird this month too, like almost completely nonexistant. My last normal period was April 2006, which is when I quit smoking and when I started gaining weight. Has anyone else seen any differences in their periods?
I guess what prompted this post was an appointment I had yesterday at the free health clinic. I don't have insurance, so I go to the clinic to get bloodwork done then I go to a local dr who only charges like $30/appointment. The local dr is the one who diagnosed me with hypo, but when I went in to the clinic they told me that I was too fat for an accurate blood pressure reading (I'm a size 18/20, and I have NEVER been told that before in my life!). They also told me that my TSH was normal, so apparently they didn't get the memo about the range of "normal" changing, they're still basing it on being 5 or above. When I told them that I gain weight even when I diet and exercise, and the only way I can lose is if I completely quit eating and exercise, I pretty much got called a liar "just like every obese person who comes in here to be seen". I'm sick of being stereotyped because of my weight, if I was a skinny person coming in there they would have wanted to run all these tests and blah blah blah, but because I'm overweight everything that might be wrong is because I'm fat. If I do overeat it's on stuff like salad and steamed vegetables, I've never been one for overly processed foods and such. I don't drink soda and I don't eat stuff that would survive a nuclear explosion. Finding out about the hypo gave me hope that I might weight 160 again like I did before I started gaining weight, that maybe the pounds will slowly drop off as my metabolism catches up.
I am super curious about the thyroid medication that causes cancer, though....both my sis and my dad have hypo too, and I don't know for sure what they're on.....