I FINALLY had my appointment with the endocrinologist last Thursday. I have been looking forward to it for weeks, but when I got there and I got into the little room I found myself feeling nervous, and when she took my pulse it was elevated. I guess I just felt like I had so much riding on the appointment - what this doctor and medication will do for me has the potential to really change my life for the better.
The doctor was great. She was really nice and she spent a LOT of time talking to me. She asked me tons of questions, really listened to my history, and she gave me a ton of really good information. If you've had frustrating health issues/doctors, you'll understand how AMAZING it is when you finally discover a doctor who listens and give you relevant, useful information that makes sense and relates to what you've been experiencing.
There's no way for me to remember and repeat everything she said to me, but here are a few things:
1. Based on my tests etc, I am not at risk for diabetes right now. I don't have pre-diabetes and my glucose test was fine, so as long as I keep eating the way I have been, and start exercising, that's not even a concern. Whew... that's one of the things I was really pretty worried about because of my weight etc - one of my motivations for wanting to get healthier was to make sure that I didn't end up diabetic.
2. It is somewhat questionable whether I actually have PCOS right now. I have had symptoms consistant with it, but it's possible that the polysystic ovaries that I had were a result of being completely overdosed on Clomid. The other symptoms I've had could also relate to the thyroid or to Insulin Resistance.
3. I learned that Insulin Resistance can actually do a lot to mess with your cycles, so it's possible that my messed up cycles are actually related to or caused by that.
So, my current course of treatment is that she started me on Levoxyl for my thyroid. She gave me enough samples to last 2 months, and at the end of March I'm going to get bloodwork done again to check my levels. Adjustments will be made if necessary, and then more bloodwork. She said that sometimes even if the inital dose works, your body acclimates and starts using it faster, and you need a higher dose. Once we have the thyroid leveled out, THEN the doctor will decide if she wants to put me on Metformin for the Insulin Resistance, because that could help my cycles etc.
I am happy with it. I like the idea of treating one thing at a time and getting straightened out. She was very supportive of the Weight Watchers thing and of my wanting to exercise more, she said that once the medication starts to take effect I'll have more energy so I'll be more able to work out and be motivated to do that kind of thing.
I've been having a lot of symptoms, especially in the last month, related to feeling depressed/irritable and being snappy and having mood swings. We talked about those things, and they could all be related to my thyroid. At one point during the hour, she posed an interesting question to me, asking me basically if I felt that my creativity was stifled. I hadn't really thought about it as it's own symptom, but I've been having a hell of a time writing lately, and it's been very frustrating.
The Levoxyl will take at least 3-4 weeks to start making a noticable difference. I can't wait to see what happens. I'm hoping that big things are coming for me, including getting back on track with my writing and where I really want to be with that.
