When I was pregnant, I was falling asleep all the time and simply could not
stay awake.  I also developed weight problems.  I once lost 12 pounds in a
week, despite being on a strict diet for the gestational diabetes I had.  I
was seeing an Endo. who was monitoring my TSH, T3 and T4.  He was baffled as
to what the problem was because one week I'd be hyperthyroid and the next
I'd be hypothyroid.  He said further testing needed to be done, but they'd
have to wait until after I had the baby because radiation needed to be used.
I was also very anemic.  This too would explain the sleepiness.  Eventually,
I settled into what appeared to by hypothyroid and I was given 100 mcg of
Synthroid.

After I had the baby, I moved to another state.  There was no Endo. in the
city where I lived.  I asked my GP to refer me to someone and she said that
I didn't need an Endo.  I didn't know it at the time, but I was getting
really bad medical care. I had diabetes that went undiagnosed.  At this
time, I was having muscle aches and pains.  My muscles would lock up, making
it hard for me to walk.  My body temperature was wacky.  If I got chilled,
I'd stay chilled for hours!  I would also overheat at the drop of a hat.  I
got to where I could only wear lightweight cotton clothes, but I kept a pile
of blankets nearby in case I started to get chilled.  I was sleeping all the
time.  Angela was a baby then.  I'll fall asleep on the floor.  My muscles
were so tight and achy that I couldn't get up the stairs to bed.  We had to
buy a little crib for the living room.  I had to supplement her diet with
formula because I wasn't producing enough milk.  Now I know this was due to
the thyroid problem.  I also had ringing in my ears.

I  finally found an Endo. and he said everything was fine with my thyroid.
Again, bad medical care.  He was out to have an operation and I saw his son
(another Endo.) and a colleague.  I was distraught about all the pain I was
in and not being able to walk.  They said it was probably Fibromyalgia.
Eventually the Endo. came back and told me that he noticed a connection
between Fibromyalgia and thyroid problems.

The pain continued.  I pushed myself hard and was finally able to walk a few
feet at a time.  I learned all sorts of coping mechanisms so I could drive
myself to the grocery store or drug store and make it down a few aisles
without collapsing on the floor.

My problems continued.  Now I was overheating constantly.  The slightest
activity made  me drip with sweat.  I was exhausted, yet I couldn't sleep
properly.  I felt hyped up all the time.  Emotionally I was a loose cannon.
I'd get angry over the slightest little thing, yet I couldn't figure out
why. I was going into hypos (BG) almost all the time.  I was always in the
bathroom all the time.  I'd eat food and it would rush right through me. I
was eating tons more food than I should have been, trying to keep my BG up.
And I was losing weight faster than I should have been.  Exercise was
difficult.  I'd work out with my weights only to have my muscles turn hard
as rocks. I developed all sorts of skin problems.  I would go into brain
fogs where I couldn't think straight or I'd forget what I was doing.

Found myself another GP who ordered an MRI thinking I might have MS.  She is
the one who discovered that I was running very hyper thyroid!  I took this
information back to my Endo. because the GP refused to lower my dose of
Synthroid.  The Endo. had pooh poohed this until he listened to my heart.
Then he freaked!  Said my heart was beating far too rapidly and I could die
if it wasn't treated.  Told me to stop the Synthroid and also the
Desipramine (anti-depressant) he had given to me in the hopes of stopping
the constant pain I was in.  He gave me another pill to slow down my heart
but I had to quit taking it due to BP so low I'd faint.

I can't remember how many days after I stopped the Synthroid but all of a
sudden I felt good again!  I could sleep at night.  Much less pain.  I
wasn't overheating.  The food wasn't rushing through me.  Was not going hypo
(BG) all the time.  But the Endo. insisted that I start up the Synthroid
again, this time taking only 88 mcg.  Within an hour after taking that first
pill, I felt it.  It felt as though it was slamming into my heart.  I
immediately felt all jittery and hyper like I'd had a whole pot of coffee in
a short period of time.  Sweat poured out of me, and I became shaky from
hypo (BG).  I was on the phone to the Endo. again.  This time he reluctantly
cut me back to 75 mcg.  But told me to not take any for a couple of days to
get it all out of my system.

I did not want to take that pill!  I feared I would begin to feel bad again.
And I did, only this time not right away.  The symptoms came back gradually
and soon I felt as bad as I did before.  I kept telling the Endo. this but
he insisted I was fine and I needed the Synthroid since I was overweight.
In case you don't know this, taking a thyroid pill will not cause you to
lose weight.  This man was either very stupid, very misinformed, or
something.  But I could find no other Endo. anywhere nearby who spoke either
took my insurance or spoke English as a native language.  Meanwhile I was
seeing other specialists who did not speak English as a native language and
got little to no care from them.  I was also diagnosed by a Neurologist as
having neuropathy caused by diabetes.  This was blamed for most of my
symptoms.  Then my GP quit the practice.

We moved to another state.  Found a new GP right away and he was horrified
to see that I was running very hyperthyroid from being given too much
Levoxyl.  At this point I had been switched from Synthroid to Levoxyl.  My
insurance would no longer cover the Synthroid.  He cut my dose back and
hooked me up with an Endo.  I began to feel a little better.  Stopped losing
weight.  Not long after, I began seeing a Dermatologist for my various skin
problems and also a Vascular Surgeon.  Turns out I had bad veins in my legs.
Began to feel better still.

Now I wasn't overheating as often.  But I still was.  And while my pain had
lessened, it was still there.

We moved again to another state.  This time, the Endo. discovered that I was
still running hyperthyroid and cut me back to the lowest possible dose of
Levoxyl.  I felt pretty good for a while, but then felt jittery, hopped up,
overheating, not sleeping well at all, having brain fogs and hypos (BG).  I
brought this up to my GP who assured me that my thyroid was fine.  He showed
me my labs, but they were meaningless since they didn't show the range of
what normal should be.  He also refused to test anything other than my TSH.
So back to the Endo. I went.  I told him I was feeling hyperthyroid so he
tested me and then called me a few days later.  Told me I was indeed
hyperthyroid and no longer needed the meds.  Felt much better after I
stopped them.

Now I will admit that I still have a whole lot wrong with me, medically.  I
am disabled.  A lot of my symptoms overlap each other.  But now my body
temperature is fine.  I don't get cold when others aren't.  I rarely ever
overheat and when I do, I am not dripping with sweat from head to toe like I
used to.  My muscles rarely get tight and when they do, there's usually a
reason.  My ears do not ring.  All of my skin problems have cleared up.  I
do not feel jittery or hypo.  I can stay awake now without dropping off the
sleep the minute I sit down.  I rarely ever have hypos (BG).