Hyper-active Thyroidism
“I’m diagnosing you with…” Those are probably the worst words one can hear come out of a doctor’s mouth. No one wants to hear that they are being diagnosed with anything. We like to think we are completely normal. Yet, I had to realize that I was not anymore, not in most people’s eyes. I was only in sixth grade. I was a happy kid, with very little worries, about anything really. Sure, there was the transition from elementary school to middle school. I worried about making new friends and losing the ones I held dear to my heart. I worried about the homework load and eight different classes. Never before then, did I think I would be diagnosed with anything. I liked the thought of being normal, and for people to see me as a normal person, functioning and healthy. But that was not entirely true.
In the middle of sixth grade, I started getting really sick. I was missing too much school and falling behind in all my classes. On top of that, I started to notice that I was tired all the time. As if I was never getting any sleep. Also, I started Cross Country, and I had an extremely high heart rate after a small jog. I knew that was definitely not normal. Another thing my parents were noticing was that I always seemed to be skinny, too skinny. Some people thought that I had an eating disorder and were worried about me. I didn’t really notice this though. Actually, I learned that if I neglected eating, I would get very weak and in extreme cases I would pass out from it.
Aside from the dark circles under my eyes, I thought I looked fine. I felt healthy most of the time, and I didn’t understand why people would try and tell me different. So what was happening to me? Why was I seemly different? Why was I tired every day? Why did I weigh only 68 pounds in sixth grade? Why would I pass out if I was just an hour late for lunch? Why could I not take a simple jog without my heart rate skyrocketing? Why was I getting sick all the time?
Aside from the dark circles under my eyes, I thought I looked fine. I felt healthy most of the time, and I didn’t understand why people would try and tell me different. So what was happening to me? Why was I seemly different? Why was I tired every day? Why did I weigh only 68 pounds in sixth grade? Why would I pass out if I was just an hour late for lunch? Why could I not take a simple jog without my heart rate skyrocketing? Why was I getting sick all the time?
All these questions were answered one day. My
mom decided to take me to my pediatrician for a check-up. He was just about to
send us on our way when he started feeling the front part of my neck. My mom
asked him what he was feeling for, and he said, “Her thyroid gland.” He leaned
back and said, “I think I have some surprising news for you. I can’t know for
sure, so I am referring your daughter to a specialist, but I think she may have
Hyper-active Thyroidism.” He told us that this can cause every single one of
these things that were wrong with me. As I was listening to him explain all of
this, I felt like my heart just dropped. Was he telling me I had a disease? I
don’t want to have a disease! I want to be normal like all of my other friends
at school! I walked out of that doctor’s office not knowing what to do or what
to say. I had a million questions, but I had no idea where to start. I felt
like I had fallen into a hole, and I was just sitting there, waiting for
someone to come to the edge and pull me out, or for someone to tell me that it
was a dream, or something! Anything other than “we’ll get you a good doctor”,
or “you‘ll be ok, there’s medicine for that”.
I remember that first time going to get my blood drawn, so that they could test it. I was so scared. I never had a problem with needles, but when I saw the big needle she pushed into my vain, I felt like crying. But, I held it back and watched as she filled up six large tubes with my dark red blood, which made me feel extremely weak. A couple years later, around 2008, I started going to this
Children’s Clinic a bit closer to home and that’s where I met Dr. Wheeler. He
seemed nice but he would never be as awesome as Dr. Z., but I got over that. By
this time I was getting my blood drawn every month so they could keep an eye on
my thyroid levels. They gave me a temporary beta-blocker, but I wasn’t supposed
to stay on it for long because it would start reversing affects. So after about
a month they started me on a pill that did not agree with me at all. I got very
sick and had an extreme allergic reaction to it; and its results? Hives
everywhere! I was miserable and again, missing a lot of school.
They quickly got me on another pill that “shouldn’t give you an allergic reaction”, they said. After several months, I started to show normal thyroid levels. Then about a year after taking that, they decided it was time to “kill” my thyroid. “What exactly happens?” my mom asked. My doctor explained and they would give me a radiation pill and my thyroid would absorb it, which in turn would kill my thyroid and it would eventually leave my body. My first thought was something like “Radiation sounds real safe, thanks doc.” You see, we had to kill my thyroid because it was working too much and the pills will only work for so long to slow it down. So by killing it, all we had to do was replace it with a pill that would take care of everything my thyroid was supposed to do. That was something I was upset about though. I didn’t want to have to take a pill every morning of my life. That made feel unordinary again and I hated that.
This is the pill that I am currently taking. It is called Levothyroxine and I take 88mcg.
Yet, here I am today. I am now technically have Hypo-active Thyroidism. I get enough sleep every night. I can run without coming close to a heart attack. I do not get sick all the time, and I am a healthy weight for my age and height. I still have some small problems, like if I do not eat breakfast, lunch or dinner at their regular times I still get that faint feeling. Once, I was at a football game with my big brother and I ended up fainting in the stands because I had not had dinner yet. Minutes after eating the food, I was feeling better and I was able to go back and finish the game. It is things like this that still upset me, but I guess it beats having cancer or something awful like that! My life definitely changed in April of 2006, but I have learned to deal with my differences. So I guess what I am trying to say is, when life throws something unexpected at us, it is better that we learn to cope instead of mope!
By Emily