Finally. A Diagnosis
Aug. 15th, 2023 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse For those of you who have been following the saga I call "Shawn R., Medical Mystery," we FINALLY have a diagnosis that actually covers ALL THE WEIRD STUFF THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING TO MY WIFE.
Graves' Disease.
What fascinates me is just HOW MANY of the really confusing problems she's been having this covers, including things like irregular heart beats and all of her blood pressure issues. If you go back through some of my tags about Shawn and doctors, you'll see time and time again where something weird is happening and the doctors are all like, "???"
But, I was talking to a neighbor the other night (our neighborhood is shockingly friendly. My across-the-street-neighbor started a band as a pandemic project and they put on a backyard bash every year to kind of make up for being the noisy house on the block, though I have not been subjected to "Rock the Casbah" six million times since they finished their basement studio.) She was telling me that she had "surprise! Thyroid Cancer!" when she was pregnant with her second child and, as part of that, she discovered that the "normal range" for thyroid numbers is actually VERY broad. So, doctors--many of whom have no more than 15 minutes to scan your chart--will often overlook thyroid as a problem because the number are in the "average" range, but your numbers might be very, very far off FOR YOU. And, so it takes a crisis before they notice how far gone your thyroid is.
Which kind of tracks for Shawn's experience. Her thyroid numbers were in the "sub-clinical for hyperthyroidism" in April, but her GP was like, "Meh, probably doesn't mean much, since it's still THE RANGE and your blood pressure is good." I remember, at the time, saying to Shawn, you did remind him that your blood pressure is being regulated BY MEDICINE, though, right? And, she was, of course, like, "Well, it's on my chart. He must know." (This, however, from the same woman who exhaustively checks prescribed doses and contraindicated medicines because her father was a pharmacist and she just wants to make sure that the doctors are remembering all her meds and that none of them are interacting in a harmful way. But, we all have our things, right?)
At any rate, this is a HUGE relief for us. I went in with her to see the endocrinologist and we both sort of teared up when he told us that we have an official diagnosis and there is treatment that should actually clear up MOST of these symptoms. He very cautiously said, "Well, the medicine won't take effect immediately--" both Shawn and I, we discover later, are thinking okay, okay, so like six months-- "but you should feel some improvement in a week." And we both almost shouted at the same time, "A WEEK, THAT'S AMAZING!!"
This was such good news that we actually threw a party. We broke out the sparkling apple cider and ordered a pizza from our favorite delivery place. So no need to be sad for Shawn or express concern. We are ecstatic!
Graves' Disease.
What fascinates me is just HOW MANY of the really confusing problems she's been having this covers, including things like irregular heart beats and all of her blood pressure issues. If you go back through some of my tags about Shawn and doctors, you'll see time and time again where something weird is happening and the doctors are all like, "???"
But, I was talking to a neighbor the other night (our neighborhood is shockingly friendly. My across-the-street-neighbor started a band as a pandemic project and they put on a backyard bash every year to kind of make up for being the noisy house on the block, though I have not been subjected to "Rock the Casbah" six million times since they finished their basement studio.) She was telling me that she had "surprise! Thyroid Cancer!" when she was pregnant with her second child and, as part of that, she discovered that the "normal range" for thyroid numbers is actually VERY broad. So, doctors--many of whom have no more than 15 minutes to scan your chart--will often overlook thyroid as a problem because the number are in the "average" range, but your numbers might be very, very far off FOR YOU. And, so it takes a crisis before they notice how far gone your thyroid is.
Which kind of tracks for Shawn's experience. Her thyroid numbers were in the "sub-clinical for hyperthyroidism" in April, but her GP was like, "Meh, probably doesn't mean much, since it's still THE RANGE and your blood pressure is good." I remember, at the time, saying to Shawn, you did remind him that your blood pressure is being regulated BY MEDICINE, though, right? And, she was, of course, like, "Well, it's on my chart. He must know." (This, however, from the same woman who exhaustively checks prescribed doses and contraindicated medicines because her father was a pharmacist and she just wants to make sure that the doctors are remembering all her meds and that none of them are interacting in a harmful way. But, we all have our things, right?)
At any rate, this is a HUGE relief for us. I went in with her to see the endocrinologist and we both sort of teared up when he told us that we have an official diagnosis and there is treatment that should actually clear up MOST of these symptoms. He very cautiously said, "Well, the medicine won't take effect immediately--" both Shawn and I, we discover later, are thinking okay, okay, so like six months-- "but you should feel some improvement in a week." And we both almost shouted at the same time, "A WEEK, THAT'S AMAZING!!"
This was such good news that we actually threw a party. We broke out the sparkling apple cider and ordered a pizza from our favorite delivery place. So no need to be sad for Shawn or express concern. We are ecstatic!
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Date: 2023-08-15 09:05 pm (UTC)Modern medicine is great when doctors manage to pull their heads out of their asses and actually spend time and skull sweat figuring out what is wrong with their patients. So angering that it takes years, sometimes decades to find one who will actually spend the effort and find the diagnosis instead of throwing up their hands and saying "it's a mystery, but it's probably all in your head, and have you tried losing weight?" Grrrr.
Anyway, sorry to derail with rant. Very glad you've finally managed to figure out what is wrong.
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Date: 2023-08-16 07:48 pm (UTC)I will tell you? Shawn is a conventionally attractive, skinny woman. I am not as sure things would have been solved so quickly for me a fat, butch, non-conforming person. I absolutely get "have you tried losing weight?" in lieu of actually listening to what I'm talking about. So, I join you in the GRRRRRR!
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Date: 2023-08-16 12:07 pm (UTC)The thyroid number thing is so frustrating; it took years for B (housemate+partner's wife) to get diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroidosis (another fun autoimmune thing) for this reason.
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