Feeling hypo

A while ago I opined here about my adventures in radiology. Yesterday I finally got the results of the radiology work and concomitant blood work from my doctor. The good news is that I don't have a thyroid tumor or anything like that. The bad news is that I'm mildly hypothyroid, thus adding yet another "maintenance" prescription drug to my already overloaded medicine cabinet.

To be honest, though, I can't look on the diagnosis as an entirely bad thing. Not that I want another ailment, but the fact is, judging by a multitude of symptoms, I've probably had the ailment for some time already, and finally having it diagnosed means it can be treated. As my doctor said, "If you've got to have a disease, this is the one to have." It's easy to treat, and the generic thyroxin is inexpensive.

As is my wont, I hit the Web and the library for information on thyroid disease. It's enlightening to note that hypothyroidism can cause or exacerbate all kinds of problems, such as depression (had that for four years), GERD (gastric reflux disease, had that for five or six years), high cholesterol (mine's been getting increasingly worse and I just started taking a statin drug about six weeks ago), carpal tunnel syndrome (been bothering me for 2-3 years), and tinnitus (ringing in the ears, can't remember when I didn't have it). Well, heck, that means stabilizing my thyroid levels could conceivably reduce or eliminate every other drug I'm taking!

Which wouldn't be bad news at all.