For a long time I knew something was physically wrong with me but I didn’t know what it was. I was tired, tired, tired, and I just couldn’t make my brain work! I used all of the tools of my trade to figure this out, and those of my colleagues, yet nothing was working.
I finally heard my inner voice suggest that my thyroid might be the issue and so I had a blood test done. Sure enough, I was extremely hypothyroid, meaning my thyroid gland was not functioning well at all. As soon as I started treating it, I felt SO much better. I was so relieved to be thinking clearly again! You know that old saying, you never know how good you’ve got it until it’s gone? Yes, indeed.
What are the symptoms of Hypothyroid? Fatigue, depression, weight gain, intolerance to cold, dry skin, irregular or heavy menstrual cycles, constipation, thinning hair, a hoarse voice, and problems with memory or thinking clearly are some of the most common.
Because my problems were just fatigue and brain fog, and not the common ones of depression, weight gain and hair loss, I didn’t consider my thyroid. And other health care providers can miss it too.
Technically, this wasn’t a missed diagnosis for me because I wasn’t going to doctor after doctor, like many people do, looking for answers, but it was still something unexplained. Because of my training I had always asked my patients about the state of their thyroid, and had often prescribed supplemental help for them if needed, with great results. But I missed it in myself. Oops.
When I do ask, sometimes they know and sometimes they don’t. Often a woman will say, “It’s fine”, but here’s the thing: even if your blood tests (usually just TSH, or thyroid-stimulating hormone) show you to be “fine”, that may not be the case.
This is why I consider the #1 missed diagnosis in women’s health to be Hypothyroidism.
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