Welcome, Jillian. Good for you for being persistent! I know it's a long and frustrating process, but you will get better (and being off cigarettes will help). Hashi's is particularly frustrating, as our symptoms usually present themselves long before our thyroid blood levels reach "abnormal" levels.
I found it easiest to compile a written list of questions for my docs before walking in there. That way, I can present my symptoms, my reactions to medications & diet, etc. without letting my Hypo state make me forget anything.
Talk to your doctor about your antibody levels, lack of response to Synthroid and Levoxyl, symptoms, and history. Ask if he/she would be willing to change your medicines (such as combining Synthroid or Levoxyl with some T3 like Cytomel, or changing you to a "natural" thyroid med like Armour or Naturethroid). Discuss his/her approach to treating you, what you should expect, when you should see some results, and what course of treatment may be suggested if the initial efforts don't work.
If you've not already had a chance, you might want to review both pages of our Information Archive thread. It includes a Symptoms Checklist that you can print out and present to your doctor (1/5/01 for the Hypo symptoms), links about Hashimoto's and other forms of thyroiditis (7/28/01), a link about smoking and thyroid (8/1/01), a Q&A to use to interview potential new doctors (11/2/01), 2 posts about antithyroid antibodies and selenium (2/12/02), etc.
I had thyroid cancer along with my Hashi's, so my thyroid gland has been removed. But I try to reduce my antibodies using a Selenium-containing herb called Maca (details also available on page 2 of the Info Archive, or via a web search).
Many folks on this Board have addressed the weight issue. The consensus is that it is easier to work toward weight loss once our thyroid blood levels have been balanced. Here are a couple of links to past discussions:
<A HREF="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/Forum118/HTML/000982.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/Forum118/HTML/000982.html</A>
<A HREF="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/Forum118/HTML/001020.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/Forum118/HTML/001020.html</A>
Popular diets include the Goddess Diet, Atkins (and other low carb/high protein options), God's Diet, and Volumetrics.
As far as the sweets cravings go, I try to drink a lot of water and eat high-protein snacks (a handful of nuts, some fish or meat jerky, etc.) when the urge presents itself. A small juice box is also helpful when I've just gotta have sugar.
Hang in there, and let us know what happens.<p>[This message has been edited by ArtfulD (edited 05-13-2002).]
