Welcome, TickleMePink. Good for you for being persistent until you could find out what was wrong! It's so easy to dismiss these symptoms, particularly when we have Hashi's, as it causes us to fluctuate between hypo and hyper symptoms while maintaining normal blood levels until later stages -- it all tends to confound the doctors for a while.
Do read through the Info Archive thread Treefrog posted. It's lengthy, but there is a ton of useful information so take your time.
You will likely need to go on thyroid medication because, after a while, Hashimoto's antibodies make us hypothyroid. But coma, dementia and death are not a threat for you, nor are these a problem for low thyroid people who receive treatment. The primary danger is if one's thyroid completely stops functioning or is removed and then one doesn't take thyroid meds. Hashi's antibodies typically take many many years before making a person dangerously hypothyroid; the hypo symptoms would be so unbearable that I would expect the thyroid disease would be diagnosed long before it was a danger.
Your aching, numbness, fatigue, and swollen neck are all symptoms of the thyroiditis. When you are on medication and as your levels are balanced, they should all improve. In the meantime, you may want to read up on and/or take Selenium or Maca (both of which are discussed on Page 2 of the Info Archive) to help support your body and fight the Hashi's antibodies.
Also, avoid or minimize eating soy products (tofu, soybeans/edamame, soy milk, etc.) and make sure your cruciferous veggies (cabbage, broccoli, etc.) are cooked. Foods that interact with thyroid meds are also discussed in the Info Archive thread.
I don't know why you have such early onset of thyroiditis, but it can be hereditary. It is also more common after pregnancy. Medications also interact with thyroid function, so you may want to discuss with your doctor any regular meds you've taken. Some of us have theories that birth control pills impact thyroid disease, but I've not seen any studies about it and I'm certain most doctors would say that there is no connection. I leave it to you to choose your method of protection.
There are several other websites with lots of good information. Two favorites are:
<A HREF="http://thyroid.about.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://thyroid.about.com/</A>
[Click on the "Basics/Start Here" link on the left, and go from there]
and
<A HREF="http://www.endocrineweb.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.endocrineweb.com/</A>
[Click on the "Your Thyroid" link, etc.
and here's a link to an article about Hashi's:
<A HREF="http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa090897.htm?once=true&" TARGET=_blank>http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa090897.htm?once=true&</A>
Happy reading, and post back if you have any more questions.<p>[This message has been edited by ArtfulD (edited 05-09-2002).]
