After getting off the birth control pills my “imbalance” began to level off a bit. I couldn’t seem to lose the weight that I had gained with this pregnancy. I had gained 24 lbs with my first pregnancy and within a few months was back down to a good weight. This time I had gained 39 lbs and could not lose it. I was constantly tired – needing naps every day when my children napped. These were not just little naps either. I would sleep for 2 hours or more depending on how long my kids would sleep. Then I would get them up and put in a video and lay back down on the couch. I just couldn’t’ seem to get on top of it.
Another issue I was experiencing extreme intolerance. I couldn’t handle any noise, had a short fuse and seemed to lose control easily. My son was 2 ½ at this point. He was jealous of his new sister and acted out on many occasions. I had absolutely no patients with him and would end up screaming uncontrollably at him. It was awful. I wondered what kind of mom I was becoming. As my periods returned around 1 year I began to have hormonal issues. For the week prior to my periods I would have severe anxiety. I would be afraid to get out of bed in the morning. I don’t know what I was afraid of but it was so bad that I had to mentally talk myself into getting up and starting my day telling myself that there was nothing to be afraid of. Then for the week after my period I would experience depression. It was like the postpartum blues I had when my son was born. So for 2 weeks of the 4 weeks in a month I was a hormonal basket case.
On July 12, 2004 I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. I told him that I couldn’t take it anymore. I was so tired and had the anxiety and depression. He said it couldn’t be related to my thyroid levels and then told me that it sounded like female issues and he did not deal in female “issues”. So in August I was due for my yearly physical so I asked my OB/GYN to check my hormones. I also was having breast pain in my left breast. He did find anything in his exam so he ordered a mammogram. I was 39 years old so he said “it’s time”. He also ordered labs to check my hormone levels. Of course they were all “fine” according to him but now I wonder. So many other labs were “fine” that really weren’t. He prescribed Zoloft and told me to take them 5 days before my period was supposed to come and that should help with my "issues". I took one and then decided that this was not the answer. I never had depression issues prior to removing my thyroid and now I do. Something was off and I wanted to find it.
So life continued on and I was miserable. On November 2, 2004 I went to a health seminar put on by a local Naturopathic / Chiropractor. I had heard of him years earlier but never investigated it as an option. But now I was desperate to feel better. His talk was on healing the immune system naturally. I went with my parents. After the seminar was over they told people they come up and ask questions of the doctor. I was impressed with what I heard so I went to ask him if he knew how to treat people with thyroid cancer. He said that he had helped patients with this condition and was convinced that he could help me.
