Ladies and Gentlemen, Presenting an Appetite!

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. It turns out that when you work for yourself, then take a month off, you're mighty busy when you do return! Am just finding myself surfacing from the huge pile of work that stacked up while I was away. Just have some normal ploddy little things left to finish up, then my filing (urgh), then getting all our tax stuff together for our accountant. Quelle thrill!

I also confess that I haven't been crossfitting. I have not lost my taste for the Kool-Aid, it's just been hard to get to the gym. Partially it's been laziness in the depth of the cold and dark Minnesota winter, partially it's been work, and partially it's been the fact that my gym, though awesome and groovy, is actually kind of a long way away. Am thinking of converting over to the local YMCA - it's under 10 minutes away.

Blah blah blah. This is all boring.

Interesting stuff? Hm, three things.

1. My measurements are down again! My weight also seems down just the tiniest bit too. Yay!

2. My fingernails are growing! This is new and strange for me. I've had to learn the fine art of the manicure. Actually, I just take an emery board to the loo with me. Multitasking. This is the resolution of a wonky thyroid symptom - weak, useless fingernails. I never had to trim them before, they just ripped, or frayed, or peeled away. What joy. Mum says my hair is growing faster now too.

3. I'm hungry multiple times per day now. This is also taking some getting used to. Previously, if I had a busy day coming up and knew I was going to miss breakfast and/or lunch, no biggie. That would just mean I'd be hungry for dinner. I usually didn't get hungry in the normal way either - I'd get moody or feel a bit ill. That's how I would know I should eat something. Now I get the entirely pleasurable sensation of growly tummy and daydreaming about food. It's so much fun! I usually have a small cup of oatmeal for breakfast, small sandwich or bowl of soup for lunch, and meat/fish and a veg for dinner. If I don't have these meals I find myself rooting around in the kitchen looking for snacks (a glass of V8 usually takes care of that quickly. Yum.). It's been an interesting balancing act. I try to eat just enough at a meal so that I'm hungry in time for the next one. However, I sometimes misjudge and find myself rooting for snacks, or skipping a meal, then rooting around for snacks. Am having a hard time with dinners though - most nights I do go to bed a bit hungry.

I have a blood test next week to see how my numbers are shaping up. When those results come in, then I think it's time for a chat with the doctor (via a nurse, certainly). Here's my plan:

Ask the doctor what her goals are for my treatment: Is she aiming for a particular TSH? Is she waiting to see when I stop complaining so much? Is she going for a gut reaction?

Depending on her reply, this is what I'd like to tell her. So far, I have felt better with each increased dose. I would like to continue to increase the dose until I feel worse (hyperthyroid). At that point, make a note, do a bloodtest, and back down the dosage a bit. I'd like to get my TSH below .4 mU/l

I've been trying to find out what the statistics are for very healthy people. Athletes who easily maintain good weight, are mentally stable, no autoimmune disorders, no hypertensions, yadda yadda. I want my numbers to match theirs, not the numbers of "normal" people when I look around and realize that I don't want to look like a "normal" person, I want to look and feel great. Thus, I'd like to try and get my blood chemistry to match that of people who look and feel great, not just a statistical middle-ground.

For some interesting reading on BMI vs TSH go here:

http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/90/7/4019?ck=nck Small Differences in Thyroid Function May Be Important for Body Mass Index and the Occurrence of Obesity in the Population

Good graphic :
http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/vol90/issue7/images/large/zeg0070535900001.jpeg?ck=nck

I've found a few studies that find no correlation between low BMI and low TSH, but I don't agree with how those studies chose their populations (one study that found no correlation, only had subjects that had been identified with some thyroid abnormality).

Found another good article on TSH Reference Ranges. http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/a/tshtestwars.htm The TSH Reference Range Wars: What's "Normal?", Who is Wrong, Who is Right...

It's a very good discussion on the ranges, and how some physicians will see someone with a TSH near three (like me) and say "you're fine", but someone who is receiving treatment will have a target TSH near one. If three is fine, why not aim for three, eh?

Lovely chatting, but I've got to go. I'm hungry. :)