medicated

I suppose this was inevitable. I suppose it happens to everyone. But, I always figured I'd be old and retired before it came to this. I guess today is as good a day as any. Today, I swallowed the first prescription pill, a pill that (baring any stunning medical breakthroughs) I must take every day of my life until I die. My new life-long companion is levothyroxine.

I had a physical this month and my blood tests came back abnormal for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and T4 thyroid hormone. The same thing happened two years ago and the doc wanted to prescribe me the same pill. I did a metric ass-load of internet research (here) and --given my research results and general medical skepticism-- I decided against the pills.

So what changed my mind this year? My thyroid levels are worse than they were two years ago… not much worse, but definitely not better. Additionally, within the last year the medical community tightened the "normal" range for the TSH test. With the old ranges I would've been diagnosed as borderline hypothyroidal; with the new ranges I am definitely hypothyroidal. I'll post my blood test results when I get them.

I'm only 29 years old. I eat extremely healthily. I exercise regularly. I don't have any of the typical symptoms (listed here) But, none of that shit counteracts genetics.
...and so it was written, shenry at 7/23/2004 07:14:00 AM.
...and so it was appended with .