Feeling a Bit "Hyperactive"

Anybody who has read most of my blog posts has probably come to one conclusion when it comes to Colleen:   She has been through a major roller coaster, though it is a roller coaster which mostly goes down instead of up.     All of the tests that have revealed very little, if anything.  All of the experimentation with drugs to see if any of them can trigger something in her body to make her feel better.

The company I work for instituted a new policy this year for our health insurance:  If we do a complete screening (including bloodwork and health q'naires), we will get a discount on our 2014 insurance.  Everyone in the family on the plan must get it done in order to qualify for the discount.

And, of course, the blood work added yet another new wrinkle to this very complicated saga:  Colleen may have hyperthyroidism.   I say "may" because for now, all we have is one number on one test.   But her TSH level was so low (low = hyper) that it strongly indicates that something is going on.  More testing will likely be needed to verify that, as a TSH level is only one piece to the puzzle.

The interesting thing is that we had considered that she may actually have the much more common hypothyroidism.   I was actually looking forward to get her blood results back, because I was convinced (in my own mind) that it would show an elevated (elevated = underactive) TSH.  Instead, we of course got the exact opposite of what we were expecting.

Unlike its much more common counterpart, hyperthyroidism is relatively rare.  It is estimated that 1% of the population in the United States has the condition.  It is very hard to find much research that has been done that would attempt to correlate hyperthyroidism with motility issues.   When you think about it, it makes sense - finding enough people that deal with both hyperthyroidism and a motility issue in order to do a comprehensive study is probably not easily done.

In the grand scheme of things, it does appear (on the surface) that a problem with her thyroid would not be causing all of her symptoms.   However, it needs to always be considered that the thyroid is a very important gland in the human body that essentially controls all of our hormones.   If your hormones are out of balance, the list of things that could cause is quite extensive.   After years of getting back mostly negative results, having something that is treatable come up on a blood test is at least a bit of a relief - if it turns out that she has a thyroid issue going on, it could lead to relieving at least some of her symptoms, if not all of them.

The next step is going to see our primary doctor, who will most likely refer Colleen to an endocrinologist.    However, a primary doctor is at least capable of getting some extra testing done.  He can order additional thyroid blood tests along with thyroid scans if he finds them to be appropriate.

It is just another layer to add on top of so many complex layers.  Is this the beginning of the tide turning, or just another frustrating dead end?   I will obviously let you know how it all goes.