Some test results

While I was in Edmonton I received a note from my doctor. I'd had bloodwork done before I left (it should have been done in August, but at least I got it done) and it turns out that my Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is high, for the first time ever. I'm to have the test re-done in three months to see if it's still high.

A high TSH can be associated with hypothyroidism, which has symptoms like fatigue, inability to tolerate cold, and weight gain. I've had all of these side effects - you all know how tired I've been! I've also found that I'm having trouble in the cold; it chills me right to the bone. And somehow I gained almost ten pounds over the three weeks I was away which that surprised me. Well, the weight gain didn't surprise me, but I'd expected to gain something more on the order of five pounds or so.

There's one other side effect of hypothyroidism that sometimes shows up, and that's thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows. I was plucking my eyebrows a few weeks ago and noticed that they seemed really thin... to nonexistent outside of the arch. Of course, as Ian says, my eyebrows look non-existent all over, so it is sort of hard to tell if they're thinner now than they were before :)

I don't know if I do have hypothyroidism, because the side effects could be caused by so many other things that it's hard to know where they come from. If I do have it, I hope that whatever is causing the problem will resolve itself or else be easily treated.