That's it?!

I've been tired for about two years.  I have a history of hypothyroidism, so when my primary Dr wasn't addressing that like I thought it needed to be, I went to an endocrinologist.  My levels kind of fluctuate, but no matter how good my levels looked I was consistently exhausted.  When I woke up in the morning I couldn't wait to go back to bed.  I couldn't focus on anything.  I had the attention span of a gnat.  I let my primary doctor know all of this.  She referred me to a neurologist to rule out ADD.  I didn't go to find out, I knew that wasn't the problem.  It was then I called the endocrinologist.

Here are some symptoms of hypothyroidism. Fatigue (yes) weakness (yes) weight gain or difficulty losing weight (sometimes) hair loss (yes) gi issues (yes) depression (yes) memory issues (yes) decreased libido (none of your business).  There are other symptoms which don't really affect me, but yup, most of them do.  Even when my blood levels are good, so something isn't right.  Even after seeing the specialist for two years, it's not getting better. He's stymied.  Why do I need such a high dose of synthroid?  You're the bleepin' Dr, you tell me.

So I'm beginning to think I'm crazy or lazy or both.  Immediately after I put the boys to bed, I go to bed.  This is at 7:30.  Sometimes I stay up until 9 or 10, but it's rare.  My sanity is suffering, my marriage is dented and bruised, but good nonetheless.  Needless to say, I have a good guy taking care of me.

This spring, I notice that I am not sleeping well.  I'm waking up a lot in the night.  My handsome husband tells me that I snore quite a bit.

I look like this

When I sleep, you'd think I look like this

Needless to say.  This is disturbing to me.  So I tell my Dr that I am concerned about my sleep, maybe I have sleep apnea because I am just exhausted all the time.  She refers me to a sleep Dr and gives me a rx for Ambien, which I don't fill. 

As you can see form the above picture, I fancy myself a runner.  I also take Tae Kwon Do.  Over the past two years, I have noticed my endurance getting worse and worse.   I can't do less than an 11:30 minute mile.  I can't keep up in class.  I am sucking wind and it's awful.  Is it asthma?  I don't know, all I know is that it sucks.   I did complete a half marathon, which is important because the training will come into the story here.  

Long story as short as I can make it, I go to the sleep doctor who sends me for a sleep study, a breathing study and blood work.  What she gathers from that info is that I have low iron, I'm anemic.  This is causing restless legs, which may be affecting my sleeping.  The anemia is affecting apparently every aspect of my life.

Let's look at what else iron deficiency causes.  Tired or weak (yes and yes), breathlessness (yes), hair loss (yes),  heavy periods (hey, none of your business), brittle nails, (yes),  irritable (yes) trouble concentrating (yup), the libido thing (myob).  Now lets look at anemia and runners.  Training stimulates a need for iron.  Anemia causes decreased endurance and power, fatigue and injuries. Which lead to a wanna be runner feeling like shit and useless.    

umm  HELLO?!  Where along this path should one of my other doctors have checked my iron?   The good news is, I feel so much better.  I can think, I can function, I can run.  I was irritated, my husband was irritated and my marriage, if not for an awesome husband, could have suffered horribly.  I'm thankful that this problem was found, but I am a little put off that my doctors did not find this.  

I can't say that I have stopped snoring, but for the most part, I'm sleeping better.  I'm functioning better, and I'm feeling fortunate that this was an easy fix.  I will be giving my doctor a piece of my mind next week.  But for now, I'm going with the grateful thing.