I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease when I was 28 years old. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster ride ever since. In 2004 I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation and was put on medications to control it. After exhausting all medications available, I had a Pacemaker implanted in 2006 to try and alleviate the problem. I have had three Radio Frequency Ablations to try and control the rapid heart rate and each procedure has failed. I have a large goiter in my neck and I have been suffering extreme tiredness stiffness in my joints and I feel like I have been hit by a bus. There are days when I don't want to go anywhere or do anything and so I hide in my house and plod along as best I can I have no energy at times and feel frustrated as to what to do. I have blood tests and I keep getting told that my thyroid tests come back showing normal. My mother had Graves' disease and I had an uncle who also had thyroid problems.

I've had Hashimoto's disease since I was 32. It has changed my life. I have anxiety, feel tired, cannot eat without gaining weight, and I feel like my heart beats way too fast. I'm also nervous all the time.

I have had Hashimoto's thyroid disease since 1974. I was 20 when it was diagnosed. Back then, they gave you Synthroid and told you to learn to live with the symptoms. I was always tired, with memory problems, and aches and pains. In 1993, I had severe depression and when they did bloodwork my TSH was very high - 19. 4 - I ended up in a psychiatric hospital. My endocrinologist wouldn't change my dosage. I ended up divorced because my ex said I wasn't getting any better. In 1998 I got a new doctor and he told me if I am on the correct dose I shouldn't have symptoms. I felt great when he was managing my dosage, then he retired. Since 2009 I have felt terrible and again my thyroid was way out of whack - a TSH of 16.8. My new doctor changed my dose again but overdid it so now my TSH is 0.087. But, I now know that other things can affect how you feel. Push for blood tests for Cortisol, B-12, DHEA, Vit-D, and other hormone tests. My DHEA, Vit-D, Cortisol-Am-pm and 24 hour were all very low at the bottom of the normal range. My doctor said he didn't think I needed treatment but if I wanted to take some things, this is what to take. DHEA, and B-12, Vit-D, Vit-C. I got another doctor to order prednisone for the low Cortisol. For the first time in years, I wake up not hurting and feeling good. It has only been a couple of weeks and I hope I continue to feel better. Two Points from this saga. 1. Always ask for your own copies of blood work results, so you know where your TSH level. 2. If you don't feel good; push for other tests, if the doctor won't listen find a new doctor and report him to the AMA. I have been told over the years, it was female hormones, husband problems, work stress and recently menopause, which I went through a few years ago. Don't let doctors treat you like a second class citizen.

At 47, I became fatigued, depressed, and had hot and cold flashes. Soon after my hair began falling out, and I had chronic migraines with sound, light, and heat sensitivity. My local doctor told me I needed a psychiatrist after I kept reporting pain in muscles and joints. I finally sought out an Internist who spent an hour taking my history. He sent me to an Endocrinologist after diagnosing me with Hashimoto's disease. I've been on Synthroid and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Ddoctors believe it was the result of mononucleosis which I had a 19 and in college.

I have six children and when I was pregnant with my fifth, I knew something had changed. My doctor said baby was fine after a battery of tests, but I wasn't feeling the same. My next pregnancy was the same with more energy lose and more weight gain. After I had my sixth child I stopped having menstrual cycles and my energy was gone. Doctors told me getting that I was getting too old to keep having so many children. I experienced hair loss, but runs in family, I had hives and acne so I went to a skin doctor that said to have thyroid checked. Sure enough… Hashimoto's.