FROM BLACK FOREST, COLORADO
Two weeks before my 50th birthday, in mid January, I woke up and thought I was dying. Every part of my body hurt including my hair. My symptoms included: exhaustion, listlessness, depression, mood swings, panicked, lack of concentration, bloating, freezing cold, insomnia, skin crawling, no sex drive and severe headaches. I called my family doctor thinking I had a bad case of the flu. After three trips to this doctor in three weeks, he prescribed antibiotics just because he didn’t know what else to do. The end of February, I had my annual female exam, with a female doctor. Still feeling terrible, I told her of my symptoms, she said my hormone levels were all within normal range. Then she saw my terribly dry, flaky skin. She ordered a thyroid test and come to find out my thyroid was significantly under producing. She prescribed synthetic thyroid T-4 medication. I felt a bit better, but still not right. I called her and she said that she would prefer I be on the medication for a year before we re-tested. I was at my wits end, I didn’t know how I could survive a whole year feeling the way I did. Then I heard Maggie Mae Sharp speaking about menopause. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I had so many of these symptoms. Maggie Mae told me about Dr. Juetersonke in Colorado Springs who considers himself a last resort doctor, specializing in women’s health. I made an appointment. Maggie also referred me to the book, Hormones, Health & Happiness*, which was a Godsend. Dr. J sent me a 10 or 12 page questionnaire to fill out before my appointment. I had never been asked these questions by a doctor, just filling these pages out gave me so much hope that he was really going to dig deep to find out why I wasn’t feeling well. Dr. J said the thyroid can rarely be treated with just T4, that we need T4, T3, T2 and T1 which Armour Thyroid medication contains because it is natural, desiccated pork thyroid. He also suggested I might be low in Calcium and Magnesium. I started taking Wild Oats Menopause supplements, along with my new prescription for Armour Thyroid and I felt like a new women in just days.
What I didn’t know was that over half of women 50 or over have thyroid issues. Thyroid issues combined with menopause symptoms, even when the “tests” say your hormones are normal, can be devastating. For all women 50 and over reading this, please have your thyroid tested and make sure they test the T-3 and T-4 levels. Switching from T4 treatment to the T4/T3 combination resolved my emotional and physical symptoms, within days. Maggie Mae took her health into her own hands and researched, researched, researched and didn’t settle for being told ‘there’s nothing wrong with you’ or ‘it’s all in your head’ answers. Then she shared all this invaluable information with me and now with women everywhere via this website. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Maggie Mae.
-----