A visit to my doctor in Bangkok this morning where we study the results of my blood test and have a good laugh.
After at least ten years of an easy life, my pituitary gland has now fully woken up to the fact that my thyroid gland is not doing what it should. What the pituitary would like to do is shout “Oi you! Thyroid! Produce more hormones, you useless, lazy fucker!” In the absence of shouting equipment, it achieves the same end by throwing out Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) which is intended to tell the thyroid to produce more hormones.
The Thyroid would like to respond with “I’m doing my best, but some bastard appears to have poisoned me with radioactivity and I am a shadow of my former self”. Also devoid of speech, it responds by ignoring most of the TSH that the pituitary throws at it because it just can’t produce enough hormones, and it is sulking, and most likely has a headache from all that radiation sickness.
Last month, my TSH reading broke a personal worst record by hitting a high of 22.8, compared to a normal healthy upper limit of 4.2. This was a sign that I should be a bloated, hypothyroid mess; but I wasn’t. This month the pituitary had moved into full screaming, stamping of feet mode and the TSH was zinging along at an impressive 28.9. Once it hits 30, I will start sweating TSH (not medically proven).
Meanwhile, what remains of my thyroid had tried its best to respond to the constant kicking from the pituitary and slightly improved production levels, although it still reads below normal.
The prognosis remains the same as last month. Either the thyroid will stagger back into some form of normality and the TSH reading will drop, or it will quit in disgust and I will feel all manner of unpleasant things that will tell me I have turned hypo thyroid; at which point I will start ingesting thyroid hormones. Back in three months for another check and meantime I must keep an eye on myself and my anarchistic glands.
Drove home through massive rain storms. Should now head to windsurfing club for exercise, but just too shattered. I hate some of my glands.