Trouble Concentrating, Memory and Confusion

nasher said:

secondary causes
all of this sounds interesting to me

a lot of it sounds like secondary causes.

it is all related to your thyroid surgery and cancer and surgery and....

its kind of like if you injure one leg you favor the other and at the end of the day both legs are hurting.

with myself its the fact i have multiple issues all together

1)TT (listing it first cause of the site)
2) is the cancer going to come back
3) sleep apnea (a separate medical issue so i don't get good sleep)
4) Vertigo (so my mind is defiantly spinning and doesn't help with sleep)
5) multiple meds to be taken at different times of the day plus the side effects of them.

I have found that tricking myself doesn't work i just get up the same time every day of the week take my synthroid set a 1 hour clock.. then figure what i needed to do that day.
After that i try to remember to take my other meds and have breakfast 1 hour later (after checking to make sure i don't have fasting labs that day).

yes I am sure anxiety is in the lot of things but its a secondary symptom caused by everything else just like depression.

a remember when i was meting with my mental health professional. He was surprised that I was the only thyroid cancer he had seen in his 8+ years once he heard of all the problems and issues. then he chatted with the other shrinks in the office. He had found out that in over 20 years I was the only person in any stage of thyroid cancer that had been seen by mental health. and that there were very very few cancer patients at all.

The biggest problem with all of this is if you start going to a shrink... that is ONE MORE appointment you need to remember about. Next week I have 5 medical appointment and i had two others but i need to reschedule them (issues with the clinic not mine) so i have to pull out my schedule and look at theirs to figure when i can fit in another appointment.

Literally the hardest thing with a mental health person is you sit down and he expects you to complain and gripe and whine and then he will only ask probing questions to try to figure out if he can help you figure out what caused this or that or...

looks at my clock ok 34 more min before i can have breakfast.

Another big issue that we all have to watch out for is the doctors assuming that your symptom is part of the "thyroid issue" and not a completely different issue.

I am also trying to get used to a new med I was given last night for my vertigo.

they took me off of Valium (for 7-10 days)and put me on meclizine (3x a day)even though this new one WILL make me tired it should help prevent the vertigo and i can safely drive with this one as opposed to Valium.

in 7 days I see an ENT doctor about the B-RAF mutation stuff... and will see if i can get the meds sorted out or if i need to set up ANOTHER appointment with my PCP just to ask about meds.

yes teamwink was ABSOLUTELY correct they overlook mental health. Another problem with it is just like the big C. people don't want to talk about mental health.

oh yea and i need to talk to my PCP or some other doctor about increasing/changing the anti-depressant i am on cause I seem to be getting worsening depression AGAIN.

I knew I had some more points to make by I'm havering trouble concentrating and remembering what they were. (seriously this isn't just a funny tag line joke)

Craig

Secondary Causes
Yeah Craig, I agree with that too. I am pretty sure that the anxiety is related to the lack of thyroid.

I started on my own mental health program. Seems my PCP doctor only wants to prescribe medication and I just don't want to take them. They never have agreed with me. So... I quit taking my Diazepam and Muscle relaxers for the most part (as he thinks they could be playing a role in my anxiety/depression). I only use them when I absolutely need them. So now I only take Synthroid, Omeprazole (for GERD) and my daily supplements including a multi-vitamin, selenium, flaxseed oil, CoQ10 and extra vitamin C. I am doing a half hour cardio work out every morning before work (even though it's very hard for me to get up that early). In only two weeks, I am handling life's situations much better. My memory seems to be improving and I don't seem to care as much when the doctor I work for gives me my daily reaming. She actually complimented me for the first time in over two months today. My other boss even noticed the change in me. I think I actually see some hope for myself. Just hoping that a side effect of this new mental health plan is a little bit of weight loss.
Blessings,
Julie-SunnyAZ

3boys_mom said:

Yea Julie
Glad you are feeling better. On another board someone found out that taking selenium with something else (can't remember what) can be dangerous. Do you take all your supplements at the same time?

Also, I can't remember, have you tried the Cytomel? Good luck!

Sarah

Hi Sarah
I take my Multi-Vitamin, vitamin C, 1 CoQ10 and 1 Flaxseed oil in the morning. At night I take another Flaxseed, 1 CoQ10 and the Selenium. I think the Selenium is also helping with sleep. Selenium and Vitamin C are a bad combination (toxic). I also take Metamucil (fiber) in the evening before bed.

I was on Cytomel after my TT because my Doctor wasn't sure if I would be doing RAI. I had the shakes really bad on it. Couldn't put on eye make up because my hands shook too badly. I thought I had Parkinson's Disease. Then my Doctor opted not to do RAI and I went on Synthroid. Big mistake not doing the RAI the first time around.

He offered to put me on a combination of Cytomel and Synthroid at my last appointment and I said I would think about it. I might take him up on it in September at my next visit. I have lost about five pounds since starting the new program. If the weight loss continues I may not go on the Cytomel just because I don't want to upset the existing balance if it's working.

Thanks and Blessings,
Julie-SunnyAZ

poppit said:

It gets better
Hi Julie, I am presently in that state, but that is because I have been off my meds since July 8...follow-up thyroid scan.

It will get better and you will be going along thinking wow, I remembered that, or I feel better about this. It will take time, but it is possible. my TT was 9-29-09 and, with the exception of these blips for scans and such, life is all but back to my new-normal.

Hang in there, all WILL be right with the world again.

poppit

Hi Poppit
I had my TT in 2009 also. Mine was in November. Then I had metastasis to the lymph nodes and had a right neck dissection in June 2010. Then another in December 2010 because the stupid ENT didn't get the targeted nodes. I switched to a better surgeon that specializes in Endocrinology Cancer. I never had to go off of my meds for two RAI treatments because I had the thyrogen shots.

I just haven't felt the same since I lost my thyroid. I gained fifty pounds during the whole ordeal and it's been very hard to deal with. I have lost some of the weight but still have a little over thirty to go.

It doesn't help that I hate the doctor I work for. She is always berating me. I have horrible nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night dreading work. I am starting to get used to her because I don't take offense as much to what she says to me. She makes me feel like such and idiot sometimes. I do feel a bit better on the new "all natural" plan, but I have a feeling that I will never be what I was before.

I decided to add another supplement to my plan. B-12 is supposed to give me more energy. I bought the 6000 mcg sublingual tablets at the store today. One of the doctors I worked for in the past gave B12 injections to his weight loss patients and it really helped them with weight loss and energy levels.

Thanks for your positive attitude, I am hanging in there the best I can.

Blessings,
Julie-SunnyAZ