Hello all. I'm a 40yro middle school math/science teacher in Southern California. I have a super-awesome hubby of 12+ years, and we have two sons--one 7 1/2, and one who'll be 4 in December. We have a veritable mini-zoo: two horses (one is a 36" tall mini), two cats, an aquarium featuring our oscars Milo and Otis, a small outdoor pond with goldfish and a turtle, two scorpions (who live in hubby's classroom 10mos a year), and currently...heh...seven snakes. Like I said, I'm a science teacher. Three of those seven are in my classroom, the other three in hubby's. The final one is our son's first pet; she's a two month old hatchling daughter of the corn snake I've had for 11 years. Our animals are great therapy. :grin:
I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis back in August. However, now that my thyroid hormone numbers have been brought to normal levels, I'm still suffering from a progressively worsening collection of symptoms. My endocrinologist, GP, rheumatologist, and OB/GYN all suspect I also have fibromyalgia. I joke that it's like there's a grab bag of about 20 symptoms, and every day my body is reaching in and grabbing anywhere from 3-10 of them.
My symptoms include (copied and pasted from another thread, hope you understand):
* Swings of significant fatigue (like, 3 naps a day + early bedtime, feeling drugged fatigue) and insomnia
* Severe headaches (back of head going forward)--sometimes causing nausea and vomiting; these are becoming more and more frequent
* Joint aches and body aches (throbbing all over)--these are usually daily, but some days (like today) they are a whole lot worse than others
* Mood swings--particularly irritability and depression
* Heart palpitations and "hiccups," sometimes very uncomfortable; this actually was the first problem that sent me to a doc, which resulted in several visits with a cardiologist. The conclusion was my heart itself is fine, but "something" is triggering periods of rapid heart rate. Hashimoto's makes some sense for this.
* Swelling hands and feet
* Tingling tongue (that's just a weird one, relatively new in the last 6mos)
* Fuzzy/foggy headed; feels like I'm under the influence of something when I'm decidedly not
* Feeling of pain and pressure and base of head/neck, often extending into jaw and top of shoulders and neck
* Pressure and tension in chest
* Hair loss
* Upset stomach, loss of appetite, vague nausea
* Swings of constipation and frequent bowel movements
* Dry skin
* Pelvic pain
* Lightheadedness; actually nearly passed out at work in May and took a while to regather myself; this continued off and on for days. I wound up in the ER where they ruled out a heart attack and sent me home.
It's gotten so bad I've been pulled off work. I love what I do, but I just couldn't anymore. I hit a wall, and it breaks my heart. But I come home to two young sons (ages 7 1/2 and 3 1/2), and I had no energy left for them. I'm very scared I won't be able to return to work--teaching is very stressful and demanding. All of these suggestions I read about for those who have fibro and maintain a full time job just don't work with teaching. Flexible work hours? Nope. Nap/rest in the middle of the day? Nope. Able to leave and come back? Uh-uh. Teaching is on your feet 6 hours a day, scarfing down lunch in 30min, and being able to take a bathroom break at 10:12am, 11:22am, and 1:45pm only. Add that it's middle school--an age I love!--and I have to recognize kids at that age (really, any age) are exceedingly demanding of energy and attention.
I'm scared about never going back, but right now, there is NO WAY I could be in the classroom either.
I see the rheumatologist Nov. 6, when I'll likely be getting the fibromyalgia diagnosis. *sigh*
I'm so glad for these forums, though. So, howdy! And thank you.
I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis back in August. However, now that my thyroid hormone numbers have been brought to normal levels, I'm still suffering from a progressively worsening collection of symptoms. My endocrinologist, GP, rheumatologist, and OB/GYN all suspect I also have fibromyalgia. I joke that it's like there's a grab bag of about 20 symptoms, and every day my body is reaching in and grabbing anywhere from 3-10 of them.
My symptoms include (copied and pasted from another thread, hope you understand):
* Swings of significant fatigue (like, 3 naps a day + early bedtime, feeling drugged fatigue) and insomnia
* Severe headaches (back of head going forward)--sometimes causing nausea and vomiting; these are becoming more and more frequent
* Joint aches and body aches (throbbing all over)--these are usually daily, but some days (like today) they are a whole lot worse than others
* Mood swings--particularly irritability and depression
* Heart palpitations and "hiccups," sometimes very uncomfortable; this actually was the first problem that sent me to a doc, which resulted in several visits with a cardiologist. The conclusion was my heart itself is fine, but "something" is triggering periods of rapid heart rate. Hashimoto's makes some sense for this.
* Swelling hands and feet
* Tingling tongue (that's just a weird one, relatively new in the last 6mos)
* Fuzzy/foggy headed; feels like I'm under the influence of something when I'm decidedly not
* Feeling of pain and pressure and base of head/neck, often extending into jaw and top of shoulders and neck
* Pressure and tension in chest
* Hair loss
* Upset stomach, loss of appetite, vague nausea
* Swings of constipation and frequent bowel movements
* Dry skin
* Pelvic pain
* Lightheadedness; actually nearly passed out at work in May and took a while to regather myself; this continued off and on for days. I wound up in the ER where they ruled out a heart attack and sent me home.
It's gotten so bad I've been pulled off work. I love what I do, but I just couldn't anymore. I hit a wall, and it breaks my heart. But I come home to two young sons (ages 7 1/2 and 3 1/2), and I had no energy left for them. I'm very scared I won't be able to return to work--teaching is very stressful and demanding. All of these suggestions I read about for those who have fibro and maintain a full time job just don't work with teaching. Flexible work hours? Nope. Nap/rest in the middle of the day? Nope. Able to leave and come back? Uh-uh. Teaching is on your feet 6 hours a day, scarfing down lunch in 30min, and being able to take a bathroom break at 10:12am, 11:22am, and 1:45pm only. Add that it's middle school--an age I love!--and I have to recognize kids at that age (really, any age) are exceedingly demanding of energy and attention.
I'm scared about never going back, but right now, there is NO WAY I could be in the classroom either.
I see the rheumatologist Nov. 6, when I'll likely be getting the fibromyalgia diagnosis. *sigh*
I'm so glad for these forums, though. So, howdy! And thank you.