Hello Hashimotos Solidarity Club!
        Well I'm  excited to have illicited such sincere response with my short and
too vague question about Hashimotos. I'm Sandra (sandy )L. Chodos ; 40; was
diagnosed in my early 20's during a stressful, nutritionally out-of-whack
time.  My doctors have always been rather non-forthcoming but reassuring when
I ask them about the disease, its symtoms, effects of diet, hormone dosage
levels, what I should worry about (cancer??) . . . I've had sonograms twice
to check nodules but all was o.k.  I guess. My Synthroid level is  .175
--high  I think, and that prescribed after having my 3 year old daughter.
        It's interesting to consider the emotional connection. I never related my
rare but intense rages or my sometime feeling that I couldn't remember simple
words that seemed right on the tip of my tongue   --to my thyroid condition.
  I also get hair on my chin.  And yes I pluck them.  (tried waxing a couple
of times -- too painful!) I'm not sure if my acne flare-ups are connected,
but I certainly have them.  ADD is, thankfully, not my problem -- how do you
deal with that double catastrophe??  Apparently my gland is totally shot,
although I never heard about surgery to remove it.   My own struggle with
weight is minor compared to some of your bouts, but I do find if I can avoid
processed carbohydrates (bread, mostly) I'm better off.  I've fasted/cleansed
(juice fasts, herbal cleansing) a couple of times and felt fantastic
afterward, but of course could not maintain the effect.  Has anyone tried
elimination diets as a way of life --no bread at all, no dairy at all, no
yeast ????  Cutting out Nutrisweet may be a good start for me.
 
Any further thoughts from the group about life management with Hashimotos
would be much appreciated --diet, stress, what supplements do you use (how
'bout St. John's Wort --MDs are totally in the dark about ANYTHING
alternative, I find).  Do you think because this is mostly a women's disease
that the medical establishment has given us short shrift in terms of research?
 
I sent for some articles from medscape.  I'll be glad to share that info with
you all when they come through --if I can decipher the medical terminology.
 Thanks for all your contributions.  Let's keep talking!
 
Sandra L. Chodos in R.I.