After several months and different tests, I have been diagnosed with thyroiditis. On Tuesday I had a Radioactive Iodine Uptake test and a thyroid scan. The Uptake test consists of taking a capsule that contains a small amount of radioactive iodine to see how much iodine has been absorbed by the thyroid after six hours.

What does iodine have to do with thyroid? Well, I’m glad you asked and since I didn’t know either, I turned once again to the god of all knowledge, Google. According to the American Thyroid Association, iodine is an element that is needed for the production of thyroid hormone. The body does not make iodine, so it is imperative that the food we eat contains enough iodine. This supplement was added to salt to deal with this deficiency.

I took the iodine capsule in the morning and returned in the afternoon for my thyroid to be measured by a gamma probe. After the uptake test was done, I had a scan of my thyroid. I’m not sure what the machine was, but it looked like a CAT scan. It took forty minutes for this test and lucky for me, I was tired and dozed off a couple of times. The scan tests whether there is anything structurally wrong with the thyroid. Mine was fine.

The diagnosis of thyroidism is a good thing as far as thyroid problems go. It is most likely caused by a virus. I haven’t been diagnosed with any type of virus, but it is possible I had Covid back at the end of June. At the time, I didn’t recognize my symptoms as Covid; runny nose one day, fever on another day and a sore throat one day. It wasn’t until a person I had spent the evening with told me she had tested positive for Covid after we’d been together, that I realized I probably had it too.

The doctor is not ordering any medication right at the moment. Thyroiditis often resolves itself after a period of time (sometimes as long as a year). Unfortunately, when hyperthyroidism leaves, it is often replaced by hypothyroidism, at least for a while. Hypothyroidism is just the opposite of hyperthyroidism. It most often causes weight gain. Argh! Weight gain. My nemesis. From what I’ve read, the weight gain could be anywhere between 5 and 30 pounds, so when I start gaining, it’s back to WW.

So I go back for repeat lab work in thirty days and see where my thyroid levels are. For now, though, I’m going to take advantage of the easy weight loss. (I can now take my jeans off without unzipping them!)

So what else has been going on in the lives of the Great Hunter and me? Christmas prep, at least for me, the Great Hunter not so much. We took our son and our newly transplanted East coast daughter-in-law to the Boars Head Festival (I wrote about Boars Head last year) on Saturday.

On Sunday a friend and I went to see the Ambassadors of Harmony’s Christmas Program. When I asked the Great Hunter if he wanted to go, he curled his nose and said no. He missed a great program, one hundred acapella voices.