Mixture connective tissue disease

[ChoaticAdhd]

I was diagnosed with MCTD a few years back. It started at an early age first I started getting Raynaud’s phenomenon, then at 16 was told I had RA, a few years later was diagnosed with ITP which causes your antibodies to attack your platelets. Then had all the signs of systemic lupus one summer. My arms looked like I dumped boiling grease on them just from being out in the sun and the butterfly rash. Does anyone else suffer from MCTD as well and what’s your story?

[Marz]

Sorry to read of your struggles. Have you ever had your thyroid CORRECTLY tested ? The NHS has the bad habit of not doing the most important ones - notably the FT3 ? T3 is needed in every cell of the body so if levels are low then there simply is not enough to go around. Also you may have auto-immune thyroid - but if the anti-bodies have not been checked then it can be missed ...

Also LOW B12 can be involved with ADHD ( have looked at your other posts ) - so there are lots of things to consider and usually not considered by your GP - sadly. Happy to answer questions and provide more information

[ChoaticAdhd in reply to Marz]

Yes actually last summer they finally checked it and it was normal which I’m surprised lol nothing ever is

[Marz in reply to ChoaticAdhd]

Yes but what did they actually test ? Normal is an opinion rather than a result I have Hashimotos and have been on Thyroid UK here on HU for over 7 years - so have learnt a thing or two and happy to share ... TSH needs to be around 2 - FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of the ranges and the Anti-bodies are Anti-TPO and Anti-TG. The last three tests are very rarely tested by the NHS - so impossible to know if you have a problem or not. The TSH tells you very little ...

You are legally entitled to have copies of all your test results with ranges so you can keep a record of your own progress and check what has been missed !!

You can click onto my username above and in two minutes have a quick read of my Bio and of my health journey

Also test B12 - Folate - Ferritin and VitD - they are NOT routine tests ...

[Nanajhpa]

I, too, was diagnosed with MCTD years ago with a high ANA with a speckled pattern. I no longer have the same blood test results (high ANA) since I was diagnosed and treated for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This, after treatment for years for RA, only to be told my blood work showed no RA! Amazing what a mess a wrong diagnosis creates.

[ChoaticAdhd in reply to Nanajhpa]

Yea my RA factor is always positive this last round of blood work it came out negative just confuses me

[Nanajhpa in reply to ChoaticAdhd]

Thyroid maybe?

[ChoaticAdhd in reply to Nanajhpa]

My thyroid is fine I’ve gotten it checked a few times. I don’t know this is always confusing I never know what I’m going to wake up with