Hi.
This is a post for both the thyroid and PA forum.
I'd love a bit of advice and thoughts on my blood tests and history.
A bit of background: I'm a 38 year old woman. In May this year I was diagnosed with hashimoto's in the presence of high anti-bodies and pernicious Aneamia with a positive test to intrinsic factor. Was also found to be b12 deficient with a borderline low b12 and a high homocysteine. The reason why I was being tested was actually because of not getting pregnant even though trying for 5 years. All fertility hormones are normal, as is egg count and my uterus.
I had prior to testing had a mental and physical collapse. Very severe anxiety which rendered me totally invalidated. I've had it three times before in my life. First when 20. And then twice before within the last 5-6 years. I'm desperately ill for several months. Truly the worst nightmare. My mother had Addisons - another autoimmune disease - and she took her own life when I was twelve as she was so sick and the illness had thrown her into a depression. So some of my anxiety has to do with post traumatic stress due to that tragic loss.
I'm now taking sertralin - an antidepressant. That does help with my anxiety and I'm now back to a normal self though still not back to work.
6 years ago I was told there was something wrong with my thyroids. But not enough to treat. My GP back then said I needed to get tested regularly as I most likely would develop a condition. I did for a while. Everything stayed the same. I then changed doctor as I moved to another council. And in a busy life forgot about it. I never got the results of what was actually wrong and they have since been lost.
These were my blood tests from May 2015
(I'm waiting for results from a new batch of tests done a few weeks ago)
THYROID
FT4 20.8 (9.0-22.0)
FT3 5.79 (2.63-5.70)
TSH <0.01 (0.35-4.94)
Anti-thyroglobulin abs 361 (0-40)
Anti-thyroperoxidase 391 (0-35)
Anti-TSH receptor antibodies 0.98 (0-1.75)
B12
Vitamin b12 257 (187-883)
Homocysteine 18 (5.0-12.0)
Anti-gastro parietal cell abs POSITIVE
OTHER results at the border
25-hydroxyvitamin D 80 (75-150)
Phosphate 0.8 (0.8-1.5)
Glucose 6.0 (3.9-6.0)
Total bilirubin 7.4 (1.0-21.0)
Again I'm not being treated for anything relating to the thyroid as there isn't a real problem - yet. I'm slightly hyper which they're observing to see if it settles.
I've been given three shots of b12. One each month. And now with three month interval.
I've also had my thyroid scanned and it showed to function normally.
So my questions are:
Has anybody else lived with hashimoto's without it ever developing to hypo?
Should I be gluten free despite not having a "real" thyroid problem? Would that help me never become hypo for example?
If my anxiety breakdowns are a symptom of hashi and PA I'm concerned that the sertralin now suppresses that symptom - making it unclear how I'm actually doing in relation to the two autoimmune diseases. Does anybody else have experience with that?
Doctors seem to not be aware of the neuropsychiatric symptoms of b12 deficiency and my current endo dismisses it completely. Do you know of any scientific links - that a doctor would trust - I could send to her describing anxiety and depression in relation to b12 deficiency?
Can the antibodies I have and the low tsh and slightly raised FT3 be causing such severe anxiety in your opinion? Especially as b12 deficiency is also present?
Thanks for reading!