Which direction now?

[swishtony]

Hi, first post.... long story but will try to summarise. Been feeling ill for around 20 years, no bloods ever showed anything untoward. 2 years ago diagnosed with HepC which I know 100% I caught in the late 70s. Explained my endless years of feeling unwell. Had full 6 month treatment and viral load now zero over a year later. Felt great for about 6 months then about 3 months ago suddenly feeling really unwell, nauseous, very itchy, incredibly tired, constant dry mouth, dry hair, tingling in feet, awful sleep pattern to name but a few symptoms. GP keeps telling me I'm depressed/stressed but actually I do not feel I am at all. Therefore decide to try a naturopath, she immediately (without knowing my symptoms) diagnosed a thyroid problem and on further investigation suggested I probably have Hashimotos. She has given me a 'natural' route to a possible cure via diet and supplements. I'm a bit of a cynic but desperation led me down this route! I have full faith in her diagnosis but not fully convinced by the suggested 'cure'. I feel I want to now go back to GP and insist on further tests and get onto possible meds but not sure how to go about it? Firstly how do I convince the GP to do more tests as she keeps saying my thyroid readings are normal? What do I ask her to test for that she may not have already tested? Also not sure whether to mention the naturopath as I know what GP's generally think about alternative medicine. Any views? Many thanks!

[Marz]

....you could start by asking - 'what is normal ?' In range maybe but not normal for you. You need a full profile of TSH FT4 FT3 Anti-TPO Anti-Tg and possibly all the following - B12 VitD Folates Iron and Ferritin. If your GP will not oblige then go to the Thyroid UK Website and check out the many Private Companies that do full testing. It will be money well spent.

There has been a great deal on this forum about the inadequacies of the basic TSH test.

Hope you find some answers soon........

[greygoose]

Do you have copies of your blood test results? If not, I would think the first step would be to get hold of them - with ranges - and keep your own records. If you don't know anything about interpreting the tests, you could always post them here and someone will help you.

Hugs, Grey

[swishtony]

Hi and thanks for the replies. Spoke to my doctor today and she has asked for further blood tests to be done. I don't want to become a pest at the surgery but what specifically do I need her to test? All of the above things you mention or is there one simple term I can use so that all of the required things get tested for? Thanks again!