So it's all down to being fat!!!!

[graeme]

Letter from Endo received just now.

Calcium remains in normal range,although your vit D levelswhich help to maintain calcium balance are slightly reduced.It would helpful to discuss improving the dietary vit D intake when referred to our Dietetic colleagues, but i do not think you require tablet therapy on the basis of your results.Your thyroid function tests suggest that your current Thyroxine dose is adequate.Looking for evidence of other antibody driven( autoimmune) conditions i am pleased to report that your natural steriod making ability is entirely satisfactory,your vit B12 levels are in the normal range,your body's iron stores are being maintained without the need for additional supplement.Although i had been interested in your problems of haemorrhage following delivery which can have an impact on pituitary gland function later in life.I am pleased to say that the markers of pituitary function are adequate..Growth hormone levels are in the normal range and your hormonal pattern would be compatable with now being in a menopausal phase,I appreciate that a brief trial of HRT therapy did little to improve your general symptoms of chronic tiredness.Whilst all these results are reassuringly normal.i appreciate the ongoing frustration of chronic tiredness and difficulty in achieving weight reduction and i have asked your doctor to refer you for support by our dietetic colleagues and to supplement your own efforts with a prescription for Orlistat therapy.

I had spoke to my GP om the phone last week and he told me results back and everything normal,so i said to him that this is all down to my weight but he told me not to put words in to the Endo's mouth and to remember that i'm menopausal and hypo thyroid??????

[Moggie]

Please get a copy of ALL these results and post on here - there have been studies done that indicate a person can have low normal ferritin levels but still benefit greatly from iron supplements, which is what was causing my extreme fatigue.

Moggie x

[alrk]

Being in the "normal range" means didly squat! WE know that for somethings we need to be high in range to feel better (free T3) and in smae cases over range (B12) to get better.

grrrr ranges!!!

[poing]

OK, so this endo want's to up your intake of vitamin D - which is a fat-soluble vitamin - and take Orlistat, which reduces absorbtion of fats...

Crikey, does he not see the contradiction there! The NHS is really, really rubbish at this dietary stuff.

Do you actually eat fat anyway? Most people worried about their weight have already cut fat in their diets down to a minimum already. He should have asked you about your diet before prescribing that stuff.

And I REALLY hate the phrase "reassuringly normal".

(Oops, mini rant over).

[graeme]

Thanks very much for the answers,i don't know what i would do if i could'nt get help on here.It takes a while to get copy of results but i have an appt with GP on Friday and can take notes of most important ones just now.I'll also point out to him about the Orlistat ,i can't believe they have'nt noticed this.

Thanks Karen

[Hidden]

Sounds like a typical Endo - no, in fact this one almost seems interested, but falls at all the hurdles!

I know this attitude only too well.... a fixed agenda in spite of the glaringly obvious reality -even photographic evidence wasn't enough to convince mine: No, apparently I am fat therefore I got ill, when in reality I was normal weight, and got fat BECAUSE I was ill and I could barely leave the house! The photographs must have lied.

The word NORMAL (which still makes me shudder, as even when it's not, they often say it is!) in this context in "Endo-speak" translates as "You are not imminently at risk of dying, therefore my job is done, and my backside is well and truly covered"

I was offered Orlistat too... actually in combination with a drug which even I knew at the time was known to be dangerous and has since been banned (Sibutramine), but was educated enough not to even think of taking it. Despite being a big name Professor, the man was the biggest idiot I have ever had the privilege of meeting, it was so ridiculous, telling me that in effect black was white and night was day was so surreal that it was the spur for me to get my health out of the hands of this fool and do my own homework, although at the time, it wasn't easy as I could barely string a coherent sentence together I was so ill at the time.

Apart from getting your thyroid (and most likely other things too) OPTIMISED, not just "in range" it's probably not fat you need less of it's Carbohydrates, in fact you might well need MORE fat, (the right types, and NOT polyunsaturated gunk) as cholesterol is the basic substance that the body turns into a whole host of other vitally necessary substances, and (in very over-simplified terms) you need to have your metabolism well in order so that it gets used as intended instead of stored up and dumped into you arteries!

I found good advice and went onto a Low carb diet, (actually a Low Glycaemic Load diet, fairly strictly applied) and bit by bit got vitamins, electrolytes and minerals & pituitary/adrenal hormones (well some of them!) under some degree of control too using a mixture of a Private consultant, and mainly self treatment after a LOT of research based on finding people who have managed to get themselves well or found Doctors who could do that. Most of them have been in the USA, GMC restraints (shackles!) in this country seem to prevent Doctors getting patients well here, but do a lot for the share prices of Pharmaceutical companies!

It's now well over 3.5 years later, and BECAUSE of eating more fat in that time than in the previous 35 years, I am now 52Kg lighter and not even nearly so ill, despite the burden of chronic pain and disability which has prevented serious exercise (although had I been able to, I dare say the weight loss would have been faster and more of it!)

Good luck.

[graeme]

Thanks Picton for the advise ,i stopped smoking 2 yrs ago and put on about 2 stones,i am so regimental that i do'nt eat anymore than i used to and managed to lose 1st by walking 3 x 1 mile walks per day but my GP said that i could'nt do it by exercise alone and that i had to have been eating less.I damaged a tendon because of this and now can only use excercise bike.Hope i can get some results tomorrow i'm very interested to see if a T3 test had been done as endo did'nt think i should use it as i am a highly strung person,!!