Can someone help me out with my blue horizon test results please?

[eric-nortman]

Hi everyone I am new here.

I just got my results back from blue horizon and was told everything was in normal range. I have had thyroid symptoms going on for 14 years now but was only over tested on my tsh levels.

My symptoms are,

-Black rings around my eyes,

-Moon shaped tubby face no matter how hard I exercise and look after my diet.

-Pale white skin regardless of getting sun.

-Daily fatique every day.

-Acne.

-Hairloss + dry brittle hair. (No history of hair loss in my family)

-Poor concentration.

-Poor sex drive.

-Right hand is always cold sometimes ice cold.

-Pins and Needles down the right hand side of my face and head 24/7 for nearly two years now. Waiting on an MRI after seeing a neurologist 2 months ago. Still no word on when this MRI is Booked for.

I am in good shape cause my diet is good with morderate exercise and I never eat processed food or any sweets. The only place I retain weight is in the face. Fat pale face with panda eyes on a ripped body.

My hemoglobin is slightly low this last 4 months but the doctor said my b12 and iron levels are perfect and last week said the hemoglobin is slowly climbing back up an she will test in another few months. Was 12.2 a few months ago and now its 12.7 (male) All of my above thyroid symptoms have been present years an years before any low blood count, so I'm sure its not the culprit.

I bought a years supply of NDT before I did the private blood test but have not taken any yet so the results below are baseline figures with no treatment. My NHS TSH levels were slightly higher a few months ago at 2.83

TOTAL THYROXINE(T4) 90 nmol/L. 59 - 154

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 2.58 mIU/L. 0.27 - 4.2

FREE THYROXINE 14.9 pmol/l 12.0 - 22.0

FREE T3 4.2 pmol/L 3.1 - 6.8

IMMUNOLOGY

THYROID ANTIBODIES Thyroglobulin Antibody <10.0 IU/mL. 0-115 (Negative)

Method used for Anti-Tg: Roche Modular

Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 5.2 IU/mL 0 - 34

Method used for Anti-TPO: Roche Modular

Can anyone tell me if it is possible that these results could be making me symptomatic or am I barking up the wrong tree? I know going to the doctor with these results is pointless as the TSH is within normal range so they will not even consider treating it. Would supplementing NDT cause my thyroid to shut down its natural ability to produce its own hormones or am I over thinking it? I really want to get rid of these God awful symptoms. Sorry for the crazy long post. Any input/help would be really good.

Thanks everyone.

[poing]

The auto-antibody results look like they are an outright negative to me. That's good news, because it means that the thyroid gland isn't likely to be damaged, just struggling because of other things going on that have a knock-on effect.

One possibility is nutritional deficiency - you can get deficiencies on the perfect diet if your digestion isn't working as well as it should. Panda eyes could be the sign of a food intolerance of some sort. I have a serious sensitivity to gluten and that completely stops my digestion from working and I can see signs of developing deficiencies within days if I get accidentally glutened. Low zinc and/or copper levels (or an imbalance between the two) particularly spring to mind because that can cause hair loss and low libido.

The other is high cortisol... a moon face can be associated with high cortisol. Overwhelming stress is usually the cause - both physical stressors, like not enough sleep, and psychological ones, like the stressful commute - but there are other causes too.

Your doctor can check these things out, although they might need some pushing...

[eric-nortman in reply to poing]

Hi Poing,

Yes I am happy I got a neg on the antibodies. I thought it may have been nutritional deficiency years ago so I take a multivitamin and multimineral everyday day now just to cover those basis. I had a gluten test that came back negative after my hemoglobin was low, though it would not have made much difference as I have been gluten free 6 years now.

I did a food intolerence test last year which showed I was intolerant to all dairy, coffee, tea, an some sugar, so I avoided them.

I did the diet elimination last year also to see if that would help but no joy. Since then I have chosen to go vegan as dairy is now out of the question for me, currently 10 months now. Diet has not made any difference symptom wise which is why I done the advanced thyroid test as I can no longer blame a poor diet. Along with the multi mineral I take I also take 50 mgs of zinc every other day and 1000 mcgs of b12.

Now the cortisol is an interesting thing to consider as in early April last year I asked the doctor to test them using a 24 hour saliva test, she would only do the blood test for it. She tested them an then asked me to call into the clinic the following week an have them redone. She never explained why. I retested then i phoned reception the following week an she said the doctor wrote on the notes that she was happy with the results and assured me everything was fine. Last august I had the alternative testing done by a electro puncture test where the machine sets off a high pitch noise when testing the corresponding acupuncture to organ points. I was told the kidneys were off the charts an it was probably my adrenals doing it. Though I don't know how accurate this testing truly was. I couldn't go to the doctor with it as I would have been laughed out the door especially when they already did a blood test for it.

I hate going to the doctors now as all they want to do is push antidepressants on me,which only mess things up even more. I am not depressed an refuse the antidepressants, just extremely frustrated with the lack of care towards the quality of my life from the doctors an the sheer ignorance from the NHS.

[eric-nortman]

Any more thoughts on this? I failed to mention that I have had dull pressing pain around my left kidney now for about a year now. One night it brought me ,littery to my kness an i consider myself pretty tolerant to pain. When I mentioned this to the doctor at the time she brushed it off as stressed related. I don't want to go back to the doctor cause it makes me feel like a crazy hypochondriac. I would rather spend all my money on testing myself.

I would prefer to get an ultrasound or a ct scan of my right kidney area but I am afraid to ask as I feel I will be outright refused. Fu-k the NHS.

[poing in reply to eric-nortman]

Don't be afraid to ask... doctors tend to brush things aside when they are a one off, but I think they will usually investigate when a problem is recurrent. So telling them that the problem is still there or has come back is really important.

I have come across a number of articles recently about how vegetarian and vegan diets can sometimes contribute to thyroid problems... such diets are low in certain nutrients and often contain too much soya, which is a goitrogen. (Personally I think any soya is too much!)

Let me see if I can find them... here's one:

cholesterol-and-health.com/...

poing

[eric-nortman]

Do you think I have Cushing's syndrome? If I do how am I going to conveince the doctor to perform the correct test other than the simple blood test which is a complete hit an miss?

[Yana in reply to eric-nortman]

Dr Toft "Understanding Thyroid Disorders" published by BMA says "TSH should be 1 or barely audible for optimal health." Book available from waterstones £4.95.

My TSH was 2.23 and my GP agreed to increase my medication when I sent this information with a letter, before I had my appointment with her.

Hope this helps.

endocrinology.org/press/pre...

[Yana]

Just an added thought, could the pain your'e having in your kidney be kidney stones? The reason why I'm asking is because your'e taking minerals and they could build up in your system and cause kidney stones, especially if your not drinking enough fluid to help flush them out.

Just another thing have you chosen to go vegan because of allergies to dairy products or because of humanity reasons? NDT contains pig thyroid.

[eric-nortman]

Hi yana,

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. The pain in my left kidney area started before I took mutiminerals. When i started getting pains in that area I thought it may have been kidney stones so I did various kidney flushes but it never eased up.

I wish I could say I went vegan because of animal cruelty, but my influences to go vegan were a last ditch attempt to restore my health. I never craved meat or dairy to begin with so itwas easy for me to do without. I can't say I have benefited from a vegan diet but it has not done me any harm either. An truth be told I don't even like the smell of meat cooking anymore.

I would have no issue the NDT I bought if it would take away the majority of my symptoms.

[eric-nortman]

Okay have an update an i hope you can all weigh in here. I have got my cortisol levels back from genova today. I have no idea what to do. Everything in the letter they suggest i already do. I have a very healthy diet and all the general guidelines is what i follow with day to day life here are my results below. Would i benefit from taking dessicated thyroid considering my TSH levels in the first post are 2.83? My cortisol is all over the place and i don't know where to turn to at this point. How can you be low after waking in the morning and then shoot up out of range in the afternoon? This is so frustrating. How can you treat a low functioning cortisol level that shoots up to over production in the afternoon?

Cortisol Levels

==================

sample 1 post Awakening 8.5 Low

sample 2 (+ 4 - 5 Hours) 9.5 High

sample 3 (+ 4 - 5 Hours) 4.7 inside range

sample 4 (Prior to sleep) 1.6 inside range

Total Daily Cortisol: 24.3 inside range (Range 21 - 41 nmol/L

DHEA Levles

================

Sample 2 (am) 1.27 inside range

Sample 3 (pm) 1.19 inside range

DHEA Mean: 1.23 (referance range 0.40 -1.47)

DHEA: Cortisol Ratio: 5.06 (Referance Range 2.0 - 6.0)

Cyclic variation: Overall this is an indication of normal adaptation to both chronic and acute stressors, however there is some variation in the individual timed readings. In the context of a patient with very long standing stressors (years) it can indicate either good coping/adaptation methods, or represent hormone levels "dropping through" normal ranges on the way to depleted levels after having been over stimulated for many years.

The morning cortisol level is below the normal range. Morning cortisol may be a good indication of peak adrenal gland function since they represent peak cyclic activity. Low morning cortisol levels suggest a degree of adrenal hypofunction.

The noon cortisol level is above the normal range. This may be indicative of low blood sugar levels before lunch, instructing the aderenals to make cortisol so that stored energy reserves are mobilised to correct the state of low blood sugar. May also be a indicator of adrenal stress. Action: Keep blood sugar levels stable.

Deviations in DHEA Production

================================

None Seen

[eric-nortman]

bumping this as it keeps getting buried.

[Clarebear]

Sorry - don't really know how to answer this as I had low morning cortisol, then lowish in the day, which shot up to high at midnight. I tried various supplements eg,NAX, but didn't find that this helped. The thing that seems to have helped me most is taking NDT and adopting the CT3M, which basically means that you take some T3 containing medicine during the "main cortisol production window", which is during the last few hours of sleep. More info here if you are interested:

recoveringwitht3.com/blog/b...

[tegz]

Dr B D-P cautions in his thorough book that treating thyroid is difficult if adrenals not well functioning.

You seem to have at least one query on this.

To counter this view- it's also been reported that thyroid treatment can bring adrenals back into line.

Not sure about the rules round this, though.

Your earlier figures for thyroid hormones aren't brilliant- much like mine earlier this year.

I did have to go private to get a higher TSH strangely. [Followed by Levo- not too great on it after all that effort!]

I do wonder if the labs really line up one to the other, never mind the wide margins NHS work to.

I would hesitate to do hormones outside of professional medical care, tbh.

Possibly a Naturapath could help?

[eric-nortman]

Not sure how to tackle this really I have heard that treating the thyroid can pull the cortisol levels back into line but without high enough tsh figures then i fall outside the care of the NHS which will make the monitoring process very difficult. I am just spit balling here but do you think a cyst in the testicle can throw off cortisol levels in any way. I also feel that when I first discovered the lump years ago that it made my erections weaker and now the lump has started growing a little again and when it hurts it resonates with the pain on my abdomen at the same side. I know I am shooting in the dark here but do you think that that lump could have been giving me all those symptoms an messing with my hormones all those years?