Another funny thing happened...this time at the pharmacy

[marram]

I went to collect my prescription and my husband's earlier today. In there was an older lady I have seen several times but never had the opportunity to speak to.

She was complaining that she could hardly breathe, and she had been asking the chemist for something to clear her nose. I asked her if she had hay fever. She said no, she did not have hay fever, but her nose was always blocked and at night she has to sit upright because she keeps 'choking in her sleep'.

Naturally you know what my next question was. 'Do you have a thyroid problem?' The answer came: yes, I'm on 100mcg of thyroxine but I still feel ill. And I just can't lose weight.

(Remember this is at the pharmacy, and the pharmacist was hearing all this while in the back picking up a nasal spray for her.)

I said to her: 'Did you know that breathing problems such as a permanently blocked nose and breathing problems at night suggest you are not having enough thyroxine?'

Of course, she did not. I asked when she last had a blood test, and she could not remember, so I suggested that she ask the doctor to test her. 'But they don't do the proper tests, you know,' was her answer. (She must have been reading something...) 'Then I suggest you ask him to do the proper tests, which are at least TSH+T4+ T3. And if you don't get any joy, you could do it privately. I do, and also since my thyroxine was increased, I hardly use my inhaler or my nasal spray'

At that point the pharmacist came out and said to both of us, 'You know, Marie is absolutely right. you should get it checked. In the meanwhile, this might help, but I agree that you should have your thyroid levels checked.' (I thought I might be hallucinating for a second.)

I gave her the Thyroid UK web address and told her what to look for as she is quite computer literate, apparently. She is going to see about a home fingerprick test.

Another happy customer?

Marie XX

[PinkNinja]

Brilliant Marie! Another saved thyroid sufferer, hopefully

[Angel54]

Hi Marie,

Good for you, and brilliant that she listened to you. Your better than the GP's.

Love Angie xx

[Fruitandnutcase]

Wonderful - your pharmacist needs to get a little desk tucked away in a corner specially for you.

Liz

[ianessex]

And did you mention any certain Facebook groups she could join..

[Lilian15]

OMG - another symptom I had which I suffered with for years (very distressing) and which I had tests only to find nothing wrong. I was away for a few days not so long ago and forgot to bring my Armour. Thought I would be fine as it was only a few days (and so I was) until I came back and various symptoms had started back again and one of them was a blocked nose at night. As it is this time of year I put it down to hayfever (which I have never had before), but you learn something new everyday - even when you think you know it all lol. Although I was fine for the few days I was away, I must have been losing T3 quite rapidly and when I got home, although I resumed taking them, I had a bit of catching up to do. Another counter-example.

[balla]

omg i learn something new each day, i gave up smoking end of dec, and by jan was suffering with nose blocked with dry blood every night\day than a few days before i hit the floor with under active gland my nose was clear, and i was thinking of smoking again , not that i want to put because i have been telling myself that all am going tho is because I've stop smoking , how daft am i X

[ThyroidThora]

I am the same! I didn't know that hypothyroidism causes nasal problems. I've had trouble all my life and carry tissues everywhere but I'm not asthmatic nor do I have hayfever. I'ce thought that I may be allergic to something but when Drs won't test what can you do? I now take Levothyroxine since having my thyroid cancer removed in February but the dose isn't right, 75mcg one day and then 100mcg the alternate day. I've told the specialists that I have blocked nose, nose bleeds in my sleep and wake up choking. The chocking they put down to the cancer but they dismissed nose bleeds as not connected. I'm going for my first appointment with an endocrinologist on Tuesday so I'll mention this and hopefully something will get done.

[Vivante in reply to ThyroidThora]

Do you have hypertension? This may be the cause of nose bleeds. The same thing has happened to me.

[ThyroidThora in reply to Vivante]

No, normal blood pressure.

[Vivante in reply to ThyroidThora]

Are you taking warfarin?

[ThyroidThora in reply to Vivante]

Nope.

[jetgj]

I recently had a lung function test, nothing wrong with me, all this gasping for air, well I must be making it up. Or perhaps not....

[sunnybank]

Yes me too. I use Obas Oil everynight to help me breath. My husband complains that I snore. Occasionally wake up chocking and unable to breath. On 125 mg Levothryroxin .

[marram in reply to sunnybank]

You would do well to see what your T3 level is because - shock horror - sometimes the doctor says you are normal when you're not... because he only gets the TSH measured.

Marie XX

[sunnybank]

The doctors where I live don't check for T3. When I mentioned it and asked abour Amour he said you must be on an American site.

[zeberdee2468]

well well well after 30 odd years of underactive thyroid following RAI I never knew that having a blosked nose, forgetting how to swallow and choking was all down to that. Like many others I assumed it was because the pollen count was high and I had developed hay fever or something am going to mention this to the GP next time I see her.