My mother has had an underactive thyroid for many years. Her once thick hair continues to fall out and she is often cold and tired.

[teach2]

I have also noticed recently that she has begun to shrink - osteoperosis? The GP maintains that her bloods look good and has not altered her meds. She has made yet another appointment to see him tomorrow. Any advice about what she should be asking him to do for her?

[Fruitandnutcase]

She does sund underactive. I'm not an expert and I'm sure someone who knows more will be on soon but the very least she needs is to know what her blood test results are complete with the lab ranges. She needs to point out to her doctor that she is losing height and get a bone density scan to see what is happening. It is quick and painless.

Liz

[teach2]

Thank you, Liz. good advice.

[PinkNinja]

It is generally a good idea to get your thyroid blood test results complete with ranges when you have a thyroid problem. If your mother is happy do share hers, you could post them on here for us to have a look at. We may then be able to suggests questions for her to ask her doctor and tests she could ask for.

It is also a good idea to make sure she has optimal levels of other things; serum iron, ferritin (stored iron, best for many people at 70-90), folate, vitamin B12 (many people find they need to supplement if below 500) and vitamin D.

Her symptoms could well be caused by ferritin being too low. If it is below 50, an iron supplement may be a good idea (research shows women tend to feel better with ferritin above 50). Low iron/ferritin can mean that the thyroxine isn't activated as well as it should be and isn't used in the cells as well as it could be. Vitamin D deficiency could be contributing to her bone problems. It would probably be good to have the other tests associated with bone health, which would include calcium and others.

Not enough thyroid hormone can cause osteoporosis, as can significantly high thyroxine doses (I'm not talking slightly high, but significantly high). I suspect she would have symptoms of overactive thyroid if she was significantly over-replaced though, although this is not always the case.

Sorry I couldn't be more help

Carolyn x

[teach2 in reply to PinkNinja]

Many thanks Carolyn, I'll ask her to get these checked.

[shaws Administrator]

If your mother is feeling unwell she should ask for her thyroid gland hormones to be checked. She should ask for a full thyroid function which includes TSH, T4 and T3 (although some labs don't do T3 if your TSH is 'within range'). She should also ask for a Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.The first two in particular are usually deficient..

It does seem that she has clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism and this could be due to be undermedicated with thyroid gland hormones.

This is a link and please note what this Professor says about the range of B12 - in over 60's it should be not less than 500 and the reason why not. Doctors seem to be happy with blood tests 'within range' but don't appear to take into account of clinical symptoms the patients present to them. If your mother's B12 is low and he wont prescribe she should supplement with methylcobalamin Vitamin B12 as that is the superior one. Sublingual ones can be purchased from Amazon. You cannot overdose as excess is excreted in urine.

dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...

If Vitamin D is low the GP should ideally supplement but if not D3 is the vitamin required.

Your mother should request a copy/print out of her new blood test results complete with the ranges for her own records and you you can post them on a new question for members to comment.

[teach2 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for the good advice.