Been referred to an Endo after 4/5 years of feeling awful with my under active thyroid...

[SleepyMummy]

I went to see our nurse at the doctors today for more blood tests, I had bloods taken 6weeks ago as my TSH had gone up to 31. My meds were increased from 125 to 175 of Eltroxin. In those 6weeks I had 17 wonderful days of feeling well and human again. After those first few weeks I was back to how I was previously on 125mg so with the nurse today I totally broke down and told her awful I had been feeling for the last 4or 5 years. I asked her about being referred to an Endo and she said she would do that. The problem is there is a huge waiting list here in Ireland and going private is not an option. The nurse told me she would refer me and the consultant will grade my referral but I could be waiting a long time as he has to treat very ill people with diabets and overactive thyroid which is far more serious!! I said I am ill and sick of feeling this way for so long and that I just wanted my lfe back. Now I'm worried if I do get called I will just be wasting thisvEndos time and he probaly won't want to help me. Do some Endos have this opinion that we are just wasting their time ?

[Hidden]

Hello, you seem to have a very helpful nurse. Perhaps you could persuade her to check some other things for you, like B12, folate, iron, Vitamin D, ferritin and also for your FT4, FT3 and RT3. It may be that your T4 is not converting well to T3 so unless they do these last 2 tests it would be impossible to tell. Also your thyroid meds will not work properly if any of the other things are low.

If your nurse could do some of these tests before you see the Endo then you would be in a better position to fight your corner. I know Endo's are busy, but you are unwell and thats what they are there for.

If you have low levels of any of the above, perhaps the nurse/GP can recommend supplements for you in the meantime to see if it helps.

[SleepyMummy in reply to Hidden]

Hi Jan4363, thanks so much for your reply it is really helpful I am due to ring her on fri to get my blood test results so will ask her if she will do those tests first. she also needs to check my iron levels as they could be low. I was also thinking that maybe my t4 is not converting very well, so this could explain when my TSH was with in normal range in the past I still had such terrible symptoms. This site has been wonderful since I joined up and every day I am learning more and more about this condition thanks again!