Can I self-treat? If so, how?

[CarolineC57]

As I've just said on another post about finding out today that Dr Downing is no longer practicing out of York as the clinic is closed, I'm getting desperate to find someone to help me and I really don't know what to do next. I had an appointment booked today with the only GP in my practice who is any good - but then I got a phone call postponing this till the end of the month (I think she's ill as she postponed in December too).

I have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism though my TSH,TPO antibodies and T4 have all come back "normal". Today, I had been hoping to persuade my GP to test T3 (T4 is quite low, and I understand that some people can have problems converting T4 to T3) and also adrenal function (which we were talking about when I saw her last week) and possibly B12. I don't know what to do now.

Do some people self-treat, and if so how do you go about it? I'd be happy to pay for the blood tests to be done privately (we'd be eating into our retirement savings) and then to self-treat - but it all seems so complex and I'm worried I'd be self-treating with the wrong thing. I guess I may need T3 (I'd do the private blood test first) but can you buy that from somewhere? Help!!

[LouiseRoberts]

Hi Caroline

Please can you give details of your latest thyroid bloods with the ranges as this will help people to better offer informed support..

If you need private blood tests you can get them here:

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Some people DO self-treat, but Thyroid UK always advises people, where humanly possible, to be under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner.

Louise

[CarolineC57 in reply to LouiseRoberts]

Hi Louise. I'd put my only test results to date (along with my symptoms) on another post previously. Got a few answers which seemed to indicate that it might *not* be hypothyroidism, as I'd thought it would be from my symptoms. Here's the other thread:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

And here are my test results to date:

TSH 0.87 (0.34 - 5.6)

Free T4 10.7 (7.5 - 21.1)

TPO less than 10

And my symptoms:

Joint and muscle pain

Chronic fatigue (with resulting poor concentration/poor memory/”brain fog”)

Insomnia (difficulty getting to sleep; frequent waking; never feel refreshed)

Dry, sore eyes/puffy eyelids

Dry/chapped skin

Dry hair/losing body hair

Permanent feeling of thirst/dehydration

Feeling of lump in throat/sometimes difficulty swallowing and restriction around windpipe

Thyroid nodules

Chronic constipation

Acid reflux (under control with Lansoprazole)

Weight gain/unable to lose weight

Craving carbs

Always feel cold (especially feet and hands)

Constant headaches/occasional migraines

Mild anemia/Low vitamin D (self-supplementing in both cases)

Prior to menopause – heavy periods

Basal body temperature – 36.1

Hope someone can help. I'm so confused by all this!

[Mini1]

Hi I have just done the Blue Horizon finger prick test this morning for a full thyroid check. It was very easy to do x

[CarolineC57 in reply to Mini1]

Yes. I was just going to look in to how to do that. Problem is, will the doctors take any notice of it though? I'm not sure mine will.

[CarolineC57]

Well, I'm feeling a bit more positive after the setbacks of this morning, and I've set some things in motion to try to help myself. I was *so* upset this morning that I couldn't stop crying - first my GP cancelled today's appointment for the 2nd time in as many months, then I found out that the only private consultant in the North of England on the TUK list has shut up shop.

So now I've ordered a blood test from Blue Horizon. I'm going to a local private hospital to have it done on Thursday. Then, I should have a clearer idea of what's happening inside this old body of mine, and at least I'll have a proper blood test report to show my GP when I do eventually get to see her at the end of this month (if she doesn't cancel again!).

Then, I did some more searching on here and other parts of the internet. Personally, I'd prefer to help myself *naturally* rather than using any synthetic/chemical medicines, and I came across Nutri Adrenal and Nutri Thyroid products. It seems these are the same ones Dr Peatfield recommends! I've ordered the adrenal one first as I suspect I have adrenal fatigue (the blood test I'm having on Thurs might confirm that as I'm having adrenals tested too). The things I've read suggested that you need to treat the adrenals for a few months before trying Nutri Thyroid. So, I'll try that and see what happens.

I see that T3 or Armour or similar isn't available anywhere in the UK without prescription, so I do seem to be tied to trying to get some action out of my GP if I need to go down that route. So, let's see what the blood test results show and let's see whether Nutri Adrenal helps at all ...