What shall I do?

[HarryE]

I need some advice please. I appear to have Hashi's - TG antibodies 25 times over the top of the range.

Do I choose option A - wait the remaining 5 weeks til my next endo appointment on no meds & feeling worse by the day, when he may well tell me again that my TSH is 'in range' & still not give me any treatment?

Or option B - get on & start taking Nutri Thyroid while placing an order for some Armour so that at least in 5 weeks I might be feeling some improvement?

I have been taking all the recommended supplements for about 10 days now - including Nutri Adrenal.

If I understand it right my TSH is going to be all over the place anyway so I might never get a blood test that reaches the magic NHS numbers (it was 3.3 in January).

Please help - feeling so frustrated :-\

[Aurealis]

If you self medicate and improve wouldn't that confirm that you were poorly due to low thyroid (unless they suggest placebo effect of course)

[HarryE in reply to Aurealis]

Well yes it would but they may well just throw their toys out of the pram & refuse to do anything else! Common sense doesn't appear to come into it!

[HarryE]

Anyone got any thoughts?

[Hidden]

Self-medicate. This is not what I would "suggest". But as you know, increased anti-thyroglobulin is linked with thyroid cancer. If NHS doesn't help then what can you do?

[HarryE in reply to Hidden]

Is it? No I didn't know that, oh bugger!

[Hidden]

You need a confirmation from Endo regarding hasimos. I was told that the higher the antibodies it does not mean the more advanced the disease. One patient had low number of antibodies and her thyroid was ravaged. My antibodies were over 6500 and my thyroid did not appear to be badly damaged. I would suggest you ask for an ultrasound if you are not offered one to check for an enlarged thyroid and to see if there are any nodules.Then a lot of the time they watch and wait. It depends on T4 and T3 where they are. A good Endo will be testing your bloods regularly to monitor fluctuations I always have to have bloods done a week before appointment. Then he has uptodate results. I would be careful about self administering medication. I would wait until you see Endo and see what he suggests and give what he proposes time to work and then if it's not working in a few months reconsider.

[HarryE in reply to Hidden]

I've had an ultrasound which didn't show anything, but something is definitely swollen, I can feel it. I'm off work & can't see that I will be fit to go back without some sort of treatment. So I just sit here like a lemon for another month - it's hopeless.

FT3 & FT4 both in bottom third of range

[Marz in reply to HarryE]

.....is there anyway you could obtain an earlier appointment ? Maybe ringing the hospital and the Consultants receptionist and offer to go privately with that Endo...I did that in the past for something else - and was quickly fitted in.

Can imagine it is not good having to wait a month when you are so concerned. You could mention your concerns about cancer - maybe that will give them the motivation to fit you in sooner.....hope so....

[Hidden]

Your TSH may never go up. When I first had my autoimmune antibodies, my TSH actually went down (without any medication). My T4 went depleted. I chose to see a private doc back then.