Thyroid results worsening and they still don't think hypo?

[shoopuf]

Hi all,

Had blood test 3 weeks ago showing the following:

TSH 1.58 (range of 0.5-5)

T4 13 (range of 9-21)

Bloods repeated by different GP last week in different surgery, and now showing:

TSH 3.1 (range of 0.35 - 4)

T4 10 (range of 9-21)

Symptoms are:

Chronic constipation

inability to lose wight - 600 cal diet and lost not a pound for over a month

Feel the cold/cold hands and feet

Always bone crunchingly tired

My periods - they start for a day, stop completely for 2, then restart really clotty and heavy - like someone has turned on a tap

Low libido

Dry skin on face/dry and thickened skin on feet

Sore muscles - like a flu

Memory loss/hard to concentrate. I can literally be halfway through a story and forget what the hell I was saying with no distraction involved

Consistent BBT of 36.1

Loss of appetite

Even with that list, they are saying it's 'more likely' to be PCOS - I've never had PCOS. The only correlating symptom is the periods, and they have written they are 'irregular and scanry' when I emphasised they are regular (although at the moment bizarre) and really heavy.

I am getting my referral letter as I insisted, but am I going to have this fight with the private endo?

I suppose I'm just looking for some verification I'm not making things up, that I am more likely to be hypo than anything else. I'm clinging to that being the fact rather than anything else.

[shoopuf]

bump

[Clutter]

You're not making it up and you're not going mad.

Periods becoming heavy, light, irregular etc. are all symptomatic of undiagnosed hypothyroidism. Your symptoms are classic hypothyroid symptoms and your rising TSH and falling FT4 attest to this. Go back in 6 weeks and make sure to have the blood draw as early as possible in the morning when TSH is highest and I think you'll be over the top of the range and your GP will then diagnose hypothyroidism and prescribe you Levothyroxine, hopefully the full dose of 75mcg/100mcg and not 25mcg which probably won't help at all.

Hypo patients often experience vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the year before hypothyroidism is diagnosed and symptoms can be similar to hypoT so you should ask your GP to test ferritin, vitamin D, B12 and folate too. Make sure to get a print out of the results as we need these high in range. NHS will only prescribe supplements when deficiencies are detected but self-supplementing until you are high in range can be very beneficial.

[shoopuf]

Thank Clutter, I'll do that. Seeing private endo on the 19th, so unsure if he'll order more tests. Hoping he won't just dismiss me.

[Clutter in reply to shoopuf]

Let us know how you get on, Shoopuf. If the endo is good or bad email [e-mail] so she can add him/her to the good or duffers lists.

[shoopuf in reply to Clutter]

Will do!

[Muffy]

What time of day did you have your blood tests? You really need to have them as early as possible in the day.

[shoopuf]

First set of bloods were done at 9am and second set were 11:45 so actually later in the day, which, reading back Clutter's post, probably means my levels are even worse than shown.

[Clutter in reply to shoopuf]

Shoopuf,

TSH fluctuates throughout the day, following circadian rhythms. We advise people to have tests early, when TSH is highest, so they may tip over the range where diagnosis and medication may be made or where an increase in medication is sought.

I used it the other way around once and tested at 13.30 when TSH is lowest because I wanted a reduction in meds.

[shoopuf in reply to Clutter]

Will definitely go first thing in morning then, as going by that, hopefully they'll be up enough again that they will take me seriously.

[eeng]

Good Luck. You should feel better if you can get your doctor to give you enough medication to get your TSH to under 1.

[shoopuf in reply to eeng]

Fingers crossed - the state of understanding of this issue in the UK is disgusting.