Advice regarding thyroid & Vitamin D tests results

Your TSH is way too high considering you are on 175mcg of levo. Have you ever had your T3 tested?

Tasha, I am glad to say your Endocrinologist no longer wants to see you. If I were you, I wouldn't want to see him at all. He has been keeping you unwell by too low a dose of medication (levothyroxine) ignores your clinical symptoms of hypothyrodism, your TSH is far too high to feel anything but awful and he makes excuses. I should think he only knows about diabetes and is ignorant of how to treat us who have a thyroid gland dysfunction.

Weight gain is a symptom of hypothyroidism but if you are also on steroids that, too can have a contributory effect.

Thank you for putting your history on your Profile which is very helpful, and the fact that you have been going along for 11 years with hypothyroidism, which would seem to me very undertreated by your TSH result.

Your GP will probably get a copy of your blood test results from the Endo. It will also probably have the ranges. If you haven't recently had a Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, iron ferritin and folate tested, ask your GP for these as we are usually deficient.

Take levothyroxine first thing with a glass of water and don't eat for around 1 hour. Other supplements and medication should be taken about 4 hours apart from levo. When you go for a blood test, don't take levo until after it and have the test as early as possible. Maybe your GP will do another for you if you had your previous bloods taken later in the afternoon.

Always ask for a print-out of your blood test results with the ranges (labs differ) for your own records and so you can post if you have a query.

We have to read and learn in order to get our health back and, unfortunately, most Endocrinologists,doctors don't know best how to do so. I will give you a link and you can click on the topics which interest you.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

I agree with everything everyone else has posted.

Your vitamin D is under what it should be 75nmol/L is sufficient but we should be aiming for above 100 to be optimal. It may be an idea to supplement with Vitamin D3 of 5000IU a day. You will probably notice a difference straight away. I did and I only became sufficient on 2,500IU a day, now on the 5000IU I am at 139nmol/L. Consider taking a K2 complex to protect against calcium being deposited in places it shouldn't be.

On the immune side of things, you may have read elsewhere that a gluten free diet may help reduce antibodies. But you have to illuminate gluten totally. You may also benefit from cutting out soy and dairy too. Immunologists lag behind where endocrinologists do with our thyroid issues in this regard. Look up Izabella Wentz's book Root Cause and her website to just have a look at what she talks about, these methods may well help you with your other autoimmunity issues too. There are many other proponents of this technique, Sarah Ballantyne is one other I can mention from the top of my head.

Think about adopting a mainly paleo diet and then move on to a trial of the autoimmune paleo diet which may help to heal your gut. This isn't a permanent diet it is just to cut down the inflammation and give your GI tract time to heal away from foods that may be causing damage. You then reintroduce the foods steadily to see which ones cause issues. Trust your body to tell you by making your symptoms worse.

You may well need to try to get a trial of T3 to go alongside your T4 as your body may well not be using the T4 and converting it properly. This is why you need your ferritin and other vitamin and minerals at an optimal level. Most of these are hormones in the body which send messages between the organs to produce certain

All this info is out there but I think many medical professionals pooh pooh nutritional changes as some sort of fad that goes against best medical practice. We have to feel sorry for them that they have been left behind, not get angry that we are the secret geniuses of this area! (It's better to think like that than think how long they have let you down, it doesn't get us anywhere and makes our health worse holding on to it!)

It's hard work to do these things and I personally have found dealing with one issue at a time helpful in making sure I am not making things worse.

Hope you feel better soon!

Tasha, I agree with Shaws, your endo is useless if he doesn't realise TSH of 4.15 is far too high for someone on 175mcg and you need a higher dose or T3 added to it. TSH of someone on medication should be just above or below 1.0 for most people to feel comfortable thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

'Normal' can mean your FT3 is bottom or top of the range. If it is low this will be why you have symptoms and you will benefit from adding T3.

Ask your GP practice receptionist whether you can have a printout of your thyroid results from a year ago with the lab ref ranges and post them in a new question. The practice is entitled to make a charge for results over 40 days old but you can 'buy' all your GP records for £50.

ico.org.uk/for_the_public/t...

Your vitD is very low and I agree with Donna that you need 5,000iu daily for 6/8weeks and can then cut back to 5,000iu on alternate days.

You could also benefit from NAC (amino acid) apart from vit D, B12 and folate. It regulates autoimmune issues. Also, quality digestive enzymes.

Cutting out gluten will give you wings, literally. X

thank you everyone for all your help and advice. i am seeing my gp next week so will go armed with what you have all said and will also write a letter to the endo about T3, i asked for this a long while back and with it being in the uk they dont like to give it as its not a registered product but can do it unofficially yet said i didnt need it and my problems couldnt be helped by them yet it always always comes back to my thyroid. thank you all x

thank you everyone for all your help and advice. i am seeing my gp next week so will go armed with what you have all said and will also write a letter to the endo about T3, i asked for this a long while back and with it being in the uk they dont like to give it as its not a registered product but can do it unofficially yet said i didnt need it and my problems couldnt be helped by them yet it always always comes back to my thyroid. thank you all x